Jan 11
We decided to visit Hopetown today. We had planned to go there last Monday by boat, but elected to come into the marina a day early to avoid the cold front. Since we are now "trapped" in the marina for a few days due to the high winds, we will take the ferry to Hopetown for the day. Milano Myst joined us and we caught the 09:00 ferry. The first order of business when we got off the ferry was to visit the brand new coffee shop. This is not just a new business, but a whole new building. It was very nice and we enjoyed coffee and a piece of cranberry banana nut bread.
After the coffee stop, we started walking north from town. The road was very narrow and dirt, and any time a vehicle came, we had to all squeeze up against the bushes to let them pass. We passed lots of homes and many rental homes. There was also quite a bit of new construction going on, making us marvel at how they get the equipment and supplies to the construction sites, given the little road and the small trucks that they use here. We were almost to the northern tip of Elbow Cay, on which Hopetown is located, when we came to a place where we could access the ocean side beach. We did some beachcombing and watched the fairly large surf rolling. We can appreciate why we are still holed up in the marina much more from this vantage point.
We walked back to Hopetown with a stop at the park where the kids kicked their soccer ball around a bit. We then went to Harbor's Edge restaurant for lunch. We had stopped here last year also, as their mac and cheese is very good. After a relaxing lunch, we walked over the hill to the beach again. Barb and the kids went north beachcombing again, Rob went south, and Carole & I decided it was just too windy, since we were getting sprinkled by the waves crashing on the rock that were over a hundred feet from us. We went back down the hill and sat down in the park under the large fig tree. This is where the locals gather in the late afternoon to chat.
While we were sitting there, Mark, Jennifer and the kids from Spoony drove up on a golf cart. The kids immediately took off to find the Milano Myst kids while the adults chatted. Within a few minutes, everybody was back from the beach and Mark & Jennifer offered to watch the Milano Myst kids while Rob, Carole, Barb and I took the golf cart to Tahiti Beach on the southern tip of Elbow Cay. We had never been down there before so we accepted the offer. I drove, and remembered to keep left the whole time. We passed Sea Spray and the Abaco Inn, two places we hear advertised on the morning net daily. At the end of the island there has also been considerable development. We passed through an open entrance gate, ignored the sign that said private road, and drove by the large homes to the beach. We walked from the parking area right out to the tip of Tahiti Beach where we could see Tilloo Cay, Lubbers Quarters, and the Tilloo Cut to the ocean. Looking at the conditions in the cut, we were again reminded why we are still safely in the marina in Marsh Harbor.
After a little beachcombing, we drove back to Hopetown and parked the golf cart. Amazingly, even though we had no timepiece on us, we arrived at the ferry dock just in time to park the cart, thank Spoony for letting us use it, and get on the 16:00 ferry back to Marsh Harbor just as it was ready to leave. If we had been two minutes later, we would have had to wait another hour for the next ferry.
Back at the boat, we briefly considered walking all the way into town to watch Junior Junkanoo. It had been postponed from the holidays due to bad weather the night it was originally scheduled. After walking the half mile or so from the ferry to the marina, we all agreed we didn't want to walk at least another mile to town. So, a relaxing evening aboard watching TV happened instead.
This weekend is Pardi Gras, the annual New Orleans party that our friends Jerry and Mary Diaz organize. This will be the first year we have missed it. We are definitely missing being there and missing that circle of friends whom we haven't seen since last year when we did fly to New Orleans from here. Since we have a pretty good internet connection, we used Skype to call a few of the folks we knew were there.
GPS N 26-32.756 W 077-02.688 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 7817.
Jan 12
Today was one of those days that pretty much nothing got accomplished. I did walk to the grocery store to get some more fruit juice for a second attempt at the perfect rum punch. I picked up a case of beer on the way back and then called Susan in Taxi 75 to pick me up. During the afternoon, Gregg from Argonauta stopped by for a visit. He is anchored over in the main harbor but was out for a walk.
Barb has started a sourdough bread starter from scratch, based on a recipe in the cookbook we got as members of the Royal Marsh Harbor Yacht Club, Marshed Potatoes. She gave Gregg some of the starter so he could skip the steps of starting the starter from scratch. Later in the afternoon, Barb baked the first loaf of bread. It smelled so god in the boat that I commented that even if the bread didn't taste good, we could feed it to the fish and just keep baking more to make the smell. Too bad for the fish though - the bread tastes great and we're eating it ourselves.
Friday is free food and discounted drinks at Snappa's over at Harbor View Marina, so we headed over there to join a number of other boats we know. We were torn about going since Radio Margaritaville will be broadcasting an hour from the New Orleans Margaritaville Cafe starting at the same time as our happy hour. Our musician friends from Pardi Gras will be interviewed during the hour. I set up the computer to try and record the hour, but if the connection hiccups during the hour, the recording will not restart.
We walked over to Snappa's and sat at a long table with Royal Serf, Pegasus, Irish Fever, Caribbean Soul, Moonshadow, Silent Joy, Civil Twilight, Argonauta and two other boats we haven't met. We enjoyed dollar-off beers, free meatballs and little sausages in bbq sauce, free rum punch after 19:30, and the rake and scrape music of Brown Tip. It was after 20:00 when we headed back to the boat. Unfortunately when we got back we found that the wireless signal had dropped before the New Orleans happy hour had even started, so we didn't get to enjoy any of that.
GPS N 26-32.756 W 077-02.688 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 7817.
Jan 13
I woke up today achy and a little stuffy. Last year we were in New Orleans on this weekend, and I came back sick. I didn't get rid of the nagging cough for six months and blamed it on possibly being exposed to mold since we did tour the areas that had been flooded, including going inside what was left of a friends home. Well, maybe I don't have to go to New Orleans to get sick. It just happens on this weekend. I started treating myself with Zycam, which is supposed to lessen the symptoms and length of a cold. It's nasty stuff that you put in your nose - not a nasal spray - so we'll se if the treatment is worse than the disease.
We just hung around the boat all day since I didn't feel too good. We were able to watch the football games and were happy to see New Orleans win the first playoff game ever played in the Superdome. It would really be something to see them go all the way. While watching TV, we were also watching the webcam outside of Tropical Isle on Bourbon St. in New Orleans. The Pardi Gras street party is there this afternoon. Unfortunately, the camera faces away from the stage, so we could only see the very back of the cordoned off block. But, we were able to see many of our friends as they happened to be in the shot. I made a couple of phone calls and told them to wave at us, and I was able to save pictures from the camera, so I got a few very candid shots of our friends. We sure miss them and that party.
GPS N 26-32.756 W 077-02.688 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 7817.
Jan 14
I feel a little better today. Maybe the Zycam stuff really helps. I'm not achy today. We walked into town for some last grocery shopping, and stopped at Curly Tails restaurant for lunch. We have never eaten here before, even though it's just down the street from Harbor View Marina where we have stayed before. Barb had a burger and I had a fish sandwich and both were good. Most businesses are closed on Sunday, and there is almost no traffic, so town is noticeably quiet, not only figuratively, but literally. The grocery store is only open until 15:00, and it too was nearly empty. Again, figuratively and literally. The supply boats come on Monday and Thursday, and if you go to the store on Sunday there a many bare spots on the shelves. The produce is pretty slim, there was zero bread, and many other perishables were slim.
