Spanish Wells and Eleuthera by car

Spanish Wells.
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade ... that's what we have been doing while waiting out blow after blow in Spanish Wells.
Since visiting Harbour Island last Wednesday, we have rented a golf cart and toured Russell Island, including lunch with Christopher and Robin of Cerulean at Sandbar Restaurant. 

Sandbar

Driving a golf cart in Spanish Wells is very entertaining.  First, of course is remembering to drive on the left side of the road, including left turns against the curb and right turns across a lane of traffic (look right first!)  Best, though, is that everyone gives a couple of fingers up wave as they pass.  Such friendly folks!
We've been to happy hours at Wreckers, the restaurant at the marina and Buddha's a popular bar/restaurant. We even watched the Grammy's at Wreckers, nearly resulting in a brawl when the channel was changed from the Pro Bowl!
Saturday we had another adventure day, renting cars on Eleuthera and driving down to Governor's Harbour and back.  Along the way we visited the Glass Window, once a rock arch connecting north and south Eleuthera as well as the Atlantic to Exuma Sound. It was destroyed in a hurricane and has been replaced by a single lane bridge.  The huge waves coming in off the Atlantic funnel into the cut and then foam out into the sound. 

Atlantic side of the Glass Window

Next we stopped at the Queen's Bath where we saw some spectacular spray as the waves crashed against the shoreline. 

Queen's Bath

Apparently you can sit in the Queen's Bath on calmer days, but Saturday I think you would have been washed away!  Farther down the coast we stopped at the Front Porch Restaurant which our cruising guide says maintains moorings in Hatchet Bay, the only fully protected harbour on the west coast of Eleuthera.  I spoke to the manager and he said that he wouldn't feel safe tying a matchbox to any of the moorings because they are not maintained! The restaurant looked nice though, and he said that one could anchor in mud over a "flat bottom".  Next was a failed attempt to find James Cistern beach which is supposed to be good for shelling and then lunch at Tippy's. 

Hugh, Bob & Sheila at Tippy's

Following lunch we went to the Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve which is maintained by the Bahamas National Trust.  Unfortunately we didn't have time to tour the entire park, I expect it would take a couple of hours to do it justice. After a drive around Governor's Harbour and scoping out anchorages we headed back up the island.  On the way we picked up some vegetables at a roadside stand and finished the day with a visit to Preachers Cave, the cave where the Eleutherans, seeking religious freedom from Bermuda, washed ashore after their ship wrecked on the Devils Backbone reef.  A lectern shaped rock graces the entrance.

Today we visited the Spanish Wells Museum and were given a very informative history of Spanish Wells by Jean and Tom Goldson, boaters who now live in Spanish Wells.
When we aren't moving every day, it's a good opportunity to get chores done, one of which, for me, has been sealing the teak in the cockpit.  I've now got it all done except for the forward seats.  I'm using a product called Semco teak sealer that a marina neighbour in Leamington told me about.  It only needs to be cleaned and a fresh coat applied once per year and in my humble opinion looks great! 

Semco sealed teak

 Karen has done laundry and shopping and continues to turn out gourmet meals in spite of the slightly restricted choice of produce and fruits.
We hope as Chris Parker the weather guru said this morning that "we have paid our wind god dues" and that these winds will begin settling down soon. Many folks are planning on leaving for points south Wednesday, and we will likely join them.  Hopefully then the easterly winds will settle in then so that we can find some calm anchorages along the west coast of Eleuthera.

Adventure day

Harbour Island
If you look at a map of Eleuthera, at the very top you will notice a series of islands that are not connected to each other. Spanish Wells is on St. Georges Cay which is about a half kilometer wide and 2.8 km long. In order to get anywhere else in the area you must first take a ferry to the main island of Eleuthera. Quite a few people told us that we should be sure to see Harbour Island, so yesterday was adventure day. With the help of two very nice girls in the marina office, Hugh and I arranged for our trip over. Not a straight forward trip!! 
We met Bill and Michael at the government dock with Bob and Sheila to catch the 9:40 ferry, driven by Kason, the husband of one of the office girls. The ferry is not a big one, holding maybe a dozen or so people and runs continuously across the bay from Spanish Wells to Gene Bay, Eleuthera.

The first ferry ride with the gang

 Once docked, we were greeted by our taxi driver, David, also arranged by the girls. He drove us across the island, about a 20 minute drive, to a landing, where we boarded another ferry, driven by Ovincent (but just call him Vincent, the "O" is silent). And then we were finally at Harbour Island! At the dock we rented two golf carts and were ready to explore the island. Armed with maps and a goal to see as much as possible, we set off. 

Our trusty steeds!

