After breakfast, we all dingyed in to Man-O-War to explore the town. Here, we have just about returned south as far as we initially went north. So, we’re roughly east to northeast of Marsh Harbor, just on the east side of the Sea of Abaco. Only about 300 live on this 2 ½ mile long island, but they’ve been there over 200 years. Most seem to be named Albury, judging from the name on the shops, Ferrys, and boatyards. Indeed, this family, loyalist settlers after the Revolutionary War, apparently dominated this cay, as well as several others around. Everything seems to be named Albury. Not only did they seem to dominate, but they were strict in their social views, the cay being dry even to this day, although there’s no basis for my attribution of this island characteristic to the Asburys …. just a hunch. The Asburys’ were prodigious boat builders, an active industry here even today, although at least one non-Asbury boat builder’s name was documented. The cay is so small that no autos are allowed; but golf carts proliferate, becoming the primary mode of automated locomotion.
After shopping and lunch on Crookshank (fabulous Tuna melts with sliced black olives, onions, peppercorns, cheese and a dash of EVOO over whole wheat), we headed out.
Departing M-O-W, our destination was the northeast tip of Fowl Cay, location of one of the Bahamas underwater national parks. Winds were puny, so motoring became the order of the day. ‘Arriving at our destination, we recognized “Island Girl” from the Fleet already there. Anchoring well off the reef, we secured the anchor without incident (not always a guaranteed thing, you see) and made our preparations to dingy over to the reef.
Before we departed, it occurred to me that we might have an issue here. Y’see, getting out of the dingy’s no problem, jumping being the universal solution here. Getting in might be another matter, given the dingy’s well inflated mode, riding proudly about 18” above the waterline. Adrienne crafted a solution, which was a line tied with 2-3 successively lower loops to provide foot holds to hoist us aboard. With none of us having a better solution, Ken, Dana, Scott, Adrienne & I embarked.
The reef was spectacular, with the formation reaching from the bottom, 15 feet below to within about a foot of the water’s surface …. but with crystal clear water. Multi-hued tropical fish, brilliant azure, sun-glow yellow, mellow maroon and all hues in between teemed. The occasional barracuda, perennially the loner, lurked and eyed us all. ‘Poker faced all the way.
We snorkeled around the reef, drifting when appropriate, finning against the current where dictated and generally taking in the underwater spectacle. After about an hour, we noticed a thunderhead on the horizon and decided it was time to head in, all pondering what lay ahead, entry-wise.
We weren’t disappointed. We floundered, we flailed, we tugged, we toted, and we struggled. But otherwise, we prevailed. ‘Not with grace, not with beauty, but ultimately with success. We discovered that the mutual struggling, floundering and body parts exposing became a shared, bonding experience that we all later laughed about, commiserated with and shared together.
Upon arriving back at our vessel, we lifted anchor and departed Fowl Cay for Hope Town, arriving about 4:30 PM. We got on a mooring without incident and settled in for the night. We once again ate aboard, enjoying char-grilled Mahi.
Winds have depleted. Humidity has set in. It seems a summer weather pattern has emerged.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
5-18: On to Man-O-War Cay
Tuesday morning we made ready to cast off for Man-O-War Cay, sans Scott & Dana, who were staying behind for the scuba dive; they would catch up with us that evening by way of “Island Girl”, another of the Fleet vessels. One task we had to do before we left was to pull up to the dock at the marina to replenish our on board water supply. “Crookshanks” has 2 150 gallon water tanks and we had used most of one of them. This necessitated maneuvering the boat adjacent to the dock, so that we could tie up and be replenished. Adrienne & I guided the boat up to the dock without incident and we refilled our empty water tank (PS: Water isn’t free in the out islands of the Bahamas; it was $30 to fill the tanks.)
Upon filling our tank and settlin’ up (paying for non-southerners), we proceeded to ease away from the dock, backing into the wind…. always something to account for, but often overlooked by the novice. We cleared the dock. Easing “Crookshanks” into the forward gears for the two engines --- nothing happened. One, or maybe both, engines had died. We began to drift downwind, closing quickly toward a shore dock downwind to our stern. Fortunately, we quickly realized what was up, and, equally fortunate, the engines cranked quickly and we powered away.
