Smokey

Smokey
Smokey's favorite spot

Thursday, April 28, 2011

A Lot of First!

We made it!! Cat's Eye for the first time is in the states! This is the first time Smokey our island mutt has ever been stateside too! First time I have seen water this brown. First time Cat's Eye has gone under a fixed bridge. First time Cat's Eye has gone through a bridge that opens! I can say that I stop traffic today!! I always knew I could!
Brightling Star going throught the bridge right before us.

We crossed  the Gulf Stream yesterday (April, 28th 2011) The ride was choppy in the beginning but evened out as the day went along. The crossing was only 70 nautical miles. At this point in the trip if we are doing less then 80nm in a day I think of it as a piece of cake! And we where lucky again yesterday. The only twist in the trip was the Gulf Stream. Just like crossing the Mona Passage there are a lot of stories about what will happen when your boat crosses over the water... I was expecting some big traffic sign or billboard that said "Hold on you are in the Gulf Stream!"Since I did not fine the sign I had to rely on Dave, and his "Yea! Cat's Eye is doing 11 knots!" (at one point we did 12 knots) We normally can do 8 knots on a really good day but more like 6 or 7. I mentally pictured my own "Welcome" sign - Cat's Eye was heading to AMERICA!
We travelled across from the Bahamas with another boat named Brightling star. After dropping the anchor in about 4' of muddy water (brought back some bad images!!) in St.Lucie, Florida we all headed into to shore for some good old American food!! I was thinking Maine Lobster was in order for me!!
A Little R & R. New friends on Brightling Star!
The Millers!! Kirsten & Jim! Cat's Eye has a great cockpit for a party!!

At this point in the trip we have come about 1400 nm. We have a long way to go to reach the goal of Maine. But everything changes from here. No more nude sailing, no more wondering what we will find when we go ashore, wondering what the locals will be like. We know what we will find - Target/Walmart/Old Navy/Olive Garden - traffic - lots of rules. Good thing? bad thing? Not really sure. Another thing that is a first, is sailing these waters for Dave and I too. We might not be looking to learn about local way of island life anymore but I am sure we can learn something from this half of the trip. I know there are still plenty of nice cruiser/boaters to meet. We will also be around family for a while and that is a nice thought. The land is not new or the people but it is always and adventure on Cat's Eye!!

Vero beach is the second stop. Dave and I are going to go explore - see if we can find a Burger King or Taco bell - amazing the things you miss when you do not live in America!

Know to tackle drive on the right side of the road!! oh boy!!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Haven't Been Around Till You've Been A-Ground !!!

Dave and I had a great time in Nassau. We hit Hard Rock Cafe - then enjoyed dominos on the boat at the marina with neighbors. The next day we were off to the Berry Islands. At this point the Bahama part to this adventure is coming to an end. We have 3 stops left before we hit Florida. We sail about 50 nm to Little Stirupp Cay. we knew the beach there was a stop for cruise ships to bring in their passengers. And I can see why. The beach is beautiful and made to look like a Caribbean wonderland with big side and water toys everywhere. We had no intention of leaving the boat here on this island, we just stopped to rest. We planned on heading out first thing the next morning (noticed I am using words like "we did not plan!") I cooked us a nice dinner - we watched a movie and went to bed - we really enjoyed playing dominos the night before so we where keeping it mellow. As we are getting ready to go to bed Dave says " I am going to put on the anchor alarm - when the tide goes out it gets shallow." I say "OK"  To bed we go!
We have clocked around 1100nm miles since leaving St.Thomas in February. We have also except in Nassau never went to a marina. Every night we dropped the hook - and every night I (and I am sure Dave too) wonders if everything will be Ok. Most of the time it is just a passing thought. I trust my anchor - most nights!!
Around 11:00pm I hear a beep beep beep beep - What is that I ask my sleepy self - then it all clicks - "Dave the anchor alarm!!!!"
Yup we are dragging around the harbor like Neptune himself grabbed our anchor and was swinging us around his head like a lasso. It is also very very dark. Dave starts the engines and the chart plotter to see if we can figure out where exactly we are heading. We also try resetting the anchor. Then as the wonderful brand new chartplotter/radar springs to life we see something that just really sucks. As the tide came in and the current changed and the wind decided to switch directions our anchor could not take all the new things happening and decided to just quit instead of holding Cat's Eye down. We headed for a part of the harbor that our chartplotter says "dries at low tide" - this means there is NO WATER when the tide is out and our chartplotter has a picture of a little boat that resents Cat's Eye sitting right in the middle of this area. When tide is high it can be anywhere from 2' to almost 4'. This is not alot of water. To get the tide to 4' it has to be a Full Moon. It will only happen once then you would have to wait for the tides to cycle through again. So if you did not figure it out it was the one time the tide was high, after tonight it was going to get lower and lower every high tide - and lets not forget that at low tide there is no water. Cat's Eye has a 3.5' draft. We slide right on to that little sand patch of land with no problem - all of the right elements added up - the moon the wind water! (REALLY!!!!)
Dave and I realize pretty fast that this is not good. We where a little unsure of the tides so at this point we thought we still had a chance of pulling off. But apparently as soon as tide gets to its high it starts quickly going down.
Now we are JUST in sand. There is no damage done to the boat. I want to say this now - and I can say this know beacause it is all over - but this is what happened to us when the tide went out.......

