Waiting to Move...

At last, Susan is back aboard after nearly two weeks away. She was in West Palm Beach for knee surgery and medical tests. She returns with a clean bill of health and a repaired left knee joint.
We cannot thank Claire and Don Jones enough for all they did to help Susan with her medical appointments, chauffer service, and room & board! It would have been so much harder to manage without them!
This is a picture of Easter Morning Sunrise at Marsh Harbor.

We decided to move the boat about 15 miles south from Marsh Harbor to a place called Little Harbor, at the southern end of Great Abaco Island. Our anticipated easy two-hour jaunt turned into a four-hour ordeal. Just as we left Marsh Harbor, a line of severe thunderstorms struck. There was driving rain, nearly whiteout conditions, and lightning all around us. Winds were above 40mph (we were too busy to see how high it actually reached). We think we experienced a micro-burst, which ripped loose a section of our Bimini Top Canvas. We were happy it wasn't carried away. We took it down to await repair. There was other minor damage, with a few screws pulled loose, but we've already repaired those. The canvas will have to wait until we find a canvas repair shop somewhere along the way.
This was some of the most severe weather we have experienced. We knew there was rain in the forecast, but nothing like what actually occurred was anticipated. Normal rain is no big deal for us. The boat itself performed perfectly. At least on the Bahama Banks, averaging 15 feet of water, it is impossible to build huge waves, no matter how much wind is present.

This move positions us to make the 50 mile jump from Abaco to Eluthera across a section of open ocean known as the Northeast Providence Channel, with depths of 4,500 feet. The weather forecast calls for high winds and wave conditions in the channel for the next several days. Today is Tuesday, and the next potential good weather window appears to be next Saturday. So we wait.
This is a picture taken out to sea, from our anchorage here in Old Robinson's Bight, near Little Harbor, Abaco. Just around the headland is the harbor itself, but the approach to the harbor is too shallow for us to actually make it inside. So we are bouncing around here on the hook...

It is hard to see from this picture, but offshore there are 10' to 16' waves in the channel at the moment. We will wait to venture out until it settles down to 2' to 4' wave heights. Then we will head for Egg Island, the entrance to the Eleuthera chain (about 50 miles), and then another few miles to Royal Harbor, a small very protected anchorage.
We will definitely wait until we get a perfect weather forecast for this next passage!

Marsh Harbor, Abacos, Bahamas

Check out our "vanity plates"



View of Marsh Harbor looking Southeast. Marsh Harbor Marina is at the shoreline a half-mile away.


My outdoor "office", napping sofa and BBQ grill.


View of Marsh Harbor from the flybridge, looking Southwest.



Lots of boats in this harbor, mostly sailboats. At the moment, KINGDOM is the largest powerboat at anchor here. There are a few larger boats tied up to some of the Marina piers, though.
We didn’t really intend to be in Marsh Harbor more than a few days. But Susan’s internist called and insisted that she needed to run some tests right away. Not to be too graphic, but some blood had appeared in her last urine sample, which was of concern because Susan’s father has a history of bladder cancer. This is a highly treatable condition if it is found early. So Susan flew into West Palm Beach for an appointment with a urologist.

Since she was going anyway, she decided to have her knee examined. It has been giving her pain on and off for some time, and it has been getting worse. Some days, she could barely walk.

Claire and Don Jones once again came to our rescue. Claire made appointments for Sue with doctors and labs, picked her up at the airport, saw to it that she was provided with bed and board, and drove her to the appointments. I don’t know how we would have coped without their help and kindness.

X-rays and MRI scans of Susan’s knee turned up a torn meniscus (sp?) tendon, which needed arthroscopic surgery to repair. She scheduled the procedure between visits to labs and other doctor visits last week. Her stitches will be removed next Wednesday. In the meantime, she is doing physical therapy, treating the knee with ice packs, and walking on crutches.

She is scheduled for more tests next week for the urinary tract, so we don’t yet have a diagnosis on that issue.

Our hope is that Susan will fly back to Marsh Harbor on Friday of next week. We’ll just have to see how it goes.

Life aboard KINGDOM is very quiet, without my Susie.

The weather has been extremely changeable, with alternating cold and warm fronts sweeping across the Bahamas with great regularity. For example; today started calm, sunny, and warm, with light breezes out of the southeast. By noon, the wind had shifted around and blowing out of the north 20 mph. By sundown, it was calm again out of the northwest. Forecast calls for more of the same pattern tomorrow. I don’t like to leave the boat to go ashore when the wind is blowing hard and shifting directions. There is always a chance that one of our neighboring boats will drag an anchor, so I prefer to be on deck under these conditions.

When the boat is swinging around on the anchor chain, in windy conditions, we constantly lose connectivity to the internet and satellite, so it gets frustrating trying to do email, update our blog, or even watch TV. I don’t like to be belowdecks working in the engine room under these conditions, either, since I cannot see what is going on around us. About the only thing I can do is try to read, and even then I can’t sit still very long.

While Susan is on the mainland, she took the opportunity to do some needed shopping at US prices. She was able to get some of her scuba gear; a wet suit and BCD (Buoyancy Control Device – basically an inflatable vest). I negotiated with a local dive shop here in Marsh Harbor for two reconditioned air tanks, and a reconditioned regulator and octopus. You divers know what this stuff is.