We exited White Sound without incident and made our way back into the Sea of Abaco. Under sail, both Yvonne and Ellen took the helm and experienced being at the helm of the vessel for the first time. Both did very well.
After enjoying catching whatever fair wind came our way for a time, we refocused and set about for Man-O-War. This necessitated renegotiating around Whale Cay, although rocks and reefs remained unmoved, necessitating re-navigation in reverse. This time, while it was nowhere close to the Bahamas famed “Rage”, the seas were as rough as we had experienced and we bounced quite a bit.
‘Interesting aside here. “Fourwinds”, “Grand Cru” and “Crookshanks” pretty much made this passage together around Whale Cay. “Fourwinds” and “Crookshanks”, being somewhat faster, overtook and passed “Grand Cru”. One particularly demonstrative occupant of ‘Grand Cru” expressed the on-board sentiment by successively “mooning” each passing vessel. ‘All in good sport, of course!
On both passages around Turtle Cay, our GPS acted strangely at about the same point, both going and coming. Was it just difficulty getting a satellite fix … or something more sinister? Bermuda Triangle? We’ll never know. Anyway, we did it the old fashioned way, reading the maps, recognizing land points and making our way south. It worked, and we arrived at the entrance to Man-O-War Cay.
We got in around 5:30 PM. Most of fleet anchored together, although James Murray’s boat returned to Marsh Harbor because of refrigerator problems. Dinner was on board with grilled lemon parsley chicken breast (grilled Mahi for Peter), served with couscous & salad.
Weather: Winds lessened mid-day. Humidity increased.
Upon filling our tank and settlin’ up (paying for non-southerners), we proceeded to ease away from the dock, backing into the wind…. always something to account for, but often overlooked by the novice. We cleared the dock. Easing “Crookshanks” into the forward gears for the two engines --- nothing happened. One, or maybe both, engines had died. We began to drift downwind, closing quickly toward a shore dock downwind to our stern. Fortunately, we quickly realized what was up, and, equally fortunate, the engines cranked quickly and we powered away.
We exited White Sound without incident and made our way back into the Sea of Abaco. Under sail, both Yvonne and Ellen took the helm and experienced being at the helm of the vessel for the first time. Both did very well.
After enjoying catching whatever fair wind came our way for a time, we refocused and set about for Man-O-War. This necessitated renegotiating around Whale Cay, although rocks and reefs remained unmoved, necessitating re-navigation in reverse. This time, while it was nowhere close to the Bahamas famed “Rage”, the seas were as rough as we had experienced and we bounced quite a bit.
‘Interesting aside here. “Fourwinds”, “Grand Cru” and “Crookshanks” pretty much made this passage together around Whale Cay. “Fourwinds” and “Crookshanks”, being somewhat faster, overtook and passed “Grand Cru”. One particularly demonstrative occupant of ‘Grand Cru” expressed the on-board sentiment by successively “mooning” each passing vessel. ‘All in good sport, of course!
On both passages around Turtle Cay, our GPS acted strangely at about the same point, both going and coming. Was it just difficulty getting a satellite fix … or something more sinister? Bermuda Triangle? We’ll never know. Anyway, we did it the old fashioned way, reading the maps, recognizing land points and making our way south. It worked, and we arrived at the entrance to Man-O-War Cay.
We got in around 5:30 PM. Most of fleet anchored together, although James Murray’s boat returned to Marsh Harbor because of refrigerator problems. Dinner was on board with grilled lemon parsley chicken breast (grilled Mahi for Peter), served with couscous & salad.
Weather: Winds lessened mid-day. Humidity increased.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
5-17: Green Turtle Cay, Day 2
The day started with Adrienne preparing egg omelets for the entire crew in the ship’s galley. ‘Very tasty. After that, we rented golf carts for the day to explore the island. Since we were on the north end of the island, we headed south along the east side of the island, adjacent to the Atlantic. About half way down, we stopped at a secluded, deserted beach that the locals said had some interesting reefs. There was even trees (hence shade) on the beach for Peter to enjoy; Peter’s philosophy is that he enjoys doing things on the water, but not in the water. We snorkeled for about an hour, although Yvonne and Ellen got out quickly, not being particularly comfortable in the water either. The reef was interesting but not spectacular.
