week up date

Wednesday the 18^th we continued our stay at Sampson Cay and spent an exhausting day on a small beach on the west side of the island. Lunch was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (which Joyce prepared prior to our short dingy ride to the beach. We returned to the boat to enjoy yet another great sunset.

Thursday we traveled a short distance to the national park at Warderick Wells and anchored on a “mooring ball” inside the park. The park has strict rules of no fishing or picking up any shells inside the park. We were entertained by watching some fish and hiking some trails although Joyce and Keith did more hiking than me.  I did manage to make it to “BOO BOO Hill” where you can look out and see both the bank side and Ocean side of the island.

We left the park Friday and headed to Compass Cay for an overnight in the marina and a chance to feed the sharks one more time. Lunch was at the marina under a small grass roof with the only item on the menu a cheeseburger, but it tasted great as all the food has in the Bahamas. We sat on the dock in chairs and watched another water sunset.

Saturday we traveled to Staniel Cay but only stayed long enough to have lunch. The wind was starting to change to the west and with no break wall at the marina they said we would have to leave early on Saturday. We decided to head back to Sampson instead of heading out in the morning.  We spent the rest of the day and Sunday watching the wind blow and rain shower.

Joyce caught a boat shuttle early Monday morning to Staniel Cay; she flew back to Houston via a connection in Ft. Lauderdale. It was sad to see her go but she needed to get back. With Joyce’s departure it has shifted Capt Keith and I into a delivery mode of getting the boat back to Houston. We moved the boat to Highbourne Cay Marina later Monday morning in some very rough conditions.  Good thing it was only 49 miles but it felt like a 100.

Tuesday we stayed at Highbourne waiting on the wind to die down and doing a couple of boat repairs. Tuesday night was one of the best sunsets we have seen in the Bahamas; no clouds so we got to see it “all the way to the water”. The sunset was followed by a fresh fish dinner of Mahi Mahi and topped off with a desert of “Guava Duff”.

Wednesday we traveled 88 miles and are tied up at Chub Cay Club Marina. We plan to go to Cat Cay tomorrow and lord willing make the Gulf Stream crossing on Friday.

All for now and sorry for no pictures, but the internet is so slow here they will have to wait until we get home.

Later Dan    

Paradise and heaven collided today head on.  We had a truly wonderful day exploring all the Exumas had to offer.  The wind continues to blows out of the east at 20+mph which has kept us in port at Sampson Cay.  The wind and waves are a bit much to be out in the big boat as well as the dingy.  So today we decided to hire “Fat Cat”, a local Bahamian guide and his 17 foot Boston Whaler to take us on a tour of the islands.

Fat Cat met us on the dock this morning at 9:00am.  We immediately headed south to Big Major, a cay where there are a dozen or so swimming pigs.  Yes, swimming pigs.  And we are talking about some big pigs; 600+lbs.  We fed the pigs some apples, potatoes and bread.  They swam right up to the boat.  Once the food came out, the pigs about tried to get in the boat.  It was amazing and very entertaining.

After our encounter with the local hog population, we turned around and headed north to Compass Cay.  Compass is only about 4 miles north of Sampson Cay and has a very nice marina along with a very friendly nurse shark population.  We met the local folks and walked over to the beach where we took a long walk on the powder white sand overlooking the turquoise clear water of the Atlantic Ocean.

Upon our return to the marina, another boat had arrived and began to feed the sharks.  They had chopped up some squid and then got into the water to feed at least 20 to 30 sharks all about 5 to 7 feet long.  We were all glad to be standing on the dock during the feeding, but the sharks were very docile and ate the food without showing any aggression.

From Compass, we continued our travels north into the Exumas Land and Sea Park, a national park that is strictly protected.  You cannot fish, collect shells or remove anything from the park.  They ask you only take pictures and leave only footprints and bubbles.

Once in the Land and Sea Park, Fat Cat took us over to a mooring ball along a small reef.  He took out some bread, tossed it into the water and immediately the surface came alive with the most beautiful and colorful fish you have ever seen.  We enjoyed our own little, private aquarium show.

We then took another short 15 minutes boat ride over to “Rachael’s Bubble Bath”.  This is a natural coral divide between the Atlantic Ocean and the sound of the Exuma Bank.  It is very hard to describe, but the general principle is that the waves hit this natural coral rock and the water blows into the air and washes onto the sound.  So you can sit on the sound side in a beautiful pool of water and have the fresh ocean water wash over you.  Another really neat experience.

