This post consists of a compilation of blog post (the Prequel to Lubbers Leap) and a walk down memory lane of the past seven years of the ups and downs of owning a house on a remote island in the Bahamas. We recently sold her, it’s kinda bittersweet for me as she was my baby for the last seven years. I will miss her.
PHILOSOPHY AND SALTWATER THERAPY
November 6, 2016
If you don’t like Marley and Buffett stop reading now. This is a life-long adventure started as a kid growing up in the same funky Gulf coast town as Jimmy B. That town shaped my life, from stories of pirates to shrimpers to the oystermen that made a living in shallow draft boats, I have saltwater in my veins. Growing up swimming, fishing and generally living in the brackish water of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I was raised in the same estuaries as the shrimp and redfish. It wasn’t until later in life that I realized we are truly living the life Jimmy sings about. I am very grateful that we are able live this type of life, because I really do have a Caribbean soul I can barely control. Some think we are crazy, some say we are their heroes, I would say we are just a family following our dreams. There are many ways to explain our feelings, but alas, we are engineers, not artists, so please excuse the many lyrics and borrowed metaphors peppered in to attempt to paint our story and help you understand why we have Caribbean souls we can barely control.
We have been drifting around the Caribbean for many years; chartering sailboats, renting houses and venturing on our own boat. It could have been long-dormant pirate genetics activated by my first trip to the Caribbean when I was a teenager and tasted that first Goombay Smash (thank you Miss Emily) or simply an obsessive compulsive need for having the freedom of being on the water brought on by being a child of the same environment Buffett grew up in. Whatever it was, I was born a fish and looking back on it, I set off on this path long before anyone realized it and could have intervened. Once I came back from the Bahamas, I had an addiction to saltwater with only one cure, and that was to be on it, near it or in it as much as possible. I have come a long way since I bought my first saltwater boat that next summer, but that sense of freedom of putting the mainland in your wake with the sun rising over the ocean is exactly the same as I remember it as a teenager. Lucky for me, I met and married a girl who had the same love of the water as me (I doubt as much, but at least the tolerance and patience to go with me on our crazy adventures), my very own island girl. We now have a 10-year-old that we have probably doomed to a life of becoming a beach bum. Since he was born, he has been on many adventures and literally grew up on islands; he thinks that is just normal life.
Welcome to our blog, welcome to our way of life. This is place for trip reports and virtual saltwater therapy, instructions and philosophy. These are our memories and our dreams, some blurred by happiness and rum and some stark like the smell of 2-stroke exhaust early in the morning. I hope to share the recipe for the island way of life and how we ended up on Lubbers Quarters in Abaco, Bahamas one ingredient at a time. Lubbers Leap is not our final destination, but more of a stop along the way. There is a lot of history to share to this point and a lot of water still to put astern. I hope you enjoy our adventures in the islands.
-Steve
I FLY, I SAIL, I THROW CAUTION TO THE WIND
January 7, 2017
Looking out the window this morning at all the snow, I was thinking back on how we got to Abaco in the first place.
One of my favorite lines: I fly, I sail, I throw caution to the wind. Drift like a stratus cloud above the Caribbean. That pretty much describes my hobbies, my passions, my life. Cas and I have been attracted to the sea since the day we met. It is a shared passion going back to a time when she was working on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and I was working in Pensacola, FL. We would meet in a quaint little town called Daphne, AL which was about halfway. Daphne had a movie theater with one screen and everyone there would vote for what movie we saw. Ahh, democratic process in action. Daphne was the start of our life together, wandering around all the funky little Gulf Coast towns from New Orleans down to the Keys. On our honeymoon, we went to the British Virgin Islands which opened our eyes to a whole new world and way to enjoy the water… sailing. Who were these mysterious, salt-cured creatures that drifted into town, partied all night and were gone the next day. Little did we know, they had not moved on far, just the next island or downwind bar. I looked at them with admiration. I have had a power boat for most of my life, but the idea of sailing was really intriguing. It was a boat that ran on solar and wind power. Wait a minute, that is what I do… how had I missed this for so long. I am one of them, I just don’t have a sailboat. We never sailed in earnest until our 10th anniversary. We were looking for something different to do and we were contemplating retiring on a sailboat. What 30-year-old contemplates living on a sailboat? This one. What sucker wants to wake up in the same place every day?
Everyone probably has their own idea of why they like sailboats. To me, they are the Westfalias of the water. I am a technology junkie, so I spend my days on a sailboat thinking of how I could improve this or that or what thing could I build to maximize the efficiency of something. I love camping and boats, and it is a cross between the two. At the end of the day though, it is like that song says “there is just something about when the salt air catches a hold of that sail that makes you want to dance”. That moment when you turn off the engine. everything goes quiet and the boat accelerates… that is when I get goose bumps. That is a connection that goes back to the first mariners. They had no diesel engines, but I bet when they felt the acceleration of the boat across the wind, they wanted to dance too.
So we planned our trip to Abaco to sail and get our ASA sailing certification (why just sail when you can be a Captain). We ended up going to Abaco by a twist of fate. We needed someone to teach us how to sail, but I didn’t like the idea of how most every charter worked. I will generalize, but basically all of the captained charters went like this. Some guy and his wife or girlfriend lived on the boat and you basically lived with them for a week. I was very skeptical about being in such close quarters with strangers. Cas solved the problem when she found an awesome company in Abaco that did what they called “captained by day, bareboat by night”. Basically, the captain towed a boat or was picked up each evening once you were safely on the hook. Perfect. It turns out that our captain was great and my fears of awkward social dynamics were all imagined. Well, at least that is true for Cruise Abaco. They are great people, and if you have any desire to sail a live aboard boat, that is where you have to go. Something magical happened on that trip. Every sunrise was spectacular, every sunset was breathtaking, every cove was deserted. I don’t think we have recreated it again since, but that doesn’t stop us from trying. Funny how moments like that can cement something in you and grow to be almost mythical. We were hooked on sailing and hooked on Abaco.
We sailed from Little Harbour to Great Guana and hit every Cay in between. Did our first Nippers Pig roast, spearfished, collected conch, ate too much and danced in the sand. We also determined a fundamental difference between what Cas and I think is enjoyable sailing. She is a light breeze sailor, and I’m happiest when the boat is heeled over so far you can see the bottom through the port holes and the leeward life lines are in the water. That fact led us to our next discovery… catamarans. Cas said “eeew, those look ugly”. I thought they looked kinda cool, like the Starship Enterprise. No way she was getting on one of those; she had put her foot down. That was until we got some good wind one day and I put the 39’ Jeanneau through her paces. Cas then had the epiphany that cat’s don’t heel. We looked at one the next day and were blown away. I will admit there is a certain romance I feel for monohulls too, but once you see the inside of a cat, you can’t unsee it and every moment after that you spend on a monohull is with a certain jealousy to those riding around in sailing condos known as catamarans.
We loved that Jeanneau though and will never forget it or the trip that cemented our love of Abaco.
