Day 207 -209: End of another season

33,000 FEET SOMEWHERE NORTH OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA USA


Lets finish up the trip before I wrap it all up (the blog will hopefully continue throughout the summer.  After all we aren't to 365 days yet, right?).
Friday I got asked to race again aboard Ruff Justice.  The winds were much lighter and at one point of the race we were making about a half of a knot.  We again finished almost dead last but today was a little more due to the luck of catching the wrong wind at the wrong time.  I went down to the festivities and ran in to a bunch of old friends.  Nuno came down from Staniel Cay and I also ran in to Sean and Gemma who are on their way to Cuba in their sailboat.  I met another group of sailers my age and we had quite the crew.  I ran down to Peace and Plenty and ran in to the Tida Wave and Lady Muriel crew as well as Bushman and Ben.  It was a fun night that lasted well in to the morning hours.

On Saturday I focused on fixing the new generator.  The generator was started while the fuel lines were closed and things weren't looking good.  I couldn't get the generator to prime despite cracking injectors as well as simply removing the fuel line from the output side of the fuel pump.  The racors were full of fuel, being that I just changed them, and things weren't adding up.  We removed the fuel pump and found that we could not even blow compressed air through it.  It seemed that it was clogged with something.  The owner did not want me to leave until we got the problem fixed, but after further thought it is not a hard part to install and I can easily handle the logistics from Chicago.

Ben showed up out of no where and told us that they needed me to race again today.  I got in his boat only to hear the 1 minute gun go off out in the harbor.  I asked him what that was all about and he said he didn't know.  Well it turns out the boys were a little behind schedule today and we missed the start of the race all together!  I got dropped off as the boat was sailing down to the start line and I was glad that they still decided to race the course, despite being DQ-ed.  We almost caught the last place boat and sailed really well!  After watching the ceremony that night with Ben I told him that trophies or no trophies he gave a kid from the United States a chance to do something that he will never forget, and in my mind that means a lot more than a shiny trophy.  Of course bragging rights in the Bahamas for a year isn't bad either :-/
The night went much like the last as my goodbyes were made to some of my closest friends I have had over the past two months.  I couldn't believe that it was really my last night in the Bahamas....


Well it seems like just yesterday I created this blog and began talking about the trip south with Sound Waves.  Its funny how some days (more than others in the islands) seem to tick by at a snails pass, but yet when you finally get on that plane I wonder to myself, "how did the last six months go so fast?".
I remember talking about growing up in my first few blog posts.  Talking about taking the lead and not letting the next bend in the river, or reef on the chart intimidate me.  Well, I accomplished so much of that "growing up".  I've navigated the Western Rivers, been offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, tackled the ICW with a six foot draft, rounded the keys of Florida, replaced props, tore engines apart and put them back together, fixed hydraulic pumps, re-wired a set of underwater lights in the bowels of the ship, replaced door handles, re-wired home entertainment systems, crossed the gulf stream, polished the props in the soft sands of the Bahamas, made friends that will last a lifetime from around the entire world, dove on some of the most beautiful reefs in the world, overcame my fears of sharks and open waters while spearfishing, wasted days away on the beach, had amazing bonfires on the beach, sailed in a traditional Bahama island regatta, rebuilt most of the cooling system on a generator, and maintained someones biggest investment of their life in the meantime.
As I stepped onto Bonita a year ago I think it was safe to say that I was in a bit over my head.  A bit over my head is an understatement.  I was scared shitless of what I got myself in to.  A year later as I fly back to Chicago to get ready for another summer aboard Bonita, the story is a lot different.  I have already asked for the project list from the previous winter from our yacht services guy, Wade.  I have scheduled an oil change as soon as the boat splashes, and have already began to generate my own to-do list.  Last year I walked in to the barn with my jaw on the floor!
I've learned so much over the past year and I am confident in saying that I know what I am doing when it comes to yachts (somewhat :-), there is always so much more to learn!)
I look forward to the next week or so to relax and get my feet back on the ground in Chicago.  I then look forward to visiting with my family back in Michigan and taking care of doctors, eye, dentist appointments, etc...
From there I will be back in Grand Haven prepping the 87' Cheoy Lee, Bonita, for yet another great summer in the Great Lakes.
Just a little kicking to chew on for everyone, Nuno asked me if I would be interested in visiting him in Europe next fall and helping him sail Sparrow from the Mediterranean back to the Caribbean.  We will keep that one on the back burner! :-)

