Christmas in Green Turtle Cay

WE MADE IT!!!!!

We made it to Green Curtle Cay, Abacos, Bahamas on Saturday, December 22nd. It took us a couple of days to get here after leaving Florida. But, we made it in time for Christmas. The boaters here are a very friendly and personable group. We all have one important thing in common. We all are living on our boats. As one person put it, "Our home is at the end of a string in the water."On Christmas Day, there

was a pot-luck dinner for the cruisers. It was alot of fun. We did miss our family and friends, though. Happy New Year Everybody!

P.S. If you click on a picture, you can enlarge it.

A LONG WAIT

Sorry we haven't updated things on the blog for awhile. As you can see, the blog's look is different and you'll be able to see more pictures. We spent the last 15 days in Lake Worth (North Palm Beach) waiting for the right weather window. We had a few mayby's. But, not good enough to go out through the gulf stream. We have a good window tomorrow. Hopefully, the next blog will be from Green Turtle Key in the Abacos.

"Anchoring in Lake Worth"

Although it was a long stay, we did meet some wonderful folks and made new lifetime friends. The boats we spent a few "happy hours" with were Cautauqua, of course, Salty Dog from Tennessee, Windspead from Canada, Kilissa from Solomons, MD, and a few more. We were able to get groceries, water, fuel, all walking distance from a dinghy area. We even had the chance to take a bus to do laundry, and also to sign up at the customs office. This means we only have to call customs when we return instead of having to find a customs office to check in.

We are really anxious to get going. We got down to Florida in such a good time. And we have been waiting to get over. We are really enjoying the wonderful weather of Florida. It has been pleasantly warm.





"Wash Day"

Last stop before Bahamas

I haven't been able to get onto the internet very much for the past 10 days. And we have covered quite a bit of territory. We spent a couple of wonderful days in St. Augustine. What a sensational place. The historical flavor of all of the buildings is so apparent. It was magnificent. An anchorage for a night, each, in Daytona Beach, Titusville, and Melbourne lead us to Vero Beach. This was an adventure. Vero Beach has a free (donations accepted) bus system. You can ride the bus all day. It'll take you to every store you can think of.(Walmart, Sams, Target, a mall, Home Depot, etc) You can also take it to the Beach. We stocked up on all of those things that we think we're going to need before heading over to the Bahamas. Our niece, Kim Hemphill, drove up from Jensen Beach and had lunch with us one afternoon. She braved the dinghy ride from the dock out to see our boat. It was wonderful to see her. Tomorrow, Dec 5, we will head down to Lake Worth. A couple of days there and hopefully a window of good weather for crossing will bless us and we will head over to the Bahamas. Hooray! I'm surprised we got here so fast. We thought it would take us longer. The weather was good and did not delay us very much. It has gotten up into the 80's in Florida and we are really appreciating it. We love you all and miss you.

Vero Beach

Thanksgiving Day

We missed our family on Thanksgiving Day. We did spend the time period of Thanksgiving at St. Mary's in Georgia. The town opens the hotel in this small pretty town for a huge Thanksgiving feast for the cruisers. They supply the turkeys and ham and the cruisers supply covered dishes of all sorts as well as desserts. We left totally full. There were over 150 people there. It was wonderful. Two and a half tables of food, a table for bread and rolls, and an area just designated to desserts. A Thanksgiving feast we will never forget. It'll never replace being with our children on Thanksgiving. Yet, it offered an opportunity to meet new friends and have dinner with our good friends, Fran and John.

Beautiful Country of Ours

Today is Saturday, November 17, 2007. We finally got through North Carolina and seemed to fly through South Carolina in only a few days. We visited Barefoot Landing, Georgetown, Beaufort, and stayed at a marina in Port Royal. We are already in Georgia. The weather has still been very lovely. We had high winds a couple of nights ago. Everyone in the anchorage outside Beaufort was on alert in case our anchors didn't hold in such strong winds. It was nice to get a slip to get fuel, do wash, take real showers, get some food, and fill our water tanks. We need to be tight with water. We hold 90 gallons and it can go fast if not careful. We are still enjoying ourselves. We talk to people everywhere we go. And we still run into folks that we met at a marina in North Carolina during Noel a couple of weeks ago. "Cruisers" are a wonder group of people. If you have a question or a problem, there is someone to ask that's been there and done that. It's really comforting to know that. Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

We'll get there, really!

