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| Clockwise from upper left: (1) Drying our clothes on the lifelines; (2) Funny sign in Marsh Harbour - "You can eat our meat with no teeth."; (3) Experimenting with dehydrated vegies; (4) The red and white striped lighthouse, which symbolizes Hope Town, is everywhere; (5) Very official and slightly James Bond-like envelope from Bahamas Customs & Immigration; (6) Planning our next move. |
It's time for our monthly recap by the numbers. We spent all of April cruising in the Bahamas in the Abacos. The month was a mix of good days, could-of-been-better days and holy-crap days. The biggest issues we faced were constantly hiding out from the weather (we had hoped it would have settled down in April, it didn't) and stuff breaking. Hmm...sounds like just an ordinary month cruising on any boat, doesn't it? The weather always rules your life and stuff always needs fixing.
Here's some tidbits about how the month went by the numbers:
- 214 - Number of nautical miles sailed. {Side Note: I now have over 2,200 nautical miles under my belt. I know that's next to nothing compared to most people, but who would have though I would have ever spent that much time on a boat?}
- 3 - Number of people from Indiantown Marina that we ran across while in the Bahamas.
- 30 - Number of nights we anchored. Anchoring is free. Yay! Except in Treasure Cay where they charge you $20 to anchor. Needless to say, we didn't anchor there.
- Nil - How much we spent on eating out or on takeaway food. Everything we ate was cooked on board Tickety Boo. Why pay $14 for a cheeseburger and fries when you can make your own cheeseburgers and grilled potatoes on board instead?
- 14 - How many ounces you'll get when you re-hydrate 2 ounces of dehydrated broccoli. We experimented with Harmony House dehydrated vegies while out cruising. Fresh fruit and vegies can be hard to come by in the Bahamas and when you do find them, they're often quite expensive and not always in very good condition. I've found the dehydrated bell peppers really useful for adding to pasta sauce and the broccoli works really well in stir fry dishes.
- 18 - How many days we spent anchored in Marsh Harbour, which was 17 days more than we would have liked. The first time we were there, we were hiding out from weather. The second time we were there was to try to get our broken dinghy davit repaired. I know a lot of people like Marsh Harbour and it is a great place to get groceries, fuel, water, propane etc., but the town really doesn't do much for us. However, the snorkeling at Mermaid Reef is awesome, so that kind of makes up for our time there. Kind of.
- 50+ - How many knots of wind we experienced one night anchored in Marsh Harbour. It was insane. We turned the engine on and prayed we or anyone else wouldn't drag anchor. We held fast - a testament to our Rocna anchor and the muddy bottom at Marsh Harbour.
- 1 - Number of oil changes. It's a messy job, but it has to be done.
- 2 - Number of temperatures on our BBQ - Off and Giant Fire.
- 2 - Number of temperatures on our oven - Off and On.
- 2 - Number of times we had pancakes. I love pancakes, especially with tons of syrup. Actually, the pancakes are probably secondary to the syrup.
- 8/10 - The rating I'd give Otto, our autohelm. He's performed surprisingly well during the month, although there's always room for improvement.
- 2/10 - The rating I'd give myself. Honestly, I'm the worst when it comes to helming the boat. You'd think I'd have figured this out by now. I've got a lot of room for improvement.
- 4.5 - Number of hours we ran our Honda generator. We had to take our solar panel down to our dinghy davit failure (it's mounted on our davits) and couldn't change it's angle during the day which meant we got less amps in than normal. Having a generator is a nice back-up for days when you can't get solar power.
In case you missed them, here are some of our favorite posts from last month:
Land Ho! Stretching Our Legs at Peck Lake
Smokey the Bear's Lair | Bush Fires in the Bahamas
Flashback Friday | Random Blogging Tips
How did last month go for you? What are you looking forward to this month?
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In defense of the $14 cheeseburger! Purchased cheeseburgers have meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, nice onion, cheese, and buns. Homemade cheeseburgers (at our house) would involve cheese, which we have (no meat, buns, lettuce, etc). The real treat is the tomato. It's the best. We could make buns I guess. And the $14 includes someone who does all the dishes (not to mention the sweating over the grill!) We try to have one cheeseburger in each island chain. Interestingly, most places serve burgers with peas and rice or coleslaw but not fries. So yep, guilty of being sucked into the $14 cheeseburger!
