We’ve now been at the Marina Gaviota for a week and have explored Varadero, Santa Marta and taken an overnight trip to Cienfuegos, Trinidad, a rain forest and Santa Clara. Getting away from the tourist area of Varadero was excellent. We actually saw what Cuba really looks like. We had an amazing tour guide for our overnight trip and we learned lots about Cuba’s history and way of life.
Here are some photos from the last week.
It’s hard to believe that we have been travelling on the water now for 7 weeks and we’re in George Town! It’s been an amazing journey from Bimini to here and we still have the Raggeds and Cuba to go before we head home and then back to the USA.
Reflecting on this first cruising experience, I can say that this is an incredible way to live. I think I mentioned this earlier but it’s worth repeating- life is so simple. You think about wind, water, food, and of course, emptying those pesky black water tanks! We listen to Chris Parker, our weather guru, at the ungodly hour of 6:30am, to find out the wind for the upcoming few days and then make decisions as to where to go and anchor.
One thing I didn’t mention earlier is that Mark hurt his back almost 2 weeks ago now. He was bringing in our big fortress anchor as we were leaving Little Bay and pulled something. It was a rough first week but his back is slowly getting better. That was a real eye opener for us. Mark does most if not all of the heavy lifting on our boat and he was out of commission. So I picked up what I could. It was good in one way because now I know how to run the water-maker and bring in the anchor. I can also set the snubber and a few other things. Mark’s back is getting better and it won’t be long before he is back to normal.
Impressions of George Town: first of all, this Harbour has many names – chicken Harbour because many get here and don’t go on; Velcro Harbour…for the same reason. We arrived thinking we’d stay for a week and then travel around a bit to see where we could go when Caroline arrived but now we’re thinking we’ll just hang out here – Velcro Harbour has got a hold of us!!!! It is a very cool place because there are so many cruisers here. At 8 am each morning there is a cruisers net that broadcasts on channel 72. We get the weather and all the news -activities, boat help, for sale stuff, new arrivals and departures. It’s very cool. We’ve even met up with the boat from Newfoundland – Jill and Mike.
Here are a few photos for George Town and area.
We have some wifi again. It’s been a great week (we left Nassau just last Friday) and it feels like we’ve been here a lot longer. We’ve settled into the cruising lifestyle: travel a few knots to a new anchorage and then explore the land and water. Our favourite spot so far has to be the anchorage along side Long Cay. We had amazing snorkelling and great calm water. There were several beaches nearby and it wasn’t very busy.
Warderick Wells has the headquarters for the Exuma National Park. We’re in a mooring field with other boats. It’s a very beautiful island with lots of walking trails and some good coral reefs to explore. A cold front is moving in over the next few days so we’ll hold up here where it’s nice and safe. We’ve had great weather so far with some amazing sunsets!
Looks like our wifi isn’t good enough to upload photos. I’ll try again later.
We’ve been in the Bahamas for a week now and it’s been wonderful. The water is amazing shade of blues and the beaches are so white. So far we have anchored at 3 different spots – Honeymoon Harbour, Chub Cay and Little Whale Cay. Mark and I have explored a few beaches and did a very tiring walk to a Lighthouse on Cat Cay.
Crossing from Little Whale to Nassau was good. We had lots of wind and made good time. It was a bit rough at the end as we negotiated Nassau Harbour but we made it to the Marina. Nassau has been interesting – the people are super friendly and accommodating but the city is very run down. Even in the high tourist area (where the cruise ships tie up), there are lots of run down, empty and dirty buildings. Our plan was to not stay in Nassau but we needed a new stereo (car radio basically because ours got wet and fried itself on our trip over from Miami. We found a leak though😉) and there was a storm prediction that came true on Wednesday (lots of rain).
Friday we leave Nassau and sail to the start of the Exumas – a chain of islands that we have heard are amazing. Last day of wifi so it will be back to the inreach.
One thing I forgot to mention in my last post. When we landed in Bimini, we had to clear customs. They had a long form for us to fill out and there were a few interesting questions. “Did anyone die on the journey and if so, do you still have the body?” “Did an unusually amount of rats and mice die on your trip?” Okay Bahamas, time to update your forms!