-Steve
IT’S A CONSPEARACY – 2012 FIRST TRIP TO ABACO IN OUR OWN BOAT
November 6, 2016
Our First Annual Summer Migration
(The tail of an obsession that led to our home on Lubbers Quarters)
We bought our first “big boy” boat in 2010 after putting around the Gulf and Keys in single-engine center consoles for many years. We had a kid now and had to be responsible, so a 26 foot walk around cabin fit the bill. I spearfish in the Gulf, and that long trip has wiped out many a grown man on a center console, so our thought was that a cabin would be the best place for a kid to escape the sun. Luckily, he has a tolerance to motion sickness like no other, so watching movies for 8 hours in a hot cabin on a rocking boat never posed a problem. Anyway, fast forward to the day I realized that our walk around would make the perfect platform to see the out islands of the Bahamas. One year later, we were embarking on a journey that some thought was crazy, others just shook their head and said it wasn’t for them and a lucky few of us shrug our shoulders and think that it just makes sense. If you haven’t thought about it, you will instantly know what camp you are in, especially if you just paused reading this to investigate marinas, chart the course to calculate your fuel reserves or just ponder how you are going to convince your better half that this is a good idea.
As always my luck with these types of things… 6 months’ worth of planning almost foiled by a microscopic creature. Got a call at work from Cas the day before we plan to drive to WPB… our 6-year-old that we are leaving with the grandparents has strep. Not good.
Saturday, August 11th
Cas pokes me at 3am and says she thinks she might have strep too. We were planning on pulling out of Atlanta in 5 hours headed to Stuart, FL. After we get up, she is feeling better and thinks it might be allergies, so she heads to the urgent care to make sure and get antibiotics. We decide to make the call on going after she returns from the DR. Once she gets back with a negative strep test, we decide to head out.
Nothing eventful on the drive down except rain. We pull in to the Stuart Holiday Inn express and are in the bed by 10:30pm
Sunday, August 12th
I get up at 6am to check the weather and everything looks good, so we stop off at Dunkin for coffee and a bagel and head to Lake Park Marina.
We hit the water at about 8am and were in Old Bahama Bay around 10am. The crossing was pretty slick, other than the swells building up about 10 miles out from West End.
The Customs folks were great and patient with me (first time filling out those particular forms). As a side note, next time I will wear a swim suit and take a dip right before coming into the marina. It was HOT. In subsequent trips, I was able to get the customs forms in Adobe and “pre-fill” most of the information you have to write in triplicate. That has worked out much better than the previous plan of jumping in the ocean before entering the customs office.
We hit the straw bar at OBB for lunch and Pina Coladas. They had run out of conch, so we had chicken fingers. About the time we started eating, I heard the distinct sound of conch being tenderized, so we could have waited 10 minutes and had conch salad. Oh well, at least we had Pina Coladas; they are awesome with the dark rum floater. WARNING: 2 Pina Coladas are the limit if you are the pilot in command, don’t ask me how I know.
Back on the boat full of chicken and fruity drink, we headed toward Great Sale Cay with plans of spending the night. We checked out the blue hole on the way around the south end and hit the anchorage around 3pm. By the time we got there, the wind had changed and was blowing right into the anchorage, so we bailed out and decided to try Carters Cays. Different situation, same result. All the lobster boats were in the anchorage, leaving only the part that is exposed to the current open.
By now it is later in the afternoon and a couple of big thunderstorms have caught us… so we do what any hard core camping/boater would do… call Spanish Cay and get a room. As if to help me along, lightning starts striking way to near. Time to use those Yamahas as they were intended… with the throttles on the bump stops. They are waiting on us when we arrive, since we are the only people staying the night (how cool is that). Conch salad, cracked conch and a couple of drinks later we realize that we have been going for about 14 hours and hit the sack. Spanish Cay is very cool and great food and great people.
Monday, August 13th
We head out to the reef and pick up a few lobsters, then head down to Powell Cay to hit the beach. After an hour or so on the deserted beach, we decide to head to Green Turtle Cay to get a room for the night. We rented a golf cart and rode into New Plymouth, but everything is closed. No Goombay Smash tonight. Conch salad and cracked conch dinner and 2 Tipsy Turtles and we turn in for the night.
Tuesday, August 14th
We head back to New Plymouth and the Blue Bee Bar is open. Nothing better than a brunch Goombay Smash. We check out the town and kill a bunch of time talking to random people then check out and head to Crab Cay (the little one on the inside) to anchor out for the night. We get everything set up to spend the night and realize one fatal flaw with our camping on the boat plan… the gnats can fit through the screen in our windows and they are eating us up.
Cas calls Spanish and we head back that way. I have now officially given up on the camping thing. Back at Spanish, we go ahead and plan out the rest of our trip based on our newfound knowledge that we will not be spending a night on the boat… not in August, ever.
Wednesday, August 15th
We sleep in and head out to do some spearfishing. No luck though. I didn’t see 1 lobster today and turns out my Hawaiian sling is a POS (I just don’t know it yet). I miss 2 nice grouper. We did troll for a bit and pick up a couple of Spanish Mackerel and a Bonita.
We were starting to feel like we owned the resort until a couple of other folks showed up. One of which ran out of gas on the way over (how does that even happen?). I wanted to go up to Grand Cays, but we were not able to reach Rosie via phone or email. Looks like the weather might not be the best on Saturday, so we decide that if we don’t hear back from Rosie, we will just move up our night at OBB and come home Friday.
Thursday, August 16th
We move up the night at OBB and head out from Spanish. We motor into a pretty bad storm on the bank (~3ft waves), but it is short lived and everything is slick as glass on the other side. I dove on about 20 places and bet I saw over 100 small lobster, but no keepers. I did pick up some nice snapper using my pole spear. This is where I discovered the shaft for my sling is way too light. it bounced off a mangrove snapper. We made it to OBB around 4pm and had dinner, then got a ride into town to try to find the Ricardo dark rum in those Pina Coladas. No luck finding the rum at the local liquor store. Edit: Since this trip, we make it a point to get the rum early and often. Over the years we have brought back (and bribed others to bring back) plenty of Ricardo Rum. Newbie lesson learned!
Friday, August 17
We get up and head back across around 8am. It is a little choppy, but not a bad ride. About 15 miles out from West Palm, it gets a little worse and we slow down a bit, but still a good ride. I called customs and cleared back in using the small vessel reporting system (which is awesome), got our clearance number and we headed north to Atlanta.
We learned a lot on this trip, had a blast and decided that although boat camping in August is insane, that time of year is awesome and would go on to bring our boat across every summer…
-Steve
BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME
November 6, 2016
Last year we made a big decision… buy a place in Abaco. We have been going there every year, sometimes twice in a year. With the direct flight from Atlanta, it became a no-brainer. We made our annual migration in the summer of 2015 a mission to decide where we wanted to purchase. We had several criteria: centrally located, sandy beach and the dock close to the house. A sandy beach and close dock presented a challenge because it eliminated a majority of property. Most sandy beach frontage is on the Atlantic and there are no docks there. We didn’t want to compromise on the dock being close to the house, since in Abaco, your boat is like your car. If it is a golf cart ride away, you are not going to go places as much because of the inconvenience.
