Staniel Cay Area

Pretty Penny at sunset taken from No Agenda


One of those really rare times of quiet where the water looks like glass.


So calm you can see the bottom clearly.

We have been enjoying ourselves with friends in the Staniel Cay area this winter. I purchased a water aerobics set this summer and have been faithfully working out in the water for an hour most everyday. Although I have to grimace getting into the cool water, once I get moving I warm up pretty fast. I tie a rope to the strap on the belt around my waist so I can't float away from the boat. It has been great exercise, wonderful for my back too. I only regret not having purchased one of these sets earlier!


Ray and Susan from No Agenda in their tender.

We enjoyed watching all the games on No Agenda and had a great Super Bowl Party with them and other boaters. This year, we have not seen as many mega-yachts here (although locals tell me they are coming in March),e repairbut the number of cruisers like us is higher than usual. We hear that in George Town the number of boats in the harbor this year is 285 as of last count.


Dinner one night on Exodus with our hosts Arnie and Susan, John and Wendy on Windemere. Thanks to John for taking the photo.

We have had a few nasty fronts and have had to move to more protected anchorages to dodge them. Last week we moved to an area known as Pipe Creek with our friends on Salty Turtle and No Regrets. We have never anchored in this location. While it protected on most sides, this area has one strong current running through it. Most boats put out two anchors, fore and aft, when here. We had anchored a little too close to No Regrets and with winds to 30 knots, we took turns standing watch. The next morning, we moved a little and had a hard time resetting the anchor. Usually, wherever we put our Rocna anchor down, it stays and is usually on its way to China, but this time it took 6 tries to get a good hold. The current and wind were going in opposite directions and that contributed to the problem. It finally set and stayed that way through the rest of the time we were there.


One of those nasty fronts over Pirate Beach where we have afternoon cocktails with friends everyday.


Our friends Vic and Gigi arrived at Staniel Cay in their "new to them" boat, Salty Turtle. We were so happy to see them.

I made my annual trip back to the states for a doctor's appointment again this year from Staniel Cay. I always fly Flamingo Air from Staniel Cay to Nassau. This year Flamingo had a slightly larger airplane.


My Flamingo Air flight back to Nassau. I ended up on the smaller plane on the trip back. :(


The only photo I could take as I was on the wrong side to see the islands we were flying over.

We were able to get off the boat and had dinner one night with Salty Turtle and cocktails another night with No Regrets. We were right behind Thomas Cay and we walked the beach one day to look for sea glass and came back with quite a collection. Most were slightly broken and I will have to take them home and tumble them this summer to finish them. We went back three days later and got another load with just as many as the first time! It was a great beach for glass.


My first days collection of sea glass.


The last front when we were in Pipe Creek arriving. It was a bad one with high winds, but we were safe.

Every year our generator, a Westerbeake, (I call it a Westerbroke), started leaking oil from the main seal. Bob talked with our wonderful mechanic back stateside, and Al said it was a fire hazard and not to run it. That meant we got out our portable Honda 2000 to power the boat. So far, that plus the solar panels and wind generator are managing to keep up with our needs. The repair is too difficult to do here in the Bahamas and is a major repair. Given all the trouble we have had with this generator, and the age of it, we have decided we will replace it when we return to the states. The issue then is, should weg o back early and have it done, or carry on using the back-up Honda for now. The downside is that we do not have a back-up to the back-up, but we have decided to continue on.

Today we moved on south to Blackpoint where I did a mural for Lorraine's Cafe. When I posted the photo on Facebook and the blog, I realized that I had forgotten to add leaves to the vine around the mural, so I went back and did that. While I was there, Lorraine said she was having some problems with the "locals" about the fact that I had only included one of the locally built racing sloops and none of the others. So tomorrow morning, I will go back and add 5 other boats to the mural.

We will stop at a few anchorages on our way south to enjoy some peace and quiet away from the anchorages we have been in at Staniel and Blackpoint. It will be crowded again in Georgetown. We weren't sure we would make the Cruiser's Regatta in Georgetown, but it now looks like we should be there for part of it this year after all.


Goodnight from Staniel Cay!

We arrived!

We did arrive mid December just fine in the Bahamas. Unfortunately, we have had major Internet access difficulty this year. Our cell phones, although they are new "smart" phones and have GSM capability, apparently there are two types of GSM and we have the "different" one than the Bahamas. As a result, we cannot access and read our email and Facebook accounts like we did last year.

