Staniel Cay

On Thursday, we moved to Staniel Cay and decided to stay at the marina since we needed to pick up the generator and to charge up the batteries on shore power. I can now use my hair dryer, watch TV and vacuum. What a treat.

We went to the Pink Store and the Blue Store to pick up some groceries (not very original names for the stores, but the names match the paint colors on the buildings anyway, so they are easy to find!). They do not have much variety, but the mail boat, which brings all supplies to the islands along with the mail had arrived, so they were as stocked as they were going to get.

Luckily, when we got to the marina, our generator was sitting there waiting for us. This turned out to be a good thing. The marinas power comes from Black Point by underwater cable and was running at 140 instead of 120, so it was tripping the battery breaker. We had to resort to using the generator, even though we were paying for electricity at the dock. We need additional gas cans to keep the generator running, especially when we are away from marinas, so he had some ordered to come by the next mail boat. Bob finally got the shore power to work for the boat’s power needs and keeps the battery charged with the portable generator.

Thursday night, we heard that there was a boater’s beach party on Big Major island nearby, so we packed up some appetizers and some sausages for the grill and headed out. It was a pleasant evening that ended with a bonfire.

Bob and John of "Pirate."

Blowing the Conch at Sundown
A boater's "homeschooled" child.

We went out Thursday to a little island to while away the afternoon. When we returned we found a 100 ft. boat on the otherside of the dock that dwarfed ours. “Soulmate” is on its way to St. Martin with just the crew aboard. Here is a photo I took of it.

Pretty Penny next to Soulmate

Black Point

We moved on Wednesday to Black Point. This island has a small settlement that we had stopped at on the way down. The best Laundromat in the Bahamas is in Black Point. So, three loads later, we have nice clean clothes, sheets, and towels again.

We had dinner at Lorraine’s Café, a local restaurant, with Mark and Marlene from Benjamin Edward. This couple had offered the use of their portable generator to keep us powered since the boat’s generator is not working properly. We were sinking and they threw us a line! Thanks to Mark and Marlene.

Bob ordered a generator from the states and had it shipped by Watermaker Air to Staniel Cay Marina, so we will pick it up there.

Little Farmers Cay

A quiet day at the beach

We moved on Good Friday to Little Farmers Cay. On the way we passed Musha Cay, which is an island owned by David Copperfield. We read that it costs $20k a day to stay there and you must know David. Being that was a little out of our price range and we are not friends of David, we waived as we passed by. We were treated with a great fireworks display Friday night from this island.

It was a calm day, which was a good thing because we passed through some very shallow water on the way. I was again stationed on the bow watching for reefs or large rocks that we might hit. We did “bounce” on the bottom once or twice and I’m sure we left “tracks” in the sand a few places too, but got through.

The anchorage in Little Farmers Cay is open to the North and has Little Farmers on the East and another island to the West, with a island just South of the anchorage. It also serves as a pass through for boats passing from the East side of the cays to the West side and vice versa. It should be a good anchorage for about any wind direction except for wind from te North. Well, that is the theory. Some of the anchorage is very shallow and unusable, and some is deep enough for sail boats, but you really have to know where you are going in order to not run aground. We safely anchored for the night in the still calm waters and only about 3 feet below the keel.

After arriving, we dinghied over to the Little Farmers Cay Yacht Club to see if we could find info about Internet and to possibly get dinner. Being a holiday, they opened late, so we finally got dinner around 8 that night. Turns out everyone goes fishing on Good Friday. We had fresh caught snapper.

At the marina, we met a father and son who had been cruising the Bahamas in an old sailboat. Their story was that they were on their way back to Nassau to pick up a boat they had purchased from a couple while there a little earlier. This couple had brought their boat to Nassau and encountered several major repairs. At least $12K in repairs and they could not be done in Nassau. They were at that point, fed up with boating, and sold their bought to this father and son for $10. What a deal. The son had arranged for some buddies to meet him in Nassau to help him sail the boat back to Florida. We hope they make it.

