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Sharing our journey

We Are Back in the USA!

5/5/2024

 
For the last few weeks, we have been carefully eyeing the weather for a possible window to make our run to the tiny island of Bimini on the outer edge of the western Bahamas and then across the Gulf Stream to Florida. Bimini is the first Bahamian island that we visited on our trip south and it holds a special place in our hearts. This time around it would be our last Bahamian island, at least for the next six months.

After waiting out some strong winds over the weekend, we could finally see the weather window we were hoping for. Starting Tuesday April 30th, we had a forecast that called for good wind for a sail to Chub Cay in the Berry Islands, then calm seas for an overnight stop on the Mackie Shoal and, finally, by Thursday we would be in Bimini. Even better, Friday May 3rd was looking ideal for a fast sail from Bimini to West Palm Beach, Florida. Our cruising permit for the Bahamas was set to expire on May 14 so the timing was perfect.
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Our departure from New Providence was wonderful. The wind was in our favour and several of our dock mates came out to say goodbye and to wish us safe travels. This is one of the things we love most about this sailing gig. Everyone we meet becomes new friends. It is a strangely small community, geographically spread across the world but, as soon as you meet someone, the sharing begins. Cruisers just love to help each other out and to pass along whatever tip or tricks they have learned along the way. We all seem to know that cruising guides, navigation apps and Facebook only tell part of the story and each one of us has to piece together our own understanding of a passage or anchorage or gear or whatever. First hand knowledge from another cruiser is gold.

In fact, the most recent example of this sharing happened in New Providence. We were rafted up with “Cookie Monster” a beautiful monohull owned by a guy from New Jersey. For fifteen years, he has been storing his boat at Green Cove Springs (where we will be storing our boat for the first time this year) and he gladly shared great tips for summarizing the boat. We are used to winterizing a boat but this “summerizing” thing is its own beast! Interestingly enough, we had first heard of “Cookie Monster” through a cruiser named Rooster that we had met in the Raggeds. Yup, “Cookie Monster” and Rooster. These are our peeps 😊.
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A last croquet game with fellow cruisers (note: Ocean doesn't get that she isn't part of the game)
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Check out the second row. That's Caretta rafted to Wild Horses rafted to Cookie Monster
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One of our fellow cruisers starting to leave the dock. We followed suit the next day.
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Off sailing to Chub Cay
​The trip to Chub Cay in the Berry Islands was a fun motor sail made even more fun when we caught our first ever Mahi Mahi. Barry from Caretta had given us some great info about fishing gear over the past week and it really paid off. Even more fun was that we caught the Mahi using an old lure of my dad’s. Sometimes it really does take a village 😉.
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Mike reeling in our Mahi Mahi
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The Mahi on our gaff hook
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The Mahi beside my dad's lure
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Victoria fileting the Mahi
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Hmmm, what's cooking down below?...
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...a few pieces of Mahi for Ocean's lunch of course!
We only spent one quick night at Chub Cay and were very happy to move on the next morning. Chub Cay offers a wide-open anchorage with good holding but it was very rolly the night we stayed there. We had a strong southeastern wind forcing the sea around the island’s southwestern tip and it caused the ocean swell to slam at us broadside. Thankfully a fellow cruiser stopped by (more of that cruiser sharing that we love) and suggested we set up a swell bridle to reduce the roll. It worked perfectly and gave us a chance to sleep well. 
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A Navionics view of our Chub Cay anchorage (lower green anchorage sign)
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The swell bridle technique
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The swell bridle hangs tightly onto the aft cleat of Wild Horses
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Uh-oh, Mike's slightly mangled pinky finger is a rough reminder that the anchor windlass isn't a toy. He didn't quite get all digits out of the way before arranging the swell bridle.
We were up fairly early on Wednesday morning for a long trip to the middle of nowhere. Well, not exactly. We were headed for the Mackie Shoal. This is a known sandbar along the Bahama Bank where, in settled conditions, cruisers can drop anchor for the night to break up the 82 nautical mile trip from Chub Cay to Bimini.  It is a wonderous treat. There is no visible land as far as you can see. Just stars, our boat buddy Caretta and that beautiful blue Bahamian water. 
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The busy waterway on our way to the Mackie Shoal. We saw close to 30 of these power boats during the 8 hour trip.
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The lone marker of the Mackie Shoal
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Anchored in the middle of nowhere
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Our view of Caretta on the Mackie Shoal
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The sun sets on the Mackie Shoal
Thursday morning, we weighed anchor just before dawn and were underway to Bimini. Last time we were in Bimini we stayed at the Bimini Blue Marina (highly recommended!). This time, we opted to anchor off the western shore. The next day was to be our Gulf Stream crossing day so we wanted to easily weigh anchor at first light rather than try to read the shallow water at Bimini’s narrow inlet.
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We were excited to be headed to Florida but sad that this would be our farewell to our fabulous friends on Caretta. We will be pointing our bow north to make our way to Green Cove Springs, Florida while Caretta is going south to the Florida Keys and then on to their home port in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We have sailed together for about 15 months now so the whole crew of Wild Horses (Ocean included) is feeling a bit melancholy about moving along alone. All is not lost though! We have plans to meet up again in the Fall and to spend next winter in the Bahamas together. Yay!
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The northern coast of Bimini as we arrived on May 2nd
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Out to dinner with Caretta at Bimini Big Game Marina
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One of Caretta's stickers at Big Game Marina
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Mike having some fun with one of the local signs
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One last pic before our farewell
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Ocean looks longingly at Caretta
​On Friday morning (May 3rd), we waited for the sun to make its appearance and then quickly took Ocean into shore for her morning business trip. Next was to weigh anchor and get the sails out. The seas were calm and the wind light, making for a very comfortable journey. And we were fast! The Gulf Stream gave us an extra 3 to 4 knots most of the day, allowing us to arrive at the Lake Worth Inlet a few hours earlier than planned. We were finally back in North American waters after leaving Grenada on October 28th.  We are now looking forward to an easy and slow trip up the ICW to Green Cove Springs for our planned haul out of Wild Horses. We are targeting our arrival there for the 3rd week of May.
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Departing Bimini at first light
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A first look at West Palm Beach
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It is a busy inlet with lots of AIS targets!
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Ocean is happy to be clear of the inlet and on her way to our anchorage for the night
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Ah, a sense of home. We are back on the ICW.
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And we are back navigating through lots of Florida bridges
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Having this much choice is staggering!
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Ocean enjoying lush green grass for the first time in months
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Weather worn but full of memories!
We have a Garmin InReach that keeps our tracks up to the minute (Recreation Plan). Check out where we are right now by clicking on the button below.
Where we are now