We left Florida out of the Bakers Haulover Inlet this year to really calm water. We thought we should "pinch" ourselves because the water was so calm. Unfortunately, it did get a little rough about half way across to Bimini. Once we reached Bimini and the Bahamas Banks, they shallower water calmed the ocean down and it was better the rest of the day.

Beautiful morning shot of Miami behind us.

We crossed with our friends on Pirate and No Agenda. We anchored out for the night near the Northwest Channel Light, and continued on the next morning and arrived in Nassau around 2 that afternoon. Our friends on Carliegh, Rita-Kay and Clay, met us at the dock. It was great to see them.

We spent a couple of days in Nassau, Rita-Kay and I went downtown and checked out the stores and having a "girl" day together. Bob went off looking for our rum provisions. We also shopped at the new grocery store by the docks that is as good as a Fresh Fields in the US. That was quite a surprise! We treated ourselves to a dinner of sushi at the restaurant across from the marina with Rita-Kay and Clay.

After a couple of days, we headed out to cross down to Norman's Cay and top of the Exuma chain of islands. We had a really rough crossing to Norman's, but once we reached the lee of the Exuma Islands, after and 3 hours, it calmed down. Bob had sped up to make that part go faster and that meant we could reach Staniel in one day. Since we wanted to be sure and make Staniel by Christmas, we pushed on.

In Staniel, we caught up with Pirate and No Agenda, and our friends on Windemere, and Exodus. Christmas Eve, there was a get-together on the Pirate Beach.

Our Christmas Eve on the beach

The resident Rooster that lives on Pirate Beach and is a real pest!

Christmas Day we had dinner on No Agenda with many of our cruising friends. Bob had purchased a Turkey in Nassau and Ray on No Agenda had a convection "no oil fryer" to cook it in. It turned out great.

Wendy and her snowmen earrings, dressed for the day.

Our Christmas Turkey cooking!

Bob preparing to carve our turkey with Wendy.

All the dingy's lined up behind No Agenda for Christmas Dinner

After Christmas, the next event in Staniel Cay is the annual Pirate Pirate. Bob and I pulled out the costumes we made last year and had a great time!

Bob and I ready for the Pirate action

Wayne and Sharona on My Sharona

Friends Sarah and Butch that live on Staniel Cay.

Gail and Eric on Vikings Dream

Bob with Sue on Independence, Sharon and Wayne on My Sharona, and Debbie and Bruce on Different Drummer

We are sad to say that this year during a fun race of crusing sailboats and local Bahamian sloops there was a wreck at one of the marks. Glory Days, a beautiful sailing cat built by Laurie the owner was hit on a starboard tack by a Bahamian sloop Tida Wave. Although all the people on the pry of Tida Wave were knocked in the water, all were uninjured. Glory Days had a large gash in the port hull, but was able to limp in to pig beach.

Glory Days after it arrived safely with all aboard at pig beach.

Closeup of the damage on Glory Days

Arrival of Amazing Grace, a salvage boat from a nearby island.

Amazing Grace was able to patch the hole and has now towed it back to Florida. Laurie and Fran are "recovering" and we wish them well and hope to see them back in the Bahamas next year.

Sophie, the new puppy of Susan and Ray on No Agenda. We are all enjoyed spending time playing with Sophie.

We needed to get laundry done, so we decided to cruise to Great Guana Cay, an island south of Staniel Cay and visit our friend Lorraine at Lorraine's Cafe and Ida at the Laundromat. We arrived to Lorraine's to find that it had a new paint job! Uriah, Lorraine's husband had done a great job painting the outside of the building. Lorraine asked if I knew of any cruiser that was an artist. She was looking to find someone to do a mural on one interior wall. I offered to do the mural. We settled on what would be included and a week later I arrived back with some paints I borrowed from my artist friend Sarah on Staniel and my paints to get started.

Lorraine's Cafe with the brand new paint job and new roof.

Lorraine and her newest granddaughter!

Bob spending some time teasing Lorraine's youngest son Joshua.

The blank wall I started with for the mural.

Lorraine and I in front of the finished mural. I guess I can now claim that I am an "International Artist."!

We watched the Redskins/Sea Hawks game on No Agenda. I painted Bob up with "war paint" for the game!

Unfortunately, the war paint did not help the Redskins.

One of the prettiest sunsets we have had so far in the Bahamas. Good Night!

We will be in the Staniel Cay and Black Point area till after the Super Bowl and then will begin to head down to George Town.