Last year I did the first timeline and found it helpful and easy for me to just update our travels and such along with some world facts I found interesting along the way.
Saturday June 5 We arrived in Canada with no problems. Zero vehicles in front and in back of us at Customs at the Prescott border.
Wednesday June 2 Time Out has 24 lines on it. It is hurricane ready. We left her this morning and hit the road. We arrive in Canada June 5!
Saturday May 29 Holiday weekend here but working to get boat hurricane ready before we leave Wednesday.
Thursday May 27 Our leak was fixed and zincs put on bottom so boat went back into the water. By accident the lever for the fuel to starboard engine got shut off so Paul had to drive it back into the slip twice to figure out why the engine stopped working. I was not on board for the journey back. I drove our car back.
Wednesday Night Our highlight for the season was dinner with good friends Cyndi and Sheldon. We see them in Canada/Bahamas and here in Florida.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPZbQzqZ9jrofdxKYSsZRdA
Tuesday May 25 Travelled down the ICW to Port Salerno for our Haul Out of Time Out tomorrow morning at 8am. A minor repair on one stabilizer that cannot wait until the Fall when we get hauled out for bottom painting.
I had a shower for the first time in six months where I did not turn off the water when shampooing my hair! We are in a hotel. Boaters (and campers) can relate.
Thursday May 6 It is unusually hot here. It is very uncomfortable. We are slowly getting stuff ready to put in storage, take home, give away etc. Our plan is to drive to Ontario for a June 5 arrival. We are getting Time Out ready for hurricane season. I will be posting a specific blog titled By The Numbers for our Bahamas season shortly.
Sunday May 2 Paul celebrated his birthday travelling up the ICW to our home marina. We had a good day travelling up and are plugged in with excellent internet here. My next blog post will be my annual BY THE NUMBERS 2021. Stay tuned.
Saturday May 1 We are in Florida. The crossing not so good. Stay tuned for an update!
Friday April 30 We have enjoyed Bimini Blue Water Marina but leaving tomorrow. A new world for us as we travel back to Florida.
We ate at Sharkie's twice. Excellent ribs and fish. Also we rented a golf cart and travelled the island, Paul driving on the left and remembering most of the time.
Tuesday April 27 We ate lunch at Sharky's at Big Game Club Marina yesterday and will be going again Wednesday. This is an excellent outdoor bbq place. We hiked today around Bimini and noticed the improvements. We saw an excellent blow hole. Notice the cruise ship out there? There are two hanging around. There are 22 near The Berry's ... we call it the death row of cruise ships. All with crew on board and their captains. They are all lit up at night, mini cities.
Sunday April 25 Didn't cross to Florida today. Weather check this morning and the decision was NO. Did a beach walk and collected sea glass for our grandkids.
Saturday April 24 We ate lunch yesterday at Big Game Club, Paul had the best Mahi Reuben ever and I need to put that in writing. Today we had a take-out snapper plate from a nearby food truck which we shared for lunch. Tomorrow we will try to head to Florida to West Palm. We will not leave too early as the weather actually gets better later. With Co-Vid, the rules here have changed and we had to check out of the county. We did that today.
Thursday April 22 Safe and sound plugged into a marina here in Bimini. Great last voyage on the Banks but saw a water spout far away! Just the day before I told Paul we have not yet encountered any "weather" to avoid.
Wednesday April 21 We pulled anchor and anchored on The Banks, an eleven hour day. We anchored where there is no land, no cell tower and no birds. We were exhausted.
Tuesday April 20 Had a great day visiting the peacocks on this island and had guests on board for drinks. We leave here in morning for our nine hour trip to anchor on The Banks on our way to Bimini. Every day brings us closer to Florida.
Monday April 19 We enjoyed a new anchorage area at Norman's Cay for two nights... I don't reveal where our spots are. We left Exumas this morning without planning to but Allen's Cay was not great for us this morning to spend a night. We crossed the Banks to Rose Island. The waves and winds were terrible. I hated this crossing but Paul said it was fine for him. I am happy to be on the north side here in calm waters.
Saturday April 17 We have our fridges full of produce, we hosted friends from our marina in Vero, we have said goodbyes, we have pulled anchor to head north. We are slowly getting to Florida now. We are at Norman's Cay not Shroud like we planned. The waves, winds and direction was a sloppy ride to Norman's Cay. We are anchored near the sunken airplane, all is well.
