The Perfect Cruise

The Perfect Cruise reflected in the bowl of one of our deck Dorade vents
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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.