A visit with friends and the Bahamas from afar

We are really happy to catch up with Dee and Dave, plus brother and sister-in-law Rick and Jan.  We traveled with Dee and Dave our first year of cruising and have kept up ever since.  They have quit sailing but vacation with Rick and Jan, via their airplane.  The boys went for a little joy ride earlier today (well, actually they were supposedly testing the pitot tube).

Luke got some great shots of the watery world we cruise in from above.

The tangle of coral and shoals around Big Majors (left - where we spent 10 days waiting for a our starter) and Fowl Cay, few sailboats in the middle.

Staniel Cay - that's us,  the only sailboat in front of the left end of the leftmost of three small islands (3 sailboats behind it - look carefully!).  The water color shows the green shallows on the banks, about 7 feet deep, and the deep blue of the ocean, suddenly 3000 feet deep just off shore.  That is where we shall leave into tomorrow, hoping to catch some fish along the way.  The blue line through the picture shows the deeper channel past Staniel, with the opening to the sea (Exuma Sound) about 1/3 of the way from the left.

This shows a typical "rage", something to be avoided.  The current is going in one direction into the channel, a strong wind is going in the other direction.  This causes an uproar in the waves, making high, choppy waves and a difficult ride (at best).  These waves are about 3 feet high.

After the flight, most of us joined in a golf cart exploration of the rocky, hilly island.

I spent a lot of the afternoon at the pool with "the girls" while Luke snorkeled in Thunderball Grotto with "the boys".  Back to Latitudes to prepare her for our departure tomorrow to Eluthera. Just before sunset, we were hailed from a dinghy containing snorkelers returning from Thunderball Grotto. They were neighbors from our marina in Jekyll Island Georgia, who recognized our boat. We were  mutually and pleasantly surprised to find each other at the same time and place in the Bahamas.

Catching up

Without internet for a few days....

Westward to Georgetown, "summer camp for adults".  Georgetown has everything - groceries, laundry, hardware, free water, scheduled events like volleyball - but these come at a price. That price is huge numbers of boats.  There were 300 when we arrived.  That number will grow as the winter continues.

We didn't participate in the organized games, but opted for a nice walk across the island.

Beautiful beach on the other side.  Luke found 2 seabeans!

 

Sitting on the dinghy on the beach - yes, I am getting darker than I imagined.  Even with dedicated use of sunscreen, I'm defnitely getting dark.

 

 

We are at the famous laundromat in Black Point this morning.  After laundry, we'll sail (or motor) the 10 miles back to Staniel to meet friends Dee and Dave, met our first year of sailing!   They are flying in with brother Rick - we look forward to seeing them for a day or so.  Then onward NE to Eluthera for a few days, slowly working our way back northward towards the Abacos.

 

 

Lotsa wind...

Well, the forecast was right - wind and more wind.  We are safely anchored in the Salt Pond anchorage in Long Island.  Got enough water to fill our tanks, dumped the garbage, washed clothes, and picked up a few fresh groceries before the winds really picked up.  Didn't take the camera.

Yesterday the wind howled enough to keep us on the boat all day.  In the evening, around 4 pm, a cruisers party began gathering on the beach.  We went, of course, and were glad we did.  Always meet new people.  Forgot the camera.

Today the winds were down this morning so Martha and I went to a different grocery store.  Nice walk after our dinghy ride to the shore.  I didn't take my camera.

Bill and Luke ventured to a nearby beach for some picture taking.  He DID take his camera!

Lunch and dominoes at Martha and Bill's boat before the winds AGAIN picked up, this time as high as they've been for the past few days.  But our anchor is set nicely, there are no boats that can reasonably drag into us, and the winds are supposed to finally die tomorrow mid morning.  If that happens, we will leave for Georgetown, 40 miles away.  If they don't die down in time, we will leave on Wednesday for Georgetown.  Maybe we'll remember to take pictures along the way and have some for the blog LOL!

Car tour of Long Island; the Jumentos Cays

We rented a car with Martha and Bill to tour Long Island on Sunday afternoon and Monday morning.  Luke and I have done this 3 other times, but we still like it.

