The above depression has made the last couple of days a little wet.  Waiting for this to continue north, however it is unusual that it has made it this far south already...will be watching this closely.  Tis the season.

So, what is Martin doing with EVEN MORE time on his hands these days?  More eating, and more rum.  No money for that fancy bar fair, so trying to actually do some cooking.

Sailboat style french fries.   Potatoes + Oil + Heat is always good.  Doing something as simple as this can keep me occupied for quite a while :)  I take a multivitamin so who cares what I eat all day right?

Internet has obviously been pretty shaky since I left Man O War.  Stayed outside of Hopetown for a couple of days and checked out the 150th anniversary of the Elbow Reef Lightouse.  Very cool machine.  A neighboring boat took me over to Marsh Harbor a couple days ago(in his much faster boat).  He needed some engine work done and I had nothing else to do.  Marsh is an interesting place.  Bigger stores, much more like things are at home.  There are some major issues however with illegal immigration, particularly those entering the Bahamas from Haiti.  Much like the illegal hispanic population working under the table in the United States, the Haitians are hired for very little pay, and do most of the work the locals are too lazy to do themselves.

Here is the difference between the problem here, and the problem in the United States:

Pigeon Pea.  A place where people don't know how to build houses in straight lines apparently.  This is one of the two Haitian communities on this small island.  Frequent house fires demolish large sections of the neighborhood and the local fire truck (shown below) can only do so much.

Anyway, enough negativity.  Here are some pictures of the lighthouse.

The last of its kind, the giant fresnel lenses (which can be seen for 15 miles when lit) rotate on a bed of MERCURY.  Yea, crazy.  Pressurized kerosene is vaporized in the lantern room, providing the bright warm light I get to see every night here.

 The lighthouse is also hand wound every day by the lighthouse keeper.

View from the top.  Little Meadowlark is anchored somewhere outside of the harbour on the left. 

Now, anchored just off of Tahiti Beach a little ways south.  Figured I'd slowly make my way south and see what happens.

Anchored outside of Elbow Cay last few days, cool island, but definitely one of the more touristy ones.  The fact that they sell booze alone is enough to draw bigger crowds.  That and the lighthouse of course.  That thing is 150 years old and still burning bright (one of the last ones on earth). 

Internet was surprisingly crap outside the harbor.  So I stayed a couple days and ran back up to Man O War today to "recharge my batteries" so to speak.



Rice and meat. Pretty typical one pot meal for me lately.  Note the mysterious green cocktail on the cockpit floor.

All is well.  All is well...

Around here, when the sun goes down, I do the same soon after.  This is a dry island.  They do not sell any alcohol here...intentionally.  So, you can imagine there isn't much of a party scene around Man O War.  Not something I'm particularly used to. No late night neflix either...

This is obviously going to take an attitude adjustment.  I'm in.

Thinking about sailing to Hopetown tomorrow (weather permitting).

Ran "Wanderer" off of my mooring yesterday.  They decided to anchor over there afterwards.  And I thought I was winging it...

Oh well what can ya do?  Look at a chart I guess.  Or not anchor in a MOORING FIELD.  Durr.

Still alive, sunburned today.  My back has a pulse.  Not good.

Went to one of the beaches at  Man O War Cay today.  Almost got hit by a golf cart on the walk over.  No cars here - just eerily silent electric vehicles with crazy natives driving about 45 mph down "Queen's Highway", a five foot wide sidewalk.  

Actually this is a really cool place.  They have a loooong history of boat building here and they continue to do some outstanding work.  There are still tons of wooden sailing dinghys, schooners, and powerboats still in this harbor.

Anyway, life is good on ol' Meadowlark.  Swinging around on the mooring line, people watching, and cooking dinner have made up about 90% of the day.  Hmmm, rum cocktail time?  Yep.

Oh, and when I say a "rum cocktail", I mean rum with whatever I have on the boat...and since I don't have a fridge, it's usually tang, lemonade, or the lesser palatable gatorade/rum combo.  I do not reccommend that last one ;)

On a mooring at Man O War Cay in the Abacos.  Thunderstorms blasting away into the distance and  a clear star-packed sky above me.  The skies are always clearer in places like this.  No lights, no haze, no bullshit.  Only sounds are faraway thunder and the Kansas flag fluttering at the spreaders.

It's hard to keep my eyes dry.

Enough adjectives for one night.  Going to bed.

Meadowlark sailed for 36 hours nonstop out of Port St. Lucie to Green Turtle Cay in Abaco, Bahamas.  Weather could not have been better.  Seas were smooth, caught some dolphin, and all equipment performed as expected.  Now it's time to have another drink and have some fun.  

To port St. Lucie tomorrow.

Tonight, a man from the boat docked next to mine gave me a chain necklace with a sterling medallion of St. Brendan, the patron saint of mariners.  Dumbfounded, all I could eek out was a simple "thanks".

With tears in his eyes and a broken voice he said:  "I was just thinking a while of what you are doing....it is a big deal, and a very special thing.   Throw this in a drawer, under your keel, or around your neck.  I've worn it for the last 20,000 miles and I haven't had any problems, so I hope it brings you good luck and fair winds."

This time all I got out was "Thank you so much.".   There aren't words for that moment, but I wish he could know how much it meant.  Because shit is going to get real pretty soon.

Pro: Hull work is done.  Con: It's hot and there are alligators.  Launch (again) at 1100 tomorrow in Indiantown, FL.  This weather window is looking good and we might just go for it.

Bedtime on the boat in Indiantown, FL.   Today was pretty long.  Bought $900 of provisions and $500 of tires for the trailer.  Hopefully launching in a couple of days when the thru-hull fittings are replaced.  The gulf stream is likely to calm down over the weekend and into next week, leaving a potential window for us to cross into the Abaco islands.

Feeling ready to live the good life.  

Launched today, but only until one of the forward thru hulls began to seep in a few drops of water.  F#!$ that, she's back out to have all of them replaced.  This will take the yard a few days minimum.  No worries though, still lots to do and we were just sitting around waiting on weather anyway.   

Off to the yard with my boy Diego

Here, we see the small yet feisty Catalina 25 out of her ordinary habitat and closer to the others.  Notice the proud posture she assumes to successfully intimidate and express dominance over her much larger neighbors.