First stop was the straw market just around the corner, where Sheila and Bill both bought straw hats.  Did I mention it was the first beautiful, sunny, hot day we have had in a long time? That sure makes the spirit rise!! There were a few stores in this little strip along the shore, and one of them, selling very lovely (and super expensive) clothes was staffed by a Toronto girl! So of course we had to chat. This particular shop also sells its own rum, of which she had only one bottle, but with a little persuasion she opened it up and gave us all a sample (its noon somewhere). Great way to start the day!

Starting the day with a shot of rum!

Hugh had done some research about the island before hand, so as our unofficial guide he drove us around the island, stopping at little local stores along the way. The island reminded us slightly of Hope Town, with its colourful houses and narrow streets.

Harbour Town house

Next stop was the pink beach, where we walked along the shore, looking for sea glass and shells, but there were none at all. Nothing! The beach was not busy, even though there were two high end resorts lining the beachfront. Again we were reminded that it is considered low season, and with the weather lately I can understand why.

Pink Sand Beach

We also found the Lone Tree, which is a dead tree standing alone in the water, which you can walk to at low tide. Apparently this is a popular location for photo shoots (Sports Illustrated Swim Suit edition?).

Lone Tree

After being on the beach and getting all sandy and damp, we climbed back into the carts and headed back down to the main harbour area in search of lunch. Bill and Michael had found a vegan restaurant, so they went there, and the one that had been recommended to us, right on the water, was overrun with flies. Eww. Not very appealing.  So we went in search of somewhere else and ended up at Arthurs bakery where everyone was able to find something to their liking.  
After lunch we toured the south part of the island, as far as we were able to go, as this is a very high end area with private communities where the large No Trespassing signs where very convincing! We ended up at Valentines, a very nice resort/marina, filled with mega-yachts, for a celebratory beer (of course) and then headed back to the ferry dock for the reverse rides home.

Valentines

What was amazing was that each of the guys called the next guy ahead so they were all there waiting for us when we pulled in. All in all a very fun and entertaining day.
So, now on to our current situation. Eleuthera is a long and skinny island (110 miles long) with very few fully protected harbours or marinas along the west (non-Atlantic) coast. So no matter where we go from here it is longer sailing days and mostly anchoring, until you get to the very bottom tip of the island. And as I have mentioned before, weather controls our life.  So, tomorrow a big front is coming in with winds ranging from 25-35 knots for the next week.  Looks like we will be getting to know Spanish Wells very well! There will be four, maybe more, boats in the marina for the weather, so we will have lots of company. A pot luck has already been discussed, as well as a car rental to explore the island by car rather than boat. And I'm getting a much needed pedicure tomorrow!
Such is boating life! No plans are the best plans. Lets hope it calms down sooner rather than later, so we can keep going south.
More adventures to come ... one day at a time!

Abacos to Eleuthera

Hope Town to Spanish Wells

We fell in love with Hope Town. We really did. We even started looking at real estate there. Crazy, I know, but it has this feel about it that makes you want to stay. We met so many people that go there for the season, rent a mooring ball for a few months and just use it as a home base. They will leave every once in a while to do a little trip around the Abacos, then come back to Hope Town. Not a bad way to do it!

Hope Town Harbour. Trekker is in there somewhere!

So after a fun night at Cap'n Jacks bingo night, to which I'm sure half the town showed up, we woke to a beautiful Tuesday. It was decided that all 8 of us would rent bikes and tour the island. So off we went, heading south, with Tahiti Beach, at the southern most tip of the island, the goal. Some were on 7 speed bikes and some on no speed bikes (they didn't have enough multi-speed bikes for all!). I like to bike, but I haven't done it in a while and I don't like hills. And so far all our biking excursions have been on flat land, but not this ride! Who knew that Elbow Cay was so hilly? Needless to say I was at the back of the pack most of the day, and walked my bike up a few of those hills. But the hills make it a beautiful island, with an amazing amount of new development along the coast line for people like us who want to live there (but with a bigger budget than us!). Our first stop was the Sea Spray Marina and Resort, which had a lovely pool side bar and restaurant where we had lunch and played a game of Giant Jenga.

Sheila and Bill playing Jenga

After lunch we conquered a few more hills and found Tahiti Beach, which is quite beautiful. As  it was low tide, we could walk out for quite a way, looking for shells and sea glass.  Sea glass has become my new passion, and I look for it on every beach. I gave up on shells long ago, and my mission is to fill up a big jar on this trip then do some kind of "art" with it when I get home. Anyways, there were no shells or sea glass on this beach. 

Tahiti Beach at low tide

What goes up, must come down, so back on the bikes, and back up and down the hills. As a reward, we stopped at another resort, Firefly, which overlooks the Sea of Abaco and has a lovely view. So we had a quick rest (and a beer) and then headed back to our respective boats.

