Hutias, Stingrays, and Sharks,oh, my

Hutias, Stingrays, and Sharks, oh, my

I still don't have wifi, so I thought I could update you through our satellite email on our progress north. Here's what's been happening with us lately.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Before breakfast, at 7 AM, we went over and put a load of laundry in (including Carey's diesel-drenched clothes). Already, the washers were all filled up, so we had to do the laundry one load at a time throughout the day. After breakfast, it was time to get the income tax returns done. Of course, my laptop wouldn't work because it didn't consider the marina wifi a secure connection. Grrrrr. Luckily, I was able to find the single desktop that was available to the marina guests. Then, I had to try to complete the tax forms only using tiny photos (no, not photocopies) of the information slips that were sent to our house, and, oh, wait, ...some of them were missing! Aaaaarrrrggghhhh! I had to phone CIBC in Canada (I don't even want to know how much that cost) to ask them to email replacement forms. In the meantime, while I was trying to fill in the blanks, a dad arrived, plunked his two kids in front of the nearby TV, and turned on the cartoons. Yup, nice and loud. My
powers of concentration were getting a good workout.

Oh, yes, and I had to keep running down to the laundry to switch loads. (Carey was also having lots of fun trying to clean up the boat, get stuff charged while we had hydro, watch my stuff while I switched laundry, fold the clean clothes, make the bed, etc., etc.)

We finally took a lunch break at 3:00 and walked to a pub about ten minutes away. After a quick bite, we walked back and I went at the income tax returns for round two. By then, the CIBC forms had arrived so I could finish the returns. I'm not so sure they're correct, but at least they're filed. I can always make corrections after we get home. Oh, the joys of living on a boat. Boy, I need a holiday! Haha.

Just to make the day extra special, a whole load of clothes got badly twisted around when some items caught on the edge of the lint screen, and then some of my better clothes got oil on them from the washer/dryer. Aaaarrrrrgggghhhh! What a day!

One positive that came out of the day was that one of the dockhands came by to ask about our lines. When Carey reported what the catamaran guy had said when asked to move his lines to his own cleats (I.e., "That's not gonna happen!") the dockhand said, "He's got no right to say that." And he promptly moved the guy's lines. Priceless!! (P.S. Cat-man was NOT happy. Teehee.)



Thursday, April 6, 2017

Since this is our last morning here, we decided to go to the Grand Isle Resort for breakfast. Carey got his usual Eggs Benedict and I ordered an omelette. Delish, and the view was just gorgeous there. It overlooks the infinity pool and out onto Sandals' beach. We have to walk by one of the golf holes to get there, and the course (which they share with Sandals) looks very well-maintained. Hmmmm, this might be a very nice destination for a golf holiday.

When we returned to the boat, I filled both water tanks and Carey washed the boat with fresh water (we could just hear RC Wings sighing,...ahhhhhhh). When I went to the office to check out, we had a hefty bill waiting for us. The fuel was $4.40 per gallon, the dock fee was $2.25 per foot per night, and the water cost $120. Total cost after two nights (not counting meals out) was almost $600US. Yikes, that hurt.

We threw off the dock lines at 11:30 and we were on our way. We motored for a while with light winds on our stern. Then, at 1:00, we put out the Code Zero, and then turned off the engine about 15-20 minutes after that when the wind picked up. We were getting 12-14 knots of true wind, and just under ten knots apparent wind. Not bad, and perfect for the Code Zero. The mainsail went out at 2:10, because the wind had sufficiently clocked from southeast to east. By 3:00, we were getting 15-17 knots true and going up to 8 knots SOG. Great sailing!

Our destination today is Little Farmer's Cay or Galliot Cay, wherever we can find the perfect anchorage. We don't ask much.

We arrived at Big Galliot Cay at 4:40 and dropped the anchor. This is NOT the perfect anchorage, but with these southeast winds it would be hard for us to find anything decent in this area. Of course, these winds aren't what was predicted.

Twenty minutes later, we lifted anchor and moved north 4.5 miles to anchor between Little Farmer's Cay and Great Guana Cay. There was no way we would have gotten any sleep at the Galliot Cay anchorage. Finally, at 6:10, we could turn off the engine and relax for the evening. Much better protection from the swells and wind here. The only concern here, is that there's a strong current and not the greatest holding. I've set the anchor alarm, just in case we drag. Fingers crossed that we stay put for the night!



