Thursday, February
28, 2019. The wind dies off somewhat during the night.
6:45am. Partly cloudy, wind S@10-15, 75 degrees.
7:30am Anchor up, Heading north, motor sailing to charge the
batteries at 6 knots. 6 boats heading north, several boats left heading south.
9:15am wind SSE@10-15, Partly cloudy, 80 degrees, passing
Emerald Bay.
12noon Wind s@10-12, clear, but puffy clouds here and there
like bits of cotton. Passing Bock Cay.
1:00pm wind S@9. Passing Cave Cay Cut. We got a text message from Saber Tooth, they are at Black Point.
3:20pm Dotham Cut, the wind has died almost completely off.
4:00pm Anchor down at Black Point in front of the Rockledge
laundry. Saber tooth, Greenstone, Summer of 42 along with 42 other boats are
here.
53NM today. 24°05.89”N
076°24.26’W
Walter (Summer of 42)
came by to say hello and ask if wanted to go in to Scorpio’s at 4:30pm. He offered to ferry us in and back out so we
don’t have to drop the dinghy right away. At 4:30, he and Connie came by to
give us a ride to shore. Scorpios is
crowded, Saber Tooth, Greenstone and
many others are also there. 2 rum punches for $7 and good food are hard to
beat.
 |
| Anchorage at Black Point |
Friday, March 1,
2019. Clear, wind E@10, 78 degrees, marvelous.
We spent most of the day at Rockledge laundry. Very busy place with cruisers coming and
going all day. Lots of people with lots of laundry.
I put a new painter (bow rope) on the dinghy. The old one
was in pretty rough shape, almost worn through where it was attached to the
bow.
While waiting on the clothes to dry, we had pizza at
DeShamon’s. The quality of their pizza
has improved dramatically over the last two years – but the length of time to
actually get one after it is ordered has not.
Lisa walked over and ordered it while the first loads of clothes were
washing, then when those clothes finished, we put them in dryers and went back
to the restaurant. By the time we got the pizza, the clothes were done. You just have to time it right.
There are many more “tour boats” in the Exumas than ever
before. Many come down loaded with
tourists from Nassau. Still others come
north from George Town. Black Point has
become the stop of choice for lunch for these boats. There are new docks for
these boats and each restaurant gets at least one tour boat a day. Certainly good for business. All four
restaurants have remodeled and “spruced up” both their facilities and their
menus. We finished our pizza just as 3 of these tours arrived.
Leftover pizza for dinner.
 |
| Sunset at Black Point |
10:00am, we rented a golf cart from Mr. Lawrence Adderley
and drove to the north end of the island.
We walked three beaches – about 2 miles each way. You would think because these beaches are
somewhat remote, that there might be a few sea beans, not so. Lisa found one hamburger bean, and I found
one Machineel bean and one Laurelwood. There were many nice shells tho’,
especially the black and white welk shells.
Afterward we drove around the island. There are lots of new
homes being built (Mr. Adderley says over 20).
These are nice homes, but not large ostentatious ones.
We stopped at Lorraine’s mom’s (Peermon) and bought a loaf of
cinnamon raisin bread, yum!
Moon Pie was at
the laundry, so we stopped to say hello again.
We may see them at Cambridge Cay on Tuesday.
2:45pm We raised the anchor and headed 3 miles south to
White Point to meet Saber Tooth and Greenstone.
4:00pm Anchor down at White Point. The boats are here but no
people. Turns out they were on the other
side of the point on the beach.
Summer of 42 has guests who arrived yesterday (son,
daughter, grandson and girlfriend). They
left this morning for Warderick Wells.
Dinner on board. Lisa
made steak, apple sauce and broccoli. Nora’s (Saber Tooth) homemade ginger
snaps for dessert!
4NM today 24°02.16’N
076°22.34’W
Sunday, March 3,
2019. 2:00am A squall come through, wind goes SSE and heavy rain. The rain
only lasted ½ hour while the wind peaked at 26 knots.
7:00am Wind SSE@20.
There are 3 and 4 foot breakers coming into the anchorage. Very rough.
8:30am Anchor up, heading toward Staniel Cay. Saber Tooth,
Greenstone, Summer Flight (Ian and Michelle) all moving. Talked to Moon Pie,
they are headed north also.
11:30am Anchor down just west of the docks at Staniel Cay
Yacht Club. Even tho’ the wind is still
SSE@15+, it is calm where we are anchored.
The skies have cleared and the day is very nice.
