by Judy Handley | Mar 14, 2015 | Bahamas, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 155, Year 10: Black Point to Bitter Guana Cay
Date: Saturday, March 14, 2015
Weather: Sunny and Less Windy, Winds SE 10-15
Latitude: 24 08.601 N
Longitude: 076 25.077 W
Location: Anchored at Bitter Guana Cay, Exumas
This afternoon Windbird and Sea Turtle we moved three miles from Black Point on Great Guana Cay to Bitter Guana Cay in search of iguanas. The iguanas that live in the Exumas are among the most endangered lizards in the world and the bulk of them hang out up north on Allans Cay and here on itty bitty Bitter Guana Cay. We were told that all we had to do was go to shore and they would slowly come out to greet us. And, indeed, they did. Even though this is an iguana preserve, obviously people who come here feed them. One particularly large iguana thought Lee’s iPhone was food. So the iguana marched right up to Lee and started nibbling on his toes and looking up at the phone. We walked along the beach finding more and more iguanas hiding the scrub and one by one they came out to see us. The largest ones can weigh about 24 pounds and some were about two feet long, including their long tail. Their bodies are dark, almost black with pink to red coloration around their heads and front legs. I love to watch these creatures walk and leave their tail trails in the sand. I took tons of photos and videos that I will post when we get to Staniel Cay. Mark took his GoPro to shore with us today and got a few shots. We use the GoPro mainly for underwater photos as the land shots always look like you are standing on a curved surface because it has a super wide angle lens. Of course, we are standing on a curved surface, we just don’t always see it that way! In addition to the iguanas, this cay provides stunning views of huge limestone rocks that are providing the white sand on the beach. The rocks look snow-covered, but thankfully they are just sand-covered. There are small caves all along the shore so after doing our iguana watching, we rode along the shore in the dinghy to take a look. The caves you can explore are on Gaulin Cay that we passed on the way here. Tomorrow morning we will move on to Big Majors Spot near Staniel Cay, but before we leave here, we might do more dinghy and land exploring.
We are constantly amazed by the beautiful white sand beaches and crystal clear ocean water here that comes in every shade of blue imaginable. As we traveled around the world, the places with this combination of bright white sand and clear, azure water were fewer than we had anticipated. Many of the islands of the South Pacific and the Caribbean are volcanic and the sand on volcanic islands is not usually bright white. The Bahamas sit on a platform of limestone (the only rock found in the Bahamas) that was formed one to two million years ago. About 10,000 years ago during the glacial period, the water level in the ocean dropped as it was literally sucked out of the oceans to form the ice at high latitudes. This exposed the Bahama plateau. Then when the ice began to melt, the water running back through the exposed limestone caused the formation of caves. Once under water again, coral grew on top of the limestone rock. And it is this combination of limestone, coral, and sea shells that produce the white sand and crystal clear water found here.
by Judy Handley | Mar 13, 2015 | Bahamas, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 154, Year 10: Friday the 13th at Black Point
Date: Friday, March 13, 2015
Weather: Sunny and Windy, Winds ESE 20
Location: Anchored at Black Point, Great Guana Cay, Exumas
On this Friday the 13th, we have no disasters to report. Whew! We arrived in the Bahamas last Friday and it seems just like yesterday. But already we are beginning to think about the return trip. We still have two and a half weeks before we start making our way north and west back to Florida, so we just have to make the best of the time we have. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. It was windy today, but this anchorage is protected from the E and S, so we were fine. And we are anchored very close to shore and to town, so we didn’t have any long dinghy rides. Mark and I started out our day at 6:30 am listening to the weather and then at 7:30 we met Lynne and Ed on the Government Dock. As you walk up the dock, the little trailer where you can deposit trash bags is on your right and the little post office is right in front of you. But as we found out later in the day, the lady that runs the PO is in Nassau and it might be open again on Monday. Or maybe not. Things here definitely run on island time. We then headed south out of town on a brisk walk. Anytime you walk with Lynne, you know you are in for a fast-paced challenge. I don’t know how far we walked, but we walked south down the fat part of this island until we reached an area where the island narrows. We walked to the Exuma Bank side where we could see a home called the Sand Castle (and it does look like a sand castle) and a secluded anchorage. Then we walked across to the Exuma Sound side of the island and watched the waves crashing onto the rocks. Between this area and back to the little settlement of Black Point, there was really nothing but a few rolling hills and scrub land. This area has been laid out for future development and here and there were half finished houses, but at this point, the only homes are in the Black Point settlement. In town we passed by the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) office. This is where you go if you want to buy a local SIM card. Lee and Lynda walked there later in the day and found that it is only open on Wednesday