Hiking the southern end of Warderick Wells.

 

Isabel doing a little boat shopping. "Paradigm" is a modest 115 feet, and cruises at 14-17 knots.

 

Shallow water sailing at its best! As we get into water less than two feet, the leeboard comes almost all the way up, and the rudder comes up and bounces along the bottom, plus it is extended out backward so steering gets harder against that leverage. We lose almost all lateral resistance, and you have to let the sail out almost all the way to keep the boat from heading up into the wind, or being pushed straight downwind. But with careful jiggering of leeboard, rudder, main, mizzen, and rudder, you can keep going forward, more or less. . .  . We made it over a long stretch of shallows to enter the anchorage behind Narrow Water Cay opposite Warderick headquarters.

 

The name board we made to put on BooBoo Hill. The "Sea Fever" part is carved deep into the wood. (I think it's mahogany.) The rest is done in indelible marker, with mere slices of the knife to make the letters a bit more permanent, when inevitably the marker washes away

 

Lilly cooking dinner on our tow-burner camp stove. We wanted to record this daily ritual, and a glimpse of the normal state of the boat. Not an ideal cooking station. A stand-up galley would certainly be nice. . . . If we had a dodger to block the wind, we might be able to cook on the hatchtop, standing up in the companionway.

 

 

Our private anchorage behind Narrow Water Cay. Who needs a mooring ball out in the channel? Water depth here is about 18", and very little current.

 

Our name board in its home atop BooBoo Hill. We wonder how long it will be there. Will we ever see it again?

 

Lilly found a coconut with part of its "hair" worn away, so she drew this face on it and left it atop one of the many cairns on the Warderick shore.

 

Our anchorage at Hawksbill Cay. The water was gin-clear here, and the sandy bottom had these beautiful ripples.

 

A view of our Hawksbill anchorage from atop the hill nearby where we placed a few stones on an enormous cairn.

 

 

Arrival of the Grande Caribe, slipping past "Warm Rain."

 

Lowering their bow ramp. A really cool design feature of this ingenious boat. We really liked everything about Grande Caribe, its friendly crew, and all the people on board. Kindred spirits in a way.

 

One more view of that bow ramp.

 

Rosie starts another coconut race in a nearby mangrove creek.

 

Another prime Sea Fever anchorage, off Boot Cay, opposite Norman's Cay. We actually spent part of this night listing about 3 degrees to starboard, as the boat settled unevenly on these hills thrown up by marine worms (species yet to be idientified). We floated off around 2 AM, and I got up to haul up the anchor and let the wind blow us back a few hundred yards so we could sail anytime the next morning.

 

The Marauder of the Deep goes spearfishing one last time at Allen's Cay. Under a strict prohibition against spearing "any pretty fish," he finds it difficult to return with any dinner. A large ocean trigger fish was granted clemency under this "pretty fish" regulation.

 

We built this cairn on Southwest Allen's Cay. Will it still be there when Rose and Isabel cruise with their children someday?

 

Passing through Nassau.

 

The 183' Grande Caribe to the left of the 936' Carnival Pride.

 

Dolphin in the Northwest Providence Channel

 

The Northwest Channel Light. Maybe just a stick to you, but a big milestone on our journey. This marks where the mile-deep water of the Northwest Providence Channel ends, and the 10 to 12' deep water of the Banks begins. Just another 65 miles to Bimini, and the sun is setting . . .