THE LONG ABSENCE........................

For all those of you that have HIGH-SPEED INTERNET, go out and hug someone or something and count your blessings. I'm sitting here watching the little green blocks slowly come up, like that hour-glass on 'Days of our lives' and waiting, waiting............... to upload some pictures. Now this is entirely different from crossing the Gulf-stream to the Bahamas yesterday............. ENTIRELY DIFFERENT. That was like being inside that clear plastic bowl on Saturday night when they draw out the LOTTO numbers. A wild ride from Hell. Tore the mainsail, broke the autopilot and Glenn on "TREEHOUSE" also broke his autopilot. Stuff went flying on deck and below deck despite our good stowage and the flying fish on deck were living proof that we went places we really should not have gone. In a nutshell, there was a 6-hour weather window to cross the gulf-stream before winds would be too strong and from the wrong direction, but having said that we knew that the left over seas from the previous weather systems would be a little rolly-polly. Forget ROLLY-POLLY................ It was full automatic four cycle washing-machine turbo thrust inside-out upside-down sleigh-ride stuff. Not to be repeated for at least several years. There were some much smaller yachts from Canada also waiting to do the crossing.............. having escaped the snow and ice they were now in for the full monty...................
BUT BACK TO WHERE WE LEFT OFF. After the big party at our most wonderful hosts for the summer, we did a huge renovation on the house, that took up every waking moment for both Glenn and I, while the 'Queen of Florida' got busy on the sewing machine to make a new awning for Glenn's TREEHOUSE', amongst many other things. (The former owner of Glenn's yacht had it in his backyard and the kids would play in it all the time, hence the name "TREEHOUSE". The yacht left, the name stayed)
With not enough hours to spare, we finally left VERO BEACH on the 22nd and were waved by as we passed STUART, FL by By John & Maryanne King of the Yacht "PURA VIDA" who are two cruisers of the very best kind and really fall into a category of their own. Generous, thoughful and incredibly supportive. Splendid people. We have been so fortunate in meeting so many wonderful people this summer....... OUR THANKS TO YOU ALL...



And so, after an 18-hour crossing of the waters that separate Florida from the Bahamas, we arrived at LUCAYA entering a narrow channel into the inner harbour with Bahamian blue water and a chance to finally get some sleep........... weary, weathered and worn out, but free.................... and just to show that we haven't lost our sense of humour, Laurie took this photo of the light house at LUCAYA on the left. Don't exactly know why they needed the lighthouse, as the channel on the charts shows only five foot depth. Not exactly a big ship harbour. The other lighthouse above was at Jupiter's Inlet just north of West Palm Beach...........................Oh, and all those provisions on ARITA's deck above, are for Glenn Miller on TREEHOUSE. He used to have this nice blue stripe just above the waterline..................... and it will probably come back when he has eaten and drunk this lot..................



The "BOUNTY" or at least a replica, at Peanut Island, WEST PALM BEACH, as we went to anchor for our 8pm departure and our night crossing that will not soon be forgotten............