Auf Wiedersehen – January 30, 2022

We had spent the last several days hanging out on the boat and Ron was fixing everything he could get his hands on.  He also baked me the best artisan bread ever!  We ended up eating it for lunch the next several days with bean dip, marinara, and oil with spices.   Gotta love a man who can not only cook but bake too!  I won the jackpot!

I also read through a cool book called “Follow me to Alaska” by Ann Parker.  Although the specifics of her situation are drastically different, our experiences are eerily the same.  As empty nesters they made a huge life change that everyone thinks they are insane for doing.  I understand and appreciate this.  One of my retirement goals was to have more time to read and it was great to finally have that.

As we waited out our final day today for the sea state to calm down, we decided to hike back to Boo Boo Hill to leave a plaque with our boat name and names on it.  Clearly, this was not an original idea, and we were not the first to arrive.

Ikea scrap Mariposa Sign.

Lots of boat signs over the years.

Once again the view from the top is always almazing

Tomorrow morning, we were heading to Staniel Cay since it was the only place we could get fuel and we now needed not just gasoline, but we decided to get diesel as well.  We were down to ½ a tank and would have few opportunities the farther south we went.  We enjoyed our time here and will potentially stop back at the park on our way back through but for now, auf wiedersehen.

 Exuma Land & Sea Park January 26, 2022

We have been waiting for some bad weather to come through on Saturday and with little interest in competing for mooring balls south in Cambridge or Staniel Cay, we decided to stay here til it let’s up on Sunday.  Several other boats we have been hanging out with decided to stay too which is great.

We have been having happy hour with all our cruiser friends the last few days and Ron is so excited to get one bread recipe to try.  Our friend learned from a lady who teaches bread making at Georgetown!  She made the best fresh bread and hummus for us the other night!  It was amazing!  We all headed out snorkeling to Judy’s Garden today which was the best coral and largest fish we have seen yet.  I got caught up in the current and was swept out for a bit but crawled my way back on the rock and made it back.  Oops – burned a few calories there.

There is never a lack of things to do and opportunities to help are everywhere if you make yourself available.  We have been volunteering to clear some of the trails.  Having borrowed their machete and branch cutter, we simply take them with us on our hikes.  We have cleared 4-5 trails so far and want to do a few others (mainly poisonwood forest & the ruins) which were very difficult to follow as it was so overgrown. 

The current plan is to go to Staniel Cay, as we will need gasoline to make water and for our dinghy.  Our provisions & Diesel seem to be holding very well, we just don’t have any fresh vegetables any longer.  An ugly cob of corn and two sad brussel sprouts are all that remain.  At least we still have nearly a dozen eggs and a few onions.  We will likely wait till we get to Georgetown to add to our stash there but have plenty of frozen and canned to last a while.  

The only boat part needed is for our shower drain pump.  It drains SOOOOO slowly now it is sad.  Ron took it apart already and it is unfixable (without something like an innertube).  Now I get to gingerly hold down the bilge button 4-5 time longer than normal while taking a 10 times shorter shower.  Not an easy task so this will also be a priority.  We are hoping it lasts til we have a chance to get the part.

Best bread ever!

 Exuma Land & Sea Park, January 23, 2022

It was my bright idea that I wanted to see the Davis Ruins on the Island and that would be a good activity since it was cloudy, and it would be a nice cool hike.  So, off we went.  We found the trail and started off.  Well, it was so poorly marked, I swear the rangers have a camera on their office and simply laugh as tourists get lost wandering around in circles.  Is it clear yet that yes, we were lost again? 

 We made it to the top of the hill and the bonus was – we have three bars of internet!  Sweet!  Aw least we know where we can get it!  Not to mention it was gorgeous!  Now blazingly sunny, we continued our wandering looking for the ruins, we found a “wall.”  I am using this term loosely.

Wonder what the sign says?   Probally something about death

In the Bahamas Ruins typically mean a pile of rocks.

The views from the top however are always worth it.

