Monday, February 29, 2016

More Pictures

I just added a few more pictures from our Long Island trip and a few more Exumas.  Click on the photo gallery link on the right and look for the new album "01.07.16 Long Island and Exumas."

Long Island Pastor Craig Fox and his daughters and niece take delivery of the donations for hurricane relief.


Myron makes a new friend on our dinghy drift at Long Island with other cruisers and also some locals who rarely get out on the water.

The pool that was at the Long Island Breeze resort ended up down at Basel's fuel dock and tanks after Joaquin hit.

Not only did the houses lose roofs, but the some trees lost their tops in hurricane Joaquin.

Still more to follow.  Love to all,
Dena

Saturday, February 27, 2016

A Few Pictures

Now that we are using Jay's internet, I am able to share pictures and upload to Picasa, or Google Photos.  Please click on the link to the right to see all the photos in the new collection labeled "12.03.15 Eleuthera and Exumas.' Once you are into the collection or album, make sure you click on 'Info' so you can see the captions.

As always, here are a few pics to entice you.

Leaving Little Harbor Cut at sunrise:

Dolphins join us near Royal Island:

We raced the squalls from Norman's Cay to Black Point.  Squalls won, barely:

Hold Fast all alone at anchor at Lee Stocking Island:

"Sarah G" as the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow:

Local regatta in Georgetown, near Fish Fry:

More to follow!  Love to all,
Dena

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

A Long Day

Myron set an alarm for 3 am and then woke up one minute before it went off. We slept soundly until then. It was a good thing we slept well, today was a long day, rough too. We did indeed see eight foot swells. Thankfully those only lasted about three of the 12+ hours we were underway. We were about twelve miles from Little Harbor Cut, singing some of the songs Pastor Bradley played, when the reel finally went off. Unfortunately the four to six foot seas had become confused then and, to be sure, it was less than optimal 'bring a fish aboard' conditions. She was a big mahi, mahi, measured four feet. It took over 30 minutes to tire her out. Truth be known, we were all tired out. We were most thankful to have her on board. We usually do not catch anything on that run across the Northeast Providence Channel.

Entering the cut required a lot of helm work by Myron. I sat looking backwards calling out the swells, whether they were from the starboard side or behind and whether they were breaking. It gives Myron an opportunity to put pre-input into rudder to keep the waves from making us broach. We had a couple good surfs and were happy to be in. There were at least three smaller boats several hours behind us. Myron tried to encourage them that it would be rough, but they could do it if they stayed center channel. We know one made it in and were out of radio contact by the time the next two arrived, but at least they were coming in with the tide.

Myron is not feeling well. Our schedule was full last week and we were with kids - who always carry some type of germ or another. On the agenda is more rest tonight and nothing too involved tomorrow. We were still in a negative tide when we arrived at Man-O-War Cay just before 4 pm, so we took a mooring rather than go directly to Jay's dock. Moving to the dock may be our biggest accomplishment tomorrow, if we even do that.

We are safe and sound, have showered, eaten and watched a show. Time for bed.

Love to all,
Dena

{GMST}26°35.41'N|077°00.12'W|2/23/2016|6:19 PM{GEND}

Monday, February 22, 2016

Difficult Goodbyes

We spent over three weeks in Rock Sound, as you can tell by our lack of postings. We were quite busy helping out in school and preparing for and conducting the after school Bible camp at Pastor Bradley's church. For a few days, we had to move to the west side of the sound to get protection from yet another nasty cold front system with a double low.

We asked the teachers and principal, rather pointedly, whether our assistance at school was beneficial. The answer was a most resound 'yes!' I was blessed to participate in teaching 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. Myron worked exclusively with the 6th grade, except for one day when the 6th graders did art, he helped out in 4th grade. We fell in love with the kids and have a great appreciation for the teachers. Last Friday, our last day, Myron went on a field trip with the 6th graders to Governor's Harbor. They toured the Botanical Gardens, a bakery (for lunch), and Cupid's Cay. When Myron had to say his goodbyes as the kids exited the bus back at the school, there were tears. And they were not just Myron's.

One of my 5th graders, Charles, invited us to his baseball game. The opposing team did not show up, so their coach had the older kids (13-15) and younger team (10-12) mix up and play each other. They had practice during the week in preparation for another game last Saturday. We attended that game as well. Only the older kids had an opposing team, therefore our primary school guys and gals had to play another scratch game - but everyone seemed to have fun.

We got to know 'Showboat' at 3-T's Laundry, and his wife Willie Mae. Showboat is quite a character and runs a nice Laundromat, with a small goods store. I discovered that he has some of the best prices in town. He used to play for the Bahamas National Softball Team and is just an all around fun guy.

The After School Bible Camp at Brad's church was great fun. We were so thankful that Jim, Stacy and their girls, Lauren and Marlene, joined us to help on the second night. They sailed in near sunset. Myron stayed behind to direct them to the church and they went to work right away! What a relief to have such help and Stacy has a way of teaching the kids Bible verse memory that is brilliant! We all had the verses down. We had 10 kids the first night, 12 the second, 24 the third and 25 both the fourth and fifth nights. It got louder and rowdier each night. We had Pastor Brad, his wife Kayla, their daughter Kristy, Brother Hudson and his wife Sophie, Uncle Phil and Aunt Zed (yep, we are family now), attending each night and helping out as they could. Other ladies helped prepare the sandwiches, desserts and drinks. We were all beat after the last day, but we had so much fun. The kids learned more about Christ and it was worth it all. I am already trying to figure out next year's program!

Last night Myron preached at Brad's church, the Church of God, where we had the kids program. After it was all over, we all tarried with long goodbyes. As it goes in our lifestyle of travel, it is so difficult to leave the ones we have come to love. The kids and adults on shore, and the other cruisers. What keeps our spirits up is that we shall see them again next year, Lord willing. Further, when we leave one group of loved ones, we are on our way to see another group of loved ones.

Today's travel was pretty easy. We were underway shortly after 6:30 am with the wind at our back and not much seas, through Current Cut at 8.2 knots with an outgoing tide, and anchored by 3:20 pm. We will get as much rest as possible and will probably be in bed before sundown, since we will be underway about 3:30 am or so. We will be accompanied by a bright moon, but we do not expect such an easy travel day tomorrow as the swells are running about eight feet out of the ENE. Hopefully we can still catch some fish, get them aboard and worry about cleaning them later. May God give us a bounty to share with those we see next. We are hoping there is a mooring available for us as we will be pretty tired when we arrive.

Love to all,
Dena

{GMST}25°24.76'N|076°47.36'W|2/22/2016|3:45 PM{GEND}