Weekend of Luxury in New Providence

We pulled in to the new five-star Albany Resort on the SW side of New Providence (Nassau) on Thursday after a windy, salt spray, bumpy ride over the banks from Highbourne Cay which was our last stop in the Exumas.  We thought it was a little pricey at $3/ft. initially but after exploring this amazing development we think we're getting a bargain.  Tiger Woods is one of the major investors and his 160' yacht "Privacy" is in the harbor.  Oh, and a few slips over is Johnny Depp's 100' +/- beautiful recreation of an old time presidential yacht all decked out in freshly varnished wood.

Yesterday morning we were going about our business on Mystique when we spotted a 5-spreader mast approaching the harbor from the south.  When the boat appeared around the corner we got our first glimpse of the world's largest sailing sloop, Mirabella V.  She is 247' long, the mast is almost 300' high, she draws 16' or 33' with the fin keel lowered, and Mystique would fit cross-ways on the deck!  Our mast didn't even come to the height of it's first spreader!

After we utilized the free bicycles to tour this newly completed harbor and resort, visited the luxury spa with thick white towels, thick white bathrobes and hot pool with a continously flowing waterfall under which you could sit, we returned to Mystique to find an invitation to a dockside cocktail party behind Mirabella V.  Entrees and booze provided by Johnny Depp (in absentia, drats) and Mirabella.  Needless to say we went and cavorted with all the 20-something tanned hired crews and officers, comparing notes on various world cruises and sea stories.

OK, got to cut this short, but let me just say our little stopover to await a weather front passing over turned into a five night luxury fest, including renting a car so we could run in to Nassau to take in the recreation of the classic '50's Nassau Road Race, INCLUDING meeting Stirling Moss!!

The rest of the trip back to Jupiter, FL included some big waves and wind over the Tongue of the Ocean, an overnight in 12' water in the middle of the Banks, a stop in Bimini and a beautiful Gulf Stream crossing, arriving at our dock at dusk, greeted by Bob Bruce who had flown home from Nassau a few days earlier.

Then we sold Mystique in March in Ft. Lauderdale, but that's another story...

Happy Thanksgiving from Sampson Cay

Jan reads Kendle during great sailing day

We did leave G.T. on Tuesday in 18kt winds from the ENE which made for a pretty comfortable beam reach in Exuma Sound to Galliot Cut N of Cave Cay - 37 nautical miles in about 5 hours.  Since we still had several hours of light we sailed around the W side of Little Farmer's Cay to a spot where we anchored on our first trip to the Exumas 3 years ago.  See short video from sail at this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandjcornwell/6406251369/  And more pics at the Flickr link to the left.

Path to beach from Kathryn's home where we spent many nights

It was surprisingly unemotional leaving George Town for what could be our last visit aboard Mystique, probably because we hope to return someday soon to visit Kathryn, Wendell, Chat n Chill, Brian and Larraine, shop at Top 2 Bottom, Exuma Market and Darville Lumber.  We've got great memories and have seen most of Great Exuma.  But it was time to move on and we're looking forward to getting Mystique back to the States to get some work done on her that we couldn't do in Exuma.  And it's been a long time since we've seen our new grandson, Will!  He's very cute on Skype but we need to hold him.

Refuel stop at Staniel Cay Yacht Club

Wednesday we motor-sailed up the back side of Great Guana Cay to Staniel Cay Yacht Club where we pulled into the dock on a gorgeous light-wind day to fill the diesel tank and wash the salt off Mystique.  She was scrubbed, shined and waxed in George Town and we want to keep her looking shiny white.  There was only one small diesel hose and we had to wait two hours while one of those huge mega-yachts took on 2,000 gallons ($10,000 in one gulp!).  We took 28 gallons, almost half a tank.

Sampson Cay dining room with Mystique in the harbor

High winds from the N - E were forecast for Thanksgiving and the weekend, so we pulled in to Sampson Cay which has a wonderful little anchorage in a well-protected harbor.  We've spent two previous Thanksgivings and numerous other visits here and thought it appropriate to spend a third.  This is a very high end resort built by John Malone, owner of the Discovery Channel.  But there are very few boaters or tourists here!  We ate with four others in their large dining room!  Kinda spooky.  But indicative of the slow tourist economy around the Bahamas.  They are so ready for the economy to rebound and the international tourists to come back.  Friday night there was a family of four eating next to us where were from Harbor Springs, MI, very near Traverse City!

