Saturday July 6, 2024 Blue Water Lake Campground (NM) to Bisbee AZ (home)

 

It was up in the air this morning if we wanted to camp another night between here and home or just go for it and get home. Spoiler alert, it was really too hot to camp anywhere so we did a long day and made it home by 7pm.

The bonus today was that the shortest way included the crooked piece of RT 191 that is about 80 miles long and really high and really crooked and devoid of guardrails.

We left the campground and Deb got everything cleared up with the Ranger who was emptying the pay box. Some sites are reservable and some are first come first serve. It turns out if we had not reserved, there were a couple nice sites that were empty when we walked the park last night, so we would have had a good chance at getting a site without the reservation.

We got back on I-40 and headed east a few exits and then took Rt 117 south. We stopped at the El Malpais BLM office and chatted with the ranger there. There was nobody there but us and we agreed that there were probably days when the ranger saw nobody. El Malpais is a huge area filled with cooled lava. Much like Craters of the Moon if you have ever been there. It looked like pretty rough hiking over the lava mounds so we continued on our way, turned on Rt 36 to Quemado where we take Rt 60 west. We saw a couple side roads to Pie Town but one was gravel for 25 miles and the other did not even show up on the map. So we could have gone 50 miles out of our way for pie, but decided to save it for another day.

Rt 60 took us into Springerville which we have been to before and stopped for nd early lunch at Booga Red’s Restaurant. Very slow service but the food was good. 

From Springerville we took good old Rt 191 all the way to I-10. It is one twisty windy road but lots of great vistas and lots of dirt side roads with trail heads and camping spots. This might be a good place to come back to to camp and hike.

From here home is robotic since we have been this route many times and just wanted to get home before dark. It was 108 degrees in Stafford when we stopped to get a few groceries.

We got home just before 7pm and did the old “dump everything in the driveway” routine. Unpacked everything and quick supper, showers, then bed

Friday July 5, 2024 Ridgway State Park (CO) to Bluewater State Park (NM)

 

Deb here. Great sleeping once again. After coffee and tea we decided to take off and head into Ridgway for breakfast. Ridgway is a charming little mountain town with great views in every direction. We found Kate’s Place right in town and had a tasty breakfast there. After breakfast we started the drive on Rt 550 (aka the Million Dollar Highway). We’d been on this road before and I remembered it being pretty terrifying in spots and yep, my recollections were correct! The stretch between Ridgway and Ouray was relatively flat and easy, and we stopped briefly in Ouray to look around. I love Ouray, even busy as it was on this holiday weekend. What a setting, and endless outdoor possibilities.

Following Ouray the road became twisty and steep with sheer dropoffs on our right and no guardrails. This time around I was driving and I think poor Milo was the more nervous one since there wasn’t much between us and the drop off! On up we climbed, first reaching Red Mountain  Pass (11,018 ft) before dropping down into Silverton. It had been quite awhile since we’d been to Silverton, and we thought that it seemed more developed than our last visit. It was busy, so we continued on up and over Molas Pass (10,970 ft). We scored one of the last parking spots at Molas Pass and took in the gorgeous views. The CDT and Colorado Trail both pass through there, and some parents had set up a full breakfast for their son and his friend who were hiking the Colorado Trail. Very sweet.

After finally leaving Rt. 550 in Durango, we then headed west on Rt. 160 and then south on Rt. 140, which turned into Rt. 170 at the New Mexico border and followed that to Farmington. We then took Rt. 371 all the way down to Rt. 40 in Thoreau, and then turned off the interstate shortly after to take the one-way road to Bluewater Lake State Park. All good roads and not busy once we left Durango.

I’d made us a reservation at Bluewater Lake SP but it was all a bit confusing since no one was there to check us in. We found our campsite, set our chairs up in the shade, and enjoyed some snacks before taking a walk around the campground. It was in the 80’s, but the temperature cooled off nicely as the night wore on.

Ridgway SP in Colorado spoiled us and we quickly learned that Bluewater Lake SP could use some TLC. Pit toilets, with a main bathroom near the gate that had showers and running water, but everything just seemed a bit run down. On the other hand, a campsite is $10/night as opposed to CO’s $40/night fee. Maybe you get what you pay for?

