03/04/2010, Clarence Town, Long Island, Bahamas
After checking the weather reports and listening to Chris Parker on the SSB each morning, it sounded like we had a small weather window to head further east, before the next group of storms hits the far Bahamas. The problem we have been having is that the storms have been hitting every few days and the area we are in has even less anchorages to hide out from the strong westerly winds that blow through with the storms! We are ready to leave the Bahamas but seem to be stuck with all the storms. Oh well, there are worst things in life, right? We decided to sail approximately 32 nm to Clarence Town, Long Island, Bahamas. We left Rum Cay in the late morning because we needed a rising tide and good sunlight to get out of the very shallow entrance of Sumner Point Marina. It helped that we had our GPS track from our arrival that we could follow out. Exiting was nerve racking especially sense there was a recent sailboat that ran aground on the reef at the entrance just days before we arrived in Rum Cay. We have a picture of it sitting on the reef in the picture gallery. While we were waiting out one of the storms at Rum Cay, we watched the sailboat that was on the reef get blown off and gradually sunk...not a pretty or comforting sight! Definitely nightmare material. Luckily the captain of this boat was safe and was able to get majority of his items off the boat and supposedly the boat was covered by insurance.
Surprisingly, the weather report was not exactly correct. Hmmm. The winds were supposed to be light and SE but as we got underway we experienced stronger SE winds consistently 20nm on our nose! Needless to say, we did not make our timeline because we had to tack many times just to make any headway in hopes of getting into the anchorage at Clarence Town before dark. We do not like breaking one of our golden rules entering an unknown harbor at night, however Clarence is the closest area we could get to before the next storm hit, which was 5 am the next morning (30 knot winds and 3-4 ft swell)! Fortunately the anchorage has a fairly large area with entrance clear of coral heads. We set the anchor in the dark and shortly thereafter fell asleep, after a long day on the sea. We rode out the storm only after re-anchoring further into the anchorage, to reduce our exposure to wind and swell. Clarence Town anchorage is fairly protected except from the NW winds and swells...and of course the clearing winds are from the NW. There were several boats in the anchorage that were also waiting out weather. We enjoyed sundowners and appetizers, with a bomb fire with other cruisers on the beautiful beach that was off the anchorage area. Brian got a chance to go lobster/conch diving with the other captains, with some success of getting couple of conch. We were excited to try making our own conch fritters, well until we realized how hard it is to get the conch out of its shell. I will keep it simple....it was not a pretty sight and there was not much of a shell when we were done! I am not sure how we did it but we were able to get enough conch meat to make a few fritters. We figured that if the conch were larger maybe it would be easier to get the meat out?? Anyway we need to work on our conch extracting skills!
It was predicted to have 2 more storms back to back that kept us in Clarence Town for a while longer. Knowing that 2 more storms were coming and by this time we have had little sleep, we decided to move into the Marina (Flying Fish Marina). We got settled into our slip, filled our fuel tanks with diesel, and reluctantly filled our water tank (partially, only b/c water was fairly expensive at 0.30 cents/gallon). We were excited to see m/v MaryClare in the slip across from us. We had met the owners, captain and chef/first mate of m/v MaryClare and of course, we cannot forget their two dogs Rusty & Sammy at Rum Cay.
With the time waiting out the storms, we got a chance to explore Clarence Town a bit. We explored the area on foot. We are actually getting use to walking on the wrong side of the road and looking left first since the Bahamians drive on the left side of the rode. We got to see some interesting churches and visit the bakery for some fresh Bahamian bread. The Bahamians are very friendly and it is not uncommon for them to slow down to see if you want a ride while walking along the road. As we return to the Marina from our exploration trip of town and countryside, we ran into Gini, chef/first mate from m/v MaryClare as she was returning from her trip back to the US. We joined Gini, Rusty & Sammy on a walk to a nearby beach, just off the government dock. It was here that we discovered, Rusty's ability to dive for conch! It all started with his love for diving for rocks. Well, he was able to turn this skill into something useful. As we were walking in the water at low tide, Rusty dove and brought out the biggest conch we have ever seen. It was twice the size of the ones that Brian had dove for the day before...... actually, I think that he might have been a little jealous of Rusty's find. We made plans to grab dinner/drink at the local restaurant, "Rowdy Boys", only a short walk from the marina. We met some other crew from another motor yacht and had a great time, sharing stories and laughs!
The next day we made plans to visit the Blue Hole with Gini, Rusty & Sammy. What an amazing place! The beach is absolutely beautiful with crystal blue water at various shades of blue, with a 600 ft "blue hole". This "blue hole" is considered as one of the longest caverns opening to the ocean in the world. We have some of our pictures in the gallery! We pretty much had the place to ourselves. The dogs went wild! They were free to run, swim and dive! It was great fun to hike along the beach, swim and enjoy watching Rusty dive for conch as Sammy cheered him on. The water was very refreshing and we could see some of the tropical reef fish while swimming. We enjoyed the blue hole so much we went back the next day!
