Delilah's Meanderings

A lot has happened since our last post. Currently we are tied up to mooring ball #21 at Warderick Wells Cay (pronounced like "key") in the Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park. For cruisers this is like how Disney World or Universal Studios is for land lubbers! We hope to be here a few days, walking on trails and snorkeling the local reefs. The Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park is protected area that covers several islands and surrounding water in the central Exuma island chain in the Bahamas. All the Bahamas parks are run by the Bahamas National Trust which is a private company. The Bahamas are the only country with this type of an arrangement.

The following is from our daily journal since our last post when we were in Bimini.

2/25 - Left Bimini Blue Water Marina at 8am, motor sailed around the island and anchored north of 3 sisters (big rocks off shore) on east side of Bimini for a early departure the next day. We changed our minds and decided to not wait and continue to Mackie Shoal (a shallow area on the Bahama Banks which is a large shallow area). Pulled up anchor at 10am and motored into the wind and waves with a lot of heavy pounding. Mark caught a 2 lb Cero (Painted) Mackerel. Kim made suddenly salad for lunch. Dropped anchor at 5pm. Mark cleaned, cooked, and ate his fish! Kim's stomach was not up to food after all the rocking. Spent a very rocky night at anchor in the open on Mackie Shoal. We decided not to sail at night on this trip. Osprey's radar is not working and Delilah doesn't have one yet.

2/26 - Ate cereal for breakfast, Anchor up 7am, headed east into wind and waves, the crew (Kim) is ready to mutiny (sell the boat, turn around, fly home, etc.). The boat is taking a pounding! Several times water over the bows. Turkey sandwiches for lunch, saw a water spout in the distance, anchored at SW Shoal at 2pm, almost calm finally, spent time on boat maintenance, poured fuel into tanks from cans, bailed out starboard bilge, Roes saw the green flash at sunset (we missed it, maybe next time).

2/27 - Cereal for bkfst, 6:20am anchors up, motored through the NW Channel (go from banks to deep water, tongue of the ocean) with no issues, lots of sailboats heading east and other traffic, beautiful calm day finally, the first mate is happy, saw a lot of flying fish, changed our minds for next stop from Frazers Hog Cay to Nassau and then finally to West Bay (opposite end of Island that Nassau is on), light winds from the NE, put up screacher and main sail, but kept motor on, PB&J for lunch, arrived at 4pm, several sailboats already anchored, but plenty of room, had green beans, teriyaki noodles with salmon, bathed (sink bath for Kim, quick dunk off swim latter and wash off with hose for Mark), another beautiful sunset.

2/28 - 6:40am anchor up, motored out of West Bay watching GPS chart closely to avoid coral heads, put up main sail and Genoa and sailed on port close hauled without the engine for a couple hours, winds gusting to 18K, took a more direct route than Osprey, but they still beat us to Highbourne Cay, put anchor down 3:45pm, Cereal for breakfast on the move, avocado and tuna fish for lunch, smoked sausage and mashed potatoes (instant) for supper, it was another long day with big waves, but at least they weren't straight on

3/1 - 6:30am anchor up, we left before Osprey, but they caught and passed us, wind was close, but able to motor sail with most of the way with Main sheeted in tight, decided to sail past the Land and Sea park to Staniel Cay because Delilah is getting low on fuel and water, anchored at 2:30pm off Big Majors Spot by the famous pig beach, a fairly nice day of travel, got dinghy down and motored to dry land, it had been a while, able to talk to Tammy and Jerel in person rather than over the VHF radio, ate supper hamburgers and mahi mahi sandwich at Staniel Cay Yacht Club.

