Key west, I love
Key West. We have been in and out of Key West
some 200 plus times over the last few years, skirting the reefs on
the way there,
deep sea fishing and snorkeling on the Florida Key reefs.
Yep, we are catching lots of Mackerel, Tuna, Grouper and
some Dolphin fish, great food on the barbeque
at night in the anchorages.
Bimini has been a destination
25 years now, a great place for a 3-5 day trip out of
Miami.
with some fine beaches, snorkeling and diving. We just past by there a few
days
ago, spend the morning in Honeymoon harbor, one of the most incredile beaches
in the world, we where the only people there. quite magic, quite unbelievable
for a
Sunday morning just a few hours from Miami.
Memorial day weekend we went to Bimini with 7
divers, the visibility was great,
2 wall dives, the Barge and Shark valley with
some snorkeling.
We spend one night anchored behind a small Island and the
second night we visited
Alice town on N. Bimini.
the Captain and China sorry they missed this one.
then a barbeque on a lovely
beach before returning home.
We are laying in Georgetown
Harbor a busy cruising destination in the winter month,
however in this
period, the stormy season, there are only a few yachts in
the harbor
so we are enjoying the solitude and the still warm waters. Georgetown
is in the very
south of the Exuma Island chain
in the Bahamas, a chain of some 365 islands they say,
everyone with at least
one incredible beach.
Georgetown is also a good place to weather the
winter storms
We finished a trip thru the chain with
Bobby and Lizzy a "cool" couple from New Orleans,
they came to join us
for some of the most fantastic au natural sailing, snorkeling and
beachcombing of the century. And of course China cooked us up some of the finest
cuisine this side of the Mississippi.
We left Nassau some time ago and
stopped in the Allen Cays the first night,
a small chain that has Iguanas
on the beaches, an immaculate place found with
no equal anywhere in the
universe. I mean if you where cruising the furthest
reaches of the
Universe, coming to the Exumas would be why you would want
to create an
earth, and so it
was, and here we
are.. It just took a few
million years to
put
together. I worked on it myself quite a few years, and
putting all the
pieces together to be able to come to an area like this took
also a long time.
Dutch Love
and its components is just one incredible piece
of ocean going equipment.
We stopped at 14 different islands in an 11
day span, every one more exiting
then the other. We swam in the worlds grandest
aquarium, and roasted our
buns on the beaches.
blustery
day in November
Georgetown Exumas
In mean time it is blowing 30 knots out
there and the wind is howling in the rig.
We are safely tucked into a small hole
and it is quite cozy downstairs.
China just cooked some of the best gourmet
pancakes hmmmmm.
We have been doing this ritual here now for
10 years, and have been having
great weather.
We are getting to know these islands pretty
well.
We hope to see you there. to join us for the
trip of a lifetime.
After another summer of great sailing in the
Florida Keys we made a dive
trip
to Bimini and shortly there after our yearly pilgrimage to the Exumas further
in
the Bahamas.
We snorkeled Thunderball Cave imitating James Bond's under water adventure
there.
Shroud cay the scene of the Humphry Bogart movie "The African Queen"
became our next stop for some great body surfing in a tidal rush, exhausting
ourselves and landing on some of the finest beaches.
Again we found no other boats in the area during this time and our sense of
privacy was complete.
Camp driftwood high up a coral ridge there provides a view point on the
incredible blue and turquoise color waters as no other place in the world.
This is the place from where the CIA and DEA in the 80th stalked one of
the
largest drug operations on a neighbouring Island photographing the
ID numbers of
the aircraft carrying the goodies, for later identification
and incrimination.
Thanksgiving found us with an invitation to
help deliver the Scorpio 72'
"Wildflower" to the Caribbean. Wildflower just finished after 3 years
in
the yard for a complete refurbishing now was ready for sea-trials, and
what
trials they where. We got presented with just about every occasion
to fix and
remedy things on this 1800 mile odessea. We anchored in the
Berry Islands Bahamas
for rest and repairs then on skirting by Eleuthera
with a visit to
San Salvador,
first supposed landing place of Columbus, then
5 days out into the Atlantic and on thru the Virgin passage
between
Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands on to St. Croix for Fuel. One week
in English Harbor a yachting icon in Antigua for the Charter Boat Show.
Then on by Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent to
Bequia and the Grenadines topping of our experience in the Tobago's chain
anchoring in what must be one the most sought after spots in any sailing world.
I felt like we had climbed the Mt. Everest of sailing and landed in heaven.
*************
West End British Virgin Islands the night before
we
left for the
Azores Island group of of Portugal total nonstop miles 2,400.
Here we are, right here in the now, always
will be.
Sailing the summer to Key West. What we are having here is a continuous
experience
of life at sea shared with all the different personalities that come
on board,
and what
characters they are, the faces of a humanity so rich so
varied, all of us
exploding into the future together, all as one, all there and
then, all now.
On top the waves so grand, the sails spread like wings,
Thank you!!!
And so we sailed to
Roatan Honduras and Belize
this 2006-2007 winter, a trip that had been 30 years in the planning and getting
the pieces together.
Acquired a new home base in Calabash bight Roatan
more about this later.
Gulf of Honduras
between the house and boat
the beach area
from beach area
view from the top out he entrance of the bight
across the bight from the top
places to go
Hurricane Special
September 2004 brought us some 4 hurricanes on
very short order, following are
some of the spots
we took Dutch Love to hide from the potential strong winds.
The first storm Hurricane Charles we found
this lone and
peaceful spot and it remained this way thru out the storm.
Let the dance begin
For Hurricane Ivan we avoided to the Grand
Bahama Bank behind some small Cay, we had a wild night getting there, but
again we enjoyed beautifull weather and sailed back to Key West a few days
later
Another one of Ivan's guests in the Bahamas.
.
The other 2 storms Francis and Jeanne we
stayed at the Galleon Marina in Key West again far enough SW to enjoy some
nice breezy days with lots of sunshine.
2005
here they came,
Dennis, Katrina, Rita,
Wilma, every one of these
wanted a dancecard for at least a week of preparations, preparations and
some more preparations, only to then put it all back together to go to sea.
But what fun it was to get out all the gear, ropes, chain, shackles and
shaffing gear to protect the ropes from getting cut where they leave the
boat.
2006 We are still
watching so far just one small storm.
2007 Looks
like most storms where in the Pacific this year, we got Noel roaring up the
Atlantic now.
The
waters are rising however, great opportunity for future waterfront property
further inland.
Please consult Al Gore's book "Inconvenient Truth" for
future storms.
Captain Harman
Contact
Dutch Love
