It's a new world....

And so the story begins again, after four months gone.

Me and "it's me Al"
Before we left Florida in early July, we rendezvoused one more time with my first college roommate, Alison, aka "it's me, Al!"  That was her nickname as college freshmen in 1977, and mine was...... "Wally."  Don't ask.

This is the last palm tree this car will ever see

What happens in Nawlins, stays in Nawlins....

 

We bought a 4-wheel drive car (in Florida--- hard to find actually) and then ventured for five days back across the southern US--via New Orleans,  to Dallas for a visit with relatives and old friends.

Big D....

More great old college buds @ the Burgins

Wyly laughter

And into the dusty plains of west Texas to visit Leslie's brother, Roger, fiancé Vicki, and son Dylan Wyly in Lubbock.

Housesitting jobs suck....wink*

Then it was on to the mountains of northern New Mexico, where we have a housesitting (and cat-sitting) job for some friends.  It was a beautiful summer at 8,000ft.  

Jack and Lily---double love & double hairy clothes

New Mexico sunsets forever in my heart

Over the four months, we worked a variety of odd jobs.  One memorable one was working security for a crowd of 7,000+ fans at an Alabama Shakes concert in our local park (7,000 people is larger than our town population).  

Fried Wyly girls---with niece Stacy :)

We also volunteered for another three-day music festival, and then we ventured to Santa Fe to help our niece and husband work their fried food wagon at the annual Renaissance Festival. Have you ever tried a Pickle Dog?  You should.  It's their personal savory invention and simply amazing.

Rusty and red leaves

"If I ain't happy here, I ain't happy nowhere..."

We were also hired to clean up and winterize several fall gardens. And what a beautiful fall it was.  We love the changing of the seasons and had missed this the last two years while down in Florida.  

While in Taos, Tim produced three more videos. All can be found on youtube.com—just search for TimReevesVideos or try this link:          https://www.youtube.com/user/TimReevesVideo

He currently has a total of 54 self-produced videos on his channel.  He wrote a song called "Taos Blue" and made this video (song is sung by our friends Ray and Cari of Strangebyrds):

Leslie pulled the beads and jewelry supplies out of storage and fired back up her Etsy shop—free shipping for the holidays!!!

This right-brain creativity is just what we needed to balance out the left-brain survival programming that a 35ft sailboat takes.  Balance is always good. 

I also took some of your encouraging comments to heart, and started writing a story.  Forever Blue is actually more like episodes, like an hour-long TV series.  I drew my ideas and inspiration from the many colorful, alternative-minded characters that populate Taos, NM—an unforgettable and quirky town.  I’ve thought about this written portrayal for years.  When I arrived back in town in July, I unleashed my satirical view of what Taos is like (in my mind anyway).  Quirky it is.  That’s why we all love Taos so much.  I’ve got two episodes written and mostly edited, with more coming.  I might let them go public… and then again, I might not. 

******************

Sea Monkeys to C-dock

Remember those ads about Sea-Monkeys all over comic books and MAD magazine?

"Own a bowlful of happiness---Instant Pets!"

"So eager to please.  They can even be trained"

"Always clowning around, these frolicsome pets swim, stunt and play games with each other."


Well, here's the fun fact truth about these critters (isn't google wonderful for explaining these childhood questions).

Frisky Sea Monkeys

They are actually brine shrimp.  That "frolicsome" activity is either the males fighting or a male/female having some "mommy & daddy" fun that can last for days.  Yep... days.  Males have beards; females do not. They don't have smiling human faces or cute little pot bellies. They don't even have crowns on their heads.  They are itty bitty shrimp. That's it.

They breathe through their feet and are born with one eye, but grow two more upon maturity.  The "train your pets" part is that they naturally gravitate towards your finger and/or a flashlight.  So, you're wondering what this all has to do with Tim and Leslie's great adventure?  

Another skunked metal detecting trip to the beach

We had arrived at the end of April back from the Bahamas to Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, Florida Keys.  It had gotten very....very....very warm the last two weeks, uncomfortably muggy and sticky.  Even a dinghy trip to the beach and a dip in the ocean was like bath water.  The sultry night air made for sweaty sleeping. Sweat and wet were the tropical look of the daily existence. 




After a month of sitting on a mooring ball in Boot Key Harbor, the growth on the bottom of the boat was ASTOUNDING; fuzzy, hairy things and small barnacles the size of thumbtacks. 

Typical Boot Key Harbor dinghy---our's wasn't this bad

In many cases, months of unchecked growth leads to very large, gnarly dreadlocked beards hanging underneath. Which actually resemble some of the salty-bearded boat owners of Boot Key Harbor life (love this laid-back harbor).  Anyway, two days before departing, we dove in the water with fins, mask and snorkels to shave the crud off. The water was murky, dense and dark green, opposite the Bahamian blue.