We took our new boat, Remedy, a 26 foot center console and put about 500 miles on her in a week. The boat did great with the exception of stopping my heart in the middle of the Gulfstream when we built up a bunch of sargassum grass and the overheat alarm went off. That buzzer took a couple of years off my life 40 miles out in the stream. Getting the grass off (which became a regular event the rest of the way), we headed on across. Normally, the grass is not a problem, but we were having to go pretty slow because of the waves. Stuff catching on the motors became the theme of the trip. In the Sea of Abaco, we managed to hit a 2×4 that instantaneously lodged cross ways in front of both motors. With the cavitation, loss of speed and water spraying up, I imagined we had spun a prop. Imagine my surprise and relief when I tilted them up to reveal a piece of lumber and no damage. On the way back, it was a simple grocery bag, and after the sargassum grass training, I spotted it before the alarm even went off, because the speed indicator dropped almost instantly to zero. Other than those incidents and a break in our fresh water line that led to all of our water being pumped into the bilge and overboard, the boat was flawless. Freshwater and raw water lines have now been rerouted where they don’t chafe… who designs these things? On the way over, we stayed the first night at Spanish Cay. We really like Spanish Cay, but being that far North limits access a bit. We started our search on Manjack and Green Turtle Cay. I really love Coco Bay as well as Manjack. Each had their pro’s and con’s but by the end of the trip, we had pretty much talked ourselves out of both places due of various reasons. While looking we stayed at the Green Turtle Club. It is one of my favorite resorts. They treat their guest very well, the food and drinks are fantastic and of course it is on the same island as Miss Emily’s Blue Bee Bar. Goombay Smash Y’all!
The trip overall was great for many reasons. We caught lots of lobster, looked at some beautiful property and spent the week in paradise. Unfortunately, we came home without making an offer on a house.
-Steve
TAKING THE LEAP
November 6, 2016
Well, months of discussion, debate and deliberation and we decided that Lubbers Quarters Cay was the place for us. We had several properties picked out, including houses and vacant lots. We ended up flying American because at the last minute when we decided to go, Delta was a little steep. I have since decided that I will figure out other alternatives or pay up for Delta rather than EVER clear customs in Miami again. Not totally their fault, but a bunch of weather delays on the way back created a wonderful situation that show exactly how non-glamorous air travel really is.
The weather while we were there was downright windy. It was blowing like stink! That didn’t deter us from checking in at Abaco Beach Resort and enjoying a pina colada at the pool bar. Abaco Beach Resort is a great place to stay and is convenient to restaurants and shopping in Marsh Harbour. This would be our base of operations for the house hunt. The next day, we went house shopping. I thought looking at houses wore me out, but looking at houses in a boat, in choppy seas, will really take it out of you. By day 3 we had narrowed it down to 2 houses and wanted to go back and “try them on” one more time. It was a quick trip and we had to get back to Atlanta, but we managed to get our conch fix that would hold us over until summer and find a house. Once home, we made an offer on a house that would soon be known as Lubbers Leap. 6 short months later, we got the keys to Lubbers Leap, our own piece of paradise.
-Steve
THE PATH OF MORE RESISTANCE (PART 1)
November 15, 2016
So we finally took possession of the house in Abaco. You think things like that are going to be monumental life events. We should celebrate, right? Well by the time we got the deal done, it was pretty anti climatic. It really felt more like we were in a 6-month slog that transitioned from lawyers and title work to renovations and contractors. I still have a 20-year-old bottle of port that we just didn’t have the heart to open. Oh well, we own it now, time to move forward and get this thing going. We planned a trip out to assess and work on the house back in September. The good news is that I have done this all before. We built a house on an island off the Georgia coast that was accessible only by boat 10 years ago. It was my weekend hobby for 2 years. This is becoming the theme of my life; taking the path of MOST resistance. You do what you gotta do to be in paradise, right? I have this issue with life in general. I bought a boat, when it would be much cheaper to charter fishing trips. Why? Who wants to fish where everyone else does, that’s why! Besides, I like planning and exploring as much, if not more than I actually like getting fish. It is the treasure hunter in me, that is satisfied by finding some undiscovered, obscure structure that no one has ever fished and catch a couple of fish, versus catching a limit on some cattle-boat’s man-made reef. Same thing with vacations. I don’t think less of people that enjoy them, but cruises and all-inclusive resorts are not my thing. There is probably an anti-social diagnosis in this somewhere, but alas, this is how I get myself in these situations. I wish I liked riding a cruise ship with 8,000 of my closest friends… no I don’t, sorry, yuck. As a reward, I get a week of hard labor in paradise to try and get as much work done on Lubbers Leap as possible. Several bottles of rum and a few cases of beer later, mission accomplished. Oh, I might have gotten tetanus while there. Doctor said I should be getting a shot for that every 5 years… it wasn’t much longer than that, I think 1994 was my last one. I am up to date now, so that is good. And in the world of other good news, I didn’t die from drinking the cistern water. I have to thank the good folks at Camelbak for their UV water bottle. Had I died, I would have never heard the end of it from Cas. FYI, cistern water is good. I might start drinking it all the time.
I suckered my Dad into coming along to help which was great. Cas is a trooper and always tows the line, but Dad is where I got all my mad-MacGyver skills, so having him is like having 2 of me. The only downside is that effectively doubles the bar tab, which gets quite expensive in Abaco.
Delta direct to Abaco rocks! We did get delayed a couple of times, but you don’t have to worry about missing your connecting flight when it is a Marsh Harbour taxi. Trip over was uneventful, dropped Cas at the grocery and headed to convince the boat rental people, I would take good care of their center console. Once we finished there, we walked across the street and picked up the beer and rum. Timing is everything and by the time we had the beer in the boat (and had a couple), Cas was there with the food. Next stop, Lubbers Quarters. As a boater, I appreciate a good rental boat. Good is relative, I know they take a beating from doofus people that have never driven a boat, or just don’t care. Anyway, it’s the little things, like actually being able to get on a plane with ½ the rated weight in the boat without me having to send the occupants to the bow every time. This boat was in the good category (other than a couple of minor squawks to be mentioned later) and had a surplus in the horsepower to drag ratio. Kalik’s up, throttle down, we out.
