donbarb02

Don and Barb 2

First trip to the Bahamas - February 8, 2008

Glad we have your address. Here are some of the past updates.

hope this works..we walked to the Bahamas phone co nearest the marina we are at, someone picked us up and dropped us
off. The people are real nice here.

We went through customs in Bimini and then sailed to the
Berry Islands. We were passing some small Cays
(pronounced keys) which the cruise lines use as a playground
for their cruises. Don asked if I wanted to go there and I did,
so we changed course and went to the shallow side of the cay
and anchored.

We could see the people para-sailing and a shuttle took them
to the cays to explore. We took our dingy and did the same
thing.

We landed on a seclude beach and I found coconuts and Don
found two conch shells. We left the shells for someone else to
find.

There was a path the cruise line had made through the jungle
....what an adventure....we ended up at the lighthouse... talked
to about a doz people or so who had come to see the
lighthouse.

Of all the people we told about the path through the jungle to
the beach, only one man cared to get off the main path. He
was a joy. He was from the UK, has his own plane and
thanked us twice for the tip to get away from "the herd." We
stayed at that place for three days. The wave runners from
the cruise line would bring people out in group of 10 and go
by us. We were the only boat anchored on that side of the
cay.

The scenery is awesome...the water is so beautiful. The water in the Bahamas gets to be the deepest in the hemisphere in
some places we will cross...generally speaking it is shallow and crystal clear. I did not realize the Bahamas were spread out
so much, like over 100,000 square miles. We anchored in a harbor at Chub cay and could clearly see the starfish on the
bottom. So with the hatch open over our berth we had stars over us and stars under us...neat.

We celebrated our 2nd..1st anniversary last night...and it was very appropriately cold...68 with a very strong wind which
made the chill factor in the low 60's I think. We left the cove by the lighthouse to come into a marina to wait out the norther.
Anyway last night we celebrated with cracked conch, key lime pie, margaritas and the local beer.

Some of our experiences have certainly been Heaven on Earth..This is an unbelievable experience.

We send our love to all of you..hope to get on the Internet again..so let us here from you. the picture I took of the dingy with
the leaves around the pic has the Dulcinea in the background and our footprints on the sand.

Love, Barb and Don

First trip to the Bahamas - February 8, 2008 Part 2

Activities of daily living for cruisers and three surprises after we leave:
Part of cruising, is re provisioning food, fuel, water,cash, and finding somewhere to leave the trash. Trash is a major
problem because the islands have no place to get rid of it. Some places charge $5 for a small bag. We can go about 8 days
before we need more water for cooking and bathing. The water has cost us $40 sometimes to fill up but we have paid as
little as $10 when we were docked at a marina. Diesel this time was $4.63 a gallon with cash ($4.87 on credit card, so we
went to the bank first. We back tracked to Marsh Harbour to take care of these things.

We are anchored out in the harbor and came ashore here.
Marsh Harbour is the capital of the Abacos. It actually has a,
(one),traffic light..

This was taken of the Dulinea from the fuel dock. Also, it
gives you an idea of what this harbour looks like. We could
hear live music from our boat at night.

Sailors just like boats. Don checking out the "bright work", the
varnish to those of us new to this stuff.

We had seen this three mast schooner anchored near us at
Key Largo in the Florida Keys and now it came in and
anchored right next to us in Marsh Harbour a month later. We
have found while we are in the Bahamas that we do see some
of the same boats several times..doing what we are doing.

We had visited this bakery before and came back for some
local bread and bread pudding. A local at the dingy dock
asked me to bring him something from my shopping, so we
took him some bread pudding too and I got a big hug and
smile in thanks.

My first use of an Internet cafe. I loved the picture of the turtle
in front of me as I read my mail. ...

Moving on.... Having gotten cash, fuel, water and some food
we now sailed back to Guana for me to buy a conch shell I
had seen but did not have cash for at the time. This was
when we experienced our first surprise of the day!!!!! And the
next pictures shows it.

Don was watching the weather as he had seen some dark
clouds..and saw this was right behind us and we were out in
open water! Surprise!!!!!!

He yelled "get your camera" ! I did and he did too. That is a
boat at the bottom right of the funnel to give you an idea of
how massive this was.

Pretty dramatic, right??? You can see the water it was picking
up. So that was the first surprise of this day..following email
has the second and third surprise.

Love,
Don and Barbara

First trip to the Bahamas - February 11, 2008

First trip to the Bahamas - February 6, 2008 Part 2

We have been out 7 weeks today, and this is our 26 th day in
the Bahamas.

