Wednesday, April 4, 2018


Hello Everyone,

It has been a long, long time since we updated our blog site.  Looks like February 11th was our last input.

Well as some of you know our lives’ have been action packed since then.  Bottom line - Gerry is getting well, but our latest venture to the Abacos had to be interrupted.

Gerry somehow developed AFib with her heart which is an abnormal heartbeat condition.  So, not too many days after our last blog input we visited a health clinic in Hope Town, where we had gone to observe the Songwriter’s Festival activities, and that led to a visit with a physician on Great Abaco Island who initially diagnosed Gerry’s condition on February 15th as Bronchitis, then on February 27th as a situation that warranted seeing a Cardiologist, and then our flying back to Charleston, SC to be seen by a Cardiologist on March 2, 2018.

Gerry is responding excellently to the medications she has been prescribed.  At this point her Cardiologist does not think any invasive procedures to her heart are necessary.  She has had numerous blood tests and an Echogram.  Initially, she would easily tire and be out of breath and be coughing a lot because of fluid buildup in her lungs.  Sleeping at night was uncomfortable for her so she was not well rested.  Now that she is mostly back to normal, tomorrow she will undergo a Nuclear Stress Test to see how well her heart is performing.

Meanwhile our friend Rolando Sosa flew back with me on March 14th to retrieve Galileo from Boat Harbor at the Abaco Beach Resort in Marsh Harbor.  We had a good weather window and were able to return in 4 days back to Ft. Pierce, Florida on March 18th where we keep the boat in Harbour Isle Marina.  On March 18th we traveled with two (2) other Island Packets, Pepromenon an IP-31 and Blue Sky an IP-380 back to Ft. Pierce.  They left slightly before us from Boat Harbor on March 15th but we caught up with them at West End on March 17th so the next day I decided to caravan with them back to the U.S. East coast.  We departed around 0320 in the dark from West End.  Was not my favorite crossing of the Gulf Stream but Rolando and I survived.  This excursion with Rolando gave me the opportunity to develop a much, much, better appreciation of Gerry’s organizational skills of stores stock aboard Galileo and her culinary skills as now I was the one in charge of keeping Rolando and me alive with nourishment during our return voyage.

So tomorrow we shall see what Gerry’s heart status is and go from there as far as future long-range travel planning is concerned.

We do plan to return to our townhouse in Maryland this weekend and settle down for a while.

Meanwhile here are some pictures of our adventures while in the Abacos. 

Here is an overall depiction of where we go when we go to the Abacos in the northern Bahamas




As mentioned above we did partake in the Songwriter’s Festival.



While in Hope Town we saw a yacht reminiscent of boats that were built in our old hometown of Salisbury, Maryland which I initially thought was a Chris Craft but turned out to be one of the original Berger boats.  This one was 53 feet long and had just turned 50 years old.  It was being restored by a Berger enthusiast who then resales them.  Nice boat for her age.  It reminded me of Ellie and Paul Ennis of Salisbury.  Paul used to work for Chris Craft there years ago.  Ellie introduced Gerry and me for a blind date and it appears to have worked almost 45 years later

The night before all this started with Gerry we enjoyed a Valentine's Day dinner.

We were able to attend the Royal Marsh Harbor Yacht Club 2018 Commodore’s Ball at the Abaco Beach Research.

We met up with Marianne and Paul Cochrane of Island Packet 37 Knot-A-Gan in Marsh Harbor and attended the annual Marsh Harbor Junk-A-Noo festival with them as well as enjoyed dinner at the Jib Room with another of their Island Packet yachting friends.


While in Marsh Harbor we observed a Pay Phone setup that accepted credit cards to make phone calls.  Never have seen Pay Phones configured this way.  They were not operational but still interesting.

A Ferry Boat excursion over to Man-Of-War Cay to attend a Flea Market Festival shows a group of colorful Conch Shells drying on a dock.

Here is Rolando and me having a light moment the night before departing to return to Florida enjoying a gift furnished earlier as a bon-voyage to Gerry and me before leaving for the Abacos by good friends Jan and Larry Moser.

Gerry had a break from her cardiology treatment so we returned to Ft. Pierce, FL for eight (8) days to button up Galileo and get her teak work refinishing underway while we are in Maryland for the next couple of months.  Here she is at the Georgia Rt 95 Visitor Center.



Then we returned to Charleston for more visits this week with her Cardiologist.  This is one of our favorite bridges.


We can’t say enough about the expertise of her Cardiologist and all of her medical support team here in Charleston.  When we discovered her condition in the Abacos they responded within a day and found her the specialist that she needed.


In closing we have to thank a number of people who made this year's excursion to the Abacos a smooth success.  Amy and Richard Meekins who faithfully have watched over our townhouse and mail back home in Cambridge.  Jan and Larry Moser and Tucky and Bruce Franz who have wished us well along the way.  Ellen Whitford for hosting us in Savannah.  Dave VanCleve for his assistance with Galileo during her bottom painting return run from the boatyard. Rolando Sosa for helping bring Galileo home to Ft. Pierce, Florida.  And to our host Rebecca here in Charleston for her AirB&B hospitality during our 'medical emergency' as we expressed our housing need when we first met her.  And lastly all the members of the Rossi/Nardi Clan (Shana, Aaron, Josh, Jordan, Sabin, Marina, Tonks, Frank, Brenda, Clarine, Dave, and Vonda) for their patience with our sailing passion.


Stay Warm, it's still winter out there,

Gerry & Larry
Team Galileo

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Hello all,

Welcome to the Bahamas.

We arrived at the boat in Ft. Pierce, Florida on January 26, 2018 to wake up Galileo to get her ready for our crossing to the Abacos.  As usual with boating one thing leads to another, to another, etc.  Well to make a long story short we were finally ready to leave the dock on February 6th in hopes of catching a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream on February 8th which we did.  Crossed over that day to West End, Grand Bahama Island and then proceeded eastward the next day to Great Sale Cay, and then here to Green Turtle Cay yesterday February 10th.   Weather was okay for the trip.  A little windy right on the nose so no sailing.  Seas were manageable.  Galileo is a great seaworthy boat so we did not feel any discomfort.

We will stay here at the Green Turtle Club Marina until tomorrow then proceed around Whale Cay out into the Atlantic Ocean then back into the Sea of Abaco onward to Great Guana Cay for a few days.  Our near term goal is to attend the Songwriters Festival in Hope Town later this coming week.  It is a weeklong gathering of songwriters who will perform at various restaurants February 13 – 18.

Then we will take a slip at the Boat Harbor Marina of the Abaco Beach Resort that is home base for the Royal Marsh Harbor Yacht Club of which we are members.  They have a variety of social activities planned for the month in which we like to participate.

Here are some snapshots of our journey so far:


If you look real hard there is a turtle statue inside the triangle.

Gerry & Larry

Team Galileo