Meow meow meow, YUM!

March 14, 2007
7:17 PM

They left exactly one hour ago with some dessert. They’ve gone to Jerry’s boat for dinner and dessert so the coast is clear for at least two more hours. Let me check one more time….yup, their dinghy is attached to his boat and I can’t see them anywhere. Now’s my chance for some real food to stave off my hunger pains. They keep promising to give me the tuna from Angie and Amy but it’s all false promises. They left a plate of some pieces of leftover pork tenderloin from dinner last night along with some sausage. Now if I can just tear through the plastic to get to it. Good thing Kristen hasn’t cut my claws yet like she keeps telling me she is going to do. Ha! I’m through. Ooooh yuuuuum. Pork tenderloin all for me. I’ll leave them the snap peas and one piece of tenderloin.

I’m feeling….really….really…t-i-r-e-d….yaawn…time…for…some…rest….
that…was…hard..work…I…hope…they…don’t…notice…

Land and Sea Park, Abacos, The Bahamas

March 12, 2007

This weekend we took a trip south to Sandy Cay which is part of the Abacos Land and Sea Park and is marked on our chart as a “coral garden.” We left Hope Town on Saturday afternoon and sailed towards Tilloo Cut to anchor for the night. The sailing was easy with 10 knot winds from the north. However, dark clouds appeared on the horizon and we spent half of the 3 hour sail in raincoats. We anticipated a quiet, secluded anchorage after crowded Hope Town harbor, but when we arrived we discovered that we had to share the spot with at least 10 other boats. It was still a nice spot though and the winds really died down at night so we slept well.

A surreal sunset just after the rainstorm.

We sailed out of the anchorage after breakfast and had a great sail towards Sandy Cay. The closer we got, the more apparent it became that we would not be able to snorkel due to the large swells coming in from the ocean. Instead, we dropped anchor on the leeward side of one of the barrier cays and went ashore to watch the waves break on the ocean side. It was fantastic! Unfortunately, our solitude was disturbed by a charter boat who decided to anchor right next to us although there are many other similar islands all along that stretch of the Sea of Abaco. We lay on the beach for an hour or so and then weighed anchor to sail back to Hope Town.

We had a little excitement with our dinghy as we were watching the waves. As we were walking back to the beach where we had hauled Ding Ding II onto, we spotted him bobbing in the water close to shore, drifting away with the current and waves. We both ran at top speed and Hans was able to swim fast enough to catch up. From now on, if we can’t tie a line to a tree, we’ll always throw the anchor down in the sand!






Waves crashing on the rocks.


Whisper at anchor in the lee of the island.

Sailing with Dave

Sailing with Dave on his 45 foot Shannon. Kristen is at the helm, doing about 8 knots.

Still going strong in Hope Town

March 8, 2007

We’ve been spending a few days in Hope Town going to the beautiful beaches around the island, and also going for short day trips on Whisper.


Above, a picture of Tahiti Beach on the southern end of Elbow Cay, where Hopetown is also located. We went here for the day on Saturday, and even though it wasn't a work day in the real world, we still felt pretty lucky to be there.


Yesterday we sailed to Man-O-War Cay, the island north of us in blustery conditions. It was a beautiful day for a sail, although the Hopetown Sailing Club thought that it was too windy, so they postponed the days race for the following day. Undaunted, and disappointed that the race was cancelled, we set out for Man-O-War. On the way there we were on a broad reach with one reef in the main and our 120% jib doing a comfortable 6 to 6.5 knots most of the time! We dropped the anchor in a quiet cove and dove overboard to scrub down Whisper’s bottom, which we haven’t done since we went into the water in Norfolk in November. All things considered, it didn’t look too bad, but it took us two hours of hard work to get the barnacles and slime scrubbed off. The sail back was to windward, so we put a second reef in the main and a couple of rolls in the jib and headed south. Again, it was a beautiful sail. Whisper was well balanced and cut through the waves with ease. Too bad the race had been postponed as we felt like we could have schooled everyone! The winds were about 20 knots gusting to close to 30.