After our excursion to the Bubble Bath, we were all getting hungry as it was now just after 1:00pm.  We headed back over to Compass Cay for cheeseburgers and an ice cold Kalik beer.  We sat and talked with the locals for while and enjoyed the idyllic location and scenery.  After our bellies were full, it was hard to get going again as the wind kept the temperature at a perfect 75 degrees.

As we headed back to Sampson, Fat Cat stopped the boat and donned some snorkel gear.  In the water he went.  After about 5 or 10 minutes, he came back with 5 giant conchs.  He tossed them in a bucket and said that would be our dinner tonight.

Once we arrived back to our marina in Sampson Cay, Fat Cat asked that we provide him with a bell pepper, an onion, tomato, 4 limes, an orange, and some salt.  We watch as he went about making us fresh conch salad.  Capt Keith tried to learn how to extricate the conch from his shell and then the process of cleaning them.  Fat Cat made it look very easy, it was anything but.

Fat Cat had quite a group of onlookers as he cleaned the conchs and prepared the salad.  Of course, we all dined on the conch salad for dinner.  It was very, very good.

Today was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.  We had such a nice day and enjoyed the local color that Fat Cat provided, the stories and all the people we met along the way.  We have found the Exumas to be everything we expected and more.  The water is simply amazing.  Pictures and descriptions cannot command the full array of color that only your eye can see.

Until tomorrow, paradise and heaven have collided on the stern of Tempus Fugit.

Monday blog;

Saturday we stayed in Highbourne marina. It was sort of a work day if you could call it that; where we did laundry and some boat cleaning. The marina had a nice beach just a two minute walk from the boat so l did a little “baby necking” on the beach as I struggled to keep my head vertical while sitting in a Adirondack chair .  The longer our stay the more fun it becomes just relaxing and trying to come up with words to describe the color and beauty of the water and beaches.

Sunday we decided to head south to Sampson Cay Marina we ate lunch at McDuffies via a dingy ride from the Tempus. We all had a Mahai Mahia sandwich which was so simple yet elegant in its own way.

McDuffiess is a lone beach place hidden by vegetation with no land marks just next to a Carlos Leddor a drug lord who used the landing strip to swap drugs for cash. It is still active today as a way for folks to drop in for lunch and or visit with Salt the local dog.

We have been gone 26 days and traveled 1867 miles.

The two pictures today are from Sampson Cay one of the sunset the other the sunrise.

More tomorrow

Dan

Friday Blog,

Slept in a bit as we only had six miles to go from our anchorage to Highborne Cay. This is a very nice place with a safe harbor as well as a onsite grocery store. It’s sort of our last place to provision as we head south for some more adventure along the exumas. The marina also has a nice beach to just sit and hang out. We had one of our best dinners of our trip at the resort/marina restaurant that overlooks the water; the recipe was a beautiful sunset followed by great service and good food.

Not many pictures today

Dan

Thursday, April 12/2012, Blog  by Joyce:

9am departure from Eluthera islands.   Sea incredibly smooth with clear sky and full sunshine.  Lots of star fish on our way here in clear green water with white sand at the bottom. Thanks for all your prayers on our behalf for this trip!! Wish we could share this with all of you here in person.

Alan Cay (cay pronounced key) arrival around 12noon is complete with a welcome from native habitat, prehistoric looking , Iquanas which are up to 24 pounds.

Cool sightings of parrot fish, shark and stingray (large and small) in this small cove we are anchored. 

God story about witnessing to a young pregnant lady named Sheniqua: I gave her one of the new Bibles given to me by a member of GDLC. She wants a girl but does not know the gender yet, so I gave her the reddish pink covered Bible  and told her if it was a boy he could read it and someday share it with his wife and if it is a girl the pink color would work. Also fitting was the beach at this harbor actually had a hue of pink in the sand. This all took place at the island of Eluthera while I was shopping.

Got to stop for now; more laterJ

Joyce is blogging for Dan.

