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WE LEFT A PIECE OF OUR HEART HERE Well, in many ways, we were sad to leave the Bahamas. This is such a wonderful and unusual place. When pictured “The Bahamas” before we thought of nothing more than resorts and beaches but we found there to be so much more. I myself was not actually thinking I was going to like it. Sure, beautiful beaches are nice but how much can you take of it? You think it’s a crazy question but these days we don’t lie out in the sun hours on end as we did in those foolish days of our youth. Now, you are searching for the best and the least greasy and the least noticeable sun screen. You slather yourself up and feel sticky all day and you still get exposed to the sun no matter how hard you try to avoid it. We’ve got so many sun spots and wrinkles from being on the boat and exposed to the sun, even in cooler climates, that we really need to watch it. We’re starting to look weathered and notice it when we come home and see that nice clear baby skin of our friends. So, how many beaches can you take is my question? Well, we found so much more here than just beautiful beaches. We found so many surprises. First of all I never dreamed in all my life that water could be so unbelievably beautiful and clear and filled with colors that take your breath away. Sometimes we would find ourselves speechless as we just gazed out over the beauty of it all. I thought this must be what heaven and real paradise must be. You just can’t grasp it until you actually are standing on that beach with your toes nestled in that powdery white or pink sand gazing out over clear, clear water with a myriad shades of turquoise. I also was amazed to find a true affinity between the sea life and human nature. I always feared the sharks and sting rays but it was amazing to see how naturally peaceful they are. They aren’t interested in causing you a problem as they are just curious and mostly interested in getting a snack that you might throw them and that’s not the human snack. They are much like a squirrel, or bird or family pet. You soon felt this kind of bond with them. I can see why Tucker from Compass Cay watched over them as each day boaters would come in to see them. He demanded respect for them that they so well deserved. They are precious. You become so in tune to nature here, the water, the fish, the weather and how it affects everything. It’s all so much a part of everything you do. Another big surprise to me was meeting some of the most amazing people. I’ll never forget them. They’ve made a lasting impression on me. How wonderful to meet the loyalists, the religious zealots called the Eleutherans from Spanish Wells, and the Rolles that sprinkle the islands originally as a displaced people, now gentle and kind, church going people. They are all hearty strong people, surviving the most severe elements, scratching out a lifestyle that they seem so content with. What a rare pleasure to hear their strange historical rhetoric mixed with old English and Bahamian slurs. How amazing to meet someone who has lived on a small patch of land, a cay, no bigger than a few acres, and where their ancestors and generations before them have lived. These are really happy people, satisfied with their surroundings. They have no desire to change or leave, they are fulfilled with the simple things, but really they aren’t simple they are precious and beautiful. I was surprised to see how religious these people are and how important their churches and bibles are to them. They are a unique people, a strange odd mix, but true to what they are. Such a contrast to the
lifestyle just a few hundreds miles to the West from here, separated by some of
the most beautiful waters, but just minutes away by small plane and an overnight
away by boat. How this beauty and culture exists is a wonder and I will always
want to come back some day. You must always leave something to come back again
for and this place I think has part of my heart.
We’re sorry to say that we won’t miss the usual suspects that we find everywhere we go and that is the ugly American who we did see too many examples of, those only interested in the bigger yacht, and the loud fast jet ski, and how much booze they could consume and money to flash around in front of these people that don’t have as much. We also will have fond memories of the beautiful Americans we met here. They are a rare breed of boater who have so much skill and knowledge of boating and the elements in more concentration than we’ve ever met. Many of them are still heading south to waters even more unpredictable and destinations even more remote. These are boaters who you know will be there to help another in distress because each other are the only ones they can count on. You are on your own here except for the commradery of the boaters. We basically found great people cruising here, real people, with a love of the water, a sensitivity and respect of what’s here and a real knowledge of cruising. We also met some wonderful Americans that live here and have decided to make this their home. They realize the wonder of the place and want to enjoy it for what it is and not to change it. These are the people we met and will remember. Thank you Bahamas, what a wonderful experience.