The race, which had been postponed, was held today and even though the winds were a bit weaker, Whisper still sailed very well, and we ended up 9th of 12 boats. Hardly stellar, but definately an improvement from the last race.


Above, a picture from today's race.


Above, Kit Kat in her racing position, inside the starboard cockpit locker--her new favorite place.


We’ve now been in Hopetown for two weeks. Much longer than we anticipated. However, because we’ve stayed for more than just a couple of days, we’ve been able to develop friendships with lots of cruisers here in the harbor, something we consider much more valuable than seeing every single cay and island in the Abaccos. We share dinner or are invited for dinner on someone else’s boat every other day it seems. It is nice to be able to get to know people on a deeper level than the “where are you from” and “how long are you planning on sailing for” questions. We should note, however, that almost no one comes over to Whisper for dinner (not for lack of invitations) but, we presume, because she is a bit small… or maybe we just smell bad!


One of the main streets in "downtown" Hopetown.




Last night's sunset

Hope Town, Abacos, The Bahamas

March 3, 2007

The winds have been great the last couple days, so we’ve acted like real sailors and have gone sailing yesterday and the day before. Yesterday Kristen, Hans and Dave from “Shannon Glyn” sailed Whisper 4 miles south to Tahiti Beach which is at the southern end of Elbow Cay. Despite the alluring name, we did not stop at the beach but instead dinghied a little further south to look for lobster and grouper. As seems to be the norm these days, we did not get ourselves dinner although we did find an active coral reef with lots of fish, coral heads, sea fans and even a nurse shark sleeping underneath the rocks. We tacked all the way south and anchored under sail. When it was time to go, we hoisted the main and simultaneously weighed anchor to sail away from the beach and back to Hope Town. Dave invited us over for a hamburger & hot dog dinner on his boat and Don and Brad joined us. Hans played some guitar and we learned the not only is Don a good singer, but he remembers lyrics too!

The day before we were treated to a sail on Dave’s boat, a 45 foot Shannon Yacht. It was a fairly windy day and the seas were a little rough, but at 38,000 pounds, the Shannon Glyn sailed at 7-8 knots with ease. We took turns steering, trimming the sails and sitting on the bow pulpit. It was a real treat to sail on such a first-class sailboat.

We plan on staying in Hope Town until later in the week. The next race for cruising sailboats is on Wednesday and we want to attempt to have a better showing than the last race. We’ve also met some great people here and we’re enjoying their company.


Dave, the Captain of Shannon Glynn.


Don, from the boat Epilogue, and crew for the day on Shannon Glynn.


Shannon Glynn under sail.


Kristen and Hans posing for the camera.


Kit Kat blocking her eyes from the sun which is disturbing her beauty rest.

Hope Town, Abacos, The Bahamas

February 26, 2007


The harbor at Hope Town. Can anyone find Whisper? (hint: look for the smallest sailboat in the middle of the picture)


We’ve spent the last few days exploring Hope Town and enjoying the beaches on the island. On Friday we biked towards the south end of the island and hiked down to a beach where we took advantage of the nice winds and few people to fly our kite. Hans is becoming an expert kite flyer and manages to fly the kite so the corners skim across the surface of the sand before shooting back up in the sky.




A beach on Elbow Cay (the island on which Hope Town is located).


The path to the beach.


Hans flying the kite.

The Hope Town Volunteer Fire Department held their annual fundraiser on Saturday. The main street running through Hope Town was blocked off and they had organized games, food, drinks, a bake sale and a silent and regular auction. The historical marine artifacts that were up for sale at the auction were gorgeous, but we just couldn’t figure out where we could store a 1920s brass telescope on Whisper!


The auction benefiting the Hope Town Volunteer Fire Department.

Yesterday we lounged around for most of the day and around sunset we walked to the top of the lighthouse to watch the lighthouse keeper light it for the night. The lighthouse was built in the late 1800s and it is still lit by kerosene and needs to be hand-cranked every two hours to keep the beam circulating. It is quite an operation to light the wick and we were lucky enough to be invited to the top of the lantern to get a sort of inside-out view of the lighthouse.


vertigo, anyone?