Cat's Eye High and Dry.
Ok so this looks as bad as it is. We wait all night not really sure what the morning low low tide will bring - and as you can tell it did not bring good news. But knowing that this could not be the the way Cat's Eye was going to be forever (or was it!) I just kept saying at high tide we will simply pull back out. We learned another lesson at high tide, which was around noon the next day. Not all high tides are the same, just because it was deep enough for the boat to get to the middle of this lovely lil sandy spot it did not mean at the next high tide it would be the same level . Dave at this point had  gone into the amazing beach resort looking for help. Like they did not notice a catamaran a few hunderd feet from their fun bouncy water slides and toys. (we where really right off the beach). We got lucky. The friendly (wonderful, sweet, amazing) people that worked and lived on the island offered any kind help they could! We thought that the next high tide (noon that day - 12 hours stuck so far) We could just slide back. The water would rise and pick us back up and we could just back out the way we came. Not so. The keels were stuck TWO feet into the sand & mudd. Michelle sent out a team of wave runners to hook up to us and pull, tug and push - Cat's Eye was not moving. The tide was coming up short about 5". When did you ever think 5" could be that BIG of a deal!! After the tide  left us high and dry I started to panic. The next time tide was going to be as high as it was when we slid in was 12 days. I wanted to throw up. Dave was ready to set up camp at Cat's Eye new dry home for 12 days. I was NOT willing to give up for anything. I made a call to someone I knew could read tides and would guide me in the right direction (Thank you again John) I was told the next highest tide would be at 1:06am that night but would still be coming up short. This was starting to look really bad.
Then I swear a mircle happened. Out (walking) to the boat is a wonderful and smart man named Stephen. He is a captain for the lil island. He thinks by stacking floating docks on top of eachother and putting them under the boat it will give us the extra inches we need (INCHES again really who thought only a few inches could make or break your whole day!!). We had nothing to loose. Out came the floating docks. Dave and Stephen and Alex (another amazing kind person from the island) stacked and secured the docks under the boat. I felt like I was stuck in a bad dream with really nice people.
Yup - all our eggs in one basket.
Does not look like much but the thought was when tide comes in the docks will push up under the boat and give us the stupid 5 extra inches!! Now all we had to do was wait for midnight to come and bring the tide with it. If this did not work I was going to go (walk) into the happy lil resort and ask for a job because we where going to be stuck for a while. We had all day to let the shock of one minute - be floating happy around the bahamas to now being totally no funcational. It was a long day. But the rest happens really fast. We sit and wait. Tide comes up. Dave gets in the dinghy and starts pushing Cat's Eye around. I had the job of pulling on the long anchor lines Dave set out as a guide to get out. Since it is the middle of the night again!! Do bad things always have to happen when you can not see anything!?
Dave walking out the anchors.
Tide comes in - Docks go up - Cat's Eye gets at least 5 more inches!! (at least!)!! Wheee!! Yea!!! We are floating!!

We couldn't believed it worked!  Those lil docks did the trick!!
Steven, the man with the plan!!! 
We do not know how we would have gotten off of this sand bank if it was not for the nicest people on Coco Cay. We would have been making camp till the next new moon almost 2 weeks later. We spen the day getting the boat back together. I then asked Dave if he was up for a night sail to The Grand Bahama Island. This would be the last stop in the Bahamas. We both felt that we did not want to push our luck with one more night in the same harbor.  So we took off. We are now sitting in a nice marina on Easter Day. We arrived this moring around 7:30am. We tied securuly to a dock. the marina has a nice pool and beach bar. Dave and I are thinking dominos by poolside with an adult beverage are in order and well deserved!