Here are some more pictures:

Left to Right:  Owner's girlfriend, Gizelle, Bushman

Nuno and me at Staniel Cay Yacht Club

Tony in front, David in the back SCYC

Left to Right, Soloman and the owner

At the start line of the A class race.  Anchors out and sails down!

And they're off!  Start of the A-Class race

Sailing off in to the sunset

Ruff Justice in the back (closest to camera)  Thats me out on the pry! (all the way to the right on the "board")

Ruff Justice, port tack to the windward mark, light winds

Tida Wave the A-Class Champions of the 58th Family Island Regatta

Working my way out on the pry

Light winds riding the pry.

Left to Right:  Ben, myself, Gizelle, Bushman.  Peace and Plenty in Georgetown

Sound Waves Out!

Day 205 & 206: Family Regatta!

GEORGETOWN EXUMAS, BAHAMAS

First lets post some more pictures from Danger Reef:

On the way down, little mask adjustment and a right leg kick to start things out

Jake scratching the groupers belly.  (The grouper is hard to see)

Caribbean Reef Sharks circling above

Trying my luck with the huge grouper

Love this picture with the three sharks

Jake and I working on the grouper

Swimming through the mountains of coral at Danger Reef

Really like this picture with the shark and the changes in coral

Somewhat of a close call with a reef shark.  At one point he was close enough that I could have reached up and touched him.

Sting ray getting cleaned by a colorful triggerfish

CRASH!!!  He gets his name bc he likes to run in to people.  His head is about a the size of a basketball, maybe a bit bigger than that.

Crash heading up for a breath of air

Playing chicken with a reef shark :-)

Jake and I goofing around.  We laughed at this picture for about 10 minutes

Arrow Crab (very small)

Me being weird again.  I was always hanging out upside down, doing flips, etc...  I love being weightless, I should have gone in to space.

Wednesday we took off for Georgetown around 0800 with about five other locals with us on the boat.  Tony, Gizelle, Bushman, Chubby and his niece came along with us.  It was fairly calm for the first few hours because we were on the inside.  Once we went through Gallient Cut out in the the sound the waves picked up.  It was still calm enough to fish and we got some lines in the water.  For the next 40 miles we had no luck at all.  Upon our approach in to Elizabeth Harbor we were greeted with a massive rain squall.  They came in one after another for the next day.  It was perfect timing because the boat got a fresh water rinse.  Canflor girl was still here and Buddy and I planned to head up to the festivities of the regatta.  I was granted a nap and then got ready to explore.  It was a bit quiet being that it was still Wednesday but I was told to get ready for chaos on the weekend.  

Today I ran to the market for some groceries then went down to the waterfront to catch the start of the B class race.  I wanted to do my research because I was asked to race on Ruff Justice later in the day in the A class race.  A class boats are 28 feet long.  Every boat is all wood and Bahamian built and owned.  The sails are cotton I believe, or something like that.  It is true Bahamian sailing. The sloops start at the line with their sails down on the anchor.  The gun goes off and you hoist the anchor, get your sails up and you are off.  It rained cats and dogs for most of the day.  Just before I got picked up to be taken out to the sailboat the skies cleared and for the whole race we didn't have rain.  I was so nervous.  My heart was pounding.  This tradition of Bahamian regattas is serious business and this was the biggest one of the year.  I didn't want to get in the way.  It is hard to understand Bahamians sometimes, especially when they are all yelling.  We almost missed the start, had to change the mainsail on the way to the starting line, and were messing with the headsail right up to the starting gun.  We let all of the anchor rode out so only one guy was hoisting at first until we got enough rode in to all hoist together.  There was no rhythm to getting the anchor in and hands were slapping and getting caught in T-shirts.  Upon rounding the windward buoy the whisker pole (if thats what you want to call it) was not even on deck yet.  Upon rounding the leeward buoy the helmsmen was in charge of bringing the main sheet in and no one was even steering the boat.  To say the least it was very unorganized, and we came in 8th place because of the chaos.  I stayed quiet and stayed high on the planks.  I was the high man out and it was very scary at times.  I thought they would put the big guys out there but I later realized that I don't think the big guys could get out there.  I was the quickest and one of the most athletic so I think thats why I got put out there.  I almost fell in the water a couple of times but managed to keep my balance and keep my feet out of the water.  We actually had a pretty good start and were in second place for awhile.  We timed our tacks wrong and had to tack one extra time to make the buoy.  This really hurt us.  

