http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/About-Time/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from About Time en-us Mon, 28 Dec 2009 08:38:30 +0000 Mon, 28 Dec 2009 08:38:30 +0000 Spending 6 winter months down south on the boat and 6 summer months at home in Guelph seems to be working well and so here we are looking forward to our 3rd winter of retirement on the boat.This summer our family grew again with our second grandchild Gavin Jeffrey Nicholson being born September 24th. As all of you know that have experienced being grandparents another grandchild is an incredi http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/Grand-Bahama/Freeport/blog-455127.html Without a doubt this has been one windy winter in the Bahamas We are currently waiting for weather to start north and hopefully will start heading up the Exumas tomorrow with a goal of getting back to St.Marys Georgia about the middle of April. We plan to leave the boat again this year in St.Marys and spend the summer home in Guelph.In addition to it being windy it has been cold. Wersquore http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/Exuma/Georgetown/blog-385284.html Believe it or not we have had winter down here too. We have had lots of cold fronts strong winds even a few cold cloudy days and we actually wore jackets a couple of times. It seems that this year there has been longer west winds which makes for a challenge in some of the more common anchorages. We sure arenrsquot complaining though as we get regular reports from home on the cold and snow http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/Long-Island/Salt-Pond/blog-374357.html After New Years we said goodbye to our kids as they headed back home to work and the cold weather. We will miss them but for sure wonrsquot miss the weather. So far this winter the weather has been very very nice down here.Steven Dawn Paul and Ella all seemed to enjoy things here in ldquoClub Georgetownrdquo and Miss Ella got right into the beach life. We spent a few days cleaning an http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/Exuma/blog-366772.html Christmas is over and as Irsquom writing this itrsquos New Years Eve. Wersquore anchored in Elizabeth Harbour just off of Stocking Island and have been enjoying the holiday season here with our family. Steven arrived on December 20 Dawn Paul and Ella on December 22. It has been a wonderful holiday even if the boat is a little crowded and we know we are just about the luckiest peopl http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/Exuma/Stoking-Island/blog-359387.html In our last blog we posted a picture of me finding a mooring ball in Soldier Cay Bahamas. There is a Soldier Cay in the Berry Islands and another in Exuma Land and Sea Park. Our picture from Soldier Cay was from Soldier Cay in the Berry Islands. We are currently still in Wardwick Wells and have not been as far south as Soldier Cay in the Park. Anyone wishing to see the route we have taken may c http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/Exuma/blog-353060.html December 9 2008We are in the Bahamas and glad to be here. We left Vero Beach on American Thanksgiving November 27th after dinner of course and crossed that night to Port Lucaya Grand Bahamas.This year the weather has been a little unique down south. In Florida it has been colder than usual with lots of cold fronts always from cold Canada . We travelled from St.Marys Georgia to Vero Beach Fl http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/blog-352770.html Here we go starting out our second winter of retirement on the boatAfter leaving the boat in St.Marys Georgia last April we spent the summer home in Guelph enjoying life in our home and our first summer with our new Granddaughter Ella. I was very lucky and worked all summer for Centennial Optical. Sharon was equally busy organizing things at our home helping our daughter Dawn and her husband http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Vero-Beach/blog-346971.html April 12 20073958 miles since we left Oakville last June and 28 miles to go and our sailing adventure will be over for this year.We left Port Lucaya Grand Bahamas 2 days ago with several options but ultimately we hoped we would have good enough weather to go the whole 307 miles to Fernandina Beach St.Marys River . St.Marys Georgia on the Florida Georgia border is where we will be leaving http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/blog-266160.html Adventures on the high seas pirates long ocean passages and long sandy beaches. Wellhellip. we certainly have had our share of beaches but if yoursquore hoping to hear of these other exciting things sorry but wersquove been having too much fun for that.We have spent the whole winter in the Bahamas and most of that time in the Exumas. We might have set a record having been