We've seen a few other cruisers heading down to George Town - about 2/day.  It's the very beginning of the 300-400 boat influx every year which spends the winter down here.  We are very much going against the grain heading North but we don't mind.  We've always been in Colorado during the winter rush.

Hunkered down for the windy weekend (again) here, doing laundry today (Sat) and watching Michigan State beat Northwestern and Michigan beat Ohio State.  Tomorrow we're picking up our friend Bob who's flying in to Staniel Cay.  On Monday we'll head further north with a good weather forecast.

We've had time here to reflect on our many blessings, which include you, for which we are truly thankful!!  We're especially grateful that you've read our blog!

Wonderful time in George Town

Overlooking Elizabeth Harbour (c) K Robinson

It was a busy week between Bradenton (overseeing carpet install at Mom's place and selling her '91 Cadillac) and Orlando (visiting good Frisco friends Robert and Diana and picking up Customs forms for returning Mystique to the US).   Our "If you've got time to spare, fly BahamasAir" flight was delayed six hours so we didn't get to Nassau until evening.  BA put us up at the Coral Beach Wyndham hotel with dinners and breakfasts, so we decided not to take the 6am flight the next morning and instead spent the day relaxing, playing $10 in the slot machines and walking the beach before the 6pm flight to George Town.

Our good friend Kathryn picked us up and put us up at her lovely beach home where we've had the luxury of staying many times before on previous trips.  It's such a beautiful setting, set back 150' from a perfect crescent sand beach.  You look out from her huge sliding glass windows past a row of sea lettuce and palm trees to the many shades of turquoise of Hoopers Bay, and Conch Cay "key" Cut which is our entrance and exit to Elizabeth Harbour from farther up the Exuma Island chain.

Kathryn and Jan prepare another feast

The weekends have been VERY windy from the cold fronts blowing down from Florida.  So we've been on the boat during the week and enjoying the party life ashore with Kathryn and her friends (and Sammy) on the weekends (including this one!).  We've tried to earn our keep by helping her with many chores around her house, while enjoying dinner parties (the one last night here was a pre-Thanksgiving feast with roast leg of lamb brought in her suitcase from England) and drinks out at various beach bars.

We were anxious to see what damage hurricane Irene had wreaked on Mystique and have been relieved to find her in great shape.  There was evidence of rainwater leaking into the boat in places but no real damage done.  Over the next week we visited the boat and got her put back together, sails up, lifelines re-strung, dinghy patched, etc.  Our dink, "Fun Fun" has now been officially re-christened "Patches" because she's got so many of them!  She's really on her last legs.  Our goal is to use her until we return to Florida and then trade her in for a newer version over the winter.  It would have cost about $500 extra to have one shipped here from the States.

Brian (his boat), Larraine, Kathryn and Jan ready to sail

On Wednesday the weather was beautiful so we invited Kathryn and her friends Brian and Larraine for a sail up and down Elizabeth Harbour.  Brian is an avid sailor (many English Channel crossings) but hadn't sailed for ten years and his enthusiasm was infectious.  I have to say that it felt great having Mystique under sail again and whetted our appetites to get moving northwards in a few days.  After the sail we dinghied in to Chat 'n Chill for drinks, then went to St. Francis Resort for fish dinner.

Aboard Mystique, all systems are running well (after changing the generator fuel filter because the generator complained by starting to run out of steam).   We've been filling up the water tanks by shuttling jerry cans from shore, and we'll add two 5-gallon cans of diesel when we return to the boat Monday.  And we'll make a last run to Exuma Market for groceries.

This will be the last of the preparations needed before heading north toward Staniel Cay on Tuesday or Wednesday during a forecasted break in the heavy weather.  We'll pick up crew and long-time sailing friend Bob Bruce there on Saturday and the three of us will begin heading back to Florida.  The whole trip is about 350 miles from George Town to Jupiter.

Sammy the Boat Cat happy with life

Over the past four years of cruising the Bahamas we are increasingly aware of the deep cultural differences between our go-fast and accomplish much way of life and the very laid back and generally lackadaisical outlook of the Bahamians, especially on Great Exuma.  Us "white folk" tend to think of all the things that are lacking down here and what needs to be done to make this a greater place.  Then we look for ways we can help them accomplish those things.  But it turns out the Bahamians don't really want our "better" ideas nor our help.  We have slowly learned that this is the way things are here and there is a natural resistance to progress or doing things better or any sooner.   Sort of Sammy-the-boat-cat's outlook on life!  While this attitude is very different than ours, we have come to appreciate that it's one of the 'tings' that makes the Bahamas such a special place.

