Back in the U.S. of A.

We saw that the weather window for crossing the Gulf Stream was going to be good on Wednesday the 16th of March so we hustled our little butts and got ourselves in position to go.

From Black Point we went north to Sampson Cay to refuel. Sampson Cay has a nice little marina in a protected cove. We just went in for fuel and to buy a few groceries. While we were getting fuel we met Juan and Astella aboard 'Far Away' from Annapolis. They were also heading back to the states. They were going to Key Biscayne and Miami and we were going further north to Lake Worth, Palm Beach area. We both had to get to New Providence Island first however. Us to the east end and Nassau and them to the west end and West Bay.

We sailed with them north up to Hawksbill Cay which is one of the islands in the Exuma Park. We were able to pick up a mooring just off the beach. There were only three boats there for the night. Sandy and I went into the beach and scouted around for a couple of hours. On the way back to the boat Juan hailed us to come by and invited us over for dinner that night. Sounded great to me, I wouldn't have to cook.

Astella had made a really nice chicken dish and eggplant and cheese dish. We enjoyed dinner and talking about our travels and stayed until 9 PM. In the cruising mode 9 PM is an hour after midnight. They were getting up early the next morning and heading to West Bay which at the west end of New Providence Island, about 60 miles away. We were just going up to Allen's Cay which is north about 20 miles.

The next morning when we got up we noticed that Far Away had not left and daylight was wasting. Sixty miles is a long way to go during the day. They finally got under way about 8:30. I talked to them on the radio as they were leaving and Juan told me he had to put on a new alternator belt on the engine. Just the night before we were talking about how there is always three things broke on the boat. At the time Juan had only two items in need of repair. He didn't see that one coming.

We made it up to Allen's Cay without incident, after I checked our alternator belt of course. We anchored there for one night and then headed for Nassau in the morning.

To get to Nassau from Allen's Cay we had to cross the Yellow Banks. It is an area of coral heads and shallow water. The skies were partly cloudy and at times the clouds would block how well we could read the water. When we got to the area where the Yellow Banks starts the clouds just kind of parted to let the sun come through. It was like a divine intervention. God looks after fools and sailors. Oh wait, they are one in the same, at least in our case. We were able to pick out the coral heads fine and made it into Nassau fine.

We went into the Nassau Yacht Harbor marina. Now it never fails that when we go into a marina we get put into the tightest spot they have and this was no exception. We were put into the slip at the inside end of the dock where there is no room to maneuver to get out. And on top of that they put a huge catamaran on the face dock behind us. The current flows through Nassau at 2-3 knots so getting out will be quite interesting and we have to leave at first light in the morning.

Come morning, we end up having to wait until 8:00 for the marina office to open in order to check out. Waiting a bit actually helped our departure as the current was slackening and the wind was rather calm. We were able to back straight and as we were approaching the catamaran behind us I could see a woman sitting in the salon and her eyes were getting larger and larger as we got closer. I stopped the aft motion with about two inches to spare and made the forward turn to clear the pilings. A good start to a 30 hour run to the Lake Worth inlet.

Our first leg of the trip would take us north to the northern end of the Berry Islands and then we would turn northwest for Florida. The wind was blowing from the east-southeast around 15-17 knots and we were sailing 7-8 knots. When we turned northwest the wind calmed some, plus the affect of sailing downwind so we were not able to move quite as fast. We definitely wanted to reach the inlet in daylight so we had to motor sail for while to keep our speed up. We did our usual dodging of cruise and cargo ships during the night, especially around the Freeport, Grand Bahama Island area. I was able to watch fireworks at midnight which were being shot from one cruise ship.

We reached the outer buoy at Lake Worth at 1:30 PM on Wednesday after a non-eventful crossing of the Gulf Stream. We were immediately greeted by the Customs and Border Patrol boat which asked there usual questions. We gave the appropriate yes and no answers.

Once in the inlet it was like a shock to the system having so many other boaters around. They were everywhere, on a Wednesday. Don't people work anymore? We went north in the ICW up to North Lake Worth and set the anchor. Thirty-one hours Nassau to Lake Worth. We called into the Customs office and they told us we had 24 hours to come in so they could see us. Even though they took all of our information over the phone they wanted to see out cute faces.