mornings. Not very helpful. Across from the BTC tower and office is the local school. And from there, as we walked down the only road in town, we passed by three restaurants (DeShamon’s, Scorpio’s, and Lorraine’s), Adderley’s Town Market, the Gethsemane Baptist Church, the Rockside Laundry, the town’s reverse osmosis water supply, and back to the Government Dock. I have no idea what time we got back to the boat, but whenever it was, Mark rewired the bilge switch that burned itself out during our fiasco day before yesterday. Then we both headed to back to shore to the Rockside Laundry. I went to do laundry and Mark went to sit at one of the picnic tables and take advantage of the free internet. While I waited . . . and waited for a dryer, I was able to upload photos from the past week to the website. So it was time well spent. Mark left at some point and took the dinghy down to the dock near the water supply to fill up our two five gallon water jugs. By the time he returned, I was ready to go, but it was almost 2 pm and we were starved. We ate lunch and then we both crashed. I almost never take an afternoon nap, but I did today. I guess that morning walk really tired me out. Mark woke me up around 4:30 pm to tell me the weekly supply boat had arrived at the Government Dock. We had bought post cards for each of the grandkids at the market in the morning and wanted to send them. Mark walked there from the laundry earlier in the day and the door was locked. But we figured that since the supply boat is referred to as the mail boat that maybe the post office would be open to receive mail. But as I said earlier, we found out that it won’t be open again until Monday. Anyway, we went ashore at the laundry and found Ed and Lynne sitting in the shade of the gazebo taking advantage of the wifi. We all walked down to the dock to check out the action and then back to the little market to see what fresh produce had come in on the boat—romaine and iceberg lettuce, red and green peppers, oranges, tomatoes, garlic, eggs, milk, and bread. I think that was about it. We called Lee and Lynda on using our hand-held VHF radio to tell them that the supplies were going fast, so they came in to buy milk and a few other items. Ed and Lynne headed back to Constance, but Lee and Lynda joined us at Scorpio’s to have a Happy Hour drink before returning to our boats. It was a good day and we got a glimpse of life in one of the two settlements here in the northern Exumas. On Sunday we will sail back to the Staniel Cay area and visit the other settlement in these parts.
by Judy Handley | Mar 12, 2015 | Bahamas, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 153, Year 10: On the ‘Road’ Again
Date: Thursday, March 12, 2015
Weather: Sunny and Windy, Winds E to ESE 18-20
Latitude: 24 05.886 N
Longitude: 076 24.257 W
Location: Anchored at Black Point, Great Guana Cay, Exumas
What a difference a day makes. Yesterday was literally the sailing day from hell, but today we were on the ‘road’ again by 11 am. A little time and a man who can fix almost anything helped out. Mark got the engine running this morning and we headed south nine miles to Black Point on Great Guana Cay to meet up with our good friends Ed and Lynne of Contance. Lee and Lynda followed behind us. We both motored all the way and the conditions were so calm compared to yesterday. Life is good.
We got up at 6:30 am to listen to the weather (a daily must here in the Bahamas). After the weather, Mark went back to bed for a bit. He was still exhausted from yesterday’s fiasco. But I stayed up and wrote a couple of emails. When Mark got up the second time, he dove right into the engine fuel line issue. It was a lot easier to work on this when we weren’t heeling over so far that the toe rail was in the water. The fuel filter was blocked because it was filthy with all the gunk sucked into it from the churned up almost empty fuel tank. He got that problem fixed, but then the fuel coming from the tank we had switched to yesterday was also blocked. When I finally turned the key and the engine actually started, we were elated. The wind was still blowing almost 20 knots today from the direction we wanted to go, but we decided to go for it. As it turns out, it was a walk in the park compared to yesterday. By mid-afternoon we were anchored right next to Constance and sitting in Constance’s cockpit talking to Ed and Lynne. The last time we were anchored together like this was in 2010 in Madagascar. It was a great feeling to be reunited in this way. Ed and Lynne filled us in on what we will find here in Black Point. This community is the second largest in the Exumas and the people here are very welcoming to cruisers. There is a top-of-the-line laundromat with its own dinghy dock and free internet, a good little supermarket, Lorraine’s Café where everyone meets for lunch and more free internet, and there is free water and garbage disposal. It is a lovely little place and feels very comfortable. What it doesn’t offer is good snorkeling opportunities. So we will spend tomorrow and part of Saturday here and then, weather permitting, we will sail about five miles back towards Staniel Cay for an overnight stop at little Bitter Iguana Cay. This is a protected iguana preserve that should provide lots of photo opportunities. On Sunday morning we will return to the Staniel Cay area where we were last night, but this time we hope to be able to actually make it into the anchorage. There are lots of fun things to do there, so we will make that our base until mid-week when we will go a little further north into the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park where there are tons of great snorkeling opportunities.
