Merry Christmas Poem

Reprinted with permission of the author
By Patty Mitchell on the ORINOCO.

When over the radio on channel 16 there arose such a clatter
I turned up the volume to see what's the matter
A voice clearly heard over static and blow
asked for the marina to call and give him a tow

He barked out his transmission so lively and quick
I could have sworn that the boat name he used was "St.Nick"
Away to the window I flew like a flash
Sure that it was only winter's last dash.

He called his position and there could be no denial
This is the Nicholas One and I am coming in for awhile
The dog barked a warning and I arose from my chair
to see what was the matter and happening out there
Out on the grass as wind whipped all around us
I picked up the dog and was soon astounded

What to my wondering eye did I see
A tiny tug boat and a flotilla of three
We saw them come in from the threatening sea
we dashed from our boat to help scraping my knee.

The tugs were all tied the crisis was past
when out of the pilothouse stepped the captain at last
He was a jolly old soul all dressed in red
I was sure he just wanted the head.
His pipe smoke circled his head like a fog,
I thought I might offer him some fresh eggnog
His cheeks were rosy and jiggled like jelly
his boots were black as the tug underbelly

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old fool
and he kindly informed me he needed some fuel
With a wink of his eye and a twist of his toes,
he sped off the dock his nose like a rose.

I heard him exclaim as he roared out of sight
Merry Christmas to all and keep on the nav light

Merry Christmas

Hello Everyone, we hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We spent Christmas on the boat at the marina in Nassau with three couples- two from Canada and one from Texas. We had a great time. Bob ventured into using the Convection/Microwave oven to bake a turkey. He measured the oven and then took his tape measure to the store - height, width, and depth determined the size of the turkey this year - as opposed to "pounds per person." It turned out great, despite the fact that he had no instructions in the book that came with the oven on using it to cook a turkey - but leave it to the engineer to figure it out. The hardest part was that we did not have a glass pan that would hold the turkey and the instructions said to not use any metal, even though we were using the convection oven, not the microwave. That meant he had to open the oven frequently and scoop out the juice with a cup - you see we didn't think of bringing a turkey baster with us.

We had all types of boats used for cruising the Bahamas represented by those attending the dinner. Ed and Dee from Canada on a mono hull sailboat, Rita Kay and Clay from Texas in a mono hull American Tug, Fran and Laurie from Canada on a sailing catamaran he built himself, and us on a power catamaran.


Fran and Rita Kay


Laurie and Dee


Clay and Ed

Everyone brought the side dishes and wine to add to the turkey. Bob said he couldn't have done the entire meal on the boat due to the small size of the galley, but doing the turkey, gravy, and dressing worked out just fine.


Bob's traditional photo stabbing the turkey


Dee's beautiful vegetable dish decorated with tree


Rita Kay's decorated salad

Ed brought Plum Pudding, an English tradition, and Fran made a rum cake. Both were rich and delicious for dessert.

Here are some photos we took on a walk across the bridge to Paradise Island the other day. It was a gray and very windy day.


Fish and Lobster for sale at Potters Cay under the bridge.


View of the Marina from the bridge. Pretty Penny is to the left of the large boat in photo.


View of Mailboats being loaded. Mailboats are the main travel means for Bahamians to go between islands and for goods to be delivered. They are the lifeline for commerce in the country.


Bob with hair flying in the wind atop the bridge.


View of Atlantis from the bridge

If you had to be exiled, there are worse places to be.


Crew member hanging in bosun's chair working on electronics of the boat.


Carriage available for hire in Nassau

Oh by the way, today is the 26th of December, known as "Boxing Day" here in the Bahamas when slaves were given their Christmas presents and exchanged among themselves. Junkanoo started at 4 in the morning which was a bit too early for Bob and I.

We expect to be in Nassau till Monday, when the winds will die down and be in our favor. We will then move on to Normans Cay.

We Made It!

We passed this big freighter as we were going out the cut.

I know you’ve been waiting to hear that we made the crossing safely. We awoke early on Friday at the marina in Ft. Lauderdale, FL and passed out to the ocean through the cut at Port Everglades and headed toward the rising sun. It was projected to be 2 to 4 foot seas dying down to 1 to 2 foot in the afternoon.

Since the weather window closes again on Monday, Capt. Bob’s plan was to make it to Nassau by Sunday night and be safely tucked into a marina through the next bad weather period. So, instead of going to Bimini and checking in there, we went to Gun Cay and then another two hours out onto the Bahamas Bank. You may remember from last year, that this is basically a limestone table around the edge of the tongue of the ocean with very shallow waters, usually between 10 and 18 feet deep.

