Tuesday, June 9, 2009


The cruise ship Disney Magic passed us headed back to Port Canaveral during the day. Two others passed us during the night. They are much bigger and faster than we are. It is scary enough during the day and much more so at night.


This submarine was leaving Port Canaveral as we were coming in. She was surrounded by flying helicopeters and armed boats.


The USS Farragut was leaving the navy dock in Port Canaveral as we motored by. We were escorted at this point by a boat with a man standing beside his machine gun.


Eli can not yet walk on his own, so he crawled along the beach collecting sand samples on his face.


Isabella and Kaelyn enjoyed their time together on the beach at Cocoa Beach.


This pitiful little fort with a garrison of five or six protected St. Augustine for attack by the British for a hundred years. Pitiful.

Sunset on the Waccamaw River in South Carolina. It is one of my favorite places along the Intracoastal Waterway.

Hey. We are safely back in the US and tied up in our slip in New Bern 129 days after we were last here.

We sailed overnight from West End, Grand Bahama to Port Canaveral on May 17 leaving Sunday morning. The overnight trip was fairly uneventful. The wind was coming from behind us and the seas were about 2 to 3 feet. We passed several cruise ships during the night, or I guess really, they passed us. The ships were ablaze with so many lights, we could not make out their red and green port and starboard navigation lights. It made it hard to figure out which way they are going. Bill got to use his radar to track these big ships. It gave him something to do in the dark.

We arrived in Florida around 11am, entered Port Canaveral as a Trident submarine and an Aegis guided missile destroyer were leaving, docked at Cape Marina, then walked a little over a mile in the rain to the US Customs and Immigration office. The man who checked us into the country issued us a Local Boaters Option registration card. With this card we won’t have to appear in person next time we come back into the US on Irish Eyes so long as we come back into Florida. Although the card is federal it isn’t valid anywhere but Florida. At least we won’t have a repeat of this year’s long wet walk or last year’s $100 taxi ride.

As we were walking back to the marina it started pouring rain so we stopped for lunch in hopes that the rain would stop. It did not. This was the beginning of the Florida monsoon. It rained most of the week we were in Port Canaveral. The children and grandchildren were coming to meet us May 23, so for the next few days we just rested, read, knitted, and did a few little chores on the boat while over twenty inches of rain fell. One day we caught the local bus and went shopping. Bill found a used boat parts place a block away from the marina. He, of course, found some irresistible things to buy and add to the clutter on the boat.

On Saturday the family arrived… in the rain. We all sat in the salon while four year old Kaelyn toured Irish Eyes. She liked our boat. She found it just about right for a child’s playhouse; little stove, little refrigerator, little bed, and a working toilet; perfect. The weather cleared up enough in the afternoon to take a short trip to the Cocoa Beach beach. Kaelyn and Eli, from Middle Tennessee, had never seen the ocean. Both of them enjoyed playing in the waves and getting completely covered in sand. Isabella, the Florida native, was already an old beach pro, but she liked the beach better this time because she could now walk on her own with adults chasing after her.

Sunday was not a beautiful day, but for a change it wasn’t raining. We untied Irish Eyes and with all nine of us on board motored out through the ship channel into the Atlantic. Julia and Michael were not big fans of the waves. Julia looked very ill in the swells, and Michael worried about sharks, sea monsters, and giant fish. Kaelyn sat on the bow just loving the ride as we plunged into the waves driving the water spray above her head. We cut the trip short, returned to the marina, and all went back to the beach. We had a ringside seat to watch several cruise ships leave the harbor. ‘Freedom of the Sea’ was the largest with 4000 passengers and 1300 crew! We also saw two Disney ships, ‘Disney Magic’ and ‘Disney Wonder’, come and go. The recession hasn’t hurt their trade.

On Memorial Day the Selfs and Zangris left to go back to Winter Haven, and Bill and I left to go west through the Cape Canaveral Barge Canal to the Intracoastal Waterway. We made it through the Port Canaveral bascule bridges without having to wait. We navigated into the lock, tied up, and shut the engine down. I was sitting on deck watching the fish swim around the no fishing signs ready with my boat hook to fend us off the wall. Bill said, “That was a real non-event.” I was very puzzled by his comment because we hadn’t moved up or down (or so I thought). I looked around and the exit gate was opening. If we went up or down at all I never saw or felt it. The next bridge was stuck in the closed position, so we had to circle around for a half hour or so while the bridge tender struggled. Whatever was wrong was eventually righted, and we finally got through. We motored north on the ICW past Titusville to Mosquito Lagoon and anchored there for the night.

Tuesday was a fairly long day of motoring. The weather had been clear, but around 5pm a humdinger of a thunderstorm came up. We were headed into the Matanzas River to anchor near Ft. Matanzas. It was raining fairly hard, but after just one bump (?) on the bottom we made it into the anchorage. The storm thankfully didn’t last too long. Wednesday morning we put the dinghy in the water and went to the National Park Service Dock to take their pontoon boat to the fort for the free tour. It was an interesting place. The Spanish managed to keep the English away from St. Augustine’s southern entrance for a long time by simply keeping a lookout and several old guns at Ft. Matanzas – a complete bluff when you take a close look at it.

After our history tour, we moved on to St. Augustine and anchored in the harbor. The weather forecast for the next few days was fairly benign, so we decided to go out into the Atlantic to Beaufort, SC. By sailing outside, we could avoid all the shallow spots in Georgia. Bill went to Sailor’s Exchange (a used boat stuff store), West Marine, and Winn-Dixie. I did our laundry at the municipal marina then walked around the downtown for a bit.

Thursday we were up early to make the 8:30am opening of the Bridge of Lions. Construction work on the bridge was still ongoing. The old bridge was beautiful and the locals tell us the new one will use parts of the old. But, for the last couple of years it has been an ugly mess with lots of rusty old barges, tugs, pile drivers, and cranes all around in the water and a temporary steel lift bridge in the middle. Once we were out of the St. Augustine inlet, the wind was perfect for sailing, and we headed north staying about 20 miles offshore. All was well until about 8pm. A huge thunderstorm blew up and stayed with us for 4 or 5 hours. All I will say is the lightning was spectacular, all around us, and constant. Our 45 ft aluminum mast was the highest thing in miles. In spite of my earnest pleadings I was not levitated off the boat.

After midnight the weather improved, and we sailed on till morning. We passed Jacksonville, Fernandina Beach, Brunswick and then Savannah. The sun was finally up and shining when we crossed the Savannah ship channel. We watched the Coast Guard board a foreign ship for inspection. At least it wasn’t us this time! As usual Bill and I did not do formal watches. We both stayed in the cockpit until one of us couldn’t stay awake any longer, and then that person slept for an hour or two. I listened to my pocket-sized radio when I was awake, and Bill watched the ships coming and going on radar which for him was sort of like TV without the ads. We made it into Beaufort, South Carolina in the afternoon, anchored the boat, and took a well deserved nap.