We were unsure if this was the ruins?  Are we here?  There was no sign, no trail marker, nothing.  Then of course, we see the ruins…on the top of the hill next to us.  Whoops.  We attempt to make our way over to the ruins via a “path” (also a term I use loosely).  As we made our way through poisonwood forest…again, we finally made it over to the ruins.  Yes, there was a sign.

This is considered a marked trail.  Notice the poison wood everywhere

Now the fun begins, we must go back…through the forest and how did we get here?  Ugh.  Since we finally made it back to the beach and neither of us had poisonwood yet, we found another hike. 

On a neighboring beach, we tried the Palmetto Forest and after nearly poking my eye out (close save), we did that one and Sahara Dessert hikes which ironically looked exactly the same…minus the eye issue.  If we leave the park without poisonwood, it will be a miracle. 

Ater our afternoon of “fun” Ron made me homemade pizza and we did a sunset hike up BooBoo Hill to pray to the Internet Gods with minimal success.

Stretch tall, turn south and bam you have 1 bar of cellular

 Exuma Land & Sea Park, January 22, 2022

Sailing Hubby & I knew we wanted to get involved in giving back in our early retirement and thus far we had expected our opportunity to come in the form on hurricane relief (which had not happened yet).  Instead, we had something else smacked us in the face.

One of the cruiser’s runs a charity called www.fishingforplastic.com

Bill and Angela recruited fellow cruisers to do a massive beach clean-up effort for the Land & Sea Park.  They have only 3 rangers and limited volunteers to keep up with a massive park system.  There are 32 parks in the Bahamas, and they manage all the Exuma Islands which has the largest and oldest.  It is also known as the strictest as a “no take zone.”  There is no internet, no trash, no grocery, or much civilization but there is abundant nature which is unmatched.

We spent the morning with just Ron and I and we gathered roughly 5 200-gallon trash bags of trash off 5 separate beaches.  Everyone spread out and covered all the beaches in the island.  I swear I found the body bag from Jimmy Hoffa.  In total there was 821 pounds of trash, so it was significant, and we then sorted is all into glass, aluminum, and plastic/landfill. 

At that point it would be transferred to Nassau where it would be either recycled, burnt, or landfilled.  The craziest thing the group found was an octopus trap used in Europe which has broken off their line and travelled across to be caught here from one of the storms.  Angela said they once found a message in a bottle and contacted the family of and 11-year-old boy who sent it out.  Very cool and I hope we can do more of this.  It’s amazing when you “put yourself in the path” what opportunities arise.  Are you in the path?

Fun group of crusiers to spend the day with

The amount of plastic was incredible

Park warden bringing in the load.

After a very hard morning on the sun, we relaxed in the afternoon.  I attempted to just float off the back of the boat but there were two circling 6-foot lemon sharks that continued to get closer, so Ron instructed me it was time to get out of the water.

We attended a cruisers beach sundowner happy hour that evening, and I spent time talking with the park ranger.  He said there are “host boats” who can sign in through the Bahamian Trust which runs the park to help them enforce the no take rules and keep poachers from fishing or trashing within the park boundaries.  Hmmm, more opportunities?

 Exumas Land & Sea Park, January 21, 2022

This place is exquisite.  There is no other way to describe the natural beauty here.

The water color is incredible

We arrived yesterday afternoon and after checking in promptly went for a snorkel at the “Coral Garden.”  How cool is that?  We saw a nurse shark just hanging on the bottom, it was the closest I have ever been to spotted eagle ray, and there are turtles everywhere that you can see popping there head out of the water to breathe.  It’s like the animals know you cannot hurt them.

The next morning started with a bit if excitement in the anchorage.  A 54’ charter yacht grounded itself (no clue how) and they had two land & sea boats there to try and pull them off.  I was on deck with fenders while Ron was helping to push them with the dinghy.  We ended up having to move and re-moor our boat to get out of the way enough to allow them to get off the sand once the tide came up enough.  After we got settled again, we headed off to hike the island.

