Friday
July 08th
happy birthday !!
Saturday July 09th
love it !!!
|
in port - Compass Cay -
Tucker ( 242) 355-2138
HAPPY
BIRTHDAY Carol !!
and
yes this is her birthday month ..
Carol spent a relaxing and lovely
day on her birthday starting with
breakfast in bed, a great trip to
the beach and ending with a nice
quiet dinner on board with plans to
have another birthday dinner
sometime after we arrive in Nassau
next week ..
|
Sunday
July 10th
Jim and Kim
Autumn's birthday
|
in port - Compass Cay -
Tucker ( 242) 355-2138
..
Sunday afternoon Jim and Kim picked
us up in their speedy center console
boat again and we treated them to
lunch at Staniel Cay Yacht Club ..
after lunch they took us to Twin
Cays - a great little deserted cay
with a beautiful sandy beach – it
even has a volleyball net set up and
lots of room for lawn games like
Bocci! .. we enjoyed a swim and
drink before heading back to Compass
and giving them both a big hug as
this will be the last time we will
have a chance to see them before we
head out next week ..
..
when we got back to the marina we
found a “hotel” by the name of
ARIOSO had moved into the marina! ..
it honestly blocked out the sun
while it was docking! .. during
docktails we had an opportunity to
chat with the one of the charter
guests and her sister who are from
Sydney, Australia .. they are
vacationing with their family on
board with this being their first
trip to the Bahamas and are loving
every minute .. the ARIOSO will stay
2 nights with their guests and a
crew of 6 on board (unfortunately,
the masseuse couldn’t make it due to
a family emergency) .. ahh - too
bad! - maybe next time? ..
|
Monday
July 11th
Compass Cay .. our 'home'
Tuesday
July 12th
our last day at
Compass Cay
|
in port - Compass Cay -
Tucker ( 242) 355-2138
Happy
38th Bahamas Independence Day!
.. another holiday weekend on Compass ..
the marina is full of boats again and
everyone is enjoying a great day
swimming with the sharks, eating burgers
and drinking cold Kaliks from the cooler
..
.. a small group gathered at the picnic
table tonight so we brought up some
bacon-wrapped lobster bites to share ..
.. we have made the momentous decision
that Wed is to be our D-Day to leave our
beloved Compass Cay and begin our
migration back to the States .. it is
very hard to think about leaving
Paradise but the time has finally
arrived and we don't want to have to be
in a rush to get back .. why is it that
the days go by so quickly when you are
in the tropics ?? ..
.. our final day here was spent taking
our dinghy north to the Exuma Land and
Sea Park area .. the scenery was
absolutely stunning and we were able to
get in some nice photos .. we were also
able to make one last trip to the beach
where we watched the water come back in
after a super low tide which had exposed
sand bars we had never before seen
previously ..
.. this evening at docktails we said
farewell to Tucker, Loan, Preston, Karin
and all our fellow dock mates with the
promise to keep in touch until hopefully
we see them next year ..
|
Wednesday
July 13th
heading out
|
in route - Compass Cay to
Nassau
.. on
Wednesday morning the sun was
shining bright with a light breeze
from the southeast when Dave and
Preston helped us with our lines at
7 AM when we left the dock at
Compass Cay .. we absolutely loved
where we had docked these last 25
days .. there is a natural reef that
runs right under the dock and we had
enjoyed a virtual aquarium every day
right under the edge of our swim
platform .. we hope to be able to
return to the same spot next year ..
.. we started out with a slight chop
and a few rollers from the current
as we left on a falling tide and had
a nice easy cruise to Nassau with
the seas ending up being almost flat
by the time we arrived at the east
end of the harbor in Nassau .. it
was such a nice day for traveling we
expected to see more boats as we
only passed about 3 boats the entire
way ..
.. we arrived at Atlantis Marina
around noon and were assigned a
great slip where we have a gorgeous
view of the Resort hotel off our
stern and out the Starboard saloon
windows ..
.. we had intended to go to the The
Point for a light bite to eat but
the only dining option for the
evening was the FULL Bahamian BBQ
Buffet at $36pp .. we knew we were
too tired and it was way too late to
enjoy so many choices so we had a
drink at the bar instead and went
back to DEE LIGHT for a nice
comforting bowl of ice cream before
calling it a long day ..
|
Thursday
July 14th
view from our Back Deck
Friday
July 15th
Clay and Rita-Kay
|
in port - The Atlantis
Marina, Nassau, Providence Island (
242-363-6068 )
..
