George Town and heading North

Raven being pulled of the sand

Later Saturday (3/8/14) we dinghy north to Monument Beach to go for a hike on Stocking Island to see the Monument and walk on the Atlantic side of the island. We stop by to see how “Raven” the Vagabond, 48 is doing. It is just after high tide and a large power boat has a tow rope attached to Raven and is attempting to pull Raven off the sand. Raven has sails up to heal it over to get the keel off the bottom. In about ten minutes they pull Raven free and she starts to sail south to the only marina in the Exumas with a travel lift capable of hauling it out of the water. All looks well as she slowly sails south. We tie up to the dinghy dock and go for our hike.

Climb up to the Monument

 From the top on Monument hill we get a fabulous view of the George Town Harbor and the Atlantic side of the island. 

View of anchorage off Stocking Island

We hike along the nearly deserted Atlantic beach, very different from the busy harbor side of the island.

Atlantic Beach

Happy Campers

Sunday morning is Chris Parker's (Cruisers weatherman on the shortwave radio) day off so I sleep in. Later in the day we stop by Sturdy Logic and pick up Mike. He takes us to a reef area that he remembered had fairly good snorkeling. We see some interesting fish, I try to chase a Ray to get pictures.

Later that day on the VHF we hear very sad news. When the marina went to pick up Raven on their travel lift one of the cables broke and dropped Raven, it is now a total loss. The owner is having a get together Monday at the “Peace and Plenty” Hotel, essentially a Boat Wake.

Monday morning our friends, Dan and Dawn, on Gertie left with about 70 other boats on a Regatta to Long Island. We later pull anchor to head out to the Atlantic for a holding tank pump out Regatta of one. There is a harbor pump out boat, but it has not been very reliable. It is suppose to run on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We have yet to see it or raise it on the radio on the appropriate days. So naturally as we pull up the anchor the pump out boat comes into the anchorage. I decide to stick with a sure thing and head out for a cruise, since we have experienced many unreliable pump out boats over the last couple months.

Dinghy dock on "Lake Victoria" at George Town

In the afternoon we head into town to again visit BTC. The data that I had added to my plan has mysteriously disappeared over the last two days. I finally figure out it was Bill Gate's fault. I had tethered our Windows 8 PC to the internet via the cell phone to work on a couple things. I later find out that Windows 8 decided to automatically download an update without informing me or asking permission. When tethered to a cell phone hot spot Windows 8 thinks its a WIFI connection, and in that mode the default is not to ask for permission to download updates. Changed that quickly, to no updates without asking. Later I also find out our other devices are also talking behind my back, via Blue Tooth, and helping themselves to the cell phone hot spot. The bastards, you just can't trust your computers. I make sure Blue Tooth is off when I do not need it.

Rake and Scrape at Eddie's Edgewater

That night we go to Eddies Edge Water for Thursday night “Rake and Scrape” and to meet up with Mike. I found out I was clueless to what “Rake and Scrape” is. I though it was Bahamian Bar-B-Que with some music. It turns out it has nothing to do with food, it is all about the music. One of the instruments is an old fashion large hand saw that was raked and scraped with some other tool. Another unique instrument is a big inverted galvanized wash tub with a single bow string in the center. Anyways we are about the only ones there for dinner, the place is empty. Some of the band members start to show up one at a time. Once they get playing, an hour and half later, the place is packed. Lots of dancing to some very good music with a great beat. A bunch of local characters are having fun dancing with the Cruisers. Later when talking with Bill from “Hot Chocolate” who was at Eddies “Rake and Scrape” about two years ago, he ID's a number of the locals who are apparently Thursday night fixtures. “Hey, was the Micheal Jackson wannabe there”, as he goes down the list, of the, as we now know are Thursday night regulars.

The next day I work on the electronics on the wind gauge and install it back on the mast head. Seems to be working fine and I tighten the connector one more time before I head down the mast. One more check when I get down and I find it is not working, obviously a connector issue up on top.  Strangely, a couple days later it starts working.

In the afternoon we head to the “Boat Wake”, curious to hear the details of the whole story. We find out that on the original grounding the boat took on a couple feet of water that submerged the engine, rendering the engine inoperable. The rescuers had brought pumps and generators to keep it a float. The boat may already had been totaled before the final nail in the coffin (being dropped). Anyways BoatUS had an agent flown down to make good on their insurance claim. Since many of us insure through BoatUS, it was good to hear their quick resolution.

Dinner Host, Mike

Later we went over to “Sturdy Logic”, Mike had invited us to dinner. Pigged out on an excellent dinner of pasta and hot sausage, to quote Linda “Delicious”. Later when talking to Mike about “Raven”, he recounted his story of being hit by lightning just before the start of his current voyage over a year ago. BoatUS delayed payment for a month or two, delaying repairs and his departure from New York until late fall.

Wednesday I make our 3^rd oil change for this trip. Change fuel and oil filters. Spend the evening playing Dominoes on “Hot Chocolate”, Bill and Sandy with “Gertie” Dan and Dawn.

