Chris
03/08/2010, St Francis Restaurant

, jewelry, shell, and lots of straw stuff. Any of you who know Peaches and her incredible collection of T-Shirts, mostly nautical, won't be able to believe it, but she has not bought one shirt in the Bahamas! We didn't get any straw because we would have to dip it in bleach to kill any bugs or spray it with insecticide and bag it for 6 weeks before putting it on the boat. All the colors would bleed! We then walked to the computer store. I told you about it last time, but Peaches hadn't seen it yet. She said that the place reminded her of when she was in India doing her Fullbright scholarship. We call this structure a mud hut, painted. She might have used the word undeveloped but we got on the internet! See pictures.

We went back to the Exuma Market and bought a few more things, the produce was great this time because the supply boat came in. We took a long, slightly wet ride back over to the Monument anchorage and had to hurry up to get ready in time to go to the big Motor Yacht Utopia for drinks. An Austrian named Herb lives there and has loads of room for happy hours. All bearing food and drink, we arrived to join Jack and Linda from "New Attitude" who are from Cobb Island, MD and Reto and Sally on Ladanza from Switzerland (and Oregon) along with OZ from Toronto. We had a great time. The boat was so tall (high in the air) on the upper decks that we all felt like we were in a small plane. The talk ran from introductions to boats, to weather, to trials and tribulations of cruising to fishing stories. I was at that end of the group, so got to hear Herb's stories about shark fishing in an 8' rubber dinghy. Yep, you heard me right, lots of teeth, sharks usually longer than 8' and a rubber boat! He apparently hooked what he thought might be a 12' hammerhead shark. It bit through the bait, pulled him around then bit off most of the fish and was just moving around the boat eyeballing the rest of the bait. Herb said some lobster fishermen came along in a larger boat and one of them looked down over the side, shouting that it was indeed a hammerhead shark, but it was more like 22' long. The lobstermen got him out of there. There were more and more stories, each more unbelievable, but true. What a great time.

Herb showed Peaches and I around the boat before we left and we were very impressed with his work, in oil, wood and metal sculptures and an amazing copper hammered piece over his bed. He has reinvented himself several times during his life, but come back each time as an artist. We have met some really intriguing people on our trip.

Saturday night was a great lasagna dinner on OZ with Reto and Sally from Ladanza. Connie didn't have all the regular ingredients for the meal, but cruisers are great at substitutions. It was rich and flavorful and totally gone by the end of the meal (along with a great deal of red wine). We taught Reto and Sally how to play Neufie Poker. They had a long run of beginners luck ending with Reto taking home the pot of Sacajawea gold dollars mixed with some Loonies from Canada.

Our plans, to stay here some more and relax. We entered the trivia contest with OZ for Wednesday and hope to do better than we did last week. We were sure we were going to ace it because of having an ex-nun for the religious questions last time, but she didn't seem to relate to the questions too well. Peaches got a lot of the other ones. We'll do better this next (and last) time. We will go up to the top of Monument Hill for the around the island race to help the race commentators know who is in front. I hope to get to the computer store and do my taxes on line and drop this blog along with some new pictures onto www.Sailblogs.com.

Oh, Georgetown is called Chicken Harbor ( as opposed to Velcro Harbor which is Vero Beach) because people get this far and decided that it is too comfortable and safe to go any farther. The other thing that happens in Georgetown is that people come this far and then start north again to go back to the states for hurricane season (June through November). There are a lot of people who only come to Georgetown for the entire winter. The cruisers' net keeps saying that they are going to pull up the chains in the entryway of the harbor to keep everyone here (an old military trick). Georgetown turns out to have a little something for everybody. We look forward to a visit by our friend Jeanne Weibenga in a couple of weeks. Think about coming down. Despite the frequent winds and fronts blowing through, it is usually sunny and warm during the day and cool and comfortable sleeping at night

Comments [3]

Chris
03/02/2010, Georgetown, Monument Anchorage

We left Exuma Park on Thursday 2/26 after a great stay there. We were well know by the time we left the Park, mostly because of our night out on the island. We were so excited that we could not sleep well, all in anticipation of our trip to Black Point. We headed south on the banks after making all the waypoints to Warderick Bore. WE WERE IN THE LEAD THIS TIME.

Did I tell you we were in front on this part of the trip. It felt a little strange not to see the logo on the back of OZ, but we managed. The seas were almost flat after the blow the day before in Exuma Park, even in the protected moorings it was a little lumpy. We drank the rest of the morning coffee, took turns minding that Stella the auto helm was minding her Ps and Qs. I finished a book in my free time and Peaches was listening to one of her books on tape. What a nice journey. We left early so that we could get into Black Point in time to have our cheeseburger in Paradise and look around to see what real civilization had to offer.

We decided on the way down that we had pretty much stopped wearing shoes and underwear and opted for the bathing suit du jour and maybe a shirt when it got cooler. We weren't even combing our hair consistently when we didn't get off the boat. The Exuma Park was a joy and a true vacation from have-to-do-things. So, we needed a real wake up call. I had one a couple of days before we left, a picture of me in the dinghy with enough hair blowing around to be considered almost Robinson Caruso material, although my swimsuit wasn't tattered enough. We needed civilization before it was too late!

So about 12:30 I noticed Ken of OZ coming up on our port side and passing us, taking the lead so to speak. He lured us along into the shallow bay of Black Point. We followed closely, but not quite close enough as our depth gauge said 5.9' and we draw about 6'. We plowed along though and after about 300' of this we were back in 9-10' and found a good anchorage. Connie said I must have cut the corner over the sandbar a little too close as it shifts all over the place according to the winds and the tides. Lesson learned!

We got the dinghies down and loaded them up with 18 days of garbage in our case, and some garbage and a bunch of water jugs in Ken's case. We dropped off Connie and Peaches at a dinghy dock and went to the government dock to fill jugs and mostly to get rid of the garbage. My two heavy black bags almost killed me but I manned up and carried my own. Ken is always so kind, but it makes me feel guilty. Garbage gone he pointed me to the main (only) road into town.

