too many rules in Naples!








lighthouse at Gasparilla













wildlife exhibit at marina...



dolphins in the bow wave..


Luc catches a Spanish Mackeral....

Almost Through!

Gaspirilla Island was filled with many adventures! After Naples, we sailed all day and anchored at a small island close to Gaspirilla. The next morning, we picked up anchor and motored to it, got a slip in the marina, rented a golf cart, and we were out exploring the town. The city of Boca Grande was where we spent our time. We went to the lighthouse museum and visited the unique shops. That night, we went shelling and found a sufficient amount of unique and very pretty shells!
Around noon the next day, we sailed to Eggmont Key in Tampa Bay. We experienced a rough night that night with a huge thunderstorm, but the next morning we explored the island. We found forts, shells, birds, and a lighthouse. After walking around the island for about an hour we sailed for Tarpon Springs.
We arrived the greek inspired city, the world capitol of sponging, in the mid-afternoon. We did a quick cleanup then went and found dinner at Costa's! The Greek cuisine quenched all our hungers! We returned to the boat that night well-fed and eager for a good nights sleep with shorepower.

Pictures!

On the Road Again

We just left for Bimini where we had a very pleasant sail. It was a relaxing sail with no problems. In Bimini we stayed at a City Marina with very good hospitality and a pool to cool off in. The day we arrived we went to lunch and had a walk around the town. We enjoyed going to the flea market with store-owners who were determined to not let any customer leave without buying something! We then went back to the boat as it started raining and had a very laid back night. The next day we took off for Marathon early in the morning. It was an overnight sail that tired almost all of us for a good amount of time. When we got there, we dropped the boat off at a Ship Yard where our beloved air conditioning could finally be fixed. In the mean time, we wasted a couple of days in a beautiful resort in Key West. We explored the city and had an exiting night in Mallory Square where we watched the street performers and legendary sunset. We doubled the cost to get the air conditiong by stocking up on t-shirts, hats, and other souvenirs. Soon, our time of staying at a hotel was up and we headed back for Marathon where we would set sail for the Everglades.

We arrived at Everglade City, a stop that Guy was especially excited about! Luc and Guy walked around town and found nothing of too much intrest. So we left the town and headed towards the next stop: Naples. On our way there we ran into some hilarious ocean creatures, Manatees. We motored through the ICW nicely landscaped with “flamingoes” as we named them and other creatures. But the fun ended when we went aground. We were stuck in the mud for about two hours until the tide rose. We continued and anchored in a bay surrounded by houses fit for a King! The next morning, we arrived at Naples, got fuel, go a slip in the marina, and explored the town! We all loved the relaxed feeling of Naples, not to mention the luxury of it. Huge mansions lines the streets we walked on and giant palm trees stood right beside them. We headed towards Tin City, a “yahoo tourist destination”-quote Guy. However, we all enjoyed the stores and returants. Next, we headed back to the boat to indulge in the beautiful thing called wi-fi.

Pictures!

The beautiful Sandy Cay:

(left) Guy, Luc, and Lisa enjoy our cave at Powell Cay. (below) Luc, Lauren, Alyssa, and Lisa on top of the bluffs at Powell Cay with Kala Kai in the background.

Luc, Lisa, Lauren, and Alyssa at Man-O-War Cay. Man-O-War Beach:

Luc getting ready to hop in the water at Sandy Cay;

Guy and Lisa enjoying Man-O-War Beach;

Alyssa and Lauren before Capt-n Jacks;

Another great dinner cooked on Kala Kai!

A Taste of the Abacos

Alyssa and Lisa rode the latest Bahamian bicycles into town, Luc and Lauren sped around in kayaks and Guy waited for the mechanic.

We left June 4, Friday evening for a beautiful anchorage off of West End.

Left Saturday morning for Double Breasted Keys. The sail was absolutely gorgeous and we got to use our spinnaker and enjoy downwind sailing. Found an isolated anchorage, nicely sheltered. Alyssa and Lauren went exploring in the dinghy. Guy was attacked by a shark disguised as the volume control knob for the stereo system. He received a messy head wound that was tended to by the onboard medics.

