S/V L'ORIENT

 So our sail to Chub Cay, Bahamas was fun (and typical). Wind at twice the forecasted speed (revenge of Clint Parkhurst, weather router for the trashing we gave him two blog posts ago?) and big waves. We averaged almost 7 knots, which is fast for a boat although comparable to the speed a sugared up kid can achieve on a skateboard in his driveway. Need some tile? The half built clubhouse here with pallets of tile sitting outside Gone are our 26 restaurants from Paradise Island. In fact, just about everything is gone. Chub Cay looks like a ghost town, mainly because it is. Some banks and developers got the idea around 2006 to develop a large marina and 50 or so cute million dollar houses catering to wealthy individuals who can fly their private planes to a private island and sportfish on their private boats (I am sure it seemed like a good idea at the time). Then came the crash and construction stopped (suddenly, it looks like). A lot of things half built and abandoned. Typical of

Life in the Big City... Mayaguana,  Long Island, Cat Island, Eleuthera............as we bash our way northwest in very contrary winds we've become accustomed to the southern and central Bahamas offering much the same thing.......a whole lotta nothing. No food, no people- zero. Some breathtaking scenery, but not much going on. To get to our new luxury accommodations in Miami (the Miami Beach Marina in South Beach), the next stop needed to be Nassau. We decided to splurge and stay in the Atlantis marina. The fact that our mast might not fit under the two bridges between us and cheaper marinas made the decision easier. We definitely were not ready for the sensory overload of Paradise Island. It started with our arrival. You have to radio the harbor control just to enter the bay. Why ? The channel through the bay is about 50 ft. wide because of the cruise ships. One misunderstanding with a mega-yacht going the other way and it's game over for L'ORIENT.  So that was quit

OK, the gloves are off- It's Tom and Kirstin vs. the Bahamas. Game on. We have found the Bahamas to be singularly difficult to date. Storms ?.........check. Wind out of whatever direction you need to sail ? Check. Super shallow water, not suited to a deep draft boat ? Check. Absolutely ZERO protected anchorages ? Check. Oh, and the autopilot is shot due to the lightning strike. Hand steering the whole way. Like driving an 18-wheeler with no power steering. 21 Tons of boat in big waves with just your biceps and white knuckles. Of course no protected anchorages.................15 degrees roll throughout the night........crash, bang, creak............gosh, we're really glad Dr. Prescription in Bethesda gave us those amazing sleeping pills. Snooooooor. It's also off season..........we find a restaurant (finally). Tom- "You guys open for dinner ?" Bahamian lady- "Yes, come right in." Tom- "Super. Can I see a menu ?" Bahamian lady- "I

As we mentioned in our last post, we subscribe to a professional weather router service..........let's call him Clint Parkhurst. As cruisers, you rely on this person for news of hurricanes, tropical storms, etc. The weather is a much bigger deal out here, where a mistake on the high seas can literally be fatal. Anyway, Clint sends out his blast e-mail on Thursday commenting that there "would be a few scattered squalls" in our area. We've learned to interpret "Clintspeak". Scattered squalls ? That usually means that we might get a bit wet, but no big deal. We leave Mayaguana on Friday morning for a routine 130 mile overnight to Long Island (Bahamas). Shortly after we left, we could see there was definitely something different about the clouds. Slate gray skies and increasing winds greeted us........then, flash.....bang..........the rumble of thunder. Clint is sitting in his leather easy chair, probably using that magic 8-ball thing to make more predictions.

Hey, amigo.........thanks for the wine. Here's a c-note (Dominican Pesos). "Gracias Senor". Have Tom and Kirstin lost their minds ? Of course not. We just tipped the waiter $4.50 at the local exchange rate. Still cheap as ever. While Samana (our first stop in the DR) was very upscale, the rest of it is somewhat second/third world. Everybody you meet asks for "a donation". Even the Navy. Can you imagine the US Coast Guard doing shake-downs in the Chesapeake ? Anyway, today we are off the Mayaguana, in the Bahamas. We're getting closer to our ultimate goal, Miami Beach. We've stocked up on all the essentials.........Doritos, wine, and salsa. Cookies (check).........mouthwash (check)..........granola (check). Ready to go. My advice to people coming to the DR ? Prepare for the trip just like you would if you're going to a strip club.........plenty of small bills. This coming phase of our trip should provide more excitement in that the water gets shal

Ah, sailing. We left Bonaire misty-eyed...........we'd been there for 3 months and done almost 100 scuba dives. We checked out our boat (which obviously had stood still for all that time). All systems working. We cast off our mooring lines on Wednesday and proceeded north. For the geographically challenged, Bonaire is right off the coast of Venezuela, at the top of South America. Our destination being the north coast of the Dominican Republic, this would involve nearly 500 miles of sailing......crossing the Caribbean Sea south to north non-stop. Oh, Oh - Storm over the Caribbean Sea Right away, big wind.......out of the east too, so we could sail all the way to the Mona Passage (the passage between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico). While the boat performed perfectly, we had our usual troubles sleeping. With only two people, you're on watch every 3 or 4 hours. Whoever isn't on watch sleeps in the cockpit. With wind roaring, waves hissing, the VHF crackling.........it can be