Highbourne Cay and Iguana Beach

As we cruised past Allan Cay, which is a cute horseshoe island with a beach in the southern, u-end of it, we all thought we'd have to head back that way for our beach time. There were a few boats anchored there playing at the beach, so we thought we'd come back later. By the time we got anchored at Highbourne Cay and ate, the sun was only going to be up for another 2ish hours. When we are underway and have service, I like to pull up Google Maps and see what is nearby and what will be around us to explore when we anchor. I looked up the area as we passed Allan Cay and saw Iguana Beach. I didn't say anything to anyone about it at the time because I wasn't sure if we would be able to head back that way and didn't want to get anyone's hopes up.

After we were settled in and anchored, Ben asked what we wanted to do, so I showed him the map and suggested heading that way. Being a little less than a week into our trip, we didn't have any produce for feeding the iguanas, so I grabbed some of our dog food, putting in a ziploc bag, and told the kids that's what we would feed the iguanas. There wasn't a ton in the bag, so I said they should take a few and throw it out in front of them.

On the way over (a 2-mile tender ride), I prepped our 8 year old reptile-lover about not trying to get the iguanas to come up to eat out of his hand, not petting them, or annoying them like he does with our dog. I explained that these creatures are looking for food from the people who visit them day in and day out, so they associate people with snacks. Moose assured me that he knew how to be safe and make choices to reflect that.

The water between the islands was choppy and had a strong current. It smoothed out as we got closer to the beach and we scoped it out, like a game of I Spy. "THERE'S ONE ON THAT ROCK, SEE IT?!" 

Look at the sandy section to see the one lone iguana who greeted us. There were more on the rocks, but they're harder to see.

I read reviews of this currently empty beach landing spot and was happy to see no tourist boats were there. There were 2 boats anchored here with people relaxing out on the deck or cockpit. 

We spotted an iguana on the sand and everyone questioned if that was the only one, asking if we should we try for another place on the island or if this was it. Not knowing for sure, I said, "Well, it's right here on the map..." Ben motored the Chicken closer to the beach before turning it off and riding the waves ashore.

One iguana and two seagulls were ashore when we arrived.

Moose, of course, was the first one off the tender and ran up to the iguana with the bag of food in his hand. A few more iguanas came out when they saw the rest of us getting off the boat and realized that Moose was throwing food. Roo grabbed some food to throw as well, while Bear, Ben, and I decided we didn't want to partake. My concern about being on this beach increasingly grew as more and more iguanas emerged. These things moved fast and their legs seemed to spin in full circles as they ran. To say they were intimidating would be an understatement. Making things worse, the seagulls were just as food-happy as the iguanas and they kept flying in. Between the swooping seagulls and the speedy iguanas, this was a place I would be happy to never be at again.

I told Roo to throw her food and I'd head back to the tender with her and Bear. She didn't want to throw it all at once and Bear didn't want to go back to the tender by herself, so I had to coax Roo to feed faster so the 3 of us could get back to the Chicken. 

By the time we left, there was a flock of seagulls and somewhere around 30 iguanas!

At some point, Ben looked at Moose who was practically laying in the sand and said, "He's gonna get bit." I assured him that Moose and I talked on the way over about how to not get too close to get bit. It wasn't even 2 minutes later that Moose started walking over to us, holding a red-tipped finger on his left hand with his right hand, close to his chest. He got bit. (Not to worry, this happened at least 2 weeks ago at this point, and he doesn't even have a mark left. No infections or fevers. We are in the clear!)

No tears from Moose, but I don't think he will ever try that again.

I took the girls and got right into the tender. Ben tried to convince Moose that it was past time to go and get him to join me and the girls. He was able to, after Moose finished tossing out what little food he had left in the bag. 

Ben got in the tender and went to start it, but it wasn't working. This was our first journey in the tender after going through the big waves on the way to Nassau and the kill switch got broken off while it was rocking on the davit in the waves. He rigged something together before we left the Cartermaran, but it didn't hold when we went to leave the Iguana Beach. 

