We went for a dinghy ride this morning into the Bite of Robinson (the bay next to our anchorage). There is a blue hole that you can dinghy over. But as we got close, we realized we were close to low tide. We couldn’t get into the area we wanted, so we turned back. We saw a small fishing boat with a family of four slowly cruising the shallow waters. The wife was on the bow with a pole. As we got closer we saw that it had two tines bent at 90 degrees to the pole. We asked them what they were looking for. They said conch and that they pick them up by hooking under the shell. Looked pretty cool.
Today we motor sailed to Elbow Cay. Staying inside the Sea of Abaco, we had to work our way around islands and shallow sandy areas or rocky areas. We anchored outside of Elbow Cay, where we have anchored in the past. We made a great peanut sauce with chicken over pasta that our friend Joe taught us to make when he was here. Then we finished the night by watching the lighthouse light. It’s a nice excuse to set out in the cockpit. You have a beautiful sunset in one direction and the lighthouse in the other.
Saturday, May 23, 2015
May 15, 2015 Little Harbor, Abacos
Today, we left shortly after sunrise for 50 mile/9 hour sail to Little Harbor. With leaving and entering anchorages, we usually average 5 mph. We made good time today with a 15mph wind off our starboard bow. Pete was at the helm this morning as Dave raised the anchor and I closed up things below. It is great having another hand on board with some experience. I made breakfast for us after we left the anchorage. As the day progressed, we were at too much of a heel to do any cooking below. But, I made a pasta salad to eat underway.
I had a new experience today. I was sitting on the port side, but facing aft. So with the heel, I was actually leaning to the right. So as I took a sip of coffee, it went from the cup to the right side of my face. So I had to slurp my coffee or change position. Didn't see that coming.
About an hour before we planned to turn in through a channel, we decided to straighten the anchor chain. Somewhere Dave read that this was a good thing to do occasionally (but maybe not with our boat). The chain twists and then doesn’t raise as easily. It jumps out of the gypsy. The gypsy grabs the chain to raise it on the windless. We were in deep enough water to let out the 200 feet of chain. Well after Dave was part way into it, he decided that wasn’t such a smart idea. Usually, when you let out your anchor, it sits on the bottom with the chain, taking the weight off of the windless. Now he had all this weight hanging off the bow. So he stopped and brought it back into the boat, straining the windless in the process. IF we try this again, we will at least take off the anchor first.
About 3:15 we brought in the sails, 3:30 went through Little Harbor Cut, 3:40 we were anchored on the west side of Tom Curry Point. We wanted to anchor inside Little Harbor, but the entrance is so shallow that we could only enter and exit at high tide, which didn’t work with our schedule.
We had a late lunch/early dinner on the boat, then took the dingy to Pete’s Pub for happy RRRRR. This was a cool open air bar/restaurant. We enjoyed a few beers and one rum punch special. There seemed to be a lot of locals hanging out there.
In the 1950’s, Randolph Johnston, a sculptor in Northampton, MA, came here by boat with his wife, daughter and 3 sons. He wanted them to live out their lives in sight of no man, in the pursuit of a free life and devotion to art. They settled in Little Harbor, lived in caves, built thatched huts and eventually constructed a foundry for Randolph’s work. One son, Pete, has a gallery devoted to his father’s works and his own, as well as local artists. It was closing when we arrived. So we’ll have to come back some day. But there were many bronze sculptures along the road we walked to the pub.
I had a new experience today. I was sitting on the port side, but facing aft. So with the heel, I was actually leaning to the right. So as I took a sip of coffee, it went from the cup to the right side of my face. So I had to slurp my coffee or change position. Didn't see that coming.
About an hour before we planned to turn in through a channel, we decided to straighten the anchor chain. Somewhere Dave read that this was a good thing to do occasionally (but maybe not with our boat). The chain twists and then doesn’t raise as easily. It jumps out of the gypsy. The gypsy grabs the chain to raise it on the windless. We were in deep enough water to let out the 200 feet of chain. Well after Dave was part way into it, he decided that wasn’t such a smart idea. Usually, when you let out your anchor, it sits on the bottom with the chain, taking the weight off of the windless. Now he had all this weight hanging off the bow. So he stopped and brought it back into the boat, straining the windless in the process. IF we try this again, we will at least take off the anchor first.
