Christmas Day at Emerald Bay!

    Hope you had a great Christmas!  The holidays are flying by!  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving on Bonnie and Steve's amazing St. Francis catamaran, Paradigm Shift with 4 other H2O (Hole #2 Occupants!)  couples!   

     Marathon friends Pam and Rick on Forever, are still at Emerald Bay Marina, which is part of Sandals resort and were able to arrange day passes for us!  What a place!  We had a wonderful time and met 3 new couples!  It was perfect weather!   We rented a car and Libby was happy to hang out in the car with walks between our incredible meals!  What a place!

      We actually did try to leave Georgetown Dec.11, but Conch Cut was too rolly, so we anchored at Hamburger Beach for 10 days and loved it!  We felt like cruisers again being at anchor!  After much deliberation, we decided to delay our trip to Santo Domingo, until the weather's more settled!  We're just having too much fun!

Hurricane Season OVER!

     It's been a great summer, and the time has flown by!   Daren's in Missouri for the weekend, finally getting to visit our good friends and former neighbors before it gets too cold there!    He'll be home tomorrow evening....hooray!

    After spending July near Chat 'n' Chill, we moved to a more protected mooring in Hole # 2 on Stocking Island, near the St. Francis Resort.  It worked out really well, because Libby and I take a path over to Honeymoon Beach twice a day to swim.  There's also a 5 mile long ocean-side beach, where Libby likes to dig up crabs, but the waves make it hard to swim there!  About a month ago, we met a cruising family on a big ketch, Windhover, who are heading for the southern side of the Dominican Republic, too.  They invited us to the Anglican church and Daren and I both loved it!   It's very old, with a beautiful stained glass window, amazing choir, and we sing traditional hymns!   Henk, Susi, and their son Teddy work at the library, so we've been taking our picnic lunches there after church!  

      The weather's been gorgeous for all but a few rainy days all summer, and we've had Hole #2 pretty much to ourselves, surrounded by 16 Canadian boats.  A few of their owners have arrived in the last week, and I was invited to a party by Michelle and Dan on Sea Monkey, a neighboring trawler.  The party grew and was moved to the St.Francis Resort, where we had a great evening!   I met a lovely couple who own one of the St.Francis catamarans and they charter it for 3 couples. Bonnie and I took our dogs to the ocean beach this morning, and I got a tour of their boat.  Oh MY!  It's truly amazing, with 4 staterooms, each with shower or bath!  Go to www.sailparadigmshift.com if you'd like a look at the layout...nice photo gallery, too!  The owners of the St.Francis resort are from South Africa and their catamarans are built there.  They're VERY seaworthy, since they sail them up to Georgetown and then to the Miami boat show and the one in Annapolis.   

      Daren's bringing our new reverse osmosis water-maker when he comes home tomorrow, which means we'll never run out of water...anywhere!   Hooray!  He plans to take the month of December to move the boat down to Santo Domingo, where he will continue commuting to Modesto.  My sister Barb is planning to rent a house down there and bring her standard poodle, Ollie to play with Libby!   Rents are rumored to be very cheap there, so we hope to have lots of company this winter!

     

A Trip to the States

     Before we left Missouri in search of our boat 3 yrs ago, we promised our neighbors we'd attend their final annual Family Reunion in 2014, no matter where we were!  Who knew we'd be in Georgetown, Bahamas after so many changes in our sailing plans!  
     Sadly, just one of us could go, since Miss Liberty can't fly commercially...especially in July!   Daren volunteered to watch her on the boat, so I flew out of Georgetown on July 9-13th.   A whirlwind trip indeed!  Good friends Don and Cheryl picked me up in Kansas City about 7 pm and drove the 2.5 hours back to their house in Warsaw, after dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant that even had gluten-free pasta!  
      We had a wonderful visit!  I'd forgotten how beautiful Missouri is in the summertime....SO green!   Cheryl drove me around the next day, and I stocked up on gluten-free foods from Wal-mart.  The weather was perfect and it was fun to see the library ladies and neighbors from our Flying Dogs Farm days!  I even got a real haircut in town!   Friday night, Don took Cheryl and me to see a fun movie in Sedalia, Jersey Boys, about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons!   Afterwards, we stopped at a real Dairy Queen for sundaes!  It was such a nostalgic and memorable evening, I felt like I was back in high school!!  
       The reunion in Fristoe on Saturday was great fun, too!  Lots of terrific food, friends, and entertainment!   Cindy and Jeff have 3 new horses, and gave rides to the kids.  I even sat on one and didn't get thrown off!   Daren posted the pictures to prove it!
      The next day, Sunday, I had to fly back home, and Don and Cheryl took me to Springfield Saturday night, where we got to see daughter Holley and stayed at Cheryl's Dad's house.   The visit was over so fast, it was like a blink in time!   But I'm so glad I got to go!  
       Daren had to go back to work in Modesto on July 15, so we had just one day together before he left for 2 weeks.  I'm SO glad we have these iPads to communicate with Face Time!  He's on his way home and will be back tomorrow for 2 weeks.  Hooray!  Libby is ecstatic!   It's too bad we didn't figure this out 2 yrs ago!  Oh well, no regrets!   We had a good time there, as well.  