What are people talking about?
Canada had reported 1.1 million cases and 86,500 active now. Worldwide.... 140 million cases.
Prince Phillip died at age 99.
AND Afghanistan... a lost cause.
The world seems to have forgotten Hong Kong and its fight.
George Floyd
Wednesday April 14 Went into Staniel Cay to shop for produce but boat is coming in tomorrow we will head back Friday morning. We did have lunch at the Yacht Club and enjoyed it as per usual. We saw friends on a mooring ball from our marina in Florida. We went to say hi.
Tuesday April 13 We produced 935 amp hours at 12 volt. Approximately 13.85 kilowatt hours. This was the best day ever. Basically it ran our whole boat, made 60 gallons of water, heated our water, ran all our fridges, freezers and batteries were full at end of day. Solar is awesome!
This was the best day for weather comfort, sun, temperature. A lovely day on anchor. One to remember. We kept saying, we wish we could come company on board to share this with us.
Monday April 12 Yesterday there were high winds and hail where our car is parked in Florida. We hope when we get back it is not damaged. Last night here at the anchorage the winds were 40 mph! A light show and rain. This is when you get up and watch and put on the VHF radio to listen to the chatter amongst boats. You know your anchor is good and hooked but one wants to watch the boats around you and how everyone swings. It lasted only about one hour then died down.
Saturday April 10 We are here at Staniel Cay area. A south wind so we moved away from Big Major's to another anchorage. Many mega yachts still here at Staniel Cay.
Thursday April 8 We have had great weather and heading back to Staniel Cay tomorrow morning. We ate lunch at TY's on Little Farmer's Cay for the first time. No one there except another couple came as we were finishing up. CoVid!
Tuesday April 6 We pulled anchor and left this morning and now we are anchored far from other boats south of Black Point in front of White Point Beach. The last time we were here we were with some friends on board a few years ago.
Sunday April 4 We took three little bags of chocolates to a nearby sailboat with three boys ages 6 and under. We were not sure if the Easter Bunny was prepared and ready to travel by boat to see them. They were super excited and thankful. The winds have died down and it is calmer in the anchorage today. Many boats travelled to other islands today. No.... Paul did not kite board! These were set up for others.
Friday April 2 Super strong winds in the anchorage here at Big Major's, Staniel Cay. It was expected and all boats checked their anchors and anything that can blow away. Mind you a mega yacht did have a sea doo that was travelling away! Much cooler temps today. I have brought out more chocolate than normal as it is Good Friday. Feeling blessed. The below video I posted yesterday but was filmed a week or so ago.
Thursday April 1 Some boater friends from our marina in Florida have arrived to the anchorage. Plans may change as Eleuthera, Bahamas have travel protocols in place. We wanted to travel there next week. Weather is coming tomorrow for the weekend so we are staying put here at Big Major's Spot to wait until it all passes.
Monday March 29 Today we stocked up on produce. Hot day. So hot the generator will be on at 630pm and we will run the Air Conditioning! Many boats and mega yachts have left and new ones arrive. This is the year of the FAMILY. So many children here. Probably parents working from "home" anyway so may as well work from a boat? CoVid has had people and families re-evaluate.
TEN YEARS AGO... we started the beginning of boating in the United States. We bought our power catamaran Coyaba. See that blog link on the side... www.coyabacat.blogspot.com
People of the world are talking about the cargo ship Evergreen, the vaccines, North Korea, China and Myanmar, our Canadian prisoners the two Michaels in China, Brazil and their CoVid cases.
Saturday March 27 Off into town to pick up produce but boat has just arrived so stores were not supplied. We managed to eat at the restaurant though.
This mega yacht is here and it actually needs a support boat. The support boat has the helicopter pad on the stern.
Both are anchored nearby. And of course they are close to each other, the support boat has the extra 21 crew members and the extra "toys" on board. The cool thing is we are all sharing the same blue waters, the same beaches, the same one restaurant on Staniel Cay. Same Back Yard!
QUESTIONS? Last year I did a post titled 20 questions for 2020. I could do 21 questions for 2021? Hmmm up to you, please send me questions via email/Facebook or comment below. I may do another post if there is interest. No question off limit. If interested go back in time to that post in 2020 or look in the search engine on the site.