Moon Pie is
continuing north toward Cambridge Cay. Saber
Tooth, Greenstone and Summer Flight anchor
at Big Major Spot (Pig Beach, where the swimming pigs are).
12.5NM today
24°10.31’N 076°26.80’W
2:00pm Dropped off the empty propane tank at Isles General
Store to be refilled. They are not open,
but the practice is you leave it on the front porch, then come back the next
day and it will probably be filled, if Burkie is working that day and if he has
any propane.
We then went to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club (SCYC), tied the
dinghy to the breakwater wall and walked
to the Blue Store. Ivy is now running
the store. Her mom, Miss Eloise, is not
able to run the store any longer, but she is still around and doing well
according to Ivy. The store is packed floor to ceiling with merchandise,
including almost anything you would want in the way of produce. Others tell us that the other two stores are
also full. Apparently, the mail/supply
boat came in yesterday, great timing on our part!
John (Saber Tooth)
then gave me and Bob (Greenstone) a
ride back to the boats with groceries, then picked me up for the ride back to
SCYC. We met the ladies there as well as
Ian and Michelle (Summer Flight).
6:00pm Saber Tooth,
Greenstone and Lisa and I went over to The Purple Restaurant for
dinner. They open at 6:00pm this
evening, and even tho’ we are a few minutes early, we are admitted and find a
table for 6. This place has never been
open when we have been in Staniel Cay and we have heard and read that it is
supposed to be good. By 6:30pm the place is full with locals, people from the
resorts and boaters. The food took over
an hour to arrive and was just ok. The
prices were reasonable tho’. We had Key
Lime Pie (that their cooks make at home) for dessert and that was
excellent! It was 9:00pm by the time we
got back to the boat and as calm as could be.
Monday, March 4,
2019. Our son James 30th Birthday. Clear, 80 degrees, wind
SW@10, beautiful.
11:00am We head over to Thunderball Grotto (The movie
Thunderball was filmed here) to see the marine life. There were lots of people and tour boats, too
many!
1:00pm We went to Isles’ General Store and picked up our filled
propane tank and had an ice cream (a nice treat).
We thought about taking Rhiannon
to the fuel dock for fuel and water, but there has been a steady line of boats
there all day.
Dinner on board. Lisa made French toast (using Peermon’s
Cinnamon Raisin Bread), sausage, eggs, and bacon. Yum! Calm here overnight.
Tuesday, March 5,
2019. Clear, 78 degrees, wind SW@5-10, small puffy clouds.
8:30am No one on the fuel dock, so we raise the anchor and
move over there. We went in to the dock the wrong way (with the tidal current,
instead of against it) and although we did get a bow line tied to the dock the
current caught us and swung the stern away from the dock. So, we let that go
and started over, this time against the current and the docking went much easier. While filing with water, Lisa dropped on of
the lids for the jerry cans overboard, so she jumped in and retrieved it – an
unplanned early morning swim. We put on 21 gallons of fuel, 99 gallons of
water, ice and dropped off the garbage.
9:30am, we are off the fuel dock and heading north to
Cambridge Cay to meet Moon Pie and to
ride out the passage of the coming cold front.
The wind is supposed to go into the North in the 20s tomorrow, then east
in the 20s. Cambridge Cay is a good
place to be in those conditions.
Saber Tooth is
picking up guests late today at Staniel Cay and then hoping to make it up to
Cambridge.
We talked to Sea Hawk
(Burry and Wendy) on the VHF. They are
at Sampson Cay (just north of Staniel Cay).
While we have talked to them this trip, we have not yet seen them.
11:50pm Anchor down south of the mooring field (which is
full) at Cambridge Cay. Sunny, puffy
clouds, 80 degrees, wind SW@10. Lovely.
15NM today.
24°18.02’N 076°32.34”W
1:30pm We met Moon Pie (Greg and Jodi) at the small
islands just west of the mooring field for some snorkeling. These three little islands have a great
variety of coral and sea life and today is no disappointment.
5:00pm We go to Moon
Pie for dinner. We brought a salad,
rum drinks (Goombay Smash) and a conch horn for them. Rum drinks and the blowing of the conch horn
at sunset. Greg made lemon chicken with capers over linguine. Very good. Lovely evening. It was 10:00pm by the time we got back to the
boat.
Wednesday, March 6,
2019. Cloudy, wind NW@20-25+ this morning.
Wind and tide are opposed, so it is somewhat rolly here. It is worse at the north end of the mooring
field, where Moon Pie is moored.
2:00pm We met Moon Pie
at the shore and walked across the island to the beach. We only found one sea bean, a Starnut
Palm. Although there were a few nice
shells, this is part of Exuma Land and Sea Park, so you are supposed to leave
everything as is.
