Damn you Blogger!

Emailing a post to blogger can be an adventure. I love how it choses to seperate paragraphs.

Sorry for the poor editing folks. It really can't be helped. I format everything like I want to see it and then blogger boogers it all up. Posting this way sucks. I am usually good for about 100 grammatical errors per post but I weed out most of them. The few I don't see are usually the ones that completely change the meaning of what I was writing. Like in the last post I where I wrote, "Those are Dolphins!" was supposed to be "Those are not Dolphins!"

I doesn't help that I have a keyboard and screen sized for a three foot sized human either. Oh well. At least I'm posting something.

One place I'm not posting to is the S/V Kelly Nicole Facebook page. I can't email a post because FB took away the email posting feature for personal blogs. So it looks like that page will not see any action until we get wifi. Not only do they rip us off for gasoline and water down here but now they are doing it with WiFi as well. Want to see the pictures of your Grandkids, old Mr. Gray hair? Give me twenty dollars Mon and I will get you twenty four hours of spotty service. We have not paid for it yet. It's like sex, you shouldn't have to pay unless you get really really desperate, and then there's no guarantee you will not get a virus.

We are currently deciding if we are going to get the snot pounded out of us to go 20 miles upwind, or sit nice and comfortable for $30/day.

Cheers,
PJJB



This e-mail was delivered via satellite phone using Iridium Mail & Web software. Please be kind and keep your replies short.

Balls

Where did I leave off with this blog? I have no idea. I can't see the blog so I don't know what I wrote. Your mind tends to get erased while out here. Out here is actually Shroud Cay, Exumas. We are on a ball. Sometimes we treat ourselves to a mooring ball and eliminate any stress of anchoring. The winds are picking up and we are probably under false sense of security with the mooring but what the hell. We have a manual windlass so its a nice break from lifting.

We left Highbrow Highborne Cay with about 10 knots of wind on a reach. Nice. We were towing the dinghy because, well, we don't make big hops right now and we're lazy. We are taking our dear old time to get to the moorings and I see a flotilla from the north coming way too fast. No way those guys are sailing even though I see all the canvas. We were doing about five knots and they kept getting closer. When I could manage I counted them, and then counted the number of balls. Hmm. If they all get there before us we would have to anchor. I trimmed sail and got another half a knot. No way were we going to turn on the engine. If we don't get a ball we anchor. No biggie. A cat passed us, sails up, and motor screaming. Three balls. We got to the point where the sails had to come down and this mono hull came ripping past. It was a slow canoe stern type at max RPM. Two balls. We stowed the sails and motored in. We lined up a ball. The Cat decided to anchor. Three balls. Mad Max RPM overshot their mooring and took ours. Ballsy move. Another monohull came whipping in behind us and grabbed the ball next to us at about 5 knots. Two balls. We drifted slowly to the right to get one of the last balls. Americans. So worried someone else will have all the balls.

We met one of the ball chasers on the beach and they told us how to secure a ball in the park. "You have to get on the list for a ball. We're on the list. These are the balls you want. Don't get any of those balls unless you like pitching and rolling all night. Did you call to get a ball? Winds going to pick up so best to get a ball. " Balls, Balls, Balls!

We did not see much of Highborne Cay as it's private. I wandered into the marina to get some gas for the generator. I'm coming in and I see dolphins. Lots of dolphins. No, those are Dolphins! Some dude was cleaning fish on the dock and there must have been about 20 bull sharks swimming around waiting for a taste. The whole scene might have been more interesting had we not lost a sailor to a shark in Rock Sound. We shared anchorages with a couple all the way down Eleuthera. Never got to meet them. Just a passing in the dinghy and a wave hello. Guy liked to kite board, and he did one day in Rock Sound. Just unlucky I guess as a shark found him and he bleed out after a bite. Very sad and disturbing. We can't imagine how the woman feels. Our hearts go out to her. One day you are living the dream and the next moment your life is shattered. Sounds so cliche to say he was doing something he loved, but we could see the smile on his face as he rocketed over the water nearby. Enjoy every day folks.

We are in the Exumas Land and Sea Park. Today we took a dinghy ride to a creek that runs through the north end of the island. Totally cool trip. We slowly put putted through the different shades of blue shallow water to the sound side where we beached the dinghy and climbed a hill to overlook the area. Stunning. I have no other words that could possibly describe it.