What would possess you to drive into 1 foot of water?

It took us 2 hours to hike two miles.  Now mind you Ron and I can walk 6 miles on a regular sidewalk in 1 hour and 45 minutes.  This was more like hill climbing and bush whacking!  It would have paid to bring a machete.  After a very hot, long hike through the poison wood trees when we headed back to the boat.  I would be shocked it we are not both covered with it here soon.  We were grateful it didn’t rain since even if it drips on you, you get the rash!  We swam & relaxed in the afternoon then headed to sundowners on our neighbor’s boat.  All in all, a successful day in paradise!

The hike to no where

It is easy to follow the signs if you can see them

Posion Wood tree, most hikes were through the posion tree forest.

Yes this is part of the hike, this is considered a bridge

Hey here is a hole with a ladder, has to be cool right

The ladder was totally safe, right?

Was the climb down worth it?    NOPE!

American Made & Pablo Escabar – Norman Cay, Exumas

We finally got out of Royal Island and Spanish Wells!  There was nothing was bad about it, there just wasn’t much there and we had not been off the boat in 4 days.  I was rejoicing to be sailing again.  We had settled on a destination of Exumas Land & Sea Park and Norman Cay was on our way.  We stopped over for the night since at least we could get off the boat and it was only 10 miles away.  after our unwelcome time at Highbourne Key, we were glad to be heading here.

After we dropped anchor, we tried to snorkel pablo esbar’s plane wreck but the water was freezing – even for Ron.  We went to plan B which was to explore the island.  Honestly, other than a super yacht marina and an airport, it was pretty desserted.  Wran accross a beautiful stone path and stopped two locals (the only people we saw on the island), and they told us this is where the movie American Made was filmed (with Tom Cruise) and the movie crew had built all that was here and left it to the island we they were finished.  Now I understand the airport and super yacht marina.

Because 21 is too fast

Huge Docks but no Marina?   oh and $7 a foot to stay

The runway is almost as long as the entire island

After our walk down the yellow brick road, we decided to have happy hour on the beach.  We gathered our chairs and camped out to await the sunset, grill, and get a good night’s sleep before we headed to the mooring we had reserved at the park tomorrow.  It was anchors up at 9:00am and we were off!   Best thing about most things here in the Bahamas is all of our entertainment and 1/2 our rent is free! 

Not a bad way to end the day.

Our own deserted beach bar.

Our First Squall – Royal Island, Eleuthera – January 17, 2022 – Ron’s View

Royal island is a pretty enough place if you like looking out the window at paradise and not being able to go to paradise.   See Royal island’s lone value is a luxury vacation destination that will cost you $20K a night.   I am sure Beyounce or JLo frequent this place, we however are not welcomed.  They “discourage” you from getting off your boats here.  What it does provide is incredible protection from the frequent cold fronts the Bahamas tend to get this time of year.    We know this because well we have had 4 fronts come through in the week we have been here.   Each front would come beat us up and then pass.  Each time our anchor held firm, well until the last one.   

Last night is best described as a shit show I would call a learning experience.    A bit of history, Winter Storm Izzy which produced a ton of snow to the states, also made her presence here in the tropics.    It is a bit different here then what you get in the states.  Instead of snow we get the squalls.  They means the front moves through.   Let me explain a bit about weather.   

As the fronts come through the difference in temperature and pressure feed a 360 degree wind shift.  360 degrees protection from that kind of wind shift is almost non-existent in the Bahamas.  Royal Island is one of those places. so you tolerate the inability to step on land.   We will call this “Hotel California” you can check out any time you want but you can never leave.   

Anyway, back to the squall night we had.   To keep it simple around 9:13, because well I watched the clock waiting for it came and with it a 50+ knot gust that pushed our boat out of its safe space, which resulted in the anchor dragging.   An anchor dragging is not a great thing, especially when you are being pushed into shallow water where ell the boat does not float.    We got that, in about 5 seconds.   Let me tell you that things become crystal clear in times like these.  Time tends to slow down in chaos, the following is what we did that saved our boat.   

