A year long family sailing adventure on our Pearson 36-2, "Zusammen". Departed Padanaram, MA on September 9, 2011 bound for the Southern Bahamas. Follow our trip here. Now that we are back in the USA call us anytime at 617-872-1763 Click any Photo for Higher Resolution
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Monday, December 26, 2011
Junkanoo!
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Nassau
We have found that internet is not so wide-spread as we had hoped. It also has to do with our preference for deserted islands, and pristine beaches! So from our last update, we left Lucaya, and had a good trip to Bullocks. We spent 2 days there, and swam, snorkeled, wake-surfed, and read our books. Very relaxing and beautiful.
Our next stop was the Grand Bank, nowhere land... It was really windy, and a little nerve-wracking, not having land in-sight. We had 2 boats with us, and looked out for each other through the nights. I think John and I were up from 12-4, watching the boats get buffeted by the wind.
Next stop was Fraser's Hog Cay, around the corner from Chub Cay. This was a great little spot, up a river, surrounded by little islands. When we called to reserve a mooring ball, we were informed the club was closed, but we could stay on the mooring indefinitely for $25! This was excellent, as the weather prohibited us from moving for a week. We became friends with 4 other boats that were stuck too, and along with the club manager, Howard, had a great time. We discovered an abandoned mansion, a stingray habitat, great snorkeling, and a dock with nurse sharks hidden under it. We left this morning, with all 4 boats, to take advantage of the weather window. Now we're in Nassau, and have reunited with 2 boats from Lucaya, and 2 from Fraser's Hog Cay. We'll be here until at least Monday. We probably will not be on email, but our phone works, so feel free to call if you're missing us! Our number is 1-242-443-8409.
Christmas is tomorrow, so there's great excitement on Zusammen! The stockings are hung from fishing rods in the salon, and we're hoping that Santa will be able to find us.
We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas, and we'll write again when we can.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Goodbye Lucaya (again)
Cell Phone Adventures
Lex and I asked around at Happy hour last night and were told that BTC has an office right up the street. We all walked there after school. Two and a half klicks later we get to BTC. A lady there said, "ain' nobody here that can do that fo ya.". "oh, will they be here later?". Yeah, maybe." "Ok, I'll come back after I go to the grocery store."
Grocery shopping...
Back to BTC. Very nice woman said, "oh, you just need to pay for minutes with the woman over there." This woman was there all along. Pretty funny stuff. The old John would have been pretty worked up. Island Time John manages a chuckle...
So we have a phone number that won't cost us anything for incoming calls from the States. That said, my pal Sam has tested it with us the calls keep dropping after a minute or two. It may be that we are in a weak service area. Can't tell yet. It may be that we have cheaped out and jail broken an old cellphone and should buy one for 50 bucks. We'll figure it out. In the meantime, you are free to ring us at 1-242-443-8409. Off to the Berry Islands at 0630 tomorrow. Don't think we'll have wifi until Chub Cay. May be a couple of days.
Cheers and our thoughts are with Auntie Sonia.
A pretty flower on the way to the market today.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
Passagess Interruptus....
We'll stand down and keep varnishing...May be Friday before we have an agreeable sea state.
On a funny note, I took the kids out to a little private beach in the dinghy yesterday. As we approached the beach, we all jumped out in a foot or so of water to guide the dinghy up on shore. I was starboard and kids port. On the port bow, I saw a pretty big stingray partially buried in the sand. Before I could say anything to the kids, he lifted and swam off. You should have heard the shrieks and seen the Jesus imitations! Pretty funny stuff.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Next stop, Berry Islands
Friday, December 9, 2011
Lucaya
Tyler has been obsessing about opening a coconut, and finally just did it. Pic below.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
BAHAMAS!!
We saw 2 water spouts during the trip, which was very exciting! For anyone who doesn't know, they're twisters of water getting sucked up into the clouds. Not something you want to sail into, but cool to see. My picture below of the cloudy sky is just after....missed the shot. :( You can see the bands of dark still though.
We are cancelling our Verizon service for now, and will be getting a Bahamian phone service. Until then, we can get in touch via computer, google voice, or Skype.
After discovering that the gulf stream was flat...
Who knew that conch had eyes? Makes me think twice about whether I'll eat it or not... |
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Manatee in the Trip!
Like mom said, a manatee came to our stern. It was my idea to name Fatsy. He was at least six feet long, by about three feet wide, and, so Fatsy wasn't a bad name for him!
Dad was afraid he would hurt the manatee if he went under the boat. Thankfully, Fatsy didn't! We saw a few scars on his back, hopefully they weren't from propellers!
This was our first manatee up close, and I hope it wasn't our last!!
By Liza
Second mate
Zusammen
Schnauck.blogspot.com
Alexa C. Schnauck
s/v Zusammen
schnauck.blogspot.com
781.834.2888
Manatee!
Quick Update - we may cross tomorrow AM
So we are currently moving from Stuart to Lake Worth. There is a weather window that looks like it may provide us an opening to cross to the Northern Bahamas tomorrow morning.
This is a significant change in our original thinking and our intention to cross from Miami. Given the wind has blown over 20 for what seems like 2 weeks, if we have this gap, we need to take it or risk being stuck on this side of the Stream for a long period of time.
We're ready to go and the boat is prepped. If we do go we will miss Jen and Jamie and Bob. I hope they understand! We'll see them on the return in the Spring.
Wish us luck and fair winds! We'll post again as soon as we have a connection in the Bahamas or if we decide to abort in the morning.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Stuart
John and Tyler just left to go to West Marine to pick up paper chart kits of the Bahamas. Expensive necessity. It will be great to be able to plan though. The charts we have now do not go into the detail we need for a 6'6" draft boat. After West Marine the boys are going to pick us up and we'll meet Ross, Ashlyne, and Kyler at the beach.
We'll be here until Tuesday probably.