Lets face it, a blog filled with good news is boring. No one wants to read about the great weather we are having, the fresh seafood we are eating, or the wonderful time that we are having with our friends here. If that is all I ever put down, no one would be anxious to log on and check out our blog!I In fact you may decide that you don't even like us much anymore.

I finally have something exciting to tell you about....... We survived our first direct hit by a waterspout/tornado! When you are on a dock and don't plan on travelling any time soon, you really don't pay much attention to weather forecasts or listen to any marine weather on the VHF. We had just finished quite a few days of record breaking temperatures and did know that we would have our first real rainfall since we have been here on Wednesday and then a cold front was suppose to move through on Thursday (American Thanksgiving) which would bring us cooler temperatures by Friday. Since we were having such nice weather, Bruce and I had put up the sails on Tuesday and the bimini and dodger on Wednesday. We luckily decided not to put any of the side panels on as the weather had not turned cold enough to want shelter from the cooler breezes. As is the case most nights, we went to bed with the companion way wide open and the deck covered with various boating paraphernalia. We had the air conditioning on so all of our other hatches were closed and thankfully locked shut. This is not always the case but for some reason, Bruce had checked them all before he went to bed. I woke up about 2 in the morning and there was lightning everywhere. I love a good storm so decided that I would sit in the cockpit and watch the storm for a while. The lightning was so intense, I quickly changed my mind, unplugged the computer and went back to bed. Because our mast is so high, I am always worried about a lightning strike. About an hour later Bruce and I were both up as the rain had started pounding and the thunder and lightning were much closer together. We closed the companionway door as the rain was now blowing in the entrance way, checked for any leaks and once again went back to bed. We hadn't been back in bed very long when we both head a very loud crash. Bruce thought that we had been hit by another boat. We both sprang out of bed. Bruce was just getting his foul weather jacket on to go out on deck when we felt this incredible gust of wind. It felt like the wind was trying to suck Con El Viento right out of the water. We were watching out our windows trying to see if any of our lines have come loose or the poles that we were tied to were strong enough to hold a 18 ton boat, in hurricane force winds, without breaking. What seemed an eternity, but was probably only a couple of minutes, and then the worst was over. Bruce went out on deck and I turned on the VHF and tuned into the local Boot key Harbor station to see what else was happening in the harbor. The chatter was unbelievable. Boats had been knocked over on their sides, losing everything off their counters and out of their cupboards. One boat had come off their mooring ball and was heading toward a cement seawall, bouncing off numerous boats along the way, dinghies were overturned, gas cans. cockpit cushions, kayaks and hatch covers blown off boats. One trimaran in the mooring field flipped completely upside down and still sits that way in the harbor. Luckily no one was on it. On shore, trees were uprooted, lawn furniture tossed into neighboring yards, our shed was completely destroyed and our neighbor's window blew out. The local drinking establishment, Dockside, was completely destroyed except for the bar and many of the pilings that had boats tied to them snapped. This must have been very scary for the people living on boats there. Our boat did not sustain any damage, even the canvas that we had just put up the day before came through it without a tear. The only thing we lost but later recovered was the cushion off of our back bench. Chuck, the owner of the boat beside us, plucked it out of the water for us. We lost all power for a couple of hours but by daybreak it was back on again. The rains lasted all through Wednesday and there are areas still flooded 3 days after the storm. The next morning there were dinghies everywhere picking up debris from the water to return to their owners. We also found out that the winds had hit 102 knots which is about 117 mph, and there were 2 reported waterspouts that hit the area.

Wednesday's weather was really not great for cleanup but everyone pitched in and by Thursday, Dockside was open for it's annual Turkey dinner for cruisers. We had planned a dinner party in the backyard on Wednesday evening as our friend's daughter and boyfriend, who had been visiting for the previous week, were leaving the next morning to go back home. We had ordered a big bag of fresh stone crab, shrimp and steak so instead of having it in the backyard, we moved it onto the boat. It was a bit crowded but we're boaters so we are used to doing things in small spaces! By Thursday we had a lot to be thankful for and we celebrated the American Thanksgiving with 2 of our Canadian friends from Penetang who we met last year around this time. We went to the Island Restaurant where they served us a whole turkey, carved at our table with all the trimmings and then bagged all the leftovers to take home with us for Turkey sandwiches the next day.

