Bahamas

Deep Sea Fishing

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

I’ve been writing about how to keep fit while cruising. But what if we’re done with exercise for the day?

When the winds are too low to go windsurfing and it’s too hot for beach yoga or beach running, a little deep sea fishing goes a long way to keep us entertained and fed. Nothing like a sea of flat water and a little breeze to make fishing a fun experience.

Here we caught a wahoo, and you can see by the size of it, it fed our whole gang.

Matt and the Lure

When we checked into the Bahamas, we received a fishing license as part of our cruising permit, allowing us to fish in the Bahamian waters. We make sure we know what we are allowed to catch and what is in season, and only catch what we can eat.

It’s an amazing way to live off the sea.

Thanks for reading . . .

Farley’s Friday: Sharks Go Bump On The Sea

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Farley here.

Man, I’m a brave dog. The shark came at us, and I got aggressive.  Got to protect Kristina. That’s my job! I could’ve taken it if Kristina had let me. But let me back up a bit.

I like kayaking with Kristina. She likes to paddle me around, and let’s face it, I like to sit and watch the scene slide by.

We paddle (and by we, I mean Kristina) from deep water to shallow water. I know this to be true because the water changes from dark blue to light blue and I see the sandy bottom.

I see a ray and get distracted for second, but not for long. Another shape is to our left.

Shark

The shark aims for the ray but then sees us at the same time I see it. It hunches its back and turns on us. Here is where we get lucky. Going from deep to shallow water causes the water to bunch up and create big waves. A wave hit the back of our kayak right when the shark hit the front. The kayak turned sideways and the shark glanced off the bow.

I jump out of the cockpit and onto the bow. It’s a bit slippery up here, but I don’t care. I’m on a mission.

“Get away, get away,” I bark repeatedly and am surprised when the shark doesn’t listen.

Kristina grabs my harness and she yelps – not me. I’m too brave to yelp. I guess I hurt her leg when I jumped forward, and she was yelping at the pain (not in fear – she says).

The shark turns at us and hunches its back again. This time it doesn’t bump us. It swims in a circle and does its dance one more time. I growl to let it know I’m serious. Mr. Grey Suit swims about twenty feet away and stands off. I scared him! Ha!

Kristina is holding my harness and having trouble paddling. She keeps telling me to sit. Eventually, I get the message and settle down. She paddles us to safety and away from the beast.

What type of shark? I don’t have a clue. Big and grey.

Happy New Year.

Woof Woof.

Thanks for reading . . .

 

Cruising and Keeping Fit

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Like most things in life, keeping fit is more fun if you have friends to keep fit with. I’m not going to talk about New Year’s resolutions, because I don’t make any, but I often get asked how do you keep fit while sailing. It depends on where we are. I run on the beach, swim laps, windsurf, kayak, walk, and with so many choices, I find yoga is an easy one to add in.

 

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The cost of equipment is low. If you don’t have a yoga mat, a towel is fine.

Yoga can be done almost anywhere, but a shady spot to hide from direct sunlight  is best.

It doesn’t matter what skill level you are at, everyone is welcome to work at their own pace.

Having fun is the most important part.

Thank for reading . . .

Writing while Sailing: Retyping a novel

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

I love to read books and blogs on how to write and remember reading a tip I’ve never followed before.

The tip: When you’ve finished a good quality draft of your novel, put in a drawer for a least two weeks, longer if you have the patience. I’ve done this part. What I haven’t done is the next part of the tip. Retype your entire novel.

What? I thought, who has the time? And is it worth it?

Now that I’m back on Mattina, and we are in the Exumas, I’ve found the time.

I’ve typed in the first 8 chapters and am amazed at what I’m discovering.

First, typos appear fresh. I’ve seen some that I was sure I’d edited out.

Second, dropping clues too early jumped out at me. By letting time go by, I can see the novel with fresh eyes and have been able to hold back information. I think this will make the novel more tense.

Third, I had a few names that didn’t suit the character I’d assigned them to. Yup – changed those too.

Fourth, and the best result, when I read a sentence and it’s not the best it could be, I don’t want to type it back in. It’s easier to let go of writing and rewrite a sentence when it’s not on the page yet.

I’m amazed at how well this technique works. Yes, it’s a lot of work, but I think Look The Other Way will be a better novel because of it. Too bad my typing sucks.

If you have any editing techniques you’ve tried that worked for you, let me know.

Happy New Year!

Thanks for reading . . .

Farley’s Friday: Iguanas Bite Dogs?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 5 Comments

Farley here.

My title was a little dramatic, but I got scared by a big old iguana. I think he was a grandpa protecting his gang.

Let me set the scene.

I’m in the dinghy leaning my head out into the wind, my paws are getting wet, and I’m excited about getting to shore.

I can see it, smell it, almost feel the sand on my feet when . . .

“Oh, there’s a sign posted,” Kristina says. “Maybe the island is private.”

My heart sinks.

“Let’s land and go read it,” Matt says.

Yay. As soon as the bottom of the dinghy hits the shoreline, I jump over Kristina’s legs and get to shore (just in case they decide we’re not going).

Now, I’ve never seen an iguana before and this one was pretty big.

Iguana

As Kristina read the sign, I heard her say, “No pets allowed. We better go.”

Too bad. I’m already out of reach. I’m going to have some fun.

The iguana charges me and tries to bite my nose. What’s up with that? Lucky for me, I am stellar quick and got out of the way. But does that stop me from chasing the iguana into the bushes. Nope. I’m off.

I can hear Kristina and Matt yelling for me, but my brain has turned off. I swear I’m not ignoring them, but I’m too excited to listen.

I stop abruptly in my tracks. “Wait.” I hear the dinghy engine start then fade away. “They’re leaving me?”

I bolt to the beach, my heart is pounding. “Don’t leave me,” I bark.

Too late, I realize it’s a trick. Kristina is in the dinghy, but where is Matt? I turn, and there he is standing behind me, leash in hand. I run to the left, then the right, but darn, he gets me. On goes my leash and Kristina comes back for us.

I should have known they wouldn’t leave me. I watch longingly as we drive away. I can see Grandpa iguana laughing at me.

Woof Woof.

Thanks for reading.

Communications while sailing in the Bahamas

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 12 Comments

Every year we add to our communication system. This year we bought an unlocked Samsung tablet, a cell signal booster, and a SIM card from Batelco.

Why?

Check out the anchorage below.  This is Bonds Cay. It’s 10 nautical miles from the nearest cell tower. We turned on our booster, voila, internet access. I chose this photo to show you how crowded (ha ha) the anchorage is. We’re the only boat here.

Mattina at BOnds Cay

Below, as we watched the sun rise, we drank our morning coffee and read the latest Windfinder we downloaded onto our tablet. It’s much easier to make plans based on the weather when we have regular weather reports. Without the tablet, we’d get up at 6:30 to listen to the weather over the single side band (okay we still do that too), but if we wanted to, we could sleep in.

Sunrise At Bonds Cay

We’ve come a long way from hiking to the nearest payphone to call home.

Thanks for reading . . .