'Til next time, Toni

Toni's at the helm during the Gulf Stream crossing. She's probably thinking, "I used my vacation days for this??" The crossing was wet and a little wild. Randall kept telling me not to get off course or the current would shoot us past Freeport and then we'd be back to Brunswick. We pulled into Nassau Harbor with another boat which left Florida about the same time. We commented on how light the boat traffic was on both the Gulf Stream and the Exuma passage but it was not until today that we overheard at the local beach bar that there are 12 boats sitting in Lake Worth, FL still waiting on calm enough weather to cross. Toni left us yesterday to go back to the world of daily showers, fresh fruit and veggies and flooring which does not move. Before she left, we had several days of sand castle building, island hiking and a couple of Bahama's Kalik's. Keep us in mind every morning, Toni, as you pour the coffee. If you ever get tired of the cup just sitting there without moving while you pour, come on back.

George Town Arrival

Jacob has a dream. He has even drawn it up on paper.
A driftwood lean-to with a hammock underneath. A fire pit would be nice and he’ll also need our collapsible water bag. He’s also hoping to come across an abandoned ice chest. Then, he’ll pack his bags and be outta here.
We’ve told him that there might not be land available for beach bum style squatting but site selection goes on as we make the run down Stocking Island looking for an anchorage by George Town. Monument Hill looks good to him. Anything on land looks good to him. He is ok with us visiting but we have to bring the food, lots of it.
I think the closeness is getting to him. Thank goodness we’ve made it to George Town where we can pile off the boat and put each other at arm’s length.
We anchor right next to Chat N Chill. The white sandy beach feels great after three days of pitching up and down. We play a short game of two-on-two volleyball until we can’t ignore the smell of Chat N Chill’s food. Ok, really our volleyball limit is 30 minutes but it’s nice to have a tantalizing excuse. The conch burgers are delicious and Jacob, always happy in front of good food, notes calmly that there is not another person under 40 in sight and that cole slaw isn’t bad on conch burgers. If he weren’t critiquing food, this observation would have been so calmly made.
“They get here in December,” is our reply. “We’re early.”
“I’m not so sure,” he says.
Randall and I look at each other. We can’t buy him ten conch burgers a day to keep peace. The situation looks a little serious.
“I bet some of these 40 year olds are really immature,” we try.
Today we plan to see the town. We have lots to do. Randall is tracking down a part for the battery regulator which melted down during the trip making for a tense ten minutes of searching out the source of smoke. I want to check out the grocery store to see what we’ll be eating a lot of here. Toni wants to take in the local sights and see how to get to the airport on Friday. Lily wants to see if there is ice cream. But Jacob will be scouring for building supplies. If you build it, they will come. If they don’t, his friend, Murrey, is planning on a December visit. Pictures to come as soon as I get my camera battery charged (battery regulator problem has us on power conservation mode). Hopefully, there will not be one of Jake camped out on shore.

Packing Heat at Nassau, Bahamas

We headed out on Wednesday for our second attempt at a foreign port of call. Way back in June, we left for Isla Mujeres, Mexico and ended up in Pensacola. This time, we’re pleased to report, has resulted in passport stamps and a stern lecture on bringing a pellet gun to the Bahamas. The gulf stream crossing was rough all day Wednesday but the following day was beautiful and we sailed into Nassau Harbor with three sails up. We pulled in late and didn’t think we’d have time to clear customs but a very nice customs officer breezed through the paperwork while we stared at the first warm meal we’d seen in 48 hours which was sitting on the table when she arrived.
“Any firearms aboard?” she asked.
“We just have a little toy pellet gun,” Randall replied.
“Does it have a serial number?” she wanted to know.
“I don’t think so. It is just a pellet gun,” Randall replied, showing her the “maybe we can fool the stupid ones with this” bb pistol we have on board.
“You are allowed to bring a firearm on a private vessel as long as it has a serial number. This is prohibited. Without a serial number, we cannot track it. It is prohibited.”
Silence.
“I will call my colleague to confirm this,” she said.
The colleague confirmed that it was prohibited.
Randall kept looking the bb gun over and finally found a number stamped on it. Now, our Bahamas paperwork reflects that we have legally declared our bb gun. We have 1500 rounds of ammunition on board (bb’s). And, most importantly, if this little bb gun is found in the hands of a murderous criminal, it can now be tracked back to Randall Fuchs on Capricious.
Tomorrow, we leave for the Exumas. We may give the bb gun a burial at sea.