Mario arrived at 7AM to wash down
DEE LIGHT .. it really is surprising
how clean the boat stays in the
out-islands as we never seem to have
that "oily" grime that leaves black
streaks that we have when we are
docked in the States .. No sooner
had Mario wiped down all the windows
and finished chamoising down
everything it began to rain ..
however DEE LIGHT was still spotless
and only needed a quick wipedown
after the rain stopped by early
afternoon ..
.. after a quiet couple of days the
Atlantis marina is really filling up
quickly for the weekend and it has
been fun to watch the arrival of all
the different types of watercraft ..
majority of the larger yachts look
to be "brand new" so we assume
someone is making some money in our
"depressed economy". .. Wowee! a
120+ foot Azimuth just went by! -
never seen one quite that big!
we also took a walk to the Ben &
Jerry's for ice cream in the Marina
Village .. after finding a nice
sidewalk table we enjoyed "people
watching" as the entire Atlantis
resort seems to be filled with
tourists of all shapes, sizes and
ages ..
.. our friends Capt. Bruce and
Sheila on BAHAMA STAR made it into
Atlantis with his sister and family
aboard for a visit and Bob and
Melanie on ISTABOA showed up on the
dock - they have come in for
supplies and haircuts! .. along with
the crew on ARIOSO it felt like "old
home week" at Compass! .. it's
always fun to see what a small world
it is when it comes to cruising in
the Bahamas ..
.. Friday afternoon we met up with
our friends Rita-Kay and Clay on
CARLEIGH and we enjoyed a long and
leisurely lunch at the Green Parrot
while we all got caught up with the
latest news since seeing them last
fall .. we had a great afternoon and
look forward to spending more time
with them while we are here ..
|
Saturday
July 16th
our location
birthday dinner
|
in port - The Atlantis
Marina, Nassau, Providence Island (
242-363-6068 )
..
the Captain had promised the
"Birthday Girl" a nice dinner for
two after we arrived in Nassau so we
made a dinner reservation at one of
our favorite downtown restaurants
Café Matisse 242-356-7012 for
Saturday evening .. this centrally
located Italian Restaurant is housed
in an historic Colonial home behind
Parliament Square just off Bay
Street .. after taking a taxi from
Atlantis to downtown we arrived a
little early at the restaurant and
decided to be seated inside the cool
air-conditioned dining room
surrounded by colorful art prints by
Matisse and his contemporaries which
grace all the walls .. we were
treated to a truly superb dinner
with wonderful service .. snapper
stuffed ravioli and a grilled
hogfish entrée with sweet potato
soufflé on the side .. we highly
recommend Café Matisse for lunch or
dinner as we have never been
disappointed ..
..
after returning to Paradise Island
we had our taxi driver drop us at
the Coral Towers where we stopped at
the lobby bar and listened to a trio
playing a nice selection of Bahamian
tunes while we had coffee and a
cocktail .. on our walk back to the
boat with "breezed" thru the Casino
.. the action was just beginning to
pick up but the only thing we left
was 90 cents in one of the penny
slot machines! ..
|
Sunday
July 17th
Christ Church Cathedral
dinner with Bob and Mel
(ISTABOA)
|
in port - The Atlantis
Marina, Nassau, Providence Island (
242-363-6068 )
.. we left the
boat in the morning to attend church
services in downtown Nassau as there are
no churches located anywhere on Paradise
Island .. since it was "threatening
rain" we again decided to take a taxi ..
we arrived well ahead of time for the
11:15 service so we decided to search
out a cup of coffee and ended up across
the street at The Towne Hotel
242-322-8450 .. their motto is
"Nassau’s Friendly Downtown Hotel"
and they certainly live up to the
billing .. although they do not have a
traditional coffee shop, per say, we
were warmly welcomed into the hotel by
the staff including Max, their resident
parrot who sits on his perch in the
middle of the lobby .. we were each
served a cup of coffee and were given a
tour by the owner of the original art
work that they have collected by several
local Bahamian artists that they have
amassed and which adorn the walls of the
lobby, bar area and stairwell of this
old hotel .. really a neat place -
colorful, tidy and very friendly ..
