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!