New Grandparents head back to George Town, Exuma

Frisco, CO, ready to head back to Mystique

Traverse City, MI

We've had quite a summer, including visiting my aging parents and the rest of my family in Traverse City, MI to spend a few weeks with Dad, who was not doing well.  Then helped our very pregnant daughter, Megan and husband, Jeremy move into their  new house in Denver, then back to TC for my Dad's funeral and family celebration.

William Gordon O'Grady, future sailor 

We witnessed the birth of our first grandchild, William Gordon O'Grady (Will), the day after returning from TC.  We can already tell he's a natural born sailor!!  William was Jan's father's name and Gordon was the great sailor who was my dad.  Then to Cleveland for our son, Andy's Ph.D. defense, followed by a week following the first Colorado Cycling Pro Tour here.

Chief Shoveler 

Then to Seattle and the Olympic Peninsula for a wedding celebration and tour of the Olympic coast.  Now, after experiencing our first real snowstorm (8") this week we're ready for some warm weather aboard Mystique.  But first we'll spend the weekend in Bradenton at Mom's condo to oversee the installation of new carpeting and visiting friends in Orlando.  Fortunately it looks like Hurricane Rina will stay down in the Yucatan and not bother us!  We've seen our share of November hurricanes.

RIP, Boo

Our cruising plan is to spend some time enjoying our friends in George Town before heading north up the Exuma chain to Staniel Cay for Thanksgiving.  Our good friend Kathryn in GT lost our favorite dog friend, Boo, who was hit by a car near her home.  You've seen his pic in previous blog posts.  Our long time friend Bob Bruce will fly in and crew with us on our trip back to Jupiter, FL where we'll leave Mystique in his boat basin for the winter and fly home for the holidays with all four children and one grandson!!


As always, view pics from all our photo albums using the Flickr link to the left.

Mystique says 'Bye to Irene

Just a quick update to let you know that Mystique is in good shape after the passing of Hurricane Irene.  We spoke with Bob at Kevalli House who looks after our boat while we're not there.  He said his house and all of his boats survived, except one power boat at his dock which was hit and swamped by another boat that had gotten loose from a mooring that was not his.

There were about 24 hours with very high winds and rain, maxing out at over 100kts overnight.  He said there were no leaves on any trees so it looks like a war zone.  The eye passed about 40 miles east of George Town.  The storm surge came about low tide so there was not an excessive amount of high water.  The power is out on Great Exuma but somehow the cell phones were still working!

There is a site where Exumians are posting information: http://exumaforyou.wordpress.com/

We are certainly breathing a little easier tonight!!

The Perfect Cruise

The Perfect Cruise reflected in the bowl of one of our deck Dorade vents
View all our pictures by clicking on the Flickr link on the left side of the page

I'm writing this aboard our flight home from Ft. Lauderdale.  Our bodies are tired but relaxed.  The last days of a cruise are always a little frantic and exhausting.  We go through a three-page checklist of things that must be done to put Mystique to bed, including things like taking down our cruising penent flags and sails, removing halyards and sheets, jerry cans, blocks and tackle for the dinghy davits, dock lines and fenders - pretty much everything exposed to the intense sun or potential hurricane winds.  Then changing engine oil and filters, closing thru-hull valves, checking windlass and autopilot oil levels, draining the Racor diesel filter, running the generator for hours to top up all the batteries, setting all the circuit breakers to 'Off' and cleaning out the heads and water tanks.  Then storing EVERYTHING in Ziplock bags (food, clothing, bedding, books & charts, electronics...), defrosting and cleaning out the refrigerator, and packing all our duffle bags for home.

Perfect sail to Staniel Cay

We make inventories of clothing and food we left aboard and lists of what we need to bring with us next trip.  We let our insurance company know our lay-up storage plans and make arrangements with the mooring service which will look after Mystique while we're gone.  Bob at Kevalli House, Hurricane Hole #3, Stocking Island across from George Town will open up the boat once a week, charge up the batteries as needed and make sure she's not sinking (or has developed any leaks around hatches and ports).  We leave our dodger and bimini up for cockpit rain and sun protection so if a hurricane approaches he'll take them down.  It's reassuring to have someone capable looking after Mystique while we're gone.  Surprisingly the odds of George Town being hit by a hurricane is not any greater than the SE coast of the US.

