Summer of 2015,...GONE!

Summer has come and summer has gone. By the time I get this posted on the Blog we’ll be within a day or two of arriving at Kasidah. Summer of 2015 for Jae Bee Electric was very good. Better that last year, because last year there was that 6 weeks of Grand Jury Duty that sucked 1/6 of our yearly income. If you want to know about any of the case,…wait, I might be writing a book. Ha Ha. There were some very high profile cases that anybody in the area would remember, and it would bother you because of what they don’t tell you. My quick comparison would be this; All the people died on the Titanic from drowsing in cold water. But so many things could have been done, just one little thing could have saved so many lives on that boat. Same thing in one case that we indicted a man, so many people had a chance to do something, and nobody did, and a little girl died.

Hell! we even put Blue to work. 

Arline roughing-in a Bunk house for 40 migrant workers

Sunset Pines Executive Golf Course

New instruments

Anyway, Arline and I worked nearly every day through the summer, we had 3 nice sized jobs that did us well. Arline learned how to rough-in Metal clad wiring in a place of public assembly. She’s got her own tool belt outfitted with some nice tools. It was fun, when I saw that she needed a tool or was having a hard time with something I got her the right tool and she really improved with the new tools. Arline and I together could do more in a day than 3 of

my best guys that I ever had, sorry guys. We did more boats this summer than last year and we have work lined up for next spring.

We’ve travel through the summer to friends in Clayton on the river, to CT to visit mom and Dad and our Jill. We even got to visit Cal, Amy and Jeremy a couple of times, We even got to babysit for Cal for two weeks when they went on vacation to Italy. We really didn’t spend much time at the summer home at all.

We had kind of a family reunion with our dear friends (not family) from Tully. Through the years, the Mawbey’s have 2 girls also and we spent nearly every weekend with them as the girls grew up.  We all got together for a weekend party and with most of the men in the girls’ lives now. It was the first time in about 8 years that we all at once got together.

Seeing our 4 girls sitting together, now all adults it was quite a thrill for Vic and I to see the success of our hard work; An administer for a large medical team in Denver, a retired Capt and Pilot from the Air Force and mother of one with another on the way, a successful self employed 4^th degree Black Belt instructor with 2 studios that travels all over the world to train and soon to be x-ray and sonogram technician, an environmental scientist with her master from U-Conn as a hydro-geologist working for an multi-state engineering firm. All of them went to College and worked their ass off for it. None of them are worried about paying off that college loan, Hmmm. (Stop Jon) Where has the time gone?

Bahama Zephyr 

Arline and I bought ourselves a few things for the winter; if you’re a friend on Facebook you know all of this already. We have a Go Pro camera with an underwater housing and a couple of drones to lift different cameras into the sky. Not sure if I’m more exited about going underwater or in the sky with it.  The video editing studio will keep me out of trouble this winter as it can do so much but my computer is so old and slow.

Our to do list on Kasidah is long; Bottom paint, a real serious look at the rigging with a possible mast un-stepping and rebuild of the mast step, some thru-hull fittings, new dinghy chaps, and then of course anything else we find when we get there.

We are spending time this week with Amy, Jeremy and Cal, helping them with a few small projects around the house, a “Mommy/Daddy do list” if you will. Also my mom and dad, High School Lovers since the age of 16 or earlier, are going through some hard times. Dad just had some serious back surgery and is in a rehab house leaving mom home alone. She’s not taking her meds, doesn’t know what day it is and can’t do a lot on her own. This is very painful for me my brother and sister, as we try and help her. But she’s so stubborn and so good at fibbing. “Do you know what today is mom?”  “Of course I do Jon,…it’s the day after yesterday,..”. I stayed with her a week and tried to help at what I could but I can only do so much for her with out her wanting it. I guess we all will get old someday, so we just want them both to be together and happy.

Thank you all for watching, we’ll be on Kasidah Sunday, if all goes well.

What a great season we had!

Visiting with Cal

new deck and bench we built for our friend

Hooking up GPS and Radar for Roger

 We are back in New York trying to figure out how the season managed to slip away so quickly and

Fixing electrical problems and a fish finder for Dave

now getting things ready for next season.
We have been working for a few weeks and are very busy with residential jobs and service work on several boats, which is great to be on the water while working this summer.
Since its been awhile I figured I would try to recap a few things since the last post.

One of Blue's favorite beaches

1. 

Catch of the day

We had so much fun this season Fishing almost everyday either from our faithful dinghy or on Raymond's Power-cat. We managed to catch fish almost every time we went out.

Better luck next time

Raymond's new enclosure

We had a great time with Raymond fishing the whole south coast of Grand Bahamas and enjoyed all our dinners with him.We helped him with a new sunshade enclosure for his lower deck and Jon helped with some electrical and mechanical issues.

