Liberty | Sailing For The Son

Back to the Bahamas!

The 2022-2023 cruising season has begun. Bill and I are currently on S/V Liberty in Lake Worth (West Palm Beach, Florida) awaiting a good weather window to cross the Gulf Stream. We are buddy boating with our new friends John and Michelle Schultz on S/V Yes My Dear.

This summer was particularly eventful starting with the high school graduation of our first grandchild! We’re so proud of you, Ella!

My mom, Mary, turned 80 this year. She is so beautiful. The party we hosted included several of her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, lots of nieces and nephews, and even 3 of her high school classmates! At her request, we held the party in my cousin’s barn. My mom is a farm girl at heart.

My mom, daughters, granddaughters and me

A surprise event this year was the engagement and covenant marriage of our daughter, Becky, to Wyatt Kipp! There is no doubt that God had a hand in bringing these two believers together, and we’re excited to see what He has planned for them.

Bill and I are proud of our son, Kristian, who is serving in the United States Army. He spent just over a year on an unaccompanied overseas tour, and has now returned safely (and joyously!) to his wife, Alejandra. They will be relocating to Texas this month for Kristian’s next assignment.

This cruising season we are returning to the Bahamas! We spent the last two seasons enjoying the Florida Keys, but with the Covid pandemic, together with it’s travel hassles and restrictions, waning we’re ready to head to the “Bahamian Blue” waters again. Bahamian Blue is the color my friend Kelly and I dubbed the unique beautiful blue found only in the waters of the Bahamas.

In the next few days we will cross the Gulf Stream (my first time!) and head toward West End, Grand Bahama. We will check in with Bahamian customs and immigration authorities to obtain our cruising permit, then head to Ocean Reef Resort and Marina oceanreefresortmarina.com . We heard great things about this marina from our friends Dave and Linda Olson on M/V Entrusted.

Our trusty travel buddies, Steve and Susan Holdaway, and Tim and Kelly Will, will be flying in to join us for some exciting adventures this season. New this year, Bill’s sister and brother-in-law, Ann and Gary Slifka, will be joining us for a bit. Be sure to check back for stories and pictures! I’m practically giddy just anticipating watching Susan pet the stingrays at Sandy Cay. According to her husband, Susan loves to be stretched out of her comfort zone, and I’m pretty sure this will be a bit outside her typical routine!

Home Sweet Home

Bill and I lived comfortably in a nice, normal house in a nice, normal neighborhood for the first 10 years of our marriage. We both love the adventure of travel, and carefully planned for our retirement to be, well, a little less of what most people consider “normal”.

We found The Marina at Ortega Landing (an Island Global Yachting destination) pretty much by chance. Because we love the Bahamas and the Caribbean, and wanting to facilitate ease of travel to and fro, we knew we wanted to move somewhere on the southeast coast of the United States. We first considered Charleston, South Carolina. We were familiar with the area and have friends there. (Shout out to Julie!) However, Bill became aware of an opening at The Marina at Ortega Landing after helping a friend move his boat from Charleston to Jacksonville, Florida. After a short tour, Bill reserved a slip and called to assure me that I’d like it. He knows me-I like it!

The marina boasts awesome amenities, which I love; however, it’s the community of people here who make The Marina at Ortega Landing a great place to live. But first, the amenities. The salt water pool and hot tub, as well as the deck, are always clean and well cared for. We have found this to be a great place to meet our new neighbors and swap information about boats, the local area, past and future travels, and everything else boaters like to swap stories about.

The marina has several different places where people can gather with family and friends to barbecue, enjoy dinner, or perhaps drinks topped with little umbrellas.

The clubhouse is open for air conditioned relaxation or small get togethers.

The laundry room, bathrooms, and showers are cleaned twice a day every day. I can’t say that I’ve ever become accustomed to finer facilities.

The big open field is a great place to play volleyball, fly a kite, light a bonfire, or let the little ones just run around. We plan to host our shrimp boils here.

Our new neighbors are quickly becoming our new friends. We offer hospitality by meeting up at the pool, at the barbecue grill, or at a local diner. We join each other on day sails, and bless each other in many tangible and intangible ways. My husband and I now fill our days sailing, kayaking, stand up paddle boarding, enjoying our student captains, and planning our next adventure to the Bahamas. All while happily calling Liberty “home”.