Skies are threatening as we head back to the boats. Dinner
on board. Lisa made tacos. The first time we have had that in a long
time.
Thursday, March 7,
2019. Cloudy, wind NE@20+, 72 degrees.
9:30am Lisa went kayaking with Jodi (Moon Pie).
11:00am We walked the beach by Bell Rock with Moon Pie.
2:00pm We went to the beach by the blue hole with Saber Tooth, Greenstone, Moon Pie, Southern
Flight, Orion and J&P.
5:30pm Moon Pie came over for cocktails and dinner. Many conch horns at sunset. Moon
Pie brought cracked pepper-corn jelly on wheat thins for an appetizer. Lisa made spaghetti squash with marinara
sauce topped with fresh broccoli and asparagus. Mexican Train afterward. Nice
evening, but late for us – 10:00pm.
Wind now east at 15-20+.
There is a lot of tidal current here and while there are not a lot of
waves, the boats shift directions with the tide and what waves there are, some
of the boats are doing circles. Boats on
the moorings have double lines to the mooring and those get really twisted
badly with all the motion of the boats – untangling them can be a chore.
Friday, March 8,
2019. Hazel’s 61st Birthday.
International Day of Women.
Still very windy overnight and this morning, clear, 75
degrees, wind SE@15-25.
9:00am Allure goes
aground leaving Cambridge anchorage by the south entrance. They were way east of the channel and luckily
it was in sand. The Park Warden (Brett)
was able to pull them free with the new Park boat. Shortly thereafter, another boat coming in
that same south entrance was way out of the channel, but Brett was able to get
to them in time to keep them from going aground.
Moon Pie left via
the north entrance and are headed to Staniel Cay.
9:30am We lift the anchor and say “so long for now” to Saber Tooth and Green Stone, who are headed north to Warderick Wells.
1:30pm Anchor down at Black Point. Providence,
Gabriel and 30 other boats are here.
21NM today. 24°06.09’N
076°24.11’W
2:00pm We walked the beach closest to town and found 3
Machineel sea beans, but no sea hearts or hamburger beans.
4:00pm We stopped at
the blue store and visited with Miss Sharon (Taylor). We hope to find out how to identify the
correct “silver palm) to use for basket making.
She took us over to the Black Point Cemetery, where there are a lot of
these silver palms and showed us how to identify them from the “Brickel Palms”,
which are not desired for weaving because the fronds will split. She and Lisa then spent some time working on
“technique” for making the baskets.
7:00pm We met Miss Sharon at Lorraine’s Café for dinner (our
thank you for her time and sharing her knowledge). She was born and has lived her whole life at
Black Point, except for two trips to Nassau.
She works at the elementary school.
Her children are grown and both live and work in Nassau (her son is a
policeman). Her husband works on Leaf Cay as a caretaker/maintenance man. Of course,
she knows everyone on the island, so we got to meet many people as they came
and went to Lorraine’s.
 |
| Lisa's basket weave |
 |
| Lisa's Bottle Basket |
We plugged scuppers so we could gather water into the fresh
water tanks from all this rain.
12noon It has begun to clear, so we loaded the dinghy and went
to the laundry. Later in the day Lisa
worked on baskets and I worked on some conch horns.
We had dinner on board (pork chops, zucchini, fresh tomatoes
and mashed potatoes).
8:00pm Lisa went land crab hunting with Miss Ida and her
cousin Delwood. They captured a whole 5
gallon bucket full. I turned on every light on the outside of the boat so Lisa
could find her way home. It is very dark
and windy out, but she made it back safely.
Sunday, March 10,
2019. Time Change. Remember to set your clocks? Change the batteries in your smoke alarm?
Clear, 78 degrees, wind SE@15-20. The wind is supposed to ease by Tuesday, then
three more days of wind (another cold front), then some more moderate weather,
but that’s too far in the future to have any confidence that it will actually
happen that way.
We went to the government dock and walked the road toward
O’Briens Landing (the area with the pink house where we had anchored
before). Lisa came this way looking for
land crabs and saw more of the vines with sea pearls, so we are hunting them in
the daylight. We found a bunch of the
vines growing beside the road. This time
we also found some on the ground. The
reference book we have says the seed/beans come in three colors, brown, yellow
and grey. Well, it turns out they all
start out brown, then as they are exposed to the sun, they lighten to orange,
then yellow, then grey. The more
sunlight they are exposed to the lighter they become. We found them in all
colors.
 |
| Sea Pearls - all colors from the same plant - not different species |
We looked at lots of palms, found some of the correct silver
palms and were able to gather some fronds. The only fronds gathered are the
newest ones that are not yet open. This
does not damage the plant and it soon has grown another.
