Hello Once Again
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| Lynyard Cay |
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| Beach Combing Lynyard Cay |
Tuesday 15th December. Marks new crew member, Sally, arrived
yesterday. We have done the laundry and
stocked up at the supermarket. Our phone
has been topped up so we can down load weather reports and keep in contact with
the family, and, for Alec - the news of the world, so we are ready to leave
Marsh Harbour. It has been nice to have
a break, but we are ready to move on. We
up anchor and head for the fuel dock as that is our last job. By mid-day we are sailing out of the harbour
in light winds of 10kts. It is warm and
sunny with a temperature of 28 deg.c. By
1600 we have sailed 23nm in a southerly direction and dropped anchor mid-way
down Lynyard Cay on its western shore.
There are private homes here, but one can go ashore and walk to the
Atlantic coast. The following day we
explore the area in our tenders and go ashore and walk to the Atlantic coast
side and do some beach combing. Mark
catches crayfish, so we are invited to his boat for dinner – yummy. Next day we up anchor and motor the 2nm down
to Little Harbour. This is the
southernmost point where one stays
inside the reef and cays before heading out through the cut and into the
Atlantic to continue heading down Great Abaco Island.
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| Bronze Sculpture - Stingray |
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| Johnston Art Gallery |
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| Atlantic side of Little Harbour |
We then headed back to our anchorage off Lynyard Cay to
wait another day for the weather to
settle so we could go out through the reef entrance and head for the Island of
Eleuthera. Alec managed to get us
crayfish for dinner that night.
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| Egg Island, Eleuthera |
The following morning five yachts up anchor around 0630 and sailed out through
rather “lumpy” seas in the channel, and into the Atlantic. It was a 52nm sail in which we were doing
6kts. Later that afternoon we dropped anchor on the northern side of Egg
Island, North Eleuthera. The following
day we spent most of the time in or on the water looking for conch and crayfish
– NOTHING – but when you read up on this Island one finds out it is the premier
Bahamian fishing port. Seventy percent
of the annual Bahamian lobster production is harvested by the Spanish Wells
fishing fleet – that is just around the corner from our anchorage. I did have fun catching my Jacks – bait
fish. There was no shortage of those,
and it was fun exploring other smaller cays in the area. On our first evening there I hauled in a
rather large barracuda which ended up taking my hook and a length of line with
it. The following morning there he is
back again looking for more food. We
know it was the same one as he was trailing the line from his mouth. So over went more bait, but he would not take
it. Later we put bait onto a lure. It took half the morning before he took it
and we pulled him in, only to lose the lure to him as we were lifting the
****** out of the water. So he won that
round. One lure and one hook hanging
from his mouth. Good thing is fish
secrete an enzyme that causes the hooks to dissolve after a short time, so he
will be free to fish again.
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| Little Harbour, Berry Islands |
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| Flo's Conch Bar Dock |
The following morning the winds are light but in the right
direction to head east to the Berry Islands.
Mark thinks we should head out there, one place he has not really
explored, so up anchor and off we go.
Yes the winds were light and dropped even more over the course of the
morning. Mark motored sailed, but we
decided just to sail, so up went our MPS.
We were doing between 2.8 - 6.5kts and the 45nm trip took 7 hours, but
we saved all that fuel, and there was no hurry anyway. We sailed in behind Little Harbour Cay part
way down the Berry Islands just before sunset.
Mark had arrived about two hours before us and already had been ashore
to “Flo’s “ Conch Bar for his first rum and conch fritters. Yes you will see we have the same names of
places popping up all over the place. It
can get quit confusing at times – “which Little Harbour are you talking about?”
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| Exploring Little Harbour in Tender |
The Berry Islands are a crescent shape of small Cays lying
on the eastern extension of the Great Bahama Bank. The bank inside is very shallow in places and
most boats take the outside route between the cays. Also this group of Islands and Cays are less
visited by cruising boats as they are more isolated. We spend the next day
exploring our area. It is very pretty
with sandy beaches, inlets and rocky coves.
We find no conch or crayfish here, but the waters are warm and clear,
and it is fun looking. The wind gets up
that evening which brings a swell into the harbour making the anchorage a
little rolly.
