We left the “big city” of Lucaya early, 6:30-ish, on Saturday morning. This is the last of the high rises for a while.
This is early morning, just leaving the Lucaya inlet. It looks calm, doesn’t it?
It wasn’t…. this was one of the worst sails we’ve had. The wind picked up, started out 10-15 kts apparent – all sails up, (for the sailors, close reach) then 15 to 20 – think about reefing, then into 20-25 –reef the main, then occasionally 25 – 30 - reef the main some more. Waves were higher than we’d like, the ocean swells were rolling, and we’re into them at about 45 degrees. There was not any danger, just a miserable 10 hour sail (yes, we could at least sail - 7 to 8 kts at times), with the boat heeled over 20-30 degrees the whole time. No one liked it. We got the occasional “wash down” with salt water – kinda like going through a salt water car wash for a second – glad to have a complete enclosure around the cockpit. We were happy to get to the Berry Islands, to Bullocks Harbor at Great Harbor Cay.
We anchored in the most beautiful water, aqua green and clear. We can see the bottom of the ocean, 12 feet below, from our cockpit. It was really strange to watch the anchor actually hit the bottom and then watch the chain payout for 100 feet. Just before dark, a fishing boat arrived.
We are anchored just outside of the government dock at the settlement of Bullocks Harbor. The harbor entrance to the marina is on the other side of our anchorage.
After recuperating for a day and just enjoying the beautiful scenery, we decided to take the day Monday and explore. First, we got the dinghy down –our first dingy ride in the Bahamas! Yes, that’s Luke decked out in his sun hat!
The shore here is interesting, definitely coral. It’s cut out from the tidal range.
We’re off to a beautiful beach, the only one in the area. We HAD to go explore it. It was an easy dinghy ride over to the shallow waters of the beach. Our own paradise ---- no footprints on this little bit of tropical heaven but our own!
I did some shelling, loving my trudge in the warm water. Here are my 2 favorite shells, a perfect conch and a larger, broken one that shows the inside of the shell.
Luke explored the island and found a great place to sit and be a Beach Mon.
After our beach combing, we went over to the marina area, where 2 boats that are loosely traveling with us are staying. I love the little welcome sign. And look at that entrance --- it’s very narrow 80 ft wide, 8 ft deep. OK for us, but definitely one of the more narrow entrances we’ve ever had. 
The marina is cute with a few small condos, brightly painted slips, and one motor yacht that’s so darn large we have no idea how it got into the marina, much less into her slip…. And how’s she going to get out? That’s going to be some tricky maneuvering. 
We had a nice time in Bullocks Harbor. Town is about 2 miles away, so we decided to take the walk. We got as far as the condos and a nice guy from FL picked us up, took us to the local grocery store, and back to the marina. Prices aren’t awful, but are sort of “convenience store” priced. No fresh veggies, though, except bananas and potatoes. And no bread. BUT --- the caretaker at the marina has a wife who bakes bread to sell to the tourists. We’ve got a couple of wheat loaves on order, to be picked up fresh on Wednesday. (he came through! yum!)
After our town adventure, we visited with our friends Deb & Laurence plus the folks from another boat, Craig and Jane. All Canadians… eh?
On Tuesday, I discovered the little problem of bringing in fresh seashells. I put a group of the smallest ones in a bowl behind our settee. In the morning, I discovered something that looked vaguely like snail tracks on the sofa…. Yulp, one little guy was missing. We found him on the window curtain. He’s back in the ocean now.
Tuesday afternoon we met Deb and Laurence and Jane and Craig (and their daughter, son-in-law, and grandson) back on the beach. It was beautiful – shorts!!! We did lots of beach combing, sunning, and just enjoying ourselves in the warm weather and beautiful beach.
We saw the most wonderful starfish – he was at least 12 inches across, probably more.
Laurence discovered a crab stranded near a small tidal pool during low tide. This is one big crab, about 6-7 inches across. As soon as Laurence put him back into the tidal pool, he began pushing water out through his mouth, circulating water. Luke thinks it's a "Mitten" crab, an invasive species -- haven't found him in the local marine life guide books.
We all gathered at our boat for drinks and snacks until sundown.
Remember the fishing boat? There are 3 now out here now. They fish for anything; red snapper, lobster, conch, etc. A small boat of the fishermen came by our boat this afternoon, selling fresh conch. Well, we “bit” and bought 3 of them, but only after they offered to “get" the conch for us and “skin” it. They deftly knocked a hole in the conch shell, extracted the conch, skinned it (yuck) washed it, the skinner ate one stringy translucent thinghy from each conch as he was cleaning it, and gave us 3 cleaned conchs in a plastic bag. Much bigger than I anticipated. I took the shells, too, as they are beautiful. Not sure where I’ll put them, but that is tomorrow’s problem. Then I got cooking directions, including the most important step, “bruising” the conch. Basically, it’s like tenderizing chicken or meat with a hammer or beer bottle. Anyway, Craig brought over a book of conch recipes and I tried making a conch soup, sort of a vegetable soup with conch (think of vegetable soup with chicken in it….) Luke did the bruising - Luke’s reaction “interesting”. I don’t think we’re big conch fans…
Wednesday, Feb. 11, we moved Latitudes to the Great Harbour Marina for the night. Everybody got a good bath – Latitudes (still salt encrusted from our crossing), laundry, and us. We got together again with the other boaters for a dinner at Jane & Craig’s boat.