In the morning, we awoke to find that we were in a tide change, with winds going the opposite way, resulting in our boat, because of it longs sides that act as sails in these situations doing a “dance” around the anchor. In fact, we found our bridle wrapped around the hull. We had quite a time getting unwrapped. We then decided that it would be a good idea to move to a mooring ball. I am not crazy about doing that because our hull is so high off the water and have ended up dropping the boat hook, or at least, getting yelled at by the Captain.

So Bob decided that he would try and come up with a system that would make it easy for me. Since we were still anchored already, he took the dinghy and added some additional line tied to a fender on the end, giving me a larger “target” to try and catch. It turned out that worked fine.

After getting settled in our new location, we ventured over to meet some folks that arrived and had moored near us. They had been to Little Farmers Cay before and told us we needed to go over and find Jr the Woodcutter. He makes native wood carvings of owns, sea birds, faces and fish. We later joined the couple, Kathy and Ted, off Victoria, and Mark and Marlene off Benjamin-Edward that they knew and went to the Ocean Cabin Restaurant for rum punches and conch fritters. Kathy and Ted had us all over for dinner. Kathy had turkey she had been saving, so we had our Easter dinner with mashed potatoes, yams, green bean casserole, and cranberry sauce. What a meal! This is not an easy thing to do on a small sailboat for 7 people.

Ted and Kathy on Victoria left on Easter Sunday to go on South to George Town, so their son could return back to Canada.

We had encountered a problem with the generator Saturday afternoon. It is making some very strange noises and Bob feared that it needed brushes or bearings. So we resorted to charging the house batteries with the engines again. Bob thinks that this will be a major repair, so we are going to call Tuesday and order a portable generator from a company in Nassau and have it sent by the mailboat to Staniel Cay where were are headed shortly. In the meantime, Mark and Marlene on Benjamin Edward, offered the use of their portable generator and that seems to be working.

Monday we picked up a loaf of homemade bread from a woman in Farmers Cay who bakes bread for boaters.

While we were there, another "front" came through. Here is a photo taken upon its arrival. It seems we are getting 4 days between the fronts that last 3 or 4 days as the present weather pattern.

Front passing through Little Farmers Cay

Rudder Cay

A testiment to the "floatability of Boston Whalers

We pulled up the anchor after 7 nights at Lee Stocking Island. Ut had proved to be a nice protected spot to ride out the high winds. We did have Internet one day. It was a fluke. Apparently, a NOAA subcontractor had an open modem and we were able to pick it up. I could never get it again and make it work, but were thankful for the one day I had it. We did not have cell phone coverage. Our families were getting worried about us since we could not communicate with them. All was well.

Our passage to Rudder Cay was along the West Coast of several Cays almost connected together in quite shallow water. We had whizzed past them on the East coast side on our way to George Town. In some places we had two feet under the keel. I was stationed up front watching for any large rocks or reefs that might be in our way, while Bob watched the sonar and depth sounder. At times the depth sounder went crazy because we were in water too shallow for it to understand.

As the day wore on, the wind and waves continued to calm down to the point that it was so calm you could see the bottom under the full moon clearly that night. I took this picture of the bottom off the boat in the morning. It was the most peaceful night we’d had in a week. Some nights the waves slapping the boat were so loud that I use foam ear plugs to go to sleep at night.

Botton Photo in clear water

Photo of small ray swimming by the boat

Boats are inherently noisy. It seems like there is always some engine, motor, or pump running all the time. Now that isn’t a bad thing, especially when you want them to run. Plus you have the noise of passing boats, and slapping of the waves on the hull. When there is a quiet day that usually means that there is no wind and that the boat will be hot. On the rare day when there is no wind, but the temperature is pleasant too, well then, you have an extremely nice day at anchor. Friday was one of these days. We could hear the birds chirping on the nearby island. Aah!

Friday morning we put the dinghy in the water and poked around the islands near Rudder Cay. Most are private, including Rudder Cay, so we weren’t able to go ashore. While we were looking around in the dingy, the same seaplane we had seen at Lee Stocking took off from Musha Cay, the next Cay North from Rudder Cay, unfortunately I didn't have the camera out.

