Breeze On

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.                              ...

Today was a day of running errands in preparation for leaving Thompson Bay tomorrow morning. George dropped me off at the rock wall to dump garbage and pick up a few groceries while he went to Long Island Petroleum for three cans of diesel. Late this afternoon we joined Dee & Ron and Jean & Michael at Sou’ Side for a drink and to say goodbye (again!) The last time we said our goodbyes we weren’t sure we would meet up again and it just so happened that we did. This time it seems even less likely that we will cross paths again this winter. But you never know… Yesterday, after the NW wind had finally subsided and shifted to the N making the harbor was much calmer, we dinghied over to Tiny’s where we met the gang for lunch. George is going to miss Tiny’s pizza.  Basil’s dock, the private dock we have always been allowed to use as a dinghy dock, has still not been repaired after being damaged by Hurricane Melissa. We have seen some cruisers walk on it anyway. No way are we even ...