http://mirandajoe.com/blog/index.php Copyright 2026, Joe & Miranda Durbin Joe & Miranda Durbin en-US SPHPBLOG 0.4.8 http://mirandajoe.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry250313-130031 Scuba Diving/Snorkeling http://mirandajoe.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry250313-130031 Joe & Miranda Durbin Thu, 13 Mar 2025 20:00:31 GMT http://mirandajoe.com/blog/comments.php?y=25&m=03&entry=entry250313-130031 http://mirandajoe.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry250311-120953 We were aiming for Rock Sound because it was a large harbor that was one of the few places we could anchor that had westerly wind protection. We had to anchor on the west side which was about a mile from the town. Joe did take the dinghy in and said it was far too rough on the other side for anyone else to go in, so he grabbed laundry and did a couple loads for us. The next day was 25-30knot winds, so we stayed put and had to just spend the day on the boat. Jesse and Chelsey did go in, in the afternoon when the winds had died down slightly and did a grocery store run.]]> http://mirandajoe.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry250311-120953 Joe & Miranda Durbin Tue, 11 Mar 2025 19:09:53 GMT http://mirandajoe.com/blog/comments.php?y=25&m=03&entry=entry250311-120953 http://mirandajoe.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry250309-121852 Our end game was the Lower Bogue area near the Glass Bridge. On our way, Jesse yelled "dolphin!" We all came out onto the deck to see seven dolphins hanging out at the front of the boat. It was amazing. They hung around for at least 5 minutes.
We got to where we were going to anchor, and the waves were super rolly. Joe and Ben went to shore to scope things out, only to decide that it was too sketchy to bring anyone else ashore. Rick picked them up at a different beach, which was still pretty rough.
Our main goal at this spot was to go north to a Bottom Harbor Beach where sea turtles supposedly congregated, so go to the Queen's Baths and to see the Glass Bridge. On Sunday we went to the Queen's Bath, which was very pretty. After naptime, Joe had found someone to drive us to go see the turtles. It wasn't quite what we were expecting, but we did get to see quite a few turtles, which was fun. Ash loved it, Eli saw one and then just wanted to play in the water.]]> http://mirandajoe.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry250309-121852 Joe & Miranda Durbin Sun, 09 Mar 2025 19:18:52 GMT http://mirandajoe.com/blog/comments.php?y=25&m=03&entry=entry250309-121852 http://mirandajoe.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry250307-123441 Rick stayed on the boat and the rest of us hopped in and went to Preacher's Cave first. It was a big cave where people lived after they had shipwrecked on Devil's Backbone (a reef near the island) in the mid-1600's. After exploring that and walking over to the beach where we could see the reef, we hopped back in and took the short drive to the blue hole. Sapphire is definitely an appropriate name. I stayed with the twins and watched Joe, Jesse and Chelsey jump in. Ben climbed down a little ways before jumping in and swimming. We had it to ourselves for about 15 minutes before a couple more groups showed up. The timing was perfect.
For dinner that night, Jesse cooked up the Snapper that Chelsey had caught. It was super yummy.
On Thursday, there was going to be some wind from the west, so we headed back to Meeks Patch. While there, we had to spend a lot of Thursday on the boat because of the winds, but the kids got some more beach time on Friday, and the work that Chelsey and Rick had done on the paddle boards was put to work. We took those into the beach because the dinghy started giving us trouble again. Ben got a chance to try and paddled around the boat a few times.]]> http://mirandajoe.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry250307-123441 Joe & Miranda Durbin Fri, 07 Mar 2025 20:34:41 GMT http://mirandajoe.com/blog/comments.php?y=25&m=03&entry=entry250307-123441 http://mirandajoe.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry250210-181724 It was a short dinghy ride to head out to the beach. We could either get dropped off down a nearby channel and walk there, or take the dinghy back out through the channel and beach it there. Jesse and Rick managed to get a few lobsters while snorkeling. The boys loved digging in the sand and playing in the water. The water was a great depth for them. Ben also tried snorkeling for the first time and is completely obsessed.
Another sailboat showed up yesterday and anchored nearby. Today, it completely poured and a rainbow showed up. That was fun to show the kids. While here they got a lot of great time on the beach and got to see crabs, a huge conch and lots of shells.]]> http://mirandajoe.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry250210-181724 Joe & Miranda Durbin Tue, 11 Feb 2025 02:17:24 GMT http://mirandajoe.com/blog/comments.php?y=25&m=02&entry=entry250210-181724 http://mirandajoe.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry250207-191050 Eli has decided that naps are optional. The last few days we've managed to get him to still nap, but today was not one of those days. During that time, Rick, Chelsey and Jesse took the 2pm van ride to the grocery store that the marina offered. They stocked back up on some produce. Once they were back and Ash was awake, we all took the water taxi back to the market for dinner and some fro-yo. Unfortunately, we found out the water taxi stopped at 6pm when it was already 7pm. The woman that was running the fro-yo place helped us get a taxi that fortunately fit all 8 of us. ]]> http://mirandajoe.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry250207-191050 Joe & Miranda Durbin Sat, 08 Feb 2025 03:10:50 GMT http://mirandajoe.com/blog/comments.php?y=25&m=02&entry=entry250207-191050 http://mirandajoe.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry250206-185844 Pretty early on, there were flying fish jumping out in front of us constantly. It was amazing. It wasn't quite as rough as the crossing from Miami. Everyone handled it better. Unfortunately, that morning, Eli had thrown up water all over the bed. The night had been pretty wavey so our assumption was the combination of water in his tummy (he asked for and drank a bunch of water just before throwing up) and a bit of motion sickness. He seemed fine the rest of the day.
We made good time and made it to Freeport around 5pm. We decided to stay at Grand Bahama Yacht Club so that we could do laundry, get rid of garbage, take proper showers and, most importantly, get the dinghy motor fixed.
For my birthday dinner, I noticed an indian restaurant nearby. I failed to notice that it said "takeout" before we took a water taxi and then walked the rest of the way. We couldn't find the restaurant and Joe noticed a few Indian people standing at the address where it claimed to be. Turns out the guy's wife does the cooking and then they deliver the food. We did a general order and then they kindly gave us a ride back to the marina instead of us walking a little over a mile back. The kids went swimming in the pool while we waited for our food (Jesse and Chelsey fed them while we were gone.) The food definitely took quite a while, but it was very good and clearly fresh. The samosas were handmade fresh, which is what took the longest, from the sounds of it. Joe even ordered a piece of cake from the marina's restaurant for my birthday dessert.]]> Windsurfing/Sailing http://mirandajoe.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry250206-185844 Joe & Miranda Durbin Fri, 07 Feb 2025 02:58:44 GMT http://mirandajoe.com/blog/comments.php?y=25&m=02&entry=entry250206-185844 http://mirandajoe.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry250205-184655 There was only one boat there as we pulled up, and it was a dive boat collecting their divers. Rick and Joe went first. Once they were done, Chelsey, Jesse and I all jumped in and snorkeled around. It was very neat. It's an old concrete ship that ran aground in 1926 during a hurricane. A boat full of snorkelers showed up as we were swimming to the wreck, so we finished before they were getting in. Our timing was pretty perfect.
We went back to anchor and just spent the remainder of the day on the boat since we weren't trusting the dinghy.
]]> Scuba Diving/Snorkeling http://mirandajoe.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry250205-184655 Joe & Miranda Durbin Thu, 06 Feb 2025 02:46:55 GMT http://mirandajoe.com/blog/comments.php?y=25&m=02&entry=entry250205-184655 http://mirandajoe.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry250205-113023
Ben has his own little room at the head of Joe's bed. It's at the front of the boat. The twins and I are sleeping in the back of the boat. They have been a bit of a challenge. Eli especially. Eli has decided that napping is now optional, which leaves him a bit cranky.

