SLOW TRIP! JUST THE WAY WE LIKE!!

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Diane & Tim hiking

As promised, this blog entry will (I hope) include more photos and less of my ramblings. We are finally in a location where we can get on line, free, with unlimited time. Bad side is that it is incredibly slow, but hey, we’re on island time mon!

           
 Quick synopsis of our time thus far in the Exumas:

   Leaving Nassau, we headed for the Exumas, crossing an area called the “Yellow Bank” as we headed southeast. Aptly named, this area, while not especially shallow, is strewn with coral heads that can get dangerously close to the surface at lower tides, so most of us detour around it…coral vs. fiberglass…coral always wins! After a 5-hour sail, we arrived at Allen Cay, a small island at the NE part of the Exumas, known for the large Iguana population. Unfortunately, it is also known as a bad place to be in strong winds…exactly what we had that night! Although I was very happy with our anchor set, I was far less so with our location near a rocky shore with a wicked current running. Both Diane and I spent much of the night in our cockpit keeping our eyes on our “buddy boat” Veritas as we strained on our anchor chains. Diane gained some sense of comfort looking at the anchor light of Veritas and dubbed it, “the star of Veritas.” Needless to say we won’t be returning unless the weather is absolutely benign.

Palm Tree Isle at Norman Cay

            Hurriedly leaving Allen the next morning we headed to Norman Cay, the largest island in this part of the Exumas with a fascinating history of drug smuggling, including a sunken airplane and a couple wonderful, secure anchorages. We enjoyed several days of mostly calm seas, awesome “dingy ops” in/around the cay, and lots of exploration of the beaches. For those of you who know about this place the down side is the popular beachfront burger bar (McDuff’s) has closed. Renovations are underway but from the look of the work in progress, the grand opening won’t happen for several years! Too bad, I’m told they had the best burger in the Exumas.

Dingy's beached at Norman.

            After Norman, we moved on to Shroud Cay, a series of small islands all connected by a huge mangrove swamp. This was also our first stop inside the Exuma Land and Sea Park where absolutely no fishing, lobstering or shelling is allowed. Needless to say all the lobsters and fish in the Exumas flock to the park to thumb their noses at salivating sailors as we snorkel around marveling at the underwater scenery!

Haircuts in Paradise at Hawksville Cay

            From Shroud, we moved all of 4 miles (there are very few long distance sails here!) to yet another uninhabited islands, Hawksbill Cay, reputed to be one of the prettiest in the Exumas. No one from either Magic or Veritas would argue the point.  Here we found several trails which led us from the west to east side of the island through the ruins of very old homes dating back to the Loyalist Period in the late 1700’s (the British crown gave land in the Bahamas to many of their subjects who remained loyal to them during the Revolution. While beautiful, I’m not sure what the King must have thought of these people to give them land in the middle of nowhere!). In a fit of misplaced adventure, the 4 of us decided to try to hike around the island…OOPS! We made it well over ½ way but were turned back by a total absence of a trail in an area of extremely difficult rock. Each small hill became more and more difficult to climb and the thought of how difficult it would be if one of us was injured eventually forced us to play it safe and go back the way we came. UGH. Even though the hike was a highlight of our stay here, the biggest highlight was our, “haircuts in paradise.” Both Jennings and I badly needed to be shorn so we arranged to take our portable generator ashore along with clippers, scissors, combs, etc. and have our very cute barbers lower our ears. I found a very secluded little beach, set up our improvised barber chairs, and the girls took over while Jennings and I cracked open a beer!  Too cool. I can’t remember enjoying a haircut more!

BOO BOO HILL Sign. Note incorrect year!

            Our next destination was Warderwick Wells, the headquarters of the Exuma Park and yet another really beautiful destination. There is no anchoring there, and everyone must take a mooring ball, which allows more boats to snuggle into the area and prevents damage to the coral. Other than (very expensive) wifi access, the biggest attraction of this island is Boo Boo Hill. All of 20’ above sea level, nevertheless, Boo Boo is an absolute must visit here. Cruisers from all around the world have crossed the mangrove swamp and climbed this hill to deposit a “boat sign” at the top to commemorate their passing. There are hundreds of them atop the hill and it is an interesting sight. We left our gift to the park, a sign I meticulously made with a router and marker…all to find out I’d put the wrong year on it!

Hike From Hell at Warderwick. Note rocks!

Last climb after 6 hour hike!

            When Diane and I were here a few years ago visiting Jorgen and Maria on “Querencia,” we (read SHE) decided it would be a good idea to hike entirely around the island of Warderwick Wells. Heck, it’s only a “bit” more than 7 miles, piece of cake! I try not to make the same mistake twice…I failed yet again! At least this time we enlisted the crew of Veritas for another circumnavigation and we were just a bit better prepared with more water and better shoes for the jagged rocks and wet, sandy beaches. Still, this trek lasted well almost 6 hours. Some parts were pretty difficult and a number of the trails poorly marked but the scenery was spectacular and visit to the “Pirates Lair” at the south end of the island memorable. As we finally reached the eastern shore a bit more than ½ way around, a line from our favorite sailing movie, Captain Ron, came to mind as they battle through a Caribbean gale totally lost (said with a crusty pirate voice); “…I know we are near San Juan! How? Well, when we left St. Simon, we had JUST enough fuel to make it….and we’re just about out of fuel!!” In our case, we knew that Boo Boo Beach and hill were near because we had just enough water to make it around the island…and we were out of water! Even with the occasional adversity, sharp rocks and backracking as we looked for a trail, it was a good day, one I doubt I’ll repeat!

