24 February 2015

Day three of the Exumas cruise

We awoke this morning after sleeping the repose of the just. What a great feeling to know that your wee floating home just ain't goin' nowhere, especially after the previous night at Allen Cay. Don't misunderstand, Allen Cay is a great place to stop but next time, now that we have been there for our initial recce I think that we will head over to the spot we ended up in after the midnight barging about.

Here in Staniel Cay there is all kinds of anchoring room, it merely is determined by how far you wish to dingy to get to the town, if indeed you want to go into town at all. The marina is overpriced as I said in yesterday's post, but there are two and a half grocery stores, a laundry that will do the wash for you, and some booze shops. Other than that as far as I can see are the swimming pigs, the incredible diving and snorkelling and the underwater movie set. The cruising guides have caused me a little concern about the moorings that we are on. Apparently there is some question about ownership and hence maintenance, but from the look of the painter on it someone has been taking care of at least the above water part of them. Now there is a place we have discovered in the cruising guides, just around the corner called Blacks Settlement that seems to be the answer. They don't have dockage or moorings but do have ample anchoring and all the facilities mostly in return for a donation.

We heard a medical emergency broadcast from one of the anchored boats this morning. A woman was asking for help for her husband who required medical attention and as there was a deafening silence from on anyone else we got on the radio and offered to help. They we out anchored on the other side of Big Rock Island and the woman's husband, the casualty, was trying to get their dingy into the water to head on over to the government dock where the nurse was waiting. Almost as soon as I had told them that I would come over other boaters, who were closer and knew them by name decided that they could forgo their morning coffee or quickie and help out, so we didn't actually do anything other than that encourage others who were better positioned to do so.

We took Peri into shore for his morning walk and discovered several things: first the Thunderball Club has squatters living there now as we surprised them playing a video game which they shut down immediately that they realized we were standing just outside. 2. We discovered that there is a saltwater lake that is actually tidal, rising and falling with the tides but about 4' higher than the ocean just next to it. Ain't nature mysteriously wonderful? There is a lot of construction going on over here which is great to see as it gives folks work and it means that some others still have a dream. Not everyone's dream is the cruising lifestyle. Some people want a beach house in the islands.

We took the dingy into town by way of Thunderball Grotto, just to recce it, to get a lay of the land and buy one or two things in the grocery store: cream, dish detergent etc. since we are going to Black Settlement tomorrow and it is second only to Georgetown for amenities for visitors we will hold off buying too much of anything else until then.

Barry and Marcia mentioned to us yesterday that they were going into the restaurant for dinner. You must understand that the Staniel Cay Yacht Club isn't a yacht club at all. Rather it is a restaurant and bar with some docks that they rent out at the exorbitant rate I mentioned. Dinner however turned out to be quite a different thing. First you pay for the first time entree which comes with soup, desert and sides. They both had a drink with the meal and the bill including gratuity and tax came to less than $90. These folks are top judges of food and when they tell us that the food was top notch and graciously presented you can take that to the bank.

When we got into the main part of town I did revise my initial view of the community. There are three "grocery" store with some friendly, pleasant and helpful staff. The town has an airport with scheduled and charter service to Nassau and Florida. There is even a bakery. Add to that the crystal clear warm waters and its a great place to visit.

The Grotto is quite interesting from the surface. You definitely have to anchor in the lee of the currents but there is an underwater channel leading into the actual grotto itself. This is one of those occasions that I wish I had my underwater cameras with me. Barry and Marcia came out in their dingy to make the dive with us. Now that was an experience! The whole coral and limestone interior of this domed Cay is irregularly hollow and has become the habitat for a remarkable number of fish of an astounding variety of species. It is recommended that the best time to snorkel it is at slack low tide when the sun is bright and high in the sky. You want the low tide so the openings that are underwater at high tide will be open and you want a bright high sun so that the light will stream down into the grotto. You want slack tide to that there is no current. That didn't match our schedule so we dove at mid ebb tide and dealt with the current which was quite significant. As it turned out there was an opening that was open at all phases of the tide that you could enter and then just pull your way in along the wall. The fish and colours were magnificent although it was a bit disconcerting to round a corner and bump into another party of snorkelers all chatting in French. Barb, Barry and Marcia all went out the same way they came in but I decided to go out one of the underwater routes which turned out to not be too much of an exertion. Anyone coming down this way will find it worth the trip if for no other reason but to do this dive. Barb even saw a lion fish which is probably the one animal that no one would have been upset if we speared it. There is however a large sign welcoming people to the grotto but admonishing them to take only photos - no fishing, no lobstering, no conching.

When we came back from the morning run into town we found that the water maker had caught up with our usage. Hurrah! I absolutely do not regret buying it in spite of the cost. The simple convenience of having water regardless of where you decide to stay or how long you chose to do so cannot be measured. We have also been joined in the mooring field by a yawl from Miami and a sloop from Montreal so we are not alone here any more. When the sloop full of Québécois arrived it was interesting to say the least. There must have been four people on the foredeck all shouting instructions and giving hand signals to the helmsman, plus there was at least one person sitting on each side of the boat just to make sure he had no visibility forward. As a result on the first approach they picked up the painter but the forward motion of the boat nearly pulled the crew person out of the boat and in fact did pull the line out of his hands. Then, on the next approach, there was a loud splash and I thought that he had pulled someone into the water, but no, one of the younger people on board has simply jumped in. Great! Now there was a swimmer in the water for the helmsman to run over with spinning props! Fortunately that time they managed to grab the painter, more or less at the same time as the helmsman put the boat in neutral and they looped the line over a cleat and shut down the street engine. Another arrival!

Tomorrow we depart for Black Settlement and an anchorage on the north end of Great Exuma Island for a couple of days. There are restaurants with happy hours and I have promised Barb a dinner out tomorrow night as well as a laundromat, and wifi so hopefully these last three or four postings will actually reach your eyes.

I am becoming more and more convinced that next year we have to see more of the Exumas, and indeed, other countries further south - Cuba, if we can find some way to get insurance, Porto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cayman Islands etc. perhaps the course of action will be to get down past Miami and into the Florida Keys and then jump across. At then end of the cruise we could travel north through the Bahamas and back to Florida.

Food for thought.