The first stop is always St. Mary’s Church, the oldest church in Long Island, built in the 1500’s or 1600’s, depending on which guide book you reference.  The grounds have been cleared since we were last here 2 years ago, but the roof has fallen in, making it difficult to walk around inside the church.  Still, though, a lovely setting.

 

Here is one of the racing boats owned by the one of the many great racers on the family islands.  There are fierce competitions between the islands each year.

 This little church dates only to 1938.  I love the door and the tilework.

 

 On to Dean’s Blue Hole,  the world’s deepest blue hole, 632 feet.  It is the location of the world free diving competition event each year.  Amazing to see from the surface.

 In the capital of Long Island, Clarance Town, we visited one of our favorite churches, St. Paul’s Anglican, built by Father Jerome.

 We were disappointed to see that a hurricane had taken the roof off a year or so ago.  But, at least they are working on rebuilding it!

 

On Monday we headed northward on the island, visiting the ruins of the Adderly Plantation, near the settlement of Stella Maris.  The plantation once raised cotton and livestock, covering over 2500 acres.  Here is the link to a nice, short article about the plantation.  http://www.stellamarisvillage.com/history.html
 

Next, down the worst road on the island, to Cape Santa Maria to the Columbus Harbor/Columbus Point memorial.  And I mean the WORST road on the island!

 

The trip is worth it, though – especially if I’m not driving!  The view from where Christopher Columbus reportedly entered on his first voyage to the New World is spectacular.  The left side of the picture is the deep water side.  By the way, those deep waters are where we caught our mahi!

 The rough channel in the above picture leads to soft shallows.  Very beautiful, too.

 

That was about it for the day – except for beach combing for treasures at a couple of little beaches.  Dinner with the crowd  from the 3 other boats we are with and then the decision of where to go next.  With Smokey’s help and weather forecaster Chris, we decided to make a break for it and run down to the Jumentos Cays for a few days.  Everyone else stayed behind, other itineraries in mind.  It was a somewhat brisk sail down to Water Cay. 

 

Our anchorage, secluded and quiet except for the rolling of the boat from the ocean surge.  Water Cay is a small island about 3 miles long and 100 yds wide, running NE to SW. On the E side is the ocean, on the W side, the shallow (about 25 ft) banks. We sheltered on the west side, protected from the ocean waves and prevailing E wind.  That more or less works, as the ocean waves "wrap around" the ends of these islands, and to a lower height roll across the back side. You can barely see these waves, but you can feel them. As the boat points into the wind coming across the island, the wrap around waves get it from the side. This causes a variable roll of about ±5 degrees.   All the time... Oh well, you can’t have everything…

 Treated to a green flash at sundown! 

 On Wednesday and Thursday we set off in the dinghy to explore the cay.  There are several beaches and cuts to the ocean, so we have different things to see.  Narrow cuts from the banks to the ocean, calm on one side and wild on the other.

 

Mangroves in thin water, daring the ocean to come in too far.

 

Colorful beaches on Little Water Cay, about 3 miles from our anchorage.

 
And towering white cliffs, cut out by eons of wave action.

 

The forecast is for high winds starting Saturday afternoon, lasting until maybe Tuesday.  As with many storm fronts, the winds veer around like a clock, coming in from the south, southwest, west, northwest, north, and back again toward the northeast to east, the prevailing wind.  There is basically very little shelter from any westerly component winds in the Jumentos, so we left early this morning and came back to Long Island to wait out the winds. It was a nice 45 mile sail (yes, sail!) in about 15 kt winds, broad reach to close reach on various legs with boat speeds up to 7.5 kts -- not bad. We went throught  the Comer Channel, that's charted with depths of 5 ft or so at low water. We did it near high tide, with minimum depths of about 3 ft under our keel.

The plan at Thompson Bay is to do laundry, pick up a few fresh groceries, and grab some water for the tanks before the winds pick up on Saturday!

Conception Island, paying back, cuttlefish, a cooking trick, and A MAHI!!!

 Ahhh…Conception Island. About 40 miles east of the Exuma chain of islands, Conception is part of the Bahamian Land and Sea Park system. That means no fishing, no taking of conch, no fires on the island, etc. It’s a beautiful island and not as frequented as many of the islands. That makes it all the more special! Here is the view from the westward facing shore. The boats are anchored on this side to protect them from the easterly winds right now.

