Long Island

Long Island Road-trip 2012!  The four of us, Max, Laura, Mike and I rented a jeep for two days and drove all over the island, making it as far as the north-end at Santa Maria.  It was slow progress the first day, but we made more distance on day two and we were more accustomed to the driving on the left had side of the road and waving to every car that passes by.

The World's deepest blue hole is in Long Island and we were able to swim and dive into it and also see some free divers preparing to dive the hole.  We made several stops at Max's Conch Bar, famous for his handmade conch salad, which is the best that I've tasted yet!

We ran into our friends Skip and Carol the first day. On Valentine's day, we all enjoyed a great picnic on the beach: pasta salad, hummus, dark & stormy's.  Mike climbed a coconut palm and twisted off four large coconuts for us.  We stopped at the Stella Maris Resort for drinks and a walk on their beach.  The last day with the car we picked up Daubie at the airport and planned our trip south to Crooked Island!  Pictures do more justice than words - see our adventures below ~

Dean's Blue Hole

Sara & Mike at Blue Hole

Laura & Max at Blue Hole

Monument on north-end of island - dedicated to the
island natives and the arrival of Christopher Columbus

Sunset from Long Island

Picnic on the beach - Skip, Mike, Sara, Max 

Stella Maris resort

On beach at north-end of Long Island - Stella Maris Resort

Laura, Max, Mike, Sara on beach at Long Island 

Mike on ocean side beach, north of Clarence Town

Mike and Skip

Mike picking coconuts for the gang.

Sara & Laura at ocean side beach on Long Island

Hiking up to the monument on north end of Long Island

View from monument

Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies made aboard Twilight

White Bread

The first loaf of bread baked aboard Tanqueray, besides banana bread, was a success.  Try it out yourself.  It's delicious served warm directly out of the oven with a slice of butter.

Mike & Sara aboard with bread Twilight

Ingredients

         2 cups warm water 

         2/3 cup white sugar

         1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast

         1 1/2 teaspoons salt

         1/4 cup vegetable oil

         6 cups bread flour

Directions

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam (About 20 minutes).

2. Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth and allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1-2 hours.

3. Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.

4. Before baking, sprinkle a little olive oil and rosemary on top of the bread.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.  Enjoy!

Nelly Chronicles Part 14

Uncle Hans

Written by Mike “Daubie” Daubenberger in the voice of Nelly the cat

I may have neglected to mention that the month of February was filled with a visit from uncle Hans, due to all the excitement, getting lost, swimming, etc.  Hans and I have a sorted past.  I even lived with him for a couple of weeks while my people enjoyed their honeymoon in Panama.  No cats allowed!

Living with Hans started out great.  I would spend my days outside chasing birds in the woods and hanging with the neighborhood cats.  No rules!  When Hans would return from work, we would relax on the couch and enjoy a few TV episodes before heading off to bed.  The foot of the bed for me.  Life was good.  Shortly into the visit Hans started coughing and pronounced that he was allergic to cats.  I was seldom allowed to touch him and I was certainly not allowed in his room.

Living on the boat with him is much the same except now he calls me smelly Nelly!!  Smelly Nelly, can you believe it coming from a sailor.  I don’t like to complain, but sailors aren’t exactly zest fully clean.  As for myself, I clean myself daily for 8 hours minimum.  The average Human spends 15 minutes in the shower and wastes 30 gallons of water.  I LICK. 

Life with Hans on the boat is not all bad, though.  He plays with me.  Lots!  We play the scarf game.  It’s like redlight, greenlight.  Hans whips the scarf around and I attack.  Then he wraps me up in it and I freeze.  It’s a pretty fun game except when I’m left frozen for extended periods.  Also his room is off limits so it adds to the excitement of the sneaking in and exploring his stuff.  I love to go to the off limit spaces.  It’s been a pretty exciting run having Hans aboard.  I hear the old one is coming to visit next.  I hope he remembers to bring his tube of Neosporin.     

Conception Island & Rum Cay

We set sail from the Hog Cay anchorage on the northwest end of Long Island heading to Conception Island at sunrise, traveling with our friends Laura & Max on Twilight.  Both boats weighted down with the two mahi-mahi's that Mike and I had caught on our crossing from Georgetown to Long Island the day before.

Double mahi-mahi catch on the crossing
from Georgetown to Long Island. 