During the next two days we motored north on the ICW in South Carolina. We anchored in Church Creek south of Charleston one night and then in Whiteside Creek north of Charleston the next. We saw alligators, wood storks, and ibises between Charleston and Georgetown. I wouldn’t have been able to identify the birds without my super deluxe gyroscopic binoculars. They really are a “good thing”. Once we passed Georgetown the wind returned, and we again hoisted a sail. I really liked the Waccamaw River section of the waterway. The scenery changed as we went along, the water was fresh, and the creek anchorages are numerous and isolated. We went into Thoroughfare Creek, dropped our anchor for the night off a sandy beach, and stayed until the afternoon of the next day. We twice watched dragon flies catch and eat horse flies; simple entertainment while enjoying a gin and tonic.

Since the water was fresh, I took a bath in the river. The current was extremely strong, and Bill put out a 100 ft floating line behind the boat so I would have something to hold onto. That was a good idea. I hopped in, was immediately swept away, but managed to grab the line because I couldn’t swim against the current. Seriously, I couldn’t make any progress at all against the current. It was hand over hand up the rope and back to the boat; not a good feeling.

In the late afternoon we sailed and motored the 10 miles to Bucksport. The Old River which branches off the Waccamaw at the Bucksport Marina was lovely, and we went as far into it as we felt was safe. That night we had a perfectly idyllic anchorage all to ourselves among the cypress trees and water lilies.

We motored to Coquina Yacht Club in Little River to spend the next two nights visiting with my sister, Elaine, and her husband, JP. Friday was my aunt Mary Ellen’s 80^th birthday. Elaine made a cake and had Mary Ellen and Ken as well as Elaine’s neighbor, Agnes, whose birthday was also on Friday, and her husband Tom over for desert. We had a good time.

I need to make a confession about a minor incident that occurred on the way to Little River. As we were circling waiting for the Little River Swing Bridge to open, I ran Irish Eyes aground. I mean seriously aground; four feet of water on one side of the boat and ten feet on the other. We could not go forwards or backwards. We were pinned against an underwater rock ledge by the current. Bill and I inflated the dinghy and were ready to launch it so we could put out an anchor upstream of the boat and pull ourselves off. A very jovial group in a small motor boat asked if they could help. Bill passed them a line, and with one quick tug they pulled us up-current and away from the rock. Now, we just have to see how much damage the rock did to the keel and rudder.

Saturday we motored all day through the notoriously shallow spots in both Shallotte Inlet and Lockwood’s Folly Inlet, up the Cape Fear River, and through Snows Cut to Carolina Beach. That night we anchored in Carolina Beach where it was very pleasant and cool. We had intended to do another off shore run from Wrightsville Beach to Morehead City, but the wind was from the northeast and we would have to have motored rather than sailed outside, so we just motored on the waterway.

Our plan was to anchor in Mile Hammock Bay, an anchorage within the Marine Corps’ Camp Lejeune. Along the way, another sailboat told us that the anchorage was closed. Bill called the Coast Guard on the cell phone and they said they didn’t know anything about Mile Hammock Bay being closed. We looked in all our guide books and charts and couldn’t find a phone number for the Marines to ask them. On we went. It was about 7pm when we turned into Mile Hammock Bay. There were several landing craft moored to the wall and some tanker trucks on shore but nothing major. We have anchored here when the Marines had a full sized tent city on the shore. Just as Bill was ready to drop the anchor, a pair of grey inflatable boats each complete with three machine guns and four camouflage clad young men came out to greet us. The guy in charge told us the anchorage was closed to civilians until June 30 or maybe longer. Ok, no problem, we just continued on to Factory Channel, a two hour motor trip away, and anchored there in the dark. The Hatteras Yacht factory was closed, so there was no one there to bother us. It was a late supper but a nice calm night disturbed only by the no-see-ums.

Our last night at anchor was spent in Adams Creek. It was a beautiful evening with a nice breeze during the night. Today we motored to Northwest Creek Marina and into our slip. We were just ahead of another thunderstorm, and the temperature was creeping up close to 90°. Waiting in the trunk of my car was our air conditioner. It wasn’t long before we had it installed and running.

So after 2500 miles of travel we are once again in New Bern. We don’t feel like we have been gone over 4 months, but the trees are green rather than bare and the mercury is at the top rather than the bottom of the thermometer. We have had a wonderful adventure, I’ve got my shells, and we still are a happy couple. Like the tee shirts say, “Life Is Good”.

Saturday, May 16, 2009


This is St. Joseph's Anglican Church in Thompson Bay. Our boat is anchored in the distance. We came over in the dinghy and attended Sunday services.


We chased this turtle in our dinghy in the shallow creek inside Conception Island. The creek was just full of turtles enjoying the sun warmed shallow water.


This is elkhorn coral on the reef north of Conception Island. The coral heads rise up 25 feet from the white sand bottom almost to the low tide water surface. There are fish everywhere.


This is the Hermitage on Cat Island built by Fr. Jerome in the 1930s. The buildings are just big enough for one person; sort of like a playhouse. It is very impressive both for its architecture and location.

We hooked four dolphin fish, but all eventually got away. If only we could have gotten even one in the boat...

You ought to see the teeth in this baracuda's mouth. Bill got him first.

Hello. Bill and I are headed back to the US. We are currently anchored at West End, Grand Bahama Island near the Old Bahama Bay Resort. The resort did not have an empty slip for us, but that is okay. It is probably quieter (and certainly cheaper) here.

After waiting a week after the George Town regatta for favorable weather, we were finally able to leave and sail south on May 2. Before we weighed anchor we went to the Peace and Plenty Beach Club a for their Happy Hour and Supper, made our last trip into town for food, fuel and water, had the crews from Dot’s Way and Euphoria over for a farewell beer, and walked Sand Dollar Beach one last time. The wind was right, so we sailed south to Long Island which is south of the tropic of cancer and thus well and truly in the tropics. At Long Island we anchored in Thompson Bay off the settlement of Salt Pond. On shore just off our bow, was the pretty St. Joseph’s Anglican Church. The next morning, Sunday, we decided we would go to church. Bill took the dinghy to shore early and walked to the church to check the time of Sunday services. The sign said “Services Weekly”. I decided to knit in the cockpit to keep an eye on the church parking lot. When the acolytes arrived, we left for church making it in time for the 11am service.

The church service was a laid back Anglican service but with lots of incense and bells. Everyone knew the hymns but us, including the singing of the Lord’s Prayer to a Caribbean tune. Bill and I stood up and introduced ourselves to the twenty or so others in attendance. The priest has four churches where he holds services each Sunday. One of the churches is on another island. The times of the services rotate beginning at 7am. The people on Long Island are a mixture of African and Spanish heritages. The Hispanic women were beautiful. Everybody in church was more dressed up than I was. I wore my one dress, a knit polo dress. Bill fit in with his khakis and short sleeve dress shirt. It was interesting to try and wear decent shoes and long pants when we had to land the dinghy on the beach and wade ashore.

