Three Times a Charm

January 9

A very disappointing morning, with a slight feeling that I had been 'stood up', but that wasn’t the case. We stood each other up… lol Fabrizio was waiting for 15-20minutes the night before. So I had oatmeal for breakfast. Went to our neighbors to see if everyone was still alive from a night of partying. A glitch in our communication, they thought we were supposed to meet at 9:30pm and not 10pm. I was still in the marinas showers at 9:30pm… we made a deal that tonight was going to be official. A third attempt to go out for a drink on Paradise Island. Met very funny Bahamian ladies, and a Cuban one too. Walked into a dress shop called ‘Adam and Eve’; to find a funky top to go out… they all wanted to dress me up in millions of outfits and dresses. I found a nice classic black top… should do the job to impress the Italians. For lunch we had steak wraps.

This time it was “official” the Captain and 2^nd mate came over to the sailboat to pick me up. Drove across the bridge and headed to the Atlantis Aquarium… spectacular place!!! A must see in the Bahamas. Walked over to the casino to find the Captain playing at the Roulette table. “I think he knows what he’s doing, yet I’m not too sure if he’s winning any money.” Fabrizio and I (the 2nd mate) went to the disco to dance. Loads of fun with different folks from the cruise ships, surrounding resorts and so many typical ‘Barbie’ American girls. The disco is open all night long… so it was hard to keep track of time, especially when you’re not wearing a watch. Came back to the boat around three in the morning. Phewf! Thank god, I’m not working in the morning! On the other hand… the Italian crew is. Hahaha

The Bread Maker

January 8
Diane's final attempt at making raisin bread has failed due to a malfunctioning bread maker... the paddle stays attached to the bread pan and refuses to mix the ingredients/raisins. We went looking for a replacement... found one almost identical to the old one. A little different in color and recipes. Yesterday, I was invited to go out for a drink with one of the crew members from a mega yacht docked at the marina. For some reason, I was still tired from all the travel and in a very unintentional way stood him up. Today, I've been officially invited to go out for a drink on Paradise Island... at the Atlantis Resort. Which twelve years ago when traveling in the Bahamas... it was a work in progress. So, at 10pm I was waiting in the cockpit for someone to notify me that we were going to be heading to Atlantis... well the clock kept ticking and no one was seen on the yacht. Trying, not to look too desperate... I waited until 11:30pm and then called it a night. For some reason... I was thinking, maybe they stood me up because I had done the same to them the day before. Who knows? As always... the story continues.

Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping

January 7
Walked down East Bay St., found the Bahamas Maritime Cadet Corps and spoke with Mr. Martinborou' one of the individuals responsible for hosting the STCW'95 Basic Safety Training Course. Wade ordered the new pump… I registered in the course for Jan. 25-29 and made my large payment of $400. Which is peanuts for an STCW course. In Canada, the same course is offered for $1200. I am extremely excited to be taking this course, as I went to photocopy my passport... I noticed that the motor yacht with the friendly Italians have docked at the marina. They are all so adorable.

Twenty Ten

January 6
Waited in Terminal three for two hours until jumping on the plane bound for warm weather, turquoise waters and friendly locals. Customs and Immigrations were a little confusing since I'm on a sailboat and have no return flight into Canada... the imported ground beef really made things weird. Had a quick pick-up, drove in the downtown core and noticed the straw market, some of the shops were the cruise ships tie up and a few restaurants I had never noticed before. I am back in the Bahamas until the middle of February. The boat is temporarily out of service... the hydraulic steering pump has persisted to leak and cause us grief. We're in the process of finding a new one from North America. Check out Wade's website for all the technical details. Natalie = Not An Engineer!