Good Bye Exumas, Hello New Providence

4/29/2024

 
After spending the last few months kicking around the Exumas, we have finally moved along to the island of New Providence. Our Bahamas 3-month cruising permit expires on May 14 and our move to New Providence marks the beginning of our staged departure from the Bahamas. We are currently attached to a private dock on the south of the island (Nassau is at the top of the island) waiting out some strong winds. Once the weather is favourable, we will head towards the Mackie Shoal and then onto Bimini, before we make the leap across the Gulf Stream to Florida.
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When we left O’Brien’s Cay and the wonderful “Aquarium”, we sailed to Shroud Cay, just 28 nautical miles to the north. We were here just one year ago and had loved its quiet remoteness. This time around the anchorage is jam-packed full. Yikes! There are at least five superyachts, several dozen charter boats and a bunch of us cruisers mixed in between. Plus, new mooring balls that take up some of the prime anchoring spots. No need to worry though, there is lots of room for everyone. And we are still able to anchor close enough to “The Dinghy Route”. This is the real reason we wanted to come back to Shroud Cay. We had enjoyed it last year and were excited to get to show Caretta this little bit of entertainment that they had missed on their way south. The dinghy route is a narrow, twisty and turtle-filled natural waterway that takes you from the calm “Sound” side of the island, to the sporty Atlantic side. Using the flooding tide, you dinghy through mangroves and along sandstone banks, with turtles, stingrays and an occasional shark swimming alongside. Finally you arrive at the fast current-driven spin cycle called “the washing machine” on the Atlantic side. Our little 15 and 20 horsepower dinghy motors can do little to fight against the current, making our landing on the shoreline more like bumper cars making their final turn. 
Click here to Come with us on the dinghy route
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The dinghy route across Shroud Cay
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One of many turtles along the way
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The opening to the Atlantic side and the "washing machine" current
​Although the dinghy landing is fast and rough (due to the strong current), the view is not. We have a beautifully long, sandy, white beach laid out in front of us, and edged with that stunning blue Bahamian water. Not only that, we have beer, beach chairs and a sandbar. Time for some relaxing in paradise!
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Mike relaxing on the sandbar
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Victoria on the beach
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Both of us enjoying the afternoon on the sandbar
Don't worry, Ocean got in on the fun! Click the buttons below to see her doing her best to "try" to swim at the sandbar and also how she relaxes after a big day at the beach.
Sandbar Swimming
Sleeping in paradise
After a few days at Shroud Cay, we decided to weigh anchor last Sunday morning and do a quick little motor-sail jump to Highbourne Cay. A strong east wind was forecasted for the upcoming days and although Highbourne Cay is not ideal for big weather, it thankfully provides enough protection from moderate wind and swell. We might be bumped around a bit but it wouldn’t be entirely uncomfortable.
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While the winds were still light, we opted to dinghy over to Allen’s Cay and check out the iguanas that freely roam about the tiny island. Just as they had last year when we were there, a few iguanas immediately came out to see what we were doing. This time, we came prepared with some lettuce and celery to entice them closer. As soon as the food came out, we had about a dozen iguanas coming towards us. They were definitely not shy once they knew they would be fed!
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Ocean looking at the Highbourne anchorage from the nearby beach
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Iguanas!
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The iguanas get very close
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A big iguana poses for his beauty shot
The first bit of strong winds arrived on Tuesday and although it was comfortable enough on the boat, taking Ocean ashore in the big waves was definitely not so comfy. With even stronger winds arriving on the weekend, we decided to email our friends Carolyn and Nick to see if they had any space available on their private dock on the southern coast of New Providence Island. They quickly confirmed that they had space for both Caretta and Wild Horses. Yay!
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On Wednesday morning, we weighed anchor and made the 40 nautical mile trip west to New Providence. On the way, we tried out a few new lures and actually got some bites. One got away but a Blue Runner was pulled aboard and will be used for bait the next time we fish (they are apparently edible but not very tasty). 
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Mike casting one of our fishing lines
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Victoria tries to reel a fish in
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Success!
We arrived at the private dock by late afternoon, just in time for the daily happy hour with our hosts and a few other sailors staying on the dock. The camaraderie here is why we loved being here last year and why we were excited to return. Everyone attends the happy hour and brings a little appetizer and their favourite beverage. And then we chat! At the dock this time around were four sailors from Spain, a couple from Florida, a solo sailor from Texas plus Wild Horses and Caretta. We had great conversations with our dock mates, discussing travel plans, favourite cruising grounds, fishing (we need to step up our game!) and just about everything else under the sun. Andy (the solo sailor) even brought out his guitar and sang a few tunes for us. And Ocean? Well, she got to hang around the two other dogs belonging to other sailors plus Yaegar, our host's dog. Every evening was great fun!
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Wild Horses makes its way to the private dock via the canal-like entranceway
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Happy hour!
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Even the dogs get to enjoy Happy Hour
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Mike checks out the shark tanks at the dive shop across the canal from our dock
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Exploring the canalways by dinghy
Since we had a few days at the dock, we decided to rent a car and tour around New Providence. We got a few provisions, had an awesome lunch at the highly recommended Chives restaurant and saw a lot of the island. Even better, we managed to find a great tackle shop near Nassau so Mike and I could buy some better fishing gear. Hopefully it helps get some fish on Wild Horses!
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Mike was our driver in the right hand drive rental car
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Me and Andrea with all our provisions taking up the back seat
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Chives restaurant was a favourite
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The seating at Chives restaurant
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The grounds were well-manicured
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Mike ringing the chimes at a statue on the grounds
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A great place to find fish tackle and lots of other boaty things!
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Our new and improved box of fishing lures, ready to go!
Although we would love to stay longer, we have a great weather window opening up this week that will allow us to comfortably cross the Gulf Stream. We will leave the private dock mid-week and plan to make our crossing to Florida on Friday.
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Our salty view from Wild Horses (looking from inside out)
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Good night Bahamas!
Click on the link below to check out where we have sailed so far!
Where we are now

Blowholes, Turtles and Sharks - Never a Dull Moment in the Bahamas!

