Staniel Cay to Black Point Settlement, Great Guana Cay to George Town, Great Exuma Island May 2—4

     We had a short trip from Staniel Cay to Black Point Settlement.  This was a neat, very small town, but it is home to probably the best laundry in the Exuma Islands.  It has its own dinghy dock, and so we took our laundry in.  If the proprietor is not present to sell tokens for the machines, you hike a block down the road to a restaurant which sells them, but they were “out”.  In about an hour, Miss Ida returned, emptied the machines of the previous day’s tokens, and sold them to the waiting customers.  $ 3.75 each for washer and dryer…a bargain by Bahamas standards!

     She was also quite an entrepreneur…in the same building as the laundry is a convenience store with a few hardware supplies, and her mother runs a restaurant “out back”.  Ida sells various lunch items, pastries, cakes, etc.  Upstairs above the laundry are motel rooms for rent.  She cuts hair on the back porch.  Etc., etc.  Kay, the East Texas girl, was enamored to find pine trees adjacent to the palm trees.  She insisted upon having her photo made with them (note the size of the pine cone in her hand).

     After a couple of days, it was time to move on.  Black Point Settlement is not the anchorage for any type of west wind…too much swell and rolling all the way across the Exuma Bank.  We passed through Dotham Cut into Exuma Sound, and were almost immediately in water so deep that our sounder would not read it (3000 feet+).  There was about a 45-mile run down to George Town on Great Exuma Island, the largest town in the Exuma Islands.  I trolled fishing lines, but only hooked one fish, which got off about 100 feet from the boat (I don’t think it was very large, anyway).  I may need different lures…  The entry to George Town Harbor is quite convoluted with many shallow spots and coral heads.  We pulled up in a narrow anchorage on the western shore since a front with thunderstorms and westerly winds is forecasted.  After that passes, we will move to the eastern side of the harbor behind the barrier island for protection from the prevailing easterly winds.  We will spend some days here…many people come and spend the entire winter!  We celebrated our arrival at what will most likely be the southern extent of our travels this year by NOT EATING CHICKEN!  Remember that East Texas girl…not too far from the Bayou State?  We had Ragin Cajun Andouille sausage, baked beans, and hot biscuits with Bonne Maman peach preserves—Boudreau, this may not be as good as it gets, but it is getting close!  More to come after we experience more of George Town…



Krogen Owners Discuss "Technical
Issues" at Staniel Cay Yacht Club

Not Quite an East
Texas Pine Cone

Roadside Artwork, Black
Point Settlement

Staniel Cay April 29-May 1

     In quest of new adventures (Richard) and email/internet connectivity (Kay), we departed Exuma Land and Sea Park at Warderick Wells and traveled south to Staniel Cay, famed home of a BTC cellular tower.  It was a beautiful day, and Bahamian waters were showing their prettiest color palette.  After dropping anchor just west of Big Majors Spot, we soon spotted PIGS.  The old saying was, “when pigs fly”, but here, PIGS SWIM!  They have been known to even try to climb in the boat.

 

Who Says Pigs Can't Swim?

"Here, Piggy, Piggy"

 
 

"C'mon, I'll Teach You How To Beg"

    





We visited Staniel Cay Settlement by dinghy, made a dinner reservation (including menu selections) at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club, bought a loaf of hot, just out of the oven cinnamon raisin bread at Ms. Ronda’s bakery, toured the town, and visited BTC.  The BTC office in Freeport which had installed and initiated the SIM card on our Ipad had failed to enter a critical piece of data, hence it did not work (remember Sgt. Schultz?).  Thanks to the help of cruising friends who had a similar experience, we had obtained the needed information and corrected the issue, but I wanted to confirm that no further setup was necessary for when it comes time to “reload” the data package.  We visited with Krogen friends on Fat Bottom Girl who were awaiting some charter guests, and motored around the Thunderball grotto in the harbor made famous in the James Bond movie.  This stop has been a reminder that there are signs of civilization, even though we haven’t seen many of them lately!

Staniel Cay Yacht Club

Be Sure The Sharks
Are Well-fed Before
You Pet Them...Can
You See The Ray?
 