3/2 - Heavy weather coming, made chafing guard for anchor line from fire hose, dinghy in for breakfast at Staniel Key Yacht club, went to grocery stores and filled water cans, Mark and Jerel went back to boats, Mark got dinghy to plane for first time! Been waiting for break-in period to pass on the outboard. Moved Osprey closer to Delilah, rented golf cart for 4 hours, toured the island, saw location from James Bond movie Thunder Ball, walked on Atlantic beach, ate chicken and conch chowder for lunch, ate turkey sandwiches for supper

3/3 - Strong winds from NNW, stayed on the boat all day, Mark made french toast with Bahama bread for breakfast, Kim made chicken spaghetti for lunch, posted pics on blog, seaplane landed right next to Delilah and taxied to pig beach, then took off other side of Osprey, had left over spaghetti for supper, made bed in salon and slept there, rocky night, but the anchor held! Used hand held Garmin GPS to monitor our position to watch for anchor dragging.

3/4 - Cool morning, Mark had oatmeal and Kim cereal for breakfast, reviewed charts, made Exuma sites wish list, discussed alternatives, Mark dinghy to Osprey and discussed plans, decided to make a fuel run and take the girls, ate lunch at Staniel Cay Yacht Club (Mahi Mahi sandwiches and tacos), Jerel and Mark filled diesel cans and took back to boat, Mark emptied into tanks and brought cans to be filled again, wet ride in dinghy back to the boat, Kim made italian chicken sausage and rice for supper

3/5 - Cereal for breakfast, Changed Westerbeke (27 hp diesel engine) oil and filter, turkey sandwiches for lunch, dinghy Kim in to do laundry, got water in 2 cans, went to Brooks grocery store, ate Mahi Mahi sandwiches (fresh catch same price as hamburger!) for supper at Staniel Cay Yacht Club

3/6 - Cereal for breakfast, Mark went in for water, gas, and diesel, 9:30am anchors up, PB&J for lunch, sailed and motor sailed most of the way, picked up ball 21 at 1:15pm at Warderck Wells Cay, dinghy in to register and pay, relaxed on the beach in the shade, Kim made chicken nachos for supper

3/7 - Cereal for bkfst, posted pictures, other boat tasks, dinghy to Powerful Beach, walked trail to Boo Boo Hill where cruisers leave a piece of drift wood with their names, boats name, and year, the pile is quite large, Tammy left Osprey drift wood, took different trail back which went over the causeway foot bridge, ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on picnic tales on Powerful Beach, 4:30pm went back to Powerful Beach for sundowner (bring your own drink and snack to share), met other boaters in the mooring field, back on Delilah played scrabble, Mark won

3/8 - Mark fixed Bahama bread french toast for bkfst, front came through good shower strong winds started later, during slack tide Mark snorkeled under boat, every thing looked good, dinghy to yellow dinghy buoy, Mark snorkled on coral and saw fish, dinghy over to beach to the west, saw 2 florescent blue hound fish and large hermit crab in a conch shell, very peaceful setting, back to Delilah ate a snack (always hungry), dinghy with Roes to Beryl's Beach for hike to Pirate's Lair, took Peggy's Trail to Loyalist Beach, tried to take Cockle Trail to Alive Beach but the trail was not cleared so turned back and dinghy back in heavy surf getting soaked, ate sandwiches for lunch, WIFI was down because they were in the process of installing a new system, so now we truly off grid, no cell or internet, played scrabble Kim won finally, ate chicken and rice soup and grilled cheese sandwich for supper

3/9 - Cereal for bkfst, dinghy to dock, hiked up to Boo Boo Hill, put our "Delilah was here 2018" drift wood there, saw a blow hole, still no WiFi, able to get weak cell service from top of Boo Boo Hill, did franks and beans on grill for lunch, went to beach with Roes, Mark went snorkeling and saw lots of fish and coral, went to Osprey for sun-downer, played dominoes, Tammy won


Hopefully this gave you a real feel for what is happening on Delilah, but not too much information. The consensus now is to hang out here several more days while a couple cold fronts pass through and then start heading north and make our way back toward Florida. We might make a couple more stops in the Land and Sea Park. Also we plan to stay a few days in a marina at Nassau and sight see there. As usual this is all subject to change and weather.

Fair winds and following seas,
Mark and Kim
S/V Delilah