About 3:15 we brought in the sails, 3:30 went through Little Harbor Cut, 3:40 we were anchored on the west side of Tom Curry Point. We wanted to anchor inside Little Harbor, but the entrance is so shallow that we could only enter and exit at high tide, which didn’t work with our schedule.
We had a late lunch/early dinner on the boat, then took the dingy to Pete’s Pub for happy RRRRR. This was a cool open air bar/restaurant. We enjoyed a few beers and one rum punch special. There seemed to be a lot of locals hanging out there.
In the 1950’s, Randolph Johnston, a sculptor in Northampton, MA, came here by boat with his wife, daughter and 3 sons. He wanted them to live out their lives in sight of no man, in the pursuit of a free life and devotion to art. They settled in Little Harbor, lived in caves, built thatched huts and eventually constructed a foundry for Randolph’s work. One son, Pete, has a gallery devoted to his father’s works and his own, as well as local artists. It was closing when we arrived. So we’ll have to come back some day. But there were many bronze sculptures along the road we walked to the pub.
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| the dock for Pete's Pub |
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| one of the sculptures along the road |
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| speed bump |
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| Pete's Pub |
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| view of bay from above the pub |
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| view of the ocean with bird sculpture |
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| for my sister, Janice |
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| Happy RRRRRR |
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| hammerhead shark sculpture |
May 13 & 14, 2015 Nassau to Egg Island
WELCOME PETE!!
Our son, Pete, arrived today after a delay of about 40 hours. After we got him settled in, we set sail for Egg Island in the Elutheras. It was a great day for sailing 35 miles. And we had about 7 hours to visit, with a nap in there somewhere. Just as we arrived in the area and wanted to anchor, we caught a barracuda off of our fishing line that we drag behind the boat. It was about 3-4 ft long and we released him. We hope to catch something we can eat someday. We were the only boat in the pretty anchorage.
5-14-15 Thurs hookah
After breakfast, we washed sheets and towels. Since we were going to just stay here and play for the day, we could hang out laundry. Today we ran our generator to make water. So we decided to use the hookah system to enjoy the water near our boat. Pete and I “dove” within 100 feet of the boat with the air hoses attached to a compressor. There were a lot of small fish in the coral heads in the area. After about 30 minutes of that, we snorkeled further from the boat. Pete just loved being back in the water, floating, and watching the world under water. Dave stayed back at the boat watching over everything and grilled chicken for us. It was a nice day of just hanging out and getting Pete back on “island time”.
Our son, Pete, arrived today after a delay of about 40 hours. After we got him settled in, we set sail for Egg Island in the Elutheras. It was a great day for sailing 35 miles. And we had about 7 hours to visit, with a nap in there somewhere. Just as we arrived in the area and wanted to anchor, we caught a barracuda off of our fishing line that we drag behind the boat. It was about 3-4 ft long and we released him. We hope to catch something we can eat someday. We were the only boat in the pretty anchorage.
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| fetching Pete from the dinghy dock |
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| another barracuda |
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| anchored at Egg Island |
After breakfast, we washed sheets and towels. Since we were going to just stay here and play for the day, we could hang out laundry. Today we ran our generator to make water. So we decided to use the hookah system to enjoy the water near our boat. Pete and I “dove” within 100 feet of the boat with the air hoses attached to a compressor. There were a lot of small fish in the coral heads in the area. After about 30 minutes of that, we snorkeled further from the boat. Pete just loved being back in the water, floating, and watching the world under water. Dave stayed back at the boat watching over everything and grilled chicken for us. It was a nice day of just hanging out and getting Pete back on “island time”.
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| Using the hookah for diving, came up for picture |
May 12, 2015 Nassau Stowaways
I started 2 loaves of bread last night and let them rise overnight. So I was busy baking this morning. Also made Brownies for my son (box mix) :)
Dave and I started discussing a plan to get rid of some stowaways on our boat. We have seen about a half dozen cockroach type bugs over the past month. Dave and I have been planning our attack. I know all of our food is bagged and protected, but we just don’t want them on board. I told Dave that if they were crawling on the cupboards or in our dishes, I would want the boat fumigated. I went to the dish cupboard and found one inside a clear glass. YIKES!! So far I haven’t taken the time to look at them, only squish them. So we had this one trapped and could study it.
