Arrived Florida Today!

We had a change of plans in coming back from Nassau to Florida.  The weather was the deciding factor.  Since squalls and north winds were predicted, we all decided to "bite the bullet" and sail back without stopping until we reached Florida.

It took us 29-1/2 hours of marathon sailing!.  Most of the night-time crossing occurred on the Bahama Banks.  It was so dark, but we stayed on course and followed our friends in the "lead" boat.   Richard and I took turns steering.  While one of us rested, the other was "on duty."  This worked out great and before we knew it, the sun was rising over the Atlantic's inky blue water.  

We are on a mooring ball at Dinner Key Marina in Miami.  Richard is already sleeping and I'm just about ready to hit the sack and it's only 7:15 PM - but all that sailing with little sleep, really tired us out.  Tomorrow we will explore the Coconut Grove area and the next day start sailing back to Punta Gorda.  Over and out from sunny Florida!

EASTER on Providence Island (Nassau) and We're Leaving Today!

We spent an enjoyable Easter here in Nassau.  We attended Sacred Heart Catholic Chuch, about a mile walk from the marina.  The church was very quaint - beautiful stonework, wood paneled ceiling and stained glass windows.  The pastor gave a beautiful homily about finding Christ within each of us.  We all sang Let There Be Peace on Earth and other beautiful hymns.  We then had an Easter Luncheon here with a new boat couple that we met.  They are originally from Minnesota and now live most of the year on Big Pine Key in the Florida Keys.  Their boat name is the Eileen Mae, a gorgeous trawler that we toured later that day. 

The next day we walked over the bridge to the Atlantis Complex.  It was built on reclaimed land - basically it was a garbage dump.  You would never know it now - it is like Disney Land over there with highrise buildings in pastel peach colors and a fancy yacht basin with million dollar behemoths complete with jet skis and even cars parked on them.  The ports of call on the boats are everywhere - but the biggest one was from Tenafly, New Jersey (close to my (Joanne's) hometown of Bergenfield, New Jersey. There must have been someone who hit it really BIG in Tenafly!  The Atlantis Complex has a beautiful aquarium with HUGE stingrays, sharks and just about any sea creature you can image.  It's all done beautifully and you can actually walk under and over the foot glass plate windows that encase an IMMENSE aquarium.  Richard enjoyed taking  pictures.  I'm sure he'll attach some of them soon to this posting.

Yesterday, our friends came into the marina and today we are leaving with them to make the big crossing back to Florida.  We intend to sail about a 35-mile leg today and moor at a place with a funny name called Frazier HOG Cay.  It's really is a nice place across from the Berry Island Club, where we expect to all have dinner.  Then when we leave the next day, we will evaluate whether we will all stop on the Bahama Banks again for an overnight or continue straight through the night to Florida.  We are watching the weather for the best opportunity and we will stay with the other two boats who have done this multiple times.  We'll post again when we get back to Florida.  There is not much between here and there, but we do have our satellite phone and will turn it on between 8-9 AM and PM if anyone needs to contact us.  My Mom and Cousin Connie have the numbers.

We expect to go into the Ft Lauderdale area and then sail back home around Florida from there.

Hope everyone is doing well!  Over and out from Nassau, Bahamas....

Yellow Banks

Anchored off the west side of Highborne Cay, we woke to a light 10 kt easterly breeze. Highborne’s shelter had provided us with a quiet and peaceful night. At 8 AM we were underway headed for the Nassau Harbor Club marina 35 nm to the Northwest.


Our route crossed the Yellow Banks, a swath of coral heads and relatively shallow water about 17 nm ahead. Our chart showed us crossing a spot with a low water depth of 6.8 feet. Add waves of 3 feet or more and Eagle’s Wings with her 4.5 foot draft would become part of the Yellow Bank. So I planned to cross at about high tide scheduled for noon at Nassau as a high tide would add about 2.5 feet to the water level.


Now I have a reference book that states that the tide at the Yellow Banks is one hour behind Nassau. This didn’t make sense to me so I thought I would acquire some local knowledge at the Highborne Marina. The lady at the marina told me I would have no problem if I stayed on the route given on the Explorer Chart. When I asked about the one hour difference in tide listed in the book, she asked what book. When I told her, she said that the author hadn’t been in the Bahamas in years and to ignore everything in the book but the history of the cays.


