Casting off

Mika, Eric and Axelia arrives at the docks at Yacht Heaven Marina in Nassau on December 13.   We have waited and talked about this moment for months.   Axelia, 9 months old, immediately steals our hearts, quick to smile and with blue eyes shifting with the color of the sea, from light blue to turquoise to cobalt.   A constant stream of vowels and consonants in different combinations flow out of our grandchild: baba-bane-nema-maba punctuated by a loud happy shriek. She has focus and determination and a canny ability to connect with people. She looks you right in the eye and grins her toothless, mischievous grin. When boats pass close by or when one of us arrives or departs she loves to wave, and will do a double arm wave when she gets extra excited. It is irresistible and impossible not to respond.   Axelia loves the dingy, incidentally, named Axelia. The dingy, a nine and a half foot hard bottom takes us from Miraj to land and to snorkeling sites. A

The Bahamas We arrived in the Bahamas November 8, after crossing the Gulfstream and sailing along the south coast of Grand Bahamas most of the night. At first light we reached the entrance to Luccaya and followed the channel markers into the harbor and the customs office. An extensive canal system branched out from the main harbor and we dropped the hook in a well-protected anchorage in 10 feet of water.   A strong low-pressure system was approaching and we were happy to be in protected waters in our first foreign port.   Our highlight in Luccaya was Oddliegh’s house.   Hot and hungry and looking for a restaurant in a rural neighborhood, we had the profound embarrassment of stumbling into someone’s personal living room, thinking it was a restaurant, and encountering two older people sitting at their dining room table watching daytime TV.   Turns out no problem, Oddliegh had some sodas to sell. We sat on his porch for a spell after declining to watch TV with him and his mot