Sunday morning we woke up and went exploring in the dinghy, circumnavigating the island, looking for the best beaches. Beautiful sanddollars and starfish were everywhere. Found a great one and hung out. Ginger was very excited, digging for sand creatures and decided to explore the reef. Got stung by an unidentified creature, then ran to Lauren and got some of the poison on her. Lauren was fine, with just a brief rash, but Ginger’s leg was paralyzed for several hours. A pork chop bone offered to her in the afternoon began the healing process. Emergency medical services were avoided.

We left Monday morning (we think, we have forgotten how to figure out the date without the internet) for Allans-Pensacola. The sail was peaceful. Allans-Pensacola promised a great trail leading to an abandoned missile tracking station and beautiful beaches. FAIL.. The trail led us into serious brush with no chance of crossing the island. Although the beach looked beautiful, we have gotten spoiled and knew there were more beautiful beaches to come. We picked up the anchor and moved on to Powell Key.

We arrived at Powell Key around dusk. Beautiful anchorage with only a few neighbors. Luc and Guy took Ginger to the beach and tried to play football with a coconut, which turned out unsuccesful. That night we enjoyed first row seats to watch Moby Dick in the boat. The next morning, we got ready for a day exploring the beautiful beach. We hiked a trail to the top of the bluffs and got a beautiful view of the anchorage. We spent the rest of that morning in a cave that we found. After snorkeling a sunken crane, we picked up anchor and headed to our next destination: Green Turtle Cay.

With our quickest preparing-the-boat-to-leave-ever, we arrived at Green Turtle Cay in the late afternoon, on Tuesday. We picked up a mooring from Donny's Boat Rentals and headed up to town to get dinner at Laura's Kitchen, who had a reputation for the "best cracked conch in the Bahamas." Our team of food critics confirmed this. Wednesday morning, we raced to the laundromat for the first spot. After, we rented a golf cart, cruised around town, and had burgers at Pineapple's, a beach side bar and grill. We battled the dirt roads in the golf cart that afternoon. Then, we came back to the boat for another night in Green Turtle Cay.

Thursday morning, bright and early Guy set out to find a willing mechanic to fix our steering problem that had only been "band-aided up" at West End. After many stressful encounters with no one up to the job, we picked up anchor and headed to Baker's Bay off of Great Guana Cay. Luc and Lauren enjoyed snorkeling a little too close to a barracuda. Then, we headed into town to have Conch Fritters and drinks at a bar.

After a relaxing nights sleep, Friday, June 11, we headed to Marsh Harbour, the third largest city in the Bahamas. We got fuel and headed to our slip. Alyssa and Lauren explored the town and got some trendy purchases. After, the whole family explored the town which included raiding the Sugar Shack and stopping at all the souvenir shops. That night, we went to Snappa's for dinner and then Luc enjoyed playing Marco Polo with some boys in the marina.

Sunday morning, we sailed for Nipper's on Great Guana Cay. We enjoyed a pig roast buffet on a beautiful beach, and we also took advantage of the two pools. Nipper's proved to be a great restaurant with a terrific atmosphere. We went back to the boat, Guy and Lisa went back to the island that night, while the kids stayed on the boat. However, that night, the air conditioning decided to crash-and-burn.

Monday morning we left for Hopetown. We got there and decided to walk to their Sugar Shack, about 2 miles later, we found out they were closed on Mondays. We walked back to town and quickly quenched our thirst at a restaurant in town. After, we once again terrorized every souvenir store. Then, we got ready for dinner at Capt'n Jacks.

Tuesday, we left for Sandy Cay, for a great snorkeling expedition! We all enjoyed the reef lots. That afternoon, we headed to Little Harbour to anchor. The kids swam around the boat, and enjoyed trying to accomlish a flip off the boat. That night, Guy and Lisa went out to dinner with some friends that they had made on another boat.

Time at sea broadens horizons...

Now that we're out of reach of the mind numbing clutches of Disney and Fox, our leisure pursuits have taken a more refined taste...as Lauren read War & Peace, Luc and Alyssa were taking turns reading Shakespeare to Lisa and me.

