Crossing the Gulf Stream

Saturday, March 17th, St Pat's Day, we hailed John and Lois on Astar, and were on our way at 7am. A small stream of boats, Plumpuppet, Astar, Whispah, Chris Deke, Free Spirit, headed around the Whale to the other side of the Sea of Abacos and motorsailed on to Great Sale. Other boats joined the parade, some stopped at Great Sale overnight or for a few hours before continuing, some stopped on the lee side of Mangrove Cay, and some, like us, opted to continue without stopping. We had all intentions of stopping for 4-5 hours at Great Sale but were on a roll: the weather was perfect, we were making good time, why stop? We got to the edge of Little Bahama Bank and Memory Rock about 3am and headed out into the Gulf Stream. We could hear chattering on the VHF off and on; heard the group at Mangrove having a hard time finding the little island in the dark then heard Astar, who stopped at Great Sale, reconnect with them early in the morning. We and Astar were the only ones of the group headed to Lake Worth Inlet.

We motorsailed most of the way, pulling out a reefed jib with the wind behind us in the Gulf Stream. The Florida coast skyscrapers could be seen way off in the distance and it seemed to take forever to traverse the last few miles with the current against us. Just as we were about to enter the inlet, we were hit by a rain squall and 22K winds. The waves were already large with the fetch and the east wind. It being Sunday, and it's best to stay put in Florida if possible on weekends, a large trawler barreled past us leaving a huge wake just as we got in the inlet, and it was followed by 2 smaller powerboats also trying to avoid the rain. Boats were going all which ways; seadoos were jumping the wake; 2 small seadoos were slowly going out the inlet seemingly oblivious of the bedlam around them. We thankfully found a spot to drop the hook in the south anchorage, settled in and slept. We'd been going for 31.5 hours straight!

Barefoot Man

Wednesday, March 14th, we sailed over to Fishers Bay, Great Guana Cay and got a great spot fairly close to the beach and Grabbers. John on Piscator was on a mooring next to us. We joined the crowd for Wednesday Night Potluck at Grabbers. Thursday we and Chris and Mike from Missing Link enjoyed a great lunch at Nippers--cracked conch for me, grilled wahoo for Ken. The anchored boats in the bay ballooned from about 20 to 60!

Barefoot Man was a blast! The crowd was of two groups: teenage grandchildren in bikinis and oldsters wishing they were teenagers in bikinis. Later we joined the Marsh Harbour Marina crew at Orchid Bay Marina for a fishfry potluck. We readied the boat for our departure around the Whale and on to Great Sale for crossing the Gulf Stream.

Marsh Harbour

I tried to do this from memory. Ha! To begin again: We spent a week and a half in Marsh Harbour, sometimes on the boat all day because of strong winds and not wanting to leave the boat and get wet going in to the dinghy dock. Monday, March 5th, was a beautiful, calm day after the tempest of the day before. Sailors converged on the dinghy docks and the little town was busy with shoppers. Tuesday, March 6th, Ken's birthday,and Wednesday were both windy days spent on the boat. Finally, Thursday we dinked into the Jib Room for lunch, met Chris and Mike (Missing Link), and reconnected for Mexican Train. Chris, Mike, Jill, Carolyn, and I would meet most afternoons for our daily game.

Thursday is potluck happy hour at the Jib Room and we met and talked to a lot of other cruisers. Barefoot Man would be coming to Nippers on Great Guana Cay March 16-18. We would stay for that and leave for the States as soon after as we could. Ken checked with another eye doctor at the Auskell Medical Centre on Friday. Saturday coming back from shopping the dinghy motor quit. Monday Ken took it in to B&D Marine where the mechanic cleaned the carbeurator for $70, a steal, according to one sailor who took his motor into the Yamaha mechanic who insisted on ordering another carbeurator--$600. I hitched rides to Mexican Train with Jill and we'd go in bucking 30K winds and rain storms!

Abacos

Friday, March 2nd, we checked out of Nassau Yacht Haven; the dockmaster threw us our lines, then we called Nassau Harbour Control for permission to leave the harbour. Unfortunately a cruise ship, Disney’s Dream, was coming in and we had to wait until it docked to leave. We finally received permission to leave, cruised past the huge hotels on Paradise Island, and the anchorage where we waved at Silent Wings, and were out! We hoisted all our sail, and had a glorious sail to Royal Island Harbour in Eleuthera, with a steady 12K on the beam the whole way.