 Monday night was the first night we spent anchoring outside of any marina and the location was so very peaceful. At this site we enjoyed walking on the beach; dinner cooked by Dan, a gorgeous sunset and enjoyed gazing at an incredibly clear, star lite, night sky!  There are no bugs here, at least not any that we see or feel,  warm days cool evenings and a full moon. The tides are exaggerated with the full moon, as evidenced by, changing dock heights when tied up in marinas.

Today we crossed into the Atlantic Ocean and away from the Abacos Islands and are docked for 2 nights at Harbour Island in Eleuthera, part of the greater Bahamas Islands. We had a great traveling day complete with sightings if 100s of black Dolphins; So amazing to see.

Captain Woody stepped on board and piloted us through “devils backbone”; very jagged coral reefs make this area particularly difficult to navigate and so this man has made a vocation of piloting boats through this area. An additional benefit was fresh baked bread and carrot cake provided to us by his wife.

All of us are well and Capt Keith continues to provide interesting places to travel while avoiding shallow sand and coral reefs all of which would be unforgiving should you cross their paths.

PS first picture is our anchor location from Monday night.

All for now but off to the pink beach tomorrow

Joyce

We traveled from Treasure Cay (one of the top It’s been a few days since I’ve blogged sorry for that but we have been busy relaxing and enjoying the water.  ten beaches in the world) to Marsh Harbor on Friday for two reasons Jill and Erin needed to catch a flight back to Nassau and then onto Atlanta and we needed some boat parts and a couple of days to wait out some storms and weather. We used Saturday to replace a couple of bilge/sump pumps and in fact found all the parts we needed at Toni’s bait and tackle. Saturday night we used the dingy and traveled across the harbor to the Jib Room marina for steak night. $25 got you a nice strip steak salad veggies and baked potato. 

We celebrated Easter on the Tempus with an Easter egg hunt organized by Joyce; NOTE: Capt Keith won seven eggs to my four. Had breakfast at Curlys Tails.

Dan 

Hello! This is Jill guest blogging for Capt. Dan. Wow, what an incredible 24-hours it's been since we boarding the Tempus yesterday evening. This morning we woke up in Atlantis Marina and set sail for the Abacos. We had the most amazing smooth ride at 25knots flying across gorgeous deep blue water. We didn't see another boat for miles until we approached the islands. A pod of dolphins near the end of the run was a definite highlight! Thanks Capt Keith for slowing down the boat to point our Fipper and his family.

We dropped anchor in Little Harbor and tendered ashore on the infamous dingy. Definitly the best taxi ride of my life atop 9ft of the clearest turqoiuse and green water I've ever seen. Lunch at Pete's Pub was a great local find. Yummy sandwiches made from the fresh catch of the day with rice and peas (that's rice and beans to us non-bahamians). The decor was very fancy with white sand floors, picnic tables, and a t-shirt roofed pergula overhead. Cool drinks straight from the ice chest and ocean on either side made it a place I could've parked all day.

Then we ran to Pelican Keys, hopping in the dingy with our snorkel gear to enjoy the white sand beach. Not only was the water INCREDIBLY clear and beautiful, but the sand was buttery soft. Mom found a pair of nice, big conch shells washed up on shore and Erin introduced us to a Star fsh growing back his fifth leg (she instructed us to keep our friend in the water while saying hello and placed him safely back home)

Back on the Tempus, we tucked in for the day on Elbow Key in Hopetown. What an idyllic port with bright painted houses, cheery flowers and a lighthouse. Another fabulous water taxi ride to Harbor view lent us a sunset view while dining al fresco. More fresh fish and a round of desserts put the cherry on this sundae (well, Monday to be exact)

Sorry for the lack of pictures. Paradise was too spectacular to look through a lense. More tomorrow!

Mixed update today with some facts and pictures.  We have been gone 12 days with ten actual “run days” ie days we actually move the boat.  The boat facts for those that are interested; a 560 2006 Carver Voyager LOA is 59 feet and some change; with twin 12 liter 675 Volvos;  a 23 KW generator. A well integrated Raymarine system with two E80s at the upper bridge and two E120s in the pilot house with radar auto pilot and AIS.  We cruise in two modes 10/25 MPH this trip has been at 25 MPH 2020 RPMs  with an average fuel burn at cruise of 47GPH.

The trip to date has been 1486 Miles with 82 engine hours and 2726 gallons of diesel.

We have some quest arriving today about 4:30pm our plans are to head to the abacos  for six days tomorrow.