After exiting and drying off, we proceeded south to the southern end, to the small, but very picturesque town of New Plymouth. Established in the 1800’s, it consisted of one to three story pastel colored wood frame houses, a museum, churches on every corner, shops and a variety of eating establishments. I noted with interest that almost every house had a concrete below-grade cistern to collect rainwater off the roof. I never found out if this water was consumed, or only used for other purposes. I saw similar cisterns in most of the other out-island towns we visited.
We ate lunch at the Wrecking Tree restaurant located beside, what else? the Wrecking Tree. Here a story ensues. In the 1800’s, the Bahamas, although reeking with charm and natural beauty, did not abound with ways to make a living. However, because of the hundreds of miles of shoreline teeming with offshore submerged reefs and the low flat terrain of the islands, hapless sailing vessels and their crew floundered and sank with regularity. Realizing this, a cottage industry of wreck salvage sprang up. While it sounds pretty buccaneer-ish, the industry was fairly regulated by the British government in Nassau. Hence the Wrecking Tree. At this site, beneath this tree, salvaged goods were assessed, sorted and maybe shipped off to be sold. The government got 15%, the salvagers got 50%, and the remainder presumably went to the unfortunate boat owner.
For a while, the business boomed. Then in 1863, the British government decided more navigational aid was in order and construction started on the candy-striped 130’ lighthouse in Hope Town. Concerned salvagers viewed this as a threat to their livelihood. Several instances of vandalism at the construction site occurred, but to no avail. The lighthouse is still functioning today.
After lunch, we made our way back up the island to White Sound, where several of our crew, as well as some from other fleet vessels, had signed up for Scuba classes and a dive on Tuesday. That night, probably 30 of us simultaneously showed up at the Jolly Roger restaurant. We somewhat overwhelmed the staff, but they recovered nicely.
While at the restaurant, we saw a video of James (on Gran Cru) getting dunked while swinging from a Boson’s chair attached by a halyard on the main mast. The Grand Cru, being a mono hull heels over nicely when on a reach. So, anyone hanging from the main mast while the boat is heeling is suspended over the water outside the boat. The helmsman, with simple maneuvers can dunk the outboard rider at will. It was fun and made for great video.
The McKey family has dinner at the Green Turtle Club restaurant (nice décor, white tablecloths). Jimmy treated his entire family, approx. 15. This is a reprise of dinner at this restaurant in 1971 with Jimmy, Jimmy’s wife Frances, John & Mary celebrating J & M’s graduation from USF. This was the family’s first trip to the Bahamas. Many more were to follow.
Weather: clear, winds 10-15 mph. Moderate humidity.
After exiting and drying off, we proceeded south to the southern end, to the small, but very picturesque town of New Plymouth. Established in the 1800’s, it consisted of one to three story pastel colored wood frame houses, a museum, churches on every corner, shops and a variety of eating establishments. I noted with interest that almost every house had a concrete below-grade cistern to collect rainwater off the roof. I never found out if this water was consumed, or only used for other purposes. I saw similar cisterns in most of the other out-island towns we visited.
We ate lunch at the Wrecking Tree restaurant located beside, what else? the Wrecking Tree. Here a story ensues. In the 1800’s, the Bahamas, although reeking with charm and natural beauty, did not abound with ways to make a living. However, because of the hundreds of miles of shoreline teeming with offshore submerged reefs and the low flat terrain of the islands, hapless sailing vessels and their crew floundered and sank with regularity. Realizing this, a cottage industry of wreck salvage sprang up. While it sounds pretty buccaneer-ish, the industry was fairly regulated by the British government in Nassau. Hence the Wrecking Tree. At this site, beneath this tree, salvaged goods were assessed, sorted and maybe shipped off to be sold. The government got 15%, the salvagers got 50%, and the remainder presumably went to the unfortunate boat owner.
For a while, the business boomed. Then in 1863, the British government decided more navigational aid was in order and construction started on the candy-striped 130’ lighthouse in Hope Town. Concerned salvagers viewed this as a threat to their livelihood. Several instances of vandalism at the construction site occurred, but to no avail. The lighthouse is still functioning today.
