Author: markperil@gmail.com

White Point

We’ve been doing short hops up and down the Exuma bank now that the weather has started to cooperate.  It’s been blowing 10-20 from the east/southeast every day for the past two weeks, which has allowed us to stay in the lee of Great Guana Cay as we jump from anchorage to anchorage (no more than 5 miles a day).  It’s great!  We’re finally settling in :)

White Point beach

White Point beach

Caitie was smart to pick up this dinghy anchor in Ft. Lauderdale.  We use it every day!

Caitie was smart to pick up this dinghy anchor in Ft. Lauderdale. We use it every day!

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Scruffy Captain

Scruffy Captain

Amazing rock formations along the beach

Amazing rock formations along the beach

Here's a screensaver

Here’s a screensaver

 

All is well!!! Engine is fixed.

Sorry for the lack of follow up on our last dramatic post!  We managed to install our new pump and the engine is working well.  Phew #1!

Caitie’s parents had an awesome visit and we all had a fun time sailing aboard TARA in gorgeous calm conditions.  Phew #2!

There are no northerly fronts forecast for the next week and we are looking forward to some calm and quiet days.  Phew #3!

PS Caitie’s mom took some amazing photos which will soon be spicing up our lazy blog!

Mark and Caitie 

Broke Down (and Out)

Ok, first of all – we are safe, as of writing this post, and the boat is too.  But it was a challenging few days after our first engine failure of the trip, which happened this week (on Valentine’s day, but who’s counting?).

We were en route to black point from Georgetown in the Exumas to meet Caitie’s parents for a week visit when we heard a squeal and a hint of burning coming from our Diesel engine.  We cut it quickly (thankfully) and after a quick series of deductions and tests discovered that our fresh water circulating pump (that which circulates the coolant) had seized and was not allowing our alternator vee belt to cycle around.   Despite spending a lot of time and money organizing spares for this trip, this, of course, was not one of them, so there was no easy way to fix it on the spot.  We were headed almost directly upwind and there was no way we could sail to black point before dark, especially since this involved getting through one of the high current cuts from the Exuma sound (aka ocean) side of the islands to the bank (aka shallow) side.

Since there is no real coast guard or towing service here, we issued a pan pan and luckily had two high powered dinghies come assist to pilot us in through a cut and onto anchor.  This went smoothly enough, except for the fact that we were now anchored at an uninhabited island, 30 miles from civilization and our newly arrived guests.  To add insult to injury, our cell phone cards had unexpectedly expired and we had no email or phone communications.  DRAMA!

After taking our dinghy to a few nearby sailboats we managed to get an email out to Caitie’s parents as well as a weather check to decide what our plan would be.  After much deliberation, we decided to continue up to black point and try to fix the engine on anchor there (with the assistance of a newly flown in part from Florida), with the hopes of still salvaging some of the visit.  A very kind Bristol 47 sailboat towed us out of the cut the next morning at slack tide, which was still very scary as the wind created a “rage” condition of steep, short waves that jerked us around.   We managed to sail the 30 miles up the Exuma sound in high swell but safe conditions and had an adrenaline filled downwind run through Dotham cut (hitting over 8 knots), passing by the steep rock walls closely but safely.  We anchored under sail and even managed to get in to have a celebration drink with Caitie’s parents at their rental cottage.

We’ve ordered our replacement parts and have had to sail off and onto anchor again, to move to a slightly safer location for a heavy northerly front coming in tonight.  We have been channeling the spirit of Lin and Larry Pardey (wherever they are), as their books of sailing around the world in small boats without engines have been sources of inspiration and awe on our trip so far.

Although this has been really challenging, emotionally and logistically, to deal with this situation, it has been a learning experience and will hopefully make a good story… Once it’s all sorted out :)

PS – Thank you so so much to our boat friends (and family) for reaching out to offer assistance, encouragement and kind words these past few days.  We are beyond grateful and only hope we can pay it forward.