Back at the boat, we filed our water tanks and started planning to depart tomorrow. The wind has been blowing hard from the east for several days, which makes big swells out in the open ocean. The wind laid down noticeably overnight, and should continue to diminish Monday and Tuesday, with the resulting swell diminishing by Tuesday and Wednesday. So, our plan is to move from Marsh Harbor to Lynyard Cay, the jumping off point for points south, tomorrow. Then Tuesday we will head south for fifty miles to Royal Island where there is a very protected anchorage. If the forecast holds, we will probably continue south Wednesday to Allen's Cay, which is near the northern end of the Exumas. Once in the Exumas, we will have protection from the easterly winds which are forecast to start building back in Wednesday and Thursday. Or, if the forecast changes, we can stay at Royal Island as long as we need to.
We watched today's two football games. Milano Myst used to live in Chicago, so they were very happy to see the Bears win. This will probably be the last TV we see on the boat for quite a while unless the source is a DVD. It's not likely we will be in a marina for some time in the future.
GPS N 26-32.756 W 077-02.688 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 7817.
Jan 15
I didn't sleep well at all last night. I kept thinking about the trip today, and listening to the wind still howling outside I kept thinking about how we were going to get out of the slip successfully. All in all, I probably slept two hours all night.
We're planning to leave Marsh Harbor today and move down to Lynyard Cay, near Little Harbor, to stage for our crossing to Royal Island near Eluthera. We have what looks like a two day window to get to Royal Island. There are a dozen or so other boats that went down to Lynyard yesterday and they are waiting until tomorrow to cross to Royal. Today's trip is only eighteen miles, so there is no reason to leave early. The wind is still blowing quite hard, but Chris Parker the weather guy said it will very abruptly lay down by noon. We spent the morning leisurely getting ready and sure enough a little after 11:00 the wind dropped to less than ten knots. We checked out and were out of the slip before noon. Milano Myst went first and we followed. About a quarter of a mile out of the marina, my high water temperature alarm went off. We told Milano Myst we had a problem, threw out the anchor, and shut down the motor. I went below to do some quick diagnosis before deciding on the next course of action. I check the raw water intake strainer and found it clean and water was coming in just fine. Next I opened the engine coolant cap and found the tank dry. That would explain the overheating, but where did the coolant go? I can conveniently reach the fill cap with the spray hose from the galley sink, so I filled it up. I watched it for a minute, and the level slowly went down. I looked around the engine at hoses and didn't see any obvious leaks that would account for the speed of the coolant loss. At this point I decided we needed to go back to the marina. I filled the water, started the motor, weighed anchor, and then Barb kept adding water as we drove back into the marina. Milano Myst decided to also stay, but they stayed out on the water and played for a while and then anchored out for the night.
Back in the marina I started diagnosing the problem. My first thought was that the heat exchanger was leaking between the coolant side and the raw water side. The heat exchanger provides the same function as a car radiator, except that instead of the hot engine coolant being cooled by air as in a car, the heat exchanger on a boat runs the hot coolant through tube surrounded by cool sea water. I took the raw water hoses off the heat exchanger and refilled the engine. If this is the problem, water should run out. It dripped, but not enough to account for the speed of the engine loss. Next guess was the water heater. The water heater (for the potable water onboard) is heated by electricity when we're at a dock, but by circulating the hot engine coolant through it when we're motoring. The water heater is way in the back of the boat and two long hoses connect it to the motor. There is always some water in our bilge, so it's hard to tell when something unusual is leaking. As Barb refilled the engine over and over it did seem to me that the flow of water in the bilge coming from the back of the boat increased. To be sure we decided to try some food coloring. Barb went up to the marina restaurant and scored some yellow food coloring. I dumped it in the engine and filled it up. Again I watched the water coming from the back of the boat and it turned yellow. OK, we're on to something now. I then looked at the cup I had placed under the heat exchanger, and it was yellow too. Not good. First things first. I opened up the area where the water heater is and got a flashlight and mirror so I could see behind the tank where the connections are, and low and behold, the hose had split where it attached to the tank. With much arm twisting, I got the hose off, cut about a foot off the original hose, added a new piece of hose with a connector and reattached it. Problem one solved. Next I tackled replacing the heat exchanger. Luckily we had purchased a spare heat exchanger as well as spares for all the hoses on the engine while we were in the States this summer. So, I swapped the heat exchanger and three hoses. Once all this was done - it sounds simple but took the better part of four hours to do - I filled the engine with water and fired her up. The temperature came up to normal and stayed there, and I could see no visible leaks anywhere. So, the problem seems to be fixed, but we have wasted one day of our two day weather window, so we'll probably be here several more days now.
I loaded up on rum, Advil PM, and hit the sack about 21:00 and slept like a log.
GPS N 26-32.756 W 077-02.688 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 7817.
Jan 16
We got up this morning and I checked e-mail first thing like I usually do. I got the daily GRIP file that tells me the predicted winds for the next seven days, and was surprised to see a major changed from yesterday's forecast. It looked like the cold front forecast for Wednesday was not going to be nearly as strong as predicted yesterday and we could not only have a two day window to cross to Royal Island, but the passage would probably be smoother than if we had gone yesterday as planned. I called Milano Myst on the VHF and told them this news. I then got on the SSB and got in touch with Chris Parker to see if I was interpreting the data correctly. He agreed that we had a good chance to go, so we started getting ready.
I still had to drain the water from the engine and replace it with real engine coolant, so I did that quickly. I also had a question if the water heater was properly heating the potable water when the engine ran, but that is not a show stopper. We got showers and were out of the marina about 11:00. Milano Myst was anchored just outside the marina and joined us as we headed south. The trip today is about three hours with a few zigzags around shoals. We have to go very near the outer reef as we go around Sandy Cay, and it got pretty rolly from the still big waves coming in from the east and rolling over the reef. The boats that left Lynyard for Royal today are probably having quite the ride. I'm glad now we are a day behind as it should be calmer tomorrow. Just before we got into the rough water around Sandy Cay, Barb alerted me to a large floating object that we thought was seaweed. Since our experience in the Hudson where we picked up the net on the prop, we try to avoid big floating blobs. As I was about to turn, we realized the blob was a large sea turtle. He saw us coming and dove out of sight just as we got to him. The cat tossed his cookies while we were in the rolly mile outside Sandy Cay. Once past Sandy Cay it was only another two miles or so to the anchorage.
We got settled at anchor, and Milano Myst launched their dinghy immediately. Another boat, Rio Dulce, has been ahead of us all day and it turns out they have kids aboard also, so the kids got together immediately. Rob checked his anchor with his looky bucket and then came over to look at ours. He said we were not set well, and took me out to look. Sure enough, although we had back down hard, the anchor was not set well, and it looked like the chain was caught on something about ten feet from the anchor. We went back to the boat and backed down again while Rob watched the anchor. We clearly felt the chain pop over whatever it was hung up on, and then the anchor dug in.
