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A totally random, really unfortunate accident
Okay, everyone is fine. The boat is not. Just when I was working to complete the last post, we had an unfortunately accident that has significantly altered the trajectory of our trip. A runaway unmanned jet ski hit the forward starboard side of Seasura. It happened just after we pulled into the new anchorage for the evening, to join our friends for a superbowl party. The jet ski was going nearly full speed. We were so scared at first that it had a rider because nobody would have survived that impact. It put a large dent in the side of our boat, causing cracking in the hull and major damage…
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On and off the boat in Georgetown
Turns out Georgetown is quite the hub for cruisers. We have come across several boats that spend several months here in Georgetown. Otherwise, it is full of cruisers that are traveling around the Bahamas and taking stopping here to take advantag of the shops. There are few more shops here than you will find in most of the smaller islands and cays. I say a few more shops, because there are still only a very few. When we first ‘landed’ in Georgetown it seemed that the island had invested very little into infrastructure. Downtown lacks sidewalks and the roads are spotted with potholes. But then, when we caught a cab…
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Exiting to the Exumas
It took us longer to leave Nassau than we anticipated. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, because weather and boating problems tend to dictate our progress more than our own plans do. Fortunately, we did manage to leave, and the Exumas really have been a lot of fun to explore. Last Wednesday we were planning to leave Nassau and started the morning by doing a fuel run and run to the store to pick up some birthday presents for Norah, who is turning 7 this week! Unfortunately, the fuel dock was very slow and by the time we got back to Seasura and calculated the time it would take us…
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Seasura visits Atlantis
My mom arrived! We are so excited to have another person join us on a part of our journey. To make her welcome to our boat even more exciting, Kevin and I decided to treat the kids, and ourselves, to a few days at the Atlantis Marina. We dinghied into the marina back in June when we first passed through Nassau. It is full of yachts and the resort is manicured. It also has a large waterpark including aquariums, dolphin pools, waterslides and other wimming and kiddie pools. The waterpark is as expensive as a day in an amusement park, but luckily when you stay at the marina, you get…
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Dinghies in Nassau
Wind but, mostly just foul weather, blew through Marsh Harbour. We were able to explore the town a little, but because of hurricane Dorian’s destruction, there wasn’t a lot to see. During better weather there probably would have been nice beaches to visit but it was much too cold for this so, there was just the town. The town is very spread out and although they had a decent grocery store and ice cream place, these were situationed along rough roads with frequent building projects between and lots of fast moving cars with busy people. As a result of the limited things to see in Marsh Harbour, we decided to…
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Exploring the Abacos
New Years Day found us waking early to get out of West Palm Beach and over to the Bahamas in one day. We got up at 5:30am with the plan to go under the Flagler Memorial Bridge at 5:45am because it opens on every quarter after and quarter to the hour. It was still dark, but it was a large bay and easy to navigate with all the marker buoys. We were less certain about the Old Bahama Bay, where we were going to so, we wanted to arrive there in the light. Our departure however, was delayed because our briddle was twisted up in a piece of debris. In…
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Christmas and a count down to the new year, and a new destination
Happy New Year! We have had a busy week as usual (I don’t actualy think Kevin knows how not to book up our time solid). We arrived in West Palm Beach just in time for Christmas. Some of our fellow kid boats were already there and we quickly heard of a potluck dinner Christmas Eve on the dock with many of them. We were excited to see everyone after our time away, but first we had to pick up some gifts that we had delivered to Fort Lauderdale and some last minute gifts we hadn’t had the chance to get yet. So, we rented a car for the day and…
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Regrowing our sea legs
We are back on the boat! While our time on land was good, we are happy to be continuing on with our journey, and not just because we are heading to hotter weather. It was great catching up with family and friends (and for me patients too)! We had several nice dinners with family and walks with friends. I didn’t realize just how much I missed everyone. However, being away from the family for most of the time while I worked was really hard. They managed to do a lot of schoolwork and swimming while they were at Kevin’s parents house. I think that helped pass the time and I…
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Soaking up the weather before a trip home
We left Wrightsville Beach when the weather report suggested that we would be tailing behind the storm front that had rained us in for the last several days. We were promised 14 knot winds and clear skies. The good weather actually even blew in a few hours earlier than expected, but with the rain finally clear we decided to take the morning to see the actual beach at Wrightsville before leaving. The beach is a beautiful sandy beach with intermittent entrances between beach houses and long grass and cacti. It was very nice to walk along the beach. The waves were quite generous coming up on shore, reminding me of…
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Another week, another state or two closer to the Bahamas
It feels like we are back into the thick of cruising life. Not that we actually left it, but now we are out of the Chesapeake and visiting new places again. After we left Solomons we took two days, of motoring, to get ourselves to Norfolk, Virginia. Norfolk is an interesting city to sail into. It is home to the largest naval base in the world. We had previously stopped at Hampton, just across the inlet but sailing up the Elizabeth River is unique because you get to sail past an impressive array of naval ships, and they are very large! There were destroyers, aircraft carriers and other support ships.…