4/19/2024

 
Heading south in 2022 and early 2023, we missed a lot. Yes, we stopped here and there to smell the roses but the journey to Grenada was long and it was just impossible to see everything we wanted to see. Plus, we had distractions. Not only were we new to being liveaboards, to managing new countries and to sailing in big oceans, well, stuff on the boat kept on breaking. ☹

But we learned from all of that. Besides getting our liveaboard sea legs, we learned that we prefer to linger. Hanging out in a great location for weeks at a time, absorbing all the little nuances offered to us from nature, the culture and, of course, the people is our happy place. Oh, and our boat has behaved of late and not given us any extra worry or jobs. Knock on wood that this blissful streak continues until we haul her out in Green Cove Springs, Florida.
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With our pace wonderfully slowed down, we are getting to just a few cays in the Exumas but we are enjoying them at depth. We are breathing in our freedom to go snorkeling one day, hiking the next and maybe just chilling on the boat after that. And when the weather looks good for moving on, well, we do just that.
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That clear blue Bahamian water
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The sailing is easy in the Bahamas
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Walking on the sandbars is a favourite activity
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The local kids love Ocean!
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And so do the cruiser kids!
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Not everything is paradise. Getting rid of our garbage is a necessity.
At Black Point Settlement, we strolled around the town every day and checked out the nearby blowhole. That is a definite “must do” if you happen to be there during high tide and the wind is raging from the east!
The Black Point Blowhole
​On one of our town walkabouts, we stopped and chatted with the gentleman looking after the Reverse Osmosis (R.O.) system for the island. Just like anywhere else, access to clean water is critical. Here they desalinate the ocean water using a reverse osmosis system just like we do on the boat (ours is a Rainman), only their version is huge!
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Where drinking water is made in Black Point, Bahamas
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The inside of the trailer contains a full Reverse Osmosis system for the whole town of 414 people
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The water holding tanks
Click the button to check out Ocean enjoying some free R.O. water from the town tap.
Ocean's Watering Hole
​Most of our past week has been at Staniel Cay. This has been a great snorkeling stop for us. First, we went to Thunderball Grotto which was the location of the James Bond movie “Thunderball”. We enjoyed this last year and to do it again this year was just as fun. Still wanting more snorkeling, we decided to do something a little different and checked out a few dive spots south of Staniel. The current was strong and the waves sporty but the snorkeling was great. 
Snorkeling Thunderball grotto
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Snorkeling from the dinghy
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Mike returns to the dinghy after snorkeling
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Taking a break on a nearby deserted island
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Ocean resting on the island after many long swims in the ocean
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Ocean greets Mike after he snorkeled near the island
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Victoria doing some post-snorkeling exploration of the island
Thankfully no sharks were spotted during our snorkeling adventures but we did see plenty at the dock!
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Lots of calm nurse sharks
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The same nurse sharks being fed some leftover fish. Not so calm now!
​One of the best things about the Bahamas is its diversity of experiences. At Black Point, there is a town with groceries and restaurants. Same thing at Staniel Cay but here it is also littered with super yachts and resort dwelling tourists. Today we moved just three hours north in the Exumas to O’Brien’s Cay and we are back in total remoteness. There are no stores or locals, just clear blue water, pure white sand, snorkeling and, oh yes, more superyachts. It is an odd feeling to be sharing space with these big boats! An 80 foot yacht decked out with every toy known to man sitting adjacent to little old Wild Horses. My, my, my.
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A view of a nearby superyacht from the cockpit of Wild Horses
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An eco-friendly 80 foot yacht. All the black areas on the boat are solar panels.
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However, not so eco-friendly yachts are the norm.
​A ”must do” at O’Brien’s Cay is snorkeling the “Aquarium”. This is an incredible dive spot that gives you the sensation as though you are inside a tropical fish tank. Fish are everywhere, especially if you bring along some bread or oatmeal to entice them a bit closer. Even a turtle got in on the action. The whole scene was mesmerizing!
So Many Fish!
Hanging with a Sea Turtle
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The Aquarium at O'Brien's Cay (view from above the water of course!)
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Mike is one happy snorkeler!
​How do you top that? Well, you add a beautiful sunset enjoyed from the cockpit of your boat as you quietly say goodbye to another incredible day. We are grateful for every minute of it.
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Some of us needed an extra nap today
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Saying goodbye to another day in the Bahamas
Enjoying the blog and want to see exactly where we are right now? Click the button below!
Where we are today

Ocean’s Recommended Gear List for the Bahamas

4/9/2024

 
The last few weeks have been sheer fun. We are slowly working our way up the Exuma Cays in the Bahamas and having a blast with each stop. And, of course, it wouldn’t be as much fun if our pup Ocean didn’t also get to come along for the ride, snorkel, hike or whatever we have lined up for the day.
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​Although Ocean is always suited up for a swim, some of her activities require some extra gear to get the most fun out of everything she does.

Here is her Top Five list of “Must Have” Activity Gear for the Cruising Dog
#1 Sunglasses
These great sunglasses protect Ocean’s eyes from the saltwater spray when we take her around in the dinghy. Oh, and they look pretty cool too!
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#2 Dog Ramps
Ocean has two! She has a sturdy one that she uses for swimming off the stern of Wild Horses. That plank won’t work for snorkeling off the dinghy so for that we purchased a Solstice PupPlank. Hot Tip – It also helps us get back in the dinghy too 😉.  ​
Watch me swim
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#3 Hiking Boots
Trails are not always sandy and smooth! Our hike to the Pool Cave at Farmer’s Cay was full of sharp coral rocks. We needed our running shoes and Ocean needed her hiking boots. Problem solved!
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Ocean in her boots and chewing on a coconut
Check out how easy it is to put on Ocean's hiking boots
Putting on the boots
For added fun, here is Ocean wearing her boots for the first time!
Prancing in her hiking boots
#4 Fitted Lifejacket
Ocean wears her lifejacket whenever she swims off the boat or off the dinghy. Styling as always!
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Ocean floating in her lifejacket (beside her PupPlank)
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Swimming off the back of the boat
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Ready for snorkeling from the dinghy
#5 Paddleboard
This is one piece of gear that we haven’t yet purchased. Thankfully our buddy boat Caretta let Ocean borrow one of theirs. Ocean isn’t quite in love with this piece of gear yet but give her time!​
Paddleboarding Ocean
What else?

Our time in the Exumas hasn’t just been about Ocean. Her staff (aka Me, Mike and our sailing buddies on Caretta) have also enjoyed lots of activities in the Exumas.
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At Rudder Cay, we got in some great snorkeling.  One of the highlights there is “The Musician”, a full-scale sculpture of a mermaid and a baby grand piano. This was an incredible gift to snorkelers by the illusionist David Copperfield, who owns the nearby island Musha Cay. In 2011, he commissioned the sculpture and then had it sunk in 15 feet of water as a surprise for anyone who happened upon it. These days, its location is well-known and snorkelers, like us, make sure to dive down and get a good look.
Mike and the Mermaid
​We also took our dinghies over to the nearby Guana Cay to search for conch and see some of the underwater beauty of the area. It was a gorgeous place to snorkel and we were rewarded with several conchs for a feed later that night with our boat buddy Caretta. 
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Dinghies beached at Guana Cay
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Mike holding a Horseshoe Conch that Barry found
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Victoria and Ocean take a snorkeling break on shore
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Ocean had to share the dinghy with our 5 conchs
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A big conch meal with sides of beans and mac & cheese. Yum!
​At Farmer’s Cay, we got a chance to hike to “Pool Cave”. This is a well-formed cave with dripping stalactites and mounds of stalagmites (both are formed calcium salt deposits) as well as a natural swimming pool.
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This way to the cave!
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Ocean doesn't know the difference between walking sticks and chewing sticks
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The rough terrain on the way to the cave
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Barry and Mike walk down into the cave
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The natural swimming pool in the cave
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Ocean hanging out in the cave with her hiking boots on
We have done a bit more hiking at Black Point Settlement, getting to see the Atlantic side of the island.
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And, yes, a few cool aquatic and land animals have crossed our path.
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A sea turtle swims by our boat at Farmer's Cay
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An Atlantic Ghost Crab at Guana Bay
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Friendly nurse sharks at Black Point Settlement
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Cats at Black Point wanting to meet Ocean
​Oh and we may have enjoyed a few good meals and a couple of drinks in between it all!
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Delicious hotdogs from a shack at the side of the main road at Black Point
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Victoria and Barry waiting at the shack for the hotdogs to be ready
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Yummy meals are served at the Farmer's Cay Yacht Club
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But we took a roundabout route there that involved walking down the airport's runway. Yikes!
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The best coconut bread in the Bahamas comes from Lorraine's
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But you have to know where to get it. There are no signs anywhere, just a plain white door that you knock at and wait for service.
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Drinks all around!
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See you tomorrow Bahamas! Can't wait!
Check out where we are today and where we are headed next!
Where we are today
Our sail plan

