10 April 2012
1018-1325 Warderick Wells
to Cambridge Cay 16nm (18.4sm)
We headed out into Exuma Sound initially but there was a
little more wind than predicted and we were pitching mildly. The dinghy was trailing behind us and
bouncing around more than we liked.
I was getting ready to remove the wine glasses from the upside down rack
as they were starting to hit each other when the Captain decided to turn
around. Yea! It turned out to be a wise decision as
the cut we planned to enter had opposing wind and current by the time we passed
by it. For those of you who have
ridden into New Jersey’s inlets in other than optimal conditions, this would
have been a similar ride.
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| Navigating around Bells Island |
Once we were secured for the day, I noticed a turtle close by
the boat. He kept popping up and
taking a look at us. It took me
several tries but I got a couple reasonable shots of him.
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| Turtle in Cambridge Cay |
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| Sea turtle in Cambridge Cay |
Just in case you are curious about what we are attached to
on this mooring, I got a nice shot of the new concrete block and the original steel mooring ball which is lying on the bottom.
Snorkeling around Cambridge Cay
Having not snorkeled since we left Hawaii I finally got into
the water to check out the snorkeling around Emerald Rock (Warderick Wells). The
park provides a map of all the snorkeling areas and suggests the optimal time
to snorkel these areas. Emerald
Rock had lots of pretty fish but it is a relatively small area. I’m looking for the Exuma’s answer to
Haunauma Bay (Hawaii)!
At O’Brien’s Cay there’s a snorkeling area called The Sea
Aquarium. This was pretty
cool. With mooring buoys to tie
your dinghy onto, there’s no swimming to get there. What a beautiful spot!
There must have been at least 20 different varieties of fish and the
live coral and fans (which I don’t think I’ve ever seen firsthand) is very
pretty. The fans come in a variety
of colors – purple was certainly the prettiest!
We also did a “drift snorkel” at the south end of O’Brien’s
Cay. Hanging onto a line attached
to the dinghy we let the current carry us through the area. It was nowhere near
as spectacular as The Sea Aquarium.
Rocky Dundas – Caves
I wasn’t too keen about snorkeling into a cave but I could
see light inside. The cave has
stalactites and stalagmites. I was expecting Luray Caverns. I was a wee bit disappointed. But I must say I have never snorkeled
into a cave and seen these formations.
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| Ted outside Cave 1 at Rocky Dundas |
It is easiest to do this at low tide. The opening is that dark area above the water. Here's a youTube video I found online that shows the inside of the cave and the opening.
There was a second cave but I was reluctant to go in there
also until I could see Ted standing up.
There was light in there as well.
In addition to the caves, the variety of live coral was
amazing. There was a stand of
elkhorn coral that had “petals” a good 2’ wide and the whole stand had to be 8’
across. The coral was a gorgeous shade
of yellow. There were lots of
coral and fish to see. All I
needed was frozen peas!
Elkhorn Stand near Honeymoon Beach
We took the dinghy over to another area to check out a stand of
elkhorn coral. Amazing! Next time we will have an underwater camera.
Hiking around Cambridge Cay
There are 2 trails on either end of the island. We did both.
Some of the sights….
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| Bell Rock |
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| Cambridge Cay mooring field - Aloha Friday in foreground |
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| The end of the hike |
Honeymoon Trail
We walked through a dense palm tree forest to get to Honeymoon
Beach.
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| Nancy on the Honeymoon Trail |
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| Surf at Honeymoon Beach |
The surf had been flat here the day before and we snorkeled
out on the left side where the rare stand of Elkhorn coral is.
16 April 2012
0920-1158 Cambridge Cay to
Big Majors Spot, Staniel Cay 14nm (16sm)
A lot of these islands are privately owned. There are few, if any, homes or inhabitants. When you walk around, it is rare to
pass anyone other than another cruiser.
No houses, no bars, restaurants or stores. No TV.
South Bimini was populated – it was a small town. Staniel Cay is populated – another
small town of 80 odd residents.
We bypassed Nassau on the way down so in between we saw one beautiful beach after another and water in varying
shades of blue.
