One of the things about cruising is you need to plan your resources including food, fuel, supplies and water. On Amaruq we have 2 water tanks for a total of 60 gallons plus 3 x5 gallon jerry cans we carry on deck. This will last us close to 3 weeks if we're careful about our consumption.

The jerry cans enable us to take them ashore in the dinghy for refills whenever we are close to a port that has water. While we've been spending time with Lynn and Larry we had the luxury of being able to refill our tanks from their water maker. This device can make fresh water from salt water water via a high pressure pump which forces water through a salt blocking membrane. Because there is a series of filters involved in their system, it needs to be used on a regular basis or pickled (cleaned and stored) so bacteria doesn't breed in the filters.

Their system makes 40 gallons an hour and they have to run it and they run it every other day so we are actually helping to use their surplus water so they don't have to pickle their system. It works great for both of us as it helps keep their water tanks supplied with fresh water and keeps us from getting into dire straits looking for water ashore in remote places where there isn't any.

https://youtu.be/oFXgiPdd1fk?si=u_5AswJj02xhz1w7

If you've been following the news lately apparently there have been a few shark attacks in Florida and the Bahamas lately. Of course this attracts media hype but when you actually find out what happened, it ends up being human caused due to poor choices made. People decide to go swimming in marinas and other places where sharks are used to feeding on fish remains at cleaning stations or locations where sharks are fed for tourist attractions. So a person jumping in the water and splashing around to a shark is like a dinner bell!

As I mentioned a few posts back we seem to see sharks congregating around our boats in some anchorages late in the day which could be an indication of dinner scraps being thrown overboard by boaters ringing the bell for the sharks. So no swimming for us in these situations so we don become the dinner menu special.


A couple of days back we went for a beach picnic on nearby island Norman's Pond Cay. It had a very long deserted beach with a lot of conch shells, both live and dead at the surf line. Conch have the spiralled shells people like to bring back as souvenirs. Conch is also a food source a lot of people like to eat down here, although we don really care for it. They are easily caught and you have to cut the shell open in a certain spot to get the actual animal out. However f you can find a shell where the animal died of natural causes, the shell is in tact. Boaters like to find those and make a horn out of them which is traditionally blown at sundown in many anchorages. We found 2 smaller ones that were in tact but found they didn't smell too good so we ended up donating them to neptune.

While we were chillin' on the beach we saw a very unusual, for here at least anyway, sight of a fully loaded tandem kayak being paddled by. They came ashore just down the beach from us so we went down to offer them our spot, which had the only shade under some trees on the beach. It turned out they were a younger couple from Calgary who were out paddling the islands and camping out! Not sure I'd want to be kayaking in the ind and waves around here but good on them. They were very appreciative of us giving up our post for them to camp for the night.

Today's shot is us walking a sandbar at low tide. It was a large area where the water was less than 2' deep for close to a square mile! there were lots of sand dollar shells and at 1 point we saw a fairly large nurse shark approaching us but once he got close he decided we weren't food so he diverted off in another direction. you gotta be careful walking and do the stingray shuffle.

https://www.visitflorida.com/travel-ideas/articles/outdoors-nature-florida-stingray-shuffle/

https://youtu.be/m2uTFF_3MaA?si=mtA1IEgjCTBSVxLb

Lots of private islands in this neck of the woods. We passed Musha Cay on our way to our anchorage at Rudder Cay. usha Cay, and the surrounding small islands are owned by David Copperfield of magician fame. Of all his "magic" he is best known for making the Statue of Liberty disappear a few years back. Apparently he has amassed a fortune and is reported to be worth over $80 million and counting. I guess he needed someplace to invest so he bought these islands and turned them into a high end resort. Apparently he good at making your money disappear if you want to stay there as well!

https://youtu.be/k7gHglCdm2o?si=pQUaa2_J8F067XIj

Another private island in the area is Darby, complete with the ruins of a castle built at the highest point, commanding an impressive view of the area. So the storygoes, the Darby Island Castle was built back in the 1930's by a British gentleman names Sir Guy Baxter. The original intent was to turn the island into a plantation. However WW2 came along and rumours started about how Sir Guy was a Nazi sympathizer and he would harbour German Uboats at his island during the war. Not sure of how true it is or isn't but the Germans did conduct numerous attacks in the Caribbean on supply vessels headed for Europe. Mysteriously Sir Guy disappeared during the war never to be seen again so there is speculation he was transported to Germany.