I walked by small houses, some with signs out in front, some gorgeous views out to the water, lots of shore birds (sandpipers and Bahamian Mockingbirds) and hello from everyone (all three of them) who walked the other way. I was getting jittery..........almost felt like a crowd to me. A pick-up truck went by and then a golf cart. I knew I was back in a town. I walked until I could hear Peaches talking to someone near the grocery store (a green building, doors open, lots of green shelves with food prices on a paper at the end of each 10 foot aisle. The straw items and hand made jewelry were placed at eye level so you would want it. See the gallery. Peaches was talking to the owner who regaled us with stories. She remembered Connie from two years ago, their last visit here to Black Point. We continued down the road a bit to the Laundromat, where Connie's clothes were finishing up. The Laundromat was up high on a rocky shoreline with a dinghy dock below. It was clean, modern, had a great rest room, a store for cleaning products and some boat supplies, and behind the counter a deep fryer for fresh conch fritters. BUT WAIT!

The owner and operator was out back of the shop, cutting another boater's hair. Both Peaches and I stood dumb struck. It had been over two months since a hair cut up in Amelia Island, FL. I would have paid her anything for a haircut but Connie stepped in before I made a fool of myself and Ida said sure she would do our hair. $15. So she owns the Laundromat, the store and cuts hair, makes fritters to order, and she owns a couple of rental cottages over on the ridge. I said something to her about the strong women on the island and she smiled knowingly. She said "We are, we have to be." She had children in school and a husband who worked off island. See the pictures. Bet you never ever had a haircut with fresh air all around you and a view to die for, oh and fritters after the cut!

Connie and I bought the last carton of eggs. We had been dying for some after the long stay at Exuma. Since there was only one carton we split it, got some romaine, a pepper and a cucumber and were so excited. No fresh vegetables or salads for a while. We wandered down the lane a little further to Lorraine's Restaurant, a town cornerstone. All the kids were getting out of school and all said good afternoon, made eye contact and smiled at us as they walked by us in their uniforms.

We had heard about Lorraine's from a lot of people, who always managed to throw in that Lorraine's elderly mother baked bread for sale daily. We met Ken there, after his trips to the faucet to fill some of his water jerry cans. Cheeseburgers all around, with fries, onion rings, and Kalik Beer, brewed in Nassau. It was ice cold. Lorraine stopped by to talk to Connie and Ken for while and Peaches asked about some bread. In 5 minutes it was hot in our hands, coconut bread for us and raisin bread for OZ. Not many people were there, but there was free internet, and the computer was free so we checked our mail quickly.

Then in our busy social schedule, it was on to a bar down the street for happy hour, two for one rum punch and popcorn. As we walked, all the men who work on the other islands were coming up the street from the pier. It was Friday night and they just got paid, and the little bar we were heading for was going to be jumping.

It was quiet except for the TV sports channel. They took care of us at the bar and we talked and listened to those coming in. Peaches likes rum punch, and managed to stay on the bar stool but was having a little trouble stringing sentences together after the second one. (have you watched them put five shots, all different rums, in the glass before they put in the fruit juice, we were lucky to be breathing let along talking!). We all sort of were very happy, but were fine to drive the dinghy back to our boats. We leave in the morning, running in front of a weather front all the way to Georgetown.

We were just having our first coffee of the morning when Connie called on the VHF radio that Ken was going out on the deck to pull the anchor. We followed suit and followed them out of the bay, this time at high tide. Hey, how did we get in the follow me position again. Oh, well. They took us up the island a bit to Dotham Cut, a deep passage between the islands into the very deep Exuma Sound. The current was strong and we were essentially flushed out into the sound by the current. We hit 10.2 knots at one point, what a thrill!. The rough water calmed as soon as we got a few boat lengths out of the cut and we headed South again, 52 miles about to Georgetown.

The winds were supposed to build during the day and were pretty consistent from the S-SW. Yep we were taking it almost on the nose, but for most of the day it was only about 10-14 knots. We had a little main out most of the day. We left at 0645 and arrived outside Elizabeth Harbor about 4PM. We followed Ken through the waypoints to get into the anchoring field near Monument Rock. The water went from 10 feet in Black Point to over a thousand feet out in the sound. to 90 at Conch Cay Cut. We were back to 10-12 or less as we went from waypoint to waypoint to avoid the coral and then the shoals and sandbars. We could see the bottom again, beautiful clear blue water, sandy bottom. We could also see many sailboats anchored, and dinghies running everywhere. We had arrived in Georgetown during Regatta Week. Hooray!

We nosed about the anchoring field to find just the right place, we each anchored and then we both settled in for the night. The winds had built up as predicted and it was getting a little bouncy but no problem, both OZ and Star Of The Sea anchors were buried in the sand and we could sleep. Well it got a little more bouncy and we were getting up every couple of hours to check the anchor and check we weren't dragging along the bottom into someone else, or someone into us. The moon was full and we could see like daylight. Peaches finally got up for good around 0300 and watched from the cockpit. We didn't drag, and although the waves were still flecked with some white foam, we weren't uncomfortable. We couldn't wait to get off the boat and explore.

We were in the monument anchorage field with Volleyball Beach the next one down. Georgetown itself was across the Elizabeth Harbor about a mile. There were lights on all night, even more civilization. We are now officially in the cruising community of Georgetown. The community net is on the VHF channel 72 at 0800 and lasts for an hour or more. There is weather, announcements, welcomes to the new arrivals and safe journeys to the departing vessels. There is a quote for the day, and the cruisers have like an open mike to speak. Some reminded us of the speed zones in town near the dinghy docks, or to not anchor in the shipping zone as the all important food and fuel shipments come several days during the week. Some put in reminders about VHF etiquette, and others asked for help fixing motors or generators, or asked for missing parts for their engines or, finally to offer some item off of their boat to a new home (sell something but you can't say that over the radio or you will be paying Bahama taxes)

So, I listened a bit and got more and more awed at the extent of the infrastructure that the cruising community had. There are events going almost every minute and I though either you would love a place like this, or if not quite so social, might want to move on before it captures and morphs you into one of them. This place has been dubbed day care of retired adults, and I can see it already. But, I digress.

