Message in a Bottle !!!!

July 29th, 2010

We always wanted to get a message in a bottle - so there you have it ! :)

Two hardheaded women couldn't find " their " captains to take them sailing the Abacos, Bahamas for the summer, so we had to take the wheel in our own hands.
Left our homeport Marathon , Florida Keys ,and seven adventurous weeks ago and 1000 miles later we are in the middle of the Gulfstream ( N 25' 33.065' W 079'56.365' ) facing the U.S. Coast and reality.For this is it .We did it !!!
Livin' up to our boat's name " Quixotic ", we refused to abandon our dream despite popular belief that this voyage was impossible , and with our last ounce of courage we set sail.
We faced adversity ranging from storms, groundings, engine trouble , way too much fun ( IS that possible ? ) to emotional and physical challenges. Did I mention the hammerheadshark ????

However, like Eleonor Roosevelt said: " Each day do one thing that scares you ."
We are proud and happy !!!
Cindy and Andrea
P.S. Let us know where and when you find this message by sending an e-mail to :
cindymaesanborn@gmail.com

REALITY !

 

West End to Bimini

So , it's Tuesday , July @7th , and we're in West End again , getting ready to treck back to Florida . Tomorrow morning we're heading to South Bimini ,get a good night sleep , then we head across the stream to No Name Harbor , the weather report calls for calm seas and sunny skies , going across the Gulfstream I'm not picky , as long as I don't get my ass kicked I'm good . Life is fantastic ...

We sat for a moment and just soaked up the peace of the night , the island dark and silent , the full moon glittering like a million stars on the calm ocean and “Quixotic” gently swaying . I cried when we weighed anchor , for turning the bow of our boat to sea didn’t promise the usual thrill of getting to explore a new island .
This was it . We are heading home ….
We arrived at Great Sale Cay last night and saw the most perfect sunset , not a cloud to mar the view , just awesome .We finished the evening off with a nice dinner of spear fished grunts (?)
We still got a couple of days to travel, and we take the time to reflect on an awesome trip .To say we had it all is an understatement, I don’t think I ever had better… And we got time to make plans for the year to come , all the new ideas and energy needs to be put to good use . They say you gotta have a plan , so you can get rid of it to free yourself for the life that awaits you . Looking back at the last year I have a hard time to keep my anticipation of things to come in check.
Cindy is polishing our isinglass and has this bright smile on her face .” I can see clearly now !!! “ she announces
.Isn’t this what this whole trip is about ….

Foxtown - and the motor is still running...

So we're rightfully freaked out to pull in in Foxtown. This is the place we sailed in last year without our engine , got caught in a storm with 60+winds and dragged for half a mile through a mine field of rocks , no motor to save the night - but we just had to see these people who helped us out like family. And - off course they remembered these crazy american chicks , sailing all by themselves , what's wrong with them ???
Well, this year we're returning from a successful ride all the way to Little Harbor and back , and the crew here is delighted , the tennage girls inspired and we are full of the mopst delicious cracked conch and lobster in the whole Abacos.
I dove the anchor and the holding is murky at best , nothing but grass and silt , but having the engine on standby will make all the difference in the world. We've learned sooo much , I'm proud.

Manjack Cay - Back to Paradise !!!

So towards the end of our journey we’re coming full circle .
We left all the debauchery and mayhem behind us , leaving Green Turtle Cay after a day of rest and reading on my part ( Goddess, my battery was sooo in the red ) , Cindy going out to see Barefoot Man Playing at Nipper’s , both of us happy to be moving on .
We’re at Manjack Cay , I see 3 houses on the hill , a lovely palm beach with a little tiki hut in the water ,a place just as I dreamed of as I envisioned the Bahama’s . The wind is still honking , but we accomplished the perfect anchoring , plopped it right in the middle of a nice sandy spot where it set right away , the Bruce anchor , my favorite trouper out there , only trumped by a shiny stainless delta , the boater’s wife’s diamond ….
So we arrived early afternoon and immediately launched the dinghy to go exploring . Checked out the wrecks and speared 2 grunts - Yoooh !?! - before Barry , the barracuda caught up with us and stopped the fun .
High tide led us dinghy down the slough forever , and when we got back to the boat we where so high as we haven’t been since Double Breasted Cay .We both agreed that it was fun to do the Regatta and all the partying , but this exploring the islands, hunting and chilling is what this trip is all about .
Today we went to the beach , tied up our dinghy to the Tiki hut and followed a trail all across the island to the atlantic shore . Being without our tour guide we didn’t bring no bugspray , so we traveled with quite some speed to leave the moskitos in our wake (Yep , and no beer for the halfwaypoint either , didn’t we learn anything ????).
Oh my goddess, the vista was just breathtaking …
There were those awesome rocks in the surf on the white ,white beach , looking just like The Bath , BVI , except there wasn’t a soul on the beach . So we went skinny-dipping and snorkeled around the rocks teeming with exotic fish , just spectacular . Realizing this was our last chance to inhale the freedom of these untouched islands was quite painful , a little like dying , but we’re soo grateful we had the chance to do this trip …

