Polite Compromise

Enjoyed our stay at the Bimini Islands. We got good at taking the water taxi back and forth between the South and North Islands. We took a quick trip over to Alice Town to meet up with boat neighbors for lunch at the straw market (cultural center). There is a woman there, Lady Jane, who serves lunch from the back of her little hatchback car: $10.00 for your choice of stuffed lobster, chicken curry, fried chicken, meatloaf, meatballs, all with rice/coleslaw/plantains, and a sweet tart for an extra $2.00. Oh. my. goodness. good. So we all sat on the concrete steps of the open air market and chowed down. Then we went in search of post cards to take to the post office (located at the police station) to mail to our families back home. Along the way we bought coconut bread (smelled so good, Ron bought two loaves!) and headed off to the Bimini Big Game and Fishing Club for a couple of cold Kaliks. We sat on the upper deck so we could visit and watch the boat traffic. Then we noticed that in the water there were a couple of sharks swimming slowly along the bulkhead. They each must have been a good 8-10 feet long. Just slowly cruising back and forth. My guess is that the sharks know that fish get cleaned along the docks after the boats come in and that they are looking for easy food. No wonder they have a NO SWIMMING sign posted.

We left the Bimini Sands Marina early on Saturday, Jan 30th, and headed south through the north/west passage and spent the night anchored in the Great Bahama Banks. There were a few other boats all anchored within sight of each other. That part of the banks isn’t deep and you can anchor in about 14-15 feet of water. We slept pretty well, but I will admit that it was kinda creepy to be anchored so far from land - nothing around you for miles and miles. It was nice to have boats anchored close enough that you could see their lights. The stars were fabulous.

Arrived at Chub Cay the next morning. After we filled up with diesel at the marina, we anchored in a small, protected cove and decided to do a little boat maintenance. Our boat speed had been getting slower and that our fuel usage was increasing. So we dove under the boat and scraped all the barnacles and junk off of the prop and rudder that has been slowing us down. That should help.

We left early on Monday morning and headed for the next closest land point, West End on Providence Island. (Nassau is on the east end.) We started off okay, but about an hour into the trip we saw rainclouds off to the west. Thought they would miss us - but SURPRISE! It turned into a squall and followed us all the way to Providence. With a squall, you get wind and rain - but not usually a lot of high waves. They come on quick and don’t have time to develop much of a rough sea. If it is a front - they typically build up and have time to push the water causing lots of rough/high waves. So other than getting soaked and a little spooked about the lightening, we made it just fine. I put the iPad back into a protective case to keep it dry and we used it to map our path to the anchorage in West Bay. There are coral reefs here - and wrecks are marked on the maps - so you need to be careful on any approach, but particularly in bad weather. Once we rounded the mark into the bay we could see the bottom pretty well and Ron motored us around until he found a spot with a sandy bottom and I lowered the anchor - gave it 60 feet of rode - in the rain. Done.

The next day, we motor/sailed to the other end of Providence and checked into a marina in Nassau so that we could resupply with fresh produce, fuel, and adult beverages. The Nassau Harbour Yacht Club is directly across the street from a good shopping center so we could fill our list and haul it back to the boat. We met up with some sailing friends we had met earlier along the way and we all ended up going out to dinner at the “Poop Deck” just down the street. I watched another fabulous sunset, had my first Bahama Mamma, and ordered lobster for dinner. Doesn’t get much nicer than that.

Left fairly early on Feb 3rd and headed to Ship Channel Cay and anchored out for the night. The next day we made a quick stop at Allens Cay and Leaf Cay. The reason for stopping here (other than they are simply beautiful) is that these are protected/uninhabited islands that are the home of some nearly extinct Bahamian iguanas. Although you’re not supposed feed them, some people do - and as soon as you get to the beach they start running at you from the tree line. Dozens and dozens of them. Little freeloaders.

We moved on to Warderick Wells Cay, the main island in the Exuma Islands Land and Sea Park. We had reserved a mooring ball because we were expecting a major weather front and wanted to be in a more sheltered area. The mooring ball field was in an area called Emerald Rock - and it isn’t in the most protected area of the park, but the more secure spots were all taken. This is one seriously beautiful island! Since it is a protected park, you are not allowed to fish, take lobsters, conch, or remove any shells. Consequently - the marine life around the coral reefs here are healthy and beautiful. The park rangers were extremely helpful getting everyone settled in. Boaters in the mooring fields organized a happy hour on Saturday for sunset. We met lots of new folks and found out more information on where to go and what to see as we travel further south. And the rangers were fabulous. They organized a potluck Super Bowl party at their resident house for Sunday! The weather front had arrived by then and the water was extremely choppy so they even went around with their big skiff and picked up anyone from their boats who wanted to go.

There are hiking trails all over the Warderick Wells Cay. Ron took me on one that went to the top of Boo Boo Hill (and no, Russell, I did not find Yogi). At the very top there is a large pile of driftwood and old boards. At first it looks like a trash pile, but then you notice that on every piece of wood has been carved or painted the names of boats and the dates they visited - and some are decorated with sea shells. What a neat idea… I took photos. If I ever get to come there again, I would like to bring a sign for Compromise to add to the pile.

Yesterday the weather finally cleared off enough to give us a good window to leave, so we crossed through Conch Cut and went on the outside of the island chain into the Exuma Sound. There were better winds so we were able to sail a little bit and travelled onto Staniel Cay. Staniel Cay is the closest area that offers some protection from East and West winds. We are anchored snuggly between Big Majors Spot and Little Majors Spot. (We don’t know why these to islands are referred to on the maps as “spots” and everything else is a “cay”.)

This morning’s dingy ride to the Staniel Cay Marina was a white knuckle effort. There was a strong outgoing (ebbing) tide, and we had a strong north/west wind right in our faces. Plus - the outboard on our little dingy is undersized (4hp). We could barely make forward progress. There were rock outcrops and choppy water - and at least once we talked about just going back to Compromise and giving up. Then Ron put on his “Bwana Face”, pulled his hat down tighter on his head, and zinged up the little engine as high as he could. It was slow progress - and probably not our smartest decision, but we made it - just a little damp. But hell, we needed to do laundry anyway!

After we arranged for our laundry to be done (note to self - next time bring a large trash bag to put clean laundry in so it doesn’t get wet on the ride back to the boat!), we rented a golf cart and motored off to explore the rest of the island. Found the church, medical clinic, library, and both grocery stores (the Blue store and the Pink store). Pink was closed, so we picked up a few items at Blue. Tried to donate some of the books I have finished reading at the library - but the library was closed because the librarian had gone to church (Fat Tuesday). We went to the general store - but they were closed for lunch (for 2 hours). Welcome to the islands!! Next we took off for the beach. Getting there was a rough ride. Poor old golf cart had bald tires, bad brakes, a good 10 inches of play in the steering wheel, and it backfired regularly!

We plan to stay here for a few days. We need to replace our new BTC (Bahamian) phone - it got wet during this morning’s dingy ride and is ruined. There is also supposed to be some gorgeous diving where you can swim with nurse sharks. And one of the Majors (the island next to us) has a population of wild pigs that like to come and visit/beg for handouts. Should be good for a giggle and a few photos. We have been told not to miss snorkeling at the Thunderball Grotto - it’s where they filmed (you guessed it!) the James Bond movie, Thunderball. The grotto is only a few hundred yards away from where we are anchored - but we need to wait for calmer winds and water before we go check it out.

Ron is already plotting and planning our next leg of this trip.

More to come -
Love, Karen.