We finally saw manatees!!! A family lives at the marina. There’s mom and her baby.
There’s also a larger female, probably grandmom. The other boaters saw them before we moved to the marina. They said mom was nursing the baby, with her big flipper cuddling him up to her.
We left early the morning of Thursday, Feb. 12, to start making our way to New Providence Island, where Nassau is. We aren’t going to Nassau, but using the west side of the island as a stopping point for a night en route to the Exumas. We’ll have to make one more stop along the route to the Exumas. Here we are, leaving that narrow entrance from Great Harbor Cay Marina.
The cruise ships use the north end of the Berry Islands to give their passengers a opportunity to experience the “out islands”. Here’s the mother ship ….
And here is the “out island”, made up cute and colorful and full of little local shops. 
Now, here is the REAL out island side of the Berries. We are anchored for the night in a little cut between White Cay and Devil Cay. Pristine beaches and beautiful blue water and no one else.
We dropped the dinghy, watching the bottom of the water 15 feet down, crystal clear. Look at this ! Finally! A bathing suit and straw hat and beach combing! We feel like we’ve finally made it to the tropics.
We also found fossils on the beach, embedded in the coral. Lots and lots of them. We were so excited, tried to knock one out for a souvenir, but couldn't, they are rock hard, as one would expect of fossils. They look like Trilobites, except for the "tri" part. THEN, we got a "reef creatures" book, and the darn things are live! They are Fuzzy Chitons. Not very fuzzy....
Friday, Feb 13, we left with intentions of stopping in New Providence Island, but the weather was so good, we decided to go as far as we could towards the Exumas. The Grand Banks of the Bahamas are here – this is water that is only 9- 12 feet deep for over 100 miles north and south, 50 miles east and west. It is also filled with coral formations, so you have to be sure to watch for changes in water color that would indicate coral. Some of the coral is quite big and would do major damage to the boat if we ran over it. Here’s Luke, on coral watch.
The area is so shallow that you can just drop your anchor when you’re ready to quit for the night. With the importance of visual navigation, no boats go out after dark. So --- we went for 9 ½ hours, finally stopping along the area where the White Banks and the Yellow Banks near each other. This was the best yet! The water is SO crystal clear and you can easily see the bottom below. We motored slowly, watching the bottom go by, seeing starfish, small coral reefs, and fish. Suddenly Luke spotted a porpoise. These guys are BIG, averaging 7-14 feet. He swam around for a while, and then came in front of the boat. He slowly swam along the side of the boat, in perfect view in the clear water, and watched us curiously as he swam by. He was beautiful.
As the sun got lower, we had the shadow of Latitudes flying formation with us, on the bottom, 10- to 15 ft down – really cool.
Here we are at anchor – can you believe you’re looking through 12 ft of water? – at least 15 miles from the nearest land. This works only when it’s relatively calm – it was.
We were also treated to a gorgeous sunset.
On Saturday, Feb 14, we sailed the last 20 miles to the chain of islands called the Exumas. Our anchorage for the night was Allen Cay, best known for the iguanas who live there. No one else does….The cay is mostly short palm trees and undergrowth, with a couple of beach areas. This is where the iguanas hang out, waiting for the tourists. They certainly aren’t afraid of us. In fact, it was a little unnerving to step out of the dinghy and have a few of them rush towards me. No doubt they’ve been fed treats by the boaters. These are big boys, some at least 3 feet long.
This well fed rascal is resting like most of them do --- tummy on the warm sand.
Think this guy had enough of Luke taking his picture?
We took the dinghy over to another beach area (more iguanas…) and lots of live Queen Conchs in the water. I found this beautiful conch shell.
Then I turned it over….little eyes peeping at me...I may never eat conch again….
I can’t say enough about warm sun, water, and sand in mid-February.
Back to the boat, ready for another beautiful day in Paradise. Now, if there just weren’t another 16 boats beside us at this anchorage…. Oh well, I can’t complain!
We left Allen's Cay mid afternoon on Sunday, Feb. 15, and went the whopping 5 miles or so to Highbourne Cay. That's 3 miles straight away from the the cay to avoid coral heads, 5 miles down the banks, and 3 miles straight back into the Highborne Cay. We spent a quiet night at anchor, and then came into the Highborne Cay marina for Monday night, Feb. 16. The wind is supposed to kick up to about 25 knots during the night, plus we wanted to get internet and catch up. Everything costs here. The marina isn't outrageously expenive, just expensive. But, water is $0.50/gallon. Showers are $4 each, with an automatic 5 minute limit. Laundry is $10/load (no, no laundry here!). Trash (if you aren't staying at the marina) is $5 per bag, 2 bag maximum of $5, then $25/bag. Yes, $25. Electricity is $0.45/kilowatt (no, no electricity for us). Groceries are $1.85/apple, $6.50/loaf of bread, $2.90/pound of bananas, $9/box of cereal. It's a private island, so they've gotcha. Good thing we provisioned before we left FL. But we still need/want some fresh fruit and bread, so we'll have to drop a little here for some of that.
I'm not complaining ---- one final picture to end this very long blog.
That would be Luke -- about 77 degree water, but hey -- in this kind of setting -- have to do it!
1 comment:
I am so very envious of the sights, temps, adventures, salt spray, and sun. What fun!
And by the way, we welcomed our newest crew member on Tues, Feb 10th at 11:12pm. All are well, life is good. I'll email a pic tonight.
Post a Comment