Mar 1 - "Hey Hey, I wannabe be a Rock Star." Ok, Mike would have had an absolutely wonderful time tonight. I actually had people showing up an hour before I started just so they could get an outside seat before I played. I've been playing all my life and this was one of the coolest experiences for me to play by myself that I've ever had. If Mike was here, I'll bet we could have collapsed the deck. If it were Mike, Jeff and me - the entire building would have come down. Ok, I'm not playing with them down here and I really did have one of the best experiences I've had playing solo.

By the way, you might want to check out the "out of control" hair. I'm still at least a month before I can bring it under control but I do have to say I now fit the "rock star" wannabe look.

The crowd was so big that even with all extra tables and chairs they put outside, they filled quickly. The inside also filled up and also the sidewalk leading up to the restaurant. When I took a break, the place was rocking and there were people everywhere. It was just too cool.

Dinghy's are the car of choice for people and the dinghy dock was filled and more were coming.

All I can say is that I was humbled again by the people that had a great time. This is the first time I had people buying me drinks during the show that I had never met before. They were just saying thanks. Now it is time to come clean. They just don't have live music down in the Bahamas. As a result, a guy like me sounds pretty good, even if I actually did tonight.

Everyone had a great time and I was probably the one person that had the best time. Thanks to everyone who came tonight.

Tomorrow we are going out to dinner at the St. Francis as a result of tonight's gig. They asked us to come for dinner and it should be a good time. I was actually invited to play for the Bahamas Music Festival in Georgetown in two weeks but our bird Jimmy Buffett calls. Winds are still in the wrong direction on Monday but it looks like we will be heading north on Tuesday.

 Mar 3 - This morning we were off to a beach that was supposed to have great shells and sea beans. I think it was another snipe search. The only snipe we turned up was this crab that was running and I tracked him down under this rock. I guess he outgrew his shell and was running loose on the sand. Deb had a bit of an upset stomach and we headed back to the boat for the afternoon. Mark came by and said everyone was heading in for the scrape and saw at Eddies so we should go. I'm up for about anything so the answer was sure!

I took the afternoon and cleaned the bottom of the boat and then moved it close to town so we wouldn't have a long dinghy ride. At about 6:30 we headed in but quickly found out we were about 2 hours early, oops. So we had some cracked conch and a couple of glasses of wine along with great conversation with friends. When 8:30 came, the music started. The instruments they play are drums which are really barrels with skin over them, saws, a string bass plus some guitars.

Quickly the dance floor filled and guess who was dancing with one of the locals? Yes, that is Deb on the dance floor.

 In the islands there is quite the rhythm. We ended up spending too much time here having a great time and actually considered putting off leaving tomorrow just to have an even better time tonight. However, weather says leave now and we will be in a good place for the 25 knot winds out of the north that are forecast on Sunday.

So, even though we have met some great free spirits, we are back on the boat preparing this update before we head north tomorrow morning.

The rhythm section did a great job but the guy in the white hat was obviously the "star" since he was the guy who knew every song and sang them. I could probably use a few more weeks in the islands to get the rhythm down.....

We are going to be in Nassau by the weekend so we are in a good place for the next front that should be here on Sunday or Monday. In addition, I'm looking for a new dinghy engine because I've been fixing mine on a regular basis. I have a price on a new 8 hp engine from Key West - thank you for Skype - and I'll be comparing prices in Nassau. We need reliable transportation between the boat and land so we are thinking this might as well be the time to spend the money. Someday we will actually have everything on the boat fixed. I think that may actually never happen because things just keep happening.... What is it they say? Go cruising and fix your boat in exotic locations.

 Mar 4 -  So here we sit at Little Farmers which is about 40 or so miles from Georgetown and I'm thinking, what about Georgetown? You have to keep this all in perspective. As a cruiser, one of your destinations is Georgetown, Exumas, The Bahamas. With that said, Why? Ok, I get ahead of myself. I am really asking you - Have you ever been to summer camp? Have you ever seen Dirty Dancing - not the dancing part, the schedule part? Have you ever wondered why people want to bring "civilization" to the islands? Why did you really come to the islands? The answers define whether or not you want to hang at Georgetown for the winter or if you want to explore the rest of the islands.