During our stay at the marina, we got a chance to meet some of the sports fisherman as well as enjoy the "fruits" of their labor of love! The fisherman were catching wahoo, mahi mahi and tuna and sharing it with the locals and marina guests. Doesn't get any fresher than that!!
Once the last storm cleared, it looked like we were going to have a decent weather window to head for Dominican Republic. We met some really fun/nice people during our stay. We really enjoyed Gini's company (and the dogs) and became close friends with her during our stay. We hope to stay in touch with all who we met in Clarence Town.
We hope everyone at home is doing well. We love hearing from you so if you get a chance pls drop us a line. We miss you all!
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02/20/2010, Rum Cay, Bahamas
We sailed from Calabash and arrived at Rum Cay at four o'clock. We anchored in the roadstead anchorage next to one other boat. This place is considered what old Bahamas is like. Beautiful white sandy beaches and only 50 people live on the island. The wind calmed for the night and the seas were light so we had a great nights sleep. A strong storm was predicted to hit us the next day so we decided to move into the island's small marina. I drove the dinghy a mile over to the marina to talk to someone about entering the very tight and shallow marina entrance. The marina manager is a big Rastafarian who's name is Rasta. A very nice guy who ensured me he would come out with his skiff and guide us through the tough entrance. They is nothing like local knowledge and we use it whenever possible.
We pulled anchor and headed over to the entrance waypoint. Rasta showed up as promised and he and his dog carefully guided us through towering coral heads pass a sailboat, which wrecked up on the reef two days prior. We made it safety and secured Four Points with two other boats in the marina.
We had a beautiful day, sunny and calm... we took a long walk along the beach and visited "town" but the two shops were closed because it was Sunday. Rum Cay is truly set back in time, except the marina has internet....
In the early afternoon some local fishermen came back to the harbor with their day's catch (Mahi Mahi, Wahoo, Tuna, Snapper). They line up and clean the fish and drop the leftovers in the water. All the local animals come out, dogs, cats, and mostly sharks. They do this enough that the sharks show up everyday at around five o'clock even if there are no fishermen. It was amazing sitting there on the dock looking three feet down on the crystal clear water and having a nine-foot Bull shark swim under you. There were about seven sharks circling fighting over fish scraps. There were Bull (maneaters), Lemon, and Basking sharks.... quite a spectacle.
The small group of boaters got together to watch the sunset (another awesome Green Flash) and have drinks and appetizers. Rasta came out with fresh breaded and deep fried Wahoo (caught that afternoon). It was some of the best tasting fish I have had in a long time.
Well, the storm hit as promised all through the night and into the next day. We thought the storm may end, but the next night it blew even harder and rained vast amounts. The weather guy we listen to on the SSB said today that this is a forty plus year record winter here in the Bahamas. There are six storms predicted hitting us in the next seven days.... At this point, we aren't sure when we can leave here. We like to have wind when we are sailing but these storms can get to 50 knots and many of the anchorages are exposed to the wind and seas. So, very little safe havens along the way.
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02/19/2010, Long Island, Calabash Anchorage
We left George Town after a week of fun and decided to continue to make our way towards the Caribbean. I had to navigate and number of different options because the wind and swell direction was a little in question. After working through reefs we made it to open sea and found we had to motor sail very close to head on into the wind but it was light so we were making some headway. After determining our speed for the day we decided to head for the Cape Santa Maria on Long Island. Our charts showed a bay called Calabash that may offer us some protection from the swell and wind. As we approached the roadstead anchorage we saw a couple of boats anchored inshore and began the slow process of inching our way in always looking for shallow water and rising coral heads. We found a shallow spot in good sand and dropped anchor. Because the wind was ninety degrees from the swell the boat was rocking side to side. This is the most uncomfortable position for the boat. I remembered a technique I read in a book about creating a bridle and having the anchor come off the windward side of the boat. I got to work and rigged the bridle. This brought the bow around into the swell, which changed the boat from rocking side to side into rocking less bow to stern. It worked out great and the boat and us were very happy. We had a good night sleep and woke up early to head out for the next island.
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02/11/2010, George Town, Exumas
We were excited to be underway again and looking forward to exploring our next landfall. We knew that George Town was a popular spot for cruisers but really did not know what to expect, especially after talking with other cruisers that have been there before. We often heard cruisers say; you either love it or hate it. George Town is also known as "Velcro Cove or "Chicken cove" because often cruisers stop here (year after year) and do not go further b/c they either LOVE it there or decide that they do not want take the challenging leap through the "thorny patch" of beating against the prevailing south east winds as they head further SE towards Puerto Rico.