A little later, Rob took Carole to shore and then came and got us and took us to shore. The three of us went beachcombing on the Atlantic side while Rob and the kids joined Dick and his kids from Rio Dulce in some snorkeling. We found lots of sea glass on our hike. This island is a popular staging area for crossing to Eluthera and the Exumas, but I think most people just anchor and don't come ashore, so the beach was pretty undisturbed. After an hour or so, we were back on the anchorage side and Daniel came in the dinghy to pick us up.
We enjoyed a nice dinner aboard and relaxed under a very dark starry night. Barb was looking at stars with the binoculars and spotted what seemed to be a satellite passing over. We could clearly see the beam from the Hopetown lighthouse, and the glow on the horizon from Marsh Harbor. Marsh Harbor is not that big a town, but when you are out in the middle of nowhere as we are now, it still stands out.
GPS N 26-21.479 W 076-59.114 Nautical miles traveled today 18. Total miles 7835.
Jan 17
We were up at 06:30 to listen to Chris Parker just to confirm that we are good to go today. Chris agreed that we should have pretty calm winds and would probably have to motor, but the seas would be calmer than yesterday, and the front probably wouldn't get to us until we got to Royal Island. So, at 07:00 we were underway. Exiting the Sea of Abaco at the Little Harbor cut was a little bouncy, because the remaining four or five foot sea swell piles up as it gets to the shallow water. Once we were clear of the cut and into the deeper water, the swell was still four of five feet, but spaced about ten seconds apart and really quite gentle. The cat didn't like it though and he hurled again about an hour into the trip. We unfurled the mainsail to give us a little more stability and motored on south. Once out of the cut, we have a forty-eight mile straight shot to the turn into Royal Island. We settled in for the ride. I found that I was feeling a little queasy and was also dozing, so Barb officially kept an eye on everything while I napped for a couple of hours. After that I felt better and resumed the captains seat.
Milano Myst was ahead of us at this point and hailed us on the radio and said to watch for a couple of dolphins they just passed. We started watching and then saw them come up for air. They were either the largest dolphins we have ever seen, or small whales. We're going with the whale story. I don't know my whale species enough to know if they could have been or not. They had a dorsal fin similar to a dolphin, but were twice as large as any bottlenose dolphin we've ever seen.
About midway through the trip, the high temperature alarm started to go off again. By this time we had a little more wind, so I unfurled the headsail so we could keep going while I looked into the problem. I uncapped the coolant tank and it was low. I refilled it and it did not seem to go down quickly. I recapped it and started the motor. I tried to convince myself that perhaps there had been air trapped in the system which had worked it's way out to account for the low level. It ran normally for another hour or so. We had been watching an island freighter approaching us from Nassau, and we appeared to be on a collision course. I hailed him on the radio to see what he wanted me to do to avoid him. About this time, the engine overheated again, so I shut it off. The freighter made it clear he was not going to alter course, although now he had two sailboats under sail who had the right-of-way in front of him. Well, right-of-way or not, the laws of gross tonnage always works for me, so we turned way off course to allow him to pass in front of us. While I drove through this maneuver, Barb was below adding more water to the engine. As soon as she was done we started the motor back up and resumed our course. Whatever was leaking seemed to be getting worse, because in the last five miles we had to add water four more times.
As we were nearing the turn for the last three miles to the anchorage, Barb noticed an odd cloud formation. There was a well defined line of clouds ahead of us that probably marked the frontal boundary. Dropping down from this line of clouds were three tails, which through the binoculars we could clearly see were rotating. We had potential waterspouts being born. We knew the lines of clouds was moving the same way we were and was already past us, so we were not too worried. As we watched, all three tails eventually pulled back up into the cloud and nothing formed.
We entered the anchorage and got the anchor set quickly and shut the motor down. I launched the dinghy and checked the anchor and found it buried to the shank. As Chris Parker had forecast the wind turned northeast and picked just about the time we got to the anchorage. Oh well. We're here with or without the favorable wind. As we were nearing the anchorage we had been hailed on the radio by an unfamiliar voice. We answered and it was Woody, a guy who lives in Spanish Wells and has been following our logs. He knew we were planning to get here soon and saw us coming in. Shortly after we were anchored, he came by in his small boat to say hello. We chatted for a little while as I was trying to find excuses not to deal with the engine. He is an American who has just retired and bought a house here in the past year. If we do need parts, Spanish Wells, which is just a few miles away is a good place to be. There is a large lobster boat fleet here (all of Red Lobster's lobster comes from here) so there are a couple of stores with marine supplies. It can't hurt to also have somebody with a boat larger than our dinghy to bring us parts if needed.
Royal Island has been sold in the past year to a development company owned by Roger Staubach, the Dallas Cowboys famous quarterback of the past. We had heard rumors from other cruisers that the anchorage had been chained off when this happened. I wrote a couple of e-mails to addresses I found on Staubach's website and actually got a nice reply explaining that the anchorage was not closed, but would be restricted as development progresses. They claimed to have the average boater in mind as they develop and will be putting in moorings as well as their new marina. Well, while we were chatting with Woody, the project manager stopped by in his boat an asked how long we planned to be where we had anchored. We told him we thought we would leave in the morning. He said that was ok, but if we stayed longer we would have to move since we were in the path the barge delivering supplies in the morning would need to take. Woody knew the guy and I'm sure that helped. We told him that if we decided to stay longer we would move.
After Woody left, I began to look into the coolant leak. It doesn't seem to be a problem with the hose I fixed, so it's not obvious. We looked at the forecast and it looks like Friday will be a better day than tomorrow to cross the coral head strewn path from here to the Exumas, so we'll spend another day here to diagnose the problem. Barb heated up some leftovers for dinner and we relaxed in the cockpit and saw several shooting stars.
GPS N 25-30.895 W 076-50.830 Nautical miles traveled today 58. Total miles 7893.
Jan 18
We were up early to listen to Chris Parker's weather report. It sounds like tomorrow will be better than today to cross to the Exumas, so we decided to either say here or move to Spanish Wells marina, depending on what I find with the overheating. Milano Myst gave us some more food coloring so I could try to determine where the engine coolant was going. After an hour of running the motor, I am pretty sure the leak is either in the water heater, or in the hoses that go between the water heater and the engine. So, I put a small piece of hose on the engine to bypass the water heater entirely and we decided to move into Spanish Wells where I may be able to buy hose to replace the lines to the heater.
We contacted Spanish Wells Yacht Haven and confirmed they could handle us, and then began to get ready to move. Spanish Wells is only five miles from Royal Island, so by noon we were approaching the entrance channel to Spanish Wells. As we approached we noticed a dredge barge that looked like it was across the main entrance channel. As we got closer, we confirmed it was and told Milano Myst to hang back in the open water in case we had to turn around. We tried to hail the dredge but got no answer. As I hovered in the narrow channel a little boat from the dredge boat came close to us and told us to wait a minute and they would be moving. Sure enough, they had just finished unloading the dredge material onto the island alongside the entrance and started to move the barge. The barge didn't have any propulsion. It had a large backhoe-type machine on one end for doing the dredging, and they just pulled or pushed the barge using the bucket. They eventually got out of the way and we were able to get into the marina.
