Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Comments Now Allowed
We have just discovered that coments were only allowed on this blog for readers with google addresses. We have opened the comments up to all, hoping that they will be civil, constructive, and witty. We can always hope, can't we?
Food Clarification Part 2
Well, we have now received a demand for additional clarification of the food situation. It appears that some of us are NOT getting enough food out of a can, and certainly NOT the type of food desired, out of a can. Yes, there is LOTS of dry food, and water, but this is NOT ACCEPTABLE. These feelings are being made clear, and given all of the assurances that we are eating well, some of us want the world to know that they have been shanghaied, kept aboard against their will, allowed to fall into the water when they have tried to escape (numerous times), and have not been fed any of the wonderful fish that is all around us.
On the other hand, some of us had a wonderful meal of pasta with fine-aged red sauce (Harpers Ferry, 2006), accompanied by a Brunello di Montalcino (2001) last night....
On the other hand, some of us had a wonderful meal of pasta with fine-aged red sauce (Harpers Ferry, 2006), accompanied by a Brunello di Montalcino (2001) last night....
Rock Sound and Hatchet Bay
We left Warderick Wells on Saturday the 22nd, with a very nice SSE wind. We had to use the engine to get off the mooring and out of the cut, but once we were in Exuma Sound, the sails came up and we stayed on one tack all the way to Eluthera. It was a GRAND sail, in 15 kts of wind, going 7 kts, on average. We arrived at Powell Point around 1:00 pm, and then pinched our way into Rock Sound, until we couldn’t quite round Sound Point without tacking to get the last half-mile to Rock Sound. Since we wanted to be nice to our four-footed passengers, who do not like the sound of aggressive sailing (i.e., tacking) we decided to start the engine and motor the last bit. If we had tried harder, we could have done the entire trip on one tack. We anchored right in front of the town, and it was clear that they were celebrating something (we found out later it was “homecoming”, but we are not quite clear what this means). We stayed on the boat and made some very nice seafood risotto with canned salmon and crab out of a pouch, and were well satisfied with the results.
Next day, up at 7, to hear the weather, which was for south winds, around 10 kts, so we motored out of Rock Sound, and up north to Hatchet Bay, which is near Bill and Dot, who now have a family vacation home on Eluthera. We motored all day, because the winds were too light from the south, across 40 miles of calm water that never got deeper than about 25 feet. We got our first real taste of crab/lobster pots in a while (we think). At least that is what they looked like, with lines of floats across our path north. Being well experienced with such critters, we stayed away from them, and arrived in Hatchet Bay around 2:30 PM. We took our time checking out the harbor, because Bill and Dot were off at a pig-roast, and we decided to set the anchor in one of the deepest parts of the Bay, about 30 feet(!).
For those of you who are Ches Bay sailors, this sounds a bit daft, but the only spots to anchor in shallower water were taken up with moorings, which were occupied. The charts all say that the holding in Hatchet Bay is poor, with lots of grass, so we put out 150 ft of chain and increased the pulled on it gradually, until we thought we were well set. Then we got ready for dinner. Bill called from the govt pier about 4:45, and we went off in the newly-speedy dinghy to meet him.
We had to weave our way under the mooring lines of the local ferry, to the small dock where we left the dinghy and went off to see the new house.
Bill and Dot’s house is up on top of the ridge north of Hatchet Bay, with amazing views of both the Bight of Eluthera to the west, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Bill’s grandfather bought the land 60 year ago, but they didn’t build on it until last year, when one of Bill’s sons found a good contractor, imported a lot of building materials, furnishings and other assorted stuff to Eluthera, and spent considerable time and effort to make sure that the job was done right. And he really did, because the house is spectacular. We had diner with Bill and Dot, son Mike, his wife sandy, and their children Ryan and Sarah. Great meal, great wine, and great conversation. Bill and Dot are absolutely wonderful hosts, and we would LOVE to come back after we get settled in France. We finally had to say goodnight when the lightning from the approaching storm became too frequent to ignore. Bill took us back to the dinghy landing, and we got back to the boat just as the drops started to fall.
We have been diligent this trip in not leaving the dinghy in the water at night. Part of this is to minimize the chances that it might decide to “walk away”, but also because we want to be able to start up the boat and move, if we have to do so in a hurry. We also don’t like to hear the slap of the water against the dinghy in the night, or hear it bump against the boat. We therefore have gotten quite good at getting the dinghy up on the stern quickly and ready to move, and this stood us in great stead that night.
No sooner did we have the dinghy up, and ourselves stowed down below, when the winds just started to HOWL. The windmill gave out a sound that we don’t think we have every heard before, the rain started to come down in buckets, and the boat heeled over like a drunken sailor. Given the reports of poor holding in this anchorage, we abandoned the interior for the cockpit, turned on the navigation instruments and the radar, and prepared for some heavy weather. The wind shifted 180 degrees from the direction we had set the anchor, so we were mightily concerned about dragging. We were also concerned about another boat that had anchored a bit closer to us than we would have preferred, after we had anchored.
With the wind howling, and the GPS saying that we were doing 1.6 kts, we started the engine and tried to hold position with the engine and the bow thruster. The chartplotter showed that we had moved from our original anchored position, but we were still in 30 feet of water. Eventually, we realized that we were doing 1.6 kts sideways, as the boat swung back and forth, horsing in the wind. It was a bit unnerving to see the speed on the GSP display, but the speed vectors on the chartplotter were consistently showing lateral motion, not dragging aft, so after about 45 minutes, when the winds abated and we were sure that we were still set, we buttoned up for the night. jlm did not sleep much, and rxc got up a few times after some quite vivid dragging-dreams, but in the morning, we found ourselves back in the identical spot where we had originally anchored. Evidently, with 150 feet of chain out, the anchor was indeed well-set, and we had just swung in a circle. The boat that had anchored after us was in the same spot, although one other boat that had been on a mooring, with a bit of a long mooring rope, now had an anchor out, as well as the mooring, and they had shortened the line to the mooring.