Sea Hawk (Burry
and Wendy) came in to the anchorage and came by in their dinghy for a visit.
We got a call on the VHF from Rockside Laundry wanting us to
come in to shore. Miss Ida had made
Sunday dinner for us (Bar-b-que chicken, fish, cold slaw, peas and rice with
the crab from last night). What a great
meal!
We talked to Summer of 42.
One set of guests departed and another has arrived, but they are staying
at a cottage at Staniel Cay Yacht Club, which provides more flexibility than if
they stayed on the boat. Besides,
Walter’s dinghy engine is not running right, so he has rented a small outboard
boat to use to ferry his guests around the area.
We stopped at Adderley’s store. Mr. Lawrence has gone to Nassau to visit his
wife (Miss Lillian) and daughters and grandchildren.
Monday, March 11,
2019. Clear overnight and this morning, 72 degrees, wind ESE@10.
We dinghied into town to deliver thank you notes Lisa has
hand written to Miss Sharon and to Miss Ida and Delwood (who everyone calls
Boo-Boo). We dropped off the trash and then Miss Sharon drove by so we were
able to say thank-you in person and got a nice hug in return. Then Miss Ida
drove by and we got to say good-bye and thank you to her – and receive a hug as
well.
We got ice at Deshamons’ and headed back to the boat. On the dock were bundles and bundles of palm
fronds that were being unloaded from a boat for the local weavers.
9:30am Anchor up – 76 degrees, wind SE@12, puffy clouds all
around.
12:00noon Anchor down at southeast tip of Pipe Cay.
12NM today, 24°14.07’N
076°30.24’W
12:30pm Moon Pie
comes in and anchors nearby.
12:45pm A tour boat comes in and drives up on the sand bar
nearby, 20 people get off and mill around for 15 minutes, then the tour boat
roars off to another sight seeing spot. Another tour boat roars through the
“creek” heading north. We have only been
traveling here for five years and five years ago there were very few of these
40-50 foot high speed boats carring folks from either Nassau or George Town. Last year one of these caught fire and six
people died and many were injured.
Neither the boats or the captain and crew are not licensed or regulated,
so you are literally risking your life on one of these high speed tours. We
understand why the tour boats come here.
This has to be one of the most beautiful spots in the Bahamas.
2:00pm Along with Moon
Pie, we go dinghy exploring. Over in
Pipe Creek proper, we find Providence
anchored. We pull along side and have a
beer with Bill. There are three boats
anchored in what is called “The Mice” (a very narrow area just west of “The
Creek”) and two more farther north from Bill.
The area is protected from every wind direction and is a good place to
hide from a storm, but you have to know how to get in oud out. The “creek” is actually a narrow channel
between islands that runs for about two miles.
Pipe Cay is on the west side, hence the name. We went all the way north to the southern end
of Compass Cay, where Compass Cay Marina is located. Pipe Cay is covered in the
silver palms. We stopped at Little
Hattie Cay. It is covered with both new
and old conch shells. We gathered a few
to use to make conch horns.
4:00pm Back at Rhiannon.
Lisa and Jodi go kayaking around Little Pipe Cay. I showered and worked on cleaning the diesel
residue off the stern.
6:00pm Cocktails and dinner at Moon Pie. We brought Goombay Smash. Dinner was smoked sausage,
baked beans and cold slaw. Mexican Train
to complete a lovely day.
Tuesday, March 12, 2019. Partly cloudy, 80 degrees, wind E@5
(coming off the island). No-see-ums are out in force this morning. We could not
hear Exuma Park on the VHF at 9:00am this morning, but Moon Pie could. It sounds like we may have a mooring
assignment in the north mooring field for tonight.
9:45am Anchor up, motoring north, seas flat.
11:30am Anchor down at Fowl Cay by Rocky Dundas.
8NM 24°16.44’N
076°32.29’W
12:00noon We visit Rachael’s Bubbles. This is where the waves break over rocks into
a pool. A lovely spot and one of our
favorites. We met a group of folks which included cadets from the Naval
Academy. Moon Pie’s youngest graduated from there in 2016 and is now at
helicopter flight training in Pensacola.
This group is on a private captained charter (aka charter my boat and
me). The boat is from the US and I am
pretty sure this is not legal in the Bahamas.
The guests told us it was a “charter” and the captain said it was not…….
