Water for Elephants

Boat maintenance and yard work have filled my days since the return from our cruise.  Saturday, we broke for Water for Elephants.  We liked the book; we liked the movie; we highly recommend both.

Water for Elephants - Book Review

Water for Elephants - Movie Review

Water for Elephants - Movie Site

The Green Green Grass of Home

To conclude a 75 nm run from Marco Island and our  Exumas Adventure, Eagle's Wings docked yesterday evening at our Lido house.  Constance and Bill , who were watching us come up Charlotte Harbor on SPOT, met us at the dock to welcome us home. 

The grass is green.  Flowers are blooming.  Our bed was comfortable. Now it is time to fix the broken boat stuff,  pull weeds, start the newspapers, etc.   Regular life....

After waiting out weather for one day at Dinner Key, we motor sailed down the Hawk Channel to anchor on the south side of Rodriguez Key, our depature point for the Bahamas almost 6 weeks ago.  Other than the reef on the ocean side of the Hawk Channel, we had no protection from the wind or waves.  Still we didn't bounce around as much as we did off Norman's Cay in the Exumas.  One long day followed another as we continued down the channel at 6 :30 AM on a broad reach with plenty of wind and a two to four foot following sea.  Conditions eased after we crossed under the Five Mile Bridge into Florida Bay.  Through a a few miles of the Florida Yacht Channel our sonar read 3.4 feet!  Tom said that we were reading a thin layer sand on top of grass and that the actual depth was 6 ft or deeper.  I didn't see a muddy trail behind the boat  Along the South Cape (Cape Sable), our wind went SE.  Through water that looked like a chaulky concoction of blue water and cement, one foot waves rolled under our stern. Occassionally a wave would break.  It was weird looking.  Gladly, we moved on to anchor in darker and quieter water south of Little Shark River for a peaceful night.

On the move again at first light, the end of another long day found us in a slip at the Marco Island Yacht Club.  We relaxed in the pool and took shore-side showers before a free taxi ride delivered us to the Snook Inn for dinner.  Shore food never tasted better!

I woke early to check the weather, tides and look at our route home.  When I looked down at the lower right-hand corner of the laptop screen, I was suprised to see that time had passed quickly; it was 6:17 AM.

Normally, Joanne takes her time rising from bed. Not this morning, she was up, and had coffee made for a 6:40 AM depature.  Cantagree and Blue Goose, after spending the night in Factory Bay, were already on the move just ahead of us.  Blue Goose headed for Fort Meyers for some minor boat repairs;  Cantagree and Eagle's Wings headed home. We picked up a hitch hiker off Naples who rode all the way to Sanibel with us. Check out our pictures to see him or her!  Off Sanibel the wind died around noon and went west just before we transited Rad Fish Pass.  Now we had a nice West wind for a ride up the ICW and up Charlotte Harbor.  Great to be home!

Click Pictures

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