It is a quick ride to the house from Marsh Harbour, although you have to go around Matt Lowes Cay if you are in Marsh Harbour (the actual harbour). A couple of days later, I swear I saw a ferry cut in between… in Abaco, it’s all about local knowledge when it comes to boating. The Dodge Guide is a minimum standard that everyone must have and heed, but it sure is nice to find short cuts. If you don’t have a Dodge Guide, order one, read it before you come, and bring it with you. At any rate, the boat did great and we pulled up to the dock, unloaded and assessed our new house. Weird how it feels different to be somewhere when it’s yours. We spent the first afternoon unpacking and figuring out the plan for the week. I, of course, had a spreadsheet with time estimates for each activity and prioritization. That went out the window and I realized that the most important thing was to get the stereo working. Kalik and no tunes is no bueno. Turns out my high-falutin stereo won’t work without Y-5 (wifi or the internet for those of you that don’t get out). Oh well, I always have a backup. Today’s focus was getting settled. In the morning, we started work on putting up and repairing the hurricane shutters (foreshadowing). We had no idea a hurricane was coming at this point, but the second story is open air (screens on the windows) and the shutters are the only way to close it up. We also had to make a run to the lumber, tool, furniture, etc store. That place has everything. On the second day, we received confirmation of the roof’s horrible condition in the form of a thunderstorm. Now I knew we had to replace the roof, but I don’t think you could get that much water to flow into the house if it didn’t have a roof at all. We had 2 “5 gallon bucket” leaks and 1 – 2 quart saucepan leak. Not to worry, it turns out that I am as good with ice and water shield as I am with duck tape. It is really like a giant roll of tape anyway. After the rain, we eliminated one of the 5 gallon bucket leaks and reduced the other significantly. Saucepan leak was still going strong. Take 2 on the ice and water shield went like this: start at the highest point on the roof from the leak and just re-roof the whole thing with the big duck tape. Leaks fixed.
Craker P’s was closed for the season, and Lubbers Landing closed forever, so we were going to Elbow each night for dinner. I am really liking Firefly, because it is not in one of the harbours and you can haul butt right up to the dock. Their food is really good too…
You almost threw your Dad out of the boat, is what Cas was yelling at me as I fought the rental boat in the chop and wind to get it tied up to that “great” dock that I liked because it wasn’t in a harbour. So squawk number 1, the $%&! throttle is unbelievably stiff and doesn’t have a positive detent for neutral. Landlubber translation: you have to shove the crap out of it to move it from forward to reverse and you have no idea if you are in neutral or still in gear. No big deal in open water, but when doing finesse dock maneuvers in a single engine boat, it is required to “bump” it in forward and reverse from time to time. With 15 knots of wind and waves, I might have “bumped” the throttle a little hard. Now Cas is looking at me like I have horns or something and we are still not tied up. Lucky for me, Dad has cat-like reflexes and managed to stay in the boat and complete the docking operation. I would have never lived that one down… the guy that threw his own Dad out of the boat. Ahh, boating with your family… that is an entire blog of itself. Dinner was good, drinks were good, all crew alive and accounted for, life was good.
Y-5 working, yea! We only had to go to Marsh Harbour, pick up the technician, bring him to the house and then take him back home. Come to think of it, that could be a new customer service technique for US cable companies. It is the equivalent of kidnapping and holding for ransom until it is fixed. I will have to think about that. I got the stereo of the future to work after it downloaded some updates. We can now stream Radio Margaritaville. Productivity dropped by 10% at this point. Who am I kidding, if you plotted the work to beer ratio, you would see a steady decrease because the numerator was on the decline and the denominator was steadily increasing. Sorry, nerded out for a minute… we drank more beer and did less work as the days went on. If you haven’t had beer in the Bahamas, it is expensive and is similar to a Corona in taste. Good luck finding a hoppy IPA. One thing I will say about the beer is that you will remember that taste forever and it will instantly bring you back to the Bahamas. While it is not my favorite beer, I find that I crave them when landlocked in Atlanta.
Cas informed me that the boat seemed to be sitting kinda low in the water (she said sinking, but I am toning it back a little). It had been raining a bunch, but the boat has a bilge pump, hmmm, that warrants checking out. Part of the mind-numbing boat check out process was to check the bilge pump, so I know it works. After the rain I go to check it out. Yep, its full of water. Ok kiddies, Boat Design 101. Your bilge pump should be connected to the battery, period, end of conversation. This one was wired through the battery switch, that the boat rental company specifically told me to “turn off or the battery will be dead”. Yeah, dead because it was keeping the boat afloat. Now you might be like me right now and thinking, didn’t you have a center console? It should be self-bailing and no amount of rain in a 24 hour period is going to sink it. Boat Design 201: water should not get into the bilge unless you have a hole in your hull. Don’t put one there on purpose. This boat had an access panel in the stern (the back for you landlubbers). It was not water tight and the weight of the rain that ran right into that hole (that should have been water tight) added to the weight of that big motor (that made the boat go so fast) and managed to put the access hole below “sea level”. If you are keeping up, you now know that water was flowing from the ocean into the boat. Not good… I would rename this boat the “Event Horizon”, since that is where we were at that very moment. 30 minutes of manual bailing and running the bilge pump brought us back from the edge of the black hole and put us back in business. Dead battery or not, the battery switch would remain on for the rest of the trip. Add this to the ever-growing list of “The Cas prophesies”. Not sure how she does it, but I have learned to listen.
Holy smoke, is that a crab or a front-end loader! Cas and my Dad have been talking about the big crabs in the back yard, but I was like yeah, yeah, big crab cool. Then I saw him, the King Crab. He rules Crabtown, which is the place in the back yard where the crabs have made holes all in the limestone and literally tromped the grass down to nothing. It looks like swiss cheese. This guy has claws that could take down a mid-size sedan. He has got to go. If I bumped into him, or a rock I thought was him in the dark, I would most definitely hurt myself. Of course, right after seeing King Crab, I had to belly crawl under the house for some plumbing. Guess where else the land crabs live… I instructed Dad to just pull me out if one comes out and pinches me, because I will probably have a concussion from trying to get out of there. Like a Navy Seal, I stealthily crawl past the crab village like it is an angry nest of yellow jackets, do my plumbing and get out of there. The crabs are obviously afraid of people (except for King Crab), but there is just something unnerving about having my face 6 inches from a crab hole in a confined space that gives me the heebie jeebies. While under there, I also learned that I received an air compressor from 1927 as part of the deal. I think it was also full of depleted uranium based on how much it weighed. We moved it to the trash pile; oh, the residents of Crabtown will be pleased.
So I am drinking the cistern water, much to Cas’ dismay. She and Dad are drinking RO water from a jug that has minerals and whatnot added. If you ask me, the bottled water tasted like someone put a breath mint in it. If fact, Dad thought he had gotten toothpaste in his water bottle and didn’t even realize the bottled water had that taste until I said something. Why he didn’t seem to think this was a problem and rinse it out is beyond me; he is just hardcore and didn’t want to waste the water I guess. Cistern water works for me, I just might want to put a flushing mechanism that rinses the bird poop off the roof before it goes in the tank. Don’t laugh, they make them.
So the injury tally for the trip was not bad, only 2 notable incidents. First, I jammed a Phillips screw driver bit on the end of a drill into my index finger at the joint and stepped in a condo in Crabtown while hauling off the junk pile and kicked a rusty, pointy piece of metal roofing. My leg is ok, finger still hurts a bit and the antibiotics and tetanus shots are behind me now. It was no epic fishing trip, but we got a lot done and had a lot of fun.