Luckily, there were 2 boats anchored off Iguana Beach. After having some obvious trouble and no luck starting the motor, 2 very kind teenage boys from Abaco came over on their tender and asked if we needed help. We threw them our line and they towed us back to our boat. 

For all of you out there wondering what would've happened if no one was anchored there, our tender has a set of oars and we would've had to bust them out. It would've been a long, hard trip across the water with a strong current. Not pleasant, but doable.

We left the tender down for the night so Ben could look at it the next day, since we weren't picking up anchor bright and early like we had been. He was able to fix it the next day, in time for our family beach day.

From our anchorage, we could look out our window and see another horseshoe beach. At different points in the day, there were tenders and other small boats visiting. There were little gazebos and at night, they had bonfires on the beach. We were excited to check it out! 

Applying sunscreen is a daunting task each and every time because I'd hate to forget someone or somewhere and be the reason for hurt. Sure they can apply it on their own, but they just carelessly slap it on, instead of covering every spot, resulting in a very unwelcomed sunburn. Ben jokes and says it takes 2 hours to get ready for the beach. Obviously, he's wrong. It takes closer to an hour. Ha!

Anyways... two hours later 😉 we were loaded onto the tender and headed over to check out the beach. Upon our arrival, we saw large signs indicating it is a private beach, no landing. (Turns out, it is Xuma Beach Bar and they have their own clients.) So we turned around and were headed for the other horseshoe beach I saw on our way into the anchorage, by Iguana Beach, when I spotted a tiny, secluded beach almost right across from the Cartermaran. We pulled in to check it out and it was perfect!

In the blue background, you can peep the Cartermaran. The kids and I are near the rocky reef area to the left. This was the perfect little cove beach!

A few rocks spotted the entrance, so we had to navigate around those to get to a sandy place to pull the Chicken ashore. This little beach had a rocky reef boundary to protect the beach from any large crashing waves, making it a perfect location for looking at sea life during low tide. Moose found 2 sea stars that he picked up and built a habitat for us to observe them in, closer to shore. I found 2 tiny sand dollars, both about the size of nickels, that were unfortunately already dead. Every time we found a conch shell, we ask whoever is looking at it, "Anyone home?" A lot of conch shells had nobody home, so they weren't worth exploring. After a few hours of playing and looking around, we went back to the boat for lunch (Mac and Cheese- have you tried this new brand I found at Target? It is called Goodles and tastes just like Kraft and has so many veggies in it!) and a break from the sun.

The first sea star Moose found kept crawling under his shoe (at the top of this image), which is how he found it originally. They like hiding out of the sunlight, so he built the habitat with some shade protection where the two sea stars liked to stay.

I loved this tiny sand dollar!

While riding back on the tender, the plan we came up with was that while I was making the Goodles, Ben was going to get in the water to scrub off the icky green growth we'd accumulated since our last bottom cleaning. He asked the kids to stand on the boat and be shark lookouts for him. They agreed and got excited at the possibility of seeing a shark close to our boat. I giggled at that and went up to the cockpit to go inside and make lunch. Before I got inside, I heard someone yell, "SHARK!" so I turned around to see who was going to get in trouble for crying wolf. Ben was climbing back on the boat and taking off his mask. I asked who saw the shark and he said he did. It was 10 feet away from him, under the boat, so no one would've seen it except him. I looked over the side of the boat to see the shadow of it as it swam away. Shark spotting number 2 meant the in the water chores were done for the day.

The tide was even further out when we got back. We were able to look around so much more of the beach that was underwater when we left. The sea stars that Moose returned to water before we left, were now getting hot and dry in the sand. He rescued them and put them back in a new closer to shore underwater habitat. In one of the tidepools, I found a conch and someone was home! Conchs are a fun creature to explore, so we added him to our habitat closer to shore with the sea stars. Even though we've seen all of these creatures before, it never ceases to be fun to observe them for hours on end!

