Steve and Laura's Excellent Adventure

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 ...

 After Jan and Mark departed, Steve and I stayed in Marsh Harbour for a few days, waiting for favorable conditions for the trip to Nassau, where we would pick up our next guests at the end of the following week.  As we always do when weather conditions don't support watersports activities or sailing, we took advantage of the time to take care of the mundane "must-do's" like boat waxing, brightwork polishing, and tax filing. We also availed ourselves of the nearby restaurants, grocery stores and laundry facilities since they are so convenient from the Marsh Harbour anchorage. On March 12 - three days before we needed to be in Nassau - the wind finally dropped enough that we could get there relatively comfortably, even though we would still be traveling upwind and couldn't sail. Our normal procedure as we're leaving an anchorage is to start both engines so that we have maximum steering control of Starry Night, since we're traveling at a low rate of speed bet...

A few days after my return from Baltimore - on Super Bowl Sunday - our friends Jan and Mark met us Telemar Bay Marina to make the Bahamas crossing and share the first leg of this season's adventure.  As I mentioned in my last post, the primary objective was lobster. We planned to leave Florida from either Stuart or Palm Beach depending on the wind direction, so we started heading south via Intracoastal Waterway the day after their arrival even though the wind conditions weren't favorable.  It took us three days to make it to West Palm Beach, stopping at anchorages in Vero Beach and Jensen Beach along the way.  Our timing was good, though, and the weather the next morning was perfect for our trip to the northern Abacos. We had beautiful sailing conditions all day and arrived on Little Bahama Bank at dusk.  We tried something new this time and anchored on the bank overnight since it was predicted to be super-calm. The Little Bahama Bank is a shallow area between the is...