Thank God and Garmin we're Here! Georgetown, Exumas!

    We left Nassau Harbour Club Saturday morning, after a wonderful evening with our neighbor John, on Hanco, a lovely Hatteras, the night before, at Señor Frog's!  We had a great 40 mile sail over to Shroud Cay,  part of the Exumas Land and Sea Park, with moorings.  How nice not to bother anchoring or worry about dragging or damaging coral.   Sunday, we had a nice run to Black Point, on Great Guana Cay.   But Monday was the last and longest day to Georgetown, going straight into the wind and tacking every 2 hours for 12 1/2 hours to Monument Beach.  We couldn't have come in at night if not for the Garmin ap on our iPad!!  Truly impressive technology that shows exactly where you are and where the rocks are...where to zig and zag!

     Tuesday, July 1st, we went another mile to Gaviota Bay, where we finally caught up to Sue and Al's boat, Wind Dancer.   We had a great lunch at Chat and Chill with Sue, right in front of our boats.  Sue and I took a water taxi across the harbour to the Government Dock, where she showed me around town to Exuma Market and Batelco, where I signed up for internet service.  Nicki couldn't've been nicer, and we loved the sign on the wall that said "Treat others as you would like to be treated!"  If only everyone lived by this paraphrase of the Golden Rule!   I love this country!

      We were hoping to see Al tomorrow, for 4th of July, but he was just admitted to a Houston hospital for at least 10 days, because of a MRSA infection in his arm!  The doctors thought he'd been bitten by a brown recluse spider, but this is actually worse!  Please pray for his complete and speedy healing!  

      We are signed up for a month on this mooring, and it's really a great spot.  Libby loves the beautiful beach and jungle trail at the end that leads to Sand Dollar Beach, although there are no sand dollars, just picnic tables, which are a nice touch!    

      Hope you have a wonderful Independence Day tomorrow!  Bahamian Independence Day is July 10th, so I hope that means fireworks!

Nassau!

We finally left Marathon after nearly 2 yrs last Sunday, and had a great crossing to Morgan's Bluff, arriving there Tuesday afternoon.  Daren had no trouble clearing customs and immigration there and they couldn't have been nicer!  What a great welcome and Libby's all set to run the beaches at long last!  

     We left Wednesday morning and made it to the west end of New Providence Island, at Lyford Cay...very upscale neighborhood, but full of flies!  Ugh!  Worst thing was realizing we didn't  have a fly swatter onboard, and had to flail around the boat to chase them out!  Good exercise, I suppose!  : ) 

     Yesterday, we came around to Nassau, and kept going, anchoring at Athol Island, so we'd have a quick trip to the Exumas, but a nasty squall came up and we decided to go back to an old favorite marina, Nassau Harbour Club, where we tied up just before they closed at 6 pm.   We met nice neighbors, Laura and Rich, on a big Hatteras, Forever Young, who gave me 4 laundry tokens, so I was thrilled to wash all the wet things we had!  We had to go out to eat, so walked over to the Poop Deck, where we had a lovely, albeit expensive fish and lobster dinner!  We'd planned to leave this morning, but didn't leave early enough, and the weather 's not so great anyway.  So, tomorrow we'll head to Norman's Cay, Sunday to Big Farmer's Cay, and Monday,we should reach Georgetown.  We are thoroughly enjoying our trip so far, thanks to your continued prayers, and will have an update and internet in Georgetown.  Right now, we're at the Starbuck's across from the marina, at a great shopping center with a Bed Bath and Beyond, that had flyswatters! 