To get to the customs office we had to unload the dinghy, put the outboard on it, dinghy into a small beach, climb up a hill and over a bridge barricade, walk a half mile to the bus stop, wait 45 minutes to catch the 21 bus, go two miles and change to the 1 bus, go four miles to the 12th street stop and walk two blocks to the customs office. The customs officer took our passports, looked at us and that was it. Then we had to reverse the whole process to get back to the boat. At least the 'entertainment' on the bus was priceless.

Since we purchased an all day bus pass we decided to go the the Gardens Mall in North Palm Beach. Again this was a shock to our systems. We hadn't been with this many people or seen so much stuff in a long time. But, we got used to it real quick.

The next morning we headed up the ICW to Jensen Beach for the night. We just stayed one night there and are now at Vero Beach where we will stay for a week or so. It needs to warm up some up north before we go to much further. We actually had to put the blanket back on the bed. The lows at night in the Exumas was 70-72, here it is in the mid 50's to 60, burrrr.

Some more photos

Here are some more photos and a few short video clips.

Calabash Bay, north end of Long Island.










Calabash Bay anchorage.








This is Kumbaya with Jerry and Barb sailing to Conception Island with us.










Lee Stocking Island.

Looking north out onto the Exuma Sound.








Looking south onto the Exuma Banks side.








Looking south onto Exuma Sound.









Starfish at Lee Stocking Island, Coconut Beach.





























Long Island, Thompson Bay anchorage.

Heading Back North

Since I last wrote we have toured Long Island by car, left Thompson Bay, Long Island and went back to Conception Island. Went from Conception Island to Georgetown, Great Exuma, went up to Lee Stocking Island, went further north to Jack's Bay, Great Guana Cay and are now at Black Point, Great Guana Cay.

While at Long Island we rented a car with Jerry and Barb on the sailing vessel Kumbaya and toured the island. First we went to Dean's Blue Hole. This is a deep hole just off the shore. It is the deepest known blue hole in the world. The depth is 663 feet and the world record free diver trains here. I believe the record free dive is 302 feet. I made it down about 20 feet before my head felt like it was going to explode.

We were able to snorkel around the hold and out onto some coral reefs where the ocean comes into the cove. Lots of fish and sand dollars.

Dean's Blue Hole








Dean's Blue Hole

















St. Mary's Church in Clarencetown, Long Island.












We left Thompson Bay and went back to Conception Island after an overnight stop at Calabash Bay, Long Island. On the way into Calabash Bay we saw two whales breach about 200 yards from the boat. We later found out that they are Brides whales. They are called that because when they blow the water out of their blow holes it looks like a brides veil. It was very cool to see them. We didn't go ashore since we had already done that on our previous stop here.

We left early the next morning for Conception and got in after about a 4 hour trip. The sail over was very nice with wind about 15-18 knots off the beam and seas about 3-4 feet. After anchoring we went ashore and went over to the ocean side of the island to snorkel the reef and a wrecked boat. We saw lots of fish there also. We hung out on the beach and did some swimming in the cool waters.

We left after staying three nights and started our trek back north. Our first stop was back in Georgetown. The annual regatta was going on so there were over 300 boats anchored in the area. We found a spot just off Monument beach for the night.

The next morning we departed for the 25 mile sail up to Lee Stocking Island. There was a cold front approaching and we wanted to get anchored before it reached us. Well it moved faster than was predicted and about 5 miles out of the anchorage the winds built to around 20 and the seas came up to 4-5 feet. We had to go thru Adderley cut to get back to the anchorage and the cuts are famous for being treacherous in bad weather. When we got to the cut the tide was going in on the flood, which I planned our arrival for, so the wind and current were going the same direction. This keeps the seas at the cut from building to dangerous levels. We started into the cut just and it started to rain. We turned around to wait out the rain. We have been in a rain shower before where we couldn't see the bow of the boat. The rain didn't get that heavy this time and after waiting about 10 minutes we made it into the cut and picked up a mooring at the Caribbean Research Center. We stayed five nights there waiting out bad weather. While there we went over to Coconut Beach and snorkeled and climbed Perry's Peak which is the highest spot in the Exuma's at 123 feet.


View from Perry's Peak



































Tug and barge rocks.








We finally got a good weather window and headed back out Adderley Cut into Exuma Sound (Ocean side) and went north 12 miles to Cave Cay cut. Cave Cay cut was an easy entry to cross from the sound to the banks. Once on the bank side we headed north another 15 miles to Jack's Bay, Great Guana Cay.