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| Great Harbour Cay Marina |
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| Alec, Sally Mark, Christmas Eve |
The next morning is Christmas Eve 24th
December. We are very surprised by a
call from Mark saying we are heading south to the Islands off Nassau on New
Providence Island – the capital of the Bahamas, a place he has said in the past
he won’t go near as it is too expensive, too populated and impossible to anchor
in the harbour. Also safety is an issue
here. Alec has just downloaded a new weather report as tells him
we will pass out through the reef, but, we will head north if we can’t sail
south as it looks like we will be beating into the wind and seas. We will just have to meet up later. We head out first and sure enough it is going
to be impossible to head south, so as we are turning north I radio him and say
so. Ten minutes later he is following us
!!!
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| Shallow Waters |
That really would have been a horrid trip south. By 1400 we are anchored outside Great Harbour
Cay at the northern end of The Berry Islands. We are sheltered from the SSE winds
in here. The last four miles we had to drop the sails and motor as we crossed
the shallows heading south-east again towards Great Harbour Cay, but motoring
across the bank without he big seas was no problem, we just had to watch the
depth. We are getting use to sailing across these shallow waters where one can
see the bottom all the time. We are also
getting good at “ eyeball navigation” - reading the colours of the waters which
tell one what the bottom is and the approximate depths. Knowing which colours
are grass and which are rock and coral heads.
The water is also different colours as you pass over the sandy areas at
different depths. We follow the tracks
on the charts and watch the depth sounder the whole time.
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| Cut into Gt. Harbour |
Great Harbour Cay – The Berry Islands. Once anchored we take the tenders ashore
through a cut into an amazingly sheltered harbour with a marina tucked into the
southern end. Once in the marina you
pass slightly dated multi coloured townhouses with docks out in front along one
side, and the marina berths along the other. There are a few boats in here,
some with live-a-boards on who have come south to avoid the American and
Canadian winter. We find the marina
grocery store where I buy potatoes to roast for Christmas dinner. We then motor out and around to Bullocks
Harbour which is the main settlement and find another grocery store. Here we buy the last two bottles of
milk. We are told the ship may not be in
again for a week and a half with fresh supplies.
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| Christmas 2016 |
We have arrived and it is Christmas Eve. I have a Ham and Turkey to cook for
Christmas, and with only a small oven decide that we will have the Ham for
Christmas Eve dinner, and the Turkey on
Christmas Day. Mark and Sally are
invited for dinner both nights and bring the vegetables on Christmas Eve. I do my usual roast vegetables to go with the
Turkey on Christmas day along with stuffing and green beans. I have also made my usual Christmas liquor
fudges for desert. It was nice to be
able to share Christmas with good friends.
On Christmas Day we get a real mixed bag of weather. It is quite windy, but we are tucked in under
a cliff so it does not affect us. Then
we have a quick shower of rain, then the sun comes out. It was lovely being able to Skype the family
as there was a Cell Phone tower on the cliff in front of us.
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| Cruise Ship off Little Stirrup Cay |
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| Little Stirrup Cay |
Boxing Day and we are on the move again, but not before a
trash run into the bins in Bullocks Harbour.
That is something one does not take for granted. It is so nice to be able to dispose of ones
rubbish in the correct places when one can.
We have a lovely down-wind sail for the first 4nm to our first way-point
out on the bank, but then have to drop the sails and motor into the wind to our
next anchorage in Slaughter Harbour, which is between Little and Great Stirrip
Cays. These two Cays are the most
northern in the Berry Island group. They
sit on the edge of the Northwestern Providence Channel where the waters are
deep enough for the cruise ships, hence both of the cays have been brought by
cruise line companies. Little Stirrup
Cay by the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, and Great Stirrup Cay is owned by the
Norwegian Cruise Line. Yes you can guess
what’s coming next !! That first night
we were alone, but, the following morning as we rise for breakfast two huge
liners are parked out in front of the Cays.
Then they start to unload the hordes of passengers. No offence to those of you who enjoy this
type of holiday, but, well let’s say we were very happy to be on our little
ships doing our own thing. Not having to
line up to use facilities like the kayaks, sail boards, and do snorkelling trips
etc. We popped our kayak into the water
to explore where we wanted. The
passengers could not paddle from one Cay to the other, but had to stay in the
waters around their designated one. We
snorkelled and took the tender where we wanted, we just could not land on their
busy beaches. But by sundowner time they
were on their way again and we have the evening to ourselves.
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| Starfish - my viewing Bucket |
Next morning the winds are light and variable. We are meant to be sailing back to
Eleuthera. From here it is 60nm. Alec informs Mark we will not be motoring
back!! A northerly is due to come through in a couple of days and we would
rather wait for that. So we head south
back down the Islands at 3kts. to Little Harbour sailing, and Mark motor sails
the whole way back to Eleuthera. He does not get in till after dark. We will catch up in a couple of days !!
