Warderick Wells to Staniel Cay

We dinghied ashore today to climb BooBoo hill.  Our new route avoided our having to wade through the creek that blocked our path yesterday.  Maryanne made it almost to the top.  (Pictures may follow if we get better internet.  Our internet provider posted the following on their login page:

The secret to happy surfing on a slow network?
1. Click on the link
2. Take a drink of your Kalik
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 above until network appears to have blazing speed.

If you see this notice on your network be prepared to lose your connection every time you try to post something.  

We placed a piece of driftwood atop BooBoo hill with the name of our boat on it and the year 2012.  A little below BooBoo hill we went down to the blow holes that we could hear thundering in the distance.  One of them blew spray 50 feet in the air.  Close up the sound of the air roaring up through the holes was scary!

We met our friends Lee and Sherry of the catamaran Alesto and learned that they were planning to leave today for Staniel Cay - and then Georgetown by Saturday.  We jumped at the opportunity to follow them since we are a little concerned about getting through Cave Cut from the Banks out to Exuma Sound.  The Cuts can be dangerous under the wrong conditions.  With few exceptions we have found that experienced cruisers will go out of their way to help newcomers.  We look forward to being able to provide that support to others in the future.

We got underway quickly before 11 and arrived at the fuel dock in Staniel Cay by 2:40.   Lee helped us dock using his dinghy as our bow thruster - pushing our bow in next to the fuel dock.  We filled one of our water tanks paying forty cents/gallon for reverse osmosis water.  The Watermaker company provide reverse osmosis water for all of the islands and have an office here.  Watermaker jets land regularly at the air strip on the island.  We practically had to duck as one of their jets came in low overhead like a bullet streaking toward the landing strip.

Staniel Cay - Finally dinner out at the "Yacht Club"
Very funky 1940's type Bahama Bar/Restaurant

While we were on the dock I could see a 5 foot shark swimming lazily back and forth under our boat.  Chad reminded me that they are attracted by people cleaning fish on the dock.

I am kicking myself for not bringing my trumpet.  On the Staniel Cay VHF net yesterday there was a request for a trumpet player to help a  young student at the local school.  If I were spending a little more time here I would have loved to help out.  It would be wonderful to give back a little of what we are getting from our experience in the Exumas. 

Exuma Cay Land and Sea Park

Dark forbidding clouds with downpours crossed harmlessly in front of us as we left Norman's Cay.  As the clouds passed us the wind shifted to the North indicating the passage of a long awaited cold front.  The winds turned out to be much milder than originally forecast - but in line with updates we had received.  We were able to sail most of the way south to Exuma Cay Land and Sea Park in Warderick Wells.  We were lucky enough to get off the waiting list for a mooring in the preferred north mooring field near headquarters.  Some day we hope to post pictures!  Soon you will see Maryanne standing next to a skeleton of a 50 foot sperm whale.

We did go for a short walk but the terrain across the coral was extremely challenging.  We hope to get up to Boo Boo hill tomorrow.  It is a custom to put the name of your vessel on a piece of driftwood and leave it atop the hill.

Exuma Land and Sea Park - shot from atop BooBoo hill
Ours is the middle boat - the dark water is the channel
The light water is the sand bank where you go aground!

We did do some snorkeling at slack tide off of our dinghy.  We still haven't figured out how to get back in the dinghy having neglected to buy a dinghy ladder prior to departure.  I was able to swim the dinghy from the dinghy mooring at the coral garden to our friends' catamaran, Alesto.  Lee and Sherry were nice enough to leave their swim ladder down so that we could climb aboard and then reboard our dinghy.  The swim above the reef gave us good experience snorkeling and a view of a few fish and some coral.  The previous evening I was startled to see a 5 foot manta ray jump clear out of the water.  We have seen quite a few of them looking like giant black blobs swimming just under the surface.

Our days are taking on a little bit of a rhythm.  Maryanne is up before me at 6:15 to make her coffee.  The day begins with listening to Chris Parker's daily 6:30 a.m. weather synopsis and forecast on the SSB radio.  Chris entertains questions from cruisers about their routes, destinations, sea states, and winds.  The radio show may go on for almost an hour.  We have participated with questions about our routes on a couple of occasions.  After the weather we have breakfast and prepare for a voyage or a land-based adventure.  I have been accused of moving with less than lightning speed in the morning as well as many other times during the day - so our departures rarely take place before 9 a.m.  On the day of a sail I have to check the oil and re-tighten the fan belt on my slightly misaligned high output alternator.  If we are headed ashore we usually plan to be back aboard for lunch and then head out again for swimming or exploring.  Maryanne has been doing an amazing amount of cooking and dish washing.  It is definitely time to find a restaurant - but that won't be anytime soon!  Appetizers precede dinner and by the time dinner is over there is only a short time to read and relax until we start falling asleep by 9:00.  Today after snorkeling I had the pleasure of disassembling part of the toilet while Maryanne enjoyed applying vinegar to the mildew on the area next to our berth.