 I can look at this whole bad bad situation a little lighter now that it is over. It is easy to say it is not our fault. Is it? maybe. Sometimes things happen. On the postive side we had increased our friend list. Coco Cay will ALWAYS be a stop on our Bahama list so we can say hello the new friends!  I learned that the floating docks can float anything! Dave is very patient when I want things down NOW!! John Jacob still proves to be one of the most reliable welth of information! The dogs know when to stay quiet and behave. Cat's Eye is an amazing vessel that is stronger then I ever gave her credit for. I feel safe on her. And 5'' is A LOT!!

Now it is off to the states!! Florida here we come!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Catching up!

George Town was a fun little community of people and we enjoyed the time we where there. George Town is know for its abilitly so suck boats in! Lots of cruisers go there with hopes of sailing further south and never leave (why it is also called Chicken Town!). We also found lots of cruisers who do not want to leave. They have made a nice little community there and they like it! They have scheduled volleyball everyday at 2:00pm, yoga and arts and crafts in the mornings. Since Dave or I had no desire to play volleyball or do yoga we had no trouble leaving after 2 nights at anchor there!
Some beach time in George Town!
We left George Town and headed to Fisherman Cay. Nothing exciting here. We just stopped for the night to rest. The next day we hit Norman Cay. Now this was a big stop on Dave's list. The man who used to own this island -  Carlos Lehder was very well know drug Lord. Dave had a chance to be involved with his trial back in the early 90's and wanted to see the island that ran the Drug world back then!
Just a long forgotten dirt road on Norman Cay. Lots evidence that this used to be one busy place! Lehder's old house and several trailers for his employees and that famous runway that had the entry covered by tree limbs to make a tunnel for the planes to land through.
In the Norman Cay bay there is a sunken airplane. Dave went down and snorkeled around the plane. I have the very import job of making sure the dinghy did not drift away! As Dave snorkeled he grabbed five conch for dinner and I had a Lemodka (Crystal Light Lemonade and Vodka - Yummy!) and layed on the soft pontoon of our dinghy - I took my job very seriously!!




De Plane
We left Norman Cay and headed for Nassau. The big city!! The capitol of The Bahamas! This Islands houses 60% of the population. All the supplies that the smaller islands receive come from here. Even the Bohemin babies come from here! When a woman on a small island that offers no medical care gets pregnant they fly over to Nassau to give birth. (wow really!) We arrived here yesterday April 19th. We put Cat's Eye in a marina for the first time since we took off from Frenchtown Marina (where I worked and we called home in St.Thomas - Miss you guys!! xoxo). Cat's Eye is getting a well deserved bath and Dave is STILL scrubbing the mud off the anchor chain from Luperon, DR. We are going to go check out the Hard Rock Cafe and Starbucks soon. We are taking off first thing in the morning. We have 3 more stops then we will arrive in AMERICA!! Wheeee!! Target here I come!! When you have been forced to only shop in a K-Mart for 8 or 9 years you would understand my excitment! The first stop is West Palm Beach Florida! The second half to our cruising adventure!

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Rum Cay to Georgetown Bahamas

We left Long Island and headed for Rum Cay. All the books, charts and message boards all talk about this lil island bar called Kaye's Bar. Since Dave and I are not known to pass up a good bar (this one had great reviews!) after we set the anchor we headed in to explore. We found Kaye's Bar with no problem (the loud island music bamming from the lil sandy bar was a dead give away) We settled in with a couple of Kaliks (local beer) and meet some of the locals. The owner of the sand floor bar is a sweet generous lady named Deloris. We spent the afternoon with 7 out of the 62 people that live on the island drinking beer and listening to music. After telling the locals about Dave's really bad fishing skills the local fisherman Dee Dee (this is a nickname that my family has called my sister since she was a baby - it made me giggle to think the very white city girl and this very black rasta island man shared the same name!) offered to take Dave out fishing the following morning and teach him some fishing skills - I also think he felt bad for Dave that he could not provide food for the boat! Not that we did not have food but we definitely did not have ANY fresh fish! The next morning first thing (11:00am) Dee Dee came out to the boat and picked up Dave. They went off in a lil dinghy fishing for grouper.

