cruising life

The Highlights Reel

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I apologise, Dear Readers. Since my last blog post about Georgetown Great Exuma the Bahamas, SV Sanitas and her crew have sailed to:

  • Conception Island, Bahamas
  • Long Island, Bahamas
  • Mayaguana, Bahamas
  • Provodentiales, Turks and Caicos

and we are now in Luperon, Dominican Republic. But so much time has passed, and so much has happened that I’m not feeling inspired to write about those lovely places. However, I am giddy with delight soaking up all that the Dominican Republic has to offer in terms of natural beauty, culture, and new experiences. So, with your permission, I’ll share a few of the best pictures of the out-islands of the Bahamas and then jump right into stories of our Dominican Republic adventures – the first time in this cruising year that we really feel we are in a new country and a new culture!

Sailing from Exuma to Conception Island was one of the best sails of the season. Truly fair winds and following seas, averaging almost 6 knots!

I never took the “gin blue” waters of the Bahamas for granted, and the waters off Conception Island were some of the most beautiful of them all.

We ate well off the grid in the National Park on Conception Island. Sharon and Drew on Z-Raye had caught mahi, tuna, and amberjack, so we had a ceviche and mojito night with a different recipe for each fish. Then baked gluten free blueberry bars for breakfast. Yum!

So this may sound terrible to land lubbers, but we learned a new way to deal with our glass trash. On the islands, there is no recycling, so everything goes to the landfill. But when you are far out to sea, a glass bottle filled with sea water and sunk will eventually turn back into sand….(Don’t worry. We would never do this with plastic)

Capt. Mike’s first fish! Thanks to Nathan who brought us new lures on his visit, we finally caught a beautiful mahi with enough meat for several meals.

Then even though we had a freezer full of fish, we couldn’t resist buying the biggest lobster ever from a fisherman on Long Island. Soooooo gooooood…..

We rented a car on Long Island with Dave and Michelle of SV Half Baked and explored. Best quote, “I’d forgotten just how long this darn island actually is”. The conch salad at Max Conch stand is the best I’ve ever had. Max is a true artist. And the sangria wasn’t bad either!

We enjoyed the opportunity to visit another of Father Jerome’s churches in Clarence Town, Long Island. Remember Father Jerome who designed his own retirement hermitage on Cat Island? This was a beauty, with twin towers that you can climb “at your own risk” for a windy view of the island.

Dean’s Blue Hole on Long Island is one of the deepest in the world, and the Guinness World Record for free diving (without scuba tanks) was set here. Also, at least 15 people have died here attempting free dives.

The Columbus monument at the northernmost tip of Long Island is very near the spot where the Santa Maria ran aground in 1492. We treated that point of land with great respect! The monument is a memorial to the peaceful Lucayan indigenous people who were victims of the European explorers.

When I come back this way as a rich tourist instead of as a cruiser, I’ll definitely stay at the Cape Santa Maria Beach Resort. It’s lovely, and understated, and peaceful, and at $400 per night, definitely outside my budget.

Capt. Mike and I celebrated our 22nd anniversary on Long Island at the Sou’ Side Grill at a cruisers’ happy hour.

And I fell in love with a baby goat named Billie at the local Farmers’ Market.

I’m a sucker for a good beach bar, and Tiny’s Hurricane Hole is a darn good one!

After our stay in Salt Pond (aka Thompson Bay) Long Island, the islands get farther and farther apart, and the passages get longer. At a speed of 5 or 6 knots, we can’t get there in the daylight, so overnight passages are the rule. I prepped for this passage with plenty of food, so we wouldn’t have to cook underway.

Four boats sailed together from Calabash Bay Long Island to Mayaguana. It’s great to stay within radio contact of other cruisers so that if anything goes wrong, we can help each other out. This was a long one. We started out at 5am and had two sunrises and one sunset at sea, before we reached Abraham’s Bay in good light so that we could avoid the coral reef.

