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A Long Trip Home

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 Once again, several months have passed since my last post so to recap: Steve and I had just wrapped up our winter/spring season in the Bahamas and were ready to embark on our return trip to Florida. I also alluded to things requiring our attention at home. This prompted us to jump at the first promising weather window even though we had hoped to have a couple of days of down-time before leaving the Bahamas.  What I didn't mention is that our life's circumstances have changed in such a way that we want to spend more time on land with our family and have made the difficult decision to close this chapter of our life and sell Starry Night.  Many people ask whether we are ending our adventure because we're tired of boat life. The answer is, unequivocally, no.  Both of us have loved the beauty, the adventure, and the peace which we have experienced and, if not for the gravitational pull of family, we would have been ready to return to the Carribean and spend time explorin...
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A Glimpse of Boat Life

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  As I've mentioned before, one of the things Steve and I love most about our life on Starry Night is sharing the experience with our friends and family.   During each of the three weeks after Brad and Darlyn left, we had newcomers aboard - most of whom experienced their first taste of what boat life entails. While I think that all of our friends enjoyed their visits, I could also tell that one week was long enough for some of them and that they were ready to get back to the land-based life and the freedom to come and go at will. Thankfully, the weather was mostly cooperative during our last three weeks, and we were able to either sail, snorkel, paddleboard, fish, or go ashore every day.  Our guests during the last three weeks included Vijay and Margie, friends of ours from Pratt & Whitney and Siemens days, an old college friend of Steve's, and our great-nephews, Jacob and Zachary.  We traveled to the same areas that we have been before, with slight variatio...
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It's Better in the Bahamas with BFFs!

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Steve and I were rested and ready to get moving when our friends Darlyn and Brad arrived on April 5th. We had had as much down-time as we could stand; for us, boat life is synonymous with activity and adventure, and we'd had too little of either during the previous week. Darlyn and Brad have joined us in the Bahamas for the past two seasons but had come during the late February/early March timeframe each year. The first year, we had focused on catching lobster in the Abacos. The second year, we explored the beautiful Exumas by land and by sea and caught conch. This year's goal was for Brad to catch a Mahi and to visit some of our favorite snorkeling spots. Well, to be fair, the guys' main goal was Mahi. For Darlyn and I the primary objective is always the same: spend time together and laugh a lot! We left the morning after their arrival and motor-sailed to Shroud Cay, one of the beautiful spots in the Exumas Land and Sea Park. Our plan was to enjoy the scenery there for a d...
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Spring Break, Part II

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Daryl and Sue, our second set of spring break guests, breezed through customs at the Nassau airport and arrived at the public dock just after Steve returned from his trip to the laundromat.  We had just enough time to pick Steve up, get the laundry back to the boat, and for Steve to get back to the dock as their taxi dropped them off. This time around we were able to leave without delay the next morning, although we were still traveling upwind and unable to sail.  We motor-sailed to Highbourne Cay using the jib for the additional knot and a half boost and anchored at one of favorite spots on the north side of Highbourne Cay. One of the "attractions" there is the resident nurse shark who greets boats as they arrive at the anchorage. Our Nurse Shark Buddy at the Northern Highbourne Cay Anchorage We arrived fairly early in the afternoon and were able to get a snorkeling trip in before dinner. Daryl and Sue are two of our friends who love to catch lobster and though it was still ...
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