Anyway we sailed to the Yellow Banks with reefed main and genoa making 6 kts. To be extra careful I motor sailed across the banks around 11 AM (near high tide) dodging only a few coral heads and never seeing depths less than 12 feet.


The wind really picked up as we approached Nassau and I was glad I had left the reef in the main that I put in a few days before. We docked at the Nassau Harbor Club after waiting around a while for other boats to dock that came in just before us. We tied up at 2:30 PM on the east side of the east dock, the least preferable docking location. When we called for a reservation, Peter, the Dock Master, said “No Problem.” I assumed that meant that plenty of spaces were available. We are glad that we called early because the marina is almost full.

Hawksbill, Shroud, Norman, Allen and Highborne Cays - The Conclusion of our Exumas Adventure

On Monday we visited a beautiful cay called Hawksbill, where we rode our dinghy to visit a small beach with a marked trail to the Russell Ruins. The ruins date back to the 1780s when a group of Loyalists (after the American Revolution) received a grant from the British Crown to establish a new colony. It was just amazing to see the remains of their homes and to think how they must have struggled to exist in such a harsh sandy rocky environment. Apparently, they lived there until 1900 when the community was abandoned. Hawksbill has a stark beauty with pretty vegetation and rock formations. We spent an enjoyable night moored next to the beach while we listed to the music of the waves lopping onto the shoreline.

Click Hawksbill Pictures

On Tuesday we moved north to Shroud Cay. Its name comes from the island's topography resemblance to a long narrow sheet, or shroud. We explored the shoreline by dinghy and walked the mud flats at low tide – very pretty! On Wednesday morning at mid rising high tide, we explored a winding tidal creek lined with mangroves that reminded us of a Florida shoreline. The creek led to the ocean and a magnificent white-sanded beach. We climbed a hillside path to view the gorgeous landscape below.

Click Shroud Cay Pictures 
 

We then decided to travel to Norman Cay just about an hour sail away. This cay gained notoriety during the late 1970's when it was used for a base for a cocaine smuggling operation. As a result of the illegal activity a DC-3 airplane is sunk in the anchorage. We explored it in a dinghy ride and looked through our “lookey bucket” to view it. It was pretty disintegrated with algae and a few fish surrounding it. If it could only talk! We lunched at McDuff's, a highly talked about place hidden away in paradise grounds, and feasted upon cracked conch and a cheeseburger. We repositioned Eagle's Wings to the outside anchorage because we felt the anchoring was safer. It was a windy night on the anchor and the boat rocked all sorts of ways and interesting motions throughout the night. We kept waking up – the stars in the sky were gorgeous as we went up & down!

On Thursday, the anchor was pulled up and we set our autopilot to go to Allen's Cay. It was a boisterous sail on a close reach in 15 knots of wind and by 11:30 AM we had traversed the cut and anchored in a magnificent pond-type area. On one side was Leaf Cay and this cay is the home of an endangered rock iguanas colony. They greeted us on the shore probably looking for food. What strange looking creatures they were! Check out the pictures! After spending some “quality” time with them, we up-anchored and sailed over to Highborne Cay. This place has a pretty little marina where we refueled and checked out their food/gift shop. They even had some strawberry ice cream, my favorite. We are anchored outside the marina because “there is no room left in the inn (AKA marina)” and tomorrow we will sail the 30 miles to Nassau Harbour Club to await a “weather window” for our trip back to Florida. Our friends on s/v Blue Goose and s/v Cantagree are behind us. They are taking their time touring the cays. We hope to meet up with them in Nassau for the trek back home.

Click Allens Cay Pictures
In summary, what a great trip! We talked about our favorite moments. Some of them in no particular order are...

- Snorkeling in Thunderball Cave

- The friendly Bahamian people and cruisers

Meeting Ernestine of Ocean Cabin and the woodcarver on Farmer's Key

Lorraine's coconut bread on Black Point

Going to the Holy Bible Church with our friends and meeting Rev. Kevin Rolle on Black Point

Sampson Key's beautiful beaches and views – a terrific place!

The awesome view from Warderick Well's headquarters

Putting our boat plaque on Boo Boo Hill, Warderick Wells and hiking there with our friends, Marilyn & John

Conch Salad on the beach at Georgetown – a real treat

Traveling with Gina (a Texas friends from our sailing club, TMCA) & Bruce – lunch on their boat s/v DreamCatcher

Traveling with Marilyn & John on s/v Blue Goose and Maureen & Tom on s/v Cantagree – playing Hand & Foot (card game) in Nassau and sharing our adventures. We are lucky to have such wonderful friends!

