MELODEON

Chris, Frank and
Joined: November 17th 2009
Logged in: February 21st 2012
...Ginger Bear are cruising on their motor-sailer MELODEON. Getting up when you or the weather want you to, getting more exercise than a gerbil on a treadmill, having more questions than answers, doing hand laundry and drying it 'discretely' on deck, meeting and staying connected with amazing people, taking more pictures than National Geographic and having a dog who can leap 5 feet up onto a boat from a rolling dinghy wearing a life-jacket... these are a few of the special skills we've discovered in our search for fair winds.

Travel Blog Posts



In the Bahamas we just want to celebrate. What else can you do when the temperature hovers around 72F, the water's clear to the bottom and folks favour dance music and love songs on the radio? Granted, there is a national election coming so the local talk shows are extra spicy and informative too. You really don't want to ever call anyone a 'mud dragger' but that's another story. This is just a quick wave to let you know all's well with us. Guess we're like the kid's going off to college. If you don't hear from them it means they haven't run out of money yet and they might be studying, if they're not playing cards and socializing. Guilty! : ) Send money or come and see for yourself. Everyone is welcome because we plan ... read more

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The blog without words. Written twice. Wouldn't save. Third time lucky? We're great. Hope you are too. Later...... read more

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YOU are invited to a virtual pot-luck. Please bring a picture of your favourite, tasty dish of food when you visit this blog. How do you do that? (It's a piece of cake if you know how to download pictures or a picnic if you get someone to help you.) Take a picture of your favourite dish the next time you make it and download it here in the message section. "What's the occasion?", you might ask. Well it is Mother's Day today, so that's good for a start. Fortunately I was up this morning to receive a beautiful surprise. Lavonnia, a terrific person from the marina office brought all the boaters a gorgeous rose for Mother's Day. As you can imagine, flowers aren't a big part of the boating scenario, so this one was really ... read more

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This is us, balancing our BLUE WATER overload with some GREEN EARTH 'get our feet on the ground' time. Step inside, hide in the shade and enjoy the deep earthy smells at the Garden of the Groves. The $15 fee, $10 for seniors, is worth it. But just for you, on the blog ... FREE! : ) Now we've started videoing a little, we're amazed at the hussle-bussle of nature. If it works, try our video of crazy hummingbirds diving into the last call of afternoon nectar. After that, check the waterfall video, complete with ducks on the edge. This park was privately owned by a couple who donated it to the public. Coincidentally, the family's name was Groves. It's located almost in the centre of Grand Bahama Island, near the Grand Lucayan Waterway that dissects ... read more

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Remember the old Pennsylvania Dutch expression: "The hurrier I go, the behinder I get"? Well we're working on a corollary of that, something like: "The less we do, the less we do-dee-do-dee-do". Hmmmmm? That's catchy. Maybe there's a song in that. See what I mean...? Since we've taken to indulging ourselves as dock-huggers at the Grand Bahamas Yacht Club, we have had more time to do what we do most willingly... hanging out in good company. So we find ourselves relaxing as we had hoped to do, when we started the boat project years ago. There are no worries about dragging anchor or being mowed under by a mega-yacht although we do have our big red fender balls out to prevent being shoved up against the dock by wind and wakes. Ultimately, finding company can be ... read more

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This was taken March 24th, enroute from Lake Worth, FL to West End, Grand Bahama Island. The water is at least 2000' deep. We had a nice, easy crossing, motoring with 3 panels of the mainsail up. The total trip was less than 9 hours in daylight. These videos are tricky for us to download, so we waited. You survived the killer conch, so this will be more serene. ... read more

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We had no idea what we were getting into when friends took us to have conch salad in West End. This video just happened as we waited for the tasty, innocent looking conch salad to be prepared by the very skillful seaside chef. The rest of the day was relatively normal and enjoyable. Time to venture out of our safe, luxury cocoon and see the how things are going outside the resort. ... read more

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Gone to heaven. No time to chat. 'Cinq a sept' is almost over. En francais...'appy 'our(s)'. Next time who knows...maybe the Lucaya Market, the canal, Tania Beach, Freeport?... read more

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If you're saying 'finally' bite your tongue. Time to celebrate and say thanks again to the loyal folks who helped us over the years, so we could get here! After turning back from the crossing Wednesday night, due to extra choppy seas, last Thursday we left Lake Worth at 7 a.m. and aimed south west to cross the Gulf Stream. It was a sunny, relatively peaceful crossing. Beginners need this kind of good luck to keep them going. We got to West End, the nearest north western port in the Bahama chain of 700 islands and scooted into the marina before 4 p.m., for an @ 9 hour crossing. Once we passed the midpoint we seemed to pick up speed as the Gulf Stream gave us a boost. Note to Pat and John... we were startled ... read more

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When there are wheels available... we get wheely, wheely happy. Then we go tearing about like Ginger at dog park. The funny thing is, you might not realize, or maybe admit to yourself that you have such a long, pressing list of distant chores until the chance of a car comes up. We have been extremely fortunate since we came to Lake Worth. We met a young couple who are just starting their cruising life. They still had a trusty old pick-up while they were finishing their upgrades. A ton of thanks to them for their generosity. Yesterday two very empathetic friends asked if we could use their car, again...before we leave. You know people really mean this when they put the keys in your hand. "Uh, oh sure...I guess we might have a couple of ... read more

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