05/12/2012, Hope Town, Abaco, The Bahamas
PHOTO ABOVE: Some of the captains and crew from the Island Packet mini-fleet that got together for cool libations at the Harbors Edge, Hope Town.
As the title might suggest, we are still moored in Hope Town. And why not?
We were going to leave last Wednesday until a small fleet of other Island Packets arrived and we convened the May 2012 Hope Town, Abaco IP 'mini-vous' at the Harbors Edge. Moored in the harbor were cruising friends from last season, s/v WInd Spirit, s/v Optimystique, s/v Kalex, s/v Tintean, s/v Emerald Seas, s/v, s/v Barefoot, and yours truly s/v Far Niente.
A couple of us sailed WInd Spirit over to Marsh Harbor on Thursday to go to the only ATM machine in the northern Abacos, pick up a few groceries, and stop by the Bristol Liquor store to secure vino for our on board cellars. Other than a quick nasty rain squall, it was a productive and enjoyable day.
Now everyone except for Far Niente and Barefoot have left Hope Town. Some will explore the Abacos further north and others are headed back to the U.S. as soon as weather is suitable for a comfortable Gulf Stream crossing.
We are 'planning' (there is that word again) on staying in Hope Town a few more days while some confusing weather systems work things out. Marjorie is anchoring the Abaco Cruiser's Net again this Sunday.
Some time in late May or early June we will be making landfall in Florida (where?) then move north and now plan on stopping in Beaufort, SC for awhile. Many, many new boat projects as well as some major PM need to be addressed this summer. Its not likely we'll sail Far Niente any further north this year. We'll then be staged much further south when November rolls around and we can make for the Keys and Bahamas again.
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04/30/2012, Abaco, The Bahamas
PHOTO ABOVE: Marjorie making her debut as anchor of the Abaco Cruiser Net.
We keep waiting for the wonderful Bahamian spring weather veteran cruisers have told us about. For now we are staying in Hope Town a few more days while the current weather sorts out.
On Sunday, Marjorie made her debut as the anchor or host of the Abaco cruisers net. The Abaco cruisers net is broadcast on VHF 68 every day at 8:15 am. The broadcast serves to relate valuable information to those of us on boats such as weather, tides, drink/dining specials, and general information on where to get what. She did a great job.
Right now in Hope Town there are plenty of moorings available in the harbor, but there are also still plenty of cruisers coming and going. Each day we hear more boats announcing they are headed north and back over to the states. We'll be doing that as well sometime in the next month.
And finally, thanks to all of you who proof read the blog for me. If you did not pick up on it in the last post, autocomplete managed to substitute "cursing community" for "cruising community", which actually ended up being quite funny. Many of these ramblings are stream of consciousness. I exercise very little discipline in making sure all text is grammatically correct, etc. (I always hated English class). Thanks for reading.
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04/27/2012, Hope Town Harbor Mooring Field
PHOTO ABOVE: The famous Hope Town lighthouse stands high right off Far Niente's stern.
We made a short 9 nm trip from Marsh Harbour to Hope Town on a beautiful day. Our goal was to hit the Hope Town harbor entrance right around high tide at 12:15 pm.
There are a variety of recommendations on how to get through the shallow water in front of the entrance to the channel. I have 4 charts on board and each is a bit different with regard to where the water is >5'. The recommendation is to "read the water" which is fine to a point. I don't know anyone who can stand on the bow of a boat and look down and tell you if it is 7' deep versus 4.5' deep. Hence my consternation.
But we were in luck as soon as we made the approach a 71' motor yacht made a Securite' call announcing it's entry into the narrow channel and asking departing craft to stand clear. They also stated they had a 7' draft. I didn't call him on the VHF, but I was sure as heck following this guy towards and through the channel.
We entered the harbor, which looks a bit bigger in all the pictures than it does when you are trying to maneuver around the moored boats in search of a vacant mooring. When you are in Hope Town harbor your choices are to take a slip at one of the 3 marinas or moor; there is no anchoring in the harbor.
We found a mooring and made our connection. We lowered the dinghy and headed into town. The harbor and town are very nice and the cursing community here is friendly and helpful.
Weather is again coming through this weekend, so we plan to hang here on the mooring and enjoy the good life in Hope Town.