Now for all the boring stuff! I can't believe that we have been gone for almost a month. Soon we will be thinking of flying home for Christmas. We still have lots of work to do but it is slowly getting done and we are really not that interested in working everyday, all day. We have a new water heater on order and it should be here by next week so have removed the old one in the meantime so we are back to heating water on the stove for dishes. We are lucky to have the small apartment where we can have hot showers so we are really not roughing it while we wait. Bruce has golfed a couple of times and gone out fishing once. We are walking or riding our bikes everyday and enjoying the warm weather and reconnecting with friends. In the next week or so we will head to Ft. Lauderdale to visit with another friend who is here from New Zealand and hopefully get some Christmas shopping done. It is hard to get in the Christmas spirit here but will still have time to shop when we come home. That's all for now, will blog again when I have more bad news!!

On the water again

We arrived back in Marathon on Monday evening, November the 2nd. We had a long day as we stopped in Ft. Lauderdale to pick up our bottom paint from a friend of Bruce's who drove it down, stopped for dinner and then did a bit of shopping at the Outlet Mall! Our friends Pat and Addison from Three Penny Opera where here to meet us so they came up to the apartment for a visit and we did a lot of catching up!

The boat looked good when we did a quick check on it the next day and after a good washing and a coat of bottom paint, it was ready to splash once again for another year. I wish I could say that the launch was uneventful but as luck would have it, that was not the case! Actually the launch went well but the trip back to our slip did not. Pat and Addison were waiting for us to arrive to catch some lines and help us in, thank goodness, as we usually are on our own! On the trip over, Bruce noticed that the engine was not running well, not a good thing when you do not have any sails on yet! As we were limping along, we called Addison and Pat to come out in their dinghy to assist us if needed. It wasn't long after that, that the engine conked out completely and Bruce was unable to restart it! Now the wind had picked up considerably and we immediately began to drift towards some other pilings close to shore. Just our luck that there is a late hurricane approaching and that was giving us very windy conditions. Pat and Addison managed to make it in just in time before we were on top of them and grabbed our bow line to pull us away. Now imagine this, they are in a little dinghy with a 9.9 engine and we are in a 22 ton sailing vessel, not an easy task for them! Needless to say after a lot of scrambling and much discussion and yelling of directions, we managed to pick up a mooring ball, just in time we were fast approaching a navigational marker! This also attracted the attention of another small boat who also came to our assistance!
Once we were safely secured on the ball, Bruce went to investigate and realized that the bleed screw to the engine was loose. This was allowing too much air to get into the engine. He tight ed the screw, ran the engine for 5 minutes and we continued on to our dock, whew, definitely tooo much excitement for one day!

We are now safely on our dock and have stopped all work for the day. Tomorrow we will get an early start as Bruce did try to start the air conditioners and the pump had seized once again! We thought we had this problem solved this year. We will spend another night in the apartment and hopefully will be on the boat tomorrow night. Never a dull moment in the land of Bruce and Esther's sailabout! Oh yeah forgot to mention between all of this, Lindsay called to say that our new furnace that we had installed right before we left, had stopped working! She managed to handle that one and the house is warm once again. Apparently it was a loose wire!

We are now back in Nassau and planning our return trip to Florida. We knew when we arrived here that we would be here for at least a week as the long range forecast called for 5 days of strong winds and high seas. We could have stayed in the Exumas to ride it out but knew that we would be stuck in an anchorage with very little to do whereas being stuck in Nassau offered much more in the form of entertainment. On the Southbound trip, we stopped in Nassau but only for 2 nights and really did not get much time to see the sights and explore the area.

My last blog had us leaving the Exuma land and Sea Park and heading towards Staniel Cay where we would meet up with Brad and Anita Taylor for a few days. We decided to stop in Sampson Cay as we needed to do some laundry, get fuel and fill up the water. It was a great spot to stop as the anchorage was close to the marina, the island was beautiful and it had a great restaurant. One on the hardest things for me on this trip is finding a place to get the laundry done. Most islands do not have any facilities unless you stay in an expensive marina and then you still have to pay for the laundry. Staniel Cay does not even have laundry so that was not even an option. Some islands have laundromats but they are few and far between. It was great to be able to do the laundry at Sampson Marina as most marinas will not let you use the laundry or even walk around the island if you are not a guest at the marina. Not only could I get the laundry done, but I could have lunch out at the same time which was an added bonus. We enjoyed it so much we booked dinner reservations as well. What a great day! This was also the first time we would see nurse sharks close to shore as well as Stingrays. When we returned for dinner, some fishermen were cleaning their fish and throwing the guts and heads into the water. This attracted close to 15 nurse sharks! (pictures to follow)

