Weather Fax Signal

When receiving weather fax, it is important to have a very clear and good signal. The image is generated via a series of pitches. One pitch for white, another pitch for black. If the pitches are not distinct or there is a lot of background noise, your image will be distorted.

A relatively clear signal will produce an image like this. Few hiccups and a generally legible image of the weather systems at work around us.

Wind noise, conversations in the boat, or just bad reception will produce something like this. You can still make out the general context of the fax, but it is not as clear or legible as when you have good signal. 

Now, bad reception and no time to calibrate your image as it prints onto your tablet will generate something like this. The image is offset, and it is barely legible. All you can really make out is that it's supposed to be a map! 

Be sure to calibrate your setup and take advantage of the test run that NOAA sends out at the start of the weather fax transmission. If you get a clear image at the beginning, then all the subsequent faxes will be clear as well. 

Starfish

In the Chesapeake Bay, you never get to see the bottom. What lays down there has always been a mystery to me, and will remain so.

In the Bahamas, that mystery has had its veil lifted and you can see exactly what is going on down there!  Aside from the clear waters, there is so much life just inches below the surface. 

We were wading through the shore at this small island at the northern tip of the Berry Islands and we stumbled upon this massive starfish. At first we thought this was a rarity to see such a big one in such shallow water, but that is not the case in the Bahamas! 

As we walked, we found many many more starfish this size in knee deep water, just waiting to be marveled upon.  

Goat Island

While anchored in Slaughter Harbor, we took a little dinghy ride over to Goat Island. Those island looks like it is made up of volcanic rock hovering over the white sandy beach, but in reality it is all limestone! The limestone has simply been stained dark with time and eroded away in this fierce manner to create the appearance of a pumice like structure. 

The sand was so fine and fluffy, we could tell that this island is not frequently trafficked. 

The small fish that lived in the shallow pools along with the conch and starfish made every step around this island seem like a magical experience! The beauty of cruising in the Bahamas is that every island you land on is unique and there is a very good chance that you are the only one there. 

Dinghy Painter

When it comes to tying off your dinghy, most people will automatically tie it off at the stern of the yacht. I would like to propose a different place to tie it off. 

Instead of tying at the stern with a short painter, consider tying midship with a long painter. When you need to board the dinghy, the painter is already tied midship, making it easy to pull it up to the gate in the lifelines. When arriving back to the boat by dinghy, you can tie the long painter up as you arrive at the gate as well. All of a sudden, you don't have to go to the stern to reach your dinghy every time you come and go.

The last reason to tie up midship has to do with areas with strong winds and currents. If you tie up at the stern, all will be fine when the wind and tide are in the same direction. When you get wind over tide, the boat will point into the current but drift in the direction of the wind. This means that your dinghy that is tied to the stern will now be midship and smack into your hull for the next 6 hours.  

If you tie the dinghy up midship with a painter long enough to reach beyond the ends of the boat, your dinghy will always hang out (bow or stern) just past the end of the boat and never smack into the side of your hull. 

Moonrise

I always enjoy it when the sun and moon overlap in their passing of the sky. Watching the moonrise before the sun has set gives a strange sensation to the experience. This was our first night anchored in Slaughter Harbor in the Berry Islands as we awaited a strong easterly wind to approach.