Anchor alarms goes off, captains shits his pants (no time to change them).   At the very same time the chart plotter alarm goes off saying the depth is too DEEP to anchor.  Confusion sets in because, well we are actually too shallow to anchor. 

Wait let me explain a chart plotter.  If you remember back to the packman days it is the device that tells you where to go to eat the dots and stay away from the guys that eat you.    It is rather important when it is pitch black and your anchor is dragging.  The plotter tells you things like where are you dragging and where can you go to save yourself.  When a chart plotter is telling you that you cannot anchor where you are, you cannot see a path to get out.  Fun times.  In the end Sally held my phone in the companion way with the anchor dragging app running so I can see a path to safely move the boat.  

Anyway, back to the story, in the 5 second time we realized we were dragging, I had the engine running to drive into the wind to reduce the pressure on the anchor so we could get it to reset.  In a squall of 50+ knots of gust, the rain comes down so hard that it eats the flesh off your eyeballs.   I swear my eyebrows are gone and you cannot see or even open your eyes to determine which way you drive the boat.   I imagine it is much like walking through one of those automated car washes.   You know the kind that does not really clean your car but will rip the windshield wipers clean off.      That was pretty much it.

In the 5 minutes of terror, we stopped the drag, drove into the wind and found the exit to Hotel California.   Luck?  Skill?  Who knows what it was but we drug 100 feet in that time of 5 seconds and another 20 feet would be put us in water that was too shallow to float.   It made for an interesting night.

Two questions…was there beer involved?   No, we knew this could be a bad night, we need a clear head, and two…why did you drag?   We really do not know.  We had all of our chain out, which gave us an anchoring scope of 13:1.   You should have 5-7:1, so we were way better when we needed to be.   The anchor is over size for this boat and I dove it myself prior to make sure it was actually dug in.   We have nothing to change to make sure this never happens again.  Sometimes shit happens.  

All of this is in a matter of seconds that lasted a lifetime.  We are fortunate.   Three other boats in the same anchorage drug, so I guess strength is in numbers.  Now where did I place the rum?

Here it comes.

 The Big Deal about Spanish Wells – Royal Harbor Island, Eleuthera

 Ron and I have been anchored in Royal Island Harbor for the last 6 days.  It’s nice as it offers 360 protection, which we needed so we stayed.   There are always roughly 7 boats here, though not the same ones since they come and go.  One of our “crossing buddies” invited us to happy hour on Sunday and we happily obliged.  They were a lovely couple, on their 4^th year here with their monohull.  Sadly, they called us the next morning to say their captain came down with a high fever shortly after we left, and they hoped it was not the dreaded COVID.  Oh great. 

 Well, we were supposed to meet the rest of the “cruising parade” tomorrow for lunch but declined due to our exposure to who knows what.  Instead, we got off the boat and decided to simply walk around Spanish Wells to check the place out.  We had heard it was the most amazing place to provision, and fun stuff to do.  We were very underwhelmed.  While there is a small grocery store, health clinic, couple marine stores, and we did hit it on a holiday (everything was closed), there still isn’t much there.  It seemed very run down with a bunch of stucco houses in disarray.  It was not nearly as nice or quaint as Hopetown.  We ended up on the patio of a small restaurant called Wrecker’s.  Good pizza and the first time we have had draft beer in two months!  So, there is that!

 At this point, I feel like we have seen what there is to see here and am not desperate enough for provisions (by any means!).  We hoped to take off tomorrow since neither of us of want to stay on the boat another 5 days til there is a multi-day break in the weather on next Tuesday.   Well, surprise surprise, we did end up staying til Tuesday.  There wasn’t anywhere protected enough for us to get to in one day.  A few boats went to Hatchet Bay, but we decided to wait since the holding there was unpredictable and did end up getting a chance to have lunch with a few of the cruisers after all at Buddah’s here in Spanish Wells.