Notice how far out the tide was by the time we got back! All of the sand in this picture was underwater when we first got here.

This is the habitat that Moose built for our sea friends. Under the coral, there are two sea stars, which you can kind of see here. We added the conch, who liked to be flipped down, and would flop over if there wasn't a lot of movement around him. That was fun to watch, but also a little surprising!

Passage to Nassau

Great Harbor to Nassau was the next leg of our journey south. Waves were, on average, 3 feet, some peaking at 4 feet, but were spaced 3 seconds apart. Bodies were constantly moving as the boat rocked up and down on each wave. The sun was hidden behind a blanket of clouds and mixed with the wind, it was a bit chilly. All of these components made it a fairly uncomfortable journey, so I braced myself for a wobbly stumble down into the cabin and forward into our bed where I attempted to nap with hopes of fast forwarding the trip. Each time the boat slammed down, my body sank into the bed and reminded me of the feeling of laying on a trampoline while people around are jumping. That was more tolerable than the alternative, so I stayed there until we were approaching the channel between Nassau and Paradise Island, which has this lighthouse on its western tip.

As we pulled in, there were 3 giant cruise ships. The anchorage we navigated to seemed to be in the way of the ships and we didn't want to get run over, so we kept cruising and passed that one. We approached the channel adjacent to the cruise ships and heard a loud, long horn, indicating that one of those 3 ships that was about 40x longer than our Cartermaran and towered over us was going to be departing, so we had to get out of the way of it. The question was, which one?! We turned back to the original anchorage and dropped the anchor as we watched the ship that was closest to the channel back up, rotate, and follow the pilot boat out of the harbor. It was amazing to see how a ship so large could manage to maneuver in such a narrow channel.

Over the next few hours, we watched as the 2 other ships did the same while fielding the unlimited asks from the kids of our stay at Atlantis. We had no plans of staying there and they thought we were joking so they kept trying to figure out when we would be there.

In the morning, we pulled our anchor and set off for the fuel dock. We were down a quarter of a tank and wanted to fill up with quality fuel before heading south. The pump was closed when we got there, so we had to wait a bit. Ben ran to the store to get a come along to help lift the tender until we have a better solution for lifting it. We have a hydraulic ram for the davit coming with some guests, so this had to do for the time being. When he got back, we filled up ($6.15/gallon which was significantly cheaper than the $7.18/gallon in Lake Worth, FL) and set off for Highbourne Cay. 

Crossing to the Bahamas and the first few days

Three weeks after we anticipated leaving, we finally did! Of course, owning a boat means all kinds of maintenance and money. People say boat is actually an acronym for Break Out Another Thousand [dollars from the bank] and the preparation and start of this trip really illustrated that for us. It has been one thing after another and each time we feel like we've been kicked while we're down and there's no where to go from there except for up. Joke's on us, apparently!

The crossing from Lake Worth to Bimini was uneventful. We had 1 foot seas, peaks at 1 feet, at 7 second intervals. What does that mean? The average wave height was 1 foot tall with the tallest waves being 1 foot and each wave would peak every 7 seconds. Basically, it was a DREAM crossing. We had no loud slamming of the boat, no large waves, nothing scary. Since Ben installed the new autopilot, he just set the waypoints and we were on our way- adjusting our heading every now and then, making sure we wouldn't hit any other boats along the way. Jamming out to tunes, laying out on the deck, hanging out and napping in the cockpit were among our favorite activities. It took us a full day (somewhere around 13 hours) to cross, averaging 5 knots. At one point, wasps flew out of one of the headlights, so Ben started swatting at them and getting them to leave the nest, while the kids and I moved from port to starboard and back, on the bow, screaming, ducking, and trying not to get stung. He probably killed 8-10 wasps and the 10 or so others flew off to new homes. It would have been pretty comical to anyone around who saw us.