The day on Sunday got calmer and calmer with winds in the 14-15 kt range, so we got dressed and left to go to volleyball beach to have a look about, a drink, another cheeseburger and some cold Kalik beers in the Chat and Chill (absolutely perfect). We then took another short dinghy ride just before dark to St. Francis, a resort/restaurant complex. We were there to watch the hockey game between USA and CANADA, sort of a rivalry among our two boats to say the least. The other reason we went there was to join in the every Sunday night trivia contest, four players to a team. Peaches was our ace in the hole as there were usually a lot of religious questions. We got our drinks, watched the game, boy the Americans couldn't even make eye contact with the guy handing out the silver medals when it was all over. Oh, those Canadians were happy people at the bar down here in the Bahamas. (Another sign of civilization, I could hardly take my eyes off the big screen TV!)

Oh, you probably want to know how we did. There were 40 questions. You write your answer down, leave those blank you just can't come up with an answer for and fill in later, and do your best. Peaches handled the six religion questions as best she could. We all bobbled around with the rest. Interesting what you can find out about another couple by playing trivia. You can tell the book readers and the movie goers for sure. You pass your paper to the next table and you correct theirs. We were so below average, missing 16/40. The winners for the night only missed 4. We will have a ways to go to make any favorable impression at this venue, but it was fun. I think we will stay below the social radar here if that is the best trivia we can do. We had a wet and sloppy ride home in the dark going into some waves. We were safe enough, but I am not a fan of getting soaking wet, salt water in your eyes and try to guess when the next big wave is going to come. We'll get better at it here in Georgetown, where the dinghy is your key to all wonderful activities.

Today Ken and I each took our dinghy and went across Elizabeth Harbor to Georgetown for gas (three cans for me) and water and 2 cans of gas for Ken. He was so kind, his 15hp outboard would have gotten him there is almost no time, but my 5hp was pretty wimpy and he slowed down for me (I kept mumbling I think I can, I think I can, I think I can......all the way). We went in to Victoria Lake, through a narrow fast current underpass from the harbor and pulled up to the dinghy dock at the ESSO. There were lines of cars for the fuel pumps, more cars than I've seen since rush hour in Nassau! We walked our little bags of trash to the government dock and returned to get the fuel. From what I saw, it is quite a town. I can't wait to go, although everyone says it is just for supplies, hardware stores, restaurants, bars, and bakeries. All the activity is really on the beaches on the western shore of the Harbor near us.

Georgetown is going to have to wait a couple of days as another low front is coming tomorrow afternoon and through Wednesday. We actually re-anchored this morning a little closer to shore as some other boats moved out. We wanted to be as protected and well anchored for all the westerly winds coming. This is Chris Parker the weather guru's Hum Dinger of a Low Front so we have taken note. No real land protection this time. Not bad enough to abandon ship again. Peaches dove on our new anchor and it was not as we would have liked, so we re-anchored again, with much success. We are making water and getting ready for a lumpy couple of days. Sounds like a good time to hunker down with a new book. More adventures later. We will be here through the month probably. Come visit.

Comments [3]

Chris
02/22/2010, Exuma Park, North Mooring Field

Hi, back again with more updates, or rather more adventures. I have come down off last week's high of making water and bread in the same day. Old geeky stuff to be sure. I am making water again today for our tanks this time. All systems are go. It is an overcast day with scattered warm showers, so a good day to stay on the boat and monitor the water maker. The bread making has gone from pre-made mixes to and Italian favorite I found out how easy Ciabatta bread is to make and have decided that it is all we need, a simple daily bread just like the loaves we bought at the Dash's stores in Buffalo.

We have thrived in these mill-pond like moorings in the north field. It is better than being tied to a dock. OZ is on the next mooring and we have with them had more contact with the wild side of the park. Ask Peaches what is new and she shouts SHARKS!! There is a nurse shark under our boat and often under OZ. We are in about 10 feet of water most of the time and it is crystal clear. The shark seems to like the wreck under the aft end of OZ too. Some others in the park have seen a nurse shark with baby beside it. Peaches was all set to do a lot of maintenance work on our boat, clean the water line of small baby barnacles, the green slime, and work on the knot-meter wheel under the boat that hasn't worked since Georgia, but there are sharks. You might remember she went in to fix the mooring ball when we first came into the north field on Valentine's Day. That was pre-shark. She finally did go in yesterday after a thorough look-see for the shark and got the rest of the waterline done with me holding her line and keeping careful shark-watch from on deck.

I don't know if you remember her concerns about sharks even before we left Buffalo. We were planning (and did) spend about a month in the Chesapeake where you wouldn't expect sharks. She read an article that stated that there were 75+ different species of shark in the shallow waters of the Chesapeake from Maryland through Virginia despite the water being just brackish, not salty like the ocean. Now we are here, in salt waters and there are more sharks. Do-do Do-do Do-do Do-do Do-do....

Despite the shark population, we went snorkeling in the southern end of the mooring field, me as boat tender and Peaches, Connie and Ken as the snorkelers. They saw lots of coral, a ray, some Nassau Grouper who are protected from fishing right now, sea cucumbers, barracuda and lots of other reef things. They didn't stay long as the water is not all that warm, after all it is winter down here too! We were also snorkeling with the couple from Mad Cap and all went by dinghy (3) to a beach near where our boats are moored to warm up. The stones turned out to be the warmest for sitting, rather than the shallow waters. I found there the unmistakable footprints of the elusive nocturnal Hutia. More about that later.