We got under way from Hatchet Bay at about 9, after hearing Chris Parker the weather guy, on the SSB for the first time. Everyone is convinced that the weather is going to turn nasty tonight, so we wanted to be up in Spanish Wells, in a marina, when the front came thru. The trip across the Bight was quite lumpy, with3 very unhappy cats, but we made it, and then made the passage through the Current Cut with no problems, and the short leg up to Spanish Wells, where we are now firmly tied up in the Spanish Wells Yacht haven. More in the next installment…
Next day, up at 7, to hear the weather, which was for south winds, around 10 kts, so we motored out of Rock Sound, and up north to Hatchet Bay, which is near Bill and Dot, who now have a family vacation home on Eluthera. We motored all day, because the winds were too light from the south, across 40 miles of calm water that never got deeper than about 25 feet. We got our first real taste of crab/lobster pots in a while (we think). At least that is what they looked like, with lines of floats across our path north. Being well experienced with such critters, we stayed away from them, and arrived in Hatchet Bay around 2:30 PM. We took our time checking out the harbor, because Bill and Dot were off at a pig-roast, and we decided to set the anchor in one of the deepest parts of the Bay, about 30 feet(!).
For those of you who are Ches Bay sailors, this sounds a bit daft, but the only spots to anchor in shallower water were taken up with moorings, which were occupied. The charts all say that the holding in Hatchet Bay is poor, with lots of grass, so we put out 150 ft of chain and increased the pulled on it gradually, until we thought we were well set. Then we got ready for dinner. Bill called from the govt pier about 4:45, and we went off in the newly-speedy dinghy to meet him.
We had to weave our way under the mooring lines of the local ferry, to the small dock where we left the dinghy and went off to see the new house.
Bill and Dot’s house is up on top of the ridge north of Hatchet Bay, with amazing views of both the Bight of Eluthera to the west, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Bill’s grandfather bought the land 60 year ago, but they didn’t build on it until last year, when one of Bill’s sons found a good contractor, imported a lot of building materials, furnishings and other assorted stuff to Eluthera, and spent considerable time and effort to make sure that the job was done right. And he really did, because the house is spectacular. We had diner with Bill and Dot, son Mike, his wife sandy, and their children Ryan and Sarah. Great meal, great wine, and great conversation. Bill and Dot are absolutely wonderful hosts, and we would LOVE to come back after we get settled in France. We finally had to say goodnight when the lightning from the approaching storm became too frequent to ignore. Bill took us back to the dinghy landing, and we got back to the boat just as the drops started to fall.
We have been diligent this trip in not leaving the dinghy in the water at night. Part of this is to minimize the chances that it might decide to “walk away”, but also because we want to be able to start up the boat and move, if we have to do so in a hurry. We also don’t like to hear the slap of the water against the dinghy in the night, or hear it bump against the boat. We therefore have gotten quite good at getting the dinghy up on the stern quickly and ready to move, and this stood us in great stead that night.
No sooner did we have the dinghy up, and ourselves stowed down below, when the winds just started to HOWL. The windmill gave out a sound that we don’t think we have every heard before, the rain started to come down in buckets, and the boat heeled over like a drunken sailor. Given the reports of poor holding in this anchorage, we abandoned the interior for the cockpit, turned on the navigation instruments and the radar, and prepared for some heavy weather. The wind shifted 180 degrees from the direction we had set the anchor, so we were mightily concerned about dragging. We were also concerned about another boat that had anchored a bit closer to us than we would have preferred, after we had anchored.
With the wind howling, and the GPS saying that we were doing 1.6 kts, we started the engine and tried to hold position with the engine and the bow thruster. The chartplotter showed that we had moved from our original anchored position, but we were still in 30 feet of water. Eventually, we realized that we were doing 1.6 kts sideways, as the boat swung back and forth, horsing in the wind. It was a bit unnerving to see the speed on the GSP display, but the speed vectors on the chartplotter were consistently showing lateral motion, not dragging aft, so after about 45 minutes, when the winds abated and we were sure that we were still set, we buttoned up for the night. jlm did not sleep much, and rxc got up a few times after some quite vivid dragging-dreams, but in the morning, we found ourselves back in the identical spot where we had originally anchored. Evidently, with 150 feet of chain out, the anchor was indeed well-set, and we had just swung in a circle. The boat that had anchored after us was in the same spot, although one other boat that had been on a mooring, with a bit of a long mooring rope, now had an anchor out, as well as the mooring, and they had shortened the line to the mooring.
We got under way from Hatchet Bay at about 9, after hearing Chris Parker the weather guy, on the SSB for the first time. Everyone is convinced that the weather is going to turn nasty tonight, so we wanted to be up in Spanish Wells, in a marina, when the front came thru. The trip across the Bight was quite lumpy, with3 very unhappy cats, but we made it, and then made the passage through the Current Cut with no problems, and the short leg up to Spanish Wells, where we are now firmly tied up in the Spanish Wells Yacht haven. More in the next installment…
Friday, March 21, 2008
Cats on Hatch Screens
Today was pretty slow, after a fast start, when the rains started to pour into open hatches at 7AM. It was grey all day, with occasional rain, and nasty winds. Not a good day to snorkel, like yesterday, when we explored the reef at the north end of the mooring field. Saw a number of large fish that would probably taste quite good, if only we could fish for them inside this park.
But instead, it was a day for maintenance and paperwork. Getting estate papers done, re-doing lifeline connections, fixing the damn hatch screens, again.