BARACUDA

everything is good. we have made to the double breasted islands. woken in sleep by thunderstorms not even minor. we have sailed on to powel cay where there is a beautiful beach and nice hiking trails to the top of the bluffs. only with one minor setback................as we were on our way averaging about six knots, guy decides to bbq some sausage,as he was preparing i asked him if i could drop a hook aware we wouldn't catch anything . he said yes so i let out about 100 feet and tested the reel. then i went to help guy with the cooking. after i turned over the sausage i noticed the line was letting out about 2 feet by the second. i thought it was just the bait letting out so i grabbed the line not knowing there was a great baracuda on the other end. as soon as i grabbed it the baracua jerked and the line went straight down to the bone. it hurt very badly i let go and screamed.lisa quickly asked what happend,as i told her she said to stick my hand in the ice chest to numb it. but the baracuda was still there, guy ran across the stern yelling "we got a fish" and picked up the pole. he asked me numerous times if i wanted to reel it in and i finally said yes. the baracuda was about 20 pounds and a born fighter it took me a while to haul him in but finally he was on the boat. guy quickly un-hooked him with pliers and threw him back. the only thing that appeared in mind was ouch and FAIL. after,lisa quickly tended to my wound and wrapped it up.

anyway we stayed in powel cay for half a day until havin a sail over to green turtle cay we averaged about 6.8 knots the entire way while alyssa was buried in my DS but to sum it all up we went out to eat ate the best conch known to man and had a peacful walk back.

Heberts greater peril to Bahamian wildlife than Gulf Oil Spill!

Sand crab population faces catastrophic threat!












and yet another Dolphin falls victim to the carnage...


Luc takes down a barracuda

Goodbye America!

We left the Sombrero Marina in Marathon, FL yesterday at eight o'clock, stopped for ice and fuel, then we were out into the Atlantic Ocean. In the morning and afternoon, the wind was good to us and we maintained an average of six knots and we were able to turn the engine off for some of that time. Also, we discovered our new best friend: the Gulf Stream. We cruised through it with an average of eleven knots and depths that got over a thousand feet.

But even with these extremely sufficient speeds, what do you do to stay busy sitting on forty-two feet of floating fiberglass? Well, we suggest to stay occupied by catching a 3o pound dolphin fish, playing 20 Questions with US Customs and Border Patrol Agents, or watch a huge car carrier freighter journey by...but that's just us.

On our boat everyone knows how to sail...but none of us spent too much time researching fishing. So, we were just hoping for the best when we threw out our lines. The next thing we knew, we had caught our possible dinner! Guy directed us all while reeling in the huge catch. Lisa slowed down the boat and steered us out of the wind, Luc reeled in the other pole, and Lauren and Alyssa went on an epic search for the gaff pole. After dropping it in the water, but being saved by the hook, Guy had filleted it and made some fresh Ceviche.

We were still reveling in our joy from the big catch and we decided to go swimming right there in the Gulf Stream. However, a US Customs and Border Patrol boat had been keeping a close eye on us by radar due to our erratic course from having to turn in circles to catch the fish. They sped up on us out of nowhere, asked us plently of questions, and requested to search our boat. We of course answered and agreed to everything they asked. And as they were leaving we all smiled and waved, each of us laughing a little inside about the spontaniety of the check.

For dinner, our dolphin was blackened in butter and olive oil, pure perfection! We experienced some rough weather that night, however, but we made it earlier than we thought to Westend. We arrived here at about 7 this morning and now, we are having engine problems so we are waiting for the mechanic. This is probably the only internet that we will have for a week, so stay tuned!

Luc riding the wind.....

12:41 june 1st
we are in good shape. the storm clouds are gone and the bbq pit is fixed. although we are still going to postpone the trip until tomorrow. we are bound for the great abacos today we were supposed to be under way to westpoint.....unfortunantly we were stopped by severe thunderstorms and a broken bbq pit part. so tomorrow we will be under way.

Getting Started......Bahamas or Bust!

Tuesday, June 1. We were ready to set sail for West End today, but thunderstorms and a broken part for the bar-b-que pit that we are waiting for got in the way. Will hang out at the Sombrero Marina in Marathon another day. Decided to make use of the day by creating a blog site so to try to keep up with family and friends. Trying it out.