Bimini to Black
Point, Exumas
Monday, March 14,
2016. The time changed last night, so at 7am it is just getting light. Off the dock with JR (dockmaster here) and
Larry (Afterwards) helping. Southern
Cross and Windsome follow us
out. It is dead low tide and we touched
bottom in the channel on the way out. Jaz, First Borne, Bolero, Balemos and Hoodless left last night and spent the
night at Honemoon Harbor. They left from
Gun Cay (south of Bimini) about an hour ahead of us. It is sunny and 70
degrees, wind S@10.
9:00am, we turn east at Triangle Rocks and hear Jaz and
Bolero on the vhf. Wind now SSE @ 10-15,
sunny 75 degrees. All sails up and we
keep the motor on to keep our speed above 6 knots. Just east of the Cat Key waypoint, we are in
4.5 feet of water and we need at least 5.
Hopefully the grass on the bottom is long. We are finally through the skinny water at
10:40am and hear Jaz talking about
stopping for the night at Russell Shoal to hunt for lobster. The waves are still 2-3 feet, so anchoring
there turned out to be not such a good idea.
At 4:00pm, sunny 80 degrees, wind SW@9.
6:00pm, anchor down north of Northwest Shoal “on the banks”. The wind has died to about 5 knots and the
seas are relatively flat. Other boats
here are Jaz and Bolero, Hoodless, Windsome, Southern Cross and First Borne. Luna Sea and
Cygnet are also here, but not the
ones we know. They are headed west to
the US after a winter of not great weather in Georgetown. As we anchor, we see a pod of dolphins, which
we take as a good omen. 74NM today, a
near record for one day. 25°30.75’N 078°10.34’W
Tuesday, March 15,
2016. The Ides of March. anchor Lisa
– “Got up at 2am to check on the anchor.
The stars were incredible. I woke
Benny . It reminded us of laying on the hill at Burke
Mountain (VT). The sky just domes over
you. There is no ambient light to block any of
them out, and you think with all those stars there must be more beings out
there”.
Anchor up at 7:20am. Sun just peeking over the horizon. Wind West at 5-10. Managed to get past the shallows of Northwest
Shoal and back into the Northeast Channel at 8:10am. We were down to 6 feet of water at one
point. Balemos is headed north to The Berry Islands Bolero is headed to Nassau. Heard on the vhf Reggie on Submit.
They made it into Chubb Cay last night with Gusto, Stella Maris and Waterworld.
9:00am, sunny, a nice 80 degrees, wind SSW@5-10 – motor sailing. We see
large fish jumping, flying fish, and lots of sea birds. Jaz
has the spinnaker out.
Noon – sunny, 80 degrees, wind west at 3, ocean flat, puffy
clouds in the distance. Motoring across The Tongue of the Ocean. Last night we anchored in 12 feet of water
with no land in sight. Today, the water
is 8,000 feet deep. The US Navy tests
submarine communications here (and who knows what else).
After we left on this trip, we were told by our insurance
company that they would no longer insure boats that ever go to Florida and/or
boats over 20 years old. So, because our
boat turned 20 in December and we go to Florida, we had to find new insurance,
which has been an interesting exercise since we are in the Bahamas. However, our agent has been wonderful and
called today to say we are all set.
3pm anchor down in West Bay, New Providence, 10 miles west
of Nassau. Very nice bay. It is high tide and we anchor in 12 feet of
crystal clear water. Wind N@5-10. 49NM
today.
25°01.30’N 077°32.97’W Two big cell towers in sight – nice!
Stella Maris, Southern
Cross, Windsome, Jaz, First Borne, Hoodless, Bolero (thought they were
going to Nassau), as well a 6 other boats here tonight.
Wednesday, March 16,
2016. 7am. Beautiful sunrise. Put two jerry cans of fuel in the tank. Anchor up at 8am. Jaz goes into Albany
Marina to get ice and fuel. First Borne
with us as we leave the south entrance to the bay. 80 degrees, no wind. 10am –
still no wind and none is predicted.