Saturday March 3rd, we left right at dawn, motored out of the harbour into a strong SE wind which had kicked up large waves on the shallow Eleuthera banks. A large sailboat had anchored right outside the harbour and must have spent a miserable hobby-horse night. Been here. Done that. No fun. Another sailboat was anchored closer to Egg Island. Once outside Little Egg Island Cut, it calmed down and we thought we’d have an easy 50 miles to Little Harbour Inlet in the Abacos. It was not to be. Once out into the Northeast Providence Channel the waves were huge, way over our boat, although the interval between them was fairly long so we’d bob up and down them, but never were able to adjust our sails since they were behind us. I was worried about going through the Little Harbour Inlet with the SE swell and possibly missing the incoming tide, but it wasn’t bad just missing high tide by 30 minutes. We anchored at Spencer’s Point protected from the south wind with the catamaran that came over with us and a small sailboat with 4 young men that looked like they were enjoying themselves.

Sunday March 4th we were going to wait until Cruisers’ Net at 8:15am to leave. We could tell the wind was picking up; the small sailboat had left. All ready, we heard on Cruisers’ Net of possible gale force winds to arrive at Marsh Harbour around noon. We upped anchor and were on our way, pulling out the jib and were making 6-7 K with the wind gusting up to 30K. We thought we’d grab a mooring at Hope Town then heard there were 39 boats in there and, it being Sunday, I couldn’t rouse any marina to see if anything was available. We even entertained going on to the protected harbour at Treasure Cay, where, later we heard, there were 20 boats anchored.

On to Marsh Harbour. Almost to the harbour, pounded by gusts up to 36K, with waves breaking over the dodger into our faces, we caught up with the small sailboat, Sabrina III, and the 4 young men started lobbing water balloons with a sling at us! The resiliency of youth!

We slowly made our way into the roiling harbour, found a space, dropped the hook among about 50 boats, and waited the front. On the VHF people were announcing the approach of the storm: West End, Freeport. Then we saw a line of dark grey to the west, tied down the sailcover and awaited the storm, which hit with a vengeance upping the depth of the water considerably. All the boats held and we clocked around to the NW. It is to stay windy for the next few days.

Nassau Again

Silent Wings and we anchored on the lee side of Highbourne Cay. Boats kept coming in during the evening until there were about 20 boats anchored. I jumped up in the middle of the night after hearing a deep loud toot. A large yacht with all its lights tooted at the small blue sailboat behind us with no anchor light.

Wednesday February 29th, Leap Year Day, we motorsailed to Nassau, and it wasn’t too pleasant with large waves behind us, and, when we turned up, the waves were on our beam. We’d made a dogleg thru the whitebank to avoid the yellowbank and the numerous coral heads. I hailed Nassau Harbour Club Marina but they were full so we went into Nassau Yacht Haven, a much bigger marina at $2/ft. Coming into the harbour, I hailed Nassau Harbour Control to ask permission to enter. They asked the name of our boat, our registration number, number people on board, last port of call, and the marina we were staying.

After securing the boat we went up to the Bahamas Vision Center in the Harbour Bay Plaza to change Ken’s appt for the next day. Then a bite to eat at Bahamas Subs and Salads and some shopping at City Market. Nassau Yacht Haven had laundry for $4, wash and dry. We thankfully did 2 loads: clean sheets!, clean towels! While waiting for the washing, we enjoyed happy hour at The Poop Deck and met a 93yo Bahamian who lives on Paradise Island.

We were waiting for the dryer sitting on our boat when, BANG, something hit our boat! We jumped out and some drunk in a dinghy apparently mistakenly put the motor in reverse, hit the dock piling and was catapulted into our boat. I ran out to see if he was okay. He kept saying, I’m okay, I’m okay. He could barely stand up and didn’t even know where he was going. Ken asked for a line and tied him to a ladder. Meanwhile a large motorcat came in and the helmsman and 2 crew were drunk and that’s where this guy was headed. To think they were out on the water!

Heard on the Cruisers’ Net, VHF72 at 7:15am that a strong cold front was expected on Sunday night or Monday morning. We would need to head to the Abacos ASAP. Thursday the doc gave Ken the go ahead. We did some internet, stopped for conch salad at Potter’s Cay, ate Chinese at Double Dragon, and were ready.

The Exumas and Meeting Blue Planet

Saturday February 25th we motorsailed the 54 miles across Exuma Sound to Big Rock Cut at Staniel Cay in the Exumas. Right outside the cut I hear on the VHF, Plumpuppet, Plumpuppet, this is Blue Planet. Katja and Geoff were anchored at Big Major Spot waiting for us. What a surprise! 2 sailboats meeting at Big Major Spot! We found their boat and dropped anchor beside them then spent the evening going over our experiences getting to the Bahamas. The next day was a day of recuperation. We had lunch on Blue Planet then met later w/Ellie and Tom from s/v Silent Wings on the small beach up from Pig Beach.