Not a good picture, but a good story…. pretty darn sure this “package” is drug smuggling. A bale about the size of a sofa cushion, wrapped in white plastic and in a green net, with a line dangling off it with a float marking it. We sailed right by to take a closer look, but it was too heavy to hook and bring aboard without losing the boat hook. Plus, I didn’t want drugs on the boat as we cleared customs. But now I wonder….what if it wasn’t drugs? What if it was millions of dollars in cash? Only Neptune knows.

There’s not much on the island of Mayaguana, but it’s exciting because it’s our last stop in the Bahamas.

We cleared out of the Bahamas, got our paperwork and everything. But no one seemed to care if we actually left. So we took a tour of the island first. What do you do when the restaurant doesn’t open for another hour? You buy all the cold beers that the next door neighbor has in his fridge.

Then you admire Freddy’s super bling Huffy bicycle.

Our explorations of Mayaguana also included a trip to see the wild Flamingos. They stand knee-deep in the waters of a shallow bay until we get too close. Then, they walk away from us, through the water, grumbling in annoyance in a sort of slow speed chase. When the water gets deep enough to wet their bellies, they finally lift off in a group and fly.

After flamingo viewing, we stopped at “The After Work Bar” so named because Patrick only opens it after he gets home from his real job. Capt. Mike celebrated his birthday here with dominos and tequila shots.

Finally, we got good weather to head south. Goodbye Bahamas! Another long overnight passage from Mayaguana to Turks and Caicos with another beautiful sunrise at sea.

Arriving at Turks and Caicos, we cleared into a new country for the first time since January 8. Good thing because our Bahamas courtesy flag is in tatters. Captains went ashore to clear customs, and we are official!

We had to enter the channel of Southside Marina at high tide to have deep enough water, so we all headed in at the same time in a line like little ducklings. We don’t usually sail so close to our buddy boats – I promise!

The Southside Marina was lovely and “islandly” Only $50 a night (reasonable in pricy Providenciales) and we had to tie up with a Mediterranean mooring. The showers were open air and built right into the cliff.

We had a great group of cruisers staying here, including the crews of: Willfull, Half Baked, Tanda Tula, the Orange Boat, and Zoe. Had a lovely music-filled happy hour on the waterfront, and a farewell drink at Bob’s Bar. After this stop, our group will split up and sail off in different directions.

We didn’t have much time to explore Provo, but the north coast is lovely.

Finally! Another good weather window allows us to leave Turks and Caicos and continue our journey to the Dominican Republic!

Our First Guests, Part 2 – Georgetown, Exuma

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After a couple of days anchored out and living off the grid, we sailed south to the (relatively) busy port of Georgetown on Great Exuma, catching some big shiny barracuda along the way.

It took us three tries to find the perfect spot to anchor, and Capt. Mike and I just might have gotten a bit testy with one another. Micki and Nathan discretely used that time to prepare a lovely charcuterie platter and fresh coconut water cocktails to celebrate anchors down.

Last year, when we visited Georgetown, we got a good feel for the “summer camp for adults” vibe of this cruisers’ mecca. This time, the energy was even higher because we arrived during the Cruisers Regatta – two weeks of races, games, challenges, and events augmented with daily parties. I admit, it was a bit of a shock to the system after the quiet days on Lee Stocking Island! After our delicious snack, we headed ashore to make sure that Chat ‘n Chill on Volleyball Beach was just as much fun as we remembered. Never fear – it’s still a lot of fun, and the de-facto gathering place for the cruiser community.

The beach life is fun and all, but we decided to mix things up a bit and hit some nightlife by dragging Micki and Nathan to a traditional Bahamian rake ‘n scrape. This Monday night tradition at Eddie’s Edgewater is a ton of fun. After eating a big plate of chicken plantains, and rice and peas, and after drinking a couple of Sky Juice cocktails (gin, coconut water, and condensed milk) we were ready to dance. The band included everything from guitar to horns to the saw – that’s what makes it a real rake ‘n scrape as opposed to just a boring old band. Micki loves music and is always ready to learn something new, so she got a quick saw lesson, mostly in how to hold it so you don’t cut yourself, and then she joined the band. We pretty much closed the place down, dancing until we couldn’t handle the heat and the Bahamian volume of the music, then catching our breaths hanging out with other cruisers on the patio, then dancing some more. Eddie’s is always a great night!

