Month: November 2018

We leave Nassau and spend a few days anchored off Shroud Cay, where we explore the mangroves, snorkel some great spots, and put some of our new water toys to good use, including our new Rainman watermaker.

In our latest installment, we spend some time at our favorite marina on New Providence Island, pick up Grandma and Pop Pop in Nassau, and head to Atlantis for a few days to celebrate Katie’s 8th birthday.

As cruisers, one thing you learn pretty early on is not to follow schedules or deadlines. When sailing these can be extremely dangerous and make you leave in conditions you wouldn’t normally leave in. Sometimes however you just can’t avoid them. Especially when making plans with people who don’t live on a boat. The holidays were coming and Mariposa Girl #2’s 8th birthday was quickly approaching. We were running out of time! We had family flying in to Nassau on November 16 and we had 170 nautical miles to get there, traveling around 7 miles an hour.

The girls insisted we stay in in Florida for Halloween and we really didn’t want to disappoint a wizard and a black cat!

After Halloween and finishing provision the boat for 6+ months in the Bahamas (which included trips to Costco, BJs, Aldi’s, Trader Joe’s, Publix, Target and Walmart) we were eagerly watching the weather to find a good window to cross the Gulf Stream. Under certain conditions, this massive river in the Atlantic Ocean can be dangerous. The river flows North, and fast. We need to get South and East to arrive in Bimini which means fighting the current.

I’m writing this post as we are killing time crossing the Gulf Stream to Bimini, Bahamas. We love the Bahamas so much and we want to spend as much time as we can there, so this season we are leaving a good 2 months earlier than we have in the past. For once we are actually beating the rest of the cruisers, rather than playing catch up. Leaving this much earlier in the season does however present some challenges, specifically related to holidays.

Since setting sail from Connecticut on October 15, 2016 we have made it a point to make our holidays onboard SV Mariposa special. When you sell everything you own and leave your old life behind, it’s helpful for kids to have some things that are familiar and special. Our first holiday on the boat was Halloween 2016 which we spent on a mooring ball in Annapolis, Maryland. The girls and I toured the Naval Academy during the day (while Paul fixed boat problems) and met up with a fellow kid boat, SV Dessert First for trick-or-treating that night. We headed to land and the kids had a blast sharing the night with other boat kids. 

 

After that we made a run to St. Mary’s, GA where my parents met us for Katie’s birthday. The girls stayed overnight in a hotel while Paul and I did an overnight to St. Augustine where we wanted to take part in the Cruisers Thanksgiving celebration. The CLODS (Cruisers Living on Dirt) provided the turkeys and all the boats brought sides and desserts. We focused our cooking efforts on kid friendly items and convinced SV Dessert First to get their butts down to St. Augustine for the occasion. We were also able to spend last Thanksgiving in St. Augustine again.

 

 

We have been very lucky to have family who have been able to visit us wherever we happen to be for a holiday. While the celebrations are not exactly like they were on land, we do our best to have fun! For our first Christmas as liveaboards we headed down to West Palm Beach, FL to check out the amazing Sandi, a massive sand castle Christmas Tree and coordinated light show! It is amazing and the girls absolutely love it!

Since we have gone back to the United States from the Bahamas during hurricane season our first two years, we have actually been able to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas in the same places the second year. It quickly became a tradition and felt very familiar. Last season we spent Halloween in St. Augustine and this year the girls trick-or-treated in Hollywood, FL.

Over the past 2+ years cruising the only holiday we have spend in the Bahamas has been Easter. We have spent it at the same island, in the same anchorage and the Easter Bunny has hidden the eggs of the same beach. This has now become another family tradition and we have named that tiny beach on Shroud Cay, Easter Beach.

What do we do to make the holidays special onboard? We try to replicate some items from the menu we might have had during land life. We have made Cranberry Sauce from scratch using fresh cranberries Grandma and Pop Pop have brought with them from Cape Cod. We make gingerbread cookies or houses and decorate them. We dye easter eggs and have our egg cracking contest. We write notes to Santa and leave out cookies and coconut milk 😉 We make home made decorations and hang up solar powered Christmas lights. This summer we scored a mini foldable Christmas tree at Ikea that I can’t wait to decorate. Most of all, we try to make it fun and remember that what really makes a holiday special is spending it with your family and new cruiser friends.

After spending a few days in Bimini enjoying the crystal clear waters we push on with an overnight trip to Nassau, where we’ll be picking up guests for Thanksgiving week. Enjoy, and don’t forget to like and subscribe!

Well, it’s a bit late, but we actually committed to getting our YouTube channel going and put up our first full-length episode. In this installment we cross the Gulf Stream from South Florida to Bimini while covering a bit of our back story. Now that we have everything set up, we have no excuse for not getting more episodes out! So if you like what you see, Like and Subscribe!