Pretty good blow on Thursday, so we stay on the boat. Even with the waves it is fairly comfortable, not a lot of current in the harbor, so the bow is facing the wind and waves, not always a common occurrence. Current in a blow can make being at anchor very uncomfortable when the waves roll the boat from broad sides because the boat is not facing into the wind.

Next day is a little less windy and we head into town for lunch and to pick up some parts. On the way back heading into the wind we get soaked, but it is warm and in the low 80's, so we laugh all the way back like a couple drunken sailors.

Saturday (3/15/14) we hike back over to the Atlantic side of Stocking Island to walk along the beach to watch the considerable surf and observe a few blow holes.

Walk along the Atlantic side

 Meet Dan and Dawn at Volley Ball Beach to hear a lecture on Cat Island. That evening we all head to dinner on “Hot Chocolate”. We bring desert, Ghirardelli's Triple Chocolate brownies. Bill is very happy, his boat is named “Hot Chocolate”, for a good reason, and it's nothing to do with sailing.

A couple weeks ago when we were first at Staniel Cay I had noticed some moisture in our Nikon Waterproof camera and quickly got it out of the water. After a couple days in our rice bag all was well, excess moisture was absorbed by the rice. After that I check the camera seal for hairs and dirt each time I closed it before taking it in the water. Then a couple weeks later I get complacent and toss the camera in my swim trunks before going snorkeling. Later I pull it out under water to find it will not even turn on. Once back on the sailboat I open the camera and find water in the bottom of the camera. Well, that's not good. I assume the camera is dead for good this time. I decide to washout the bottom 1/3 of the camera with fresh water. I let it air dry and put it back in the rice bag for a couple days. I assumed the camera is permanently dead this time, but nothing ventured nothing gained. We are now down to our old Cannon SureShot, which has a waterproof case. Our other non-waterproof Nikon Camera has software issues and has stopped functioning. The function I like the most with the Nikon's is the built in GPS. The pictures are tagged with GPS coordinates, and compass direction. Great to have the camera tell me where we took the photo, later when were can't remember.

Anyways, I put the Nikon Waterproof camera back together a few days later and voila ! It works just fine. The magic rice saves me again. Of course now I am very leery of taking it below the water surface. Even though the old Cannon camera does video it does not do High Definition video like the two Nikons.

Sunday morning we head into George Town to have breakfast at Peace and Plenty on the water, should of done this sooner. Great breakfast, fabulous view.

Peace and Plenty

Lousy WIFI though, so we walk by Eddies Edge water which is closed and find they are kind enough to leave on their WIFI, even though the are closed. Respectable download speeds for the Bahamas.

Monday morning we start our long trek north, back home, leaving with Gertie. We pull anchors and head north for Rudder Cut Cay.

View from the Cave

 A fairly isolated spot after two weeks at the busy George Town harbor. One of our goals was to snorkel on the “Mermaid and Piano” a full size piece of stainless steel art in about 15 feet of water in a small cove on Rudder Cut Cay. The sight is unmarked and the only information I have is the Latitude and Longitude coordinates. The next morning we find it, but the current is too swift to linger. Have to kick full speed to stay over it for a few seconds, too much current to dive on it. So much for my picture opportunity playing the stainless steel piano with the Mermaid.

With the fast current I think she was playing "Flight of the Bumblebee", or I sure felt that way kicking furiously trying to stay in place to get this picture.

The “Mermaid and Piano” was supposedly commissioned by David Copperfield the Magician who owns the island north of Rudder Cut, Musha Cay, which can be rented by the week. Something like $25,000 per day. From the best I can tell, he actually owns Rudder Cut also, which has been bought and sold a couple times in the last 20 years. They use the runway of Rudder Cut to get guests to Musha Cay. Rudder Cut is pretty much deserted. A few video cameras and no trespassing signs are scattered around. There is a dog who is occasionally seen running around, many people assume he is a guard dog. I think he is abandoned and seeks out people, but will not let them get real close, but seems to appreciate sailors giving him food. He does look to be in good shape.

Floating Island at Cave Cut Cay

Wednesday we all head north to Great Guana Cay a couple miles north of Little Farmers Cay. The goal is to hike to a cave on the island in the afternoon. The cave is very interesting, fortunately with a very large opening, since I forgot my flashlight. There is water in the cave which has some fairly extensive cave diving.

Fresh water pond in bottom of cave

Dawn and Linda at the entrance of cave

The next day on the way to Black Point, we stop by Jack's Cove for some snorkeling and shelling on a nice crescent beach on the west side of Guana Cay. The previous day we hiked to a similar beach on the east side (Atlantic) after we left the cave and found it extensively littered with plastic objects. Jack's cove was relatively clean of plastic garbage on the leeward side. As we got into Black Point, Chrisy and Roger, Sanderling, hailed us from the laundry on shore. We had not seem then since Titusville, Florida where they left their boat in mid-December to spend two months up north enjoying the snow and cold. That night we all got together for Happy Hour at Scorpios with Skip and Rita, “Kamouraska”, who we last saw at Vero Beach.

