Happy Thanksgiving! I'm typing with the laptop on my lap in the cockpit. The sun is brilliant behind the sun shade zipped onto the back of the bimini. A nice breeze blows through the boat wafting stuffed turkey smells from the oven. The sailboat pie, cranberry sauce and apple sauce are done and cooling. Big meals take orchestration with a 2'x3' place to stand in the galley and 2 burners on the stove.
We had memorable visits in Stuart with Dale and Roni, Aunt Susan and Ken, and Arnaud with his grandson, Benedicte's son, Ocean. Time passed too quickly when we were in Stuart.
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| Ocean, Dale, Roni, Karen, Jerry |
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| Aunt Susan, Ken, Jerry |
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| The view from Aunt Susan and Ken's place looking out toward the boats anchored on the St. Lucie River. |
Besides visiting and provisioning for the winter in the Bahamas we had to put down our umbrella-decorated punches, get out of the hammocks and address a few issues. (We don't really have any umbrella-decorated drinks or hammocks onboard but I thought it made a better story!) The parts for the boom vang - the gas shock arrived. Jerry put that back together and also repaired a block that broke. We exercised and lubricated the spinnaker pole. When we were on our leg down to Ft. Pierce it was not cooperative due to sitting all summer and mud wasps attempting to ensure their species survival. The outboards both required some maintenance - cleaning and corrosion control. What next?
One afternoon, coming back from a walk to the hardware store, we saw a boat we'd seen back in Oriental, NC. We came alongside to introduce ourselves and chat. The retired Danish couple sail and live on their 29' sailboat. They left Denmark 2 1/2 years ago most recently coming down the east coast of USA. Their plans were to head to the Bahamas for their first time. We loaded them into our dinghy with their small glasses of sunset-toasting wine and drove over to Persephone. Jerry showed them our Explorer Charts for the Bahamas and made a phone call to find how they could download the Explorer Charts themselves onto their OpnCpn navigation program. After our visit, toast to the sunset and "see you in the Bahamas" salutations Jerry ferried them back to their boat. Living aboard affords us the opportunity to meet people from all over the world!
Friday, with chores done (again) and the food lockers overflowing we decided to head to Lake Worth and catch the next weather window to the Bahamas. We stopped and topped up the diesel and water then set off for St. Lucie inlet to the ocean. Light winds 30 degrees off our starboard with the motor to help we made our way south. And found the secret to a squeaky clean bilge!
A couple of months ago we found a big jug of concentrated Dawn dish liquid had a crack in the plastic. At least a quart of soap leaked down into the bilge. It was cleaned up as best we could. Nothing wrong with a little soap in the bilge. Then as we sailed south from St. Lucie inlet Jerry turned on the faucet - no water. We scampered all over looking for a leak in our water system. Ah ha! Aft cabin - starboard side! Bedding, pillows, mattress soaked! Dripping cupboards above where all my soaked clothes are along with the water hoses that go to the aft deck shower. After pulling everything out of the aft cabin and throwing it up on deck we discover a split hose. 80 gallons of water soaking everything and filling up the bilge. 80 gallons of hot soapy water pumped over the side with the bilge pump. We continued our sail to Lake Worth with plans to refill the 80 gallon tank when we arrived. We still had 40 gallons in the 2nd tank. On we sailed with full main, jib, quilt drying on top of the bimini, sheets clipped to the shrouds, clothes hanging on every inch of lifeline. What a sight for those beach goers who brought binoculars!
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| The sailboat quilt Mom made for me years ago. |
Saturday - I get up and see the wind has already clocked to south of east. Time to go to the Bahamas! Jerry jumps up, hauls the anchor and mainsail and we're off. 40 gallons of water is plenty! The first 12 hours are tight on the wind; choppy waters until we reach the banks where the waters are smooth and the winds clocks more to the south. The next morning the winds drop, the sun is out and baking us as we enjoy a pleasant sail down the Tongue of the Ocean and across the banks south of Nassau sitting on the aft deck marveling at all the stars in the sky.
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| Sailing to Georgetown |
So, here we are in Georgetown with a clean bilge and a stuffed turkey in the oven. After clearing in to customs and immigration we pulled out our 5 gallon water jugs. The Exuma Market dock has a water spigot where we filled the water jugs and dinghied them back to the boat, hauled them on deck, and poured them into the tank. Three trips - 110 gallons of water onboard. (Which we'll be using to clean up the mess we made in the galley today.) Happy Thanksgiving!
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| Jerry peels apples on deck for our pie. The monument at "Monument Beach" in the background. |
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| "Sailboat Pie" made with Granny Smith Apples and Cranberries |
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| Time for dinner! |
