Rolianne Afloat and Abroad

Well well well... 10 months earlier, I was writing my first post on this blog, talking about why we made the decision to quit everything for a year on a sailboat. Two weeks ago, we were leaving Rolianne behind in Fort Pierce, heading for a surprise stop at Universal Studios! It was a perfect day to celebrate the sale, and it was even more perfect as there were no long line ups to do all the fun rides!! We all had our favorite, and I got to say that I even enjoyed meeting Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Megatron. 😁 The Diagon Alley of Harry Potter was also a big hit for everyone, with its fire-breathing dragon, Ollivander's Wand Shop, The leaky Cauldron, etc. The only disapointment: we ordered a beer and ended up with a butterbeer. 😂 We then started our long trip back North, starting with Savannah, which I really wanted to visit. Walking on these historic streets and visiting a civic rights history museum made our morning before heading to Raleigh for the night.

At 2h30 am, we woke up on the 20th to start the engine and begin our 9 hrs crossing back to Florida. It was as calm as it gets, and when we got into the Gulf stream, we were going up to 9-9.5 knts/h, with the engine not even running at full speed!!! It was magical.  Until we arrived in the inlet at West Palm Beach, where we started hearing a new noise coming from the engine. 😱 Noooooo!!!! We still had to clear customs, so we anchored at the first spot we found and turned everything off. Sam went to customs while I stayed on the boat with the kids, worrying. Finally, after looking at the engine properly, Sam found out that it was the cooling fluid pump that had a loose bearing and needed to be changed. No big deal in the end, but as we were supposed to meet a potential buyer up in Start Cove, timing was not ideal. We had to delay everything. Not cool... After ordering the part rush, Sam took some time alone with Rolianne to change it, and the engine is now running smoothly. Fiou!! S

I can’t believe I’m already writing this post. A month and a half has gone by since we crossed the Gulf Stream, landed in Bimini and saw the crystal clear blue water of this piece of paradise...  So, after letting Virginie and Arnaud in Nassau, we set sails for the Berry Islands, a chain of islands that we explored on our way to the Exumas, but still had a lot of hidden gems to reveal. On our way there, as some of you might already know, I finally got to realize a dream of mine to catch my own mahi mahi! With MY line in the water, and MY muscles to take it out. It was so exciting, I hadn’t yelled of joy and adrenaline that much in a long time! Anyway, it made it the most delicious fish I had in my entire life. So now I’m ready for a ahi. 😜  We ended up at Frozen Cay for a night, to give me some time to clean up the fish and cook it. 😁 The next morning, we went to check out Bonds Cay, thinking that it might be exciting, but it ended up being just ok. So we chilled on the boa

One day after Sam’s parents left Black Point, a friend of mine and her 8 yrs old son flew in. We went to the airport to pick them up, which was super exciting!! From there, it would be an intense sail back up to Nassau for them to catch their return flight.  So we left Black Point early in the morning to get to Staniel Cay not too late. As I was still hoping to catch a mahi, we hesitated to go on the East coast because it was still pretty windy from the SE. What a bad decision we made to give it a try, as when we crossed the channel between two islands, the waves were chaotic and huge! First, the front bed got soaked before I got the time to realize the hatch was still opened, and second, it was so messy that it was, well let’s say inconfortable! We turned around and went to lick our wounds on the bank. 😓 It took the entire day to get the cushions to dry and to wash all the fabrics from the salty water... While the sheets and cushions were outside, they went to check out the p

While waiting for a couple of days in Staniel Cay, we checked out all the hot spots. We started with Pig beach, which I didn’t like at all. So many people! So many hungry pigs! They all start running towards your boat as soon as you beach it to get all the carrots. We didn’t bring any, but there are so many people going there that carrots are floating all around you, so why bother. Then there are the really mean ones, the ones that bite people’s asses (for real!!!) if they don’t give them what they want. Never turn your back on a pig... My personal favorite:  Thunderball  grotto! At low tide, you can snorkel into a cave with tons of fishes at the bottom. We saw a lion fish, so the kids were able to know what not to approach. 😉 Sam liked hanging out at the Yatch Club, while the kids just wanted to pet the nurse sharks at the dock. Once Sam’s parents arrived at Black Point, we were stocked to find an anchorage right infront of their rental place. Location was just perf