2015 Bahamas to Haiti
01 March 2015
December 12, 2014
Birthday wishes to Patrick and Bo
Stayed in Marathon, FL for a little over a month waiting for a weather-window to head to the Bahamas. During our stay, we spent 10 days up North visiting family and friends and taking care of miscellaneous business.
Left Marathon on the eighth as our weather guru stated that either we should leave that day when we could actually use our sails or wait until Thursday and motor the whole way; we took advantage of the winds. We also motored as we wanted to beat the next front that was coming through. Both the main sail and head sail were set and stayed set for over ¾ of our journey. Once we hit the Gulf Stream, we took right off and at one point hit 10 knots of speed. The winds stayed pretty steady in the mid-teen range.
This year we decided to bypass Morgan’s Bluff (our usual check in) and head straight to Nassau. Towards the end of our travels, the winds were coming from straight behind us, so Brian tried out our Whisker Pole or Genoa Pole with the head sail. This pole kept the sail perpendicular to the boat to catch the wind – worked perfectly. About 5 hours out from Nassau we started getting into 4-6 foot rollers – no problem; we moved right along and it wasn’t at all uncomfortable. About 1 hour out from the entrance to Nassau Harbor we watched the waves hitting the island to our starboard side – just mesmerizing – they were big and the spray from the waves was huge and the water was a light aquamarine. Then we look to our port side and see 20+ foot rollers coming at us – uh oh! I’ve never been in rollers that large. Also, I noticed a definitely delineation in the color of the water – from the dark blue to a beautiful light aqua, but as the rollers were passing by the trough it looked like we were seeing almost bottom; we thought we were seeing rocks – talk about a freak out! The charts showed plenty deep water. As we got a bit closer, we could see that it was large clumps of sea grasses that were being tossed about; one less thing to worry about, BUT, those rollers! Right at the entrance we had four rollers right in a row; I couldn’t see any of the buoys until each roller had passed. The boat handled the rollers just fine – I don’t think you could have pried my hands off the steering wheel, though. Once we passed the breakwater the seas immediately calmed down and we continued on to a marina. We usually anchor in Nassau, but seeing as the front was going to be a bit nasty with high winds and rain, we opted to stay in a slip. No problem pulling into the slip and tying off with the help of the dock crew. Once tied off and notes were made (31 ½ hours of travel) did it really hit us with what we just came through.
Took care of customs and then met a few of the other sailors that were coming in at the same time – apparently we weren’t the only ones that were a bit freaked out about those rollers.
Left Nassau yesterday and motor sailed to Emerald Rock anchorage near Warderick Wells – this area is part of the Land and Sea Park – no fishing and no taking of shells. It’s a breathtaking area that we’ve visited that last two years.
Our next stop will be Black Point just so I can look for sea glass – we will spend a couple of days there and then head to Georgetown to provision, do laundry, etc. This year we are flying through the Bahamas as our daughter, Caitlin will be spending a month with us in the Dominican Republic starting mid-January. So, it will be our first time beyond Georgetown – we are both looking forward to seeing new places. We heard that Georgetown is called Chicken Harbor as most cruisers stop here for several weeks or months than turn around and head back north.
Reading:
Brian: Ken Follett’s Code To Zero; Marcus Sakey’s Brilliance and also A Better World; Gabi Kreslehner’s Rain Girl; Jennifer Wells’ Fluency (part of a series); and Blake Crouch’s trilogy about the end of the human race – The Pines, Wayward & The Last Town
Lauren: Robert Parker’s Painted Ladies; Mario Puzo’s The Fourth K; Jeffrey Deaver’s Twisted collection of short stories (loved it); Jacquelyn Mitchard’s The Deep End of the Ocean and also A Theory of Relativity; Jeffrey Archer’s The Prodigal Daughter; John Sanford’s Naked Prey and Shadow Prey; and at the moment reading Robert M. Pirsig’s ZEN and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – it’s been a while since I’ve stretched my brain cells this much.
December 19, 2014
We spent a couple of days at Black Point; did laundry, had our rum punch with grapefruit juice (cuts the sweetness) at Scorpios made by the owner, Zhivago, walked beaches in search of sea glass and shells and met other cruisers. Brian found a brand spanking new fender in the rubbish on one of the beaches – of course, we brought it back to the boat. Before we pulled anchor in Black Point to leave for Georgetown, we set the mainsail – motored to just outside the cut to the Atlantic side, then we cut the engine and also raised our headsail. We had a wonderful 9 ½ hour sail right up to about 5 minutes of dropping our anchor in Georgetown. We were hoping to actually sail right to dropping the anchor, but when I turned into the wind to drop the mainsail, the boat literally stopped, so motored to our chosen spot – not bad.