Once we were both tied up in the marina, a large catamaran was approaching. The first thing we noticed was that their hailing port was Kemah, TX. The boat was Eliza Morgan, a Lagoon 44. We chatted with them and chastised them for not flying a Texas flag. Milano Myst gave them a spare. We got showers and head into town for lunch and parts. We all had lunch at The Gap. I think there only are two restaurants in Spanish Wells and they both only serve breakfast and lunch. We never ate ashore in the week we spent here last year. We found The Gap to be a pleasant surprise. The food was very good and the prices very reasonable.
After lunch, Milano Myst headed to the grocery and we headed for the marine parts place. I wanted to get hose to replace the ones from the engine to the water heater, although I'll probably wait until we are in Georgetown to do the work. I not only found the hose I needed, but the guy who ran the place asked my what the application was and sold me hose that will do the job for half the price of what I would have bought. Once that was all done, we got together with Woody again. He picked us up at the marina and took us over to his house. He has a beautiful view north where you can see the waves breaking over the outer reef and see the cruise ships coming and going from Nassau in the distance. We ended up staying for dinner, which was mahi-mahi he caught.
GPS N 25-32.458 W 076-45.387 Nautical miles traveled today 55. Total miles 7898.
Jan 19
The night was dead calm and I slept well. We joked in the morning about why we spent the dead calm night in a marina instead of a rough night. Guess it just works out that way sometimes. We were up early to confirm the weather report, and then were underway at 07:30. Our route today takes us southwest to Fleming Channel, then southeast across Middle Ground which is full of coral heads, to Allan's Cay in the northern Exumas. The wind is dead calm as we leave the marina. Although we would love to sail, the best way to cross Middle Ground is in calm seas so you can clearly see the coral heads, so being a motoring day is perfect. It will also let us confirm our diagnosis of the engine overheating problem if we motor all day.
The route takes us about ten miles in water less than twenty feet deep, then about fifteen miles in waters a couple thousand feet deep, then through Fleming Channel back to waters from nine to twenty feet deep for the last twenty-five miles to Allan's Cay. We actually deployed our fishing pole for most of the trip, although we never had any takers. As we approached Fleming Channel we observed an island fuel boat also approaching from Nassau. I hailed him and asked him if we were ok going in through the cut in front of him. He asked us to pass as fast as we could and said he would slow down if necessary to avoid us. We made it with no problem and continued south.
Once south of Fleming Channel, we were in twenty feet or less of crystal clear water. Since there was almost no wind, the water surface was smooth and we could clearly see the bottom, especially when we stood on the bow so our wake was not disturbing the view. We saw many of the lobster hotels that the locals build to attract lobster. We saw a ten foot nurse shark. We saw lots of starfish, sea cucumbers, and even one car battery. Once we were in Middle Ground, where the coral heads are, we kept a sharp lookout and weaved between the coral. Most of it is still deep enough to pass over, but we don't want to find the one that isn't.
By 15:30 we were at Allan's Cay. Allan's Cay is where the iguanas live. We didn't take the camera to shore today, but you can check out last year for iguana pictures. The best part of the arrival was that we saw Tobias, whom we met in Deale, MD while we were on the hard, and Cheetah II, whom we met in New Bern and are planning to head south with us. We toured the Allan's anchorage and decided it was already pretty crowded. There were fourteen boats already there. When we were here last year, there were nineteen, and the day before that there had been thirty. We could have found a place, but the winds are not forecast to be too bad, so we elected to just go outside and anchor on the west side of the island.
We quickly launched the dinghy and headed to see the iguanas along with Milano Myst. The kids had a great time feeding the iguanas as the adults chatted. We met Seaductress whom we have been close to a number of times but never met, and Kirby and Suzie from Tobias came over. After the time on the iguana beach, we dinghied over to Cheetah II to say hi. We confirmed our plan for heading south together and then went back to the boat.
There is a 17:30 gathering on the beach that we were invited to, but we decided to stow the dinghy and just have a nice dinner aboard. It turns out our choice to anchor outside may not have been the best one. The current coming around the island makes us bounce a lot when the wind turns us sideways to the current. Oh well. Too late to change now. May be a restless night.
GPS N 24-44.570 W 076-50.500 Nautical miles traveled today 52. Total miles 7950.
Jan 20
The night turned out not be a problem at all. After a bouncy start, things settled down and I slept like a rock. We got underway about 08:15 heading we hope for the Exuma Land and Sea Park. I say hopefully because we are out of range of them by radio, so we don't know if we'll be able to get a mooring or not. This is their very busy time and there usually is a waiting list, but they have put in twenty-six more moorings since last year, so perhaps they don't fill up now.
The wind was blowing enough to make it tempting to sail, but we want to get on down to the park with time to play, so we motorsailed. As we got closer I hailed the park and heard Judy's familiar voice in response. She said that indeed we could get on one of the new moorings at Emerald Rock today. Since the wind is forecast to stay out of the east for a couple of days, Emerald Rock will be great. We have never gone in that area before, and the approach is different than if you were going into the north mooring field, but it was easy to figure out and will actually save us distance when we continue south in a couple days. We called the office again to see what mooring we had been assigned and were told number twenty-four, although that one did not have the number printed on it. So we figured out the numbering scheme from the balls we were passing on our way in, and then deduced which one was twenty-four. Milano Myst was given twenty-three, right next to us.
We are in about seven feet of water at low tide, and with the white sand bottom and sunny sky, Barb says it looks like we are sitting in somebody's swimming pool. The wind is blowing pretty good, but we are only a couple hundred feet off the beach and fully protected by the island, so the ride is smooth. Rob and I dinghied in to the office to check in and get ice. We chatted with a few cruisers using the wireless internet connection that you can get sitting around the office. We also fed the little birds that live in the bushes around headquarters. These birds are finch sized and are black and yellow and white. Being the avid naturalist that I am, I have no idea what kind of bird they are. There is a poster there about them, but I forget. The deal is they will eat sugar out of your hand. The park keeps a container of sugar for your use. You put a small amount in your palm and about ten of the little birds will sit on your hand and clean every speck of it up. Their little feet tickle as they hang on, and they are so gentle with their beaks that you hardly feel them at all, although they work at a furious pace to get their share. Judy, who controls the mooring assignments, was gone and another girl was manning the office, and we checked in. The weekly bonfire and happy hour on the beach is tonight, so we made plans to attend that. Barb made a salmon dip and crackers and at 17:30 we were at the beach with all the other boaters. We saw Tom, the park ranger and said hello. We also saw Arne and Bev from Scandia, whom we met in Georgetown last year. Arne was our official scorekeeper in the coconut harvest event we took part in during Regatta Week. We also met Carl & Caroline, a young Canadian couple with two kids who trailered their twenty-seven foot sailboat Amelionne, to Florida and then sailed it over here. About 19:00, the party broke up and we led a parade of three dinghies back to the Emerald Rock mooring field, since we were the only ones with a light.
GPS N 24-22.999 W 076-37.392 Nautical miles traveled today 32. Total miles 7982.
