To central america

hello all you crazy horses,
we're still in georgetown, and i'm getting very antsy to get underway, which we will as soon as this weekend's football games are over. on further review of time left for this trip and cruising destinations, it looks like we're going to head to jamaca and then to central america, panama to mexico, so we can work on our spanish and do a little more exploring of non cruising destinations and making the tip of florida by next october or so. nothing's definate but we'll soon be making tracks one way or another. any recommendations regarding good places to visit in c.america are welcome. adios,
ben

Happy new year in nassau

Hello gang!
we're celebreating the new year in nassau, bahamas. we sailed in from the little harbor of the abacos in strong winds, after a wonderful christmas karaoke celebreation that we were invited to by the other cruisers in marsh harbor. we sang all sorts of songs and were known as the boston boys. there was also a number of dances including the electric slide, the macarena, the chicken dance, and more. we now have some very funny video footage of it all. so now we are in nassau, spent the last bit of 2004 at the atlantis casino. i came away with 25 cents more than i went in with. having played only $1.25 in slots. chris came away with $10 having at one point been $20 up on the game where the ball goes around and then lands in a number and color. i was quite happy to leave the place although there was a great acquarium and we did see A-Rod of the yankees there, much to our excitement. then to a outside bar for wonderful fireworks and dancing, then to the junkanoo parade which started at 2am and supposedly went to 11am this morning. there were the most decorated costumes we've ever seen. thousands and thousands of people lined the streats, everyone comes out for it and they say they wait for it all year. we finally got back to the boat at 5am. we'll be here for a few more days when we'll get ted back on the boat, (he went home for the holidays) and then we'll make our way down the exuma chain...and BEYOND!! that's all for now. hope everyone's having a great start to 2005. thanks again to my friends shane and ladleah for their email and info. they run a school for people to learn these type of cruising skills in a bit more comfort than the outward bound pulling boats. so if any of you want to do some cruising sailing of your own, check out www.newenglandsailing.com, they are the best. adios
ben

Treasure cay to marsh harbor

hello gang, sailed down to marsh harbor on great abaco island from treaure cay. we've had wonderful weather, good sailing and a "norther" (cold front) coming our way. we purchased a wind generator and mounted it on our mizzen mast, so we're now somewhat independent of our engine and making power when ever the winds are blowing. we're trying to get to another good spot for snorkling and surfing and going to wait out the big winds in marsh harbor. huge thanks go out to my outward bound friends, shane and ladleah, who've been down here many times. they gave us tons of info on the big crossing of the gulf stream and all about different wind generators and much info about the bahamas in general. we were much better off with their help. well that's all for now, we're getting ready to start christmas carolling to the other boats in the harbor. adios, ben

Bahamas

hello all, this'll be a short one. we're safe and sound, crossed the gulf stream with no problems, but caught no fish. have had wonderful snorkling, lots of barracuda, eaten conch, and other fish, many tasty lobster. are now in green turtle cay heading south in a day or two. things are going very well, and we're having fun finally made it out of the intercoastal waterway. internet is very pricy so i must be going. hope the christmas time is going well. ben

Departure delayed

hello again, it is saturday afternoon and we are still in fort lauderdale. There was just too much stuff to do and not enough time to get the rest we needed to leave the country in style. so now we wait for another weather window, hopefully around wednesday. we now plan to finish our list of things to do, hopefully do a little surfing and enjoy the fort while we're here. adios,
ben

florida to grand bahamas

hello to all, well, we've hopefully gotten this email thing straightened out. you'll now be getting updates from my own address and hopefully it'll go smoother. right now we're in fort lauderdale, florida with a weather window opening up tonight for a passage across the gulf stream to grand bahamas. we rented a car today and have been running around the city picking up last minute supplies, food, and the like. we are very excited to be ready to head out and if we can make it happen, we'll be in the bahamas by nightfall on saturday. otherwise, we'll have to wait a few more days until the wind comes from the south again to go the same direction as the gulf stream (otherwise there are fierce waves across the gulf stream). otherwise we had a great thanksgiving dinner courtesy of rob's mom and each read a list of 10 things we were thankful for. one of which is all of our supporters and people interested in what we're doing. we thank you very much. now to see if this new set up works. hope all is well wherever you are. hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving. adios, hopefully write you again from the bahamas.
ben