That afternoon we walked through the settlement where all the businesses were closed then continued down a lane across the island to the ocean side beach. One of the men who had been in church was there with three boys. The kids were having a blast swimming in the surf. Bill and I enjoyed talking to the man about his experiences working in Alberta in the winter and watching the boys play. The poor guy had to get the boys out of the water when it was time to go home. I’m glad I didn’t have to be the meanie.

Monday was a beautiful day with great wind. We sailed north along the island’s shore with all three of Irish Eye’s sails flying and anchored in Calabash Bay near Cape Santa Maria. There is a monument to Christopher Columbus on top of a nearby hill. Legend has it that Columbus’s Santa Maria was lost on the reef off the coast here. (There are lots of legends about the great explorer’s exploits on Long Island and the nearby cays.)

The wind was not as favorable Tuesday morning, so we motor sailed north to Conception Island. Conception was uninhabited and a Bahamas Trust land park. There were lots of tropic birds with their outrageously long tail feathers on the island. We walked the beaches. One on the south was a very nice shelling beach. The north side beach was pretty much a junk beach - lots of shoes, plastic bottles, rope, and floating junk of all sorts. There was a small sandstone cliff where a rope was tied so you could drag yourself to the top where there was a really nice view across the offshore coral reefs.

Conception Island had an interior mangrove lined creek which was home to sea turtles. The creek was very shallow. Even dinghies couldn’t get into the creek at anything but high tide. A boat we met in Georgetown, Loafer’s Glory, was anchored at Conception too. We took our slow dinghy and they took their fast one around to Conch Creek. Loafer’s Glory got there first – of course. We saw lots of turtles and followed one around until I was afraid the poor thing was going to have a heart attack. Those little guys can really fly when they swim.

There are several coral heads on the ocean side of the island with all kinds of fish. Bill and I made two snorkeling trips in the dinghy. The water where we were anchored was so clear I could see the sand dollars on the bottom six feet under Irish Eyes’ keel. A nurse shark and several trunk fish swam around the boat. We had the people from two other boats over for drinks; Chris a single hander from Virginia and Paul and Deb from Canada. Paul and Deb were our hosts the next evening.

Saturday May 9 found us motor sailing to the settlement of New Bight on Cat Island. Along the way we hooked four dolphin fish or mahi mahi. We struggled with all four fish but didn’t manage to land a single one! One straightened the hook, one broke the hook, one shook the hook off, and one dove under the boat and breaking both the line and a guide on the rod. We did manage to get two of them alongside before they escaped, but with a gaff that is only two feet long we just couldn’t get them on board. I did get some pictures. But, I am not at all sure where we would have put all the fish if we have landed one (sour grapes).

The main attraction at New Bight were ruins. We visited the Armbrister Great House site first. At one time Cat Island had plantations where loyalist settlers from the US tried to raise cotton. I am quite sure the lack of soil was a big surprise. The highest hill in the Bahamas, Comer Hill at 206 feet, is the site of the Hermitage. This is the self-built monastery of Father Jerome Hawkes a student of architecture, an Anglican, and later a Roman Catholic priest. He was pretty much a hermit at the end of his life, and he built it to resemble hermitages he had visited in Britain and Europe. I was afraid we might get altitude sickness up there (ha ha) after being at sea level for so long.

When we left New Bight I managed to catch one of the lines to the dinghy in the propeller. After I went swimming and untangled the mess on the prop, we motored to Pigeon Cay for a nice evening beach stroll. I found a few more shells.

Monday May 11 we sailed to Little San Salvador. We went inside the little harbor and anchored in flat water which was beautifully clear. Little San Salvador was purchased by Holland America Cruise Lines and renamed Half Moon Cay. They built a fake Bahamian village, trails and tram tracks through the bush, and a netted and buoyed swimming area (so you don’t swim with fish I guess) all to provide their passengers with a day at the beach. Yachtsmen were not welcome on shore. We knew that, but our guidebook said that if a ship isn’t there anchoring is fine. We were anchored snugly with about eight other boats by 3pm. All seemed well, and gin and tonic time was approaching. About 5:30 we were all told we had to move to the northwest corner of the harbor as a cruise ship was due in early the next morning. The northwest corner is exposed to the ocean swell and was a pretty miserable place to spend the night. My complaint was the instructions to move came too late to make the 42 mile journey to Eleuthera.

We got up early on Tuesday to sail to Eleuthera, and saw the cruise ship coming towards Little San Salvador. It seemed a shame for those people to come all the way to the Bahamas and only see a newly made “Disney-fied” island instead of the real thing. We’ve had a much better trip.

Our fishing did not improve. We did hook and land a large fish, but it turned out to be a Great Barracuda! It had lots of teeth. Bill and I each had our task. I job was to slow the boat, clear the cockpit of things we don’t want wet, and get my squeeze bottle of vodka to give the old fish a good welcoming drink on his arrival. Bill reeled the fish in and gaffed the poor thing. I gave him a drink and Bill cut his spine. It went like clockwork; all for a barracuda which we just threw back into the sea after taking its picture. Why could we have not done it for one of the dolphin fish? Our sail was downwind to Tarpum Bay. We had a peaceful night off the colorful town and left just after sunrise for the long days sail to Royal Island. It was another downwind trip. To get to Royal Island you have to go through Current Cut, a narrow cut through the land with menacing rocks on both sides. The current was very strong and we blasted through with the current going in the same direction as we were. It was sort of like being flushed in a toilet.

We left Royal Island early - again. Our next sail was across the 14,000 ft deep Northwest Providence Channel to Sandy Point on Great Abaco Island. It was another beautiful downwind trip. Since we were headed north and the weather was in our favor, we were on the move. Our fuel tank was full but we didn’t have anything in our jugs on deck as back up and we had used half of our fresh water in the two weeks since leaving George Town. Sandy Point seemed like a good place to top off the tanks and buy some groceries. Sandy Point looks like most of the settlements we have seen, some houses looked better than others, but all the people were friendly. Everyone spoke, smiled, waved, and tooted their horns as they drove by. Everybody looks well fed and well dressed. I am sure the economy with its reliance on tourism is not that great. Bill and I got a few groceries, water, and fuel before we up anchored and headed off on our overnight passage to West End.

The wind was behind us all the way. We sailed with only the genoa moving it from one side to the other as the wind shifted directions and furling it a little at a time as the wind speed increased during the night. Even with only a quarter of it showing our speed was still between 4 and 5 knots. The waves were kind of scary at times and there was lots of ship traffic, but we made it. I got the opportunity to cook on the stove with it swinging back and forth on its gimbals and with the pot clamped to the burner. We put up the lee cloth on the starboard settee and took turns napping during the night. We were past Freeport when the sun came up and were anchored off West End by 9 in the morning. The autopilot was the most appreciated crewman on the boat.

