May 1, 2016 Black Point to Waderick Wells, Exumas

We had talked about moving the boat to Bell Island to have protection from the west.  But the bad weather may last until Saturday.  So we decided to go further north to Warderick Wells Cay.  We’ll spend a couple nights here, then go over to Rock Sound, Eleuthera for better protection from the wind and to extend my immigration permit. 

Warderick Wells Cay is the headquarters of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park.  This park is 22 miles long and extends 4 nautical miles on either side of the cays.  It includes 15 major cays and many tiny ones.    We had stopped at the northern end and the southern end last year and explored those areas.   We anchored at Warderick Wells last year, but only to stop for the night.  So I have always wanted to return to this area and explore it further. 

Before leaving this morning, Dave placed a screw in the hole in the hull and sealed it with butyl rubber.  This was a stronger patch than the butyl rubber alone. 

As Dave was removing our snubber off of our anchor chain this morning, the gate that closes over the metal clasp of the snubber came off in his hand.  He has another one on board and will replace it.  But he thought that was a good thing to happen while we were in calm seas instead of during the middle of a storm when it would be under stress.   The snubber is a rope with a clasp that goes from the deck to the anchor chain.  It takes the stress of the boat moving up and down with the wind and waves instead of the chain pulling on the windlass that is used to raise it.  So Dave was emphatic that this was a good thing to find now and not a bad thing.  (We weren’t going to go with the “bad things happen in 3’s” rule). 

the white rope is the snubber line connected to the anchor chain

Just before leaving our anchorage, we decided to stay on the bank side instead of going back out on the Exuma Sound.  We forgot how beautiful the water was with the different depths.  The water averaged about 15 feet in depth compared to over 1000 ft deep in the sound.  And we avoided going out and coming back in through the cuts between the islands.  Some of them can be tricky if you have wind and current opposing each other.  Not to mention the waves breaking over the rocks that make you nervous should you lose engine power for some reason. 

We had a beautiful sail all the way today.  It was only about 25nm.  The wind was about 15k and we sailed between 6.5-7.5k.  That’s faster than we can motor.  We were enjoying it so much, we almost turned around just to sail a little longer after we arrived.

We anchored by 1:30, had lunch, then went exploring.  We took the dinghy to the southern end of the island to snorkel in a channel between Warderick Wells and Hog Cay.  This area was know as a Pirate’s Lair at one time.  We snorkeled in search of Stromatolites.  Only trouble was, we forgot to google what they looked like before we left this morning.  And we weren’t near any wifi towers in the park.  So we never did find what we were looking for.  But we had nice swim.   I later read in our guide book that they are the oldest evidence of life on earth.  They are fragile flat grey reefs that date back 3.5 billion years.  They were thought to be extinct until discovered in the Bahamas in 1983.

 
Back in the dinghy, we explored a few other reefs that we will snorkel tomorrow.  We have a 5 gallon bucket with a plexiglass bottom to look under water.  It is like putting on a dive mask.  There weren’t very many boats anchored in this bay.  So we had a quiet night enjoying the sunset, again. 

April 30, 2016 Black Point Settlement, Exumas

It looks like we are going to get another cold front this week with winds from the West.  All the anchorages in the Exumas are on the west side of the islands, unless you are in Georgetown.  So we spent some time discussing options and studying charts.  Always a concern on the boat. 

We started 2 more loads of laundry as long as the lines were up and we weren’t going anywhere today.

Dave contacted the boatyard in Spanish Wells to get some general information and get that ball rolling.  Then he sent them an e-mail with details of what we need and photos of the shaft log.  It is great to have free wifi at the boat that we can pick up from shore. 

I spent some time updating this blog, since we had free wifi.  Usually it is really slow on the boat, but I “went to town” while I could.  I also did some cleaning while I waited for pictures to upload.  Multitasking. 

I stopped around 4:00 to take down the laundry and go for a swim.  We had lost a couple of our precious clothes pins yesterday ($1 apiece), so I decided to snorkel to look for them, but no luck.  It was great to get in the water.  It is so clear here, like a swimming pool.  Yesterday, I saw a remora swim under our boat.  Since we had wifi, I googled whether they will try to suck onto humans (they usually attach to sharks).  And yes they will.  But I guess you can just bat them away without them attacking you.  If they do attach, they leave a hickey when you pull them off.  Of course, the first thing I did today was check under the boat for any remoras.  None there, whew!

Then about 5:00, we went into Black Point for dinner.  We were able to take our garbage into town, yay!  We walked the few blocks that made up their main street.  It was very clean and there were lots of locals in the streets, adults and kids.  Everyone was very friendly.  We ended up at Lorraine’s for dinner.  We had heard a lot about her and how she goes out of her way to make cruisers feel at home.  It wasn’t very busy.  We didn’t make reservation, but she said she could make anything that was on the lunch menu.  In the states, you need to make reservations to get a table.  In the Bahamas, you need to make reservations so they will have the food to prepare for you.  At least it’s that way in the smaller towns. 

