Staniel Cay

We had a great sail from ECSLP (Friday)  to Staniel Cay reaching 8 knots in a fresh breeze ‘racing’ friends on another cat [Salty Surfer] and friends on a 40’ monohull  [Spirit].  We were clearly leading the other boats until the waves grew (3 – 4 feet) and got the best of us while the monohull pulled away.   Ya just can’t out reach something that carries that much sail, has a longer waterline and outweighs us in that kind of waves.

We anchored across from Club Thunderball for a rolly night amongst a dozen other boats.  This is right next to the grotto where the James Bond movie, Thunderball , was recorded.  For the next few days we’ve opted for a slip to help Mary get the rest she needs to get over this bug bite and for the next leg of the adventure.  The place we’re staying at sounds high end  (Staniel Cay Yacht Club) but it’s far from that! 

Staniel  Cay is very different from Bimini, there is lots of construction here, few ruins and less obvious poverty.  The people are equally kind and generous.   One of the pics shows a recreation hot spot, where highly competitive games of dominos are played.

The next leg means heading south to Black Point, the largest settlement in the north and central Exumas.   Here we hope to get a Bahamian cell phone, rum (!!!) and have the clinic nurse look at Mary’s bite.  Our plan for now is to stay in BP for several days and slow down the pace.

Lost items….  Ya gotta ask yourself, how can you constantly lose stuff in a boat with less than 200 square feet of living space?  Somehow we regularly lose ‘stuff’ that is often found while hunting for the currently immediately needed stuff.  After much research and consideration we’ve decided boats have lives of their own and enjoy watching the humans shuffle stuff around.

CHeeRS!
m & d

Yes, kids, those are sharks under our boat.... and Mary told me go for a swim!

This is a picture shows the area where we anchored Friday.

Yesterday, the locals had a VERY serious game of dominos going on here in the settlement center.

ECLSP

As beautiful as the park is during daylight, I’ve got to tell ya, the night sky is equally outstanding!  To us, it seems like the stars are bigger, brighter here and in much greater numbers. 

Bug bites can be a real pain, especially when they are on your bottom and look serious.  Poor Mary got a nasty bite from some kind of creeping beast (black widow, scorpion, ???) that made her sick to say the least.  Lucky for us another cruiser is a retired physican from England that looked it her.  Dr. Mike was impressed with the reaction (fever, chills, swelling, reddness etc) enough to stop by multiple times to check in.  All was fine except he kept telling us how far from medical help we were and that if it got worse, air lift is an option.  I am happy to report that today, 3 days after the bite Mary is up and doing great.  In fact she is sweeping the floor and I’ve seen her look for her cleaning supplies (a good sign!).

With Mary’s improved bite situation and the weather looking good, we’re leaving tomorrow for Staniel Cay.  Our goal is to make it to Farmers Cay in time for the First Friday in February Festival in Farmers Cay (known as the 5F).  This local event features; music, local foods (that would include Kalik) and bahamain sailboat races, the whole thing sounds like too much fun to pass up!

CHeeRS!
m & d

Destiny as seen from the top of Boo Boo Hill

Another view from the top of Boo Boo Hill

A rough trip to ECLSP

After “Mr. Toads” wild ride (20 nautical miles which equals 4.5 hours) we arrived in the calm of the land and sea park to sit out another front.  On this leg the water was coming over the bow all the way back to the cockpit.  Often I could not see forward because of the water covering the window and the boat vibrated on each of these waves.  Some of the water coming over the boat overwhelmed the hatches and we had sea water pouring into the cabin.   But, this is a stunningly beautiful place.

CHeeRS!

m & D

Needless to say after more than 4 hours of this, I was ready for a beer or two!

This is the view our our backyard at the ECLSP....

Normans Cay

On the trip to Normans Cay (google “Normans Cay” +Carlos Lehder to learn about its past as a drug center) the seas smoothed out somewhat to be a nice motor sail, a sharp contrast to how the day started.  Norman’s provided us a long needed chance to get off the boat (first time since Bimini) to walk around and stretch our legs.  The entire shore line of Norman’s had conch shells everywhere.  The Cay itself only had a small bar (hamburgers are $18 and Kaliks are $6) but miles of trails, beaches to roam along with the chance to see some of the ruins of Carlos Lehder’s  mini city.  Again, weather kept us here for longer than we expected but we were lucky enough to get a break by getting a mooring ball at the Exuma Cay Land and Sea Park. 

CHeeRS!

m & d

One of Lehder's planes that missed the runway...

 Just a few of the ruins on Norman's Cay

West Bay, New Providence

We had an easy motor sail to a beautiful and well protected anchorage in West Bay on the western coast of New Providence.  This was a great place to rest, recharge and we avoided Nassau.  We left in fog without any wind and the water was like glass.  When the fog burned off we could clearly see all the sea life on the bottom 16 plus feet below.

Our next stop was Highborne Cay for fuel and water along with a good night sleep.  In contrast to the smooth seas when we arrived, we woke up again to bouncy conditions and lots of wind.  Now we needed to work the conditions and get our desperately needed fuel ($5.20 a gallon and water, $.50 a gallon).  Filling tanks while bouncing takes some acrobatic skills and lots of luck.

CHeeRS!
m & d


Fog leaving West Bay

Ahhhh, a calm day!

Crossing the Great Bahamas Banks

Anchors were up by 7:15 and we preceded our slog across the banks.  We motor sailed for 9.5 hours making it to the NW light just as it was getting dark.  So, here we are in the middle of nowhere and we anchor.  Needles to say it was an eerie feeling anchoring so out of sight of any land.  We were not the only brave souls out there; we saw the anchor lights of other boats spending the night.  And what a night it turned out to be!!!  We started rocking and rolling just after midnight (like a cork in a washing machine!)  and  Mary had to restrain me from calling our friends at 4 am to up anchor and move on.  I did make the early call to get started but managed to restrain myself until 5 am.

CHeeRS!
m & d

checking our charts

Bimini to Cat Cay 1-17

We left Blue Water Marina bound for our staging anchorage at North Cat Cay to cross the Great Bahamas Banks.  The weather was as predicted, gusty winds on our nose and showers due late afternoon.  No sooner did we get anchors down when  it started to rain, and this was like a Florida summer thunderstorm.  The rain went on for hours with winds as high as 29 knots. 

CHeeRS!

-m & d

Mary's last day on the beach in Bimini

N. Cat Cay