Gifts from other cruisers

Jon checking systems out

Hermit crab invasion

One day we spent with Duncan and Cathy on their Trawler "Two Scots" and traveled to Peterson Cay which is a Nation Park of the Bahamas. We jumped in the dink and went to shore for lunch, as soon as we opened the coolers and pulled out the sandwiches the hermit crabs started marching in from all direction for lunch.It was unbelievable how many there were. One managed to attach to my ear(don't ask) and man I will never try that again. It was a great day as always with out Scottish friends.



 

Jon chillin

Another day we went with our friend Tom on his cruiser to fuel up in Lucaya and explore the canal systems. As we cruised throw them we got some history of the houses and people there.

We brought our dive gear to the boat this year so we ended up doing a few dives and it was all worth bring our gear.
We saw eels,turtles,flounder,sharks and thousands of different fish in all sizes,shapes and colors. Once we ended up seeing two very large turtles mating and as they were preoccupied they ended up right under us.
It was breath taking to see these beautiful creatures right under us.

Some of our cruising friend (Hank and Diane) arranged a tour of the Sands Brewery so we went along on that. It was very interesting to see the plant and how all the bottles get ready for distribution. 

Tap room

Tapping at the tap room

When we got to the Tap Room the tour guide had us try all the different beers and told us what they did to make each different. I don't drink beer but I did end up liking Sands Light. After she was finished she told us she would have to leave us there and do another tour. What was she thinking!Leaving around 30 cruisers in the tap room to fend for ourselves. Forty five minutes later she arrived back to escort us to our taxis. This was one time I'm really glad no one was driving.

we gave gifts to all our friends

Jon trying to stop time

Now it was time to head back to the States, we ended up with a three or four day window so we departed at the crack of dawn on a high tide and managed to drop anchor just inside West Palm at sunset, the trip was smooth sailing all the way. The next morning we pulled anchor and traveled on the outside with another cruising couple "Jamie and Janice" to the St Lucie inlet which we have never done because they say you should have local knowledge to travel it.It was very easy and well marked. The only issue was having Border Patrol come up next to us as we were entering it but after a few questions and answers passed back and forth we were allowed to proceed. After entering the inlet Janice radioed to remind us it was low tide, the problem with low tide is at the cross roads which is where the ICW and the St Lucie river meet tends to shoal in and at six feet we bump whether its low or high and always depends when they dredged last. Well we bumped once backed off tried the other side bumped again backed off and the the center really did it, we were aground right in the miidle with many boats just flying by as if we were a marker instead of a boat stuck in the sand. we called Boat US and he said he could see us and would be there a two minutes. They sit right there because so many baots get stuck every day. Now thats a business that won't slow down anytime soon.
We finally got off and thanked him and of course our Boat US card. Off to Stuart to spend a week on the mooring ball before heading to Indiantown to put Kasidah away for the summer.
While in Indiantown we met up with our friends Jeff and Lana, they are the people we met in The Berry's the first year there when our engine blow. Jeff and Jon hit it off right away and have been friends since. They had a house in the Berry's but just recently sold it. We will miss them in our future visits to the Berry's. 
Getting Kasidah ready for the summer months went well and with no rain she went away nicely.
We hope the summer season goes by just as fast so we can return to Kasidah.  

Friends near and far........

End of February here in the Bahamas and another month till we start heading back. Lots of our family and friends have had a winter to talk about.

 Lots of snow, and long spells of very cold weather. It been cold here but then it’s all relative now isn’t it. By cold I mean 60’s in the day and low 50’s during the nights. The winds have been very high here too and mostly from the north so fishing, diving and snorkeling have been spars this month.  We’ve had two visitors from the cold this month and really had a great time with them.

Jon and Marguerite came at the beginning of the month and stayed on the boat. They used the aft cabin and claimed it to be great sleeping. We moved all our stuff from the garage as we call it and turned it into a bedroom. Hell even I was impressed at how it cleaned up and once the freezer was out it was even roomy.  We rented a car for the week picking them up at the Airport and had a cold rum drink waiting for them. We made a trip to West End where boaters usually check in from the states, we hit several beaches and of course Port Lucaya where all the little markets are. We took them out snorkeling in our dinghy only once because the weather just wouldn’t allow it.  But we did a little cruising in the canal system here looking for fish and Lobster from a local that goes out as often as he can in his paddle Kayak (Not Allen, another fellow Perry). We scored some very good sized lobster, enough for two meals for the four of us and a good sized Hog fish which was a full meal for the 4 of us again. One of the better nights out was at the Sand Beach Bar meeting Alex and Mary there for drinks and dinner.