Today’s issue is the holding tank in the forward head will not
discharge. There are no pump-out
facilities in the Bahamas, so you must discharge your own tank, preferably when
you are at least three miles off shore.
Not as problem today as we are 20 miles from the nearest land, but the
pump doesn’t seem to want to do its job.
After dismantling the system and cleaning everything, it seems to be
working. Clearly the nastiest job on the
boat – where is Mike Rowe when you need him?
While all this was happening, we were just drifting, so we have lost
about two hours of travel time and are heading for Highborne Cay instead of
Shroud Cay (about 10 miles farther south).
We got a message from Saber
Tooth today saying they were in at Staniel Cay (farther south still)
picking up guests. Hopefully, we will
catch up to them soon. We also heard
from Down Time. They are still in Florida, hoping to head
over in a week or so. We hear Submit (Reggie and on the vhf asking for
dockage at one of the marinas in Nassau.
4pm. Officially in the Exumas, Highborne Cay in sight. 5:30pm anchor down in 8 feet of water. There
is good cell service here, so we will communicate with family. Lots of boats. Stella Maris, Jaz, First Borne plus 10 others
plus 2 mega yachts.
45.5NM today. 24°42.92’N 076°49.87’W
Thursday, March 17,
2016. Today we swam, went to a
couple of beautiful beaches, looked for shells and sea beans – a typical
hi-stress, hi-activity day, which is why we do this. Dinner aboard Jaz – a bar-b-que – bring-your-own-main-dish( to
bar-b-que)-as-well-as-a-side-dish-to-share pot luck dinner – also known in
the islands as a “pitch in”. A very nice end to a very nice first day in the
Exumas.
Friday, March 18,
2016. 8am anchor up, sunny 75 degrees, no wind. Heading 6 miles north to Allens and Leaf
Cays. There is channel between them to
anchor. Leaf has a population of unique
iguanas. 9:30am anchor down at
Allens/Leaf. Jaz and Stella Maris
follow us in and First Borne on their
way also. Snorkeling on the reef just
south of Leaf Cay. Beautiful, lots of
colorful fish – and Chris (Jaz) gets
his lobster – a monster! Dinner! Afterward, we went to the beach to see the
iguanas, but we had to wait for the 100 or so tourists from Nassau to
leave. They bring them in boat loads –
your basic excursion from your basic cruise ship – in high speed boats. When they pull in, the guide says “you have
15 minutes to see the iguanas, take pictures, have a dip in the water, then
back on board as we are heading to the next destination”.
2pm, anchor up, headed to Shroud Cay. Sunny, 80 degrees, wind SW 5-10. 5pm anchor down at Shroud Cay. 80 degrees, no clouds, no wind – a perfect
evening. Dinner tonight on Rhiannon. We add the lobster we had in
the freezer from Bimini to the curry dish Margaret (Jaz) is making. We also
prepare fresh steamed broccoli and Janet (Stella
Maris) also brings a side dish to dinner.
First Borne has elected to
stay at Allens for the night. Nice end
to another nice day.
Allens/Leaf 6NM 24°44.83’N
076°50.28’W
Shroud Cay 15NM 24°31.93’N 076°47.88’W
Saturday, March 19,
2016. The days starts cloudy, but by
9am the sun is out. The wind is south at
10. Lisa goes to the beach while I work on this blog. By noon, the wind has picked up to 15. Allen (Stella
Maris), Chris(Jaz) and I meet on
Rhiannon to discuss a storm on the horizon for Monday. We call on the vhf to Exumas Park to see if
we can get on a list for a mooring. We
decide to head south towards Warderick Wells (where the park office is located
and where we think we want to weather out this front) tomorrow morning and
listen at 9am for the day’s mooring assignments. We have a couple of “plan B” choices, but
want to wait until tomorrow to make that decision (if need be).
By 2pm, the wind has piped up to 20+ and it is really rough
in this anchorage. We consider heading
to Warderick Wells today, but the weather folks say this is not the front, it
will settle down tonight. The afternoon
dingy adventure through the mangrove rivers here is cancelled. By 8pm, the wind is down to 10, but the waves
have not settled and there is no protection in this anchorage from anything but
an east wind. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.
