Staniel Cay to Sampson Cay

After three days tucked into a pond on the south side of Staniel Cay, we moved back out in front of the Yacht Club. It is nice to be in calm water for a day (and no longer in the flight path for the airport)! That’s right – back to back fronts are expected, so we expect to have to move to protected waters tomorrow again. At least it is giving me time to make earrings which I enjoy.

 

Plane landing at Staniel Cay Airport - view of the pond

The pond we were in is surrounded by homes owned by Americans who winter here on Staniel. We met some of those nice folks as they are friends of Chris and Pete on Scooter. They are Interesting people who, for the most part, have spent many a winter on this island. Many of the Americans, who own property here, also have small airplanes to get back and forth from the US.

Carleigh had come out from being at Sampson Cay Yacht Club back to Staniel and were anchored nearby. We went in to the club and met them to watch the Ravens/Chiefs game.

Looks like we will be staying around Staniel while we wait for parts to arrive from the states for our generator and a new VHF radio. There is always something that needs to be fixed on a boat it seems. It sure keeps the Captain busy.

On Tuesday morning, Bob went over to Staniel Cay to see if a loaf of bread we had ordered was ready. While there, he ran into Sarah and Monty Lewis. This couple has charted the Bahamas and the Explorer Charts are the mainstay of all us cruisers in the Bahamas to guide our way. They told Bob that new editions of both sets of charts (near and far Bahamas) have recently been published. These charts also serve as a cruising guide with all kinds of local information about what is available on every inhabited island. Bless you Sarah and Monty!

Along with the theme that there is always something – Bob checked the anchor and it looked fouled, so he dove it and found that the anchor chain was entwined with an old mooring line on the bottom. It was too heavy for him to fix, but Carleigh came to our rescue! After a little maneuvering, we were free again. We moved over to Sampson Cay, our first visit here this year (Carleigh had stayed here during the last blow). The manager was off island back in the US getting a kidney removed today as it was cancerous. We heard that the surgery went well and were happy to hear that when Rita-Kay and Clay met us for Happy Hour at the club.

 

Rita-Kay and Clay at Sampson Cay Happy Hour.

 

Bob and I at Happy House

Wednesday started out calm with winds slowly building throughout the day. In the afternoon, Rita-Kay and I walked the island of Sampson Cay. There are about 5 or 6 beaches on the island with some very rough trails between them. A path on these rocky islands are anything but level or smooth.

 

Carleigh off the marina at Sampson Cay behind us (We had rain all around us all day and never got a drop where we were.)

 

Sampson Cay Club and Marina off our starboard.

 

Beach Gazebo at one of the beaches Rita-Kay and I walked to.

 

Rita-Kay with view from that beach

 

Penny by a small sculpture left on the beach.

 

Penny on a typical ruged path on the islands.

 

One of the new paintings in the club's restaurant all around this similar theme. Really beautiful.

The excitement for the day came when a float plane landed in the creek leading into the marina where we were anchored right beside us. I was able to grab the camera and get shots of the whole landing, disembarking of the passenger, and take off of the plane. We have witnessed float planes landing in previous years , but this was the closest we have been to one.

 

Float plane landing beside the boat - glad I had my camera close by.

 

Boat going out to pick up the passenger.

 

Plane taking off - think he was close enough?

 

Another close-up shot. I'm sure the pilot was focusing on gaining enough altitude to get over the hill in front of him!

On Saturday, we had expected the winds to die down and we would move back to "Staniel to be able to watch the football games, however, the winds continue one fairly strong, so we decided to stay at Sampson Cay. Carleigh decided to brave it and move to Staniel and left us mid afternoon. Our friends on Gigi's Island, Gigi and Vic, and Victoria Gaye, Buck and Vicky, arrived at noon. It was great to catch up with them.

The heat exchanger for the generator arrived by Watermaker Air and was delivered to us, so Bob decided to spend the afternoon doing the install. It went well and seems to have fixed the problem. This has broken twice at 5 year intervals, so guess we will plan on it in 5 more years and put it on the maintenance plan. We are still waiting for our new VHF radio to arrive, but are getting by with our hand-held unit.

 

Some of the new sea-glass wrapped earrings I am making while hanging out on the boat through the wind storms.