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04/24/2012, Conch Inn Marina
Nassau to Marsh Harbour, Abacos
Wednesday, 4-18 - Leg 1: Nassau to Royal Island (25 30.937'N:76 50.588'W)
Distance: 41.4 nm Time: 6:09
Thursday, 4-19 - Leg 2: Royal Island to Lynyard Cay (26 21.301'N:76 59.155'W)
Distance: 63.9 nm Time: 9:58
Friday, 4-20 - Leg 3: Lynyard Cay to Marsh Harbour (26 32.868'N:77 03.158'W)
Distance: 22.7 nm Time: 4:40
We, as we frequently do, changed our cruising plans. Our original goal was to leave Marathon about March 1 and leisurely make our way to George Town in the Exhumas, then meander back north through the Abacos before heading back to the mainland in late May. Our late departure from Marathon was not much concern as we have heard repeatedly that the weather in the Bahamas improves significantly in April - June. But weather really yet to make the transition as far as I can tell. So we while waiting in Nassau for winds and seas to relax, we decided to simply head to the Abacos from Nassau and target the Exhumas for the next time.
The plan route was Nassua to Royal Island (just north of Spanish Wells and Eluthra), Royal Island to Lynyard Cay and then on to Marsh Harbour. The weather window was there and we cast off from Nassau Yacht Haven right around slack tide and headed for the western channel on April 18. Seas were calm, winds were 10-15 kts, and they were just slightly off the nose. We motored sailed the entire distance and pulled into the very protected Royal Island anchorage about 1:30 pm. Only one other yacht was anchored there when we pulled in so we had our choice of places to drop the hook. Royal Island is an abandon resort development originally backed by Dallas Cowboys Roger Staubach. They have a nice beach, beautiful clubhouse and perhaps 5 or so beach side villas. No more development. We heard you can buy the whole island and what was completed of the development for a mere $50 million.
By sunset we had many more neighbors; 16 other yachts to be exact. The protection this anchorage offers is extensive and somewhat of an anomaly in the Bahamas.
We pulled up the Rocna 33 just after sunrise and headed out to sea headed to the very south part of the Sea of Abaco. The leg was about 64 miles with about 55 ocean miles. Winds were forecast to be light and variable out of the southeast. Once out on Northeast Providence Channel (Atlantic) we had a course of 356 degrees true and a nice 15-18 kt breeze that helped us motor sail with just the genoa at 7-8.5 kts. A few miles out, thought he breeze died to 5-7 kts and the genoa flogged about and we motored on. Waves were 2-3' and as we headed further north the ocean swells began to build off our starboard stern quarter. The ride for the next several hours was uncomfortable and wind was so light that hoisting a sail to stabilize the boat some was marginally effective. We motored on toward our waypoint.
Review of the cruising guides convinced me with the direction of the swells and reputation of the cut known as the North Bar Channel, it was the preferred entry point. North Bar Channel is about 4 nm north of the Little Harbor Cut but much wider and deeper. It also had a recommended entry course of 288 degrees true versus the Little Harbor Cut's 318 degrees true. As we approached the North Bar cut waypoint we observed very large and spread out ocean swells coming in from the deep water of the Atlantic processing toward the 40-80' foot shelf just off shore. We then spotted large breaking waves just north and south of the cut, but the center appears more settled. When we hit the waypoint I turned to 288 degrees true and did my best to hold it there as we entered the cut. Tide was rising so we had significant current on the stern. We had just passed the Channel Rock (on the north side) and the north end of Lynyard Cay (on the south side) when a large swell entered the cut. The first wave pushed us up to 10.5 knots of boat speed. I did not see the swell as I was focused on keeping the boat pointed at the range. Marjorie looked behind us and said "surf's up". Boy was it ever.
I turned for just a moment and spotted a wall of water easily 6-10' higher than the top of the bimini. And it looked like it was going to break. I turned away, white knuckled, wondered if the dinghy might get torn off if the wave broke and steered for the range and waypoint. The swell lifted us and we surfed down the back side of the wave, this time hitting 13.5 knots of boat speed (SOG). We only needed to traverse about 1 nm before turning south to head for the anchorage area off Lynyard Cay. At 7-8 knots it should take 7-9 minutes, but with waves breaking on both sides and swells piling in it sure as hell seemed a lot longer. I announced that it is NOW 5 o'clock!
We hit the waypoint and headed due south. About 2.5 nm down we turned back east and pulled into the lee of Lynyard Cay where we dropped the hook in 20' of water. I announced that it is NOW 5 o'clock! Protected by Lynyard Cay with the wind out of the southeast all night, we slept well.
