Month: April 2017

Rudder Cut Cay….creepy Nazi castle, Mermaids and caves !!!!

Leaving Little Farmers Cay was hard to do…..we made a quick hop down the Exuma chain and tucked in behind Rudder Cut Cay which is one of a few islands in the area owned by David Copperfield.

Image courtesy of Google Maps

This is a cave located on one of Copperfield’s islands…..we went in, shot some pics and “disappeared” before anyone noticed us…..Tada!!!! …….there were actually some security cameras on the hilltops nearby……interesting note….you can only own an island in the Bahamas down to the high tide line on the shore….so, technically anyone can walk the beach as long as your feet are in the water…..

Kim all up in David Copperfield’s cave…..

 

The famous Piano and Mermaid statue submerged just off Rudder Cut Cay… marked with the heart icon on the satellite image…..

A few Mermaid shots through our look bucket (a glass bottom bucket)….

Before and during WWII Darby Island was owned by a Nazi sympathizer and hotelier named Baxter.  He built an 8,000 square foot “castle” on the highest point of Darby Island in 1938.  I interviewed a few older locals and they reported seeing strange flashing lights during the war from the rooftop of the castle.  Later they discovered these were signals to U-Boats that would come to the large dredged channel and concrete dock on the east side of the island and reprovision.  Some of the people who worked on the plantation talked about seeing an elaborate radio and telegraph station inside the house.  Darby Island was reportedly one of the largest and most productive plantations in the islands at that time. Darby Island is currently for sale……

A long view of the Nazi castle…..

 

Closeup….and creepy ….

View from the balcony…..

Mike even found a Gordon’s gin bottle from the 1920’s buried in the sand !!!!

Snorkel towing the dinghy …..

 

 

A message in a bottle…..set adrift on our way to George Town the next day……

 

 

 

Kim and her friend the Manatee

These videos take a while to upload and are somewhat tempermental…..I’ll try and load the others….the longer the video the harder they are to upload…..grrrrrr

Just a girl and her Manatee….

Here’s a link to the video…..

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Kim was convinced the manatee was about to give birth due to extra girth and slow movement…..they don’t call them sea cows for nothing…..no manatee baby sightings yet

Crewman Stoopid (part duh)….haha

It’s time again for a quaretly entry from the “Crewman Stoopid”  files….courtesy of our guest writer……..enjoy

 

 

“What in the world is Crewman Stoopid doing?” said the Captain to the Admiral. The Admiral looked over and saw Crewman Stoopid standing rigidly at attention and saluting a wrecked ship on the Bahamian coast. “Oh that?” she said. “That’s a family tradition for him, going back quite a few generations as I understand it.”
The Captain looked at the Admiral, looked back at Crewman Stoopid, and then again at the Admiral. ” I know I shouldn’t ask, but…..”
“Well as I understand it,” the Admiral began,” according to family legend there has been a Crewman Stoopid on every significant voyage or in every war throughout history.”
“But what does that have to do with saluting wrecked ships?”said the Captain, who, although he knew better, was unable to contain his curiosity about such a seemingly bizarre association between Crewman Stoopid and his family’s history of significant voyages.
“Well,” said the Admiral, who, because she had spent a lot of time tending to the various injuries of Crewman Stoopid, and had listened to many stories from him, knew more about him than most, ” according to Crewman Stoopid, there were actually four boats with Columbus when he came across. There was the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, and the San Miguel. That was the ship that Crewman Stoopid’s ancestor was on, but unfortunately it wrecked and all aboard we’re killed.”
“I’ve never heard of that !” the Captain exclaimed.
“Well of course not'” said the Admiral, “people want don’t want history to remember their failures, only there successes ” The Captain, though still dubious, remembered that the Admiral was more often right than wrong, and wisely decided to remain silent.
“And then there was the second ship with the Pilgrims, called Thanksgiving, which also had a Crewman Stoopid aboard and which wrecked, and the pirate ship who’s captain was actually Crewman Stoopid’s great great great great grandfather, named Robert.” The Captain thought a moment and said with a smirk “don’t tell me , let me guess, the Dread Pirate Roberts, right ?”
The Admiral gave the Captain THAT look and continued  “the pirate ship was named Tinker’s Bell, after his father, who was a tinker, and who gathered his customers by ringing a bell, but unfortunately it was wrecked while attempting to capture a fishing boat, and all were killed.”  By now the Captain was thoroughly confused and in complete disbelief at what he was hearing, but couldn’t stop listening. It was like watching a train wreck occur, you just cant look away even though you want to. “Then there was the civil war ship named Liberty, which was captured by the British and destroyed” continued the Admiral,  “and the World War I ship also named Liberty, which was sunk, and the World War II Liberty ship named…” The Captain interrupted “wait..let me guess..Liberty?”. “No grumpy” said the Admiral  “they didn’t name the Liberty ships in WW II, it was just numbered 1313, and it was sunk too.”
At this point the Captain just decided to give up, sorry he had asked his original question, and not even sure what it was. “Ahhh .. I think I understand now.” he said, hoping that was enough to secure his exit from what was clearly a no win situation .
“Good” said the Admiral, ” now maybe you’ll have a little respect for other people’s customs.” The Captain nodded slowly and said “absolutely.” And he meant it. He was very impressed that Crewman Stoopid ‘s family tree had survived. Then he reflected that maybe the tree itself hadn’t actually survived…. maybe it was just the nuts.

Till next time !!!⛵️🌊⚓️💨

Entertainment while afloat …..

Since there’s an upcoming period of unsettled weather headed our way, (prediction is 20-25 knot winds for three to five days) I thought this would be a good opportunity to talk about how we keep ourselves entertained while staying on the boat for extended periods.  Sometimes that can be three or more days straight depending on where we are and how severe the weather might be.  We like to anchor away from the crowds but that results in longer (and wetter) dinghy rides to and from shore.