For those of you who don't sail with large cats and hatch screens, it turns out that the screens are considered to be great places to hang out. They have lots of air flow, which is a good thing if you are covered with 2-inches of fur. And you are cool everywhere, because the air flows BELOW you, as well as on top.
Unfortunately, if you are a gigantic Maine Coon, you eventually find out that the screens were not designed to support a 20 lbm cat. Or even a 12 lbm cat. So, you fall through, onto the table below, landing on your feet, maybe on top of the computers, shaking off any suggestions of a loss-of-dignity accident, and go eat something. Or whatever.
This leaves the screen behind, wide open, for the human staff to deal with. Back in the US a long time ago, we bought a screen repair tool, which is used to stuff the rubber gasket into the groove to hold the screen in place. This was purchased to repair ONE screen door that had been shredded by a couple of Maine Coon cats, and then it had sat in the tool box for several years. It is now out of the tool box, being used several times each week, to re-install screening. In fact, we will likely have to purchase a roll of screening material when we get back to Florida, because this material is hard to find in France, and expensive. We will probably also buy some rubber gasket material as well. And, we will keep the handy tool available for duty in European ports...
But instead, it was a day for maintenance and paperwork. Getting estate papers done, re-doing lifeline connections, fixing the damn hatch screens, again.
For those of you who don't sail with large cats and hatch screens, it turns out that the screens are considered to be great places to hang out. They have lots of air flow, which is a good thing if you are covered with 2-inches of fur. And you are cool everywhere, because the air flows BELOW you, as well as on top.
Unfortunately, if you are a gigantic Maine Coon, you eventually find out that the screens were not designed to support a 20 lbm cat. Or even a 12 lbm cat. So, you fall through, onto the table below, landing on your feet, maybe on top of the computers, shaking off any suggestions of a loss-of-dignity accident, and go eat something. Or whatever.
This leaves the screen behind, wide open, for the human staff to deal with. Back in the US a long time ago, we bought a screen repair tool, which is used to stuff the rubber gasket into the groove to hold the screen in place. This was purchased to repair ONE screen door that had been shredded by a couple of Maine Coon cats, and then it had sat in the tool box for several years. It is now out of the tool box, being used several times each week, to re-install screening. In fact, we will likely have to purchase a roll of screening material when we get back to Florida, because this material is hard to find in France, and expensive. We will probably also buy some rubber gasket material as well. And, we will keep the handy tool available for duty in European ports...
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Food clarifications
One of us has expressed some concern that the previous posts do not accurately describe the food situation on board, so this post will try to clarify this.
First of all, the cats are well fed, with a choice of two types of dry food that are fish-free, and small cans of wet-food (turkey) that is also fish-free, for Zabelle. She only likes the food within the first 30 seconds after the can is opened, though, and can only eat a few mouthfuls, so the rest goes to the kittens. They also get fish-free treats every morning and evening, and whenever they have to be convinced to come down into the boat off the dodger/bimini.
The two humans have also been eating quite well. We stocked up the boat with staples, and filled the fridge with fruits and veggies before leaving Florida, and have been replenishing fresh food as it has become available. Nassau had a full-service supermarket across from the marina with every fresh food we could desire, and the Exuma Market in Georgetown was also well stocked. We noticed in Nassau that they had last-day steaks on sale in the morning, and a fair number of cruisers made it a point to be there to buy up LOTS of good beef for their freezers. We had to step in front of one guy who was discussing the availability of space in his freezer over the phone with his spouse, to determine whether to take ALL of the steaks, or just about 8 of them. In the islands, we found some really nice local tomatoes and peppers in Staniel Cay, and onions and potatoes are always available.
We are still eating some fruits from Stuart, over a month ago. The citrus fruits lasted quite well, and we still have the basil, sage, rosemary, and parsley plants, in spite of their being attacked by the red cat with great regularity. Today we had one of the grapefruit, which held up quite well. Unfortunately, the thyme did not survive - we think it did not like the salt air.
We have done some baking on board as well. This was a regular thing on land, but the boat oven has a hard time reaching baking temperatures, so we have been limited to focaccia with rosemary and sea salt (French(!) - not harvested off of our decks) and a cake. We found some good home-made bread (white, whole wheat, cinnimon raisin, and coconut) on Staniel Cay, which has been trementously appreciated.
So, we have NOT been subsisting out of cans, as some might believe based on the previous posts. Rather, we have enjoyed quite tasty meals, prepared with skill and care, using all of the various resources at our disposal. Even the pasta has involved goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and really nice Costco salmon(out of a can, unfortunately), and fresh herbs. The availability of fresh water has made this a bit easier, but we want to make sure no one thinks we are eating Dinty Moore stew heated in, and eaten out of, a can. In fact, we want to go on the record and make it clear that we do not have ANY Dinty Moore stew on board, anywhere.
The only item lacking so far has been fish, because we have been completely unlucky at catching anything. It has not helped that we have spent quite a bit of time in a national park that doesn't allow fishing. We have trailed as many as 3 lines at once, but the only bite occurred on the trip from Bimini, and it seems that whatever bit was BIG, with SHARP teeth, because it took an entire rig off the end of the line. We will continue to try to land a fish, or pick up a conch, as we move north, and will document any success.
First of all, the cats are well fed, with a choice of two types of dry food that are fish-free, and small cans of wet-food (turkey) that is also fish-free, for Zabelle. She only likes the food within the first 30 seconds after the can is opened, though, and can only eat a few mouthfuls, so the rest goes to the kittens. They also get fish-free treats every morning and evening, and whenever they have to be convinced to come down into the boat off the dodger/bimini.