After dinner we walked a little further though town and back to the dinghy dock.  I can see why so many people like it  here.  But we like it with less than 10 boats and can’t imagine what it would be like with 100 boats. 

our welcome at the dinghy dock, a shark and a stingray each about 6 feet long

Lorraine's mom sells home made bread at here house behind the restaurant.  She was sitting on the front porch and had me follow her into her house right into the kitchen.  we bought 2 loaves of cinnamon raisin coconut for $6 each

lots of boat building in this town, right in their yards

not sure what this fruit was.  the tree was less than 8 ft tall and the fruit were like big avocados with ridges

our boat in the huge bay

sapodilla tree

the local clinic with their own generator

Red Sky at night, Sailors delight.  Yes, that's our boat

April 29, 2016 Installing a Whale sump pump

Ok, today we finally found some energy to get things done.  We started some laundry.  That is an all day affair.  We only did bedding today, but that filled our buckets and lines since we had bedding for company, too.

I worked on cleaning our forward head and making bread with Pam’s recipe.  That was between moving laundry.

Dave worked on the shower drain/sump pump for our aft head.  We have had some issues with it draining over the past month or so.  Usually a pump with a plunger takes care of it.  But this time it wasn’t going anywhere.  It goes directly overboard below the waterline.  So it needs a sump pump to remove the water. 

After checking the pump, he realized the diaphragm needed replacing.   We had another pump, so he removed the old Jabsco pump to install the new Whale pump.  We have that in our forward head and we had a spare along with us.  It’s nice because you don’t have to clean a filter.  You really take things for granted living in a house or being able to run to the hardware store.

Of course the new pump can’t go directly back into the space of the old pump.  I heard lots of grunts and cussing coming from Dave.  He was having trouble placing a hose clamp on the new pump.  The space to mount the new pump put the hose in a tight spot.  There wasn’t much room to get both hands under the sink and behind the holding tank to fasten the hose clamp.  Once he had the hose clamp in place, he realized it was a bad clamp and had to start over. 

"Damn, we're in a tight spot"

But he was actually pretty calm when he told me how he put a hole in the boat with a drill bit.  He thought he found the perfect place to mount the pump.  But the first screw went right though the hull.  He needed my help to pull out the plug when he placed a temporary patch on the outside of the boat.  I couldn’t get mad at him when he looked so sad.  Accidents happen and we were still floating.  He tried to tape it on the outside so he could fill it with epoxy, but the tape wouldn’t stick.  It was too close to the water line.  So he put butyl rubber in the hole from the inside and taped over it from the inside.  Right now it is like a temporary crown on a tooth.  It’s working, so you are tempted to let it go as long as possible.  But once it goes, you will be in an emergency situation. 

there shouldn't be light shining through there

Dave called it quits for the day and changed gears to grill dinner.  We are still eating fillets of wahoo that we caught in the Abacos back in February. 

April 28, 2016 Big Farmer's Cay to Black Point, Exumas

I had to say good-bye one more time, so I took the dingy over to their boat once I knew Cheryl was awake.  We had time for another game of cribbage while we enjoyed our coffee and tea.  (I skunked her again!)  We said our good-byes and promised to stay in touch. 

Today we sailed to Black Point Settlement on Great Guana Cay.  It was another nice day for sailing.  It was only about 20 nm, but we wanted to check it out.  We have heard good things about this anchorage.  It is just south of Staniel Cay, which is crowded with boats out of Nassau.  The bay was beautiful.  The water looked like a swimming pool.  We had heard there could be 70-100 boats anchored here all at once.  So we were pleasantly surprised to see only 5 boats here.  I think many boaters head north by now. 

Farmer's Cay Cut from the islands to the Sound (open water)  This is a picture of "confused water"  between the islands, the sea was flat, but then there were rough waves where the waves coming in and the tide going out meet.  Then there are ocean waves on the sound.  It wasn't very windy today, but these waves can get very tall and rough to pass through.

We anchored and relaxed and watched the sun set with no land to the west for many miles.  I actually saw a green flash as the sun set.  It went straight up about the size of what the sun had been, not across the horizon.  I think it had something to do with staring at the sun for so long and damaging my eyes. 

April 27, 2016 Lee Stocking Island to Big Farmer's Cay, Exumas

We only had about 20 nm to sail today, but we took off about 8:30 to have the afternoon to visit and relax.  We had a nice 15 knot wind and were able to sail the entire way north.  We anchored in a bay on the north end of Big Farmer’s Cay, same place as last year.  We arrived at 12:30, about an hour before Cheryl and Ed.

Love the color of the water as the depth changes

Cheryl and Ed arriving at Big Farmer's Cay

They came over to our boat by dinghy to visit this afternoon.  They were headed into Little Farmer’s Cay for some provisions.  They invited us for happy hour and dinner on their boat.  I spent the afternoon cleaning our aft head.  When I clean the floor and behind the toilet, I use the shower hose and drain.  Today the shower wouldn’t drain with the sump pump.  Using the plunger a couple times, which has worked in the past, only brought more water and “gunk” into the floor of the head.   So Dave used a shop vac to remove the water and will work on it soon.

anchored close enough to swim to their boat

Yay! visitors from SD and TX

When Cheryl and Ed returned, Cheryl and I went for a snorkeling in the bay and checked out the coral and fish along the shore.  We enjoyed it but realized it was difficult to visit while snorkeling.  So we walked and talked across the shallow part of the bay.  Dave had a nice nap in the cockpit.

