HAULING OUT OF TIME OUT

 Time Out has 4 fins under the the boat on the sides for our stabilizers. One fin had a slow leak on the inside (salt water obviously). This was minor but major enough to get hauled out and the fin taken off and reinstalled. The boat yard took us out of the water at 8am on a Wednesday and kept us in the slings all day for this job. Then on Thursday morning at 8am we were back in the water for the trip back to the marina. This all happened May 26 and 27. I took a few photos of the underside of our boat. 

This is one of four fins

Paul checking a fin out

Bow Thruster

While in Stuart we enjoyed two dinners out including seeing our friends Cyndi and Sheldon. We see these guys a couple times a year and catch up. Check out their shows on YouTube.

Searching for C-Shels.

They have many titles to choose from.

WHERE ARE WE NOW?    

After we got hauled out we basically put the boat away. It is tied down, hurricane ready and emptied out of all food. 

We are back in Canada. May you all have a great summer and I will be back posting on this blog in October/November!

This is the bridge on our way to Prescott, Ontario. No vehicles in front of us and zero behind us. We had no problems at the border, we even were able to bring extra wine across. Good to be back!

BY THE NUMBERS 2021

We like this post for us because we refer back to the previous years for reference. We hope everyone else may find it interesting in some of the numbers.

65    

Nights in the Bahamas (we have water in our lower unit of our outboard on dinghy). More time to get hurricane ready.

8   

Lunches out at restaurants/outdoor patios

Psst... see in the background at Big Game Marina? Empty! No crowds, no people. 

47  

Hours on our generator (we have solar!) 

300

U.S. Dollars for our Bahamas cruising permit, includes our fishing license

275

Yards of fishing line lost in the Tongue of the Ocean. Who knows what fish we missed.

13

Novels read by Shannon (soft cover books)

126

Hours on the engines

1

Water pump replacement for our outboard motor

29

Chicken thighs eaten, mmmmm.

14

Nights in a marina (9 in Bimini on our return waiting for a weather window)

0

Mahi Mahi caught this year (but we ate a lobster given to us as a gift)

12.5 kw hour 925 amp hour

Solar maximum day 

126

Engine hours

1

Water pump replacement for fresh water system replaced (i.e.... showers)

11

Microgreens grown in little trays or bags

1

Phone dropped in the water in Key Biscayne, very dramatic for Shannon, no phone in the Bahamas for her. 

26

Feet deep just before the Tongue of Ocean which drops to over 1000 feet, we saw tons of fish. We wished we had a line out at that time.

6

Star Fish that Shannon rescued at low tide. Threw back into the blue waters.

12

Cans of clams bought on Amazon. We bought a lot of food this way.

1

Barracuda caught and lost. Thank goodness, it was too big to eat. (not safe)

5

Boaters we met down there from our Marina in Florida .....(coincidence, so cool)

1642

Was a depth in the Tongue of Ocean. Took a photo just before. Most times depth sounder can't read over at this depth.

“I’m sorry for what I said while docking the boat.”

This is a popular saying with boaters !

BOAT ENEMY IS...

 When on a boat the enemy is a calendar. Just throw it away! We are in Bimini, our last stop here in Bahamas before we cross the Gulf Stream to Florida. We want to cross but weather is not the greatest. Tomorrow is the day (but again, all can change overnight). We really enjoy Bimini Blue Water Marina here and meet so many new people and reconnect with the staff here. We rented a golf cart yesterday and travelled to Bimini Bay Resort, the high end marina, Hilton and restaurants. It is sad there as there are many docks empty including shops and restaurants. 

We went hiking and found an awesome blow hole. No one told us about it, we just discovered it on our walk. This is why I carry my DJI Osmo (since my phone is swimming in Key Biscayne). Timing is everything to try to get video or a photo. 

Almost every day I would walk the beach at low tide and collect sea glass. I want to learn how to make jewelry and show the grand kids. 

We should be in Florida tomorrow so next post will be from there. Check out our Time Line 2020-2021 post.

Listen to the Wind, it talks. 