Jan 21
We slept in this morning since we are not going anywhere. Before leaving the boat this morning, we talked to Sol Y Mar, our friends who are down in Staniel Cay, a little south of here. They warned us that big changes had happened at Boo Boo Hill where everybody leaves mementos of their visit. Late in the morning we headed into park headquarters with Milano Myst to get an internet hookup and go up to Boo Boo Hill. At headquarters, we said hi to Judy and asked about the changes at Boo Boo Hill. She explained that so many people had ignored the rule of just leaving driftwood and no plastic, glass, or other man-made materials, that they had to just clean up the whole thing and start over. We left the computer on the deck trying to upload the website and headed up there with the hope that perhaps our driftwood offering from last year had survived. When we got to the top of Boo Boo Hill, I was heartbroken. They had taken everything away and the only things there were from December 06 and later. We were not only disappointed that our sign was gone, but also disappointed because we had built this up so much to Milano Myst and they couldn't appreciate the years of work that had gone into it. We can appreciate the need to clean up the stuff that some cruisers left, ignoring the rules that clearly stated "no plastics, no glass, no man-made stuff", but it's too bad that they couldn't clean that stuff up without clearing it entirely. The visit to Boo Boo Hill really bummed me out for the rest of the day.
We went from Boo Boo Hill to the blow hole nearby and the Milano Myst kids were thoroughly excited about it. I conned them both into looking into the hole to see what they could see when the blast of air came out and blew their hats off. We walked from there to the beach where the kids went to play in the shallow water as the tide went out, and we eventually went back to the office to see how our website upload was coming. We found that we couldn't update the website from here and won't be able to until we get to Georgetown probably.
We went back to the boat and enjoyed a happy hour aboard Milano Myst. We also listened to the NFL championship games on Sirius satellite radio.
GPS N 24-22.999 W 076-37.392 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 7982.
Jan 22
We decided to spend one more day in the park. We listened to Judy do her morning radio thing with the mooring assignments, and as usual were amazed by the stupid things the boaters expect of her. Some seem to think she can magically produce moorings when there are none. Today there seemed to be some confusion because there appeared to be some empty that she didn't assign. As I listened to boats departing and watch the boats, I knew there was at least one who never called in. Since we were planning to visit headquarters to pay for our extra day anyway, we inventoried the empty moorings and took the list in to Judy. Turns out the boat we saw leave and not report in had never been assigned the mooring they were on. That mooring is out of service and doesn't even have a pennant on it. They must have just tied to the line below the ball.
We went for a hike from headquarters. We went back up to Boo Boo Hill, since in my dismay the other day, I forgot to take a picture of what it looks like now. From Boo Boo Hill, we went south to Boo Boo Beach and did a little beachcombing. It is not legal to do any shelling in the park, but Tom told us last year that sea glass falls into the genus of garbage, so we were looking. We only found a few pieces. From the beach we continued south a little further and then took Mark's Trail back to the west across the island. This trail goes over a hill and then down into a neat valley where you are in a jungle-like atmosphere for a short distance. There are numerous deep holes in the rocks where rain water stands. One of these holes is about ten feet across and has a homemade ladder going into it. The hole is about twenty feet deep and there appears to be somewhat of a room at the bottom. We have never climbed down the ladder since it looks a little rickety and there's no telling what little creatures may be lurking down there ready to scare us. We continued across the island and across the little bridge that spans the interior tidal lagoon. This trail brings us out near the house where the staff lives, past the generator and workshop, and then back to the headquarters building.
We hung out on the headquarters deck for a little while and visited with some other cruisers. I held my hand out and several of the little birds came and sat on my hand even though I didn't have sugar. We bade goodbye to Judy and headed back to the boat.
GPS N 24-22.999 W 076-37.392 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 7982.
Jan 23
This morning we left our mooring about 08:30 and headed south for Staniel Cay. We are actually going to anchor west of Big Majors Spot which is the island next to Staniel Cay. It was a short trip down there and we motored all the way to recharge batteries. Our battery situation is much better than last year, with the addition of the solar panels, but we still build up a deficit over several days. As we were approaching Big Majors, a couple of our friends who have been there a couple of weeks decided to leave for Georgetown since there are a couple of fronts forecast. Barefootin' and Smiles took off, but Sol Y Mar stayed, so we look forward to catching up with them.
We anchored next to Sol Y Mar and after getting secure went over to say hi. We haven't seen them since leaving Georgetown last April, although we have stayed in touch via e-mail. We decided to meet at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club for lunch in a little while. We gathered up our stuff and the gang from Milano Myst and headed around Big Majors to the yacht club. We had lunch and found the same people working there as last year, and the same mysteries of ordering food here. The first mystery is if they will have what is on the menu. One of the kids asked what the soup of the day was. Sorry, no soup. I asked if they had onion rings. Sorry no onion rings. The waitress had to go to the kitchen to confirm both of these things. In all the times I ate here last year, I never got onion rings. So why are they on the menu? The second mystery of eating here is whether you actually get what you ordered. The best rule of thumb is just eat what they bring you. It's much simpler than trying to correct the order, since your chances of getting the correct thing the second time are no better than they were the first.
The Milano Myst gang went back to the boat, and carried a bag of ice back to our boat for us. We stayed and had a couple more beers with Pat & Dori from Sol Y Mar and caught up. When we left, Pat needed to fill a jerry can of gasoline for his dinghy. This was his spare, empty, five gallon jug. When he finished pumping the pump read six gallons, although the can was full to it's five gallon fill line. He thought about complaining, but decided it wasn't worth the effort since there probably would be no good resolution. We then took the dinghies down to Club Thunderball, but it was closed. Pat led us around the back side of Big Majors Spot, past Fowl Cay and into the anchorage. I had never gone around that way before.
Back at the boat, I decided to jump in the water and clean the fringe off the waterline. While the swaying green grass gives the boat a nice hula-girl look, it also has a certain look of neglect to it, so off it came. The bottom itself looks fine, the grass fringe grows where we sit a little lower in the water than our designated water line and bottom paint is. After the swim, I showered on the swim platform with cool water from our tanks. With the water heater disconnected from the engine, we won't make hot water unless we are in a marina, so cold showers are going to have to do until we get to Georgetown and I fix that.
While we were spending time at the bar, the Milano Myst gang had gone to the beach on Big Majors to feed the pigs there. Even though we had seen a tour boat there earlier, so the pigs should have been recently fed, they were apparently quite aggressive with the kids and one actually bit Dayla's arm. It didn't draw blood, but she had a large bruise the next day. The pig population seems to have increased as I saw about ten of them when the tour boat pulled in.
GPS N 24-11.300 W 076-27.602 Nautical miles traveled today 18. Total miles 8000.
Jan 24
Since we are driven by weather, and the need to be in Georgetown by Monday for Milano Myst to pick up a guest, we decided to tell Milano Myst what else to see here when they return north, and we are going to move on to Black Point Settlement today. Black Point is where the cruisers all stop to do laundry. They have a clean, modern, reasonably (for the Bahamas) priced laundromat with it's own dinghy dock. Since we plan to spend a few days in the Emerald Bay marina near Georgetown, and they have free laundry, we will pass on the laundry, but still want to eat at Lorraine's Cafe.