All too soon, it was time to say goodbye to Micki and Nathan and wish them a safe trip back to snowy Denver. Things got a little bit tricky on that last day. They’d spent a lovely night at the Peace and Plenty hotel ashore (and shared their hotel shower with Sanitas’ crew – hot showers are delightful!) but then we’d anchored back out on Elizabeth Harbor for the final night. The wind was up, and the harbor was very choppy that last day, we weren’t sure our little dinghy, Bug, could get four people ashore safely and keep the luggage dry. So we devised a complicated plan. Capt. Mike took Bug across the harbor by himself. The remaining three of us called Elvis’ water taxi and reserved a ride across the harbor at 10:00 so that we could pay for a safe, dry ride. However, nobody ever explained which boat was the water taxi, or how it would find us out at anchor. So…to make a long story short…. they didn’t find us. I hailed the water taxi on the VHF radio on channel 16, channel 14, and channel 68 and called them on the phone. I stood on the bow of the boat waving a bright shirt and yelling at any boat that looked remotely like a water taxi. And as it got closer to the time of their flight, I started waving at any old fishing boat that looked like it might get us across the harbor in time. Eventually I flagged down a water taxi a whole hour later than the original plan. The driver said, “I saw you waving at me, but why didn’t you hail me?” Hello!?! What did you think I was waiving that bright shirt and yelling so frantically for? Just to be friendly? It was quite the fiasco. But all’s well that ends well, and we had just enough time to grab a quick lunch from the jerk chicken shack and walk to the yacht club to catch a taxi to the airport. I hope Micki and Nathan enjoyed their visit! Thanks for the gift of the Peace and Plenty beach bag!

Our First Guests!! Emerald Bay and Lee Stocking Island

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Nathan and Micki have been our staunchest supporters: they did NOT tell us we were crazy to sell it all and buy a sailboat. In fact, they threw us a tropical-themed going away party, and even came to St Petersburg to help us do boat projects in the yard. We wouldn’t feel comfortable inviting just anyone to stay aboard Sanitas for several days because it’s basically just camping out on the water (see: sleeping on the salon settee, cockpit showers, composting toilet….). But Micki and Nathan had been on two of our bareboat charters, and had seen Sanitas at her worst, so we knew they’d enjoy a glimpse into cruiser life. But first…. we needed to get ready to host!

We’d been living aboard now for three months, and while in the Bahamas we’d only stayed in a marina for a few days back in Bimini right after crossing the Gulf Stream. So Sanitas was a bit of a salty mess. We exited the cut at Rudder Cay with 3.5 knots of current against us (it took running our 50 hp engine at full power) and then pointed our bow toward The Marina at Emerald Bay on the island of Great Exuma.

All in all, we’d end up staying seven nights at this marina at a bargain rate of $1 per foot, appreciating our access to showers, laundry, internet, and getting a huge number of tasks crossed off our to-do list.

In fact, we worked so hard at Emerald Bay that the other cruisers staying of Dock D must have thought we were completely stuck up and antisocial, because every time they’d walk by headed to the pool or the beach we’d say “Can’t talk now, working.” Between polishing the stainless, stripping and staining more teak, defrosting the freezer, and cleaning inside and out, we weren’t allowed to have any fun!

We did bend our “No fun” rule slightly by sharing travel stories with Fellow Pacific Seacraft owner Ben of SV Loon who showed up on our dock the last full day we were there.

On the last day, we really broke the No Fun rules when we celebrated our accomplishments with some pool time and a delicious dinner out.