The two humans have also been eating quite well. We stocked up the boat with staples, and filled the fridge with fruits and veggies before leaving Florida, and have been replenishing fresh food as it has become available. Nassau had a full-service supermarket across from the marina with every fresh food we could desire, and the Exuma Market in Georgetown was also well stocked. We noticed in Nassau that they had last-day steaks on sale in the morning, and a fair number of cruisers made it a point to be there to buy up LOTS of good beef for their freezers. We had to step in front of one guy who was discussing the availability of space in his freezer over the phone with his spouse, to determine whether to take ALL of the steaks, or just about 8 of them. In the islands, we found some really nice local tomatoes and peppers in Staniel Cay, and onions and potatoes are always available.
We are still eating some fruits from Stuart, over a month ago. The citrus fruits lasted quite well, and we still have the basil, sage, rosemary, and parsley plants, in spite of their being attacked by the red cat with great regularity. Today we had one of the grapefruit, which held up quite well. Unfortunately, the thyme did not survive - we think it did not like the salt air.
We have done some baking on board as well. This was a regular thing on land, but the boat oven has a hard time reaching baking temperatures, so we have been limited to focaccia with rosemary and sea salt (French(!) - not harvested off of our decks) and a cake. We found some good home-made bread (white, whole wheat, cinnimon raisin, and coconut) on Staniel Cay, which has been trementously appreciated.
So, we have NOT been subsisting out of cans, as some might believe based on the previous posts. Rather, we have enjoyed quite tasty meals, prepared with skill and care, using all of the various resources at our disposal. Even the pasta has involved goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and really nice Costco salmon(out of a can, unfortunately), and fresh herbs. The availability of fresh water has made this a bit easier, but we want to make sure no one thinks we are eating Dinty Moore stew heated in, and eaten out of, a can. In fact, we want to go on the record and make it clear that we do not have ANY Dinty Moore stew on board, anywhere.
The only item lacking so far has been fish, because we have been completely unlucky at catching anything. It has not helped that we have spent quite a bit of time in a national park that doesn't allow fishing. We have trailed as many as 3 lines at once, but the only bite occurred on the trip from Bimini, and it seems that whatever bit was BIG, with SHARP teeth, because it took an entire rig off the end of the line. We will continue to try to land a fish, or pick up a conch, as we move north, and will document any success.
Back in Warderick Wells
We are back in the Exuma Park, at the same mooring (#5) that we occupied on the way south. And it is still quite nice here, with a well-protected mooring field, reasonably good internet access, and of course beautiful scenery.
We came up from Staniel Cay yesterday in winds of 20-30, gusting to 35. It was all downwind, and a great ride, with only the jib out. We stayed at a steady 6.8 kts, sometimes getting up to nearly 8 kts, in the gusts. The last leg into the cut was a bit exciting, as we had to turn into a beam wind and seas, but we got the sail down, the engine started, and all tucked in. We will stay here for a few days, before leaving for Eluthera to see Bill and Dot.
We bought a frozen chicken in Georgetown, and it finally thawed out the other day, so we have had two very nice evening meals of roast chicken. Zabelle really appreciated our efforts to make roast chicken for her, and even Calypso is starting to enjoy it, as well. The big red slug (Dante) LOVES canned turkey cat-food, but he doesn’t seem to be interested in roast chicken. Go figure.
We also think that we have finally fixed the Honda outboard. It has been giving us fits this trip, because it would not get the dinghy up on a plane, and it seemed to be stuttering and hesitating quite a bit. This started about 2 years ago, after we had a tuneup done by the dealer in Annapolis, and it now appears that they did a rather poor job. We found that they left off one of the hose clips on the fuel line attached to the fuel filter, and now it appears that they left out one very important mounting bolt for the condenser that powers the spark plugs. rxc was convinced that this was a “lack-of-fuel” issue, caused by some sort of gumup in the fuel system, and he added all sorts of additives to the fuel to clean up the system, and finally took apart the carburetor yesterday, where he found that one of the adjustments made by the dealer was incorrect.
This did not fix the problem, unfortunately, so he took the cover off yesterday again, but this time while the engine was running, to see how the fuel flow looked. It was great thru the fuel filter, but he noticed that the condenser was loose, and further inspection revealed that one of the two bolts was completely missing, while the other one was very loose. Sparks appeared at these mounting points, so we think that they were the individual grounds for the ignition system, and were not being made, so that the engine sputtered – bad spark, not bad fuel.
This was not an easy fix, though, because the dinghy was in the water, and there was a good wind and swell thru the anchorage. In addition, the bolt that was missing was attached with a blind bolt in a pocket that was inaccessible when the condenser was properly positioned. It therefore required the application of some grease to a bolt to get it to stick while the condenser was properly positioned, in a rocking dinghy. Luckily, it all came together, and now the engine operates the way it should. We will have to buy the proper bolt in Florida when we get back. We will also buy a number of engine spare parts in case we need more service in France.
Today we will do some snorkeling on the local reefs, and some paperwork.
We came up from Staniel Cay yesterday in winds of 20-30, gusting to 35. It was all downwind, and a great ride, with only the jib out. We stayed at a steady 6.8 kts, sometimes getting up to nearly 8 kts, in the gusts. The last leg into the cut was a bit exciting, as we had to turn into a beam wind and seas, but we got the sail down, the engine started, and all tucked in. We will stay here for a few days, before leaving for Eluthera to see Bill and Dot.
We bought a frozen chicken in Georgetown, and it finally thawed out the other day, so we have had two very nice evening meals of roast chicken. Zabelle really appreciated our efforts to make roast chicken for her, and even Calypso is starting to enjoy it, as well. The big red slug (Dante) LOVES canned turkey cat-food, but he doesn’t seem to be interested in roast chicken. Go figure.