.. after we
returned to the boat after church Bob
and Mel stopped by and asked if we would
like to join them for dinner at one of
their fav restaurants East Villa and
Lounge 242-393-3377 located on the
east side of New Providence .. not being
ones to pass up an opportunity to try
out a new place we said "by all means"
and we all piled into a taxi for the
ride over and had a great dinner .. the
restaurant is a little reminiscent of
the 60’s with sort of a "rat pack"
lounge décor and they offer upscale
Continental Chinese Cuisine - one of
their specialties is the Peking Duck
which came out expertly carved and on a
huge platter – enough for the four of us
plus leftovers ..
|
Monday
July 18th
Tropical Storm Bret
|
in port - The Atlantis
Marina, Nassau, Providence Island (
242-363-6068 )
..
we have had occasional rain showers
on and off the past couple of days
and now it appears that TS Bret will
be passing us overhead ..the weather
was nice enough for us to go to the
pool and spend a little time in the
spa this afternoon but by 4PM they
were asking everyone to leave the
pool area and to take refuge indoors
.. we reluctantly packed up our pool
stuff and ran into Bob and Mel
outside their boat ISTABOA on the
way back to our boat .. they will
head back to Compass Cay in the
morning so we gave them big hugs
(and Radar who just got a new
haircut too) and said so long until
we see them again .. we had no
sooner left them when the skies
REALLY opened up and it began to
pour buckets! .. Autumn was mighty
glad to see us back and as it
continued to rain the rest of the
evening and most of the night we
stayed put on the boat .. Bret
turned out to be just lots of rain,
thunder and lightning but very
little wind .. as they said on the
radio "Bret is no Threat, so don’t
Fret!" ..
|
Tuesday
July 19th
view from our Salon
new Palmer Johnson boat
|
in port - The Atlantis
Marina, Nassau, Providence
Island ( 242-363-6068 )
.. for next couple of days the
winds and seas look very
favorable for a smooth voyage so
we have decided to continue our
migration back to the States in
the morning ..
.. we wanted to finish a little
shopping in town so we made a
last trip to Nassau .. also
neither one of us had ever been
to the famous Arawak Cay Fish
Fry so we thought today would be
a good time to give it a try ..
after our visit to the Straw
Market and a trip to the bank to
change out the last of our
Bahamian $$ for US we hopped on
the No. 10 bus and headed for
the Fish Fry .. we ended up at
The Big 10 and had the Bahamian
whole fried snapper with
coleslaw and baked mac and
cheese .. the food "shacks" are
very similar to those at
Potter’s Cay only bigger with
lots more seating .. the whole
area was very clean and well
groomed with easily accessed
restrooms and we were able to
enjoy some of the delicious
local cuisine one last time
before we leave for the summer
..
.. when we left the Fish Fry we
happened to get on the No. 10
bus headed west .. since we were
not in any hurry we enjoyed a
nice long tour of some of the
nicer residential sections and
larger water front resorts
located on the west end of New
Providence .. we were surprised
to see the relatively large
amount of new construction and
development going on in this
part of the island ..
.. we ended our day trek by
meeting up with Rita-Kay and
Clay along with their friend
Craig at the Green Parrot at
Hurricane Hole Marina for a
couple of drinks .. before
saying goodbye Rita-Kay gave
Carol 2 pairs of her beautiful
hand-made earrings as a
remembrance for her Birthday ..
we will miss them both!
|
Wednesday
July 20th
sunset at Miami Beach
|
travel
- Nassau, Providence Island to
Miami Beach
..up early with last minute
departure preparations and by
7AM we were ready to leave
Atlantis .. with our bill
delivered to the boat we were
ready to cast off the lines by
7:30 and cleared the Nassau
Harbour before 8AM .. we had
picked a perfect travel day -
just a light breeze with hardly
a ripple on the water as we
headed toward the tip of the
Tongue of Ocean .. by the time
we reached the Bank, it became
virtually calm but we could see
some large rain cells building
up ahead .. however the Garmin
unit showed us only a lot of
cloud cover with no severe
weather .. ie. NO big red or
green blobs! ..sure enough as we
continued on the rain either
dissipated completely or had
moved out of our path ..as we
continued our day’s travel over
the bank it became increasingly
calm until the turquoise and
aqua of the sky and sea colors
blended together so that the
horizon was indiscernible at a
distance and the undersides of
the puffy white clouds overhead
were also aqua in color ..
Surreal!
.. we had waited to make our
decision whether to stop in
Bimini for the night or continue
on to Miami until we reached the
"fork in the road" - either
correct our course to the north
for Bimini or veer a bit to the
south to go thru the cut at Cat
Cay/Gun Cay .. with no more rain
in sight we decided to "go for
it" and at 2PM we had navigated
the cut at the reef and were on
our way to Miami! .. as we
continued on to Miami we noted
that we had never seen the water
more flat .. with the exception
of the 2 foot plus rollers
spaced about 80 foot or so apart
when we reached the Gulf Stream
the most movement we felt during
our trip today were from the
wakes of the 3 other boats that
passed us traveling east ..