We had a great time in Georgetown and especially enjoyed the music part, both mine and the rake and scrape. However, I felt like I was back at work - oops, that is a 4 letter word. In the morning on the "net," which is scheduled at 8 am in the morning, the first thing you hear is the weather (good thing) next you hear the commercials of the people in town who are wanting your business (not a bad thing) and then you start to hear the things of all of the people that are organizing our entire lives and want to organize again (perhaps not a bad thing) but I have to say that every day there is bridge, yoga, basket weaving, pilate's, mask making, jam sessions, softball, sailboat races, nature talks, sail trim talks (I loved this one), and of course volleyball. There was more but I forgot, we only did one of them - the sail trim. Of course I was part of it all when I was doing the St. Francis thing with my guitar - I had a great time and about 200 other people had a great time too. So what does all of this mean? Well, I have to tell you that we really enjoy having fun meeting people but we really aren't the joiners. So given that, we didn't hang out for the regatta that is held in the middle of March even though they wanted me to sing and play on the main stage. The reality was, we didn't want to make a mask for opening night. I left that back in the states although some would say we all wear some kind of a mask everyday. Besides, we have a bird that loves us waiting in a petshop window.

Enough of my rambling, here here is what happened today.

 We sailed north in what began as 4-5 foot seas and built to 6 foot seas with an occasional 8 footer coming in. We are dragging our Port-a-Boat and we ultimately found out that a bolt came loose (I guess I have to check that more) which put quite a bit of water in our dinghy. I utilized the water because I put a bunch of soap in there which cleaned it out in that washing machine motion.

To the left you can see the inlet that we are getting ready to run through. I must emphasize that a camera flattens the waves. At this point we are really in 4 foot seas and you will see below that they are having fun crashing ashore.

 We came out Cave Cay Cut so at the last minute I decided that we should go in there. The rationale was that we are in 6 foot seas and I'm starting to feel better, after not feeling too good, and Deb isn't feeling too well. Ok, time for calm seas. We made it back in this "mail boat cut" with no problem and then went up to Little Farmers Cay for our anchorage.

I was pretty happy because Deb decided that we didn't need to go ashore. That means that we are having dinner aboard (no money spent) and on top of that, we get to hang together listening to the results come in from the presidential primary's. Just think, today could be the day we decide who is going to represent each party for our next presidential race.

Tomorrow, we are going a very short 15 miles or so to Staniel Cay where I plan on snorkeling again and Deb wants to see if she can find some shells. We will then be off to Normans and should be in Nassau by Friday late.

Mar 5 - We left Little Farmers Cay this morning and as we looked off of our port side (left) we could see the runway for the islands. As you can see, it ends at the end of this part of the island. One of the things you really want to check for before you cross this path is, ARE THERE ANY AIRPLANES!

As soon as we cleared the shoal and coral area, we set our sails. We were in for a WONDERFUL morning sailing wing on wing. Without a spinnaker, this is the best you can do going directly downwind.

We had everything trimmed out correctly as a result of that sail trim seminar I went to in Georgetown. The winds were varying around 10-12 knots and we were doing almost 5 knots today going straight downwind. I thought that was pretty good.

One of the things you might notice is that we have our jib connected to a snatch block off of the stanchion. Now you might ask, is it strong enough? Well after that sail trim seminar I emailed Performance Cruising, specifically Will, and asked them. Will told me that as long as it is 15 knots or less apparent, you should be fine and he does it with the screecher all the time. We don't have a screecher so we are doing it with our 150 jib.

In this picture you can see that I've tied the snatch block to the base of the stanchion post. The reason for this is that I can pull the sail down which gets the top flying right and still keeps the base of the sail in the right position. Ok, don't give me too much crap here, I'm still learning but today the sailing was WONDERFUL.