Lots of families out enjoying camping and using the reservoir. Pesto grilled cheese and soup for dinner, reading and bed. 

Thursday July 4, 2024 Gunnison, CO to Ridgway State Park, CO

 

Deb here. We enjoyed a hot breakfast at the hotel and had a fun chat with 2 Australian men who are in the US for the International Boomerang competition. Who knew?! Apparently they’re 2 of the 6 Australian team members and they’re competing in L.A. in a couple of days. We’ll have to look up the results in a few days and find out how they fared.

Last night we were conflicted about whether to go east or west, over mountain passes either way. After thinking it through we’d settled on the western route, going north to Crested Butte, then following the West Elk Scenic Byway up and over Kebler Pass and down into Paonia. 26 miles of dirt road, but the road was in pretty good shape.

Not a cloud in the sky today so a perfect day for a drive through the mountains. It turned out to be a gorgeous drive, through aspen groves, wildflower covered hillsides and snow capped mountains. Just the scenery one thinks of when thinking about Colorado. We saw people camping everywhere there was a dirt pull-off or a side road, so I guess no camping restrictions. There was one campground, Lost Lake, that’s a Forest Service Campground, and I followed the 2 mle dirt road to see what that campground was all about. It turned out to be a spectacular spot, right on a lake with 19 sites, all full. We had an informative visit with the caretaker, who gave us some tips on timing to get a spot if we wanted to stay there in the future. Lots of hiking trails nearby and a real gem of a campground.

We’d managed to score the last campsite at Ridgway State Park, so down the mountain we went. Paonia was one of the first towns we came to, and we drove through the cute town. Turns out that cherries are in season, so we stopped by a roadside stand and picked up some delicious cherries. On down through not so interesting and dry terrain, skirting Delta and ultimately stopping in Montrose for a good old McDonald’s coffee and diet coke. We ate our late lunch in the parking lot and headed the short distance to the campground.

Nice campground, complete with free showers. Colorado State Park camping fees are stiff ($40 plus a $10 day fee) so good to know they have decent amenities. 

We found our campsite and decided to go on a hike. The volunteer who checked us in had given us a trail map and recommended the Enchanted Mesa trail, which ended up being a winner. John tested his knee again with a 350+ foot elevation gain on a switchbacking trail up to a mesa and then along the upper bank of the Ridgway Reservoir. The temperature was in the low 80’s but a nice breeze kept the hike bearable and the views were awesome.

Back to our campsite by 5:30 for happy hour outside of our van in the shade, followed by dinner and showers, along with route planning for tomorrow.

Wednesday Jul 3, 2024 Creede CO to Gunnison CO

Another quiet night in Marshall Park Campground. We made coffee and tea and drove over the mountain to Lake City and had breakfast at the Breakfast Hangout and Euphoria since the line at the Lake City Bakery was out the door and across the driveway. Turned out Breakfast Hangout was wonderful and it was staffed by 4 or 5 J-1 students here for the summer from Bulgaria and Dominican Republic and Slovakia. We had a nice chat with a few of them and the coffee was bottomless and the pancakes and frittata were delicious.

We then walked to the bakery and there was no line, and the couple from Oklahoma  that we had met the day before were there, so we stopped and got a mid-morning snack (cruller) and chatted with the OK folks again. They gave us even more tips for getting through the mountains.

We continued on the Silver Thread Scenic Byway which was not very populated and not much traffic. Beautiful sunny day with big white clouds and in the 70’s. Deb had lined up a Wingate Hotel in Gunnison (with points) so we could do laundry and get showers.

We discovered that the Pioneer Museum in Gunnison is a pretty big museum and so we stopped. Wow was it huge! And very nicely put together. We spent close to two hours there and it’s so big, they let you have a return pass for the next day which we got. I think I made it through the entire thing but only by taking quick looks through each building. Wow.

Gunnison is not what we were expecting. It’s a pretty normal working town, not a big resort town at all. Big enough for a small Walmart but we did not see any other box stores.

We then decided we would drive the 30 or so miles up to Crested Butte and back just to go to the visitor center there and ask about the roads over the mountains. Crested Butte is a big, resort town with lots of fancy stores and a big Arts Center. Kind of richy-rich stuff. The visitor center volunteer said either road to the east or the west over the mountains was fine for our two wheeled drive van. So we have options tomorrow.