As Hugh had mentioned before, this is a big sailing/racing community, and Wednesdays are their "big boat" race day. Anyone can enter their boat in the race, as long as it is over 18 feet and they know the rules of racing.  Of course Hugh was itching to get on a boat to race, and after contacting the race co-ordinator he was able to secure a spot on the Abaco Rage, a local Bahamian race boat, which was quite a feat, according to some locals. It wouldn't be right for me to tell you about his day, so I will give the blog over to him so he can tell you about his exciting day!

I was told to be at Cap'n Jack's at 0830 sharp "ready to go".  I wasn't quite sure what that meant ... but I decided on lifejacket, foul weather top, dinghy boots and the Go Pro to take some pictures.  When I arrived at Cap'n Jacks I met many of the crew including "Plug" who skippered Abaco Rage for many years.  Coffee, beers and Bloody Marys were being served and nobody seemed to be in a hurry to leave!  But at 0900 sharp a power boat pulled up to the dock, and on we hopped to be ferried out to the Abaco Rage sitting on her mooring.  The rest of the crew was there, introductions were made, including to Richard, our skipper.  We had our safety talk, during which we were warned to keep clear of the hiking planks as they are slid from side to side during a tack, and to keep our heads down during tacks, because the boom is only 18" off the deck at the planks! We were also told that if we fell off the plank, to swim toward the wake and they would throw a "safety line" to grab on to! We were towed out of the harbour at high tide, because the Abaco Rage draws 6' and mulled about, putting in a reef and basically getting everyone comfortable tacking and maneuvering. As for the race, we had an awesome start, on time at the committee boat and were looking pretty good half way up the windward leg.  I think we may have missed a shift, because coming into round the windward "mark" (an island) we were well behind and the wind was dying so we shook out the reef.  That was when the Abaco Rage showed her stuff.  While the Beneteaus and Freedoms nearly stopped, we just kept on trucking, propelled by our 950 square foot mainsail! We passed four boats, and I couldn't see anyone ahead of us ... were we first??  Turned out the lead pack had made it through before the wind died and were already finished! 

Abaco Rage

I had a fantastic time, many thanks to Hope Town Sailing Club, Richard and Plug ... back to Karen

I had a wonderful quiet day, sitting on the boat in the drizzle, knitting, and then went into town with Bill to get a few groceries. I even made some excellent cornbread muffins from a mix I bought at the local store.  After the race everyone gathered in the HTSC clubhouse for the awards and some socializing. Bob and Sheila had also managed to get on a sailboat for the race, a Freedom 45, which is the same make as their boat, so we all attended  the Stand-Up (I think they call it that because  they stand around and yak and there really is no where to sit!) and then went over to Cap'n Jacks for their $7.50 Spaghetti night.

Thursday was our last day in Hope Town, as a weather window was open for Saturday to jump down to Eleuthera, so we had a lovely day wandering around town, having coffee at the Coffee House, taking a tour of the local museum, where we learned about the history of Hope Town, a very loyalist community, and walking the beach one more time, looking for sea glass, of course!

Friday morning the plan was to get some fuel and water, and head down south to an island called Lynyard Cay, and anchor for the night, in preparation to do the jump down to Eleuthera.  But we are in the Bahamas, and the only marina in Hope Town that had fuel was down, as their pumps were not working. So after filling our tanks with water (we had enough fuel for the trip, it was just for a top-up) we had a beautiful sail down to Lynyard. There were four of us, so as soon as we all got close, it became a race, because more than one boat makes a race, according to most sailors. 

Racing against Her Diamond

When we got to the anchorage it was quite clear that we were not the only ones with this idea, as there were at least a dozen boats anchored already, waiting to jump down. 

Once we anchored Hugh and I hopped in our dinghy and ran over to Little Harbour, which is a fairly shallow harbour with a famous place called Pete's Pub, a beach side restaurant that reminded us of Foxy's in the BVI's, just a shack with t-shirts hanging all over the ceiling and very open-air. 

Pete's Pub

When we arrived, we were standing at the counter to place our order when I heard "Trekker!" and there were Larry and Annette, the couple that had led us through West End's Indian Cut. We are finding now that everywhere we go we are meeting up with boats we have met, left behind, and are meeting again. Its fun to be able to catch up.  Where have you been? Where are you headed? It's a very small community of boaters.

After lunch we went into Pete's Foundry, where Peter Johnson makes beautiful sculptures out of copper. The third generation of Johnston's, Greg, is now continuing on with the foundry, as well as managing the pub and doing odd jobs around the island. The foundry building was built in the 50's by Randolph Johnston, and still houses the showroom and foundry .

