What's Happening On Your Island?

We have been in Georgetown for over a month now. It was not our intention to stay here so long but here we are still. It began with the VHF radio not receiving. You can see the hole in our navigation desk. The radio had to be sent to Bellingham WA for repair. It is not an easy thing to send a package from here to there. Between customs, planes, and trucks, it took 3 weeks for the radio to arrive back on our boat. But now it works and we are happy and ready to move on. With our radio on an international travel plan, we decided to do some traveling of our own.....on land. We rented a car and drove up-island and down-island, all in one day. The island may be lacking in historical sites but the beaches and restaurants are easy to find.

Deborah and David on Water Music. Anne and Steve on Fine Line. Kathy and Fred on Makai.
Santana is the Proprietress of the Santana Bar and Grill. She does know how to cook!! She is one of 9 children. Her mom is famous, known on the island as "Mom" the baker. The lobster and ribs were great.Next door is the famous Mom's Bakery (Santana's Mom). Mom bakes bread for almost the entire island. Not only do you get a great loaf of bread, Mom dispenses free hugs to all her customers. Mom's van can be seen in various spots on the island delivering bread. She is parked in Georgetown on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The boaters flock ashore to enjoy her goodies.

When we are not out and about exploring, we do have daily tasks just like at home. Going to the market is a little trickier here than at home. We have a 1.5 mile ride in our small dinghy across the harbor to the market. If the weather is calm it is a nice ride. If the wind is blowing, we get wet. To get to the market we have to pass under this little bridge. Sometimes there are waves breaking in the entrance and we have alot of fun as we try to surf in without falling out....ha ha.The grocery store here is nice. It is similar to a small town market. Sometimes they have things you need and sometimes they don't. It depends on when the supply ship comes in. Food prices are very high here. There is a 35% duty on all goods brought into the country. We pay $4.75 for 1/2 gallon of milk. We are happy just to get our hands on it whatever the price.The beaches and the water here more than make up for the extravagant prices. You are surrounded by water. The bay is usually calm. A short walk takes you to the ocean.There is alot of reef offshore but unless the Atlantic is dead calm, it is very hard to swim out and snorkle. We do try.

There is plenty of beach for long walks.
Good company.
Cold fronts come through the area at least once per week during winter. It usually does not get cold but it does get windy.

The fronts move fast and good weather is never far behind.
The sand is spectacular like a sugar beach.
After a long walk on the beach there is nothing more refreshing than a visit to the local pub at St. Francis. The bartender makes a great Rum Punch and the beer is ice cold.The staff is very friendly.Trivial Pursuit is a happening event once a week.

Impromptu beach parties are almost nightly events with very authentic "island" decor and music.

Parties here usually means BYOB and bring a munchie. With free music and lots of food you can bet a crowd will show up.

Lots of people stay here for months at a time. There is plenty of reasons to never leave but the adventure of a new port is tantalizing.

Ahoy from Captain and Crew

Fine Line

Happy New Year From The Bahamas

We left the USA on December 20th and headed east for the Bahamas. The trip took 10 hours. Our first stop was a small private island called Cat Cay. They were not real friendly there and the local dockmaster wanted us to pay him $100 to check into customs and immigration.

We declined the offer and anchored 100 feet from the beach next to the marina. We hooked up to their WiFi, sent a few emails and turned in for the night. We headed out the next morning at 4 am and had a great sail to Chub Cay. We arrived at 3pm, checked into customs and raised our Bahamian Courtesy Flag. We have arrived!

Two long days of sailing left some of the crew a bit tired.
From Chub Cay we island hopped to New Providence (Nassau) and then south east to Norman's Cay. Norman's was famous in the 70's for running cocaine from Columbia to the US. It is now a quaint little island with lots of no-see-ums. Dana and I got about 300 bites between the two of us. Steve is immune to the little buggers. We did not linger long and continued south.

Our goal was to reach the Exuma Land and Sea Park by Christmas. We got there on 12/24.

We had heard many wonderful tales of this Bahamian National Park. It is spectacular and is easily one of the most beautiful places we have seen in our travels. Lucky for us, Santa knew exactly where we were. He left us a few gifts under our Christmas tree.

The only thing missing was Meghan. We called her later in the day on Skype and since both our computers have video cameras, we got to see her smiling face. The day was now perfect.

The Exuma Park is a large horseshoe shaped anchorage with deep water around the perimeter . At low tide, multiple sand bars are exposed in the center of the anchorage. Fine Line is in the middle and Independence (another St. Francis Catamaran) is on the left. Independence is owned by a family of four:mom, dad, Sam age 2 and Ben age 5. They plan to circumnavigate ......with two small children.
There are great hiking trails on the island and friendly critters.
The fauna on most of the cays is low growing shrubs and mangroves. Yes, there are bugs here and a few snakes. Fortunately we did not meet any of the latter.
There are plenty of beautiful deserted beaches. The water is about 85 degrees. Perfect for swimming. This beach faces east, towards the Exuma Sound (part of the Atlantic).
A short hike away is another beach on the Exuma Banks (very protected).
The Exuma Park Ranger and his wife put out a wonderful Christmas meal for all the boaters. They smoked a turkey and a ham. They cooked squash and sweet potatoes. The boaters brought side dishes and dessert. It was a feast.
After dinner it was easy to relax. No dishes.


