LOOK WHO HAD A BIRTHDAY!!!!!! GUESS HIS AGE


This dolphin decided to come along with us

Sunset as we cross the Bahama Banks. The temperature drops within an hour from 84 to mid 70's so we dress for the temperature change



The cause of Whisper slowing down was a huge piece of sea grass getting caught on the propeller



After a cold dip to remove the sea grass a drink of Bahamian should be in order



Marilyn on a wharf in the Bahama's where we were on anchor




Such clear water you can see the star fish on the bottom


This is a gentleman we were cruising with who went for a days fishing and caught this beautiful lobster



As our role of chief organizers we were storm bound in this anchorage for four days and decided to have a get together on the beach

This is a very rare scene here in Bimini someone decorating for Christmas note they have painted the trees white to get the snow effect

This is taken from the local take out, this is the actual seats and table people eat at. Vic is walking along the beach.

We packed a lunch and enjoyed it on this beach. There was quite a swell. No swimming today.

This is one of our favourite meals Whaoo, here you can see it just befor I eat it

Marilyn and I holding our supper, actually only part of this whaoo!!

This is a view of Whisper in her slip at the wharf in Bimini notice Vic and our lawn chairs.

Under sail and on the way heading for our last port of call, "No Name Harbour" Biscayne Bay in the USA

Since our last post we have put a lot of water under "Whisper's " keel. We left Miami midnight on December 11 for the trip across The Gulf Stream. This stretch of water is a real challenge. The stream flows north up to 4 knots therefore when one is only doing 5 knots a plan of attack is vital. It would have been a blessing to have a good moon but this time we were out of luck. Again one must remember that this is one of the busiest traffic lanes in the world. There were a lot of tense moments through the night but all in all we got across safe and tired. We are presently in Bimini, Bahamas, where rum is $9.00 a litre. Coke is $2. a can. Will be heading further south in the next few days.

This is December 9th, we are presently in Miami awaiting a weather window to proceed further south. Now that we have a bit of time while waiting some “Whisper Watchers” have requested a more detailed account of our trip so far. We drove down this year and along the way we stopped overnight to visit with our good friends Ed and Marlene Giffin in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. We had supper with a former cruiser George Hebb in Halifax. We then continued, met former cruisers Doug and Pat Brown for Lunch and stayed overnight with Don and Shirley Myles in Grande Bay, New Brunswick, visited Lloyd and Sheila Foote former Newfoundlanders who moved up there years ago. It was wonderful to visit old friends.

We drove to Ottawa and spent the weekend with Karla, Nick, Taite and Emily. It was Halloween and it was fantastic to be there for this occasion. We did some shopping, took the children to a movie and really enjoyed being with the Family for the weekend.

We drove from Ottawa to Jacksonville, Florida, staying in a hotel one night. Of course the picture in the first blog shows the tire. Other than that we had a great trip stopping at JR’s, an outlet store, and a Huge Harbor Freight store.

Arrived at Ada and Oliver’s Marilyn’s cousin and Husband in Jacksonville. We stayed with them from November 3 to the 16th Had a lovely visit. Whisper is kept on dry dock at Gibson Marina, one hour drive from their place. Most days Vic left in the mornings and worked on Whisper preparing her, Marilyn went to work with Ada some days, but some days she joined me getting Whisper cleaned up and ready. We did some flee markets, out for some and toured around. One day, the four of us drove to Amelia Island to visit Sandi, Steve, Jim and Beth, (Cruisers). Had a wonderful day.

We moved on board Whisper November 17, continued to provision and rig the sails. We had a new Dodger being made so we moved to a wharf in Palatka to wait for it. We finally got the dodger and proceeded to Jax Landing. We were not too far gone when I heard a different sound. Upon checking Vic discovered that the fan belt had frayed. We are very much in sync in cases like this. I quickly turned off the engine and maneuvered Whisper while Vic retrieved his tools and extra fan belt and installed it. We arrived at Jax Landing without any other incidents. When we left Jax Landing we anchored in a lot of lovely places along the Florida coastline. We arrived in Titusville November 24th in time for the American Thanksgiving, which we celebrated with friends the next day. We spent a few days there and proceeded to Vero Beach. Vero Beach is unique in the fact that it is nicknamed “Velco Beach” as many cruisers get stuck there. It is a little town that has all the enmities for cruisers including a free bus to anywhere you want to go. Many cruisers stay here for the winter. We met another former cruiser Gerald Milburn, who now has a condo there. He was kind enough to take us out to Walmart, etc. we had lunch with him. While there we also met Cindy and Jeff on SV Salty Dog, we had cruised with them in 2007. We left Vero Beach December 2nd , heading for Lake Syliva, in Fort Lauderdale. We anchored in Peck Lake and by Lantana Bridge. From Lantana Bridge we came through 15 bridges before arriving at Lake Sylvia but it was pleasant and we made most bridges on time without delay. We anchored in Lake Sylvia and the next day we went to visit Mike and Diane, from Ontario who have their trawler at the Marina for the winter. On the way back Mike and Vickie invited us aboard their boat for drinks along with Brian and Dawn Ann. We were on anchor in Lake Sylvia and we could dinghy to a restaurant “Southport Raw Bar”, where you could tie your dinghy up for $10 go shopping come back and use the $10 as a credit toward lunch. A good deal! We enjoyed out time there provisioning, visiting and getting Whisper prepared. That brings us to the current day. Will be in touch later. We are unable to upload pictures at this time due to the bandwidth.