Isaiah 32:18 assures me that, as children of God, we live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.

Knowing that, I sleep well at night. Feel free to contact me with your questions or comments about full time cruising or finding rest.

November in Bimini

The tiny islands of Bimini, Bahamas, were perfect for a short get away from Nebraska in November. Nebraska in November=cold and dreary. Bimini in November=warm and beautiful. And by “warm and beautiful” I’m referring to the people, the culture, the water, and the sunshine.

At the time I was still working, so to save a few vacation days I arranged to fly in to the South Bimini Airport (BIM) and meet up with Liberty in North Bimini. That turned out to be a wise move, because Liberty, on her way from Jacksonville, Florida, experienced a weather delay. In Bimini a day before Liberty’s arrival, I checked into the Hilton at Resorts World Bimini for one night. This resort is luxury at its finest, appearing to have been dropped from the heavens right smack dab into one of the most beautiful places on earth.

After clearing customs and immigration, Liberty, captained by my husband Bill and his crew member Justin, picked me up dockside at the Hilton at Bimini World Resorts.

Brown’s Marina on North Bimini became “our marina” for the rest of the trip. Brown’s Marina is the first marina as you enter Bimini Harbor. We didn’t choose Brown’s because of it’s close proximity to the ferry, customs and immigration, the straw market, restaurants and more, we chose it because the people at Brown’s extended a very warm welcome upon our arrival. That is also the reason we will return to Brown’s Marina on our next trip to Bimini.

The S.S. Sapona was a concrete ship that ran aground a few miles south of South Bimini during a hurricane in 1926. It now sits in 15 feet of crystal clear water and is a fantastic scuba diving and snorkeling location. We anchored and took to the water! Bill and Justin snorkeled while I kayaked. The shipwreck is more than a little eerie, especially when one is actually inside of it, but we did it anyway! (I can’t believe my friend, Kelly, wasn’t here-she’s the really adventurous one.) However, we were rewarded with close up views of many colorful tropical fish.

The Gun Cay Lighthouse was established in 1836. There’s just something peaceful about looking at a lighthouse…

We spent one morning at the Bimini Shark Lab on South Bimini. The Bimini Shark Lab was established in 1990 to study sharks and rays. The sweet college interns who hosted our tour explained that the Bahamas is home to one of the largest number of shark species, which makes it a great place to study sharks. (A fact I wish I didn’t know!) These young ladies are actually responsible for “shark wrestling”, which they explained as going out, locating, and somehow wrangling juvenile sharks into the boat for the purpose of tagging and studying them at the lab. Following two weeks of study, they return the young sharks to where they originally found them. And, get this, they somehow even talked their parents into funding this part of their college educations! Bill and I went into the juvenile shark pen with our hosts and even touched the sharks. That’s the closest I hope I ever get to a shark-cross your fingers because we swim in the Bahamas a lot!

And, although I have been duped by many fountains of youth during my years of travel, I can’t resist…

Angie, on South Bimini, trying yet another Fountain of Youth

We all had a great week. As I write this post, I can’t wait to dip my toes into, I mean dive right into, the beautiful Bimini blue water again.

All Part of the Team

A valued member of the team. Everyone wants to be included. In Romans 12:3-6 the apostle Paul describes that, although we are different, we are all one in Jesus. We have been given different gifts (talents), and when we all come together and use our individual gifts we all benefit, and Jesus is honored.

Liberty has a rather small team, each one performing his or her function. Captain Bill is, well, the captain. (I suppose that’s fair since he actually studied for years and passed the test).

I am the First Mate (mainly because I’m married to the captain and I chose that title). We live aboard in Jacksonville, Florida.

During long passages, we might require additional help…

My daughter, Becky, designs and produces t-shirts. Wearing the shirts she designed for us reminds us that we are “on the team”, chosen, wanted, loved, and that our contributions are valued. Hmmm…that kind of sounds like what the apostle Paul was saying earlier…

Whose team are you on?

Special thanks to Becky Bagwell for her designs.