Exumas and Nassau - March 18 to April 2

Finally - some pictures!

March 18 – Warderick Wells
We did school in the morning. In the afternoon we went into the beach. Priority and Zola came up to the park and anchored in Emerald Rock, around the corner from where we were on a mooring, so they came into the beach too. We went for a hike up to Boo Boo Hill, down the sound to Boo Boo Beach, and then back around to the bank side and back to the park office. The kids took the kayaks out and had a good time playing with the kayaks on the shallow water in the middle of the mooring field. Later in the afternoon Dave, Kristen, Brian and I went snorkeling at a little reef near the cut to the sound. It was really neat. There were lots of schools of large fish; there were dozens of huge lobsters and we saw two eagle rays. We saw a "real" shark – probably a reef shark or a sand shark -as opposed to the nurse sharks we usually see.
After supper we all went back to shore. Gotta Life brought in their computer and a movie that Geneva rented from the office. The kids all watched a movie on one picnic table and the adults sat at the other picnic table and talked. Warderick Wells Cay is inhabited by the endangered rodent species called Hutia. These little creatures look like a gerbil on steroids – they are about the size of half a loaf of bread with a thin tail about the length of their body. They are a dark sandy color. Most of us thought they were pretty cute. Like many rodents they are nocturnal, so as dark fell we could hear them rustling around in the undergrowth. There were some food scraps left around from last night’s pot luck so we think they were nibbling on that. The kids got quite a start when one of them ran under their picnic table and across their feet. It certainly was an experience to be sitting on the beach, with so many stars up above, and to be watching a movie!

March 19 – Warderick Wells
School in the morning again. In the afternoon we went into the beach and the kids went out on the kayaks again. Later in the afternoon everyone from Sandpiper, Gotta Life and Bird on a Wire went back to the place we were snorkeling yesterday. We didn’t see the shark again, but lots of lobster, fish and the two rays were there.
Dave finished the "Bird on a Wire" sign to take up to Boo Boo Hill. There were lots of little birds that were coming over to the boat and the kids were feeding them sugar and applesauce. We got some cool picture of the birds on the "Bird on a Wire"sign.
After supper and before sunset we picked up Erin and Geneva and we hiked up to Boo Boo Hill to leave our signs and to take some pictures of the anchorage at sunset.

March 20 – Warderick Wells – Shroud
We left Warderick around 9:00 and headed north to Shroud Cay. We had an awesome sail all the way there, arriving around 1:00. It was still pretty windy when we got there and the wind was a little more north than was comfortable in the anchorage, but it was a lot better than the night we spent in Hawksbill. We all piled into Gotta Life’s dinghy and went for the long dinghy trek through the mangrove swamps to the East side of the Cay. It was really beautiful. Once we reached the other side, there was a great beach. We all hung out there for the afternoon. The girls kept hoping the tide would turn to an ebb as there is a neat whirlpool that takes you from the beach out into the sound and then back into the beach when the tide is falling. Unfortunately the tide wasn’t going to turn until supper time and we needed to get back to the boats. It was still pretty rolly at anchor and we were all tired so we decided not to go out visiting tonight.

March 21 – Shroud – Warderick Wells
We pulled up anchor and were away from Shroud around 8:00. We called into the park office at 9:00 and were fortunate enough to be able to get a mooring again in the north anchorage. We debated about going on to Staniel where Priority was and Gotta Life was going, but we opted for the security of Warderick for a good night’s sleep. As we passed by the office all the little birds we were feeding the last time we were here came out to visit. We were assigned a mooring on the west side of the mooring field and we hadn’t been there before. It was a nice spot and there was less current flowing through than there was on the other side. We had a swim around the boat and looked at a little coral head growing on an old engine block near the boat. It was Saturday so we went into the Happy Hour on the beach. There were lots of people there and we met lots of new people.

March 22 – Warderick Wells to Big Majors Spot
There were some birthdays being celebrated in Big Majors today so we set off before 9:00 to be there by lunchtime. It was another great sail and we were relieved to see that the anchorage was well protected with no swell. We all went over to Priority for some "slingshotting". This is when a line comes down from the top of the mast (i.e. the halyard), and then additional line is added to the end so that there is about 100’ of extra line at the water line. The end of a line is attached to a dinghy, and a person (or two or three) hold onto a line either on the edge of the boat or in the water. The dinghy starts off, and as the line tightens up, the people get pulled out of the water. When they get high enough, they let go and drop back into the water. Pretty hard to explain, but pretty fun to do. The kids had a blast and Dave and I each tried it once. After slightshotting was over everyone was pretty cold as it wasn’t a very warm day. We all went back to our boats to get cleaned up. Annie and Kristen were invited to Priority for pizza, and Dave and I went into shore to the Happy Hour. It was great to see Annie and Dietrich from Calliope again. Dave met some new people on the beach – one of them was a car dealer from Missouri. He had his boat listed with Paul, our friend that summers in Scotsburn NS and winter in Florida and sells boats! Another man from Toronto knew a man in Saint John NB, and Dave went to university with his son. It sure is a small world! Around 7:00 we went over to Priority. The adults (10) watched "Office Space" in their cockpit, while the kids (6) watched a movie down in the cabin. Office Space was really funny and brought back lots of memories of life in the real world!

March 23 – Big Majors Spot
School in the morning and then water sports in the afternoon. The kids went over to Priority and did some snorkeling and then Brian took them tubing on our tube. Dave and I went into Staniel and tried to find the trail to the other side of the cay. We didn’t find the trail but we had a good walk.
March 24 – Big Majors Spot
The days are blending together! School again in the morning. In the afternoon all the kids got together at the beach. There were some new kids there too. Kristen went wake boarding. Annie gave it a try but wasn’t able to get the hang of it today. All the kids had fun on the tube. In the evening we had the Priority and Gotta Life kids over for pizza pasta and a movie. It was pretty funny to see the 6 kids all lined up on the bunks in the salon trying to watch a movie!

March 25 – Big Majors Spot
Another day in Big Majors - the girls did school in the morning and we went to the beach in the afternoon. There were water sports again. Kristen tried Wake Skating which is similar to wake boarding except that is on a shaped piece of plywood that is slightly curved. There are no bindings and no fins on the bottom of the board. She was able to get up and then went all around the harbour. Annie got up first time today on the Wake Board and had a great time zooming all over the harbour. The tube was once again a great hit.

March 26 – Big Majors Spot to Warderick Wells
We left Big Majors around 10:00, and weren’t really sure where we were heading, except North. Gotta Life and Sandpiper were heading back to Cambridge so they could go to Rachael’s Bubble Bath, but we wanted to get a little farther North. In the end we get a mooring in the North mooring field at Warderick and were settled around 2:30. It was another great day of sailing along the banks. You can see why people come here for the sailing! We’ve been able to sail (and not that motor sailing stuff either) each time we’ve set out for the last couple of weeks.
When we got to Warderick Dave and Annie went to shore to rent "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and get checked in. Kristen and I stayed behind and got some bread made. The kids got their school finished and then went for a swim, but the current was really strong so it wasn’t much fun. Dave and I went for a short hike down to Butterfly Beach, near Emerald Rock. No butterflies but a great walk. When we got back, the girls could hear the blowholes howling, so Dave took them back to shore for a hike to the blowholes and Boo Boo Hill. I guess the blowholes were really spectacular today! I stayed on the boat and made Chicken Parmesan for supper. After supper we watched the movie Annie and Dave rented.
We were able to check email at Warderick and SeaHawk (that we met way back in Maine with 4 kids) is in Nassau. We are going to head up there as quickly as possible to see if we can meet up with them before they head south to the Exumas.