https://www.grandbahamamuseum.org/exhibits/maritime-and-aviation/u-boats

We were up for exploring the ruins of the castle but there was a sign stating the island was private and contact info for anyone who wanted to go ashore. I sent the contact an email asking for permission, which was quickly granted along with a warning not to go up on the 2nd floor of the building as the floor was rotting and unsafe. The message also stated the island had recently been sold. I found a real estate listing it for $38M a few years back!

https://www.messynessychic.com/2017/08/01/private-island-complete-with-an-abandoned-nazi-castle-for-sale/

We headed over the next day and hiked up the rough trial to the castle. The undergrowth was very thick and if you weren't paying attention you could miss it. It had once been a very grand structure which was now slowly falling apart. The floors were stone tiles cut into intricate patterns and the woodwork was apparently mahogany. Some rooms had the ceilings caving with 2nd floor joists rotted away so we were thankful for the warning. Not a lot of animals on the island although we did see a rather long snake coiled up in 1 of the rooms and he was not to pleased to see us so he disappeared into a hole in the floor. It would have been a very impressive place in its day.

https://youtu.be/Kz_cGcnKFog?si=6k5ys-dl8rR7A_pG

The Bahamas is reported to include a series of 700 islands with only 30 f them being inhabited. Likely due to fresh water and resource availability but it appears they command a pretty impressive price if someone wants to buy 1.

If you don’t have that kind of cash you can always bring your own island and hide it in amongst the 700.

https://youtu.be/zj02CeofIH8?feature=shared

Today's photo is of us in front of 1 of the caves on Rudder Island. the rock is mostly sandstone and gets pretty eroded by the wave action.

It was boat maintenance day so Larry and I suited up and changed out the sacrificial anodes on both of our boats. Larry is an advise scuba diver so he had a tank on his boat which made it a lot easier to do this work. I was the assistant handing tools and piece parts to him as I bobbed around on the surface in snorkel gear. It took us almost 2 hours to do both boats and even with a wetsuit, I was shivering pretty good when we finished.

If you have been following the blog site posts you will know that our anodes were pretty much gone when I dove under the boat a couple of weeks ago to check things out. It took almost 2 weeks to order and have a new set delivered via a Florida air service. My total package weighed 20 lbs. and the final bill for delivery, including the Bahamian brokerage paperpwork and taxes was $45. That was a bargain in my books.

So we now have 2 x 1 lb. zinc sacrificial anodes on our propellor shaft, a zinc propellor end anode and a very heavy 6 lb. zinc anode , shaped like a fish, which is attached to our standing rigging and hanging overboard into the water to handle any galvanic corrosion. You might call it a sacriFISHial anode! The theory behind this is that everything metal on the boat is bonded together so attaching metal that more readily dissolves with any current that flows between the metal and the water instead of the propellor, driveshaft and other metals in contact with the water. We still think the shore power at the marina we stayed at may have been to blame for the accelerated decay of these anodes as Larry's seemed to have dissolved faster that usual as well.

The propellor had a build up of scale on it as well so it all got scraped off. I did notice an increase in speed and less vibration in the drivetrain once this was all done so I think things were likely a little out of balance prior to work.

We went ashore to do a bit of shopping and laundry as well as having dinner at a waterfront restaurant for Lynn's birthday. we also watched the local fishermen cleaning their catch at the dock complete with school of nurse sharks and stingrays chowing down on the scraps. It was pretty neat getting into the dinghy and watching sharks swim under the boat a couple of feet below the surface!

Another excursion was to Iguana Island with its resident population that only live in the Exuma and Andros Islands. It's funny when you approach the beach they all come running down to see what you have for them. Also they're the reptile version of the pigs at pig beach. We had some food scraps but they were pretty picky so I guess they get fed on an equator basis.

Larry also took us to see the wreck of a sailboat which had been seized by the Bahamian authorities a few years back. Apparently the skipper was in a bar 1 night yapping about how he had a number of guns on his boat and that intended to shoot some of the native population. Someone called the cops, which were a fair ways away and they came, searched his boat, impounded it, confiscated his guns and arrested him. His was a few years back and the boat apparently was never released and is now a wreck on the beach.

https://youtu.be/NrLkTZrPZA4?si=5Coo4zwne5Jfq2do


follow up to episode 59, the Aga Khan who owned the island I talked about has just died. Apparently he was a very philanthropic throughout his life.
https://apnews.com/article/aga-khan-ismaili-muslim-obit-568f5859ac60d11f2eac2abf793d81f5

Today photo of the sharks coming in for dinner scraps off the stern of Lynn and Larry boat. Not sure what the closest 1 is but the other is a nurse shark. They look pretty awesome in the underwater lights!