And many, many more - GREAT TRIP. Now, for the long journey home ...

Dotham Cut & Thunderball Grotto

The chain of Exuma Cays that we have been sailing along lie on the western edge of a large body of water of shallow water known as the Great Bahama Bank. Exuma Sound, over a thousand feet deep lies immediately along the east side of the Exumas. To reach Georgetown, we passed through Farmer’s Cut from the banks to the sound. To return, we needed a reverse passage, to enter the banks from the sound.


The cuts are narrow passages through which large volumes of water flow as the tide rises or falls creating swift currents. If the wind opposes the current, a nasty chop, or even steep breaking seas known here as a rage will setup. Of course, one plans to pass through a cut under favorable conditions. To avoid a swift current, we left Little Farmers at near slack water, a time of low or high tide when the tidal current isn’t moving one way or the other. How to return?

On a rising tide, the water floods through the cuts from the sound unto the banks. We need to reenter the banks either at slack water or on a rising tide so the current would be in our favor. We needed slack water or a rising tide in the late afternoon or early evening for our return from Georgetown as the trip could be expected to take most of the day.

We left a little after 8 AM. About 10-12 knots of wind with two to four foot swells pushed us along on a broad reach at six and half to seven knots with the motor running too. Low tide was predicted for early afternoon long before we could arrive at Dotham Cut, our chosen entrance to the banks. With a high tide predicted at 7:30 PM, we had a nice window for a rising tide arrival.

Later in the morning, the wind speed dropped and became varied in strength and direction. Still we maintained 6+ kts and zipped through Dotham Cut making over 9 kts over ground around 4:30 PM. The cut is straight and relatively wide so it was easy to transit.

Just south of the cut are white rocks that reminded the Out Island Doctor (Google him) of white horses so the rocks are now denoted on navigation charts as “White Horses.” I took pictures as we approached the cut but white horses are pretty blurry.

We anchored at Black Point for the night and moved up to Big Majors in the morning. Staniel Cay and Thunderball Grotto are right around the corner. The stars, I should say moon, aligned for us. Thunderball Grotto at Staniel Cay is best visited at low slack tide. If the tide running, swimmers need struggle to keep from being swept away. We have a full moon so low tide is lower than normal. At low tide one can snorkel into the grotto without diving underwater. Slack tide also occurred at 2 PM so sun in a clear sky was overhead.

Shades of sunbeams speared the water inside the grotto and danced about. Colorful tropical fish abounded and followed us about hoping for a handout. We snorkeled through and around the grotto spotting beautiful turquoise coral almost hidden in the rock. This was our best snorkeling in the Bahamas. No pictures as my underwater camera died.

The wind died to not even a whisper. See our anchor buried in sand twelve feet under the crystal clear water here at Big Major. Wild pigs live on Big Major that swim off the beach for handouts. We dinghied over to the beach to see one. Now we have seen a salt water swimming pig. All that is left to see are the Iguanas. We could have tried running our dinghy about 4 miles down to Bitter Iguana Cay to see them but decided to suffer the heat here on our boat.  Click Pictures .


PS We are running the A/C right now!

Richard

Dotham Cut - April 16

Left Georgetown a little after 8 AM.    Through Dotham Cut with about 4 kts of current on rising tide about 4 PM.  Anchored at Black Point.  Now anchored at Big Majors.  Getting ready to go to Thunderball Grotto. 

More later. Click  Pictures to see pictures including a Bahamian racing boat at Black Point.