After lunch, we made our way back up the island to White Sound, where several of our crew, as well as some from other fleet vessels, had signed up for Scuba classes and a dive on Tuesday. That night, probably 30 of us simultaneously showed up at the Jolly Roger restaurant. We somewhat overwhelmed the staff, but they recovered nicely.
While at the restaurant, we saw a video of James (on Gran Cru) getting dunked while swinging from a Boson’s chair attached by a halyard on the main mast. The Grand Cru, being a mono hull heels over nicely when on a reach. So, anyone hanging from the main mast while the boat is heeling is suspended over the water outside the boat. The helmsman, with simple maneuvers can dunk the outboard rider at will. It was fun and made for great video.
The McKey family has dinner at the Green Turtle Club restaurant (nice décor, white tablecloths). Jimmy treated his entire family, approx. 15. This is a reprise of dinner at this restaurant in 1971 with Jimmy, Jimmy’s wife Frances, John & Mary celebrating J & M’s graduation from USF. This was the family’s first trip to the Bahamas. Many more were to follow.
Weather: clear, winds 10-15 mph. Moderate humidity.
5-15: Green Turtle Cay
Our entry into White Sound was uneventful. Securing Crookshank to a mooring was somewhat more eventful. Over-motoring our mooring ball resulted in a broken grappling hook, a necessary tool to pick up the line(s) attached to any mooring. After securing our mooring, we explored the surrounds, hiking over the island ridge past Bluff House to a beach on the Sea of Abacos side, where we saw beautiful 12” size brilliant maroon starfish in the crystal clear waters of the beach.
Returning to Crookshank, we discovered… to our chagrin… that our mooring was 100% downwind from the local dump ashore, currently operating in full burn mode, resulting in choking smoke, generous deposits of ash aboard, and heaven knows what else. We elected to move & find another mooring.
We spotted one outside the downwind smoke & headed for it. ‘One small problem, that being the broken grappling hook, offered a challenge as to the mechanics of the picking up the mooring ball. Necessity being the Mother of Invention, we came up with a solution. With no functioning grappling hook, we hit upon the idea of using the dingy to secure the mooring ball line & then hand it up to others on Crookshank.
This worked … up to a point. ‘This point being when the starter rope on the dingy gasoline engine snapped, leaving the dingy without power or means of movement. Meanwhile Crookshank bore down upon the hapless occupants of the dingy, me included. It seemed we were reprising the swimmer’s view from the water in "Jaws". But we prevailed and securement of boat and ball ensued.
‘Later that evening, Yvonne prepared a delightful meal of shrimp with tarragon sauce over rice, after appetizers of crab cocktail over cream cheese.
The weather continued to be clear, winds 15 to 20 knots, with low humidity. ‘Great sleeping weather!
Returning to Crookshank, we discovered… to our chagrin… that our mooring was 100% downwind from the local dump ashore, currently operating in full burn mode, resulting in choking smoke, generous deposits of ash aboard, and heaven knows what else. We elected to move & find another mooring.
We spotted one outside the downwind smoke & headed for it. ‘One small problem, that being the broken grappling hook, offered a challenge as to the mechanics of the picking up the mooring ball. Necessity being the Mother of Invention, we came up with a solution. With no functioning grappling hook, we hit upon the idea of using the dingy to secure the mooring ball line & then hand it up to others on Crookshank.
This worked … up to a point. ‘This point being when the starter rope on the dingy gasoline engine snapped, leaving the dingy without power or means of movement. Meanwhile Crookshank bore down upon the hapless occupants of the dingy, me included. It seemed we were reprising the swimmer’s view from the water in "Jaws". But we prevailed and securement of boat and ball ensued.
‘Later that evening, Yvonne prepared a delightful meal of shrimp with tarragon sauce over rice, after appetizers of crab cocktail over cream cheese.
The weather continued to be clear, winds 15 to 20 knots, with low humidity. ‘Great sleeping weather!