The Foundry showroom

Once back to the anchorage, we beached the dinghy and  walked over to the beach on the Atlantic side. It is shocking and very sad to see the large amount of garbage washed up on the beach shores. We have noticed this everywhere we go, and this beach was worse than most. Where does it come from? Plastic barrels, shoe insoles, flip flops, plastic bottles, it seems endless. Is this a result of storms washing debris up, or wasteful people throwing garbage into our beautiful oceans. Hugh took a large barrel and filled it with as much plastic garbage as he could, and put it above the high water line. We doubt anyone comes by to collect garbage and the amount is just overwhelming. We need to take better care of our oceans and beaches!

Lynyard Beach on the  Atlantic side

After a rolling night, and not a great sleep, we were up at 5:30, and cast off at 6:30 with a flotilla of about 15 boats, to head out of the Little Harbour Cut, which can be nasty in the wrong conditions, and down to Eleuthera, about an eight hour ride. The conditions were pretty good, although the seas were a little higher than expected, but the winds were steady and we had a great sail down. Once we arrived, the majority of the boats went into Royal Harbour, a very well protected, and large anchorage, for a quiet night of catch up sleep.

Sunday we made our way down to Spanish Wells, a small town on St. Georges Cay, where we will spend a few nights and decide where our next stop will be. 

Exploring the Bahamas ... one day at a time.

The Marsh Harbour Triangle

Marsh Harbour to Hope Town

Our cruising guide describes the Marsh Harbour Triangle as having it's apexes at Man-O-War Cay, Marsh Harbour and White Sound on Elbow Cay south of Hope Town.  We have now visited two apexes, Marsh Harbour and Hope Town, but have not made it to Man-O-War yet.

When Karen last posted we were planning on taking the ferry to Man-O-War primarily because I had fond memories of visiting it with my parents and brother Adrian and his wife many years ago during a bare boat charter.  Man-O-War is known for its boat building and sailmaking heritage.  In particular we wanted to visit the Man-O-War heritage museum so I phoned them to check on when they are open and the cost of admission and learned that they are moving and won't open until the end of February! I was pretty disappointed, but we thought we might try and stop in towards the end of the cruise on the way back to Florida. Thursday and Friday turned out to be rainy days anyway, so it probably would not have been much fun walking around town in the rain. 

Thursday Sheila organized a Happy Hour among those docked at Mango's Marina.  Everyone brought an appetizer to share. We enjoyed meeting some some more cruisers. Of course after chowing down at Happy Hour we didn't feel like a full dinner. Karen and I went across the street to Wally's, a restaurant that a fellow cruiser had recommended.  We shared some delicious fish cakes, served with salad and truffle frites with a glass of white wine.  Yum!

Friday actually dawned sunny and by midday we were complaining about the humidity (so Canadian).  We did some more shopping, using our new wagon to bring our groceries back from Maxwells, and to stock up on some more beer and wine from Jimmy's across from the marina.  We were very surprised to find some nice Chilean wine on sale for $6.50 a bottle!  I went to the hardware and bought some supplies to make our dinghy boarding ladder. "Brown Tip" the diver checked our zincs (all good) and encouraged us to drop by the Abaco Beach Resort in the evening for a Rake and Scrape. Instruments included maracas, what looked like a cheese grater and a hand saw!  It was really entertaining, especially watching Sheila dance and play the saw with one of the band members!

Rake & Scrape with Brown Tip

Saturday we finally bid Mango's and dockmaster Rey a fond farewell and motorsailed over to Hope Town.  Her Diamond and Aquila had preceded us, because we had to wait for mid tide to get in to the shallow entrance , and kindly reserved a mooring ball for us.

Elbow Reef Lighthouse 

Bahamian aids to navigation are different. The buoys at the entrance to Hope Town look like mooring balls. The range to guide one in the channel was lit with string lights!

Back range marker

 Once moored, Bob and Sheila picked us all up in their dinghy and we putted into the Hope Town Sailing Club dinghy dock, explored some of the town and had apps and a beer at Harbour Edge Restaurant.  I poked my nose into the Hope Town Sailing Club "stand up" social to inquire about the Sunfish races I had heard about on the cruisers net, and was invited to join them!  Unfortunately (or not I guess), they don't sail if it is blowing over 20 knots, which was the forecast for Sunday, so it was doubtful they would sail.

Sunday, most of the town was closed and it was blowing over 20 knots so the Sunfish races were postponed. We went for a walk on the beach and saw a Westsail 32 recently lost in the storm we weathered in Green Turtle Cay. Very sobering. 

Westsail 32

We walked around town and had fish sandwiches and beer for lunch at Hope Town Lodge. 