Then back to Gunnison where we found a car wash our high top van would fit in, and hosed most of the 100 pounds of mud that was caked on the sides of our van from yesterday's travels. Then to the motel and did some laundry.

Later we walked downtown and had a good taco salad dinner at El Paraiso Mexican Restaurant. After a stroll around town back to the hotel for reading and bed.

Tuesday Jul 2, 2024 Noodling around Creede CO

 

Marshall Park Campground was full last night. We talked to a man who went to Middlebury College in VT and he said he pulled in at 4pm and got a site first come first serve. Deb says 8 of the sites are reservable and 7 are first come. So it’s busy but not crazy busy. Today reinforced the thought that this area is not that popular, or has not been discovered yet so there is plenty of room in cafes, stores, hiking trails and dirt roads. It rained pretty hard last night so everything will be soggy today.

Breakfast in the van, cereal, and then the 11 muddy dirt road miles to Love Lake. About half of those miles were very wide, albeit muddy, nicely graded road since there is a large development out here where it appears that a lot of people live. Every house seems to be a log cabin or looks like a log cabin with big windows facing the mountain views. The road gets narrower and narrower and then it’s single lane with wide spots that you negotiate with the few people you meet coming the other way. Love Lake is a reservoir at 10,500 ft. in elevation, and there was a young man and his grandfather fishing. They told us that it was trout they were fishing for and that all the lakes around here are stocked. There were two rigs set up for camping and a couple of more trucks came in with fisherman.

Today it never rained and was mostly clear all day. We hiked around the little lake enough to stretch our legs but there is no trail per se.

Back down the muddy 11 miles and the poor van is encrusted with thick mud that hardened up over the day.

We went to the historical museum in Creede and they were open today. Yesterday they were closed due to a doctor’s appointment. The place is run by an older man who must have been okay medically speaking since he was there today! The museum is your typical collection of old late 1800’s stuff and a lot of old black and white pictures of the late 1800’s. This town boomed for 4 or 5 years and then went bust. But tourism bailed them out.

Following the museum we stopped at Coffee on the Fly for some iced coffee drinks (Deb said “best iced chai ever”) and people watching. We then strolled down to the actually pretty nice grocery store and bought a loaf of bread since we just ran out.

Next stop was the trailhead at Shallow Creek a few miles out of town. The hiking brochure we’d picked up had one of the mileages wrong so we got a little side tracked trying to find it. We were on roads that were very single lane but fortunately there is little traffic so we only had a couple pull off negotiations. The fields of wildflowers along the way were beautiful. We finally did find the trailhead and we hiked about 3 miles round trip on my new knee, which is about all I want to push it for now. There were beef cattle we had to negotiate at one point but other than that it was a mild up and down trail.

Then back to the campground to chill and rest the knee and re-up on ibuprofen. Tonight Deb got us the last two seats at Creede Repertory Theater’s rendition of Young Frankenstein. We reserved a spot in the Creede Hotel for dinner at six and what looked like everyone who was going to the play next door was getting dinner there. So the kitchen was slammed and we ordered a simple salad and bowl of soup and still waited 45 minutes to get those, but enjoyed sitting outside and listening to a musician as we waited. We got to the theater at 7pm and we had two separate seats in the very nice Creede Repertory Theater (rows A-O, 1-14). Very professionally done show and we enjoyed it very much. They started this theater in 1967 which seems hard to believe for this tiny isolated town.

Then back to the campground and lights out in our tiny filthy van.

Monday Jul 1, 2024 South Fork to Marshal Park Campground (Creede CO)

Another quiet night at the Silver Thread Basecamp RV park. Silver Thread refers to the name of the scenic road that stretches from South Fork, CO all the way to Gunnison, CO. There was a lot of mining activity along this corridor in the later 1800’s.

We topped off our water and used the dump station before leaving and stopped at the office to ask about breakfast somewhere. She said Tiny Timbers Coffee Bistro and Cafe was the “only” good place for breakfast in South Fork, which isn’t bragging so much as it is true.