It is a tradition for there to be a communal Happy Hour on the beach near the office at Exuma Park every Saturday night. The staff lights a bonfire for us and provides ice for drinks. The weather has not been particularly conducive to this until the last couple of days, so everyone moored at the park came out, dressed in their best low-key beach ware, carrying something to pass and drinks for themselves to consume as the sun set on the beach. See the gallery for pictures. I'll bet there weren't more than three or four pair of underwear being sported on the entire beach Saturday night. It is the first part of civilization to hit the sand, so to speak. It also cuts down considerably on the laundry load! Bathing suits are the norm. I brought about six and Peaches even more. This is the one time where more is better packed into our boat!

Oh, the happy hour, it was not as elongated as ours was during the storm by any means. We had a great time trading stories and passing boat cards out. Almost all of us have boat cards with our blog sites, single side band call numbers, emails, and cell phone numbers as well as a picture of the boat. You tend to be known by your boat name. This is the true leveler as I mentioned in an earlier blog. It doesn't matter who you were (or still are if you are only cruising part-time). What matters is where you have been, your sailing experiences good and bad, and what you bring to happy hour. How wonderfully simple this life is
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We were reunited this week with the Famille ChamBou on Katmandu. Stephen, Nathalie and the kids all looked great. Looking around the beach, it seemed just about perfect. All the dinghies were pulled up onto the beach, their anchors dug into the beach so they wouldn't float away with the tides. Kids were playing and adults were talking like they were starved for adult company, which we were. Conversation drifts off to grunts when you are on your boat for too long a period of time without new company. The sun set beautifully and the new moon rose in the sky. The stars were everywhere.

I went hunting just as dark descended for a photo-op of the Hutia. Francis, Stephan's son helped me greatly in the hunt, chumming for them in the bushes next to the beach with popcorn. For the longest time, there was nothing, but there are 5000 of them on this small island, and we were going to get that photo. Little did we know, we didn't need to chum for them. They were everywhere when dark fell, coming almost up to the picnic table where all the appetizers were being consumed.

I have now completed my last task in Exuma Park, photographing the Hutia. See the gallery, ugh! According to an article sent to me by Gail and Don, they were thought to be extinct until the mid-1990s when some were found on an isolated island in the Exumas. They are now flourishing. No need for worries. They are said to exhibit some strange behaviors such as urinating on everything not as a territory marker, but just as a nice community blending of scents. The also groom each other and wrestle just for fun, not for sex or aggression. (there is obviously sex going on as the population is through the roof!)

Speaking of animal life, Peaches and I went to the dock to get our dinghy and go back to the boat after the happy hour. The partial moon was out and you could see so much without the need of a flashlight. I climbed down off of the dock (about 10 feet above the water depending on the tides) and started pulling the dinghy back around to where we could get in. I saw a shape in the water, almost as long as the boat....................Do-do, Do-do another shark. This one was definitely not a safe nurse shark, this looked like a reef shark, a big one. I called for Peaches to watch it go under the dinghy and out to the reef. It made a big impression. We both took a little extra time getting into the dinghy so we wouldn't be sharing swimming space with that bad-boy! Stephan and famille came over to escort us back to our boat (he has volunteered to be a big brother of sorts, protecting two ladies loose in the Bahamas). Whew, we have had another narrow escape from the sharks. It is kind of like Captain Hook and the crocodile, they are always lurking in the waters below you! Poor Peaches!

We are hoping to leave here tomorrow to go to Staniel Cay to get diesel and gas to refill our jerry-cans on deck. We have used up all our gas in the generators because we are unplugged. Our battery banks are full and healthy. We have a full gas tank in the dinghy. All is right with the world. Our plan is still to try and get to Georgetown by the weekend, hear the weather guru Chris Parker, and watch the festivities around the Sailing Regatta. It will be fun to go to a store, see new territory, maybe even get a hair cut. I am eight weeks on a 3-4 week hair cut schedule, as is Peaches. Other than internet, some ice, and our small mooring fees here in the park, we have not spent any money....................at last, living off all the stuff we packed into the boat months ago. We have really loved it here, such an easy time. Lots of reading done, naps, walks on the trails, and an increased amount of rum imbibed.

The other thing that gets done is listening to the VHF radio. It is like having a scanner on top of your refrigerator at home. You can snoop and know what is going on. It is definitely like a telephone. You hail someone on Channel 16, the emergency high frequency channel and then say go up one, or go to 18 or 68 or wherever you want for the conversation part. 16 also has weather forecasts from Highpoint Cay, from a lady named June who lives on land and does quite a commentary on the side to her groupies. All the marinas monitor the VHF as well as most of the small stores and restaurants and bars, replacing the cell phone for most reservations or inquires about supplies or boat parts.

So, the snooping part. Peaches calls it lurking. It is almost like the Bahamian National Sport. You listen and if interested follow them to the alternate channel. You are then lurking. It is a free state of mind down here, not much to fill your time, and what the hell, you might learn something really interesting. Well, like the guy who lost his dinghy from the back of his boat on mooring ball 2 and, because everyone listens, it was picked up and returned from around mooring ball 9 or 10. Useful stuff like hearing about a fire on a freighter out in the Sound and finding out about it from other's conversations on the VHF, and did I tell you about the torrid affair between.....................now I won't go there.

Peaches has some timely tips for those of you who might be in shark infested waters:
Never just jump into the water because it attracts sharks who think you might be food. When in the water, don't splash or kick your fins wildly, as you will appear to be injured food. Don't go in if there is more than one shark or if there is a shark with a baby. Many of the Bahama sharks inhabit water from 1 foot in depth to 60. She says that you are obviously much safer in deeper ocean waters than in the 7-10 feet we usually have here on the banks. When in doubt Peaches says "have a drink and stay on the boat." I concur.

Comments [3]

Chris
02/17/2010, Exuma Park, Northern Mooring Field

I am the king of the world! No I did not produce the movie Titanic or Avitar like James Cameron who does think he is the king of the world, but I did yesterday produce clear drinking water from sea water and made two loaves of bread in a bitty oven on a boat in the Bahamas. It was outrageous.