 

We spend all but about two months a year on board, so keeping ourselves entertained can sometimes be a challenge.

I have reached a point where I am reading about a book per week.  That can be challenging since maintaining an inventory of books in our limited space isn’t really a viable option.  It does present a chance for us to resurrect our old “book club” of which Kim and I were the only members.  It was very exclusive!

I discovered a series of books by F. Paul Wilson which mostly revolve around a character nicknamed “Repairman Jack”.  These books are set mostly in late 1990’s NYC and Jack is a sort of a private investigator/fixer who becomes increasingly entrenched in unusual cases and circumstances that have a supernatural cause.  Jack is sort of a Libertarian / polar opposite to a “Ray Donovan” type.  The first book in that series is “Cold City”.

There are related story lines that make up a series of about six books called the “Adversary Cycle” which start with “The Keep” (set in 1941) which was also an 80’s movie of the same name, that butchered the story line.  If you like fiction drama/mysteries with some supernatural twists, I highly recommend these books.

 

I also picked up a Jack Reacher book called The Killing Floor which turned out to be much better than the movies.  I can’t imagine why they picked Tom Cruise to play the guy described in this book?? I also read a couple of Randy Wayne White’s “Doc Ford” books which are turning out to be good reads…..thanks for that tip Mike !!!!

I have found my Fire Tablet aka Kindle to be indispensable.  Now that we have on board wifi I can download books at will !!! We can also access Amazon videos and games on it !

Shop Amazon Devices- Fire Tablet Starting at $39.99

 

We didn’t have an opportunity to get a “Bahamas phone” until our second trip to George Town.  That has made things much easier as these phones come with wifi hotspots.  BTC (Bahamas Telephone Company) recently started offering unlimited data for $35 per month.  Now we can watch online movies and tv shows through a variety of applications for free !!! Let me know if anyone wants the details of those and I can email them to you.  (They work stateside too so you could theoretically eliminate your cable or satellite tv bill.)  If you’re planning to be in the Bahamas for an extended period be sure to pickup one of these phones…..you can get a Huawei brand smartphone (pronounced Wowee) for about $59 plus $16 for a SIM card on a prepaid plan. I found this link for an unlocked Huawei phone on Amazon which might work throughout the Caribbean if you get sim cards for each place you visit…..that also makes the blogging easier !!!!

We also love to play board games.  But, space again is an issue….board games are out, so we have mostly dice games on board.  We play a lot of Yahtzee, we were recently introduced to a new dice game called “Farkle”….and we have a set of dominoes on board if we want to play “Mexican Train”…..it’s a fun game that was taught to us by our dear friend Joan in Florida …..

thanks for the introduction to “Farkle” Doug and Barb on SV Melinda Kay !!!

 

A new Amazon feature ….

It’s no wonder that Amazon has become the powerhouse it is today.  They have the best marketing programs of any online system we have looked into for our blog and they are always looking for ways to make it better and easier for people who operate a blog. Unlike that other company (rhymes with Oogle) we use (which ironically, one of their ads will appear somewhere in this post also) ….Amazon actually encourages people to use the links they provide us…

This month they are offering us a bonus for anyone who uses this link ……

and signs up for a thirty day trial of Amazon music…..we have used it and it is amazing how many songs are available…..we spent an afternoon trying to stump it and couldn’t do it……so, enjoy a month of free unlimited music on us !!!

Little Farmer’s Cay…..!!!!

As we made our way South through the Exuma chain of islands, we found what would become our favorite stop…..Little Farmer’s Cay.  We spent a total of about six weeks here (between February and March) before and after a short George Town trip to get Mike to the Airport for his flight home to Tampa.

Satellite Image courtesy of Google Maps

Little Farmer’s is home to the Farmers Cay Yacht Club (FCYC) which is located on the Northeast tip of the Cay.  The FCYC is owned and operated by two of the sweetest people we have ever had the pleasure to meet.  Roosevelt (Roosie) and Shirley (Bo short for Bolene, her middle name) Nixon have run this Marina for about 27 years and Roosevelt just celebrated his 82nd birthday !!!! Their son Julian and his wife Daryll live just down the street from the yacht club also and are an amazing couple. Julian works for the electric company and Daryll runs a gift shop where she sells her handmade jewelry and is also the local agent for Flamingo Air.

 

 

Kim decided to hang her coffee mug, formerly my mom’s, up for this shot…..

The Nixons !!! “Roosie and Bo”

 

My sister Jo and I in the cave on Great Guana Cay Northeast of Little Farmers.

 

Jo realizing her lifelong dream of petting a sea turtle…..

 

 

 

This is Kim and I with Earnestine Bain….wife of Terry Bain and co-owner of the Ocean Cabin Bar and restaurant.  She is one sweet lady.  There must be something in the water at Little Farmers that makes everyone so nice!!!  She and her husband Terry (who took this photo and is pictured below at the party) have operated this establishment for over 25 years….Terry’s mother built the original bar. We attended their 25th wedding anniversary and Earnestine’s birthday party while we were at Little Farmers Cay…..it’s a great place and Terry makes a doozy of a drink named for the bar…..we came to know them as “the blue drinks that make Kim sleepy”

Terry and Merissa at the party….

 

A freshly speared Lionfish….which I gave to our new friend Dave on a catamaran named Fifth Quarter…..then moments later …..

Dave’s subsequent Lionfish sting……if you ever get tagged by a Lionfish submerge the injured area in the hottest water you can stand for as long as you can…..sorry Dave…glad it’s better

Catboat racing !!

 

 

Pre race preparations….

Sunset from the west side….

 

 

Rays in little harbour….

 

Cruiser’s dinner at FCYC….