 To entertain ourselves, Ron went snorkeling and caught 4 more lobsters.  He made some new friends as he gave three away and kept one for himself.  The water was very cold, and I didn’t brave it.  He wasn’t in there long but just enough time for his seafood stash.  We also hit the main grocery store to pick up a few extras and had lunch for the second time at Wrecker’s. 

It is starting to get easy not bad for 10 minutes in the water.

 The new plan is, is we take off tomorrow and head down to Highborne Cay.  It is another little place, only 9.5 hours away, with southerly protection and easy anchoring.  Ooh – free anchorage with restaurants, laundry, and seahorses!  Sounds perfect.  At least we won’t have a 20-minute dinghy ride (which keeps us on the boat here during bad weather in Spanish Wells).  I have seen all there is to see here and am ready to go but it has been important we learn to be patient as our weather windows are key to our success.

 En Route to Royal Island 

We took a dinghy tour of the mangroves off the coast of Lynyard Island yesterday to see the turtles and boy were we rewarded.  We saw no less than 100!  It seemed they were everywhere snacking on the turtle grass enjoying the warmth of the shallow waters.  Very cool but contrary to popular belief they are fast, and we didn’t get a good photo.  It’s like trying to capture the dolphins.

The mangroves were pretty cool in their own right and it has been a while since we have driven that close to them.  Apparently, the mangroves are endangered due to loss of habitat.  Typically, they occupy very shallow water and are important to build habitats for baby reef fish, sea grass for the turtles, and coral reef.  Their complex network of roots is quite beautiful.

We are heading down today to Royal Island, and it is the last open ocean cut we will have to do since our plan (boat insurance) doesn’t let us go any farther south than Clarence Town.  The Abacos are beautiful but based on the time of year, just a bit too chilly to swim and I am looking forward to heading south.  We will likely pass back through here on our way up as there is still plenty we have not yet done here (i.e. Man-O-War snorkeling).

For now, we are off to Eleuthera and so far we have made it through the cut and the swells are not too bad.  Sailing hubby has nailed another weather window!  It may be our last for a bit and being south gives us some more options without braving the open ocean.  Seems are part of a 7-boat parade this morning and there are plenty of others who had the same idea we did.  We also have heard there have been a few COVID breakouts in Georgetown and Nassau so if we can stay away from the bigger cities, there are many places to simply anchor offshore when we get south.  Also if they shot anything down again, I sure would like to be in the Exumas!

Beautiful sunrise to start this passage

Have the rod out looking for dinner

Crazy traffic on this passage

We counted 6 ships coming together at one time.   AIS is pretty helpful in these conditions.

Hopetown, Bahamas 

My International education has been coming along nicely.  I have learned that Hopetown has the smallest cars to fit their teeny tiny streets which is awesome.  They use very little gas and the island isn’t that big.  Compared to the USA and the consistent, truck/SUV fetish everyone seems to have, it is a bit startling to see them.  They all seem to look like cartoon cars.  Also, when walking home one night after dark, there are NO streetlights…at all.  It was so dark I could hardly find the road.  These are things we take for granted and come across as surprising to me in my sheltered little life.

Dark as in DARK

One of the bigger vans in the island

Then there are the prices for everything food & drink related.  Beer is $80 a case which makes me miss Walmart where cheap beer can be had for less than $20 a case.  We happened to find and excellent deal at one of the restaurants here selling out their stock of Island Beer for $25 a case so we bought 4 cases so far and may go back for more.  Needless to say, we did not provision our beer very well.  A box of Cheerios is $9.27 here vs. $3.98 at home and they heavily tax cheese which makes me sad.  Even hummus is $11 for a little package of Sabra.  That is quite the duty.