Our intention is to leave here around mid morning tomorrow (Sunday) and head for Port Canaveral, Florida. That will be another overnight sail. All our children and grandchildren are to meet us next Saturday in Cocoa Beach. Bill and I both are looking forward to seeing all the kids and having them on board Irish Eyes. Oh yes, not everybody is sleeping on the boat!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009
The 57th Annual Family Islands Regatta
Elizabeth Harbor, Exuma

The first gun was 30 minutes before the race. Like most things here, you couldn't count on the race starting on time. It happened when it happened. The boats all anchored along the starting line with the help of the Race Committee. The second gun was a warning a minute before the start.

The third gun started the race. The crews hauled in on their anchors to get some forward motion, hoisted their sails, and fell off on starboard tack. The rightmost boat could choose to go port tack and often did. Occasionally, a mid-line boat fell onto port tack and rammed a couple of starboard tack boats to his right.

This was a fairly clean start. See the one port tack boat. The course was windward-leeward; windward mark to port, leeward mark to starboard, sometimes one lap but usually three. The start and finish were in front of the town. There were three races a day for four days.

The boats were small and the sails large. They were kept upright by the crews on the pry and 50 lb lead bars along the keels.

This was a Class C boat and was the smallest of the classes (except for the few even smaller Class D boats). The larger Class A and Class B boats had a jib in additioin to the mainsail. The hulls and spars were wood and the sails were cotton.

Notice the sail's headboard. Anything for some more sail area.

Even on a reach the crew had to be on the pries to keep the boats upright.

This was a full size sail. They were used the first day. Then the wind picked up to 20 knots and smaller sails were used.

This was Chase headed out to the starting line. They passed right behind us.

In spite of the smaller sails there were a half dozen capsizes, three sinkings, a couple of broken booms, several broken or cracked masts, and innumerable torn sails.

Only the helmsman and a spotter were excused from duty on the pry.

The sails had a second clew that was used to reef the sail. In addition the sails were sometimes not raised to their full hoist.

In the camera the boats were small, but in my 14x binoculars I could even see the grins on the racer's faces. The binoculars were a good Christmas present.

This was the scene at the leeward mark in a Class C race.

The best seats in town were along the seawall on Regatta Point. The best of the best were also in the shade. A lot of money is getting ready to change hands.

This was one of the 40 or so temporary 2x4 and plywood shacks set up anong the road on Regatta Point selling beer, booze, fried food, and conch. The music was unbearably loud.

The Exuma Band was composed of musicians from the several schools on the island. They marched up and down the road and had a sort of mini halftime show in front of the park.

The Royal Police Band from Nassau was also there. They were nothing but sharp and really put on a show. The drummers wore leopard skin tunics over their perfect dress uniforms. Even the Prime Minister came to watch.

Bill helped to keep these two little girls balanced on top of a narrow wall so that they could see over the heads of the crowd along the street.

After the last race while everyone else was partying, the crews loaded their boats on the ships to take them home and prepare for the next regatta.


Hey everybody. It has only been a few days since last I updated this blog, but we had so much fun at the Family Islands Regatta that I thought you would like to see some of my pictures.

We anchored near the start/finish line for the first two days. When the wind picked up, we moved across the harbor to Volleyball Beach to get in the lee of Stocking Island. There we then had a view of the boats as they headed to the turning mark. The final day of the races we took the water taxi into town. We had a ringside seat for the final class C race which was great fun. I had my first (and last) Coconut Water and Gin (the local specialty of coconut water, gin and condensed milk). We saw the Exuma Youth Band perform and the Royal Police Band, too. We talked to lots of local people and Bill was even the safety person for two Exuma girls standing on the wall with us. It was a wonderful time. Watauga Lake racers beware; we made notes and are thinking about a pry for Canary.

Bill and I are still in Georgetown, now anchored off Sand Dollar Beach. I have 22 sand dollars that I found on the beach. The wind has been very strong for the last week or more, and we are waiting for the weather to settle before heading further south.

Hope you are all enjoying spring.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The sandstone cliffs above these caves on Bitter Guana Cay were soft and crumbley, so we did not dare walk along their top edge.

The entrance from Elizabeth Harbour into Lake Victoria in George Town is through this narrow cut in the limestone rock and under the low bridge.

Looking down on this small beach below the cliffs on Stocking Island, you can see the rock ledges and reefs in the water below.

With Haynes and Laura we snorkeled over this sea fan garden at the northern end of Stocking Island.

Adventures over. Time to relax at the Chat n' Chill. Laura, Bill, and Haynes enjoy a cold beer and a conchburger.

Practicing before the first day of the Family Islands Regatta, this boat used us as a turning mark.