5-15: Serious Sailing in the Sea of Abaco
Actually, it wasn’t so much the serious sailing as the serious navigating. Our plan was to head north from Fisher’s Bay to Green Turtle Cay, a total distance of maybe 12 -15 nautical miles, heading mostly northwest; winds continued to be from the south, southeast. The tricky thing about this sail was the Whale Cay passage. The Moorings considered it tricky enough that they requested each vessel radio them before entering and after emerging from this passage. The problem was that the obvious passage was west of Whale Cay and east of Treasure Cay, a large opening in the Sea of Abaco. ‘Trouble is this large, innocuous passage was rife with shallow water, submerged reefs, even an ominous feature named “Don’t Rock”. Being too shallow for our size boats, the only other passage was to the east of Whale Cay, then west thru a fairly narrow course between Whale Cay and shallow waters to the north. To the east of this passage are the open waters of the North Atlantic. When wind conditions are right (generally out of the east/northeast, a condition locally known a “Rage” develops which result in tricky and dangerous sailing conditions. (Even large cruise vessels sometimes cannot negotiate Rage conditions in these waters.)
But we successfully maneuvered the passage, being aided by GPS waypoints identifying the center of the passage, (by visual means undetectable), and generally by the absence of Rage conditions. Once thru this passage, it was relatively smooth sailing on to the approach into Green Turtle Cay.
But we successfully maneuvered the passage, being aided by GPS waypoints identifying the center of the passage, (by visual means undetectable), and generally by the absence of Rage conditions. Once thru this passage, it was relatively smooth sailing on to the approach into Green Turtle Cay.
5-14: Casting Off
Saturday morning dawned bright and clear with a brisk wind from the south southwest, promising a great start to the week. So far the weather has been highs in the low 80’s and low humidity, making sleeping (without air) almost chilly. The morning’s plan was for the crew to split up, some going to the grocery stories to provision for the week while others went to the Moorings Captain’s briefing. Our crew elected for breakfast ashore at Jaime’s Place, a short walk from our marina. Good food, almost ala southern cooking, but unfortunately it came too late for Adrienne & I, having to leave for the 9 AM briefing.
This briefing is something that’s done at all the Moorings we’ve leased boats at. It’s basically a 1 to 1 ½ hour briefing where a knowledgeable staff member briefs the week’s sailors about local conditions, what to do & not to do, interesting places, etc. It was very informative, our briefing being given by Rosie, a young Bahamian with a wry sense of humor; she quickly recognized Glenn from the Fleet as the one to banter with.
Bahamian waters are richly deserving of the briefing. The Sea of Abaco, while containing large areas of open water, also contain many shallow areas and coral reefs, all of which are very user unfriendly and to be avoided at all costs (more on this later). This dictated much more attention and effort be put into navigation, chart reading, using the GPS, etc. than was ever necessary in Croatia. Croatia was very much sailor friendly waters in that the water was very deep almost immediately off shore, obviating any concern for shallows, sand bars and reefs; additionally, Croatia had negligible tidal fluctuation, whereas here these fluctuations are on the order of 2 to 3 feet between high and low tide. Now this might not seem like much, and it’s not as long as you account for the tide going out and your depth of water where your boat’s anchored. Otherwise boat & bottom converge, generally with onerous consequences.
After the briefing, boat provisioning and a general checkout of the boat and its contents, we were ready to cast off. But before, John Lafferty made a presentation to Admiral Jimmy, consisting of an orange and blue burge complete with the Fleet’s logo, as well as a similarly embossed sailing cap. The Admiral, now in his 90’s, is remarkable that he’s still able to negotiate the various steps, ladder’s, docks etc, associated with a cruise of this nature and one bearing his name.
About 2 PM, we were ready to cast off for Great Guana Cay, only about 7-8 nautical miles to the northeast; however winds were from the south/ southwest putting us on pretty much on a run all the way. Actually, we had selected an anchorage at Fisher’s Bay; Fisher’s Bay has a limited number of moorings, floating balls attached to large blocks of concrete on the bottom. The advantage here is that, although it costs $15 to $20 per night, you know your craft is secure for the night and not subject to potential slippage and drift if you rely only on the boat’s anchor securing the boat to the bottom.
So, anyway, we knew there were only a limited number of moorings here and not enough for the entire Fleet (6 boars). Crookshank was one of the last vessels in, so we searched intensely for a mooring. We spotted a white object in the Bay some distance away. Thanking our good fortune, we made our way to the object. As we neared, we realized that something didn’t look quite right, so we changed course and found a good anchorage in the shallows of Fisher’s Bay. We set our anchor successfully and stayed the night adjacent to our boats from the fleet.