Beautiful mooring field at Warderwick Wells

         
   Since leaving Warderwick Wells, we've made our way back to civilization in the form of Staniel Cay and now at the Blackpoint Settlement a bit further south. I'll blog a bit more about those places next but suffice to say it was nice to go ashore, find a bar, and sit down for a cold Kalik beer. While we truly enjoy the solitude of most of our anchorages we still occasionally need to reprovision fresh veggies and even enjoy a meal ashore!

   Enough for now. I’ll blog again soon since we are stuck in place for a few days by a fierce NE wind. Good news is that we have good wifi (a rare commodity here) and usually can get on line right from the boat! Also, please forgive the format in this blog. I've found this site extremely difficult to navigate and just placing photos in the right spot is a huge challenge! Still, I hope you enjoy this missive and photos of our adventures. Till next time...

FUN, GAMES AND BOAT REPAIRS ON MAGIC

Magic has made it to the heart of the Exuma Island chain in the Bahamas and it would be a huge understatement to say that it is far more beautiful here than we expected. Let me retrace just a bit.

DIANE'S FIRST STARFISH

            Leaving the small, and forgettable anchorage of Frazier’s Hog Cay in the Berry Islands, Magic and Veritas crossed to the island of New Providence (Nassau) we quickly saw our depth gauge go from 10 to OMG as we crossed over the deepest waters between the US and Virgin Islands. The so-called “Tongue of the Ocean” just east of the island of Andros is so deep (over 6000’ in many places!), the Navy uses it as a sort of “Top Gun” tactics playground for submarines! As we crossed this 30 mile wide body of water, there were likely two or more of them literally dogfighting thousands of feet below. Kind of eerie! Here we were, enjoying a glorious sail on the trip of a lifetime while my “bubble head” brethren were honing their warfighting techniques right below us. Who knows, they may have been using Magic as a practice target!

I’ve always prided myself in our anchoring techniques. For the 12 years we’ve owned Magic, only rarely have we had any problems getting our trusty Spade anchor to grab the bottom and hold like Velcro, even in the worst conditions. Well, As Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz said, “…Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore!” Down here, I have to become an expert in reading the bottom and then finding a good spot to drop the hook. Needless to say, it will be a while before I get good at it! Our first night on New Providence Island (Nassau), Diane and I decided to go to a well regarded anchorage called West Bay, about 12 miles from Nassau. The cruising guides said holding was good but stay away from grassy areas and, oh yes, parts of the bottom were “scoured” (a very thin layer of sand over hard packed sand that most anchors will not dig into). After 5, count em FIVE unsuccessful attempts to get our anchor to take hold, we finally dug in. Humiliating to say the least. Later that day, several other boats entered, including one we’d met in Bimini and they all leisurely dropped anchor, paid out some chain, and went back to their cockpit seemingly unconcerned whether or not their anchor had set. What the heck? What was their secret? I dingied over to our friends boat and they explained that in some places, they do what is called a “cocktail anchorage.” When they drop the anchor, if they see a “poof” of sand as it hits the bottom, they just let chain out the prescribed distance for the depth of the water, and go to the cockpit and have a beer! After about ½ hour, they set the anchor with the engine and it almost always digs in perfectly! I guess the weight of the boat and chain slowly forces the anchor into the sand without prompting by the engine! I really like that technique.

NASSAU HARBOR.

After a short motorsail to Nassau, we tied up at the same marina our “buddy” boats, Peaceful Easy Feeling and Veritas awaited. PEF was anxious to get going and left the next day, but we spent 2 days in the city of Nassau, about 1 ½ more than I would like! Unfortunately for us, this is where the title of this blog comes into play. Right after our arrival, we noticed our forward head (toilet for you non-boaters) was no longer functioning. We have manual toilets, which means you pump water into the bowl, do your thing, and then pump it out into a holding tank. Well, I couldn’t get the pump to move so that meant there was a blockage...really not good. I tried all the “easy” things to get the thing to work, all to no avail and wound up literally taking the whole system apart and digging to find and clear the blockage. I’ve done this sort of thing before and it doesn’t get any easier…please excuse the pun, but it was truly a crappy job! After many, many hours of cursing, pulling hoses, cursing, cleaning hoses (YECH!), more cursing, reassembling, yes more cursing, and then doing much of it over to find some tiny leak, we finally got the head back to full function. Of course, our nasal passages will never be the same, but what the heck our toilet works again! As usual, Diane was a champ and worked right alongside me the entire time. LONG, HOT showers did wonders and we were almost presentable. Thankfully, there are no photos to document this repair in an exotic location! To celebrate our accomplishment, we went to a local watering hole for a beer and conch fritters. Name of the place?  The Poopdeck Restaurant of course!