George Town & Stocking Island

We sailed along with Gina & Bruce aboard s/v Dream Catcher and anchored just off Kidd's Cove arriving in time for dinner out at the Peace & Plenty. In order to reach the town docks, we went under a narrow bridge into Lake Victoria. The businesses and eateries surround this little lake and you can easily walk around it in about 20 minutes. The next day we explored town and met up with our friends for lunch at Eddies Edgewater. We did our errands (e.g,, obtained fresh water, fuel, did laundry and went to the library). Today we moved Eagle's Wings across beautiful Georgetown Harbor and anchored off of Volleyball Beach on Stocking Island. This area is where the cruisers socialize since there are gorgeous white sand beaches, crystal blue water and balmy breezes. We watch a Bahamian named John make fresh conch salad. Before our eyes he shelled the conch, chopped it up with onions, green pepper and tomato and then squeezed fresh lime and orange juice over his creation. It was just yummy! While we were there we spoke to an Australian aboard s/v Clementine who has been here a month and just loves the area. Next year they are taking their 40 ft. sailboat home through the Panama Canal, checking out the Galapagos Islands along the way and sailing 10,000 miles across the Pacific! She has a 5-year old child aboard with her husband. What an adventurer. We also met the crew of s/v ForePlay, a 50 ft Tayana sailboat from Houston. Cruisers are so friendly and it's always fun to exchange boat cards and talk about you've been and where you're headed.


Speaking of that, we discovered that the Bahamian Family Races aren't for another 2 weeks; therefore, we've decided to start heading back home. Tomorrow we are backtracking down the outside coast to Black Point. Our tentative plan is to stop at Big Majors, Staniel Cay, Shroud Cay, and Norman Cay (places we've missed) on the way back to Nassau. Of course, we'll be watching the weather for the crossing from Nassau to Frazier's Hog Cay, over the Bahamian Banks, and Gulf Stream to Key Biscayne. Then we'll go around Florida and up the west coast and hope to be home around mid May. Of course, the weather plays a big part in all of this and we will go when the weather allows a safe passage. Check out our Georgetown pictures.  Pictures - Just click Georgetown and Stocking Island.

My little waterproof camera decided to go on the fritz back at Black Point.  Turn it on and it would take a picture with a flash and then freeze - none of the buttons except the on/off button would work.   I messed around with it and got the flash off.  I have taken some pictures with it since but of course it was just point the camera, turn it on and hope.  Well this afternoon, it stopped taking pictures altogether.  Too bad,  Joanne & I waded a tidal creek to walk a path to the ocean side of Stocking Island, The view of waves washing out of lthe light and deep dark blues of ocean water, the fine white clouds flying high in the blue sky and the dune covered in sea oats was awesome.  But alas, no camera.   

A short dinghy ride to the St Francis Resort afforded a fine view of Elizabeth Harbor which surely must be one of the most beautiful in the world.   

PS Be sure to click on DreamCatcher under Exploring Beyond Eagle's Wings on the left side of the page.  Read waht Gina has to say, see her pictures and follow her adventures with Bruce.

Cool Inventions

My friend, Marilyn, told me about a cool invention that makes sense for cruisers – well actually EVERYONE! It's called SODA STREAM – and it makes coke, diet coke, tonic water, sparking flavored water, whatever...right on the boat without using any electricity and saves on having ALUMINIUM cans or PLASTIC bottles everywhere. It's available on line or at Bed, Bath & Beyond, or Sears and on sale, you can get it for about $90. Not bad when you consider the cost of purchasing coke all the time. All you need to buy are the bottles of the syrup (about $5 and it lasts & lasts) and occasionally, you replace the CO-2 cartridges (by going to Bed, Bath & Beyond or wherever...) and trading them in. You make it with cold water and it takes just seconds to add the syrup and zap it with CO-2. Instant soda at a fraction of the cost.


Another item I use on the boat is a collapsible colander that I found in Kmart. It takes up so little space and makes sense for every galley (or kitchen). Also, I wouldn't leave without my Britta pitcher. I use it to filter water from the boat water tanks for drinking.  Have you seen the new really neat PUREX combination washing/dryer sheets?  All you do is throw one sheet in the washer and then it goes with the clothes into the dryer.  They are great for traveling because they are lightweight, easy to tote and work great.  Another really neat invention!
Send me comments of any items that you have found to work in your galley or kitchen....

Little Farmers Cay April 12

This morning we sailed down the island chain to Little Famer's Cay. What a friendly place! We stopped at Ocean Cabin for some cracked conch and grouper lunch. At the end, the restaurant owners asked us to sing with them the song Little Farmers Cay. It starts off ....



Little Farmers Cay-
Smiling in the turquoise sea
lazing in the sun at noon
dreaming safe beneath the moon...



Farmer's Cay is the second smallest isolated community in the Bahamas. It is 1 and 1/4th miles long by 7/8ths miles wide. It was settled by freed slaves from the Exumas about 165 years ago. Today there are about 70 permanent residents. The people are known for their friendliness and we have certainly experienced that.