We left paradise on the 27th and headed further south. Our goal was Georgetown by New Year's Eve. We stopped on the way at Staniel Cay and snorkled some great caves. Next we stopped at Black Pointe to do some laundry. There are very few places to wash clothes and Black Pointe has one of the finest laundry facilities around. It is a very traditional Bahamian town and the people are very friendly.

We arrived in Georgetown at 10am on 12/31. Our VHF radio was not receiving well so once we were settled Steve got hauled up the mast for some troubleshooting. This is a view of Fine Line from 60 feet up.

This little turtle likes to hang out by our boat. The water is really that pretty. No filters used.
Georgetown is a happening place. There are currently about 110 boats anchored here. By April there will be about 400. The Chat "N" Chill is a popular beach bar on Volleyball Beach.
You can relax and watch volleyball games, look at boats or read a book.
There are many beaches to visit and trails to hike. Think we'll stay awhile
Dana headed back to San Diego on 1/3. She was sad to leave but looked forward to Starbucks, her car and her cell phone. We will miss her.
Happy New Year

Fine Line Crew

Steve and Anne

Florida Keys

Dana came to visit for the holidays. She arrived in Florida on December 12th. We had hoped to leave for the Bahamas on the 14th but Mother Nature threw in a wild card. The "weather window" we had been waiting for closed and we decided to head south to the Florida Keys while we waited for the weather to improve. The Florida Keys is a "kick back" place where everyone hangs out in the sun.

We sailed the boat to Key Largo and moored in the John Pennekamp state park. It is a great place for campers and boaters can pick up a mooring in a large, well protected sound.
We rented a cool little convertible and headed to Key West.

There are lots of good looking guys in Key West. Dana found one that likes girls.

Lots of boaters come to Key West. There is much to do and see here and the nightlife is alot of fun.

Honoring the sunset is big in Key West. There are lots of ways to enjoy the beauty of the passing day.

Key West is the southernmost city in the USA. It is also very close to Cuba. Boat landings of Cubans are commonplace. We witnessed a group of people from Cuba being rescued in Key Largo at the state campground.

Key West is not just about bars and shopping. There are some beautiful historic buildings and homes.

We left the US for the Bahamas on Thursday 12/20. It took us 10 hours to sail from Key Largo to Cat Cay, Bahamas. We encountered bigger and rougher seas than we had anticipated and the wind direction was not optimal for our sail. But we made it fine and continued south east the next day. We had a great sail on the second day and day three finds us south of New Providence (Island where Nassau is located). We will continue south for a few more days, stopping each night and anchoring off another beautiful Cay (island).

Happy Holidays from the Fine Line Crew

Sorry about the really small pictures. Steve's laptop had a serious accident. Anne washed it with saltwater and killed it. Fortunately we were still in the US and we bought a new laptop. Problem is, we do not have the photo software we usually use to compress our photos so they will upload to the blog. We are working on it, however, and should have a solution soon....we hope.

Florida

Our Florida destination was Vero Beach. To get there, we decided to do one overnight passage out in the Atlantic as opposed to many days of travel via the Intracoastal Waterway. We headed out the St. John inlet in Jacksonville, Florida just as this Navy boat issued a warning that they were also heading out the channel. We did our best to get as far away from them as possible but we were still pretty close. They move alot faster than we do so it was not long before we were negotiating their large wake. We were treated to a beautiful sunset that night but the tranquility ended later when the seas decided to toss us around. We headed for Cape Canaveral the next morning having logged 130 miles. The Cape Canaveral inlet is a busy cruise port. Lucky for us, this morning was quiet and we quickly passed through two bridges and one canal lock. Heading towards the Intracoastal Waterway took us through a narrow mangrove lined canal full of wildlife. We saw lots of beautiful birds. And a few alligators. We did not go swimming here.

After a long day on the water we made it to Vero Beach Florida. We tied our boat to our friends Clinton, Diane, Noah and Cody's boat. Their boat, Sand Dollar, is also a St. Francis Catamaran.
In Vero Beach we work on our boat: We installed a new WiFi system, worked on our generator, change the oil in the engines, and we cleaned. We also find some time to play. Anne and Cody rowing the kayak.

We enjoyed a great Thanksgiving potluck with the 80 other boats moored in Vero Beach. There were no leftovers.
Cody, Steve, Kathy and Fred from "Makai". It was a great day to eat outside.

Noah with a "I am so full" smile.

Vero Beach is hard to leave but leave we will on Tuesday 12/5. Dana is flying to West Palm Beach, Florida to join us on December 12th. We plan to leave for the Bahamas soon after her arrival .

Happy Holidays from the Captain and Crew

Anne and Steve