Where Wind Wishes Come True

Toni Payne arrived last Tuesday to help crew! She was looking forward to assisting with the Palm Springs to George Town, Bahamas leg. Instead, she's getting the true picture of sailing listening to us check the weather everyday and mutter, “Not Today.” Its been blustery and from the North for days and we don’t expect any change until Monday. Toni has been spending each morning with Jake pouring over Algebra II and Physics. (New crew requirement: Must be able to recall high school math and science). We’ve also swam and snorkeled at Peanut Island and decided to make the three hour trip you-know-where yesterday. We really thought about passing on the touristy theme park side trip but, well, if you have a four-year-old who happens to love Cinderella, Mickey Mouse and fast rides, can you really ignore such close proximity to the place where wishes come true? We just hoped Toni wished for a South wind.

Boat Parade

There has been a parade of luxury boats going by all day.



How will we ever chose?

One More Toy, Lady Kathyrn II, or Quantum of Solace?

We think there is a boat show somewhere close. Or maybe the Palm Beach waters turns ordinary boats into Yachts. I hope Capricious is drinking up.

Goodbye Brunswick

We said good bye to Georgia on Thursday. Brunswick Georgia wasn’t ever our planned destination but watching it diminish as we sailed away was bittersweet. Jake made so many friends at Brunswick First Baptist that they had a little going away party for him last week. Someone wrote “We Love Lily” on the marina sidewalk the night before we left. Lily wanted to know who wrote it but she has so many friends there we didn’t try to unravel the mystery. And lastly, Chewy, our beloved dog, has found a new home in Brunswick. We had hoped that Chewy would do well on the boat. However, it seemed a really hard life for him. The heat was tough. The sailing was unpleasant for him. He seemed to be having trouble even jumping on and off the boat at the marina. We began to really question whether we were giving him the type of life he needed. We decided to see if we could find him a home and Lynn came to met him. Lynn is an animal person and they got on well from the start. She had a cat and we cautioned it probably wouldn’t work. She took Chewy for a few nights and reported that he and the cat are fast friends. He’s got a yard but prefers indoors, particularly the sofa. Pet owners frequently wonder what their pets are thinking and we have asked ourselves what Chewy thinks when he remembers us. I don’t know the answer but I have decided it goes like this:
Hmm. Remember my first family, the man, the lady, the tall boy, the little girl. We had so much fun and then I came here. What happened to them? Oh Yeah, they are trapped on that awful floating thing. Maybe I should try to help them! Maybe they need me! Maybe my new friend would let them live here and sleep on the sofa, too! Yawn. We might not all fit. I’ll just stretch out and see if there’s room. Goodness, it might be tight. Yawn. Maybe if I wiggle a little more into the cushion. That’s better. I think I’ll just close my eyes a minute. Snoore. What was I? Snore…
We arrived at West Palm Beach, FL, on Saturday. The two day sail down here gave us a chance to test new gadgets. Randall installed a screen at the helm so we could view the chart at the helm. We love it and Jacob already plans to split the screen so he can play computer chess while helming. The new auto pilot Randall put together by mounting a tiller controller to the windvane worked fabulous for about 23 hours and then quit. Randall is trying to figure that out because we already suffer auto pilot dependency. Finally, everyone says AIS (Automatic Identification System) is great and we agree. Now when there’s a boat looming on the horizon, we can look at the chart and see its name, how big it is and what it’s current heading is. A friendly professional voice even cautions, “You are on a collision course in three minutes. You are on a collision course in two minutes. You are on a collision course in one minute.” We all waited with anticipation for final comments. I half expected, “Everyone jump,” but apparently AIS doesn’t say goodbye that way. I guess I’ll have to continue my habit of saying this when I think we are too close.