She was right. It had food somewhere between diner and foo-foo so something for everyone. There were the usual assortment of “old farts” solving all of the world’s problems, again. A group from Sierra Vista, AZ saw our Bisbee license plate so we chatted for a while. A very social place with good coffee and hot tea and good simple breakfast.

After breakfast  we went up to Big Meadows Reservoir and hiked the Big Meadows Loop Trail, which was Milo’s test on the 6 week anniversary of his new knee. After 2.6 miles of fairly flat but soggy, root and boulder infested trail, Milo survived and celelbrated back at the van with some ibuprofin and hot coffee. It was drizzly all morning but we had lightweight rain jackets so were fairly dry. Deb wore her camera out snapping pictures of wildflowers.

Deb taking over for the rest! We decided to drive to Lake City for the afternoon, traveling further on the Silver Thread Byway (Rt 149) than we’d been previiously, up and over Spring Creek and Slumgullion Passes. Our first stop was at the parking area for North Creek Falls, where we made lunch and enjoyed the clearing skies at a picnic table. We had a long chat with a couple from Oklahoma, who are staying in a cabin in Lake City but have a Travato van at home. 

Following our lunch break we drove up and over the passes, first Spring Creek Pass (10,000+ feet) and then Slumgullion Pass (11,000+ feet). Both the Continental Divide Trail and the Colorado Trail go through Spring Creek Pass. Magnificent vistas and country.

Down and into Lake City, another historic and charming town complete with wooden sidewalks. Our new Oklahoma friends pulled up behind us and offered us a spot in their driveway on the night of July 3rd if we needed it. So sweet, since after we leave our current campground on the 3rd we don’t have any reservations.

We then drove to Wupperman Campground, a county-run campground up above Lake San Cristobal, to check it out and see if we might have any luck getting into that campground on the 3rd. We had a fun chat with the campground host Dan Bell (his wife’s name is Tinker, seriously) who said if we decided to camp there he’d find room for us.

Back down to Rt 149, up and over the passes and on to Marshall Park Campground by 5:30 pm, our home for the next 2 nights. This is a lovely Forest Service campground right on the Rio Grande river, with 16 sites total and decent pit toilets. At $17/night the price is pretty hard to beat.

Milo made a rice and chicken sausage dinner with salad and we enjoyed talking with a few of the campground guests and listening to the river.

Sunday Jun 30, Creede Mining tour

It was misty this morning after a light rain last night. This RV park is very dark at night and very quiet. Mostly Texas folks here. The couple next to us are from Texas and they have been coming here for a month in the summer for many many years. They live in their RV (5th wheel job) year round, don’t own a house and love it that way. They go back to Texas for winters and travel around, but always come here for the month of July.

Very few bugs, maybe it’s too early, but that is welcome.

We went to MJ’s Cafe in Creede for breakfast. Good little busy diner. The town of Creede is one of those silver mining towns that grew to 10,000 people in three years and then collapsed in the mid-1890’s when the price of silver dropped out. Same as Tombstone. The population is only a few hundred people and relies on tourism in the summer. They built an underground mine museum which kind of blows my mind. In 1992 three guys started drilling and blasting a hole in the side of the mountain for the fire department and decided it was going so well they kept blasting until they had enough room for the museum and a community room. The museum is very well run and the exhibits are sequential and numbered. You’re given an audio headset that talks you through the whole place and back to the gift shop. It looked like a single woman ran the whole place. That must be a good money-maker for the town.

Next we climbed up a well maintained dirt road called the Bachelor Loop to get a tour of the Last Chance mine. It was abandoned in the mid-1980’s and a man named Jack Morris  bought it for a song in 1998 with the understanding that it would be used as a museum. Our tour guide was Bobby, and he did a great job on our 45 minute tour. The tour was just long enough to get the gist of silver mining, a different deal than copper mining. Bobby claimed that there was as much silver left in the place as they took out, but they were committed to the museum thing. The silver just sits there patiently.

We climbed a little further on the Bachelor Loop than the Last Chance Mine and then the road ended because of a rock slide.