Bahamas waters---see anchor 12ft down

We went at it with plastic scrapers.  After an hour, we emerged to find some of that "crud" stuck on and inside our swimsuits and then I noticed some of the particles were itchy and wiggling. Yup, you guessed it... Sea Monkeys. Eeeuuuwww.  A shower rinse on the swim platform left a bunch of 'em dry and stuck dead everywhere.  Learn something new every day.

C-dock mates reunion in the Keys

On the fun side of things, we had a great time and rendezvoused in Boot Key Harbor with several of our C-dock friends from our marina, five other boats to be exact.  We're all on a life path of filling dreams and making memories.

Dingy-drift with the local dinghies

After checking several weather resources, we happily departed Marathon on Tuesday morning May 24th, with one of our C-dock friends, Kacy and Larry, on S/V Providence, heading 215nm north
back to Regatta Pointe Marina.  It would take 2-3 days traveling an average of 5mph.  We buddy-boated for a day and a night across the Florida Bay---notoriously known as crab-trap-hell---but easy now with the crab season over and further up the west coast of southern Florida.  It was a banner day with beautiful cloud formations, dolphins and flying fish.  A manageable rain shower followed a beautiful sunset as we sailed on through the pearl moon-lit darkness of the night off the Everglades. 
Tim loves and does better than me on these overnight sails. My beauty becomes the beast without sleep.  Nonetheless, we take shifts of 2-3 hours each.  All night long we watched a spectacular lightning storm dancing through the gigantic cumulus clouds to the south, as Scorpio chased Mars across the sky westward. 

Sailing with Providence--Kacy & Larry

About 3am, we communicated via VHF radio to our buddy boat, Providence, as they peeled off towards Ft. Myers anchorage for the next night, while we sailed Fiesta further north to stop in one of our favorite anchorages in Pelican Bay, near Charlotte Harbor, midway up Florida's west coast.  Dropped the hook and we were in bed and conked out by 8:30pm, up at 6am to start the final 70-mile leg of our six-month journey.  It was another picture-perfect day of sailing Fiesta. We were feeling confident and loving this life until the last seven miles up and around Anna Maria Island into Tampa Bay.  It became the three-hour jaunt from hell with 19kt winds on the nose and waves smashing and bashing us backwards.  Fiesta and our amazing Yanmar engine rode that wild hobby horse with determination. Welcome back to reality.  It's in these tough times that Tim takes the helm with strength and perseverance and I tend to whine and curl up in the cockpit corner, wishing it over (or wishing I was a dolphin underwater watching from another realm).   We joke about me being the "Captain" and he the "Admiral"; either way, it's really good to have back-ups and onboard support. 

Back home on C-dock in Regatta Pt Marina

It's been six months since we left the marina docks on the 28th of November, with 4.5 months of it spent wandering around the Bahamas. 

I'll repeat---it's all about the journey, not the destination and where one journey seems to end, another one begins, starting all over again; phases and stages.

We have decided to dock the boat in Regatta Pointe Marina in Palmetto, FL, instead of St. Petersburg City Marina (where we are still on a wait list anyway).  We will be fixing onboard projects for a month while plugged into the dock for air conditioning, thank god. Around the first of July, we will return to Taos for the next four months (or longer) to housesit for some friends leaving for Thailand.  We will also be looking for jobs (anyone got one?).  

Stay tuned... as we continue looking for "what's next?"

Happy sails and trails!

Sailing Angels

"Sailing Angels"

Tim's latest video

Song written and sung by our good friend 

Shake Russell

TimReevesVideo on youtube.com

It's all about da love.....and rum

After eight nights in the protected harbor of Hatchet Bay in Eleuthera, we busted out one fair day and made our way westbound 16 miles across to Current Cut, a gap in the islands with a monstrous current. So get your ducks in a row and watch your p's and q's.  We did, making sure the tide/current AND wind were in sync, flowing with us. We clocked our fastest speed yet at 11 knots (12.6mph)------yeah Fiesta!! woohoo!

Spanish Wells

We were on our way to the very northern island in the Eleuthera chain called Spanish Wells.  Its claim to fame is the largest fishing fleet in the Bahamas for lobsters and many other fish varieties. It was a culture shock on several levels.  First was the clean and well-kept appearance of the soft pastel colored houses.  Second was that the citizens were all white Bahamians, descendants of the British Loyalists that fled other parts of the Bahamas when a slave uprising drove them out in the mid 1800's.  It soon became all too obvious to us that there was a definite gene strain common to all. Not only was there a physical similarity with the family name of Pinder everywhere, but there was this... accent, unlike anything I've ever heard.  I kept expecting a Midwest or Texas accent to come out of these common-looking white folks, but instead, it was truly indescribable.  A linguist would have a blast with this one.  One young waitress pronounced Bahamas as Bee-yamas, very cute if not quirky.