We stayed at Jack's Bay for two nights. We were the only boat there and the winds were light and the sky clear. At night we could see thousands of stars with no lights around for miles. Since we were alone we decided to take our showers outside on the transom. We had hot water, warm temperatures and light wind, which all make for a pleasant outdoor shower. Here I am all soaped up, butt naked on the stern with life at its zenith when the water pressure dies. Yep, the fresh water pump decided to give it up. After 10 years I guess it was time. Well, I had to go below and fill a bucket with fresh water using the hand pump in order to rinse off. Just when you think all is well the boat hiccups. Luckily we carry a spare pump and I had it changed in about 30 minutes. I about have to stand on my head to change it and when I was done I needed another shower so it got a good test.

We are now anchored at Black Point where we will do laundry before heading further north. It is hard to believe but we are actually getting homesick from the good old USA. We are pretty sure we will now head back over to Florida. We will still go slow and make stops but it is time to return.

I still have some short videos of our anchorages to upload but just can't get the bandwidth to do it over here. Eventually I will when we get back to the states.

Beyond Georgetown

We departed Georgetown and headed further southeast to Thompson Bay, Long Island. The distance was about 33 miles over the Great Exuma Banks in water that ranged from 20 to 8 feet. We could see the bottom, which was mostly just sand as though we were looking down in a swimming pool. The trip took us about 5 hours. There wasn't much wind and we had to motor sail the entire way. This was the first good weather window in a week and there were about 20 boats heading this way.

When we arrived at the Thompson Bay area we went first to the Long Island Petroleum dock to fill us with diesel fuel. This was the first time we had gotten fuel since we were in Spanish Wells at Christmas time. The water is only 5 feet at the dock at low tide and when we arrived the tide was about mid way on a rise so we had about 7 feet. It was also pretty calm so it was an easy in and out. We did have to wait for two other boats in front of us to fuel so we just hung out in the bay for a bit. Anchored in the bay was the Island Packet 380 Tides Inn. There boat is hull number 132 and ours is 133 so they came out of the factory about a month apart. I had emailed Mark and Susan numerous times through the Island Packet email list serve. We motored by close to say hello as they were out on deck and curious who we were. After refueling we went over the the other part of the bay and anchored amongst 30 other boats.

Salt Pond is the settlement at Thompson Bay. It is a great location for going to the grocery store, getting connected to the web and doing laundry. We have done all of those things several times now. The only down side to the bay is that it is very silty and we don't want to run our watermaker here.

On Tuesday February 1st we left and headed north up the banks side, (west), of Long Island. Our destination was Calabash Bay which we planned to stop in for a night on our way to Conception Island. This leg of the trip was only 22 miles and it only took us about 3.5 hours. Calabash Bay is pretty much open all around with protection from winds and seas from only the northeast to southeast. Since it is pretty close to the northern most end of the island the ocean swell will come around the corner and rock the boat. There is a beautiful two mile long beach there with a small resort on it. We went to the beach to walk around and look for shells. There were only 5 other people on the entire beach.

The next morning we departed Calabash Bay and headed around the northern end of Long Island into the Atlantic Ocean. The name of this land area is Cape Santa Maria. It is named after the flag ship of Christopher Columbus who landed in this area and his boat went aground there. He should have had a Garmin chartplotter, what was he thinking?

It is pretty amazing when we go from the banks to the ocean. The water depth goes from 6-8 feet to 6000 feet in a matter of a mile or so. The ocean part of this leg was about 17 miles. The seas were not real high but they were confused and the ride was somewhat uncomfortable. Three hours after getting into the ocean we pulled into West Bay at Conception Island. To get into the bay we had to go between two reefs which didn't pose a problem. We could see them on our chartplotter and with the sun behind us they were clearly visible.

There were 5 other boats there and lo and behold one of them was Destiny with Jimmie and Bess onboard. We met them in the Dismal Swamp in November and did the 50 hour passage from North Carolina to Florida with them. We hadn't seen them since Vero Beach.

We spent some time hiking on the island and checking out the numerous beaches on both sides. We also took our dinghy with Jimmie and Bess into the mangrove swamps at high tide to see the sea turtles. We saw 30 or 40 of them and when you approach they take off like a rocket to get away. I wouldn't have believed how fast they can swim if I wouldn't have seen it with my own eyes.

We stayed three nights at Conception Island and then returned to Thompson Bay doing the 43 mile run in one shot. We wanted to get back to where it is protected before the next front came through. Conception Island has no protection from south to west to north winds.

We are now at Thompson Bay making plans for our next excursion from here.