All in all it was a really amazing experience and I hope that I get to race again tomorrow.  My knees and legs are raw from sliding up and down the plank and I was soaking wet but I had a ball.  The boat almost flipped once and I was about twenty feet in the air out on the end of the plank.  A boat did sink in the B class race and they still haven't gotten it up as far as I know.  When the boats flip, they sink.  They are wooden boats and they put lead in the bottom of them.  They have to pull all of the lead out and haul it back to the surface after it flips.  

Here are some pictures to help give you an image of these sailboats and what I meant by being out on the plank.  I don't know if any of our friends got any pictures today as it was very rough and windy out there, but I will ask around.

This is the actual boat that I raced on today, Ruff Justice.  I did not take this picture.




















This is a picture of a race.  I got this picture online so I am not sure what boats they are.  I do not recognize any of the sail numbers.  The plank slides from starboard to port when we tack and is about 6 inches wide.  The masts are about 60 feet high, the boat is 28 feet long, and in light winds they change the boom and sails.  The boom can be up to 48 feet long!  It is quite scary to be on the end of the plank when the boat is about to flip.  My position all day was the first man out on the plank, all the way out.





Sound Waves Out

Day 203 & 204: Bye Bye Staniel Cay

STANIEL CAY EXUMAS, BAHAMAS


Monday we were at Sampson Cay...boring Sampson Cay.  I had a great list of things to do on the boat...outside....and just before I finished breakfast (I usually don't ever get to finish breakfast but this time it was for other reasons) the sky went black.  I couldn't get to the fly bridge quick enough.  We got all of the seats covered just in time for the rain.  I thought, well it only rains for five minutes down here then it will be sunny again.  A whole rest of the day later, wind, black, rain, wind, thunder, lightning, Captain Ron, and nothing got done.  What a day.  To make positive on the situation, the Bahamas needed the rain.

Tuesday we left for Staniel Cay, surprise surprise: Staniel Cay, Sampson Cay, Staniel Cay, Sampson Cay.  Even the locals poke fun at Sound Waves for how much we move around.  Anyways, not that it is important, considering I was happy to be back in Staniel Cay.  Not to mention I got to download all of the pictures from the Danger Reef Dive!
I did some projects and got the boat prepped for our 0700 departure to Georgetown in the morning.  Apparently nine locals are coming along with so they can get to the regatta.

If you can't tell I am in a horrible mood right now, and I don't know why.  Lets see what happened that was fun today?  OH!!!  Finnegan, David and Christina's (sp? sorry) dog was hanging around.  He is a 6 month old ......yellow lab/golden something? (I'm so bad at this).  I taught him step one on how to shake.  I think he is going to pick up on it!  We also played on the beach for a long time chasing sticks and palm leaves and learning how to dive for rocks.  He is a smart lil pup and it was so much fun to play with him and watch him learn.  I have always loved dogs and I really enjoyed getting away from the boat for awhile to play with him.