S/V Grateful (Dead)---farewell Jamie and Niki

But here's the best part of our stop in Spanish Wells: the first night we had just crawled into the V-berth bed and I checked phone messages.  Lo and behold, an old childhood friend was anchored in the same harbor about 150 yards out from us and they were leaving early in the morning to catch up with us in the last harbor we had just left!!!!  We jumped out of bed and lowered the dinghy. We reinstalled the gas tank and outboard, started it up and off we went into the dark to a distant catamaran with a fading light shining from the cabin. It was a great reunion of Elenbaas and Wyly that our partying parents in the 1960's would have been proud of.

Tim, Leslie, Niki and Jamie Elenbaas--sailors passing in the night

We hung together for a couple of days exploring the island, reminiscing about old times and catching up on the current news.  This was yet another amazing "large ocean... small world" story.  
Jamie and Niki will continue on through the Bahamas, down to the eastern Caribbean and eventually over to the Mediterranean and onward.  

Sail safely, my friends.....may the winds favor your wandering direction.

I tell ya, his whole trip has been about the journey, not the destination. There's been some high hi's and low lo's, as with everything in life.  The lo side of this life is the farewells; it's hard to see a boat pull out of harbor.  It sets in a certain melancholy that says to us, time to move on too.  And so we did. 

Dolphins off the bow

We took our departure from Spanish Wells, westbound to the beautiful Berry Islands and found serenity surrounded by turquoise blue for seven days.

Berry Islands... or is it Gilligan's Island?

The conch critter is still in there!  

Another secret deep blue hole--Hoffman's Cay

  

Great Harbor Cay--north Berry Islands

We spent four nights in Great Harbor Cay waiting for a weather window for a 76-mile passage (19 hours) over to the Bimini Islands, but made a quick decision to leave one afternoon around 3pm and go all night with a full moon. It was one of those difficult passages; though the winds were a perfect 10-15kts, the rolling waves on our beam threw us around quite a bit. Thank goodness for that full moon to keep us oriented. We arrived in Cat Cay anchorage at 10am, wiped out.  

Final Bahamian Island.....Cat Cay---south of Bimini

Gulf Stream---pics can't capture those steep waves....

This was our final stop in the Bahamas. Time to go home for real. We slept all day and spent an extra day and night resting and waiting for that picture-perfect window to cross the BIG river, the Gulf Stream, back to Florida, about 70 nm. It was Friday, April 22 (oops, mariner taboo says never leave a harbor on Friday). When we woke up, the winds were on the frisky side for a GS crossing, SE at 15-20kts, which means the waves will also be high, but we went for it because the next few days were going to be calm and we're not into motoring for the next 60 miles.  With a reefed mainsail and full jib, we made 6-7kts for the first part of the day.  Winds were actually perfect, but the waves were exhilarating, with the taller ones hitting us on the broadside at about 10 feet. The weather experts predicted these waves to be 4- 6 ft because they take the average height of the highest 1/3 of the waves, but individual waves may be more than twice this height.  Nonetheless, we were so happy to have an Island Packet yacht that day. We sailed her strong and she handled it beautifully.  To compensate for the strong GS current, we steered 25 degrees southwestward off our direct 240-degree bearing for eight hours, until we finally felt the Gulf Stream push against us, dropping our speed to 2-3kts. Oh yeah, here she is.  So we had to fall off northward of our intended bearing to make any way.  There's nothing that says: "Gulf Stream River here!"  

Gulf Stream approx location

The edges move around east and west over the 2000ft deep trench.  You just know it when the compass and speed go weird. 

Long after a beautiful sunset, we pulled into Key Largo to the north side of Rodriguez Key and dropped the hook among a dozen sleeping boats at 11pm, exhausted.  The downstairs salon area looked like a war zone. There was stuff everywhere.  Even when I thought everything had been tucked away or battened down, the mighty ocean showed me otherwise.  The mighty ocean---keeping sailors humble for centuries and chasing that bottle of rum.  

This current blog is being reported to you from the warm and secure bosom of Boot Key Harbor in Marathon, Florida Keys, where we will hang for the next month on a mooring ball.