To be continued…
-Steve
YOU CAN HAVE ANYTHING YOU WANT, YOU JUST CAN’T HAVE IT NOW!
May 4, 2017
Ok, it’s been awhile I admit… that’s because I have been stuck in a funk known as “Winter in Atlanta”. Not sure if winter is the right descriptor, because it is really more of cold, rainy, dreary weather. Not Fall, not Winter. Maybe Finter? At any rate, it sucks. For all of you that live in the cold north, my apologies. I have been there a lot and know what we have is not really cold, but it sucks anyway and no less for sure. I am one of those, go where the weather suits my clothes (shorts and flip flops by the way) kind of person. I have been working through maintenance items on Remedy to get her ready for our summer migration. Battery switch, hydraulic leak… I hope I am getting to the end of the new boat gremlins, because, this is the year, I am going to fish till I actually get tired of it. After all the work trips we put in, I am starting to feel like this is more of a job than a way of life. The good news is that it is Spring baby! I think we are finally done with the cold! Unfortunately, that is when the sickness really kicks in. The warm weather leads to the Abaco bug becoming very active and I find myself craving Goombay smashes and conch burgers!
By the way, I just finished Below Another Sky by David Gale (Parrot Cay and Island Marine). He and Phoebe are my heroes. Wow, what a journey they have had in Abaco. I am in awe that they took such a big leap at a time when sailing was still the primary form of transportation and when electricity came from your generator if you were lucky enough to have one. That is one of the coolest books I have read. It is a true story that rivals any fiction out there and I only hope that my own story will be as fascinating when my journey is over. Thank you Dave and Phoebe for blazing a trail for us!
I owe everyone a “part 2” to the Path of More Resistance. If you don’t know by now, I tend to be a little cynical, a little dramatic, and a little all over the place but most times that’s the way the story and my life goes. Work trip 3… or is it 4? I need to keep better notes (at least according to the IRS anyway). They are all starting to blend together, but here is generally how the fun went.
I said in a previous blog that we were getting a new roof. Abaco noob mistake number 1. I have now been educated on Rule #1 for Abaco: you can have anything you want; you just can’t have it now. Everything was going great, got the old, rusty metal (that led to my tetanus shot) off the roof, did all the repairs to fix the bizarre water catchment system. Ok, let me explain because I don’t want you to think I am just critical of everything… I am just critical of things that don’t make sense 😉 As a reminder, we have NO fresh water on Lubbers Quarters. Well, there might be some in the swamp we walk through to get to Cracker P’s, but trust me, you don’t want to drink it. We catch our water from the roof and store it in a cistern. How would you do that? Gutters? That would be too easy. How about we build a little dam around the edge of the roof and line it with lead flashing. I don’t think it is really lead, but that is what I grew up calling it. I remember playing with it as a kid, much to my dad’s chagrin. It was soft sheets of metal that you could bend like you were superman. Great to bend and fold to make forts for your GI Joes. More traditionally, it is used as flashing under shingles for valleys and such on your roof. At any rate, the water system used this as the liner in front of the “dam” to keep the water from running off the edge of the roof… yes keep the water from running of the edge of the roof. Where does it go? Well, you drill holes and stick pvc pipe up through them throw a little silicon on there to encourage it to go on the inside of the pipe and bam… you have a homemade gutter. Oh, for the final touch, take some mesh wire, wad it up and stuff it inside the pipe to keep the big sticks and coconuts out. Now I am sure this seemed like a good idea in 1995 before gutters were invented (haha), but anyone that has ever had to deal with water knows that you can’t have pooled water on something without it leaking… a lot. Second issue: while I do not specifically know the composition of the “lead flashing”, I do know a little about galvanic reactions. Google it if you are a nerd. Non-nerd explanation: if you put two dissimilar metals together, it going to rust… like really fast. Especially, when you throw in some salt water. So basically, the steel roofing was completely dissolved where it came in contact with the flashing. So the water traveled down the metal, ran onto the roof, then some of it made its way onto the gutter and down the pipe (just because it happened to be there). The rest, went into and down the side of the house.
Well, we (in the royal sense) got all that crap off there, cut the eaves of the house back to remove the rotted area and then covered the roof with ice and water shield to get ready for the new aluminum roof. It turns out that no one ever scheduled the metal roofer, or something. As I am discovering in Abaco, there is sometimes no clear cut answer of “why”. Never the less, we would not be getting a metal roof for a couple of months.
Not to worry, I have a couple of other things I need to finish up as well, so I will just check out the roof while I am down. We flew Delta again, and again we were delayed. Starting to see a trend here. Get this, we were delayed because of a rocket launch in Florida (that actually ended up being canceled). Come on, seriously. Anyway, luckily the launch was cancelled, actually cancelled before they announced the flight delay, so it only costs us about an hour and a half versus the potential six hour delay they were talking about. We decided to rent a boat from Island Marine, which is how I came into possession of Dave’s book. Renting from them was a very good experience and the Albury boats are as good as advertised for a smooth ride. If you don’t want to make the trek from Marsh Harbour, they will actually come and get you, take you back to Parrot Cay and you only have to make the short hop to Lubbers from there.
Once provisioned and at the “job site”, work began. I dug into the electrical gremlins in the house, from light switches that shocked you, to 3-way switches that tripped the breaker, I poured through them one by one and scratched them off the list. Yep, I am an electrician too. One of my electrical engineering professors, who we affectionately called “Abe Lincoln” (so sorry, I was a kid and didn’t know any better) was a very smart and practical guy. On the first day of class he told us (paraphrased of course), all of you smart engineers will get out of here with this education and will be able to go on and do great things, but your worth will be singularly gauged by family and friends by your ability to fix their ceiling fan or troubleshoot their 3-way switch. As much as I didn’t believe it at the time, he was absolutely right. I think I have done as much good for this world troubleshooting electrical issues for people as anything else. We are not going to mention my first wiring job on a house, let’s just say I had a little trouble putting academic knowledge into practical use. Who doesn’t want a multipoint network feed in their house anyway (sorry dad), but the point is I figured it out and then went on to work on the high-voltage electrical transmission system as part of my professional career, which is a long way to go. But in most people’s minds my value as an engineer and how smart they think I am to this day comes from a ceiling fan I installed or some weird appliance I helped them get working again. By the way, I was actually a mechanical engineer… I know, mind blown.
Electrical and other odd jobs done, wheelbarrow, logos, sealed deck… on to the outdoor shower (trumpets sound and rays of light shine). We have wanted to add an outdoor show here like we have at our other place, but it was too far down the list to get to. I am so far ahead of schedule (foreshadowing), that I am going to knock that thing out. As a side note, I did not have a plumbing class in college (I did design a pump storage hydroelectric plant that had a lot of “plumbing”). I learned that solely from my dad. Let’s just say that we had quite a few plumbing adventures that could be the subject of an entirely different blog, but not here.