The Hope Town light house.

Hope Town, The Abacos, Bahamas

February 23, 2007

We arrived in Hope Town on Wednesday afternoon and picked up a mooring in the crowded harbor thanks to some inside information from Brad on the catamaran “Mothra.”

On Thursday, the Hope Town Sailing Club hosted its bi-monthly cruisers’ race which is open to any cruising sailboat as well as local boats. We were excited to participate and attended the skippers meeting at 9:00AM. After getting briefed on the rules, we quickly dinghied back to Whisper and started stowing things away, hoisting the genoa and getting ready for the race. About 11 boats came out to race and they ranged from 18 feet to a 48 foot racing, carbon fiber, catamaran “Lickety Split” captained by our friend Toby. Needless to say, he beat us by over an hour, and all the other boats beat us as well and we came in dead last. Sorry Whisper for loading you down with all of our stuff! On corrected time, however, we came in second to last! It was a beautiful day nonetheless and it was fun to practice sailing maneuvers. The Sailing Club hosted a BYOB awards ceremony after the race, complete with lots of appetizers and munchies. Toby and Brad joined us back on Whisper for drinks and then we hit the “bar scene” (two bars!) in Hope Town.



Lickety Split sailing past us.


The second leg of the race, all the boats running downwind and Whisper keeping up the rear. It was rather difficult for her two competitive captains to come to terms with last place...


The awards ceremony at the Sailing Club after the race.

This morning, Kristen went back to the Sailing Club to attend a seminar on Ancient Celestial Navigation led by Steve Dodge and on the way back to Whisper stopped off at the grocery store and picked up a hot, freshly backed garlic & herb baguette. 6 hours later, the baguette is history! We went snorkeling this afternoon off the beach and the water temperature is much warmer than it has been. This evening we’re going over to Carla & Gordon’s boat, “Gray Fox,” for dinner. They are a young couple who are nearing the end of their year long cruise.


The beach at Hope Town on Elbow Cay.


Kristen snorkeling.

Project-ville, Marsh Harbour

February 20, 2007

Internet connections leave much to be desired in Marsh Harbour. There are many different places to go online, however most of the free ones have poor reception and the local wireless service costs $20/day or $40/week. Thus, the reason for our blog being updated less frequently than usual.

We dropped off the cracked chainplate with CJ Welding yesterday morning and are crossing our fingers that he’ll have it repaired and strengthened by this afternoon. Meanwhile, we’re taking advantage of being stuck in Marsh Harbour and are working on some boat projects. Kristen has been varnishing handholds, hatchboards and other trim pieces while Hans is tackling the cockpit sole. Before leaving Fort Lauderdale, he constructed a wooden floor for the cockpit which not only looks nice, but also serves to keep our feet dry while sailing as the water flows underneath the wood and doesn’t slosh over our feet. Currently, Hans is constructing brackets for the wooden floor which will allow the floor to be raised flush with the cockpit seats and, with the addition of cushions, will create a double-bed for comfortable, outdoor sleeping.

This part of the Abacos is an interesting place. It appears to be owned and operated by one family, the Alburys. The story is something like this: Back in the day, Nellie Archer farmed a plot of land with her family on Man-o-War Cay. One day she heard voices from the beach and found several survivors from a wreck on a reef, including 16 year old Ben Albury. The majority of the residents of Man-o-War Cay can trace their roots back to Nellie and Ben. The local ferry service which shuttles people between the nearby cays is the “Albury Ferry Service”, there is an Albury taxi company as well as CJ’s Welding, the company working on our chainplate, which is owned by Charles Albury.

We biked to the Marsh Harbor Boat Yard to drop off the chainplate and bumped into an elderly gentleman on his daily walk. He was eager to show us a nearby beach where odd shells and pieces of shellfish wash up. Neither of us are very interested in beachcombing as we don’t have anywhere on the boat to keep bits of flotsam and jetsam, but we tagged along anyways. He was right; we were able to find quite a few interesting shells, vertebrae and even a piece of a jaw. We left the “treasures” but took a picture instead.