Change in weather - Change in plans !!!!

We're still in Great Guana Cay , Tropical Storm B... is blowing 40knots + winds and we're tied down in a marina and chillin' .Not much we can do than wait it out , read a book , enjoy internet and get ready for the long treck home . The weather will be fair next week , so we decided to cross the gulfstream from West End , which will bring us far up the Floridsa East Coast , but that way we'll make it in time so Cindy can see off her son.
I'm totally lived into my new lifestyle , every day we have to make decisions about our next move , I'm calling them " Decision 2010 " ,and all of them follow a simple pattern : Either I AM happy, or I am NOT happy ... And so I have to make my choices accordingly . Life is simple .....

Little Harbor - Turnaround point !!!!

Little Harbor , a tiny artist community at the end of the world - ahem I mean Abacos - surely let’s the creative juices flow . A perfectly protected natural harbor , complete with caves on a cliff wall , a perfect halfmoon palm beach ,the sound of the atlantic surf in the distant , wow ,what an awesome place . And to think that only 50 years ago a family arriving on their schooner claimed this place as their home , the first inhabitants of a gem untouched.
We’ve been here for 5 days now and we start to know the few locals by name .The wind has been howling ever since our arrival , but we were able to explore Old Johnston’s Bight in the Lee of the island .Thanks to Charlie , an old Bahamian Lobster fisher from Grand Cay ,we actually found the Blue Holes there .
We had Internet for 24 hours, so we touched base with friends and family . Talked to my parents and both my kids on Skype , and even though the connection got interrupted quite a few times , you must admit it was awesome to see them from this isolated spot in the world.
We had plenty of time to do some reading ,and the little girl in me actually painted a watercolor of Hopetown .It was the first time in 20 years that she had a chance to play and I’m truly inspired.
Little Harbor is the turnaround point of our trip and it’s unbelievable to imagine that 5 weeks have passed. We’re hoping to make landfall on Florida’s coast around the 29th , so Cindy can go and see her son off to his 3rd trip to Afghanistan . I guess being out on the ocean makes one realize how precious our time on this planet is and we get our priorities straight.
I’m sure we’ll be back in Marathon before school starts , but for now I’m gonna look forward to do some more exploring and sail the crap out of this boat , for turnaround point on this journey also promises down-wind sailing -Yeah !!!!!

Little Harbor

There is nothing nicer than being hunkered down in a safe harbor when the wind is howling outside . turtles are swimming around our boat and except for Pete's Pub and gallery there is nothing but peace here . Or rather dramatic landscape with caves on a cliff and the ocean pounding the rugged coastline. I was inspired enough to actually paint , the first time in 20 years , it is quite awesome here . But tomorrow we'll start our treck back , first stop Lynard Cay, for we need the help of high tide in the afternoon to get back out of this anchorage. had 24 hours of internet , enough time to skype with family and kids , which was awesome !!!!! So we're off to Marsh Harbor for provisioning , till then , fair weather and always a handfull of water under the keel .

Matt and Pavla bringing home the Conch !!!

