Sailing Positive Waves

Eleuthera has always been on my “want to go” list of the Bahamas. I didn’t have any specifics about the big island, but I heard about its endless pink sand beaches and the glass window. Once we returned to Positive Waves, it was our next logical stop on our trip south. A planned rendezvous with our friends on Omana made it a mandatory stop. Eastbound to the Bahamas, goodbye USA. On the ferry from Marsh Harbour back to Hope Town and PW. Before we left Hope Town, however, we had a few chores. Our first job was filling our water tanks. We contemplated taking the boat out of the harbor and running our water maker, but even at 40 gallons an hour of water making output, it would take us at least four hours to fill the tanks. Four hours of listening to the generator run. No thanks. We stopped at Hope Town Marina and filled up with their r/o water at .35 cents/gallon. It didn’t taste great, so we didn’t fill up all the way, but at least we got enough for showers and dishes. We then had to zip

Touchdown at Central Wisconsin Airport just south of Wausau greeted us with below freezing temperatures and a frosty sheen covering the landscape. It was freezing! The kids ran out of the airport terminal and immediately started playing in a pile of dirty, icy snow. I, meanwhile, stayed inside and checked out the tourist brochures to get ideas for the next five weeks. Day 1 of winter and the kids had an epic snowfight. We had one storm with about 6 inches of snow, enough for a little snowman. First item on the agenda: pick up our ski gear at the local ski shop located in downtown Wausau. We were excited to see the town where Hans has been working for the past few years. Since he basically only works and sleeps when he’s in Wisconsin, he failed to mention how nice Wausau is—real small town America. The town has a big square (or green as we call it in New England) that was flooded and shoveled clear for ice skating, and numerous shops, cafes, and restaurants surrounding the square.