Staniel Cay
We dinghied into the marina to check out the Yacht Club and
surrounding town.
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| Staniel Cay Yacht Club |
I was surprised to see the presence of about a dozen nurse
sharks who call the marina home.
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| Nurse sharks - SCYC marina |
We set out to explore a bit and check out the grocery
stores. We stopped at The Pink
Pearl Store, the Blue Store and dinghied over to Isles Grocery Store.
If you grew up in a rural area, you might remember a small
Mom & Pop grocery close to home.
Think smaller…. In the Blue
Store I found some Kraft Sharp Cheese and Swiss cheese – total $12.00. In the Pink Store I found nothing. Isles Grocery was the best supplied of
the three. I found ½ gal of
organic milk, a qt of half n’ half, a can of whipping cream and eggs for
$22.40. I struck out looking for
Doritos, sour cream, sliced cheese and chocolate pudding.
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| The Pink Store |
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| The Blue Store |
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| Isle Grocery |
Only the downstairs is the store.
We passed one of the Bahamian "fishing boats" that competes in the National Family Island Regatta the last week in April. This event was started in 1954 to keep the traditional Bahamian fleet of
fishing vessels alive. The boats have evolved to pure race boats over
the years. and The rules call for a wooden hull, deck and spars with canvas sails. No
winches or instruments are allowed, not even tell tales for wind. As mast heights and sail area have increased, pry boards are used to
move human ballast out over the windward rail for stability. This is
quite a spectacle, especially in gusty wind. We were told by Reg Smith, an independent candidate for office, that the boats are really over-rigged. If they take on a lot of water, they will sink!
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| "TIDA WAVE" |
Later that evening we joined a group of 16 folks, largely
Defever owners, for dinner at the SCYC.
Nice evening, good food.
The next day we snorkeled Thunderball Cave – made famous in
the James Bond movie, Thunderball.
There were lots of fish, corals and fans to see. Spotted some beautiful blue coral. I am amazed at the variety of beautiful fish that we see.
There are swimming pigs off the southernmost beach near our
anchorage. When they see you
coming, the pigs swim out to your boat.
Ted fed them cut up sweet potatoes. They would use their noses to butt the side of the boat,
snorting off and on.
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| Swimming pigs |
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| Ted feeding the pigs |
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| The pigs will butt the dinghy with their snout |
18 April 2012
1357-1534 Big Majors Spot
to Black Point Settlement 8nm (9.2 sm)
Once we were anchored, the crew of Miss Grace (Defever 44+5)
invited us to join them to dinghy ashore to check out the town. We stopped at Lorraine’s Café to order
her famous coconut bread. Mr
Willie Rolle gave us a tour of the Garden of Eden he has created in his
yard. Willie has a vivid
imagination. He has used driftwood
to create animals, fish and the profiles of famous people. As barren as his land is, he is also
growing papayas, avocados, tomatoes, lemongrass, peas, etc. On our way back to the dinghy dock I
also discovered the location of the laundromat.
The laundromat is a real oasis here. Ida, the proprietor , has 12 washers
and almost as many dryers in a very nice facility. They even had hot water the day I did laundry! Sometimes it is the little things that
make one happy. Dinner aboard Miss
Grace capped the day off.
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| Sunset from Black Point Settlement |
I haven’t seen the green flash since we left Hawaii. This sunset produced a green flash no
one could miss.
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| Mail boat heading into Black Point settlement |
View Larger Map
19 April 2012 0929-1216 Black Point Settlement to Little Farmers Cay 14nm (16 sm)
As we are expecting some westerly winds we continued to head
south and sought cover on the south eastern side of Little Farmer's Cay at White Land Beach.
View Larger Map
Two of the sailboats we met on Shroud Cay were anchored here
also. We reconnected with them
over dinner at Ocean Cabin and also met the owners, Ernestine & Terry Bain. Ernestine treated us to local favorite for dessert – Guava
Duff. It was similar to a jelly
roll in appearance but was served warm with a nice sauce.