Severe Squalls in Georgetown + Bonus Video

3/28/2024

 
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Bonus video! This week's blog is light on pictures. In lieu, please check out this great video by Sailing Caretta that features Wild Horses cleaning their first conch. Enjoy! 
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Continue reading below for this week's blog from Sailing Wild Horses.
BONUS VIDEO

Getting Through a Weekend of Severe Squalls

We had a doozy of a storm this past weekend in Georgetown. It was big. It was scary. But it was also a great reminder of the fortitude and generosity of our sailing community.
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All forecasters were calling for a bad storm hitting the Bahamas from Friday through to Sunday. We personally use Windy and Chris Parker for our weather checks but we also pay close attention to any other info we may receive from friends and other cruisers. PredictWind, Mr. Weatherman, The Weather Network, Windfinder. You name it, our eyes and ears are open. And all of them were in agreement that we would get slammed with strong winds, which would be even stronger in squalls. But Georgetown is a great protected anchorage for most weather conditions so we weren’t overly worried. We were ready for 40+ knot winds.

Oh, wait. What about lightning during the squalls? Well, yeah. Lightning is a serious thing. A boat struck by lightning is immediately disabled. Everything electrical gets fried. All electronics, the engine, the lights, everything. Yeah, its bad. So obviously those of us who cruise full-time have strategies to avoid lightning, right? Umm, no. Not only can we do little to avoid being in an area that might have lightning but we can’t do anything to avoid actually being struck. Especially us sailboats with a big old lightning rod attached to our boats (aka the mast). People talk about lightning avoidance gear but it has two significant disadvantages. First, most of the gear available is expensive. Second, it doesn’t work.

So, the working equation goes like this…masted sailboat + electrical storm = sitting duck. Yikes!

The storm this past weekend was predicted to start overnight on Friday and continue through to Sunday morning, with the worst of the storm activity occurring overnight on Saturday. On the Friday morning, Wild Horses and Caretta (our buddy boat) went into Georgetown, a 10-minute dinghy ride across the Sound from our anchorage in front of Honeymoon beach. Barry from Caretta had a physio appointment in the morning and we had booked a rental car to get him and Andrea to the appointment, and me and Mike to an amazing wholesale food store near his appointment. 
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Ocean had a quick "take-out" breakfast from our galley window...
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...and a quick morning play date with Josie and Nelly before we went into town.
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Mike enjoying a pizza from "Mike's Pizza Plus". Amazing pizza but only reachable by car.
Returning back to the dinghy dock, we knew that the wind had started to amplify and we could see that the waves in the Sound were huge. We arrived back at Wild Horses soaking wet from the dinghy ride. No worries, we were safely back on our boat and ready to hunker down for the night’s wind event. Everything not tied down was removed from our decks. The dinghy was lifted and secured. Our full enclosure was zipped up tight. Everything was secured inside the boat (the same as we do for passages) and we had our foul weather gear at the ready. 
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The winds only got to 33 knots that night so we considered ourselves lucky. All in all, it was comfortable, and only marginally scary 😉.
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A blue cargo ship motors past Caretta. It was the last ship out before the storm.
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The strong winds were a blessing to this hydrofoil kite surfer!
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Ocean and Mike were big smiles before the storm. They were ready for the strong winds!
The next day, Saturday, the wind stayed strong with gusts to about 25 knots, with the expectation that conditions would deteriorate throughout the evening and overnight. Forecasters were wildly in disagreement over wind strength (anywhere from 20 knots to 55 knots) and the amount of rainfall (from 5mm to 70mm). The possibility of lightning was also in the mix by a few forecasters. It is never good when there is such wide variability in the forecasts. We just have no confidence in what lies before us. It was, however, the forecasted strong west wind that had us on high alert, as it meant that we would be pushed towards our lee shore. Not ideal, but we chose to not re-locate our boat to an eastern shore in Georgetown where many boats were anchored. We were confident in our anchor set and we didn’t want to be in amongst a whole bunch of other boats that could drag into us. With over 300 boats in the Georgetown anchorages, we were happy to be in one that contained only 3 boats.

The winds started to pick up just before dusk. Then the growl of thunder in the distance. The sky began to darken and flashes of lightening could be seen in the distance. Within 20 minutes, the worst of the storm was raging all around us. The wind was strong (but never over 35 knots). Sheet lightning and ground strikes were abundant. Heavy rain blinded us from seeing more than 20 feet from our boat. And, then, as strong as the wind was from the southwest, we had a 180-degree wind shift to the northeast. Our anchor dislodged as our boat and all its chain sailed over top of it. Thankfully the anchor reset itself after dragging about 20 feet. Our neighbouring boats reported the same anchor dislodgment/resetting event.