While we are enjoying our 3rd anchoring The Dulcinea in
Guana Cay, I don't know how many dingy dockings and beach
landings we have done. I know it is a bunch.

Tonight we are ashore for a pot luck dinner, and brought the
dingy right up to the beach.

This is Nippers, the "in place". The walk from the one and
only street on the water across the island to here looked like
going through a jungle...but is was wide and easy.

We did buy a CD of Bahamian music here and a tee shirt for
each of us. Glad they took credit cards. The gift shop had a
sandy floor and had I had a lot of money.....I could have found
lots to buy.

We did try the house specialty, a Nipper, frozen fruit juices and
rum.

Notice the different shades of the water they are really
fantastic.

This was our trip to the future golf course development. It is all
set up to bring in prospective "members." We found it
deserted except for staff. Here Don is going down to check it
all out.

As far as we could see was beach

The light water is sand and possibly shallow, in this case it
was a sand bar. We are in 12 feet and the light is like 3 feet.
Naturally, Don is constantly "reading" the colors. When we
were in the 6,000 ft water, it was deep deep blue, that is why
they call it "blue water sailing."

Again, notice the colors of the water. I wore a shirt over my
bathing suits and brought snorkeling gear, but we ended up
just exploring all the great stuff on the island. The high was
84, unseasonably warm for Feb. 5th.

The next day, we took the dingy across the bay to explore an
uninhabited island. This was just the most wonderful
experience. Notice the wild oats and pine trees. The Abacos
have pine forest. One forest is now a preserve for parrots etc
and that is where they have moved the "wild horses of abaco",
the rarest breed of horses in the world to help them
repopulate. Isn't this gorgeous?

We found these tracks everywhere in the sand. Aren't they
cool? One end to the island had beautiful debris that has
washed up, drift wood even a whole palm tree.

I was picking up shells, and I noticed these were all moving.
When I moved them around a bunch left and then, I could see
they were all feeding on a fruit peel. I did not collect any on
these!!!

Don rescued a sea creature I found that was trapped on land.
He was like a giant black snail. Notice all the coral...

We say good-bye to our deserted cay, and good-bye to you
for now, Again thanks for all the feedback..and I am thrilled
that our adventure is being shared by you to others we do
not know..yet...

Love,
Don and Barb

Next we went...unharmed into Guana Cay where we had
surprise #2 &surprise #3. This is Grabbers at Sunset Beach,
Guana Cay where we went for the super bowl and the pot
luck. We tied the dingy up to the dock and waded into the
beach here to walk to Milo's.

Milo told us he has customers that have come back 20 years
later. When I asked how long he had been here, he told us
his ancestors came over in the 1700's.

He took us out to the dock where he had a new batch of
conch shells. The slits are where the conch was harvested.
He then cleans them up which is no easy chore as the backs
are full of crusty things. Conch shells were used to announce
a new ship wreck. Now, every sunset people blow them to
announce the sunset.

I was looking for a deep pink conch shell. This does not show
all the different beautiful colors, the yellows and salmons ,etc
we saw on the dock..but the colors are all different in conch
shells,and the shapes slightly different.

This little guy is a curly tail and was at the edge of the dock
with all the conch shells.

We tell Milo to have a good day and we are off to Nippers.

Love this picture with the house and lot because it is so
typical of this small settlement

This was on the path. I told you everything was colorful!

This close up is for Ethan who e-mailed us he liked pictures of
a pirate ship we took in Marathon.

Also, further up was this sign on a tree...poison wood..do not
touch...do not climb... I did not climb..I did not touch.

And this one....we now have 2 cd's from A Barefoot Man..So
after getting the second CD at Nippers we head back to the
dingy.

just one of the docks we have been on...but this time we tied up to it and waded in.. .and in that shallow water was where we
had the next surprises. Again the waterfront street was the only street at this part of the settlement and then we went up a
path, and over to the Atlantic side and Nippers..

Our second surprise..right in the water we were wading in.. A poisonous Lion Fish!!!!! This is not a look bucket picture.....The
water is just very clear.We had seen posters in 3 different post offices with pictures advising the locals about the Pacific Lion
fish being in the Bahamas. They do not know how it got here. It is seen in shallow waters, and in the reefs in Guana
Cay,and moves very slowly unless feeding or provoked. It never tried to move. I remembered seeing larger ones at The
Dallas World Aquarium that Lauren and I visited many many times and I found them fascinating....but never expected to "be
with" one in the water this close. Surprise!!!! the venom lies in their 12-15 dorsal spines, 2 pelvic and 2 anal. The effects are
severe pain and swelling, nausea, dizziness, muscle weakness, shortness of breath, hypotension and headache...the venom
is made up of proteins....so for all of those planning to visit in the Bahamas , the venom is vulnerable to heat, so immerse in
very hot water 30-40 as you head for medical attention.

