2.26.16 – 3.20.16
Ahoy there. Been a while since the last post! I’ll try not to overwhelm you with too much all at once, but there are lots of photos you
may be interested in seeing.
On Friday, Feb 26 we left Warderick Wells at 9:45 and
arrived in Big Majors where there are many boats anchored, large and small and
the “famous” swimming pigs. This year there were a few very cute piglets who
aren’t quite ready for swimming lessons! We had been saving scraps to feed them
and they are never shy about coming to meet anyone with food or water to hand
out. We then dinghied to Staniel Cay to
visit the laundromat and found that there was no water! We left our laundry
with the local woman there who would get it done as soon as the water was turned back
on. Sometime during the night she managed to get ours and several others
laundry cleaned and folded.
Monday, the 29th of Feb we sailed to
Cambridge Cay, part of Exuma Park, where mooring balls are available as are
many reefs to snorkel, trails to hike and beautiful beaches – most of which we
have done in the past and took advantage of again this time. It’s a very
peaceful place and the stars at night are brilliant.
Anything can happen in a national park: a day in the
life of a periwinkle, a tranquil place to rest, a dying rat looking for a last
bit of water (believe it or not!) and a helicopter landing on top of a rock and
other things.
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| Wonder how long it took this guy to travel that distance? |
We stayed two nights and on the morning of the 2nd
we left, in flat calm waters, for
Norman's Cay.
Coming in through the cut we passed what I have lovingly
nicknamed Gilligan’s Island. We went in to shore for lunch at McDuffs, a
restaurant that is located along the beach and airport that was closed a couple
of years ago and has since reopened. After enjoying a $25 cheeseburger (huge!)
and a $25 Mediterranean salad (really tasty) we really didn’t need anything but
a light snack for dinner.
First stop the next morning – Gilligan’s Island! This was definitely the
largest “conch nursery” area we’ve ever seen. Tons of babies everywhere – all
NOT for the taking. Conch have to be large enough and have a flared shell in
order to be considered legal. I’m not sure all abide by this given the number
of small shells we’ve seen that have already been harvested. This island was
obviously a favorite of others and a final resting place for some folks who
loved the Exuma Islands. The memorial and bench were placed by their family
members some time ago. What a fond remembrance and place to reflect. One of the
larger conch shells had been taken over by a hermit crab for his new home. Must
have been a big one!
Next stop was to return to the shallow sandbar to look
for sand dollars, which I had seen while exploring the day before but the tide
had been too low to stop without getting beached on the bar. What fun
collecting them! We only kept the very small sand dollars and sea biscuits and
left the larger ones for someone else.
Last stop, the airport and proposed marina. We
discovered that the airport has been totally improved since we were there last
– complete with a chain link fence around the airstrip which has tripled in
size and is actually paved! In addition, they have excavated a salt pond into a
new marina (still under construction) which looks like it will be quite large.
The entrance to the marina has yet to be cut through and the best guestimate
for completion by Bahamian standards is at least a couple of years from now.
We left Normans Cay that afternoon with Highbourne Cay
as our destination and on the way there heard EXILE being hailed over the VHF
radio. Turns out it was from Siren’s Song, friends we had met in Hope Town last
year from Maine. They were headed to Highbourne as well and we met up with them
aboard their boat for a cocktails and catching up. Hopefully we’ll see them
this summer in New England. They anchored out and we took a slip for the
evening, filled up the water tank and picked up a few groceries prior to our
anticipated departure back to the Palm Cay Marina in New Providence to await
the arrival of our friends Blaine and Sharon from Maine. We left Highbourne at
11:40 and reached Palm Cay at 4:45 that afternoon. It has been a beautiful week
for sailing!
On the 7th of March, we took one of the two
available rental cars and drove to the Nassau airport where we met our friends
and took them for a tour around New Providence and stopped for lunch at Oh
Andros, in a part of a local area called the Fish Fry, where one meal could
have fed all four of us! I’ve never seen such huge portions of conch and they
call them snack size. Back to Palm Cay
Marina where Sharon and I had a pedicure at the marina that afternoon by
Linica, a girl who comes there on Mondays to accommodate cruisers. What a
fabulous job she does – I wish I could have a pedi as nice as the one she gives back in the states!
The next morning the four of us left for HIghbourne
Cay but had to motor all the way due to choppy seas and 20 knots of wind on our
nose, not the most pleasant ride. After an evening of relaxation and dinner
onboard, we spent the entire next day exploring the island via golf cart and
spending time at the north beach, fully protected from the southerly winds. The guys found a horseshoe pit and shared a game. A day in the sun requires a
little down time, and after cleaning up we had a great dinner at the outdoor
marina restaurant and returned to the boat full and happy. When the four of us
are together, hardly a night goes by where the girls challenge the boys to a
game of Cribbage. This evening was no different. Let the games begin!
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| Doesn't get much better than this! |
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| Jeff and Blaine taking a dip |
Thursday morning we were off the dock headed to
Cambridge Cay where we would attempt a dinghy ride to the beach. It was still
howling which made it generally a very wet ride! I’d post a video here, but the
lens got so wet during filming it’s hard to distinguish whether we’re in the
shower or in the dinghy! No helicopter landings this time! After hosing down
with fresh water, we all settled in for dinner and cribbage.