On Tuesday, we finally felt ready enough to head down towards Fort Lauderdale. We took the intracoastal waterway, which meant waiting for bridges frequently and motoring the entire way, but it was also smoother than the ocean side would have been, which is a good warm-up for the kids. There were manatees in there! Ben got a really good look at one. We found an anchoring spot near a state park. We took the dinghy to the park where Joe brought us dinner from a nearby restaurant. Raccoons quickly tried to steal food from us. Once we were done we took a quick walk to through a tunnel to the beach and ocean where the boys ran around before it started to get dark and we needed to head back.

Wednesday we continued south and found a spot to anchor, but it was pretty tight. The next morning we went out an inlet to the ocean to follow the coast down to Miami. We anchored near Key Biscayne also near a state park. It was a bit of a dinghy ride to get to shore, but we checked out the park a couple times with the boys. They got to play in the sand one day and swim and play in the sand another.

During the week, Ben has been doing homeschool. It's been going all right though is definitely a challenge with the twins. Most of the time, Chelsey helps Ben while I keep the twins occupied. I don't have naptime very often because either Eli refuses to sleep, sleeps on me, or I have to be in bed with them in order to make sure they don't run a mock.

In Miami we had some more grocery shopping to do and we found out that the dinghy's motor was overheating. It took a bit to hunt down a fuel filter, thinking that was the problem. Turned out that it wasn't. We also had some paperwork to get done in order to head over to The Bahamas.

On Monday, the 3rd, we decided we were ready to head out to The Bahamas. Unfortunately, it was a headwind the entire way, so we couldn't sail. We had to motor the entire way. We left at about 6:30am and arrived at 3:30pm. The water is so clear, it's crazy. We're anchored where it's 16ft deep and you can see the chain laying on the sand.

Tuesday morning, a number of us jumped in for a little swim. The bigger boys went onto shore to explore while Chelsey, the twins and me stayed behind. We eventually when in to let the boys play in the sand. We're planning on staying in Bimini until we get a working dinghy.


]]> http://mirandajoe.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry250205-113023 Joe & Miranda Durbin Wed, 05 Feb 2025 19:30:23 GMT http://mirandajoe.com/blog/comments.php?y=25&m=02&entry=entry250205-113023 http://mirandajoe.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry160331-123546
Wednesday, we woke up with the plan to get some more of that yummy horchata, wasting a little time before we had to be at the airport. Unfortunately, that changed when Mary woke up sick. Instead I went out to find some medicine and food that she might be able to eat and then we just stayed in the room until we had to be at the airport.

She was definitely uncomfortable and threw up literally right before getting on the plane. We made it though. After getting to the house, she crashed. She woke up feeling much better though, so that was definitely a relief.

-Miranda


The cute restaurant. This was taken on my phone when it was pretty dark, so not great, but you get the feeling.]]> Friends/Family http://mirandajoe.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry160331-123546 Joe & Miranda Durbin Thu, 31 Mar 2016 19:35:46 GMT http://mirandajoe.com/blog/comments.php?y=16&m=03&entry=entry160331-123546