Jenn visits the beach

It’s been a very busy month. We arrived at Bimini, spent some time there enjoying lobster and making a docking that people have told stories about for a month now (4kn current, 20kn wind, and a perfect landing into a slip without a ding). Then we took off and moved to Port Lucaya, Grand Bahama because Jenn was coming in for a visit. The break-even between paying for the marina for the time Jenn was going to be around and paying for a month was at 10 days, and we were going to be in for at least 8, then wait on a weather window to go make the run to the Abacos. I took the gamble and paid for the month.

The Office

And it’s a good thing I did! First, the wind has been crazy. The fishing boats that normally come and unload nearby haven’t been running until this week. Being tucked in at the yacht club, we were plenty safe, but we still pitched around a bit just with the windage of the bare mast. Second, my work has been crazy. I work as we go. It’s one of the trade-offs I have to make in order to keep the party going. We’re not independently wealthy, and we’re not ready to forgo travel, so this is the balance. Most of the time it’s a balance that allows me to work some hours a day and also spread the work through the week, making weekends not too much different than weekdays, but the amount of time I have for myself makes up for it. During this trip, there’s been a good deal of working while we’re underway, and a good deal of making passage during daylight and then doing work at night. This month, though, a project has kicked into full swing and has required a lot of meeting times, while other little support projects kept popping up. As a result, I’ve had the #5 busiest month since I started this work 9 years ago.

Fish Fry

But, it’s been a great month! We’ve not been out to the blue water you get the pictures of on the sailing magazines, but we’ve been in one place for long enough to get a little bit of the feel for it. We enjoy going deeper rather than wider. You get to know a place in a way you’ll never know just passing through. The boys have had the freedom to move around, go to the beach or to the marketplace. We’ve had Wednesday night Fish Fry, followed by dancing that sometimes felt like we were in a dance-off movie. Weekends held live entertainment. And, the boys and I have had more time playing games and goofing off together than we’ve done at home or on the trip down.

Fitz on the dock

So, now we’ve come to some more moderate weather. I’ve set things up with work to get everything covered for a long weekend. We’ve provisioned up. All the water and canned goods we can carry. And, we’re going to head out to an uninhabited island for a little bit. When we get there tomorrow night we’ll know if there’s cell coverage so I can work. If there is, we’ll hang for a while until the water gets low and the weather looks good and the start our way home. If there’s not coverage, we’ll start the run home and be back in the USA by Monday night.

We’ve reached the point of a few milestones. If all goes to plan, by the time we anchor tomorrow, we’ll have passed 2000 nautical miles since leaving in October. We have arrived at the Bahamas and spent the winter in warm weather in our own mobile home, so we’re at about the half-way point as we make the turn back toward home. We’ve purchased about 70 gallons of diesel in total. And, we’ve actually started talking about doing it again. We’ll see what happens over the return and how people feel at the end, but it’s not completely out of the question, and that’s a good feeling.

Sunset

Fish Fry

Wendy Fitz

Tidepools