Day 25 leftover shots and Day 26. On to Man-o-War Cay. April 17. Miles 6.5 Total miles. 467.1

As promised the leftover shots from friends cameras of our day at Hope Town

Pretty good swinging for old folks!!

Sharing a Goombay Smash!

Mike saving our mooring ball for us as we come into the mooring field.

Day 26

Spent a leisurely sunny morning catching up with blog and boat duties. Bill also did a few drone shots.

We left Hope Town and retraced our route back east about 7 miles to Man-o-War Cay. This cay is known for its long time boat building business.

We entered Man-o-War Cay to scope out Eastern Harbor and its mooring field.

We decided to forgo the mooring field as the moorings did not look secure and there were many boats anchored within the mooring field. So we opted to anchor off the island with about 15 other boats.

After lunch, we splashed the dinghy and went into town, but did stop along the way to say hi to Anne on SV Meherio who at our age is single handed sailing through the Bahamas for her 6th year!

Landed the dinghy at Albury's Sail Shop that specialized in canvas totes and bags. Enjoyed talking with the two teens who were manning the store and hearing what life is like on a small island. Apparently getting to high school and returning home is the biggest challenge for them to overcome. Ferry ride and bus ride very early in the morning!!! We enjoyed perusing the wares and of course helped the local economy.

We then walked around the town with its cottages,

Museums and churches and Ligumvitae trees (National Tree of Bahama)

and the town's businesses- the largest, Albury's fiberglass boats. The Albury family used to make the fishing skiffs and sloops for Bahamian waters. Today they make 18-33 foot fiberglass fishing boats.

There is also sailmaking and wood working - especially the half ship models made by another Albury!

We found a street that was named after a friend's Grandfather- Chester Bethel.

We enjoyed finding the quirky and fun around town.

Returning to our boat we had to dinghy a different way as the tide had gone out and we no longer had enough water for the dinghy. Always something to keep us on our toes.

We stopped at the "best"beach on the island- called the Backbone. Really is is a small crescent beach at the narrowest part of the island. We walked across the sandy beach, up the stairs and across the limestone and concrete"road"- more like a path- to the Atlantic Ocean. The ocean side is very rocky.

When we got back to the boat we realized our anchor was not really dug in well. Not enough sand and too much rock. So we pulled anchor and tried 2 more times before we got set well. Winds are to pick up tonight so want to be good and set with the anchor.

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...

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...

Day 98. 2nd year. August 27. On to Manistee. Miles 25 Total miles. 3910.

We weighed anchor on a sunny 50 degree morning. So we put on our sweatshirts and drove from below as we left Frankfort. Going through Frankfort’s channel and breakwater we encountered a few intrepid fisherman and further along as we cleared the breakwater there must have been over a hundred fishing boats. Almost like playing bumper cars, but with boats. Had to negotiate a path between them as the fishing boats were all trolling fishing lines behind them. We were still seeing fishermen 4 miles south of Frankfort. These guys sure take their fishing tournaments seriously! The shoreline that we pass heading south are still sand dunes bluffs some as tall as 200 feet. As we travel, we pass the small town of Arcadia and Portage Lake, each situated on an inland lake which is connected to Lake Michigan by a dredged channel. Interesting to note that the dredged channels were originally small rivers connecting the inland lakes to Lake Michigan. As we passe...

Crustacean Travels

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