Then all the weather stopped. No more rain, no more lightning, no more wind. It was dead calm for 5 hours. When the wind did pick up again, in the overnight hours, it was short lived and it came without any drama. No rain, no lightning.
The next morning, we listened intently to the regular Georgetown cruising community network on the VHF. Six boats in the surrounding anchorages had been struck by lightning. Offers of gear, mechanical and electrical expertise, and just “get your hands dirty” help poured in from the cruising community. Within a few days, all six disabled boats had some power brought back to their boats, thanks to the help of their fellow boaters.
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We noted only one task on our workboard for Saturday!
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The beginning of the storm
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Blinding rain
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After the storm, our boat was littered with dead termites that had been thrown into flight by the storm
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Ocean found a tennis ball washed up on the beach on the morning after the storm
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Lots of cruisers gathered at Chat n' Chill the next day
​We were happy that Wild Horses and Caretta had fared well through the storm. Getting through strong weather events is never fun and coming out the other side safely and with no boat issues is always the goal. One more storm in our sailing portfolio. We gain confidence and knowledge with each one of them. And when all else fails, we know that the sailing community will be there to assist in any way they can. Thank goodness.
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Sometimes we all need a helping hand (or paw) from our fellow cruisers. *Ocean's paw reaches for Romeo's paw, her newest Bernese Mountain Dog buddy
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The calm after the storm
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Where we are now
Our sail plan

From the Raggeds to Georgetown, with Lots of Drama Along the Way

3/12/2024

 
On Monday March 4th, Wild Horses and Caretta left our cozy spots in the south Raggeds after two glorious weeks. We had to time our exit from the anchorage with high tide as the channel leading out of the anchorage can drop below 1 metre in depth. Our keel has a depth of 1.7 metres so working with a flooding tide is critical. In fact, even with high tide, our keel momentarily touched the sandy bottom. No damage was done but it did make our hearts skip a beat!
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Our first two stops up the Ragged island chain were anchorages just a few hours from each other. The first was Double Breasted Cay (I have no idea who names these anchorages!!) and the second was Buena Vista Cay. Both anchorages were quite beautiful with lots of little sandbars, islands and reefs ready for exploring. We have made notes to make sure to stop at both of these anchorages when we return next winter and have lots of time to explore all their beauty.
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We are headed due north!
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Rough and rolly seas between the cays of the Ragged Islands
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The dinghy beached at Double Breasted Cay, right beside an airplane prop and engine!
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Low tide at Double Breasted Cay
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Huge depth changes on shore
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A little crab came out to check us out!
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A curly tailed lizard
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Mike checks out a hurricane damaged shack at Buena Vista
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Yes, there can be too many beaches in one's day!
On Wednesday we were ready to make the longer jump to the island of Water Cay, at the top of the island chain. The day started well, with Wild Horses as lead boat and Caretta falling just slightly behind us, both motor sailing along in light winds. It was an easy day. That is, until it wasn’t.
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About 10 nautical miles from the anchorage, Caretta hailed us on the VHF. Their engine had stopped. Yikes! They knew it was likely a clogged engine filter but they wouldn’t be able to fix it underway. The wind was too light to sail so they dropped their dinghy and used it to push their boat along at 3 knots. They got to the Water Cay anchorage just as the sun was setting. We had arrived over an hour earlier and scoped out a spot for them to anchor. Once their anchor was well set in the sand, we chatted and both boats decided to stay an extra day at Water Cay so we could fix Barry’s engine. What we didn’t realize at the time was that we would also need the extra day to fix a problem of our own.

During our passage to Water Cay, we kept catching a whiff of an electrical burning smell in one of our aft cabins. We checked the engine wiring, solar wiring, regulator wiring, anything and everything. Then the smell went away later that evening. Hmmm, weird. The next day, the sun was shining bright and the smell was back. Mike removed everything from our back cabin and there it was. Our three solar fuses were in full-on fondue mode. One quick visit with Barry (our solar and electrical mastermind) and fifteen minutes later we had the fuses bypassed. It isn’t a permanent solution but it will get us to Florida with all our solar energy intact. Yes!
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Mike showing Caretta where the sandy spot is to anchor
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Barry pushing Caretta along using his dinghy
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Andrea dropping the anchor at dusk
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Our fondued fuses!
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Our solar panels were covered to reduce the spark while Mike fixed the wiring
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Fixed!
With boat issues fixed, we got to enjoy the rugged, wild beauty of Water Cay.
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Lots of coral edges to the terrain
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Victoria and Ocean check out the sea-shaped rock walls
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Walking along the sandy beach
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A water break for Ocean
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Our pretty girl is ready for more swimming
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A huge sea turtle swims by Wild Horses
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Good night Water Cay!
​The next day, we weighed anchor and headed away from the Ragged islands. We had decided to take a short cut to Georgetown via the Comer Channel. When arriving in the Raggeds, the only route we ever considered was the “long way”, via the Eastern shore of Long Island, which takes four long daytime jumps or a day and a half of constant around-the-clock travelling. It also exposes you to lots of ocean swell. But a few fellow sailors recommended that we take the shortcut route (the Comer Channel) which shaves two days off the journey but goes over some pretty shallow spots (below 2 metres) that we were a little nervous about. And, our timing for the tides wasn’t ideal. We would be going through the Comer Channel at dead low tide, which on this particular day was 0.1 metres below mean low water. Most of the channel was about 2 metres depth but a few spots were 1.9 metres so at dead low tide we would see 1.8 metres. That is very tight for our 1.7 metre clearance but water under the keel is water under the keel. We went for it.

The result? A few “hold-the-breath” moments but we didn’t touch bottom. Not once. What we did get was delightful. A wonderful pod of four dolphins playing at our bow. In just two metres of water, the display was spectacular. I think those dolphins could feel our vibe and were there to tell us all would be okay and to chill out!
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Approaching the Comer Channel
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Very shallow water
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Dolphins to the left...
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...and the right!
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Almost caught this dolphin jumping out of the water!
​We spent that evening and the whole of the next day on the western side of Long Island, at an anchorage called Thompson Bay. Here we had access to a great grocery store, a liquor store and a marine store, as well as several restaurants. As luck would have it, we were there on a Saturday and the local Farmers Market was open. Lots of fresh veggies!
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The very high dinghy dock at Thompson Bay
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The dinghy dock was too high for Ocean but we found a nice couple who let us disembark Ocean in their back yard. Nice!
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The Farmer's Market building
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Andrea and me inside the Farmer's Market
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Mike and Ocean exploring a nearby uninhabited island
​The next day, we headed for Georgetown. We were excited to be returning. It has been just over a year since we left this bustling anchorage, headed for Grenada. That day, so long ago, was full of emotion for us. We were saying goodbye to our buddy boats Sensai and Lola, and heading off into the crazy unknown-to-us ocean with our new buddy boats Kemana and Kesh. We were leaving safe, easy sailing waters and headed for bigger waters, challenges and new experiences. And we have returned as different sailors. We are more knowledgeable, confident, chill and happy. It has been a fabulous year and we are excited to keep doing this sailing gig and seeing where life and the wind takes us. These are pretty special days indeed.
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Victoria and Ocean looking for more dolphins
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Ocean excited about dinghys speeding past us towards the Georgetown anchorage
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Ocean has learned to be chill as we arrive in new locales
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And so have we!
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Another wild sunset. We are ready for more, please!
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Learning to be Conch Hunters