2:00pm Anchor up, we go outside (through Exuma Sound, aka
the Ocean) to Warderick Wells. There are
big rollers out here, but with a lot of time in between.. Very nice ride north.
5:00pm On mooring #9 at Warderick Wells, Exuma Park. We lashed the big metal thimble on the 1 ¼”
pennant to the forward cleats so it will not scratch the gelcoat on the bow. Moon Pie is on mooring #8.
12NM 24°23.81’N
076°37.93’W
Dinner on board. Lisa
made a “Red’s Everything Omelet”. Reds is a “sandwich shop” in Salem, MA, where
we went often for breakfast, maybe the best breakfast ever. One of their specialties is the “Everything
Omelet”, which has literally everything you can imagine in it. Yummy!
Wind is NW@5110, skies clear, lovely evening.
Lisa now working on her 4th basket. Each one is better than the one before.
Wednesday, March 13,
2019. Rain squalls overnight.
8:00am Partly cloudy, 80 degrees, wind now E@15-25+. No waves in the mooring field. At high tide you can see the tops of the
waves and spray as it breaks over the island. Impressive. We spent the day doing boat chores. Lisa made another basket. She also made eggplant parmigiana for dinner
tonight.
Moon Pie came for
dinner. We had Lisa’s parmigiana and cold
slaw Greg made for dinner. Moon Pie also brought Mojitos. After
dinner we played Pigs and Jacks (aka Jacks and Jokers). We learned the game from our neighbors Diane
and Mike over the summer. It is very
similar to Parcheesi, but using cards instead of dice.
Thursday, March 14,
2019. Partly cloudy, wind E@20+, 80 degrees.
We went to the office and paid until Saturday when we hope
to be able to cross to Eleuthera. We were able to make a couple of phone calls,
one to our boat insurance agent about our upcoming renewal. Because of the losses due to the hurricanes
last year, all the companies want more money, even if the boat is not in
Florida during the hurricane season. We were also able to download our email
and latest weather forecasts.
With Moon Pie, we
walked the Causeway Trail to the Hutia Highway to the beach on the other side
of the island. We found almost no shells
and there were no sea beans, Then we
walked up to Boo-Boo Hill and then back to the anchorage.
2:00pm Lisa and Jodi
go for a swim at slack tide. Then Lisa
scrapped a few barnacles off our bottom.
There were very few.
Dinner on board. I
made pork chops, corn, mashed potatoes and cold slaw.
Friday, March 15,
2019. The Ides of March. Still very windy out of the E@15-20, partly
cloudy, 80 degrees.
We went dinghy exploring with Moon Pie around the south end of Warderick Wells Cay to Hog Cay
(aka Pirates Lair). This is an anchorage
on the east side of Warderick Wells Cay between Warderick and Hog Cay. The story is that pirates would sneak in here
to hide from the British. You cannot
distinguish the two islands from even ¼ mile at sea, and the pirates would hide
between the two islands. It is another
beautiful spot and not many people visit.
Moon Pie worked on cleaning their bottom. Lisa went ashore and put our updated piece of
Rhiannon driftwood on the pile atop Boo-Boo Hill, as well as some of the signs
she had re-done for the Park.
We stopped by the office to say our good-byes – maybe the
last of this season.
We had dinner on Moon
Pie. Greg made gumbo. We made Lisa’s carrot, onion and cucumber
salad.
Saturday, March 16,
2019. Clear, a few puffy clouds, 80 degrees, wind E@10-15.
9:00am We dropped the mooring and headed out to the sound –
east out of Warderick Wells Cut. Head
sail out making 5.5 knots, 2 fishing lines out.
Moon Pie caught a nice size
Yellow Fin Tuna. We did not have a
strike.
2:30pm We ran the 100’ depth line alone the western Cape
Eleuthera coast, but still did not have a fish take one of our lures.
3:30pm On the fuel dock at Cape Eleuthera Marina. 25 gallons of diesel, 5 gallons of gasoline.
4:00pm Tied up in slip 113. 82 degrees, clear, wind NE@10.
6:00pm Dinner at the marina restaurant with Moon Pie. Lisa had chicken fettuccini
and I had shrimp in garlic sauce. Both were good, but not exceptional. We all shared a huge chocolate brownie with
vanilla ice cream for dessert. The
dessert was exceptional.
35NM today. 24°50.12’N
076°20.59’W
Sunday, March 17,
2019. Clear, wind SE@10, high thin clouds. Lisa filled the water tanks and
gave Rhiannon a bath. I did
laundry. We checked out at 1:00pm and
are off the dock and headed to Rock Sound. The wind, little that there is, is
on our nose, so we are motoring.