By 10pm, the wind is still blowing at 10-12 and has gone
south and a bit southwest. The anchorage
is very uncomfortable with 3 foot waves crashing into the shore and then
bouncing back, so you have waves from 2 different directions affecting the
anchored boats.
Sunday, March 20, 2016.
Anchor up at 8:20am. Cloudy, 75
degrees, wind still south at 15. Very uncomfortable
night (it’s all not glorious in paradise), although we told a couple of folks
on the radio today “there’s no whining in paradise”. The weather is supposed to deteriorate over
the course of the day. We talked to
Triumph, and they suggest between Big Major and Little Major and Cambridge Cay
as places to hide from a west wind. They
are in Norman’s Pond, but the entrance faces east (Exuma Sound) and that may be
difficult to get out of when the wind goes east. Norman’s Cay and between Allen’s and Leaf
Cays may be alternatives as well. Our first
choice today is Warderick Wells, secure in all wind directions and strong
mooring balls. Margaret on Jaz prayed
for some divine intervention for this alternative, and sure enough, we are able
to secure moorings for all four boats.
11am wind still south-southwest @10-15, sun peeking
through. The big low pressure area to
the north is sucking all the air out of the Bahamas. We hear Saber Tooth and
Greenstone on the vhf. They are at
Cambridge Cay. Nice to talk with them.
Noon – sunny, 80 degrees, wind S-SW 10-15. On mooring number 8 at Warderick Wells Cay
(Exuma Park). Nice and flat here. All four boats are secure. Heard on the radio that Triumph has fresh
water pump (on the engine) issue and staying at Norman’s. By 3pm, the wind has died off and it a still
night.
We are still having issues pumping the forward holding
tank. When we check the macerator pump,
we find it is leaking.
18.5NM today. 24°23.83’N 076°37.94’W
Monday, March 21,
2016. Partly Cloudy, 80 degrees, wind south @ 10. Today we cleaned the cabin and Lisa
re-organized the “storage room” aka rear cabin.
We went ashore at 11am and registered in the park office. They charge for the mooring here and you have
to be on one as they do not allow you to anchor. The anchorage south of here (Emerald Rock)
allows both. Lisa and Jaz went for a walk up Boo Boo Hill and
she was able to find one of our signs from last year. The tradition is that you make a sign out of
driftwood with your boat name and the year and place it in the pile at the top
of Boo Boo Hill. The spirits that haunt
the place then do not bother you on your travels (get it? Ghosts say BOO). I did not make this stuff up! There are also
musical rocks here (they are hollow) and you can play them with sticks or
stones!
While out and about Lisa met Ralph and Laura on Hye Won.
They are from Bay St. Louis, Miss. And live about 5 miles from my 2
sisters (Patricia and Liz). They keep
their boat in the new marina in Bay St. Louis.
We were there last year and there are pictures of the marina in the
blog. You may remember that it is the one with the sound devices that keep the
seagulls and pelicans away. Ralph and Laura also have a Catalina 42. They even have a spare macerator pump (the
exact one we need) so we can replace ours that leaks. What about a small world!
I spent the rest of the day changing out the macerator
(another Mike Rowe job).
Later in the day it clouded over and rained. We had Ralph and Laura over for cocktails
another thank-you for the pump. We will
add one of these to the spares on board.
Rained heavily overnight.
Tuesday, March 22,
2016. Clear and cool, 65 degrees, wind NE 15-25. Today we cleaned the bilge
and changed another non-working pump.
This time the forward shower sump pump (the one that pumps water from
the shower overboard). Lisa baked a birthday cake for Marina (First Borne) and Jaz, First Borne and Stella
Maris came to eat cake and sing Marina Happy Birthday at 7. Very nice day.