Happy Hour was enjoyed on Windbird with both Constance and Sea Turtle in attendance. Lee keeps insisting that he sees the infamous “green flash” at sundown, but Lynda and I think that is just a result of too many sundowners! After everyone headed back to their boats, Mark and I had dinner and then checked out the internet possibilities here in the anchorage. We are anchored very close to Ida’s Laundromat and the free internet is available out here in the anchorage for those with a wifi booster. Thankfully, we have one. Mark spent the evening catching up on email and Facebook contacts. We saw some wonderful photos of our grandkids which made us VERY happy and also some great photos from Bali where our good friends Jane and Bruce Woodin from back home in Falmouth are vacationing. Justin had posted a photo of Ziggy where he had fallen through the couch. Ouch!
And Heather had posted photos of the boys playing in the snow and ice on the beach. But there is hope. She also posted a photo of crocuses peeking their colorful heads out. So spring must be on the way to snow and ice-laden Cape Cod.
by Judy Handley | Mar 11, 2015 | Bahamas, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 152, Year 10: Windbird’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Date: Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Weather: Sunny and Windy, Winds SE 20-25
Latitude: 24 10.828 N
Longitude: 076 28.353 W
Location: Anchored Near Staniel Cay, Exumas
From the subject line of this log, I think it is pretty clear that this was not a good day on Windbird. It started out just fine, windier than our weather guru predicted, but the ride wasn’t terribly rough. We were motor sailing with the main and staysail and were able to fight our way forward. Without the motor, we would not have made any headway, but with it, we were able to maintain a speed of three to five knots. Then, as our English friends would say, things went pear-shaped. Mark decided to go a little off-course so that we weren’t motor sailing directly into 20 to 25 knots of wind. He turned away from land to avoid shallow areas, but this put us out on the Exuma Bank with absolutely no protection. The seas went from one foot to two to three to four to five. When I started seeing seven foot seas, I suggested that we tack back toward land. The captain differed, so we continued on. Finally at about 2:30 pm, he agreed that turning back toward land might be a good idea. So we tacked, and almost immediately the engine stopped running. We assumed we were out of fuel in one tank, so Mark went down to switch tanks. We tried and tried to start the engine with no success. Mark stayed below working on the problem and I stayed at the helm going nowhere. Mark did all of the things that you are supposed to do when you run out of fuel and in doing so, he discovered that our fuel filter was really gunked up. Since there was not much fuel left in the tank, the gunk that settles to the bottom of the tank was getting mixed in thoroughly with the fuel in rough sea conditions. Long story short, we had to change our destination for tonight to someplace closer and we had to sail for five and a half hours to get there. In order to reach an anchorage by dark, we had to sail with all sails up full and that heeled us right over. We were running with the toe rail almost in the water and since we had to tack back and forth, everything in the boat went flying from one side to the other. Normally we would have been reefed down in these conditions, but we needed the speed today. By the time we were close to an anchorage it was after 8 pm and very dark. So we picked a place close by to the western anchorage on Big Majors Spot island and hope that we will get the engine started tomorrow so we can go on into the anchorage. Big Majors Spot is the easy go-to anchorage close to Staniel Cay. There are other anchorages just off Staniel, but none are known to have the good holding that Big Majors has. With the winds that we are predicted to get over the next couple of days, good holding is very important. Thus, Big Majors is probably packed and that’s why we anchored way off. We didn’t want to try sailing into a crowded anchorage in the dark. Thankfully we made it where we did safely. Mark is exhausted and my nerves are on edge, but hopefully a good night’s sleep will fix things.