Racing the doldrums

Our first race in the Regatta was by far the most “ interesting “and challenging race I’ve ever been in.
We had Steve, a diehard ‘Stink-potter’ , and Amy , an experienced all women’s crew racer, on board , so I’d figured a little extra muscle and racing experience leave us in good shape . Little did I know ….
It started with the search for the committee boat and said search never ended !?!?!?
Would you believe it , we eventually found the orange start line mark and Amy , who’d done this Regatta before , assured us to look for a powerboat with an orange flag .
Oh well, we had the start mark , so if we could only look for boats with yellow ribbons , the sign of the Mothertub-class , we’d be in good shape . One skipper assured us we hadn’t started the race yet , another said we were on , and all of the sudden there was ‘Abaco Glow’ ,a high-profile race -boat, struggling to keep their spot on the startline and I was seriously squeezing them out of their position and so tight on them- what a thrill !!! Especially since I thought I hadn’t started yet and was ruining their all- year -anticipated effort for them, so I let them go and tacked. After the race , Steve admitted he wanted to scream, but when he saw me calm on the helm ,he didn’t want to be the first one to freak out , and we all had a good laugh over that moment .Well, as soon as ’AB’ passed us I saw the yellow ribbon on their backstay and made a 360’ around the mark and followed them .Not having found the committee boat , we’d never seen the course board either , but that turned out to be no problem, for “Quixotic” ,our mother tub ,wouldn’t point upwind at all and we soon fell way behind the rest of the fleet. Soon we popped the first beers and were just about to turn on the stereo when we got close to the first mark and into complete doldrums . Now let me ask you if any of you ever tried to sail a heavy boat as ours at 0.7 knots and then tried to tack her . Talking about some whiteknuckle sailing , concentrating on every little move she made , I was pretty stressed out , while the rest of the crew slowly but surely passed out on me .We eventually called our ’Iron Genny’ to the rescue and motored back home ,so we could make it to the award ceremony that evening . ’Abaco Glow’ did win first price that day and we regretted we ruined their effort to beat their last years time . Only a couple of races later the skipper of their boat Sean approached me to compliment me on my move that day .His words said a lot about the race that day : We were so jeaulous, for you were in the position we wanted to be in and we were quite impressed ,until you fell off and we realized she also didn’t know what was going on .
So imagine you in a race , you don’t know where the startline is , you don’t know when you start and you don’t know the course !?!? Unbelievable …..

P.S. Crossing the Finish line we found the Comitteboat to be a big sailboat ,duuuuh….

I think the day of the Stranded Naked Party we started to limp a little bit , but we soldiered on for this was supposed to be the mother of all parties .
1200 Cheeseburgers ,300 Hot Dogs,150 Pounds of French Fries and 100 Gallons of Rum punch and Margaritas each , plus everything required to set up a beach party with games and music on an uninhabited island and return it to pristine condition afterwards - WOW!!!!
All this was organized and paid for by a guy named Bobb Henderson , an American Cargo jet pilot , who lives on the houseboat” Stranded Naked “and followed the whole Regatta all the way to Hopetown with it.
When we arrived by dinghy on Fiddle Cay , the party was already in high gear . There were a gazillion of boats rafted up in a big semicircle around the beach and the line for the cheeseburgers reached far into the water . I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything more fun . We were all friends this day and even met Jess ,who’d spent the winter with her daughter and man in Boot Key Harbor .
Talking about Boot Key Harbor , I think I feel a “Stranded Naked Party” coming on….

Two hard-headed women visited the hanging-tree on Alans-Pensacola Cay

Boy ,oh Boy , the crew of Quixotic is lost in PARTY CENTRAL , but it’s just way too much fun !!!!!
After spending 2 weeks either at sea or out in the islands ,we’ve finally made contact with civilization again . We’ve arrived at Green Turtle Cay 4 days before the infamous “Stranded Naked Party “ kicks off the annual Regatta Time in Abaco - uh-oh - BIG MISTAKE !!! We’d spent the first night outside the harbor for Quixotic needed a little help of the tide to get her heavy bottom in and following the dockmasters advice on recognizing him : Just look fo da most handsome mon in da whole Abacos, we met Kevin , the lead singer of the “ Gullyroosters” , Bahama’s # 1 Band. Green Turtle was still totally deserted , so we went to see them play at the ‘Bluffhouse “ and at the ‘Green Turtle Club” and we danced and danced and danced…….

Need Vacation - HELP !!!!

Yeah , we survived Regatta time in the Abacos ,with all the trimmings and wipped cream on top !!! What an awesome time it was . And now we have internet access - what a rare commodity -and my laptop is low on power !?!This Stranded Naked Party and all the mayhem that went with it - I'm exhausted and looking forward to a couple of days of vacation . Life is awesome ......