Hello from Georgetown, Exuma. I know it has been a long time since I have written. We have had guests, sketchy internet connections, and been involved in the social whirl of the Georgetown cruisers. Is that enough excuses? I have more. Needless to say Bill and I are both doing just fine. We have really acclimated to living aboard Irish Eyes and being in the Bahamas.
We left Staniel Cay, sailed west around Harvey Cay, then motored south and east to Bitter Guana Cay. We anchored off the banks-side northernmost beach. It was backed by sandstone cliffs and caves. This was a most unusual and uninhabited island. Just above the beach and to the left were the 60 foot cliffs. To the right was a more level spot inhabited by the iguanas. (That was where the Guana in the island’s name came from.) These iguanas are huge and very creepy. Unlike the ones we have seen before on Allen’s Cay, they weren’t looking for food and have no fear of people. I didn’t like the beasts. They snuck up on us without making any noise and didn’t go away when we yelled at them. Bill went back into one of the caves under the cliffs and discovered several sleeping in the shade. He came out before they did. The sandstone was completely rotten. We picked up a fallen piece, threw it in the water, and it dissolved into beach sand. That nixed our planned walk across the top of the cliffs – they might have collapsed. The wind was supposed to move to the east in the afternoon, but it didn’t, making our anchorage a very rocky if not dangerous one for the night. Looking for a better spot, we motored the few miles south to Black Point Settlement which had better protection from southerly wind and waves.
Black Point was a very friendly place. There was a small grocery store where I purchased a can of New Zealand butter and some lettuce. The best thing in Black Point Settlement was the superb, clean, and new laundromat. I misread the sign giving the cost of washing and drying. I thought it was $3.50 for 4 to 5 minutes of drying when actually it was $3.50 for 45 minutes. Once I got that right and realized that I could wash clothes for less than a hundred dollars, we had a very pleasant time doing laundry with several of the other cruisers. One of the women was a writer for the Waterway Guides and had lots of information to share. The harbor in Black Point was rather rolly, so the next morning we got 15 gallons of free R/O water from the village tap and moved on south.
We had to motor into the wind but otherwise had no problems getting into Little Farmer’s Cay. The island is owned in common by the descendents of the original settling ex-slave family. We went ashore to visit The Ocean Cabin Club. As we were walking up the hill, we met a group of the local young men playing dominos. It was shortly after noon and they had all had a few (or more) beers. Bill joked for a minute or two with one who was having some trouble standing up. He was really quite funny to talk to as his friends egged him on. The club on the hill was a bar and restaurant owned and operated by Terry Baines. Terry has travelled, is well read, and is something of a writer/philosopher. Bill and Terry discussed at length the integration of the Salisbury, NC schools. I had read in one of our guides that there was a water taxi from Georgetown to Little Farmer’s operated by one of the local fellows. Haynes and Laura, Bill’s brother and wife, were flying into Georgetown, and we were getting worried that we might not be able to get there on time, so were looking for alternatives. When we asked Terry about the water taxi, he was less than encouraging, actually rolled his eyes. Bill and I left the next morning and sailed to George Town. I don’t think the water taxi would have been a good idea.
All our guide books and charts described the northern entrance to Elizabeth Harbour, George Town’s harbor, as a nightmare if the weather wasn’t just perfect. We must have picked the perfect day as we had no trouble with the entrance. Elizabeth Harbour separates Great Exuma Island on its west from Stocking Island to the east. George Town, the largest town in the Exumas, is on Great Exuma Island. Elizabeth Harbour is roughly a mile wide and eight miles long. Stocking Island has just a few houses and has beaches on both the harbor and ocean sides. Cruising boats anchor either on the town side of the harbor off George Town itself or on the Stocking Island side off Hamburger Beach, Volleyball Beach, or Sand Dollar Beach. We decided to first anchor off the town so we could check it out.
Georgetown’s main business area is along the shores of Lake Victoria, an inland lake connected to the harbor by a narrow manmade cut in the limestone rock that is spanned by a low bridge. In the lake is a dinghy dock with a free water tap. There is a grocery store, two gas stations, several bars, at least three liquor stores, and two laundromats. We spent several days anchored off town filling our fuel and water tanks, buying groceries, and replenishing our liquid stores before moving across Elizabeth Harbor to Sand Dollar Beach.
Sand Dollar Beach had, surprise surprise, sand dollars, and I picked up my share. We walked the trails that laced the south end of Stocking Island, walked on the ocean side beaches, walked along the tops of the ocean facing cliffs, walked along the harbor side beaches… You get the picture; Bill was back into his Appalachian Trail hiking mode. To break the monotony, we snorkeled on a reef in the harbor and swam around the boat. We attended a couple of happy hours (bring your drinks and an appetizer to share); one on Hamburger Beach and another on a nearby 49 foot trawler which was also from New Bern. The motor boat showed us its advantages including a dishwasher, a washer, a dryer, a frig, and an ice maker! We took the dinghy north to the Chat and Chill Beach Bar on Volleyball Beach to learn how to play dominos, drink beer, and watch the volleyball. Not a bad life.
On Easter Monday, Bill and I took Irish Eyes across the harbor and grabbed a cab to the Exuma International Airport to meet Bill’s brother Haynes and his wife Laura. The airport was as laid back as everything else in the Bahamas. Bill and I waited in the departure/arrival lounge (bar) along with several European families who had vacationed at one of the hotels on the island. A Danish family was interested in how we managed to live on the boat, and we spent almost half an hour talking with them. I think we could have sold them the boat on the spot.
We collected Haynes and Laura and moved Irish Eyes back across the harbor to Sand Dollar Beach. The four of us beach walked all over the southern end of Stocking Island before moving the mile or two north to Hamburger Beach. There is a 20 foot concrete obelisk on top of the highest hill (37 meters) between Hamburger Beach and the ocean side beach. We walked up to the monument, but there was no indication of what it is a monument to. We returned to Irish Eyes via by the ocean side beach and a trail through the palms leading to the Peace and Plenty Beach Club on Hamburger Beach just in time for a noonday Kalik beer. That afternoon we took the boat north to Conch Harbor to snorkel on the sea fan covered reef there before crossing the harbor to the more protected lee of Goat Cay for the night.
Haynes very much wanted to cross the Tropic of Cancer and sail in the tropics. So, we sailed out of the southern entrance to the harbor then south until we passed the line on the chart. Nothing much changed. For the afternoon we anchored off Pigeon Cay. This cay was about ½ mile long and was mostly a beautiful white sand beach. We snorkeled from the anchored boat to the beach looking for shells along the way, walked on the beach, and snorkeled along a bit of reef before swimming back to the boat. It was a beautiful day. Bill found a helmet conch shell to go along with the queen conchs we had found previously.
We motored our way back towards Elizabeth Harbour with the wind on our nose. The first overnight anchorage after entering the harbor from the south was just north of Fowl Cay. Our intent was to anchor overnight and snorkel the reef between the cay and the ocean. During the night the wind picked up making it a very rolly spot. Bill slept through the howling wind and creaking boat. The rest of us didn’t.
As it was a bit rough for snorkeling on the reef, we pulled up anchor and went back to our favorite Sand Dollar Beach. Too lazy to fix lunch, the four of us piled into the dinghy and went to the Chat and Chill for conchburgers and beer. Later in the day when the sun was not so high, we took still another walk first across the island, then along the ocean cliffs, then back along the harbor side beach.
Sadly, on Saturday it was time for Haynes and Laura to leave. It had been a good week. After seeing them off, I did some grocery shopping before we returned to the boat. The wind had picked up, and the dinghy trip against the waves and wind was a soaking wet one. I am now waiting to see if flour once wet with sea water but now dried makes salty bread. Once again we returned to Sand Dollar Beach.
Monday after our now daily walk on the beach, we discovered two young women slowly circling Irish Eyes in their dinghy. They were taking pictures of two adult porpoises and one small one swimming under our boat. The water was so clear we could see them when they dove for the bottom. What a sight! The dolphins I mean, not the two women.
This week Georgetown is hosting the 57th Annual Family Islands Regatta. It is a national sailboat race for little wooden boats with huge sails. The boats used to be working sailboats, but times have changed and they just race them now. The boats are very colorful anything from the usual white to hot pink, aqua, or purple. To keep the boat from heeling over too far the crew uses one or two a pries, long boards that hang far over the side with the crew perched on the end. When a boat tacks not only does the crew tack the sails but also the 16 foot long pry. They really hustle and fuss at each other. The verbal harassment between the competing boats is intense.
The main street in George Town is now lined with shacks, and that is the official name, not mine, for the temporary plywood stalls erected to meet the needs of the racers and the crowds. They are all either bars or food stands and most play loud music. It is a sight to see. The population of the place has doubled. It looks like Bristol Race Week. On Tuesday after doing our laundry and filling our water and fuel tanks, we stopped at shack #16 and had a delicious lunch of cracked conch with peas and rice, corn and beets, and of course Kalik beer. (The local concoction of coconut milk and gin will have to wait for another day.) We are anchored off the town again and have a ringside seat at the finish line. The racing continues through the weekend. I will take lots of pictures. It is already a hoot.
Bye for now.

