04/06/2007, Exumas, Bahamas
There were tears shed over leaving Georgetown, where the kids had made very close friends - Chris and Nick on Second Wave and Rachel on Stardust. But we've finally left "Tarpit Harbour" (as it is sometimes called, I believe for it's ability to hold sailors hostage and take away their will to move on!) and passed through Black Point on our way to Staniel Cay. We anchored off Big Majors Spot, just north of Staniel Cay, which Sabrina aptly renamed Pig Majors Spot due to the proliferation of pigs ashore! The pigs/piglets hang out in the brush behind the beach, coming out when they hear approaching dinghies, greeting the visitors by attempting to board the small boats, presumably searching out food! We fed them our old stores and they seemed temporarily sated... until the next dinghy full of sailors arrived!
Near Staniel Cay is Thunderball Cave, one of the area's biggest attractions, used as filming locations for movies such as James Bond's Thunderball and Splash. Despite a cool, cloudy start to the day, the sun finally appeared as we hit the water, making it more inviting. The grotto was spectacular... the entrance was narrow and current-ridden but once inside, the water was calmer and lit by natural "skylights" above. The sun's rays diffused through the water, lighting the colourful coral and the sensational array of fish - fish so abundant that it was impossible to swim through the grotto without touching them! And these same fish were so accustomed to the presence of humans that they were not adverse to being hand-fed... such fun for the kids as they held crumbs and pretzel bits while the fish schooled around them, eating out of their hands! And to exit the grotto, we swam down several feet and through a small opening in the rock to emerge on the outside - even Sabrina, at only 5 years of age, had to try this!
Warderick Wells, home of the Exumas Land and Sea Park, also provided a couple of days of entertainment for us. Moored in a narrow deep-water channel and surrounded by shallow sandbanks that dry to sand beaches at low tide, we were in a veritable paradise! We hiked to BooBoo Hill (the highest spot on the island at only 45 feet above sea level!) where boaters leave "souvenirs" of their vessels and to several of the island's lee beaches, all with sensationally clear, calm water and white sand. And at the Park headquarters, the girls successfully fed sugar to bananaquits (small yellow and black birds) right from their hands!
We then made a short stop in Norman's Cay, made famous by the drug lords that made it their base for over a decade. We toured through the ruins of their former digs and saw one of their planes which had crashed and is now lying on the bottom of the harbour. We even did some great shelling at a nearby uninhabited island.
We're now sitting in Paradise Island, Bahamas, adjacent to Nassau, in the Marina at the Atlantis Resort... definitely the smallest boat in a marina full of MegaYachts! We're certainly in good company. AND... there's a Starbuck's here! What could be better than that? The kids (and even us big kids!) are having a blast on the waterslides (talk about baptism by fire - Caroline had me go down the steepest waterslide first, a veritable freefall during which the water flying past and over me virtually peeled my eyelids back - what fun!), swimming in the resort's many pools, and seeing the aquariums full of sea life... without having to dive the reef!
The Bahamas has provided us with new friends and great natural entertainment... but the weather is definitely cooler here and we're feeling the need to continue working our way north, toward home. Fortunately, our recent "crew call" posting yielded brave volenteers to help get WildChild home - Dirk Sell, a long-time friend who has accompanied David on other yacht deliveries and helped deliver WildChild from Milwaukee to Port Credit, and Stuart Michielli, another good friend who has considerable race crewing experience... and so we should be making landfall in the U.S. within a couple of weeks to change crew!
(Pics now posted - click on Photo Album link on right)
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Comments [4]
03/26/2007, Georgetown, Exumas
CREW CALL
As George Castanza (of Seinfeld fame) once said:
"The sea was angry that day, my friends, like an old man trying to take back soup at the deli."
And so it has been for the past several days due to a front (or multiple fronts) moving through with resultant high winds from the north. Not great when you want to head north. But hopefully the winds will clock more to the east very soon and we'll continue up the Exuma island chain, ultimately bound for the U.S. East Coast and points north.