Celebrating at POOPDECK Restaurant

Oh yea, for those of you reading this who are sailors dreaming of this sort of adventure, fixing your boat in strange and exotic locations is just part of the deal. Since leaving home I’ve had to repair our refrigerator, replace our alternator controller, made numerous repairs to our once-trusty outboard (now called “Christine”), Remember, you will NEVER have the right spare part, no store will have exactly what you are looking for, and the price will be at least double what you would have paid at home. Still, it is all worth it, trust me.

Crossing from Nassau to Exumas

Since leaving Nassau we’ve visited a number of small islands in the Exuma chain all more beautiful than the last. Our good friends Bob and Maryln Oates on PEF have moved south faster than us in search of exotic locations but Veritas and Magic have pretty much hung together for the last couple weeks. Lively sessions of Hearts and Spades take up much of our evenings and even Jennings (Veritas), a dedicated "night crawler," has gotten used to our early bedtimes and even earlier wakeups to listen to Chris Parker (Shortwave Bahama weather guru) at 0630 every morning.

My next blog will have a lot more photos and descriptions of some of these awesome locations.

NASSAU HERE WE COME!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!           

  Bimini was great and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves with the crews of Peaceful Easy Feeling and Veritas, but it was truly time to go and on New Year’s Day, we decided to forgo the traditional Rose Bowl Parade and college football games on TV (amazing, all the Miami networks have repeaters in Bimini and reception was better there than in Coconut Grove!) and head east. Following Veritas out the now-benign channel, we turned north, then east into a dwindling breeze and almost flat seas…finally! Within a couple hours, we found ourselves on the “Great Bahama Bank,” a vast expanse of water east of Bimini where depths vary from 9-20 feet. Words simply cannot describe the scene. Absolutely crystal clear water with visibility so good you can see the bottom with depths greater than 40 feet! While we didn’t see much in the way of fish (Diane was disappointed since she had two fishing lines out, hoping to catch that elusive marlin!), the bottom itself was covered with conch shells, sand dollars, starfish, etc…and it was all there to view from the deck of Magic as we motored along at 6 knots! That was WAY better than the Rose Bowl Parade!

  Mid-afternoon, our little convoy were a little more than half way across “the bank” and instead of sailing through the night to Nassau, and with seas rapidly dropping to just about flat, we decided to anchor for the night. Here’s the picture, two boats, anchored about 100 yards apart, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN! Absolutely incredible. There just aren’t enough adjectives in the English language to describe the scene, but in a word, it was breathtaking. Even Diane, who had some concerns about anchoring because of other boat’s experiences with choppy seas and wind, was ecstatic as we moved along and along with the rest of us kept pointing at interesting things on the bottom some 20 feet below. After a group dinner on Veritas we sat in the cockpit or on deck (the girls abandoned us since we were smoking cigars!) marveling at the night sky, brilliantly lit by stars and planets. Other than our anchor lights, not another light on the ocean. Well, maybe not quite. A glance over at Magic caused all to chuckle since, as assurance against another boat crossing the bank at night hitting us, not only had I turned our anchor light on but plugged in all our Christmas lights as well!  It was an interesting sight seeing the reflection of a big string of multi-colored Christmas lights reflecting off the glassy ocean surface! Unfortunately, we forgot to take a photo!

  After a sound sleep I arose well before dawn early the next morning. I glanced out and to my surprise, saw what I thought was an anchor light of another sailboat, reflecting it’s light on the glassy smooth water very close by. Figuring that boat had seen our lights (with my Christmas lights who could have missed us!) and decided to anchor near us I went below, made coffee and then came back up only to find that boat’s anchor light had gotten MUCH closer since it had gotten quite higher. OOPS! As thousands of other sailor’s have done in the past, I’d mistaken the rising planet Venus for a ship’s anchor light!

   Since departing this magical anchorage (by the way, we were really lucky, lots of others who anchor on “the bank” have far less enjoyable experiences!) we have made our way to Nassau, the capitol of the Bahamas. Here, we are resting up in a nice marina, doing some boat work (you may recall in a past blog that I described cruising as “fixing your boat in exotic places!), and reprovisioning. This is the last place for us to easily obtain fresh veggies, and other groceries at anywhere a reasonable price, so we are making the best of it! We also discovered a great restaurant/bar where they have happy hour with free conch fritters!

  As I have done in just about every blog for a while, I apologize for the few of you who are reading this for the delay in submissions. One, internet service is really hard to find, expensive, and there is just so darn much to do I have trouble finding time to get to this. Still, please stay tuned as we head for the Exuma chain and beyond.

  FYI, bandwidth down here is extremely limited and until I figure out both where the photos I transferred to this laptop are and then how to upload them effeciently (less bytes!) to this blog, you won't see many photos. Please bear with me!