Listen to the Silence, it speaks.

Listen to your HEART, it knows. (native American Proverb)

BEAUTIFUL BUT NOISY

 When we were anchored at Norman's Cay the Bahama Sound was so calm which is extremely rare. We went out in the deep water and explored and found some beautiful small anchorages with excellent beaches. We pulled anchored inside the cut at the airplane and anchored on the Sound side.

While anchored here our dinghy's water pump failed! Yep, Paul replaced it in our post Tow Boat U.S. back a few months ago. The good news is another dinghy towed Paul in and we had an extra on board. This is frustrating for Paul. 

After Norman's Cay on the Sound side we travelled to Allen's Cay but the anchorage was not comfortable so we continued onto Rose Island (outside of Nassau). Unfortunately, this crossing was 5 foot waves ON THE BANKS! This was not comfortable the whole way. We checked 5 weather apps and not one said anything about big waves. I was exhausted by the time we anchored but so happy to be in the calm waters on the north side of Rose Island. 

Some boater friends came from The Berry's to join us for drinks but before that we went ashore to see the peacocks. These birds are so awesome and not afraid of the hikers that come ashore to see them. All other times I have never seen them open their beautiful feathers for the females. 

Peacocks are super noisy even if it is not mating season. Who needs a rooster when you can hear the peacocks on shore?

This photo is not cropped! Paul saw it and and said I cropped it too much. I actually got so close I could capture this amazing shot!

Our friends took these photos, we thank them.

MAYDAY, MAYDAY

 We travelled from Staniel Cay to Norman's Cay in rough waters, we should have been out on The Sound for the calm waters in hindsight. Check out this catamaran going the other way... I am grateful for our stabilizers. It was uncomfortable as it was (for me, not Paul).

We anchored near the sunken airplane late in the day at Norman's Cay. Such a beautiful area. 

When we travel of course we have our VHF radio on in the flybridge with the tall antennas, which has its benefits, we hear Florida, Nassau, Spanish Wells, basically all over. The radio is a buzz of communications between boaters, U.S. Coastguard etc. After we anchor we only put on our handheld VHF which picks up our "neighbourhood". At around 630pm last night we heard a Mayday on our radio. This is rare! Paul went up to the flybridge to put on the VHF up there to pick up information more clearly. A 28 foot tender was out on the Sound that ran out of gas and was heading into the ocean basically. A boat nearby was taking the lead and relaying information to other boaters that wanted to help. Paul's dinghy was full of gas and ready to assist but getting the co-ordinates was hard as radio communications can be. The boater said he was outside of Highbourne somewhere but the co-ordinates he gave stated somewhere south of Shroud Cay, much further south. All boaters in the neighbouring anchorages were listening in. There were four persons on board. A boat near Whale Cay (a local) went to get him and towed him into Norman's Cay about 40 minutes later. This ended well. This is why I too, take a look at the fuel in our boat. I also have water and granola bars in the cooler seat. I also have a first aid kit, life jackets and a hand held VHF charged up and ready to use if need be. There are boaters around but without communication to send would be fruitless. Check out our post Tow Boat U.S...... this post showed us that the VHF radio we had on our dinghy only received, it did not send out our voice when we broke down in the Intracoastal Waterway. What did I do with that radio? I got rid of it! We bought a new one. There is no reason to have a radio that cannot receive your distress calls. 

We are now slowly making our way back to Florida, one island/Cay at a time. 

We always pick up our produce in Staniel Cay. When we are at the Yacht Club there are some harmless nurse sharks that hang around. Anyone can swim with them. I love watching others do that.

Hey there.... I want you to know that Blogspot will NOT be sending emails of any updates on blogs (starting in July). If you want to know where/what we are doing it is all up to you now. No notification emails will be sent to you. I am still updating the Time Line 2020-2021 more regularly.

Thanks for reading.

WHITE POINT ANCHORAGE

 We left Staniel Cay for three nights for Black Point but kept travelling south to White Point as the beaches there are amazing. There were very few boats there and gave us a break from the mega yachts at Staniel Cay.

