Staniel Cay, Day 2

We hung out on the boat for the morning. Around noontime a lot of boats were coming to the Thunderball Grotto to snorkel. 
 

entrance to Thunderball Grotto

 After lunch we headed over there ourselves. The same current we were experiencing at out anchorage was flowing through the Grotto making it hard to snorkel. 


 

Inside Thunderball Grotto

Linda gave up and deserted me for the dinghy and I did not last much longer. The last two times here we had no current to deal with. We gave up and went back to the boat.

 

Manana in background, dinghy in foreground

We washed up and headed back into town to go to General Isles store. On our way we ran into Heather “Maewyn” and her sons Arleigh and Sam walking with Gary's Mom. Gary and his Dad were back on the boat. We all walk to General Isles, because we are told they have ice cream. Even the sign on their door says they have ice cream, but like most establishments in the Bahamas that display permanently attached “Open” signs, it is true sometimes, just not today.

We all walk back towards the dinghy basin and stop at the “Pink” store. They score a pint of ice cream and they sit down by the beach with their spoons and enjoy it before it melts. Another night a strong winds and current. No reason to hang around here any longer and we will leave in the morning for Black Point which has good protection from the east winds that are suppose to increase for the next few days.

Staniel Cay

Had a squall come through last night, early in the morning. Finally got the boat washed off. We were a little slow waking up and closing the hatches. The bed sheet got a little damp. Fortunately we were in an anchorage with 360 degree protection. Boats in anchorages with protection from the easterly trades winds, but open to the west had a rough couple hours as the squall came from the west.

Left around 9:00AM and were anchored at Staniel Cay by 1:00 PM. After we had lunch we dinghied to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. We walked to the one store that was opened and ran into Heidi & David “Frosty” walking their dogs. They were staying on the dock at Staniel, because they were getting the prop on their outboard fixed. With two dogs you have to have shore access. They got very little sleep last night because the docks here are exposed to the west and they were being bounced against the docks a good part of the night.

We had a very windy night, but were fairly protected from the east winds by Staniel Cay, but the wind driven current from the cut just north of Staniel Cay kept a 2 or 3 knot current flowing east to west through our anchorage regardless of the changing tides.

Cambridge, Aquarium

In the morning we go for a hike on Cambridge Cay, by Bell Rock. 

 

Bell Rock

Lisa, Craig, Linda & Nile

 On the way back along the trail we run into Craig and Lisa and we all decide to head back to “The Aquarium” for the afternoon. More clouds and people this time so the snorkeling was not quite as good as yesterday.

The fish are used to people feeding them here and as soon as I jump in the water I am “attacked” by a flock of Parana’s or were they Sargent Majors? I get them confused. Lets see I have all ten fingers, they must have been Sargent Majors. I even had one nip me on the back for not coughing up some corn.

Give me some corn Dammit !

Queen Angel, Linda's favorite

Craig and Lisa came over to our boat after dinner for coffee and dessert and to play Mexican Train Dominoes.

Cambridge Cay

I get up at 6:30 AM and listen to Chris Parker weather forecast on the SSB radio. Then after breakfast I run our sign up to Boo Boo Hill and leave it next to “Sea Vu Plays” sign. 

Manana in the background, sign in the foreground

We then head to the office and buy more ice and Linda gets a very nice book on Reef fish. We meet Lisa and Craig “Second Spree” another boat from New Bern and they of course know our good friends Bill and Sandy “Hot Chocolate” whom we sailed with two years ago and skied with last winter. They also know Mark and Karen “Sea Vu Play”. We just keep running into sailors from New Bern North Carolina. New Bern attracts retired sailors.

We head to Cambridge. We sail down the east side of the Exumas on a moderate west wind to Cambridge. “Second Spree” came in a little later from the banks side. We all head up to “The Aquarium” two miles to the north, a fabulous snorkeling spot that has dinghy moorings.

 

Linda and Lisa

What Lies Beneath

 Craig and Lisa invite us over to their boat for Happy Hour.

Warderick Wells Day 2

In the morning we hiked to Boo Boo Hill, which has a commanded view of that area and anchorage. On the top of the hill many sailors leave driftwood with their boat names and date visit. 

Mooring field at Warderick Well from Boo Boo Hill

We did not do so last time, but I find and blank piece of wood and decide to do a little wood working project with my Dremel tool back on the boat. Stopped by the deck at the head quarters and talked with a bunch of sailors, a few we have run into previously, back in Florida.

After lunch we zip down to the south end of the Warderick Wells to Hog Cay and find another excellent snorkeling site “Pieces of Eight” reef, Queen Angels (Linda’s favorite), Stingrays, turtles and lots of different fish.

Linda is happy, we have already done more snorkeling than we had on our whole last trip, which is pretty good considering our first time snorkeling was only about two weeks ago. Love that new outboard, our best new snorkeling tool. Visited with “Greenwood”, owners are from Minnesota and have this boat in Florida for the winter and another home in Minnesota for the summer. We head back to the boat for more rum and cokes (love having ice) and I work on my woodworking sign project.

That evening the Catamaran, next to us have their friends over and are quite loud until around 10:00PM and then they run their generator until 11:00PM. They being French-Canadians from Montreal we feel like we are back on Lake Champlain with the same obnoxious city folks.

Warderick Wells

Via the dinghy we explored Hawksbill and left late morning for Warderick Wells, Exuma Park Headquarters.

Hawksbill Cay anchorage

Calm morning at Hawksbill Cay

Water and sky merge

We picked up our mooring around 2:30PM, checked and immediately headed to some small islands to the north to snorkel. The last two days have been unusually calm and this was a good opportunity to snorkel a couple places that are often to rough. We went to Kelly's reef which had a nice mix of white sand and coral which made for good light this late in the day.

Putting on fins

Snorkeling from the beach

There is a little secluded beach which we could snorkel from. As with many reefs there was the resident Barracuda who followed us around for a while.  It is very nice having the 15hp Yamaha outboard for snorkeling, we can zip around and checkout may sights in a fraction of the time that our 6hp will do.

Our new best snorkeling device in action, Go Yamaha !

We head back to the boat and shower off on the stern and have rum and cokes, with ice. The Park headquarters finally got their ice machine fixed. Was not functioning the last time we were here.

Shroud Day 2

Slept in and had a late breakfast. Normally I edit this blog on a PC and unload from there via WIFI. 

Flying iPhone

Well, here is the Exuma Park there is no WIFI and no cell towers within the park. I can get a get a data connection to a cell tower to the north if I hoist our iPhone up the mast so it is high enough to make a connection. Then I climb the mast with my laptop in hand and hanging from a halyard and I type out this blog -NOT.

Actually, the Bluetooth on the iPhone has a range of 40 feet or so and communicates to other Bluetooth devices down in the comfort of the boat. Unfortunately, now that our PC's have Windows 10 they will not tether to the via the USB cable to the iPhone or via Bluetooth. Windows XP and Windows 8 worked fine on our trip two years ago. So my only recourse is to use the iPad to write and upload, but I can not find away to upload pictures, so I will add them later.

We leave for at 3:30PM for a short sail to the next Hawksbill Cay and pick up a mooring at 5:00PM, Hard day of sailing.