It wasn’t until the next morning, as we headed out, that we realized that the unidentified object we almost attached to was actually a marker identifying barely submerged rocks in the Bay! ‘An early object lesson in chart reading in these waters.
This briefing is something that’s done at all the Moorings we’ve leased boats at. It’s basically a 1 to 1 ½ hour briefing where a knowledgeable staff member briefs the week’s sailors about local conditions, what to do & not to do, interesting places, etc. It was very informative, our briefing being given by Rosie, a young Bahamian with a wry sense of humor; she quickly recognized Glenn from the Fleet as the one to banter with.
Bahamian waters are richly deserving of the briefing. The Sea of Abaco, while containing large areas of open water, also contain many shallow areas and coral reefs, all of which are very user unfriendly and to be avoided at all costs (more on this later). This dictated much more attention and effort be put into navigation, chart reading, using the GPS, etc. than was ever necessary in Croatia. Croatia was very much sailor friendly waters in that the water was very deep almost immediately off shore, obviating any concern for shallows, sand bars and reefs; additionally, Croatia had negligible tidal fluctuation, whereas here these fluctuations are on the order of 2 to 3 feet between high and low tide. Now this might not seem like much, and it’s not as long as you account for the tide going out and your depth of water where your boat’s anchored. Otherwise boat & bottom converge, generally with onerous consequences.
After the briefing, boat provisioning and a general checkout of the boat and its contents, we were ready to cast off. But before, John Lafferty made a presentation to Admiral Jimmy, consisting of an orange and blue burge complete with the Fleet’s logo, as well as a similarly embossed sailing cap. The Admiral, now in his 90’s, is remarkable that he’s still able to negotiate the various steps, ladder’s, docks etc, associated with a cruise of this nature and one bearing his name.
About 2 PM, we were ready to cast off for Great Guana Cay, only about 7-8 nautical miles to the northeast; however winds were from the south/ southwest putting us on pretty much on a run all the way. Actually, we had selected an anchorage at Fisher’s Bay; Fisher’s Bay has a limited number of moorings, floating balls attached to large blocks of concrete on the bottom. The advantage here is that, although it costs $15 to $20 per night, you know your craft is secure for the night and not subject to potential slippage and drift if you rely only on the boat’s anchor securing the boat to the bottom.
So, anyway, we knew there were only a limited number of moorings here and not enough for the entire Fleet (6 boars). Crookshank was one of the last vessels in, so we searched intensely for a mooring. We spotted a white object in the Bay some distance away. Thanking our good fortune, we made our way to the object. As we neared, we realized that something didn’t look quite right, so we changed course and found a good anchorage in the shallows of Fisher’s Bay. We set our anchor successfully and stayed the night adjacent to our boats from the fleet.
It wasn’t until the next morning, as we headed out, that we realized that the unidentified object we almost attached to was actually a marker identifying barely submerged rocks in the Bay! ‘An early object lesson in chart reading in these waters.
5-13: A Senior Moment
As a somewhat disconcerting sidebar to our trip, after getting off the plane in Nassau, Yvonne & I dutifully made our way to the Immigration/Customs line. There were perhaps 30 to 40 people in front of us, nothing unusual. We hadn’t been waiting more than 2-3 minutes, when a Bahamian lady in uniform asked for our passports and then directed us to follow her, which we did. She led us around those in front of us, even behind the Customs Agents windows, where she indicated we should wait.
Before long, she returned with our passports all stamped and official. By way of explanation, she indicated it was the policy of the Bahamas to give special “consideration” to those with recognizable “maturity”.
OUCH!!
Before long, she returned with our passports all stamped and official. By way of explanation, she indicated it was the policy of the Bahamas to give special “consideration” to those with recognizable “maturity”.
OUCH!!
5-13: Getting There
Yvonne & I looked forward to a leisurely trip to Marsh Harbor, the main city on the island of Abaco in the Bahamas. Our flight would take us from Orlando to Nassau and then a short puddle jump hop to Marsh Harbor, where we would load our gear onto our vessel for the week and subsequently spend Friday night aboard. Our flight didn’t leave OIA until 2:00 PM, arriving at Marsh Harbor close to 6 PM.