December Days

December 20
All my bags were packed and ready to go up, up and away. To northern Canada for Christmas and the holidays. At 930am this morning the taxi driver Mr. Moss brought me to the airport for my 12 o'clock flight. While I was in the airport I met a group of El Salvador guys who only spoke Spanish, and they kept trying to speak to me. I couldn't understand a word they were saying... so they went to find a translator from Mexico who spoke both English and Spanish. I thought that was true effort! When we landed in Toronto, I noticed all the white powder covering all the roads and the buildings. Thank god for my wonderful aunt who bought me a winter jacket, so I wouldn't freeze. The following day I took the subway, the bus, and then arrived in Timmins, Ontario.
~*~
December 19
My last day of 2009 in the Bahamas!!! In the morning...the crew from shergar, drifted off in the distance, waving farewell. While we stayed in Nassau. I went to the plaza to find island gifts to bring back into Canada i.e. rum, rum and more rum, I'm only kidding. The Christmas lights were working... and they were all multicolored. I packed all my stuff and was 100% ready to go back to the brutal cold in Canada. Watched one of my favorite movies... called “Taken”.
~*~
December 18
Went to Starbucks to update this blog and checking emails. Wrote letters to the family and friends back at home. Went for a walk towards downtown, searching for the straw market and only found our way towards the Cemetery and BASRA. Search and Rescue in the Bahamas. I headed my way towards the showers on shore, spoke with the curious Italians, whom wanted to know about our solar Christmas lights (non-working at the time). We had some interesting conversations about the construction of s/v "Joana". Folks are always asking questions! Had an invitation to go over to Atlantis for a drink... but contingencies occurred.
~*~

Potters Cay

December 17

Today, I met a wonderful Canadian family of six from Toronto, the father worked for the air force in Comox, BC and their four kids were raised in Ontario, they intend to cruise the Bahamas for the next 9 months. We started talking about fish and different lures that work well in the Bahamas... we exchanged fishing advise and later that afternoon we went to buy some new gadgets for our tackle box. I was searching around for some neat Bahamian Christmas gifts... but only found a couple good ones. Stopped at the post-office for some stamps to send letters home, walked down to Potter's Cay where the fish and produce exchange takes place... we got a good deal on some Jackfish. The locals advised us to marinate the fish we sour oranges and limes. We also found some homemade Conch salad and had really good laughs with this couple at their "conch booth". It's such a delicacy to eat conch...

Nassau

December 16
Official departure from the Berry Islands heading towards the capital --- Nassau!!! We left Frozen Cay early in the mornin' at 7am and kept trekking with the wind on the nose. 10 -20 knots. I threw the fishing line in the water to see what I could catch... a big fat nothing. It was a challenge since the surface of the sea had clusters of seaweed, fouling my lure. As we began to approach Paradise Island, immediately I could notice the gigantic Atlantis Resort. When I was younger the construction still wasn't complete. Due to the height of the mast, we couldn't enter the main Nassau Harbour, we had to do some visual piloting so we read the waters and approach from the North side of Paradise Island really close to Salt Cay (where the Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounters are located). Then we made our way south towards Athol Island to this place called the Narrows. It was a little stressful with the high density of boat traffic and the depths of 7.9ft which is a little worrisome at times, since the draft for this vessel is 7ft. At 25.04.40’ N and 77.17.20’ W the sailboat arrived to that waypoint then turned West towards Nassau Harbour Club. Peter the Greek, the dock master who guided us into the marina, was extremely helpful and friendly. Our lines were easily secured and docking was simple. Our fellow neighbors are from Midland aboard "Southern Nights" Peter and Sharon. Since leaving the US I've been craving chinese cuisine, so we went out for dinner to a East Villa Restaurant. Finally got my fix for shang high noodles. Back at the same marina my parents stayed at over a decade ago.

Frozen Cay

December 15
Lifted anchor from White Cay and relocated Joana to Frozen Cay, where some locals offered us some lobsters. Yummy! However they didn't have enough time to go catch them for us, so we declined. Then I proceeded to read "Northern Magic" the book about a family doing a circumnavigation around the world in their steel sailboat. I went for a quick swim to check on the anchor. Wasn't so fond of snorkling in the later part of the afternoon... shark bait!! A bit of fishing off the bow and stern to see if I could catch any fish. We watched the hundreds of stars again... and could see the lights off of Chub Cay off in the distance. When my family and I travelled through the Bahamas in 1997 we did stay on Chub for a couple of days before proceeding to Nassau.