We also think that we have finally fixed the Honda outboard. It has been giving us fits this trip, because it would not get the dinghy up on a plane, and it seemed to be stuttering and hesitating quite a bit. This started about 2 years ago, after we had a tuneup done by the dealer in Annapolis, and it now appears that they did a rather poor job. We found that they left off one of the hose clips on the fuel line attached to the fuel filter, and now it appears that they left out one very important mounting bolt for the condenser that powers the spark plugs. rxc was convinced that this was a “lack-of-fuel” issue, caused by some sort of gumup in the fuel system, and he added all sorts of additives to the fuel to clean up the system, and finally took apart the carburetor yesterday, where he found that one of the adjustments made by the dealer was incorrect.
This did not fix the problem, unfortunately, so he took the cover off yesterday again, but this time while the engine was running, to see how the fuel flow looked. It was great thru the fuel filter, but he noticed that the condenser was loose, and further inspection revealed that one of the two bolts was completely missing, while the other one was very loose. Sparks appeared at these mounting points, so we think that they were the individual grounds for the ignition system, and were not being made, so that the engine sputtered – bad spark, not bad fuel.
This was not an easy fix, though, because the dinghy was in the water, and there was a good wind and swell thru the anchorage. In addition, the bolt that was missing was attached with a blind bolt in a pocket that was inaccessible when the condenser was properly positioned. It therefore required the application of some grease to a bolt to get it to stick while the condenser was properly positioned, in a rocking dinghy. Luckily, it all came together, and now the engine operates the way it should. We will have to buy the proper bolt in Florida when we get back. We will also buy a number of engine spare parts in case we need more service in France.
Today we will do some snorkeling on the local reefs, and some paperwork.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Staniel Cay, Georgetown, and south Exumas
I am behind on blogging, due to WiFi being a bit sporadic, so I will try to catch up in one long post.
Staniel Cay
We arrived in Staniel Cay on March 13, supposedly for one nite, after coming down from Warderick Wells on the tail end of the front that came, planning to stay only one night. We were on the beach at Warderick Wells at happy hour for the assembled boats, watching the clouds build, and everyone was taking bets on when it would hit us. We waited till the first drop of rain started, and noticed that the boats had shifted their direction from W to N, just a few minutes before. The front was so well defined that we could actually see it travel across the anchorage. We arrived there, looking for an anchorage, but it was blowing like stink, and all the moorings and anchorages were taken, so we decided to go into the Staniel Cay Yacht Club.
Staniel Cay is a small hamlet whose main claim to fame is the Thunderball Cave, which was used in the James Bond movie of that name. You can snorkel into it and it is wonderful. We have now done it twice, and discovered that the fish really like canned peas. We had dinner in the marina restaurant twice, after finding the food to be really good the first night. We sometimes get a bit tired of what we have on-board, although jlm has been incredibly creative about putting meals together that don’t require refrigeration. We bought a number of items such as bacon and ham in Miami and Stuart that we thought would last till April, and they have, in general. But we have been hoarding them, and trying to make do with stuff in cans, or dried, that only require adding some water, and we have been generally successful. Risotto is one of our favorite meals at home, and it travels quite well on the boat. We have also made some interesting hors d’ouvres by combining leftovers with the last bits out of some jars (artichokes, bruschetta, etc), so we haven’t eaten badly at all. But a restaurant meal now and again is a nice treat.
We stayed in Staniel Cay for two nights, to wait for availability of fresh local bread, and have a second meal. On Tuesday we headed further south, to the “cut” where we left the Bahamas Banks, down to Lee Stocking Island, where we anchored for a night. This leg was quite nice, with gentle winds and pretty flat seas, and we decided to push it past our planned stopping point of Little Farmers Cay. Passage through the Galliot Cut was uneventful, although there was a strong ebb current, and the sea was quite lumpy on the outside of the cut. A boat that was coming in had a rough time, but we just kept enough speed to maintain steerage, and let the tide take us out.
These legs are generally not very long - ~25 miles each, at most, and we are happy with this pace. It would have been nicer to have been able to made the legs even shorter, and checked out some other spots, but we have a plan, and now a deadline (!), so we are making the best of the weather windows. We are NOT taking any chances, though, to make the deadlines.
Kitties were very happy to be here in Staniel Cay, because there were birds on the docks, and these were highly amusing. They haven’t been on a dock in a long while, so we have to be careful that they don’t desert. In addition, there are about 6-10 nurse sharks swimming around the docks, and one very large stingray resident in the marina, which fascinated them to no end. They ddidn’t understand that these fish are quite out of their league, and we had to be vigilant that they didn’t jump overboard in their enthusiasm.
Lee Stocking Island
This anchorage was located in front of a NOAA-funded research station, and there were about 10 boats there on moorings. We anchored with two other boats, and passed quite uneventful night, after a spectacular sunset. Then off the next morning for a short trip down to Georgetown, on a close reach, in glorious conditions.