Scorpio's Happy Hour seated, Linda,Chrisy, Roger, Dan, Cathy, Kim and Dawn

 Reunion of our Chesapeake fleet, Roger & Chrisy (Sanderli), Dan & Dawn (Gertie) and Manana

Ida (owner) giving Roger a haircut at the Laundromat

 They had headed back north for a month or so for the birth of their first grandchild. Also with us at happy hour was, Kim and Cathy “Quiescence” from Toronto, who we all last saw in St Augustine. A fun reunion. Just as we were all getting ready to leave someone comes into Scorpios and says any one with a dinghy on the government dock better come and move it because the mail boat is coming in. Did not expect the mail boat to arrive after dark. There are a lot more dinghies on the dock since we came in and people are scrambling to move the dinghies before the mail boat uses them as fenders.

The next day we (or should I say Linda) got the laundry done early. The crowds from a month ago were gone, only half the number of boats are in the harbor. We meet up for lunch at Desmones. That night Quiescence and Gertie come over for ice cream I just picked up at the local store. Unfortunately, Bahamians are not really into ice cream. I think it is there only for unsuspecting cruisers like me. Their “freezers” must be only 30 degrees. 10 minutes later we are eating soft serve, even though I have an insulated cooler bag. I am bringing my temperature IR gauge to check the temperature of the ice cream before I buy, next time I get the urge.

The next day we do a short sail to Staniel Cay and anchor back near the Thunderball Grotto.
We hear an ad on channel 16 for ice cream at the store near the airport. I guess the Bahamians have a broad definition of “working channel” on the VHF. Dawn on Gertie hears the same announcement, so again we are on an ice cream quest. First we head into town for our first objective, a local festival for lunch. Linda and I share a steamed pork lunch, with Bahamian Mac and Cheese, potatoe salad, etc, excellent. Then we head out on our mission to get ice cream at the Isles General Store. We get there and a sign on the screen doors says closed until 3:00 PM. It turns out they are working at the Festival. Just as well, I had forgotten the temperature ice cream gauge on the boat. That night we get together on Sanderling with their son Eric and Janet, who had flown into Staniel Cay that morning for a week in the Exumas. Dan and Dawn we there also. Linda took her Texas Cavier (black bean, etc) appetizer and it was a hit, thanks to Joanne Payea for the recipe she gave us in Florida,

Sunday (3/23/14) morning we listen the Staniel Cay Cruisers net, which we were unaware of the first time through. When they get to the “Treasures from the Bilge”, items for trade or barter, one woman comes on and offers up her 8 year old son. No takers, but we all get a good chuckle. We left mid-morning after Gertie, followed by Sanderling, for Cambridge Cay in the Exuma Land and Sea Park.

Hiked to the south side of Cambridge with Gertie in the afternoon for some snorkeling at an area called the “Coral Garden”. Left our dinks in a cove on the north side which had a number of turtles and rays. Could not get close to any of them. Returning to our dinghies on the beach we ran into the Sanderling crew coming back from “Rocky Dundas” further south. That night we all got together on Gertie for dominoes and dessert. Linda and I made a dessert called Chocolate Truffle. First time we made it on a boat. Since we didn't have a lot of excess space in our refrigerator it was made for immediate consumption and before the expiration date arrived on the Cool Whip we bought in George Town to make this dessert.

Monday, we all head north about two miles to snorkel at the “Sea Aquarium”.

Sea Aquarium

Dawn, Chrisy & Linda

Popular place with lots of fish and people. Stayed there until just before hypothermia set in. Sanderling motored to the “Sea Aquarium” and continued north to Wardewick Wells in the afternoon. Gertie and us slowly dinghied back to our sailboats for lunch.

 Later in the afternoon we dinghied two miles south to “Rocky Dundas”. Were surprised to find two really neat caves and some very good snorkeling. The park service has three dinghy moorings near the caves. We also had our own personal greeter, hanging out around our dinghies, a 3-1/2 foot Barracuda. He was just lurking around checking us out.

Cave Number One

Stag-horn Corral

Linda in Cave Number Two

 
After everyone else was back in the dinghies I had a drive by, by a good size shark cruising through the area. He barely paid attention to me as he cruised through the area. Had Linda seen him I don't think she would of needed the ladder to get back in the dinghy (she left her flippers on getting up on the ladder which wasn't easy – protecting her toes).

Great ! Everyone one is out of the water, but me when the shark patrol comes by. I don't like my odds.

View from the heights of Cambridge Island

This is a Hamburger bean for obvious reasons, that was found on the beach. It is a seed from a tree in Africa that has travel across the ocean.

Flying cell phone

Cambridge Cay had very marginal cell coverage. Getting tired of striking the "Statue of Liberty" pose to get a connection, I ran our cell phone the flag halyard and connected to it via bluetooth (good for about 30 feet) to our other electronic gadgets down in the boat.










Coming down the east coast, we kept looking for good travel mugs, but could not find any that we liked. Well, we did find one, McDonald’s Styrofoam coffee cups. They keep the coffee warm for a long time with out being too clunky and the price is right. We started saving up cups and lids in Florida to get us through the Bahamas. We can go quite a few weeks before they turn into dribble cups and we have to retire one and move on to the next one. We frequented quite a few McDonald’s for coffee and WIFI.