Back in Little Harbour it is dead calm. Not so much as a ripple on the water. We anchor out further from the shore. That evening I catch more mutton
snapper. The next day is time to catch
up on some maintenance. Our Head out
flow pipe need cleaning as the calcium has built up in it. That is a good mornings work. In the afternoon we take the tender out for a
explore and fine a huge conch bed. They
are everywhere in ankle deep water. We
can’t believe we missed it on our first visit.
We only take four which we will take back to Eleuthera and share with
Mark and Sally.
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| Beautiful Berry Islands |
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| Alec with Conch |
The following morning that northerly has arrived and we are
ready for a good sail. With 2nd
reef in the main and a reef in the jib we are on our way out through the
entrance. Winds are 17-22kts, seas are
1.5-2mt with waves with breaking tops and we are doing 7.7kts. SHAMAL has found her slot and we are cutting
through the seas. We arrive back at Egg
Island at 1500 and sail in behind Egg Island and on to Royal Island Harbour to
find Mark and another five boats sheltering in there. We hand over the conch which Mark cleans and
cooks up for dinner for all of us. He
then tells us we will be moving out in the morning. Help we have hardly caught our breath, but
OK. His crew member Sally needs to
return home for business sooner than first planned, and they want to move down
to Governors Harbour, about mid-way down Eleuthera as there is an airport
there.
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| Current Cut |
We download another weather forecast. The first 7nm to Current Cut the winds will
be good, but after that the final 30nm, well let’s see!!??!! The following morning we are off, and yes
that first leg was great. We have SSE
winds of 15-17kts and we are sailing nicely at 7.3kts. We pass through Current Cut with the tide
doing 8.3kts. Once through the Cut it is a whole different story. The winds have now come around to E. That is on the nose for us so we start
tacking. Ten hours and 71nm later we
have dropped anchor in Governors Harbour!!!!
Again we sail and Mark motor sailed.
He got in an hour and a half before us.
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| Governors Bay |
Our arrival into Governors Bay is New Year’s Eve. There is a Junkanoo Party tonight which
should be great to attend, but we are all far too tired and end up having
dinner and hitting the sack early. We
are woken later to the sounds of the party and fireworks, but I don’t even have
the energy to get out of bed to take a look.
Mark has informed us that the first weekend in January there is a
weekend long Jankanoo Party, so we will go to that one.
New Year’s day and we are ashore exploring when Sally has a
phone call to say she is booked on a flight the following morning. Well that happened quickly. Poor Mark will now be looking for a new crew
member.
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| The Maule sea plane |
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| Cupids Cay |
Governors Harbour.
What a pretty place. It is
another long-established community, and also Eleuthera’s Capital. Buccaneer Hill which overlooks the harbour is
dotted with colourful Victorian-era homes.
It has a lovely beach at one end and again clean clear waters. We visited the Haynes Library which is situated
on the water-front and housed in a building dating back to 1897. It was formally the home of the local Doctor.
Here we met a delightful couple who have had property on the Island since the
1960’s and have now retired here full time. They invited us to visit them
anytime which was so nice of them. We
walked around Cupids Cay on the eastern side of the harbour to the site of the
first US Consulate in The Bahamas – 1789.
We also walked over the hill to the Atlantic side and the beautiful
beach where the “ French Leave Resort” is.
Another day a Maule sea plane
flew into the bay so we went over to say hello.
The pilot owns a Cay further south and has invited us to visit him there
if we can. He tells us his mother was a
New Zealander.
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| Boys off SALTY PAWS |
We have now been here five days and it is Wednesday
evening. Alec downloads another weather
report and Mark has been listening to the local weather reports. It looks like a strong blow will be coming
through Saturday night and continuing through the following week. Wednesday night the winds change bringing a swell into the Harbour which is particularly
uncomfortable for a mono. Oh help we are
on the move again. So much for the
Junkanoo festival this weekend. Thursday
morning we up anchor and sail the 24nm down to Rock Sound Harbour. The holding is very good here. This is a big harbour, but fully enclosed. We
have let our more anchor chain than usual as winds are expected to reach around
35kts for a time.
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| Rock Sound Craft Shop |
Friday we go ashore.
Alec needs to get his pension form signed by a notary. Each time he has it done the price goes up. In the US the first time it cost him $10,
then six months later $15, and this time $30.
No receipt, and it was in a Government Office!! He thinks he will find a
Church Minister next time and give a donation to the plate.