Time Out is alone down there in the anchorage. We walked the beach by ourselves.... however I did see footprints in the sand at high tide mark and dog prints. 

We climbed a hill and on the other side was another beach! However, the sand on the hill was super dry and hot. With bare feet we had to be careful. 

The beach on the other side was so sandy and beautiful and at the end of the beach all these beautiful large rocks were there and they reminded me of British Columbia so much. All that was missing would have been some driftwood on shore. 

South of our anchorage is a small town on Little Farmer's Cay. This island we have passed all the time heading south but never stopped. This time we dinghied over to Ty's Restaurant on the beach. We ate delicious conch and French fries. This was such a treat and the view is amazing. There were only us for awhile then four other customers arrived. Look at the Sands Beer.... ice on the top, that is a nice cold beer!

Notice this swan.... from a mega yacht.... but look at its anchor! They will not lose this "toy" again? 

STANIEL CAY, EXUMA WELCOMES ALL

 It seems every year they repaint their welcome sign on the beach, the sun and salt fades the paint away every year. I love the pigs on the sign too as Staniel Cay is near the famous swimming pigs. 

Can't you just smell these fragrant blooms? Staniel Cay.

The full moon was providing us with super low tides (and high), so we took advantage of the many sand bars that surround Staniel Cay anchorage.

Sampson Cay with friends

A very interesting star fish on the beach at Sandy Cay. 

Deserted Sandy Cay

Rocky part of Sandy Cay

Way, way far in the distance is our anchorage along with about forty other boats. 

At Sandy Cay along the rocky shore are about a hundred small conch. It was low tide therefore many were on shore for us to lift up and look at them. They will grow quickly and then become conch fritters or conch chowder! There are regulations on when you are allowed to "harvest" conch. They have to be a certain size. 

Right now there are high winds of 25-30 mph and not the greatest direction. We are anchored well and just waiting for it all to blow over. 

Happy Easter weekend to you all.

EXUMA PARADISE IS NORMAN'S CAY

 We so enjoy visiting the waters around Norman's Cay. We skipped it a few weeks ago because of weather. This time we enjoyed the waters and the snorkeling. We love the beaches and the numerous sand dollars that I will eventually paint.

Night two at Norman's we ventured in where that sunken airplane is and on our way out of the cut the next day it was so so calm. We have never been through this area with this calm of waters. 

We sometimes expect not to have internet service but day three we didn't even have cell phone service. Norman's Cay gets the service from the high tower just north on Highbourne Cay. We did not feel comfortable to be so out of touch for too long so we decided to leave on day four. Unfortunately, it was super rough all the way back south to Staniel Cay. Our boat was so salty on our return. 

Reminder that I do update one specific titled post Time Line 2021. These are quick little tidbits of our adventure down here. 

PIPE CREEK SAND BARS

 Near Staniel Cay is Sampson Cay which we dinghy over however, Pipe Creek we prefer to take Time Out there and then our dinghy ride around that area is shorter. We also dinghy over to Compass Cay Marina and look at the mega yachts that are tied up to the docks.

Last May 2020 Pipe Creek was deserted because of CoVid. This year back to "normal" with a few boats and people around. 

There were some children in another small boat that seemed bored and were arguing amongst themselves. I found (actually almost stepped on) a unique starfish. They had never held one so I showed them how to hold one. I explained at low tide they can live out of the water for a couple of hours. They were fascinated with this starfish.

We went into Compass Cay and this young turtle did not have a care in the world about us getting nearer and nearer. I believe it was so used to boats and dinghies everywhere. It was used to the engine sounds, swimmers and paddle boarders.

We provision in the United States but we do need produce once in a while including eggs. We went into Staniel Cay to the Blue Store and the Pink Pearl to get what we needed. Here is a copy of the receipts if interested in prices of what we paid. I don't even ask what the price is as we are buying it anyway! Yes.... that was $16 for the cabbage.

There are good ships, and there are wood ships, the ships that sail the sea.
But the best ships are Friendships and many they always be.