We had some fun today. Felt good. We hiked, climbed and explored a strange place. We were smiling like little kids. The Bahamas are a must see if you can manage it. We are already happy we came here. Doing it every year on a continual basis is not our style, so we are soaking it up. Might be a while before we are back.
Next big stop is Warderick Wells where we are on the list to get a mooring BALL. Tomorrow we will pop over to Hawksbill Cay and anchor there unless it's rocking and rolling. We will then go to Warderick Wells and anchor for a few days. If we get a ball in that time, great. If not, meh. We can still see all the stuff being at anchor.
Life is good, with or without balls.

Cheers!
PJ

This e-mail was delivered via satellite phone using Iridium Mail & Web software. Please be kind and keep your replies short.

Update. Exumas

Just a quick update until we can get to some WiFi, which is very scarce here. We are anchored behind Highborne Cay in th Exumas and probably making our way to Normans today to wait out a little blow.

We enjoyed Eleuthera very much. Rock Sound is a great place to stop for a while. SV Magnolia cought up to us there and we enjoyed spending some time with them. We left yesterday morning and sailed across Exuma Sound to the cut at Highborne where Debra expertly brought us through. We found some good holding next to some rather large yachts and fired up the pizza oven and had us a few cold ones.

So far so very good guys. We are loving this life. The good far outweighs the bad. The bad being a leaky watermaker and a dead fridge. Both are working now. Well, the watermaker is working at reduced capacity until we get a new high pressure vessel that doesn't leak.

More updates later when we get free wifi. Seriously, some places charge $20/day for Wifi. The Iridium has been doing it's job but sending any kind of photo is pretty slow and the photo gets reduced to the quality of a Kodak disc camera. Remember those?

Cheers!
P

This e-mail was delivered via satellite phone using Iridium Mail & Web software. Please be kind and keep your replies short.

Location update. Eleuthera

Right this very minute we are sitting out a blow at anchor in Rock Harbor Sound at the south end of Eleuthera. We are kind of exposed a little but are in only seven feet of water. It's weird sitting here bouncing around in that depth. I keep waiting to hear the keel bouncing off the earth. That would be bad. They call it rock sound for a reason.

I couldn't decide where to anchor when we came in. The south looked attractive, but the chart said rocky ground. We would take less of a pounding but we might blow away. The shore near the town had better holding but in south wind we would feel it all. The wind was supposed to shift more to the east and then we would be in a good spot close to town. Hmm. I bounced this off Deb but she was staying out of it. Indecision may or may not be my problem. I decided to drop it close to town.

I wasn't the only one who decided on this spot but since that decision most all the boats moved to the protection of the south end. A tall ship from Boston came in this morning and dropped behind us. Kind of made me feel better. When we drag maybe we can tie up to them and sample some of their Sam Adams. I can't sample any of my own brews because the fridge died. All the food is now jammed in the freezer, which is now a small fridge.

The other day I noticed the fridge was at the same temp for hours. I also noticed the damn thing was running all the time. I checked the plate and it was at 30 degrees. Not good! We defrosted and cleaned it all out. I checked for leaks and found one fitting was not as tight as I expected it to be. The plate is acting like it doesn't have the proper amount of refrigerant. So now I'm on the lookout for some refrigerant here in town once the damn wind stops.

The fridge was running great up until that point. You would think there would be some gradual degrading. Damn. I have to sneek a beer into the freezer every now and then, but i have to eat something first so it will fit. We froze a lot of bread products. Guess I'll be a little dough boy pretty soon if I want some beers. Eat three bagels, chill two beers. Eat a brick of cheese, add another beer. Oh boy.

Tomorrow after a town visit, and hopefully a bar visit, we are going to test the watermaker. We were going to fire it up in Alabaster Bay but when I got into the dinghy that day the water looked like someone dumped a holding tank in it. WTF is the matter with people? A boat had just left so I suspected that maybe they purged. Maybe not. Maybe it was the towns doing. Who knows. Why dump your waste when you are going offshore within the hour? Can't it wait?

On a cleaner note - You should see the water!! Amazing. Simply amazing. Yesterday we saw the base of a cloud reflecting the blue of the water below. Beautiful. When I raised anchor last, there were baby squid swimming around. We also saw a small shark having dinner. Deb was going to pop in the water to wash her hair at that time. She changed her mind. We didn't think there would be any sharks in that shallow water but we were wrong. Rays, turtles, shark, squid, dolphin, starfish, all kinds of cool fish and even a whale were some of the creatures we've seen so far. One thing we did notice is the lack of birds. Very few birds around. No food?

We are in Rock Sound for a bit. Hopefully we can get the fridge going and then move on to the Exumas.

Updates are slow. I can update my personal facebook page, but FB removed the email capability for the S/V Kelly Nicole page or any personal blog page. Stupid. I guess I'll have to do more blog updates instead, or you can friend me on FB. I need more friends. I'm really a nice guy. Ask any bartender along our route.