Below, you can see I left the snatch block in position and had the BEST sail shape and slot I've ever had. I was moving between 6 and 6.8 knots in an apparent wind varying between 12 and 14 knots 80 degrees to the wind. This was in a still loaded cruising cat.

I'm planning on installing some tracks on the outboard ledge so I don't have to snatch off of the post and I can use them in heavier air. A project for this summer.

FREEDOM IS BOARDED - We've never been boarded in the year and a half we have been sailing. I truly expected it as we went past the subs and the carriers on the east coast but no. Here we are at Staniel Cay and I see the three Bahamians with life jackets on headed for our boat. I said to Deb, "We are about to be boarded."

These guys were professionals and I hope I helped set the stage because I was looking forward to this. To the lower right you can see where they obliged me and gave stern faces as they were coming up the steps.

The reality was we were having a good time from the beginning. They have a job to do and I've done everything right so no worries Mon. Of course, the first question that was asked was, "Do you have any weapons on board?" The second person was listening very carefully to this answer and I'm sure he would have been happy to ensure we were in our place if the answer was yes.

Since the answer was no, we went on with the inspection.

As I mentioned, they were very professional. Even though we were both keeping it light, the guard at the door was at the door as he was supposed to be and watched everything. The gentleman who was doing the interviewing and looking over all of our papers was very appropriate and not only did he check that we had cleared into the country properly, he also checked our flares and life jackets.

I know that the Bahamian government doesn't have the same resources that we do in the States and these guys are out here putting their lives on the line to protect the boarders of the Bahamas. They told me about places where they have problems with fisherman who are trespassing into their waters and other issues which are much more illegal that we can help them look out for. This was a good experience and I admire these guys just like I do the people of the Coast Guard in the States.

Thanks for what you do for your country!

 We had a good motor sail up the coast and I would have liked to have sailed although I really don't like to go 3-3.5 knots. So, we motorsailed instead. We arrived at Normans Cay and called to ensure the Norman's Cay Beach Club would be open for dinner. We then made reservations for 5:30 and it looked like we would be having a great dinner out tonight.

When we arrived, we found that Beth had just arrived on one of the airplanes that we saw landing this afternoon. What was absolutely really cool was that Stephan, Beth and our waitress all remembered us when we arrived. We ordered a glass of wine and caught up on what was going on in St. Louis. SNOW!!!! Well, we haven't had too much of that down here.

Once again, we really love this island and the people here. They are just great to talk to and they also have a really cool bar and wonderful food. If you are ever in the area, just come and hang out for awhile. While we were in the restaurant, we found out there were 3 other people from Missouri there. Now just tell me, what are the odds of 6 people out of a total of 20 people on a remote island on this day in the Bahamas were from Missouri?

Tomorrow we are off to Nassau and if the winds cooperate, we will be sailing the majority of the way.

 Mar 8 - We have arrived in Nassau after a very brisk sail yesterday. I will get to that but first, I have to provide for your reading enjoyment an email I would typically put in the feedback section, however this one deserves its own place here. This is from great friends of mine whom you've read about several times, Gary and Shirlene.

"Jim, From the time we met until now, you have been one of the luckiest people I have met. You always have pretty weather, never any major problems,etc etc. But I knew that everyone has only so much luck and you were using your's at a good rate. Many times I have told Shirlene that I would like to take you to Vegas. I used my luck up at a young age and now you are in for it. I cant believe it, 8 foot seas, getting boarded !!! In ten years I have never been boarded in the Bahamas although I have been boarded many times in the U.S. and several times crossing the gulf stream. which is always rough for us since i don't have any LUCK. On a POSITIVE note, now your web site will be much more interesting. I mean with all the rough weather, near misses by freighters, shark attacks, boarding on rough nights in the middle of nowhere, engine failure at the wrong time, diarrhea from eating the local food, and so how I could go on. I hope you make it to Nassau and are able to read this. I give you probably a 50/50 chance. If you get there give us a call, and also walk to the top of the bridge, just don't fall off. Welcome to the club. - Garry and Shirlene"

So here I am after arriving in Nassau and have it all figured out. It was a luck thing that brought those squalls on the Bahamas bank yesterday. I guess it was a luck thing that I was reefing about 5 seconds before the deluge. But again, I'm getting ahead of the story, back to yesterday morning.