Marsh Harbour was only about 12 nm north (as the crow flies) from where we were anchored. The course to sail there requires maneuvering around a whole host of cays and shallow areas. This made the route to Marsh Harbour a 23 nm trip (using Explorer Chart waypoints). There were 2 skinny areas where we saw 7' of water but after we navigated over them we were in the clear and sailed all the way to entrance of Marsh Harbour in 15-20 knots of southeast wind. Bright and sunny, it was the very best day we had pure sailing in a long time.
The entrance into Marsh Harbour is a bit confusing as the navigation marks mean almost nothing. What strikes you, as you first enter, are the number of anchored sailboats in the harbor. They are almost all you can see. The so called 'fairway' is really nonexistent, so you slalom through the anchored boats. You can make out a few of the marinas on the south and west shores, but these all run together and don't have significant signage. And as it was, we just happened to be navigating the harbor right after low tide. I stopped looking at the depth sounder after it stayed at 0.1 ft below the keel.
We pulled into the Conch Inn Marina to stay for a long weekend. Conch Inn Marina is also a Moorings/Sunsail charter base. Fairly well maintained with a reasonable bar and restaurant right on the harbor.
Weather forecasts predicted a major front coming from Florida to the Abacos Saturday night and Sunday. They were right this time.
Saturday night we joined fellow cruising friends we met at Harbour Cay Club, Denny and Debbie, at the steak dinner and party held at the Jib Room, Marsh Harbour Marina. Great steaks and entertainment, though the persistent evening rain did mean the limbo contest and demonstration was called off. However, other significant musical entertainment was in order.
Jeff made his Bahamian musical debut on the 'saw & screwdriver' with Desmond and another Bahamian musician. What the hell is a 'saw & screwdriver'? Well it is a saw & screwdriver. The screwdriver is scrapped back and forth across the teeth of the saw to create a rhythm and scratching sound similar to that produced by a washboard in Zydeco music. Once pictures are emailed to us we'll post in the gallery to document Jeff's Grammy Award winning performance.
The predicted weather front has/is moving through the Abacos. We had consistent 20 to 30+ kt winds Sunday and Monday with 2 or 3 squalls providing a nice boat washing.
While we are in the Abacos we hope to make stops at Hope Town, Man o' War Cay, Guana Cay, Green Turtle Cay and a few others.
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04/19/2012, At anchor off Lynyard Cay
PHOTO ABOVE: Lynyard Cay anchorage, just north of the Little Harbour and the cut
Thursday, 4-19 - Leg 2: Royal Island to Lynyard Cay (26 21.301'N:76 59.155'W)
Distance: 63.9 nm Time: 9:58
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04/18/2012, At anchor, Royal Island
PHOTO ABOVE: Marjorie exploring the anchorage at Royal Island by kayak.
Wednesday, 4-18 - Leg 1: Nassau to Royal Island (25 30.937'N:76 50.588'W)
Distance: 41.4 nm Time: 6:09
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04/13/2012, Nassau Yacht Haven
PHOTO ABOVE: An old ship wreck on the Atlantic side of Bimini.
UPDATE: Nassau
We decided to take a berth at Nassau Yacht Haven. We had a couple recommendations on this marina, and as we always value 'local' knowledge. We called and made a reservation for Monday afternoon arrival.
No problem, Mon.
We were about 3 miles from the entrance to Nassau Harbor when I heard the Carnival Cruise ship "Glory" call Nassau Harbor Control (NHC)Nrequesting permission to disembark. This ship is huge. We could see it as well as the Atlantis resort from some 10+ miles away.
As we approached the harbor entrance I called NHC and announced my intentions (which is required) and requested permission to enter. Permission was instantly granted. I kept a sharp eye on Glory, but from my perspective she was not moving. I had no idea if the time delay from requesting permission to actual departure was a few minutes or an hour?
So I called Glory on the VHF. No answer. Big surprise; not. Most big ships never respond to inquiries from smaller boats.
This was the point in time I really wish I had AIS (Automatic Identification System). I would be able to tell Glory's speed and direction, which would tell me if she really left the dock in Nassau Harbor or was still waiting for a few passengers to return from a drunk fest at Señor Frogs.
Then on VHF 16 an announcement from Glory "we are under way".
Perfect.
We were 1 nautical mile from the entrance to the harbor. Regardless of all the 'Rules of the Road' I always defer to BIG ships.