It was weird walking out of the bar tonight.  This was really it.  My final days, my final goodbye at Staniel Cay.  For the last month and then some I have called this place my home.  As I sat at the bar I looked around at the people sitting and working and I knew all but a few of their names.  Bushman, Gizelle, the owner, his girlfriend, Nuno, David, Tony, Jeff, Harry, Salt, Ruth, Rhonda, Felisha, Suzana, and Joan.  I don't think I could name that many people sitting around any bar anywhere (maybe Holland).  I walked down the dock knowing the clear water was coming to an end, as Georgetown is a bit murky.  I can't believe it is coming to an end.  As I look forward to an exciting weekend in Georgetown for the regatta's I know that I am down to a long weekend until I'm back to Chicago.  I am super excited for Chicago don't get me wrong, but this place is special.

The constant changing of colors on the water will put anyone in a trance as the the depths change from a dark blue to a light shade of green and in to a white as the bottom goes from coral to grass to sand.  Seagulls break the silence of paradise as todays catch is cleaned up on the bench while hungry nurse sharks and rays pace back and forth hoping for a scrap.  Dinghies come and go and the smell of fuel teases your nose before being lifted away by the breeze.  The hum of the engine is sometimes confused with the next load of tourists and supplies coming in on the small airplanes that buzz around like flies.  The hot sun is relentless, the dive flag at the Staniel Cay dive shop tries to stand up in the weak warm winds from the south east but fails to even flutter.  Spices fill the air as dinner time nears up at the yacht club.  A group of locals huddle around the fish bench every day, waiting, wasting, and watching another day drift past.  A trip to the end of the dock reminds me of how tough my feet have become as splinters and nails are pushed away by my tough skin.  The water is crystal clear.  The only thing that blurs the bottom is the strong ebb tide with the water rushing back out to sea like the raging Mississippi.  A few sailboats block my view of the horizon anchored just off of the dock, and mega yachts scatter in the distance making up their own anchorages it seems.  I turn and look back towards land as the day fades away.  The Batelco tower dominates the skyline with its flashing red lights.  Palm trees in front of the yacht club stand motionless and music makes its way to my ears.  A tourist asks me isn't this amazing, I don't think this could ever get old.  I smile and simply reply you're right I don't think it ever will.  Uninterested and engulfed by my surroundings I walk away.  Our underwater lights are starting to take over the night as small fish dance around them.  A nurse shark rests on the bottom completely uninterested in its surroundings.  A large southern sting ray floats by effortlessly.  The dinner bell rings and people make their way in to the bar.  This is my home.  This was my home.  Tony, Barry, Ben, Gizelle, Christina, David, David, Susana, Jake, Joelle, Big Daddy, Raymond, Wade, Salt, Food, Rock, Wellington, Janel, Jeff, Harry, Ruth, Rhonda, Felisha, Chavette, Netty, Joan, Carl, Foodie, Graham, Marvin, Marvin, Salomon, Mackenzie, Eddie, Clevland, and that is just the locals and I am sure I am forgetting a lot!  Thank you.  Thank you for an amazing adventure, thank you for memories that will last a lifetime.  And while I still have a few more days left, I feel as if this blog is significant.  Georgetown means little to me.  Tomorrow I am leaving my home.  On to the next step, where I will again shift gears.  Sad, yes.  Exciting, yes.  I will never forget the past six months of my life, but I look forward to the next many years!  As my fortune cookies once told me "the best years of your life have not yet been lived."  and "a vacation of vacations awaits you."  I still have both of them in my wallet today.  What's next captain?  Well....its still a lifetime away.

Sound Waves Out
(pictures to come of danger reef....just not tonight....not after that blog)

Day 201 & 202: Danger Reef!

SAMPSON CAY EXUMAS, BAHAMAS


Saturday...geez Saturday.  Another day.  It was normal chores around the boat, cleaning some beds and heads, doing the shower sumps and checking air filters.  Ragged Reef was set to play during happy hour and again after dinner up at the yacht club.  Even though I've seen Jake the divemaster around and have talked to him quite a bit we didn't really become friends until we spent the day together diving.  He is a really cool guy and I regret not getting to know him more until now.  I helped him put up a rack for wetsuits in the dive shop, and while I didn't do much he needed some of my tools.  I love doing projects like that with other people.  I managed to find some time to play guitar in the afternoon before the band started.  Once they started playing I went up to watch them while keeping an eye on the owner and our dinner guests, Bushman and his girlfriend.  The band was fun as always and dinner on the boat was great, grilled red snapper.  The rest of the night was spent drifting from the bar, back to the boat, and back to the bar.  I finally met the crew on the boat next to us, Mobility.  Lis (sp?) and John were a captain/chef couple and despite being next to us for a week I hadn't talked to them.  Our friends from Sagamar were also in town after seeing them in Emerald Bay and Georgetown.  I don't remember everyones name but it was good to see them as well.  I do have to say that remembering names is something I have become so much better at.  I surprise myself that I can remember names now, I never used to be able to do that.