Since customs was closed when we arrived, we couldn't dock, so we anchored for the night and checked in the next morning. Got our local wifi set up, loaded up on some Goombay Punch and Pink Radlers (drinks you can only get in the Bahamas!), and began day 1 in the Bahamas.

After going through customs, we debated continuing on another 8-10 hour leg to the Berry Islands (our next destination) or staying for a day on Bimini. The kids needed time to stretch, play, and run around so we looked for an open, clean, non-reef area in the anchorage we saw on Navionics, and anchored off the northeast side of the island, away from the cruise ship area and people. 

I started making lunch while Ben dove down to check a few things under the boat and the kids were shark lookouts. After eating, we all started putting on sunscreen and getting ready to take the Chicken to Blue Lagoon Beach. Ben went upstairs to the cockpit and gasped. Apparently the anchor didn't set like we thought it did and we were drifting toward the shore. We all kicked it into high gear, pulled up the anchor, and went back to the other side of the island.

Turns out, that beach wasn't our favorite. There were new houses being built right on it, that Ben and I decided couldn't be anything other than VRBOs because they all had infinity pools and a private beach in their backyard. We landed the Chicken in a vacant lot and spent a short time exploring. All 3 kids were psyched to snorkel and jumped right in. We could hear their muffled-screaming, trying to communicate with each other and were glad we were the only ones on the beach because they were loud. There were a ton of rocks and seaweed, so it wasn't the most friendly beach and we didn't last long before calling it a day.

We have been in the Bahamas for 4 days and have spent much of those days traveling and making long passages. Our first visitors embark on their journey with us in less than a week, so we are trying to get to them before they land here! Twice, we arrived to our destination for the day early enough to stretch legs and have some beach and exploration time. It's always funny to be on land after a while of being on a boat. I almost felt landsick- seasick, but on land- in Great Harbour Cay, Berry Islands. Last year one of my big concerns was that we'd all be seasick often. By the end of the summer, Ben & Bear threw up zero times, I threw up once, and Moose & Roo had each thrown up 2 or more times. This year, so far (*knock on wood*), no one has! 

While we were walking around Great Harbour Cay, Bear spotted a shark in the little area between the boat docks and the land. We all were super excited to look down and see a 4 foot nurse shark and its remora fish friend. Shark sighting- check!

Journey to Staging

While the maintenance guys were still on board, we took the finally repaired engine out for a sea trial. All was working well, so we knew we would be headed south soon! We turned back to bring them back to the dock, waited for them to drop some extra parts off to us, took our last minute trash, and were on our way. 

It was about a 10 hour journey, but luckily, it was also game 5 of the Stanley Cup! So far, Avs were leading the series 3 games to 1. We had the game streaming on my phone and the Bluetooth on so we could hear it throughout the boat on the speakers. Roo fell asleep in her bed, while the other 4 of us watched. Moose fell asleep before the third period, so I didn't break the news to him about the loss until sometime the next morning.

All of the kids were asleep by the time we got to our anchorage in Lake Worth, a little after 1 AM. After the anchor was set, I transferred everyone to their beds while Ben got the generator running to turn on the air conditioning. For some reason, the AC would run and then shut off. Knowing we were planning on getting an early start in the morning, my brain kept thinking about how the amount of sleep he and I would be running on was rapidly decreasing. I kept wondering if he should fix the AC and cross to the Bahamas on minimal sleep or if he should go to sleep, with the air broken, needing to scramble and figure out parts and repairs in the Bahamas or possibly delaying the trip another day or few days... again. Ben wound up changing some connections to get the AC to finally work consistently and we finally went to sleep around 5. Shortly before 7, we were woken up by all of the sport fishers speeding by, leaving us to violently rock in their wake.

Countdown to Liftoff

Looking for things to do while delayed here in Central Florida, I came across several options-most with a hefty price tag. My mom sent a list of local things to check out, so I clicked through the list and checked them out. Because phones know everything that you've said or anything you're thinking, yesterday I looked at my phone and an article came up about 3 SpaceX launches over as many days, 2 of which would be from Cape Canaveral, Florida- which is only 55 miles from where we are staying.