Hope Town houses

Today, Monday we did some more exploring, beginning with a coffee with Christopher and Robin from Cerulean that we first met at West End. Then we climbed 101 steps to the top of the Elbow Reef Lighthouse, the only active manned lighthouse powered by man and kerosene. Next was bingo at Cap'n Jack's and then Karen and I went to Sip Sip, a wine bar / restaurant for delicious salads and rum cake.

Weather doesn't look great this week for our crossing to Eleuthera, so we will likely enjoy Hope Town.  It seems like a very active community, and is one of the prettiest towns we have been to.  

We didn't envision spending this much time in the Abacos, but I guess that's the advantage of not having firm plans ... we make them up... one day at a time!

The weather rules our life right now

Green Turtle Cay to Marsh Harbour
We reluctantly left the Leeward Yacht Club on Green Turtle Cay in a parade of five boats to cross the treacherous Whale Cay Channel.  We have learned that no matter how many people give you their opinion, and in some cases they love to give you the worst case scenarios, you have to decide what is right for yourself.  We are also lucky that we are travelling with a group of like minded sailors, and even so, it can sometimes be a challenge to get six people to all agree on a plan. So, just as we were casting off our lines a fellow sailor came running down the dock to tell us that they has seen a boat go to the Whale and turn back, "just to warn us". The dock master and dock hand looked at each other and mumbled something like "how could he see that?". So after saying good bye, and saying we might be back, we all headed out.

Sailing by Whale Cay

We didn't go back. It was fine ... a little lumpy, a few big swells, but honestly we have been in worse on other sails down the coast. We were also following out about five other boats ahead of us. Could we all be wrong? And once we got through the cut it turned into a lovely sail down the south part of the Sea of Abaco to Orchid Bay Marina, on Great Guana Cay. Another milestone achieved!
Great Guana Cay is a lovely small island with a tiny town, consisting of a grocery store, liquor store, a beach front bar called Nippers, that has a famous pig roast party every Sunday afternoon, a few restaurants, and a very high end hotel/marina called Bakers Bay that is private (us little folks can't go there). Apparently celebrities such as Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman own places there. So once we got settled we all went for a exploratory walk around, and ended up at Nippers for drinks and "apps". As the weather was not the greatest, we ended up sitting inside, and the place was pretty empty for a Saturday afternoon.

Nippers Beach Bar

Trying to stay out of the wind at Nippers

The weather is a hot  topic of our conversations every day. It controls our sailing life, and there are days when I get tired of talking about it. But, we always have to be aware of where the winds are coming from and how strong they will be. This determines where we will go, and when. So every move is a long process of planning and talking and googling and more talking.  We try to look ahead at least a few days to see where we could go, how long are we going to stay, and where will we stay once we get there. Before we left on this odyssey, I don't think we realized how much planning goes into each jump. We knew there was planning involved, but some days it is overwhelming. But  I know that with all our planning we have made some very good decisions, and have been able to cross some challenging areas with no problems. We have had to stay in some places a little longer than we would like, but again, who is in a hurry? After all, we are surrounded by beautiful waters and lovely islands.

Orchid Bay Marina

With the weather being pretty cool and very windy, we have not had the opportunity to enjoy the lovely beaches we have seen so far, and go swimming and snorkeling. We have walked them, and been sandblasted from the wind on them. I have only been swimming once so far, and that was a quick dip in Great Sale Cay just after we left West End. Oh well, I know there will be lots of opportunity once this darn weather decides to co-operate, and we get further south.

Great Guana Cay

We stayed at Orchid Bay Sunday as well, to wait out the strong winds, and decided to jump over to Marsh Harbour, the biggest town in the Abacos, on Monday. Another front was to come through during the week, and we decided it would be better there, as there are more things to do, more restaurants and more grocery stores.
So the core group of three (Her Diamond, Aquila and us)  left Monday, and we had a lively sail over to Marsh Harbour, which was only an hour and a half away. Of course once we got here we all headed over to a lovely restaurant beside the marina for a beer and some lunch.
Tuesday we explored the town, found Maxwell's, the big grocery store and bought a few supplies. We will go back again before we leave the town, as this is the last stop for major provisioning. Once south of here, there will be some small stores with some fresh items in some of the small towns,  depending on when the supply ship has been to visit. And everyone in the area will know what day the supply boat comes, so if you are too slow getting there, a lot of the good produce is gone. Oh...the challenges of cruising life! So, I am stocking up on lots of canned items to supplement when I can't get fresh. 
After a group meeting, we decided to stay in Marsh Harbour until Saturday, mostly due to the weather. We have had lots of rain and wind over the last couple of days, which is a little depressing and frustrating. But rainy days on the boat can be nice too, with time to do chores, such as laundry, baking and write posts for our blog! (It's pouring as I write this!)
There is a little island called Man-O-War that we were thinking of taking Trekker to, but we have discovered that we can take a ferry over and see the little community known for boat building and sail making. It seems easier than leaving our secure dock in the high winds we are having right now, so we will do that either Thursday or Friday, then head to Hope Town, another small town that has been highly recommended.
After Hope Town we will be planning our next big jump down to Eleuthera Island, which will be a long day sail. We have been told that Spanish Wells and Harbour Island are great places to see.
After that ... who knows ... we will decide as we go ... one day at a time.

