Banana History The true origins of the world’s most popular fruit are to be found in the region of Malaysia. By way of curious visitors, bananas traveled from there to India where they are mentioned in the Buddhist Pali writings…

Imagine this. You’re going to drink the equivalent of 8 double shots of rum (over the course of a day) and then climb up this mast with no safety harness while the ship is frollicking along in the waves. Think…

After a long day of sweating over an engine, there’s nothing like a sunset cruise. So one day, we grab a cocktail and start rowing around the canals of the swamp (oh right, the housing development) to enjoy the sunset….

Never a dull moment in Nassau harbor. This is a Haitian moving boat/freighter. They sail up from Haiti, load the boat until it’s about to sink and then sail home. They haven’t an engine so the little yellow speed boat…

This is William and Betty Rolle of Blackpoint, Exumas. William has created the Garden of Eden. Those are not just random sticks you see, those are sculptures that William has created from found objects. “Stand just here and look”, he…

It began with a broken mast – thanks hurricane Charlie. It became new rigging, new chainplates, new thru-hulls, new seacocks, new head, new hoses, new faucets, new gas tank, new diverter valve, new upholstery, new canvas, new cockpit cushions and,…

We are a sailboat. We are excellent sailors. One of the reasons we are excellent sailors is because the diesel on Forbidden Planet is an 8 hp Yanmar. While it is an incredibly reliable little engine it is woefully underpowered….

After 2 days and you don’t want to know how much rum, we begin to calm down. On closer inspection, it looks like most of the damage is cosmetic. The scratches on the hull can be buffed out. The mold…

So there we were, heading to the boat thinking blue water, pretty coloured fish, gentle winds and fair skies. As the highway miles fly by and we get closer and closer to the boat we’re squirming, can’t wait to go…

It’s been a good days run, 50 nm up the inside of the keys, 15 – 20 knots on the beam all day. Does it get any better than that? In fact it was so good that we got to…

A 27 foot sailboat to go cruising…   $20,000 An inflatable and outboard to get to the reef…   $2,000 A pole spear for the hunt… $30 The thrill of catching dinner… PRICELESS!!!!

I roll over, luxuriating in sleeping in until 6:15 a.m. We arrived at the anchorage late last night and we aren’t planning on going anywhere today. But curiosity to see this spot overpowers the desire to sleep and the first…

Once upon a time (in the 70’s), an enterprising man named Carlos Leder decided to go into business in the Bahamas. He bought a little island named Normans Cay and built himself an airstrip. He began an “import” business from…

Of course, no trip to the Exumas would be complete without stopping at Allans Cay to visit the iguanas. Thanks to the lack of natural predators, there are over 700 of the beasties on the 3 sand dots that make…

Bimini is just 55 miles east of Miami, but mon, it be a different world. Alice Town has 2 roads on an island and you can cover it on foot in 10 minutes. Hemingway spent time here as the deep…

In the six seasons I’ve been cruising things have changed in the galley. Not only have I become way better at cooking in a bouncing shoebox, the products available are so much better. This years find was ready cooked bacon….

Area: 5380 sq miles (13,940 sq km), 700 islands and 2500 cays Population: 283,705 Capital city: Nassau (pop 190,000) People: African descent (85%), European descent (15%) Language: English Religion: Baptist (32%), Anglican (20%), Roman Catholic (19%) Government: Independent state within…

1999, our first trip out of North American waters. Awesome. We spent 4 weeks from Marathon Florida to Nassau and back. There is nowhere else in the world that has water as blue as the Bahamas. This was just a…

Snorkel the Windjammer wreck off Lighthouse Key. Listen to the nesting calls of 100,000 sooty terns on Bush Key. Drift in your dinghy over several dozen sleeping sand sharks. Wait for the fishermen to arrive at the anchorage and play…

Night arrivals are never recommended especially when they involve unknown anchorages and reefs. That’s why we had timed our arrival for 4 pm. Earlier would have been even better but we didn’t want to leave the Marquesas before sunrise as…

The greeters of Blackpoint, Exumas. We anchor in Big Major, which is the closest protected anchorage to Staniel Cay. Big Major is known not only for the anchorage but also for the garbage pigs. What a life, these pigs lie…

Thanks to 4 hurricanes last winter many of the 450 boats in the yard and doing work instead of sailing. If you get stuck in a project just come down to the “clubhouse” and ask around, some one is bound…

The whispers begin as soon as we reach the Bahamas. Family Island Regatta is soon ‘mon. As we move down the Exuma chain we find them propped up under trees, behind local bars, on main streets. We see wooden masts…

So the weather isn’t cooperating. Hmm… what to do? There’s always a bit of fishing… The Pirate Guy snagged us a mighty tasty Red Grouper one day. We named him Fred the Red. 24″ of tasty lunch and dinner. Mmmmm……

Oh boy oh boy oh boy, we’re off adventuring!!!! Yes amigos, it’s that time of year when the mercury drops and the turquoise water beckons. I hear the dolphins calling, “Sailorgirl, Sailorgirl come play with us!” I can’t refuse a…

The fisherman fends his dinghy off Forbidden Planet with one hand and waves at our flag excitedly with the other. “Hola Canada! Me brother, he in Canada, he in Toronto,” says the fisherman holding onto our boat. “Toronto? We’re from…

By 6:30 a.m. the sun is shining through the hatch directly above my head. I can smell the coffee as the Pirate Guy gets up to watch the sunrise while I lounge. The wind is gentle, sounds like about 5…

Cuba is unlike any place on this planet. It’s hard to know where to start to explain, you can’t explain it. Eventually all of this information will be nicely categorized and labelled. In the meantime I have 3 1/2 months…

The Cuban Rules: If you don’t like the way something is done, wait an hour, it’ll change. Everything is forbidden, everything is possible. Any information you read is outdated. Nothing changes here, yet everything changes all the time and depending…