We are disappointed that we couldn’t make it to our original destination at Black Point on Great Guana Cay. We were really looking forward to seeing our friends Ed and Lynne of Constance. But we are close enough to be able to talk to them on the VHF radio, so at least we were able to tell them that we weren’t going to make it. But we weren’t able to talk to Lee and Lynda on Sea Turtle for most of today. At the start of the day, a boat named Pearl was hailing Sea Turtle on the radio. Sea Turtle didn’t answer, so we called them to tell them they were being called. They never could hear the other boat and this is when we discovered their radio issue. Then as the day progressed and we got further apart, they couldn’t hear us either. They can transmit just fine, but they have a very limited distance for receiving. Since we were having so many issues, we wanted to be able to tell them not to expect us in the anchorage, but it just wasn’t possible. We had talked to them off and on enough during the day to know that they were changing their destination to Big Majors Spot, so we headed there as well. Once we got close to where we were going to anchor, we finally re-established contact. They made it in one piece but they also have some repairs that have to happen tomorrow. So I suppose we will be here for at least one day. We would still love to make it down to Black Point to see Ed and Lynne, but that will depend on how successful we are in getting our motor running again. And, of course, it depends on the weather.
by Judy Handley | Mar 10, 2015 | Bahamas, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 151, Year 10: Normans Cay to Shroud Cay
Date: Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Weather: Another Gorgeous Day-Sunny, Temp 80’s F, Wind ESE 15-20
Latitude: 24 31.966 N
Longitude: 076 47.834 W
Location: Anchored on the Exuma Bank Side of Shroud Cay, Exumas
The Exumas are a thin chain of small islands to the east and south of Nassau running to the southeast. As we did two days ago, you have to cross a shallow bank, either the Yellow or the White, from Nassau before you reach the first cay in the chain. You can then work your way down the chain on the inside or Exuma Bank side of the cays or on the outside in the Exuma Sound. The Exuma Sound is on the east side of the cays and it is referred to as the ocean side. Here on the inside on the Exuma Bank, we are a ‘bit’ more protected, but just a bit. This morning we motored about five miles south of Normans Cay to Shroud Cay directly into the SE winds. It is slow, but the seas weren’t too bad, so it was actually just fine. Shroud Cay is a lot of little cays that surround a shallow mangrove interior with a whole network of creeks winding their way from the Bank side to the Sound side. Only the northernmost creek goes all the way from west to east and it is the only one that you can navigate with a motor. So as soon as we arrived, we headed out to explore. Sea Turtle is anchored almost two miles north of us in catamaran country. Sea Turtle is not a cat, but her draft is only four feet, so Lee and Lynda can go where Windbird dare not tread. We are further south in the lovely Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park mooring field where most of the moorings are in ten to twelve feet of water. In order to reach the northernmost creek, we had to pass right by Sea Turtle. Lee and Lynda were ready to head out in their dinghy, Hatchling, so off we went. Navigating the creek was delightful. It was nearing high tide, so even though the creek is shallow, we had plenty of water under us. On the banks of the creek in very shallow water is where the mangroves grow. They were short and stubby growing in white sand in crystal clear water. The variation in the colors of the water went from clear with a white sand bottom to various shades of aquamarine. But then as we approached the Exuma Sound, we had a color burst going from white, white sand beaches with gray rocks topped with green palm trees to deeper and deeper shades of aquamarine reaching out in to the Sound. And the darker blue sky rose up from the water. The surf was rolling in, so the crashing waves separated the water from the sky. It was beautiful. We were in search of Camp Driftwood and it was not clear if it was on the beach to the left or to the right of us. We guessed left and I hopped ashore to check it out. I couldn’t find the path that was supposed to take us up the hill, so I went back and Lee and Mark went out scouting. They found the path and Mark came back to tell Lynda and I to follow him. Camp Driftwood was once the haven of a reclusive sailor who built all manner of creations from driftwood atop his hill. During the drug lord years, the “feds” used Camp Driftwood as their base for spying on the activity on Normans Cay. From the top of the little hill where Camp Driftwood sits, you can see in all directions making it possible to use high powered cameras to document the activity on Normans Cay. Today it is managed by the Exuma Cays Land Sea and Park and there is a sign at the top announcing that you have reached Camp Driftwood but asking you to please not leave things to ‘decorate’ the camp. Older cruising guides say that you must bring scavenged items from the beach to please the ‘guardians’ of the camp. The Park now says otherwise, so we had to throw our shells and driftwood over the hill. We enjoyed the views and then descended back down to the beautiful little beach. A large boat had arrived with a boatload of young people who were frolicking in the surf. We should have joined them, but we sat on the rocks in the shade of the hill and ate our picnic lunches. I think we could have stayed all day just to watch the waves roll in, but after we ate, we went back to the dinghies and made our way back across the island. It was a wonderful little explore.