Monday we three boats sailed to Emerald Rock at Warderick Wells, Exuma Park. We checked in then hiked up to Boo Boo Hill where we left signs. We even saw our old sign from 2009! Then on to Causeway Trail to see the rays. Later happy hour was on Plumpuppet, with goodbyes for now to Blue Planet. Silent Wings and we were headed to Nassau.

Nassau

Ken’s eye getting no better after seeing a nurse at Old Bight and being treated for conjunctivitis, we opted to go to Smith Bay to see the resident doctor of the Island. We met Mr Long, a teacher at Old Bight, who drove us to and from the clinic in Old Bight, going out of his way to leave school to take us back to our boat. Giving the medicine time to work, we hoped, we sailed up to Bennetts Harbour, anchored outside of the little settlement, went to shore and found Halvorson Resort and had lunch. A young couple w/2 young girls and their cook came from Colorado in November and took over the resort. They’re very enthusiastic with ambitious plans of making it a family resort, emphasizing children’s activities. We were impressed and loved the way they’ve embraced and been embraced by the local population.

We debated whether to leave the boat at Bennetts Harbour and hitchhike to Smith Bay. Luckily we motored down to Smith Bay, anchored outside, and that’s where the boat stayed for 3 nights while we made an emergency trip to Nassau to get treatment for Ken’s irisitis. After seeing the doctor, who did not have the equipment or prescriptions to treat Ken’s eye, we flew that afternoon, February 23rd, to Nassau and went to the emergency room at Princess Margaret. While we were talking to the doctor at Smith Bay, people in the waiting room were discussing our case. When we got ready to leave, one nurse had already made reservations with Sky Bahamas, a man offered to look after our dinghy, Nurse Saunders took us to our boat and would wait for us to take us to the airport. At the airport, the attendant telephoned Nassau to have a local Cat Island resident waiting for us to taxi us where we needed to go. He also suggested where we could stay.

And Maxwell was waiting for us at the airport, drove us into Princess Margaret, gave us his phone number to take us back the following morning. As any ER in any city, Princess Margaret was a zoo. We were herded in small groups from one waiting room to another and finally saw a doctor who referred us to the Bahamas Vision Center the next morning. He also suggested a motel, Orchard Gardens Motel, at a reasonable rate close to it.

Ken saw Dr Rodgers the next morning and was treated but he needed to see him the next day. I called Nurse Saunders and she assured me our boat was being well looked after. We called Maxwell to pick us up Friday morning for the afternoon flight back to Cat. He had been worried about us since we hadn’t called him Thursday morning.

Arriving back at Smith Bay, Nurse Saunders was waiting at the airport for us and dropped us off at our dinghy. We spent the night on a wildly roly-poly boat with the swells coming in from Exuma Sound, which was probably how it was the whole time we were gone. Waving goodbye to the lovely island, we headed towards the Exumas and to Nassau.

Cat Island

We left Conception Saturday, Feb 18th. With the wind directly behind us, we furled the m’sail but still made good time w/the NW current. Before we left, Ken was able to fix that Dutchmen line, having just enough extra to do the job, w/me holding a bucket under the attachments while he removed the screws and nuts on the bouncing boat.

We saw 2 boats sailing out of The Bight at Cat Island, but none anchored near New Bight. I reminded Ken Diane (s/v Pearl) said it was very quiet, but we didn’t expect to be the only boat. Later a catamaran came in and left early the next day. We could see The Hermitage in the distance.

We’re here to sit out the front, rather than sit it out at Conception, and to go to a clinic to check an eye infection Ken has. And to visit The Hermitage, a stone house built in the 1940s by Father Jerome that sits on Mt. Alvernia, the highest hill in the Bahamas. We walked to The Hermitage Sunday and were picked up by a group of Bahamians. All of us hiked to the top and we got a guided tour from one of the group. Father Jerome must have been a tiny man. The place is austere w/one tiny room where he studied and prayed, another tiny room where he did his cooking, another teensy room w/a table, an outside alcove w/a built in soapdish for a shower, then a separate building w/his tiny (about 2’ by 5’) bed. But the view! makes up for it. Very interesting

Conception

Wednesday, February 15th, we sailed up to Joe’s Sound and anchored off Hog Cay, a beautiful little anchorage w/ about 5 boats visible anchored in the protected anchorage of the little creek and one boat anchored near us. We had a perfect view of the sunset across the water and were rewarded w/a green flash. The night was awesome, seeming more isolated than any place we’ve been, even Great Sale Cay, with absolutely no ambient light other than a couple of the anchor lights from the boats. However, it was rather bouncy w/the strong easterly breeze coming off the low island.