Staniel Cay was our next stop and we got there only one day ahead of Brad and Anita. It was great to have some company on the boat especially since they stuck to our 5 day maximum stay rule! The weather was of course windy the day they arrived and it didn't take us too long to realize that getting them and all their gear back to the boat was not going to be pretty! Brad took control and before we knew it, he had commandeered a bigger boat to take them to our anchorage for $20.00. What a deal as he guaranteed that all of their gear would be dry when they got there! It was like having Christmas all over again as they managed to bring us treats, steaks, pork tenderloins as well as vitamins and batteries that were hard to find down here. They certainly went home with a lot less stuff than when they came! We ate, drank and had fun for 4 days. We won't mention the Euchre tournaments that Anita and I let the guys win! The highlight, for us anyway, was snorkeling the Thunder ball Grotto, a spectacular sky lit underwater cave featured in several Hollywood films. This was one of the best places we had ever snorkeled and we managed to go twice with Brad and Anita and Bruce and I went again on our return trip. I think being on the boat for a few days also gave our company some insight into the life of live aboard cruisers and dispelled the myths that life on board is all sugar and spice!

The weather improved as the week wore on and the day that Brad and Anita left was probably the nicest day we had since they came, of course! We managed to get all the gear in our dinghy and because the weather was calmer, everything arrived on shore dry. Another weak cold front was supposed to move in the next day so we decided to stay one more day at Staniel and then head straight to Georgetown as we only had a short window after that to get there as you have to go out to the Exuma Sound a deeper more exposed side of the Exumas. In order to get out to the sound side, you have to go through a cut. Many of these cuts are narrow and treacherous with lots of current running through them. They can also be quite rough if you try to go out with the tide against the current. Ideally the weather should be calm and you should try passing through them at slack tide. We decided to go out Big Rock Cut just North of Staniel Cay and take the Sound side all the way to Georgetown in one day as our weather window was short and if we missed it, we would have to forget about going to Georgetown as it would be just too rough for the next week.

Georgetown is a place most cruisers love or hate. We weren't sure what to expect as we had heard so many conflicting opinions. We happened to arrive in Georgetown at the beginning of March Cruising Regatta This is 10 days of various events in which 300 to 400 boats participate! It is all organized by the cruisers and if you wish to get involved is tons of fun. Each morning at 0800 there is an organized cruisers net on Channel 68 on your VHF giving you news, weather and announcements on all the upcoming events. Since it was Regatta week, there were more events than usual. The anchorage is long and narrow and has numerous areas where these events take place. Since it was our first time visiting, it was a bit confusing as to where each event would be. The weather was terrible, winds over 25 knots each day which made getting in and out of the dinghy difficult, and each trip in the dinghy very very wet! Di spite the awful conditions, we managed to get involved in a few activities and had lots of fun. Many of our friends were there which made it even more enjoyable. We were busy from morning til night and decided that it was even more exhausting than having company! The Regatta started out with a boat parade, which was quite comical as 4 boats actually grounded during the parade and had to be towed off. There was a day of registration where you could team up with other crew members and register for things such as dinghy scavenger hunts, dinghy coconut harvest, tennis, golf, beach volleyball, Texas holdim tournament, bridge and trivial pursuit tournaments as well as baseball with the cruisers against the locals. This was a great way of meeting other cruisers and have fun at the same time! We registered for some activities, had fun watching some others (especially the baseball game) and Bruce even came in first in the Golf turnament and won himself a bottle of rum and a regatta burgie. We decided we really liked Georgetown as long as we didn't stay too long as it could become very exhausting!