Pizza Night at Snappa's

Waiting Out the Bombogenesis at Green Turtle Cay

Following the Junkanoo on January 1 we all hopped in our dinghy for the return trip across the harbour to the Leeward Yacht Club where we were docked. Up and down the dock preparations were being made for the 60 knot winds that were apparently forecast.  Nobody could tell me who was predicting 60 knot winds, it was  certainty not any of the models in Windy or Predictwind that we look at, although they were forecasting up to 40 knot gusts.  Any way, better safe than sorry, we put out additional dock lines "wrapped the main" (although I'm not quite sure what that achieved) and rolled up most of the canvas to reduce windage.  Monday night wasn't particularly windy but it did rain, and with the canvas rolled up the cockpit got soaked.  At least we'd put all the cushions below.  Tuesday we had a quiet day around the marina, Karen did a couple of loads of laundry, we read and Karen and I walked to the beach to look at the waves rolling in.

Waves on the Atlantic side of Green Turtle Cay

Bob, Sheila, Bill and Michael came over after dinner for another game of Wizard. It started to blow Tuesday. Thirty-five knots were registered on some anemometers, and we had a pretty noisy night on board with the dock lines creeking on the cleats.  Wednesday it continued to blow, but we had reserved a couple of golf carts to tour the island, so off we went at noon to explore the island.  First stop was the Green Turtle Club in White Sound, towards the north end of the island, where a Bucketlust fleet of catamarans carrying young "Unicorns" (look it up, I learned something today) had arrived. 

Bucketlust cats in the background

 Apparently it was Olympics day, and most were dressed in bikinis and speedos showing off their perfect bodies!  We noticed Mariposa, a Catalina 34 we had met in Old Bahama Bay was in the marina so we went to say hi, and Michelle and Phil joined us for lunch at Bluff House.  They entertained us with stories of the Bucketlust gang, who apparently partied to 0530 in the morning went to bed for a few hours, got up and started again.  Soon after we sat down at Bluff House, our waitress suggested we order lunch as the Bucketlusters were on their way ...  Meals ordered, they began to arrive ...


Next, the sky began to darken, and a squall came rushing down the sound blowing all the unicorns into the small restaurant.  The noise level rose exponentially and it was time to leave!

"Unicorns"

We carted back to the marina to see the boats heeling over under the strain of the wind, lines were checked and we heard that the squall arrived with a 55 knot punch!  Karen went below to discover that my stack of dishes in the drain tray had fallen over and my water bottle had fallen off the counter ... guess poor old Trekker must have laid over a fair bit when the squall hit.  Anyway, since we were all secure we headed into New Plymouth to check out a couple of renowned bars, but unfortunately power was out and between that and the wind they were all closed! 

Pineapples closed due to wind and lack of power

We popped into Lowes, a grocery store and Roberts Hardware but eventually retreated to the marina to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening quietly on the boat.

Today we took the carts into New Plymouth again, bought some groceries, then drove down to Gillam Bay. 

It is a beautiful protected bay ringed in a sand beach.  Just outside the bay, the waves from the Atlantic were breaking onto the shallows surrounding  Green Turtle Cay. 

We had swizzles with Aquila and Her Diamond on Trekker during which we discussed when we should go through the Whale, a notorious cut where we have to pass from the shallow Sea of Abacos out into the Atlantic for a couple of miles and then back into the Sea of Abacos.  In the wrong conditions it can be very uncomfortable, even dangerous ... so we are all taking it very seriously.  Unfortunately, local knowledge and the actual criteria to decide whether or not to go seem to be in short supply. Brother Adrian confirms that we shouldn't go in the wrong conditions, but his criteria for "wrong" seem considerably more severe than what is forecast in the near term.  We've decided to listen for a report from Bluff House, ask for advice on the Cruisers Net, and possibly seek out "Brad" a local Karen and Sheila spoke to today who can apparently provide the much needed local knowledge.  