We bought the Spectra water maker for the boat at the same time as we bought the reverse heat and air system, Annapolis Boat Show, 2008. Now, you all know we used the heating system for months on the way down the coast, but there sat that expensive water maker, with bags of spare chemicals and spare filters, all protected from the ill effects of moisture, doing nothing for us at all.

Oh, I made with the help of Andy Lopez from RCR , water from the Black Rock Canal in Buffalo, off of the docks of the Buffalo Yacht Club. You all can surmise what a feat that was. What must lie under that stretch of water is unimaginable (deceased mobsters with cement shoes, hundreds of cell phones, winches, spare parts from all the hundreds of years of boats residing on the surface, oil jugs, old batteries, sunken boats and dinghies, maybe even a Christmas tree or two). But Andy and I could see through the glass of water we produced the day before we left home in September on our grand adventure. We even touched our lips to the glass and pretended to drink (him first of course). So, we have been gone for almost six months and water has been free at the dock wherever we went. No incentive there to pull everything out of the 5'deep storage area where the water maker resides, untouched by human hands since I pickled it before Christmas at Amelia Island (and had to hire an electrician to find out why it wasn't getting electricity...answer, Andy had thoughtfully put a shut off valve on the back water tank so the water maker wouldn't keep filling it when it was full. Water was still free so it was full and $75 later we knew why)

Now it is mid-February, we have been away from Nassau for about 10 days and our water was starting to get low. At Exuma Park on shore, there are no water facilities, actually no rest rooms for non-staff and no place to dispose of or recycle .garbage. So, since it had been a while, I read the how to manual and thought "Piece of cake, mama. I can do that!"
With Peaches help and encouragement, We took everything out of that storage place. This filled all the available seating in the cockpit. Then, to make the boat a little more disorganized, we took all the objects stored where I sleep in the back berth and placed them on every surface of the salon except the galley. (whuppa whuppa, portable spin dryer, all our liquor, bags of food that won't fit anywhere else, cushions and spare table leaf to make the table and couch into a queen size bed, bag-0-bedding and towels, packages of TP, you can never have enough of that here in the islands, and more).

You get the picture. In my berth, Peaches opened the through-hull lever and turns on the electricity (we set up and started the generator up on the bow). Now, I place a cushion carefully on the floor in front of the Spectra and start pushing levers and toggle switches and wonder of wonders, into a large glass comes sparkling clear water. I get out the salinity tester and it reads 310 ppm. Anything under 790 is potable. (that means you can drink it and not DIE) I did, and I didn't if you follow my reasoning. We then started filling 5 gallon jugs of water while the pump merrily kept pumping. I checked the electric panel and I was surprised it only took 5 amp hours to run this complex pump/pipe/filter apparatus! I thought it was a 'big user' but not so in the land of Honda generators.

As the day went on and all was well, I did four loads of wash in the Whuppa Whuppa turn the handle washer and spun them almost dry in the centrifuge dryer (the generator was on so might as well see how much she can handle at once). It was a breezy sunny 80 degree day so everything dried well and smelled so sweet. Now, the Whuppa Whuppa takes about 100 revolutions with the left arm and again with the right, then you rinse and do that combo again. By the end of the day, lifting jugs out of the storage/water factory (we made a bunch for OZ before working on our tanks) and doing the wash, I couldn't lift my arms over my ears. We were both so pleased. It was perfect. So perfect, that we just turned it off and decided to fill our other tank in the morning. Have you heard the one about 'more is better'?

The next day dawned and we were at it again. Now, remember we had nowhere to sit or essentially stand so what else could we do but continue so we could put the boat back together and sit down. Did I tell you I had to sleep in my berth with half the mattress out in the salon and a big hole down to the engine shaft gaping beside me. I felt all night like I might roll into the hole and become impaled on the various pieces and parts sticking up. I didn't though.

We made more water, and I found a couple of bread mixes so I kneaded enough dough for two loaves of wheat berry bread. Now, I had a fire the last time I tried to make muffins back up in the Erie Canal part of the trip, so this was taking things to a whole new level of risk. The dough rose, then into the pans and rose again, just like it should. Then, I heated up the oven and the first loaf (one at a time in the miniature oven please) came out beautifully. The second the same. The boat smelled wonderful, the water tanks were full and our heads were too big to fit through the narrow doorways in the boat!

So, that is my story and I am sticking to it. Today we went in the dinghy to the beach where Peaches replaced a defective valve in the Zodiac Dinghy. We were having to pump it up every time we used it because it was leaking. It didn't do much to inspire confidence in the boat. We then went for a hike up to Boo Boo Hill where we lay the wreath....no the piece of wood with Star of the Sea 2010 on the pile where everyone else who came before has done the same. Peaches did her first engraving with one of the two drumels she brought on the trip .See the gallery for today. The view was spectacular from the top of Boo Boo Hill.

We are having the time of our lives. It would be great if some of you might like to come and join us. E-mail us and we can give you a tentative schedule of where we will be. I think after this weekend we will be going to Georgetown for a while with a couple of stops in between. Hope some of you can get away. There is always something going on. Jet Blue flied into Nassau for not much. From there you can catch a puddle jumper plane and catch up with us. Have a little adventure in your lives!

Comments [5]

Chris
02/14/2010, Northern Mooring Exuma Park

Now that I have you on the edge of your seats, be they couch, boat or snowmobile, we are alive and well. The picture above shows Peaches 24 hours after we came ashore on Friday afternoon. This will be explained a little further on.

Now, weather prediction is a very tricky thing. The guys from Channel 4 in Buffalo are heroes when they are right but never to be trusted for the real story. Around here we have our own brand of weather guru-type people. The best of the best for the Bahamas is a guy named Chris Parker. We are actually going to a lecture by him in Georgetown later this month. We have heard that his is the most complete report and he will answer questions from vessels after his 6 days a week program on the single-side band (SSB) radio at 0630. (boaters go to bed very early so 0630 is almost to the second pot of coffee for us).