We left Georgetown before the end of Regatta and before we were totally burnt out and started to head North again after many months of heading South! It turned out to be a good thing as we have been sailing instead of motoring ever since! The cold fronts have been getting fewer and further apart and the days have been getting warmer and longer. We decided as we headed North to stop in some spots that we missed when we made a beeline for Georgetown. Our first stop was Little Farmers Cay. We had heard from other Cruisers that there was a great restaurant there that you should not miss. The entrance is really shallow and as we approached the island, we started to wonder if we were crazy as we were sometimes in less than 6 feet of water and we need 5 feet. We managed to squeak in after hitting only one speed bump! We had radioed the restaurant earlier in the day to make a reservation and at that time had to pick our meal without seeing a menu! Bruce chose the Grouper and I the Lobster and both of us did have the best meal we have had since coming to the Exumas. (in a restaurant that is as we always have great meals on board!)

We also really enjoyed the Land and Sea Park so decided to stop at another Island in the Park and stay for a couple of days. We chose Cambridge Cay as we heard that the snorkeling was good with many different areas to explore by dinghy. We were now travelling with our friends from New Zealand on Sequel 2 and other friends from Burlington, Ontario on Muskoka Moon. There are mooring balls here also and when Sequel went to pick one up, the line got caught in their bow thruster. Bruce grabbed his snorkel equipment and went over to help. As with most problems on the water, other boaters are always ready to assist in any way they can so this problem attracted many other dinghies ready to help. One person on their dinghy recognized Bruce from Nettles Island where we had stayed last year for 6 weeks. It was Mike and Karen from the boat
Exodus. It was great to see them and get caught up with what was happening in their life. Once again, it is a small world! The snorkeling was again wonderful but a bit further from the anchorage and with our 2.5 horsepower engine, it tends to take us a while to get anywhere. We may be looking for a bigger engine and dinghy next year!

We were running out of time with our friends from New Zealand so decided to leave for Norman's Cay as they had a restaurant where we could all go to for a farewell dinner with them before they left to sail back to Florida and then fly back to New Zealand. What we didn't know until we got there was that they were closed on Mondays and guess what day it was! We are boaters however and that means that we have to be flexible as every plan is subject to change. We spent our last night on Sequel and watched them leave the anchorage the next day at 0700. We will miss them but are sure that our paths will cross again in the near future.

We had one last stop before Nassau that we wanted to make so after exploring Norman's Cay and Norman's Pond with Muskoka Moon, we headed to Highbourne Cay. Highbourne is a private island with only one marina on it and only guests staying at the marina are allowed to walk around the island or use any of the facilities of the marina. We anchored off a beautiful beach and dropped the dingy to do some snorkeling and lobster hunting. To find out how successful we were, you will have to look at the pictures to follow! As we were heading in from our snorkel trip, a very large (over 100 ft.) yacht by the name of "Bad Girl" was motoring into the anchorage right behind us. The next thing we knew their dinghies were landing on the beach setting up tents, lawn chairs, lights and barbecues for a beach party they were planning that night for their "guests" on board. We also had "guests" on board for dinner that night as it was going to be our last evening with "Muskoka Moon" before we would head back to Nassau and they would head back to the Exuma Land and Sea Park again. After we had eaten and were sitting in the cockpit, fireworks started going off on the beach for about 15 minutes! What a great show and very unexpected on a deserted beach in the Exumas! We later radioed the Skipper thanking him for the light show and after talking to him and telling him we were the Canadian boat in front of him, he informed us that his "guests" were also from Canada, of course he failed to mention their names. I informed our guests not to expect fireworks each time they came for dinner or a visit!

We are now anchored right across from Atlantis and in front on a restaurant called the "Green Parrot". The anchorage has been great except that they have live music every Friday night and it goes on until the wee hours of the morning which is not so great but hopefully we will be gone before next Friday night, In the meantime, we have been busy playing tourist and visiting again with Heather, her husband Mark and their family. We have walked all around Paradise Island and the beautiful Atlantis Resort, eaten at numerous restaurants and plan to explore the downtown area where all he Cruise Ships dock. Everyday there are at least 2 cruise ships in and many times as many as 4 or 5. Nassau has been quite the change from the relatively quiet, uninhabited Exuma Island Chain! Heather and Mark have been great hosts and have opened their home to us to do such dreaded chores as laundry. They are here if we need anything at all and more than happy to chauffeur us around so we can get the things we need that are too hard to do without a car. We are still planning on leaving on Friday or Saturday. Each day has been very windy so may have to wait for the seas to calm down a bit. There are many people hear waiting to do the same trip as us so we should have lots of "buddy boats"!