Georgetown
Georgetown (named for some ancient British monarch who seems to have a town named for him EVERYWHERE) is the cruising mecca for the southern Exumas. As we were headed there, we listened to the weather reports from individual cruisers, which include the number of boats in their anchorages, and the boat at Georgetown announced that a LOT of boats had left, but they still had probably 280-300(!) boats in the anchorage. And when we arrived there, it was clear that this was not an overstatement. We arrived at high tide (for a change), and had no problem getting into the cut or down the length of Elizabeth Harbour, past “Hamburger Beach” and “Volleyball Beach” on the eastern side of the harbour. It looked like the fourth of July in Annapolis, with so many boats, and the boats anchored so close together. We did not want to stay here, so we continued south, till we were just about even with Georgetown itself, on the eastern side of the harbour, about 1 mile away. We anchored in 15 feet of water, in sand, fairly far from other boats. We think that our spot had been recently vacated by other cruisers, and this has been a constant observation of this trip. We started late from Baltimore, and are about 4 weeks behind the “normal” cruising schedule, and are therefore finding places to anchor, to moor, and in marinas, that would not be available if we were on the normal schedule. It has not been a bad thing, at all, except for the fact that we have less time to poke around in small cays. Maybe some time in the future…
We went ashore to check out the town, and found it to be quite active and cosmopolitan. You enter a pond via a very narrow road tunnel, and tie up your dinghy at the dinghy dock provided by Exuma Markets, which is the main grocery store in town. They even provide a free hose tap on the dinghy dock for cruisers to fill up water bottles with RO water. This is one of the very few places we have seen free water here in the Bahamas, but it is limited to what you can carry (literally, in your dinghy). We are really greatful that we have the watermaker, or we would also be hauling water, too. Instead, the watermaker is working its little heart out, on the boat, using wind and solar power, while I type this sitting in the bar at the SCYC.
The Exuma Markets is quite well stocked, to the point that we saw many types of bruschetta toppings, LOTS of ice cream, LOTS of fresh fruits and veggies at semi=reasonable prices, and even some jars of French black truffles(!). Given the number of very large vessels here, it seems that some people MUST have truffles in their eggs in the morning, or on their pasta in the evening.
We did some snorkeling on the reef just down the harbour from the boat, and saw some very nice coral and fish, and found an internet connection that we could use from a mile away, but which was a bit spotty. We think that there are so many boats here that they swamp the ISP with their need for service. Lots of people seem to have found out about external antennas that really extend the range of WiFi, and they are using this service for Skype and Vonage, which takes a fair amount of bandwidth. In response, the ISPs seem to limit the amount of time that they will hold a connection, and some even seem to be able to detect Vonage boxes, and really cut down on service to access points(like us) that have them connected. So, in these situations, we disconnect from Vonange, which makes sense, since we don't have a working regular phone any more.
We also went up to Volleyball Beach to check it out, and found a fairly large number of well-aged, retired cruisers playing volleyball and hanging out in the Chat ‘n Chill bar and on the beach. You can really understand why people would want to spend a whole season down here, after seeing what life is like in these enclaves.
We spent 3 days in Georgetown, and then headed back north. This leg was the most perfect of the entire trip from Baltimore. A beam reach in about 12 kts of wind, flat seas, and glorious sun. Calypso, who had taken to drooling at the sound of jingled keys, or the beep of an engine starting on a neighboring boat, spent the entire trip lounging in tranquility, and did not drool a drop. We therefore considered this leg an unqualified success. We pushed this leg a bit, doing about 40 miles, to get to Farmers Cay, just up the coast from Galliot Cut. We arrived with no problems and set the anchor in a sandy spot, and then dove to make sure that it was buried, and discovered that we were right next to a really nice coral reef. This meant that we had to do a late afternoon snorkeling trip, which was highly satisfying. Overall, quite a good day.
Farmers Cay
The next day, rxc was awakened by the deep thrum of a large low-speed diesel engine, and we were both jolted out of bed by the single blast of a loud horn from a commercial landing craft, of the type that is typical here in the islands. It had managed to sneak itself through our anchorage, between 3 boats that were not very far apart, to land 2 large tanker trucks, and then wait for them while they dropped off their loads. The boat next to us was evidently terrified by this experience, because they up-anchored and left immediately, while the other boat just moved. The captain of the landing craft asked us to move when he left, so we shortened scope and re-positioned the boat around the anchor so that he had plenty of room to back out, turn around, and leave. We also did some more snorkeling, which was really nice in the good morning light. We also went into the settlement at Farmers Cay, looking for fish or lobster, but it was Sunday, and everything was closed up, so back to the boat, up anchor, and off we went back to Staniel.
Staniel Cay (again)
We are now back in Staniel, on a mooring in front of the Thunderball Club, with the wind blowing like stink out of the east. The entrance to the harbour from Exuma Sound is breaking with waves, and we have some tremendously lumpy seas here inside when the tide changes. But we are all now quite used to it, and we even made a dinghy trip yesterday to the Yacht Club for lunch, to pick up some bread, and to check up on email. The WiFi at the Yacht Club is free, but it is so weak that you can only pick it up in the club itself, or on the piers. I think we might pick it up if we anchored across from the piers, but out here on the moorings, we can see the signal, but cannot make any useful connection. So today we went into town to pick up some coconut bread and post this.
Staniel has become quite familiar to us now, and we can well imagine people staying here for a long time. The YC is quite civilized, the weather is wonderful, and you can get every basic necessity here. So why go anywhere else? We have been here 2 nights, and will stay another, heading off for Warderick Wells tomorrow, and then to Exuma after that.
Kitties are still doing quite well. The rolling in this mooring field does not seem to faze anyone, and we wonder if Calypso has finally found her sea-legs…
Staniel Cay
We arrived in Staniel Cay on March 13, supposedly for one nite, after coming down from Warderick Wells on the tail end of the front that came, planning to stay only one night. We were on the beach at Warderick Wells at happy hour for the assembled boats, watching the clouds build, and everyone was taking bets on when it would hit us. We waited till the first drop of rain started, and noticed that the boats had shifted their direction from W to N, just a few minutes before. The front was so well defined that we could actually see it travel across the anchorage. We arrived there, looking for an anchorage, but it was blowing like stink, and all the moorings and anchorages were taken, so we decided to go into the Staniel Cay Yacht Club.