When we checked into the Exuma Park last Tuesday, Darcy said Chris Parker was Mr. Doom and Gloom. I think that Connie of OZ said it best when she said he has to give as much info as he can so everyone can make their own plans for their next voyage to say Georgetown or to Cambridge Cay. Well all the predictors, from NOAA to Chris Parker said that the low pressure front coming through on Friday between midnight and 0600 on Saturday was going to be a strong one, with gale force winds and possible gusts in the 50 knot range (that would be about 58 mph). He also said it was on of the strongest fronts he had seen the last 10 years for this time of year.

So, you got the message we were abandoning ship(s) on Friday. When we awoke Friday morning it was another beautiful day in paradise, warm, sunny with just a 10 knot breeze blowing from the South. We were in a mooring field that would give us good wind and wave protection from the East, SE and NE, somewhat from the north. Westerly winds like those predicted for after midnight were what we thought about as we made our decision.

So, Peaches gets up and immediately starts running through the list of 100 things she wants to do before we leave to make the vessel safe from the storm because we won't be here. In fact, she said she wanted to leave by 1100. I thought maybe we could have coffee and breakfast, listen to the weather on the VHF from Highborne Cay, listen to the announcements from Exuma Park and then call Connie and Ken and see what Chris P. predicted. Nope, she had an agenda, most of which was right on the money, but not so fast. Connie said she would like me to come over in the dinghy to consult on the menu (for the abandon ship night) (we were talking in code over the VHF so nobody would pick up on our possibly slightly outside the park rules plan). I helped switch out the mooring ball lines for a really strong black nylon three strand 1" line, move all eight of the fuel tanks off the deck along with the fenders and holders. I went over for a few minutes by dinghy to OZ and Connie had already done most of the prep for the dinner on the beach, so I came back and got the happy hour supplies done, and packed blankets and small pillows, foul weather gear, VHF radio and short wave radio, tons of batteries (you know Peaches, there were literally tons of them) and the ship's papers, especially the insurance policy in case.

We left Star of the Sea at around noon, and by then the waves were up over two feet and there were white caps in the bay. The wind was starting to whine through the rigging of the ship. This is, for those who might want to know, a 4 of 12 on the Beaufort Wind Scale (11-15 knots, waves 3.5-6 feet, small waves, breaking crests with fairly frequent white horses). Enough history, on to the story. We had trouble getting all of our terribly necessary stuff into the dinghy and surfed these waves all the way into the beach on the other side of the Park Office. Ken went back out to get Connie and the dinner as I was not sure our 5hp Honda, mighty as she is would make it.

When finally all gathered on the beach, sitting at the table under the thatched roof, Connie spread the cloth and we started the happy hour, way before the five o'clock somewhere rule. We talked and laughed, drank some very good rum, gin and white wine and generally though how very smart we were being on land than being on now the now hobby-horsing vessels out in the mooring field.

The festivities lasted until after dinner was served and consumed. The sun was still out, although there were occasional cloudy periods. The temperature was getting a little cooler, but we were like good doobies, so very prepared for anything. We noticed that there weren't too may others around and decided to move our party to the porch of the Park Office. We settled into the chairs up there, supplemented by Connie's two camp chairs. After dark a long unmarked cigarette-like boat arrived at the small dock without any lights on and about 4 men. It turned out to be a supply boat for the Bahamas Defense Team (sort of like our Coast Guard in the US). We watched them unload and a big party for them with our Defense people was happening just around the corner from where we were "hiding out in plain sight, so to speak. Actually as their night went on, they got louder and louder and sounded like they were arguing, but maybe is was all story telling with a lot of F words liberally laced through it. They were still going strong after 1 AM.

We were still pretty happy and after I worked on the last blog and cleared my email, we decided to watch a movie on the computer. We huddled around the screen and found that with all the wind blowing (it was definitely increasing and starting to come from the South to the SW) we couldn't hear the dialog. The guys in the back of the office didn't help either. The movie was Hunt for Red October, Ken and Peaches favorite one, so dialog was provided by them mostly. We started changing into long pants, jackets and ultimately foul weather jackets as the temperature cooled and the wind kept clocking around.

Ken and I were surprised that there still was a sky full of stars, no clouds to speak of except at the horizon. Chris Parker's predictions for wind shifts were coming true. We moved from the south side of the porch to the west side where we finally decided to try and catch some sleep. Ken and Connie used their camp chairs, I tried somewhat successfully to use the yoga mats on top of the bench used to hold bones and fossils. This didn't last long, with Connie saying she thought we should watch another movie, because she always could sleep better during a movie. I know the feeling.

The wind got stronger still so we moved all our paraphernalia again to the north side porch and lined the chairs up along the office wall. Finally the wind gusts were more what we thought they would be (50 or more knots) because we couldn't stand up easily if we went around to the west side to check the our vessels. There was lightning and then a downpour, over in just a few minutes. Peaches must have said a hundred times since landing on the beach how glad she was to not be on the boat!

Ken thought earlier that it might be a good idea to move into the "kitchen" for the rest of the night so we would be dry, warmer, and safe. He made a reconnaissance hike to see if it was okay, and off we went, hauling coolers, bags of stuff, and finally ourselves. The kitchen, by the was is a building with shelves, cupboards, a sink, and the reason it is called a kitchen, it has a refrigerator tied shut with a bungee cord. You could see light through most of the walls, but we were safe. One foray out and down the path a little to another building with a composting potty in it found us face to face with the dreaded Hutias. They are brown, chubby rat like things without the long tail. They are totally unafraid of anything, especially people. If you see three in your flashlight, think of how many are outside the beam of light. UGGGGGGGH!

We settled into our new accommodations and learned the art of rotating your posterior cheeks from one side to the other on a rather frequent schedule to avoid the PAIN of sitting. We had been sitting mostly for hours and hours by that time (around three AM or so). We all surprisingly slept some, the Hutia did not invade our space, at least we don't think they did, and morning came. We all thought, very erroneously that we would have some breakfast, catered by Connie of course (fresh muffins and scotch eggs, wow), and then pack it up and go back to our boats to recover.