Wednesday, March 23,
2016. Cloudy, 80 degrees, wind east 15-25.
Weather says this wind won’t die down until the week-end. Met Gary and Linda (Aurora) on the beach and
went for a walk with Jaz. Checked on
the weather at the ranger station. We
stopped by Hye Won for a visit. Jaz came over for shrimp and brought
stir-fry. First Borne stopped by a bit later.
Nice evening.
Thursday, March 24,
2016. Partly Cloudy, 80 degrees, lots of wind overnight. The boat is
covered with salt spray. Wind east at
15+. Lisa worked on the driftwood for
Boo Boo Hill, adding this year’s date and refurbishing the paint, which was
mostly worn off after just one year. We
hooked up the wifi booster and are have no problem reaching the office from the
mooring, Nice! We also hooked up the
cell phone booster and are able to make and receive calls, where before, we got
“no service”. We took the refurbished
driftwood back up Boo Boo Hill and placed it with Saber Tooth’s and Greenstone’s.
We have been able to hear them on the radio and will hopefully catch up with
them soon.
At 4pm, everyone went to the “coral garden” by the ranger
station for some snorkeling. The current
really rips through here, so you have to go a slack tide. Afterward, we walked the sand bars. Benny and Chris (Jaz) helped Diego (First
Borne) get his head sail back up the furling system after Diego had
performed some repairs on the sail. Not
easy in this wind!
At sundown, there was cocktails and appetizers on the beach
and 9 or 10 boats showed up. Nice end to
the day.
Friday, March 25,
2016. Off the mooring at 9am. Cloudy, 70 degrees, wind SE @ 15. As we leave Warderick Wells, there is a
significant rip tide with 4 foot waves at the entrance, as there is a cut to
the ocean (Exuma Sound) here. We are
able to sail until we make the turn south.
By this time, the wind has gone into the south and we are motoring into
3 foot waves all the way to Staniel
Cay. There are a lot of boats heading
north, and they are having a much easier ride, riding along with the wind and
the waves.
2pm, we are on the fuel dock at Staniel Cay Yacht Club and
fill with fuel (31 gallons) and water (51 gallons). This is the first we have taken on since
Bimini.
3pm, anchor down 1 mile north at Big Major Spot. Lots of boats here. Last year, the mega yachts stayed pretty far
out in deeper water. For some reason, there
are a few close to the beach among the smaller boats. Makes an interesting anchoring situation,
when one of the big ones swings down on you.
Isles General Store announced that they have lots of fresh
produce, as the mail/supply boat came in today.
I take the dingy in and buy some fresh fruit and vegies and some other
items we need and drop off the spare propane tank to be filled. We broke out
the grill and grilled some chicken for dinner.
21NM today. 24°11.07’N 076°27.56’W
Saturday, March 26,
2016. Sunny, 70 degrees. Very humid over night. Wind SE-10-15. This morning we went in to the
beach early to feed the pigs. They are
supposed to be wild, but they know where the food comes from. They will climb into your dingy if you try to
feed them from the boat. One of the local guides told us that the local folks
bring out barrels of scraps from the restaurants on Staniel Cay and make sure
they are fed. However, by noon, boat
loads of people are showing up (like seeing the iguanas on Leaf Cay). They are coming from the charter yachts, the
resorts, etc. Someone said that because
the weather has not been great all week, a lot of people are coming today.
At 9am I go back into Isles to pick our our propane
tank. The bay is choppy and not a
comfortable ride. At noon, there is a
cook-out at the public beach to raise money for the local school. Chicken, fish, mac and cheese, salad. $10 each. Great feed.
Everyone had planned to go to Thunderball Grotto for some snorkeling at
4:30 (low slack tide), but the bay was rough and everyone just chilled out.
Sunday, March 28,
2016. Easter. Sunny and still breezy
out of the south. 80 degrees. It was pretty bumpy on the dingy ride from
Big Major Spot, where we are anchored, over to Staniel Cay yesterday. The ladies have asked that we move the boats
closer to Staniel do that they do not get soaked on the way to church
today. So, at 9 am we moved
approximately 2 miles to a spot close to Thunderball Groto and directly across
from Staniel Cay Yacht Club. At 10:30am,
we went ashore at the Yacht Club and walked west to Mount Olivet Baptist
Church. The minister is Berkie Rolle,
who along with his wife, Miss Vivian, own Isles General Store. The first part of the service, in fact the
bulk of the service, was music and singing led by Miss Vivian and a man and
woman who also help lead the singing.