Of course, you know where I have to go to do the plumbing. Yep, under the house. I am not worried, I enlisted the help of my son who thought he was helping me, but was really a decoy in case I angered King Crab or his minions. I joke, little old ladies catch these crabs and my son is actually a great helper. Can’t imagine what other 10-year-old would be under a house in the Bahamas helping his dad do plumbing.
So there we are, under the house good and dirty and making great headway. This is a good thing because I can’t turn the water back on until I get everything connected. About that time the bottom falls out. It is absolutely flooding outside. Man, its good when a plan comes together. I tell my son that it is great to be working under the house while it is raining and I wouldn’t want to go out now even if we were finished. He asked a question, the way only a child can. Dad, he said, are we going to get wet under here? I said, think about that for a second and you tell me. No, he says because the water would have to go all the way through the house before it gets to us. Correct! That’s when I hear thump, thump, thump, thump on the floor above us. Hmmm, why is Cas running around in the house? Then I hear my name being called. Mommy’s calling you… yes, I know. I send my son to go see what is going on, but I already know. He crawls out and disappears into the monsoon while I keep working. I have to get this finished or we can’t turn the water on. Then I hear a breaker trip. Well, time to come out. As I am crawling out, I notice water dripping from the floor. I actually think we added water to the cisterns through the house. Man, what a flood! 82 buckets, bowls, and pans later we have contained the flood.
The next morning, I determine the cause of the flooding, the ice and water shield does not do well as flashing on a “v-joint” wall. Basically, it is funneling water under the membrane. Oh, I’ll fix that! We hit Marsh Harbour for some supplies, lots of caulk and a staple gun. Back at the house I attempt to load my weapon (the stapler), but the staples do not fit. Ok, they are the same brand, but the just don’t fit. How is that possible! I blame the metric system. Anyway, after searching the island to no avail, I decide to find the hardware store on Elbow Cay. Taking the stapler and staples, I am bound to find something that fits one of the other. Let me just say that the public dock in White Sound is hard to find. I went back and forth a bunch knowing it has to be one of these three, but which one? None of them particularly looks like a public dock. Finally, I notice a nice lady sitting on the porch of a house overlooking the water. I cut the motor and nicely ask which one is the public dock. She doesn’t answer or even acknowledge my presence. Hmmm. On the 3rd attempt, I am yelling at this lady, because I can’t believe she will not answer me and I am not leaving until I find the dock. She slowly takes her earbuds out (oops) and points me to the dock. FYI, it is the one with the half-sunk derelict boats tied to every possible place on it. Google maps says it is about a quarter mile to the hardware store and I set off walking down the road, hoping the boat I tied to doesn’t sink and pull mine down to before I get back. After a while I realize something is not right about my directions. I am walking down the road right behind the beach. Why would there be a hardware store on the beach? It’s not… my quarter mile turned into a couple and finally found the store and left with a new stapler and more staples (that I checked this time). Yes, I have $200 invested in staplers and staples at this point.
Back at the house staple, caulk, staple, caulk and all is good with the world again. After the roof repairs set me back, the rest of the trip turned into a blur trying to finish everything on my list before I had to leave. We got everything done though and now we just need to get our new roof installed…
Looks like we might be able to do a 2-week trip in June (fingers crossed, weather permitting, etc), so I am excited to actually do some fishing on a trip rather than work. I am sure there will be plenty to do, but the priority this trip will be FUN! We are also upgrading some things at Lubbers Leap and I can’t wait to show you the pictures. I am looking forward to blogging about some cool things like fishing, exploring and lots of fruity drinks, so stay tuned!
-Steve
NEW ROOF
January 7, 2017
Guess what y’all… Lubbers Leap is getting a new roof! We are putting on a new roof and gutter system to make sure all the yummy, fresh rainwater ends up in the cistern rather than everywhere else. When we bought her, the roof had been patched quite a few times. I mentioned before my skills with ice and water shield, but that is not a permanent fix.
I am very excited for 2 reasons. First, this roof will protect our house from the elements for years to come by keeping out the elements. Second, the old gutter system was wasting a lot of the water we caught on the roof. Now we will be able to catch all the water and get it in the cisterns to ensure everyone has plenty of sweet, clean rainwater to enjoy.
Is it me or does it look better in Abaco even if you are working on a roof?
-Steve
HEY HOPETOWN, THROW YOUR ROPE DOWN
July 19, 2017
After playing “furniture” Tetris for a couple of months (to make everything fit in the center console) and getting Remedy prepped and ready for the annual migration, we were finally ready to make our way south to Florida. We looked like the aquatic version of the Clampetts. All we were missing was putting Cas up top in one of the chairs we strapped down. The boat was FULL, not a bunch of crap covering the deck full, I mean boat riding low, stuff piled up a foot higher than the gunwale where you had to climb up on it and walk on top of it to access the port side of the boat, Cuban refugee full.
Was it raining in Florida in June? Hahaha… of course it was. I heard 20+ inches in places. I think my bilge pump came on a few times on the way down there (on the interstate). We got to the hotel in West Palm Beach uneventfully and started the T-minus countdown until blast off.
Cas was unsure about the weather, and I told her our only shot was to be in the boat, in the water at first light and try to blast out in front of the weather that would build from the mainland as soon as the sun came up. The plan worked and by 7am, we were bidding adieu to the skyscrapers at our stern. It seems we will never have the unicorn crossing we had the first time we ever went. Every year it has been half to one meter forecast and we usually get every bit of that by the time we hit West End. Cole, of course, does not care, he is usually sound asleep in his bean bag for most of the trip. This year I talked Cas into bypassing West End and clearing in at Spanish Cay, since we were going to spend the night there anyway, because our guests weren’t out until the next day. The pina coladas have a gravity that pulls her in and will not let her within 40 nautical miles without going there. It turns out all it takes is a big thunderstorm to cancel it out though and we hit the bank and decided to forgo fuel efficiency to put some distance between us and the dark skies. You don’t have to ask me twice to “blow out” the engines and we rocketed across the bank using the radar and autopilot (Otto) to spend the next hour zigzagging around showers. I was batting 1000 until we found one that traversed the entire Sea of Abaco, so we put the gull wings up and went right through the center. Our stuff got soaked, but we stayed dry and came out the other side in a few minutes. Then we whipped it in Spanish Cay Resort and ordered some drinks and settled in. We spent the day at Spanish Cay and the next morning Cas took a spectacular sunrise photo from our room. Cole tried out the beach and the pool and then it was time to move on to Lubbers Leap.
We stopped off on the way and fed the sting rays which is a really cool experience. They are very curious creatures and once you get over the initial angst, it is fun to let them rub on you like cats. Then we hit Don’t Rock, which is of no concern to Remedy, but I was surprised to see two large cruisers going across and on two different tracks. One of them seemed to be on my route, but as I caught them, they turned to port presumably looking for more water. As I looked back to check on them, they all seemed to make it across ok, so that gives me confidence that there is a pretty broad route through there.
We spent the first day unloading the boat. I didn’t realize how much stuff we really had until I unpacked it all. By the way, our new roof is spectacular and had already filled our cisterns most of the way.