Friday, April 7, 2017

Happy birthday, Bob!

It was overcast this morning, and then it rained, so we did some chores--remade the vee berth bed, made date nut loaf, worked on navigating our way north.

We decided to leave after lunch. At 1:00, we lifted the anchor, but the long dinghy line got caught around the rudder again. Aaarrrrgghhh! We had to re-anchor and then, once again, I had to jump in to free the line. The current is incredibly strong here. I had to hold onto the swim ladder to keep from being dragged away! Luckily, I was able to easily free the line and climbed back onboard. We lifted anchor and were on our way by 1:30. Getting through the cut to the ocean side was nerve wracking. The wind is howling at 15 knots and the tidal current is causing a riptide at the cut. The swirlies grab the boat, too, which is not good. I put on lots of power and motored through as quickly as possible. Once out in the ocean, we turned north. The swells were building from the northeast, so that meant that we were pounding into them. No fun. Carey took over after a short while.

The forecast shows that a big storm is coming our way by Sunday night and will last a few days, so we'd like to get to a safe harbour before then. Could be tricky when conditions are already deteriorating. We are headed for an anchorage at Big Majors Spot (funny name), so hopefully it will be well-protected.

We pounded our way through the waves for two hours, and then took Dotham Cut west to the Exuma Bank side of Great Guana Cay. It's very shallow on the Bank, but we figured it had to be better than taking a beating in the swells.

Yikes, going through the shallows was stressful! Some areas left less than a foot beneath our keel. Gulp. Since Carey fought the waves for a couple hours, I took my turn in the shallows, but I didn't like it. I was sure we'd go aground any second. However, we made it all the way to a private anchorage at Little Majors Spot. A trip that should have taken us 2.5 hours at the most, actually took us another hour beyond that. Oh, well, this anchorage is fairly protected from the wind and, best of all, there's no swell here. Lovely.



Saturday, April 8, 2017

We headed out into the Bank today to avoid the uncomfortable swells in the open waters of the ocean on the east side of the Exumas. Once we had white-knuckled it through the shallow waters between our anchorage and the Banks, we put up the sails. What a beautiful day for a sail! We are getting 8-12 knots of wind off our starboard forward quarter and we are moving 6-7 knots. The water depth is 15-20 feet and the most gorgeous colour of aquamarine. You can easily see all the way to the bottom, the water is so clear, just like being in a swimming pool.

Reading the clouds, we can tell that there is a change in weather coming--cirrus clouds and mare's tails, the wispy strips of white.

We are going to an anchorage south of Warderick Wells where we hope to shelter from the high winds that are forecasted for the next few days.

Well, the anchorage doesn't seem to be close enough to be very protected by the land, but the water is relatively calm here. Since it's so shallow, we have had to anchor three quarters of a mile from shore. The Bahamas isn't a great destination for boats who draw over five feet (we have a six foot draft).

We dinghied the three-quarters of a mile to Park Headquarters (and chased a stingray on the way). From there we hiked to Boo Boo Hill. It's called that because many, many years ago a schooner was wrecked on the shores here and all perished. It's said that the ghosts haunt the hill and you can hear their sounds during a full moon, hence the name--"Boo". At the top of the hill, cruisers are encouraged to leave a piece of driftwood with the name of their boat. We scratched "RC Wings" into a small piece and added it to the pile.

Next, we went to inspect the blowholes where huge geysers of water spew up. However, not today. The ocean was too calm to project water up the holes. During our walk, we saw curly tailed lizards and iguanas.

Every Saturday night, in season, the Warderick Wells Park Headquarters host a cocktail party for all of the cruisers at the tiki hut on the beach. It's BYOB and take an appetizer to share. What fun! Cruisers have such great stories--sailing to Alaska, swimming with the whales, building their own boat, mama otters holding hands in a group with their babies on their bellies--so many wonderful tales. Plus pizza (from the Park Rangers) and a wide variety of hors d'oeuvres. Mark on Passage, whom we had last seen in Palmas Del Mar in Puerto Rico, along with Neil and Christine on Mariposa, dropped in, too. So nice to bump into people again.