Our 3rd surprise...when we downloaded the pictures...3 or so pictures showed this pearl right next to him....I was only looking
at him and completely missed it ...It looks like he is guarding it....maybe he knows a sane person would not try to get it from
him...that's a sane person, I sure would have figgered out someway to get it. .....I know I keep repeating myself' but ,this is a
real adventure!!!!

Bye for now,
Love,
Don and Barbara

First trip to the Bahamas - February 14, 2008

You are a long way away from your nest!!!

First trip to the Bahamas - February 16, 2008

February 16, 2008 59th day out, 36th day in the Bahamas. Bahamian Greetings from Green Turtle Cay, Abaco.

We anchored the last 2 night at New Plymouth after spending the previous nights on a mooring ball in Black Sound right
down the way. For those that like coordinates, this is our location.
N 26 degrees 45.732'
W 77 degrees 19.875

We know several of you have found us on Google Earth so, we will share some of what this area looks like . Part 1 we will
introduce you to New Plymouth, Green Turtle Cay, Abaco.

This Memorial Sculpture Garden honoring the
Loyalist that settled here was impressive. Like Hope Town, it
had Loyalist who considered themselves Americans who just
wanted to stay loyal to the King, settle here after their land
and possessions were confiscated after
the Revolutionary War.

Texas A&M, with the Architectural Foundation of Green
Turtle Cay, identified 80 structures to be of historical
significance. This house, now a museum, was built 160 years
ago when the pineapple industry was flourishing...Hawaii got
its start in pineapple from here! The pamphlet stated that his
particular house was "named after the father of the famous
Bahamian artist, Alton Lowe".( A few days later I met the artist,
almost by accident . This museum had 4 of his paintings that
were made into stamps.)

Of everything in the museum, this was the most fascinating to
me. This house was dissembled in 1845 and placed on a
schooner and reassemble in Key West. It now stands at 804
William Street there and is a historic site. One third of the
entire population of New Plymouth took their houses in this
manner to Key West. Remember when I related that Key
should have been spelled Cay? Anyway, so much of what I
consider the charm of Key West came from the Loyalist
descendents in the Bahamas. There was lots of money to be
made from salvaging shipwrecks. There was much
opposition to lighthouses, and particularly the Hope Town
light house...when it was built, the people left here to salvage
in the Florida Keys. Florida's first millionaire was from here,
New Plymouth...guess how he made his money?

The Captain Roland Roberts House..built in 1863 of Abaco
pine, this is the last 2 story conch house in Abaco. Others
were taken to Key West. (An Abaco Conch house is not the
typical Greek Temple, yet based on classical Greek structure,
a triangular front facing at the roof with an inset window.
There are columns incorporated into the entrance.)

Former British Prime Minister Chamberlain grew up here.

Loyalist Hip Roof....since this is a small community these
quaint houses of about 5 different architectural styles were
just up and down the few streets here. They have one style,
the Palmsdale, only found in the Bahamas. In this next
picture you can see the Bahamian flag flying over these
offices. We fly a smaller over the boat at all times and an
American Flag in the back of the boat/

The post offices in the Bahamas have all been one small room
with 2 others next door in the same building.

This golf cart is the town's Police Car.

New Plymouth at low tide...We can see this from the boat
right now...very pretty at night then a more rural area all the
way to the left of this. Ok ,now I have introduced New
Plymouth, I will include some more personal pictures with us in
them in part 2.

New Plymouth, Green Turtle Cay has a population of about
450. It is right on the water and filled with history as was Hope
Town.

Love, Don and Barb

First trip to the Bahamas - February 16, 2008 Part 2

We originally anchored in Green Turtle Cay in Black Sound
on a mooring ball and took the dingy to maybe 4 or 5
different docks to tour New Plymouth. This is a very
protected area and that is why we were there as some
northers passed. That is all mangroves in front of us, Black
Sound National Preserve.

This captain literally took his boat into the mangroves right in
front of us for protection. At low tide he was really out of the
water.