Tomorrow we have about 35 miles to motor straight into strong headwinds. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are all windier than tomorrow, so we are opting to go even though it won’t be particularly comfortable. The winds are supposed to settle a bit in the afternoon when we will have only 15-17 knots on the nose. We’ll look forward to that afternoon reprieve and in the meantime travel very slowly on our way to Black Point on Great Guana Cay. That is as far south as we plan to go, so once the winds settle down over the weekend, we will start the trek back to the north to Staniel Cay. The adventure continues. And next week it is going to get even better. Our friends Kevin and Claire are going to fly into Staniel Cay to spend a few days with us. It was a last minute decision and they were able to get great flights right to Staniel. Kevin and Claire are our friends even though they are the age of our kids. We lived aboard our respective boats in Boston from 2003 to 2005. Claire was completing her doctorate work at Harvard Medical and found buying a boat and living aboard a cheaper way to live in Boston. We sailed to Maine together one summer and on our trek around the world, they flew to Thailand to sail with us for two weeks. They have visited us often on the Cape and in Little River, and we are delighted that they will be now be joining us in the Bahamas.
by Judy Handley | Mar 9, 2015 | Bahamas, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 150, Year 10: Cruising Again . . . Feels Fantastic
Date: Monday, March 9, 2015
Weather: Gorgeous Day-Sunny, Windy, and 80 degrees F
Location: Anchored on West Side of Normans Cay, Exumas
It feels fantastic to be cruising again. I know we live on a boat, but living on a boat and cruising in a boat in the islands are two different things. Mark just said, “This is the way you are supposed to feel at the end of a day-a little exhausted after a day filled with fun activities.” So what is that we did today that we love so much? We took a long walk on land, most of it along the beach with beautiful views. We explored some old ruins, watched the construction crews busy cleaning up and building who knows what, went back to our boats for lunch and rest, set off on a dinghy exploration of the north end of the island, and then came back to our boats to jump in the water and cool off. Perfect day. But this is the short story. Of course, I have a longer version for those of you interested.
Windbird and Sea Turtle both started the day with a dinghy ride to the beach. We drug our dinghies above the high tide line, tied them to trees on the far side of the beach, and then walked down to Normans Cay Beach Club. From the water all we could see were two white houses on the beach, two boats on moorings, and a dinghy on land to get to the boats out in the water. There’s a little more to it than that, but not much more. There is a restaurant called MacDuff’s Bar & Grill that is part of the ‘club’. We had read that a hamburger, great as it is supposed to be, costs $25. So we skipped that. Behind the Beach Club there is a paved airstrip completely surrounded by high chain link fence. We’ve seen lots of little island air strips and this is one of the nicest we have ever seen. We had asked at the Beach Club how to get to the far side of the island and a young man told us to walk to the end of air strip and follow the beach. So we did. The views were beautiful and it was interesting to see all of the construction going on. Normans Cay has very few people living here, no villages or settlements, no stores. It is basically an uninhabited island except for a couple of resorts and a sprinkling of private homes. But with all of the construction going on, something new is obviously coming. On the other side of the island, we marveled at the colors of the waters and explored the ruins of the once prosperous domain of Colombian drug runner, Carols Leder. In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, Leder ran a cocaine smuggling operation from Normans Cay. Since the island was basically uninhabited except for the cruisers who anchored offshore, Normans made a great place for the smuggling operation. But then there were supposedly a number of murders involving cruising boaters who came too close the operation and eventually it was shut down by the “feds”. But what a beautiful location Leder chose for his operation called the Normans Cay Club. After walking back to our dinghies, we headed out to Sea Turtle and Windbird for lunch and a little rest time. Then Mark and I picked up Lynda and Lee and took them in our dinghy about three miles north of the anchorage to Galleon Point at the northern end of the island. I had read that the colors of the water between the point and Saddle Cay were quite remarkable, and we weren’t disappointed. It was truly breathtakingly beautiful reflecting shades of blue that that look almost surreal. It was a bit of a wet dinghy ride home, so we all decided to go to our respective boats and jump into this crystal clear water. We put our snorkel gear on so we could check the bottom of the boat and just generally enjoyed the warm water. Then it was off to Sea Turtle for happy hour with a couple from another boat anchored next to Lee and Lynda. We arrived at 5:30, but the other couple didn’t get there until 6:30. Philip and Johanne of Majestic Phoenix are from Montreal and they had no idea that the time had changed here on Sunday. It was a full day filled with fun. I think we’ll see if we can replicate the fun tomorrow. We will sail six miles south to the next little island, Shroud Cay, and continue our explorations there.