March 27 – Warderick Wells - Allan’s Cay
Annie and Dave returned the movie and we put the dinghy up and left Warderick Wells for the final (?) time a little after 8:00. It was a pretty windy day, but the wind and waves were behind us so it wasn’t too bad. We put the jib out and motor sailed, making pretty good time. We got to Allan’s about 1:00 and for the first time since we arrived in the Bahamas we were alone in an anchorage. It was nice and calm in the anchorage which was a relief as we were a little concerned about protection there. As soon as we were anchored, we could see a couple of iguanas on the beach. Our primary reason for stopping here was that there is a colony of endangered iguanas here. We heard that when you went to the beach, and if you stood quietly, in a little while iguanas would surround you. Sure enough, we went to shore and in minutes (without standing quietly) there were about 50 iguanas on the beach. They are about 2-3’ long with big feet and long tails. They can be pretty assertive about looking for food, so we left our left over lettuce in the dinghy while we walked on the beach. After our experience with the pigs we were a little hesitant to encourage them too much – and we’d also heard that they bite. Just as we were getting ready to leave, when a large cigarette boat pulled up on the beach and let about 40 tourists from Nassau out onto the beach - so much for peace and quiet. Shortly after that two sailboats came in and anchored for the night. We did a little more exploring on a couple of the other beaches, and looked inside the ruins of a house that must of lost it’s roof 15 or 20 years ago in a hurricane.

March 28 – April 1 – Nassau
We left Allan’s around 8:00, after a bit of a challenge pulling up the anchor in the narrow channel with the strong current. When we got fairly close to Nassau we contacted SeaHawk on the radio. They weren’t able to get us a reservation at Atlantis Marina for Sunday night, but we could get in today, so we decided to directly to Atlantis. We were all tied up by around 2:00 and went to find Seahawk. Around 2:30 we headed over to the water park. Atlantis is a huge resort on Paradise Island. I believe it started as a casino, but now it stretches over acres of the island. Dave and I came to Paradise Island 13 years ago and stayed at a little hotel on the beach and walked half a mile or a mile over to Atlantis. At that time it was a good sized hotel with 3 restaurants, a small aquarium, a few pools and the casino. Now the hotel we stayed in is gone, and the beach is now part of the Atlantis complex with a new hotel tower. In addition to the hotel, now there is a huge water park and a large aquarium called "The Dig". It is set up like an archaeological exploration of the mythical city of Atlantis and the fishes, rays and sharks are all swimming around the ruin. There are two large manta rays as part of the exhibit, and they were pretty neat. Most of the other things we had seen snorkeling in the Exumas. The water park is great. There are two large buildings that house water slides – the Mayan temple has two really steep body slides (you go down without sitting on a tube), the Leap of Faith and the Challenger where there are two slide side by side and you race down with your partner. There is also a really fun tube slide (sitting on an inflatable ring) where you wind down inside the slide and end up sliding through a tube that runs through a shark tank. As you go down the tube, the sharks are lying on top of the tube and you can look right up at their bellies! The Power Tower has four slides. One is a body slide that drops you almost straight down a 50’ drop in the dark. The other three are tube slides. Around the outside of the Power Tower is ‘the current’. This is a mile long river ride with rapids and 4’ high waves. Once you are on the current you can keep going round as the waves push you back ‘up hill’. We ended up spending both Saturday and Sunday night at Atlantis. It was great to finally spend some time with the Seahawk folks. We went over to Seahawk after supper on Saturday and the kids played Pit. On Sunday night we did a bbq potluck. On Monday we got our Atlantis bracelets for the day before checking out and moving the boat across the harbour to Nassau Harbour Club. In the afternoon I walked back over to Atlantis with the girls and we hooked up with the family off Los Gostowes. Dave came over later after he did some chores on the boat. On Tuesday, Gotta Life and Sandpiper arrived at Nassau Harbour Club – It was great to get the gang back together. On Wednesday, Gotta Life went over to stay at Atlantis and took the girls over. We made a great trade with Sandpiper – two extra boxes of pancake mix we had for a lobster tail they had – what a great lunch! Dave and I walked around Nassau and then headed over to Atlantis to pick up the girls at 7:00. Gotta Life lent us their dinghy so we wouldn’t have to walk all the way back (wow that 25hp engine really goes!!) On Thursday, we took the dinghy back and got more bracelets. Dave and Brian brought Gotta Life back to the Harbour Club, and Sheryl and I stayed with the girls at the water park. As a note, we were really fortunate with weather when we were in the Exumas. It was generally warm and breezy during the day and then cooled off at night. We never saw rain. It hasn’t been quite as good in Nassau. We had really heavy rain showers on Monday and it has been really hot and buggy for sleeping – but then it is all good when you compare it with freezing rain and sleet! We were a little worried about the lack of school the girls are doing this week, until we heard that the kids at home have missed 17 days of school this year because of weather!!

Mar 17 - Warderick Wells

March 5 – Georgetown
First thing in the morning Dave and I went into Georgetown to try to get on to the internet, but the internet was down so that was a little frustrating. When we got back we headed to volleyball beach for registration for Regatta. We registered for the Coconut Harvest, the Scavenger Hunt and Annie signed up for the Sand Sculpture contest. In the end, we ended up staying at the beach all day. The kids from Mima and Side By Side were there, so Annie and Kristen played on the tree swing and in the fort with them. There was a lady making a straw basket and she showed me how to start one. It was slow work!!

March 6 – Georgetown
Dave went back to Georgetown this morning, and again there was no Internet. The girls and I stayed on the boat and got the schoolwork done. In the afternoon, there was a practice for the "Fish Net" skit that Sandpiper had made up in February and were going to perform at the "No Talent Show". It was a take off on the "Net" that happens every morning in Georgetown where everyone can listen on the VHF radio at 8:00 and hear the weather and all the activities that are planned for the day. There was room for lots of participants so Annie and Kristen were included. After that practice, Gotta Life took Annie and Kristen into to see the Pet Parade, and Dave and I went up to St. Francis Resort to see if we could get internet there. We were! We were able to check email and do banking, but Skype wasn’t allowed, so no phone calls home. After we were finished there we went back to the beach to see the No Talent Show. It was a great performance and the skits and performances were really funny! The "Fish Net" was really funny, as was a skit that Side By Side and Mima put together. It was a fun evening, but we decided to leave around 8:30 because people were getting tired.