After our great dinner at Normans Cay Beach Club, we decided that we would take off at 7 am so we could get to Nassau early afternoon and make sure we were very secure at our anchorage before dark. Remember last time we were here? People were dragging everywhere. The winds had shifted a bit more south which was on cue from the forecast we received 2 days ago and they were up to 15-17 so I figure, great sailing day. Deb helped me pull anchor and I had the main sail up before we even turned to leave the anchorage. Next we left the anchorage, at high tide so it was no issue to worry about the shifting sands in the area.

The first hour was great. We had about 3 foot seas and the wind was pretty constant at about 17 - 20 knots. We were wing on wing and making about 6.5 knots. This was going to be a great day. Then I looked around to the back and saw rain behind us. Well, the boat needs a good wash anyway. Then I was remembering the squalls that we've been in down here and thought, I'm in the position of the increased winds. It's a weather thing because what is happening is the wind generated from the squall adds to the wind and we were in the position where we were going to have a wind boost. Oops.

I turned the corner at Porgee Rock (the waypoint) for Nassau and we had a little over two miles to go before I planned on taking down the sails. I thought we were going to miss the next squall but sometimes things just don't happen the way you think. The rain and wind came again and this time I had the genoa all rolled in and only the reefed main out. I decided it was time to start the motor so we would be ready when this one quit for me to take down the sail. Just in time, the rain quit, Deb turned the boat into the wind, I dropped the main sail and got it all squared away. We are actually starting to look like we might know what we are doing. Darn, I hate that. I left the sail cover off and hopefully I can put it on tomorrow when things dry a bit.

As we were approaching Nassau harbor, I called harbor control and got permission to enter and anchor off of Basra. (What are they going to do, say no?) Then I was struck by the difference between Nassau and the islands. It is hard not to be struck when you are moving past a mega yacht with a helicopter on the back and compare that with the images in your head of the out islands where we just spent a month and a half. In the out islands, it is REALLY HARD to make a decent living. I am actually wondering how much an impact the downturn in the US economy is going to hurt the islands since they depend so much on the tourist dollars for their own economy. After all, their primary raw material is their beautiful water and their great people. I hope for everyone's sake, this downturn doesn't last too long.

We will get off the boat today and see if I can find a dinghy engine here for a better price than the price I have received from a dealer in the States. Hopefully I won't run out of luck and fall in the water or sink the dinghy or even get robbed on the way to pay for the engine should I find one. By the way, I've started checking for water in the hulls more often. On top of that, I'm worried about climbing up that bridge and looking out over the railing. - Thanks Gary...... Where did that luck go?

 Mar 9 - Yesterday we were able to get off of the boat after we had done a couple of tidal current shifts. We felt confident that everything would hold great and it has. Speaking of holding, we've been here a total of about 24 hours and so far, 2 other boats have drug and had to re-anchor so I'm pretty happy with both our anchors and our anchoring technique. 

Today, our primary mission was to find out about a new dinghy engine. We had heard that they were cheaper over here but the real answer to that is to compare prices. We have been pricing a Yamaha 5 and 8 hp 2 stroke engine and in the process we found out that Yamaha has 2 stroke 8 hp engines that are legal so they can also be purchased in the states. I actually called a dealer in Key West who would be happy to sell me a 2 stroke Yamaha and actually had one in stock. He gave me a cash price and that is what we were comparing. So off we went to the Yamaha dealer. What we found out was that they could sell me an Enduro for 300 bucks cheaper than the price I got via Skype from the states but from everything I read, they won't work on them in the states. That was verified by a dealer in Georgetown too. The Yamaha dealer here doesn't carry the other 8 hp engine from Yamaha. Well, that's no good. So we then went to the Johnson dealer and no 2 strokes. Next we went to the Mercury dealer and they had a 5 hp, same as we have now, and were fresh out of 8 hp. We missed it by a day. Well, now I'm wondering if I can buy a Mercury in the states? Also, could they get me a Mercury? To the second question, they could get one transferred for me but we don't know the price yet. To the first question, the answer is no according to a dealer I talked to in the states. He did say they could work on one for me. I have to verify that with Mercury Marine because the dealer here in the Bahamas can get one transferred up here for about $500 less than that Yamaha in the states. Now I don't know about you but to me, 500 bucks is 500 bucks. Bottom line is we won't know until Monday what is going to happen because I have to make that call to Mercury Marine and verify we can get parts in the states and then walk back up to the dealer to arrange for the transfer not to mention the probable mention of money.

