The Voyages of "KINGDOM": Catch up Time!

First, a bit of official business:
For the entire month of February, we will be able to receive GUESTS, as well as mail and packages in care of:
Orchid Bay Yacht Club and Marina
M/V KINGDOM, Slip #43
Great Guana Cay, Abacos, Bahama
The marina phone is (242) 365-5175 FAX (242) 365-5166

Our cell phones are alive and active here, too, but roaming charges to us can run as high as $1.99 per minute.
The good news, is that we have a good WIFI internet connection thru the marina (free), and so PLEASE email us right away if you think you may be able to visit us here during February. The nearest airport is Marsh Harbor, Great Abaco Cay, Abacos, Bahamas. It is a short ferry ride from there to Orchid Bay, here on Great Guana Cay.

Susan reported on our trip across the Gulf Stream from Palm Beach, Fl. to West End, Grand Bahama. This is a photo of KINGDOM tied up at Old Bahama Bay Yacht Club and Resort. Old Bahama Bay is a gorgeous resort, full service hotel, marina, private beach, fabulous restaurants and entertainment, as well as the beach/poolside Tiki Bar! The boat in the background is KISMET; owned by Bill and Shelley Meissner, whom we met upon docking.

KISMET is also a 58' Hatteras Long Range Cruiser (of which only 44 were built) and is almost the twin of our boat. Bill and Shelly have done a beautiful job of updating, refitting, and remodeling their boat, and it is immaculate! We've become friends, and have been cruising in company since West End. Since they have been cruising the Bahamas for at least 7 years in their boat, we see them as mentors as well as friends. Their local knowledge of the islands and local conditions is extensive.

During our two days in West End, we were boarded by Cinderella (pictured below with Susan). Cinderella is a local legend, and has become the unofficial mascot of the marina there. Several years ago, she crossed from Florida to West End with her family. Apparently, it was a very rough crossing in a sailboat. She promptly abandoned ship at the marina! Her family tried for a week to find her, but finally had to depart without her. She eventually emerged from hiding, and the marina employees have looked after her ever since. She is a very well-behaved cat, with impeccable manners. She picks out a transient boat in the harbor, and then for a day or two she "adopts" the family on board as sort of a foster cat. We very much enjoyed having been chosen by Cinderella, and you may be sure that Susan gave her only the finest tuna twice daily in appreciation. Cinderella stayed overnight on our aft deck, since I refused to allow Susan to bring her in the Master stateroom to sleep with us. She made no attempt to stay aboard when we departed. She seems to like boats and boating families, as long as they don't go to sea.

Pictured here are our friends Bill and Shelley Meissner, owners of KISMET.

Pictured here is the bow of KINGDOM, following KISMET, as we made our way from West End to the anchorage off Great Sale Cay for the night. The weather was mild, the sea moderate.

Here is a picture of our pilothouse chart plotters in action. On the left is the MapTech unit, and the Garmin is on the right. It may be hard to make out, but on each screen is a representation of the position of our boat, followed by a dotted line representing the path we have taken. Projecting from the bow of the boat icon, there is a pointer which represents the direction the boat is currently heading. When we lay out the day's sail, we create little icons called "waypoints" at specific latitude and longitude locations. Then we can steer the boat toward the next waypoint on our itinerary manually or by autopilot. It is sort of like playing a very slow video game!