It is only eight miles from Big Majors to Black Point, so we were there in a little over an hour. Sol Y Mar had gone ahead of us and was already doing laundry and having lunch at Lorraine's by the time we got anchored. As we were getting ready to drop the hook, a boat already there hailed us on the VHF. I had seen them looking at us as we approached and thought they were going to say we were too close, which would have been ridiculous. Turned out they could not start their engine and were preparing to sail off the anchor. Their easiest point of sail would take them right through where we planned to anchor, so they asked if we could wait a few minutes until they got clear, which we did. Once we were anchored we dinghied ashore and met Pat & Dori at Lorraine's. We had already had lunch, but made reservations to have dinner there along with Milano Myst.
We then took a hike of the islands with Milano Myst. We walked through town to the west and south all the way to the end of the road at the power generator. We thought the road circled around, but it doesn't, so back we went. We were surprised to notice more trash around than last year. There was noticeable amounts of litter just thrown in the brush along the roads, and numerous places where people have been just burning their garbage in the open instead of taking it to a common burn place. This is especially surprising here since the community has always been known for their pride in their little town and there is a large sign by the dock reminding people to keep their town clean. This is the only place we've ever seen a sign like that in the Bahamas.
As we came back through town, we didn't see many people. Even the small grocery had closed since we started the walk. At the dock, we found the reason. The mailboat had come in. Everybody goes down to the dock to get their stuff from the mailboat. This is the islands connection to the world, and all their supplies get here this way. The girls decided they had walked enough and took one dinghy back to the boats, while Rob, Daniel and I walked to the Atlantic side to see the blow hole. We found the blow hole, and Pat & Dori already there. Being low tide and since the ocean was pretty calm the blow was less than impressive. We walked back to the dock and dinghied back to the boats.
At 18:00, we headed ashore again to have dinner. They way things work at Lorraine's is that you help yourself to the bar while you wait and Lorraine cooks your dinner. We were the only customers having dinner, but we chatted a bit with a man who came in for a beer. Turned out he was one of the six teachers at the school. We quizzed him a little about the school, and found they have six teachers, including the principal, and fifty-one students in grades one through nine. While the student to teacher ratio is low, each teacher has to cover many subjects and grade levels. When the kids reach high school age, if they are scholastically able and if their family has the means, they go off to Nassau or the US to continue high school. It was interesting to talk with this man.
We also got to meet Lorraine's son Malakai. He is eleven and in the fifth grade. Daniel enjoyed playing a domino game with him while we were waiting for our dinner. Dinner came out and was good. It was made even more special when the island power went off and we were eating by the ambiance of the battery powered emergency lights. We all ate and then Lorraine surprised us with a little ice cream for everybody at the end. We relaxed after finishing and visited with Lorraine a little before heading home.
GPS N 24-05.922 W 076-24.195 Nautical miles traveled today 8. Total miles 8008.
Jan 25
We had originally planned to move on south today, but the weather sounded iffy, and Sol Y Mar said they were going to stay one more day, so we decided to stay also. As it turns out this was good and bad. The wind has come around to the southwest, and is forecast to come more west all day. Black Point is totally unprotected from the southwest to northwest, but the forecast had been amended to say the winds would not be as strong as predicted a couple of days ago, so we were not too worried. The chop in the anchorage was already pretty uncomfortable, but we've had worse.
As the morning progressed, the wind picked up to a steady twenty knots and swung a little more west, bringing us a good two foot chop that had a forty mile fetch from Andros Island to build. We talked to each other on the radio frequently and agreed that when the wind came around to north by midnight, we would be more comfortable on the other side of the anchorage where we would have more northern protection. None of the three of us, Sol Y Mar, Milano Myst and us, left our boats all day. We read and sat around watching the waves get bigger and more uncomfortable.
Mid-afternoon, Dori on Sol Y Mar hailed me on the radio with a bit of tension in her voice. She asked if I had a large crescent wrench that I could bring over immediately. I grabbed my largest crescent wrench and my big-ass channel locks and jumped in the dinghy. I got pretty wet getting over there and nobody greeted me at the stern, so I had to grab Sol Y Mar and secure my line by myself. Onboard I found Pat below under the galley sink pounding a wooden plug into a large hole in the bottom of the boat. My wrench was no longer needed, but a hammer was. What had happened was that Dori had noticed a small leak at the thru-hull from the galley sink drain to the outside. When Pat tried to close the thru-hull with the plan to tighten the nut that secures it to the hull, it broke off in his hand. This left an inch-and-a-half hole in the bottom of the boat. Nothing will get your attention like an inch-and-a-half stream of water spraying in your boat. Fortunately, he had the wooden plugs that we all (should) carry and he quickly got one in the hole. When I got there, I heard the pounding as he hammered it into the hole. There was still a fair amount of water coming in around the plug though, since the hole probably had a jagged edge to it. I asked if he had any of the underwater epoxy that we all (should) carry and he did. He mixed it up and mashed it around the plug at the hull. While it still didn't seal completely, it slowed the water ingress to a trickle. The epoxy seemed to adhere to the hull ok, but didn't want to stick to the wooden plug. After many calls on the radio from concerned friends who heard the original call, we decided that the best course of action was to wait, as the wooden plug is designed to expand once it absorbs some water. Thanks to Richard on Perseverance for that one. I took an even wetter ride back to MoonSail once I was of no further help.
By late in the afternoon, I made the decision to move to the northern side of the anchorage. Milano Myst, who was the furthest out from the southern shore, elected to stay put. Sol Y Mar who was closest to the southern shore decided to wait until later and see what the wind did. We weighed anchor and started across the anchorage. I didn't want to move after dark, and it occurred to me that once the winded shifted, we would be in the way if Sol Y Mar wanted to move, so we're going now. As I hauled up the anchor I got pretty wet from the waves splashing on the bow. The short half-mile ride across was ugly since we were taking the waves on the beam as we crossed. Once on the other side, I realized that we were even more exposed to the westerly waves since on the other side there had been a shallow area in front of us that protected us some. But, the wind was forecast to change, so we dropped the hook and set immediately. I called the other boats to report that we had a worse ride for the time being, but hoped to be the best ride later in the night. We decided we should raise the dinghy, so we don't have to do it in the morning and so it won't jerking around behind us. I got in the dinghy and we quickly decided this was a bad idea. I got soaked in a couple of minutes, and we were going to either break something or hurt somebody if we continued to try, so we gave up and let the dinghy out as far as we could so there was a lot of line to absorb the shock as it got jerked away from the big boat.