Thursday morning we pulled out the sails and had a great sail up to Cape Santa Maria where we could see the Columbus Monument. Then we turned into the wind and debated turning around. Ken held the boat between 20-25 degrees off our course to prevent too much beating into it, but it still took us 6 hours to go 20 miles. We pulled into the anchorage and dropped the hook amid 5 boats. One of the Dutchmen lines broke. These help flake the m’sail and w/o it, the sail flopped all over in the wind. Not too nice in a bouncy boat.

Conception Island is a National Park w/no fishing, no facilities, and lots of snorkeling. There’s a mangrove swamp in the middle accessible by dinghy at high tide. The northwest corner provides a nice anchorage but no protection in a westerly wind. Early Friday we took a dinghy ride to the mangrove entrance but the tide was ebbing. Reconsidering, we’d do some snorkeling and come back later, preferably w/another boat. After snorkeling amid the protected reefs, Ken snorkeling north of the island and w/me near a reef closer to the beach, we decided not to take the long ride to the swamp. Another trip. That night 15 boats were in the anchorage, including a 120-150’ yacht anchored aways out. It looked like a little city at night w/all the anchor lights.

This picture is off Hog Cay, not Conception where there are no buildings, no facilities, nothing but a low lying island.

Thompson Bay, Long Island

Thursday, Feb. 9th, we moved the boat to Kidd’s Cove, right outside George Town. After taking the dinghy across Elizabeth Harbour, 1 mile, the day before, we figured it’d be easier to move the boat to get the fuel, water, and some groceries. We saw Tom and Cathy (s/v Interlude) at Exuma Market Wednesday. It was nice to see people we knew! And we went out to dinner at St. Francis Resort on Stocking Island and got caught up on email, etc. Thursday we saw Chris and Tom (s/v Polar Pacer) while doing errands. This cruising life involves a very small number of boats.

After listening to Cruisers’ Net at 8AM, VHF 72, we headed out for Long Island. It was another beautiful sunny day in the Bahamas, but not a good sailing day w/the 10K east wind. We noted landmarks as we cruised down Great Exuma Island: Tropic of Cancer, Santinas, Williams Town. Remember?, Katja and Geoff?

We came into Thompson Bay amid 20 other boats, which quickly swelled to 40 boats the next day with the front. We bounced around all day Saturday. It was so bouncy I spent most of the day in the cockpit because I was nauseous. A group of people were at the beach, which we thought was odd, wondering how they maneuvered their dinghies in the turmoil of waves. Later we found out they were trapped on the beach. A group had gone together sightseeing and couldn’t get back to their boats because their dinghies kept filling up w/water every time they’d try to get in them.

Long Island Breeze Resort right at Salt Pond caters to the cruisers. Jackie and Mike, the proprietors, have a floating dinghy dock for the cruisers and manage the Cruisers’ Net every morning on VHF 18. A call came out from Jackie for help moving the dinghy dock before the strong west wind would pummel it and some cruisers responded. We didn’t get in to check out the resort until Tuesday when we moved the boat closer to Salt Pond to get fuel, water, and some groceries.

Sunday was another day on the boat. The wind would not let up! The boat next to us put their dinghy in, moving it from the foredeck, like we do, and carefully lowering the motor using their halyard. They did well w/the help of their grandson and extra lines on the dinghy. What the heck! We’d try it, and the wind caught our dinghy and nearly blew it away! Ken grabbed it and I let go the halyard before it sailed off again. After that, and w/the winds not abating, we nixed going ashore for another day.

Monday we finally got off the boat and dinked to the beach, walked thru the brush on a sandy path and up to Salt Pond via Queens Highway (every island has a Queens Highway). We were impressed w/Hillside Supply, a well stocked grocery and hardware store; ate at Sou’ Side (cheeseburger, cheeseburger), and listened to the chatter on the TV about Whitney Houston’s death. Sad.

That night about 50 people congregated on the beach for a pre-Valentine party. It was fun talking to Kathy and Darius (s/v Breeze Hunter), Tom and Cathy (s/v Perseverance II), Gayle and Bruce (s/v Aquarelle), and meeting Dorothy and Glenn (s/v Dotsway) and others. A group was going to the Jumentos and we considered joining them, but decided to go the other way to Conception.

Valentine’s Day Long Island Breeze Resort was having a dinner and dance and a lot of the cruisers were going, but we decided to stay on the boat. After moving the boat closer to Salt Pond and getting fuel and water, which we carried to the beach because the dock at Long Island Petroleum was destroyed in the hurricane, we went into the resort and hooked up to internet and saw Pete and Diane (s/v Pearl). They’d spent 3 weeks at Cat Island and warned us it’s very quiet. We said we like quiet. We sat down next to Pam and Glenn (m/v Cacique), cruising veterans. We all recognized our boats from the ICW and it was nice to finally meet them. We were sorry to say goodbye to such a great group, but cruising calls.