Up the Exuma chain

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Friday, April, 29, 2005, 12:22 UTC
Lee Stocking Island

Capt. Mark,
We moored at Lee stocking Island yesterday waiting for the wind shift behind the cold front passage that we knew would pass last night.Today we picked our way thru the coral fields than out Rat Cay Cut. We are off shore on a beam reach in about 15kts, 4 foot seas, 82f bright sun, whats not to like? No fish not even a hint(yet). We will set up an approach to little Farmers Cay cut in the next hour.
NNNN
/EX

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Kidds cove Exuma to famers Cay

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Wednesday, April, 27, 2005, 13:30 UTC
Great Exuma off shore

guest Melinda:
We're off shore the Great Exuma Island in one to two foot seas. Air temp is 82 F and water temp is 79F with winds from the southwest at 10kts. A beautiful day. Earl's making sandwiches for all of us. Good thing it's calm. No fish on yet - but we'll find one. The Stray Cat seems to handle well and we're all relaxed and kickin' back. i can't wait to learn some of the tricks for sailing. It is my first sailing trip on the ocean. No motion sickness yet. A group of us from work got to go on this trip. We spent the night at the peace & plenty last night. Great people and good food was found everywhere we went. Here's to a great day on the water.
NNNN
/EX

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Pumpkin Key

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Friday, April, 22, 2005, 18:40 UTC
Islamorada

Guest Cooper age 9
This is our 2nd to last day here on the Stray Cat and so far it has been a great expeirience for my family and I. We are on our way back to Miami, Florida.Today we went to Elbow Reef wich was the fourth reef we`ve visited this week.
Guests Katie and Alyssa Age 14 and three quarters and 13 and an eighth
Well yesterday we went to Molasses Reef and saw a ginormous sting ray and a a bunch of pretty fish.We also saw a Nurse Shark on the way into Key Largo. As the sun was seting my father and brother blew on the conch rather loudly and a person from anoher boat came over to see why they were blowing it.Today when we were on way to Pumpkin Key we saw a pod of dolphins and they came really close to the boat and we also saw a really big turtle and when we were khayaking we saw another dolphin. Also today when we went to the Elbow Reef we went snorkeling and saw a shark(that was rather frightening). Also one day we saw a stingray jump out of the water. Also many of us have rather odd sunburns as my dad would put it but i don't think so. And my guess is that all you guys back in connecticut wish you were here!!
NNNN
/EX

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Fun in the sun

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Tuesday, April, 19, 2005, 21:50 UTC
Islamorada

Guest Doug:

The muse of Neptune and Apollo calls forth:

The young acolyte (CJ) sounds the conch shell. It tolls across our anchorage at sunset, signaling the end of a wonderful day (and the beginning of happy hour). The kids are either reading or playing cards or poking each other, taking goofy pics or videos, sharing tales of snorkeking in the deep earlier in the day, or trying to get each other to walk the plank. Particularly intense given sightings of shark and barracuda earlier in the day. Myself, Lee Ann, and Capt. Mark have strategically separated ourselves and are enjoying some vintage 1957 Chateau Lafite Rothschild (or something like that). The sun is a a red/orange ball descending towards the horizon as a vintage Bahamian Smack (sailboat) slides by. Simple dinner, beautiful weathter, great boat, all is well with the world.

Will we ever be back?
NNNN
/EX

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Key Largo points south

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Sunday, April, 17, 2005, 19:19 UTC
Miami Coconut Grove

Guest Betsy:

Hey everyone! We've stoped for our second night off the coast of Key Largo. It's about 82 degrees and windy. A bit chilly if I say so myself. In the middle of the day we dropped anchor for a quick swim and the water was quite refreshing. We then sailed through the mangrooves where we saw a jumping stingray which we have named a stingphin (half stingray half dolphin). That was one of the highlights of the day. We anchored around 5ish for the night and Katie and I went for a good kyack. It was wicked hard on the way out because we were going againstt the wind. We definatley got our work out doing that. Now we're all just haning out, reading or playing cards. Tommorrow we're hoping to do some snorkling (fingers crossed)! Thats all for now! Goodnight!!!!!
NNNN
/EX

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Miami to the Keys

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Saturday, April, 09, 2005, 13:12 UTC
Miami Coconut Grove

Captain's Log:
Day before yesterday I participated in an event on the bay with about twenty other boats with one hundred and twenty Italian guests, twelve on Stray Cat III.
They were lucky in that the rain held off which was trying to ruin their day, we saw an alligator, a manatee and a pod of about 15 dolphin.
Today I'm sailing for Islamorada with a very nice couple from Tampa Bay who are enjoying there 3rd wedding anniversary aboard Stray Cat in the keys. The winds are light today butt should be favoring this afternoon.
Capt. Mark

NNNN
/EX

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A few days off

Captains Log:
After about 29 days of charter I have a few days off and Stray Cat III wants
all my attention and most of my money since I have worked her so hard.
Last week we had summer here in southeast Florida with temps in the high
eighties but than last night we had a cold front passage (cold front is a
relative term) it dropped to fifty nine last night.
Two nights ago Christopher (my son-in-law) called to start plans for him and
Susan to come sail with me for a week or two this summer, which will be a
lot of fun for me and something to look forward to as well.
After eight weeks of running from Hurricanes last season and the attention
paid to the hurricanes in the media it seemed that many people assumed
Florida and the Bahamas were not the place to go for a sailing vacation. I
have been all around the Bahamas in the past few months and saw damage but
not as bad as I had expected. The damage that has not been repaired is
underway; things look pretty good at the end of the day and had no affect on
my sailing activities.
Now I would say that running from storms of that magnitude is very dicey. My
storm tactic has always been- to not be there! Since Stray Cat is my home
and means of earning a living tying her up somewhere and hoping for the best
is just to big a leap of faith.
So run I did. I was not completely alone though since there were three
other Catamarans in the anchorage, husband and wife live aboard families who
asked if they could follow me. Two of the families Mark and Lee Wactor on
Sylvester and Wayne and Alexis on Banjo Minnow were past sailing students
of mine the other family was Richard and Peggy Sullivan on Oz who I once
towed from Great Inagua to Nassau.
The first and third storms had me sailing for key west and if need be on to
Mexico. I felt safe going no further than Key West but was filled with doubt
when the winds picked up in the night. As I remember the highest winds were
forty eight knots which was ten more than I thought we would experience.
Key West as usual had Hurricane parties and we had one of our own when we
were sure all had been done that could be done to prepare for the blow. We
had our little adventures, all of the boats broke anchor more than once in
the keys where the holding is not very good on a good day. Naturally all the
boats had one or more mechanical or electrical malfunctions just so we would
not get bored or in case we were not worried enough. We had fun and
frightening times as well; we enjoyed great sailing and more motoring than
anyone wants.
We sailed for Bimini for the second and fourth storms with every intention
of going to the Exumas if need be. I felt safe in Bimini both times.
I learned that I never want to be the most experienced sailor in a group
running from hurricanes again and I would rather not have my epitaph read "I
wish I had sailed further away".
Capt. Mark

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