Here we have run into several of our crazy neighbors from C-dock in our home marina of Regatta Point and more are en route on their way here. It's gonna be fun to see them all again.  As of today, we are scheduled to return to Palmetto, FL (Regatta Point Marina) by June 1st and then decide where our future will be from there.

       

So friendly :)

Last note observations: there are a few things we would like to include after our 4.5 months in the Bahamas.  First of all is the abundance of friendliness among the citizens.  Except for one tyrant in one harbor, the general majority of Bahamians are "all about da love".  It's customary to say "hello!"  to everyone you pass. It is so warm and friendly.
Also remarkable here is the security we felt while drifting around.  At no time did we feel ourselves or Fiesta or our dinghy in jeopardy. (Though we did not visit Nassau, Freeport, or Marsh Harbor, where caution is prudent). 

Another note of interest was the availability of fresh veggies.  Most come from afar and always via the Mailboat, though that's typical anywhere in the world these days. We ate very well, supplying our meals from the little mom-and-pop stores all over the islands.  We actually both ate well, lost weight and gained muscle in this live-aboard transient lifestyle.

Lastly, because we don't favor the drama side of life, we went prepared and though there was a daily risk to everything we did, we stayed on the cautious side of that fulcrum.  With due diligence on engine and boat maintenance, we had only three minor repairs and returned happy and satisfied with a journey of 1138 nautical miles (=1309 standard miles). All those miles and only $300 spent on diesel.

Well done... now let's have some rum!

Big ocean....small world

The date was March 13, 2016, and the place is Georgetown, Exumas, a grand Bahamian harbour many sailors call home for the winter. 
At last, the four-day-long 20+ kt winds subsided and the next morning witnessed the departure of many boats that had patiently waited for this perfect weather window. Anchors were hauled up, followed by the large mainsail, as 7-8 boats fell in line, departing the south end of the wide Elizabeth Harbour.  Many will return next year, while others will sail to new and different shores, a bittersweet departure, as we're all ready to continue our journey, but sad to say goodbye to friends of good times.  With Fiesta provisioned full of water, diesel, food and beverage, we too pulled out into the farewell line of sailboats. Though unrehearsed, the flotilla appeared to be a synchronized chorus line.

Calabash Bay, Long Island

Fiesta was heading for 25 nautical miles towards the top end of Long Island, a beautiful full sail day into Calabash Bay for the night.  It felt good to be "on the road" again after a full month in the same harbour.
Calabash paid off with a peaceful night's sleep and inspiring sunrise.  This early morning was another departing chorus line of about five other boats (all independent of each other) and though we all took a north bearing up and around the top of Cape Santa Maria, we watched with Fiesta as the other sailboats peeled off east and south into the big Atlantic Ocean. This was the turning point---north for returning US-bound vessels or south for far Caribbean destinations unknown.  

Conception Island turquoise

We were alone floating northeast, under the azure sky, watching friends with white triangular sails disappear over the horizon, like a white flag of surrender, looking for the next peaceful scene.  This day we were blessed again with perfect winds in full sails for 19nm to our next island destination in paradise called Conception Island.  A small uninhabited island (not even a single ugly iguana anywhere) belonging to the Bahamian National Trust parks.  We began to think we would be the only ones on this deserted island for the next couple of nights, which was fun and a bit eerie sometimes, but as we drew closer, we could see a spread of ten masts and hulls anchored against a brilliant white beach in the tropical sunshine.   But wait a minute, why are all the boats painted turquoise blue?  Is it a sailing club?  A gay militia fleet escaping the US political persecution?  While most boat hulls are stark white, my binoculars were freaking me out with this new-blue coordinated color of boats.  Though it seemed like a hallucination of the mind in the haze of salt air and too much sun, it was simply a blonde moment (I do confess to those every now and then).  It was the reflection of unbelievable intensity from the TURQUOISE waters surrounding the bay. This was by far the most extreme turquoise we had encountered in all the Bahamas.  There is a rare and costly turquoise gemstone from  Arizona called Sleeping Beauty. Its blue is indescribable, as were these waters.  Our close friend Kit Lynch, a vibrant Taos artist full of color, would consider this pure heaven.  It was beyond magnificent.  Did I tell you how clear the water was?  At midnight under a full moon, you could read a book 20 feet down; I exaggerate not.  We have met sailors who have sailed around the world and exclaim that no other place in the world can compare to these waters. Period. Ok, have I blissed you out yet?  Another highlight in this harbour: we reunited with some good friends who had left George Town a week before us, Rex and Amy on Xtasea, so much fun.  