The leisurely part never materialized for me, with several last minute office fires requiring my attention erupting. It seems I spent the morning on the phone or the Internet, even getting documents sent to me where I could receive and review them at the airport prior to getting on the plane. But all eventually seemed to work out and we boarded our flight.
I moved to Florida about 6 months before the advent of the Shuttle program in 1981. I thought I’d seen shuttle launches from every conceivable point of view……… from night launches which lit up our lake (John’s Lake), a launch from KSC and even one from the VIP area. But I was wrong! We were treated to a totally unique perspective. With only 2 remaining launches, we saw Atlantis lift off from KSC from the vantage point of our 727 at 27,000 ft. What a view. We could see it below us --- contrail streaming – for a moment. Before we knew it, it screamed (figuratively, not literally) above us, veering north all the while. What a sight!
Once we landed in Nassau, we had about a 2 hour layover before boarding our twin engine prop for the short flight to Marsh Harbor. Yvonne & I apparently got there first but we knew that a large contingent from North Carolina would be on this leg with us. But before any of our old friends from NC arrived, three young folks came up and introduced themselves. These, as it turned out, were all friends/co-workers of James Murray, one of our skippers. These three, James, Teresa & Kelly, ironically all from Orlando, recognized this year’s edition of the Admiral Jimmy’s fleet polo shirt, whiich I wore for recognition purposes. ‘Turns out Kelly is to be the Skipper for one of our fleet, the Grand Cru. We chatted, compared notes & got acquainted until the NC contingent arrived, probably another 10 to 12 strong. For the next hour everyone chatted with no apparent recognition that, at best we hadn’t seen one another in a year (or more or many more). More than a few were total strangers. ’Yet something had already occurred. Acquaintances, to total strangers, bonded almost immediately, joined only by the memory of (or anticipation for) trips such as our upcoming sail.
We landed in Marsh Harbor, marshaled our luggage, commandeered 3 taxi vans and made our way to the docks. After schlepping our bags to our boat, the Crookshanks, we concluded the evening with a very nice open-air marina side restaurant, “Snappas”.
The leisurely part never materialized for me, with several last minute office fires requiring my attention erupting. It seems I spent the morning on the phone or the Internet, even getting documents sent to me where I could receive and review them at the airport prior to getting on the plane. But all eventually seemed to work out and we boarded our flight.
I moved to Florida about 6 months before the advent of the Shuttle program in 1981. I thought I’d seen shuttle launches from every conceivable point of view……… from night launches which lit up our lake (John’s Lake), a launch from KSC and even one from the VIP area. But I was wrong! We were treated to a totally unique perspective. With only 2 remaining launches, we saw Atlantis lift off from KSC from the vantage point of our 727 at 27,000 ft. What a view. We could see it below us --- contrail streaming – for a moment. Before we knew it, it screamed (figuratively, not literally) above us, veering north all the while. What a sight!
Once we landed in Nassau, we had about a 2 hour layover before boarding our twin engine prop for the short flight to Marsh Harbor. Yvonne & I apparently got there first but we knew that a large contingent from North Carolina would be on this leg with us. But before any of our old friends from NC arrived, three young folks came up and introduced themselves. These, as it turned out, were all friends/co-workers of James Murray, one of our skippers. These three, James, Teresa & Kelly, ironically all from Orlando, recognized this year’s edition of the Admiral Jimmy’s fleet polo shirt, whiich I wore for recognition purposes. ‘Turns out Kelly is to be the Skipper for one of our fleet, the Grand Cru. We chatted, compared notes & got acquainted until the NC contingent arrived, probably another 10 to 12 strong. For the next hour everyone chatted with no apparent recognition that, at best we hadn’t seen one another in a year (or more or many more). More than a few were total strangers. ’Yet something had already occurred. Acquaintances, to total strangers, bonded almost immediately, joined only by the memory of (or anticipation for) trips such as our upcoming sail.
We landed in Marsh Harbor, marshaled our luggage, commandeered 3 taxi vans and made our way to the docks. After schlepping our bags to our boat, the Crookshanks, we concluded the evening with a very nice open-air marina side restaurant, “Snappas”.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Abmiral Jimmy - Reprise
A little now on the fleet's namesake ..... pictured above. Jimmy is the father of John, grandad of James, two of the skippers for this year's Armada. Jimmy's been on most of the fleet sails over the past 10 or so years.