We are now in Cat Cay waiting to cross the Gulf stream to Miami. I never did get to post this blog before we left Nassau as the Internet was down the last couple of days at the Green Parrot. A bit disappointing but that is just how it is in the islands. On our last day in Nassau, I went to Bruce's cousin Heather's house to have lunch with a few of her friends, get a pedicure, do some laundry and get a few groceries. We had a great day and then we were to meet up with Mark and Bruce for dinner later. Heather brought me back to the boat with the groceries and we were sitting having a drink and deciding where we were going to go for dinner. Mark was too busy to join us as he had a work proposal to finish before Friday and it was not yet finished. We usually like to be on the boat around 4 to 5 p.m. as the current changes about then and the boats all seem to swing differently and sometimes get very close together. We had been anchored in the same spot for a week and felt fairly secure that we would not move as we felt the anchor had been well set with all the high winds that we had all week. This was not in fact the case as this time we seemed to be getting quite close to the boat behind us. This had never happened before so we were paying close attention to it. At first we thought it had to be the other boat that was coming towards us. Before we knew it, we were fending the boat off and trying to put fenders between us. There was no one on the other boat so we were not too sure what to do. As we were contemplating our choices, a man showed up to let us know that the people on the boat were not in town and that he was watching the boat for them. We realized that it was in fact our boat that had drifted towards them and not the other way around. Thank goodness we were on the boat at the time and not out for dinner! We raised the anchor with some help from another boat who had dinghed over and moved to the other side of the channel for the night. Heather had a little bit more excitement then she bargained for, we decided that it would now be impossible to leave the boat to go for dinner so Heather and I went and got Sushi to bring back to the boat. What a mixed up night!

Our crossing of the Tongue of the Ocean was not great. The winds were, of course, higher than forecasted and the waves were over 6 feet with every 5th or 6th wave 10 to 12 feet. We again anchored on the Banks, something we said we would never do again, and once again had a very uncomfortable night! Never say never! As uncomfortable as the Banks are to overnight, we have had two of our best sails crossing them and had a lovely sail to Cat Cay in 15 to 20 knot winds right on the beam. Today is a down day here as the winds are still high and are expected to be lighter tomorrow so will cross then. Today, hopefully I can get this blog posted at the Marina. This is the prettiest island yet but it is all private so cannot walk around or go to the beach. We can however take the dinghy into the Marina, eat at the restaurant and use their Internet (hopefully it is working) . Hopefully this time tomorrow. we will be back in the States!

We are now on Warderick Wells Cay which is home to the headquarters of the Exuma Land and Sea Park. The Park is 22 miles long and 8 miles wide. It includes 15 large islands and many more tiny ones and its purpose is to provide a safe haven and replenishment area for the wildlife native to the Bahamas and to educate the public in saving this beautiful environment. The water here is pristine and has numerous reefs to explore and snorkel or dive on. Fishing is not permitted in the park and if you hike anywhere, you must remain on the trails. Yesterday we hiked up to the infamous Boo Boo Hill where boaters go and leave mementos from their boats. We placed our homemade boat plaque amongst the hundreds of others that were there. There is also a spectacular blow hole nearby which provided much entertainment to the children hiking with us as well as the adults. We have been following the same route of many other same boats, thus we have gotten to know quite a few of them. We have been busy snorkelling, hiking, visiting during potluck dinners at the Park Headquarters and enjoying happy hours on different boats. We will probably leave tomorrow and head to Staniel Cay where our friends Brad and Anita Taylor will join us for a few days on the boat.

We left Frazer Hog Cay for our last really deep water crossing of the Tongue of the Ocean. After that we would be in the relatively shallow waters of the Bahamas Banks. We headed for Nassau where we would visit with Bruce's cousin Heather, her husband Mark and their 3 children. We stayed at the Nassau Harbor Club as we needed to get fuel, refill our water, do some laundry and re provision the boat. Heather and Mark helped us with all of this as well as having us for dinner one night at their place. Thanks for all the chauffeuring around and all your help! We hope to see them again on the way back and have them all on the boat for a sail and a night on the water. Nassau was certainly a change of pace from the quiet nearly deserted islands that we have visited in the Bahamas so far. We couldn't get over how busy it was. The Bahamas has really suffered the effects of the slowing economy as everywhere we go we have noticed resorts that have closed their doors and the ones that are open, have very little visitors which is a shame as they are so beautiful.