March 7, Georgetown
Today was Coconut Harvest so we headed to the beach around 8:30. We were on a team with Brian and Cheryl from Gotta Life. For Coconut Harvest, you have to take the motor off the dinghy, and power the dinghy with dive fins on your hands. There were 25 teams in all, and the objective was to collect as many of the 700 coconuts that were let go on the other side of the little bay. We were only able to get 25 L . Then we moved on to the land based part of the challenge. This started with "Guts and Butts" where you and you partner had to first take the coconut back and forth across the volley ball court with a coconut pressed between your bellies, and then you had to do it again with the coconut pressed between your backs. Both Dave and I, and Brian and Cheryl successfully made it back and forth both times to add 8 points to our team score! Then came the coconut toss where you had to lob the coconut over the volleyball net and into one of 3 rings. The largest ring was closest and worth 1 point, then there was a slightly smaller ring worth 2 points, and the smallest ring was worth 3 points. Dave and I, along with some other folks saw the opportunity to practice this one down at the other volleyball court so we did a couple of practice throws before we started. When our turn was up, Dave successfully got his 3 point throw and I got my 2 point throw. 5 more points for the team! When that was all done we headed back to the other side of the beach to get set up for the junior version of the coconut challenge. A few minutes later there was a big call out for the "Bird Life" team. So after a few confused moments we headed back to the volleyball courts – Dave was up at the Chat and Chill getting a drink for Kristen and couldn’t be found. Apparently we had tied for first place on the land based activities and there was to be a coconut throw off. Where was Dave??? As he couldn’t be found I found myself front and center competing in the throw off! The other team showed up first, so they threw first – fortunately for me, he tried for the 3pointer and missed, so all I had to do was get a single point to win. The pressure was on… I did it! Yeah!! It was all pretty funny! Anyway we the standard prize of a bottle of rum for our efforts. By that time Kristen was feeling really awful. She was getting a cold and trying to do everything and she finally gave up and I took her back to the boat and put her to bed. Dave and Annie stayed for the junior coconut harvest and Annie’s team won that so all and all we did pretty well. In the evening there was a beach party to share our winning bottle of rum amongst the other boats, but Kristen and I stayed home.

March 8, Georgetown
Today was Scavenger Hunt day. We headed the beach around 11:00 for a 12:00 start. We had teamed up with Side by Side for both an adult team and a junior team, and then another couple from Lapedus
Joined the grown ups and a couple of other kids joined the kids so both teams had 6 people. When we got the list we were overwhelmed with the list of "red" things we were required to collect – red high heeled shoes, red knee sock, the "Hunt for Red October" (book, not movie), red balloons. It was a very challenging list. We spent the afternoon making things red, and going around to other boats to see if they had the things we needed – of course every other team was doing the same thing. It became apparent pretty quickly that there were only a couple of copies of a Hunt for Red October in the harbour. It the end we accumulated 24 of the correct things. This put us in a tie for 3rd place with three other boats, but we had the slowest time so we didn’t win anything. The kids got 22 things, tying with the Gotta Life team, but again we were slow so they came second – winning Frisbees from Chat ‘n’ Chill.

March 9, Georgetown
There we no scheduled activities that we were interested in with Regatta today. We did school in the morning. In the afternoon I helped Jennifer from Miakoda set up a scavenger hunt as part of a birthday party she was organizing for the twins. When we were in on the beach, Sunny from Slow Motion cut my hair – what a great cut! After the scavenger hunt was set up, I went back out to the boat and then Dave took the girls and I to shore for the birthday party. We went early so that we could go for a hike up to the Monument, but Sunny was still there and offered to cut the girls hair too. Kristen got a great trim and Annie got a lot cut off and a got it all layered – it looks really cute! (Hard to put in a ponytail now though). The birthday party was great and the scavenger hunt was a great success. It took the kids through a nature trail and across the island. There were around 20 clues, and it ended with a pirate’s treasure chest that was hidden in a cave on the beach. After the scavenger hunt we went back the west side of the island and they had lots of snacks and barbecued hotdogs. There was another "adult" party going on on the beach by then, so it was a busy place with lots of people and food. We stayed until sunset and then headed back to the boat.

March 10, Georgetown.
This was to be our last day in Georgetown. We started with school, and then I took the dinghy over to Georgetown by myself to get on the internet. It finally worked and I was able to catch up on email. It took longer than expected though and I was worried I would be late getting Annie to the beach for the Sand Sculpturing. In the end I got back around 1:00, and Marc from Side by Side was there wondering if we wanted to split the kids into a family team and then do an adult team too. I thought that would be fun and Dave was game, so we all went in to the beach. We also had Leanne and Chad from Cambyration and Angie’s Mom so we split the teams up and put the four kids and Leanne on one team, and the rest of us on the other team. A little while later Geneva from Gotta Life came the to the beach and she joined in with the kids. The sand sculpturing was really fun! We made a "Red Hot Knight" – in keeping with the Red Hot Night theme for the regatta. I thought he was really good! The strongest competition was a beach scene with three puppy playing in the sand. They were awesome. The kids built Eddie the Sea Serpent surrounding the island of Bermuda. It was great! When the results were in, the Puppies came first in the adult competition and we came second. The kids won the family class with Eddie. They all won gift certificates from Exuma Market in Georgetown, and as we were leaving the next day, Brian (Gotta Life) took all the kids to Georgetown to buy ice cream and candy at the market. We went over for a little visit to Side By Side when the kids were in town. We headed back to the boat as the sun was setting and stopped by Miakoda to say good bye to them too.

March 11 – Georgetown to Black Point
We left Georgetown a little after 7:30, along with a big group of other boats including Gotta Life and Sandpiper. We weren’t sure exactly where we were going to end up at the end of the day, but it was a good weather window to leave Georgetown. The winds had finally died down and the weather was great. The wind was a little too far north for real sailing, but we were able to motor sail. We went about 35 miles up the sound and then went in through Galliant Cut around 1:30, when the tide was still ebbing, but had started to slacken. It wasn’t too bad a trip through the cut, and then we were in peaceful calm waters. It’s not that it was too bad on the sound today, but we were rolling around enough that weren’t spending any time below. When we got out on to the back, we put out the air tube and sailed along at around 3 knots, pulling the kids behind the boat on the tube. We did that for about half and hour and then decided we should move a little more quickly so we pulled them in an put the motor on so we could get to Black Point at a decent hour. We were anchored around 4:00 after doing a 50 mile day – a lot farther than we had originally planned. Gotta Life and Sandpiper had stayed on the outside all day and come in a cut just north of Black Point and they were getting anchored at the same time as we were. The girls and I headed into town to put in a bread order and to get some water. Black Point is a great little town!

March 12 – Black Point to Big Majors Spot
Annie and I went into the village in the morning with her schoolwork, the garbage, the water jug and the laundry. We did two loads of laundry and got her schoolwork done. We picked up our bread from Lorraine’s Mom’s. We dropped off the garbage and got a jug of water. When we were done all that, we went back to the boat. The girls made a couple of trips back into town with Gotta Life to get water for them. Then we made a final trip in for another jug of water and bought some fish hooks and lures so we can try to catch a fish next time we go out into the Sound. We left Black Point around 2:00 to head about 10 miles north to Staniel Cay. When we got there we anchored on the south side of Big Majors to be a little nearer to the Grotto where we wanted to go snorkeling. The grotto is a big hole inside and underneath a little island. There are several entrances to it that have worn through the rock so you can swim through it from the east to the west side of the island. When you swim through the entrance, a big cavern opens up, and there is a hole in the top so there is light inside. The cavern is like a big room inside with a 20 foot rock ceiling and is a little bigger than a double garage. The water near the western entrance is teeming with fish and there is beautiful coral. There are a couple of smaller, underwater tunnels that lead in and out of the grotto, and it is really fun to swim down through the tunnel and back outside. There was a bit of current running through the grotto, and we were glad we were all strong swimmers and could get in and out without any difficulty. There were some people there that couldn’t get in against the current. We went back to the boat and moved it around the point of Big Majors and into a nice anchorage with about 30 other boats. Just after we got the anchor set we saw Gotta Life, Sandpiper and Priority coming in as well. After all the anchors were set we dinghied into "Piggy Beach" to see the pigs and goats. There was only one pig there to welcome us, but she waded out to great the dinghy. There we also a few goats around, but they pretty much stayed up in the woods. Apparently there are some baby pigs around, so we will have to try to come back in again when the babies are around.