We tend to leave anchorage at least an hour before them since they are a 40 foot trawler and travel at 7.5 knots under power.  Depending on the wind speed, direction and ocean, we travel typically between 3-7 knots.  And more importantly, Twilight, travels directly to their destination, while we have to tack our way in depending on wind direction.

Tanqueray under sail

Both Twilight and Tanqueray arrived at Conception Island by noon and immediately after our arrival we went diving in the amazing coral heads surrounding the island.  We spent 2 days at Conception Island under full sun during the days and full moon during the nights.

Elkhorn Coral at Conception Island

The island is beautiful, with a mile long beach, crystal clear waters, dangerous coral, and a huge mangrove lagoon.  It is a land and sea park and is protected by the government, so no spear fishing was allowed.  Fine by us since the next day we were heading to Rum Cay, a spot famous for it's excellent fishing.

Long, white sandy beach on Conception Island 

Sara & Mike on the beach at Conception Island

Sara & Laura at Conception Island

Mike at Conception - going through the mangroves

Mangroves inside Conception Island

February 10th, my birthday, Mike and I woke up at 4:00am and set sail under moonlight to Rum Cay.  We arrived around noon, but spent an hour just getting into the anchorage at Rum Cay.  It is littered with coral heads, many that break the surface of the water.  Navigating through this type of terrain is extremely dangerous for boats, and Mike and I had to do it under sail, with no engine!!  Twilight had arrived an hour before us and gave us an update over the VHF on coral heads, but there was no direct course to take, we had to tack our way through.

Coral heads at Flamingo Bay anchorage at Rum Cay.

Tanqueray navigating through the coral heads
 into anchorage at Rum Cay

After arriving at Rum Cay, Max and Laura immediately jumped in their dinghy and headed over to our boat.  We spent the next three hours in the water with our jaws agape.  Rum Cay had amazing coral structures that could keep you in the water until the sun goes down and it nearly did.

Mike & Max with lobster catch at Rum Cay

Laura & Max on the full moon

Mike with his plantain tarts

Max and Mike speared lobsters and we celebrated my birthday aboard Twilight that evening with a feast.  Lobster pizza, San Marzano pasta, and plantain tarts.  Quite the feast & celebration for such a remote island, with only two boats in the harbor.  Ours!

Lobster that Max speared right between the eyes.

Lobster pizza

The next morning, everyone gathered on Tanqueray for the 6:45am Chris Parker weather report.  The reports were that the weather was going to deteriorate as a norther was heading in and the seas were going to be nasty.  We planned to leave that morning once there was enough daylight to navigate through the coral heads on the way out of the anchorage.

Coral heads at Rum Cay at the surface of the water.
  

Little tuni dinner that Max & Laura caught on the way
to Clarence Town, Long Island - Best Dinner Yet!

It was a rough sail to Clarence Town that day, beating in to the 20+ knot winds and waves on our bow.  After beating our heads into it for three hours with little progress, Mike and I only hoped to arrive at the anchorage before sunset but were doubtful.  Little did we know we would enter the harbor as the sun went down carrying a 42 inch Mahi-Mahi in the cooler.  Max and Laura were due in at 2:30, but they spent a couple hours trolling outside the anchorage where they hooked into two good size Little Tunny's.  Gourmet dinner was served that evening aboard Twilight from their catch! 

Travel day - Nelly at the helm with Mike 

Brain coral at Rum Cay

Nelly traveling by dingy to visit Twilight in
Clarence Town, Long Island

Mary's Upside-down Pineapple Cake

By, Mary Missig Daubenberger

It is called Upside down cake or skillet cake because, technically it can be cooked on top of the stove and because a cast iron fry pan seems to work to keep it from burning- even in the oven.  Good Luck.

You can also substitute any other fruit that you have. (apples and peaches, require a little LESS sugar)

Preheat oven to 350

Melt in a skillet:

1/4 to 1/2 cup butter

Add, cook gently and stir until dissolved:

1/2 to 1 cup brown sugar

Remove pan from heat and place over the butter and sugar mixture:

Slices or halves of drained canned fruit

Cover the fruit with the following batter.

Sift together:

1 cup cake flour

1 teaspoon double-acting baking powder

Beat in separate bowl:

4 egg yolks

Add 

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Sift in a separate bowl:

1 cup sugar

Whip until stiff but not dry

4 egg whites

Fold in the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time; then fold in the yolk mixture, and finally the sifted flour, 1/4 cup at a time.  Bake cake for about 30 minutes.  Immediately upon removal from the one, reverse the cake onto a serving plate.  Allow pan to remain over the cake briefly to let brown sugar mixture coat the cake.  Remove pan and serve upside down.