Here are some photos of Conception Island. Don't forget you can click on a photo to get the larger version.

Some Photos

Norman's Cay.



















Shroud Cay, Exuma Land and Sea Park.



Warderick Wells, Exuma Land and Sea Park.

Warderick Wells to Georgetown

We departed the Exuma Land and Sea Park mooring in Warderick Wells with a nice east wind
blowing about 12 knots. We headed southeast for the island of Big Majors Spot. There isn't
anything on Big Majors Spot to speak of but it is a great anchorage very near Staniel Cay
which has a settlement.

The big attraction at Big Majors Spot are the feral pigs that beg for food from the boaters.
They hang out on the beach and when a dingy comes by they will swim out to beg for food.
If they are in the trees behind the beach and a dingy goes by they will come a runnin'.
They really swim pretty good and will go into water that is pretty deep.

Staniel Cay has a settlement and the gathering place is the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. It is a
small marina that has a restaurant and bar. We had dinner there one night and watched one
of the NFL playoff games on there three big screen TV's. Sandy and I each had a rum punch.
They cost nine dollars for a eight ounce glass. Talk about steep!

We hung out in the anchorage for four days and went to the small grocery. The food prices
are about triple what we would pay in the states. We also purchased a cell phone to use
while in the Bahamas. The price for it was about the same as the states. I tried to refill
my propane tank but they ran out and I would have to wait until the next week for the fuel
boat to come in. I will try the next island.

There is a snorkeling site just off of Staniel Cay called Thunderball Cave. This is where
the underwater scenes in the James Bond movie Thunderball were filmed. We didn't go
snorkeling there because the current was flowing strong and the tide was rising. You cannot
get into the cave at high tide without diving under. We will try it on the way back north.

From Big Majors Spot we went south on a windless day to Black Point on the island of Guana
Cay. Black Point is the largest settlement in the Exumas with the exception of Georgetown.
We stopped here mainly to do laundry. Black Point has the best laundry facilities in the
Exumas. It was $2.75 for a wash and $2.75 for a dry and we were glad to have it. Just down
the street from the laundromat is Lorraine's Cafe. It is a small restaurant with an
internet room. We were able to check our emails and let my brother and sister-in-law know
where we were and that we were still floating.

The boat Chanticleer was in the anchorage both at Big Majors Spot and Black Point. We went
on a hike and had drinks with Steve and Roberta before going to dinner at Lorraine's. We
happen to hit happy hour at Scorpions Bar and the drinks were two for one. Wow, two rum
punches for nine dollars. The cruising guide lists Scorpions as the place to be. There
were about 7 people there including the four of us. I guess the guide needs updating. Our
dinner at Lorrain's was barbecue. Now coming from Texas where barbecue is king I really
wasn't expecting much from Lorrain's, and I was right. It was good, but not great. They
serve it from the kitchen and each plate didn't even have the same things on them. A couple
of plates had corn on the cob and others had cole slaw, all had ribs and chicken though. We
are not complaining mind you, it is just different and that is why we came over here, to be
different, and it was only $15 a plate, a real bargain down here.

A cold front was coming through with winds forecast to be in the 20 to 30 range. We decided
to stay put and ride it out. Chanticleer moved on south. We had a couple of rolly nights
but nothing too uncomfortable. There were about 25 boats in the anchorage.

After eight days at Black Point we decided to head for Lee Stocking Island about 30 miles
southeast. We had planned on leaving the banks side of the Exumas and go into the sound at
Dotham Cut which is just around the point from the Black Point anchorage. We left early and
when we got to the cut we could see breaking waves accross it and did not like what we saw.
We turned around and headed down the banks side to Little Farmers Cay and the cut there.
Just as we got back near the anchorage a fog rolled in and shrouded the entire area. We
could only see about 50 feet. Our Garmin chartplotter and radar showed us the way and the
fog lifted about eight miles south. We came around the Little Farmers Cay from the south
and went straight out of Farmers Cut into Exuma Sound. The cut had some waves which buried
our bow and gave us quite a ride for about 5 minutes. Once out of the cut everything
smoothed down. The banks side of the Exumas usually runs from 8 to 25 feet in depth. Once
on the sound side the depth dropped sharply to over 1500 feet. From Farmers Cut to the cut
at Lee Stocking Island took us about 3 hours. Going into the Lee Stocking Island cut was
very calm with just a few 1 foot swells.

