Skip to main content

Day 19-20. More Lay days at Green Turtle Cay. April 10-11

 Day 19

The wind did come in as predicted, so we have a very breezy sunny day.

Spent the morning doing chores and laundry- christening the new marina dryer with its first load.  Nice to have clean sheets.  

While doing the laundry, we met a couple from Ohio who raised sled dogs.  Her husband competed in the Iditarod.  Was fascinating hearing of their adventures raising the dogs and taking them to competitions in Canada and the US.  On our way back to the boat, we met a couple from Ottawa who have wintered here for two seasons.  they leave their boat here and pull in for the summer and return to Canada where they have a boat on one of Canada's many lakes.  It seems the snowbirds will be leaving the Bahamas soon or around Easter.

Took some shots of the marina.  Donny's is a very low key, no nonsense enterprise where much is handled by handshakes, verbal agreements and "honesty jars" for laundry and water use.  Many of those who stay the winter pitch in with chores around the marina.  More like a working yacht club.





We joined these marina folk for docktails.  It seemed knot lesson were the theme!  Bill learned a new version of a half hitch!  It is so interesting how such a diverse group of people from all over can come together to help one another and laugh and joke and enjoy each others company so easily.

Leaving the docktails early, we walked to town with Carol and Gary to listen to three of the marina boaters on guitars and drums, perform at the Sundowner.  Apparently these guys provided entertainment throughout their winter stay.  We enjoyed a nice sunset, good music and lovely meal.




Here are some shots at the bar after dark.  Our friend Carol borrowed light wings from another patron and gave them a try.  Bill couldn't resist giving her a hug.


Especially enjoyed Ronel, the singing bar tender, and his version of "Sittin on the Dock of the Bay".


Day 20

Woke to a calm sunny day.  Got up early to go with Carol to town to get to the grocery store to pick up Rosie's Special Conch Fritter batter.  While in the store, Bill splurged and picked up some ice cream.  Will be bad tonight!

We returned to the boats to help Gary and Carol ready to leave.  They opted to go where we opted to stay and wait til waves decreased.  Luckily we made the right choice as they ended up surfing in 4-6 feet waves, but made it safely to their next destination. We caught Tuggernaut as they left us!

Bill left the dinghy in the water and we headed out to explore White Sound, the sound on Green Turtle to the north of us. This Sound is lined with newer homes and expensive marinas and resorts.  We walked around Green Turtle Resort but much preferred the friendly atmosphere of Donnie's.





Returning to the boat, we reviewed weather to determine when we would leave.  We put in all the way points for our routes to our next stop so we are ready to go.   Afraid it looks like another cold front is right behind the one that just passed through. So with waves 3 to 4 feet and wind at over 15 knots out of the wrong direction we decided to keep watching the weather.

Later that afternoon we joined the cruisers on the "beach" and met the new boats and learned all about the route we will take in the coming days from experienced boaters.    After dinner, we had our ice cream!  Nice end to the day.

Popular posts from this blog

June 4-5. Day 63-64. On to Cape May New Jersey. 53.4nm. Total 1534 miles.

 Left Delaware City at 5:35am to be able to take advantage of the strong currents going with us while traversing Delaware River and Delaware Bay. The Delaware River goes south about 15 miles and flows into the Delaware Bay. As we travel south, New Jersey is to the east and Delaware is to our west. We are traveling just outside the shipping channel and are really moving at 10.9 knots.  That is three knots faster than we normally travel, as the outgoing tides are pushing us along.  Nice to have Mother Nature helps us save on fuel.  The Delaware River is about 8 miles wide so there is plenty of room for the freighters and the pleasure boats.  So far, we have not encountered any commercial traffic, but there is a large freighter behind us that will eventually pass us as they travel at 14 knots. The Delaware Bay proper varies from 23-29 miles wide and 26 miles long.  There are five lighthouses on the Delaware marking the shipping channel.  We went by Ship J...
Read more

Reflections on the Bahamas

Reflections on the Bahamas Over the past 10 weeks, we have traveled through Abaco,  Eleuthera and Exuma Islands and enjoyed the hospitality of the Bahamian people.  We have learned all about the islands, its unique geography - limestone, caves, blue holes and chalk cliffs; and colorful history-pirates and rum running, salt ponds and cotton plantations, boat building and wrecking/salvage.  Traveling over 1300 miles through narrow cuts and wide bays to vast depths of ocean, we negotiated the islands and found safe harbors, calm coves for anchoring, bays filled with moorings and marinas large and small.  This trip required us to pay close attention to the weather, the tides and currents as we traveled between and through the islands. The Bahamian people are warm and friendly, willing to give us rides, advice and directions, as well as some secret recipes!!  We enjoyed hiking trails, walking the beaches, snorkeling the coral rocks and reefs, discovering ruins and ol...
Read more

Day 64-65. May 25-26. On to Peck Lake, Jupiter, FL and then on to Indiantown/ Okeechobee Waterway. Miles 63.5/ 29.1 Total Miles 1122.1/1142.0

  Day 64 We started early to get ahead of the holiday boat traffic. Weighing anchor at Lake Sylvia in Fort Lauderdale, we traveled on the Intracoastal Waterway past the iconic Pier 66 Tower and Bahia Mar Marina.  We then turned north and passed the older sections of the city - Las Olas( older homes), Galt Ocean Mile (one mile of condominiums on the beach), and the famous miles of beaches on the Atlantic.  I used to live here in the early 70's and the biggest change I see is the older smaller homes on the water are being replaced with larger versions and a few more condo towers have been built. As we go further north towards Commercial Blvd, North Fort Lauderdale, and Pompano Beach and its Lighthouse at the cut, there is less reconstruction. The next town we traveled through was Boca Raton with its Spanish architecture, Camino Real and its  landmark tower. The sand bar at the cut was just beginning to fill up  with Memorial Day revelers as we went by. Next were t...
Read more