Can someone PLEASE turn off the wind?? I’m not sure what is worse: the buffeting about or the noise. Have you ever lived with howling wind for a full month, nonstop?? It sounds like the hounds of hell riding straight through me. Sometimes at night it sounds like horses galloping right on the deck above our heads, and that makes me think of those awful wraith things in Peter Jackson’s Tolkien trilogy.
On the bright side, this boat sure is sturdy. It has taken all the wind being hurled at it with a fair degree of grace. On old Pandora we would have been heeling at anchor or at dockside. New Pandora seems to take all this in stride and stays quite stable.
We had a rip roaring sail from Nassau to Over Yonder Cay on Thursday. Bob loved it, and I tolerated it. The wind was behind our beam (the mid-section of the boat) which makes for a pretty comfortable point of sail. But the consistent 28 mph winds with higher gusts did not make it an easy day for me. At least I did not get seasick, but I certainly could not do any handwork. In all that wind, which was gusting over 30 mph quite often, new Pandora only heeled about 10-12%….amazing!
The day before we motored to Nassau in flat waters, about 60 miles from Great Harbour Cay in the Berries. Bob did some quick provisioning at the American-style Fresh Market before we went out to dinner at Luciano’s, which has now become a tradition for us when we have to stop in Nassau. Neither of us likes to stop in Nassau. In my case I’d say that arriving by boat in a large city is just not as appealing as arriving in a small town, or better yet, a remote location. Cities just have too much hubbub for the cruising life style….but maybe that’s just me. Nassau also has seen more crime in the past couple of years, which puts me on my guard.
The sail from Nassau to Over Yonder Cay was about 75 miles, and new Pandora raced here with speeds ranging from the high 8’s to mid 10s (mph). This is a lot faster than any of our previous boats. Bob just loved it…
Here is Pandora looking good on the dock at Over Yonder.
Yesterday in the latest gale, I stayed onboard all day and tried to be creative. I made bread and yogurt. The yogurt was my first attempt since back in the 70s when I had one of those electric yogurt makers by Salton–do you remember those? Yogurt is not something easily found in the Bahamas, and milk will get scarcer and scarcer until there is none at all in Cuba, so I thought I’d attempt making it again, this time with irradiated box milk. I was pretty convinced that it would not work, but voila! It did!
I also spent much of yesterday going over the chapters I’ve put together for the Archie Brennan book. I know I never talk about it, and everyone must assume by now that it’s a defunct project. But I’ve been lurching along, and it is starting to shape up into something. I am still quite smitten with this project, and there has actually been some very good progress–in my humble opinion!
I realize now I haven’t mentioned that I’ve worn my acid green t-shirt, newly adorned with tatting, a couple of times! No one has commented on it–surely that’s a lack of boaters’ understanding anything about handwork, and not that it’s not adorable.
This is more accurate color.
I made quite a bit of progress of my newest tapestry before I decided to UNweave all of it. I’ve started again and am almost back to where I’d been when I decided to start over. Sheesh…
There is a lot going on at Over Yonder Cay even when there are no guests staying here. Everyone works very hard to keep this place going–and to keep it being one of the most stunning spots anywhere.
Yesterday the mail boat arrived with lots of provisions…. the food must have come from the US because I’ve never seen so many beautiful vegetables and fruits in all of the Bahamas. The produce came in crates! A crate each of asparagus, mangoes, lemons and limes, cauliflower….
Then a seaplane arrived with a number of other provisions, including some kind of big pneumatic drill thingy…. It landed in the water right near us and drove up a ramp to stop right next to us onshore! Customs and Immigration arrived to make sure that everything had been properly invoiced. Hmm…
We invited the couple we met two years ago, Ethan and Jaime, to come for dinner last night. This time they brought their newborn son with them. What a thrill to hold a baby after so many years. He is a beautiful baby, and so mild mannered. He let me hold him with barely a whimper at leaving his mom’s arms. Jaime’s mother is visiting the island right now from her home in Long Island. I enjoyed talking to her, Long Island being just the tip of the iceberg of what we have in common ! I hope we will see her again sometime in our own stomping grounds. It was a very enjoyable evening for Bob and me.
This is a terrible photo, but I have to share it…. there is nothing like holding a baby!
Today we will take a walk around the island and then have dinner in the pavilion where we had a meal two years ago with Rob and Kandice. I’m looking forward to that, especially if the winds die down as they are supposed to do. And I’m hoping to see a lovely sunset (the pavilion is on the western side of the island with a lovely beach) without having my eyelashes ripped off. Ever hopeful..
I’ve been making good progress on the second little tatted trim. I had initially thought I would put it on a periwinkle, boat neck t-shirt I have with me, but I don’t think the color changes in the tatting thread work as well as I initially thought. I have a lime green linen tank top onboard that I think will better. So that’s the plan for now.
I’m a bit tempted to raid the fine cotton threads I brought with me to give to the bobbin lace maker in Cuba. I’d like to try tatting on a smaller scale. I’ll try to resist that temptation.
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