March 13 – Big Majors
We did school this morning, and then we moved the boat up a little further in the anchorage to get a little more protection. We pulled up beside a beautiful schooner called Road to the Isles. After we dropped the anchor they called us on the radio as they had seen our Nova Scotia flag - they are from Mahone Bay! It was another warm and windy day, but it was overcast in the morning. After lunch the kids went for a swim around the boat. Later in the afternoon, Gotta Life came over and got the girls and took them into Staniel Cay in their dinghy, and we went over in our dinghy. It is a nice little town. It is tidy and the houses are painted in bright colors. There is a little general store, a yacht club and a little tourist shop selling t-shirts, hats etc. We were able to buy more lettuce J . After we went to town we went back to the grotto and went snorkeling there again. It really is a neat place to snorkel! After supper we went over to Priority with the folks from Gotta Life, Sandpiper and Zola.

March 14 – Big Majors
We had a quiet morning reading and tidying up the boat. Dave made conch horns out of the two conch shells that the girls found in Staniel yesterday. We took a trip into piggy beach and there were lots of pigs today (7 I think). They were kind of aggressive about eating our stale nacho chips, so that took some of the fun out of it, but they were pretty cool to watch. In the afternoon we went to the beach with the folks from Gotta Life, Priority, Zola. We took in the air tube and Brian from Gotta Life towed the kids around on the tube. Kristen had a great time learning to wake board behind Priority’s dinghy. I tried "sledding" behind Zola’s dinghy. A sled is made from a piece of plexiglas (about 1’x1.5’) hinged on a metal frame. The metal frame is attached to a rope towed behind the dinghy. You hold onto the sled and get pulled behind the dinghy, wearing a mask and snorkel. When you want to dive down, you tip the front of the sled down, and it takes you down under water. When you get to the bottom, you level off the sled and zoom along the bottom. When you want to go up, you tip the sled up and you back up to the surface. It is really fun!

March 15 – Big Majors to Cambridge Key.
Dave took a trip into Staniel Cay with Brian to get some water and dinghy gas, but they were out of gas! No big deal, we just wanted to top up our containers before heading back into the exuma land and sea park where there are no facilities. The kids made another trip to piggy beach with Gotta Life. We left around lunch time and had a lovely sail North towards Cambridge Cay. We arrived at Cambridge around 3:00 and picked up the last mooring! Gotta Life got the second to last one… We loaded up the two dinghies with snorkeling gear and headed down to the sea aquarium. Once again, it was beautiful snorkeling with lots of fish. I think we got a little spoiled by the coral at the grotto, because the coral at the sea aquarium was a little disappointing, but the abundance of colorful fish made up for it. When we finished at the sea aquarium, we dinghied over to the sunken plane. The current was almost slack, so it was a lot more fun swimming there than it was when we went a couple of weeks ago. We were able to snorkel down and look all around the plane. It is amazingly well preserved. We were invited over to Gotta Life to eat some of the Mahi Mahi fish that they had caught. It was terrific – even Annie who isn’t much of a fish eater was looking for seconds. Now we are motivated to try to catch one ourselves next time we are out in deep water! There was a shuttle launch this evening. Someone transmitted the count down over the VHF radio and that was kind of neat. We didn’t see too much of the shuttle, but about 5 minutes after take off, there was this strange cloud in the direction of NASA. It glowed white as if the moon was shining through it, but the moon doesn’t rise in that direction, and wasn’t up yet, so it must have had something to do with the shuttle but we aren’t really sure what it was. After we saw that we did see something heading up high into the heavens and we were pretty sure it was the shuttle.

March 16 – Cambridge Key
We did school in the morning. Movin’ On (the mooring hosts that we met on our way south) came over to invite the girls over to have pizza and watch a movie in the evening. In the afternoon we went hiking across the Cay with Gotta Life, and then went snorkeling at the little reef near the mooring field. Snorkeling was great once again! There are so many fish and the coral there is really interesting. Around 6:00, I took the (four) girls over to Movin’ On for pizza, and then we were invited back to Gotta Life for some quiet adult time and to enjoy some of the fish that Sandpiper had caught. Again great food and great company…

March 17 – Cambridge Key to Warderick Wells
Not much was done in the way of school this morning as the girls wanted to make the most of their last morning in Cambridge. We took thank you notes over to Movin’ On and said good bye to them, and then we went swimming in a "blue hole" down near the south end of Cambridge. The blue hole is a deep spot right of the beach, and while there wasn’t the abundance of fish that we see near the coral it was pretty neat. We also saw a couple of rays swimming across the shallows.
We left Cambridge at noon and headed up to Warderick Wells, arriving around 2:30. The girls did a bit of school when I went into the office to get registered.
At 5:30 there was a St. Patrick’s Day get together on the beach. We had planned to take cookies in, but that didn’t work out too well and ended up taking nachos again. It was a good time and we got a chance to meet some new people. We had a nice chat with the folks off Road to the Isles and learned that he had been the skipper of the Bluenose II for 20 years!

Mar 5 - Georgetown Exumas

Hi all - no pictures with this post as we have only limited access to internet. Will update with pictures next time we have good internet.


Feb 20 – Warderick Wells
It was nice to spend a day without thinking about moving. We did school in the morning and in the afternoon we went for a walk on the Cay. First we walked be the blowholes that were really neat. They are holes in the rock that lead down to the water, and when the waves come in they force the air up the hole with great force and a big howling noise. After we left the blowholes we walked up to Boo Boo Hill. Lots of boats leave a carved piece of wood with their boat name on it on Boo Boo Hill, so there is a big pile of driftwood. It was fun to try to find boat name that we knew. We tried to find a nice piece of driftwood to carve to leave for Bird on a Wire, but the driftwood was pretty scarce. We’ll have to get one ready for our return trip. From Boo Boo Hill we carried on to Boo Boo beach and had a nice walk down the coast of the island that faces the sound, and then back across the island to the calmer, bank side of the island. On our way back to the boat we saw a couple of Eagle Rays swimming across the shallows in the middle of the mooring field. At supper time there was a man on the boat next to us who was throwing some wet garbage overboard and some big fish were eating it, so we tried too. There were a couple big fish that were under the boat and they would come darting out to get what we threw over. We didn’t want to spoil the fish too much with human food so we only did it a couple of times.