But he wasn't always known as "Admiral Jimmy." As lore has it, the moniker came about thus. On one of the early sails, once underway, the senior sailors (i.e. the honchos on the sail) were having a spirited discussion over mission critical elements of the next day's sail. As the story goes, little progress was being achieved toward consensus.
In an effort to bring things to a conclusion, son John opted to exert his authority by declaring something to the effect that "Well, I'm the Captain of this boat!"
Whereupon, others opined .... " Well, John may be the Captain, but Jimmy's the Admiral!"
Henceforth and forever more, Jimmy has been known as Admiral Jimmy, a name quickly extended to the entire fleet - Admiral Jimmy's Fleet.
PS. Before you discard this as senior silliness, The Moorings, a worldwide company that leases sailboats at popular sailing waters around the world, including where we're sailing in the Bahamas, now recognizes Admiral Jimmy's Fleet, along with the asssociated fleet discounts.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Gluttons
That's what we seem to be. Last year's Croatia sail was, by many definitions, the acme of the Admiral's Fleet. However, the Croatia trip's anticipation,anxiety and acclamation yielded to sweet recolletions, reminises and renewed yearning for another reprise.
Hence, the Abacos sail was conceived. The Admiral, being not quite up to the rigors of Croatia ... not the sail ... but gettin' there and back, was quite clear on this year's destination. That being the Bahamas, specifically the Abacos, one of the major islands of the hundreds af islands comprising Bahama. Admiral Jimmy has made a number of Bahama crossings on the Frances II, the family sailboat. Not a Herculean feat, but also not one undertaken by rank amateurs; the northward bound Gulf Stream, sweeping all craft with it, and the fact that, with miscalculation, next land is Africa, makes the crossing one to engage with caution and knowledge.
Anyway,the Abacos sail was formuilated. Surprisingly,it was quickly subscribed and even over-subscribed. At the end of the day, about 48, meaning 6 sailboats, twice that for Croatia, had enlisted and ponyed up the deposits and costs. (As an aside, when talking 8 people per boat, the cost of these trips bercomes surprisingly affordable, considering the duration and the freedom one has.)
Anyway,'trip begins a week from Friday, May 14, with all assembling at Marsh Harbor, the 3rd largest locale in th Bahamas. ('Point of clarification here; we're flying safely above squirrelly currents, avoiding navigational miscalculations, arriving safely at our destination. We board the boats Friday night,sleep aboard, and then depart Saturday PM for the week's sail.
OK. That's it for the start. Intro's made, plans crudely outlined, and the blog ricketly launched.
TBC (To be continued.)
Hence, the Abacos sail was conceived. The Admiral, being not quite up to the rigors of Croatia ... not the sail ... but gettin' there and back, was quite clear on this year's destination. That being the Bahamas, specifically the Abacos, one of the major islands of the hundreds af islands comprising Bahama. Admiral Jimmy has made a number of Bahama crossings on the Frances II, the family sailboat. Not a Herculean feat, but also not one undertaken by rank amateurs; the northward bound Gulf Stream, sweeping all craft with it, and the fact that, with miscalculation, next land is Africa, makes the crossing one to engage with caution and knowledge.
Anyway,the Abacos sail was formuilated. Surprisingly,it was quickly subscribed and even over-subscribed. At the end of the day, about 48, meaning 6 sailboats, twice that for Croatia, had enlisted and ponyed up the deposits and costs. (As an aside, when talking 8 people per boat, the cost of these trips bercomes surprisingly affordable, considering the duration and the freedom one has.)
Anyway,'trip begins a week from Friday, May 14, with all assembling at Marsh Harbor, the 3rd largest locale in th Bahamas. ('Point of clarification here; we're flying safely above squirrelly currents, avoiding navigational miscalculations, arriving safely at our destination. We board the boats Friday night,sleep aboard, and then depart Saturday PM for the week's sail.
OK. That's it for the start. Intro's made, plans crudely outlined, and the blog ricketly launched.
TBC (To be continued.)
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