We initially picked up a mooring ball at White Land
Beach. Not knowing the
integrity of the mooring it was suggested that we put an anchor out also. We decided to take another
mooring that the folks at Ocean Cabin owned, believing it was suitable. We moved over to the beach on the east
side of Great Guana Cay. We picked
up the mooring ball behind the sailboat in the photo below.
View Larger Map
This is where the trouble spot turned out to be. Read on....
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| S/V Blue Water |
On the 21st, Terry Bain suggested we put out an anchor in anticipation of the strong winds that were predicted. Ted deployed our Fortress on the sandbar east of the mooring field. We tended the rode each time the tide changed directions to either pull in slack line or deploy additional line as needed. The weather came in as predicted. On the morning of the 22nd at about 0840, Ted noticed that the line for the Fortress anchor was jammed on the stern bit and that the line had a heavy strain on it. The engines were started to allow me to relieve the strain on the Fortress. At the same time Ted observed that there was no strain on the mooring. The chain connecting the pennant to the mooring had failed. Ted pulled up the float, line and chain that had detached from the mooring and was attached to the bridle for the mooring ball.
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| Chain attaching the mooring to the weight. The link at the top failed. |
The rain is coming down in buckets. The wind is pushing us onto the shallow sandbar and the current wants to take us toward the sailboat. Nancy got the anchor line off the stern bit and with the extra line running to the bow roller allowed the fast moving current to quickly take us the 50 ft. down alongside Blue Water. While maneuvering to get sea room between us, we caught S/V Blue Water’s mooring rode, pulling her toward us. The minor collision knocked her starboard navigation light cover off and caused some minor damage to the stainless steel for their anchor roller. We got a bent stanchion and minor fiberglass abrasions (which was not noticed until we were moored again) Ted got into the water with just a face mask. The mooring rode was caught forward on the port screw, thank goodness the line was not wrapped around the shaft. Once it was released from the screw, it caught on the rudder. On deck, I’m using 2 fenders to prevent any further damage from occurring between both boats. S/V Blue Water powers astern to relieve the strain on the mooring rode. Ted is able to release the rode from rudder. Good thing we had a Navy diver aboard! It took 30 min to get free. We’re not done yet…. Once Ted is back aboard, I shorten the scope of the rode on the Fortress to gain sea space from S/V Blue Water. We spent the next hour in heavy rain, squalls and 50 kt winds. Ted is on the bridge. I am on the bow shortening the scope as needed. Engine power is applied to counter the wind that wants to put us on the shallow bank. New friends on S/V Trinity 1 hailed us and made us aware of a heavy mooring that is used by the fuel boat at the Farmer's Cay Yacht Club. There really was no choice but to move and a heavy mooring sounded good. S/V Scherzo volunteered to assist us getting onto the mooring ball. It was still raining and blowing. Ted coils up the extra rode for the bow anchor that is still deployed and attaches a float to it. I deploy the line and float over the side, untying the rest of the line that is through the bull nose on the bit. We are free! We head over to the Yacht Club mooring field and S/V Scherzo assists us from their dinghy. Whew! After two (2) hours of stress we are finally secure again! We later learned that a sailboat in the White Land Beach mooring field also had their mooring give way. Here's where we are moored now.
This storm became the nor’easter that those of you on the
East Coast were hit with on the 23rd of April. By 1pm, the sun was out and the wind and seas had fallen
off. What a transformation!
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| Farmer's Cay Yacht Club |
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| Ty's Sunset Bar & Grill - Farmer's Cay airport |
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| Conch shells |
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| Sea Thimbles |
Our last day here we joined some other cruisers for a walk around the island. We ended up at Ali’s Tiki Bar (a liquor store) for a beer. Ali was quite a character.
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| (l-r) Jill (S/V Eärendil*, Dan & Lucie (S/V Trinity 1), Glenn Patch, Ali, Susie Patch (M/Y Magnolia) |
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| The mermaid on the inside of the Tiki Bar door |
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| Nancy & Lucie in front of the store |
* Eärendil the Mariner (pronounced [ɛaˈrɛndil]) is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He is depicted in The Silmarillion as a great seafarer who, on his brow, carried the morning star across the sky.
