Most of our friends do long days and an overnight trip to avoid anchoring on the Bank. I don't care for overnights so we make the crossing to the Exumas from S. Bimini over 3 days and 2 nights. We got underway early in order to be anchored on the Bank before it is dark. The weather report suggested it would be nice enough to anchor on the Bank. There's not much to see along the way and there wasn't much boat traffic. When we finally anchored we noticed 2-3 other boats anchored in the distance.
17 Dec 2012 0643-1449 Northwest Channel Shoal to West Bay, New Providence Island 49nm/xxsm
In the end, we had a little too much wind on the nose to sleep uninterrupted the entire night. Nevertheless, we had a beautiful sunrise as we got underway this morning.
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| Sunrise from Northwest Shoal - Great Bahama Bank |
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18 Dec 2012 0703-1402 West Bay, New Providence Island to Highbourne Cay, Exumas 46nm/xxsm
Our first stop in the Exumas! We had planned to try a new anchorage at Allens Cay today. It looked pretty crowded so we opted for a known quantity next door at Highbourne Cay, the northern end of the Exuma chain.
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Highbourne Cay is a private island. The lighter spot in the satellite image is the marina area. Our WIFI extender allowed us to pick up Highborne Cay marina's free WIFI. We are also sitting right in front of the Bahamas Telecommunications Co. (BTC) Bahamas tower so I can also use my Android smartphone to check the mail or act as a hotspot for the iPAD or the MacBookPro. There's an interesting book about Highbourne that I have yet to read. LIFE ON A ROCK is one Nassau couple's perspective reflecting five (5) years living on Highbourne.
19 Dec 2012 1024-1230 Highbourne Cay to Shroud Cay, Exumas 14nm/xxsm
We can finally slow down and enjoy the Exumas! Shroud Cay is the northernmost cay in the Exumas Cays Land and Sea Park. They have an expression within the Park boundaries; Take nothing but pictures and leave only footprints. This is a no take zone. We put the dinghy into the water to take Sanctuary Creek (the northern most creek) to the ocean. Hurricane Sandy had totally rearranged the beach on the right hand side of the creek - the beach is gone! We walked up to Camp Driftwood which was built in the 1960's by a sailor living on his boat. There was little left to see. Local lore suggests that the camp was used by drug agents in the 1980's to spy on craft flying from Norman's Cay. Enroute we met 2 Canadian couples on sailboats (S/V Quality Time and S/V Sharpie's Dream). S/V Quality Time (Anne & Terry) had an issue with the fuel intake hose on the engine. We towed them back to our boat as Ted believed he had spare hose to share. Turns out it is a very small world as we'd met Pat and Dianne on Sharpie's Dream when we were both doing The Great Loop.
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20 Dec 2012 0939-1242 Shroud Cay to Warderick Wells, Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park, 18nm/xxsm
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| Approach to north mooring field - Warderick Wells |
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| Sailboats in the mooring field - Warderick Wells |
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| ALOHA FRIDAY - Warderick Wells north mooring field |
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| Warderick Wells Park Headquarters |
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| ALOHA FRIDAY - Warderick Wells |
21-25 Dec 2012 Moored as before Warderick Wells, Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park
We spent the next several days relaxing and enjoying the warm weather. At the Saturday Happy Hour on the beach, we met a lot of the boaters moored in the area. On Christmas Day, the park warden hosted a Christmas buffet featuring turkey and ham. The boaters provided the appetitzers, sides and dessert.
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| Park Headquarters - Warderick Wells |
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| Warden's Home (right side) - Warderick Wells |
26 Dec 2012 Warderick Wells to Cambridge Cay, Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park, 15nm/xxsm
We picked up the same mooring ball we were on last year. It is so early in the year only one other boat was here when we arrived and they are anchored. Ted tried out our new underwater camera at The Aquarium. It was somewhat overcast so the photos are not as bright as they could be if the sun were out.
28 Dec 2012 - 7 Jan 2013 Cambridge Cay to Big Majors Spot, near Staniel Cay, Exumas, 13nm/xxsm
It is a short run to Big Majors Spot from Cambridge Cay. Not far from where we anchored we passed these two big boys. Note the umbrellas fore and aft on the first yacht and the toys behind the stern. Click on the photo for a etter view.
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| M/Y 7 Seas |
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| M/Y Intuition |
Our neighbors, Matt & Marty, were already here when we arrived. The highlight of our first day back in this area was a trip to The Dump on Staniel Cay. As I recall, you pay the Staniel Cay Yacht Club $5.00/per bag. If you walk to the dump, its free! It is amazing what you can see at the dump.
