Breeze On

It seems as if we  have been moving around quite a bit lately. Yesterday morning we left Alabaster Bay and motored then sailed to The Bluff near Spanish Wells. We thought we would have a calmer night in that location with better protection from the S wind. That was true enough until some very loud music coming from shore started at around 8:00PM and continued until late at night. Fortunately our earplugs muffled the noise enough to allow us to get to sleep. Today we moved 2 nm closer to Spanish Wells. The S wind was still blowing giving us a fair amount of chop but the dinghy ride into town wasn’t too bad. Our first stop was Wrecker’s restaurant at the Spanish Wells Yacht Haven. From there we walked to the grocery store for a few odds and ends. Next we dinghied to Pinder’s for fuel then back to Breeze On. We once again raised the anchor moved 2 nm to Meek’s Patch to give us better protection from the now SW wind.  While we were in town we saw that the supply ship was there. We...

In 1960, when I was six years old, my family moved from western New York State to Florida. My dad had recently completed a BS degree in mathematics and was searching for a job. My parents chose Florida for the job search because of the climate. After interviewing for jobs on both the east and west coasts of Florida my dad accepted a position at RCA near Patrick Air Force Base, south of Cape Canaveral. He worked in data reduction, taking the huge volumes of data regarding the trajectories of military ballistic missiles and reducing them to more manageable levels. I consulted with my brother, Dave, about our dad’s work and he said it took them a month to reduce the data from a single launch.  In the late 1950’s the Air Force built the Eastern Test Range; comprised of twelve down-range tracking stations—one of which was on Grand Bahama, another was on Eleuthera. George and I happen to be anchored in Alabaster Bay, which is very close to the ruins of the AAFB (auxiliary Air Force base)...

Today was the first day we have stepped off the boat since leaving New Bight, Cat Island four days ago. Normally I would be climbing the walls after staying on the boat more than three days, but since we have been moving every day it hasn’t been so bad. Yesterday we moved from Poison Point to the W side of the Rock Sound harbor in order to get protection from W winds. This morning the wind had moved to the N and calmed down so we moved to the E side of the harbor and dinghied to shore. We dropped our trash at the corral provided near their lovely dock. Then we walked to the grocery store in search of fresh fruit. When we last visited Rock Sound in November their main road was under construction. They have since finished the road and it is probably the nicest road we have seen in the Bahamas. They even installed reflectors! Of course there are still no sidewalks so walking along the busy road can be quite an adventure. After shopping we stopped at Louis Delights for lunch. George has be...

We left the New Bight anchorage yesterday morning and had a lovely sail 20 miles N to Bennett’s Harbour, Cat Island. We had one squall shortly after we left New Bight and dodged another one just before we anchored. In the evening several heavy squalls passed over us. During the night the wind shifted to the SE causing the anchorage to become rolly. We eventually gave up trying to sleep, raised the anchor, and set sail for Eleuthera. We had purposely picked today as our day to sail to Eleuthera because we thought we would have enough wind for sailing. We certainly did have the wind but we also had quite lumpy seas. We started out with 4’ seas with 4 second periods (4 seconds apart), increasing to 5-7’ with 8 second periods. After we rounded the southern end of Eleuthera the seas finally calmed down a bit and moved behind us which made the ride more comfortable. After nearly 60 miles we anchored at Poison Point, just outside the Rock Sound harbor, where we have some protection from the S...

We started our day yesterday with a walk on the beach at Old Bight, our favorite beach in the Bahamas. It is three miles long with beautiful, firm sand for walking, and gorgeous, clear water. Shortly after our walk we moved Breeze On four miles N to the New Bight anchorage. In the afternoon we went ashore for a fried chicken dinner at Cee Dee’s followed by ice cream at Lil Gippy’s. Yum.  This morning we went ashore to dump our trash at the convenient cans beside the police station then walked to Olive’s Bakery for cinnamon swirl bread, coconut and pineapple tarts, coconut cake, sesame cake, local eggs and guava duff. We had purchased guava duff elsewhere in the Bahamas several years ago and found it dry as a bone. This guava duff, unlike the last one, came with a sauce and was delicious.                                                        ...

We left the Thompson Bay anchorage yesterday morning and sailed-SAILED!-ten miles N along the coast of Long Island to anchor at Dilda Rocks. It was a treat to be able to raise and lower the mainsail again without any trouble. Once we were anchored George ran the water maker and I did a few loads of laundry. We normally hang the bed sheets on the jib sheets (lines) on the foredeck. The wind was blowing the sheets so much, though, that the blowing sheet would pull the clothespins off. We eventually had to hang the sheets from the bimini in the cockpit, and even then they would become disconnected.  Today we had a lovely sail from Long Island to Old Bight, Cat Island. Once again we appreciated being able to use the mainsail. We initially had seas of five feet in the deep water of the Atlantic Ocean but because the waves were spread ten seconds apart the ride was quite comfortable.                              ...