Thursday March 25 We pulled anchor today to head back to Staniel Cay. We had no internet which is fine for a day or three but no cell phone service makes us nervous. We like to receive or make a call if an emergency at home. Super rough voyage!! I should have taken a pill. There were 3-ft waves all the way fast and furious. Such an uncomfortable 5 hours to here. Salty!!! I even got splashed with salt water when I went out to the bow to close a hatch. Ugh! We thought we needed to head into Staniel to Batelco for a SIM card adjustment/new one but the cell tower here is fine. We have service now so peace of mind.
Tuesday March 23 Ok.. our special place got rough on Sunday night. We had to leave Monday morning and anchored along with 15 other boats near the sunken airplane at Norman's Cay. Unfortunately, a boat anchored so so close to us! We tried to explain they are close and they need to move but the did not. Not nice boating manners! Finally after an hour and us swinging in different directions they moved! So frustrating. I know we can pull anchor but they said they weren't spending the night so we were just waiting.
We are now back in our favourite spot (psst.... a secret, we don't need every boater discovering our nice sweet anchorage). It was super calm and clear waters leaving the airplane for our anchorage. Stay tuned for the next post of photos.
It will be warm back home tomorrow and next day! Spring is arriving there!
Sunday March 21 We pulled anchor and now anchored in our special place at Norman's Cay..... sssh a secret anchorage spot. Big explore day tomorrow. We had skipped Norman's on our way to Staniel Cay because of weather.
MEGA yachts here too. A normal year in past we would have seen one maybe two. There are fifteen here anchored and a little south of us near Shroud Cay. We will dinghy to Highbourne Cay and area and will probably see more there. A real different year with many southern countries not allowing entry.
Saturday March 20 We moved to a calmer part near Fowl Cay Resort as the wind and waves picked up at Big Major's. We have gone out for lunch and bought produce at two stores in Staniel Cay. We have seen the installation of 21 mooring balls set up in the waters near the yacht club. I was told $40 a night. We are pulling anchor tomorrow and heading north. All the photos and videos this season I have been using my new DJI Osmo. I was forced to learn it as my phone sank last month in Florida while anchored out. No phone and no SIM. I am adjusting.
Wednesday March 17 We have been here at Big Major's anchorage here at Staniel Cay for eight winters. Last year was not normal because of CoVid, this year the same however, a big difference. Most years in the past there have been about two mega yachts anchored here and with two or three much further out of the anchorage. (note.... mega yacht means crew members, multi-million dollar machines with Captains, cooks, engineers, tenders, seadoos, major water toys, etc). Right now 22 Mega Yachts! And about ten of them anchored right here in the anchorage. It is so strange and unheard of. CoVid is making all people travel differently, usually these people that have chartered these yachts may usually go to a resort somewhere, probably south or Europe.
AND.... last year on March 17 we were suppose to have our good friends D and V arrive. They cancelled the day before.
Monday March 15 I am feeling better now and we are anchored near Pipe Creek. There are many mega yachts that set up on the beaches nearby with their umbrellas and water toys. I will paddleboard by the shore and see if anyone is famous lol. Paul is using his pressure washer these days now that the wind has diminished and no more salt coming on board.
Saturday March 13 Yesterday we took the dinghy over to Sampson Cay at low tide. Will post photos in a Blog Post. This is one of my favourite spots near Big Major's anchorage. Today Paul went into town by himself as I am not feeling well. The wild winds have finally died down and many boats have left the anchorage. We leave tomorrow to anchor near Pipe Creek.... near the old Decca Station.
One Year Ago.... a pandemic erupted throughout the world.
Wednesday March 10 We went to Staniel Cay Yacht Club for grouper fingers and fries with friends. Good to be out. The Yacht Club was not busy and they took our temperature before entering.
The solar is working so well. Our generator time is very limited or skip a day.
Windy days... so noisy. Took dinghy out near the "big water" to see and video the big waves.
Tuesday March 9 Super high winds that we lost our hockey stick flag pole along with our excellent Canadian Tire Flag! We are down to our last hockey stick and a cheaper flag. This summer we will have to buy extra hockey sticks and extra flags again.
Saturday March 6 Super long day driving the boat to Staniel Cay but weather coming so needed to get here. About 24 boats here, usually more than double. Internet much more reliable, I will do a regular post in a day or two.
Arizona has so many vaccines that anyone over the age of 18 can get the shot! Canada is another story!
Thursday March 4 We are anchored at Rose Island. Tuesday, we anchored on the Banks, no land for 360. Wednesday morning we left with the stabilizers not working. We anchored at Frazier Hog Cay near Chub Cay. Way too rough out there to make it to Rose Island.