WHAT BEAUTY As we boarded the small plane,
tanned and weathered, Ziggy in his carrier next to us, and soon the engines were
sputtering and the cabin was vibrating. We taxied down the dusty sandy rustic
air strip of Staniel Cay and soon lifted off the ground and gliding up, up and
above into the beautiful sky and everyone on the plane did an “AAHHHH” as we
looked down to one of the most spectacular sights on earth and that is to see
the islands of the Bahamas below you and the extraordinary clear beautifully
colored waters. It is breathtaking is all I can say. To see all those shallow
waters and the topography below the surface was just amazing. We could see the
shallow waters now, finally, and understand the routes. It was clear as day
soaring in the skies above as we never did quite grasp it down below.
It was amazing too to see the distance we had traveled so slowly by boat and now to look below seeing boats, just a speck or two, trailing long white wakes behind them. It was another cruiser heading off on their journey. You grasped how far and distant the islands are and how big and strong the Gulf Stream is that separates paradise from the hectic life style that we were about to be dumped back into.
WHAT A SHOCK What a shock to be dumped back in Fort Lauderdale again and it’s massive wide boulevards with nonstop traffic and movement of people, horns honking, people yelling and flashing the finger at you, exhaust fumes, and just nonstop noise. Yuk. I’m sorry but there is nothing of interest to me in Fort Lauderdale. I never want to come back to it unless it’s a necessary stopping point to go somewhere else. We spent the next two weeks at the boat yard, most of the time docked directly below the freeway of Interstate 95 above us. We had soot and dirt on the boat so thick that at times I felt like we couldn’t breathe. There was nonstop rumble from the nearby airport, trucks and cars on the freeway, and the breeze, depending on which way it blew, you thought you’d die smelling diesel fumes. But, we got everything serviced and the boat ready for the next adventure…. And now it was a waiting game to see when it started. YACHT PATH Knotty Dog had booked passage on a freighter to leave Fort Lauderdale to make the loop, back again through the Panama Canal and past the coasts of Central America, but this time, on top of a freighter and its next stop Victoria, BC. We knew someday the boat would head up to the Pacific Northwest and that’s why we chose Friday Harbor, WA as a home port. Now, we will cruise waters we are familiar with for a change and with our homeport being that, no one will know the journey she has made. Strangers on the dock won’t think to ask where she’s been. We’ll miss meeting people and conversations started that way but we are anxious to get back to the Pacific Northwest and journey and explore these waters with this boat. We wonder what it will be like if we come across our old faithful Grand Banks that used to be named Knotty Dog. It was our boat previous to this one and it no longer has the name but, no way could it be disguised from us. It’s like an old friend and we will look for her. The areas we will now cruise will be familiar and it’s likely that we may cross paths seeing our old friend, now remodeled by the new owner to look like a house boat and who put her out for charter, the worst possible thing that we would want for her. My friend we may see you and we will watch for you. Well, we think about the new Knotty Dog, that also is so trusty and has been an equally reliable friend with more challenges than the old Knotty Dog ever had, taking us to exotic places and keeping us safe, as she now sits atop this big freighter amongst other boats, heading to new waters, cold chilly waters, deep waters, dark waters, but filled with whales, dolphin, sea otters, and landscapes of snow capped mountains. She is on a new journey, to explore waters she has not known but soon will enjoy the different beauty of Pacific Northwest. 
We’ll meet you up there Knotty Dog on May 6th as you head into the respectful waters of Juan de Fuca. We’ll be there to help you off that freighter and head you to your new home and dock. We’ll wash that collection of salt and dirt from your long lonely journey. We’ll pamper you and provision you and get you ready to begin a new journey. See you soon my friend. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THANK YOU, THANK YOU TO ALL OUR NEW AND OLD FRIENDS AND WONDERFUL MEMORIES OF PLACES WE’VE COME TO LEARN Thank you to all our friends we met and know on the East Coast and the Bahamas that have made our trip so memorable and amazing. We hope that some of you will join us exploring what lies ahead in the next months. What an amazing journey we’ve had, and we’ll never forget all those little wonderful towns along the Intracoastal, the Hudson River, the waters of New England and the wonderful people we met along the way. No, we will never forget. We will remember too the people and places of the more exotic stops, the inexperience we had and what we’ve learned from it all and we will be for ever grateful that we made this journey safely. Wow, what a journey, thanks to all you that have followed this journey with us and laughed at and with us. Thanks for your emails telling us your experiences and telling us places you’ve enjoyed so that we could experience those too. Hope you keep us company as we head north to colder deeper waters.
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