We plan to spend another day here - next: any island with a restaurant!

Allen's Cay to Norman's Cay

Our dinghy on the beach at Normans Cay - East shore of the island

We sailed to Norman's Cay from Allen's Cay where we caught up with Odysseus.  Carol and Paul sail a beautiful gray Valiant 40.  They encouraged us to consider anchoring on the beach on the west side of the Cay.  We were able to pick our way through the route marked on our charts.  The depths were about 9 feet  and a little less but we were able to pick our way around the coral heads to anchor off the beach.  The water color was spectacular.  We had met Carol and Paul in Bimini before our long sail to Nassau.  She was excited to see we were from Glen Cove since both she and Paul grew up in nearby Glen Head.  We had a very enjoyable little get-together with them and another couple on the beach at Norman's.  

The next day I was able to get ashore for a run.  I loved the sign for McDuff's restaurant and for the Norman's Cay Airport.  (Pictures to follow when we get adequate internet!)  Airport might be a little bit of an exaggeration - the airport is just a runway bought by a big name drug smuggler in the 70's.  Carlos Lehder, the dealer, was caught by 260 Bahamian police officers with American help but somehow after $250,000 changed hands he was let go.  In 1987 he was extradited from Medellin, Columbia and ultimately sentenced to life without parole plus 135 years.  That extra 135 years must have really hurt!

We did dinghy into the beach to sample McDuff's famous hamburgers - and Maryanne tried the grilled cheese.  The food was great and the McDuff's was something special - out of a 1940's movie in the Bahamas.

We motored a few miles inside Norman's Cay to prepare for a cold front passage that turned out to be much milder than originally forecast.  Maryanne got her first taste of snorkeling off the boat and loved it.  We also took a little ride to a nearby small - one palm tree island.  I managed to destroy my polar pacer watch by wearing it when I dove down to untangle my anchor chain.  The anchor had to be pulled up and untangled anyway so the dive was completely wasted!  

We had a great time with the crews from Orion, Wind Dancer, and Emerald Sea in a renaming ceremony aboard Wind Dancer.  We first became aware of this group after nightfall on the Bahama Banks when we heard their lively repartee on the VHF.  They seemed to be having a great time and we had fun with them when we finally met in person at the Nassau Harbor Club Marina. 

Next stop:  Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park

Nassau to Allen’s Cays

After the debacle with our roller furling we were more than ready to leave Nassau on Wednesday.  At least we now knew our way out of the harbor.  Chris Parker told us that Friday would be a better day for our crossing to the Exumas but we didn’t want to wait.  The various cruising guides had a number of cautions in them about crossing the Yellow Banks  2 hours outside Nassau.  The guides all recommended crossing the banks with the sun high over head.  The Yellow Banks have a number of coral heads on them.  Experienced cruisers told us the coral heads were no big deal – you could see them easily and most of them we would clear with a 5 foot draft.  The cruisers were right.  The coral heads were a menacing black color that reached right up into the waves over them.  The heads were few and far between.  They were easily spotted and easily avoided.  We did feel very accomplished negotiating the banks on our own and finding our way into Allen’s Cay by ourselves.  It took us less than a half hour to get into the water after we anchored.  The water was incredibly clear.  This was our first swim in the Bahamas.

On the little nearby beach we could see iguanas waiting for tourists to feed them.  They never had to wait long.  As soon as anyone landed on the beach a bunch of iguanas would start moving down the beach.  We visited the iguanas the next morning but didn’t think it was good to feed any wild animals.

There were strong current in the anchorage – strong enough to pull one of the anchored boats up onto a sandbar.   When we left the beached boat was getting help from other boaters.  I wonder what you do if you go hard aground at high tide?