Dee Dee's fishing boat!
 So off the they go! And for the first time in awhile I had the whole boat to myself!! 3 wonderful hours!! And then the men returned - and with fish!! They spearfish there - so Dave and Dee Dee drifted in the water and when they spotted a fish dove down and spear it. They scored 4 nice size grouper and about 15 conch. I was beaming with pride!! ( ok maybe not but I was happy that we know had fresh fish and conch!) We kept one grouper and about 5 conch. I was also trilled they Dee Dee filet and cleaned everything before it came on board Cat's Eye! It was a good day all around. Next stop was going to be Georgetown, it was a hard decision to make but we decided to move on from Rum Cay - knowing that there will be more nice, friendly people to meet. We sailed the Georgetown April 13th.
Here are some pictures of the dolphin that played with us when we sailed to Rum Cay! They where soo cute and beautiful!

So cool. Seeing dolphins never gets old!

Happy Dave after a successful day of fishing!

smoket taking a nap while we sailed to Georgetown - so glad we got those bean bag chairs!

We will hang in Georgetown till Sunday. Then off the explore the other bahama islands. We should be in florida by early May.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Some Pictures!

I can finally load some pictures!!

Sailing to Turks and Caicos from Luperon, flat calm seas.

Turks and Caicos - French Cay. This was the first stop after we left the DR. We where only here over night. This little island is a bird sanctuary.

Charlie & Bandit resting after a long day of sailing!

This is Keif - he took us to his family's bar and drove us to a great food stores - the same one he would shop in, prices were not that bad!! Thank you Keif for fun times!!
We leave for Rum Cay tomorrow! Another couple of weeks and we should be in the states!

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Same old post!

I am starting to feel like all my post are the same. We left Mayaguana on Thursday April 5th. We headed for another tiny little island call West Plana. We did a little stop and took off to Clarence Town, Long Island in the Bahamas. We got anchored and  looked up and we both decided Yeah, we liked it here! We came into Flying Fish Marina for an adult beverage. We have been on the boat for days so getting into land was a good idea!
We meet a very friendly local named Keif. we sat and drank and hear all about the Bahama islands. We then proceeded to a lil local bar that his brother owned to play dominos ( I had to learn to play). So yes some of you might be reading this saying Really?? You went to a lil local bar with a complete stranger in the middle of a forgien country.. Yes we did!! And we had a great time! Keif offered to drive us to a grocery store in the morning. We agreed to meet around noon the next day (give us some time to recop for the night before). He showed right on time and we took off in his work van for the store. We where able to get some cheese, bread and frozen PIZZA!! (this made me happy!! only so much goat you can eat!) . Now we are back from shopping and having some drinks back at the little marina bar. Next stop is Rum Cay. We are having a blast so far.

Some things we have learned.. We can not fish. Almost 1000 miles and we have not had a bite. Cat's Eye is a fantastic boat and we trust and love her. The dogs have more nautical miles then most boaters we know. You can never buy too much red wine. Kindle is the best thing since sliced white bread. And Dave does not look that bad in a speedo! Also we miss home.. this is a tricky one..Home for us has been different places. our home is where our boat is. BUT we miss ALL the people we are not with. People in the states, people in St.Thomas and St.Croix.

Pictures soon come!! Sorry internet is too slow for them!

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Bahama Mama

We made it!! Not really sure what I mean by that but it has been a long time that Dave and I have planned this cruising trip and once we landed in the Bahamas we finally feel like we are cruising!
We took off from the DR march 31st around 08:00 and headed to French Cay in the Turks and Caiocs. This is a tiny little island with nothing but birds on it. This sounded like a perfect stop for us. We sailed all day and through the night and got there about 08:00. We had the whole Island to ourselves - we us and the birds. So we did what anyone would have done! Laundry!! We were in the clearest water we have ever seen so we made water and caught up on laundry (yes we did some nuddie swimming and sunbathing, how could you not!) After a good rest and dinner made from all local stuff we bought in the DR we got a good nights sleep and took off around 05:00. we landed in the Bahamas around 15:30 on April 2nd. we are still in Mayaguana. We could not check in until yesterday due to the weekend customs was closed. We are now waiting for a good weather window so we can start exploring the other islands. Internet seems to be a challenge so I will keep everyone posted as often as I can!
Here are some pictures for the DR!
They really know how to make you feel right at home!

Smokey Dog!


Friends on a boats that we have been sailing along with!

He he I don't really need to comment on this one!
 To say the lest we are having a wonderful time. It has been great to sail It has also been great spending some much time with each other. ( I hope Dave agrees!)