Deb here for the rest! The woman working at the museum had  told us about Freemon’s Ranch and General Store, saying we had to stop there if heading to the falls, so we did. Delicious burgers and waffle fries, which we enjoyed sitting at a picnic table on their porch. By this time the sun had come out and it was a beautiful day. Freemon’s is only a stone’s throw from North Clear Creek Falls (supposedly the second most photographed falls in the U.S.?), so we traveled there and made the short walk to the falls. Really spectacular and different, with the water coming out of the meadows and dropping deep into a chasm. Hard to explain but stunning. 

Since we visited North Clear Creek Falls our next destination was South Clear Creek Falls. Access to these falls involved a bit of a hike in, and I'm happy to report that Milo’s new knee is doing great! Smaller falls and a more traditional setting, but also beautiful. And I have to note that the wildflowers here are amazing. I probably took pictures of 15-20 different varieties, and I have yet to see a columbine (the Colorado state flower). Maybe tomorrow…

After the two falls, two different mining museum venues and lots of spectacular scenery we made our way back to our campground near South Fork. We stopped briefly at Marshall Park Campground, our USFS campground for the next 2 nights to get a preview.

Finally arriving back at the campground at 5:30 pm we realized we’d eaten such a late lunch that neither of us were hungry for much dinner. We each had yogurt and fruit, read our books, talked with the neighbors and called it a night.

Saturday June 29, 2024 Albuquerque NM to South Fork CO

 

We were up around 7am and Steve had the coffee ready. We did more catching up with Steve and their dog Juice and their cat Chaco. Sharon is visiting back east so we didn’t see her this trip.

We picked up coffee and breakfast sandwiches at McDonald’s and then headed north on I-25. Cutoff at Rt 550 where we topped off the gas (cheap gas).Rt 550 is a beautiful 4 lane road that went as far as we went today. We turned east after Cuba, NM on Rt 537 which turned out to be a desolate but well paved two laner through the Jacarilla Apache Indian Reservation. It was devoid of traffic or towns so it was a nice peaceful road. Although I definitely wouldn't want to break down there!

We intersected Rt 64 and went through Dulce then continued toward Chama where we picked up Rt 84 to Pagosa Springs. We’d been told to check out Pagosa Springs so we went through the town. It was crawling with tourists and super busy. We stopped at Two Chicks and a Hippie for an all-day breakfast (Milo) and a chicken salad wrap (Deb). Then north up and over Wolf Creek Pass which is 10,850 ft. We pulled into the South Fork, CO visitor center where we loaded up on brochures. They have a very active tourism business around here with kayaking, hiking, skiing in the winter, raft trips down the Rio Grande river and guides for fishing and hunting, etc. There is a mining museum and tour we will go check out tomorrow. 

There is lots of water here so everything is green with waterfalls everywhere. We saw the transition from desert to mountains as soon as we crossed into Colorado.

Deb reserved a spot at the Silver Thread Base Camp, a nice RV place with lots of shade and right on the Rio Grande.

Friday Jun 28, 2024 - Bisbee to Albuquerque NM

 Milo had done a clean sweep of the van after the last trip with his brother Dave so it was a chance to put everything back in. We still forgot a few things (spare batteries?)

Deb had her exercise class and ladies’ coffee at Kafka after and Milo had a men’s coffee with Brian, Nick, Tom and Dave at the Warren Peace Cafe. So we didn’t leave until 11:00. It’s about 6-7 hours to Albuquerque where we planned to stay in Steve and Sharon’s driveway tonight. Good weather with just a few welcome sprinkles to cool us down. It was in the 90’s but cloudy. Road trip day so we just hit the AC and did not need to pay attention to the heat. On top of hot, we are entering the monsoon season and the humidity is higher so less comfy.

We forgot about the time change when we crossed the New Mexico state line, so we texted Steve to tell him we wouldn’t arrive before about 7pm. He was going to take us to a place open until 10 so all was good.

Gas was a lot cheaper in New Mexico. We saw $3.99 in Douglas, AZ and $2.99 -$3.19 in New Mexico. I-10 to Deming to cut the corner to get to Hatch which dumps us on the  I-25. Milo drove a little but Deb is doing most of the driving because of Milo’s new knee.

We arrived at Steve’s around 7pm and went to a great pizza and wine place called Farina's not far from the University on Central Ave. Really good pizza and good hazy IPA. By the time we got back to Steve’s we were beat, so off to bed in the van. It was 80 when we went to bed so we ran the fans until the middle of the night when the temperature dropped into the lower 70’s. Still have some organizing to do in the van.