And, like I said- you can easily vary the recipe for you convenience.  I'm certain I never sifted anything on a boat or beat anything in a separate bowl!

No matter what- it will get eaten!  :)  

Farewell to Hans & The Exumas

Superbowl Sunday!  We head out to the marina in town to watch the game and of course, The Commercials.  Tonight is Hans' last night, so of course, everyone must do at least one farewell shot!  We get back to the boat around 10pm (which, let me remind you, is a late night for cruisers!) and immediately start packing away our 20 conch shells, trying to fit them safely in Hans' luggage.  He has souvenirs and we have gifts, thank you for the delivery Hans!

Five thirty the next morning, the alarm goes off, bags are packed and Mike & Hans jump into the dingy to head into town so Hans can catch his 7:30 am flight to Nassau.  I try to fall back asleep, but so much to do, I get out of bed, brew a cup of coffee and start the day.

Lots of cleaning and stowing is involved.  We've eaten through a couple of our bins of food and I'm able to maximize space by re-shuffeling everything into less bins and shoving miscellaneous clutter into the newly emptied bins.  Organizing, is a key skill required by sailors, luckily, I am pretty good at that, Mike is not.  Packing our bins of food and the refrigerator is like playing a game of tetras.

Tomorrow morning, we are heading to Long Island, so today is full of last minute activities:  internet, laundry, phone calls, grocery shopping, water, garbage drop off, calling cards, cleaning, stowing.  It is a busy day!  Who said we weren't busy??  

Elizabeth Harbor

We listened to the weather forecast at 6:45 am, after coffee & a bowl of cereal.  According to Chris Parker (the weather goo-roo), which we pick up on single side band radio, we're suppose to have light southeasterly winds of 10-13 knots tomorrow.  Our trip to Long Island is approximately 30 miles and we'll be heading to the northwest end of the island.  With light winds, this may take us all day, but we are ready to hit the road traveling again!!

Diving into the deep blue

Farewell beautiful Exumas and farewell to Hans.  We've enjoyed the beautiful white sand beaches, the amazing snorkeling and the cute little Bahamian towns.  Hans was a great asset to have aboard on the boat, teaching us how to trim the sails, getting a little more speed out of the Tanqueray and new ways to anchor under sail (i.e. back winding - when you use the main sail to go in reverse and pull back on the anchor to set it).  He not only shared his knowledge of the Bahamas, but gave us a new appreciation for the warmth and the warm waters and beaches.  He is heading back now, to cold Washington weather, which is difficult for either of us to comprehend right now, in our shorts and swimsuits.

Hans at the helm of Twilight

Stay tuned for news on Daubie's arrival (Mike's Dad), our crossing to Long Island, Boat food and Nelly's Chronicles.

The Nelly Chronicles Part 13

Lost at Flamingo Island

Written by Mike “Daubie” Daubenberger in the voice of Nelly the cat

I must start out by saying my bathroom situation sure has improved these last few weeks.  My people have instituted a new policy.  Each morning when they go to the beach to do their daily exercises, they take me along for some shore leave.  I take full advantage of it and use the worlds biggest kitty litter box, the beach.  The beach is a far cry from my cramped little litter box with pine pellets.  The beach offers pristine white sands so deep you could never dig to the bottom.  The air is always fresh and my hole is always in a new spot.  As my people have grown more accustomed to having me ashore, they have begun to give me more liberty.  We go on walks.  Yes, walks around the islands.  My people lead and I follow.  It’s been great I get a little fresh air and some exercise to melt away the ounces, my people get to pretend I’m a dog. 

The walks went a little too far a Flamingo cay.  The first day we went to the beach and walked over two miles, the next day we hiked up to the light beacon and then later in the day my people took me on a trek to the north beach.   I protested.  I sat my but down on the sand under a tree and waited as they wandered into the bushes.  I expected them to be gone ten or fifteen minutes.  At one hour I got worried.  Had they ditched me?  Were they coming back?  I better go find them.  So off into the woods I went searching.  They were nowhere to be found and I was getting hot, disoriented, full of burrs, and my paws were hurting.  Walking on all this hard coral can do a number on your pads.  I wish my people had gotten me some kitten mittens before we left.  Back to the story.  I continued to search and about when I was ready to give up, I heard them calling my name.  Nelly!! Nelly!!  I had five people calling my name from five different locations.  I couldn’t tell which direction to go so I let out a few meows.  No response.  I continued.  No response.  Ten minutes later I heard Mike respond to one of my calls for help and he raced to my aid. 