OH HOW WRONG WE WERE. Actually, on a couple of points. The winds were still very strong, in the protected anchorage the boats were rocking and rolling still, and out around the corner where we could see our boats, they were bobbing like toys in a washing machine. The other point came through our door shortly after the first park employee found us in the kitchen. As is turns out we weren't invisible like we thought. The Park Ranger/Warden, Henry, showed up. What a nice guy. He is a Bahamian with relatives in Rochester and Pittsburg, who had been in law enforcement (stopping the drug trade from the Dominican Republic and more I am sure), and had been working for the Bahamian government and the Park for several years. He asked a lot of questions, laughed at our predicament, and acted liked he believed our story of coming in to have dinner on the beach and then not being able to get back to our boats because of the severe weather. (sure, and I am the current Queen of England!) We became the talk of the park.

Ken decided volunteer to work during the day for the Park as long as he was there so we made up a lunch of sorts out of leftovers for him and Peaches, Connie and I finally found a place out of the wind and in the sun. It was just plain cold when the clouds blocked out the sun. Other people came in from the boats in the safe mooring field in the afternoon, all coming to see if we were still alive. They offered help, peanut butter sandwiches and hopes that we could get out to the boats soon. We said we were fine. Henry found us and asked if we were still okay. We were horribly tired of sitting around and not being able to get 'home' but said we were fine, great actually. After he left, Peaches said again how glad she was we came into the island. Now the picture at the top isn't as bad as it looks. We were still on a windy beach, with sand flying into our mouths and noses all afternoon. She was sitting in the chair, listening to a really good book on her iPod, staying warm and relaxing. Connie and I were getting as much sun as we could, reading, and killing time (ducking the sand). My mother said that by the time you die, you will have eaten a whole peck of dirt. I looked it up and a peck is 32 cups of dirt. Ugh! Add to that the half peck of sand we ate since the landing on the beach yesterday and I should be a beanbag, not a person!

We are alive and well, got back on the boats in the late afternoon, after taking the overloaded dinghy back through some rough seas. The boat was still pitching and rolling a lot, as was the dinghy, but not to the same rhythm. Peaches finally took the leap and got onboard, and with great difficulty we got the boat unloaded, attached to the davits and hauled out of the sea. We left all the sandy stuff in the cockpit, came below, looked at each other and said, we're home at last. We had some cheese and crackers, a cut up apple, and at six PM we called it a night and went to bed. We braced against the 20 knot rolling and pitching gladly (it must have been horrible during the night) and slept deeply.

We moved into the secure North Anchorage today, happily, although somehow the mooring rope got pulled under the boat along with the mooring ball. This never happened before to us, but it was an odd combination of strong current pulling the boats in the opposite direction as the wind was blowing. Between Peaches in the water with her mask and fins, and Ken in his dinghy, the ropes got exchanged and all was well. Well, got to go. Happy Hour is starting on the beach................actually is seems like our beach. Will write again soon, although internet sites are pretty scarce where we are. Come visit.

PS from Peaches: After 30 years of racing with the Buffalo Harbor and Sailing Club we have all been out in very nasty seas and strong winds. The nice thing about the racing all those years, you could get off the boat, go into the Yacht Club bar and talk about the ripped sails, the broaches, the stupid thing someone else did, or you could go home to your own bed. Cruising is a different animal. The thought of being in 7 1/2 feet of water with a 6 foot keel with 50 knot winds or perhaps greater hit my threshold for abandoning ship! I wanted my two feet on solid ground. Last night when we returned to the boat, the winds were in the 22-23 knot range. The seas were still about 3 feet. In my V-berth, I got tossed from one side to the other side. I called to Chris from my rolling berth, "Can you imagine what this must have been like last night?" My heart and soul felt right when my feet hit the sand on Friday afternoon. I talked to a gentlemen yesterday afternoon who rode it out on the mooring ball near ours said it was the worst thing he has ever gone through. My special line from Charlie Obersheimer, held the boat firmly throughout the night. Thanks, Charlie.

Comments [1]

Chris
02/12/2010, Exuma Park, Wardwick Cay

Monday morning, 2/8 dawned clear and sunny so we slipped our lines at the Nassau Harbor Club and started south with OZ. Katmandu stayed behind waiting for a replacement bilge pump but we will catch up with them later this month in Georgetown.

We missed Bob a lot as we started out to Porgee Rocks, then to Yellow Banks, Norman Stake and then into a mooring ball at Shroud Cay. Navigation isn't like in the British Virgin Islands, all visual. It is more like point to point travel as you plan a route before you go to guide you through the shallow water, the coral heads, around shoals and sand bars. This longer day trip was beautiful, warm and sunny with enough wind to sail easily along our route.
In the 'skinny' sections (10-11') we saw Connie go out onto the bow to spot coral heads, and so I did the same. It will take me more than just this year of sailing these Bahama Bank waters to get used to the amazing color of the water over the white sands. Everyone I know with a pool at home tries to imitate this color. So, forgive all the water shots in the gallery. I can't help myself.
You are probably so yawning by now because..... nothing happened except we got where we were going without mishap. No broken anything, no frightening noises, not even a spill to wipe up during lunch. We did have a good time and told each other several times how very lucky we were to be here and sailing our own boat.
Yawn, there was a beautiful sunset but without a green flash after getting onto the mooring in Shoal Cay. We had a bit of conversation about the upcoming cold front going through on Tuesday night so decided not to go ashore and explore all the high tide "rivers" through the flats. We voted to move on to a more secure mooring at Exuma Park in the morning.
Exuma Park is a 176 square mile area set aside by the Bahamian government as the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, a marine protected area where you take nothing, pick up nothing, just enjoy the area in its natural state. Warderick Wells is the home of the Park Headquarters. This was our destination on Tuesday..
So Tuesday morning we got ready to leave before the winds got too heavy but late enough so as to arrive on a rising tide. The way into the park is shallow for our 6'draft vessels. It is always a balance between beating the weather and having enough water to do it safely.
It was, I know stop it, sunny and warm, the water sparkling and bright. We left with winds rising and going into the wind, so motored all the way. It got steeper and steeper, with the last of the five hours the worst with the wind and waves coming at us broadsides. We were heading for Emerald Rock mooring field and since Ken and Connie who have been at the park many times hadn't been in this area, there was a little anxiety. We did well despite the high waves, the winds and not being able to read the numbers on the mooring balls. We got it first try though!