Monday April 1, 2024 Nassau to Bisbee

OK, party is over. But wait! We get to go home to Bisbee Arizona!!

Checkout was at noon today and the Orange Hill Beach Inn called a taxi for 12:30. It’s an extra Easter holiday here (Easter Monday?) so the advice we got was get to the airport 3 hours early.

The taxi was right on time (the hand sanitizer lady) and she got us to the airport with almost no traffic ($25 which we had to use all our change and small bills to pay since she could not make change). Check in was easy and Deb scored us main cabin extra upgrades which means lots of leg room and free drinks (ok one free drink). Flight to Dallas was easy (about three plus hours) and everything went smoothly.

We were meeting our friend Leslie and taking the same flight back to Tucson. The layover in Dallas was 4 hours so we found an earlier flight. Sure enough, Leslie had done the same thing and we met at B39 for the 8:55 flight. But not so fast…

A big rain/thunder/lightning storm was coming in and we ended up leaving around 11pm after waiting for it to pass over. So we ended up getting back to Tucson 5 minutes later than our original flight did, about 11:55pm. Got the bags, the Quick Park shuttle guy was waiting for us and we were in the car 10 minutes later.  We stopped at Loves for some milk and coffee then got home by around 2am. Felt like a college all nighter (we still got it!!). Good to be home!!

Sunday March 31, 2024 Cat Island to Nassau

Our Western Airlines plane takes off at 1pm so we planned to leave with the dingy around 10:30 to leave time to walk to the airport. Erick whipped up some scrambled eggs and toast and a pot of coffee. We packed up and rode into the beach where it looked like we would find a road out to the main road and then walk to the airport. 

A grumpy old white woman scolded us for walking on a private road and parking our dinghy on a private beach, so we apologized and continued on. Erick went back to move the dinghy to the Fernandez Bay Resort beach. (The same grumpy woman later gave Hannah and Erick a ride back from the airport so partly redeemed herself). Unfortunate, since every local person had been nothing but kind to us up until then.

We got to the airport in plenty of time so said our goodbyes to Erick and Hannah. Another couple was there who were Vermonters (of course). The plane dropped off 50+ people and loaded us 50+ people on and we had a quick 30 minute flight to Nassau. We got a burger for lunch at a Wendy’s and then a $20 cab ride to Orange Hill Beach Inn where we always stay. We had nice long showers to knock off the remaining salt and sunscreen, Deb had a swim in the pool and Milo took a nap. We caught up with Jake and Nath, who are counting the days until the babies are born. Nice dinner (ribs for me and cracked conch for Deb) then blog writing, and bed. Apparently tomorrow is a holiday here (Easter Monday) so we need to get to the airport an extra hour early since a lot of folks are on vacation and traveling.

Saturday March 30. 2024 Rum Cay to Cat Island

OK, time to head back to Cat Island. We had a long day ahead of us so the flopper-stoppers were raised, engine checks done and set the autopilot for Conception Island. Hannah made a yogurt, fruit, and nut mixture for breakfast after getting all the sails up and shutting down the engine. Pure sailing today with a nice breeze out of the north east. Once offshore the swells are real ocean swells so a lot of riding up and down the waves and troughs. A good reading day with a lunch of spaghetti with red sauce and veggies. We passed Conception and then headed north to Cat

Island. The plan is to anchor near the airport so we can walk there tomorrow. Erick turned the engine back on as the wind died and we picked up speed. We anchored about 5:00 pm which means happy hour was late. Rum drinks and then Thai lettuce wraps (rice, ground turkey and spices) for dinner. Tonight we went for a movie (Capt Ron, a boater's old classic) and popcorn. Off to bed and our last night on the boat.

Friday March 29, 2024 Rum Cay

Deb here. Leisurely morning on board Bonnie Lynn. Erick made a delicious German pancake for a late breakfast, topped with blueberries, yogurt, and maple syrup. 

Late morning Hannah, Erick, and I loaded into the dinghy for a bit of an explore on land. We parked the dinghy on shore and took off on the road, with the first goal of visiting the salt pond. We eventually found the salt ponds, no longer used but at one point a place where salt evaporated out of the salt water, with walls to keep the water in. It was all very similar to what we’d seen on Long Island last year, just smaller.