Belowdecks becomes such a jumble of stuff that it would be impossible to sleep aboard the last night before leaving and we're so fortunate to be able to spend the last night or two at our friend Kathryn's house and get a ride to the airport (with our four bags and Samantha).

Celebrating Cinco de Mayo at Staniel Cay YC
with Bob & Jinny from "The Abby"

But enough about the working side of cruising.  It is a small price to pay for the fantastic time we had aboard and ashore this trip.  After the huge regatta week things settled back to a more normal cruising schedule, and the events that unfolded will give you a flavor for the crusing lifestyle.  We met more cruisers from Colorado (Denver, Longmont, Boulder, Durango) and had cruiser cocktails, dinner or fun ashore with them.  "TwoCan" from Denver with Al and Susan were great fun.  Our longtime Colorado C-15 racing fleet sailing friend Peter Weil began his long-planned departure from Venice, FL and sailed down to the Exumas on his boat "Valkarie" so we planned to meet him in the middle Exumas and sail back to GT with him.  He had a friend, Sally, who had just purchased a sailboat in St. Martin, "Freedom IV", and was sailing it to Florida via the Exumas so we all planned a rendezvous near Staniel Cay.  After Jan and I experienced a fabulous two day sail north to Staniel from GT, other cruising friends aboard "The Abby" were also around and heard us on the VHF radio, so we played with them for a few days until the other boats arrived.

Valkarie rendezvous west of Sampson Cay

Sally arrived next in Staniel so we had a nice dinner with her and her captain (who left the next day).  Then Peter hailed us on VHF, "Mystique, Mystique this is Valkarie" so we knew he was within the 15 mile VHF range.  Jan and I had spent two nights alone at Sampson Cay to celebrate her birthday (and do laundry and varnish the toe rails), so we weighed anchor and headed west to intercept Peter as he approached Staniel Cay.  What a fun on-water rendezvous after we had both dreamed of meeting up in the Bahamas for so many years.  And it was his first adventure away from the Florida coast - quite an accomplishment.

Enjoying fresh Mahi Mahi with Sally and Peter aboard Valkarie

Mystique, Valkarie, Freedom IV and another beautiful 51' catch all sailed back down to George Town over two days with an overnight behind Cave Cay - again the sailing was spectacular.  Peter caught a Mahi Mahi off Staniel Cay in Exuma Sound so we all gathered on his spacious raised aft bridge deck (complete with deck chairs) that night for a royal feast.  We arrived in GT Wednesday afternoon.  The next day Jan and I set to work packing up Mystique and at the end of Friday put her on the mooring.  Peter's crew flew out and his daughter arrived.  He'll cruise back to Venice the end of May.

Snorkeling Thunderball Grotto off Staniel Cay

The weather during most of this trip has been absolutely perfect: 70 at night, 85 daytime, clear skies and breezes of 5-15kts to keep us cool and fill the sails.  The water in the out islands of the Bahamas is so crystal clear that it looks like you are in 3' depths when it's 10', and the snorkeling is spectacular.  And the colors in the water which are also reflected in the clouds are so stunning they still take our breath away.  So I would call the trip The Perfect Cruise!






We've had a lot of comments about the last blog posting "Boat Names".  How's this for another: "Sorry Kids", referring to their inheritance?  And "All My Girls", much better than combining names.   Or "Work Release".  And so, we'd like to know what would you name your boat and why?


Our daughter Megan and son-in-law Jeremy await us at the Denver airport.  We still have on our shorts and short-sleeve shirts, but the forecast is for 30's tonight!!  We'll have dinner and get to see the effect "Peanut" has had growing in her belly.  We're due to be new grandparents the end of July, so being home will be exciting.  Tomorrow we'll attend our 'old' church's 50th anniversary celebration in Boulder, then home to Frisco.  We are also looking forward to a trip sometime this summer (maybe soon) to Cleveland to see Andy and Jessice, then to Traverse City to visit the rest of my family including Dad who is now being well cared for in the Dimentia unit of the senior center where Mom and Dad moved last fall.


So I'll close out our Blog for "The Perfect Cruise".  The Admiral and I will touch base again in November when we plan to return to beautiful Exuma and Mystique.

Post-Regatta Recovery

As always, view all our pics using the "Flickr" link to the left of the page.