On our sail over, Brian set out the fishing line. We caught a small Mahi Mahi. Brian reset the line again and then took care of the fish. Not long after bagging those steaks, our fishing line zinged again. This time it was a four foot Mahi; a bit more work getting him reeled in, so we let it tire itself out and hauled it aboard. Yesterday after Brian made a dinghy trip across the bay to fill our diesel jugs he somehow didn’t get the dinghy tied to the boat. Neither one of us realized this as we went about our business and then down below to read. Thankfully we had been keeping the VHF on so we could listen to the comings and goings on and any events we may want to check out. Someone got on the VHF and announced that they found a dinghy afloat – “anyone missing one?” Jokingly, I asked Brian to make sure ours was still tied to the boat and he replied that it was, but I insisted that he check. Well, he did and our dinghy was missing. Brian contacted the caller and they graciously towed our dinghy to us; we gave them 4 Mahi steaks; they were thrilled and needless to say, we were too. Boy, we felt like idiots. We spent a couple of days here in Georgetown; made sure our diesel was topped off and picked up some fresh produce. Also found small cans of grapefruit juice (a real thirst quencher for me) and also cranberry juice – ridiculously expensive, but….. Met up again with Lea and Roland from Victoria’s Ghost and Mark and Jo from Truant.
Reading:
Lauren: Robert Parker’s Violets are Blue. Discovered there is a sequel to ZEN and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance called Lila – have to hunt that one down or download it. Year of the Dragon by Robert Daley
Brian: Wilbur Smith’s The Sunbird; The Lost Starship by Vaughn Heppner; The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake by Samuel Bawlf
December 29, 2014
On the 20th we sailed from Georgetown to Clarencetown. We left just before sunrise and were not actually able to sail til we hit the north end of Long Island. The winds averaged 12 knots and we sailed along at about 6.5 knots. We saw a lot of flying fish and a frigate bird; an interesting fact about the frigate birds – their wings have the same rubbery consistency as bat wings do. Not another sailing or motor vessel seen all day. There was only one other sail boat anchored at Clarencetown and two sail boats and two yachts in the marina. The anchorage was a bit rolly, but not enough to make us want to move to the marina. We met Martha and Mike traveling on Layla. Martha actually taught at the same school that I attended; she started there when I was in Junior High – what a small world.
Christmas day we pulled anchor at 6:30 am and headed toward Fortune Island (Long Cay). It was a miserable day to travel – the seas and wind never settled down as predicted. Arrived and dropped the anchor a little after 4pm. The next day we pulled the anchor at 2:30 am and motor sailed to Matthewtown on Great Inagua. Again, the seas did not settle down and even though it was just about a beams reach, we were pounded constantly with 4 – 6 foot waves with a few 8 footers thrown in and the winds stayed a steady 20 knots for most of the day. We arrived about 7pm that evening and so grateful to drop the anchor – another awful day of traveling. Brian didn’t seem to mind it as he was whistling, but I was miserable! We were healed over so much that are rail was in the water even with a second reef in the main sail.
While here in Matthewtown, we met and spent a little bit of time with Henk (from Holland), his wife, Susi and son, Teddy – they are traveling on Windhover; looks like we may meet up with them in Haiti at Ile a Vache in a few days. Matthewtown has a large Morton Salt plant here. Clarencetown and Matthewtown are the first islands in the Bahamas that we’ve visited that must get a bit more rain than the Exhumas as there are actual lawns and fields of grasses on these islands. There is a state park here that is a migratory spot for the flamingos but, the one and only park ranger was in the states visiting family for the holidays, so we were unable to see them – very disappointed, but we still enjoyed are stay in Matthewtown.
It will be early to bed this evening as we will be leaving here about 2 a.m. and making a beeline to Ile a Vache – should be arriving there on Wednesday before sunset – looking forward to a nice protected harbor.
