We arrived back at our home in Cary, NC on Sunday, June 14. W
hile still in Morehead City, we rented a car, did last minute boat chores and arrived home about 4:00 in the afternoon. We really had fun driving 70+ mph. You get used to cruising at 8 mph! One of the first things we both did was get haircuts. Neither of us has had one in about 5 months and it showed. Wish we had taken a 'before' picture. Here is the 'after' picture.We had called our friends, Jim and Nell, who have been watching our house, to let them know we would be home in about a week. Jim laughed and said that at least he had time to get the tenants out of the house and the goat out of the guest bathroom. He did ask, however, how to say "Please remove the goat from the bathroom" in Spanish. When we drove into the driveway, we noticed a ‘For Rent’ sign in the yard with a sign below it saying that no goats were allowed! We had a big hoot about that.
They also left us a bag of chips and a couple of dips, the makings for sangria and a beautiful vase of flowers. With their help (starting cars, watering plants, walking through the house and yard to make sure things were OK, and a myriad of other things) we were able to sleep peacefully and not worry about our home. Thanks again, Jim and Nell!!Trip Statistics:
Departure: 12/4/08 from Morehead City, NC
Return: 6/12/09 to Morehead City, NC
All mileage figures are shown in statute miles
Fuel consumption figures include the 2 main engines and the 2 generators
Trip Days .......................................................... 190
Travel Days ....................................................... 86
Lay Days, Staying Put .....................................104
Nights in Marinas .............................................114
Nights on the Hook or Mooring Ball ................76
Miles Traveled ...............................................3345
Gallons of Diesel Used ...................................1818
Total Fuel Cost ......................................$4,003.01
Total Main Engine Hours ................................432
Gal/Hr Diesel Consumed ................................4.21
Miles/Gallon .....................................................1.84
Average Fuel Cost/Mile ...............................$1.20
Average Miles/Day .......................................38.90
Number of Chap Sticks used ...............................9
Number of Books Read ................................Many
Gallons of Wine Consumed ..............Many, Many
Funnest things:
The amazing clarity of the water
The number of stars at night
Bon Fires
Finding Rickshaw at night in the dingy after the bon fires
First time anchoring in the Cays
Getting to know the boat
Looking for conch shells
Snorkeling
Pig BeachHappy Hours and dinners on each other's boats
The beaches
Dinging across Shroud Key to the Atlantic side
The settlements:
- The People
- Bahamian Coconut Bread
- Finding a working Internet
Things we will miss:
All the fun we had with our buddy boating friends that we met along the way
Bon fires, laughter and more laughter
New adventures at each new Cay
Playing Dominos and always losing to the Domino-Whip-ass-woman (Vicki)
Things we will not miss much:
Big winds and thunderstorms
In the meantime, we have been sorting through mountains of mail and doing the things around the house that need attention. One more thank you to Nora, who helped us tremendously with our mail. We have also been relaxing and catching up with family and friends.
We don't have any plans in place yet for our next adventure. We do know that we have some mostly cosmetic things that we want to do on Rickshaw, but that is never ending, I think.
We both hope that you all have a wonderful summer. Thanks for all the kind words about the blog, we had fun putting it together.
We end with some videos that we took along the way and were not able to post because of their size as well as some of our favorite pictures. Enjoy!
You may remember that cruisers in the Bahamas blow a Conch shell in the evenings to give thanks for a wonderful day. Here is our group's attempt at such. Melodious, isn't it?
This was the dingy ride we took across Shroud Cay. It was a really gorgeous trip and the pristine beach that was on the Atlantic side of the island was gorgeous. It was pretty shallow in places so Rick was hand signaling to Norm the depth of the water.
This is downtown Nassau. We weren't used to the hussle and bussle!! The Straw Market is where you can buy all kinds of things like a Rolex watch for $25.
And lastly, some of our favorite pictures of the Exumas.
Below is the whole gang: Todd and Brenda (Lifes2Short), Vicki and Norm (Tide Hiker), Stephanie and Bob (September Song) and most of the Gypsies (Gypsies in the Palace) - Colleen, Tammy and Doug, John was home in NH working!
The water was fabulous...
...as were the sunsets. The first two were taken at Little Farmer's Cay and the last two were taken at Sampson. I could have put lots of beautiful sunset pictures here but I guess you get the picture!
And lastly, a little Bahamian attitude.