The rough ride precluded getting any sleep. We both stayed up in the cockpit where we could see if we were moving, and be in the fresh air. We hadn't eaten anything since a light breakfast, but weren't hungry given the ride. About 21:00 I heard the sound of a motor, but didn't see anything. After several minutes, I saw the source of the noise. An island freighter was coming in the cut from Exuma Sound just north of us. He turned north toward Staniel Cay once in the cut. About half an hour later, I saw lights which seemed to be coming our way from the northwest. In addition to the running lights, two Q-beam floodlights were being swung around by hand illuminating the shoreline. I wasn't sure if it was a commercial boat looking for the cut out to Exuma Sound or what. Eventually, it was clear that the boat was not going out the cut, and was coming into the Black Point anchorage. Even though it appeared that they had lit us up with their spotlight, it seemed they were coming right towards us. While I tried to hail them on the radio, Barb went below and turned on our deck lights so there was no confusion as to what we were. We had our anchor light on, of course, but it wasn't apparent that they knew what they were doing. They changed course a little and passed about fifty feet across our bow. Given that our anchor chain is taught because of the strong wind, I was surprised he didn't catch it. He never did answer me on the radio, and we watched as the three other boats in the anchorage turned on their deck lights also. We did figure out that the boat was a large motor cat, and they finally ended up anchored near the public dock.
At 22:15, the wind noticeably picked up and swung around to the north. The front was here. We hoped we had made the right decision and the seas would calm down soon. We were both still in the cockpit dozing when I looked up and saw the deck lights on Sol Y Mar on. It was about 23:00. We grabbed the binoculars and saw that they were weighing anchor. We watched as they drove across the anchorage near us. Once they were anchored I hailed them on the radio. Turns out that once the wind shifted, they felt that they were too close to the shore and decided to move. I'm glad now that we moved first so we weren't in the way. We went back to laying in the cockpit trying to sleep, hoping the seas from the west would abate soon and we could get a few hours of good sleep. That was not to be, as the surge coming from the west continued all night, even as the wind blew about twenty knots from the north. Barb went below and got a little sleep, but I stayed above, just dozing, and even dealt with a light rain that came through.
GPS N 24-05.922 W 076-24.195 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 8008.
Jan 26
At 06:30, we were on the SSB listening to Chris Parker and the weather. He said today would be the best chance to go south to Georgetown. He said the wind would be behind us and the waves would be four to five feet, but also behind us. Based on that we decided to head out. Grand Pirogue, a boat we have not met, but Sol Y Mar has, went first, with Sol Y Mar following. We still had to raise the dinghy and got busy doing that. Milano Myst waited for us to be ready. By the time we got ready to weigh anchor, Grand Pirogue and Sol Y Mar had gotten to the cut and seen that it was in a rage condition and they turned around and came back. We decided to stay inside on the Exuma Banks for ten miles to Galliot Cut and see what it looked like.
As we started south, we overheated again. I had checked the water before we started the motor and it was full. We quickly unfurled the mainsail so we could maintain steerage, and shut the motor off. I went below as Barb drove and quickly found that my temporary bypass hose to the water heater had come off the fitting. I got it back on, filled the engine with water again and we were in business again.
We followed Grand Pirogue and Sol Y Mar south to Galliot Cut. Grand Pirogue went out first and said the cut wasn't too bad and the seas were four to six feet. Sol Y Mar was hesitant and was trying to call the Cave Cay marina to see if they were an option if they wanted to wait. We and Milano Myst passed Sol Y Mar and headed out. Sol Y Mar had not gotten a response from the marina so they followed. The cut was not bad, although we slowed to 1.9 knots at full throttle. Once outside, we turned southeast. The waves outside were more like eight to ten feet, and they were pretty steep, and close together. If it had been a swell, we could have handled it, but as it was, we were getting hit broadside by these big waves and rolled about forty degrees each time. After a few minutes we decided we didn't want to press on in these conditions and turned around. Sol Y Mar had gotten a call from another boat who knew the Cave Cay Marina was open and decided to turn around before they even got out the cut. Milano Myst turned around too and followed back in. Once back inside we found Sol Y Mar headed north, not the way to the marina. We hailed him and they had decided to anchor in the lee of Galliot Cay and see what it was like before deciding on the marina. We followed suit and anchored.
Since we were here, Milano Myst decided to launch their dinghy and explore Galliot Cay. There is a small beach directly ahead of us and they went there. Barb and I read for a bit in the cockpit. After a while, Barb went below and napped in the main saloon. Even though I had little sleep last night, I was not sleepy until I read a bit. I went below and quietly went past Barb and back to the aft cabin to take a nap. I had only been on the bed a few minutes when we got an urgent sounding call from Milano Myst's handheld radio. Apparently Rob had gone hiking alone on the island and had fallen. He was able to yell to Carole who had the handheld radio, and she radioed us. The kids came to MoonSail and picked me up and also stopped at Milano Myst to get Rob's sneakers. By the time we headed back to the island, I saw where Rob was on the island, a good ways from the beach. I took the sneakers and hiked from the beach to where he was, which meant clambering over the ironstone rocks and pushing through the brush. When I got to Rob, his legs were both badly cut up, his left hand was hurt, and one sandal was broken, which had caused his fall in the first place. I helped him get the sneakers on and then helped him get straight down the embankment to the rocky shore. The water was about three feet deep right to the ironstone edge, so I hopped in the water to fend off the dinghy, since even brushing the edge of the stones could puncture it. Rob was able to fall into the dinghy and the kids took him to the boat while Carole and I waited for them to come back and get us. They came back in a few minutes, got us, we collected their stuff off the beach and went back to the boats. We checked via radio a little while later, and the hope is that nothing is broken and all will be fine. What I didn't know until now was that the most serious injury may be that as he fell, he put his hand out to break the fall and caught a cactus. So he has numerous stickers in his hand.
Anchoring here tonight turned out to be fine. The wind was blowing fifteen to twenty all night, but we were well protected by Galliot Cay and had a nice smooth ride and a good night's sleep.
GPS N 23-55.389 W 076-17.415 Nautical miles traveled today 13. Total miles 8021.
Jan 27
We have more weather related decisions to make today. We were up at 06:30 to listen to Chris Parker, and another boat near us asked our question, and the answer was that Monday would be the best sail to Georgetown. I got my GRIB files downloaded, and it looked like tomorrow afternoon will be smoother than Monday. So, I got back on the SSB at 09:00 and personally asked Chris if Sunday afternoon would be smoother. We not only are fans of smooth conditions, but are concerned about Sol Y Mar making the trip in as smooth conditions as possible since he has that wooden plug in the hull. Chris agreed that Sunday afternoon would be smoother than Monday. He also let us know that the reason was because the wind will shift overnight to the south and then southwest. This will make for protection from the islands tomorrow, but it will make for an exposure tonight if we stay anchored here.
Based on that we called the Cave Cay Marina again. They said it was no problem if we wanted to come in, just call as we approached. Milano Myst and us decided to go to the marina, while Sol Y Mar decided to stay anchored and move a little if necessary to get better protection from the south during the night. About 11:30, we headed the two miles into the marina. The path was a little tedious as we had to pass through a narrow patch of shallow water, but we got in ok. What we found inside the fully protected basin that the marina was in, was a thirty-slip marina with nobody there.