Following this, we walked up a hill to an abandoned

structure with great views. There were two other out buildings as well and it was all rather sad. Inside the main building was a model of a proposed development on Rum Cay that obviously never happened. If it had, the current state of Rum Cay would have been much different for sure. 

After the hot walk we headed back to the dinghy and boat. In mid-afternoon Erick asked if anyone wanted to go snorkeling. I was the only one who took him up on his offer, so off the 2 of us went in the dinghy. We traveled quite a way up the coastline, finally anchoring in a spot with lots of coral heads. Erick hoped to find some spiny lobsters, but no luck. He did manage to spear a small grouper, and we saw lots of colorful fish (and one menacing barracuda) as well.

Back to the boat for a shower before heading back to shore with the dinghy. We’d made a 6 pm reservation at Kaye’s Restaurant, and decided to go over early to get a walk in. We walked a nice loop, seeing the new clinic, the school, the Anglican Church, and a bunch of homes. As we walked by Toby’s Bar the proprietor, Jackiie, came outside and talked us into a cold drink. We sat at the bar and had beers (everyone else) and a cuba libre (me, kind of a rum and coke in a can) and peppered her with questions about life on Rum Cay.

After our drinks we walked to Kaye’s and had a wonderful culinary experience. She’d asked the day before what we liked to eat and Erick had suggested she cook us whatever she wanted, and we weren’t disappointed. Kaye and her daughter served up lobster bisque and johnny cake first, followed by

salad, and then steamed conch, goat curry, peas and rice, and a green bean/cabbage cheesy casserole. All of this was washed down with delicious rum punch, and followed up with a cinnamon hot cross type bun for dessert (a tribute to Good Friday). So good and quite the authentic Bahamian experience, all for about $40/person.

We rolled ourselves out of there and back to the boat. Another great day!

Thursday March 28, 2024 Conception Island to Rum Cay

Deb here. Excitement today, since we made the decision last night to head to Rum Cay instead of back to Cat Island. Hannah and Erick had never made it to Rum Cay and were curious to check out this island, about 10 miles from Conception Island.

We got underway and had delicious homemade sourdough toast for breakfast. We arrived at Rum Cay by 10:30 or so. A bit later we loaded into the dinghy and headed to the government dock, which had been rebuilt recently. Rum Cay has a total of about 90 residents, and when we docked we learned that a “Grill and Chill” party was happening at 1 that afternoon for residents, involving ribs, chicken and a party. The few locals there were really welcoming, and we walked on to check out the town.

Intel from a couple of boaters we’d met was that Kay’s is a not-to-be-missed restaurant, and we saw Kay’s as we started our walk. We went inside Kay’s “Sand Bar '' (which really is a bar with sand on the floor) and talked with a few people hanging out. One woman, Sue, lives in Gila, NM now but lived in Bisbee for 15 years back in the 1970’s to mid-1980’s bartending at the Copper Queen and climbing the stairs to High Street at the end of her shift. We met Kay and asked about dinner, but she said we’d better return tomorrow since the Grill and Chill was taking place that afternoon.

We continued on and it was a hot sunny walk to the point and the site of the old marina. Apparently a hurricane really devastated this Cay in 2017, and the island has never fully recovered. Lots of goats were wandering around, and Sue had warned us that the goat situation had gotten out of hand.

Back to the dinghy and out to the boat for lunch. The Grill and Chill still hadn’t gotten started, so we thought lunch on the boat was a better option. Hannah put together tasty half BLT’s on homemade bread, which we enjoyed with Erick’s pasta salad from the day before. These two really know how to eat well!

After lunch we climbed back into the dinghy for snorkeling. We checked out some coral heads not far from Bonnie Lynn, and although not the greatest snorkeling in Erick and Hannah’s opinion, John and I were pretty happy to see colorful fish…. those blues and yellows are especially stunning. John got a bit more excitement than he’d wished for, coming face to face with a large shark as he was snorkeling. He wasn’t sure how to respond, but the shark swam off away from him. Hannah guessed it was a nurse shark and asked John what it looked like, to which he replied “big”!