3:30pm We poked around the north side of the harbor looking
for deep water, and while the comments on Active Captain say you can go all the
way up to the northwest corner of the harbor, the boat that wrote that must draw
very little water because it started getting shallow half-way there.
4:00pm Anchor down on the south side of the harbor just
north of the government dock.
12NM 24°52.08’N 076°09.96’W
More boats come in and by nightfall there are 14 anchored
here.
Dinner on board.
Cloudy and dead calm overnight.
Monday, March 18,
2019. And cloudy this morning. With Moon
Pie, we dinghied over to the airport to renew visas only to find there was
no immigration officer present, even tho’ we had called and were told someone
would be there all day. Oh, well, it is
the Bahamas, mon! They said to call later in the day to check if any of the
immigration officers had returned.
We dinghied to town and walked almost across the island
looking for the beaches and Rosie’s place – to no avail. We walked a total of
about 4 miles and finally stopped at Hall’s grocery to get something to
drink. It was well stocked, but not much
produce. We were told it had more than
the Market Place store, which is closer to the harbor. We saw the Ocean Hole
that is supposed to be 680 feet deep. It
is full of fish – not sure whether they were put there or they find their way
in from the ocean – the water in the hole is salty. There was a local crafter there selling her
wares and Lisa and Jodi bought some ear rings.
Another call to immigration – no one has returned, but they
are supposed to be there tomorrow.
Dinner on Moon Pie. Greg grilled some of the tuna they
caught. We brought mashed potatoes,
zucchini, white wine and the TOFKA. Mexican train after dinner. Still very calm and cloudy. The forecast is for big winds and rain north
of us. Dalmatian in Green Turtle Cay,
Abacos, and Nightingale in Great
Harbour, Berry Islands, are bracing for gale force winds. There are about 40
boats anchored in the harbor now.
Tuesday, March 19,
2019. 3:00am The mail/supply boat arrives. We awoke to the very loud blast
of air horns and yelling as this relatively small ship is trying to get to the
government dock. Many of the newly
arrived boats are anchored in its way and/or in the channel. They are having to move their boats – about
10 had to move and re-anchor out of the way.
Do Not Anchor means just that.
8:00am cloudy, 75 degrees, wind S@10-15. Not a great direction for this harbor.
10:00am We dinghied to town and tied us a Frigate’s
Restaurant. A short walk to the Market Place (we would call it a strip
mall). The grocery is very well stocked
with all perishables and hard goods.
Lots of dairy products, meats and produce. The prices are reasonable for the Bahamas. Outside is a teen selling peppers, tomatoes,
sweet potatoes and other fresh local produce. Moon Pie called the Immigration Office at the airport and was told
there would be an officer available after lunch.
2:00pm We dinghied back to the airport (it is at the head of
the harbor, about a 1 mile ride). Moon Pie was able to renew their visa as
their current one expires on March 24.
Ours does not expire until April 5, and we were told that date was too
far off to renew now. It probably is no
big thing because we are headed back to the US before then anyway.
We spent the afternoon looking at weather forecasts for this
area, which by the way, no two are the same.
A pretty hefty cold front is headed through the Bahamas, but no one
knows if it will get this far east and south.
We also began to do some route planning to get us back to the US. The wind is currently SSW@10-15, which is
probably the worst direction for this harbor – the only direction not protected
by land. It was supposed to rain all day,
but so far it has not.
Dinner on board. Pork
chops, plantains and broccoli.
10:00pm A squall comes through. Wind NE@20-25 and heavy rain, but it only
lasts about 30 minutes.
We heard from Salty
Paws (Jim and Bentley). They are
anchored just south of Spanish Wells.
The wind there was up as high as 50 knots and rain so heavy that
visibility was down to 50 feet. Glad
that went north of us.
Wednesday, March 20,
2019. Robert’s Birthday
(brother-in-law). Cloudy and humid. Wind SW@10-15. Partly cloudy, 80 degrees.
10:00am Went ashore with Moon
Pie. Jodi went for a run and Greg
and I went to the hardware store. It is
one of the better ones we have found in the islands. I was looking for bleach
and holding tank chemicals and found both items.
We began the conversation about heading back to the US. We have to be back in time for Lisa’s
sister’s wedding (Linda) on May 5. We
have also been able to secure a haul out date of April 24 at St. Mary’s Boat
Services. So, while it is a bit early to
head home, the way the weather has been this winter, if we get a chance to head
that way, we will take advantage of it.