It was a pretty rough crossing on Friday. I had secured the boat as best I could, but I had not made our lunch ahead of time and had to open the refrigerator for lunch meat and mustard. Well, you may remember the fiasco we had last year when the frig opened on its own when we were in rough water and poured out its contents onto the floor. Well, it happened again, only this time - after I opened it. Many items were just waiting to fall our when the door was opened. I think next time we know that it is likely to happen, we will try putting some duck tape inside the door to try and hold things to the shelf they are on. At least this time it was not the sour cream that opened and spread everywhere, leaving an odor for a few weeks as it hid in places I could not find nor reach. It was just a container of brown rice which was much easier to clean up.

When we anchored, we realized how sore we were from having to brace ourselves and hold on as we walked around the boat during the day. At least by night, the waters calmed and by the time we reached the bank, it was quite tolerable. Yes, it would have been better to wait till Saturday to cross, but we would probably not have reached Nassau, leaving us to find suitable anchorage where we might have to be for a week. Been there, done that – much more fun to be in Nassau where I can shop at the Straw Market and the shops at Atlantis and the Captain can fill up any remaining spaces in the boat with rum.

We anchored for the night out on the bank by our lonely selves – just us, water ad stars. I know you would love to know what that feels like, so I tried out my new cameras movie feature, I'll add that when I get to a fast Internet connection. We then took our bottle of Champagne (that I remembered to get on our last shopping trip), so we could carry on the tradition of toasting ourselves on the successful crossing. We went out on the top deck and popped the cork out into the water. Then sat back and rested our feet on the dinghy and had our Champagne.


Video I took of the Bahamas Bank - feel the peace

We woke Saturday to very calm waters and an eerie grey /aqua sky that seemed to flow into the water of the bank. You had to look hard to see the separation between sky and water. I’ve only seem that one other time and that was just outside the Little Wicomico River jetty right after Hurricane Isabel had passed through. It leaves you with this strange feeling. It remained mostly cloudy all day, but I’ll take the calmness anytime.

Saturday night we made it to Chub Cay where we anchored for the night and proceeded to Nassau Sunday morning. We arrived with no problems and waited for Customs and Immigration to arrive and check us in. We had some trouble finding a marina that would give us a slip with electricity. We ended up with a slip at the TPA Marina which appears to be a family owned marina where most all the boats are owned by the family that owns Kalik Beer. We are right next to a mega yacht called the Maritana X. Huge mega yacht purchased with "beer" money. It does provide nice shade in the afternoon. lol


View of "Maritana X" from the Pilot House


View of bridges crossing the Nassau Harbor from Pilot House

Monday we took a bus downtown so I could visit the Straw Market and make some purse purchases and Bob could buy some Rum. Tomorrow, we plan to visit the Bicardi Distillery here. It is in the process of closing and making all their rum out of the plant in Puerto Rico. If you know of a developer that would like about 80 acres of prime land here in Nassau, let them know it is available!


Downtown Nassau - it was this loud. Here the mixture of music, including the Christmas music among the rest.

Bahamian Traffic Guard

Friday is Junkanoo, a huge parade and party on the island. I'm not sure if we will stay for it, or if we will scoot out of here if the weather is clear or not yet. Sunday night, the band that plays in the parade practiced down on Potter's Cay, a wharf right near us. They practiced their drum beats till after midnight. You could actually "feel" the beat in the boat.

North Palm Beach, FL to Ft. Lauderdale, FL

It appears that we have a weather window - not the best conditions, but the best we can hope for without waiting. We have already waited for two weeks, the longest we have waited for any weather window yet.

We moved from North Palm to Ft. Lauderdale yesterday to make our getaway today easier. We expect it to be somewhat rough this morning, but better as the day progresses. The Captain says he wants to make Nassau by Sunday when the weather window closes again. So, we will continue on through Bimini and plan to check into Customs in Nassau.

The marina we are at here in Ft. Lauderdale is on a river off of the ICW where there are a lot of shipyards for mega yachts, and the GG Shipping Co that ships supplies to the Bahamas. Bob and I were startled awake last night when one of their ships left port and sounded their horn right off the bow of the boat. Bob and I shot out of bed like cannons! Wish we could have just had them throw us a tow line and we could have followed them across the stream.

I expect that we will be out of reach of Internet until we get to Nassau, hopefully Sunday.

North Palm Beach, FL

Hi Everyone. We've been sitting in the anchorage at North Palm Beach for the last week waiting for a weather window. Not much to report other than watching "Sea Bear" (Jack Nicklaus' boat) going out for an evening cruise. We understand that another large boat across this the anchorage is owned by Tiger Woods.