Which brings me to my next point. We're looking for the cream of the crop of sailing society... but are willing to settle for far less. The girls (including me!) want off the boat in the southern U.S. (Hilton Head sounds good!) and Dave is loooking for a couple of big, strong, handsome men (well, not necessarily handsome!) to help sail WildChild from South Carolina to New York/Toronto. Of course, sailing experience is a definite asset but not altogether necessary. So if you think you can secure time off between approximately April 25 and May 10 and can get spousal consent, send us an email to sailwildchild@excite.com. Mark Twain once said, "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." So although there's no dough in it, take his advice and set this year apart in your memory from all others. Do something different. Carpe diem!
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03/23/2007, Georgetown, Exumas
Well, it's not every day that a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter lands on the beach on which you're relaxing! And this is exactly what happened yesterday afternoon at 2pm. It's still unknown as to why the crew put down on Volleyball beach in Georgetown, but they did, and subsequently let the cruisers on the beach tour the 'copter, take pictures, etc. Great fun, especially for the kids!
On landing though, the helicopter rotors kicked up a massive amount of sand and I, being in close proximity, ended up being virtually sandblasted! I'm sure I'll find sand in strange places for days to come!
Sabrina was at first tentative, approaching the massive machine, but later was comfortable enough to sit in the pilot's seat, put on his helmet and have a couple of photos taken.
Other than the chopper landing, our days here have been relaxing and uneventful, reading on the beach while the girls spend time with other cruising kids, playing in a homemade "fort", swimming, swinging from the trees on ropes, making fishing lures, etc. Pretty stress-free!
We have weathered a couple of good squalls here though, since our arrival. Two nights ago, for an hour and a half, we had 40 to 50 knot winds and driving rain, with a spattering of lightening for good measure. Boats dragged anchor all over the anchorage. Lots of fun. And then it looked as though we were going to have another taste of the same last night, but luckily that weather bipassed us and hopefully there'll be no more of that kind of excitement!
Have a look at the newest photo albums...
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03/20/2007, Lower Bahamas
Recently, we decided that we'd been moving a little too slowly and had to put some serious miles under the keel to meet our goal of arriving back home in the first two weeks of May. As a result, we've had more passage days than relaxing days.
From South Caicos, we headed out just after dawn one morning across the Caicos bank - extremely shallow water stretching from one end of the Turks and Caicos to the other, littered with reef and isolated coral heads. We spent the day trying to stay in water deep enough to float the boat, dodging the dark spots (coral heads). Fun. We arrived in Provo late in the afternoon, less than relaxed, and anchored off a lovely beach in a protected bay, the girls making friends within minutes. An evening bonfire on the same beach provided a great opportunity to share sailing tales with fellow cruisers.
For those of you who are thinking that sailing is all sunshine and relaxation, I'd like you to know that this is not the case. Our overnight passages seem to have been quite the opposite, and our passage from Provo to Rum Cay, about 180 miles, was no exception. The day proved quite lovely as usual, sunny with blue skies, and we even caught a 25-pound mahi-mahi - dinner for ourselves and many others for the next couple of nights! Then, as evening approached, the sky clouded over and lightening once again lit the sky and continued til dawn the next day. In addition, we slammed into an oncoming front which came earlier than predicted, packing 35-knot winds, confused seas and driving rain for a short time. Landfall at Rum Cay the next morning was a relief, even though the entrance channel to the harbour was one of the trickiest we'd seen, with just enough water to float us.
After a short stay overnight at Rum Cay, we headed out once again for a long day passage to Georgetown in the Exumas, a sail again highlighted by the catch of yet another, larger mahi! Georgetown is a huge cruiser hangout and we arrived to find about 300 boats scattered through the many anchorages in the large harbour, although as yet, we've not found anyone we know! But a short time after our arrival, Caroline found a family with two boys, Chris and Nicholas, on a three-year cruise, from Port Credit! Small world!
We'll spend a few days here, maybe even a week, then move on up the island chain, heading north and west through familiar ports and waters, waters we travelled on our last cruise in 1999/2000.
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