Feb 22nd

Hey Dude, Surfs Up! Well we opted to stay at Sea Spray today and watch the surfing competition at the ocean just over the sand dunes. It was a fundraiser to send local surfers to the national competition in Nassau . Most of the surfers were males between 13 an 30 although there was one female and a couple of older guys.A prerequisite to being an island surfer seems to be to have a tattoo on your back and actually most of them were pretty nice looking.You get a totally different perspective when you watch them through the binoculars. The waves seem a lot bigger and you can see how much work it is just for them too get out there in the first place. It looks very exciting but I think I´ll stick to beach combing!Saturday is the Hopetown Volunteer Firefighter´s Fundraiser so we´ll report on that.

Feb. 18th - 21st

This week we learned something about island banking. First, there are no bank machines, second, the bank is only open once a week for a few hours and thirdly, have plenty of ID for any transaction. So the result is we´ll have to wait for another week to get our hands on some cold hard cash. We did however enjoy a nice lunch at Captain Jack´s waterfront cafe which has a wonderful view of the Hopetown harbour and lighthouse. Yesterday we walked over to Tahiti Beach and were amazed by the number of beautiful homes along the way. Many of these homes are for rent at this time of year and you and thirteen friends can enjoy the stunning Bali Hai, with its personal concierge, chef, boat with captain, lap pool , hot tub, tennis courts etc. and all for a mere $25,000 a week. The fishing, party boat left today for Florida and we certainly enjoyed the fresh fish they gave us from their catch. We can see Jr. setting up the band for tonight so it looks like Chas will have to forgo his nightly scrabble match. We will let you know in our next blog whether we stay on Elbow cay tomorrow and watch the surfing competition or travel to Guana Cay for the Pig Roast.

Sat. Feb. 21st

There is one thing I won´t miss about Elbow cay and that is the chickens. These creatures are scrawny and tough as nails. They wander the scrub forest that covers much of the island and appear to be at the top of the wildlife pyramid, easily intimidating dogs, cats or any other beast that cross their path. Forget about sunrise as they have a pathetic sense of time, commencing their cock-a-doodle-do at about 4:30 AM. Perhaps cock-a-doodle-do is too generic for these fowl birds as the sound created is somewhat garbled as if someone is choking the living daylights out of them. I´ve been told there is a yearly open hunting season on these wild chickens which is scheduled for two weeks from now. I can´t see myself toting a shotgun around as it would be rather dangerous for the local inhabitants but I have caught myself dreaming of lobbing a few fragmenting grenades in their general direction and watching the feathers fly.

Feb 14th

Happy Valentine´s Day everyone, We hope you have a lovely time with your sweetheart. We were up early today to get a ride from Junior into Hopetown where we and about 50 other people took Froggie´s Dive Shop Ferry over to Man of War Cay for their annual School fundraiser flea market. It was really well attended with ferries coming from all over plus their own locals. It consisted of rummage sale tables, games, , book sale s crab races, etc and a huge food market with homemade wares. We couldn´t resist the rib dinners and fresh conch salad. We walked round the quaint streets of the island which seems to have a fair number of regular residents and a real community feel to it.On return to Sea Spray we had showers and got ready for thee Valentine´s dinner and entertainment. It was well attended as well with the outdoor patio full and people eating in the more formal dining room too.Junior an his band ¨The Islanders¨ provided lively entertainment until about midnight. For the next few days we plan on spending some time doing maintenance the boat.

Thursday Feb 12th

Our blogs will probably become fewer over the next few weeks as we settle in to a relaxing routine here at Sea Spray. We will update occasionally when we visit other islands for day trips or something special happens. Today we did hear of 2 whales beaching themselves at Man of War Cay not far from here. We hope you will continue to keep in touch via email as we enjoy hearing what you are up to as well. We are hoping to add some of the beautiful photos we have taken to the blog as soon as we clear up some technical difficulties. cheers Chas and Louie

