December 24, 2008

Port Lucaya, Grand Bahama Island
December 16, we made our first jump of 40 hours, basically motoring in a calm sea to Palm Beach and the next day perfect conditions found us crossing the Gulf Stream to make our entry to Bahamas in West End Marina, Grand Bahama Island. Our plan to move right away to Eleuthera was interrupted with weather broadcast of cold front (= strong winds) and so we decided to await more pleasant weather in Lucayan Marina. Just as we and the sailboat “Voila” (friends from Quebec spending winter in Bahamas) started to salivate (remember Pavlov’s dogs?), J-P’s first effort at fishing ended in disaster and the nice, fat, colorful Mahi-Mahi escaped at the moment of being pulled on the deck. Oh well, there’ll be many other times….We are spending the Christmas here, as the cold front is followed by SE winds and as we are moving in that direction, we have to wait for the wind to turn around. We wish you all restful and peaceful holidays.

November 10 - December 14, 2008

Beaufort, NC – Fernandina Beach, FL and Toronto
Family emergency kept me in Toronto for five long weeks, meanwhile J-P slowly sailed Nikan to northern Florida to escape unseasonably cold weather all along the eastern sea shore this year. He even had some snow one morning and another day, while rinsing the bow, the water immediately turned to ice. Only layers and layers of clothing kept him reasonably warm. I must have brought him warm temperatures, December 14 was the first t-shirt day for him since a while.

November 1, 2008

Beaufort, NC
Still here, waiting for the right time to hit the sea. There were few very cold days with lots of wind, one night with winds up to 50 knots, everybody keeping watch of their boat as well as the ones in the near proximity. One sailboat beached out during that time and had to wait for the next tide (6 hours) to get back into the water, spending the night at 45 degrees and freezing temperature! The nights continue to be cold, even frost time is announced daily, but days are reasonably warm. We bicycle around the town, or just relax in warm Nikan, our stove working full time. Today we will get some more of the best sausages we ever had, made right here in Beaufort. Food becomes quite important on the boat, since we don’t have to worry about work, deadlines, bills… - we only have to make sure our stomachs are fully satisfied. Getting some goodies is a daily occupation!! But be assured, that I am keeping a sharp look-out on J-P’s waistline (as well as mine) to make sure it stays slim and trim...

October 23, 2008

Annapolis to Beaufort, NC
We anchor at Rhode River, than Solomons Islands with it’s charming Marine Museum, Mill Creek, and than spent three days at marina in Norfolk – laundry, clean-up, gathering supplies and for us a treat – hot shower! Mile 0 of Intercoastal Waterway (some 1 000 miles long) finds us waiting for opening of the first of it’s many bridges at its first opening of the day after the rush hour, exactly at 8:30 a.m. 60 miles a day, starting at sunrise and ending the long days at sunset. We are part of snowbirds parade heading south, motor boats, sailboats; one after each other, the Intercoastal is quite busy at this time of year. We get interrupted by a cold front, hot summer days changed overnight to almost winter, with rain, cold and gale winds of up to 40 knots, but at anchor behind Buck Island, Nikan is safe and warm, stove working and we rest, read, sleep. Nothing to complain about. And than some more of the same schedule, till Beaufort, our last stop before heading to sea - direction Bahamas, if a weather window permits.

October 3, 2008

Annapolis, MD
We explore this charming, little town, calling itself “America’s Sailing Capital”, in full preparation for the nation’s oldest and largest in-water boat show. While on mooring, one dark, early morning J-P jumps in full preparation to confront thieves that are after our dingy – but what he confronts is a dingy full of ducks! You see ducks everywhere, trying to climb on anything dry, having their natural environment taken away by greedy boaters - there isn’t a piece of land within sight that hasn’t been taken over by some marina. The amount of boats around here is quite overwhelming!

September 26, 2008

Baltimore, MD

After a day of rest and swimming in Bohemia River we tied up in Baltimore. Once again I walked J-P to exhaustion (which put him in a very, very bad mood the next day) to whip him back in shape. Looks like older women have much more stamina! We like Baltimore a lot, old pirates' quarters as well as architecture of today. We are forced to stay here longer than planned, through rain and gale strong wind, safely tied in marina. We don't mind, we know how to pass the time in a big city - there is no shortage of entertainment. This is one city really geared towards tourism!

September 17, 2008

Cape May, NJ
Time certainly flies when you are enjoying yourself. Our legs, so much stronger from all the walk in NY, are being used once again for the bike ride around Cape May, where we arrived after an uneventful 24-hr crossing from Sandy Hook. We made some good friends with “Chenou” sailboat and we are planning to continue with them through Delaware and will take some time for cruising Chesapeake Bay. J-P is anxious to visit one of the biggest boat shows in Annapolis, but for today it’s groceries, although we feel a bit wasted after a huge lobster dinner last night at the local dinner “Lobster House”.