March 31, 2009

Unlike the iguanas these birds will eat out of your hand without biting.

Waredrick Wells Cay is named after the natural wells that are on the cay. Some are as deep as 40 feet. Some like this one are filled with water. All go straight down into the solid rock.

Bill and I picked these sand dollars up in just a couple of minutes raking our fingers or toes through the sand in the shallow water off Staniel Cay.

Surrounded by fish, I am swimming into the Thunderball Grotto. The cave passes completely through a small island. There is air and light in the top and water with fish and coral in the bottom.

When I last wrote we had just gotten to the Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park Headquarters at Warderick Wells Cay. We spent 3 nights there on a mooring near Emerald Rock on the west side of the cay. Bill put a patch over a hole in the dinghy, and we had to wait 24 hours for the glue to set before inflating the dinghy again. That meant a lazy day of reading, knitting, puttering about on Irish Eyes, and making bread. I have just about perfected the “Boat Bread” recipe. Bill doesn’t complain. It is really quite good.
The next day, Wednesday March 24, after lunch we inflated the dinghy and went exploring. We dropped by the park office to pay for our mooring and buy a book on the local flora. We walked across the cay to the ocean side. The trail takes you to Booboo Hill (not really much of a hill to us East Tennesseans but a hill never the less). It was topped with a stack of driftwood graffiti left by boaters to memorialize their being there. Just north on the ridge were two blow holes. These were holes in the rock where the water blows up into the air like a geyser. It was extremely windy and the surf was strong but the tide wasn’t yet high enough to have a good blow. The wind was 25 knots from the east, so we didn’t stay long before we were tired of being blown away and were getting wet from the salt water spray that filled the air.
At the park office building the staff had put out several sugar feeders for the Bananaquits. These are small black and yellow birds that feed on nectar or sugar. I put a teaspoon of sugar in my palm and had as many as six birds eating out of my hand at once. These little guys dip their long beaks in the sugar and either lick it off or share with another bird by rubbing their beaks together. We saw them on the nearby hibiscus flowers dipping their beaks down to get the nectar like a hummingbird. Bill thinks I should try and train the hummingbirds in our yard to eat out of my hand when we get home. I can’t imagine!
We still had our map of the park’s hiking trails from last year. We decided on Thursday to walk some of the ones we hadn’t already walked. The map was very deceiving. The trails start on one beach and go to the next beach. What the map doesn’t show is you have to walk over lots of very sharp pointy jagged rocks before you get to the next beach. I hate the sharp pointy rocks! I also saw a snake, only a small harmless brown snake, but a snake is a snake is a snake to me. Bill left me on the last beach we reached and went back overland for the dinghy then returned to retrieve me saving me from the return trip. In the shallow water on our way back to the boat we saw several live conchs. Since the park is a no take zone we left them alone. Besides I have already found two large perfect conch shells that were empty.
During the night the wind shifted to the south making our mooring at Emerald Rock rocky. We decided to move south to an anchorage with better protection even though south was dead into the wind and waves. Motoring into a 20 kt wind is not my favorite way to spend the morning. Before we left we had the good sense to bring the dinghy on deck. It was a smart move because we had no islands upwind of us, and the waves were surprisingly large. The chart showed moorings off the marina dock at Sampson Cay, but they are gone allowing us to anchor in about 7 to 8 feet of water tucked deeply inside in the very pretty harbor. Several nurse sharks attracted to the fish cleaning station on the marina dock cruised below our boat casting their shadows across the bottom. The spot was perfectly protected from the rough water outside, so we had a restful calm night.
Over the VHF radio the staff at Sampson Cay announced that they were having a beach BBQ party from noon to 7pm on Saturday. We needed to get some diesel, and I needed a pair of flip flops. We went ashore to check out the party and get fuel and shoes. For Christmas I got a very nice pair of mesh and leather water shoes. They looked like the perfect shoe for hopping out of the dinghy into the water and walking the beach protecting my feet from the sharp rocks. Wrong! The water drained out of the shoes but left all the sand behind. The sand then rubbed my feet raw. I would rather have flip flops. Unfortunately, what would be a $1.99 pair from Target were $30 in the Bahamas! I now have a pretty pink pair of expensive flip flops. Getting diesel was another adventure. There seemed to be a dispute brewing among the several large motor vessels waiting for space at the fuel dock – too little space and too many boats. Bill talked to the dock guy and decided not to move our boat over to the dock but rather bring our three jugs in the dinghy and fill our fuel tank in two dinghy trips. Unfortunately, before Bill could get back for the second 15 gallons a motor boat came in to get 1300+ gallons. We had to wait until he was through. The captain on that boat, which I won’t name, was a prime example of the unlikeable American, all mouth and money, issuing commands to anyone and everyone within earshot while refusing to do the simple things he was asked to do. I waited on a chair in the shade of the porch outside the store while Bill was filling the diesel jugs and learned quite a bit. The reason for the beach party was to allow the restaurant to be closed all day for a large group. The NY Yacht Club was bringing in 12 boats for the night and had requested a private dinner for 39. The staff at Sampson Cay had ordered and prepared tons of food and drink. Remember everything has to be brought over from Nassau by air or by boat. It turned out only 3 boats showed up! Two boats were already in the marina that morning and the third finally came at 8pm. Granted the last one could have had 39 people on board; it was that large, but I never saw them. All this reminded me of Watauga Lake Sail Club events and trying to get a head count beforehand! Sampson Cay Marina has houses for rent too. This would be a lovely place for a real get away vacation. We walked all over the cay, spent some time at the beach party and had another restful night.
We left Sampson Cay on Sunday morning and sailed south for Staniel Cay. While the wind was still from the south, this time we were able to sail in two tacks, first to the southwest, then to the southeast. I guess I should explain what sailing on the wind in 20 knots was like. The boat was heeled over (leaned) about 40 degrees, one side was nearly underwater, and the waves were coming over the bow and washing down the deck with only the canvas dodger to keep them out of the cockpit. Going below to the head (bathroom) was a real exercise. Toilets were designed to be level, not leaning 40 degrees forward! Every time the bow went underwater, I was pitched off the seat and out the door. Think of a sailing movie where the boat is really moving along. Ever wonder why the scenes never include the toilet? Anyway it was only about 8 miles or two hours, so it was manageable.
Staniel Cay has several beaches and the famous Thunderball Grotto, a sky lit underwater cave where the James Bond movie, Thunderball, and Disney’s Splash were filmed. The day we arrived was not a bright sunny day because a cold front was passing to the north of us, so we put off snorkeling and walked around the settlement instead. We went out to the airport, just a landing strip and a gazebo for a terminal, and walked down several of the lanes in the village. While we have been told that the winter had been unusually windy and cool and that the Abacos were both windier and cooler than the Exumas, spring here has been near perfect for us - highs of about 80 and lows of maybe 70. Now, if the wind would settle down a bit.
Yesterday we had lunch at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club, my first conch burger of the trip, and went walking on the nearby beach. Bill and I found a dozen or more sand dollars just in a minute or two by digging in the shallows with our fingers or toes. I left them behind, remembering that I am only taking great things, and I already have sand dollars at home. At slack low tide we went to the Thunderball Grotto. It was beautiful. We swam in through its main entrance ushered by a school of Sergeant Major fish. The interior was lit by sunlight streaming in through holes in the limestone roof. The floor of the cave was covered with different varieties of coral and loads of fish. Both of us swam completely through the cave and out another entrance on the other side of the island. It was spectacular. I was just floating along with the current and the fish, watching the sea fans when Bill asked if I was heading to Cuba. Swimming the other way back through the cave was a little hard as the tide had changed and the current was against us. After a short dinghy ride we were back in Irish Eyes’ cockpit in time for an evening G&T as the sun set behind Big Majors Spot. Not a bad day at all.
This morning Bill discovered that we had a leak in our propane system. This was a priority and something that had to be fixed NOW. He worked on it all morning, and he thinks it is fixed. I hope. We planned to go to Club Thunderball for their Tuesday evening “All You Can Eat Pizza and Pasta Supper with a Movie”, but alas, “Da mail boat didn’t come today”, so we went over there for a couple of drinks instead and enjoyed supper on our own boat. Such is island life; one disappointment after another.
Tomorrow may be Bitter Guana Cay, a protected iguana habitat, then the Black Point Settlement on Great Guana Cay to do laundry and buy some fresh vegetables, or then maybe we will just go around to Big Majors Spot and see the swimming pigs. So many things to do, so little time. Miss you all and wish you could be here too!