By the way - -  It's a tradition with cruisers at  sunset to get our their conch horn and blow them to celebrate another wonderful day on the sea.  While at Farmer's Cay, we asked were we could purchase a conch horn for s/v Eagle's Wings.  We found that the local woodcarver made them.  Check out our picture above to see our new horn!

 
Tomnorrow we will travel approximately 35 miles to Georgetown. We hope to be there for the Exuma family sailing races and then start heading back trying to see what we've missed along the way. We hope to be back home by mid May to help my Mom move to our "neck of the woods." Over and out from Joanne & Richard from Little Farmer's Cay...

Click on

Pictures to see more....

Jacks Bay Cove

On Monday, we decided to accompany s/v Dream Catcher (friends Gina &  Bruce who we know from TMCA, our Texas boating club) all the way down to Georgetown.   Georgetown is a mecca for sailboaters who gather there to socialize.  It's the southern stop before "the big jumpoff" to the Caribbean or beyond.   Just to say you've been to Georgetown gives you "sailboater's bragging rights."   So, we dec ided we could "do it."

On the way we stopped at a pretty place called Jack's Cove and anchored for the night under a starlit sky.

Click Pictures to see more.

Black Point Settlement

We anchored in sand here at Black Point yesterday and caught up with Marylin and John (Blue Goose) and Tom & Maureen (Cantagree) at DeShannons for a late lunch. Bruce & Marylin Conklin, organizers of Operation Bahamas, the text book delivery program, were there too.   A few hours later, Gina and Bruce walked in.  Their boat, Dream Catcher, anchored right behind us. We had dinner with them and  a few other cruisers at Lorrianes Staurday night.

Sunday we attended the service at the Holy Bible Church where Reverend Kevin Rolle (also police chief) welcomed us. He delivered a sermon to wake the dead!  We meet Charles and Sharon, SCCA resident members and former cruisers, who live here six months each year.  We arranged for them to pick up the school books we have been carrying with us from Punta Gorda.

In the afternoon, we loaded 1/2 of the books in our dinghy; Gina & Bruce ferried the other half in their dinghy to the town dock where we loaded the books into a pickup. Then we went to Lorraines(famous for coconut bread) to use the Internet. 

My little "underwater" camera stopped working at the church so I won't be able to get anymore pictures underwater.  I still have my Nikon which I can carry in a Pelican (waterproof) case. 

More later.   

Blackpoint Pictures    More to follow. Also added pictures to eariler sets. So look back if you want. 

Cruising Life

Part of the appeal of cruising is the people you meet and their stories. There is such a variety of folks from different countries and walks of life all looking for their sea adventure in the sun and surf. Yesterday my ears picked up French in the laundry and I met a couple with their children from Montreal, Canada. The man wanted to know how bad the “petrol” shortage was in the U.S. since he’d heard about the terrible oil spill in the Gulf last year. He figured we had to be rationing our fuel, especially for non-essential journeys like pleasure boating. I explained that while fuel prices have risen, we haven’t had a problem obtaining gas. Of course when we compared fuel prices, he told us we were fortunate because Canadians and Europeans have been paying really high prices for years. Whenever we visit other countries we realize how much we have. For instance, here in the Bahamas, there is currently no gas! The cruisers are anxiously awaiting a fuel boat that will resupply these little islands. When you ask when the fuel boat will get here, the natives shrug their shoulders. When it gets here, it gets here – that is what they live with daily. Fortunately, for us, we are AOK because Richard has brought extra gas, which we keep in a big container on the deck in a safe place. I’m so glad that Richard always plans ahead!


Today we met a couple from Kansas who are cruising around on a large blue yacht. They have taken the big blue boat from California through the Panama Canal, etc. on a 4-year odessey on the sea visiting different ports of call along the way. They told us in another year, they will be finished cruising and sell their yacht for another adventure. Who knows what? On Cambridge Cay at the Cruiser Beach Get-together, I met another couple who are from Maryland. They bought a 52-foot sailboat that was damaged in a hurricane and completely rebuilt it. Boy, did it look beautiful. They’ve been sailing around since January and will go back to Maryland by summer. They plan to cruise about 6 months every year on s/v Wild Star.