Feb 21 – Warderick Wells
No school today as it is Saturday! We packed up a lunch and loaded up the dinghy and took the dinghy around to a beach near Emerald Rock. From there, we hiked though another Loyalist Settlement and then across the island to the sound. We walked down along the cliffs and the beach of the sound down to the other end of the island to the Pirate’s Lair and the South Anchorage. It is a beautiful spot. Protected from the sound by Hog Cay, it has more of that beautiful turquoise water. We could see waves crashing over Hog Cay which was spectacular. There is a beautiful sandy beach and a picnic table where we had our lunch. We were visited by two curious little lizards who were happy to enhance their regular diet with some Pringles crumbs. Dave tried to take a close up picture of one of them and it jumped up a couple of inches to bite him on the finger. Fortunately it was only a little lizard and the bite didn’t hurt, but it was certainly startling! After lunch, we were able to catch the eye of the folks on Nicki May and they came to shore for a visit (the wind was howling far too loudly for us to hail them). We had a great chat on the beach as the tide was coming in, and then realized that maybe our dinghy wasn’t that safe way away on the other coast. We had a hurried hike back across the island, and fortunately our dinghy was safe. We had taken our snorkeling things with us, but we decided it was too windy and overcast so we went back to the boat instead.

Feb 22 – Warderick Wells – Cambridge Cay
We left Warderick Wells this morning after settling up at the office at 9:00. We decided to make the long, 10 mile trip from Warderick Wells to Cambridge on the "outside" - on the sound. The Exumas are a chain of little islands or Cays that rise up on the Western edge of the Bahama Bank. On the East side, there is deep, deep water (1000’s of feet) only hundreds of feet from shore. On the West side the Bahama Banks stretch for several miles with deeps of 8 – 15 feet. On the Sound side the prevailing wind blows from the East, and there is very little protection, so it is like sailing on the ocean. There are narrow cuts between the cays where the water flows between the banks and the sound. All the water that travels between the banks and the sound as the tide changes have to flow through these cuts. When the tide is flowing out, it pushes against the waves that are created by the prevailing wind. (Note from Kristen – this causes very large confused seas). It was a bouncy trip through the cut that leads between the bank and the sound, but then we motor sailed down the Sound to the cut that took us into Cambridge Cay. After arrived and picked up a mooring, we thought we go down to go snorkeling at the "Sea Aquarium". We stopped by Calliope on the way and they were headed down there too. It was about a mile away and we wished we had a hard-bottom dinghy and a bigger dinghy motor! (Are any of you reading this saying "I told you so??")
Snorkeling at the Sea Aquarium was amazing! There were so many fish and they would swim all around you. You could reach out and try to touch them, but they would swim away, always keeping about a foot away from us. There were lots of different types of fish, and coral. It was really great! We left there and went to another snorkeling spot where there was a little airplane that had crashed in about 25’ of water. It was amazing to see this little plane lying there under the water. There was a lot of current so if you swam really hard to the tail of the plane you could coast back down to the dinghy in about 30 seconds!

Feb 23 – Cambridge Cay
Back to school today in the morning. I tried to make some white bread and it was a dismal failure – it wouldn’t rise at all. Very frustrating!
We went over to visit Movin’ On, the mooring hosts and they suggested that we should move down a couple of moorings where we would get a little less motion, so we did that.
In the afternoon we went for a hike across the Cay and up a high hill. Off the beach, there was a limestone tower that came up out of the water about 100’. The kids took their kites and had a good time flying them up on the hill. We hiked along the cliff down to the end of the Cay. It was a great walk.
Calliope came over for supper so that was fun. They brought some brownies over and we were able to cook them in the oven. They were great!

Feb 24 – Cambridge Cay
Today was a fairly quiet day with school in the morning and then a hike to the Conch Cay beach in the afternoon.
Feb 25 – Cambridge Cay
Calliope and Movin’ On were going to go on a dinghy adventure to Compass Cay. We were invited along and Movin’ On offered to take the kids in their dinghy to take some of the weight off ours. Our first stop was Racheal’s Bubble Bath. This is a break in the cliff on the sound side and the waves crash through and then tumble down into a big pool that then leads out to the banks. Rachael’s Bubble Bath is most fun when there are lots of big waves, and that means high North East winds. In order to get there you have to cross Conch Cut. We took off with expectations of getting pretty wet in the dinghy and sure enough, buy the time we reached Compass Cay we were thoroughly soaked. Rachael’s Bubble Bath was really cool! It was like swimming in a pool of alka seltzer. The waves would come crashing through the break in the rocks and bubble all around you. It was really fun and we stayed about an hour. Then we headed further down Compass Cay to the marina. Compass Cay is a quiet spot that has to make it’s own water and generate it’s own power. There are a few little cottages and a larger lodge with a couple of rooms. They sell hot dogs and hamburgers for lunch and they were great! They have a school of fish and nurse sharks they stay off the wharf and Movin’ On brought their wet garbage so we could feed them. You are allowed to swim with the sharks when they aren’t being fed, but having spent enough time in the water already today, we stayed dry and reached over the edge and touched the sharks from the wharf. After lunch we took a garbage bag over to the sound side and collected a bag full of flotsam to help Tucker (the owner) keep his beach clean.

Feb 26 – Cambridge Cay
Today was another quiet day with school in the morning and then snorkeling off the little island on the edge of the mooring field in the afternoon. This was another great snorkeling spot with lots of fish and coral to look at.

Feb 27 – Cambridge Cay to Black Point
We said "Good Bye" to Movin On and headed out of Cambridge Cay. Calliope also left, and offered to take our gas can into Sampson Cay to get it filled up for us as there is no fuel in Black Point. We had planned to stop at Big Majors to see the pigs that live on the beach, and go into the Thunder Ball Grotto that has been used in a number of movies, but it was too windy today, so we continued on to Black Point. Black Point is the second largest community in the Exumas with about 300 people. We got anchored off safely and I took the girls to shore to look around. People are really friendly. We were able to pick up some fresh produce, and ordered a couple of loaves of bread to be picked up tomorrow morning. We tried to get on the internet, but it took soooooo long to connected we pretty much gave up. We met Miakado (from Halloween) on shore as well as a few other boaters we had met along the way. People were going to get together around 4:00, so we went back to the boat to get Dave and went back to shore. We had a good visit with some folks, and then went back to Miakado for a little while. It was another late supper!

Feb 28 – Black Point to Lee Stocking
Kristen and I went to shore to get the bread, but it took a long time as Lorraine’s Dad, had a little accident and it is Lorraine’s Mom that makes the bread. We had a great sail down banks but we knew we would have to go out into the sound to get down to Lee Stocking Island. It was a really, really, rough go through Cave Cut as we went out at the time when the tide was moving out into the sound at it’s fastest, and there were still a lot of waves coming off the sound. It was a pretty rough trip for the 8 miles we had to do off shore, and but then it was a fairly smooth trip in through Adderly Cut just north of Lee Stocking Island. We were anchored by around 3:00. We went for a swim and tidied up the boat. We took the kids dragging on the Air Head tube around the anchorage behind the dinghy. Calliope came over for a visit before supper.