.. at 5PM we reached the fuel
dock at the Miami Beach Marina -
total running time from Nassau
was 9.5 hours at approx. 18kts
.. after another hour plus for
refueling, calling in to CBP
with our on-line SVRS Float Plan
info and receiving our Clearance
Arrival No. we were docked and
tied up in our slip for the
night .. we both took nice long
hot showers before walking up to
Monty’s for a fried fish
sandwich, fries and a basket of
garlic rolls .. AHH! .. comfort
food!
|
Thursday
July 21st
Miami Beach Marina
birthday dinner
|
in
port - Miami Beach Marina .(305)
673-6000
..
first order of business this morning
was hair appointments at the SoFi
Salon located right here at the
marina .. Carol with Kevin and Marv
with Danny .. after our
transformation from Bahama hair to
South Beach hair we decided to treat
ourselves to a date night ..
.. and did we mention .. carol
celebrates her birthday all month
long ..
so yes .. another birthday dinner ..
we made an on-line reservation at
Smith & Wollensky Steakhouse as
neither one of us had the occasion
to dine at any of their restaurants
located around the county ..
..the Miami Beach location overlooks
Government Cut which is the main
entrance to Miami Harbor and adjoins
the main beach park surrounded with
stunning contemporary highrise
buildings in very comptempory
architectural styles and is directly
across from Fischer Island ..
.. we made the short walk from the
Marina along the waterfront to the
restaurant where we noticed a film
crew outside .. after we checked in
with the hostess we stopped at the
bar for a drink before deciding to
take an outside patio table .. no
sooner were we seated with a drink
in hand when the film crew
approached us .. they were filming
in various locations for the Travel
Channel and asked us to do an
on-camera interview telling them why
Miami is such a good destination for
retirees! .. we certainly felt like
celebrities when they were finished
and the house even brought us a
complimentary glass of wine! .. we
will definitely return to Smith &
Wollensky for dinner or lunch again
- top notch food and service all
around ..
|
Friday
July 22nd
shopping
|
in
port - Miami Beach Marina .(305)
673-6000
..
spent a relaxed morning at the
marina before taking the short walk
to the new shopping area on Fifth
Ave where Best Buy is located .. got
a replacement Sony AMFM/Weather
radio because the tuner on Carol's
ancient radio was finally going bad
.. also made an upgrade to our
Verizon MiFi unit .. the new one is
4G by Samsung and so far is much
faster than the old one ..
.. we were hungry for pasta tonight
so we grabbed a taxi in front of the
marina for another one of our
favorite restaurants the Hosteria
Romana on Esplanade Way
www.hosteriaromana.com .. Esplanade
is a charming street just a couple
blocks south of Lincoln Rd and is
completely closed to auto traffic
with only pedestrian traffic
permitted so it is a great place to
grab a sidewalk table and "people
watch" ..
..after dinner we walked to Lincoln
Road and stopped at a sidewalk table
in front of the Hagen Daz shop ..
Yep - we had dessert and yet again
marveled at the variety of people
that passed by .. being a weekend it
was really hopping! .. we always
enjoy our stop in Miami Beach ..
being such a cosmopolitian city it
makes for a nice transition from the
low-key islands back to the "real
world" ..
.. before long we felt our first
raindrops so we dashed for the
corner and hailed a taxi .. we had
just made it back to the boat when
the skies opened up with copious
amounts of rain and an impressive
thunder and lightning show .. autumn
just looked at us to say " it's
about time you got home!"
|
Saturday
July 23rd
South Beach
Miami
|
in
port - Miami Beach Marina .(305)
673-6000
..
it's Saturday night on South Beach
and it is literally crawling with
all sorts and manner of people ..
volleyball players, park bench
preachers, skateboarders, and
bicyclists along with a non-stop
caravan of autos, trucks and
motorcycles on Ocean Drive .. we
just blended right in .. we were
also surprised to see so many
out-of-state license plates - NY,
NJ, OK, MD etc - and wondered if
they were trying to beat the heat
wave up north!?
.. on the street we ran into the
camera crew shooting more footage
for the Travel Channel .. the
photographer from NY had a unique
lens on his camera that he was using
to shoot 360 degree panoramic photos
- very cool! .. the other
photographer working with him was
from the local Miami area ..
.. it was too early for dinner so we
just had to stop at Mango's Tropical
Cafe for a drink .. this bar and
restaurant is a very hip and
happening sort of spot which
features live Latin music .. often
you will see some great salsa
dancers dancing on top of the bar ..
we listened to a set by an excellent
young singer from NY backed up by a
trio of musicians before we headed
further up the street ..
there are soooo many choices of
restaurants along Ocean Drive that
it can get quite overwhelming trying
to decide where to stop and what to
try .. years ago there was an
article in a design magazine on the
opening of a restaurant called
Lario's and recalled that Gloria
(one of our fav singers) and Emilio
Estavan had purchased one of the old
buildings on Ocean Drive .. they did
a total gut-rehab and put a
restaurant on the street level ..
the decor is contemporary but very
warm and inviting .. they serve
traditional Cuban cuisine so we had
the roast pork with black beans,
rice and plantains .. Cuban comfort
food all the way ..