I going to talk al little about mooring balls. You usually pay for their use. You hope that they have been well maintained so that they don't fail you while you sleep peacefully rocking in your bunk. You love them just for that reason, you can sleep at night and not get up constantly to check your anchor. And lastly, you have to have a system to pick them up. Ours is to have Peaches on the foredeck with a boat hook and a couple of strong lines. She has an intercom strung around her neck and I have the other one by me at the wheel. Now, you need to go slow, you need to get it close to the bow, you need to stop the boat when she tells you to and all of this is blind as I can't see through her, or see the mooring ball when I get up to it. So far, so good, This one was the hardest because of the waves and the wind. Peaches hasn't let one go yet.
Exuma Park is a wonderful place and we had been regaled with stories about it since meeting Ken and Connie. They both work as volunteers while there and get their mooring fees waived. There are several mooring areas, the most preferred is the northern one near the office and protected from winds on all four sides. We called in our request for a place there Tuesday morning before going down, and found out that so did half the fifty or more boats on the banks! We did each get a mooring in the Emerald Rock field, and are on the waiting list for the northern more protected field tomorrow.
The woman who handles this whole who 'gets-what-when dance' is very good at what she does. Darcy is polite on the VHF at 0900 when the assignments are made, but there is always the pushy people who cannot believe that they won't get the one the one they want. She juggles everyone like it is a waltz, or the guy on Ed Sullivan who used to juggle all those plates on sticks and not drop a one! Cruising is a big leveler of the playing field. Who you are isn't the key any more, it is just 1)where you are, 2)how long is your vessel and 3) how deep the draft. So, we want to stay here for a week or so, and will remain on the waiting list for the better "balls".
Ken even thought he would propose that he clean up the mooring balls and repaint the numbers so they can be seen more easily. He will broach the balls subject at the office tomorrow. The cruisers do a lot of wonderful things down in the Bahamas, and this is one of the examples. Over the VHF this morning the cruisers are doing a big benefit for the Medical Clinic in Staniel Cay, inviting people to come eat, volunteer, donate etc.
My first dinghy trip into the Park office today was with Ken and Connie. We were drenched within one dinghy length of leaving the back of our boat. I looked back quickly at Peaches who stayed behind to watch the boat (dry and smiling). As we got going, we got wet and then it didn't matter any more. The waves were still pretty big from last night's rocking and rolling 20-25 knot winds. We all slept poorly, trying to keep from rolling out of bed all night long. It took a while for our stomachs to catch up with us this morning, so a slow start to coffee and cold cereal.
As we got in, lots of people knew Ken and Connie and I met all of them. We registered and then went out to walk around in the sun to dry out from the dinghy ride. There are little yellow finch type birds called Banana Quit who eat granulated sugar right out of your hands, lizards, hermit crabs, and a whole island of hutia. This is an endangered species of rodent, looks like a small woodchuck or a very large rat. They are nocturnal and apparently have no predators here, as their population is soaring to over 5000 on the island at last count. A lot of the natural ground cover is gone now, eaten by the numerous hutia. I suggested that they take a boat full of them to some of the other islands. That fell on deaf ears I think.
We walked through tidal flats, over volcanic rocks and up through baby mangrove trees and sand to Boo Boo Hill. This is where cruisers place the name of their boat on a piece of wood or stone (something natural, not man-made) so people will know they've been there. See the gallery. The view from the hill was super. We walked over to the blow holes on Exuma Sound sidebut the surf wasn't enough to shoot up water, just make it sound like thunder when the waves hit the rocks.
Did I tell you how blue the water is and how warm and sunny it is every day? Oh, another big yawn from you all. Well, you will just have to come join us and stop shivering up there in snow country. We miss you all.

PS: Starship 12 February, 2010
We have spent a happy hour yesterday and hours today getting ready to abandon ship. There is a very large low front system coming through tonight that will have constant 35-40kt winds with some 50+kt gusts during the squalls as it passes through our location in the south-central Bahama Banks. We don't have any qualms about the boats surviving this big blow as we are on strong mooring balls, but the ride in the boats will be horrible. We are not in the northern protected field of mooring balls, so will be very vulnerable to the winds as they increase over today from the S SE to S SW and then quickly W and then to NW and North. We are particularly vulnerable to the westerly winds. We took a vote, lead by Peaches telling me yesterday morning that she was not under any circumstances staying on the boat during this blow and that I was not either. We talked to Ken and Connie and after considerable gin, rum and beers, we set up a plan.
I am not sitting on the porch of the park office finishing the blog so you will all be up to date. Peaches and I set longer and stronger lines to the mooring ball, took all the fenders and fuel tanks (8) off the decks, tied down the boom and the bit of mainsail that sticks out. We also wrapped the furling jib a few more wraps for safety sake. We packed our half of the abandon ship rations (booze, snacks, computer and movies for later), blankets and warmer clothes, lights, VHF radios, toothbrushes and the important ships papers and our passports. Connie cooked a delightful cold supper for us to have on the beach. We are spending the night on the beach and up on the porch while the tropical storm blows through. Now be quiet about this as the staff think we are just having dinner on the beach.
We are having a night out. Peach likens it to going out to sleep with the street people for a night. I think she will be very surprised when all the Hutias on the island crash our party and crowd in front of us to see the movie better. A blog will surely come out of the experience. I will let Peaches write that one. This was totally her idea. Wish us luck!

Comments [4]