March 1 – Lee Stocking to Georgetown
We left Lee Stocking bright and early to get to Georgetown. The wind was on the nose, as expected, but the seas were much calmer than yesterday. Calliope decided to stay at Lee Stocking until the forecasted front comes through so they can sail down to Georgetown instead of motoring. We arrived in Georgetown at 11:30. We didn’t really think we would be able to find Gotta Life in amongst the 300 boats here, but we saw them right away. We couldn’t raise them on the radio, but Sandpiper called us, and then Gotta Life saw us and came over in the dinghy. They were going to the beach to do a science experiment so they took the girls along. We got anchored off Monument Beach (on of three beaches on Stocking Island that people anchor off) The holding was great and it didn’t sound like the front was going to be too bad, so we decided to stay here instead of going to the more protected Red Shanks harbour on the western side of the harbour. Dave and I went over to visit Sandpiper, and then Gotta Life while the girls were at the beach. After supper we all went over to visit on Gotta Life.
March 2 - Georgetown
It was school again this morning, and I made some bread and some cookies. When school was over we took some bread and cookies to Sandpiper and then to Gotta Life. In the afternoon, some of us went hiking on Stocking Island. Dave decided to stay with the boat as the wind had shifted some and we were fairly close to Sandpiper. It was a great hike up to the monument, and then we went across the island to the beach on the Sound side. It is another beautiful white sand beach. Kristen and Erin dug a deep, deep hole in the sand. The rest of us walked down the beach. There were really neat limestone formations and caves. When we got back to the boat, Dave took his turn and went for a hike and got some great pictures.

March 3 – Georgetown
The Georgetown Regatta begins this week, and it kicks off with Children’s Day so today there was a meeting for Children’s Day so we spent most of the morning at the beach making plans for tomorrow. Children’s Day centers around the grade 3 and4’s from the Georgetown Primary school and organizing events for them for a couple hours, finishing up with them watching the boat parade. Dave went to Georgetown and got on the internet and got a few groceries. In the afternoon the kids went to Volleyball beach and Dave and I went back over to Georgetown to get some water. We got really wet coming back in the dinghy with all the water! It got pretty chilly so we closed up the boat and made Banquet Lasagna for supper, with Brownies for desert and then watch Captain Ron that we borrowed from Gotta Life.

March 4 – Georgetown
Children’s Day was a great success! We all went over to Regatta Point in Georgetown at 11:00 and started setting up the games. At 12:45 the Exuma kids were supposed to come over to start with the games. We were a little disappointed when only 9 of them were allowed to come! The grade 3 class had acted really badly yesterday and the principal decided that as punishment they would not be allowed to participate. There were also several grade 4’s that were missing – I wonder if they suffered the same fate. We split them all up into teams (we had planned for 8 teams so that meant 1 per team) and then added in the 20 cruiser kids. Each team also had a team lead, who was either an adult or a couple of the older cruiser kids, so by this time there were 3 or 4 on a team. Someone went back to the school to see if the principal had changed her mind while we got started with the introductions. A few minutes later there was another group of Exuma kids coming towards the park. Originally we thought the principal had relented, only to learn that she decided to send the grade 5’s instead! They were added into the teams so now each team had 5 or 6 participants, as well as the some of the older cruiser kids. We did two sets of stations, with 4 stations in each set, and two teams were at a station at a time. In the first set there was a water balloon toss, a relay race where the kids had to get dressed up in a big t-shirt, big boots and big foul-weather pants, a tennis ball on a spoon race and another relay where they had to fill up a bucket at one end of the course by running across the course with a cup of water on their head. In the second set, there was a station to make posters, a freeze dance, an obstacle course and a tug-of-war. Unfortunately we ran out of time and not all the kids got to do all the second set of stations. Then we took all the kids across the point to watch the boat parade. Each team had cheers, and waved their posters as the boats came by. There was additional excitement when the sailboats started to go aground right in front of the marshalling station! It’s also worth mentioning that it was blowing about 20knots of wind, again, and still (it has blown an average of 20 knots everyday since we have been in the Bahamas). A boat called Pirate entered their dingy in the parade and they had suckers and necklaces for the kids so they were trying to through this stuff from the dinghy up on to the wharf. Up until then we had all the kids sitting nicely on the wharf, and that certainly created some chaos!! At 2:45 we took the kids back to the park and everyone got a t-shirt left over from last year’s regatta and a ribbon. We spent some time tidying up the park, and then headed back across the harbour to Stocking Island and the St. Francis resort where there was a reception for the cruisers. We didn’t get back to the boat until 7:30 so it was another quickly put together supper – tonight’s choice was tuna casserole.

Feb 20 - Exumas

Feb 15 – Nassau
We were welcomed to Nassau with fireworks at 10:00 last night. We’re not sure what they were for but they came from Paradise Island. Maybe they were for Valentines Day, or maybe it was part of the Kelly Clarkson show last night at Atlantis. We did some chores around the boat in the morning. We had an unfortunate occurrence and one of our 160 litre flexible water tanks got a hole in it. We had to drain both of the flexible tanks and then mop up about 20 litres of water out of the bilge. Water is scarce in the Bahamas and you have to pay for it just about everywhere. We were fortunate that at the marina we were staying there was a flat fee for water and we were able to refill the tanks at no additional charge, but we certainly felt badly letting all that precious water go down the drain. We had a spare flexible water tank that had previously leaked around the nozzle, and Dave was able to fix that one and install it.
After all that fun, we packed a lunch and walked across the bridge to Paradise Island and went to the beach. It was packed with tourists and folks off the cruise ships. It was a nice little beach, but there was quite a bit of surf and it was challenging to actually get in the water. Annie buried Kristen in the sand and she had sand and shells in her hair for the rest of the day. After the beach we walked to the Marina at Atlantis to try to better understand their rate structure that ranges from $4/ft to $7/ft. We learned that the slips farthest away from the heart of the complex are a little more exposed to weather but $4, while those in the heart of the basin are $7. The amazing thing was the number of megayachts (100’+) that were tied up in the inner basin

Feb 16 – Nassau
After listening to the weather we decided to stay put for another day. There is supposed to be another cold front coming through today and high winds tonight. There was a light day of school done in the morning and then we went for a walk through Nassau in the afternoon. We got caught in a couple of really heavy rain showers, but the rain is warm so it isn’t too bad. The Disney Cruise ship was in the harbour and we had fun spotting the folks off that boat. There is a street of really high-end shops that are all duty free that target the cruise ships. We also wandered through the straw market where there are lots of little stalls selling crafts. Many of the ladies were sewing patterns on the outside of straw bags. We had a late lunch at a Senor Frogs over looking the harbour, but they had to close up the windows because it was so cold and windy. It was a sort of silly place where they gave everyone balloon hats to wear on their heads and bead necklaces to wear around your neck. After lunch we walked away from the harbour to climb the Queen’s staircase. It is a steep, steep staircase that is cut away in the cliff and leads up to a fort overlooking Nassau Harbour. We missed the entrance and ended up climbing up easy way to the top of the hill and then coming back down the staircase. It is really amazing to think of all those slaves, hundreds of years ago, working in the intense heat, to carve this ravine in the stone and then building the stairway.