Friday the 5th of January we were all up to listen to the cruisers net however there were no reports from the Whale. Savannah, a 38 foot Catalina with Australians Adam and Lisa aboard were preparing to leave, so I asked them to send back a report from the Whale which they agreed to do. About 1100 Bob and I thought we might run down to the cut in our dinghy but the 2 foot waves made for a pretty uncomfortable ride so we aborted. On the VHF we heard a few boats report passing the Whale without incident and Savannah reported back that there had been 5 foot rollers but that they made it safely. I think all in our crew were satisfied that we would be fine going Saturday, so we made plans to leave about 1000, an hour before high tide to reach the cut close to slack current. In the afternoon  we went to the beach to collect shells and sea glass and then enjoyed happy hour at the Leeward Yacht Club. Karen and I then hopped in the dinghy and went across to New Plymouth Liquor store for the cruisers Friday night gathering.  We met some new folks including a couple from Kitchener! Small world. We joined a few of the cruisers at 2 Shorty,a small take out shack with picnic tables, for dinner and then repaired to Trekker, put on the fireplace (yes it's that chilly!)  and turned in for a good night's rest before facing the Whale.

Living the Bahama Life

We arrived at West End, Grand Bahamas Island and decided to treat ourselves to a few days of well deserved R&R. We also wanted to wait for our “cruising family” to catch up so we could all spend Christmas together. The first couple of days we spent working on the boat, cleaning it from top to bottom as she had become neglected over the past few months with our constant traveling. The afternoons were spent by the pool or on the beach.

Old Bahama Bay beach

We stayed at the Old Bahama Bay Marina and Resort, which is a holiday resort with rental suites and as we were in the attached marina we had the use of all the facilities, including a gym, pool, bikes, paddle boards and kayaks. The resort was badly damaged by Hurricane Mathew in 2016 and was still recovering in some areas. But it was a lovely place to spend a few days! The resort happens to be where John Travolta’s son Jett died following a seizure. Very sad.
The days flew by, as we met new boaters coming in for a night and then leaving the next morning to continue on their trips. The marina is the first stop for many boaters coming across from Florida. We saw boats of all sizes and shapes come and go, including a 116 foot motor yacht with full crew. Rumour had it that they were interested in buying the resort.
The first day we were there I noticed a large motor yacht at the end of our dock called Southern Cross. It wasn’t in great shape; having quite a lot of damage along the sides. But what really caught my eye was a camera man following the owner(?) around and filming him. The next day several guys were loading up equipment onto the boat, including more cameras. And after a few hours they set off, with a small boat and camera following them. Curious, I asked around and it turns out they were filming a Discovery Channel series on oceanography. I never did find out what the name of the series is.

Southern Cross leaving Old Bahama Bay

I was told to look out for fresh bread in the Bahamas, and sure enough one afternoon a lady came down the dock selling freshly made bread and banana loaf. Yum! I was also able to buy 10 small lobster tails from the nephew of a guy on a boat just down the dock from us. I bbq’d a couple of them and froze the rest!
Christmas Eve day was fairly quiet until boats started to arrive in the afternoon. It seems there is always a flurry of activity first thing in the morning, when boats are leaving, and around 4pm, when boats are arriving from Florida. I had come back to the boat from showering when I got a text from Bill on Aquila who said there was a disabled boat coming in and could I help them. I got on the VHF radio to talk to them because they couldn’t contact the marina. Apparently they had broken their transmission cable and would not be able to put the engine in reverse to stop themselves. For some reason the marina’s VHF was not transmitting clearly to the disabled boat, so I acted as the go-between to tell them where the marina thought they could dock safely. After they arrived, Aquila and Her Diamond, who were behind them, started their approach to the marina. But there was another boat coming up to the entrance with their sail up, trying to get in as well. After more radio contact it appeared that they were also disabled, but with no engine at all and were trying to sail into the marina. However, there was no wind, so that wasn’t happening. They asked for assistance from the marina, but there was only one dock hand working and he had no boat available for his use. So Hugh decided that he would go out in our dinghy and try to help them in. I went along too, in case he needed four hands, and for moral support! When we got there we went along the side of the boat and tied on with ropes and a bumper between us and their boat. The idea was for us to be their propulsion and they would do the steering. And it worked very well! Once we got going we were moving at quite a good clip! All hands were on deck to catch them at the marina. It was our good deed of the day. They were very grateful to us and later even brought over a bottle of wine as thanks.
Once all the excitement was over there was a happy reunion of the three buddy boats and we all went to dinner at the Resort restaurant to celebrate.
I knew Christmas was going to be difficult being away from family and friends, but I also knew I was amongst new friends and, look at where I was!
So I decided to arrange a pot luck Christmas dinner with all the boaters who were there and also away from family. I went around to all the boats and told them about my plan, and they were all very excited about gathering together. In the end there were 17 of us including a family of five who had just started their three year adventure on a 52 foot catamaran. We gathered poolside using the tiki bar’s (which had closed early) picnic tables. I brought a turkey breast that I bought in West Palm before we crossed, cooked with stuffing (package) and gravy (jar). Everyone brought something different and it worked out beautifully. We even had a pumpkin pie, brownies and Christmas cake (which I brought from home!) for dessert. A big success!