Immediately I started researching how to get as close as possible to watch a launch. Our options were today or Sunday. When you purchase a general admission ticket to explore the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex (KSCVC), there is a first-come-first-served free bus ride to the Apollo/Saturn V Center where there are bleachers, announcers, and a few viewing screens just under 4 miles from the launch pads. This bus only runs when the KSCVC is open, so the other launch wouldn't be an option for us to see so closely. Plus, we wanted to explore the whole complex with the kids- we'd been cooped up inside for too many days, trying to escape the heat. (Helpful hint: Undercover Tourist got us a discount of $37 on our tickets and can be used any day, up to 6 months after the date of purchase.) KSCVC opens at 9 am, so with a 73-minute drive, we planned to leave around 7 am, knowing we (okay, just the kids and I) typically run late, especially in the early morning hours.

Upon our arrival at the parking lot I was completely geeking out and super excited. We all gasped as a large passenger bus ran into and knocked the drop arm off the parking ticket booth! The attendant was just as shocked as we were. 

The bus under the ME in WELCOME is the one that knocked off the drop arm.

We pulled into a parking spot and I didn't realize until we were walking back to the truck at the end of our stay, just how close to the entrance we parked. 

This is the open area before entering the gates.

The line was snaking around and we tried to proceed directly to the gate, as our tickets indicated, but quickly found out that everyone in the line was in line for the gate, so we joined them in waiting for the gate to open. Those of you who've ever rope-dropped at Disney World are familiar with the excitement of being among the first people in a highly-anticipated attraction. I didn't think anything of being there at 9 when the gates opened, but to my surprise, the announcer came over the intercom and welcomed us, then asked us to join for the national anthem. Bonus! The kids removed their hats and everyone looked up to the flag before being admitted through the gate.

We walked under the EXPLORE, which is where the tickets were scanned, and into the Rocket Garden.

Through the gate, we joined the next line to get on the bus to the Apollo/Saturn V Space Center. I took the kids to the restroom while Ben held our place in line, which moved fairly quickly. There was a short informational video on TVs during the ride. 

We passed by the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), which is the building most people associate with Kennedy Space Center or NASA. The video on the bus said each stripe on the flag on the VAB, is as wide as one lane on a road! It also said it could hold 3.5 Empire State Buildings inside of it. That really paints the picture of how large this building is- both inside and out!

Once we were off the bus, we stood in a queue again, this time to enter the Apollo/Saturn V Space Center. There were a series of movies and simulations in different rooms, which reminded me of a Universal Studios attraction. I had to keep telling myself that all of this was real and utilized in many historical launches. After the last room, the doors opened to the rest of the center with various displays and one of the 3 remaining Saturn V rockets suspended on its side, running the length of the building. Fun fact: This is the second of the 3 that I've seen in person, thanks to Space Camp in Hunstville, Alabama! The third Saturn rocket is located at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

This was the actual command center during the Apollo rocket launches. The back windows rattled and changed colors to simulate what it looked like and sounded like during a launch.

We arrived at this location with more than 2 hours to go until launch, so the journey from bus to Saturn V helped us pass the time. There was plenty of time to read, take pictures, and explore the inside displays, attractions, and gift shop before finding a viewing location outside.

There are two launch sites here. The one on the left (39 B) is getting set up for NASA's Artemis I launch in August (or later). You can see the launch site 39 A, where Falcon 9 is sitting, almost directly under the single white cloud at the top of the image frame.

Ben snagged us a row of seats on the bleachers, where we sat for 30 minutes before the launch. The kids did amazing, despite being in the hot sun, getting super sweaty, and having literally nothing to do except sit there and wait. They kept busy by setting timers on their watches, looking at the rocket from across the water, watching for wildlife, listening to the announcer, and people-watching. Within the last minute before launch, we could see the liquid oxygen and condensing water vapor building under the rocket, followed by the ignition and flames. About 15 seconds after we saw it launch, the 10-second countdown began and everyone laughed because the rocket had very clearly already taken off! We watched it go high up and disappear- or so it seemed to our naked eyes. This rocket, the Falcon 9, was taking 53 satellites into orbit for Starlink internet. The booster landed in the Atlantic Ocean on a drone ship. Since we had already gone through the exhibits at this location, we walked to the bus and returned to the main KSCVC to get lunch and refill our water bottles.