We made it out of Nassau harbor and began our turn south for the Exumas today when we discovered we could not get the mainsail out.  I pulled it in, out, in, out but could only move it about a foot.  I spent 45 minutes trying to muscle it in and out.  I climbed up onto the pitching cabin roof and hurled myself at the sail trying to get it to break free.  No luck.  Reluctantly, I headed back to the harbor to find a sail maker who could tell me what was wrong with my brand new mainsail.  When we got back to the dock one of the workers, Dudley, offered to take a shot at it.  Dudley was the former master of a hundred+ footer in Charleston, NC.  He muscled the sail, raised the boom and pulled down on it to no avail.  Then he looked at the furling line and said - oh we have a problem here.  The furling line had an override.  I should have looked myself having had a similar problem when the furling line was first installed.  The furling line was overriding because the sail maker had raise the boom when he measured the boat for our new sail.  With the end of the boom high the furling line didn't lead properly to the spool inside the mast.  Oh well.  We are too late to head back out today so either tomorrow - or Friday we will head back out.  Our meteorologist suggested Friday as our next weather window to the Exumas.

We have been given a few rules to follow by fellow boaters. One of them is "All plans are written in sand at low tide."  Another boater told us he has three rules:  1. Keep the water on the outside of the boat; 2.  Don't run into land; and 3.  Trust the boat.

So far -- so good.

Valentines Day

We spoke to our weather guru Chris Parker this morning who gave us a go ahead - but with headwinds - for our sail to Allen's Cays.  We hope to find another boat to go with us.  We had a great time last night with 11 people in our cockpit for drinks and appetizers.

Bimini to Nassau overnight in 22 hours!

OK - We really did it!  We sailed overnight over 120 nautical miles for 22 hours.  The morning we left Bimini we had showers and thunderstorms and it was windy - but we took off with 3 other boats about 11 am on Friday bound for Nassau.  We had planned to anchor on the Great Bahama Banks overnight but our weather guru Chris Parker told us via SSB radio that the weather would be rough.  He said he doesn't like to anchor on the banks ever but especially in uncomfortable weather.  He said if you are going to be uncomfortable you might as well be uncomfortable underway rather than at anchor.  We opted to join the other boats for a run to Nassau to try to beat the nasty forecast weather that included 30 knot winds out of the North.  Chris forecast the wind to clock in a favorable direction during our sail.  We were on the banks within about an hour.  After about 2 hours we were sailing on calm seas with a beautiful wind on a close reach - our most efficient point of sail - over absolutely beautiful turquoise water.  By the time it got dark we found ourselves with four boats added to the three we left with.  As I stuck my head out of the side of the boat to admire the incredible display of stars above us one of the skippers used the VHF radio to direct  the other crews to peer out from their biminis to admire the nighttime sky.  The banks were mostly about 15 feet deep but every once in a while our depth-finder would read 7 feet.  As we approached the half mile exit from the banks into over 1,000 feet of ocean it became clear that the mark we hoped to use for navigation was not lit.  We were not surprised because we had been forewarned that  Bahamian navigation aids frequently do not have the lights working.  As we made a right turn off the banks the wind cooperated and continued shifting in a favorable direction.  We started pounding into some pretty substantial waves but we had good sail power to keep the boat moving.  Maryanne had to put a little extra padding around bottles that were dancing too much in their holders down below.

A nearly full moon came out to light our way and erase the stars.  I was puzzled and surprised when an item that I had apparently forgotten next to the main hatch rolled across the hatch and down the port side. It slid under the bimini and out into the ocean which suddenly had a strong smell of fish to it.  The rolling item sounded like it had crinkly cellophane around it.  Duh!  It took me a few more seconds to realize it wasn't the ocean that was emitting that fish smell - it was the flying fish that flew through the front of the dodger and flapped itself along the the top of the hatch and back into the water.  It wasn't cellophane I heard - it was flapping.  My slow processing of this event was just a sign of how tired I was at  3 am.

A short while later I was startled by a brilliant orange flash in front of me.  It was so bright I couldn't keep my eyes open.  15 seconds later there was a huge boom and then the sound of thunder rolling and echoing for several more seconds.  Damn, I didn't want another experience of lightning damaging electronics on a boat I was sailing.  Although there were not many, the flashes of lightning were blinding.  It began raining and again I began counting the seconds between flashes and thunder.  They never got closer than 15 seconds or about 3 miles so it was all good.  The radar showed a big cell close to us as we approached the harbor but it never got closer than 2 miles.

The seas calmed a bit and we kept making excellent progress toward Nassau.  Maryanne called Nassau Harbor Control for permission to enter the harbor at 8:30 a.m.  We were docked a short time later.  I slept a good part of the day.    

Today I took a 4+ mile jog to check out Atlantis and the downtown area.  Maryanne and I then went  for a very windy walk across the big bridge to Atlantis and an outdoor lunch on Paradise Island.