We also ordered additional charts from Bluewater Books in Ft. Lauderdale, which she will bring back with her. We expected to buy them along the way, but we are finding local sources are virtually non-existent for anything other than the Bahamian waters, which we already have aboard. She will bring back a complete chart set that will take us all the way to Venezuela, another investment of about $1000. I think subconsciously, we wanted to see if we could actually do this before buying them. We are now sure that we can, and that we will, proceed on southward.

When we have more test results, or further news to report, I will post another blog entry.

Loading the Scooters

A number of people have asked us how we get our scooters on and off the boat, so I thought I should photograph the process as we prepare to depart Guana Cay. Our dockmaster, McKenzie, was kind enough to help steady the load while I shot pix.



We lift the scooters with the same crane that we use to load and unload the zodiac dinghy, which is also stored on the flybridge deck.

We start with the cargo net spread flat on the dock. The scooter is driven into the center of the net. Then the four corners are gathered in the center above the scooter, and attached to the lift hook with four carabiners.


The 8'x8' cargo net is made of a very heavy polyethelyne weave, reinforced on all 4 sides with 3/4 inch line. It is rated for lifting several tons. Our scooters weigh only 150 lbs. each.


Once the scooter is level and slightly above the flybridge deck, the lift is rotated toward the center of the deck. The winch is then lowered, the cargo net is removed, and the scooter is rolled to its tie-down spot on deck.

The cargo netting was Susan's brainstorm, and it has worked absolutely beautifully. We can manage the unloading and reloading by ourselves, and only needed help today so I could take photographs. It was a bit windy, so it wouldn't have been prudent to just let them swing in the breeze while I stepped away to use the camera.

Diving Guana Cay's Atlantic Reefs

These pictures were taken by our divemaster during our final two open water reef dives, required for certification. We're in 25 to 45 feet of very clear water.


Susan is in the yellow fins - mine are blue. She has the dark hair, mine is white...



We're in a cavern, maybe 35 feet across. It was filled with tiny fry, glistening in the filtered light.


Susan spotted this Lionfish. We learned that they are fierce predators of other fish species, are not native to the Bahamas, and have no natural enemies. Their spines are toxic. To protect the local species, divers are supposed to kill them whenever they find them. We didn't.


Susan and her pet barracuda -


Well, here it is Tuesday March 4th, and as we prepare Kingdom and ourselves to head over to Marsh Harbour, I realize that the cruising life exposes us to people, things and places that come to mean so much in so little time. It's been fantastic here in Guana Cay for a month, and although we haven't updated you all on our activities, we have been busy! Most significant is our Certification in Scuba Open Water Diving. This process includes confined water dives, videos, text work, exams and open water diving. Our adventures now includes up to 60 feet under the sea, and we are hooked! Since our forseeable future takes us into some of the worlds best diving environments, it seemed unlikely we'd be happy just skimming the surface, now all I need is the gear, since Terry Carron fitted Walt out with top of the line stuff, he's already set! So far we have been blessed to swim with a Caribbean Reef Shark, a poisonous Lion fish, an octopus, a school of hungry baracudas, every sort of aquarium fish, stingrays, and been completely surrounded in a cavern with millions of little tiny fry, seen huge tree sized corals, and sea fans as big as areca palms, along with gazillions of fish in the most brilliant colors imaginable. We need a book so we can start to identify all the marine life, but even not knowing the proper names, we are appreciating everything.
Sunday was a monumental day here on Guana Cay. "Barefoot Man" a local recording star with a Jimmy Buffet style, held a concert at Nippers. Every bar in town had something going on all weekend, and every mooring, anchorage, and dock slip was filled. Special ferries were hired to bring others over from the surrounding islands, and it was standing room only, and traffic jams on the tiny roads. Most people only drive golf carts here, and Walt and I are the local motorcycle gang. I thought the island might sink into the ocean! Fortunately, what happens on Guana stays on Guana so I can't tell you any more about the weekend! Suffice it to say, that a good time was had by ALL.
This afternoon we are planning to dine in the Marina Restaurant where our friend and very famous bartender Berkley has promised to make me Conch Salad for the last time. His recipe is better than anyones, and he indulges me with my special requests. After lunch we'll head over to the fuel dock and hoist up the scooters, then the dingy, and we'll be ready for a morning departure to Marsh Harbour.
Unfortunately, I have to delay our cruising plans a few days and fly to Palm Beach for some medical exams that my wonderful Dr. Rebecca Cook has ordered. I'm not really too disappointed because it will give me an opportunity to pick up some of the scuba gear I need. Upon my return, Walt should have the engine room looking like an operating room (right) and we'll take off for the next chain of islands; the Elutheras, followed by the Exumas, from there to Turks and Caicos, where we will make about a 100 mile passage to the Dominican Republic, and the 85 degree Caribbean! The upcoming segment of the journey should take us a couple weeks, which puts us in the Caribbean by April, so get out your atlas, and google the flights, this is something you don't want to miss.
We love you all, Susan & Walt