M & C

First month cont’d

Well …we didn’t shoot many photos during the first month…we kept saying “just enjoy the moment”…most at of what we got were project photos but here goes!

Still somehow smiling

Still somehow smiling despite finding half an inch of sludge in our drinking water tanks.  Don’t worry – they’re clean now.

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Blue water shot. It really looks like that, which is wild.

 

 

Starting to chill a bit

Starting to chill a bit :)

 

Mark destroyed the dinghy pull cord with his brute strength.  Caitie braided a new one with some small twine on board.  Works like a charm!

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Gratuitous sunset shot

 

 

One month in the Bahamas!

Ok we haven’t posted for a month! Sooooooo lets get caught up.

First of all – we’re doing this post on an iPad, using data, on a SIM card that we bought during the THREE hours per WEEK that the Bahamas telecom employee is available in black point, Exumas, since our other one expired two months earlier than we had expected.  Oh yea, did we mention that was the day we had a serious engine breakdown and also the day Caitie’s parents arrived?  More on that later…but please excuse the horrible editing, typos and general quality decline compared to our usual attempts at blogging…

Week 1 – the Berry Islands.

Our main man JWay came to visit (Jeff money)!  We picked him up on a beach with lotsa swell – not a great decision as I fell out of the dinghy and got soaked en route to pick him up from the airport, and he got soaked on the way back to the boat.  Welcome to Tara Jeff!

we spent the week exploring the relatively empty Berrys and had a blast snorkexploring including a cool visit to hoffman’s blue hole (undoubtably filled with deep sea monsters)

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We caught a few fish (mackerel, amberjack, and a couple barracuda) but…the crowning achievement was the Mahi-Mahi en route to Nassau :)

imageimageJeff with a sweet gaff job.  Mark with a sweet filet job. Caitie taking the photos and navigating the boat..as per.

 

 

 

Conchday!

The wind is howling and it is overcast today.  So…let’s get in da watta and catch some dinna mon!

Score!  Took a whole but I managed to find two conch!

Score! Took a while but I managed to find two conch!

 

PLUS we figured since the weather is a bit grey, why not go into town for dark n’ stormy ingredients 😉  ok and some plantains.

This is what $100 gets you in the Berry 's

This is what $100 gets you in the Berry ‘s

VICTORY

It’s crazy, but we’re here!!

We had waited for over a week for a weather window (I know, not that long, but you try with 4 months of anticipation building behind you!), and when it finally came we were excited.  UNFORTUNATELY, I (Caitie) woke up to rather aggressive lightning and rain around 2am before our planned 5am departure.  4:30am came and it was raining harder than we had seen this entire trip, with consistent lightning strikes to the south.  Frustrations were high – we had already “staged” (prepped and moved anchor to be closer to the sea) and were ready to GO.

When the US Coast Guard came on the radio at 4:30am and announced a Small Craft Advisory and high winds, which completely contrasted the JUST released NOAA forecast online, I was pissed.  Having spent a lot of the past week reading Bruce Van Sant’s “Gentleman’s Guide to Passages South“, I was adamant not to take any “third party” weather at face value, so I called the Coast Guard to verify their radio announcement.

And, can you believe it – they had made an error.  It was yesterday’s forecast.  I knew that it didn’t match what was posted but wasn’t willing to cancel our planned crossing just yet, and when they confirmed that there was NO small craft advisory, we decided to give it a go.

And although it was a higher risk crossing, given the thunderstorms still looming nearby, we had a safe and easy passage.  Frankly, it was easier than the average shallow draft day on the ICW.

So, 120 nautical miles later, here we are in the Berry Islands, eating conch fritters, drinking rum punches, and celebrating a hard earned destination:  Bahamas.

1/4 of the boats packed into No Name Harbour

1/4 of the boats packed into No Name Harbour

Madman

Madman

Last sunset in the USA!

Last sunset in the USA!

http://youtu.be/p0OX_8YvFxA

click this pic. you’re welcome.