Independence 2011 Cruising Season Begins

Independence in the locks in Stuart after launching

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

If we’re going to do it, let’s go.

These were the words that Paul said to me this morning, after the final check on off-shore weather, between Ft. Lauderdale and Nassau for the next two days. We were as ready as we could be, having returned the rental car last night, after the last run through Total Wine (priorities!) and packing the big cooler with ice and fresh produce.

Many of our cruising buddies had already made the crossing a week ago, which we were glad we missed—as it was a rough one for a trawler. So they will have a jump on us on nabbing the season’s first lobster and maybe even getting the kite boards wet. We became the designated boat to pick up those last minute bits of equipment and provision that always crop up.

So, finally, good bye civilization as we American consumers know it, and off to the Islands, and catch as catch can.

Out of the cut, after topping off the fuel tanks, we were amidst an array of fishing boats anxious to get out for the morning bite, after a week of steady NE blow and big seas. The roughest part was that initial 2 hours, as the seas were still settling down from the week of strong wind, and we soon separated ourselves from the fleet, as we took our easterly course away from the Florida coast and the fading skyline of Miami and Ft. Lauderdale.

Thankfully, seas settled down, so Paul and I could eat some lunch, and get the fishing lines out. While he was resting down below, about 30 dolphin approached the bow of Independence for a spirited swim, leading the bow wake, riding the waves. They gradually peeled off, and I noticed behind me, as the pod regrouped, they were leaping clear out of the water, doing flips and generally showing off how to have a great time. Dolphin remind me of puppies, living for the sheer joy of each moment.

We have picked up a lot of radio chatter as we approach North Rock, our first waypoint. This is the entrance to the Bahama banks by Bimini. All the other cruisers who also took advantage of this weather window are congregating as they pass this waypoint. Paul and I enjoy a tasty dinner before sunset, which includes the best filet mignon steak I have ever tasted—courtesy of Matt and Lindsay in a rush package mailed to us just before we left.

By, nightfall we have passed through a fleet of about 20 boats (mostly sail) and have taken the lead through North Channel into the Tongue of the Ocean, for the final leg to Nassau. Our 1-hour snatches of sleep are not quite enough to stay lively, but we make it in together by 5am Thanksgiving day, and tie ourselves up at a designated slip in Nassau Harbor Club.

A couple more hours of sleep, and now we find ourselves waiting for them to open to clear customs/immigration, and hopefully press on to the Exumas.

We are so thankful to be here! Everyone enjoy your Thanksgiving!

Cruising comes to an end

As our cruising season comes to a close this year, we are once again deeply grateful for the opportunity to experience the beauty, adventures, camaraderie, excitement and challenges of this wonderful life-style.

We often reflect on the choices that brought us to this point, how fortunate we are to have the ability to continue to scramble around on a pitching deck, jump on and off a sea-rocked dinghy, climb steep and jagged trails, and dive to depths of the ocean to view beautiful corals and schools of colorful fish.

Giving up restaurants, malls and TV is a fine trade for the daily appreciation of each moment and each loaf of bread pulled, piping hot, out of the oven; the deep satisfaction of serving an inspired platter of sushi, prepared from the fish reeled in from the back deck of Independence; the excitement of contacting loved ones back home with challenging phone and internet connections; constant appreciation for the fresh water we drink that has been transformed from ocean water by reverse osmosis; keen awareness of the night sky, phases of the moon and tidal conditions. These simple, basic yet profound truths are the building blocks of our day and we are delighted to share them through this blog with whoever cares to imagine an alternative life-- floating on a boat!

Our last days at Rum Cay were enhanced by the arrival of Linda and Steve, who we picked up at the airstrip in the red jeep, and gave them not a moment's rest! After a conch salad lunch (we had caught and prepared), we geared them up with snorkels & fins and jumped on the dinghy for a spectacular drift dive over the wreck of the Conqueror. Steve, the first-timer, was totally game and almost speared a fish on the first try! Dinner was the usual group effort at the marina restaurant, with fresh, delicious, gourmet results.