Sunday we were set to go diving at danger reef.  Nuno and Val were back in town with charter guests and he was interested in diving with us.  Well he backed out that morning as he had a conference call with the owner.  Jake can't take us in to the park unless we have a certain amount of divers because of fuel costs.  It wasn't looking like I was going to see Danger Reef anytime soon.  Finally Kris (sp?) and I decided to split the cost of a third diver and do the dive anyways.  We got in the boat and headed north in to the park.  It was about an hour ride to Danger Reef, which is just north of Warderwick Wells.  It was a bit rough but nothing that we couldn't handle.  As soon as we were secure on the mooring ball reef sharks presented themselves behind the boat.  To my surprise I wasn't too nervous about the 8-10 reef sharks circling the boat.  I jumped right in.  I immediately felt like I was swimming inside the aquarium at Shedd in Chicago.  Huge horse-eyed Jacks huddled in a school under the shadow of the dive boat.  Yellow tails were everywhere.  Everywhere I looked there was a Caribbean Reef shark, all of which were at least 4 feet long and up to 6-7 feet.  Huge black and Nassau grouper were not shy at all and almost ran in to you.  We went to the bottom and sat in the sand for a little bit to play with the grouper.  We stuck our hands out and wiggled our fingers.  They slowly came up to our fingers, put their head up in the air, and if we were slow and patient enough they let us scratch their belly!  All of the grouper were at least 3-4 feet long and by far the largest grouper I have seen.  I could have sat directly under the boat for the entire dive.  While swimming around I noticed a reef shark swimming at me in the distance.  As I watched he kept swimming at me.  I dropped down in between some coral heads and noticed he also started swimming deeper.  He wasn't swimming too fast so I wasn't super nervous, yet.  He kept coming and it wasn't until he was about 10 feet away (which is nothing underwater) that I could tell that he was going to swim above me.  The shark swam about two feet over me head and I had to resist the temptation to reach up and scratch his belly like the grouper.  We saw a lot of spotted eels and a few lobster.  The sharks left us for awhile but suddenly one was right there again.  Kris took a picture of it and suddenly it turned for the surface and swam fast!  It hit the other mooring ball that was not occupied.  It was a bit scary as I now knew that we were swimming with hungry sharks.  Towards the end of the dive Crash came out of no where!  Crash is a huge turtle, I am not sure what kind of turtle, I need to figure that out.  his head was bigger than a basketball and he made a very close approach to me.  It was hands down one of the best dives I have ever been on.  While the diving at Saba last year was unbelievable the fact that we saw so much in one dive here definitely rivals Saba.  Our second dive was just a little further to the north called Parrotfish reef.  It was also a very cool dive, but with only two shark sightings and two grouper mating it definitely did not live up to Danger Reef.  I got dropped off at Sampson Cay and relaxed the rest of the night.

What a day!

Lobster out in the open!

Sting ray

Caribbean Reef Shark at Danger Reef

Crash!

Spotted Eel

More pictures to come after I get more from Kris hopefully today

Sound Waves Out

Day 199 & 200: SCUBA!

STANIEL CAY EXUMAS, BAHAMAS.....STILL HERE


The owner just doesn't want to leave the yacht club.  I don't blame him though.  I would much rather be here than Sampson, or even Georgetown with the exception of the Regatta's.  We finally got our parts in for the generator.  I flushed the coolant system a few more time after installing the new reservoir tank, putting on new zincs, and re-tightening all of the hose connections.  Unfortunately the hose that connects the reservoir tank to the expansion tank was no good and I needed to find a way to get another one.  By this time it was well in to the evening and time to call it quits.  I had an early night and watched Avatar in my room for the first time ever.