3/4/2024

 
Our days here in the Raggeds have been very relaxing.
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We wake up late and then slowly sip our coffees while checking out the beautiful scenery from our cockpit. Next on the agenda is heading to shore for Ocean’s first shore puppy play date with Josie, the 10-month old pot cake (mixed breed Bahamian dog) owned by Dale, one of our anchorage mates. The two dogs have become fast friends and exhaust themselves with running, tug-of-war, chewing on sticks and swimming. It is puppy nirvana.
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Ocean and Josie play on the beach
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Happiness is sharing a bowl of fresh water
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There is nothing like some down time with your favourite buddy
The rest of our day depends on our needs. We may do a load of laundry or make water or go to Duncan Town to drop off garbage and see if the store is open. Or we may clean the boat. Scratch that. We almost always clean the boat. We are mostly trying to stay on top of “sand intrusion” these days. Having a dog that loves the beach means that we are constantly trying to keep “the beach” out of our boat. Ocean gets a full fresh water rinse down on the swim platform of Wild Horses every time we return to the boat but it really isn’t enough. The sand is deep in her fur and only works its way out throughout the evening. We vacuum a lot!
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Waiting in front of Maxine's store for the grocery delivery from the mail boat
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Unpacking a delivery truck full of provisions
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Mike holding a very large pizza to-go box
Besides puppy play dates, we have also made it a habit to head to shore during low tide. The depths in the anchorage are very “skinny”, just 3 to 4 metres at high tide and the adjacent shoreline is even more shallow than that. At low tide we can beach our dinghy on shore and walk half a kilometre into the sea, with the ocean being no higher than our shins. And the water is so clear, you can see everything. An incredible sea life ecosystem is revealed for us to enjoy. ​
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Mike unpacking our dinghy at the shore
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Our anchorage at high tide
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It looks totally different at low tide
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Mike finding a very large starfish during one of our low tide walks
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A sea slug. One of thousands around the beach at low tide.
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Ocean chewing on a stick while sitting in the water at low tide
​With the warm water moving against our legs, we stroll through the clean, silky sand and marvel at starfish, sand dollars, sea slugs, the occasional nurse shark, sting ray or turtle, and lots of shells. Including conchs (pronounced “konks”).
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Low tide makes hunting for conchs very easy. They are just sitting on the sand, slightly exposed above the water. These sea snails can be found throughout the Bahamas and although they look ghastly when extracted from their shell, they are actually quite delicious once they are cleaned and prepared. Most conchs that we come across are juveniles. Their shell is small and they haven’t yet developed the large smooth and glossy pink lip of a mature conch. Those conchs are left alone to keep growing (it can take up to five years).
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Victoria finding a live queen conch that is ready to be harvested
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Our friend Dale found a helmet conch. It is pretty but not edible.
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And then we found our own helmet conch!
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Dale was lucky finding lobsters too!
But we have been lucky here! Our wanderings at low tide have yielded us three mature conchs. What do we do with these creatures? We take them to the boat where Mike delicately extracts the meat. I then clean off all the nasty bits and tenderize the meat with a mallet. So far, we have only been courageous enough to make cracked conch, which is really just breaded and fried conch. It is such a tasty treat that we really don’t mind all the work that goes into getting it from sea to table. In fact, when our fellow cruiser Pierre snagged five beautiful mature conchs while snorkelling near our boat a few days ago, it was an easy “yes” from us to get the conch ready for a cracked conch feed on their beautiful catamaran “Umbono”. It was a fun time made even more amazing knowing we had harvested our own dinner 😊.
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Our queen conch back at the boat
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The less pretty side of the conch
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Mike using a screwdriver and hammer to extract the conch from its shell
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The conch is out and ready to be trimmed
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Mike does the preliminary trimming before I do the rest while prepping the conch for dinner
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Pierre diving for conch under our boat
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Pierre found five conchs within half an hour!
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Yummy cracked conch, ready for sharing!
​Today we start travelling north again. We will head towards Georgetown, but it will likely take us a good week to get there as we plan to stop at several anchorages in the Raggeds/Jumentos along the way. We just aren’t ready to say farewell to this beautiful and inspiring part of the Bahamas.
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Enjoying the Ragged Islands of the Bahamas

2/20/2024

 
Our time in Matthew Town, Great Inaugua was short.  Just two days after we arrived, a good window to make the 24-hour sail to the Ragged Islands had opened up.  It is the exhausting part of this lifestyle for me. Having not yet fully rested from our last overnight sail (from Luperon), we had to immediately start preparing for the next overnight sail. We kept our eyes on the prize though. The Ragged Islands are renowned for their beaches and active coral as well as their remoteness from the hustle and bustle of cruising life.  We were excited to go there.

The first thing on the agenda was getting diesel. Having just completed 28 hours of mostly motoring during our wind-less trip from Luperon, we knew our 55-gallon diesel tank would need topping up. We carry six 5-gallon diesel jugs on the deck of Wild Horses and, sure enough, it took four of them to fill up the tank. The Matthew Town marina doesn’t carry diesel but they will order a tanker to come in if you give them a few hours notice.  That is, as long as the tanker itself has diesel.  This was the issue we ran into last spring when we were in Matthew Town headed south.  The tanker was empty and wouldn’t be filled for at least 3 or 4 days.  Our only option for diesel then was to buy what ended up being sub-standard diesel from a guy in town.  That diesel burned fast and made for a very interesting ending to our journey across the Mona Passage to Puerto Rico. This time, however, the diesel truck was full and ready to deliver clean, good diesel to Wild Horses and our buddy boats Caretta and Rode Trip.
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The town dock at Matthew Town
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Lots of good diesel!
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Our dinghy was full of diesel jugs so Barry offered to take Ocean back to our boat
With our diesel tank and jugs full, next on our to-do list was to buy some “walking around” data for the Bahamas. We have Starlink on Wild Horses so we have unlimited data while we are on the boat. We have found, though, that we like to use maps on our phones while we are off exploring a town or trail. For this, we need a local SIM card and some data. Usually, this cost anywhere from $5 to $20.  This is the Bahamas so our BTC SIM card was on the higher end.

All three buddy boats then took a walk through town. There is just one grocery store on the main street of Matthew Town, and although there are many, many little shops along the way, most were boarded up or just closed. It was eerily quiet.  Thankfully the grocery store had exactly what we needed – affordable cheese and eggs.  We also picked up a dozen of the most tasty Gala apples we have eaten since Canada. Yum! 