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| Ann, Tree roots in cave |
Here in Rock Sound we are a good two thirds down the Island.
The town is more of a Ribbon Settlement laid out along the main Island road. There is a very well stocked supermarket,
even catering to the likes of me on a GF diet.
We walked to the Blue Hole – a sink hole on the edge of town. There are
lots of little craft shop which I have visited.
Everyone is so friendly and helpful.
Mark was having computer problems, and the guy in a shop at the petrol
station sorted it out for him. A lovely
lady runs The Blue Seahorse craft shop where you can also get coffee and free
WIFI. She gave us some passionfruit as
well. Many of her crafts are made from
the famous pink sand found on some of the beaches here, and also from sea
glass. That is glass from broken bottles
which has been washed up and worn smooth and opaque over time. The different colours can be dated back to
quite early times. For example the old
black gin bottles date back to the very early 1800’s
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| James on RAINBOW |
Then we get news that our daughter Brigitte who works on a
private jet operating out of the States, has a trip to Nassau – the capital –
on New Providence Island, at the end of this coming week. Oh help this was the one place we were
advised to stay clear of, but when it comes to having family visit, and being
able to bring down some spare parts for us, well, we just have to go. This might be where we say a fond farewell to
Mark – and James his cat – on “Rainbow”.
It has been great having him as our guide and taking us to places we
would not have found without local knowledge.
Wednesday 11th January. The winds for the last few days have been
gusting up to 30kts, but have now died down to around 17kts. We call Mark up on
the radio and say we are leaving for Nassau this morning, via the Northern
Exumas. We have a 37nm run to reach
Highborne Cay. He tells us he will met
us in the Exumas after the weekend, so it is not farewell just yet.
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| N.E. blowing 30kts in Rock Sound |
We up anchor and cross Rock Sound harbour following another
catamaran out. Once out in Exuma Sound
the seas have built to 2mts and the wind is gusting 33kts. We have reefed the main and jib and are
sailing along nicely. By early afternoon
we are anchored up behind Highborne Cay out of the winds and swell, so head off
to explore the area in the tender. Again
beautiful waters and lovely sandy beaches.
By early evening two super yachts and a mono have joined us in our
anchorage. On dusk we see mast head
lights up and down the Cays here, so were are getting into a more popular
cruising area here in the Exuma Cays.
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| Seas on crossing to Exuma Cays |
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| Nassau Harbour Club Hotel Marina |
Next morning we head out across the shallows for
Nassau. The waters are that amazing
aquamarine. It is only a 32nm leg today
and Brigitte is not due in till tomorrow (Friday) evening, so we decide we will
anchor off Rose Island tonight, and away from Nassau Harbour. We are in the
company of five other boats anchored here.
We have book a marina berth for the next day in the Nassau Harbour Club
Hotel Marina. Sounds very posh, but in
fact it is not. The water in the Harbour
is cleaner than the water in the swimming pool. They have a laundry which comes
in very handy but not all the machines work so there is a bit of a wait. Right across the road is a shopping centre
with a very nice, but very expensive supermarket, but, it has all the goodies
one could want. Also there is a Starbucks.
Great I can get my coffee fix.
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| SHAMAL in Nassau |
We pull into the fuel dock first before moving into our
berth at the marina. The fuel dock was a
bit of a mission as a strong current was running plus the wind was blowing down
the harbour which did not help, but there were a few helpers on the dock to
take our lines.
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| Nassau |
We spend a lovely weekend catching up with Brigitte. She brings us down our spare parts plus lots
of other goodies. We have the rest of
the crew off the aircraft over for lunch.
Brigitte leaves us Sunday evening, so, first thing Monday we are heading
back to the Exuma Cays. We have been in
contact with Mark and arrange to meet up again at Norman Cay, in the Northern
Exumas. Before dusk we are anchored once more beside “Rainbow”. This Cay has
its own history. During the late 1970’s
to the early 1980’s this Cay was under the unfriendly control of the drug lord
Carios (Joe) Lehder, who brought out the existing residents, or threatened them
out, so he could set it up as his drug smuggling hub and private playground. A fleet of aircraft flew into the airstrip at
night from Colombia and the drugs were reloaded into smaller aircraft which
carried them on the States. Those days
are well passed. The Cay is still privately owned by a group of residents, but
cruisers can land on the beaches. So,
the following morning it is back in the tenders and off to explore. Here there is a large lagoon with a Curtiss
C-46 aircraft (that is similar to a Douglas DC 3) submerged in the water which
was allegedly used for drug trafficking. That was a must see to find for us.