Man Plans and God Laughs!

   We came SO very close to leaving for Georgetown this weekend, but missed our weather window by just a couple days!    Saturday would've been ideal for motoring across the Gulf Stream, but we just weren't ready yet!  Now the wind's blowing straight out of the east, which is where we need to go for over 200 miles to Nassau before we turn south.  The difference in speed could be 2 knots compared to 6, so last night, we decided Daren should go back to work earlier than planned and come home for a longer stretch of days off next time he gets home, June 17th. 

   We are very disappointed, of course, but Daren just had too many projects to complete when he got home last Tuesday.   On the bright side, we now have a working wind generator and brand new auto-pilot and a literal boat-load of food!  : )

    Meredith and her husband Brian had their baby on May 13th at their home in London.  All went well, and my sister Barb is visiting them now.  Lina Bird is the first grand-baby/great niece in our family, so this is a big event!

      Last night, I spoke with my sister Judy in Pensacola, and am hoping she'll come visit Libby and me while we're waiting for Daren to get back.  That'd be great fun!   We had such a nice visit with Mary!   

     We are SO anxious to get to the Bahamas and we know we will...eventually!!  As Daren says, "We're a long time leaving, but we'll be a long time gone!"

      

3 Days on the Hard!

      I'm so happy to report that we finally got the boat hauled and bottom painted while Daren was home last time!   Out Monday morning and back in the water last Thursday, May 1st.  Thanks to diver Bobby the Viking scrubbing the bottom regularly,  it was remarkably clean, and we were pleasantly surprised to see the bottom in such great shape!   No blisters or barnacles, and minimal damage to the fin keel, which Daren fixed with carbon fiber.  It was a very dog-friendly yard, on the bay side, Keys Boat Works.  We were able to stay on the boat at night, and Libby went up in a bosun's chair Monday night, but was unwilling to come down the next morning!   The yard manager brought a forklift and pallet over to provide an elevator for her!   I wish I'd had the camera!  It was pretty funny and I was impressed with his kindness!   Once we found her life vest, she was fine being hoisted up and down.   There was even another German Shorthaired Pointer to keep her company,  Captain Snoop.
      We had to raise the waterline 5 inches, because we keep putting things on the boat!  Sue and Al are waiting for us in Georgetown, (for nearly 2 months!) and need their mainsail repaired, so I packed my sewing machine.  Daren's found all kinds of canned food online, like grass-fed meat, cheddar cheese, and best of all, New Zealand butter, for all those lobsters!  Yum!
      Saturday was my birthday, and although I was hoping we'd be in the Bahamas by now, we had a great visit from long-time boat friends, Tom and Jodie, who drove down from Stuart!   Tom's birthday's just a week before mine, so we had a great celebration!
      The big family news is that niece Meredith and husband Brian are expecting a baby any day now.  My sister Barb is flying out to London tomorrow for a couple weeks.  We don't know the baby's name yet, but will very soon!
        Daren's decided to commute from Georgetown for a month or so, then on to Dominican Republic, and we think we'll finally leave when he gets home May 20th.  We shall see...
       
     

Almost Ready!

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and great 2014 so far! We're shrinking our to-do list, and are pretty much down to the stuff we just have to buy; another solar panel (flexible & fits on the bimini), de-salinizer, small generator, and new sails (on order)! Daren's always working on boat projects when he's home. He pulled the wheel out of the cockpit and put in a lovely new tiller, which gives us a lot more room. He moved the 6 shrouds (cables that stabilize the mast on the sides) to the outside of the boat from the middle of the deck, which gives us more room to walk around. He installed new stainless steel davits he had made in CA. We still haven't hauled the boat to paint it yet, but are thinking of March, just before we finally leave Marathon! I know! You'll believe it when you see it! Daren's still very happy at MVE, so he's having a hard time leaving them. As much as Libby and I miss him when he's gone for 2 weeks, there are a couple of advantages. I can read late at night, or rearrange things, which makes a big mess! I just got rid of a bunch of dishes so we'll have more room for food! There are lots of boats in the harbor right now, most waiting for good weather to go to the Bahamas. It's been pretty cold here for about a week, but today we're back to the 70's, and a few boats left today! My younger sister Mary's coming down for a visit Feb.8-10. She'll be in Ft. Lauderdale after a Caribbean cruise, so we're very excited about seeing her before she heads back to Denver.