 Jon and Marguerite treated us all to drinks and some wings done up just right, Thank You! It’s called the Sand Bar because there is only Sand for flooring in the building; I guess you could call it a building. A visit to Flamingo Marina and Taino Beach Resort in the middle of the week had a double purpose, we had a slip booked for a week in the middle of February when our 2^nd guest where coming so we wanted a look and other boaters we knew from ORYC where there with grand children, so we could use the largest pool in the Bahamas and a it has a great beach. For most of the meals we ate on the boat saving a ton of money for all of us. It seems we all like eating out less and less everywhere we are. Food and drinks are usually overpriced, and the food is just so so compared to how we eook on the boat. They felt the visit would indeed keep them going through the rest of the winter and maybe even till their boat gets back in the water.  They made it home to some really cold weather and work. We look forward to visiting them on their boat this summer and anchoring out somewhere for a night.

Dinner music by Kevin

We had a week to ourselves and then our other guest from the cold came for a visit. Kevin and Tamera came from Tully our old home town where we raised our kids and had our business. We’ve known them for a long time but only see them a few times a year if that. She was the kids dance teacher when Amy and Jill where very young. They stayed at the Flamingo marina and Motel, we took a trip with Kasidah and had a slip in front of their room. Again we rented a car picking them up from the airport with a cold rum drink. The first few days there was nice weather and they spent some good time at the big pool. It took them 3 days to get towels from the resort for the pool; I guess Kevin walked about 2 miles one day getting the run around from the front desk at the Motel to the front desk at the Resort across the street to the laundry room then to some other place without a towel to be found. Finally we found him at the pool with a drink and no towel. Arline had towels on the boat for them. About Wednesday they found a mother load of towels in their room, enough for the week I guess. We took the water taxi from the Motel to town one night for a really nice meal at Agava Restaurant, Thank you. 

On Friday we brought Kasidah back to our slip at ORYC so they got to sail on Kasidah. It was a bit cold but we had a nice easy trip and even took out one of our sails and turned the engine off, even had out a fish pole for a bit. 

Kevin and Tamara, like us, enjoy hanging out where the locals hang out. So the highlight was the $2 bar, which we love and go to a few times. Beers are cheap, and Burgers are like $8, right across the street for the ocean, just a shack but they do a nice job. We were sitting at lunch with our Sands beers and burgers when a young well dressed young man walked in pointing at our beers telling us that’s a great beer. He is a sales rep for Sands made here on the island; he had a nice Sands shirt on too. Steven asked if we had done the brewery tour yet, and we really had meant to do it but Kevin had an ear infection after snorkeling with me 2 day before so a quick Dr’s visit and drug store stop left us a little short on time that day. Normally there is an $8 charge at the door of the tour to cover all the beer you can drink policy, but we muscles a photo of Steven with Kevin and Tamera while he gave us the name of the lady at the door and promised we could get in for free or was it a golf-shirt would be there for us. Finishing our meal and several beers we noticed Steven putting up a poster for a Sands Sponsored Party at the $2 Bar on Friday night 4-8 pm. 2 Sands beers for $5 and you get a free Sands Light beer a DJ with Music too. 

We got there with another couple Duncan and Cathy, it’s only 1 mile from our Marina so I made a few trips with the car to get us all there. They had tents out where you get your free Sands light and we find Steven manning the booth. He was very happy to see Kevin and Tam spending a good length of time talking over the VERY LOUD MUSIC, I don’t think Woodstock had as many speakers as there were at this party. As Steven gave you the free Sands Light he also had Shots of something for you and he did them with you, Arline even was talked into 2 shots of some spiced whiskey, oh yeah.  We danced in the street, and did I mention Tamera has a Dance

Tamara,Kevin and Stephen. Stephen is from Sands brewery.   

Studio, she had choreographed a dance to every song they played that night. Michael Jackson, Cindy Lauper, Clarence Carter and Smoken, (You Tube it). What a blast we had, all night there was only a hand full of other cruisers and then all locals who where dancing and laughing with us. I must say that the people who waited on us and the owner, I assume, made it a very nice night. They saw you walk in with your hand in the air with $5 in it and by the time you got to the bar your beers where there. If you made a detour to the bathroom when he saw you come out of the room he walked them over to you. They had people picking up bottle and cans outside to keep it neat and safe. The food was very prompt, good and prices right. We ordered Wings and fries, they came out to take our order and again when it was time to eat finding us a table inside, when the food showed up there had to be a gallon container of fries. The owner saw me looking for something though the crowd, saying “Hot Sauce” to him, no way he could have heard because of the crowd and music, but he knew what I wanted and met me half way across the room with it. We will visit the $2 Bar again before we leave next month. Kevin and Tam left the next day and got snowed in at Philly over night with a canceled fight home. We hope to see them this summer at their camp on the St Lawrence.