Since the dinghy engine is our primary means of transportation when we are anchored, I'm resolved about getting a new one. (Fixing ours 3 times in two months makes it unreliable.) On top of that, I'm also resolved about getting a 2 stroke because I have a great place to put it on the Gemini and it really needs to lay down. Four strokes don't like to be laid down. And finally, the 2 stroke is lighter. So, if we have to wait for the next weather window in order to get the engine, like I said, 500 bucks is 500 bucks.

If all goes perfect, then it looks like we have a great 3 day weather window starting on Wednesday so we can take our time and get back to the states on Friday late. We wouldn't check in however. We would simply fly our quarantine flag until we get down to Marathon to check in. The reason is that we have to go to immigration once we check in and that is in Key West. So that also means that we have to get transportation down Key West, since we have to be there anyway, we had better pick up our bird - Jimmy Buffett. Deb is hoping he remembers us. Then again, we could be here for another week. Don't you just love life when your plans really can change in an instant?

Mar 10 - So here is what I found out. I called Mercury Marine in the states this morning, thanks to Skype, and found they honor their warranty everywhere in the world. On top of that, I can get parts in the states. So, the decision was made. I went to Lightbourn Marine here in Nassau and they are transferring the engine from Staniel Cay to Nassau and it will be here tomorrow morning. I should be able to pick it up around noon. So, everything is working out. Now all I have to do is be happy that I've got a new 8 hp 2-stroke engine and for 500 bucks less than the states. Pretty good actually. Now we will see if we can still come in on the budget given the big expenditure this month. 

 Mar 11 - So I will go back a few days. Deb just had to go shopping and she is very interested in how they are making jewelry. It is her new interest and she will be making some shell jewelry as soon as we get a shipment of some supplies in Key West. Coupled with the shells she/we have picked up in the Bahamas, I'm hoping she will quit buying and make it instead. Here is to hopes....

She had a great time wondering through the Straw Market which is just another tourist trap in Nassau. At the same time, they do have some great prices there.

My friend Gary said I just had to walk up the bridge that connects Nassau to Paradise Island. So, that is exactly what I did today. Of course, I just had to get a picture of our boat anchored in Nassau Harbor.

Below you can see a number of pictures I took from on top of the bridge facing to the west side. What a great view. I think the bridge is 85 feet high and you can see just about everything in Nassau. Of course I was only looking at the boats and the sea.

When you looked back to the east, this is what you saw. More boats and more beautiful water.

To the bottom, meet Monique. She is the person you want working for you. Monique is the results person that every business wants to have on their staff. As a matter of fact, if I had a business here, I would try to steal her away. Monique is the person who was able to get me my engine for the dinghy shipped from Staniel Cay up to Nassau in time that we can leave tomorrow morning. Thanks.

Below you can see the happy camper, me, running the new engine. It is everything I had hoped for. It is 8hp and since it is 2 cylinders, it runs smooth. In addition, it is is half the noise that the old engine had. I haven't opened it up yet because I'm still breaking it in but with Deb on board, we can still plane out at less than half throttle. This was a good purchase. Now to sell the old one in Marathon.

After running around for awhile at the break-in settings, we decided to just head in to Atlantis. We were just looking at all of the sites and it is obvious that they were catering to the boaters with all of the adornments to the walls in the harbor.

I think it is almost over-the-top but it is really cool when you are on your dinghy amongst the multi-million dollar boats.