Dave got online to find out what it was for sure. And yes, it is a cockroach. They weren’t native to this area but came over with boats. We’ve only tied up to a dock once since we’ve been here and I saw our first one before that. So they flew to our boat or came in with the groceries. They didn’t seem to run from the lights, so I wasn’t sure they were cockroaches. I guess even the bugs are laid back in the Bahamas.
I found my stash of ant and roach killer that I bought when we first moved aboard in Alabama. I was surprised at the arsenal we had on hand. The cockroach in the glass was trying to crawl up the walls to get out without any luck. We sprayed Raid into the glass and covered it. He kicked it into high gear, then turned over on his back and died. You always see pictures of dead roaches on their backs, and it’s true. You should have heard me yell “YES” and do a victory dance. We went to work putting out 6 sticky strips that had a pesticide they take back to their nest with them to the “henroach”. We used the spray into areas we couldn’t reach. But we don’t want the liquid going into the bilge if possible. If we end up spraying, we’ll wash the bilge again. Dave likes to be able to taste the water in the bilge to see if it’s salt water or fresh water to help track down the source.
OK, Ron and Libbo, or any other sailors. We are waiting for your experiences and what to do that could be more effective. Or what to do to prevent them. I have been slacking off on washing my fruit. The eggs can be on them, especially bananas. So I did that right away with the fruit I bought yesterday. We keep everything as clean as we can and bag all foods. And we don”t bring cardboard onto the boat.
We are going to see what happens over the next couple days and use more of our arsenal as needed. Worst case is having the boat fumigated. So we’ll see.
This has been a fear of mine since moving aboard and living in tropical climates. Only thing worse would be to find a snake aboard. And I’ve heard that can happen.
By the way, the bread and brownies turned out great.
We decided to see if we could extend Pete’s flight so he could be here at least a week. He said he had to be back Saturday, May 23. So I went online to to American Airlines but I couldn’t make the changes online because there was an international flight. I had to call them. We discussed our options for using a telephone. And then Dave came up with the idea of having a travel agency help us. So I sheepishly sent an e-mail to friends in Rapid City. Moderick’s sold their agency to Bursch Travel. And the mother of Pete’s high school friend works there. She was happy to help us even though we originally booked the flight online. So if anyone can give Gloria and Bursch travel any business, I would recommend them anytime. It took her most of the afternoon to get through to American Airlines on hold. And we were able to extend his stay 3 days. I was really glad we didn’t try to call since we would have been on hold forever.
We had thought about going to shore to just see more of Nassau, but now it was about 5:30. So we just finalized getting the boat ready to leave tomorrow. So far, no sign of any bugs!!
I can think of a couple people who will never set foot on our boat after seeing this.
Dave and I started discussing a plan to get rid of some stowaways on our boat. We have seen about a half dozen cockroach type bugs over the past month. Dave and I have been planning our attack. I know all of our food is bagged and protected, but we just don’t want them on board. I told Dave that if they were crawling on the cupboards or in our dishes, I would want the boat fumigated. I went to the dish cupboard and found one inside a clear glass. YIKES!! So far I haven’t taken the time to look at them, only squish them. So we had this one trapped and could study it.
Dave got online to find out what it was for sure. And yes, it is a cockroach. They weren’t native to this area but came over with boats. We’ve only tied up to a dock once since we’ve been here and I saw our first one before that. So they flew to our boat or came in with the groceries. They didn’t seem to run from the lights, so I wasn’t sure they were cockroaches. I guess even the bugs are laid back in the Bahamas.
I found my stash of ant and roach killer that I bought when we first moved aboard in Alabama. I was surprised at the arsenal we had on hand. The cockroach in the glass was trying to crawl up the walls to get out without any luck. We sprayed Raid into the glass and covered it. He kicked it into high gear, then turned over on his back and died. You always see pictures of dead roaches on their backs, and it’s true. You should have heard me yell “YES” and do a victory dance. We went to work putting out 6 sticky strips that had a pesticide they take back to their nest with them to the “henroach”. We used the spray into areas we couldn’t reach. But we don’t want the liquid going into the bilge if possible. If we end up spraying, we’ll wash the bilge again. Dave likes to be able to taste the water in the bilge to see if it’s salt water or fresh water to help track down the source.