We heard from Nightingale
and they have a haul out date of April 23, so we will see them there. They are
currently in Great Harbour in the Berry Islands.
5:00pm Moon Pie
came to dinner. I made chicken marsala and a huge salad.
After they departed, we lifted the dingy onto the davits and
stowed the outboard in preparation for a departure early tomorrow for Coral
Harbour (nick and Carolyn Wardle’s Dock), where we will wait out the next
frontal passage.
Thursday, March 21,
2019. Dad’s Birthday (he would have been 104!), Spring Equinox.
Clear and calm overnight.
6:07am Anchor up, 72 degrees, heading west, still dark, but
there is a big moon.
6:35am First light, wind NE@5-10.
7:20am The sun is fully up, skies are clear here, but lots
of clouds on the northern horizon.
11:00am Partly cloudy now with big puffy clouds, 85 degrees,
wind NE@5. We are motoring across Exuma
Sound with 2 fishing lines out.
5:40pm Rain clouds closing in, starting to shower, no wind,
10 miles to go to the Coral Harbour entrance channel.
8:07pm On the dock at Wardle’s. Several boaters here to help us get tied up. Moon Pie comes in and is rafted to us.
80NM, exactly 14 hours, average 5.7 knots. Lots of current against us most of the day.
24°58.95’N
077°27.70’W
Friday, March 22,
2019. Breezy, wind NE@15+, clear, cool, 70 degrees. We got picked up by
Virgo Car Rental at 10:00am, so we now have a rental car to us during our stay.
Greg and I filled both boats with diesel from the jerry cans
and then drove to the gas station and refilled the jerry cans. Lisa and Jodi
walked the beach. Lisa met a bunch of
Nick and Carolyn’s neighbors.
5:00pm Rum o’clock with Nick and Carolyn, Greg and Jodi (Moon Pie), Greg (Ondine) and Juan and Alison (Guajira,
pronounced gwahita).
Dinner on board.
Saturday, March 23,
2019. Ondine and Guajira leave at 8:00am headed to Chub
Cay, then Bimini, Marathon and (Guajira)
home to New Orleans.
Sunny, wind light out of the north@5-10. Cool, 70 degrees.
Greg, Jodi and I head to Nassau to run a bunch of errands
(Harbourside Marine for holding tank chemicals, Liquid Courage for TOFKA toffee
vodka, Jimmy’s Liquors for Sands Pink (Jimmy’s liquors owned by Jimmy Sands,
Sands per only $24/case), grocery store, bank and back in time for Rum O’clock
with Nick and Carolyn, Moon Pie, Albertross (just arrived) (Lynne and
Jerry).
6:00pm We all head to the Cricket Club for dinner. Lisa, Jodi, Lynne and I had the seafood pie,
Jerry had steak and mushroom pie, Carolyn had conch chowder and a Caesar salad,
Greg had fish and chips, Nick and cracked conch. All of it was wonderful. We asked our waitress (Dominique) if it would
possible to get the recipe for the seafood pie – she said she would ask. A bit later, Connie came out of the
kitchen. Connie is married to Chris, who
owns the club. Dominique is their
daughter. Chris is English, Connie is Bahamian.
Connie explained how she makes the dish, but like many chefs, the recipe
isn’t written down, so some experimentation is going to be required. A wonderful evening.
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| Dinner at The Cricket Club L to R: Nick, Lisa, Greg (Moon Pie), Lynne (Albertross) Me, Carolyn, Jerry (Albertross), Jodi (Moon Pie) |
Sunday, March 24,
2019. Very breezy, partly cloudy, wind NE@15-25+, cool 70 degrees.
Lisa found some silver palms, so she now has some fronds to
continue making baskets.
I cleaned up our fishing gear, sorted everything out and
stowed it for the next time we are in deep water. We had breakfast on Moon Pie, banana pancakes and bacon and
we brought some real maple syrup.
Rum o’clock with Nick and Carolyn, Moon Pie and Albertross.
Dinner on Moon Pie.
We pooled the last of the lobster and Gregg made lobster in garlic and
butter sauce. We brought white wine and
fresh tomatoes and cucumbers.
Monday, March 25,
2019. Lovely morning, a bit overcast, but no significant wind (as forecast). Boat chores today. It clouded over about noon and has looked
like rain all afternoon. A few sprinkles.
Wind E@15+.
I took Jerry and Lynne to the grocery store and the bank.
Valda III (Joel
and Diana) comes in about 5:00pm.
