Back in the water

We are back in the water and ready to get some sailing in. After having to solve a few problems with the engine and the boom, we managed to get the sails on, put all of the necessary or unnecessary stuff back on. We're planning to take a couple of weeks to cruise around the bay during the latter part of June. No definite plans, just where the wind is going to take us.
An evening with the Campbells and the Morrisons aboard Chautauqua, the Morrison's Allied, marked the beginning of another great sailing season. Doug Campbell will participate in the Newport/Bermuda race this month. You can read his blog (blog.soundingspub.com/life_aboard) and read of his experiences. His wife, Monica, will participate in the 2nd half (the return trip back to Newport). We wish them all of the best. Here's some pics of all of us.

Let's Get Going!

We finished working on the bottom of the boat. Now, we're waiting for it to get painted and in the water. The weather is beginning to feel seasonal and we're itchin' to get going! We still have loads of work to do when she's in the water. But, we'll be IN the water and finally aboard.
Hope to see ya out there!

A LONG WINTER

It's finally Spring and the itch to get back to sailing needs to be scratched. The engine on the Deborah Lee, a Yanmar 3GM30, has had some major work done to it. We're looking forward to trying it out as soon as we can get her back in the water. The bottom is getting painted and zincs replaced. We have interior painting to do along with some bright work. Some of our friends we met on our "southern" trip (First Edition and Celebrian) have made it down to the Dominican Republic and we have been following their blog. What an adventure they are on!. We're glad they are having a grand time and we truly wish we were along. We'll be able to reconnect with them in Solomons this summer. We're anxious to here all of their tales of adventure. One of the wonderful experiences of taking longs trips as we did in 2007 and 2008 is meeting and keeping great friends. They are a wonderful community of folks. We're grateful.
We're hoping to get up to Maine this summer. And, of course, enjoy the bounty of the Chesapeake Bay. Fair winds and good health to all!

Back to the Chesapeake Bay

Oh what a fantastic adventure we had the opportunity to experience. But, the reality of our lives means we have to go back to work. We will continue to enjoy our sailboat on the waters of the Chespeake Bay this summer. The price of diesel is outrageous. We're glad to have a sailboat. Okay, so it takes us longer to get there than the power boats. But, we can eat Lobster when we get there. We plan to get down to Solomons to see a a few friends that are at a marina there and others that actually live there. And we have hopes of meeting up with a couple of new friends that live aboard and will be visiting the Annapolis area during the summer. We have been so fortunate to meet some of the most warm and generous boaters. We have made great friends and we hope the friendships continue for many years. Happy Travels this summer!

A LONG RIDE HOME

After travelling back to the Abacos, we left Great Sale Cay and arrived in St. Augustine, Florida 44 hours later. We took some time out to recoup and stayed in St. Augustine for a couple of days. It's a fantastic city.
We began to travel north at a greater speed than we did coming south. The days were longer and we took advantage of it. We arrived in Cambridge, Maryland, in our slip on Thursday, May1st, 2008 at 5:00am. It has been a wonderful adverture and we're glad you came along through our blog. Check in again, soon. We will continue to travel with the Deborah Lee and keep up the blog.

NASSAU and ELEUTHERA

This may sound strange, but, we decided to take a mini vacation. We went to Nassau and over to Paradise to experience a day at Atlantis Resort. From our view you notice the huge hotel buildings and the fountains when you approach the entrance to the place. We went through the aquarium portion of Atlantis and saw some of the most wonderful array of fish you can imagine. We walked through a glass tunnel (the picture of our friend John) and you see the underbellies of fish as they swim right over top of you. I got a couple of shots through the glass of a couple of the displays underwater. The picture of the large grouper is real. These fish are HUGE. And notice the fish above Bill's head. It looks like it's trying to kiss him through the glass.
What a cool place. It was worth the time taken out to experience it.

We made our way back up to Eleuthera. This is the upper central Bahamas. The first set of pics is the cave we found. Luckily there was a rail and steps to get down into it. Many have gone before us as you can see writing on the walls. The next set is a small strip of land that was the thinnest part of Eleuthera. The water washed away most of the land over time and a bridge was built to re-connect the island. The water on the east side is very tumultuous. The waves from the sea crash up onto the limestone sides. The other side is the west side. It is much calmer and protected by the lee side of the island. You can see they are very different. And the last two are a picture of an old church dated back to the 1800's and a picturesque shot of our boat.

LONG ISLAND

We sailed east of Exuma Island and went to Long Island. This is a real long island with friendly people living on it. The best thing to do is rent a car to see some delightful places. And that is exactly what we did. With our friends, Sanday and Alan, from Discvery II, we rented a car and came upon the Dunsmore caves. Of course we had to venture inside to see the formations and some bats.

There was a "blue hole" on the island just inside a lagoon. The water is dark blue in the middle because it is extremely deep. You could see the fish swimming along the perimeter of the hole along the shoreline. Serene, picturesque, and wonderful are only a couple of words I could think of to describe this small lagoon. It's spectacular!

If you're on this island, the really important spot to see is the Columbus Monument on Cape Santa Maria. It is on the north part of the island. There is a plaque that dedicates this monument to the Aboriginese and Lucayan people of the island. Notice the steep incline to reach the top. But, the view is worth it.