Hans looking for shells and potential lobstering spots.


The shells, etc. that we found.

Blustery, bouncy, bumpy Marsh Harbour

February 18, 2007

We’re at anchor in Marsh Harbour sitting out a cold front which NOAA has forecasted to have gale strength winds. We’ve tucked Whisper behind a marina so there is minimal waves, though the wind has been reported at 40 knots. It is as comfortable as can be on Whisper and we feel very safe and warm. We went over to a neighboring boat, a 26 foot Falmouth Cutter. A.O. and his wife, Lindy, treated us to coffee, cake and hot chocolate and lots of small boat discussion. Their boat is very seaworthy and is built with safety as the top priority. A huge bank of black clouds appeared on the horizon indicating the frontal boundary, so we jumped in our dinghy and sped back to Whisper.

We played a good game of Scrabble (score: Kristen 1, Hans 4. arrrrrggghhhhh, says Kristen!). Now we’re about to have a lunch of split pea soup and homemade tortillas. Kit Kat just finished a huge, unauthorized lunch of Iams. Unbeknownst to the competitive Scrabble players, she climbed into a locker under the vee-berth, clawed through two plastic bags and a food bag and gorged herself. Now she is exhausted and sleeping in the clothes locker (or, she’s just hiding from the wrath of Kristen and Hans who are tempted to lock her outside).

Our stay in Marsh Harbour has been extended by the discovery of a crack in the forward chainplate (the piece of stainless steel that holds the forestay to the bow and in turn helps hold the mast up). We had read about this weakness in Vegas on the Vega listserv and contemplated beefing up the chainplate before leaving Maryland, but it looked fine and we decided that we couldn’t replace *everything* on Whisper. Since we knew about this weakness, Hans has been keeping an eye on it and he found the crack before any serious problem (dismasting!) could develop. There is a welding shop here so it should hopefully be a straightforward job and we can start traveling to more scenic harbours soon.

Marsh Harbour

February 14, 2007


Whisper at sunset in Marsh Harbour.

Happy Valentines Day!

We’re spending some time enjoying the “big city” life of Marsh Harbour, also known as the “Hub of the Abacos.” The town really does seem to have everything one needs, ranging from a guy on the docks selling conch salad to a KFC, Subway and TrueValue hardware store. The crew of Whisper is currently in negotiations to decide if we want to install a sub-woofer to enhance our stereo-surround sound. Kristen and Hans are both in favor of the idea, but KitKat thinks that it is hard to justify the expense when so much food could be bought for the same price.

We met up with three guys from Indiana who are on a “man-cation,” aka a bachelor party, for Chris who is getting married in April. They were all very enthusiastic about our sailing plans so yesterday we took them for a brisk afternoon sail. They took turns steering and testing just how far over Whisper can heel (a comfortable 20 degrees) and how fast she can sail (we averaged 5.5 to 6.5 knots yesterday). After an invigorating time on the water, they treated us to a delicious dinner at CurlyTails Restaurant, by far the best restaurant food we’ve had in the Bahamas. Dinner led to drinks and the crew of Whisper is feeling rather groggy this morning. It’s an overcast day so our snorkeling plans are on weather-hold until tomorrow, so today we’ll think about reconfiguring our clothes storage which is a constant battle.



The new crew from Indiana.




safety first!

KitKat doing what she does best...this is where she sleeps when we're sailing.

Treasure Cay to Great Guana Cay to Marsh Harbor

February 12, 2007

On Saturday morning we had a beautiful sail from Treasure Cay to Great Guana Cay. The winds were on our beam so we set our sails and our course and left the rest up to the autopilot while Hans did some fishing and Kristen worked on the crossword puzzle.


The two sailors on the way from Treasure Cay to Great Guana Cay. Kitkat, get back to steering!