We made it Southport, NC. This is our last stay in North Carolina. We'll actually get to South Carolina tomorrow. We anchored in Wrightsville Beach yesterday. It's a lovely seashore community with a beautiful beach. We took a nice walk along the beach and found some sea glass. The mornings have been pretty frigid. Dressing like we're going to build snowmen was not what I had in mind. But, the sun begins to warm things up as it get higher in the sky. We have been one of about 15 boats all heading down in a group. This is all by coincidence. The bridges and their restrictive openings seem to be regulating the flow of traffic. When there is not a bridge to wait for, everyone goes at their own pace. We're luck to have the sunny weather. This area still needs rain badly. The low water in the intercoastal waterway has created problems for several boats to run aground and have to be pulled off. Close attention to all the markers and the depth sounder is our first priority during this leg. Still meeting lots of nice people all heading south to one port or another. It's been really a cool experience, so far, even with an occasional melt-down here or there.

MERRILY WE GO ALONG

Here is a picture of Bill working on our computer putting in way points for our route. Today is Friday, Nov. 2, 2007.We made it to Coinjock, NC, yesterday. The wind is 20 to 30 knots out of the Northeast. We need to stay put for a couple of days. We are at a marina and there are a few other boats in the same situation. We are meeting some very nice people. Cruisers, generally, are very happy and pleasant.
Tuesday, the 31st we made it to Norfolk. It took us 6 days to get there because of the weather.
We went to Portsmouth. John and Fran needed to pick up a package at the post office. The package had arrived but was transferred to another post office a couple of miles away. Too long of a walk, we took a cab. We also had the driver take us to a West Marine store to pick up some needed items that had broken or "fell overboard". Of course we had to call a cab to take us back to the anchorage area where our boats were located. (Note to self: next time rent a car. It'll be cheaper).

Who's brilliant idea was this?

The weather was a real challenge on our way to Reedville, VA. It poured the 44 miles from Solomon's to Reedville. We have been here for two days. We can't be in too big of a rush. The weather will dictate our travels. It's a crisp clear day here behind Sandy Point in Reedville.

OFF WE GOOOOOOOO!

We are presently anchored in Town Creek in Oxford, MD. The wind is pretty hefty. We will depart early tomorrow morning (Wedenesday, 10/24) for Solomons. The wind (as per NOAA) will be out of the north. This will be fine since we're heading south. The sun is out, our wind generator is making electricity, we're stocked up to the gills. Life is good! Fran and John Morrison are also heading south. We will be travelling with them. Our adventure begins!

Two Days to Go!

We’re two days away from our departure day. Oh, the anticipation! We have packed every nook and cranny of the Deborah Lee with things that we "think" we’ll need, and food. You know how waiting can be. And we hear that the weather will bring the area much needed rain. At least we don’t have to leave in snow. We can handle the rain! Wind and Thunder is another matter. We would probably have to wait that out! I have things on this boat that I haven’t figured out where to put. It’ll come to me, I’m sure. Hey, we could eat that whole bag of chips so I can use that space to put some extra wash cloths I brought. Or, please help me drink this whole box of wine (yes, I did say BOX of wine). I need that space for my hair dryer and curling iron. Oh, the sacrifices we mortals make to wander about the world seeking adventure.

Five weeks to go

We have approximately 5 weeks before we leave Cambridge, Maryland and work our way down to Norfolk, Virginia. From there we will head down the inter-coastal waterway down to Florida, then over to the Bahamas. We had to get our drivers license renewed early. You can get your driver's license renewed 6 months before it expires. There have been so many small details to deal with. Our credit cards would expire while we were away. We had to call the banks and change our expiration dates. Of course our passports also expired this year. We worked on them far in advance knowing it was to take forever to get them. What clothes to pack and what food to pack are the next issues we are dealing with. Just enough clothes without packing too much. And shoes! One cannot pack 7 months of food. Lots of canned stuff, packaged rice dishes. We need to get creative. This planning is fun! We're getting excited!!

Making plans

We have been getting Deborah Lee ready for a trip south this winter. Our plan is to head down the intercoastal waterway November 1, 2007. We'll make our way down to Florida. From there we plan to cross over to the Bahamas for a couple of months. Getting ready for this trip has been interesting. The purchase of a new EPIRB, a new gasoline generator, new golfcart batteries, and a new refrigeration unit took a large chunk of change. But, is well worth paying now instead of later. And for perhaps more money. We have been doing alot of reading on the Bahamas. It's our first trip. We don't need to know it all ahead of time. But, alot of "good" information is quite useful. Plans for mail, paying bills, credit card expiration dates, drivers license expiration dates, passport expiration dates, etc. must be made and dealt with way ahead of time. Planning has been fun and exhausting. We're really starting to get excited. Departure is drawing near.