Internet here is very spotty - we spent an hour at Starbucks trying unsuccessfully to get online.  Eventually we discovered that the internet is down in this entire area of Nassau.  Our connection is not good enough for posting pictures.  Next on our agenda: Allans Cay where big iguanas approach you looking for food.  Maybe Tuesday.  Internet will be very spotty.

We celebrated our arrival in Bimini with the other 3 boating couples. They were kind enough to let us join them all the way from Fort Lauderdale.  The celebration was dinner at Bimini Beach Club restaurant.  

After a night in the marina we walked a half mile to the ferry landing and took the short ferry ride across to the government dock.  On the ferry ride we could see that the entrance to the harbor between South Bimini and North Bimini would have been challenging.  It is narrow and you can see the bottom most of the way in.  The anchorage in North Bimini is not recommended because of the poor holding and changing currents.  We did see a good sized sailboat aground with the crew climbing around the cockpit and foredeck.  We were told that the grounding was caused by a tug and barge with a dredge that crossed over and pulled several boats' anchor lines.  How do you predict something like that?

We went on a quest for an inexpensive Bahamian cell phone.  BTC where we buy our SIM card did not sell mobile phones so after some indecision I used my iPhone to call a cab for the 1.5 mile ride to Trevors who is the main man for cell phones. The two cheapest models had been bought out at Trevors so we ended up with a nifty $50 phone that was the same that our cab driver Max had.  Max showed us his beat up phone and assured us it "could take a lickin' and keep on ticken' just like a Timex watch."  Max was a pleasure to ride with and gave us a break on our cab fare which ensured him a good tip.  Our contacts with Bahamians has been nothing but nice.  The woman in the BTC office was overwhelmed with cruisers buying SIM cards but was good humored about the crush.  When I commented on the difficulty of being the only person running the office she said: "Oh but it is a pleasure to be able to serve!" -- and she meant it!  On her recommendation we made our way to JT's for very good sandwiches.  As a sprinkle opened up on us a Bahamian couple took pity on us and gave us a lift for a short distance to JT's.

This morning we are pinned down by showers and trying to decide whether or not to make an uncomfortable overnight sail over the Bahama bank.  Our alternative is to be stuck here for a week or more.  Decisions, decisions.

Maryanne did some incredible magic making almost $1000 worth of groceries disappear into our boat in places where we hope to be able to find them again.  Our friends Ron and Elaine helped us out more than we could have ever hoped for - making trips to Fort Lauderdale Airport for a drop off and then again for  a pickup.  They patiently waited while we took forever to shop for groceries.  We got rides to marine stores, a propane place, they cooked us dinner and gave us a bed on stable ground for a night among other things.

After almost a week of provisioning and organizing we motored down the ICW to Fort Lauderdale where we picked up a few more last minute items and waited for the winds to die down so we could go outside the ICW to the ocean for our sail down to Miami.  There is a bridge between Fort Lauderdale and Miami that our mast will not fit under - so there is no alternative but to sail outside.

In Fort Lauderdale we met a group of people who are sailing together in 3 boats who were planning to sail to Bimini from Fort Lauderdale.  The morning we were to leave there were bright yellow and red cells marching across our radar images - lots of squalls over a huge area south of us.  So we kept waking up every couple of hours after 6 a.m. to see if the squall would move out of our way.  By 10 a.m. we figured they were out of the way and since it was too late to sail for Bimini, Miami would be a better choice.  The seas had still not settled down so we did some major hobby horsing and rolling as we left the breakwaters into the Atlantic.

Eventually, the waves subsided and we made our way to Dinner Key near Miami's Coconut Grove.

The next morning with some trepidation we joined the other 3 boats from Fort Lauderdale to sail to Bimini. North winds were forecast.  All our guides said don't cross the stream if there is any north wind.  The wind was supposed to be mild - and it was.  So were the seas - not flat - but not uncomfortable.  As we sailed out into the Gulf Stream I realized this was not so different than any other sailing I've done on the Atlantic in New England - it was just warmer.  The wind did pipe up to about 18 knots so I was able to kill the engine and sail our last 2 hours to Bimini.  The entrance to the Bimini Sands Marina was interesting -- but I'll post more about that with pictures tomorrow.

Entrance to the Bimini Sands Marina

Hooray!  We are in Bimini!  It feels totally unreal.  Such a change of environments - and with all the apprehension we had about making the crossing - it was fine.   We'll edit this post - add pictures - and explain more tomorrow or the next day.