Feb 17 – Hawksbill Cay
After talking with Warm Rain yesterday, we decided to follow them about 50 miles south-east of Nassau to Hawksbill Cay. The anchorages here are not like what we are used to at home with nice snug harbours. Most of the anchorages are exposed and it is difficult to figure out where you will be comfortable, as the wind shifts around. It was nice to have someone give us some pointers. It was a great day for a sail with 15-20 knots of wind from the North East and we able to really sail for the first time since who knows when. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to pull the mainsail up as the halyard that we need to pull it up has slipped out of it’s track at the top of the mast (again). We were still able to go over 5 knots most of the way, but with a 50 mile day, starting at 9:00 that was going to put us into the Hawksbill kind of late so around 3:00 we put the motor on to get us up to 6 knots. We were able to drop the anchor and get it set first time at Hawksbill which was a relief as sometimes we have a hard time getting the anchor to hold. It was around 5:30 when we got settled and we quickly dropped the dinghy in the water so we could explore the beautiful white sandy beach before the sun went down. The water was that beautiful aqua color that you see in pictures – it looks just like what you expect for the Bahamas! When we got to shore, Warm Rain was already there, and a few minutes later Nicki May came in too so we had a nice visit on shore. We are inside the Exuma Land and Sea park so you aren’t allowed to take anything – no fishing, no conching, no shelling, so we weren’t even allowed to take the shells we found back to the beach. We had a late supper and went off to bed.

Feb 18 - Hawksbill Cay
After much debate, we decided to stay in Hawksbill another day. We had hoped to get a mooring at Warderick Wells at the park headquarters, but they didn’t have any available for today. The forecast didn’t sound too bad, and there was still lots of exploring to do. Nicki May decided to stay too, but Warm Rain moved on. After a quick day of school, we went exploring in the dinghy and walked over to the other side of the island. The views are just beautiful here. When we got back to the boat there was quite a swell coming into the anchorage and it was pretty rocky-rolly on the boat. We decided to move north a mile or so to another anchorage with hopes that it would offer a little more protection. There were mooring balls there too, and it was supposed to be a windy night so we thought that might be a good idea. We had a hard time getting the mooring ball for some reason, and dropped the boat
hook (again). I got in the dinghy and rescued the boat hook and then passed the mooring line up to Dave on the boat.
The kids thought it would be fun to spend some time playing "Swallows and Amazons" and set up a camp on the island by themselves so I took them to shore with some blankets to make a tent. The beach we went to had a trail that led up to a Loyalist settlement with the remains of 10 houses built in 1785. It is sort of weird to think that this settlement didn’t survive, while Loyalist settlements in Nova Scotia did survive, when it seems to us that the climate there is so harsh. I left the kids on the beach for about an hour, and then Dave and I went back to pick them up and we explored the Loyalist settlement some more. Then we went back to the boat. The motion was pretty bad, so we decided to go for a swim to get off the boat for a few more minutes. I got really cold swimming for some reason – must have been the combination of too much sun and then too much water, so Dave made a great supper of spaghetti and meat balls.

Feb 19 – Warderick Wells – Exuma Land and Sea Park Headquarters.
We had a really bumpy night as the boat was heading into the wind, and the waves were coming at us from the side. It must have had something to do with the tide as it seemed to getting better and worse through the night. We decided to leave around 8:00 and hope we would get a mooring at the park today. If not, we would go a little farther south to one of two other places that seemed to be more sheltered. As it worked out, there was a mooring for us today and we were all settled by about 11:00. There are about 20 boats here in this beautiful protected harbour. The center of the harbour is a shoal sandbank of white sand and then the channel around the edge of the harbour is beautiful shades of blue so it is really beautiful. It was so wonderful to get out of the waves into somewhere peaceful. Of the 20 boats, there are three other boats here that were tied up with us in the Dismal Swamp – pretty amazing. The Dove, Zingara and Calliope are all here. When we went to the office to register we saw huge land hermit crabs. Also there are lots of little grey and yellow birds that love to eat sugar right out of your hand. There is a group of coral heads right off the office and we went snorkelling in the afternoon. Kristen was a little nervous at first to go snorkelling near the coral, and she thought she would stay in the dinghy. Dave and I finally talked her into giving it a try and she was amazed. It really is just like swimming in an aquarium. There are so many little fish swimming around. We saw purple fan coral and we also saw a lobster. In the evening there was a pot luck so we went over and we got our blankets back from Calliope – remember? We left them in Oriental back at Halloween and Annie from Calliope picked them up for us!!
So now for the update on amazing technology. We are here at this little island with no power except what they get from the generator or the sun, no roads, no cars, no stores. They do have satellite though, and through the satellite hookup they can offer (for a small fee) internet to the boaters, so here I am, by this little island, sitting on our boat, sending this over satellite to update the blog. We were also able to call home using Skype. The kids have been using MSN. This is not the world that Christopher Columbus sailed in!!

Feb 15 - Nassau Bahamas

This is just a quick blog entry to let folks know that we have safely crossed the gulf stream and we are in Nassau in the Bahamas. We left from Marathon at 11:00am on Thursday, Feb 12. It was a bit sloppy for the first few hours of our trip. We saw a sea turtle as we crossed the reef that is a few miles off the Florida Keys. The seas calmed down as we got into the gulf stream. The water is a beautiful dark blue. We arrived at South Riding Rock that is on the edge of the Bahama Bank at 3:00am. We could make out the rocks with the aid of the radar and the moon. We checked out the chart and it looked like there would be enough water for us to continue onto the banks, with nothing less than 10'. As the sun rose we looked over the side of the boat and could see bottom! The water is so clear and such a beautiful blue. Over the course of the morning the girls kept watching the bottom and saw many starfish, some normal fish and a shark circling around! At one point we had eight dolphins swimming with the boat. We had been in touch with the folks on Side By Side, a catamaran with two kids on it through the night and followed their lead in a decision to anchor near Chubb Cay. We had a bit of a time finding a good place to anchor, but we were finally set around 3:30. The swimming and snorkeling was great. Marc and Sabrina kayaked over from Side by Side to give us some Mahi Mahi that they had caught. In the morning we had a quick swim and then pulled up anchor and set off for Nassau. We arrived in Nassau in the Nassau Yacht Haven Marina by around 3:00. We were cleared in through customs within about 30 minutes. Nikki May, another boat we talked to as we traveled across the gulf stream was already here. Shortly after we arrived, folks from another boat came over to ask about our Nova Scotia flag. They are from Baddeck! The boat is Warm Rain, and their mooring in Baddeck is very close to ours, but we had never met them before. It sure is a small world!