Lots of “Halleluiahs” and “Praise the Lord, He is Risen”. The sermon was short and inspirational. A very nice Easter service. Lots of people of all nationalities and races
attended. Hand-shakes among the men and
hugs among the women at the conclusion.
After church, a very nice lunch in the new dining room at
the Staniel Cay Yacht Club attended by Chris and Margaret (Jaz), Alan and Janet (Stella
Maris), Ralph and Laura (Hye Won),
Diego and Marina (First Borne) and
us.
At 4pm, Stella Maris,
Jaz and us went to Thunderball Grotto to snorkel through the cave at low
slack tide. We loved this last year and
amazingly, it was not crowded when we went. There are lots of fish and the sun
comes in holes at the top of the cave sending patterns of light through the water
in the cave. Lovely.
Afterward, Lisa and went to the Yacht Club in our wet
swimwear and sat at the bar and had rum punch (Benny) and pina colada (Lisa)
and great conch fritters. Nice end to
the day. Somewhat bouncy here overnight,
but OK for sleeping. 2NM today. 24°11.07’N 076°27.56’W
Monday, March 29,
2016. Today is also a holiday in the
Bahamas. Seas calm. Some wind from the SE at 10. 80 degrees.
Talked to Majestic Phoenix today.
They are at Black Point, so it will be good to see them – we are headed
there today. Also, talked to Saber Tooth
(John and Nora). They are in Black Point
and headed across the Cat Cay today. We
have been chasing them since they left Vero.
You might remember, we left St. Augustine with them and Greenstone. John also said he had heard from Roger and
Connie (Down Time) and they are still in Florida “working out mechanical issues”
with the “new” boat they boat over the summer. Diego and Marina (First Borne) are headed north toward the US today and we are sad to see them go and wish them calm seas and fair winds!
We had a final lunch with Chris and Margaret (Jaz) at the
Yacht Club (very nice). At 1:15 we
lifted the anchor and headed the 8 miles south the Black Point. Wind on our nose all the way. Dropped the anchor opposite Rockside Laundromat
at 3:45pm. Rockside is not only a laundromat,
Miss Ida Patton does haircuts, there is a small store there, she makes cakes
and conch fritters – and has showers! She
will do your laundry for you if you want to just drop it off and pick it up
later. You can order Bahama Bread (white, wheat, coconut or cinnamon) from
Corene there. We prefer to go next door
and get bread from Loraine’s mom (Peermon).
Loraine owns the restaurant (Lorraine’s) and rental cottages. Her mom lives behind the restaurant in a nice
house by the water. A dip and dinner
aboard.
8 NM today. 24°05.89’N 076°24.19’W
Tuesday, March 29,
2016. We took our laundry in this
morning before it got really busy. Jaz,
Stella Maris and a bunch of other people from boats in the harbor showed up to –
as well as Phil from Majestic Phoenix, we haven't seen him since the Abacos last year! Lisa and Margaret (Jaz) walked down to Adderley’s Grocery to deliver the
material Lisa brought Miss Lillian (Adderley).
Lisa bought a woven straw purse from her last year and at the time, Miss
Lillian had little material to line the inside, so Lisa brought her several
yard, 3 different colors and patterns.
We walked to Lorraine’s Mom’s house and bought a loaf of freshly made
(still warm) cinnamon raisin bread.
Yum. We bought an ice cream at
Adderley’s (a rare treat in the Exumas) and had conch fritters at the
laundromat (freshly made by Miss Ida. A
very nice day – and clean laundry and linens too!
At 5:30pm, there is a pot luck dinner at the laundromat
gazebo, so gotta run and get our dish ready for that.
Click here for lots of pictures of Bimini to Black Point
