Bluff House Marina and More

2-14-17     This morning Karen and I woke up at 5 AM to the sounds of rain drops hitting the Mango’s topsides and the feeling of water splashing on our head through the hatch above our bed. We quickly scrambled and in less than one minute had all windows and hatches closed and hopped back in bed just in time to hear the rain stop. Oh well, that’s cruising.  

After the early morning rain dance we woke up at a decent hour and to Valentine’s Day. Here on Last Mango it’s no different. We lazily woke up lying in bed reading news and scanning FB. What a great way to start the day, the clouds disappeared from the sky and the suns energy was charging the batteries at about 10 amps. A breeze was blowing out of the east making the water sparkle like diamonds in the morning sun. I went ashore to exercise a bit and Karen talked with Mary Lynn about the days events. As it turned out Karen and ML chose to do laundry this morning and thought we’d eat a Valentine’s lunch at the beach. The plan went as scheduled and soon the girls were done with laundry and I’d just finished washing dishes. Everyone cleaned up and soon the crew of Fracas was leading the way to a new beach for Karen and I.

Mango's new home for a week

Beautiful location to wait out a blow

 A beautiful area is what I noticed as we reached the crest of the hill and slowly walking down I began to notice the bar complete with beach, volleyball net and hammocks. My arm was twisted and I walked to the palm frond covered hut with an iced bucket full of Kalick’s (Bahamian Beer). Greg and I chose our beach chairs in the shade, I can’t speak for Greg by my skin thanked me for staying out of the sun. The area was close to picture perfect as we watched Karen and ML walk the beach as we sipped our beer and were able to see all boats come and go from the harbor. A few clouds rolled in and after too many afternoon beers it was time to move to the bar for lunch. 

Nice pool and bar

After a Spicy Burger (Jerk Burger) and fries, my body was telling me it was time for a nap, I think all of us were thinking the same thing. We strolled back to our boats and did not poke our heads outside for at least an hour.

A few chores later and soon we were off to Fracas for a finger food dinner and a few of ML’s rum drinks. This was just about perfect as off in the distance we listened to a saxophone player play for the Valentine’s dinner guests. The clouds seemed to vanish as stars appeared in full force, the wind now calmed to nothing and the harbor’s water turned to glass. All was well except for Karen. It appears Karen has caught my cold, fortunately she states she feels OK except for the sneezing and runny nose. We hope for a quick recovery for her.

 2-15-17    After a great nights sleep I was semi awake and ready for the day at 6:20 AM. I had thoughts of rolling over and going back to sleep but my bladder had other ideas. Chris Parker’s weather forecast for the Bahamas starts at 6:30 AM and I’d be ready to listen and watch the sun rise at the same time. I tried to be quiet so as not to wake Karen who seemed to be up a lot last night sneezing and blowing her nose. You can only be so quiet especially on 35 feet of boat she was awake listening to Chris's weather from bed. His forecast hadn’t really changed from past days. Such a beautiful calm morning but we were assured things would change soon. I no more than turned off the weather and got changed to workout and noticed the wind picking up. Twenty minutes later the wind really started to pipe up out of the west. I finished exercising and asked Karen if she’d like to take a walk to the windward side of the island to see the water crashing ashore, we could hear it now but wanted to see it. A short walk up the hill and be were holding onto our hats as we walked down the hill to the waterfront. There were 2 boats, both at least 50 feet still anchored in slightly offshore. We wondered how long that would last, not long was the answer. After our walk the rest of the morning consisted of boat chores. Karen cleaned down below and I did a few things up topsides, there is really no end of things to do on any boat particularly in salt water.

Park in New Plymouth representing some
of the founding people.

We'll see how long this lasts. Have had
many phone and internet issues.

Beautiful secluded beaches

Karen and ML putting on the miles.

Approaching White Sound, New Plymouth.

Windy Day

Glad we're inside  the harbor out of the wind

All day long we watched boats speed into the harbor chased by the wind. Later boats shopping around for places to lay an anchor since marina space appeared non-existent at this time. We feel for these late arrivers because tonight the wind will shift from the south west to the north and the poor holding in the harbor is sure to set some boats afloat with captains sleeping. We have new neighbors. Starboard side is a 45 foot cat from Fort Lauderdale with a retired pilot and his wife of 6 weeks a teacher on sabbatical. On the port side is 6 couples from Brussels to chartered a 50 foot cat from Dream Charters.