At dinner last night I spoke to our Bahamian waitress. She is from a little island called Farmer’s Cay. She has 2 children ages 2 and 6 that she leaves with her parents while she works on this island and stays here in worker housing. When she can, she tries to catch a ride back to Farmer’s to see her kids. The people here have to find whatever work they can to survive. So many stories and people’s lives to touch along our journey!


Daily Chores


Living on s/v Eagle’s Wings or any little boat has its challenges! WATER is one of them! You immediately begin to realize all that you have on land that you must conserve on sea. For instance, we have 2 water tanks totaling 70 gallons. You would think that is a lot of water, but not really when you have to filter it for drinking, wash dishes, take showers, etc. We are really careful about our consumption so we wash our messy dishes in salt water and rinse in valuable tank water. Also, here in the Exumas, good water can be hard to find. When we were in the capital city of Nassau, the tap water had a very high degree of salt in it. Apparently, the people use it for washing and buy bottle water for drinking. Or if they can’t afford it, they just drink the salted water. Yuk! Our friends have purchased water makers. They can make 1 gallon of sea water into drinking water in a period of 7 minutes. We thought about purchasing a water maker, but a price of $3,000 for a small one, gave us pause. So, we are going into the little marinas and filling our tanks at a price of 50 cents per gallon. We figure we’d have to buy a WHOLE LOT of water to break even on a $3K investment! But if we were coming here every year like our friends, maybe we would “bite the water maker bullet!”


TRASH is another challenge. Before we left, we got rid of ALL the PACKEGING on cereal boxes, snacks, etc. and double bagged in plastic bags. Here on these islands, there is very little way to dispose of garbage. They ask you to separate it into BURNABLE, GLASS & METAL (hopefully, for recycling). Food scraps are thrown into the sea away from land. So, we must be very careful to organize trash. Also, plastic bags are NEVER EVER thrown into the sea because they can kill the marine life and it takes years to biodegrade, if ever.


FOOD is precious. Here it is especially difficult to have any FRESH veggies or fruit. We have brought canned items and as we eat them, we again realize how lucky we are to live in the US with its plentiful markets. Fortunately, we have a pretty large freezer so we have been able to keep our bread and meat cold. But BOAT POWER, can be tricky. Eagles Wings has 2 large batteries that must be recharged daily. So how does that happen? Well, we have 2 large solar panels that help along with a diesel generator that must be run for a few hours everyday while at anchor. We’ve decided on this trip that we are going to purchase 2 more solar panels because they work so well and we wouldn’t have to expend the fuel. These solar panels are a NEW product that we just got at the Miami Boat Show. They are thin and easy to deal with. Apparently, they last forever, so we think they are good investments. If we are NOT at anchor, the batteries also charge when motoring from place to place.


DIRTY LAUNDRY happens constantly in this salt water environment. We collect it in a large bag and stuff it out of the way until we can find a washing machine somewhere. Today we have “struck gold” at this marina because they have 2 washers and dryers! Price is $4 for a wash and $4 for a dry. We are so happy to have clean clothes again.


These are some of the daily grind items we deal with along the way. Of course, it is all WORTH IT ! We are enjoying the people, the blue blue water, snorkeling and hiking trails along the beaches, not to mention the Bahamian bread, cracked conch (really quite good), lobster, etc. It’s not at all like home, but that’s what traveling is all about! We’re so glad we’re “out here doing it” as Captain Ron says in the movie. If you haven’t seen Captain Ron, please rent it! Great movie!


Over and out from the Exumas!

Sampson Cay

April 8 - Yesterday a short hop brought us to the Sampson Cay Marina.  We found plenty of anchoring room outside the marina but we already had reservations and Joanne was more than ready for a little luxury.
She washed clothes ($4/load)  and cleaned up the boat!  We refilled the water tanks with RO water piped to the dock and rinsed the salt out of the cockpit.  We dumped the garbage!  We charged the battery using shore power to a full charge.

The batteries have not been charging as quickly as expected.  Our solar panels (100 watt) temporarily installed on the davits provide less than 1/2 the power we need to keep the freezer/refrigerator running. The generator provides the rest of the power by running a battery charger. But the AGM batteries are not charging at the rate I think they should and every night at a mooring or anchor, the batteries end up a little less charged despite running the generator for several hours or more.  We will see what happens next.

We heard from Gina on Dream Catcher via email.  Gina is former TMCA cruiser who moved to Clearwater a few years ago. She plans to join us for church at Black Point this Sunday.  We have also heard from Storyville, another TMCA boat that will be in Georgetown for the Family Day Races later this month.