The next day we left Rum Cay 'till next year, :( Fished our way to Salt Pond, Long Island (yup, the Bahamas Long Island) and after anchoring, swimming and showering, dinghied to the beach to hike up to a local restaurant that was serving a buffet of Bahamian treats.

The next day, after renting a car, we took in the sights: The Blue Hole, Clarencetown, with 2 historic churches built by Father Jerome (an Anglican priest, later became a Catholic priest, but started out as an architect!); back to Independence to clean up, then to another restaurant called Chez Pierre (go figure!).

Loved the visit L & S-- we had such a great time!

View from the church tower in Clarencetown

Linda & Steve about to jump into the blue hole

In the Out of the Blue kitchen

Our 2011 cruising year came to a close, after we returned to Georgetown to enjoy the Annual Family Island Regatta, which is a premier celebration in the Bahamas. Traditional, wooden, Bahamian sailing sloops arrive in the harbor, as food shacks are constructed and pop up all along the small peninsula called Regatta Point. Bahamians from all islands arrive mostly by sea-- mailboat, cargo boats, support vessels for the sloops, etc.

During the day, the harbor is enhanced by the sight of these beautiful sails chasing the buoys that mark the race course. Small dinghies, chase boats, & committee boats follow the racers, cheering and taking photos.

By night, Regatta Point is pulsing with loud music, locals dressed to party, and the smells of Bahamian fare wafting through the air. Conch fritters, fish fry, chicken, coleslaw, conch salad, all types of souse, and of course beer and gin and coconut water are offered at every stand.

Our friends from Sampson Cay, the number 1 and 2 A-class winners this year, sport a T-shirt proclaiming "On Land We Friends". The jiving and kidding of competing crews is in evidence, but out on the water the battle is for real.

Dinner at one of the "shacks"

Support & sailing crew of Tida Wave and Lady Muriel

Finally, as a break in the winds & seas came, Independence took the opportunity to make her way up the Exuma chain to Norman's Cay, where we re-connected with several friends and stayed a couple of days as we obsessively checked nautical weather reports for appropriate weather to make our way east.

Our crossing (first Noman's to Nassau, then Nassau across the Tongue of the Ocean to the banks by Chubb Cay, continuing on towards Bimini at nightfall, then across the Gulf Stream to Ft. Lauderdale by dawn) was thankfully mostly uneventful. The wind and seas behind us, no squalls.

Civilization is a shock. Pulling in to the inlet at Port Everglades, then the short distance to the marina, we are surrounded by opulent homes and row upon row of million dollar mega-yachts. Shops, cars, bicycles, pedestrians cram the scenery. We are back.

Various Adventures

Petroglyphs from Hartford Cave

We circumnavigated the island on "Rock Steady" and made a stop at Hartford Cave where the Lucayan Indians had left their mark. These are the natives that Columbus found here and on San Salvador, who were subsequently wiped out by slavery and disease. The cave is only accessible by sea-- we anchored close & swam in with the calm surge that day.

On this day, we took several dinghys around to Salt Pond for a day of picnic, mud spa and turtle spotting. Oh, we came home with lots of conch, & a few grouper speared just outside the creek opening, ending the day with another fabulous pot-luck!

Hard to see, but this pre-historic looking creature is sometimes called a shovel-nose lobster or a slipper lobster. I found it snorkeling a way off from the dinghy and grabbed it (with my dive gloves on) and swam it back for my first successful hunt! It was the last day before taking lobster is banned, for spawning season.

Groovin' on Rum Cay

The most recent, creative pot-luck feast...

and the gang that gathered to prepare and eat it!
We cooked and prepped sushi rice and fillings on our boats, then brought them up to the restaurant where we all got in the act of rolling nori rolls.

This happens every evening...

...and we all gather to blow conch horns and watch.

One day Peter & Suse flew their plane over from Georgetown with Paul & Melanie, and we did what we do best-- prepared food! Sue & Oscar hosted at their wonderful beach-side house.