March 24, 2009

On the north side of Highborne Cay is a beach. Someone put this piece of washed up lumber between two of the casurina pines above the beach. It made a good resting place.

The sign is at the entrance to the north creek that passes through the mangroves in the interior of Shroud Cay to the beach on the ocean side. Barcardi paid for the sign. Good people.

Bill found these plastic fishing floats on the beach. We left them behind.

Our dinghy on the Exuma Bank side beach at Hawksbill Cay with Irish Eyes (the sailboat) in the background.

Hey. We are currently moored at Warderick Wells Cay. The water is as clear as gin and the sky as blue as anyone can imagine. Our only problem is the wind which has been blowing from the east at 20 to 25 knots for several days and is expected to continue to do so for the few days.
We left Allen’s Cay and made the three hour trip, under sail, to Highborne Cay. Highborne has a marina and a couple of houses. We anchored on the Exumas Bank side (shallow water, western side, in the lee of the island, and out of the 20 kt east winds) with five or ten other boats for two nights. The landscape here is very stark deeply etched limestone with vegetation above the high water line with deeply blue water up to the limestone. Shortly after we had our anchor set, a beat up johnboat with two Bahamian fishermen aboard came along side and asked us if we wanted some lobster. We took two! Sure beats looking for them on our own! We decided to take a short island tour and went to both of the two closest beaches for a stroll. We grilled one of the lobsters which with a bit of garlic butter made for a fabulous dinner.
Our friends on Dot’s Way showed up the next evening, and we enjoyed a couple of beers with them on our boat. After they left we grilled two steaks for dinner. Before dark a large motor yacht (maybe 150 ft), Bad Girl, anchored behind us. The large crew from Bad Girl made several trips to the beach that was 200 yards in front of us. They proceeded to gather wood for a fire then erected two tents, several umbrellas, tiki lanterns, chairs, tables, a grill, a music system, and began working on preparing food for dinner. Around 8pm the dozen or so VIPs from Bad Girl got on one of their three dinghies (all 16 to 20' boats) and went to the beach party. It was all very interesting. The female to male ratio was at least 3 to 1and the age ratio was about the opposite! We got bored with watching until they started the fireworks show! The fireworks were good and entertained the whole anchorage. One fellow on a Canadian registered boat hailed Bad Girl, registered in Bermuda, to thank him for the show. The Canadian asked leading questions about Bad Girl, but the English accented captain was quite secretive never saying much more that she was a privately owned vessel. Maybe it was a rock star, a movie actor, a royal, or perhaps an AIG executive; who knows. Oh well, it was fun to watch and speculate.
Irish Eyes made the long trip, about 5 miles, to Norman’s Cay, the ex home and business location of the drug baron Carlos Lehder. We went into the Beach Club, McDuff’s, for a drink and dinner. Norman’s Cay has 5 year-round residents and about 45 part-time residents. The staff at McDuff’s are usually there for a week and off for a week. Some go to Nassau and some go back to various points in the US or UK. Our waitress told us that some of the young guys are there for a few months; make of that what you may. The food was good and the booze flowed in the evenings for both the staff and guests.
We left Norman’s and headed south for another 5 miles to Shroud Cay which is the northernmost cay in the Exumas National Park where we picked up one of their ($15/night) mooring balls. This is the island with a natural fresh water well where we stayed last year. Bill made three trips in the dinghy bringing us about 40 gallons of water. That was enough for me to wash underwear and refill our forward water tank. Peanuts was wrong, happiness is a full drawer of clean underwear! Shroud Cay was a great place to explore. The island is basically two land masses, one on the banks side and one on the ocean side, with mangrove swamps and tidal creeks in the middle. We took two three-hour dinghy exploration trips through the mangroves to the sound beaches, one through the northernmost creek and one through a southern creek. The scenery was spectacular. At times the water was very shallow and we had to walk pulling the dinghy behind, but the views and the beach were worth the effort. Our little Tohatsu outboard motor was a trooper going through water we thought was deep but really was not. I found pretty things; Bill found stuff. The amount of plastic junk on a deserted beach is mind boggling. Sorry all you plastic guys at Eastman, but it’s enough to make a person want to ban plastic! Bill’s best find was the electronics from some sort of weather balloon. It was a Styrofoam case with a circuit board and battery inside and with lots of wires sticking out. The thing looked like a bomb but was too water logged to be scary. I would also ban Styrofoam if I were in charge.
Today we made a reservation on the VHF for a mooring buoy at Warderick Wells Cay, the headquarters for the Exuma Land and Sea Park. We put the dinghy on the deck, dropped the mooring ball, and sailed southeast from Hawksbill Cay until Warderick Wells was east of us. Then we started motoring, slowly, into the 25 knot east wind that we have had since leaving Florida. It was not fun. The boat’s instruments said it would take 2 hours, then when we almost stopped after hitting a wave and water went all over the boat, 3 hours, then 2 hours as we started moving again. Well, we got here, finally. Near the shore and protected by the cay between us and the wind it is nearly calm if you forget the singing of the rigging overhead. We took the American flag down; it was making too much noise. We got the WiFi working and Bill is re-patching the dinghy. It’s nearly time for a SDG&T. Got to go.