This was the first night when we had enough reception to watch the news. You may remember reading that we had discovered when we got to George Town, that we found out we had lost all reception for the Satellite TV. It is nice to be able to catch up on the news.

We will move on to Little Farmers Cay next. It is only a couple of hours North, so will be a short cruise.

Lee Stocking Island

On the 13th, we moved the boat North to the next island up the chain called Lee Stocking Island. The guidebook said that the island is the home of the Caribbean Marine Research Center, which is one of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Undersea Research centers. It is affiliated with several US universities and the United States Geological Survey. The guidebook said they offered tours and descriptions of their many ongoing experiments.

Unfortunately, the facility was closed due to servere damage from tropical storm Noel last November. This caused most of their labs to be flooded and other damage. It was disappointing to find out they were closed. Bob had been interested in finding a good anchorage in preparation for a front to come through on Sunday and Monday and this anchorage was protected by hills on the North and East sides. We found out later that the facility is to re-open this June, so hope to be able to tour it next winter if we come this way.

So instead of visiting the facility, we took the dinghy and explored several beaches we had passed on the way. Bob managed to get a little too much sun, so we spent the next day reading on the boat.

This little anchorage by the now a temporaily mothballed scientific facility, was filled with about 8 boats the first night. Our second night it looked like we would have the anchorage all to ourselves until late in the afternoon when a sailboat called “Better Days” arrived. We dinghied over and met Connie and Steve. They were in the process of going to George Town. We were able to share info on George Town and they provided us info on several islands we have not been to yet. We had them over for a nice evening watching the sunset and dinner. They have plans to make it to Panama.

On Sunday, the water was like glass (calm before the storm). Let’s see, what shall we do. Another day lolling on the beach and floating in the water on a beach all to ourselves. Oh darn.

Sunday night, the wind that was projected arrived, but no rain is expected. We are wll protected in the anchorage. Since Bob was a lobster from the sun yesterday and day before, we decided to stick near the boat. Bob covered up well and got out the boat wax and worked on the boat a little. I got out my paints and started a project doing a plaque of some of the landmarks in George Town.

There was just one boat in the anchorage with us last night. The boat named “Paradise” was owned by a young couple sailing with their infant son. Brave souls.

This morning I happened to check and see if there happened to be any Internet connections and discovered there was one. I was able to let family know where we were and why they had not heard from us, before the connection ended. Usually we had BaTelCo coverage just about anywhere we anchor, just don’t at the present.

Monday night, Bob decided to put a couple of poles in the water and see if there were any fish. When you look at the water in these anchorages, you rarely see any fish. Well, we caught a small fish and let it loose, then we caught another which we think is a Snapper. Anyway, it will be dinner for several nights for sure.

Our Dinners

We put the pole in Tuesday night and Bob caught something really big, but thankfully lost it. We think it was a nurse shark that apparently hangs out in the cove. I saw it Wednesday night at dusk as it swam past the boat. If there had been any smaller fish, they would have been scared away by the shark.

While we were waiting for the waves to die down before we moved on Wednesday, a plane landed in the water to drop off someone for the NOAA research lab. I got a neat picture of it taking off. Seaplanes are the equivalent of the bus transportation here in the Bahamas for all these small out islands.

Sea Plane Taking Off

On Thursday morning, we thought we would dinghy over to a lovely beach on Lee Stocking we had been to several times before we left. Unfortunately we discovered that the waves were still to great to make a safe landing. We both got out of the dinghy and Bob took our chairs to the beach while held onto the dinghy and the waves swamped the dinghy. We managed to bail it. Luckily, the motor and gas were ok and we got back to the boat vowing to never try that again.

I'm on a slow connection, so will add more photos to this post later.

Emerald Bay Marina and Children's Cay

Mindy and Jim were up early on Sunday to make their early morning flight out of the George Town Airport. Luckily, we remembered the time change Saturday night. We heard others here in the marina were not so lucky. We heard Jim and Mindy got home OK and we were so happy to hear that.