A short path across the island leads to the ocean. Rugged and starkly beautiful.

First things first, everyone set off in search of various “treasures”, be it sea beans, shells, or man-made items that have floated to shore, or just pictures. Search and we did find treasures! Dorothy and I both found a couple of sea bean “hamburgers” each.

Up the big rope to the top of the ironshore for a view of the ocean, seen in the picture above. It’s really neither as steep or high as it looks…

Ah ha! Even I made it!

The beach on the ocean side is quite nice, full of the colors of the sand and waters.

Luke had the opportunity to pay back some of the generous help we had when our starter was broken. One of the boats in the anchorage called earlier with an offer of fresh fish (they caught FOUR mahi-mahi on their way to Conception! We caught one fat Bar Jack, often associated with cigeratia, a nerve disease gotten from large reef fish that eat smaller reef fish. He was tossed back into the briny). Anyway, we traded some beers for fish. The boater (Les) was generous and gave us enough fish for 5 meals. We gave some of it away also. Anyway, later that day, Les called, asking if Luke might know something about an electrical issue with his stove/oven. Of course, Luke went over and helped analyze the problem – a dead propane solenoid. As it turns out, the couple we shared Les’s fish with just happened to have a spare of the type that Les needed. Les is buying the spare from them instead of having to go back to a town and try to get one in from the States. Luke and Win went over, helping Les install it.

Luke went snorkeling with two other boats, but I stayed and made chocolate chip cookies…yum.. The best part of staying behind was watching cuttlefish around the boat. A school of at least 100 of them, each about 8 inches long, swam slowly around the boat for several hours. They look like just black fish from the boat, but looking at them through our “lookie bucket” (plastic bottomed pail), you can see the frills flutter softly and beautifully in the water as they swim. I was fascinated! Couldn’t catch a picture of course, but here is one from the internet.





I have also learned one fantastic cooking tip this trip. Cruisers stock up on “stores”, or non-perishable foods. But you can’t stock up on enough fresh food. Eggs are generally plentiful here, but not always. Dorothy showed me how to use organic flax powder instead of eggs! Just 1 tablespoon of flax plus 3 tablespoons of water equal one egg. And you know what? It works!!! I have made muffins and cornbread and cookies with it so far and you will never know real eggs aren’t in there. Flax is also really good for you, so even if you have eggs, try it as a healthy option. I swear – it does work!!! 

On Thursday we hiked to a large beach on the ocean side. The path started with a climb, aided by a rope, up to the top of the ironshore rocks.

Then across the ironshore and scrub bushes.

 Finally, after an hour hike, our goal is in sight! Success Unfortunately, as this is the ocean facing beach, it is littered with all sorts of trash, blown onshore by the prevalent eastward winds. Folks toss stuff overboard in the ocean, thinking it will sink. It doesn’t – this happens instead.

Weather – we could see this weather front in the sky. Very interesting to be able to SEE the weather change as it approaches.

At the end of the day, we took a dinghy ride to a large, shallow creek, full of lazy rays, warp speed turtles, small sharks, and small fishes.

Didn’t get many pictures of the sea creatures, except this big ray who decided to simply swim under our dinghy.

Healthy mangroves, blue water.

 On Friday we went to Salt Pond, Long Island. Our friend Les gave me the lure he used to catch those 4 mahi (!!!!) so we fished along the ledges of the water. These are places where the water depth changes, for example, from 5000 feet to 200 feet or from 200 feet to 40 feet. Fish seem to like to patrol the ledges.   WOO HOO!!!   We caught a beauty!  45 inches long, we got 6 meals out of it, including a meal for 10 last night.

Renting a car tomorrow to explore the island with Martha and Bill.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HEATHER!

Today is older daughter Heather's birthday - happy birthday!!! I love you!!!