Typical breakfast--one dish meal

New Mexicans doin' a Bahama 'ting

In this bay of blue was another big ocean, small world experience.  Anchored next to us was a green-hulled Tartan 33 called Emerald City. Lee and Shelby Leonard, with grandson Eric, were from Dixon, New Mexico. Yep, we had friends in common.

We stayed here two nights, but could have been a week.  We knew the isolation was going to be one of our last for a while.  

The next day, en route to Cat Island, it was a sea of glass as we glided gracefully along- beautiful, but it meant the iron genny cranking us onward. 

Hermitage

One of our unexpected treasures on Cat Island was a small historic Hermitage atop the highest point on the island above the sleepy little settlement of New Bight. Built by beloved Father Jerome early last century, he spent his last years in seclusion here... wow.

Pigeon Cay Resort--Cat Island

We sailed on up Cat Island, a low-key cay of friendly folks.  Up on the north end we dropped the hook near the very charming and relaxing Pigeon Cay Resort and went ashore for a beer.  Found the "honor bar"; yep, just leave your money on the bar and help yourself.  But most noteworthy were the owners of this small resort, Leslie and Ned; they used to live and ski in Santa Fe and Taos.  Large ocean, but small world---a trend for us.  

Not quite as dark as the locals :)

Next stop was at a private island owned by Carnaval Cruise Lines, now called Half Moon Cay.  The anchorage was perfect and we shared it with another Island Packet 35 called Peacekeeper (both well-travelled ex-UN peacekeepers). They were based out of Twin Dolphins marina across from our home base on the Manatee River on the west coast of

Half Moon Cay---cruiseship playground

Florida---large ocean, small world. Along the white sand beach on this island is a cruise line company's prefabricated fantasy playland of air-conditioned 3-sided cottages (yep, AC for the outside tropics...?), shops, water toys galore, horseback stables and a GIANT replica tall ship of Captain Morgan's, which was the bar.  The playland was void of those white and splotchy pink tourists the day we were there, so I metal detected the entire beach looking for cruise liners' gold.....nada....dang.

Ok-ok...you got right of way....jeesh

The next morning, as we pulled out of the bay, small power boats were bringing in the employees from neighboring islands to work for not one, but TWO oversized Carnaval monsters waiting to unload their thousands for a day at the beach.  So happy and grateful to be on our humble little boat.

Next stop was a day-long motor/sail up to Rock Sound in southern Eleuthera Island, which had great, almost perfect facilities for small cruisers like us.  All-around protection from strong winds in the large harbour paid off when another stink blew through and clocked around all directions (something Cat Island did not have).  The only questionable and somewhat typical issue for the town of Rock Sound is the lack of safe dinghy docks.  When the tide drops (every 12 hours), it is difficult to crawl up (and down) a splintery, mucky and often broken 3rd world hand-made ladder to the dock.  We came back one day to our dinghy sitting on the mud bog bottom.....fun.  And if not careful with the timing of the tides, the "dink" could be caught UNDER the dock on a rising tide...."dink-unda-da-dock-doo-doo"......not good either.  

Now being read in the Bahamas----Taos News!

Another highlight of Eleuthera for us was a set-up rendezvous with friends Carl Gilmore and Francie on vacation from Taos!  They had rented a house and jeep, so we tooted around with them for a couple of days exploring and snorkeling. So good to catch up with the news from Taos.  

After three nights in beautiful and quiet Ten Bay and its sandy beach, we sailed up to Governor's Harbour for a look around and found a vibrant and fun town of colonial houses from a time when this was the capital of the country before it moved to Nassau.  We didn't dare stay in this harbour with a cold front blowing through, as it's known for its poor anchor holding.  But we will be back because this has one of the few government offices for us to renew our tourist permit.  We were given 120 days when we checked into this country back in mid-December and guess what, it's almost up.  Govt officials don't like to renew too far in advance of the expiration, so we sailed through a squall on our way up to Hatchet Bay, a unique enclosed bay with a narrow opening cut in the limestone cliffs around it.  Hatchet Bay had boasted of being THE safest hurricane-proof harbour in the Bahamas, that is, until Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and Irene in 2011 proved them wrong, and wrecks still line the shore.  
Here we sit out another cold front coming soon. So we rented a car and headed down to Governor's Harbour to renew our stay for another 90 days!  

Waterspout over narrow cut in cliffs

Free boat wash and water tank refill

Alice Town on Hatchet Bay

Since our last blog, we have decided NOT to head up to the Abaco Islands.....perhaps another time.  But we feel the winds will blow us toward the Berry Islands instead...more on the way back to Florida. 

Onward we go through the big ocean.....and small world.


With peace and respect......Leslie and Tim

Check out Tim's latest video and 

you'll wonder why we are ever coming home.