We did our laundry on Sunday in the “free” laundry at the Emerald Bay Marina. That is a first down here in the Bahamas, or at just about any marina. The weather was ugly on Sunday and was projected to be a little nasty on Monday, so we stayed in the harbor till Tuesday morning. It gave me a chance to post to the blog using the Internet service at the marina.

Bob listens to Chris Parker on the SSB radio every morning for the weather. It is free, but if you want the ability to ask him specific questions (like “I’m here and want to go there, when I should go?), you pay a small amount for that service. Everyone on the boaters listens to the service and appreciates what he does.

We met a nice couple, Bill and Betty, on Tortuga Verde and went to dinner with them at a local restaurant – Big D’s. After all our concern about the time change for the flight, we had forgotten to change our watches and the taxi was waiting for us when we came back for the shower. Needless to say, we dressed fast. Bill and Betty own a marina in Kentucky that is on the route of the Great Loop. I suspect we will see them again when we finally do the loop. We had then over for dinner on Monday night. We had the Grouper and they brought two steaks and combined we had “Surf and Turf” that was delicious. We waved to them as we passed in the morning as we began our next leg of the trip. They were going farther North than we planned to stop as they need to be home sometime in April.

Bill and Betty Underway

The Emerald Bay Marina was very well protected, with land banks protecting the boats from wind, but that also meant that it cut down on air flow as well. It was rather hot as a result. We also noticed that the marina staff was spraying for mosquitoes. That was our first encounter with flies and mosquitoes here in the Bahamas. We had been surprised to find overall that there are few bugs here. Most of the time the wind drives them away. We had heard that after the last hurricane that came through the Bahamas, there have been fewer mosquitoes.

We dropped anchor for the night around 1 in the afternoon near Children’s Cay. This little cay had once been owned by Hume Chronyn and Jessica Lange. They sold it to the Heinz family. We are not sure who owns it now, but it appears to be under development of some type of community. We saw surveyors out marking areas. Although it is a private island, we did go over and explore a couple of small beaches. (The Bahamian government owns all the beaches up to 15 feet beyond high tide.) One beach appeared to have been the dumping ground of some conch shells. Tuesday had been a nice quiet day and the beach, being protected, had few waves. Bob tied the float up to the boat and sunned while contemplating the world, while I read on shore.

Rock near Children's Cay

Last night, we decided to see if we had TV again. We had lost our TV coverage somewhere between Staniel Cay and George Town on the way down. We found that we did have some coverage, although the system would stop and start like it did sometimes at home when there were storms. We are evidently on the edge of the signal.

Sometime during Tuesday night I woke up to stronger waves than they were when we had when we went to bed and they lasted till about 3 on Wednesday. We made one attempt to cross the bay to Barraterre for lunch on Wednesday, but decided that it was too rough and turned back. We were able to make the trip later in the day when the waves calmed.

We dinghied over to the Government dock (most towns on the coast have a Government dock. Most of those are rickety and hard to climb, but usually serviceable.).

Unfortunately, there is not much in Barraterre. We walked the town and saw two children and one old man. We never did find the little grocery store that was supposed to be there, but did see the BaTelCo (Bahamas Telephone Company) Tower which is the common sight in the towns we’ve seen, besides a rickity Government Dock.

Back in the dingy, we spotted another dock that looked like it might have been the restaurant that was supposed to be in town. Turns out it was The Bonefish Lodge and Restaurant. We were met by a friendly local man who helped us tie up. It was a steep climp up the ladder from the dingy to the dock. We had a couple of beers. The two Bahamian beers are Kalik (pronounced Ca-lick’) and Sands. Both are made with RO (reverse osmosis) water. We also had some conch fritters, also a staple of the Bahamian diet here.

The restaurant had a large screen TV tuned to CNN. We’ve found that most Bahamians are rooting for Barak Obama. We’ve been surprised at how interested the Bahamians are in the affairs of U.S. politics/Government. One man’s comment was that what happens to the U.S., affects them too.