Speaking of duty, our boat parts are in and we decided to head back to Marsh Harbour for another lovely walk and to pick them up.  As long as we were at it we could pick the SIM card we didn’t get last time.  We paid $241 total for the boat parts plus $86 in shipping then add the duty of $170.  OUCH!  We left thinking we had every boat part known to man then the only thing we don’t have breaks.  Of course, Murphy strikes again.  Sadly, it is a necessary item we cannot run the engine without so…$497 poorer, we will get our parts.  Well at least we had snorkeled the prior day and have seen the best reef we have seen since “The Indians” in BVI.  Ron had caught 4 Lobsters with his handy little Hawaiian sling, and he was eating high on the hog…for free!  He ended up trading two for chocolate cake.  Not sure how I made out on this deal but cake?  Smack the donkey!  I love traveling!

Biggest Stag horn coral we have seen

Very heathy reef

Dinner for a few days

The day after our snorkel adventure, we headed back to Hopetown Harbour to pick up our mooring again since we were full on water, needed to remedy our trash situation (which was getting full), and some weather was heading our way.  We planned to fix the engine and wait this out before heading south to Little Harbour.  Ron let me drive the boat back into the harbor and I only scared one boat on my way in.  Not too terrible for a first time.  I have driven the boat before a little but only our where I have nothing to hit.  there is a bit different and let’s say, I have some practice to do.  I handed the reins back to Ron to pick up the mooring, so we didn’t lose the other engine!

As we were tromping around Marsh Harbour the next day in a full downpour, we were joking about our new mode of transportation…walking, which somehow just became funny.  The good news is our boat parts were in, we attempted to get a SIM card with no avail, and we made a last stop at Maxwell’s grocery.  Strikes me as funny again but did you know they still make Sanka Coffee and Tang?  I think they stopped selling these in the U.S. back in the 70’s.  I am not knocking this as Funyuns had made their way into my cart which ironically have 0% onions!?!  Anyway, while heading back waiting on the Ferry we met another older gentleman who as we chatted with as he downed a 6 pack of beer in less than an hour.  That there is talent, but he said it fixed his back issues so there you have it.  The secret cure.

One small seal stopped everything

$500 worth of boat parts. We celebrate cheaply

January 1, 2022, Tahiti Beach, Hopetown Bahamas

Happy New Year!  So, I have this curse from my father that when someone gets hurt, I think it’s funny and laugh before I can pull it together to ask if they are all right.  Now this only applies to slapstick falling down stuff, not cutting your finger type stuff.  Anyway, Ron and I had spent the last several days at Tahiti Beach ringing in the new year and enjoying the “Thirsty Cuda” which is a floating beach restaurant bar.  It is a beach party every day.

Tahiti Beach

Thristy Cuda

Cheap Beer but does it really matter?

So, picture this, beach full of people and we zoom up on our dinghy.  Ron wants to be cool and just drive the dinghy up on the beach to “beach” it then throw out the anchor.  The way it played out didn’t look like that.  Instead, it was more like Operation Neptune.  Don’t tempt Neptune, he will win every time.  We pulled up to a hard crash into the beach which lurched Ron onto the floor of the dinghy!  Uh, opps!  So now I am laughing hysterically while Ron is trying the get off the floor of the dinghy and still pull off looking like he knows what he is doing.  Didn’t happen and I think those who were paying attention got as good a laugh as I did from it.  Rookie Mistake #2 don’t try that again, slowly head to shore and get out before attempting to throw the anchor!  Apparently there some things you simply must learn the hard way.

On a more serious note, we took a 5-mile hike on the other side of the island this morning which was beautiful.  It was mostly beach with island base exposed where the hurricane had taken the sand.  We came across a house which was a blatant remanent of Hurricane Dorian.  Seems there are reminders of her everywhere.  The house was beautiful before this horrific event.  You could tell from the exquisite woodwork on the ceiling which had fallen in, time and detail taken in the shelving of the office and design on the kitchen and fireplace.  It was so sad.  We climbed up the infinity pool which was empty and neglected and gingerly tiptoed through the house.  A reminder of how grateful I am for all that I have when there are still folks here struggling to rebuild their lives.

The beach erosion tells the story

Totally Gutted!

The pool view would of been incredible