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| The dump - Staniel Cay |
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| Nurse sharks and rays |
On the dinghy ride back I took a photo of our boat in the anchorage.
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| M/Y Aloha Friday - Big Majors Spot |
Here's an overhead view of a subset of the Exuma chain. Staniel Cay is labeled and if you seen a green arrow, that's where we are anchored. Exuma Sound is represented by the dark blue water, the bank is to the left and significantly shallower. According to the SCYC website, the year round permanent population is less than 100 people. The cruisers alone add more than that in the winter!
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Some of the other boats in the anchorage...
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| Boats in the anchorage - Big Majors Spot |
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| Inside the cave |
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| Matt feeding the fish |
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| Looking at an entrance to Thunder Ball cave through the water |
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| Feeding the fish |
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| Fan coral |
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| Marty, Matt & Nancy - Outside Thunder Ball cave |
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| Parking the dinghy at the SCYC |
Annually on New Years Eve day, the Bahamian sloops race locally. I opted out since there is nothing to hang onto; Ted opted in along with Marty! Two boats were racing; TIDA WAVE (the reigning champion) and LADY MURIEL. Lucky for me, I got an invite to join the folks from M/Y SHEAR MADNESS in their tender. So before the race started we followed the 2 sloops around. Here's a couple of the photos. For starters, you got a team shirt. Several Bahamians are also on these sloops. They are the ones who really know what they are doing.
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| TIDA WAVE team |
So, here's TIDA WAVE at the race start. The sail isn't up yet. If you zoom in, you can see Ted and Marty better. Note those 2 boards lying athwartships....
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| Astern of TIDA WAVE |
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| LADY MURIEL |
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| LADY MURIEL |
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| TIDA WAVE in the lead! |
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| LADY MURIEL down! |
Unbeknowst to me, over on TIDA WAVE Ted and Marty have both fallen off the board. The sloop doesn't pick you up; there's lot of small boats around who pick up crew in the water. When I got back to the yacht club, Ted had ice under his hamstring and Marty had it on her ankle. Ted was pretty sure he'd torn his hamstring.
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| Ted & Marty icing their injuries |
BUT, the good news was, they were on the winning team and got the jacket! Later on, I called it the $2500.00 jacket. You'll see why.
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| Marty & Ted - winnners |
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| Ted, Matt & Marty |
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| Enjoying a few Kaliks at the post-race party |
I wish someone had taken some pictures when we had to get the dinghy back to the water. It was higher and drier than when we left it. That 100 lb Honda engine makes it very challenging to move it across the sand. Nonetheless the trip back was uneventful.
New Years Day brought salboat races amongst the cruisers in the area. An unfortunate accident occurred. TIDA WAVE t-boned the catamaran GLORY DAYS. GLORY DAYS was lucky to make it to shore. That ended the race.
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| S/V GLORY DAYS |
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| AMAZING GRACE and S/V GLORY DAYS - Pig Beach Big Majors Spot |
By the end of the day, AMAZING GRACE had effected repairs to GLORY DAYS, towed her into the anchorage and anchored.
Several days later AMAZING GRACE towed GLORY DAYS slowly to Stuart, FL where permanent repairs would take place.
Meanwhile Ted's hamstring injury is looking more serious than originally thought. We moved New Year's Eve dinner from S/V RUNAWAY to our boat since Ted was having a hard time getting around. We spent the next week at anchor; Ted moved from the bed to the couch in the salon icing his hamstring and calf off and on all day. He was in a lot of pain. Wrapping it with ace bandages helped and drugs from our local pharmacist eased the pain somewhat. After a week with no change, we decided to head back to Nassau to see a doctor. There is only a clinic and a nurse on Staniel Cay. Fortuitously, June (M/Y EMERALD) was able to connect us with an orthopedic surgeon in Nassau.
It is a 2 day run for us to cruise from Staniel Cay to Nassau. We went as far as Highborne Cay the first day and into Nassau the second.
8-20 January 2013 Nassau Yacht Haven Marina xxnm/xxsm
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| Approach into Nassau |
The approach into Nassau was uneventful. We came in on the east side of New Providence Island. We've never been here before so this is all new. You have to clear in with Harbor Control over the VHF radio. There are a lot of cruise ships that transit the west entrance into the harbor. We were moored by noon at the marina. The scenery is radically different from what one sees in the Exumas.
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| Nassau Yacht Haven Marina |
By the weekend, Ted was ready to ride the "bus" around town and sight see from the windows.
Our first excursion involved a bus transfer to get to the western end of New Providence Island.