Oh, have I told you about Bonefish? Bonefish fishing is an avid sport here. Although the bones in the fish make it pretty much inedible, they are a great fish to catch. There are more bonefish in the Bahamas than anywhere else in the world. We have heard that locals can “snap” the fish in such a way as to move all the bones to one side, leaving the other side edible. We haven’t caught one, so can’t vouch for that.

We came back in time to take our chairs up on top the pilot house with a bottle of De Bortoli Sirah, and watch the sunset. It was one of the best sunsets yet. Often, a group of long clouds come in at the last minute and steal our sunset.

We often hear the sound(s) of a horn(s) at sunset. It was most noticeable in George Town where there were almost 300 boats in the harbor. We found out in George Town that it is the sound of a horn made from a Conch Shell. They’re not too easy to make unless you have an angle grinder on board.

An Unusual Sunset

We are cruising on our own since our friends, Grant and Brenda, moved farther South. This year, Hog Cay, near Long Island, that we went to with Jim and Mindy, was our “turnaround” point. Next year, we plan on getting an earlier start and moving faster through places we have been to point’s farter south. Whether we make it to the Caribbean next year or not is yet to be determined. Our goal is the Turks and Caicos and other Southern Bahamas islands at any rate.

George Town and Hog Cay

Penny’s daughter Mindy and son-in-law Jim, flight landed in a blinding rainstorm at George Town Airport at 7:10 On Sunday, March 2 nd. Bob had taken the dinghy over to the dinghy dock by the Exuma Market to meet them, which is where the taxi was to bring them. While he was waiting he went to see Grant and Brenda at the Exuma Marina nearby. He had the handheld VHF with him so I could reach him from the boat.

While we were waiting for the taxi, the anchor drift alarm kept going off and I contacted Bob to let him know. We had anchored near a small rocky island, so I was quite concerned. Bob said it was probably OK and due to a wind change. I did a visual check as best I could in the rainstorm.

Thankfully, the rain stopped just as they arrived at the Exuma Market. Their trip in the small plane from Nassau was quite a rocky flight. Arriving in a blinding rainstorm and not being able to see where the taxi was taking them, then getting into a very wet dinghy in the dark, only added to their anxiety.

The next day, they were able to finally get their bearings. and see where they had been. We went into George Town to the straw market, another shop, and the supermarket – about all there is in George Town, besides a liquor store, a hardware (everything else you can fit in a small store), and filling station. Jim bought a Hawaiian Sling Spear to try spear fishing at the hardware store.

Tuesday we left Elizabeth Harbour and George Town and went to an anchorage off Hog Cay near Long Island, and stayed till Thursday. We went snorkeling and Jim was able to catch two small lobsters, a grouper, a trigger fish, and a yellowtail snapper. All good eating. We feasted Wednesday night on all but the Grouper.

Osprey nest on pole neatrthe old resort on Hog Cay

Hog Cay is privately owned, so we weren’t able to explore the island much. There is an old resort there that we could not determine if it was still operational or not. It appeared that there were two caretakers living there however. There was no dock, but a small private airfield to service the resort.

By the old resort, there is a large population of "Whistling Ducks." I was not able to get a photo of them.

We had nice quiet evenings at anchor both nights and bright sunny days. We all made improvements to our tans. (Mindy was surprised to see how tan I was when she arrived. I don’t think I’ve ever been this tan.)

We were expecting the weather to be rough, so we returned on Thursday to George Town. We were also expecting a couple of parts, a new clutch/ pully assembly for the water maker and an exhaust riser for the generator. The part for the water maker was important so we could make our own water. In the Bahamas, water is at least 50 cents a gallon at marinas because it is all produced by reverse osmosis. The only place it is free, was the Exuma Market dock, but you have to take jugs to be filled. Bob had made 9 trips the day Mindy and Jim came so that we had full tanks while they were here.

Our neighbor Martha had taken the parts to the FedEx office in Kilmarnock on Monday and shipped them to Dania, Florida, where they then transferred to a company called Reggie Air that then flew them to George Town. We found out they had arrived Tuesday. We couldn’t believe they could arrive so quickly. It was $280 total for shipping, $82 for customs, and $70 for a rental car to go pick it up. At least we got to see a little of the island. But the good news is we have water!