On the walk back to our dinghy, around 7:30, we saw three hutias, the rodents that live on the island. They look like fat rats without the tails. They come out at night, which is why we saw so many of them.

We dinghied back to our boat and arrived before dark.




Sunday, April 9, 2017

We lifted anchor at 9:50, but it was closer to 10:00 by the time we left, because the anchor wouldn't spin properly to sit on our bow roller. This has been a frequent issue which usually resolves itself if I back up. However, sometimes it's stubborn, like today, and needs a little poke with a boat hook to get it to turn. Once Carey had accomplished that, we were on our way. We headed straight out through the shallows and then turned north. We put our sails up, but motorsailed for a while, because the wind was fairly light.

When navigating, I always have one eye on the chartplotter and one eye on the water. The area that we were moving toward was very light coloured, but the chart said it should be 15 feet of water. As we moved further in, I watched the depth sounder (with my third eye). It showed 12 feet, then 10 feet, then 8, 7,... Yikes! When it suddenly showed 6.4, I made a quick U-turn and headed back out the way we had come. 6.4 feet means four inches under our keel! INCHES! Our sails back winded, which was fine until we could make our turn around the shallows and head north again. Note to self: do NOT trust the chartplotter when my eyes are telling me something different.

Once we were back on our intended path, in safe depths, Carey furled the jib and put out the big Code Zero. Then, we could turn off the engine and just enjoy a quiet sail. The winds were fluctuating between 7 and 13 knots, which was pushing us anywhere from 5-7 knots.

By 1:30, the wind had freshened and we were heeling a lot. To make it more comfortable, we furled the Code Zero and put out the jib. Eventually, we turned into the wind, furled the sails, and motored toward Highbourne Cay. There was a wait to get to the fuel dock at the marina, so we dropped anchor for the night. We'll get fuel in the morning, perhaps.

After dinghying into Highbourne Cay marina, we looked in their store for a few necessities. Well, after checking their prices, we decided that our "necessities" list was much shorter. A 6 ounce jar of mushrooms was $9, a tiny jar of artichokes was $8.89, a ten dollar bottle of wine at home was $34. Instead we bought a small bag of baby carrots for $3.50 and a head of lettuce for $4.50. Gotta have our vegetables!! The restaurant prices were crazy-high, too, so I guess I'm cooking tonight.

On the dinghy ride back to the boat, we saw a spectacular sight. Over a dozen nurse sharks were congregated near the entrance to the marina in about nine feet of clear water. We could see them clearly as they swam right under our boat. Wow!




Monday, April 10, 2017

What a day! Five hours and 27 miles later, we're back exactly from where we left this morning. Aaaarrrrggghhhhh! Here's what happened...

After a very rough night, during which neither of us slept more than a couple of hours, we rose and decided to try going to Eleuthera today. The forecast was for 15-20 knot winds and swells of 4-6 feet, but those conditions are going to get much worse during this week. If we were going to go to Eleuthera and then the Abacos, we had to leave today. Well, we tried.

We decided to go along the shallow Exuma Bank for the first 15 miles and exit through the Ship Channel Cut. That would mean that we'd have less ocean time, just in case the swells were bad. The wind was howling right in our faces, so we put up the dodger windows for the first time since our ocean passage. That helped us from being too windblown, but the waves were still breaking on our bow and spraying everywhere. When we finally made it to the cut, the swells were right on the nose and BIG. We were sleighing up a swell and then slamming down in the trough. There seemed to be no angle that would stop us from slamming. The spray from the waves was blowing right up in our faces. The sun was bright and hot, but we were chilly in the wind. I now know what it's like to be a French Fry--fried and salted. When the waves started breaking, we knew it was time to turn around. We made a quick U-turn and headed back the way we had come. We checked out the anchorage at Allan's C
ay, promptly went aground, motored off, and then returned to Highbourne Cay. By the time we arrived here, we had 20-23 knots of wind. So fun to anchor in lots of wind.

Perhaps we'll try again tomorrow--in a different direction.

I'll see if I can send some photos, too, in a separate post.