Sunday we left for shore again, this time for just a little walk before settling in for the Super Bowl.  Just as we were securing the dinghies on shore, friend Angie appeared.  She and boyfriend Christoff are from Germany, visiting friends on a sailboat for a few weeks, then staying at Cat Island for a week before flying back to Germany.  We didn't realize they were here but were delighted to see them.  The walk quickly turned into a visit at Pompeii Johnson's bar.  The two younger ones would be Angie and Christoff

It turns out that Pompeii is quite the accordion player!  He played along with the traditional "rake and scrape" duo for some real Bahamian music.  "Rake and Scrape" music involves two instruments --- a goat skin covered drum and a combo saw and screw driver.  The saw is bent and the screw driver raked and scraped along it for different sounds.

THEN we discovered that Christoff, a classically trained french horn player for several German orchestras, also plays the accordion! He was warmly invited to sit in with the "band" which accompanied him in several polkas.

A short walk southward on the island, again past loyalist ruins.

Later that night, a fun time by all at our Super Bowl party aboard Latitudes.  On the more poor, sparsely populated islands, like Cat, CBS, NBC, ABC, and two Bahamian channels are broadcast.

Today we will move the boats about 3 miles south to a different anchorage, in the Old Bight area.  This will put us closer to other roads and a mangrove creek to explore.  Tomorrow we plan to go to Conception Island.

A walk to the grocery store on Cat Island

On Saturday we again took the dinghies back to the beach for a destination walk - make that several destinations.  First, to pay for the WONDERFUL coconut tarts that Glendia and her mom Lulu made.   At the bakery stand on the beach...

Glendia also whacked up 3 more coconuts for us to take back to the boats.  Yum - fresh coconut! It's not easy to cut those things up.  Glendia put a lot of effort and whacks into each one.  This one has bounced off of the porch as she hits it. I plan to just simply eat it, as it's too good to cook with and besides, I have a tart.

We paid for our tarts and left them there, at the stand by our dinghies on the beach, to walk to the somewhat distant grocery store, about 2 miles.  We planned to pick them up later instead of carrying them around with us all day. We passed one of the Catholic churches that Father Jerome build on the island (previous blog).  This is the last church he built.

The entry way doesn't have a gargoyle for rain run-off (what rain....) but it has a "fish-goyle"!

The entry itself has a beautifully painted mural.

Inside the small church, everything is well maintained.  Apparently the Catholic church sends funds to the island to maintain the church and Father Jerome's hermitage.

After the church visit, we continued towards the promised grocery store.  ahhh...domestic tranquility...  I love the black cat and black chicken with her black chicks.  I'm guessing that the cat has had enough run-ins with mother hens that it is no longer interested in chasing their chicks!

This beautiful butterfly was in the flowers in front of the house.  He has a black and white stripped underside, much like a zebra.

Onward past the many Loyalist ruins on the island.  Many of these sturdy dwellings have been reused over the years.  Note the tin roof placed on this one.

Finally, to the nicely filled grocery store.  This store is much like a convenience store size mom-and-pop variety store.  But boy, did it have what we wanted.  The groceries, while still expensive by our standards, were much more reasonable that at Sampson.  We all, of course, bought too much.  As we checked out, as asked the clerk if someone could give us a ride back to the dinghies.  No, he answered in confusion, because someone was already waiting outside for us.  Lulu!!!  The bread lady!  She said that when we were gone so long she figured that we had bought too much.  So she drove down to the store to pick us all up.  Took 2 trips to get the 5 of us and our stash back to the dinghies, but we really appreciated it.  Everyone on the island has been friendly and kind.

Luke is at Greg's boat and they are working on conch horns.  We had one but it barely worked.  Greg had a conch, but hadn't made it into a horn yet.  They must be successful, as I hear somewhat marginal horn sounds floating over from Greg's boat.

Our incredible smart cat "uses tools".  Not the best pictures, but below.... Smoke has a favorite red "washcloth" that she holds between her paws and licks until it is just wet, wet, wet.

Then she either rubs it against her face, using her paws, or she holds it and rubs her face against it. Not bad for a little stray, huh.

A walk this afternoon and then a Super Bowl party at Latitudes.  Well, maybe a Super Bowl Commercial party....we don't care who wins and the two boats we are traveling with are Canadian and they REALLY don't care.  Taco's and beers and commercials will make it fun.