Hello everyone! We made it into the Bahamas yesterday and are at Browns Marina in Alice Town, Bimini. The last several days have been good – some good sailing and nice scenery. The crossing over from Key Biscayne was interesting. We had lots of wind which of course led to some big waves. It was bumpy but we were moving fast and got in at a distance time.
Our plan was to leave here on Friday but the weather might not cooperate so we may be here a few more days. We need fairly calm weather to get across the Bahamas bank. The inreach device is working wonderfully paired with my iPad. Sending messages is so much easier than the last time and we have unlimited messaging with the package we’ve purchased. I apologize in advance if I send too many messages 😄😄.
Here are some photos from the last 4 days.
No visit to Victoria would be complete without a drive along the Great Ocean Road. We drove down to Warnambool and had a tour of Epworth’s new cancer centre (Epworth is the healthcare provider that Margie works for). It was very impressive and so new! We had a nice dinner with Margie’s sister Vicky and Vicky’s daughter. From Warnambool we drove east along the Great Ocean Road to our final destination – Kerry and Porky’s (Margie’s other sister and her husband) cabin in Apollo Bay. The drive along the ocean is amazing – such a different shore from the Sunshine Coast. It’s ruggedly beautiful even when it’s windy and cold. We had a great time in Apollo Bay and the cabin was lovely.
We’re into our last week of our Australian visit. We’re celebrating Christmas on Sunday with a nice turkey dinner and then we’ll be on our way back to Toronto!
Hello from Mark in OZ. Evelyn and I have been recovering from colds acquired in Greece, so it’s been low key for us. As well as exploring Ballarat, we’ve done day trips to the surrounding towns for sightseeing and flea markets (thanks to our great tour guide and driver Matt). We also enjoyed an excellent lentil soup in Daylesford. On Friday, Nov. 11, we spent the day in Melbourne, the large coastal city, and we had nice weather.
November weather here should be like June in Canada, but it won’t warm up to that until Wednesday, the day we fly to Queensland in search of better weather. That’s how it goes. This beach resort type of holiday is new for us. Pina Colada time!
After about 19 hours of flying (Athens to Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi to Melbourne), we are relaxing at Matt amd Margie’s lovely home in Ballarat. We had good flights on Abu Dhabi’s airline called Etihad (although our flight information said we were flying by Aegean Airlines – very confusing) and actually arrived at the Melbourne airport about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. We’ve had a nice slow start to our 5 week visit – both Mark and Evelyn have colds and are slowly getting better.
The weather is also slowly improving. Ballarat has had a very wet spring which is great because they really need the water. It’s so amazingly green – flowers are starting to bloom and it looks so different from the winter Australia we’ve visited in the past. Right now we have no plans and are basically just enjoying being at home with Matthew, Margie, Oliver and Jonah.
It’s hard to believe that our month in Greece is coming to an end. We’ve explored many ruins, had some amazing swims and managed to empty all the Retsina from a few grocery shores shelves! The weather is finally starting to become fall-like. We’ve had some rain and it’s getting cooler at night.
Early this week, we visited Kalamata and Voidokilia beach (which is said to be the nicest beach in Greece). The beach was truly beautiful and the water was the warmest we’ve had in Greece. It kind of gave me a taste of what our winter beaches will be like⛵️🏝
On Saturday we leave our Astros house and head to Athens. We’ll meet up with Matthew, Margie and the boys at our hotel and then fly to Melbourne on Sunday. Matt and Jonah are making a 3 day stopover in Dubai while Margie and Oliver head directly home.
Next blog will be from down under! Get ready!!
We’ve had a full house in Astros this week – Jim, Lisa and Lucas joined us. We’ve done some more exploring, this time to Korinthos and back to Nafplio. The crazy ones among us (that’s not me!!) even climbed one of the stony hills/mountains near the house.
Matthew, Margie and the boys head to Santorini on Sunday and then we will be 6 in the house. Next week we are planning to visit Kalamata and maybe do a little more swimming. After that, it’s off to Australia🇦🇺
Crimson Kathryn and her crew 