This ends the journey and my cruising blog for 2008. I had fun sharing our adventure with you and hope you enjoyed a vicarious sail and cruise! We are back safely at 100 Vilabella enjoying all the fresh water we want, AC, a bed shaped like a rectangle instead of a V and using the computer without going for a dinghy ride! We are grateful for safe passages, fair winds and calm seas (when we had them!) and new friends and old. Freyja rests quietly at her dock awaiting the next adventure. (October and Fantasy Fest in Key West, maybe?). She served us well. Dakota is NOT resting quietly. She continues to be a bundle of puppy energy. The Bahamians gave her a new name - Blackie! She answers to both names now. We like it that she has a Bahamian name! Thanks for reading my blog!

The journey home begins across that dangerous Yellow Bank - without incident, but - in 25 knots of wind! That wasn't in the forecast - or on my wish list! And I did forget to mention that when we left Norman's for Highborne we looked back and the dinghy was gone!!! Now that was scary. Backtracked and found it with the help of the catamaran Solstice! If the dinghy isn't up on the arch she is double tied now!! Another peaceful night off Rose Island and up early to head to the Berry's. The wind was blowing 15 knots. It was a beam reach in 2 foot seas and with all three sails up we often saw 7 knots! We moored off the Berry Islands Club on Frazier's Hog Cay. Ran into friends from Norman's here on their boat, Gypsy Palace. Mark and Sallie spent the winter working at the Beach Club at Norman's and are now headed back to Florida like us. 50 knot squalls predicted for a few days so we stayed put - read, sewed, hiked and visited the club for Kaliks and dinner. And free Wi-Fi! Able to speak to several friends and family on Skype. Great shelling and sea glass here, as well. When the weather report was clear we headed out to cross the Great Bahama Bank again - this time going the other way!! Anchored on the banks the first night - swam and took Dakota about in the kayak for fun and exercise! Picnic on the deck! And headed out early the next morning for Cat Cay. Anchored safely off the beach there by 1500 for more beach time for Dakota, shells and sea glass for me. We were heading out into the Gulf Stream by 0630 but unable to sail. The wind strong at 15 knots but directly behind us. Freyja sails well down wind but not in the stream where the waves at 4-6' pitch and roll us. Long, long day of motor sailing, especially the last couple of hours. Glad to finally see Cape Florida Lighthouse and anchor off the Key Biscayne Yacht Club (Nixon's old hangout). Up early the next day for the sail down Biscayne Bay to the Keys, A beautiful beam reach again in 12 knots or so, today seeing 7 knots again in the puffs! A rain squall in Card Sound and then our anchorage off Key Largo by 4. Home tomorrow! An osprey nest on ICW marker 52A tells us we are close to Snake Creek and home! And that's a sunrsie not a sunset off KBYC!

The night Daddy left squalls were in the forecast. One came in about midnight - like a wall of wind! Whoosh! Knocked Freyja on her side but the anchor held. It was cool to go out in the cockpit to check on things and look around and see the other boats with their flashlights on doing the same thing. The weather is everything! Left Big Major (Staniel Cay) for a couple of days anchored off Samson Cay. We took Freyja into the marina there for fuel and water - and a few veggies. Ran into friends that used to live in Islamorada. Small world! They live in Naples now and were on their new trawler. Dakota made friends with a golden Retriever named Schnebly and the 2 of them wore themselves out on the beach. We took the dinghy through Pipe Creek - a grouping of small cays and salinas and beautiful beaches to Compass Cay for lunch and shark watching. And we ran into a friend from Islamorada there - he owns 2 restaurants in the Keys - and an island in the Exumas! Nice!! Then back to ECLSP but this time picking up a mooring at Emerald Rocks instead of at the headquarters. Did dinghy in for the Saturday night party, though! Met a lovely British couple here. In their 70's, she has had a stroke and they brought their 31' boat, S/V Tagsail, from Great Britain. We're impressed! Also hooked up with a live-aboard couple, Todd and Brenda on their trawler, Life's 2 Short! Met up again with them at Hawksbill Cay and shared beers on the beach under umbrellas after hiking across Hawksbill to both the North and South beaches and visiting the old ruins of early settlers. North again to Norman's Cay. In for beers and little computing at the Beach Club, then Highborne again to await good weather to start the 5 days it takes us to get back to the Keys. Dakota met another new friend here - a Vischla appropriately named Kalik. She belongs to Molly and Charlie off the trawler Chartwell from Ft. Lauderdale. (Boy, do I hope we get to see all these people again!) Enjoy just an assortment of pictures now before the journey home.