Rum o’clock. A pot luck dinner with Traveler (Bjorn, Michelle, Lucas and Markus), Albertross (Lynne and Jerry), Moon
Pie, Balance, us and Nick and Carolyn. Very Nice.
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| Rum O'clock L to R: Jodi (Moon Pie), Me and Lisa, Kerstin (Balance) Carolyn, Steffan (Balance), Nick, Greg (Moon Pie), Wendy and Ralph (Altoona II), Jerry (Albertross) |
8:00am A mother and baby manatee show up. We gave them a bit
of cabbage and fresh water (which they love).
They stuck around for more than an hour. Yeager (Nick and Carolyn’s
potcake) and the kids on Traveler were especially intrigued.
 |
| Mom Manatee and calf |
We took the car into Nassau to Bahama Art and Handicraft, a
shop that only sells item made in the Bahamas.
Many of the items we have seen in our travels around the Bahamas, plus a
lot more. We bought some items to take home as presents. This shop is well worth the visit if you are
in Nassau.
 |
| Bahama Art and Handicraft |
 |
| Jodi (Moon Pie) |
We stopped at Jim Whitehead Florist to get some flowers for
Connie at the Cricket Club, as a thank you for the time she spent with us and
for the recipe. We had a late lunch at the Cricket Club, but Connie had left
for the day. We left the flowers for her.
We were hoping to get some more details about the recipe, but we’ll
figure out the “missing” parts.
We are back by Rum O’clock with Moon Pie and Traveler and
Nick. Afterwards, Jodi and went to the local grocery and bought some ice cream
(vanilla, chocolate and coconut) which we shared with everyone.
Valda III flew
home today.
We gave Traveler a
conch horn, and the smallest boy (Lucas) really sounded a blast! All of them were able to make some sort of
noise with it. Bjorn was able to make so much noise with it that
it roused Nick from in front of the TV to see what was going on!
 |
| Lucas (Traveller) |
Traveler flew home this morning. They will be back in about 2 weeks, but we
hope to be across by then.
The mother and baby manatee came back for a visit.
Thursday, March 28,
2019. Partly cloudy, wind NE@15-20+.
Moon Pie, Albertross and us
went to visit The Primeval Forrest. This
is a section of land that still has all the original growth plants and
trees. It is only 7.5 acres and was
saved from construction and it now managed by the Bahamas National Trust (the
same folks that manage Exuma Land and Sea Park). Kristof, one of the rangers, gave us a very
informative tour. For more information go to this link: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147416-d4866520-Reviews-Primeval_Forest_National_Park-Nassau_New_Providence_Island_Bahamas.html
We met a couple there from South Africa who are backpacking
their way across the Bahamas, and then plan to back pack across the US.
Afterwards, we went to Compass Point on the northwest corner
of the island for lunch. Our waiter,
Victor, explained that many people in the Bahamas eat the barracuda and that
they are really quite good. We did not
have that for lunch.
We stopped at the grocery, liquor store and bank on the way
back for Rum o’clock.
Friday, March 29,
2019. Clear, wind NE@15+, partly cloudy.
Lisa and I went to a commercial nursery.
I bought a Desert Rose and Lisa bought a Bromolaide. Google says the Desert Rose can be a house
plant in northern climates. It likes a lot of sun and not a lot of water. We stopped on the way back to the boat and
pick some silver palm fronds for Lisa’s basket weaving. When making the baskets, you only use the
brand new fronds. Ideally you want them
full sized, but not yet open. Picking
these in no way damages the plant as it soon grows another new frond.
Rum o’clock and yet another pot luck dinner. Jerry brought a pina colada rum cake as it is
Lynne’s birthday. Afterwards, a debate about the weather and whether or not
tomorrow is a good day to begin the crossing to the us. From here is about 180NM and about 30 hours,
so a good weather window of at least 2 or 3 days is needed.
Saturday, March 30,
2019. Cloudy, cool, 70 degrees. The
wind is still NE@15-20+ and according to forecaster Chris Parker, the seas are
4-6 feet going to 5-7 feet this afternoon.
Albertross, Balance and Altoona depart. We later hear from them that is very rough
crossing to Chub Cay, but the wind on the stern is making for a fast
crossing. We are glad we waited until
tomorrow for both the wind and the waves to settle down.
We returned the rental car, filled Rhiannon with water and
emptied all the trash. Lisa spent the
rest of the day working on baskets and I worked on this blog. It rained all
afternoon, but cleared at Rum O’clock.
 |
| Plumeria Frangipani Tree |
We made George Barlow’s Chicken, Pear Curry for dinner. Moon
Pie came to dinner, afterward, we prepared the boats to cross.
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