Atlantis has its own building back on the main KSCVC. Again, there was a series of shows, and the end of this one was amazing. I won't spoil it for you, but it was definitely my favorite part of all of the exhibits. 

Moose and I did the launch simulator- Roo was too small and Bear generally doesn't like anything that moves, so Ben stayed behind with them. It was very bumpy, but a fun way to experience what a launch would be like. I thought of my mom's friend's son-in-law, Jack Fischer (a Centaurus High graduate and former Louisville, Colorado citizen), a lot through all of this!

Lego Build to Launch was something Moose wanted to stop and see, but when we got there, it looked just like his room does when we are home. There was a table full of random lego pieces and open stations for building. We told him we had to move along.

Gateway was a new building, according to the map. It wasn't until I started looking at other NASA things online when we got home that I found out that the building just opened on Wednesday of this week! Wow. I wish we hadn't been so hot and exhausted after spending 7 and a half hours exploring and learning. I would have loved to explore more there, but- like the kids- I was done and ready for ice cream.

Ben knew this company, Sierra Space, right away. He said it is stationed in Louisville, Colorado- our hometown. This is one of the exhibits in the Gateway building.

In a blog from last summer's adventures, I came across this line (from June 15th of last year!) and it made me giggle:  "I guess space camp was the closest I'll be to witnessing the real thing."

Who knew, it would be 367 days later and all 5 of us got to witness the real thing, as close as possible?!

Camshaft Update

The mechanics constructed a makeshift gantry to lift the engine up and stand it on end to continue disassembly. After more parts came off, they were able to remove the suspected broken camshaft. They found the camshaft was intact, but 2 of the tappets (the part that rides on the cam lobes and actuates the valves by way of the pushrods) were busted and fell into the oil pan. Monday a new cam and tappets go in and, with luck, the engine will be running again Tuesday afternoon.

The engine disconnected from the transmission turned 90 degrees vertically hanging from a temporary framework

The oil pan was removed for internal inspection we found one damaged tappet in the oil pan and the second fell out when the cam was removed.

To our amazement, the camshaft came out in one piece. We thought it snapped between cylinders #3 and #4.

Projects

Since we arrived in Florida on June 1st, Ben has gotten a lot done! He: 

• replaced the core of the rotten 2x2 front deck under the windlass
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
• replaced the toilet and the floor under it in the kids' bathroom

  

  This is actually the toilet in the other bathroom, but it was the same one the kids had in theirs. We just don't have a before picture of their old toilet.

  
  

• converted the house battery system to 24 volts and lithium batteries
  

• upgraded the dashboard with new instruments and technology
  
  
  

• replaced the inverter with one that has a higher capacity and is the same brand as all of our solar electronics
  
  

• put in a whole new auto-pilot system
  

• put the new motor on the tender- you may recall the other one got stolen in March
  
• 

• replaced the davit hoses
  
  

• installed a wind meter (because I [Lisa] am inept at wind direction while anchoring)
• put a new fuel system on the tender
• installed a new fuel priming system
• installed a new fuel pump on the generator
• replaced all of the plumbing that discharges our sewer tank
• replaced the sewer macerator
  
• bug-bombed the boat to get rid of the cockroaches
• dewinterized the whole boat
• rebuilt the anchor windlass and installed a remote control for it
  

When he's working, there are tools and parts everywhere. It drives me crazy. At least he mostly cleans up after, which is good because I refuse to be responsible for knowing the location of any of his tools.

The guy would give the Energizer Bunny a run for his money. Ben never stops.