Bond Cay and Cross Harbor –> Little Harbor

We left Nassau ahead of schedule with moderate wind and waves only to have the waves increase to the 4’ to 5’ range after an hour into our jaunt (7 hours) up to Bonds Cay.  The wind got stronger and the waves grew so much I was wondering if I read the correct wind/waves report?!  We wearily persevered onward and got to our anchorage late afternoon.  This was a beautiful place to spend the night, not another soul to be found.  The anchorage was completely protected from the rough seas and high wind.

We headed out as soon as possible to our next stop getting us closer to the Abacos, Cross Harbor on the southern tip of the Great Abaco Island.  What a difference a day makes, we had light winds and seas in the 1’ to 2’ range, these conditions made us much more rested by the time we arrived at another desolate anchorage!  Not seeing any other boats makes ya wonder if they know something we don’t??

Oh ya, today (Saturday) Dennis turns 58, wohooo and is celebrating with a cold Kalik and we’re having lobster tails (thanks Gunter)!

Tomorrow we move onto to Little Harbor, home of Pete’s pub, foundry and hopefully some INTERNET access!!

**UPDATE from Little Harbor…. Today we caught our first FISH (while in 4000’ of water), goes to show ya that even a blind squirrel can find a nut!  The fish was an Almaco Jack and it was landed, cleaned and in the freezer and frig in less than thirty minutes.  You guessed it, we had one fillet for dinner and it was great!! 

CHeeRS!

m & d

Abaco Lighthouse

Our first fish!!

Nassau

On our run into Nassau there was absolutely no wind so we could really look closely at the bottom for sea life.  Much to our surprise we saw lots of activity including: 22 large star fish, 2 sea turtles and too many different types of fish and other marine life to even start mentioning.  We both had to keep an eye out for boat crushing coral heads along the way while trying not to miss our surroundings.

Nassau is a large seaport for the Bahamas and it was busy to say the least!  Somehow we dodged all the crazies and found our marina without too much fuss.  After tying up we started going down our list making the best use of or time in the city.  Coming back to Nassau this time was fun, we were busy yet did not have all the drama of our last visit.  We used the buses and they gave us a chance to see a part of Nassau most never see (you can only guess what it was like…) though we were told not to take the bus at night.

Mary hard her insect bite checked by a local physician that said it was looking good, ordered some additional creams to speed the healing and sent us on our way.  Since this sucker will leave a nice scar, we are lovingly calling this; “Mary’s Bahamian tattoo”.

With our pantry stocked, errands completed, propane tanks filled and additional fuel in the tanks, we are leaving Nassau early for the Berrys.

CHeeRS!

-m & d

Lighthouse leaving Nassau Harbor

Atlantis from the harbor

Starfish in 18 feet of water

Good bye ECLSP

Okay, Friday was a busy day getting ready to leave ECLSP.  We changed oil, cleaned the windows, changed the fuel filter, inventoried our food for the Nassau provisioning trip and got our final Internet coupon to do a final check on the weather…. Hold on sailor, the weather for leaving was okay but not looking good for Nassau 2 days down the road (65 nautical miles across the great Bahamas bank).  Okay we’re flexible, we’ll leave Sunday.  But wait, again the weather would be more settled for anchoring if we waited until Monday to leave (16 knots at night versus 23 knots – see “weather game” below).  So, we ARE leaving (or did leave by the time you read this) for Normans Cay in the morning (home of nasty insect bites - Mary has officially ruled no one will go ashore at Normans!!) and with nice winds behind us we’ll be at Rose Island (near Nassau) on Tuesday evening.

Since we extended our stay (have I mentioned lately how beautiful it is here???) we have done our best to visit at least one new beach every day, tough work but someone’s got to do it!  Our disappointment came early when yesterday (Saturday) we ventured to loyalist beach not only to find foot prints in the sand, but people on the beach!!  We’ll just have try harder today.  We did trek over the island to the sounds side where we caught a glimpse of Johnny Depp’s island and his mansion under construction.

The ECLSP has a Saturday night happy hour (HH) with the park ranger – just a reason to share snacks and swap stories.  The big news is that at the HH, we got to see one of the ‘endangered’ Hutia.  They may be endangered elsewhere, but to this untrained cruiser, there are signs of them everywhere and it looks like they are destroying the native vegetation.  At the HH one lady was just going gaga over how cute they are, I hated to do it but I did…. burst her bubble by remaindering her they are just glorified rats. *smirk*

Also on our last day we checked out the work of some of our good friends; Mike, Angie and Bruce.  These folks volunteered to reassemble the remains of a beached pilot whale.  As you can see, it was like a 3-D jigsaw puzzle with many of the pieces missing.   The end result will make a nice display addition to the park.

CHeeRS!

m & d

*the weather game

Planning around weather is much like a game of chess, it’s not this move you’re concerned about, its how this move sets you up for the next series of moves.  In our case, the weather maybe just fine today (or not) but what about 2, 3 or 4 days down the road?  We’re trying to look at the best places to be when the weather really turns nasty and knowing we can find shelter after the 3^rd or 4^th move. 

Carins at the park

Guess who?

Pilot whale team, Angie, Mike and Bruce

One of the lives Mary saved today!

ECLSP 2-16

Hey folks,

Reporting in from ECLSP, we’ve been here a week now and seems like it was just yesterday we picked up a mooring.  I guess that’s a good thing! 

FWIW, our newest plan is to leave here Friday and head up to Highborne Cay then head west for Rose Island and Nassau.  This officially starts our homeward trek and from Nassau we’ll continue trekking home via the Abacos.