The waters were quite choppy due to the wind, but we did manage to find the
aircraft and take pictures. Then it was
off to visit the numerous sandy beaches and smaller cays in the area. I did my usual beach combing finding lovely
some shells.
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| Crashed Plane Norman Cay |
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| Norman Pond |
It is now Wednesday 18th January, and oh Mark has
been listening to his weather guru again.
More weather is coming through on Sunday and he wants to be down in the
shelter of Elizabeth Harbour, George Town before then. So we up anchor and head
south. I really want to stop at Big
Majors Spot Island which is famous for its swimming pigs – yes we have seen the
swimming pigs in the Abacos, but it is the pigs here I wanted to see. No one is really sure how long the pigs have
lived on the island, or how they came to be here, but lots of stories are
around as to where they came from. Plus
Staniel Cay next door which is said to be another very pretty stop.
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| Swimming Pig |
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| Swimming Pigs |
We did stop here for a couple of nights, so we did get to
fed the pigs and visit Staniel Cay. As
we took the tender into Pig Beach, some swam out to meet us. Maybe they could smell the fruit scraps we
had for them. They started bunting the
tender with their snouts pushing us sideways as Alec was trying to beach
it. He had to reverse out, they followed
and one even tried to climb in with us. The
first evening there Mark comes over for dinner with us and brings his fishing
rod. I catch an 8ft nurse shark, then
about 20 minutes later Mark catches the same shark. That ends the fishing for the night!! The next day we take the tender over to
Staniel Cay. The waters here, as in all
the Exuma Cays, are exceptional – crystal clear, clean and the most beautiful
aquamarine/turquoise colour. The
settlement on the Cay is quaint with colourfully painted houses. Then there were the nurse sharks. Help we
could not believe our eyes. As we tied
the tender to the yacht club dock there were nurse sharks swimming around
everywhere. When we returned to leave a local was feeding them for some
tourists who had arrived. They – the
tourists - were in the water with them. (see photo) Nurse sharks are not
aggressive, well not these ones!!! I was
not going to hop in and find out. A
shark is a shark is a shark!!!!!
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| Feeding Nurse Sharks |
The following day we do the 56nm run down to George
Town. At Farmers Cay we pass through the
cut which takes us from the bank side out into the deep waters of Exuma
Sound. We arrive into Elizabeth Harbour,
George Town after dark, sneaking in between the reefs, rocks and sandbars. Once again the track in on the chart plotter
took us safely to our anchorage, and we did let Mark go in first!!
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| George Town |
Elizabeth Harbour is a long spacious basin with Great Exuma
Island on its eastern side and Stocking Island plus numerous Cays on its
western side. One can find protection
from almost any wind direction in the many bays and coves within the harbour,
hence it has become a favourite destination for many cruisers, especially those
escaping the Canadian and American winter months. There are around 170 boats in here at the
moment. Some arrive, spend a few days
here and are on the move again to explore further afield, and others arrive and
stay. It has the nick name of “Chicken
Harbour” as many cruisers have arrived with the intention of sailing on down
into the Caribbean, but get no further as it might involve an over-night
passage, or the wind blew 20kts on the trip down here from the States for half
a day, and that was terrible, or they just enjoy the social community life which
has now become well established over the winter months.
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| Straw Market George Town |
On Saturday we listen to the weather report on the morning
cruisers net. A frontal system is
passing down the eastern coast of the States and is expected to move out into
the Bahamas and hit our area by around 1500 Monday. The next couple of days sees boats moving to
different anchorages around the harbour.
There are only about 12 of us in our bay anchored well apart. Winds are predicted at 30 – 40 kts with gusts
possibly as high as 60kts as the squalls pass over – oh a normal Wellington Day
(that is in New Zealand). In the end the
weather system passed more to the north of us and our strongest recorded gust
was 32.8kks at 1530. Alec slept through
most of it.
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| Elizabeth Harbour, George Town |
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| Approaching Front, George Town |
So here we are, nearly at the end of our time in the
Bahamas, for it is from here we will check out and head for Cuba. We do seem to
have move too quickly at times through areas, but Mark really has made sure we
have seen as much as possible in the time we had. The Bahamas cover such a huge area, one would need years to see it
all. It does stand out as one of the top
cruising areas we have been to, but, we are so looking forward to our next
cruising ground – Cuba.
So we will sign out from here. We have been told that internet coverage in
Cuba is not very reliable. We hope to
spend the month of February there, so will post another blog when we can.
Lots of love from
The Admiral and The Commander
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