I started assembling the new furniture for the house and pretty much did that all day. It was well worth it and looks awesome. More importantly, it is way comfy!
I reused the old couch (that was homemade out of 2×4’s) and turned it in an awesome porch swing. You are going to love it. We instantly started hanging out on the deck more. Nothing better than swinging in the shade, watching the sailboats go by.
I decided to replace our dolphin line with a new line, new chains and cleat. Now this was supposed to be my fun project. What’s not fun about carrying an extension ladder out to chest deep water and climbing up a 25’ piling. Well at least I figured if I fell, I would land in the water. Boy did I get some strange looks by passing boats. Especially ones that had a boat in front of them, because the first boat’s wake would hit my ladder and the piling and make me rock back and forth causing me to have to do the “mechanical bull” ride with one arm wrapped around the piling and the other with my socket wrench waiving back and forth over my head to maintain balance. Well at least now you know the story. I am sure there are people somewhere that have already told their friends and family about the crazy guy in Abaco riding the piling while singing “ Hey Hopetown… throw your rope down”. Yes, that is the only part of the song I can remember, so I just sing that over and over. Once I got the hardware swapped, I pulled the rope through and was saved by a good Samaritan who was renting the house next door (thank you kind sir). 200 foot of 5/8”, waterlogged rope is a lot heavier than it looks, so he helped me hold it while I tied everything up. Before he grabbed it, I was pondering how far it was going to launch me if I lost my footing on the dock. As I was making my 14th trip from the piling to the dock, crunch, sea urchin, ouch. I am now pretty proficient at removing sea urchin spines. You probably don’t want me doing it though, because my strategy was to wait until they got infected, which would give away their position and dig them out with a needle. They are much harder to remove than splinters, because they go in at a 90-degree angle to the surface and they go in deep! Anyway, I was lucky because they all were not directly on the pressure points of my foot, so I could still walk.
In between working (way more than I originally planned), I did find some time to go check a couple of lobster spots and do a little spearfishing. The lobsters were tucked into their ledge, all safe and sound awaiting my return in August. Shot some nice snapper and got to go into a cave to retrieve one of them. We also did some trolling without success and Cole slayed the Strawberry Grouper at the 300 foot line, so we ate good.
Down near Pelican Cay, I found the biggest Helmet I have ever seen. Unfortunately, for me he was still living, so I put him back on the bottom to grow some more. Also there, I had a close encounter with another stingray. This time I wasn’t paying attention and stepped on one. Either I got lucky, he felt pity, or both, because my brain couldn’t process what was going on for several seconds until he wiggled out from under my foot. Then the Boy Scout Boat pulled up and dumped 800 Scouts out, which was our cue to head on south. We hit Pete’s Pub for the usual great food and returned to the house to do some more chores.
Everything in the house came out wonderfully, the new furniture, sealing the wood floor, painting, and building our new porch swing. Oh yeah, I forgot, we added chaise lounges on the deck for sunning or napping! All in all, I think you are going to love the new additions at Lubbers Leap… I know we are looking forward to enjoying them when we go back in August.
BUGGIN OUT IN AUGUST
September 15, 2017
Ok fans, the trip we have all been waiting on… First week of August, otherwise known as Opening Week of Crawfish Season! We got there a couple of days early, because no one thought to align crawfish season with my work schedule. That’s ok though, that gives us a couple of days to settle in and relax without having the need to lobster on the same day we arrive (yes I would).
For the first time on Delta, we were not delayed from ATL to MHH. Don’t worry, we were on the way back, which created lots of fun for me since I missed the last Delta flight of the night to San Francisco and had to be there for business Monday morning. But who cares, right? We made it to paradise in a couple of hours, it still seems like magic.
I learned something new in Customs, as I brought some parts for the boat, which I thought were “free” since I had a cruising permit. Turns out, the parts are just “duty-free” you still have to pay VAT. So, after getting all of that settled, we were in a Taxi heading to Maxwells to get some snacks and other essentials and then on to Albury Ferry to catch our boat to Lubbers Leap. Hiring the private ferry is a great way to travel. Walk up, they put your stuff on the boat and then you are on your way. They are so fast and efficient, it is almost upsetting to the whole “island time” mentality. I am not complaining though, because I was ready to be sitting on our beach drinking an ice-cold Kalik and at that point, that was priority number 1.
I should back up for a second and let you know that Cas established a couple of ground rules for this trip.
Rule #1: No working, period.
Rule #2: See Rule #1
In fact, she even invited our friends to come to help enforce the rules. Yes, I admit, I can’t help myself, it is what I do. I was all onboard with the rules though, since I had burned through the majority of my vacation over the last year and a half to renovate the house and get it where I could enjoy it.
So, ice-cold Kalik and well… like the Zack Brown song goes “toes in the water…” just sub in a Kalik and you have our first afternoon at Lubbers Leap. We were boatless, since the marina was closed on Sunday, so we walked to Cracker P’s for a fish burger and some fish dip… and of course a frozen mojito (or two).
While having the second mojito, we noticed some interesting creatures come out on the beach just to the north. I am going to say they were Yahoes, since that is the legendary creature that lives on Lubbers Quarters, so that had to be what we saw. There are still a few folks around that know about Yahoes. If you are lucky enough to meet one of them, ask and you will hear a really interesting tale.
The next morning, they brought our boat out. This was still the day before crawfish season, so I did a couple of things that I don’t consider “work” on the boat. I needed to download some locations from my scouting into the chartplotter and repair the stern light with then new one I brought over. That afternoon, Cas and I went out scouting and found bugs galore. We marked their location and left them tucked safely in their crevice until our friends arrived.
Opening day of lobster season, we went out to a deep ledge and of course I was a little rusty. I had a slight leak in my mask and the spear from an earlier trip somehow made it into the boat. That thing is going in the trash. Between the leaking mask messing up my depth perception and the “too light” spear, things didn’t start out so well. The good news is that the lobsters were willing to wait on me to sort my gear out. Man, I love freediving. It is a challenge, but so relaxing. I brought the 5 largest lobsters back to the boat and left the other 15 or so (including many more keepers) in their hideout. I had another spot I saw on the bottom finder I wanted to go scout thinking it might be a ledge, but it turned out to be a really old condo that was flipped over. It was way too big for me to flip, so I will put it on the todo list for when our friends arrive. On the way back home, we snagged 3 really big conch for some salad. A very productive morning for sure. We headed to Hopetown Harbor Lodge for lunch and then headed to Boat Harbor to pick up our friends and some pina coladas (mostly in that order). We got everyone settled in and headed to Firefly for dinner. It was sushi night at Firefly, which is not to miss.