By the way. I added up the miles since we left NY and it's getting close to 4,000 nautical miles. Wow.

Have a nice day peoples.
Cheers!
P


This e-mail was delivered via satellite phone using Iridium Mail & Web software. Please be kind and keep your replies short.

Morning Tea. Hatchett Bay, Eleuthra

The Morning Tea posts are a just a brain dump of random thoughts related to this cruising life. I have not done one in a while and that's because I have not had too much on my mind lately. We spent way too much time in Coconut Grove to have anything worth writing about. Don't get me wrong, we had fun, but it got old fast. Thankfully we had friends there to break up the monotony.

• Coconut Grove/Miami is an expensive stop
• The line between poverty and wealth is clearly defined and visible with just a short walk south.
• Two cycle outboard engines are fairly reliable until they're not. Then you want to set them on fire.
• It's better to buy a new carburetor then to spend a week cleaning an old one.
• After you've been tied down somewhere for a couple of months it's tough to get going again.
• We are so done with Miami. Always thought I was a big city person. Nope
• Lot's of cruisers are social butterflies, floating from boat to boat for sun downers and dinners.
• We are more like social owls. We sit and watch people. When someone asks about so and so we say, "Who? Who?"
• We have met some really nice people along the way.
• I'm concerned about the garbage we generate. No, it's not all beer cans and bottles.
• Weather windows. What some call a window of opportunity I call a door to hell.
• Our trip up the Miami river was exciting. Narrow with lots of bridges. Don't do it on a weekend.
• Boat yards are like car repair shops. They always want to sell you something you do not need. When you decline you are now shit to them, which means you get launched at the very end of the day just before the last bridge closes for rush hour.
• Instant oatmeal sucks
• We watched the super bowl. Is it me or does the whole thing seem too polished and scripted?
• We put away the TV for a long time.
• People come into a mooring with all kinds of flags flying. What's up with the flags?
• Why are pens so expensive? Must be the gel technology.
• I switched from British breakfast tea to Irish breakfast tea. My pinkie finger was cramping up
• I messed up my shoulder from pulling that damn starter cord on the outboard for a friggin week. Maybe it's arthritis. Maybe it's scurvy.
• Fresh fruit and veggies just don't last aboard the good ship Kelly Nicole.
• The Coconut Grove bus is only 25 cents to ride. It's like putting a quarter in a slot machine. Most times it's mixed fruit but every now and then it's totally bananas
• The boat next to us has rounded Cape Horn. I feel so insignificant.
• The boat on the other side of us has been sitting here 9 yrs. I feel so adventurous.
• The rat race is a tough thing to purge from your brain. Some folks are still in it.
• If I were raising a kid today I would steer them towards a skilled trade.
• A cruising couple zoomed past me in their dinghy while I was working on installing the carb. Their wake caused me to stop what I was doing and brace myself. They waved and smiled despite my thoughts of drowning them.
• One night a fishing trawler steamed through the mooring field trying to find the channel. They were apparently close enough to know they forgot the old spice that day. Drunk and stupid works for some.
• The waterways are still safer then the highways.
• Can openers just don't last. 
• Everything aboard is showing signs of rust. Even my glasses, watch and belt buckle. Hopefully the plate in my head is OK, though I keep that well lubricated.
• When we were day sailors, big wind was associated with fun times. Now that we are cruisers it's associated with sleepless nights and rough passages.
• The cruising guides tell you if you enter this cut at the wrong time you will surely die. You get to the cut and think, "We will surely fking die." You go through the cut and you think, "Those assholes who write this shit should surely die!" Kidding. They should be fired instead.
• I expected more palm trees in the Bahamas.
• No pictures can do justice to the clear blue waters of the Bahamas.
• It's way more fun sailing then motoring but sometimes you just have to burn some dinosaurs.
• My engine makes me nervous just looking at it.
• What is it with these Teva sandals and the stink?! No wonder dogs like me. My feet smell like their paws.
• I want more solar panels. Another 200 watts would be perfect.
• It seems some cruisers bring their entire life with them. A life of consumerism.
• Never ask to borrow tools from the boat with all the toys. They never have tools. 
• Canned asparagus is disgusting
• The iridium Go is working out well so far.
• We miss face timing with the kids. It's not enough to text or to just hear their voices. We need to see their smiling faces.
• Our grandsons are growing like weeds. "Mom, Dad, Who are the old sun baked people that smell funny?" Those are your grandparents dear.

Been too long since I felt like blogging. Maybe I'll do more now that we are...

CRUISING THE ISLANDS!


Cheers!
PB