Often you hear people say “What a small world it is” and today just goes to prove how true that saying is. Here at Bluff House Marina, Karen and I are doing our normal running around and a woman came up to us and said she was from the marina we used in Kenosha Wisconsin. They were on C dock just down from where Mango was docked but they came to the marina after we’d left. Turns out that Tammi and Mike Abbey aboard S/V Songlines told us that when they arrived at Southport they were told about us and they have been following the blog. How small the world is once again, when another motor yacht came and docked 2 boats away from Fracas. This boat carries and husband, wife and 2 young kids. They're from Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood.

2-16-17     All night we listened to the wind howl and felt Mango bounce from one side to another testing the limits of her dock lines. I felt confident that we were safe and sound but felt bad for other boats that didn’t make it in time for space in a marina or mooring ball. Morning came and we were still bumping side to side when Karen and I hopped off to exercise, shower and pickup our golf cart for the day. All went well aside from the golf cart reservation not being kept but we got another. The crew of Fracas was ready to depart with the cart for New Plymouth. Today ML had reservations at Cut & Curl and we all needed to get sim cards for our phones so that we can use them here.  Karen still had not changed and needed to get aboard Mango to change clothes. At this time the wind continued to howl and I pulled on Mango’s bow sprit to move it closer to the dock. I should mention that climbing on and off the bow is the only way on and off Mango other that arriving by dinghy to the rear swim platform. As I strain to get Mango as close as possible for Karen’s little legs she moves with confidence, steps on the mantus anchor and gets both legs on Mango’s bow. After that is where it really became funny. Because she couldn’t stretch those little legs over the bow sprit she decided to straddle the sprit similar to that of a gymnast on the parallel bars. Her idea was to slide herself along the sprit and remove one leg at a time while holding onto the furled jib. She made it just fine, no landing in the water, no falling on the deck. She did however get many odd looks and laughs. The crew of Fracas was very upset they didn’t have a camera rolling and thought she looked as though she was mounting a horse. Karen being a good sport just laughed and stated that she thought it was easy doing it that way. After her clothing change she made it off Mango with no issues and soon we were on our across the island to town for cell phones and Fracas haircuts.

Waiting out the rain on Mango

Nice to rinse some of the salt off everything

Beautiful Full moon as seen aboard Last Mango
in Great Sale Cay.

The approximate 20 minute golf cart experience to New Plymouth was nice from the standpoint we didn’t have to walk, however the road (path) conditions made me think of a paint shaker. I assure you it was not Greg’s driving as he did what he could to avoid the multiple ruts and holes. Both Karen and MaryLynn agreed they were happen our cart had rails around the back seats. While sightseeing during Greg’s hair shortening we ran into Grant and Cindy from M/V As The Crow Flies. Appears Grant has been lending his help down here during the winter as a part-time pig farmer getting the herd started for tourists to come and visit. Greg peeked his head out from the Cut and Curl and sauntered down the street towards the group of us. We noted that Greg was not wearing his hat down around his neck so I assumed a good cut, not like the one from Bozo the barber in Georgetown. It was great to see the Grant and Cindy again and we hope to see them again soon.

Deserted beaches

 We finished our tour of the town and visited a few beaches on the way back to Bluff House for a night of pizza. On the way back we were stopped by the dreaded “Road Construction," happens here also but, here you detour in the path off to the side which isn’t too much different from the roadway. We also stopped by Green Turtle Bay Marina to top off the golf cart with gas, a whole half gallon. More importantly we grabbed some ice cream before we left.

Gorgeous area

Evening seemed to fall fast and after a dinner of Bahamian Pizza we were all a bit tired and off to bed. Before we left the restaurant we got to see effect of 4 “Tranquil Turtles” rum drinks on a 6 foot Texas woman. Needless to say I’ve been there before and felt bad for her and glad it wasn’t me.

Greg searching for sea beans

2-17-17     Morning came and I woke up ready to wash Mango, Karen was set to finish the laundry. As we each tackled our tasks we noted the parade of boats leaving the harbor as the strong winds have left the area.

I'm sure there's plenty of sea beans in there somewhere

After we finished our chores we visited with other cruisers and assisted the boaters leaving. While visiting with others around the pool, beach or dock we met another person from Rockford Il. Phil seemed like a great guy and made what I thought was a very profound statement. He stated that when he and his wife were younger they always thought being older would give them more freedom to cruise or do whatever they wanted to do. Unfortunately that’s not the way life works, parents get older and need assistance, children may need help and of course grandchildren come into play. The last item and probably the worst is age and health. We have another day or to here depending on our next destination. 