We have too much to lose. So we turned north to take the seas head on and slowed way down while we waited for Glory to depart the harbor.
We now sat about 1 mile northeast of the harbor entrance as the massive cruise ship motored through the last 2 marks. Ok.
Next issue; is she going east or west? Again AIS may have helped me here tremendously. I took a course to Glory's starboard and made for the entrance to Nassau Harbor. Glory looped around and passed our stern with plenty of room.
So now we are entering the infamous Nassau Harbor.
Charts and marks were generally straightforward. We moved in and then all of a sudden a 75' motor yacht passed us at 20+ knots (we were doing about 6 knots) with a wake that approaches the increased slope of the U.S. deficit under Obama. A hard turn to port allowed us to plow through the series of waves created by this jackwagon.
We proceeded east through the harbor. Traffic was insane. It was 'Easter Monday' and every native Bahamian with a boat or jet ski was screaming up and down the harbor. We passed under the 2 Paradise Island bridges (it is not clear which of the multiple points of passage under these 2 bridges is most preferred) which do not have any height/tide boards as we commonly see in US waterways.
Clear of the bridges I called Nassau Yacht Haven for directions to our slip.
"You will be on the East dock." the dockmaster stated.
Great.
Where is the 'East dock?'
Keep in mind that after you pass under the 2 bridges and pass Potter's Cay all you see on the south shore of the harbor are docks. They all look the same.
As we headed east I notice there is a warning mark for a reef and what looks to be very shallow water immediately adjacent to what I think are the docks for Nassau Yacht Haven. I passed the reef and called again on the VHF for clarification. The dockmaster tells me to enter with the reef on our port side then make an immediate starboard turn and then we would see help on the dock designating our slip and assisting us in docking.
I make a 180 degree turn through jet skis and fishing boats and now head west to pass the reef to realign for entrance to the marina. I then make another 180 degree turn and head east to head for the area between the reef and the docks; it is really narrow here. And BTW, there is a wicked current on my bow as the tide is falling. A 180 degree turn then a quick 90 degree turn and the current starts to pull our port side towards the docks. I need to make another 90 degree turn in the space of 75'. Through a combination of full throttle forward, full throttle reverse and full use of the bow thruster we entered the slip. And tied off.
Ok. Now I need a beer. Ah, make that 2.
Nassau Yacht Haven - This marina needs some work. True, not many marinas don't need work these days. They have fixed docks with pilings and a 3+' tide. The restrooms and showers are marginally acceptable and again need regular cleaning. You also pay for water here ($10/day for us) whether you use it or not.
I am washing the boat every day.
Most resident boats here are fishing boats, charter and private. Many boats look abandon. Then there are the parasail, booze cruise, dive boats berthed here. Few if any sail boats (other than the small charter fleet here (novatours.com) make this their home. That tells me a lot about the marina.
Today there was a major oil slick in the marina/habor. A quick glance west and we could see a fishing boat pumping oily bilge water in the harbor. Of course we were directly down stream and covered the waterline of Far Niente. Great.
And in addition to all of this we see loads of garbage in the harbor - everything; plastic bottles, cups, bags, wood, oil containers.....etc. floating by 24/7. Filth and garbage beyond anything we have seen anywhere we have been so far.
Then there are the excursions (for the cruise ships) which travel up and down the harbor all day long. Booze cruise was the term I remember and one catamaran even has a big sign on the side stating "Booze & Cruise". They traverse the harbor all day and play loud 'music' (?) with some DJ encouraging young people (right now spring breakers?) to do all sorts of things through the PA.
Classy.
Then there is downtown Nassau. Ugh. Nassau proper is a rat hole. Why?
Well during our ¼ mile walk to Starbucks I actually did see a smashed rat in one parking lot. Tons of car/truck traffic. Very few points of interest in safe walking distance of this marina. Almost every business within a mile or so is locked. If you want to enter, they buzz you through. All of them; toy stores, delis, Radio Shack, beer/wine/liquor stores, etc. and including the marina office behind a locked gate with a security guard.
Many buildings are abandon. Broken bottles and trash litter the streets. Cars burn rubber exiting gas stations. This place looks like downtown Detroit.
In Marathon we saw the billboards that proclaimed "It's better in the Bahamas!"!
Really? We missed the fine print that said "excluding Nassau, Bimini, and Freeport".
And despite all of this the water is clear and blue.
Here's to 'Mother Nature'.
Still searching for idyllic winds and anchorages.
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