Staniel Cay is a small hamlet whose main claim to fame is the Thunderball Cave, which was used in the James Bond movie of that name. You can snorkel into it and it is wonderful. We have now done it twice, and discovered that the fish really like canned peas. We had dinner in the marina restaurant twice, after finding the food to be really good the first night. We sometimes get a bit tired of what we have on-board, although jlm has been incredibly creative about putting meals together that don’t require refrigeration. We bought a number of items such as bacon and ham in Miami and Stuart that we thought would last till April, and they have, in general. But we have been hoarding them, and trying to make do with stuff in cans, or dried, that only require adding some water, and we have been generally successful. Risotto is one of our favorite meals at home, and it travels quite well on the boat. We have also made some interesting hors d’ouvres by combining leftovers with the last bits out of some jars (artichokes, bruschetta, etc), so we haven’t eaten badly at all. But a restaurant meal now and again is a nice treat.
We stayed in Staniel Cay for two nights, to wait for availability of fresh local bread, and have a second meal. On Tuesday we headed further south, to the “cut” where we left the Bahamas Banks, down to Lee Stocking Island, where we anchored for a night. This leg was quite nice, with gentle winds and pretty flat seas, and we decided to push it past our planned stopping point of Little Farmers Cay. Passage through the Galliot Cut was uneventful, although there was a strong ebb current, and the sea was quite lumpy on the outside of the cut. A boat that was coming in had a rough time, but we just kept enough speed to maintain steerage, and let the tide take us out.
These legs are generally not very long - ~25 miles each, at most, and we are happy with this pace. It would have been nicer to have been able to made the legs even shorter, and checked out some other spots, but we have a plan, and now a deadline (!), so we are making the best of the weather windows. We are NOT taking any chances, though, to make the deadlines.
Kitties were very happy to be here in Staniel Cay, because there were birds on the docks, and these were highly amusing. They haven’t been on a dock in a long while, so we have to be careful that they don’t desert. In addition, there are about 6-10 nurse sharks swimming around the docks, and one very large stingray resident in the marina, which fascinated them to no end. They ddidn’t understand that these fish are quite out of their league, and we had to be vigilant that they didn’t jump overboard in their enthusiasm.
Lee Stocking Island
This anchorage was located in front of a NOAA-funded research station, and there were about 10 boats there on moorings. We anchored with two other boats, and passed quite uneventful night, after a spectacular sunset. Then off the next morning for a short trip down to Georgetown, on a close reach, in glorious conditions.
Georgetown
Georgetown (named for some ancient British monarch who seems to have a town named for him EVERYWHERE) is the cruising mecca for the southern Exumas. As we were headed there, we listened to the weather reports from individual cruisers, which include the number of boats in their anchorages, and the boat at Georgetown announced that a LOT of boats had left, but they still had probably 280-300(!) boats in the anchorage. And when we arrived there, it was clear that this was not an overstatement. We arrived at high tide (for a change), and had no problem getting into the cut or down the length of Elizabeth Harbour, past “Hamburger Beach” and “Volleyball Beach” on the eastern side of the harbour. It looked like the fourth of July in Annapolis, with so many boats, and the boats anchored so close together. We did not want to stay here, so we continued south, till we were just about even with Georgetown itself, on the eastern side of the harbour, about 1 mile away. We anchored in 15 feet of water, in sand, fairly far from other boats. We think that our spot had been recently vacated by other cruisers, and this has been a constant observation of this trip. We started late from Baltimore, and are about 4 weeks behind the “normal” cruising schedule, and are therefore finding places to anchor, to moor, and in marinas, that would not be available if we were on the normal schedule. It has not been a bad thing, at all, except for the fact that we have less time to poke around in small cays. Maybe some time in the future…
We went ashore to check out the town, and found it to be quite active and cosmopolitan. You enter a pond via a very narrow road tunnel, and tie up your dinghy at the dinghy dock provided by Exuma Markets, which is the main grocery store in town. They even provide a free hose tap on the dinghy dock for cruisers to fill up water bottles with RO water. This is one of the very few places we have seen free water here in the Bahamas, but it is limited to what you can carry (literally, in your dinghy). We are really greatful that we have the watermaker, or we would also be hauling water, too. Instead, the watermaker is working its little heart out, on the boat, using wind and solar power, while I type this sitting in the bar at the SCYC.
The Exuma Markets is quite well stocked, to the point that we saw many types of bruschetta toppings, LOTS of ice cream, LOTS of fresh fruits and veggies at semi=reasonable prices, and even some jars of French black truffles(!). Given the number of very large vessels here, it seems that some people MUST have truffles in their eggs in the morning, or on their pasta in the evening.
We did some snorkeling on the reef just down the harbour from the boat, and saw some very nice coral and fish, and found an internet connection that we could use from a mile away, but which was a bit spotty. We think that there are so many boats here that they swamp the ISP with their need for service. Lots of people seem to have found out about external antennas that really extend the range of WiFi, and they are using this service for Skype and Vonage, which takes a fair amount of bandwidth. In response, the ISPs seem to limit the amount of time that they will hold a connection, and some even seem to be able to detect Vonage boxes, and really cut down on service to access points(like us) that have them connected. So, in these situations, we disconnect from Vonange, which makes sense, since we don't have a working regular phone any more.
We also went up to Volleyball Beach to check it out, and found a fairly large number of well-aged, retired cruisers playing volleyball and hanging out in the Chat ‘n Chill bar and on the beach. You can really understand why people would want to spend a whole season down here, after seeing what life is like in these enclaves.
We spent 3 days in Georgetown, and then headed back north. This leg was the most perfect of the entire trip from Baltimore. A beam reach in about 12 kts of wind, flat seas, and glorious sun. Calypso, who had taken to drooling at the sound of jingled keys, or the beep of an engine starting on a neighboring boat, spent the entire trip lounging in tranquility, and did not drool a drop. We therefore considered this leg an unqualified success. We pushed this leg a bit, doing about 40 miles, to get to Farmers Cay, just up the coast from Galliot Cut. We arrived with no problems and set the anchor in a sandy spot, and then dove to make sure that it was buried, and discovered that we were right next to a really nice coral reef. This meant that we had to do a late afternoon snorkeling trip, which was highly satisfying. Overall, quite a good day.