OK, Ron and Libbo, or any other sailors. We are waiting for your experiences and what to do that could be more effective. Or what to do to prevent them. I have been slacking off on washing my fruit. The eggs can be on them, especially bananas. So I did that right away with the fruit I bought yesterday. We keep everything as clean as we can and bag all foods. And we don”t bring cardboard onto the boat.
We are going to see what happens over the next couple days and use more of our arsenal as needed. Worst case is having the boat fumigated. So we’ll see.
This has been a fear of mine since moving aboard and living in tropical climates. Only thing worse would be to find a snake aboard. And I’ve heard that can happen.
By the way, the bread and brownies turned out great.
We decided to see if we could extend Pete’s flight so he could be here at least a week. He said he had to be back Saturday, May 23. So I went online to to American Airlines but I couldn’t make the changes online because there was an international flight. I had to call them. We discussed our options for using a telephone. And then Dave came up with the idea of having a travel agency help us. So I sheepishly sent an e-mail to friends in Rapid City. Moderick’s sold their agency to Bursch Travel. And the mother of Pete’s high school friend works there. She was happy to help us even though we originally booked the flight online. So if anyone can give Gloria and Bursch travel any business, I would recommend them anytime. It took her most of the afternoon to get through to American Airlines on hold. And we were able to extend his stay 3 days. I was really glad we didn’t try to call since we would have been on hold forever.
We had thought about going to shore to just see more of Nassau, but now it was about 5:30. So we just finalized getting the boat ready to leave tomorrow. So far, no sign of any bugs!!
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
May 11, 2015 Change of events in Nassau
Well, today didn’t turn out like we thought it would. Our son was supposed to arrive at 6:00 this evening from South Dakota. BUT Rapid City set a record Sunday with 13.5 inches of SNOW. His flight to Dallas this morning probably wasn’t able to come in to Rapid City last night. Now he won’t be here until Wednesday morning at 8:20 am. We spent some time messaging through Facebook messenger. It seems to work like texting if we are both online. He is going to see about arranging his schedule so we can extend his stay, IF it works with the airlines, too.
Then we heard a short siren outside our boat. Dave peeked out and there was an official looking boat that wanted to talk to us. It was a routine inspection by the Royal Bahamas Defense Force. They wanted our Coast Guard Registration form and passports. They didn’t board the boat, like the US Coast Guard did back in Georgia. Everyone gets a chuckle out of the name of the boat. So it lightens the mood. They wanted to know where our last port was and how long we plan to stay in the Bahamas. There were 3 of them on their boat and they all seemed young, like in their 20’s. It’s actually nice to know they are checking boats out. There is a lot of crime in Nassau. Now if we had to call in with a problem, they would know our boat.
We then had coffee and breakfast and planned what to do in the meantime. Should we stay in the harbor or move outside to an island for a day. We decided to stay and work on a few things. Dave wanted to work on the outboard Mercury motor. We needed to provision at a nearby grocery store. And Dave will take fuel cans to shore to fill, rather than moving the boat to a dock. And I always have cleaning to do :( But I am going to cook some things ahead of time for the week while Pete is here.
Dave fixed the Mercury!! He adjusted the idle control and it would start and die right away. So he replaced the filter in the gas line. He added it because of a suggestion by another sailer. And he brought a replacement filter. There is usually gunk in fuel that you buy in foreign countries. It is brought to the islands in tanks that slosh around and stir things up. After replacing the filter, it ran beautifully!
We also “pickled” the water maker. We haven’t used it for a couple days. And now it will be a couple more. We don’t want to use the water in this harbor to make water. To make water, we run the generator. So, I plug in the computer and catch up on my blog. I can’t be in the galley while he is pickling anyway.
