CAN WATER BE SAD?

Great Sale Cay, Abacos, Bahamas 26º58.612N | 78º12.954W

Cara Mia, all alone in Great Sale.

You remember that bet we had about how many boats would leave for the U.S. today? Chip said there would be 7 boats left here with us. I said 6.

By noon, we were the very last boat in this large, lonely anchorage. All 11 boats left to cross the Gulf Stream to Florida. Once again, we said bye to Jessie Marie as she set off on Karen's birthday. We hope to meet up with them again in Charleston next week to give Karen her presents.

There was a time when it would have bothered me that we were the only ones who chose to stay. I would have had nagging second thoughts. What do they know that I don't? What if they're right and I'm wrong?

I still might -- and should -- ask those questions, but every day I grow more confident with our decisions. We decided to wait until Monday to cross the Gulf Stream. We are not right. The others are not wrong. We merely made decisions. They made theirs. We made ours. And so we all go in our own time.

Which leaves us with wide open time and space to do our chores, chores made so much more pleasant by our gorgeous surroundings.

First chore: Fix the Dutchman flaking system (lines running through the main sail that make it fold nicely and stay in place when we drop it) that broke coming into this anchorage. Lots of fits and starts (mostly fits) trying to fix that one, but with persistence and patience, we got it done.

Our wide open anchorage leaves us time to ponder returning to our own country, our own culture after being gone for six months. I think about what has changed and, other than the price of gas, I'm pretty sure most of those changes are in me. Looping back around where we came from inevitably leads to retrospection. There's your warning: lots of reflective posts coming.

But most of all, right now in this quiet anchorage, our last in the Bahamas, I'm looking into turquoise water and thinking about how much I'll miss it.

As if the water is feeling a bit melancholy too, it has gone cloudy on me, brilliant turquoise but no longer clear as air. Maybe it's just kindly weaning me off its splendor.

Bye bye turquoise water. How I'll miss you.

CARA MIA :: Our Most Experienced Crewmember

CARA MIA

1999 Island Packet 380  

Designer: Robert Johnson

Hull Material: Fiberglass

Length Overall: 39'7"     Length at Waterline: 32'0"     Beam (width): 13'2"

Displacement: 21,000 lbs     Draft: 4'7"     Bridge Clearance: 54'3"    Ballast: 9,000 lbs

Engines: Yanmar     Engine(s) HP: 51 hp FWC     Engine Model: 4JH3

Tankage  Fuel: 85 gal     Water: 170 gal     Holding: 40 gal

We bought Cara Mia in Rock Hall, Maryland, December 2009, from her only other owners, Marvin and Nancy Day, who sailed her through the Bahamas, throughout the Caribbean, the Med and up the French canals when she was named Good Company. We sailed her from Rock Hall to the Outer Banks in May of 2010, and the three of us untied our last land lines on October 23, 2010.

Cutter rig with one mast, three sails.

Full keel -- with a new paint job, July 2010.

Swim platform on the transom.

Dinghy
9 foot Caribe hard bottom with Tahatsu 3.5 hp

Safety Equipment
2 inflatable coastal life jackets, 2 inflatable offshore life jackets with harnesses, Revere 4-person life raft, 2 epirbs, flares, lifesling

Communication
VHF radio, 2 portable VHF radios, ICOM SSB

Anchors
Delta on electric windlass w/250 feet of chain, Fortress w/rode, CQR w/rode and chain

Power
350 watts of solar panels, Honda 2000 generator, 5 AGM batteries

Electronics
In cockpit: Garmin 740 GPS including radar and depth sounder, Raytheon backup depth sounder, wind speed, boat speed and autohelm with remote (yes, I use it sometimes, driving the boat from a position of comfort.)
Inside: backup installed Garmin GPS, handheld GPS, handheld depth sounder

THE LAST STOP

Great Sale Cay, Abacos, Bahamas 26º58.612N | 78º12.954W

The sun showing us the way to Florida.

Today's sail was a long one compared with the last few, 7 hours and 20 minutes from Spanish Cay to Great Sale in good wind. Well, when we turned south around the island the wind did start writing a chore list for us. It kicked way up, and blew the last remaining threads out of the bottom of the jib and broke one of the Dutchman flaking lines while we were reefing the main. That will give us something to do the next few days.

That weather window we've been waiting for is beginning to open. Our plan is to start our 24-hour crossing on Monday when we hope the Gulf Stream will have settled a bit, we have our chores done, and we can listen to another round of weather guessing on the SSB Monday morning.

That same weather has determined our routing as well. We had hoped to ride the Gulf Stream to either Fernandina or Charleston, but there's some sketchy activity south of Hatteras, so Cape Canaveral, here we come.

The sun is setting on Great Sale and the 12 boats anchored here The optimal departure time from Great Sale is midmorning, and Chip and I have a bet on how many neighbors we'll have by noon tomorrow. All or none or somewhere in between? Meet us at high noon to find out.

BARRACUDAS DON'T WAIT

Spanish Cay, Abacos, Bahamas 26º56.4N | 77º31.9W

We hop, hop, hopped today, a 3-hour sail to Spanish Cay. I was dragging my line in the water, like I do, when the line zipped out about 30 yards. The second I picked up the pole, I could tell it was a darn barracuda. The two edible fish I've caught were feisty but relatively easy to reel in. Barracudas are warriors.

I fought it long enough to bring it up near the boat, so Chip could 1) take a picture and 2) cut the line. Darn barracudas.

Spanish Cay will be our last stop before our last stop. We'll stay here until we have some clarity on the weather window for crossing the Gulf Stream, because once we get to our FINAL last stop, Great Sale, we won't have phone or internet connection. We'll have to rely solely on the SSB for the latest.

At least Spanish Cay has a nice little bar. 'Nice.' Have a look at the restaurant.

We ate at home.