Finally, the exciting day arrived! We brought our rental car to the adorably tiny Georgetown airport to meet our first guests! After a Customs and immigration snaffu (who knew our visitors would need a copy of our cruising permit?) we drove to the closest beach so the Denver natives could trade long pants and running shoes for bare toes in the sand.

We spent the rest of the day exploring Exuma by car with a delicious lunch at Tropic Breeze restaurant and a stop at the Tropic of Cancer beach. We finally made it to the tropics – hooray!

Back at the marina, we gave Nathan and Micki the tour, and got them comfortably settled on Sanitas, because we were headed off-grid the next morning.

We used our newfound confidence in navigating shallow waters to cozy in close to Lee Stocking Island where we experienced the most stunning sunset we’d seen in weeks.

Nathan used the shallow sand flats as an opportunity to try out his new fly rod and fish for bonefish while Capt. Mike, Micki, and I explored the research center.

Lee Stocking was the home of the Perry Caribbean Marine Research Center from 1970 to 2012. When the grant funding ran out, the beautiful community was abandoned, leaving a ghost town of research buildings and residences still covered in flowering bushes and planting with stately coconut palms. It is a bit eerie to explore in 2019, evoking the tv show Lost with its dated PCs and file cabinets full of research material and the massive water making facilities and gardens. The living quarters were still furnished with funky 70s brown tile work, and even coffee makers and wet bars intact. I almost expected jump-suited scientists to step out from a well preserved doorway to ask if I’d hit the button, or if we’d seen a smoke monster.

Exploring was good fun, and we walked every road and trail on the island. But the best part of the day was learning to harvest drinking coconuts from the heavily laden trees that lined the main road. I’d done my research and learned there are many varieties of coconut palm trees; some that are just pretty, some good for eating the coconut flesh, and others bred for coconut water. Lee Stocking is covered with drinking coconut palms and even has a convenient wooden ladder available. We took turns harvesting as many as we could reach, drank our fill, filled our water bottles with coconut water, and brought a few back to the boat for future cocktails. The trick to harvesting is not to pull the nut off the tree, but to twist it until the stem separates easily. Then cut a little triangle in the shell and simply pour the juice out the hole. Simple!

We were a big hit at the cruiser’s happy hour that evening. “You put the lime in the coconut and drink it all up. You put the lime in the coconut and call me in the morning”

Kombucha, Baby!

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Boulder, Colorado has a reputation of being a crunchy, granola sort of place. But even when I lived there, I never made my own yogurt or kimchi or kombucha. Why would I? There was a Whole Foods supermarket within walking distance, with shelves stocked with organic goodies, and still I had a paycheck to buy them. The weekend Farmers’ Market was amazing. And I could buy kombucha by the case at Costco.

Things are different now in cruising life. Grocery stores are few and far between, and unless you’re content with the basics, like rice and flour and dried beans and sugar, you’ll pay through the nose for imported goodies. So when my friend Cheryl on SV Leef Nu offered me a kombucha scoby, or mother, I said yes. And worried about the details later.

And there certainly were some details to work through. I knew the basics about kombucha: that it is naturally fermented tea, that it contains healthful probiotics, and that is makes for a flavorful, low calorie beverage. But I had no idea how to make it or store it! Cheryl sent me some info from a class she took. And I found a very detailed recipe and process captured on TheKitchn. But my biggest barrier to entry was the fact that I don’t own a container at least a gallon or larger in which to ferment the tea. So after several days of growing increasingly guilty that my kombucha mother was just sitting in a grocery bag under the nav table, I went on the hunt. Luckily, we were in Rock Sound, Eleuthera at the time, and there were several stores available within walking distance. Over a 48-hour period, I pretty much visited every one of them: both grocery stores, the school supply store, the hardware store, and one sort of everything store that contained a few home goods. There, I handed over $30 for a bright orange, insulated, 2-gallon jug. It’s the kind that you see used for drinking water at construction sites. I walked the mile and a half back to the dinghy dock with a backpack full of groceries, a bottle of rum, and a massive orange jug. I got pretty good at the wave to all the passing cars on my way back. I guess I didn’t look pathetic enough for any of them to offer me a ride.