Hans' first catch with the handlines...a baby barracuda.


On most days, we can see the bottom while we're sailing.

The main purpose for our trip to Great Guana Cay was the infamous Nippers’ Sunday Pig Roast Buffet. We headed over to Nippers’ around noontime and met up with Dylan and Mark from “Freya,” the steel boat from Maine that we last saw in St. Augustine. An hour or so later, the gang from Green Turtle and Ocracoke showed up along with Jerry from Newburyport and the fun really started! The pig roast was good, the sides were excellent, and the rum punch was dangerously good. The group gathered there was a mix of tourists staying at hotels on the island and boaters like ourselves and after everyone had a couple rum punches, the dancing really began in earnest. We hear that later in March Nippers’ gets really wild and people are dancing on the roof! On the way back to Whisper, we bumped into a literal boat load of Italians who were on a charter vacation. They came over for a coconut opening demonstration led by Hans with his machete on the foredeck. Later in the evening, we went over to visit Jerry and his girlfriend Laurie for some delicious shrimp scampi and salad.


Hanging out at Nippers. Laurie, Robbie, Hans & Jerry.


The view from Nippers.

After listening to the weather this morning at 9:00AM, we quickly weighed anchor and sailed out of the anchorage toward Marsh Harbor with the goal of arriving before noon and the potential squalls and 30 knot winds that are heading our way. We had a fun, fast sail to Marsh Harbor with our average speed between 5 and 6 knots and a heel of about 10-15 degrees. We had the anchor down at 11:30 just as a boat from Sweden pulled in the harbor. Marsh Harbor is the “mecca” of sailing and boating in the Abacos so we’re excited to go ashore and see what the town has to offer. It’s not all fun and games, however, as our first chore is to find a Laundromat.




We always see magnificent sunsets, sunrises (sometimes), and daytime cloud shows. These are some pictures taken just over the last 3 days.

Treasure Cay, Great Abaco Island, Bahamas

February 10, 2007

Air temperature: 75ºF/24ºC
Water temperature: 70ºF/21ºC




The beach at Treasure Cay. Matt Doyle: are you excited yet?!

We left Green Turtle Cay on Wednesday morning under sail, ghosting out of the harbor in very light winds. The trip to Manjack Cay is a mere 4 miles so we were in no big hurry. We had taken down our small jib and put up our big genoa to give us a little more “speed” (read: 2 knots). It was a beautiful day, but eventually we relented and turned Boris on so that we could get there before the sun got too low to go snorkeling.

Several cruising boats from Green Turtle Cay had decided to go to Manjack for the night and have a bonfire & potluck dinner. We were the last boat to arrive (being the greatest optimists when it comes to sailing) so to get the party started we cued up some Daddy Yankee, Shakira and Mala Fe on the stereo and blasted it at full volume as we came into the anchorage.

We had a fun night at Manjack with good food and live music provided by the crew of Whisper, and a few other volunteers. (We have accumulated quite an assortment of musical instruments on Whisper: a guitar, harmonica, maracas, washboard, spoons and lots of pots and pans).

On Thursday morning, after enjoying some rum-raisin pancakes, courtesy of Anne & Neville on “Peace” for breakfast, we hoisted our sails, pulled up our anchor, and sailed out of the anchorage to great fanfare from the other boats. It was another day of light and variable winds, but again, since we only had ten miles to go we decided to sail the whole way even though our average speed was only about 2.5 knots. Our destination was Treasure Cay, (not really a cay at all but part of the much larger Great Abaco Island) where they are said to have one of the top ten beaches in the world, as rated by National Geographic. With this distinction, what could we do but spend a day at the beach, reading books and enjoying the view?

We’re now readying to weigh anchor yet again, and sail over to Great Guana Cay, where we’ll meet up with the crew from Green Turtle Cay for Nippers famous pig roast on Sunday.



Our route through the Abacos so far.


Hans trolling for fish.


Hans cutting up some coconut for breakfast. He still has all his fingers.


Kristen posing for the camera.