January 6, 2015
On December 30th we pulled anchor at 2:40 a.m. and did a combo or motoring and sailing to arrive at Ile a Vache, Haiti 36 hours later. It was not a pleasant journey as the winds stayed consistently on the nose so we literally pounded into the 4 – 6 foot waves the full 36 hours. Again, the boat handled the seas just fine, but me???? Not so. Even Brian was not liking it so much. Neither one of us could really sleep, the boat banged so much. At times, I wondered if the boat was going to open up like a cracked egg – scary! Pulling into our anchorage at Ile a Vache was such a relief. As we turned into the bay to anchor, we could see the boat boys furiously paddling and bailing at the same time coming out to our boat. They actually surrounded the boat as we were slowly motoring to a spot to anchor – made me a bit nervous, but Brian said, “Hey our boat is bigger than their boats.” Meaning, if they get in the way – oh well. Geesh! I know he was only kidding, but…. As it was, these boys and young men were very adept at staying out of our way while we anchored, but as soon as the anchor was dropped, they started hanging off the sides and back of the boat where I was behind the helm. Brian stays at the bow while the anchor sets. While waiting for backup instructions from Brian, the boat boys started with “Hey Lady”, “Miss”, “You speak French?, Creole?” “Do you have work for us?”, “Want to buy…”, etc. They all had wonderful smiles and just kept chattering away. Once we got ourselves situated, we met each and every one of them.
Ile a Vache is an island off the mainland and has a nice protected cove from all but north winds. We spent several days here waiting for our next weather-window to travel to the Dominican Republic. In the meantime, we’ve traipsed across the island; one to visit the American Hotel to use internet to send out messages to friends and family through Facebook and another hike mostly along the shoreline to the open market. The waters here are not clear as in the Bahamas, but warmer AND I’m comfortable swimming around the boat and not worrying about any critters sharing the water with me. Yesterday, we “hired” Mark – the sweetest, most lovable 14-year-old, to be our guide to Madame Bernard’s Market. Mark speaks very little English and we speak no French, but we managed. It took us about an hour to hike to the market – what an eye opener. The people of Ile a Vache are truly living in the 18th century, no running water, no electricity, though there is a generator on the island which was used for their discos which were used nearly every night and they like their music loud. Then there is the garbage – it’s constantly underfoot. Mark took first took us to the orphanage; we donated food and other items they would be able to use. Representative, Solange apologized because the Sister who has been running this orphanage for 40 years was on the mainland for a few days and we would not be able to meet her. Solange gave us a tour of the orphanage. The property includes a school, an infirmary a large room for therapy along with kitchen, playground, sleeping quarters, etc.
After our tour of the orphanage, Mark walked us through the market. What can I say – we’ve never been to an open market such as this. We watched pigs having their hair burned off and then getting butchered and the meat and insides lying about for the flies to settle on. There was surprisingly quite a variety of vegetables, sugar cane, clothing and almonds. We actually found grapefruit – at least it looks like grapefruit – something new to try if it’s not. Mark told us not to buy any mangoes as the island is covered in mango trees and he would pick and deliver them for us which he did. Later in the day he brought us no less than 15 mangoes for the price of one US dollar. Everything being sold at the market is either set up on crudely made tables or mostly laid out on the ground. There are no “roads” – mostly foot-worn paths, though there are a number of motorcycles used to get around and as taxi service. All food is sold at the open markets on Ile a Vache twice a week and on the mainland every day except Sunday. The people of Ile a Vache are very friendly and speak mainly French; they have beautiful smiles and the straightest posture I’ve seen anywhere. Brian always asked permission before taking a photo. The Haitians think we will take the pictures and then sell them for a lot of money. Last night Brian showed Mark and David, another helper, a collection of pictures he had taken of the island – they both enjoyed the picture show.
Garbage, of course, is a huge problem. The correct way to get rid of it for us boaters is to have the “Mayor” take it and it will get burned, including plastics. Though, it looks like most of the locals just throw it on the ground and it gets trampled into the sand and paths – it is EVERYWHERE, which is so upsetting as the island is gorgeous.
The boys and young men come out to the boats several times a day – actually all day long looking for work. Only one youngster, Clemonson, would beg. We gave him an hour and half’s worth of work, fed him a sausage, egg and toast breakfast and paid him. Two days later, he came back looking to get paid again for the work he did. Clemenson is eleven and adorable looking, but boy can he tell a great sob story in hopes of getting money; even though we were pretty sure he was playing us most of the time, we asked around to verify what he said – yep, total stories.
January 11, 2015
Pulled anchor in Ile a Vache at 5:55 am on the 7th and traveled to Isleta Barharona, Dominican Republic – it took us 32 ½ hours. Again, it wasn’t the most comfortable traveling, but only slightly better than the last several times we’ve had to move on. If it wasn’t for meeting Cait in Boca Chica the end of this coming week, we would have been staying put until we had better weather windows to travel. This will teach us to never, Never, NEVER plan on meeting anyone in the future UNTIL we are at a particular destination and know we will be there for a month or more and THEN invite family and friends for a visit; learned our lesson.