Special lunch at Sue & Oscar's

The day we went "bush-wacking" was breezy & cool (perfect to avoid pesky noseums). Dressed in long pants, socks & shoes, we headed to an old settlement and plunged into the brush, following a rock wall up to groups of ruins. We found many broken gin bottles (over 100 yrs old), but non intact, also some shards of porcelain dishes. Most importantly, we found the only known sour orange tree, with a crop full of oranges which we shook down & gathered up!

inland to explore ruins & go bottle hunting

Rum Cay cats

A good fishing day on Independence! (and why the cats where there)

More photos

Coconut water-- Rum Cay Day

Happy Birthday Rachel & Jenny

Building the fire pit

Livin' it up at Rum Cay

Burning Man

Rachel- fire dancing

A ride to town on Rum Cay Day

sample feasting

Fred, Marcus & Paul (Marcus' boat)

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Rum Cay

Having just completed a week of fun with our buddies, Jen & Fred from home, we are feeling simultaneously the emptiness, and the slow—“now, what?” kind of feeling.

Oh sure, there is always the mountain of laundry to contend with, but let’s let that rest for a bit….

The Bahamian sun is beaming down, the southeast wind consistently breezing through the marina, and happily keeping the sand gnats (noseums) away.

As our stay extends, we become more and more bonded with the “family” of marina long-term guests, employees, and general gang that keeps things happening around here. There is an ebb and flow of people coming and going- by boat, by plane—often making it quite lively, sometimes easing into a short quiet solitude.

Rum Cay Day, the annual celebration for all descendants, friends and relatives of this island, has just been enjoyed with 2 days of music, food and drinks! The Lady Frances (the supply boat that comes in weekly) has been berthed at Government dock for two days, as it brought in the off-islanders, and musicians, etc. The local ladies cooked up heaps of Bahamian treats—conch salad, conch fritters, fried fish, fried chicken, mac & cheese, sheep’s tongue souse, sweet potato-coconut bread, and other treats. (uh-huh, very low-cal)

The kiter-kids have been very busy building a fire pit on the beach, next to the burning man sculpture, and we had a great bonfire & birthday celebration for Jenny and Rachel. There was some fabulous fire-dancing, and birthday dessert and a good time had by all.

Fishing has been keeping us in tuna, wahoo and mahi-mahi. Pot-lucks and group dinners are an almost daily event. The feasting is always gourmet.

Best wishes to everyone, Spring is just around the corner!

Honorable visit and Valentine's Party

Sharing the Valentine Love

loaded down for the pot-luck

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Yesterday the Governor-General of the Bahamas, Sir Arthur Foulkes, paid a visit to little ol’ Rum Cay. For weeks ahead of time, there was an island-wide spruce up—the ladies were in the old cemetery, hoeing, raking and burning up the weeds; the island’s only lawn mower made it’s appearance along the edges of the town roads; the airport (shed) was decorated with Bahamian banners.

Paul and I went to the reception and presentation at the one-room schoolhouse, which was packed to capacity with about 50 seats and standing around the edges. The school kids performed brilliantly—singing songs, reciting poems and history of Rum Cay, and presenting gifts to the honored guests. All the town dignitaries were there in crisp uniforms (the 2 nurses in their starched white caps & gowns, constables, etc).

Sir Arthur Foulkes is a gentleman, who started out as a journalist, likes jazz and opera, and spoke directly to the young students, imploring them to read books always, and to stay in school. He brought a message of unity to the people, noting how expensive & difficult it was to run a government over the many islands of the Bahamas, and he highlighted the talented Bahamians who have won Olympic medals and achieved fame in arts and entertainment.

We forget that these islands just achieved their independence less than 40 years ago. Imagine the growing pains and challenges to a country that offers no exports. Anyway, our slice of paradise certainly has a gritty reality.

After his visit, at the end of the day, there was a pot luck Valentine party at Kay’s Restaurant. Most of the gang from the marina & some other cruising folks were there, as well as many of the white folks who reside here in the winter, and over a dozen locals. A happy time, sharing the love…

This morning, after my bike ride and yoga on the dock, I happily consumed a huge bowl of cereal with Sue's homemade creamy coconut milk - yum!