Monday March 1 Our fresh water pump stopped working this morning. Paul being organized and capable got out the other back up older pump and rigged something together so it is back working. That was a good two hour job.
Wahoo! We are next to George who goes fishing for Wahoo, Mahi and other fish. He gave us a few good size fillets.
Friday February 26 We have arrived in Bimini. Staying at Bimini Blue Water Marina for next few days. We are happy to be here!
Wednesday Sunset Aah, such a beautiful sunset, I need to take a photo. When doing so I dropped my phone right into the water, I saw it going down, down and down. I sure wish cell phones float! This has never happened to me before so now I know how stressed and upset one is when they no longer have their phone. Oh... I will never forget this night. Paul made me a martini to help console me.
Wednesday, February 24 This morning my phone had swear words! It landed face down on concrete and then I kicked it a little ways! The screen is cracked but phone is usable. Actually, I had the swear words! An eight hour trip from Ft. Lauderdale to Key Biscayne anchorage turned into a three hour trip because we went on the outside in the big water to test our stabilizers. I should have taken my anti-nausea pills! The stabilizers worked to our satisfaction.
February 23 Last night we anchored at Hobe Sound and tonight is Las Olas Marina in Ft. Lauderdale. Lots of bridges under and those we wait to open. Not an enjoyable trip today. We will go out to the Gulf and head to Key Biscayne on the outside and not the ICW.
Many flags are half mast here as U.S.A. has had over half million deaths with CoVid. The flags will be half mast until Feb. 26.
February 21 We leave the dock tomorrow! No more stores and no more provisioning. It will be windy but we don't care.
500,000 people will have died from CoVid in USA. To give perspective, 70,000 Americans died in WW 2.
February 17 Cold and snow .... understatement for many U.S. states including Texas where millions are without power. This will be a year to remember for many because of this weather.
Our countdown has began, we plan to pull away from the dock on Monday morning. One step closer to getting to Exumas, Bahamas.
February 2 This has been a good day for Paul. He figured out the problem of our solar. The tall antenna on the starboard side was giving just enough shadow to the panels to create a problem. The antenna comes down and voila we are getting what we need from the sun. We are now a self sufficient boat!
It has been cold down here that we have to have heat on.
January 30 We are almost ready to leave the dock. Our plan is to travel down the Intracoastal Waterway to Key Biscayne and leave from there as we do every year.
The government of Canada will be charging $2000 to people coming into the country via air. This will be for 3 nights in a designated hotel and another CoVid test done on arrival. Not allowed to go to your home and quarantine as was required before. All travellers coming into Canada require a Covid test prior to entry which was the protocol and still is.
January 25 After many weeks the toilet in our stateroom can be left on and used. Before we had to turn off after each use. Paul wants to celebrate as he hates working on the toilets! This is so newsy it is worthy to put on our Time Line.
We will wait for the update from the Canadian government on the new restrictions that may be announced of people arriving into Canada.
January 23 We have determined after research that lightening struck near or on our boat. It would explain the alternators not working, the diodes in the solar panels need adjusting and a small leak on a fin of one of our stableizers. We will go through every test and make sure everything else is working as it should be.
January 21 One year ago the first patient arrived in Canada with CoVid.
January 14 Went to visit our good long-time friends in Stuart on Daruma. They shipped their car from Montreal to Plattsburgh, N.Y. and drove the rest of the way. Canadians are finding a way down here. Because we are not socializing it was such a treat to be with others.
January 13 Woke up to one of our bilge pumps in engine room on. It may be sea cock's hoses or something to do with the water maker. Needless to say there was a big cleanup with old towels and wet vac as one bilge pump stopped working.
January 7 Our alternators are out of the boat to get repaired as they are not working. These generate power to charge the batteries.
January 6 This is the day that American-made terrorists, thugs, racists attacked the White House. Trump is to blame and 100% of them are Trump supporters and believe everything he says.
January 1, 2021! We made a Cioppino for dinner last night. There were criminals near the marina at 3am. They stole the marina's bikes. We always lock our car out there in parking lot thank goodness. Cameras showed three young people walking into the neighbourhood.
December 25 Christmas in cold Florida, AC was on full blast last night and now the heat on this morning.
November 20 Flew direct from Montreal to Florida, picked up our car near the airport.
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