Ah, it’s Sunday, May 1.  The throngs that were here for the Family Island National Regatta are gone and George Town is unbelievably quiet.  It’s like everyone vanished overnight. For the past week, the island and the harbor have been a very lively place with Bahamians and sailing vessels here from all over the Bahamas.  The “Family Islands” are those outer islands beyond Nassau and Freeport.

At the beginning of the week, boats and crews arrive, either using their own motor yachts to tow the boats here from their own islands, or by putting their boats on shipping vessels and off-loading them at the dock.  They start milling about the town and practicing out on the harbor.  The locals build their ‘shacks’ out of plywood and get the electricity and stoves hooked up.  By Saturday’s final races and closing ceremonies the place is jam packed with Bahamians in their colorful clothes, the national bands are here for a parade/concert (catch a video clip on Flickr with the rest of our photos), the shacks are running full-blast with native foods and rum or gin drinks, and there is VERY LOUD music coming from all over the place.  We have anchored across the harbor where we can faintly hear the bass almost a mile away.  One of the drinks is called ‘Sky Juice’.  It is basically coconut water and gin.  Usually it is served with shreds of fresh coconut in the drink.  This is only available during regatta ~ so they say.  Regatta also has basket weaving, dancing onion pealing and other cultural happenins’  It is truly the ‘happening’ of the year!

We watched many of the races either from our own dink or from Kathryn’s skiff which is now up and running.  The first day Jan went out with her while I worked on the internet ashore and they got drenched by two squalls which dropped a total of four inches of rain (yes, I stayed dry).  The rest of the racing was done in beautiful weather, as you can see from the photos.  The regatta seemed busier and livelier than it was when we last saw it two years ago – very successful and exciting.

Prior to regatta, we mostly worked aboard Mystique (see pic 'mechanical opportunity #12 portlight repair) or were entertained aboard other boats or ashore visiting with other boaters or with Kathryn or David.  Besides Scott and Patsy aboard RUM TOT from Boulder, there was another Denver boat with a wonderful couple, Al and Susan aboard TWOCAN.  We also enjoyed a couple from Connecticut, Jinny and Bob aboard THE ABBY.  Kathryn drove us to the far east of the island one day, with a stop at Santanas Beach Bar and Grill near the Tropic of Cancer which serves the most delicious cracked lobster in the world.  Lunch consisted of three fried lobster tails with Bahamian mac and cheese along with the ever-present peas and rice.  And pina coladas!  Then we tested every swimming beach and beach bar for pinas between there and George Town on the way back.  Wonderful day.

Another day, Kathryn took us to the northwest end of the island near Rolleville where we had a buffet lunch (and pina coladas) at the Exuma Point Beach Bar and Grill.  What a spread of delicious seafood.  The owners’ son took us on a tour of the large cave where the naked man used to live (he died three years ago when his US wife came to take him home and he couldn’t stand living where he had to put clothes on every day).  We also enjoyed a wonderful Easter, with the procession of the cross up to the church, the 3 ½ hour service (!), and a lamb dinner.

So you can see that we’ve been having a wonderful time although this is more of a typical 2^nd home vacation experience than a cruising adventure.  We feel a part of the community and we’ve gotten to see more of and learn more about Great Exuma than we have before.  In a day or two, our game plan changes as we’ll weigh anchor and sail NW up the Exuma chain of islands.  We plan to meet up with yet another Colorado boat in Staniel Cay and sail in tandem back to George Town where we'll leave Mystique in the hurricane hole for the summer.

One thing we’ve noticed over the time aboard is the variety of boat names.  Of course, there are the ‘Lady names’, e.g. CaraMia (somebody’s 2 kids?), Anna Marie, etc.   The ‘animal/bird names’, e.g., Toucan Dream, Flying Pig (really), Borrowed Horse, Wild Horse, Twocan, etc.  The dream/star theme is also quite popular: Soul Searching, Dream Weaver, Southern Cross, Orion, Our Dream.   The job theme is also popular: Option 3, Legaleze, Rolls Dock (apparently he was a VP with Rolls Royce), Consulting Time, etc.  The best are those that have absolutely nothing to do with anything. For example, Walk About, Little Toot, Mango (dinghy is the Mangomobile) , We Don’t Care, Lost Marbles, Double Wide.   The best dinghy name, by far, however goes to Row vs. Wade.  Lots of fun hearing these boat names over the VHF radio.  But we’re very proud that Mystique was handed down to us by my Dad who taught all of us to sail!