I found time to clean some conch shells, with a sponge,
sandpaper and even here with a toothbrush....(an old
toothbrush kids!!!!)

Our view from the Dulcinea in Black Sound. The house
overlooking us and the Atlantic on the other side, turned out to
be the home and gallery of the artist I had mentioned earlier.
Apparently, it is unusual for him to be there. I walked up to
this gorgeous house and grounds and went up to the gallery.
(Later, read I was supposed to call for an appointment.) The
art was breathtaking ... some of the most beautiful I have ever
seen...but since not even the small ones were less than
$6,000 plus....I did not buy any..There was just the artist and
me in his gallery, so that was real neat...a real bonus...

On one of our many walks on Green Turtle Cay, this
intertwining of trees and other plants caught our attention.

I had taken this picture several days ago..because we noted
this bank was open twice as much as other banks we had
seen in the cays. Well, Thurs we took the dingy to the dock,
someone picks us up walking...in their golf cart and takes us
to the bank. Since it is before 10, we go to the small store
next door. When it is 10, we mention we are going to the
bank."Oh you don't need to hurry, they don't open till 10:20 or
10:30." But he told us they do close promptly at 2. Again, we
are on island time.

Another place..on island time..sometimes open, sometimes
not....but always willing to help us, serve us, (the owner lives
next door) even let us come in during a sudden rain storm.
This is Pineapples. We have been here 5 times. Friday ,hey
had live music, we left about 7:30 after having conch
appetizers, and had supper in our cockpit and listened to the
music still..neat,....neat!!

and they had Wi Fi!!!!

Don hooked us up to Skype here and we were able to use
earphones with the computer to cancel our dental cleaning
appts in Cortez for 2-23..and even talk to our compound
pharmacist in Texas. We had been completely without a way
to do this...so we were thrilled....we have Skype. Of course we
can only use it when we can find an Internet connection...I am
working offline now because we have no Internet.

Waterfront view from Pineapples. At night the sea grapes and
palms around the pool are filled with lights...and out there
was our anchor light. The coordinates in part one are right
out in front of this. We anchored there where we could take
the dingy directly here Valentines and then later leave and
dingy to the Plymouth Inn, Captains Table for a really
wonderful Valentine's dinner.

This was so great...you make reservations for your own table
for dinner but first the entire group meets together. We both
loved it. The two ladies to my right, Sandra and Francis, had
husbands playing in a band at a marina restaurant for
Valentines. The man to my left, Scott, was the great grandson
of the captain that lived at Plymouth Inn and this restaurant is
named after. We had toured the Roberts conch house last
Monday. We were the only non locals, the rest of the 6 tables
this night, were either locals or visiting with locals. I really love
this!!!!

To be able to have the time to discover new places and meet
new people like this is really a blessing...to do it with someone
we love just doubles that...This was a Valentine's evening, as
the entire trip is, to remember.

Love to all of you. We continue our adventure now...

Love,
Don and Barbara

First trip to the Bahamas - February 25, 2008

Hi. We have received many favorable comments about the looking glass pictures, so we are sending this e-mail. (A look
bucket is also called a water glass..which is what Don prefers...) Some of my most amazing moments of looking came from
just sitting on the swim platform of the Dulcinea with the look bucket. I usually do not have the camera.

I have seen eels come out of their holes about 3 or 4 times, when I did not have a camera. The last time, I was actually
watching a hole in the sand, when a green moray eel stuck its head out and looked at me. I yelled for Don and I told him I was
looking at a green moray eel. Then I yelled, and " it has eyes..."..meaning I could see them very clearly.
"Yes, they usually do", was Don's comment.... Well...anyway, I was excited!!!!
This is the look bucket. Zach wasn't sure what we meant by a look bucket.

We took the dingy out to where the waves were crashing on
the reef. Don said we only had about an hour or two before
the winds and tides shifted which would cause problems.

We are over the reef. The waves are making it hard for me to
hold the bucket and the camera and keep the water out and
difficult for Don to keep the dingy square with the waves and
watch out for breakers.

The waves did hit the bottom of the look bucket strong
enough to dislodge the lens of my camera!!!! It is a gonner!!!!
Thank goodness we took both cameras on this trip, as it took
several hours to get this far and I really did want pictures of
the reef.

As Don is trying to keep the dingy from getting flooded, he
finds one of the mooring balls he had been looking for to tie

up to. We had gotten a list of the GPS coordinates from the Reef Relief volunteers. These were installed to keep people
from anchoring on the reefs and killing the coral.