When we pulled around the island to the anchorage Chanticleer was there as was the catamaran
Ajaya, Ajaya had rafted to us at the Dismal Swamp Canal in North Carolina last October.
That evening we had wine and cheese on Chanticleer with Phil and Nikki from Ajaya. The next
day Steve, Roberta, Sandy and I went exploring on the island and hung out at a secluded
beach where the water was clear as a tub and nice and warm. We first climbed Perry Peak
which is the tallest hill in the Exuma's. It is 39 meters high. It took a whole five
minutes to get up it but the views were gorgeous. Later we swam and waded in the bay off
the beach. We were finding a bunch of sand dollars, huge red and gold starfish and conchs.
We left them all where we found them because this is a protected area. A marine research
center is on the island and gives tours but not on the days we were there. Something else
to do on the way back. This is the first time we saw several sharks since being in the
Bahamas. We believe they were nurse sharks which are not supposed to be aggressive to
humans. I wasn't about to go interview them though. We had a full moon overnight and you
could see the bottom. We were anchored in about 6-7 feet. The water was so calm it looked
like we were floating in air.

After two nights we left to head to Georgetown since there was another cold front coming and
a wind shift to the west. Georgetown offers much more protection from west winds. The
forecast was for the winds to clock around from the east to south, west and back north and
east with the passage of the front. Squalls are predicted with gusts to 35 knots.

It took us about four hours to get to Georgetown. We anchored off of Sand Dollar beach to
the east of Georgetown off of Stocking Island. Yep, you heard that right, this is Stocking
Island without the Lee. We dinghyed the mile across the harbor to go into town to get some
groceries and scout out the situation. The wind had picked up and it was a choppy ride
across. To go into Georgetown you take your dinghy into Lake Victoria. It is a small lake
that is accessed by going under a bridge that is about eight feet high and so narrow that
only one dinghy can fit through it at a time. The incoming dinghys have right of way do to
the fact that there is a swell pushing you into the opening. It would be very easy to crash
into the walls going under the bridge.

We will be in Georgetown for about a week reprovisioning and doing a few boat maintenance
chores. We plan on going over to Long Island and Conception Island from here. Then maybe
down into the Jumentos Cays.

Spanish Wells to Warderick Wells

We refueled and left Spanish Wells on Tuesday December 28th. We left around noon in order to time our arrival at Current Cut around slack tide. This is a cut between the sound at the northern end of Eluthera and the southern part of Eleuthera. As the name implies there can be a severe current flowing through the cut. While doing some research on it I found some web sites that claim that this is the best drift dive for scuba divers in the world. At times the current can get up to 10 knots. Our boat won't even go that fast so it would be impossible and dangerous to try to go through when there is a strong current flowing. We arrived at the cut around high tide and went right into the cut having the current flowing with us at between one half and one knot. As we came out of the cut we had to make a ninety degree turn to the right into a narrow channel. If the current is flowing to fast it can carry the boat right into the shallows.

About a mile past the cut on the south side of Current Island we anchored for the night. The weather was calm and in the mid 60's overnight with clear skies. It was so dark we could see stars right down to the horizon. There was only one other boat near us.

On Wednesday we left early for the 40 miles to get to Allen's Cay in the northern Exuma island chain. We made good time and pulled into the anchorage around 3:00 in the afternoon. As soon as we got anchored Steve and Roberta from Chanticleer dinghyed over to us. They are the boat we were rafted up to in Vero Beach. They had arrived from Nassau about 30 minutes before we arrived.

We only stayed at Allen's Cay for one night. On Thursday we headed down to Norman's Cay which was only about a 14 mile sail. Chanticleer was right on our stern as we made the sail. We both pulled into the anchorage at Norman's around noon. We stayed at Norman's for four nights. During our visit we hiked on the island and did some beach combing to look for shells. We also snorkeled the nearby reef which didn't really have that much sea life. I was particularly looking for lobsters to catch. We were able to see fireworks on New Year's Eve from an island to the southeast of us. There isn't any settlement at Norman's and not much really going on.

We departed Norman's on Monday the 3rd of January and motored the 6 miles southeast to Shroud Cay. This is the start of the Exuma Land and Sea Park which extends to the southeast another 20 miles or so. After anchoring we took the dinghy and explored the northern end of the island. We went to one of the beaches and walked on the sand and in the shallows. We found several conch but had to put them back. The park does not allow any taking of fish, shellfish or lobsters.