Next. Dave moved on to replacing the pump unit in the aft head. Seems like there is always maintenance on those head toilets. We had water, etc, gurgling up in the toilet between uses. I can’t imagine what else would be involved if we pumped paper through it, too. Yes, we put paper in the garbage, not the toilet. I thought I heard him say “this smells just like poop!”. I asked him is he wears gloves when he works on the head. He said “I could.” That’s the first thing I would do. He said the trick is to not lick your fingers. This time the problem was not only the joker valve, but the base valve too. But it all comes together as part of the pump assembly. Dave explained to me that different grades of rubber work with water, verses oils. So I asked why they didn’t put a better grade of rubber in the head assembly. His answer was because they wouldn’t make any money on replacement parts. He also did some reading in the manual about what can be done to prevent this problem. One problem with Beneteau’s is that the holding tank is upright, so everything has to flow uphill and stay uphill. He may add a vent to keep water from flowing back towards the head if it is below the water line. He had done that in our Catalina because we would often heel at a greater degree than we do in the Beneteau.
After a quick late lunch, we took the dinghy to shore. The dinghy dock we used before was gone. There is now a fuel dock there. The fuel attendant/dock master at Harbor View Marina remembered us and that we were going south to the Exumas the last time we were here. So we asked him where there was a dinghy dock. He let us use their’s. It helps to make connections, I guess. We walked to the grocery store about 2 blocks away. We carried everything but the eggs and bread in backpacks.
After we took everything onto the boat, Dave returned to Harbor View Marina with 3 jerry cans to get 15 gallons of diesel. Whew, we felt like we accomplished a lot today.
Then we heard a short siren outside our boat. Dave peeked out and there was an official looking boat that wanted to talk to us. It was a routine inspection by the Royal Bahamas Defense Force. They wanted our Coast Guard Registration form and passports. They didn’t board the boat, like the US Coast Guard did back in Georgia. Everyone gets a chuckle out of the name of the boat. So it lightens the mood. They wanted to know where our last port was and how long we plan to stay in the Bahamas. There were 3 of them on their boat and they all seemed young, like in their 20’s. It’s actually nice to know they are checking boats out. There is a lot of crime in Nassau. Now if we had to call in with a problem, they would know our boat.
We then had coffee and breakfast and planned what to do in the meantime. Should we stay in the harbor or move outside to an island for a day. We decided to stay and work on a few things. Dave wanted to work on the outboard Mercury motor. We needed to provision at a nearby grocery store. And Dave will take fuel cans to shore to fill, rather than moving the boat to a dock. And I always have cleaning to do :( But I am going to cook some things ahead of time for the week while Pete is here.
Dave fixed the Mercury!! He adjusted the idle control and it would start and die right away. So he replaced the filter in the gas line. He added it because of a suggestion by another sailer. And he brought a replacement filter. There is usually gunk in fuel that you buy in foreign countries. It is brought to the islands in tanks that slosh around and stir things up. After replacing the filter, it ran beautifully!
We also “pickled” the water maker. We haven’t used it for a couple days. And now it will be a couple more. We don’t want to use the water in this harbor to make water. To make water, we run the generator. So, I plug in the computer and catch up on my blog. I can’t be in the galley while he is pickling anyway.
Next. Dave moved on to replacing the pump unit in the aft head. Seems like there is always maintenance on those head toilets. We had water, etc, gurgling up in the toilet between uses. I can’t imagine what else would be involved if we pumped paper through it, too. Yes, we put paper in the garbage, not the toilet. I thought I heard him say “this smells just like poop!”. I asked him is he wears gloves when he works on the head. He said “I could.” That’s the first thing I would do. He said the trick is to not lick your fingers. This time the problem was not only the joker valve, but the base valve too. But it all comes together as part of the pump assembly. Dave explained to me that different grades of rubber work with water, verses oils. So I asked why they didn’t put a better grade of rubber in the head assembly. His answer was because they wouldn’t make any money on replacement parts. He also did some reading in the manual about what can be done to prevent this problem. One problem with Beneteau’s is that the holding tank is upright, so everything has to flow uphill and stay uphill. He may add a vent to keep water from flowing back towards the head if it is below the water line. He had done that in our Catalina because we would often heel at a greater degree than we do in the Beneteau.