We returned to our boats and make dinner preparations.  At 5:00, Ed was blowing a conch shell to let us know happy hour had begun.  We found out later that Cheryl had just bought the shell today in Little Farmer’s Cay as a gift for Ed.  They also cut the end and polished it so it could be made into a bugle.

We had a nice time visiting on their boat.  Ed gave Dave the boat tour, and they discussed lots of boat business.  Cheryl and I enjoyed a game of cribbage (I skunked her).  Then we all enjoyed the sunset together in the cockpit of their boat.  It was nice to be able to get a sunset picture with our boat in it.

our boat in the sunset

The plan was for Cheryl to help Ed move his boat from Marsh Harbor in the Abacos to Georgetown in the Exumas.  She has been on his boat for 30 days.  Ed would like to get to Georgetown to see some of the regatta that goes through Saturday.   He will no longer need her help.  So she is checking into other options.  She would like to stay in the Bahamas until June.  But she will fly out of Georgetown if nothing works out.  She plans to spend the summer with a friend in Kentucky and go back to SD for a while.  But then next fall she will look into the workaway website again for another adventure.  She loves the life aboard a sailboat and has no regrets about retiring and selling her home in SD. 

happy friends together again

April 26, Georgetown to Lee Stocking Island, Exumas

We decided to move north through the Exumas over the next couple weeks.  Then we would have to go to a town on Eleuthera to extend my immigration by May 10.  We are also considering taking our boat to a boatyard in Spanish Wells, Eleuthera to have the bottom repainted.  In the Bahamas, we can use a paint that we can no longer buy in the United States.  It will last longer.  And we would have to clean the bottom less often because it is harder for sea life to attach to it.  The bottom usually has to be painted about every 2 years.  It is also something we could do ourselves, if we are at a marina/boatyard that allows that.  Then we could buy the paint here and use it in the US.  So we are checking into our options.  Plus we need to have the shaft log repaired or replaced.  That may or may not be done here.  We have to take the boat out of the water for each project.  So it would be cheaper to haul it out just once. 

We sailed to Lee Stocking Island and arrived 2:30.  It was crazy to look at the chart and see that we were in about 2000 ft of water, but we could still see the shore.  We had great plans to go for a hike and then a swim.  But it started raining shortly after we anchored and continued through out the evening. 

I was able to connect with my friend Cheryl, who we had rescued from one boat, was crew for about 10 days, and moved onto another boat.  They are in the Exumas and heading to Georgetown.  So we picked an anchorage to meet at tomorrow as we head north.  We are looking forward to meeting the captain of the catamaran she is on, Ed, and seeing her again.

April 25, 2016 Georgetown duties

We spent the day in and out of Georgetown doing our civilization chores.  We went to shore together by dinghy about 9:00.  Dave dropped me off with a propane tank to refill and with my computer to get a good wifi signal.  Then he went to a dock at the gas station for diesel and gasoline.

I stopped at Forbes to leave our propane tank to be filled.  Another gentleman was waiting and  told me the owner would be right back.  Once he returned, we paid for the propane, $22 for a 10 lb can, and were given a receipt for the pick up between 1:00 and 2:00.  We have paid closer to $15 elsewhere in the Bahamas.  But we didn’t have to walk far with it, so I guess we paid for the convenience.

Then I walked to J&K Productions to use their wifi.  They open at 9:00, but it was 9:30 and they were closed.  So I caught Dave at the fuel dock and went back to the boat with him. 
We did a few projects on the boat and went back in at about 11:30.  We decided to have lunch together and tried out a local restaurant.  The Towne Cafe was tucked in beside the gas station, off the main street.  They had 3 main courses served over rice with 2 sides.  And it was served like take out, which they call take away.  But there were about 6 tables inside with air conditioning and a clean bathroom.  So we were excited, no flies!  The choices were conch, chicken or chuck roast.  We both went for the chuck roast.  We don’t see beef very often.  It was DELICIOUS.  It was slices of beef cooked with onion and peppers in a sauce and served over parsley rice.  It was only $12.95, and we could have split the order, which we didn’t.  While we were there, a Mary Kay consultant came if to order lunch.  I had to get her photo for my niece, Heidi, who is a consultant.  She was so cute and friendly. 

After lunch, I went back to J&K productions and spent the rest of the afternoon using their wifi/$5 per day. 

Dave picked up groceries from 2 different stores and headed back to the boat to do some work, or so he said.  Later I had to text him to meet me at the dock.  We also gave a ride to 2 young French people to their boat.  They were helping crew another boat.  One was going back to France and the other was looking for another boat to crew.  Dave likes to practice his French.  They were so adventurous.  They told us about another Frenchman that was here.  He was 24, bought a sailboat and learned to sail.  He had sailed here from France via Greenland and Iceland and down the east coast of the US.  I don’t know how they can afford to be on these adventures.  But it is exciting to hear their stories.