.. as it looked like we were in for
another drenching downpour again
tonight we decided to forgo the
"nightlife" and leave it to the
younger set as we headed back to
boat to beat the rain ..
|
Sunday
July 24th
dinner at Monty's
|
in
port - Miami Beach Marina .(305)
673-6000
.. as
we are planning on leaving Miami in
the morning we used Sunday as a day
to do a few chores around the boat
in anticipation of our departure ..
picked up a few items at the
convenience store/deli and checked
in with the marina office to let
them know we were leaving .. ended
the day with a quiet dinner at
Monty's and called it an early night
..
|
Monday July 25th
lobster season
|
travel
- Miami Beach Marina to Marathon ..
95.6 nautical miles .. Pancho's Fuel
Dock & Supply Marathon Florida -
(305) 743-2281
.. we
departed Miami Beach Marina at 7:55
and headed for Government Cut where
we were greeted by 2 large tugs in
the process of escorting a HUGE
freighter thru the Cut .. UFFFDAAA!
.. after clearing the passage of the
freighter we where left with a very
mixed bag of seas and 6 plus waves
on our nose! .. we quickly cleared
the channel as there were another 2
freighters already headed our way ..
it started out pretty "rolly" with 3
plus footers with some larger
rollers right on our starboard beam
and had to take it off the autohelm
to get a reasonable ride .. but
after we were past Elliot Key where
the waters are more protected the
seas settled down and we had a
comfortable ride the rest of the way
to Marathon ..
.. at 2PM we were docked at Pancho's
Fuel Dock in Boot Key and by 3:30 we
had finished topping off all 3 of
the tanks again .. the rate of fuel
flow was so high at Miami Beach
Marina we don't think we got a full
fill the other day .. that was not
the case today!
.. after showering and changing we
made our usual way to Castaway's
Restaurant where we had some of the
absolute BEST yellowtail snapper
ever .. obviously fresh from the
sea! .. we had occasion to be seated
next to a large table of extremely
nice and polite young men (probably
high school age) who were with a boy
scout group from Nashville, TN
sailing on 2 charter sailboats ..
before we left we made sure to tell
their leaders what a pleasure it had
been to be seated next to them ..
|
Tuesday
July 26th
take me to the groomer
aaaahhhhhh !!
|
travel - Marathon to Fort Myers
.. 131 nm ..
.. we
wasted no time this morning and left
Pancho's dock before 7AM .. at
present there is a tropical wave
situated just below Cuba moving to
the WNW and forecast to be in the
Gulf of Mexico tomorrow .. no threat
of development right now but
expected to bring a lot of tropical
moisture with it up from the
Caribbean .. which really means more
rain than usual .. although the seas
are predicted to be higher than we
normally like to travel in we know
we will be traveling in the same
direction as the winds which are
still coming up from the SSE .. just
caught the morning weather which is
already showing some rain cells in
the Gulf off Sanibel Island .. time
to go ..
.. sure 'nuff we had some pretty
good rollers on the beam as we left
Boot Key and headed to the Seven
Mile Bridge .. however on the other
side of the bridge the waters were
calmer as the waves were now pretty
much on our stern .. not the best
for the autopilot as it has a
tendency to want to "fishtail" when
the larger rollers catch up with us
.. however we are glad we were not
traveling South today ..
.. as soon as we passed Cape Romano
the seas really settled down and we
had a smooth trip all the way up the
Gulf past Marco Island and Naples to
San Carlos Bay .. we finally we hit
Marker 101 and headed up the
Caloosahatchee River to our home
port at Legacy Marina .. Lana
greeted us on the dock to catch our
lines and welcome us back! .. this
was the first time we have made the
trip from Marathon at this time of
year without a drop of rain .. Dee
Light is pretty salty right now but
rain is forecast for the next couple
of days .. after getting settled in
and cleaned up we all went downtown
(still no rain) for dinner at our
favorite sidewalk cafe The French
Connection .. Autumn loved her
homemade cherry muffin while we
enjoyed our cream of asparagus soup
and pasta salad!
.. nice to be back but can't wait to
go back again! .. as a boating
friend says "home is where the is"
..
|
|
Wednesday
July 26th
|
in port - Legacy Harbour Marina,
Fort Myers ..
|