Jim, with Bob’s help, were finally able to get the old part off and the new on after working on it Thursday and Friday. They had needed an angle grinder, so Bob put out a call on the morning Cruiser's Net asking if anyone had one to lend. Before we knew it, we had five offers. Thanks to the Captain of Pirate and his angle grinder, we made water for the first time Saturday morning.

The lack of having a reliable supply of water was the only thing keeping us from exploring some of the remote islands for more than 10 days without having to get water.

We had planned to attend the opening ceremony for the George Town Cruisers Regatta here Friday night. However, due to a weather forecast that said the winds were going to pick up, it was cancelled. It was to be held Saturday night instead. In the meantime, we had decided to go to the Emerald Isle Marina, on the north end of the island, for the night and also to be closer to the airport for Jim and Mindy, so we missed the party. Jim and Mindy had an early flight out Sunday morning. Luckily, we realized that there was a time change Saturday night, otherwise, they might have missed their flight.

Saturday morning, Jim, Mindy, and Penny, hiked to the monument atop Stocking Island to take some great photos of the Elizabeth Harbour. There isn’t a better place to take them, unless you are in a plane. The trail, while mostly easy and sandy, switched to steep rock steps carved in the hill. Somebody had added ropes to help make the climb easier. It had turned cloudy, unfortunately, but still beautiful shots from there.

Jim and Mindy from atop Stocking Island (that is the Pretty Penny is harbor off of Jim's shoulder.)

This is a bench on the top of Stocking Island where people have engraved the dates of their engagements and weddings on that spot. If you are looking for a memorable place to do either, there are still places on the back to engrave your names and date - just take your own tools!

Elizabeth Harbour (Pretty Penny is the boat on right)

Short and Long angle views of the Pretty Penny in the harbor

Another view of the harbour

It has been a fun week sharing this experience with Mindy and Jim. We hope more of our family and friends can join us in the future.

A special thank you to Meegan, who came to spend time with her nieces and nephew, so Jim and Mindy could make the trip. She has had her yearly “kid fix” and can return home and back to school and work. Thanks to Amanda, Jake, and Becky, for being the great kids they are for Aunt Meegan too.

Our friends on Belleza, Brenda and Grant left Tuesday for isles South. We don’t expect to see them again this year in the Bahamas. They hope to make Trinidad and leave their boat there and go back to Vancouver for the summer, returning back after hurricane season next year. We hope to make a trip to Vancouver this summer for a short visit. We have certainly enjoyed their company along the way.

We are not sitting out some bad weather at the Emerald Bay Marina and getting some laundry done, so will let you know where we decide to go later.

I will add some more pictures to this post when Mindy sends me her photos later.

Hangin' Out in George Town

Sunset in Elizabeth Harbor

Well it really was a good idea to get tucked away here in George Town this week ahead of the weather and Jim and Mindy's arrival. We arrived early in order to make it in good weather. We have had strong waves, rocky nights, and cloudy days, with some showers all week.

We were planning on having Jim and Mindy bringing the part for our watermaker with them, but it didn't arrive in time, so Bob is now making his 8th run into the dinghy dock to get water to fill up our tanks. With 4 people on the boat this week, we wanted to make sure we had enough water. He is going to want a big rum punch when he is finished. (Well actually he has one everyday about the same time - he just has a good excuse this time.)

No matter how fast you go into the dock, you will get splashed from the waves. Many of the events have gotten cancelled this week for Regatta week in George Town due to weather. The weather is to improve Tuesday through Thursday, and we will take a cruise to some of the nearby islands with Jim and Mindy to fish and snorkle, before returning ahead of the next weather front and their flights back out.

It will be great to see some family. Aunt Meagan made a trip all the way from Portland, Oregon to stay with her nieces and nephew, so Jim and Mindy could come. Thank you sweetie - we hope you have a good time with them.

Our excitement yesterday was the arrival of the fuel tanker that provides the fuel at the nearby marina. The Captain handled the waves and tight turn into the marina easily.

Fuel Boat Arriving

Interesting boat - Hull is Aluminum