Farmers Cay
The next day, rxc was awakened by the deep thrum of a large low-speed diesel engine, and we were both jolted out of bed by the single blast of a loud horn from a commercial landing craft, of the type that is typical here in the islands. It had managed to sneak itself through our anchorage, between 3 boats that were not very far apart, to land 2 large tanker trucks, and then wait for them while they dropped off their loads. The boat next to us was evidently terrified by this experience, because they up-anchored and left immediately, while the other boat just moved. The captain of the landing craft asked us to move when he left, so we shortened scope and re-positioned the boat around the anchor so that he had plenty of room to back out, turn around, and leave. We also did some more snorkeling, which was really nice in the good morning light. We also went into the settlement at Farmers Cay, looking for fish or lobster, but it was Sunday, and everything was closed up, so back to the boat, up anchor, and off we went back to Staniel.
Staniel Cay (again)
We are now back in Staniel, on a mooring in front of the Thunderball Club, with the wind blowing like stink out of the east. The entrance to the harbour from Exuma Sound is breaking with waves, and we have some tremendously lumpy seas here inside when the tide changes. But we are all now quite used to it, and we even made a dinghy trip yesterday to the Yacht Club for lunch, to pick up some bread, and to check up on email. The WiFi at the Yacht Club is free, but it is so weak that you can only pick it up in the club itself, or on the piers. I think we might pick it up if we anchored across from the piers, but out here on the moorings, we can see the signal, but cannot make any useful connection. So today we went into town to pick up some coconut bread and post this.
Staniel has become quite familiar to us now, and we can well imagine people staying here for a long time. The YC is quite civilized, the weather is wonderful, and you can get every basic necessity here. So why go anywhere else? We have been here 2 nights, and will stay another, heading off for Warderick Wells tomorrow, and then to Exuma after that.
Kitties are still doing quite well. The rolling in this mooring field does not seem to faze anyone, and we wonder if Calypso has finally found her sea-legs…
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Warderick Wells
We are on a mooring at Warderick Wells, within the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. The park was established in the Bahamas in 1958 and it is a very prominent part of the Exumas cruising experience. We are taking a vacation from cruising here, because the moorings are well laid out in a well-protected cove, we have plenty of food and water, and we have WiFi service, after being cutoff for 4 days.
We stayed in Nassau an extra day, to finish up some items that required internet/phone connectivity, and then left for Allens Cay, about 35 miles SE. The trip started well, and the winds were generally favorable (NE 15-20), but the seas were a bit lumpy, and we forgot to close the small hatch just aft of the mast, so the interior cushions got drenched, and we have lost the Vonage phone to seawater contamination. The Vonage router and the external antenna made it, but we also have some questions about the charger for the Blackberry, so we will not be talking to people for a while. Email still works, though, and we will try to buy another cheap phone when we get to Georgetown.
Allens Cay was interesting, but the anchorage was quite rolly. We went ashore to see the iguanas, and putted around the anchorage, waiting for the upholstery to dry. Two nites there, and then we were off for Norman’s Cay, just south. This was a bit better, until the middle of the night, when the winds blew 25-35 kts from the NE. The windmill made LOTS of electricity, and kept the batteries charged, but both the cats and we were not happy by the motion, so we came down here on Tuesday.
You have to call the park in the morning, and get on the list for moorings, and sometimes they are full in the north anchorage, so you have to take a mooring at Emerald Cay, or in the south of the island, but we lucked out with a mooring up here in the north. We have taken two hikes into the interior of the island, and it is spectacular. We plan to stay till Sat or Sunday, when the wind will shift back to the north, and we hope to ride that further south. We are running the genset to make electricity and water, and cool down the boat during the day. We are glad to have the watermaker, because we would have been really constrained without it.
The kitties like the moorings better than up north, and they get to go out at night, because it would be a good swim for them to try to abandon ship.
More photos go up soon.
We stayed in Nassau an extra day, to finish up some items that required internet/phone connectivity, and then left for Allens Cay, about 35 miles SE. The trip started well, and the winds were generally favorable (NE 15-20), but the seas were a bit lumpy, and we forgot to close the small hatch just aft of the mast, so the interior cushions got drenched, and we have lost the Vonage phone to seawater contamination. The Vonage router and the external antenna made it, but we also have some questions about the charger for the Blackberry, so we will not be talking to people for a while. Email still works, though, and we will try to buy another cheap phone when we get to Georgetown.
Allens Cay was interesting, but the anchorage was quite rolly. We went ashore to see the iguanas, and putted around the anchorage, waiting for the upholstery to dry. Two nites there, and then we were off for Norman’s Cay, just south. This was a bit better, until the middle of the night, when the winds blew 25-35 kts from the NE. The windmill made LOTS of electricity, and kept the batteries charged, but both the cats and we were not happy by the motion, so we came down here on Tuesday.
You have to call the park in the morning, and get on the list for moorings, and sometimes they are full in the north anchorage, so you have to take a mooring at Emerald Cay, or in the south of the island, but we lucked out with a mooring up here in the north. We have taken two hikes into the interior of the island, and it is spectacular. We plan to stay till Sat or Sunday, when the wind will shift back to the north, and we hope to ride that further south. We are running the genset to make electricity and water, and cool down the boat during the day. We are glad to have the watermaker, because we would have been really constrained without it.
The kitties like the moorings better than up north, and they get to go out at night, because it would be a good swim for them to try to abandon ship.
More photos go up soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