Once back on Sanitas, I pulled out the biggest cooking pot we own (previously only used for making popcorn) and brought 3.5 liters of water to a boil. Once boiling, I added 8 black tea bags, and 1 cup of sugar and turned off the burner, leaving the whole thing on the stove the rest of the day to steep and cool. (The recipe says you can speed up the cooling process by sitting the pan in an ice bath. Yeah right. The author sure doesn’t live on a sailboat) When the mixture was more or less cool, I filled up the big orange jug. Then took the brown, gelatinous scoby out of its ziplock bag for the first time, complete with its vinegar smell and several brown stringy things and slid it in on top of the strong sweet tea. I screwed the lid on tight, then unscrewed it about a half-turn to let some air in, so the poor little scoby could breathe. Then I shoved it under the salon table for about a week or so, and hoped for the best.

Ten days later, the scoby (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) had fermented away the sugar, leaving a tart and tangy brew. I filled three plastic soda bottles and added mint to one, basil to the second, and left the third plain. Time to get that big old pot out again and make a new batch. Gotta keep the kombucha mother happy by giving her more sugar! After a few days of secondary fermentation in the bottles, I moved them into the refrigerator and started drinking the kombucha as a welcome change from plain water or chemical tasting drink mixes. Success!

I’m now on my third batch, tweaking the proportions a bit this time to try to make four liters at a time instead of three. And my kombucha scoby has grown so much that I had the opportunity to split it, and to share the scope and recipe with another cruiser. I’ve gotta say I’m pretty impressed with myself! Now Capt. Mike and I just need to keep on top of it, drinking enough of the finished kombucha that I can have empty soda bottles ready to fill each time a new batch is done.

(PS: in the past two weeks, I have also made homemade hummus, and almond flour blueberry scones. Who is this person?)

My Favorite Place in the World

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Once we tackled our jack line and solar panel repairs, we could relax and enjoy our stay in the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park – one of my very favorite places in the world. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…. I would be perfectly happy staying right there in the north mooring field until I ran out of $20 bills to pay for the daily mooring fees, and emptied the bilge of cans of tuna fish for meals. On our first full day in the mooring field, the cruisers organized a beach happy hour potluck, complete with live music.

The Park was established in 1958 and protects 176 square miles of islands and seabed. It is a no-take zone for fish and turtles, which means that the marine life is glorious and varied. My favorite part of the Park is the hiking trails on Warderick Wells Cay, which provide an excellent opportunity to stretch the legs after days and nights on a tiny boat! There’s a cruising tradition to make a sign for your boat out of natural materials (no plastics, please) and to add that sign to the collection at the top of Boo Boo Hill. A half mile into our hike, I found the perfect piece of wood…. and then found myself committed to carrying it for the next five hours!

This year, I finally managed to pack enough water, snacks, and sunscreen to hike from the park office all the way to the south end on the island to Pirates Lair and Turtle Beach. It took us five hours to make that round trip – way longer than you’d expect from the mileage. But often, the trail is only a suggestion, and it’s always a mixture of sharp eroded limestone rock and dry loose sand. Even at sea level, the hiking is slow going! But Jeff and Trish of Elixir were good company, and we peer-pressured each other into continuing south at each trail intersection. Phew!

Capt. Mike thinks that Perky Turkey Jerky should sponsor our adventures. Here he is practicing his brand placement and his Vanna White skills.

Beach planks! Gotta stay in shape!

We collect photos of Sanitas’ sister ships wherever we meet them. Here’s the beautiful Island Lady – a 31 foot Pacific Seacraft captained by Cree.

For the final ritual of our stay in the park, the whole crews of Sanitas, Leef Nu, and Elixir climbed Boo Boo Hill one last time, and added our sign to the pile. We were here! In case you were wondering, our Dock 4 sign from last season is still there too.