I was scooped up and we were heading back, but I hurt.  My belly hurt because of the burrs and a prickly pear thorn.  My pads hurt because of the coral, so I let it be known.  On hearing my cries, Mike set me down on the path.  This hurt even more on account of the torn pads.  So I limped around a little and was again scooped up.  At this point I knew my people were feeling bad.  Nobody likes to get lost and injured, but it’s hard to complain when your day ends lounging around the boat with a big can of tuna!!   

Georgetown

We arrived in Georgetown on January 25^th after a good 2 days of sailing from Water Cay through Hog Cay Cut and then into Elizabeth Harbor.  Our engine has been giving us trouble (i.e. leaking diesel), so we’ve been without an engine for a couple of days before arriving into Georgetown.  This is bad for many reasons, as you can imagine: waste, air quality in the cabin down-below, bad smelling bilge, and, of course, the reason it is leaking, a stripped bolt in the fuel line.  We’re waiting on a part delivery from Mike’s dad, Daubie, which is on February 15^th, but in the mean time, we have still been traveling by wind, sailing. 

Ordering some food and drinks in Georgetown

Mike doing laundry in Georgetown

You may think, well, they have a sailboat, isn’t that what they’ve been doing the whole time?  And yes, that is true, we have been sailing, but it’s a lot different when you don’t have an engine to rely on as a back up.  You have to take the wind direction into account, it makes it more difficult to get through cuts and tight anchorages, it generally requires more planning, and it definitely becomes an issue if you drag anchor or your anchor doesn’t set the first time you drop it. 

Just past Hog Cay cut

We’ve been setting anchor and leaving the anchorage under sail and we’ve even sailed through Hog Cay cut, which was not an easy feat.  To get through the cut, you have to time the tides because at low tide there is only 1.0 meter of water, the tidal range is 1.0 meter (3 feet) and our boat draws 1.4 meters.  So, we had to plan accordingly.

Hans paddle boarding

Hanging out on the spacious Twilight

That being said, looking for a little adrenaline rush, we arrived at mid-tide on January 24^th around 6pm and tried crossing the cut, only to find depths of 4.8 feet, which was a little to shallow for us to continue on, especially at dusk.  So we retreated back to a safe 6-foot depth and anchored outside the cut for the night, until high tide the next morning, 9-10am.  

Aboard Twilight - Laura, Hans, Mike, Sara (left to right)

We set sail with the wind blowing out of the east and started our way through the zig-zag course.  As we tacked our way through, we had to take another short tack mid-way through the cut itself to avoid the nose of the reef and lay the mark.  Not much room!  About 150 yards from land, Sara at the helm, Mike on the sheets, Hans on the i-pad navigating.  The sheet caught in the kayak on our second tack and Mike had to run on the deck to untangle before we drifted into Devil’s Rock.  We steered our course and made it out!  We arrived in Georgetown around 1pm that afternoon.

Max, our friend on a 40-ft. troller - Twilight

Georgetown is not at all what I had expected it to be.  First, it’s the largest town in the Exumas and the cruisers “hub”.  There’s typically over a couple hundred boats anchored around Elizabeth Harbor, the harbor where Georgetown is located.  Well, we arrived, set anchor and took the dingy into town.  Both Hans and Mike had been telling me of how many people go into Georgetown and how crowded the dinghy dock gets. 

Catch of the day on Twilight - East side of Stocking Island

Let’s just say, the dingy dock is only 100 feet long, with maybe 20 dinghies and not the “type” of crowded that I was imagining!  We walk through town in less than 10 minutes, checking out the grocery store (which does not always have fresh produce, it depends when the mail boat has arrived to deliver food), the few restaurants and the market.  It’s a very cute town, but not the bustling cruisers hub that I had been imagining this whole time.  Mostly, it’s the amount of other cruisers that make’s Georgetown seem crowded (if crowded is even the right terminology to use) and the anchorages are much busier than the rest of the Exumas!  I guess when you are use to being one out of three other boats in an anchorage then Georgetown is like a metropolis!  But we are having a great time hanging out here with our new friends off Twilight, who we met in the Jumentos.  Max and Laura are traveling on a 40-foot troller and have been a lot of fun to hang out with.  It's rare to meet other cruisers your age in the Bahamas.