Hurricane Baby

Well there you have it the 1st hurricane of the season.............

Radio Silence

I know it had been a month since my last post. We have been crazy busy and hardly had a spare minute to think. Over the last month we crossed through the Bahamas and pulled into West Palm Beach where we stuffed ourselves with good Mexican food. We continued up the ICW and landed in Fort Pierce 2 weeks ago. Since then it has been non stop cleaning, packing, and boat projects as we got the boat ready to be hauled out and shut down for the summer.  We are now starting our summer with a road trip across the country!  

USA straight ahead. 

Refinishing the floors

They turned out BEAUTIFUL!

Sewing the sail at the hotel

The worst the bottom if the boat has ever looked. This is after a pressure wash!

Back to the Bahamas

If Stacey is still reading the blog send me your email address to tarastobbe@gmail.com

We started off our 7 day crossing with the wind and seas in our favor.  We basically sailed for 3 days without adjusting the sails. We pulled into Turks and Caicos for a couple nights of good sleep and some haircuts, then headed out again for another 3 days. Preston spotted humpback whales again!  They didn't stuck around long, but I was able to get a couple pictures. We only saw a few boats through the whole trip. The last day and a half was heading straight into the wind and waves and we were so tired we pulled the sails in and motored to get us there faster. It is brutal when we have to pound into the waves. We were both dying to get to a calm anchorage by day 3, and the Bahamas did not disappoint. We have been calmly anchored for the past 4 days enjoying the crystal clear water, warm weather, and unlimited internet on the boat.  Our goal is to spend the next couple weeks working our way up the Bahamas and back to Florida by June 1st. 

Week of Sailing

After we dropped off our final visitors at the airport we stopped by an old fort in San Juan. We both really enjoy walking through old buildings and seeing old architecture.  This fort did not disappoint. Built in the 1500's, there were secret tunnels and drawings on the prison walls.  After that we stocked up the boat and took a few relaxing days preparing for our crossing back to the Bahamas. We are going to try to sail as far as we can each day to spend the next month in the Bahamas before having the boat back in Florida for hurricane season.  The next week shows good weather and favorable seas, so we are hoping for a comfortable ride.  Will update again once we have internet again. 

Round Three

Week three of visitors didn't disappoint. We started the trip off by sailing to the nearby island of Palaminos. We spent the day snorkeling, chasing turtles, and enjoying the sun. The next day we sailed a few miles North to another small island, Icacos. We had a beach day here and hiked around the island a little. We had a few days of bad weather coming so we took the boat back to the marina and spent the weekend exploring mainland Puerto Rico.  We drove 2 hours West to see a huge cave system, but when we got there we learned they were closed for Good Friday. Luckily we had a backup plan and drove for another half hour searching for some canals that the rental car guy had told us about. The only problem was nobody we asked seemed to know exactly where they were. We used logic and soon found them just past a lake dam. We aired up our tubes with a locals air compressor and jumped in!  The float took 3 hours and we went through 21 1/2 tunnels, most cut through the mountainsides. I never quite got comfortable with the brushing of leaves across my legs as we floated through pitch black tunnels filled with spiders and their webs!  Lucy was a champ and stayed in her tube for most of the ride. She didn't like ducking through the tunnels and probably ended up with a few webs in the face. At the end of the ride Jordan, Leslie, and I waited as Preston hitched a ride back to the car with some locals that were floating in front of us. Two hours later he picked us up and we were off to Old San Juan for dinner. We saw a lot of Puerto Rico this day. Everything from farmland to small towns and even the big city. It was a blast. 

Next up was the rainforest. It down poured on us again, and I believe it down pours every day in the rainforest.  Even though we are soaking wet the hikes are still fun and enjoyable. We never seem to get cold in Puerto Rico. La Niña falls was blasting again today and we still jumped in to feel the refreshing water. 

Up next is our favorite place in Puerto Rico, Culibrita.  We spent the 5 hour journey to Culibrita fishing, catching only barracuda.  The next few days were spent just how we like them, swimming, hiking, and digging in the sand.  This week again flew by and we wish we had just a few more days with our guests.