We finally got a weather forecast that gave us at least 3 days of warm weather and light winds so we left Nassau on a beautiful day to cross the Great Bahamas Banks and start our exploration of the Exuma Island Chain. Our first stop would be Allan Cay. We had to pass over the Yellow Banks which is a shallow bit of water with numerous coral heads. When we got there, I went to the bow and watched for coral heads so that I could direct Bruce around them. Before we left Marathon, Addison and Pat Chan on Three Penny Opera had given us a pair of headsets to use to communicate to each other when we were anchoring or needed to communicate with each other when one of us was on the bow and the other driving. This has been the best gift ever as we have used them many times and don't know how we ever managed without them! Thank you, thank you Pat and Addison!

When we dropped the anchor in front of Allan's Cay, we really felt we had arrived. This was our first experience of the inviting clear waters of the Exumas. People have told us how beautiful it is and we have seen pictures of it but nothing compares to actually seeing it. Allans Cay is also home to intriguing prehistoric iguanas. They are protected here and you can go to shore and feed them. As soon as you approach with your dinghy, they come out to meet you. Once or twice each day a fast boat arrives from Nassau filled with tourists who want to come and see the iguanas. You can put food on a stick and they will eat it right off the stick. We spent 3 nights on Allan's Cay before heading to Normans Cay where we would meet up with friends that we had crossed the Gulf Stream with and spent time in Bimini with.

Norman's Cay was very interesting as it had once been under the control of a drug lord by the name of Carlos (Joe) Lehder. Now most of the island is privately owned and it has its own airstrip. It has one restaurant and bar by the name of MacDuffs and to get there you must cross the airstrip making sure to look both ways for landing or departing airplanes! We took a long walk to the top of a hill where there is an abandoned houseboat. Legend has it that this boat used to come and anchor off Norman's Cay and had been warned by the drug lord not to do so. The owner ignored this advice and upon returning to his boat one day discovered it to be gone from its anchorage.

It was later found on the top of a hill!

After 10 days of waiting and hanging out in Bimini, we finally got what we thought was a small weather window to leave. We left Bimini around 11 a.m. with 3 other boats with a plan to stop half way to Chub Key and anchor on the Bahama Banks. We knew that the first 6 miles would be rough but then we would be in much smoother water once we turned onto the Banks. We had one of our best sails ever on Con El Viento as we sailed for about 9 hours straight without ever having to turn on the engine! The winds were behind us which helped to push us towards our destination. The only disappointment was that we never did see the bottom of the ocean. The depth of the water over the banks is only between 14 and 20 feet and because of the clear blue water, people have told us how spectacular it is to be sailing over the banks and be able to spot starfish and other marine life on the ocean floor. Since we were all having such a great sail, we decided to keep going after dark and anchor further than we had planned when we left Bimini, this way we would have a shorter sail the next day to our destination. The winds were also expected to pick up the next day so we figured we could get to our protected anchorage before that happened. Because the banks are so shallow, you can pretty much drop the hook anywhere you choose. You are out in the middle of nowhere and cannot see any land no matter which direction you look. It is a very strange feeling and I was glad that we were with the other boats. The only mistake we made was anchoring on the banks as the waves never settled down and it was quite rough for sleeping. Next time we would probably plan to leave later and sail all night without stopping. This was an option for us but because I hate nighters and had heard how great it was to sail during the daylight hours over the banks, we decided to anchor halfway and sail during the day. We won't do that again as we didn't really get any sleep at night anyway as we were rocking and rolling all night. One of the boats with us broke their anchor chain at 0300 and had to circle around until 0600 when we planned to leave again. Our chain also broke shortly after we went to bed and we had to get up and throw out our secondary anchor. Thank goodness we had a trip line on the anchor and were able to retrieve our brand new anchor once the sun came up the next day and we could see it. Bruce had a heck of a time trying to bring up both anchors.

Our trip from our anchorage on the shallow banks took us through a narrow channel called the Northwest Passage and into the Tongue of the Ocean. The Tongue of the Ocean is a very very deep body of water and we went from clear blue water that was around 30 feet deep to water that was over 1000 feet deep in a matter of seconds. You could actually see the line where the water changes colour to a deep blue and the depth drops off like falling over a cliff. Some areas in the Tongue are over 10,000 feet deep!