Sampson Cay Photos

Cambridge Cay

Her Story - We sailed approximately 17 miles to Cambridge Cay where we picked up a mooring ball and met up again with our friends on s/v Blue Goose and s/v Cantagree.  This cay is surrounded by fabulous snorkeling spots.  We immediately went to Cairn Gardens and saw some great colored fish and then hiked a trail to the other side of the island that led to a “Gilligan’s Island” type beach complete with a “survivor spot” with a hammock, chair and other "stuff" that had washed in from the sea.  The next day the wind kicked up; therefore, we decided to stay aboard.  I baked bread stuffed with cheese, ham and pesto – it turned out yummy!  We took it over to s/v Cantagree for Happy Hour.  On April 5th,  we dinghyed over to an island called Compass Cay.  We had a "Cheeseburger in Paradise" on the dock and then discovered the most beautiful beach.  See pictures!  Just awesome views!  Tomorrow we are snorkeling at a place called “The Aquarium” and then we’ll go onto Sampson Cay.  More later…  Click on our photos below and view slideshow...

Cambridge Cay Photos     Sea Aquarium Photos

His Story - To enter the Cambridge Cay mooring field, one must thread a route across unreadable water and pass close to "Kiss Rock." I had good waypoints that John had provided for me to follow already set in my chartplotter. All I had to do was connect the dots. Neverthless, I was NERVOUS. I couldn't read the water. I didn't know if 10 feet off course to starboard meant disaster or 100 feet to port would be just fine. This was our first VPR route. In the Exumas one follows routes given in Explorer charts. Routes out on the Exuma bank (West side of Exumas) or Exuma Sound (East side, think Atlantic Ocean) offer few or no obstacles; set the autopilot and keep a sharp lookout for boats running the recipocal course. Routes closer to the Exuma Cays can be designated VPR routes; VPR means Visual Piloting Rules apply. This means that there might be something you can hit along the way like a coral head or a sandbar so you you have to look where you are going. This is fine if you can read the water.



The route from Warderick Wells to Cambridge Cay was a very easy VPR route as it turns out. Only the entrance to the mooring field was worrisome.  The link for Cambridge Cay will lead you to a Google Earth image of the mooring field.


April 3 - Arrived and picked up our mooring. Joanne drives and I snag the mooring pickup line with a boat hook. Joanne drives the boat very well; however, I miss the pickup. We use Marriage Savers; I hope they work!


We snorkel one spot and then dinghy to a beach for a short hike across Cambridge Cay to the Exuma Sound side to view Camp Driftwood. See pictures.


April 4 - We hoped to join a foltilla of dinghies running over to the Compass Cay Marina for a fabled Cheeseburger lunch. But the Southwest wind pinned most everyone down in their respective boats.


April 5 - We go it alone, about a seven mile trip. See Compass Cay pictures. We burn up lots of gas, maybe 1 or 2 gallons. Guess what? The Exumas are out of gas. That's right, no gas. That's the big news. More later on gas.


April 6 - Joanne & I dinghy to the Sea Aquarium at slack high tide in the morning. See pictures. Joanne drives the dinghy on a plane for the first time. Then we dinghy to Cambridge Cay and walk over to the secluded Honeymoon Beach to frolic in the water.



April 7 - We move to a marina on Sampson Cay.

    Explorer Charts




 

Snorkeling around Emerald Rock

April 2 - Joanne & I elected to remain at Warderick Wells for another day before moving south.  The southwest wind mixed sand into the water yesterday reducing visibility. The water was much more clear today.  A short dinghy ride delivered us to Emerald Rock where we snorkeled a coral head and the rocky shore.  We found the coral in bad shape but saw a few interesting fish.

Yesterday, just outside the anchorage, we saw two giant lobsters almost hidden from view in rocks; the second evening  we were  I saw two very big lobsters walkiing across the bottom. I also saw one in the remains of a boat that burned up here in the anchorage years ago.   I also saw a lion fish - very bad as the lion fish is an invasive species that has no predators here.

We hope to move down to Cambridge Cay, also in the Exumas Land and Sea Park tomorrow.  We have a reservation the Sampson Cay Marina for Wednesday where we can get good water, fuel, fully charge our batteries and dump our garbage.