We're making short hops down the island chains these days as there are lots of great anchorages to check out. The weather has seemed to calm down a lot with wind pretty consistent out of the east or northeast in the 8-14 knot range. We anchor close to shore where ever possible so the wind is coming off shore with minimal wave action.

https://youtu.be/JEdPlhpaVLM?si=ZylW-WAmFgY_WZmp

As we moved south we were starting to see more civilization and we ended up in Staniel Cay. This is where I had my anodes flown in at the very reasonable cost of $45 high included the brokerage paperwork for the government. We anchored in a mooring field with about 50 other boats. The beach in front of us turned out to be pig beach. This is a tourist trap where you can go and feed the pigs that swim out to meet you. Apparently they can be quite aggressive and we had little interest so we just watch through the binoculars from the boat.

https://youtube.com/shorts/qAtpmGxgxHU?si=uvzmpnQlxgJL8IQb

We also had the opportunity to get fuel so we loaded our jerry cans into the dinghy and headed to the fuel dock. Larry, whose boat holds a few hundred gallons of fuel unfortunately had to fill his tanks and had to actually go and wait in line to tie up to the dock. There is only 1 diesel and 1 gas pump so when a big boat comes n to refuel it takes a considerable amount of time. Guys like me with 4 x 20 litre jugs get filled while the big boats are arriving and departing so I got filled within a few minutes in between big boats. Oh, and if the fuel prices being +$6/ US gallon isn enough, they charge the big boats a "convenience fee" of $25 for the privilege of tying up to their dock to refuel!

In the afternoon we headed ashore to re-provision as we needed milk, bread, a few veggies and eggs. There were 2 store choices, The Pink Store and The Blue Store. We ended up going to both. Selection was limited but you're in a 3rd world country so it was good just to have the opportunity to get food. They had most of the staples as well as some fruits and vegetables.

Our experience with the bread in the Bahamas has been interesting. On Grand Bahama Island we could get commercially baked bread similar to what you get back home. We're not sure what all is in it but it lasted 2 weeks and still wasn't going stale so I'm sure it was all natural ingredients. Down here they bake bread locally and it is very dense and is more like cake than bread....and it's awesome. So we got both! Not sure about the carb content on it either!

https://youtu.be/ftsFcQHv9Ik?si=g39i6nshbF8Tj3lx

On Tuesday morning we had the privilege of being woken up naturally....by a rooster at 4 am! There are lots of them down here and this one was on Newfoundland time as he was 3 hours before sunrise! But that gave us lots of time to get ready to hoist anchor for the next bay. We also discovered that my wetsuit decided to jump ship overnight. We had both suits hanging well inside the cockpit to dry and somehow mine managed to slip of the linens make it over the stern, over the dinghy and head off onto its own adventure out to sea. We searched for close to an hour along the shorelines and through the channels but with a 3 knot current it's on its way to Africa at this point!


today's shot lookin' out my back door at our trusty dinghy waiting to take us on another local adventure.

Another excellent day enjoying the weather and surroundings. We did a snorkel trip to a place called the aquarium which was a steep sided island into about 15' of water, with coral down the slope and on the bottom. The fish diversity here was amazing to say the least! The colours on some, such as the large angel fish looked to artificial to be real....but they weren't! The following clip for youtube is a very fine representation of what it was like so enjoy!

https://stanielcayadventures.com/discover-the-beauty-of-the-aquarium-in-the-exuma-land-and-sea-park-near-johnny-depps-island/#:~:text=The%20Aquarium%20in%20the%20Exuma%20Land%20and%20Sea%20Park%20is,your%20head%20under%20the%20water.
.

aquarium video https://www.google.com/gasearch?q=the%20aquarium%20snorkel%20site%20in%20the%20bahamas&source=sh/x/gs/m2/5#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:c823d15e,vid:OcN61xKQ6Fo,st:0

We also were very close to a private island which was developed by Johnnie Depp. There were several buildings, a large wharf and a few beaches with pavilions. Supposedly he had to sell it recently due to his legal issues and JK Rowling, of Harry Potter fame is now the new owner.

https://youtu.be/-jXzSBgvmlM?si=8E_LGjX1mxC38DA9

One other thing about this area is the abundance of rays and sharks. They seem to come by later in the day and sometimes circle around the boat a few times. Larry was in the water at the stem of his boat and saw a couple of fair sized sharks swim by. When 1 of them turned around and started to head back he got out of the water. Nurse sharks are light brown and fairly docile but these were darker in colour and we think reef sharks.

