Steve and Laura's Excellent Adventure

Our time in the Bahamas is passing quickly.  We blinked and found ourselves in April! After Brenda and Mike left, we spent the next week - true to our pattern - doing maintenance chores, paperwork and other "fun" stuff while still keeping an eye open for good weather windows. Up until now, we have stayed within a fairly short distance from Marsh Harbor (black loop in screenshot below) to make sure not to jeopardize our guests' flight schedules.  With a week or so before our next guests would arrive, we decided to travel a bit further north to have a look at some of the cays that we passed by on our journey from Florida to Marsh Harbor. We chose Powell Cay, an uninhabited island which offers an opportunity for hiking and beautiful, unspoiled beaches. Powell Cay is the "t"-shaped cay shown at the top of the red loop in the screenshot.   Bluff at Powell Cay Screenshot of Our Latest Destinations The hike up to the top of the bluff was pretty short, but the view was

We have fallen into a comfortable living routine now, and after Sue and Daryl left, we followed our typical pattern of resting, followed by a couple of days of chores.   Once we'd done what was needed, we took advantage of a promising weather window and went off-shore fishing and spent another night anchored at Great Guana Cay.  Alas, our fishing luck has not returned....but we haven't given up hope!! In preparation for our next visitors, and to take advantage of the last few days of lobster season, we revisited some of the areas where we had had lobster luck and Steve netted another three lobster for the next night's welcoming meal for Brenda and Mike. Brenda and Mike are friends of ours who live next door to Steve's parents in Satellite Beach, and we were thrilled they decided to join us for a long weekend in the Bahamas. Brenda and Mike's Bird's Eye View of the Abacos They arrived on Thursday, and as seems to be the weather pattern of late, the next day was q

A couple of days after Darlyn and Brad departed, our next guests arrived! Daryl and Sue were boating, fishing and lobstering partners, as well as roommates of Steve's from his early days at Pratt and Whitney.  Since lobster season in the Bahamas was drawing to a close - it ended on March 31- the highest priority was...you guessed it:  catching lobster! We went back to Great Guana Cay and had good luck once again on their first day, with a haul of four lobsters. Lobster tail Dinner for Four! Yum! While I love to eat lobster, catching them isn't really my thing.  I prefer to snorkel beautiful coral reefs and observe the fish and other life. The weather calmed down enough during week 4 to allow us to snorkel on the Atlantic side again, where the reefs were plentiful and phenomenal.  We took the dinghy through the cut between Great Guana Cay and Scotland Cay and took turns attending the dinghy and getting in the water. The dark patch in the water in the photo below is the reef.  Pl

  When Steve and I first started seriously discussing living on a sailboat and living the cruising life, there were three things that I thought would be crucial for me:  The boat needed to be a catamaran, since I feared that I would feel claustrophobic on a monohull. The boat needed to have enough cabins to accommodate at least 4 guests, so our daughters and partners could visit at the same time. We needed to have guests to share our adventures with at least one week a month, lest I go mad from being too isolated. Starry Night satisfied the first two of my "must haves" and in Week 3 of our Bahamas trip, the final part of fulfilling my dream came true as my BFF, Darlyn, and her wonderful hubby, Brad joined us in Marsh Harbor for nine days. Darlyn and Laura Chillin' As it turned out, Miss Darlyn had her own list of things she wanted to do while we were in the Bahamas and it had just one item. Eat conch salad! We took care of that requirement on Day 1 😀 I had never had conc