Rudder the Sea Dog Oct 2000 - Feb 2009

Rudder came to us back in December 2000. He was a strong brute of a puppy and was cute as a button. The cutest of all Chocolate Lab puppies. We learned many things that winter including the fact that getting a puppy in December in Nova Scotia means house training in the winter with snow and such and that isn’t a good idea. People told us that the best thing to do with a puppy was to keep them in a crate most of the time. He could sleep in there and it would become his den. A safe place he’d love to be. Ha! He whined and he cried for hours that first night, and the second, and the third. We tried everything to be good and disciplined dog parents, but eventually we learned to accept that Rudder would sleep in bed with us. We kept him in his crate when we went to work. He learned how to squeeze out of the sides of the crate. We put clips on the side of the crate. He still got out of the crate. We learned that crating isn’t the best thing for all dogs! For a lab, he actually didn’t chew all that much stuff. He left the baseboards alone, and the furniture. I do remember him ruining my good leather boots, but for folks with a puppy we didn’t loose too much. Accept maybe our sanity. There was more than one occasion when either Dave or I had had enough of him. It was time to put him down. It was time to find a new home for him. Once I called a dog-trainer that bred labs, looking for some moral support, or maybe some suggestions on what to do. She said that she euthanized all the Chocolate Labs that were born at her kennel as they are a genetic mutation and they are unstable. Thanks. But we persevered – we are very stubborn people. He went to obedience class, not once, but twice. He spent most of the time alone with me on the stage when all the other dogs were working nicely together in the gym. He just couldn’t get over the excitement of seeing those other dogs! Obedience class was all about positive re-enforcement and he was supposed to get a treat for everything he did right. He was so over-the-top to get that treat that it created bad behaviour and we had to stop giving him treats. Several years later, Dave ran into the dog trainer, and mentioned that Rudder was our dog. She asked if we still had him, and when Dave said we did, she said "He sure was lucky to get you as a family". For a couple of years we had to stop taking him for walks where there would be other people. He was so unpredictable. He could be great, but every once in a while he would get really upset – either excited or scared. One thing that would set him off was if someone was carrying a large bag… And of course, there was always the challenge when he saw another dog…
Then came the allergy years. When Rudder was about two, he started chewing all the fur off his feet. The vet put him on steroids to stop the itching, and while that did mitigate the itching, it created a whole new set of behaviours. In hindsight, we think some of the bad behaviour on walks and his over-the-top excitement about everything was because of the steroids. It also made him obsessed with food. You couldn’t leave a bread crust on the counter for 30 seconds, even if you were in the kitchen. He would jump up on the kitchen table if the crust of a peanut butter sandwich were left there. Once he ate a whole basket of peaches, pits and all, that I had carefully put in the sink so he wouldn’t eat them. I can’t count the number of times he would pull on the corner of a bag that didn’t get properly closed in the cupboard to get the cupboard door open. We lost countless loaves of bread, and more than one bag of Halloween candy that way. When he was feeling particularly sorry for himself, eating socks or underwear seemed to be on his agenda… We got pretty meticulous at making sure everything was put away, carefully, every day.
When Rudder was about seven, the steroids started to deteriorate his muscles and that had to stop. He was put on prescription dog food (think $$’s), and a new medicine that was used in transplants in humans (think more $$’s) but he did get better for a while. Then he got worse again and we limped him along until the summer with hopes that life at sea would be good for him.
You’re probably wondering why we would bother. Rudder was such a kind and loving dog to our family and we had so much fun with him. Probably our favourite thing to do with Rudder was to swim. He was the best swimmer I ever saw. When you were in the water with him you could grab his tail and he would pull you around. I’m sure he could swim a mile if he needed to. He was obsessed with pulling things in the water. We have a raft at the cottage and he would spend 10 minutes at a time trying to pull it into shore.
Rudder was having a great time on the trip. He got to spend all his time with his people. He got to meet lots of other people and everyone was nice to him. People rarely scared him anymore. He still got really excited when he saw other dogs, particularly golden retrievers, but he could walk right by some dogs without a second glance. His allergies were getting under control. We could have other people over to the boat and after Rudder said "hello" for a couple of minutes he would go off and lie down.
On Thursday morning we were doing our final trip to shore before we headed off to the Bahamas. Dave and Annie took Rudder to a little fenced area where he could go off leash and run around. Kristen and I took the bikes to the grocery store. There was a small gap in the gate in the dog run area and Dave and Annie tied it together with two straps. They took him down to the other end of the run and took him off his leash. He bolted right down the run and over the straps and was off to find Kristen and I. Dave took off after him but once Rudder had something in his head there was no stopping him. He ran to the highway and didn’t see us down the sidewalk so he took off across the road. He was struck by a little truck. When Dave carried him back to the sidewalk he was still alive. There was no blood. He died about five minutes later. There were three sheriff cars that stopped and helped. Someone went back to the park to get Annie. The animal shelter came to get Rudder and took Dave, Annie and Rudder down to find Kristen and I at the grocery store. Rudder is going to be cremated in Marathon in about a week and they are going to keep his ashes for us until we get back to Florida.
We left Marathon right away as we just couldn’t stand the thought of staying there.

Marathon - Feb 11

February 10 – Marathon

Well, we’re still in Mararthon. We’re hoping there will be a weather window on Thursday or Friday for us to get to the Bahamas, but it’s not looking as good today as it did yesterday. Time will tell. In the meantime we are doing our final provisioning. We have been keeping busy here in Marathon, and there never seems to be enough time in the day. A week ago Saturday there was a marine flea market and Dave found our exact depthsounder/knotmeter rig brand new in a box – this was something we’d been looking for, as sometimes the display doesn’t work on ours. Anyway he was able to get the whole thing for around $100 which was awesome!! He came home and had the display replaced in about 10 minutes and now we have replacements for both of the thru-hull fittings for depth and speed in case one fails. On Sunday we went to the Dockside Bar/Restarant to listen to a band in the afternoon. The highlight was a 91-year-old man that came on stage and played an awesome piece on the trumpet and then sang a song. He was great! It was hard to believe he was 91. That evening we went to the marina where they had a TV projector to watch the super bowl. It was a great game - we were a little disappointed that the Cardinals didn’t win, but they certainly gave it a good shot. It was a far closer game than we expected. There was a huge storm that blew through here last Monday night. There were wind gusts up to 40 knots and there was lots of thunder and lightning. Apparently there was hail in some parts of Marathon! That doesn’t happen very often! On Tuesday the kids went to home-school PE (physical education) that is put on by the town. On Wednesday we went to the pot-luck at the marina but forgot to take plates, so that didn’t work too well! It was a cold and wet trip in the dinghy as the harbour was really rough. There are often about 20 kids there, ranging in age from 3 – 18. On Friday we rented a car and went to Key West. It was a long day with lots of walking an rip-sticking. It is a neat place to visit, but there certainly is no need to go and spend a week there on a boat! On Saturday we drove up to Miami and Fort Lauderdale and did some final provisioning at Walmart and got more of Rudder’s prescription dog food. On Sunday, Annie went to the Art Festival with Penny off Carpe Diem. I took Kristen down to the Turtle Hospital where we learned about all the sea turtles that live in the Keys and some of the injuries and diseases they get. They had about 40 sea turtles in the hospital. About a dozen are permanent residents, but most will be released back into the wild. Dave ran some errands with the car. Yesterday morning Dave returned the car and did some laundry and the kids did their schoolwork. In the afternoon Annie met a friend (Kashara) in the park and I took Kristen back to the Turtle Hospital to find out about a turtle that we had heard was tangled in some fishing gear on the reef. Fortunately it was fine and they had been able to get freed up. We met Dave at West Marine and then went back to get Annie. It was really wet travelling in the dinghy (again). Today I went up the mast to free up the Main halyard that had slipped out of its pulley and to bring down the anchor light so we can see if we can get an LED replacement so it doesn’t use so much power. We have more errands to run this afternoon and tomorrow, and then hopefully we’ll be out of here on Thursday or Friday.
Once (If) we get the Bahamas, there will be less access to the internet, so I’m not sure how often I will be updating the blog – I will try to do it every couple of weeks.