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| Dave holding the joker valve closed after washing it |
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| distorted joker valve that leaks |
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| different view of distorted joker valve |
After a quick late lunch, we took the dinghy to shore. The dinghy dock we used before was gone. There is now a fuel dock there. The fuel attendant/dock master at Harbor View Marina remembered us and that we were going south to the Exumas the last time we were here. So we asked him where there was a dinghy dock. He let us use their’s. It helps to make connections, I guess. We walked to the grocery store about 2 blocks away. We carried everything but the eggs and bread in backpacks.
After we took everything onto the boat, Dave returned to Harbor View Marina with 3 jerry cans to get 15 gallons of diesel. Whew, we felt like we accomplished a lot today.
May 10, 2015 Highbourne Cay to Nassau, Bahamas
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| This is the navigation chart showing rocks at the red dots. Upper left is New Providence Island with Nassau. We are on the lower right and will follow the waypoints-X. The red line shows the direction our boat is pointed, but the wind moves us in the direction of the green line to Nassau. The blue water is Exuma Banks and shallow. the white areas are deeper water-in the thousands of feet. The right is Exuma Sound and the left is called the "Tongue of the Ocean". It is between Exuma Banks and Andros Island. |
We had a nice wind for sailing with our spinnaker sail again today. Love saving that fuel. We also decided we’d put up with the traffic in Nassau harbour to save the money from not getting a slip in a marina.
On our passage today we saw about a dozen dolphins swimming with the boat for about 15 minutes. Those are the first we have seen in the Bahamas. Dave said they probably come here for a vacation, too.
On the way here, we were discussing my attempts at making “refrigerator pickles” with our aging cucumbers. Remember, I am not a cook or chef, just a survivalist. I was asking Dave for any suggestions or changes. He is always so nice to say that they taste fine. But I wanted to know how I could improve them. So he started out by saying “well, you do have to brace yourself before eating them, because one leg shoots out straight after you bite into them.” I guess that means I could thin down the vinegar some.
Then over the last 2 hours of the passage, we listened in on the radio while a boat was in trouble. They were going the same way we were, but further behind us. It was a sport fishing boat and had trouble with the rudders freezing up. Sounds like they had broken apart and weren’t working together. They were headed back to Nassau to take the owner of the boat to see a doctor or get him on a flight back to the states. They were talking to BASRA, Bahamian air and sea rescue association. Since it was Sunday, they couldn’t get them a tow in to Nassau. But they could get a mechanic out to them on Monday. They wondered if the sick person could take a high speed rough ride back into Nassau or if they could bring him medication. They did get the boat running again and made it into Nassau right behind us. Lesson learned is that BASRA is made of volunteers. Things don’t happen at the same speed as in the US. And you better be able to take care of yourself. Remember, it can happen to you in a car out on the prairie of SD, too.
Either the wind picked up right when we entered the harbor or the wind always funnels through here. But we had to motor against the wind and current to anchor. This is a busy harbor with all kinds of boats passing you. So we expect the boat to rock some tonight.
May 9, 2015 Compass Cay to Highbourne Cay
This morning we left our anchorage to head north. As we came into Conch cut, we used the tracker on our chart plotter. That way we could just follow our path back out. It’s amazing to see a wide open area, but have to follow a channel zig zagging through it to avoid rocks and sand.
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| it always amazes us to see the different colors of the water. the lighter color is more shallow with sand on the bottom |
It was a light wind day so we put up the spinnaker sail. We could have made the 35 mile trip in about 7 hours using the engine. But we were in no hurry to get to our destination, other than before sunset. So we sailed and saved fuel and took 9 hours.
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| uncovering the spinnaker. It is raised inside a "sock", then you lift the sock to let it out in the wind |
The only excitement of the day was when Dave thought he saw a fish splashing on the surface at the end of his line. Then he realized it was a “floater” in his eyes.
It was so calm that I was able to do some food preparation and some things on the computer down below.
We made it to Highbourne Cay by 6:30. We have anchored here twice before, but we had never come through the Highborne Cut form the east side on the Exuma Sound. No problem. There were about 12 boats anchored along the long beach. 3 were mega yachts and one had a huge slide off of the top into the water. Looked like it was more for adults than for kids. Dave thought 20 year olds in bikinis would love it.
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