The next morning we slipped the mooring and headed toward Big Majors (you remember…. where the swimming pigs are) to drop anchor and you guessed it – introduce Blaine and Sharon to the hungry pigs. What a treat – we were able to see the piglets again and this time, capture them with the camera. Cute little things, aren’t they?
A few nurse sharks swam over to make a dinner of the
corned beef we had tossed overboard that had spoiled. No swimming for us
tonight!
Still blowing and a rough ride to Staniel Cay Yacht
Club, Sharon and I opted to stay onboard while Blaine and Jeff left to scout
out a plan for their departure the next day via Water Makers Air on Staniel.
The “airport shuttle”, a golf cart actually, would meet them at the Yacht Club
at 8:30 and drive them the 10 minutes to the local airport. This is a picture of their plane coming in –
and they actually flew directly over us as they left for Ft. Lauderdale. What a
fun time we had despite the windy weather.
After they left, we took advantage of the fact that
the laundry this time had water, dropped everything off and enjoyed lunch at
the yacht club bar while waiting for it to be done. Homemade Bahamian bread is
a much enjoyed luxury here and we know almost every baker in the islands. It is
mostly made by locals in their homes. We were able to find one last loaf before
returning to the boat – belly’s full and fresh laundry.
Off to Black Point the following morning in calm and
sunny weather, then to Big Galliot Cay the next morning where we met Jim and
Pam from Gainesville, FL on a 50’ Voyage catamaran. We took the dinghy to explore the area near
Cave Cay with caves, cuts, rays and turtles. We never tire of the water life.
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While we were anchored in Big Galliot we dinghyed to Big Farmers Cay to check out the Farmers Cay Yacht Club and a recommended beach/shack restaurant called Tys. We were there too early for lunch and although the local offered to make us some conch salad if we hung around for an hour (boy, that must be really fresh!) we had to decline as other islands were calling our name. On the way to Tys, we saw a great fixer upper on a private island. Anybody interested? Also – there were some pretty interesting stone creations on the way…
We departed Big Galliot Cay Wednesday morning in light
southerly winds, each towing two fishing lines behind hoping for a big catch
for dinner. Weaving in and out along the ridge into very deep water, we had one
bite and managed to pull in a small black fin tuna, (a very dry fish) and treated
us to very tasty tuna fish for lunch. Hoping there might be one more fish to
find, we went beyond Adderly Cut (our destination) but there were no bites, so
in through the cut, identified by a stone monument.
We anchored behind Leaf Cay, which is rumored to be owned by Nicholas Cage, one of the many celebrities who own private islands in the Bahamas. This island is also home to the protected Bahamian iguanas (as are many) which is most likely why Nick can’t build on it!
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| Where's Waldo? |
Over cocktails aboard Silent Faith, we discovered that
we were both island hopping our way down to Georgetown. The next day we divided
and unfortunately DIDN’T conquer our quest for lobsters. Between us, we
explored every nook and cranny in the area and came up empty handed. Guess that
means hot dogs for dinner…. I sense the osprey perched high atop the rocks
didn’t have any luck either. It was such a peaceful anchorage, Jeff and I
decided to spend another night, while Silent Faith moved on. That afternoon we
were inundated by a flotilla of French Canadian sailboats. Not so quiet after
all.
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| Nightfall near Leaf Cay |
Onward the next morning for us to Black Cay – a great
suggestion from our new friends! Anchored alone across from Rolleville we had
our own private beach. Atop the hill was
a house in progress (although I’m not sure when the last time was that anyone
worked on it) with a gorgeous 360 degree panoramic view. I can’t help but
wonder if someone ran out of money and abandoned it for the time being?
We climbed down to the ocean side of the island to
another nice beach with TONS of sea glass just tumbling in the small rocks in a
small cove along the shore. We collected as many larger pieces as we could
before the incoming tide kept us from snatching anymore and decided to return
the next morning at low tide to see what we could find. We enjoyed cocktails on
our private beach and returned to the boat for the evening. We were absolutely
amazed when we returned to the very same cove the next morning to find nothing
but sand. The overnight high tide had totally changed the landscape of the
ocean floor there. All sand and no small rocks for the glass to tumble over =
no glass.
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| Jeff left our mark... |
Rolleville was an interesting settlement and we met
several locals who welcomed us ashore and told us about the area. Walking back
to the beach and dinghy we discovered a Congregational church (there were 3
total churches in a settlement of not more than 50 people) that had been
sponsored by a church in Ct.
The only restaurant in town (other than a new/old one
on the beach) is called the Hilltop, for obvious reasons... from atop the hill the view is fantastic.
Back at the beach, we discovered a sort of farmers
market/town center sort of place where there were several food shacks that more
than likely offer their homemade/homegrown goods weekly. The center building
appeared to be the hub of it all.
We had intended to stop on our way to Georgetown at
the Emerald Bay marina to fuel & water up but decided against it after
watching some large swells crashing in their channel and continued on to
Georgetown, essentially the furthest point south to refuel and re-provision and
await a weather window prior to jumping off to points beyond. We have moved
across from Georgetown (still a dinghy ride away) to Lee Stocking Island –
mostly for a change of scenery, while waiting for the northerly winds to settle
down so we can cruise to Long Island and Cat Island before heading to
Eleuthera. We’ll most likely be here until Thursday and determine our course
accordingly. After re-reading the beginning of this post, I’m afraid I somewhat
failed in the “trying not to overwhelm you” part… It did get a bit lengthy!
This is what happens when I can finally catch up on the blog while waiting for
the wind to subside… J
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