We just stayed one night at Shroud Cay and then had a nice sail 18 miles down to Warderick Wells. We were able to get a mooring buoy in the north mooring field. There is a cold front coming in with winds predicted to be 25-30 knots from the west and northwest. This is a good protected spot and the moorings were filling fast.

We took a hike to Boo Boo hill and beach and went to some blow holes on the ocean side of the island. It is called Boo Boo hill because it is supposed to be haunted from a ship wreck in the 18th century. Very scenic area with many different colors of the water. I have some great photos but won't be able to get them uploaded until we have a faster internet connection. We also have one of the better snorkel sites just 100 yards from the boat. We have already snorkeled there several times. There are numerous varieties of fish and some huge lobsters. The water is still a little chilly so we have to wear our wet suits when we snorkel.

We will be here until after the cold front passes through and then continue moving southeast.

Moving Southeast

We stayed in Lucaya for four nights and then had a good weather window to move further southeast. We left Lucaya on Tuesday morning around 10 AM. We were heading for Royal Island which is 120 miles away at the northwestern tip of Eleuthera Island. We knew that there was going to be a strong cold front coming thru on Christmas day and we wanted all around protection. There is an anchorage on the south side of Royal Island with a small inlet to get in which gives good protection. On the sail over we had mostly light winds which kept the seas down to 2-3 feet. We were in the lee of Grand Bahama Island and then Great Abaco Island which blocked the north Atlantic swell. There was an area of about 25 miles where we had no protection from the swell and we saw an average of a six foot swell with an occasional ten footer with a period of about 10 seconds. There really wasn't much wind driven waves so the ride was pretty comfortable.

We arrived Wednesday morning around 8 AM and settled into the anchorage. Once getting the hook down we took some naps to catch up on the sleep we missed during the night. There were two other sailboats in the anchorage when we arrived and later that day four trawlers came in.

Watching the weather further it appeared that the cold front was really going to be worse than first predicted so we moved to a slip at Spanish Wells which is a settlement (town) just seven miles to the east of Royal Island. Spanish Wells is on St. Georges Cay. The population here is a little different than other islands in the Bahamas. They are decendents of some British and American loyalists from around the revolutionary time period. There accent is different from the rest of the Bahamian people also. Most of the money on the island comes from lobster fishing. This is where Red Lobster gets all of it's lobsters.

They celebrate Christmas in a similar manner that we do the Fourth of July. There were games and races for the kids in the park and fireworks being shot off everywhere. We went to a fireworks show on the beach at the western end of the island at midnight. Very different custom than what we are accustomed too.

We will be here through the cold front and hopefully be moving south to the northern Exumas sometime mid next week. We won't have very good internet access from here on so postings may be sparse. Merry Christmas to all.

Bahamas!!

Just a quick post to let y'all know we made it to the Bahamas. We Left Vero Beach on Wednesday with 30 degree temperatures and went down the ICW to Jensen Beach. On Thursday we continued down the ICW and went right out the Lake Worth inlet at 4:40 PM. The winds were initially higher than forecast and the seas were somewhat choppy with 3-4 foot seas. Once we got out about 10 miles the seas calmed down and so did the wind. We had a south wind about 8-12 all night and seas were 1-2 with swells and no real chop. The gulf stream was pleasantly pleasantly smooth and it was an east crossing.

We pulled into the Grand Bahama Yacht Club in Lucaya, Grand Bahama about 10:00 AM so it was a 24 hour run. We refueled and checked in with immigration and customs which took about an hour.

Now it is time for a nap. I will post more with photos as we continue down the Bahamas island chain.

Clewie Clip!

Hi all! Things have been going pretty good since I last checked in. You probably read that we had company aboard. I really like it when new people come aboard. I am so cute and a novelty to them that they love to play with me. I know that has worn off my people. Although they do still play with me but not as much as I would like.

We had three days of that noisy motor thing again. I guess I am getting somewhat used to it but I still stay up in the forward bed to get away from it. Now we are someplace where they don't have to make the noise and I really like that.

I was just hanging out and I had this funny feeling that I was being watched. I looked around and to my dreaded surprise there was another one of my kind looking down from the stairway.










My people were saying something about Tiger being our neighbor and I should be nice to him. Well, I will be nice as long as he quits staring at me and doesn't come inside to eat my food. A girl has to have her privacy you know. Now I have to keep looking around to see if I am being watched. I keep looking up in every room I am in. I just never know when he might be up looking in through the hatches or companionway. I think I am ready to move already. Oh, maybe we can be friends!

Well, that's all for now, bye.