This is a Century Tree Plant, it grows the bottom part for about 20-30 years and then in its final year

it shots up 20-30 feet with the flowering top and sends its seeds out I guess and then dies. There is one near our boat and we’ve been watching it grow with out knowing what it was till it was pointed out to us, I will try and keep an eye out for the flowers at their peak if we are here long enough. Really a beautiful plant!

We hope to do a lot of fishing and diving in the next 3 weeks and then start looking for our window to get back to the states. Our Grandson Cal is growing and crawling now, eating and eating and becoming so aware, Arline can’t wait to get to see him soon.

Thank you all for watching.

  

Happy New Years from the Berry Islands

Great Habour Cay will always hold a special place in our heart that’s warm and dear to us. 

Our 1^st year there was when just 5 miles out of the marina our engine over heated severally and needed to be rebuild, and just before Christmas. So we spent a month there waiting for parts and doing the work on the engine. While there we meet many of the American landowners, and became friends with everybody that worked at the marina. We were invited out to go fishing and then there was The New Year’s Party and the friendly/helpful mechanic that helps us rebuild Kasidah’s engine.

Our 2^nd year there we stayed just about the whole winter season, with the highlight being when Amy and Jeremy come for a weeks visit. We really got to know the island and all of its history, as we explored every place on the island we could. All the while some of the best times were when other boaters would come in, we’d spend time with them, explore and share our knowledge of the island with them.

The 3^rd year we were going to stay only a while but we ended up nursing our dog Sara for a few hard weeks until she passed away in Arline’s lap. We buried her on one of the most beautiful isolated beaches we've ever been to or seen. We've never seen anybody there and its a few miles from the marina by dingy. So now we call it Sara’s Beach.  We made some good friends that year as many of us were there, but then tragedy hit the island when the communication towers came crashing down leaving the island in a total lock out. With family and kids in the states we like staying connected through the internet. With out it we couldn't stay so we followed friends to Grand Bahama and found ORYC very comfortable for the rest of the year.

Our catch on the way over

The next year we only visited for a short while from Grand Bahama. We were blown away by the reception of visitors from the friends on GHC. Weather windows and other factors set the visit to only a week. We did get to fish, look for conch, and visit Sara’s Beach. But it was nice to get back to ORYC and the pool, real food stores, and more than two restaurants to choose from.

We were really looking forward to our trip and visit this year to GHC.

Female Mahi Mahi

We left ORYC at the crack of dawn on New Years Eve Day, right behind another sail boat, Claus and Rosie. It was a good sail, again the wind was close to on the nose and we could have sailed the whole way,…but we had a time schedule to get in by dark, so we had our motor on to push us and extra knot making 6.5 or better shaving 3 or more hours off the trip. We actually passed another sailboat out this trip. Fair is fair, we both were motor sailing.    

Yum Yum

 Fished all the way there and caught a Mahi Mahi only 3 hours out of GB. It was really a good fight, While cleaning the fish we had some "Fresh as could be meat" in the cockpit and then for the next few nights had it different ways.

From strong trees grow strong trees

New Palms growing at Sara's site

We visited Sara’s Beach and found it in good shape, the palm tree we planted last year had taken to sprout and had grown an impressive about. We wanted to transplant another one this year so we started looking but couldn't find any coconuts that had started to sprout. We did find a good sized palm tree that we were able to pull up and take in the dinghy. As you can see from the photo of it in our dingy it came from a great palm tree and was one of only a few that had taken. From strong trees grow great trees. We dug a hole to place it in and watered it. We hope that when we are in our 80’s we can look at some satellite image and see the tree on Sara’s Beach.

Brought our dive gear

out conching with Claus and Rosy

catch of the day

We hit our favorite snorkeling spots and got Lobster and fish, then we went to a shallow area and got some conch. There wasn’t too much to do this time on the island, the Beach bar had been rebuilt and looked great. We used our bikes and went to the southern end of the island, sharks creek. One of the most beautiful array of colors between the shallow and deep water, sand and tress we’ve ever seen. We also speared Lion Fish. They are not native to the Bahamas and you are asked to kill them when you can. they are poisonous if you touch their barbs, and they have many. They eat large amounts of small fish, have no natural enemy in the waters, so they are not quick to move and easy to hunt. After you cut the barbs off with a pair of scissors they are just another fish, We caught several of them, cleaned and fried them up. Very good eating!! Check out the video we used oh "How to Clean"

How to clean a Lion Fish

Lion fish for dinner

After a week of biting no-see-ms, favorable winds and tides, and the need for another Mahi-Mahi in our cooler we decided to head north and then back to the pool, and hot tub in Grand Bahama.

how to take the poisonous barbs of

No fish on the way home but a nice well timed trip  and a welcome party at the dock for us.  

    

now it's a regular fish