Daddy arrived on Watermakers Air - (the family who owns Staniel Cay Yacht Club invented the machine " water maker" for r/o water, thus the name of the airline) safely after what he said was a beautiful flight over these islands. We have never seen it from the air - we'd like to! The airport is a tiki hut and you ride back to the club in a golf cart - all quite amusing and fun for my Dad. We got him settled into his cottage and the fun began! We rented a golf cart and took him all around the island to see all the sights and the take-your-breath-away views! We went to Pig Beach so he could feed the swimming pigs (who knew pigs could swim!?), we swam and walked and napped and ate great food on Freyja, visited (he was just now learning of the new transmission!) and enjoyed ourselves immensely. We would dinghy him in after dinner on Freyja to sleep in his cottage. For those of you who know my father this won't surprise you. After we dropped him off he made friends with everyone on the dock and knew everyone on the island before he left! He had a great time and so did we. Sent him back to Florida and now heading North again.

Daddy's was scheduled to arrive in 10 days so we headed South for more adventures. We anchored off an assortment of deserted beaches many named by Jack..... Plane Bay, Nice, Sea Bean Beach (where I found my first sea bean last year), Jack's Bay Cove and Isaac's Bay. We walked the beaches, hiked to the Sound side for shelling, snorkelled (saw an invasive lionfish!) ate conch (you will see a picture or 2 of Jack in the dinghy pounding conch!), watched every sunset and listened to the quiet. Then on to Little Farmer's Cay - another favorite settlement. We decided that this was as far south as we would go so you can say, whew, and breathe a sigh of relief! We are half way through! Little Farmer's is a quaint fishing village with a population of around 60. There's a sculptor and 2 ladies who bake bread, lots of fishermen and Terry Bain's famous Ocean Cabin. Here you eat conch and drink rum with Terry and philosophize! We saw a fishermen tossing conch on the beach from his boat one day so dinghied in to buy. He also had fish - one a huge hog snapper - our favorite! - too big for us but there was another couple looking on so we introduced ourselves and decided to share the fish - I invited them to eat on Freyja - and another new friendship is made! They sail S/V Moon Shadow, a 45 ' Morgan from DelRay Beach. We spent the next few days back and forth on each others boats, eating and drinking and sharing adventures - they even included Dakota in their invitations! Brave souls. Actually she was quite well-behaved on their boat - surprise! Best of all, Robb and Pam have a great sense of adventure and took us hiking to Oven Rock in search of a well-know cave that no one knows where it is! Robb found it!!! The pictures show stalagmites, stalactites and a fresh water bucket and cup to drink from. It was a hot day and the cool of the cave felt delicious and Dakota enjoyed a fresh water swim! Pam taught me much about shelling - she found a huge helmet here - and we learned more about sea beans and sea glass. She has quite a selection on board. She is also an artist and painted us a water-color of a scene on Little Farmer's! After leaving Little Farmer's we back-tracked to Black Point again, stopping along the way. Met up with Moon Shadow again. Pam and I hiked to the Sound side in search of sea glass - found lots! - and took a trail with Robb to the cliffs over Dothan Cut. Beautiful. I keep forgetting to tell you that, of course, every so often there are cuts out to the Sound. Most are treacherous, all are renowned for swift currents and everyone sailing here has great respect for these cuts. Also, just a note about sea beans - they are a variety of seeds that float up on shore from around the world. some are prized finds - like the hamburger and the heart. More common ones that you would know are a mangrove pod or a coconut!! Google them if you want to know more! Pam and Robb left for Nassau and are heading home . We will miss them! Enjoy these pictures - we are working heading back to Staniel to meet my father......