By the time we were turning up to where we were going to anchor, the winds had really picked up so we were glad that we had pushed and went further than we planned the first day. We picked up a mooring ball in Frazer Hog Key which is part of the Berry Island Marina. The Marina is about the only thing there is on Frazer Hog. It is run by a young lad named Herbie and a cook by the name of Hilda. On the other side of the Island is Chub Island Resort. A very exclusive, expensive resort and marina. It is too far to walk over to the resort and have not been able to bum a ride over but did talk to one man who got a ride over to get fuel and he told us that it was very dead with very few boats. I have yet to see one boat at the dock in this marina even though we were told when we came in that they had a special on for $1.00 a foot. After a couple of days, we knew why. There is a very strong current running up this channel which makes things a bit uncomfortable at times as the boat doesn't always point into the wind and waves because of the current. The waves hit you from the side causing an annoying rocking from side to side. At night the mooring ball hits the side of the boat for a couple of hours which keeps us awake. I have gotten into the habit of going to bed early, reading for a couple of hours in the night when this happen and then going back to bed again. The first night we were here, on of the boats was anchored and realized in the middle of the night that his rode was wrapped all around the boat and that he was dragging his anchor. He was afraid to start his engine as he wasn't sure if the rode would wrap around his prop. He tried everything to wake the boat beside him as he was slowly drifting his way. By the time they woke us, he was dangerously close to hitting them. He decided to tie a fender on the anchor, cut the anchor loose and pick it up the next day. Luckily this worked and he was able to start his engine without the rode getting caught on his prop. By this time his floodlight had died and he had to try to find the only empty mooring ball in the dark without hitting our boat which he couldn't see too well as our anchor light had burnt out. He has only a 30 foot boat and his girlfriend has only been sailing for 2 months. She had to try to pick up this ball and hold on for dear life as the boat was rocking back and forth. They managed to pick it up only to realize that with all the rocking and rolling, the gas tank had somehow gotten under the plug for their dingy and pulled it out. The dingy was full of water and their engine was almost under water! Joel had to now deal with this emergency! What a night they had, I think Jackie was ready to take the next flight out!

We decided to head into the marina and have lunch. When we got there we were told that there wasn't any power and if we wanted lunch, we had to order it the day before! We ordered lunch for the next day and it was great. The marina has a washer and dryer but we found out that the power is out everyday until 5 p.m. when they start the generator and the place is lit up like a Christmas tree all night. This can't be good for business as most people we see come over during the day and are back at their boats at night. This also means that we have no power for our computers so have to make sure that the battery is fully charged before we bring the computer up to get the Internet. The Internet is not great but we have managed to get our e-mail, check weather and make a couple of calls on Skype. The rest of the day is quite relaxing as it is too rough for fishing and too cold for swimming or snorkeling. I have been reading lots of books and will soon run out of reading material so hopefully we will get out of here soon.

It looks like a nice window is opening up to leave on Thursday and then it should be nice right thru the weekend. We will try to leave then and head to Nassau. We are both looking forward to being in a bigger city, visiting with relatives and other friends we know are there and restocking our fresh food. We have not had bread for a week! Hopefully the next blog will be from Nassau.

