Friday, February 17, 2006

Arrived Marsh Harbor, Abacos around 2:20 pm.  "Island Girl" was ready for us so we moved aboard and unpacked.  The office received a phone call from Emma (our cell phones don't work over here) and she said she would call back in ten minutes.  We went up to the office to wait for her call.  News was a severe storm hit home  in New York, power was out, large pine tree had been uprooted in our front yard.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Spent the morning making credit card calls back to New York to try to get news and resolve the storm problems.  Went shopping in the morning for a griddle, and fresh Bahamian bread.  Stopped at a phone store and purchased a Bahamian cell phone with $50 worth of phone card minutes.  Much cheaper than international credit card calls ($39 each even just to leave a voice mail message!).  Bought groceries, beer and wine and left the marina late in the afternoon.  Motored over to Man O War Cay and took a mooring.  Beautiful, quite, well protected mooring field.  Went ashore and visited Auburys Boat Yard where they make boats.  Called Ron Bartlett in New York.  He went over to check our house, power had finally come on, furnace working, all is OK.  Met Patrick and Mindy Ladd from Port Orange, FL.  They are staying at the Hope Town Harbour Lodge and had rented an Aubury 20 launch (sweet boat) for the week. 

View from our mooring in Man O War Cay

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Left Man O War Cay, raised sails.  Only 4 knots of wind but we still made 3.5 knots.  Anchored for the afternoon off Foul Cay.  Dinghied to the Atlantic side where there is a reef that is part of a protected park.  Tied the dinghy to one of the moorings and did some snorkeling.  Superb reef, lots of coral and fish.  We  saw blue angelfish, yellowtail snappers, seargent majors, fairy basslets, stoplight parrotfish, elknorn coral, finger coral, pillar coral, tube coral, common sea fans, venus sea fans and a whole lot more I can't even identify.  Motored over to Great Guana Cay and anchored off Little Joe's Point for the night.  Very quiet, no other boats nearby.  Patrick and Mindy stopped by on their way back to Hope Town.

Sailing the Sea of Abaco

Monday, February 20, 2006

Left Little Joe's Point late morning and raised sails.  9-10 knots wind from the SE.  Made 5.5-6.0 knots.  Fabulous sail around Sea of Abaco, practicing tacking the boat and playing with sails.  Boat handled easily.  Lots of fun.  We love this boat!  Hated to take down the sails but it was getting late.  Checked out an anchorage just north of Man O War Cay harbor.  Nice little anchorage but already full.  Picked up mooring in Man O War again.  Took dinghy to shore and shopped.  Found a shop that sells Androsia, a batik fabric that's made on the island of Andros in the Bahamas - of course I bought some. 

I love sailing this boat!

So does Alan!

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Motored to Hope Town on Elbow Cay and picked up a mooring.  Went ashore to the Hope Town Harbour Lodge where Alan's sister, Donna, and her daughter, Annalee were spend,ing the week.  Brought them out to see "Island Girl".  Went to the beach, swam, Donna and Annalee snorkeled.  Alan sat at the beach bar (he wasn't feeling well this afternoon).  Had dinner at Captain Jack's with Donna and Annalee - good food and lots of fun.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Went ashore in the a.m. to buy spiney lobster tails at the fish market but they didn't have any today so we decided on shrimp for dinner.  Took Donna and Annalee for an afternoon sail.  Nice 10 knot wind and we made up to 7.3 knots at one point.  Had dinner aboard "Island Girl" with Donna and Annalee.  Alan is still not feeling well.

Annalee and Donna - Dinner aboard Island Girl

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Had planned to check out some of the southern anchorages, Tahiti beach, etc. but Alan is still not quite well so we decided it best not to spend the night at anchor but to head back to Marsh Harbor.  Took the long way back though and did check out Tahiti beach and some beautiful anchorages that we'll have to visit next time.  Arrived back at Marsh Harbor in late afternoon. 

Friday, February 24, 2006

Spent a lot of time with Gillian, the new operations manager at the Moorings, talking about the boat.  Did some gift shopping and started to pack.  We have to be off the boat by 10:00 am tomorrow and have an 11:20 flight back to West Palm.  Alan is starting to feel better but still not quite up to par.

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Caught our 11:20 flight back to West Palm then drove across the state to Cape Coral.  We'll spend the next couple of days cleaning, going to the laundromat, and resupplying and then head down to Fort Myers beach for a couple of weeks.  We'll be back in Marsh Harbor on March 18.  We're looking forward to a charter for that week, Joan and John de Regt (our son-in-laws aunt and uncle) and their friends, Ken and Linda Leiby. 

Saturday, March 4, 2006

Visited our friends George and Florie Palange (retired teachers who worked with Alan) at their new home in Port Charlotte on Monday.  Had a lovely afternoon, lunch and nice walk through the preserve where they live.  Saw an eagles nest with two young eagles and one of the adults - really cool. We're back in the mooring field at Salty Sam's Marina in Fort Myers Beach.  Been walking the beach every day, and just plain relaxing. It's officially "spring break" on the beach so there's plenty of interesting activity to watch.  The local newspapers actually lists the dates of break for some of the larger colleges/universities that we can expect to see students from!  Alan seems to be cured of whatever it was that he had - sure hope it doesn't come back.  He's been doing some work cleaning the stainless on "Mystic Jitney" and I've been doing some beading.