On Friday morning, we weighed anchor and headed towards the Ragged Islands, a cluster of remote islands that are part of the Outer Bahamas. It was a rough and rolly trip, with a bigger swell than foecasted along with strong winds, mostly on our stern, making it difficult to maintain our point of sail.
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By the time we could see the Ragged Islands, we were exhausted.  
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Leaving for the Ragged Islands with lots of diesel and gas on deck
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Underway with lots of roll at our stern. I look calm but my stomach is very unsettled!
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Mike putting on our anchor bridle in the Raggeds
We put our anchor down in Southside Bay, a wide open and sandy anchorage near the southwest corner of Ragged Island. We quickly dropped our dinghy and took Ocean into shore for some relief and a walk to Duncan Town, a small village about 30 minutes from the anchorage. But this was no ordinary walk! After beaching the dinghy, we walked through brush to get to a dirt road that led us to the airport runway, which we had to cross to get to another dirt road that finally led to the main paved road into town. We have never before had to cross an active runway as part of a trail!
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Duncan Town was quieter than we expected for a Saturday. There was one restaurant, a defunct police station and several houses, some brand new and others just shacks. And there was Maxine’s Grocery Store.  Although tiny, it was stocked with a variety of pantry goods and fresh vegetables. You couldn’t do a full shopping trip here but they certainly had enough goods to fill in a few missing gaps in one’s food stores.
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Mike and Ocean ready to hit the trail through the brush on our way to Duncan Town
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The airport runway that was part of the trail to Duncan Town
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The defunct police station
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Belgian Malinois puppies ready for transport to Canada where they have good homes waiting for them
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Mike and Ocean sit outside Maxine's Grocery Store
The next day, the swell was up a bit in our anchorage.  This doesn’t usually bother us much when we are on the boat but getting in and out of the dinghy can be a bit of an adventure with the boat bucking up and down.  We decided to check out the adjacent anchorage “Between Raggeds” which looked like a calm alternative to Southside Bay.  We jumped in the dinghy and rode to the anchorage, which sits between Little Ragged Island and Ragged Island. All 15 or so boats here looked very comfortable. No swell and just minutes from beautiful white, sandy beaches.  Yes!  The only caveat was depth.  Wild Horses has a 5’9” keel so we are not comfortable if we see a depth of less than 6 feet.  Our charts had the anchorage depth at just over 6 feet but the channel into the anchorage was as low at 5 feet. We would have to wait a few hours for high tide where we would gain another 1.5 feet. Mike, along with Steve from Rode Trip, took a depth sounder and, from the dinghy, checked out the channel right as we were approaching high tide. There was enough depth!  All three boats made the move in through the channel and into the anchorage. 
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Wild Horses anchored between the Raggeds
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Steve and Mike helping our buddy boat Kemana find the deep spots through the shallow anchorage
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Ocean watches the drama unfold
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The nearest beach for Ocean is only a minute from our boat
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And all the other beautiful beaches are only 5 minutes away
So far, we have mostly rested but we have found the time to do a few beach walks, make water, do some laundry and hang out at the evening beach get together where the dogs can play and the people can chat, all over a few sundowners.  Over the next couple of days, we hope to get in some snorkelling to check out the active coral and sea life out here in the Raggeds.  These are glorious days!  
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Ocean playing with Josie the 10 month old potcake
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Doing a trail walk with Steve and Mandy from Rode Trip
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Mike exploring the beach
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A manta ray behind our boat
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Ocean checks out a lobster donated to us by another cruiser
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Beautiful sunsets in the Bahamas
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It is good to be here!
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Our First Overnight Sail – Rocky but Successful

3/9/2023

 
Clarence Town, at the southeast end of Long Island, Bahamas, is a quiet and almost empty little town.  It has a small general store where we could get bread and a few shelf-stable groceries but no fresh produce or dairy.  There are also a few restaurants on the island and a fairly large marina/resort.  Besides the marina, the most active area in town was the government dock.  Every Monday, the mail boat arrives at the dock but by Wednesday all of the fresh items not snapped up by locals and cruisers are shipped off to other parts of Long Island.  We arrived on Wednesday, sigh. 
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Our time in Clarence Town was mostly preoccupied with passage planning.  The wind, waves and ocean swell were too lively for us to travel before the weekend but the forecast showed that on Sunday or Monday a possible window was opening up to go from Clarence Town to the northwest side of Crooked Island, south to the tip of Acklins (both 7 hour day hops) and then to make the big jump over to Great Inagua.  This last bit is about 85 nautical miles so it would mean doing our first overnight sail.  We wanted to get our weather window right to make it as safe and comfortable as possible.

We spent many hours studying the weather and discussing options with our boat buddies, Kemana and Kesh.  Our weather window for the last two legs of our journey looked great but the wind direction for travelling to Crooked Island, our first leg, wasn’t good at all.  Our solution?  We decided to cut out those first two legs.  The wind was perfect for going straight from Clarence Town to Great Inagua in one big 27-hour sail.  This option looked so good, we even picked up a fourth boat for our pod.  “That’s It!” a 47-foot Catalina from Canada (also going to Grenada) would be travelling with us.

Monday morning, we weighed anchor at 0700 and set sail.  We were excited.  Our first passage that included an overnight sail was underway.
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Leaving Long Island, Bahamas
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Mike checking the trim on our genoa
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Victoria doing some passage planning underway
We had a beautiful sail from Clarence Town and up to the southwest tip of Acklins.  It was one tack and we hit speeds of 8.7 knots.  So far, the trip was fun and easy 😊. 

But, once we cleared past Acklins Island, we were in the open Atlantic.  The wind speed kept its steady 18 to 20 knots but the waves and swell increased significantly.  We were rocked and rolled over and over.  It was now 1900 hours.  Nighttime had arrived.  Thankfully, we had an almost full moon illuminating the ocean.  Both Mike and I stayed in the cockpit all night, trading off shifts at the helm.  Every two hours, one of us would monitor the dashboard and the other would sleep.  Our automatic pilot did all the steering.  Our pup Ocean stayed in the cockpit with us all night, sleeping the whole time.  What a great sailing pup!
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During the night, the rocking from the swells was uncomfortable, for sure, but we got used to the motion.  Well, except for the really big swells that would hit the boat broadside every minute or so.  Yeesh.  Movement during those times was impossible without getting launched sideways.  We were safely tethered though so no midnight swims!
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Sleepy puppy!
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The sun going down while we sailed past Acklins Island
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The moon makes its first appearance
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All is dark, dark, dark sailing along in the open ocean
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The beautiful bright full moon
​When the sun peaked out at 0600, we could see Matthew Town and all was right with the world.  We had done it!  Our first overnight sail in the open ocean.  We were anchored at Matthew Town at 0700 on Tuesday morning, a full three hours earlier than planned.  A sweet treat was a solo dolphin that greeted our arrival and hung around while we finished anchoring.  Ocean loved the little guy!  Our three other buddy boats arrived at the anchorage shortly thereafter.
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Dawn breaking over the horizon
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Anchored beside Kemana outside of Matthew Town
Matthew Town was wonderful.  Ocean was a hit, once again, with the locals.  People love her sunglasses!  Besides exploring, we picked up a few necessary grocery items for the next overnight leg.  We learned that you have to have food at the ready (cooking and moving around the boat is extremely difficult on a passage) so we grabbed more granola bars, muffins and easy to make instant soups.  The most interesting errand of the day, however, was getting fuel.  Matthew Town doesn’t have a proper fuel dock.  Instead, you call a guy and he brings fuel to the dock.  So, we called “the guy” and he said he was out of fuel until at least the weekend.  “No, no” we were told, “You called the wrong guy.  Call this guy.”  Called the “other guy” but same answer.  No fuel until at least the weekend.  George the Harbourmaster then came up with a third guy to call.  Well, three times is the charm!  This guy arrived at the dock in his car and took all of us to his place of business in town to get the pre-ordered fuel needs for all four boats.  While he topped up our jerry cans, we learned that his place of business doesn’t just do fuel top ups.  No, he also runs a bar, restaurant, liquor store, hair salon, ice cream parlor, contracting work and a radio station in the same building.  Now that is multi-tasking!! 
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Getting fuel in Matthew Town - Step 1: Everyone get in the car!
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Another cruiser had extra tuna they caught so Wild Horses had some fresh sushi (sashimi) for a snack
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The view from the south shore of Great Inagua
​Although Matthew Town is an inviting little Bahamian town, our main focus was to rest, get a few necessary groceries, fuel-up and get going to the Dominican Republic.  We have a beautiful weather window opening up for Friday and want to make sure we are ready to go.  Wednesday was busy with preparations and also moving the boat to the south shore of Great Inagua to shorten the distance to Luperon.  By staging the boats at Lantern Head, our trip becomes 147 nautical miles, almost three hours shorter.  We can’t wait!!