Christmas dinner at Old Bahama Bay

Boxing Day was very windy and cool as a cold front had come in overnight. We decided to stay one more day to let the winds calm down. So we borrowed bikes from the marina and we all rode into town. As I mentioned before the area was hit hard by hurricane Mathew last summer, and the town certainly was still suffering from it. There were many houses with collapsed roofs and walls. The town consisted of a convenience store, a liquor store, a medical clinic, police station and a telephone store, and all were closed for Christmas. The other thing we noticed were huge piles of discarded conch shells by the shore. Selling conch meat is big business in the area and it was quite obvious by these piles. But the people we saw all waved and said hello and seemed perfectly happy.

St. Mary Magdalene Church, West End

Dinner that night was freshly caught MahiMahi that one of the cruisers had caught on their trip over and generously shared. We bbq’d the fish and everyone contributed to the meal. We were going to eat outside but the wind was still high so Trekker hosted the meal.
Even though we are in the Bahamas we still have quite a ways to get to our final destination of the Exumas. The next stage was crossing the Little Bahama Bank north of Grand Bahama Island and Little Abaco Island to cruise the Abacos, a group of barrier islands between Great Abaco Island and the Atlantic Ocean. As easy as this sounds, we had to go through the Indian Rock Cut, a short cut to get to the bank. The problem is that it is very shallow, and there was a good chance we could hit bottom, with our keel being 1.72 metres deep and the depth shown on the chart being 1.4 metres in some places. Luckily we had met another boater who had done it before, and offered to lead the way across. So at 9am, with 0.2 metres above low water and a rising tide (in case we couldn’t get through and needed to wait a bit for it to get deeper) the four boats left, and slowly made our way across the 3 mile long cut. 

Indian Cut Channel procession

I stood on the bow with my headset on, instructed to tell Hugh if I saw shallower water, but honestly, I couldn’t tell. He kept calling out the depths, and at one point we saw 1.7 on the sounder, but no bumps. It was pretty consistently 2.2 meters, until we were out of the cut and onto the bank and then we had a whole 4 meters for the rest of the way. It’s very strange to be sailing in 13 feet of water when we are so used to Georgian Bay with its hundreds of feet of depth. For the Georgian Bay sailors, it’s like sailing across the Hope Island anchorage for many miles, except there are starfish on the bottom! We motor sailed for the rest of the way and anchored just before sunset in Great Sale Cay (Cay is pronounced “key” in the Bahamas). A beautiful anchorage in the middle of nowhere. There were about 5 boats already there, most which we knew from the marina.

Sunset at Great Sale Cay

We decided to spend the next day in the anchorage. We all went for a dinghy ride along the shore and saw lots of marine life, including turtles, stingrays, and even a small shark. The afternoon was lazy and then with everyone on Trekker for happy hour we all watched the spectacular sunset, some claiming to have seen the “green flash”.
The next morning we left the anchorage with more wind than predicted and had a great sail. The original plan was to anchor at Allan’s-Pensacola Cay for the night, but with the strong west wind the anchorage was no longer an option. So plan B had to be decided “on the fly”. Since most of the anchorages in the Abacos are exposed to westerly winds, I called the one and only marina nearby and asked if there was room for all three boats. No problem was the answer. So we all headed into Spanish Cay Marina to find only four other boats there. Apparently this is considered low season in this area, with high season being April to September. They think it’s cool here (23c) and a lot of their clients come over from Florida. Most cruisers head further south to start with, like Nassau or the Exumas, but we thought it would be nice to see this area first. With westerlies still forecast we stayed at the marina for a day, went to the beach, swam in the pool and ended the day on Her Diamond with a game of Wizard.
We  headed to Green Turtle Cay on New Years Eve, a very popular destination, and were lucky to get into the Leeward Yacht Club for a few days. A big front is supposed to come through with high winds and rain, so we decided it would be good to tuck into a marina. Once we arrived, after an awesome sail down from Spanish Cay, we made reservations in the marina restaurant for their New Years Eve dinner. They even had a DJ and food was great. Champagne was popped on Aquila at midnight and we all brought in 2018 together.

New Years Eve at Leeward Yacht Club

 New Years Day is very big in the Bahamas, and they have a celebration called Junkanoo, which includes parades, vendors selling local food, and music. We all went into New Plymouth, the town on Green Turtle Cay,  to enjoy the festivities. It was great fun to see all the local people dress up in costume  and dance in the parade. 

Green Turtle Cay Junkanoo

Once this front goes through we will continue on down the Abacos chain of islands.
And the adventure continues ... one day at a time!!