fortunate e http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/Exuma/Georgetown/blog-257138.html We finally left Georgetown after being in the same spot for nearly six weeks. We headed south to Long Island and have spent the last week and a half there. Yesterday we arrived back in George Town and are awaiting my 2 sisters arriving today for a short 5 day visit.Long Island is to the south and east of Exuma and is 78 miles long. It is becoming the southeastern mecca for boats cruising in t http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/Long-Island/Salt-Pond/blog-244925.html About Time ldquoParkedrdquo in George TownWe arrived in George Town December 17th after a tricky entrance to the harbour due to a strong cold front. We anchored in Elizabeth harbour for ldquothe nightrdquo just off the famous adult playground Volleyball Beach. As of January 21st wersquore still in the same spot. We havenrsquot raised the anchor buthellipwe hope to soon For Chr http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/Exuma/Georgetown/blog-239042.html December 17th we arrived in Georgetown and are looking forward to enjoying Christmas here. Our son Steve and Sharonrsquos sister Patty will join us in Georgetown and we are very excited to see themAfter arriving in the Bahamas November 30th we cleared in at Port Lucaya and stayed there for a couple of days. Port Lucaya was very nice but we were anxious to get further south. We headed for http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/Exuma/Georgetown/blog-228897.html We are currently at a dock in Port Lucaya Bahamas after crossing the Gulf Stream from West Palm Beach Florida Thursday night November 29th. It was a very easy crossing with little wind and very flat seas.In our last blog we had just arrived in Vero Beach Florida and were going to stay there ldquoa couple of daysrdquo. Well a couple of days turned into 10 days staying in Vero for Americ http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/Grand-Bahama/blog-224328.html Wersquove been a little slow getting to this next blog but wersquove certainly made some distance since the last one in BeaufortMoorhead City.Our weather in Beaufort was cold rainy and windy so unlike our last trip we didnrsquot really see much of Beaufort. We pretty much stayed on the boat hopefully getting ready to go offshore. Finally on Saturday morning we lifted our anchor in the ra http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Vero-Beach/blog-219749.html We arrived in Beaufort last night in the rain and are currently anchored off Town Creek Marina. After returning home to celebrate the birth of our first granddaughter Ella we drove our mini van packed with more ldquostuffrdquo back to Great Bridge. We havnrdquot quite figured out yet how wersquore going to move the mini van around. This was very good safe place to leave the boat wit http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/North-Carolina/blog-214558.html Blog 8 About Time Wersquore GrandparentsOn Monday night October 1st Dawn had her baby a beautiful little girl Ella Sibley Nicholson. She was born 2 weeks early quite a surprise for all of us. Dawn Paul and Ella are doing very well and Sharon flew home from Norfolk October 3rd. We thought we still had at least a couple of weeks so we were taking our time moving down Chesepeake Bay. Da http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Virginia/Chesapeake/blog-209544.html Annapolis is one of our favourite places and thatrsquos where we currently are. There is lots of excitement here as everyone headed south for the winter comes through Annapolis and the town gets ready for the big boat show in 2 weeks.We left Atlantic Highlands at Sandy Hook New Jersey on September 11 wersquore not superstitious headed down the Atlantic coast . We had to wait for the right http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Maryland/Annapolis/blog-205495.html About Time in Sandy Hook New JerseyWersquove slowed down moving south and are currently waiting for a favourable weather window to head down the Atlantic coast to Cape May and into Chesepeake Bay. Originally wersquod hoped to go off shore from Block Island to Cape May. Unfortunately as often happens the weather didnrsquot cooperate so we changed our plans and went back south through Lon http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/New-York/blog-201101.html Wersquove been in Maine for a month now and the more we see the more we realize how much more there is to see. However the mornings are getting colder therersquos more north and stronger wind so itrsquos time to start south. It gets dark now at 800pmThe first week we were here our friends Mary and Christian took us on a general circuit around Penobscot Bay. Since then wersquove been t http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Maine/Camden/blog-195238.html