While having dinner aboard Fracas the other night we actually got to watch some television. Before dinner Greg turned on CNN to watch the news and the daily Trumpism facts and we saw that someone threw a rock at his motorcade in West Palm. I want to assure everyone that Karen is no longer in West Palm, she is here in the Bahamas with me so the offending rock did not come from her.

2-18-17     I climbed out of bed early today and moved to the cockpit and tuned in 4045Mhz on the shortwave to listen to Chris Parker’s weather report. As I stepped out in the cockpit I noted the appearance of the sun making a bright orange eastern horizon, I then glanced down glass like water and saw a school of large Angelfish swim past Mango’s starboard beam. This is one of the times that I feel very lucky to be able to cruise.

After my typical morning routine I started on a project that I’ve been meaning to tackle for some time. The project involves running new and larger wire from Mango’s ignition panel down to the started motor. Since we purchased Last Mango back in 2001 there’s been an issue with the motor not starting the first time the ignition button is pushed, the started will only click and not turn over the motor. In the past I’ve cleaned the connections from one end to the other with no success. So while digging a path through the bowels of Mango to run the wire Karen started oiling the teak topsides. The replacement of the wire went as planned with some assistance from Fracas. I’m starting to develop a Fracas complex, you all know I have a touch of dinghy envy every time I see Greg speeding along skimming atop the waves while I putt slowly over one wave and onto another. When I brought over my soldering iron and tools to Fracas to be able to plug in the soldering iron, Greg laughed at me asking if “That thing heat up enough to melt anything”. I’m sure Greg has the Turbo Melt 4000 watt model but my little iron I’ve had since my Apple II computer days did great.

So far the ignition has been working great testing with and without the freezer running, please keep your finger crossed for us. Karen’s work on the teak also was successful, when I finished I helped her finish it off. Looks great, we’ll see how long it lasts.

Some of the banana trees on the island

Karen holding her hat in the wind approaching the beach

Very well marked area

Herrington Highway on Manjack Cay

Interesting sign observed landing on the beach

With the chores complete we tried to decide what to do next and it turned out to be not much. Karen made Parmesan Chicken dinner and we played Dominos with Fracas. It was a nice quiet night topped off with 2 episodes of Shameless.

2-19-17     Not sure what woke Karen up this morning but for me it was the birds making noise somewhere ashore. Karen was reading her iPad and I grabbed the radio to listen to Chris Parker’s weather when Karen reminded me it was Sunday. No weather report on Sundays.

After the normal routine we started prepping for our departure from the marina. It’s been great staying in a marina but after a week I’m ready to move on. The weather has been a bit unsettled but that’s the way it always is. That’s cruising! We live by each days weather reports. Today our destination is less than 5 miles to Manjack Cay. We’ve never been there and would like to visit before we head off to Marsh Harbor. While in Marsh Harbor we’re hopping to obtain a sheltered anchorage and stay for their “Junkanoo”. We’ve never attended a “Carnaval, Junkanoo or a Jump-Around”. I have to make sure and take lots of pictures. 

Upon leaving Bluff House Marina we motored out of White Sound and soon we could see the waves rolling in from the SE winds, not going to be pleasant. As it turns out Fracas called and said it make some sense to head over to the leeward side of Great Abaco Island and hold up for the change in wind direction. The plan certainly made sense and we motored over and sat our winds to the high twenties and a bit of rain. Shortly after the rain ended the wind direction changed and dropped to about 10. We then set course for Rat Cay and Mango was sailing in above 6 knots with only the jib and soon we reefed. The winds now approaching 30 knots we took the jib down and motored over into Lake Michigan style waves and top wind speed of 35 knots, not fun. A half hour later we anchored somewhat sheltered from the wind and more importantly the waves. Once in the anchorage we cruised by Fracas to the shouts of “Nice Penis”. Before leaving Florida I installed a 12inch piece of exhaust hose on Mango’s stern to keep the exhaust mustache to a minimum, some think it looks like a penis. I laid out 30 feet of chain in 10 feet of water, the Mantus anchor grabbed immediately and the bow swung around. In the end Mango let out over 100 feet of chain, should be good, even if the winds don’t die out, hopefully they will for a quiet nights sleep.

The runway models putting on the beach miles.

The anchorage as seen from Manjack Beach

 The anchor wasn’t down for more than 20 minutes when MaryLynn from Fracas calling us inviting us over for dinner. We appreciated the invite but wanted to wait and make sure Mango wasn’t dragging her anchor with the shifting winds. We did lower the dinghy and paddle our way over to Fracas shortly before 5 PM. I thought paddling over to Fracas, against the wind and waves would be easier than lowering the motor onto the dinghy in such conditions. It worked out even though I’m sure a few cruisers and Greg were laughing at us. Dinner as usual was great and after a game of Kings Cribbage we started our way back home. It was a very dark night, one of the darkest I’ve seen this year and I forgot to turn on Mango’s anchor light before we left. Greg was nice enough to shine a spot light on Mango while we were paddling our way back. Paddling back was fast and dry having both the wind and waves with us.

