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Trans-Canada Trip – 2009 October 5, 2009

Posted by Kim in Camping, My Trip Logs, Photos, Travel, Uncategorized.
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Click on Image to Access Album

Earlier this year, I was recruited by my cousin Tommy to help move his 36 foot Airstream trailer from where he had been keeping it near Palm Springs to his current home in Tampa, During the planning stage, we decided it would be much more fun and adventuresome if we were not to just travel I-10/I-75 directly to Tampa. Say, something different… like head north then follow the Trans-Canada Highway east to Nova Scotia than continue south hugging the east coast back to Florida.

Mid June, I flew west meeting Tommy in Las Vegas where he and the trailer picked me up on his way to his brother Bing’s house in St. George, UT. After a two week plus visit while waiting for Tommy’s son Danny to receive his passport and join us, we head west where we planned on following the Pacific coast north to British Columbia then on to Novia Scotia. One other person would join us before we leave St. George… Megan. She happened to be visiting Bing and Betty when we arrived and asked if she could possibly tag along for the trip. A final crew is fixed. There are four of us… Tommy, Danny, Megan and me (Kim). A reasonable number considering the size of the trailer and truck (crew cab pickup).

I had hoped to keep a trip log while traveling but failed to do so. I did manage to document our trip with photographs which I have posted as set (album) on my Flickr site. The images are in chronological order and I have annotated a few to establish location. Clicking on the above collage will take you to the album.

One final note regarding this trip- After over 7 weeks on the road and reaching only as far east as mid Ontario, we decided to drop down into Michigan, visit Charlivoix (where both Tommy and I had spent some time when we were kids) then head south back home to Tampa. We will save the 2nd half of the trip for another time. It seems we wanted to spend extra time in almost every place we passed through. There is just too many beautiful vistas in North America and rushing through them without spending time to enjoy just doesn’t satisfy ones craving for adventure, or for just “Being There”.

For those interested, link here for a map of our route.

Highborne Cay – Exumas May 17, 2008

Posted by Kim in Bahamas, Cruising, Fishing, My Trip Logs, Travel, Uncategorized.
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Sharks - Highborne Cay, ExumasWe arrived here yesterday and I will be putting together more details in future posts. We have caught more fish and tonight will be joining other guests at the marina here for a big BBQ fish fry this evening. Following are additions to the log for the past few days… The photo at left shows some of the sharks that hang around the fish cleaning station at the Highborne Cay Club Marina. More photos can be found on my Flickr site under the “Bahamas – 2008” Set. Link to Flicker can be found in the left column… (scroll down)

5/14/08 – Chub Cay

As the sun rises above the horizon we cruise out of our anchorage behind Chub Cay and head once again in search of fish in the “Pocket”. We find a large number of birds hovering and diving but can see no fish slashing the water. In a three hours fishing, we land onlt 2 Cero Mackerel and several barracuda. Not really a successful mornings fishing so we decide to head east again and troll our way to Nassau. Thirty minutes east of Chub Cay on the way to Nassau, we finally catch our first Mahi-Mahi. It’s only about a fifteen pound cow, but the ice has been broken. Perhaps our luck is changing for the better. There is a ragged weed line that we attempt to follow north but it soon becomes too disorganized to fish effectively. As the day has progressed the wind has freshened to the point where we decide we had better fish this area and spend another night at Chub. As we turn and head back toward Chub, Bill has a heavy strike and the fight is on. This fish acts different from the others… it seems much bigger as it strips out many yards of line. After several long runs, Bill is finally able to gain some of his line back. Suddenly, after another long run this fish becomes very easy to haul in. As it nears the boat we see why. Only half the fish remains. Something (shark?) has bitten off the tail half of the fish which turns out to be a Wahoo. Even though it is half gone, there remains enough of the fish for us to have for supper with some left over. We have another quite night anchored off Chub Cay.

5/15/08 Chub Cay to Nassau

Another early start… this time we intend to troll from Chub Cay into Nassau. Early on, we hook and land another Mahi-Mahi. The seas aren’t as choppy as they were yesterday but the closer we get to Nassau, the bigger the swells become. As we near the shores of Providence Island, the location of Nassau, we can see these big “rollers” crashing onto the beach and surrounding reefs. It reminds one of the Hawaiian surf we have all seen in videos and movies. We would find out that these were twelve foot rollers being caused by some disturbance farther north along the US mainland coast. Anyway, this is the first time any of us have “surfed” into Nassau harbor. We rode a wave in right between the red and green buoys where on outside of each was nothing but breaking twelve foot high waves. We find dockage at the Nassau Harbour Club where we have stayed on previous visits to Nassau.

2006 Bahamas Cruise May 20, 2006

Posted by Kim in Bahamas, Cruising, Fishing, Uncategorized.
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We leave Tampa on the 17th around 11:00am heading south to Marathon where we are today.  We will be here for a day or two before crossing the “Stream” for the Bahamas.  When I am unable to get online, I will continue to make notes for posting when I can.  Here are some notes I made over the past few days as we traveled down the West Coast of Florida:

Wednesday, May 18, 2006

Our 2006 trek to the Bahamas starts around 11:00am today as we leave Tampa Bay.  The wind is fresh but not enough to give us any trouble in the bay.  Because of fuel considerations, we are planning on taking it slow this trip.  We do decide to take the ICW today though as it will be a little rough offshore.  The crew consists of Tommy, Ralph and me.  Our 4th member changed his mind at the last minute so there will be just the 3 of us this year.  We have an uneventful trip this first day and decide to anchor out in Sarasota Bay for the evening arriving there well before dark.  For dinner, after enjoying a couple of Ralph’s excellent Bahama Mamas, I prepare and serve a Taco Casserole with lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream for trimming.  The stress of getting the boat ready for this trip is telling and we all sack-out early.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

We have a breezy comfortable night and enjoy sleeping without the air conditioning and generator noise.  However, we are anchored just off a bayside park in downtown Sarasota and several times during the night we are serenaded by an angry, female (vagrant?) telling someone just how unhappy she is and then once again this morning by kids playing and yelling at each other (as they walk through the park to school?).  We fend for ourselves for breakfast and then take the opportunity to rig the outriggers with new tackle purchased for the trip.  We depart and enter the Gulf through New Pass a little after 10:00am.  It is choppy but we decide to go outside today in order to do some trolling as we head south.  Fishing is slow and we see neither fish nor birds all day.  In fact, we see very few boats either.  I suspect the fuel situation is keeping a lot of fisherman and boaters at the dock.  We have following seas all the way to Naples where we pull inside Gordon Pass to anchor for the evening arriving around 7:00pm just in time for Bahama Mamas.  For dinner, I serve Yellow Rice and Chicken with a tossed green salad and chocolate almond ice cream for desert.

Friday, May 19, 2006

We all slept good last night with a light breeze to keep us cool.  Once again we are were able to do without the AC.  We travel up to Naples proper and fuel at the city dock where we take on around 100 gallons of diesel.  By 0900 we are once again underway and heading south.  The winds have dropped from yesterday and it is comfortable going.  No bate or birds however.  We set a course directly for Marathon and arrive a little after 5:00 pm without having seen nor caught a fish.  For supper I fix beans, franks, slaw and potato salad. I also boil a flank steak in preparation for fixing Ropa Vieja for tomorrow night’s dinner.  Another comfortable night sleeping…