Exploring Bahamas

We have been in Bahamas for 5 days now.  We are definitely getting the Island disease where one day just runs into another and who really knows if it's Monday, Tuesday or Friday.  Does it matter, after all?  We made our way from West End, Grand Bahamas to the Berry Islands and have now anchored outside of Atlantis in Nassau.
The Bahamas are still a very popular place for the big cruise lines.  It's incredible how big these ships are. We can see five of them from where we are anchored today.

We headed down to Berry Islands, trying our hand at fishing.  We invested in some fishing line and lures and so far, I am sad to say, the ROI has not been great.  The score is Segwun 1; Fish 4.  Meaning, we have caught 1 fish and the Fish have stolen 4 lures.  But we are on a learning curve and the joy and excitement of catching that first ocean fish was definitely worth it.  We're still not sure what it was we caught, but we fried it in a pan of butter and garlic and it sure was delicious.

We also ate our first Conch at the restaurant in Grand Harbour.  Deep fried conch tastes a little like calamari.  I've never seen so many conch shell in my life.  I always thought they were quite rare, but here in the Islands, they are plentiful!  

We spent some time on a 7 mile long beach - on which we were the only sun bathers.  Great choice as the other end of the island is home to the cruise ships.   As we passed by the next day we saw crowded beaches, seadoos, parasailers and lots of boat traffic.    

Some of my TP colleagues may recognize the blue bag.  It is not so far from home - Miami is just across the Gulf...  In the background are Liz and Eric taking in the sun.  The water is a beautiful blue, skies are clear, sand is like sugar.  Perfect!

Our Little Harbour anchorage where we hoped to meet Chester and enjoy some of his cooking for which he is famous.  Unfortunately, he was out all day and couldn't accommodate us.

Ok last picture ...  always a favourite of mine are sunrises and sunsets.  Day after tomorrow we plan to head out again, hoping to reach Allan's cay.  We probably won't have internet for a while.  Stay tuned!

Moving on out of the ICW

Our last night on the ICW - a short one for Jens and I as we wanted to be sure to arrive at West End, Grand Bahamas during daylight.  We set out at 2 AM .... yes, 2 AM!!!   It was a beautiful, clear night with no wind and a fantastically bright moon following us from behind.  The sea was calm until we hit the Gulf Stream where it takes on a life of its own.  Swells of 4 to 5 feet and movement in all directions.  Needless to say, this sailor turned a little green again and had to lay down for a bit.  Or was I just a little tired from our early rise?  No, I'm pretty sure my stomach doesn't like the turbulent seas.   I was able to get a nice sunrise shot of our first day in open water - no sign of land in any direction!

I can imagine how difficult this crossing could be in high winds.  Not to mention rain and cold.  We had to motor all the way, but I think we have to consider ourselves lucky that our crossing was as smooth as it could be.

Our crew, Eric and Liz, also felt it.  This was the first time in any kind of waves for both of them.  Luckily it wasn't too bad, just a slight feeling of being nauseous and the more you think of it, the worse it gets.   They are both getting quite comfortable on the boat and are good at getting us anchored, moored and ready to set sail.  It's nice having the company and I have to say we have been eating some very nice meals.  Now we have to test our fishing skills.  We have lures and line and are hoping for a bit of beginner's luck and start adding fresh fish to the menu.
We reached the Grand Bahamas around 1PM - much earlier than anticipated so it gives us an afternoon of chilling out, enjoying the beautiful clear aqua coloured water and perhaps a wee nap.  LIz and Eric were in snorkelling and they have already found a treasure.  A fantastic conch shell which has since been sent back to it's ocean home.

Pelicans

Two more days on the ICW

Our second and third day on the ICW started with a deep chill in the air.  The cabin temperature was showing 0 degrees C yesterday.  Jens started up the GenSet and turned on the heating.  We didn’t really expect to have the heating on in Florida, but these cold days are not unusual in Central Florida in January.  We started out early planning to get as far South as quickly as possible.  Despite wearing plenty of layers (ski underwear, shirt, sweater, vest, jacket, wool hat, rain pants and jacket, gloves and boots) Jens was still chilly standing at the helm.  I was in the galley preparing lots of hot coffee and a hot bowl of oats to help him warm up. 

Thank to a clear skies these past few days and a tapering wind, we have been slowly reducing the amount of clothing we are wearing as the day goes on and are actually able to get a bit of sun.
We have seen many dolphins but I have yet to get a good photo … I’m just not quick enough!  And lots of pelicans of various colours.  I find the pelicans quite fascinating with their awkward but controlled flight and diving into the water to catch fish.  They almost seem to be just one small step up from prehistoric times.

Oh, and we had another casualty on board thanks to a motor boat that zoomed by without consideration for his wake.  This time it was the Bodum coffee pot.  Poo!  We’ll have to settle for instant until we can get to shore and replace it.  That was my fault.  I was getting a little too used to having calm waters and no other boat traffic and I left the pot on the counter.  Normally, I tuck it into the sink with the dish soap, handsoap and kettle.

We covered 53 nautical miles yesterday and 60 today.  We've got another half day tomorrow and will head out to Bahamas on Saturday.  The crossing should take us about 12 hours or so.  Can't wait!

Wheels on Land

Off on our shopping spree aboard our "new" bikes!

Eric putting in the block for the new flag line.

The Adventure Begins!!!

Very exciting start to the New Year!  We returned to Daytona on January 1st and SY SEGWUN was just as we left her.  We are here with Eric and Liz who will be aboard for the next 2 1/2 months.  It was a bit hectic leaving Toronto ... who knew that so many people would be traveling in the early hours of New Year's day!  The line ups were huge - and our dear friends at Air Canada just had to charge us to bring our bikes with us!  But we are very happy to have wheels.  Thanks to Larry and Michelle with our new folding bikes we can now zip around town and explore our ports of call.  We used them today to get to the grocery store.  What was a 60 minute walk to the WalMart became a quick 10 minute cycle!
During our trip home we had a few projects to finish.  We brought the old sail cover with us and we turned it into two canvas bags for the folding bicycles and a cover for our dinghy motor.  The rest we will use to cover the jerry cans we'll need to buy to have extra fuel on board for our ocean crossing.  I also sewed two new shower curtains, a yellow quarantine flag, and two flags with SEGWUN's logo.

Eric climbed the mast today to put up a block for another flag line.  We now have the Canadian flag and the ship's flag flying!  Photos to come tomorrow. 

We have loaded the fridge and freezer with provisions.  Every nook and cranny is now full of food, beer wine and other necessities.  We have topped up our fuel and water supplies, emptied the holding tank and are now positioned at the dock ready to head out on the ICW in the morning.  We'll continue south for the next few days staying on the ICW as far as we can and then out to the Atlantic and across to the Bahamas.  Ready to go!