A view of Mango and Fracas

Turtle watching. Saw many Loggerhead. 

2-20-17     I woke up to find Karen holding the shortwave radio in her hands saying “I don’t know how to use this.” She woke up before me and was trying to tune in to listen to Chris Parker give his weather report. I put on my fleece jacket and climbed the 4 companion way stairs into the cockpit. We listened to the weather together, both of us in the cockpit in nothing but sailing pots and light jackets. The weather will be interesting after Tuesday so we need to find an area to hide from some strong winds coming from varying directions. We’ll enjoy today and move to a safe place tomorrow.

After weather and breakfast we did a few boat chores and Fracas called to see if we wanted to walk across the island to the beach, rumor has it’s a miles walk one way. We took the dinghy into shore and started our trek. Greg and I followed the signs and soon we were greeted by beautiful blue water and a white sandy beach. Karen and MaryLynn seemed more interested in making 10,000 steps or more on Karen’s Fitbit. After the walk through the bush I was hungry and we all went back to our boats for lunch and a short nap. After the nap we went up in the mangroves looking for turtles in the ultra clear water. We found turtles, fish and the crew of Fracas captured what appears to be a Nurse Shark on video. Another beautiful day.

Greg leading the way to the beach. Wonderful end to a
miles walk in the bush

In her spare time Karen's taken up "Loan Sharking"
to Canadian tourist's while their banks are closed.

Forgot to include the first edition of the
"Great Sale Blow Hard" newspaper.

Second edition of the paper. Greg Wright
mayor and publisher. It's all "Fake News"
anyhow.

2-21-17     The sun is rising earlier every day now which is nice to have longer days but this morning it just seemed too early. Karen was up shortly before me and soon we were both in the cockpit listening to Chris Parker’s weather. Yup, the strong winds and storms are still on track for Wednesday and Thursday. Strong winds are one thing when they blow from one direction. It’s another when the wind will blow strong from the south and continue the whole time and end up out of the north, there’s nowhere to hide except sheltered bays and marinas. We took off shortly before 8 AM bound for Man-O-War Cay which has mooring balls and is sheltered from all directions. There balls are first-come, no reservations. Karen called and the woman who answered said “There’s plenty of balls available, just take any that aren’t marked Private”. When we arrived there were only 2 available, and very tight quarters, especially for Fracas.

Getting to Man-O-War isn’t far and isn’t difficult except for one area “The Whale”. Any boat going heading this direction needs to pass through “The Whale”. It’s a deep water pass that is open to the ocean on one side and waves, wind and tide lend themselves to building seas in this area. When we left Manjack Cay we sailed 5 to 6.5 knots on a broad reach, it was wonderful. About an hour before passing through the whale Karen called for a report on the pass and was told “There’s 4 to 6 footers but no white caps” which was fairly accurate. We took down the sails and made the turn into the wind and waves, only the staysail remained up. The conditions made it tough on Mango but we made it sometimes doing 2.3 knots other times 5.3 knots. It was a rough go but the staysail made Mango steady a bit and increased our speed by .5 knots. After passing through the whale seas decreased a hair and soon we were in a channel sheltered from the ocean waves.

We arrived and grabbed the only morning balls and cleaned up ourselves and Mango’s below decks before we went to explore the town. We first had to pay for our mooring ball and I was glad Karen was with me. The man helping us was named John and that was the only thing that came out of his mouth that I could understand, he had a very thick accent. The town is small and quaint little town that reminds me of Spanish Wells, kinda americanized. There were several homes that had various fruit trees. I had hoped to grab a quick meal but the only restaurant we could find was closed until 6 PM and I was starving. ML off of Fracas was making dinner but I needed to eat something or I was going to get “Hangry”. A small salad and some cheese later I felt like a new man. By 5 we were onboard Fracas getting ready for a wonderful beef stroganoff meal. 8 PM now and winds light, we’ll see what the night brings.

2-22-17     The winds overnight veered to the SSE but were only 10 to 15 knots, a nice breeze for sleeping. Sleep however was hard to come by as it seemed every bump or noise in the night brought me out of sleep and would climb out of bed a glance around outside to make sure everyone is where they should be.