March 16, 2009

When we arrived in the Bahamas we have to attest to the good health of the vessel and her crew. Fortuantely, we had no cases of plague, cholera, yellow fever or small pox during our ten hour voyage from Florida.

Sailing north around Bimini. The covered jugs are diesel and gas.

Bill thinks the iguana will come over and take the grape from his hand. The iguana plans to bite hell out of him, make him drop the grape, then pick it up. Bill does this twice before setting the grapes on the sand for the iguanas to pick up.

The view from the driftwood bench at the top of Allens Cay west over the Exuma Bank.

Greetings from Allens Cay, Exuma Cays, the Bahamas.
We left No Name Harbor on Key Biscayne Monday morning March 9 in the dark headed for Bimini. I have such poor night vision that getting out of the harbor and through the shallow Cape Florida Channel between Biscayne Bay and the ocean was scary. I was steering and Bill navigating. It didn’t help that the full moon set an hour before we left, that we had to go around some anchored boats, and that one of marks that was supposed to be lit was not. We cleared the last of the marks about 6:10am and were in the deep water of the Gulf Stream until we got to the channel into Bimini. This was our third crossing of the Gulf Stream. It was the middle one; not too rough or windy but not dead calm either. Four or five ships crossed our path heading south as we went east. We had a pod of the small spotted porpoises with us for about half an hour as the sun rose. We can’t ask for anything better than that.
Around midday, we heard a dive boat, Pirates Lady, calling the US Coast Guard from near Cat Cay which is just south of Bimini. They were reporting a missing diver. There was lots of radio talk about the search which involved two USCG helicopters and a number of pleasure craft. A large ship finally reported he could see something in the water. The heavily accented captain said he could not get close enough to make sure what he saw was the diver and was having trouble getting smaller boats to go take a look. We listened to the radio until we got to Bimini around 3pm, then switched it off. Bill was filling out the paperwork for the customs and immigrations while I breathed a sigh of relief that we were out of the Gulf Stream and firmly tied to Weech’s Dock. Ahead of us on the dock was Dot’s Way, a sailboat we had seen on and off in the ICW since Savannah. I was enjoying the warm temperature, clear water, blue sky, and a well deserved sundowner while Bill was meeting with officialdom ashore when Pirate’s Lady pulled into Weech’s. Pirates Lady is a 60 foot sailboat from Turk Island. She takes people out for a week of sailing and diving. Bill had finished with Customs and was on his way back from the Immigration Office when he saw a crowd of Bahamian police and rescue workers arriving at our dock. I think Bill was afraid I had gotten into trouble while he was gone and that Irish Eyes was about to be searched! Very regretfully they were there to retrieve the body of the missing diver. It was surmised the fellow had died of a heart attack. It was a fairly sober evening for us and probably a long week to come for the charter party on Pirates Lady.
Irish Eyes and Dot’s Way left about the same time both headed toward Nassau, and we were in sight of each other most of that day. It was a beautiful day with good wind for sailing in the morning before we turned east into the wind and started the engine. It was calm enough on the shallow Bahama Bank for me to make a loaf of bread. The sky was perfectly clear and at sunset we saw our first green flash. As the sun dropped below the horizon, the very last bit turned from the usual red-orange to a very bright pure green for the final second or two before disappearing. Spectacular! Bill had convinced me to sail overnight to Nassau, but Dot’s Way decided to anchor overnight ‘on the bank’. They dropped anchor in the middle of nowhere around midnight as we plowed on. Skipper Bob’s guide “Bahamas Bound” says beware of the 20 foot waves kicked up by an easterly wind in the much deeper Northwest Channel leading to Nassau. He wasn’t kidding. There was very little wind but lots of waves coming straight at us. I thought we would never reach West Bay on New Providence Island, but around 10:30am almost exactly 24 hours after our departure we did arrive and finally got our anchor down. A flying fish had landed on our deck during the night, and after tossing him overboard, both of us immediately took a much needed nap.
Anchored with us in this bay were two motor vessels and one large sailing catamaran. One of the motor boats was what we call a spaceship; white, sleek, fiberglass, lots of art deco windows, 60+ feet in length. This one was flagged (no doubt for tax reasons) in the Marshall Islands. It had an ultralight seaplane as one of its toys. The plane landed behind the boat, the pilot tossed a line to the deck hand and stepped off onto the yacht. An hour or so later he got back on the plane along with a passenger. They had a difficult time taking off, making several attempts, but finally after briefly returning to the mother ship they made it and flew off towards Nassau’s nearby airport. Shortly afterwards the boat pulled anchor and followed. I think I need a seaplane and pilot to take me to the next stop so I don’t have to sail over night.
We left West Bay around 9:30am and sailed southeast on the wind till we were past all the shallow spots around New Providence, then we turned dead into the wind and motored east across the Great Bahama Bank to Ship Channel Cay, another long motoring into the east wind. Sunset brought our second green flash every bit as spectacular as the first. We didn’t get to Ship Channel Cay ‘till after dark which does not make me comfortable, even with Bill watching the radar. But now we are in the Exumas and can go from anchorage to anchorage most of which are less than 5 miles apart. I like that! We spent two nights anchored behind Ship Channel Cay just resting up. The next day we went to Roberts Cay about a half mile south and spent the night. Yesterday, we sailed the 5 miles down to Allens Cay and into the anchorage between Allens Cay, Southwest Allens Cay, and Leaf Cay.
The Allens Cay area has iguanas. They are creepy looking big lizards some as long as three or four feet. We came here last year so the novelty is gone. The iguanas are just as ugly as I remember. Bill insisted on feeding the beasts grapes and got his finger bitten twice in the process! Does anybody else, other than Ann and Julia, remember the black racer snake that bit his finger? The iguanas got the same one. I really hope he doesn’t get some dreaded tropical iguana disease. We walked over the top of Leaf Cay, where most of the Iguanas live, to the ocean side beach. The water is so blue and the sand so white; can't beat that! I found a West Indian Top Snail shell. It was very pretty. I have vowed not to pick up just any shell, only the really great ones. We shall see how long that promise lasts!
When we anchored here yesterday it was high tide and we were closer to a sand bar than we wanted to be last night. There was not much we could do about it then because at low tide the boat would not float over the anchor so we could not retrieve it. This morning we picked up the anchor and moved a few feet to a better spot. Later, we took the dinghy to a small beach on Allens Cay itself and walked up a path to the high spot on the island to take in the view. Bill found a dead iguana, a decayed bird, and a large rotting bird’s egg, but the views were nice from a well placed driftwood bench someone had built. Two Canadian couples joined us and we talked with them for a while before returning to the boat.
All is peaceful tonight with us. We feel very fortunate to be here. God has been good to us! Hope you are all well.