Wed. Feb. 11th

Today we got up at 7:30 after having had a great sleep. There is a constant breeze flowing through the boat and we can hear the breakers crashing on the reefs just over the dunes about 200 metres away but we are very protected here at he dock. We went up to the lovely pool area surrounded by palms to do an hour of yoga- believe me it is needed! We follow this up with a lovely walk along the beach where of course we find some great shells. After lunch we decide to go out in the dingy to Tahiti Beach just around the corner. This is a lovely ,calm area where we see people snorkelling and searching for clams I think. There are some absolutely stunning homes in this area overlooking this bay and the ocean. Chas gets out of the dingy in about 2 feet of water and the next thing we know a big manta ray swims by him . Of course I fumble with my camera which I have put in a zip lock bag but do manage to get a shot of it . We pick up about 4 or 5 conch shells with the little creatures still in them. Up until now we´ve only experienced them fried or in fritters !Apparently only native Bahamians can harvest them. We see lots of clams and a few lovely starfish as well. We decide that this yoga, beachwalk, dingy trip and reading by the pool will make up a lovely routine for the next few weeks.

Tue. Feb. 10th

We get up with the sun to take advantage of the tide and head for Elbow Cay. This is a short motorsail of about 2 hours but care must be taken to avoid the numerous shoals. Arrive at White Sound and settle in at Sea Spray Marina. This looks like a nice place to stay for awhile as the facility is first rate and the surrounding area is very pretty. We take the complimentary shuttle into Hopetown and tour this quaint, historic and well kept-up town. The town is vibrant and much of the downtown is vehicle free. Visit the beach, coffee house, cholera cemetery and both grocery stores. The lighthouse and museum are for another day. We were picked up by Junior, the dockmaster at Sea Spray and spent a quiet night on the boat.

mon. Feb 9th

It is a beautiful sunny day as we listen to the cruisers net at 8:15. Alex and Rebecca leave for the resort at the Conch Inn today and will later take the Ferry to Hopetown to do some sightseeing and snorkeling. We walk around Marsh Harbor. The town has all the necessary amenities but lacks any focus or soul. Visited the ¨buck a book¨ trailer where we purchased a number of books . This is a fund raiser for the last wild horses in the Abaco. There are just 8 remaining. Beautiful sunset and full moon. A number of cruisers blew their conch at sunset. Not much of a tune but a tradition.

Sunday, Feb. 8th

Hurrah, we made it through the Whale today. We were the fourth boat to leave the harbour this morning, Eliz. Rose and Scaramouche were just ahead of us. The conditions were bumpy but favorable as wave heights were under six feet and no breakers. Eliz. Rose had a problem as their anchor was jarred loose and a couple of hundred feet of line went overboard. We tried to contact them on the VHF but they were too busy on the foredeck to respond. Their buddy boat hove-to to lend assistance so we continued on. Their destination was different from ours so we don´t know the final outcome. We found a nice place to anchor in Marsh Harbour and then took Alex and Rebecca ashore as they planned to spend the last two days of their holiday at a resort. They ended up booking a room for two nights at the Conch Inn. We enjoyed food and drinks at the Curly Tail bar which overlooks the harbour.

Sat Feb 7th

This morning a fellow (Mike) dropped by to talk to us and reminded us that he had been docked right behind us in his Island Packet sailboat ¨Elizabeth Rose¨ on the mega dock at Charleston Resort Marina back in November. He and his wife and their friends on another boat anchored here (Scaramouche) are going to try to go through Whale Cay Passage tomorrow morning at high tide around 7:30, so we will probably leave around then too. Today Alex and Rebecca went out in the dingy around the bay and went swimming. They got some underwater shots of starfish and sea cucumbers. There are 3 Canadian boats here at this dock from- Kingston, Scarborough and Collingwood. More Canadians here than Americans I think! With some ¨special potion¨ and elbow grease Chas managed to scrub off the brown ¨smile¨ left from the intracoastal waterway.

Fri Feb.6th

This morning after a quick dingy ride around the bay we pulled up the anchor and set sail hoping to go south through the notorious Whale Cay and on to Treasure Cay or Marsh Harbour but that was not to be. There was one boat ahead of us that turned back and we decided to as well as we could see breakers out there. We decided to go back to Green Turtle Cay to anchor or dock. We anchored in Joyless Bay ( what a name eh!) as we had to wait for high tide to enter the harbour. Alex and Rebecca took the dingy in to check out Green Turtle Marina and said that they had a special on- eat in the restaurant and you could subtract your dock bill from your food tab Looking at the prices on their menu we decided we could probably dock for free for two days!!!!There are 3 Canadian boats at the same dock from Kingston, Scarborough and Collingwood. I think there are more Canadians down here than Americans right now. We did enjoy a lovely meal in the diningroom where Alex and Rebecca were able to partake in one of their ¨culinary dreams¨-stone crab. We learned that they are only able to take one of the crab´s claws and it grows back a new one. They have much thicker shells than our lobster , so harder to crack and are served here with mustard not butter.