CHeeRS!

m & d

Another beach to explore!

ECLSP 2-13

Hey folks we’re still alive and well at the land and sea park and we’re glad to be here!!  Our plan was to wait out a series of fronts that were predicted to bring some serious winds and the weather man was right.  Yesterday, we had winds hit 25 knots (FWIW, 25 knots = 28.8 mph) in this very protected harbor and today more of the same.   We’ve heard over the radio reports of 29 knot winds along with boats dragging and bumping each other. I can’t image what the winds might be like in the unprotected areas.  Since we’re on a mooring (a ball connected to a large rope that is screwed into the bottom) we can relax and enjoy the winds with no worries of an anchor dragging (ours or someone else’s).  Of course these winds make leaving the boat a little interesting so we’ve been boat bound now for 2 days. 

Remembering this is a small boat, you can understand that we’ve gotten all of our boat projects done, lots of reading and I’ve been working on my sabbatical research report.  From what we’ve heard and read, the weather front and its associated winds will be with us until at least the middle of the week.  

Before the front arrived we had several happy hour gatherings on other boats (one was a 42’ catamaran with a washer, dryer, freezer, etc!) going over charts, sipping libations and swapping stories. 

CHeeRS!
m & d

Waves just outside the ECLSP this morning

Farmers Cay > BP >Staniel > ECLSP >>we're moving again!

Farmers Cay

After our trip to Nassau we hopped down to Farmers Cay to connect with friends and watch the second day of the 5F (Farmers cay First Friday in February Festival).  Here we watched Bahamian sailors sail their C class boats through the anchorage with gusto, while racing for island pride.  FWIW, these guys (4 -5 crew per boat) are absolutely nuts!  They hike out on 2x10’s to balance the boat and slide back in just quickly as they tack [change direction for you non-sailors] or when they need less leverage to balance the boat.  The pictures do not capture the excitement between islands or the crazy drive of these sailors and their fans.

While on Farmers Cay we learned that Georgetown our next destination was without fuel!!  With that news we decided that it was time to reassess our plans, a.k.a. another change!   We’re heading back up the Exuma island chain with a ‘plan’ to hop over to Eleuthera and then onto the Abacos.  Heck, the whole Georgetown thing was way too organized for us anyway.  We wished our southerly bound friends good luck as we headed back to BP.

Back to  Black Point

We are NOT football fans in any sense of the term but we had to check out the Super Bowl happy hour and pre-game frenzy at a local BP pub, the Scorpio bar and restaurant.  If our friends on Salty Surfer had not already ‘camped out’ there we might have found another establishment for the festivities.  But, here at the Scorpio we experienced some real Bahamian football fever, nothing like what one might find in the states.  In addition to happy hour specials, the Scorpio had some free locally prepared foods and Bahamian enthusiasm (they love this sport and they all had a favorite team – heck we weren’t sure who was even playing!).

Staniel again???

Yup, one last time to visit the clinic, get some local homemade bread and a chance to refuel for our travels.  We’ve spent more time here than any one settlement and though not a favorite island, this time it had an almost home coming feeling. 

Compass Cay and Pipe Creek

We’ve said this already too many times, but the beaches of Compass Cay (Exuma Banks side) are the most beautiful beaches [yet].  We visited many different beaches here and on all of them, ours were the only foot prints to be found.  We also got to see some beautiful coral, fish of all sorts (Mark they would have been ‘keepers’) and a very large sea turtle.  The best part was where we were anchored there were no other boats around making us the only boat (along with our friends on Salty Surfer) enjoying the place! 

ECLSP

We’re now back at the Exuma Cay Land and Sea Park where we’ll wait out a front (winds are predicted to be 25 – 29 knots) before venturing off to Eleuthera. Keep an eye on our ‘spot tracker’ since we’re not sure when we’ll get Internet again.

CHeeRS!

-m & d

Bananaquits at ECLSP

One of the Compass Cay beaches

 Looking towards the Exuma Banks from Compass Cay

One of the C class boats going for the line

Another C class racing through the anchorage!

 Bahamian low tide channel marker near Staniel Cay!

Back in Staniel Cay!!!

Ah, back from a successful trip to Nassau and we’re happy to say the remote out islands are what we love to visit.  Nassau is a large city on New Providence but simply way too much of the sterile Disney look and feel.

We leave for Farmers Cay tomorrow and then on to Georgetown, a mecca for boaters in the Bahamas (http://www.georgetowncruising.com/).  Some boaters spend their entire winters playing in G’town, as of now we’re planning on staying until the structure of the place drives us out.

Well, here are some pics to catch you up on some of the sites.

CHeeRS!

m & d

A beach on Staniel Cay

Black Point Anchorage

Leaving the BP anchorage

Beth and Rich on 'Salty Surfer' at BP anchorage

The Airport Terminal at Staniel Cay

Our plane to Nassau

Black Point -> Staniel Cay -> Nassau???

Our plans changed (remember they are written in sand), Mary's bite got real nasty and we opted for a hospital ER. The good news is we'll be back in Staniel on Friday and sailing again soon.

The flight to Nassau made 2 island stops and it was the best flight we've ever had! What a beautiful view of this special place flying at low level! The entire staff at Doctor's Hospital have been incredible, we can't say enough about all they've done for us.

By the way, the Black Point anchorage is breath taking and we hope to return soon. While in BP we caught up with old friends (old by cruiser's standards) and made new friends.

Pics will follow soon.

CHeeRS!
m & d