Post-snorkeling we all rinsed off, changed, and had rum drinks and snacks. Erick and Hannah taught us the High Stakes version of Farkel, which John won. Erick made incredible cracked conch for dinner, which he served with a huge cabbage salad made by Hannah. Coconut ice cream for dessert and off to bed. Another wonderful day.

Wednesday March 27, 2024 Conception Island

Hannah and Erick know this island pretty well having been here a couple times. So a dinghy ride into the extensive mangroves and then a hike to the ruins were in order.

Erick made breakfast of eggs, grits, bacon and fruit then off in the dinghy to the mangroves. This dinghy is the second one they bought for surprise with a  15 hp motor so it gets 4 of us where we want to go pretty quickly compared to the first dinghy which had a 6 hp motor. They plan on buying a bigger dinghy and a bigger 23 hp engine since Bonnie Lynn takes more people and they’ll need to ferry more people back and forth.

Milo got pretty burned so today he upgraded to SPF 50 and no more burns. There is only one entrance to the mangroves and you have to go in when the tide is up since there are breakers at the entrance. You get to ride a wave in if you time it right, which Erick did.

Once in the mangroves there are a lot of turtles. We saw a lot of turtles swimming around plus a ray. A couple kinds of birds were hanging out under the mangrove trees. The mangrove trees are 3-4’ high with roots that are exposed since the tide goes up and down. We saw what looked like an old dam or maybe a walkway across a section of it. Someone spent some time on this island stacking rocks.

We had to get out before the tide got any lower so we found a hole in the breakers and shot out of the mangroves into the ocean and then back to the boat for lunch. Eric whipped up a pasta salad and then back to the beach to hike.

We hiked down the beach, about 0.7 miles according to two men we met on the beach, which is very clean and very white, and then climbed up the rocks and hiked along the top of the rocks. The trail was hard to find but Erick macheted his way trough the underbrush until we found the first rock wall which was stacked rocks with no “concrete”. Then we hiked along a rock bench on the bluff until we found the building ruins. These are made with alternating layers of rocks and some kind of concrete. It looks like a small group of buildings. Someone was doing something here. More research required.

Then over to the other side of the point and down to the beach. The hike back was all on the rock bench which was quicker than through the brush, and then back down the beach where we met a couple from Canada and a couple from Germany trying to open a coconut with a hacksaw and a hammer which they’d carried with them on their swim over to the beach. Who swims with a hacksaw and a hammer and two coconuts? Erick did his machete magic on the coconuts to help them out.

Back to the boat for rum drinks and a supper just after dusk of grilled chicken, bok choi and potatoes. In bed by 9pm. 

Tuesday March 26, 2024 Crossing to Conception Island

Big sailing day today! It’s about a 5 hour crossing to Conception Island, a Bahamian preserve that is protected from any kind of development. No fires, no dogs, no anything that will damage the ecosystem. Erick made a frittata for breakfast with the left over taco stuff from last night.

The wind was good so Hannah and Erick got a bunch of sails up (this thing has more sails than Carter has pills), and we ran part of the day with no motor. I call it a crossing because we left the nice shallow light blue waters and spent the day with nothing but 3000 feet of dark blue water under us and nothing to look at except the horizon. Medium swells so just exciting enough not to get sea sick. And how did anyone not get lost at sea before GPS?

Erick made sandwiches for lunch which kept us busy with the rolling sea.

The satellite stuff told us there were a couple boats already there but when we pulled in there were about 7 boats, but still plenty of room and good anchorage.

We took the dinghy in to shore (with a few cold beers) and did a walk to the other side of the island. It looks like someone has collected any beach trash as there were a couple of piles of plastic trash here and there. Once back to the dinghy we all went for a swim in the crystal clear water before heading back to the boat.

Milo got pretty sunburned so he has to do better tommorrow. The SPF 30 did not cut it today.

Every night Milo and Erick put the “flopper stoppers” down, which are two dampers that extend from both sides of the boat. The have one way louvers that cuts way down on the boat rolling at night. Clever.

Pineapple mango rum drinks before dinner. Erick grilled lobster tails, which he served with rice and a nice fresh salad, which made for a nice evening. Another perfect day!