ReplyDeleteScott doesn't like fresh tomatoes so we don't have them on our cheeseburgers. We also don't normally have lettuce, so we're probably saving a small fortune making them ourselves as we skip those tow items. It's also probably a lot more affordable to make them yourself in the Abacos because of Abacos. You can get all the fixings relatively cheaply there, including the buns.
DeleteThats sounds like a lot of nautical miles to me!
ReplyDeleteAnd I love the name Mermaid Reef - sounds like a story lurking beneath those waves.... :)
It is a great name, isn't it. Great place for snorkeling.
DeleteOverall it sounds like a good month. You might want to invest in a food dehydrator of your own. With that you can dry a ton of different fruits and vegetables and even meals yourself. Just thought!
ReplyDeleteWe feel the same way as you about eating out, it is often expensive and more often than not your own food is way better. :-)
www.travelwithkevinandruth.com
I'll have to look into dehydrating our own stuff - good idea!
DeleteInquiring minds have to know: When you turn on your autohelm, do you see images of Kevin Kline or is that just me? And is there more to that 8/10 rating you've given Otto than meets the eye?
ReplyDeleteStephanie @ SV CAMBRIA
I think that might just be you having images of Kevin Kline :-)
DeleteYou've had a busy month. I agree with not spending that much for a burger and fries. I would have cooked on the boat too. I like going out, but often the food is better on your boat.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day. ☺
Going out can be fun, especially when you do it with friends and it's a social occasion. But more often than not we can make stuff a lot cheaper and which sometimes tastes better than what you can get eating out, so we try to do that when we can.
DeleteSounds like an adventurous month! I'm glad the snorkeling was good. :)
ReplyDeleteThe snorkeling was a real highlight of the month.
DeleteOff and giant fire - I like that!
ReplyDeleteNever thought of using dehydrated vegetables. Smart.
I hadn't thought of using dehydrated vegies either, but I'm glad I tried them. They work pretty well.
DeletePancakes are really just the vessel for the syrup :)
ReplyDeleteI have zero nautical miles under my belt so that sure sounds like a lot to me!
Ah, someone who understands the true purpose of pancakes :-)
DeleteIf you can eat peanut butter, you should add it to those pancakes & syrup. It's the best unhealthiest breakfast sandwich-like thing ever!
ReplyDeleteHmm...interesting idea. I'll have to try that.
DeleteA grand month. I'm envious of your two temperature bbq and oven. Such luxury. I'm wagering you get lots of doughy pancakes with that set up.
ReplyDeleteFortunately we have a camping stove that we use to make pancakes on which has slightly better temperature control than the BBQ and oven.
DeleteHa ha, I'm also laughing at Off and Giant Fire!
ReplyDeleteSounds like an awesome month!
ReplyDeleteIt did have it's good moments :-)
DeleteDid you get to visit Hope Town? I just looked at photos of the lighthouse and surroundings there today, attempting thebstart of anphotos album of our cruising years. Very nice! Hurray for not eating out. Yep... we do remember running for weather a lot while in the Bahamas. That and the cold sea water were the two big negatives of the area. As long as it is winter, there will be cold fronts. And you move and move and move... I hope all the boat issues got fixed!
ReplyDeleteWe were there last time we were in the Abacos and again during this trip. Such a cute place!
DeleteThis entire year is passing in a blur for me! So crazy.
ReplyDeleteSpending a month in the Bahamas would have been nice. I'm impressed you didn't eat out at all. I would have been tempted by the fries at least once. :)
Smooth sailing!
The thing that tempted me was the Bahamaian mac n'cheese. Different than American mac n'cheese and so delish.
DeleteIt sounds challenging and rewarding. Still envious, but less so now that I've been reminded of possible weather trouble. I'm glad you both came out of it okay. ;-)
ReplyDeleteAnna from elements of emaginette
That is one of the big issues with cruising, you always have to keep an eye on the weather.
DeleteYou'd probably love the high protein pancake mix by Kodiak that I've been buying at Costco. Did I say already that it's high protein? That's important because it means you can add more syrup without guilt. In Scotland, they sell pancakes already made in little cellophane packages, but you probably already know that. Also, they have a bigger selection of cookies and cakes here than in any other part of the developed world.
ReplyDeleteHigh protein pancakes - that sounds very interesting! The Scottish pancakes just aren't the same as American ones.
DeleteI hear there's some fierce winds over that way. Isn't that called the trade wind? People used to rely on that to get around, but probably not so necessary now!
ReplyDeleteTrade winds can work with you or against you. Depends which way you want to go.
Delete