Hello everyone,

We have finally left the Jumentos after spending 4 weeks in that area. But, our stores of gas, diesel, propane and food was very depleted and more cold fronts were expected. So, we departed Hog Cay on the 21st of Feb and sailed northward, hard on the wind, all the way to Flamingo Cay. Early the next morning, we headed out again but motorsailing most of the way. Of course, we arrived at the shallow Comer Channel at dead low tide but made a successful transit with 0.4 ft of water under the keel at
minimum. That isn’t much to spare and we were glad that it wasn’t a huge tidal difference that day.

Motoring into Thompson Bay, Long Island, our radio came alive with calls from friends with plans to get together. Early the next morning, Murray dropped me ashore to do laundry ( 3 huge bags worth of smelly, salty things ) while he made multiple trips for gas and diesel. At Long Island Breeze, where the laundry costs me $4/load, wash or dry, I was able to use the wireless internet and catch up with our financial information etc. Once all of the clothes were clean and folded and fuel topped up aboard,
Murray joined me and we shared a pizza while surfing the ‘net. Then, off to the grocery to replenish our larder with a few fresh vegetables etc. By 2:30 we were back aboard and ready to put our feet up. Oops, spoke to soon, back in the dinghy and off to shore to meet friends for beer and conversation at Thompson Bay Inn. I told a bunch of jokes and the bartender offered me a job!! Oh oh, don’t give that girl a microphone!!

But, the fun was over and the wind started to blow again. This is now the third day of high winds. The batteries are happy but we don’t venture out too much. Yesterday we did go ashore and took a long walk, made a phone call or two and bought some more veggies. Murray cleaned some conch and trimmed his beard. In the morning, we sanded some spots on the teak in the cabin and re-applied some Cetol which is a marine finish, not a varnish nor an oil.

Tomorrow, if the wind is subsided enough, we will sail the 35 miles to George Town, Great Exuma. Several of the boats from our home yacht club in Port Stanley, Ontaio are there and we want to get together with them. Those boats are Windswept with Bob & Marg aboard, Nice Butt with Wayne and Maxine aboard, Southern Cross with Karen and Dennis aboard and Brandelera with Walter and Brenda aboard. Don Wilson on Next Exit may also be there or he may have already departed to return to the Jumentos. While
there, we will have access to wireless aboard and may try to make some calls with Skype. So, if your phone rings and you don’t hear anything, hang on a minute as it may be us with a bad connection!

From George Town, we will head north, back to the cays of the Exumas for a short while, on to Eleuthera and then to Abaco. It is time to turn the nose northward as we plan to be in the US by the end of March.

Hugs,
Heather & Murray