We rented a car Monday to go to a Laundromat, a last run to Costco, pick up the mail, etc. I enjoyed seeing more of the area. Trouble with boats is that you only see what can be seen by water. Not that that is bad, just limiting.

Here is a photo of Bob at the dinghy landing we've been using. A lot harder than using a dinghy dock, but at least it enables us to get to stores, etc.



The weather looks pretty good for a crossing on Friday or Saturday. We will probably go Friday - we don't want to miss the window again. The Captain is thinking we might go to Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow and then leave from there to provide a better boost from the wind. It is also a slightly shorter trip from there.

Our friends on Diva and Rachel have moved to Lake Worth right off the inlet to enable a quick getaway as soon as the weather looks good.

I will post to let you know we have left the US, but may not get to the Internet for a while until we get to Nassau. I'll try and get a family member to post our status, so you won't need to worry about sending out the Coast Guard.

West Palm Beach, FL

Close-up of Spanish Moss near Vero Beach Marina


Photo of Tree covered with Spanish Moss

We are sitting in a lovely anchorage right off some beautiful homes, some of which appear to be 25,000 square foot homes. I feel like an intruder into their lives and abodes. One of the houses has a mega yacht of some 90 feet docked in front. It left this morning, but returned later. No doubt just a cruise to make sure all equipment was workding and to get the barnacles off the bottom.

We took our dinghy to a make-shift landing area where the boaters in this anchorage go to shop at the local Publix Market. We stopped to visit with the folks on Diva, a sailboat that had also been at Vero Beach while we were there. Turns out they knew that the large yacht, belongs to Jack Nicklaus. I'm not sure if it is just docked here, or if his home is here also. I guess the clear giveaway that it belongs to Jack Nicklaus is that it is called Sea Bear and there is a building complex nearby called "Golden Bear Plaza."


Sea Bear


Crows stopping by the boat

We hiked up to the Publix and bought more food - Bob seems to continue to think of food that he can't live without right after we have left the store.

We tried out our new Bimini top this afternoon that our neighbor Deb made for us. We think it was too late in the afternoon. We think it will work best between 10 and 2. Once the sun starts its descent, the bimini looses its effectiveness.

Weather report for crossing is still not good, so we will continue to sit here. We are rocking and rolling at anchor due to the high winds and storm approaching. At least we are near a grocery - as if Bob needs to buy any more. The boat is sitting really low in the water due to fuel, school supplies for the Bahamas Project, and all our stuff.

Here are some photos of sculpture outside the Vero Beach Art Museum.







Often photographed Jupiter Lighthouse


Night before the storm

Vero Beach, FL to Lake Worth, FL

There was this loud ripping sound as we left "Velcro" Beach. It was us pulling away from the tight hold Vero Beach seemed to have on us. After a pleasant eight days rafted up to "Harmony," we said goodbye to Florrie and Lew and headed South.

Our plan is to stop at an anchorage in Lake Worth and wait for the next weather window to cross, which may be Tuesday. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

This Osprey seemed to camp out most days on a thicket of trees right behind the boat. Here he is enjoying his "catch of the hour."

Vero Beach Continued

Remember the Dinghy issue - well here is what was left of the strap. Our bad - we should have purchased a new one.

Well, when we arrived here in Vero Beach, we had thought we would be here just 2 days. The Dockmaster laughed when we told him that. We took on the school supplies which were quite heavy. Bob had to move some fuel to adjust the load on the boat. We have taken the shuttle shopping a couple of days while we wait for the next weather window.

We are one day away from Lake Worth, a jump off point for the Bahamas. It looked like Saturday was going to be a one day window to go. Unfortunately, our mail and a package of some ordered supplies did not arrive today. So we've been contemplating our options. One is to just leave tomorrow and hope to have the mail and package catch up with us at some point; wait till the mail comes and then leave and go 14 hours straight through till we get to Bimini in the Bahamas' or wait for another weather window that may be up to a week away. I'll let you know our decision tomorrow.

It has been interesting in this boating community here at the Vero Beach Municipal Marina. We have had the same neighbors since we arrived, Lew and Florrie on Harmony. A nice name for a cat. We had them over last night and enjoyed their company and stories. Florrie is an artist, so I've enjoyed her company.


Harmony and Pretty Penny moored together

We watch boats come and go, new pairs arrive, one leaves, another comes, like some odd form of musical boats.

Today, we walked about a mile to the beach and enjoyed lunch by the ocean, explored the stores, and took the shuttle back to the marina. Another pleasant day, luckily, it appears to be a little warmer for the next few days.


View of the Beach


"Fishy" Playground by the beach

When we cross over, we may not have Internet for a day or two.


Visiting Osprey

Sunset in Vero Beach