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Our Colourful Ocean

2/23/2023

 
​George Town has been a wonderful place to relax, stock up on a few things but also to prepare for the next leg of our journey.  We have had very easy days of sleeping in and very full days of hanging out at the beach, hiking the many trails on Stocking Island and exploring George Town and a good portion of Great Exuma Island.
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The distance sign post at Chat n' Chill Beach
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Going under the George Town bridge towards the town dinghy dock
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We rented a car for a day and Mike did some great right hand side driving!
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A sea turtle hanging out by the dinghy dock
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Some unique beach art on one of the George Town trails
And all of this has been with our pup Ocean alongside.  She has truly made this trip so much more colourful and fun.
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When we were planning this journey, so many years ago, we knew we would have our dog with us.  We have always sailed with our dog, first Brecken and now Ocean, and they have been nice companions to have along.  But easy?  Well, having a dog on board means extra gear, extra cleaning (the dog hair is no joke!), extra trips to shore and extra worry about safety and comfort.  With this bigger journey, there is also the extra expense and work to meet the requirements for entering a new country.  So far, we have only had to enter the USA and the Bahamas (both were easy) but in the next three months we will be entering and exiting several countries as we make our way south to Grenada.  Many of these countries require a vet check before arriving and another once we have landed, plus a check on her vaccinations and identification.  Plus, a pet permit and, of course, import fees.  Yeesh.  So, is it worth it?  YES!!!

The biggest surprise for us with this journey is how much better it is with Ocean on board.  It is incredible to us how many more people, locals and cruisers alike, that we get to meet because of Ocean.  She always gets attention.  Her size is the biggest draw with locals.  They can’t believe such a big dog is so sweet.  Add to this her beautiful dark fur and a frisbee, well, it is the rare person that walks by without wanting to meet her.  All of this is making her a bit famous.  Our first day in George Town, we were strolling down the street and we heard a shout out to “Ocean!” as a local car passed us.  Wow, we hadn’t even met anyone on shore yet!  Does Ocean enjoy all this attention?  She loves it!  Meeting people is definitely her jam.  She has even started to join in with a good old howl during the evening sundown conch blowing.
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Ocean looks cool in her new doggles!
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Ocean and the guys having a beer in the park
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Throwback photo - Ocean meeting a shop keeper at Farmer's Cay
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Throw back photo - Ocean meeting local kids in Bimini
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The one taboo is dogs in stores. Here Ocean is waiting outside with our bags.
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Ocean enjoys a pizza lunch in George Town
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Ocean howling at the nightly sundown conch ceremony
A few people have asked some logistical questions about our Ocean girl.  So here is the low down on the top five questions:

How does Ocean get her daily exercise?  Oh my gosh, this is rarely a problem.  She swims, she hikes, she strolls around town.  Long sailing days actually end up being necessary rest days for her.  Time to catch up on some much-needed sleep!
Where does Ocean do her business when we are on a passage?  She has a pee pad at the bow.  She uses this for her nightly business and also when we are on a long passage.
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Ocean pee pad
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The pee pad sits at the bow
How did we get Ocean to pee on the boat?  Ocean is stubborn so this took a long time and lots of tricks.  We started with collecting Ocean’s pee and pre-scenting a piece of carpet at the bow.  No go.  We then got a fake grass pee pad.  No go.  We even tried waiting her out but, after 41 hours, she peed but on one of our boat cushions.  Geez.  In Miami, we bought two pieces of sod and put them on her pee pad.  Surely, she would go on actual grass?  Nope.  But she did figure out that we wanted her to pee and that she would get a treat if she “looked” like she was peeing.  This started a round of “fake peeing” that we had to correct.  Finally, we took the advice from another sailing couple to “super saturate” her.  Every fifteen minutes we gave her a cup of water with tuna flakes in it and then took her to her pee pad.  It took three hours but she finally did it.  The celebration was huge!  She now consistently goes on her pad, which has made all of us rest much easier. 

What about the salt water?  Yes, salt water is terrible for dogs.  They can’t drink it of course but having it on their skin, fur and paws isn’t good either.  It dries out their paw pads and makes their skin red and itchy.  We always make sure we have lots of fresh water for Ocean to drink, whether we are on shore or on the boat.  She also gets a fresh water rinse off EVERY TIME we return to the boat.  This gets both the salt and sand out of her fur and off her paw pads. 
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How does Ocean stay safe when we are underway?  She wears her harness or lifejacket and is tethered to the boat.  She also stays only in the cockpit unless the conditions are calm or we are at anchor.  Luckily, Ocean is a very chill sailor.  No matter the conditions, she doesn’t get anxious.  No, she just sleeps.  😊
​In amongst all of this Ocean fun, we are planning and preparing to head further south.  We are watching the weather carefully and have connected with some buddy boats who are also making the same journey.  We hope to find the right weather window to head to Long Island early next week.  After Long Island, we will continue through the southern Bahamas to Great Iguana.  Then we have a 160 nautical mile (30+ hours) to the Dominican Republic.  The journey continues!
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Victoria listens into the Dominican Republic planning meeting
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Mike and Ocean hanging out at the swing set
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Life definitely is a beach these days!
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    Victoria is a hiker, dog-lover, blog writer and planner extraordinaire.  Oh, yeah and she is kind of fond of living on a boat.

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