More of the harbor along with the wonderful adornments. I also got this picture of the dinghy in the back of the boat.

Wouldn't it be nice to have your own dinghy garage?

This isn't the clearest picture but it is the best of the 10 I took. The black splotch in the middle is a hole in a boat that is sunk in front of our boat. You can see our anchor line (white) that is going down the the black splotch. I took off the kellet anchor so the line would come up above the boat and hopefully I haven't chaffed the line too much.

They warn you that everything litters the bottom of Nassau harbor and I guess a sunken boat with holes in it qualifies with everything.

Tomorrow morning we depart Nassau for an island just east of Chub Cay. This will be about a 7 hour trip and we will anchor tomorrow night as the wind shifts from the west to the north. By tomorrow morning, the winds should be out of the north or north east. However, we really don't know if we will be making two 12 hour trips or an overnighter at this point. The weather models don't agree yet and I will get the weather tomorrow morning and make the decision. Deb is hoping for the 2 daylight trips and I would like to make that possible. However, if the one model is right, that would mean we will have 6 foot seas on our beam. (For the non-sailors, this means on our side and that is uncomfortable.) At the same time, if the other model is right then we will have a great trip across the gulf stream with little wind. The question is, do we do a 24-25 hour non-stop trip for comfort or can we make two daylight trips? I don't know but we will decide in the morning and regardless, we will have a comfortable trip back traveling by ourselves back to the states. USA we are on the way.

By the way, we will get our cell phone turned back on as soon as we get back but don't expect for me to update the website until Sunday at the earliest. We will fly our quarantine flag until we get to Marathon which we expect to be Sunday afternoon. Reality is we probably won't update until Monday.

Thanks again to everyone who reads the site and I will try to get some good pictures on the way over.

 Mar 12 - We pulled our anchors this morning starting at 8 am. It took about 30 min to get both of them up and then we went over and refueled the boat for our trip back to the US the USSA. Ok, that is a knock off of a song but what did you expect?

We left the Hurricane Harbor Fuel Dock with full fuel and water and were motoring out to the west exit. I called the Nassau Harbor Control and told them we were leaving. They told me to watch out for the Coast Guard boat that was leaving along with the America's Cup boat. Well at least that should be interesting.

We motored out in fairly light winds and of course went by the cruise ships that you can see to the right and below. It is actually fun to be in the middle of all of the action.

 After we passed the cruise ship dock, we saw the America's Cup vessel. This would have been a really cool thing to be aboard!

After we left the harbor, we set our sails and once again, we had to use the snatch block off of our mast. We were motor sailing about 50 degrees to the wind and with our mainsail and the snatch block with the shortened jib, we were making about .4 to .5 knots more than we could make just motoring. As a matter of fact, as we moved away from the land mass we were making more than that because we were able to throttle back to 2200 rpm's and still make 6 - 6.2 knots.

We were almost to Chub Cay (Key) and the wind shifted and went to 20 knots on our nose. This was because of a squall that we missed but we did get the wind so we had to drop the sails and then motor at only 4.8 knots into the wind. It was rough!. We were able to turn the corner and hide behind Chub Cay  to set our anchor and hope the wind shifts as forecast.

We will get up at  3:45 in the morning so that we can be at South Riding Rock at 4 pm tomorrow. That way we will pass through the major shipping traffic in the Gulf Stream in the daylight. (I hope!) Regardless, we will be making a 25-26 hour crossing tomorrow and based on the forecast, Thursday night should be fairly calm if I can believe the GRIB data I received this morning. Regardless, we will be back in the states on Friday flying our Q (Quarantine) flag and anchor and slowly make our way towards Marathon. We plan on checking in at Marathon so we won't legally be able to go ashore until Sunday. What's more, we won't be going ashore until Marathon so we will be "legal."

You might be thinking, why Marathon and why Sunday? It's all about the bird Jimmy Buffett. When we call customs on Sunday we have 24 hours to check in with immigration. We might as well do it on Monday when the pet shop is open and we can pick up Jimmy. I know, we are probably too attached but so it goes.