The next morning everyone was jonesing to go get more lobster after seeing the ones in the fridge. Ok, mostly me, and maybe Michael (a little bit). So, we headed out and hit some of the spots I marked before as well as some spots I still wanted to check out. If you have not done this before, it goes like this: drive to a spot, jump in and look around, get back in the boat, drive to another spot, jump in a look around, etc, etc, etc. I am sure it is terribly monotonous for the people in the boat (thanks people in the boat), I wouldn’t know, I am always in the water and I love it. In fact, the only thing probably more monotonous for the people in the boat (thanks again people in the boat) is when we decide we need to cover more ground and drag behind the boat. We had a very productive day and found some great structure with lots of Mangrove snapper, and put some snapper and lobster in the boat for dinner. FYI, you need to keep your “in the boat” support team happy or else they might “accidentally” drop your lobster back overboard when you hand it to them. They say it is an accident, be we all know they are sending a message.
We decided to run down to Pete’s Pub and stop at Sandy Cay to snorkel. The coral at Sandy Cay is nothing less than spectacular. I have been many places and it is always a treat to go there and see healthy, thriving coral. I wish I had a good underwater camera, because I saw the coolest thing while there. A Nassau grouper, a Mutton snapper and Hogfish all together around the same rock. They were around the rock at almost perfectly divided radials. Not really sure what was going on, but it looked like some sort of fish meeting of the minds. After snorkeling, we headed on down to Pete’s for some fish burgers. They had their “spinnaker air conditioner” up. That thing is amazing and the guy that thought of it is a genius in my book. As always, the fish was great and the Blasters were effective.
We haven’t been to Nippers in quite a while, but we were doing the tourist thing, so we had to go. Plus, I haven’t had their buffalo lobster bites in quite some time, so no one had to twist my arm. It was a great run up there in our boat since it cuts through the Sea of Abaco chop like floating on a cloud. By the way, it was unseasonably breezy while we were there, so the weather was awesome, but unlike any August I have ever spent there. We had a great time at Guana, had some Nippers and swam at the amazing beach there killing most of the day, then headed over to Grabbers for… you guessed it, some Grabbers. On the way back home decided to go out to the reef and do some snorkeling. Lots of fish and sea turtles and a great way to burn off some Nippers and lobster bites before heading back home.
We also did Hopetown, most every restaurant on Elbow, and swam at Tahiti beach. Way too many things to discuss at length and not bore everyone to death. Overall, everything was perfect. The weather was amazing, the food was spectacular, and the company was wonderful. Even the electricity situation was not a problem. Did it go off, sure. Was it a problem, no. It might go off for an hour and then come back on. Maybe it is worse on other Cays, but not a problem on Lubbers. On Sunday, it was time to head home, so we put the boat up and waited on Captain Plug to pick us up to take us to Marsh Harbour. We were delayed for a couple of hours, but eventually made it back to Atlanta and after some airline gymnastics, I was able to make it to San Francisco in the wee hours on Monday. No work, all play… mission accomplished.
December 2019
November 23-30, 2019
Photos from our Thanksgiving trip to Lubbers
September 22, 2019
Photos from Steve’s trip.
September 14, 2019
Our first glimpse of the interior damage. Looks like we have a big mess! But she is still standing! Thank you again for all the love and concern for our little island. We will keep you posted on our plans for rebuilding/renovation.
Cas
Thank you so much for all the love and support you all have been sending for our tiny island home. Many of you have asked how you can help, so I created this fund for all of us who love Lubbers Quarters. ALL of the proceeds will go to the families who live there. It is a small island and doesn’t have the same support and infrastructure as larger islands.
Families on Lubbers have lost everything! Their homes have been decimated, most of their possessions have been lost and since the economy is driven by tourism, will not have any income for some time.
This fund will ensure that the families of Lubbers will have money for basic needs as they work to rebuild the island and the Abacos. All of you have been to Lubbers and you know, it works its way into your heart.
Thank you for any donations,
Cas
Link to the Fund:
GoFundMe, https://www.gofundme.com/f/love-for-lubbers-fund
Even a small donation could help us reach our fundraising goal. And if you can’t make a donation, it would be great if you could share the fundraiser to help spread the word.
Thank you so much for all the love and concern for the amazing people of Abaco and our precious island. We have heard that many people are safe, but we are still waiting to hear from others and the conditions at Lubbers. Please keep the people of Abaco and the surrounding islands in your thoughts and prayers. I will post here as soon as I have any information.
Please feel free to post a comment,
Cas
Update:
Thank you so much (again) for all the heartfelt emails and texts. I will let everyone know as soon as I can how you can help once we have a solid plan in place for the people on the island. It’s in the works!
I know you all have been patiently waiting to hear about Lubbers Leap and have seen all the devastation on TV. Unfortunately, we still don’t have any solid information on the status of Lubbers Leap but we expect it is damaged severely. What we do know is that the damage to Lubbers Quarters, the surrounding islands and the northern Bahamas as a whole is extensive and the islands will not be suitable for visitors for some time. Please keep the Bahamas in your thoughts and prayers, they have a long road ahead of them and they will need our support for a while.
Thank you so much for all the love and support for our favorite place on earth.
Cas
December 2019
November 23-30, 2019
Photos from our Thanksgiving trip to Lubbers
September 22, 2019
Photos from Steve’s trip.
September 14, 2019
Our first glimpse of the interior damage. Looks like we have a big mess! But she is still standing! Thank you again for all the love and concern for our little island. We will keep you posted on our plans for rebuilding/renovation.
Cas
Thank you so much for all the love and support you all have been sending for our tiny island home. Many of you have asked how you can help, so I created this fund for all of us who love Lubbers Quarters. ALL of the proceeds will go to the families who live there. It is a small island and doesn’t have the same support and infrastructure as larger islands.
Families on Lubbers have lost everything! Their homes have been decimated, most of their possessions have been lost and since the economy is driven by tourism, will not have any income for some time.
This fund will ensure that the families of Lubbers will have money for basic needs as they work to rebuild the island and the Abacos. All of you have been to Lubbers and you know, it works its way into your heart.
Thank you for any donations,
Cas
Link to the Fund:
GoFundMe, https://www.gofundme.com/f/love-for-lubbers-fund
Even a small donation could help us reach our fundraising goal. And if you can’t make a donation, it would be great if you could share the fundraiser to help spread the word.
Thank you so much for all the love and concern for the amazing people of Abaco and our precious island. We have heard that many people are safe, but we are still waiting to hear from others and the conditions at Lubbers. Please keep the people of Abaco and the surrounding islands in your thoughts and prayers. I will post here as soon as I have any information.
Please feel free to post a comment,
Cas
Update:
Thank you so much (again) for all the heartfelt emails and texts. I will let everyone know as soon as I can how you can help once we have a solid plan in place for the people on the island. It’s in the works!
I know you all have been patiently waiting to hear about Lubbers Leap and have seen all the devastation on TV. Unfortunately, we still don’t have any solid information on the status of Lubbers Leap but we expect it is damaged severely. What we do know is that the damage to Lubbers Quarters, the surrounding islands and the northern Bahamas as a whole is extensive and the islands will not be suitable for visitors for some time. Please keep the Bahamas in your thoughts and prayers, they have a long road ahead of them and they will need our support for a while.
Thank you so much for all the love and support for our favorite place on earth.
Cas
Caribbean Soul 