Thursday Feb 5th

Well the winds have subsided somewhat so we decide to head out for Manjack Cay.The other cruisers come down to help us and see us off at the dock and we promise to look each other up farther south. We have a nice fast sail down to Manjack and find about 7 boats already anchored there. For some reason our 1st anchor dragged so we reset it. When it dragged again we put out the CQR and eventually put both anchors down and held. It is still quite windy here but we have good protection.

Wed Feb 4th

Well it was another windy night at the dock and we were rocking quite a bit again. These N winds and choppy seas are preventing everyone from moving again today although when Chas and Louie are going up to the hot tub a sailboat can be seen making its way through the breakwall. Everyone rushes over to help them dock in these windy conditions.We meet the young couple on this 29 footer later and find out they are from Chicago,having had their boat shipped to Lake Worth Fla, and are now starting a 6 month holiday.

Tuesday, Feb. 3rd.

Last night the stormy weather they were predicting hit and we had really high winds and rain. Even though we were tied to the dock we had a rocky ride during the night. Since we couldn´t travel today we decided to do some beach combing. Although we didn´ find Captain Morgan´s treasure we did see hundreds of huge conch shells as well as assorted flipflops, bic lighters , lengths of rope etc. washed up on the beach. It was a sunny day and we walked all the way to the end of the island where the airstrip is .Apparently 8-10 planes land here each day during the busy season. We talked to a couple on another boat tied up here and we recognized them as people we had met back in Elizabeth City, NC. on the fall leg of our ICW trip. We all had drinks together in the lounge that night and it turned out that the fellow(Don) djay-ing on the Spanish Cay radio station, moving sand at the beach with a backhoe this afternoon and serving us drinks at the bar, is actually the owner of this private island. He´s a real jack of all trades - even drives the firetruck which he purchased on ebay from NYC. He says he enjoys getting up and doing whatever he wants to each day. He flies back and forth to Lauderdale frequently on the plane he keeps here. They ´re calling for another really windy night and day so we may get to explore the other end of the island tomorrow if we have to stay put here.

Mon. Feb. 2nd

We sadly said goodbye to Pat and Al today as they´re heading back to the mainland and eventually to Grimsby. They were a great help in bringing Argo to Lake Worth and across the Gulf Stream.
We wanted to do some sailing today so sailed about 4 hours, at about 6.5 knots to Spanish Cay. This is one of the few protected anchorages when northerly winds are predicted and a nice place to hold up if the weather deteriorates.
Alex and Rebecca were thrilled with their close encounter with dolphins and later made good use of the hot tub.

Sunday, Feb. 1st.

We have been anchoring in White Sound , a small protected bay on the west side of Green Turtle Cay. The first night had winds about 30 Knots which forced Chas to sleep in the cockpit for the night as there was the danger of dragging. At about 3:00 AM a number of large horn blasts started to sound as one of the larger sailboats to the East of us started to drag across the Sound. If it had hit another boat there would have been signifigant damage. A number of cruisers jumped into their dingies and brought the boat under control. Our large spotlight came in handy as we shone it in front of the sailboat to guide them to a safe location.
We moved into the dock at the Bluff House to take advantage of the large screen TV. The Superbowl was a better game than normal with about a dozen people watching.

Sat. January 31st

This morning we rented a golf cart and drove down rather bumpy roads to New Plymouth, a small town consisting of 500 people and numerous brightly painted houses. The town has all the amenities but with a little surcharge as it is still quite isolated, ( a case of beer costs $65 Am.). Visited a interesting memorial gardens dedicated to the founding families of the Bahamas. Our lunch at the Wrecking Tree was excellent especially the grouper and conch. Weather was clear and warm.

Monday February 2nd

The crew change is complete and Argo is heading back to Spanish Cay with her new improved Hands.
The Dempsters help to cast off the lines and head for the airport where they will make their way back to the mainland.
Their leg of the journey on Argo is through, but Argo's adventures continue and will be documented here in the blog.

Sunday February 1st

BluffHouse & Green Turtle Cay

Saturday January 31st

Internet is unstable here at Green Turtle Key
Stay tuned for future blogging and updated photos