Friday I woke up at 0500, too excited to sleep.  I tried to lay there for another two hours but hardly drifted in and out of sleep.  My alarm finally gave me the go ahead to get up and get ready for the day.  I told myself to stay calm and make sure I get a good breakfast, go over all of my gear again, etc, etc...  I was so excited because the owner granted me a day of diving.  It was a good group, with the exception of one guy who wasn't very coordinated in the water.  Jake, Kris (sp?), Dick and myself were the only divers.  We had the motivation to dive Danger Reef but Jake, the dive master, called it off because it was a little too rough on the outside.  Instead we dove Conch Cut and Jeep Reef.

Conch Cut was a drift dive, and I do have to admit my first official drift dive.  As effortless as I though the dive would be I often found myself twisting and turning to try and get in the right position.  It is like taking a slow boat down a river, you are moving fast over the ground but have no steerage.  We saw a lot of lobster, a ray, and a ton of beautiful fish.  Our bottom time was nearly an hour.  Jeep reef proved to be the more enjoyable dive however.

Just before we got in the water Dick turned around and stated he wasn't feeling well and was going to sit this one out.  It was a smart decision on his part, and it made Kris and I happy because he wasn't a very good diver.  Immediately I could sense that Jake himself was much more relaxed and enjoying the dive.  The coral was very cool and the fish were spectacular.  Large grouper, huge barracuda, and too many lobster to count.  We did see the Jeep (how the site got it's name) but other than old tires it was very hard to make out.  Coral had claimed the walls and it looked more like a coral covered box on wheels.  Last night while I was watching Avatar I kept thinking to myself, wow that would be so cool to live in a world like that.  All of the colors at night time, the crazy animals and insects, and soaring between trees and mountains on a "dragon...thing".  As I was drifting over the top of a tall coral head I pointed my head down, exhaled, and soared down the face of the coral head.  Another breath leveled me out on the sand as I used a bit of momentum from my fall to glide across to the next coral head.  Damselfish and blue chromis danced around the coral ducking in and out of their hideaways.  A lobster tippy-toed across the sand.  A four foot barracuda sat motionless with its mouth half open, watching my every move.  I was as close to being on Pandora (the planet in Avatar) as I will ever be, and it was awesome.  An ebb tide was starting to present itself as we came to the end of the dive.  The huge coral walls were behind us and for the most part it was soft corals on the bottom.  I sat at 15ft. for my safety stop and let the current take me.  Motionless and weightless I sailed over Pandora.  Like a little kid I spent all night pretending that Pandora existed after watching the movie.  It was real.
Just like that I snapped out of my trance and noticed Jake floating right next to me.  I looked over and he was in a sitting position pretending to read a newspaper (if he were using the restroom).  I then noticed that I was in my "comfortable" position which also looked exactly like I was using the restroom.  Jake started dancing and I went in to my own world and started doing front flips....why not.  The last ten minutes of the dive was spent filling up our masks from laughing and being total idiots while performing our 15ft. safety stop.  I think we may have stayed down a little too long if you know what I mean :-).

Back at the docks, I got the generator fixed and went up to the bar to hang out with my new group of friends.  The night went by just like any other and I realized that it is almost better now when the bar is really empty because the people that are there all the time and the people who live here are the ones I talk to.  It's going to be really hard to leave this place.

The cliffs at Great Guana

Iguana's at Great Guana

Lounging with the Iguana's

Cool pictures of air bubbles while diving

Triggerfish

Spotfin Butterflyfish

Shaking the lobsters hand at Jeep Reef.  He let me grab his antenna

Hanging out on the sandy bottom at Jeep reef.

Cool shot at Jeep Reef

Flamingo Toungue 

Lobster out in the open at Jeep Reef

I spy two lionfish.  Do you see them?

My "comfortable" position that got me shit the whole night (no pun intended)

I spy ...possibly a peacock flounder...do you see it?

Sound Waves Out