Because we had to wait out a couple of storms that were back to back, we got a chance to explore the town and nightlife during our stay in George Town. George Town has a lot to offer, it has a small marina, Exuma markets (groceries), strawmarket (local crafts), restaurants, airport, marine supply (limited) all for a price $$ and if interested you can be part of any imaginable "committee" that you can think of (i.e. volleyball, yogalates, bridge club, men's group, yaddah, yaddah, yaddah) that the cruisers have set up.
The town was quite interesting but you just needed to know the code to find things. For example, you had to go to the Real Estate office if you wanted your laundry done or use the Internet or send a fax. To get a Wifi card you had to go to the car wash/pet store and if you wanted fresh fish/conch you had to go to the hair salon, maybe at this point you might be getting the code??? If you guessed that if you wanted to get your haircut you had to go to the attorney's /notary's office, then you are right! We got a chance to meet up with some other cruisers that are heading our way. Between storms, the weather was sunny and warm, with low humidity. Depending on the storms we would anchor on one side of Elizabeth Harbor or the other. Although it was a bit more crowded, we stayed mostly in Kidd Cove, due the proximity to town and we were able to get Internet on the boat!
We walked around town and ran into some other cruisers that were walking to the "fish fry" so we joined them for a yummy crack conch lunch washed down with a couple of Kaliks (local beer). One night we enjoyed listening and dancing at the "Rake and Scrape" with the locals and other cruisers at Eddie's Bar & Restaurant. The instruments used in this musical gathering are traditional tools like a saw scraped with a screwdriver; washboard and a bucket also included were guitar and drums. Although we did enjoy our evening the only danger we were afraid of was if we drank too many rum punches, we would be part of the "scrape" as in being scraped off the floor! Because it was between storms (again) we had made an attentive plan to move further south/east the next day but because it was my birthday we decided to hang in George Town for one more day. It also gave us a little more time to get a few last minute things done before leaving the Exumas.
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02/08/2010, Little Farmer’s Cay, Exumas
We arrived in Farmer's Cay through a shallow tight cut in the reef. The good news our little anchoring area was protected from the west wind, which was on it's way with another storm. We anchored with two anchors out each secured at the bow of the boat. They call this a Bahamian Moor because the wind and current shifts throughout the Bahamas. The bottom was mostly hard flat limestone but with patches of sand. I had to dive down and physically move our anchors and dig them into what sand there was. I was successful and our anchors held us good through the next blow, which came that night. We did take a walk and met some friends from Canada who have a great dog (Vicki) who is a Vizla breed. When we get back we want to find a Vizla of our own.....
After the storm we wanted to ride the northeast winds down the outside of the Exumas to George Town. We had to motor through a cut into the open Atlantic Ocean. As we pushed through the narrow passage the wind and current were opposed and we were taking waves over the bow. This was only very scary for about 15 minutes then we were in open Deep Ocean. It was a six-hour sail to George Town as we passed Cay after Cay riding four-foot ocean swells and sailing in 10-13 knot northeast winds.
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02/05/2010, Staniel Cay, Exumas
With another storm approaching we had to leave Big Major Spot because it was exposed to the west wind. We pulled anchor in the morning and motored a couple of miles through a narrow cut into the reef to a small somewhat protected area next to Staniel Cay. This is where they filmed the James Bond movie "Thunderball". You may remember the cave in the movie. We are anchored behind the very small Cay where the cave is located. We were the third boat anchored in this tight area but we were sure more would follow during the day. We made sure our anchor was secured and motored the dinghy over to the Thunderball cave entrance. We found a small dinghy mooring just outside the opening. The opening is underwater so you have to dive down and swim hard and make sure you come up inside the cave. Wow... what a beautiful cave... Nancy & I were alone in the cave except for 100s of tropical fish. They were all very interested in us because people usually bring bread to feed the fish (we will have to come back with food next time). The cave is large inside with a small hole at the top (35' ceiling), which lets in sunlight. I have to say this was so much fun and exciting with all the fish & coral. We explored the cave and found another entrance on the other side that you had to dive deeper to exit. Now we want to get a copy of Thunderball and watch the movie again.
Well, the storm did come as predicted. It blew 30 knots with very heavy rain. We were bouncing around some, but our anchor held because most of the blown when over us because of Thunderball Cay. The next day after the wind blew all night was Super Bowl Sunday. The small bar & restaurant was having a Super Bowl party. Some friends we met in Bimini (two young British guys who bought there boat in Florida) showed up during the day so we all hopped into our dinghy and headed over to watch the Super Bowl. Last year we watched the Super Bowl in El Salvador we another group of good friends. The game was great even if the electrical power at the bar (and island) kept going off.
The weather looked like we had about 24 hours before another storm hit so we decided to sail to Farmers Cay, which had some protection from the west. We pulled anchor and carefully left the shallow reef and headed out.
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