(today's song is 1 of those tunes that you can't get out of your head once you hear it. You've been warned!)

https://youtu.be/A3ytTKZf344?si=UR39ccnNrgqz_Gta

Last night we had a pot luck dinner on their boat and afterwards Lynn threw some scraps into the water off the stern. Their boat has under water lights and within a couple of minutes there were a multitude of fish, including 3 reef sharks. I'm to sure exactly how big they were
but our 9' dinghy was trailing off their stern and these guys were almost as long! It was pretty dramatic seeing them swim in and out of the lit area. We're guessing that boaters have a history of clearing their meal scraps overboard on a nightly basis so this could explain why we see them later in the afternoon. We'll go with that as it makes us feel better that they aren't cruising around during the day while we're in the water!

https://youtu.be/_7IITLEr5Nw?si=TLm0dtD6kDSWRBUb


Today's shot is of us after a snorkelling trip. Sam is trolling for Prince Charming to come and fit here with a missing fin in this land of make believe....but it's really this beautiful!!!,

Another day in paradise. We had the park warden come by for a visit to the mooring field his morning. All anchoring and mooring ball usage requires a fee which you can arrange on line. It's on the honour system and we were legal but the warden Andre, is the guy we did the electrical repairs for so we've made some good connections. (in wiring and with the staff!)

We went for a dinghy ride to scope the place out and saw a sailboat motoring fairly quickly well outside the channel and we're just in the right place to watch him go aground...at speed! Luckily it was sand but his boot stripe (waterline indicator on hull) was 6" out of the water so he was up on the sand good. We tried to push his bow around so he could motor out back into deeper water but he was stuck. And as a bonus, his exhaust pipe was dumping his cooling water into his dinghy while he tried to get free.

I told him to check his bilge to make sure he hadn't done any damage to his keel joint as sometime hard groundings will crack the joint and allow water in. Again, this was an example of a guy being a bit dazed by this. His wife blamed the chartplotter but they were well outside of the channel on the charts so this was pilot error. Oh, and the name of the boat was Northern Star! So that's 2 groundings in 3 days that we know about. Luckily it was low tide so he just had to wait it out for a few hours before he could refloat later in the day. He ended up anchoring a fair distance from us so that was a relief.

We got treat at 8:30 pm when a rocket launch was staged in Florida. We are 340 nm from the cape but we actually saw the rocket rising at an angle to the horizon with our eyes. It was even better with the binoculars with a huge parabolic wave of gas with the rocket's flame in the centre. It was heading north and we could see it for ~3 minutes.

Lynn and Larry spent a few months at this anchorage a few years back as mooring field hosts so they know all the best spots. A they took s snorkelling at a place called Rocky Dundas, which is a couple of caves in the rocky shoreline that can be entered from the water. we waited for low tide so there was air space in the opening vs having to dive down to get through the entrance. there were very large caverns inside maybe 30' high by 120' wide with stalactites hanging down. A very neat experience. Here's a youtube video posted by another boater:

https://youtu.be/TdUuambZcUU?si=8HCR7zRqFsfXrBbl

If you look on the map there is a place called Bell Island, which privately owned by the Aga Khan. Ahi's name may ring a bell as he was involved in a Khantroversy a few years back when Justin Trudeau and family vacationed here over Christmas. The opposition took exception to this as it betrayed the khanfidence the public put in the PM to not receive favours or gifts from people as it may khompromise his ability to remain impartial. (Ok, I'll stop now!)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Island_(The_Bahamas)#:~:text=The%20island%20was%20purchased%20for,controlled%20by%20the%20Aga%20Khan.

https://youtu.be/uQwqSrPdwjQ?si=NK3IbqX3WLR1F6Kj


Today's shot is the mooring field in Cambridge Cay. The large vessel in the centre of the shot is some super yacht with a group of Italians on it. Lots of jet skis and toys and the staff set up a beach lunch for them complete with candlesticks! This is roughing it in the Bahamas I guess. Also in this shot you can see the pendant line leading from the mooring ball to Amaruq. This is what got caught in the sailboat's rudder in Warderwick Wells (previous post)