Hello everyone, we are now in the Bahamas! Bimini actually and it is as beautiful as everyone said it is. The water colour is an amazing shade of turquoise in the shallower water to a navy blue as the water gets deeper. We left Marathon on Thursday, January 22nd for Rodriques Key. We were not sure when we left if we would cross from there or go further North to a place called Angelfish Creek. It just felt great to be off the dock and moving once again. Once on the hook again, we decided that we would in fact cross from Rodriques, thus taking full advantage of the Gulf Stream and had a very pleasant relaxing day on anchor. Two other boats came in and after talking to them decided that we would all cross together early the next day. We started out at 04:30 happy to have the company of someone else to cross with. We hadn't got very far before we realized that it was going to be an uncomfortable crossing if we continued forward. We decided to turn around and head to No Name Harbor outside of Miami along with one of the other boats instead and wait for better weather. We knew that Rick and Carla from Euphoria were in No Name and we could cross with them when the weather improved. The forecast was indeed better the next day with a lighter NE wind changing to a light East wind. We decided to try it once more with the option again of turning around. The next window would not be until Wednesday of that week so plan B was to head into South Beach and spend a few days there. I quite liked that idea also. We left at 0600 this time which was a bit of a mistake as every fishing boat in Miami also goes out at that time and the wake they create is much worse than anything we could experience in the Gulf Stream!
The first 2 hours were a bit rough but as the winds clocked around to the East, the seas actually became quite flat with waves only about 1 to 2 feet. All in all it was a very uneventful enjoyable crossing except for a small mechanical problem we had about 6 miles out of Bimini. We have always had trouble getting a fan belt for our engine that fits properly and all of a sudden an engine overheat alarm went off. Our fan belt had come off, thus causing the engine to overheat. Bruce changed the belt, let the engine cool down again and we were on our way. We did hear one boat turning around as they were taking on water so we felt lucky that our problem was one that could be easily fixed and that it happened when it did instead of in the small channel coming into Bimini!
We pulled into a dock at Blue Water Resort and Marina, cleared customs without a hitch and now we have begun our Bahamas adventure! There are as many Canadian boats here as there are American boats and we have been busy meeting lots of new friends and catching up with some old friends! Last night we had a big potluck dinner that boaters are famous for having. One of the boats had caught a Mahi Mahi coming over and gave us some to eat and some other boats bought some fresh lobster from a local who also stayed and prepared it for them!
We will probably leave here tomorrow as the weather is suppose to improve for the next couple of days and then another cold front is coming on Friday. We hope to make it to the Berry Islands before that and hide out there before heading to Nassau. We really don't want to be in Nassau over a weekend anyway. We hope to visit with Bruce's cousin Heather, her husband Mark and their 3 children for a couple of days before heading on to the Exuma chain of islands. Not sure when we will have the Internet again, probably not before Nassau. It is better in the Bahamas Dave, and we are having a great time. Talk to you all soon.

Happy New Year everyone! It has been over a month since I have updated this blog but what can I say, time sure flies when you are in the Keys! Hope everyone had a great time over the Christmas holidays. We had a very quiet Christmas and although we had Christmas dinner with friends, Pat and Dave, we missed not being at home (even the snow) and swore that we would never do that again. New Years was a different story as all of the kids drove down to spend a week with us. The gang arrived at 0130 on the 29th of December and we didn't stop until they left on the 4th of January! We had a lot to cram in in a weeks time and wanted to make sure we did as much as we could possibly do! Trevor celebrated his 30th birthday on December 20th and since we missed it at home, we decided to celebrate it one more time in the Keys. We all went to a great restaurant and had a fun night on the 29th of December. The next night we celebrated our Christmas on the boat and then the next night was New Years Eve! We are definitely getting too old for this many celebrations in a row! In between the night celebrations, we managed to fit in snorkeling trips, dive trips, golf games, beach volleyball games, pool time and a day in Key West. Needless to say, we were exhausted by the time they left but happy to have all the great memories of a wonderful time!





After the kids left, we had a visit from Dave and Judy Burns. They have a place rented in Ft. Lauderdale for 3 months but couldn't get it until the 7th of January so they came the 5th and stayed 2 nights. It is always great to see friends from home and we took the opportunity to have Dave and Pat over for dinner so we could all catch up on the news from home and the happenings at PCYC .





We are now planning our trip to the Bahamas and hope to leave in the next couple of days. We had hoped to leave last week after a short trip back to Mississauga, but the weather window was too short and we were not comfortable with it, so we signed up for another week at the resort. It has turned unseasonably cold here with temperatures at night dipping into the low 40's . Very unusual for Florida and the folks around here really don't like it much! The weather is suppose to improve as the week goes by and the winds are suppose to turn around and be from the South on Sunday and Monday. We will probably leave here on Friday to head North for a couple of days to position ourselves for an easy crossing to Bimini. We stopped at Costco on our way back from Mississauga and now have a well stocked pantry. Bruce has been busy getting the boat ready for the Bahamas. There is a lot to think about as it will not be as easy to get thinks fixed or to get spare parts once we leave Florida for the Bahamas. Once we start travelling again, I hope to post blogs move often to keep all of our friends and family up to date especially since we will not be able to call home as often as we have. We are also getting really spoiled but being on a dock for so long. We will have to get used to conserving water, fuel and power once we are in the Bahamas. Things are about to change but we look forward to the next adventure and hope to have lots of pictures and stories to share with all of you in the near future. We will miss all of our new friends here in Marathon but know that we will hopefully see them all again in the Spring or next Fall.