Cave Cay is privately owned. That means one person owns the whole island. Turns out the owner is Steve Cone, a Texan from Lubbock. We can only guess that his money came from oil. He has lived here for twelve years and has been developing the island to be a small resort. The first things he built was a dirt/rock landing strip and the marina. Making the marina meant bringing in an old dredge which has made a channel from the naturally deep water outside, to the basin, and making the basin deeper. The docks are modern concrete floating docks, with power and water. There is a marina office and store, which is also floating. The store is fairly well stocked, although everything has a layer of dust on it. Turns out they don't have their general business license yet, so they can't sell anything except cold drinks, which includes beer. Even though the price was almost bar prices, I grabbed a six pack of Kalik. I learned later that it was very old Kalik and barely drinkable.
We got settled and went for a hike. Steve had told us we were welcome to hike anywhere except the northwest corner where the staff housing was. First we hiked the length of the runway, past the hanger where Steve's airplane is parked. At the northern end of the runway, we could see Sol Y Mar in the anchorage and hailed them on the radio, We waved as they looked through their binoculars to see us. We then found a remarkable little beach that is on the inside of the island from Galliot Cut. Since very few people come here, there were thousands of unbroken shells on the beach. At the northern end of the beach we found a large tidal pool with a little stream through the beach that was draining as the tide went out. We hiked back the length of the runway and up the hill to the east of the marina where they are building several buildings. One of the buildings will be a lodge, bar, and restaurant. The next three buildings will be duplex rental units. The fourth building is Steve's house. As we got closer, we realized that these buildings all have more work to be done than it appears from the marina. Even Steve's house has only about twenty percent completed to live in, while the rest is being finished. As with many Bahamas developments, we marveled at how much has been spent already, yet how slow the progress is. There is rusting equipment all over, and the buildings are showing signs of severe weathering long before they are completed. Under one of the future rental units we found 160 Lifeline 8D AGM batteries (same kind as we have on the boat). These were wired together to a large power box, and there were a dozen large solar panels on the roof to charge them. However, the building is only the exterior shell at this point. Why install the batteries, which have a four of five year lifespan, before you are ready to power the building? These are the same batteries we have on the boat, and they cost over $400 each retail. Even if he got a deal on them, we're looking at $60000 of batteries wasting away.
We hiked on past the buildings and found several nice vistas to the ocean. We also found where they pumped the dredge material from making the harbor deep. The interior of the island has a large area of sand that came from making the harbor. It's obvious that there s no OSHA, or EPA, or DOT, or Sierra Club here to watch over what or how you do things. We noticed a guy with a large steam shovel machine digging a huge trench that I can only guess may be a future septic ditch. He dug for a while, loading a huge dump truck, then he drove the truck to dump it, then came back and loaded it again. No driver sitting in the truck while it was being loaded. Obviously no unions here either.
Once back at the boats, we were tired from hiking. We had found that the free laundry had washing machines that worked and dryers that didn't, so Milano Myst ended up with a bunch of wet clean clothes to hang on the boat to dry. We found the showers had hot water but little pressure, so we decided to shower on the boat since we are plugged in and can heat our water. It's hard to understand how they can spend twelve years of time and money on something like this and be so close yet so far. They don't market at all yet, so unless you heard by word of mouth, as we did, you wouldn't even know this was here. It will be interesting to see in a few years if this is still here or abandoned as so many other Bahamas ventures are.
We took showers, had a nice dinner, and planned for tomorrows push south. Sol Y Mar has changed places in the anchorage to hopefully be more comfortable as the wind changes during the night. We should have backed in our slip, since even in the small basin, we have little waves slapping the hull under the aft cabin. Oh well. At least we aren't moving.
GPS N 23-54.453 W 076-16.316 Nautical miles traveled today 2. Total miles 8023.
Jan 28
Even though we were secure in a marina with no bouncing or risk of dragging, I slept like crap last night. I stayed up until midnight writing logs, and then was up at 05:00, with several awakenings in-between. I finally gave in and got up and turned the radio on. Chris Parker does not broadcast on Sunday, so I was limited to the BASRA (Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association) broadcast, which pretty much sucks, and Cruisehiemers. I downloaded e-mail and the weather GRIB files to see that nothing had changed and we should still move south this afternoon. I spoke to Sol Y Mar and confirmed the plans with them. They plan to head south about 10:00, since they are going all the way to Georgetown. We plan to leave about noon, since low tide is at 10:00 and the low water depth at the entrance to the Cave Cay basin is 5.5 feet.
A new boat, a large power catamaran, came in the marina about 10:00 and tied up next to Milano Myst. We helped them get their lines secured since Cedric the marina guy didn't answer the radio. I explained the marina deal to them. A little after them, we saw Finnestere, the trawler we tried to help with a mechanical problem up in Spanish Cay coming in. We hailed him to tell him we'd help with dock lines, but he was not staying. He just poked into the basin to see what had changed since last year and was going on to Georgetown.
Steve, the owner, came down to the docks mid-morning to see how we were doing. We all chatted with him a little more about the plans for the island. Our conclusion was that there is no way this can ever pan out as a good investment, but it is a hobby for Steve to enjoy. Maybe someday it will be able to support itself, but not recoup the investment. We learned that Steve bought the island from the estate of the Governor General of the Bahamas. He had been looking for an island to buy and when this one came on the market, he snatched it up. His decision was based on being able to make the harbor useable. When he bought it the whole harbor was dry at low tide. Now it is twelve feet deep at low tide. His gamble was that he wouldn't hit rock when he dredged it. The gamble paid off, and now we know why there is so much dredge material up in the interior of the island.
About 11:30, we were ready to go, but Cedric and several other guys had just been called into service by Steve to move the dredge from where they had been repairing it along the shore, back to where they were going to continue dredging the basin. So, we had to wait half an hour while they moved the dredge to where they would start working again. Cedric came back and checked us out, and gave us each a 8 x 10 picture of our boats in the marina that had been taken this morning. It was a little added bonus to the unexpected joy of visiting this place.
We were underway a little after noon. Instead of backtracking a mile to Galliot Cut, we went south based on Steve's advice to Cave Cay Cut. It is a little narrower, but plenty deep, and it took a couple of miles off the trip. Once outside the cut, we found two to three foot rollers coming from the east, with a small wind chop coming from the southwest. The wind was blowing about fifteen knots from the southwest, and we unfurled the sails. We found that under sail alone, we were only making five knots, and we need to get the twenty-seven miles to Emerald Bay before dark, so we motorsailed. We stayed above seven knots all the way to Emerald Bay, and actually furled the sails a little near the end because the wind had increased to over twenty knots.
We kept in touch with Sol Y Mar all day. They went all the way to Georgetown and made it with no problems. We'll join them in a few days and maybe help with their repairs. We got into the marina and tied up at the fuel dock. We took on fuel and then moved to our slip. We are right across from where we destroyed the dock box last year, so I hugged the new dock box that I bought. We got secure and headed for the very nice showers.
After everybody was cleaned up, we joined Milano Myst for dinner at the marina restaurant. Since we are near where we will part company with them, they wanted to buy us dinner to thank us for being tour guides for the past month or so. We have enjoyed being the tour guides as much as they have enjoyed having us. Eventually we headed back to the boats for hopefully a better night's sleep.
GPS N 23-37.793 W 075-55.050 Nautical miles traveled today 27. Total miles 8050.