Staniel Cay Yacht Club

 

Warderick Wells April 27-28

     The Exuma Land and Sea Park, a Bahamas national preserve, is headquartered on Warderick Wells Cay in a channel well-protected from many directions.  We had called by radio a day earlier to reserve a mooring ball in the park, and arrived near slack tide around 1300.  We picked up our mooring without difficulty, secured the boat, and put the dinghy in to go ashore.  The office was typical laid-back Bahamas…no need to pay now, no need to specify how long you plan to stay (14-day maximum), here are some maps of the park, etc.  It was a beautiful environment and we snorkeled, visited an (almost quick-sand) island nearby, rode the dinghy around, and hiked around the park.  One highlight was the hike up to Boo Boo Hill, where many boaters leave painted or engraved pieces of driftwood displaying their boat name.  We saw several which we recognized, though we suspect the pile is periodically thinned to limit its eventual growth.  Along the path up to the hill were signs which enlightened us about plants in the park, and after leaving the peak we went down the rocky cliffs toward the Exuma Sound side to see blowholes.  At water level, these look like the entrance to caves.  Waves rush in, and the force of the upward splash deep in the cave wears holes upward through the rock until sound, air, and often water explode up and out like a geyser.

     We also met a number of new friends also traveling by boat, including one couple who had docked about 10 slips down from us on D-pier in the Corpus Christi Marina in the 1980s.  They were adjacent to the Celika S, and large classic motor yacht owned by James Storm, but which had been built for the Olds family and previously owned by Al Capone.  We reminisced about its captain, whom we both knew, and several staff members.  Several nurse sharks have visited our swim platform, but left unfed.  Lizards, sharks, now it must be time to see some pigs! 

Exuma Park Mooring Field & Office

Exuma Park Mooring Field

A Variety of Visitors



Blowhole Entry Cave

Visitor Mementos, Top of Boo Boo Hill



Boo Boo Hill

Beautiful Yacht Moored at Exuma Park

Shroud Cay April 25-26

     We traveled a relatively short day down to Shroud Cay, and anchored on the Exuma Bank side.  There were several other boats there…sailboats about our length up to 235-foot motor yachts.  A helicopter came and landed on one of them!  Of course, their dinghys were larger than most of the center cockpit fishing boats that my friends in Texas own.  Most were also replete with a large selection of water toys…massive jet skis, kayaks, inflatables, water slides, sailboards, windsurfers, etc.  Virtually all were foreign-flagged vessels.  In the dinghy, we toured up some small channels through the mangrove swamps, and marveled at the constellation of flora in such a harsh environ.  Palm trees grew from rocks, long-tailed tropic birds swooned overhead, and the ecosystem is obviously adapted to the area. 
     As we travel along and reflect upon this wonderfully beautiful land, we can't help but recall old sayings, songs, videos, etc.  Remember Sergeant Schultz from Hogan's Heroes?  Well, he's alive and well in the Bahamas!  And, as Ray Stevens would say, "He's Everywhere, He's Everywhere"!


Texas Ranger

Shroud Cay

Little Whale Cay to Nassau to Allan’s Cay, Exuma Islands April 24

     We were up early, and passed out by Sister Rocks before turning south toward Nassau on New Providence Island.  It is the largest city in, and the capital of, The Bahamas.  We will return here when relatives visit in a few weeks.  The most convenient route from the Berry Islands to the Exuma Island chain includes a passage through the middle of the Nassau harbor, and thus we traveled.  After checking in by radio with Harbor Control, we traveled past massive cruise ships, hotels, large resorts, large inter-island mail/supply boats, and numerous marinas before exiting the eastern end of the island and turning south onto the Great Bahama bank to dodge coral heads on our way to the Exuma Islands.  In this part of the world, weather is everything, and almost as important is the ability to navigate depths by the colors of the water.  We are getting much better, with no painful lessons thus far.


Cruise Ships, Nassau Harbor

Nassau Harbor Entrance




Allan's Cay

Atlantis, Nassau



Bahamas Mail Boat

     After arrival at Allan’s Cay, north of Highborne Cay made popular in a novel by Jimmy Buffett, we anchored for a nice evening (a bit more “rolly” than ideal), and anticipated our trip ashore the next day to attempt to view the highlights of Allan’s Cay—Iguana iguana (yes, genus and species are the same).  We landed on a small beach on small Southwest Allan’s Cay, and wandered up into the vegetation.  Sure enough, we saw several quite large iguanas, some as close to us as 20 feet!  They can weigh up to 30 pounds, and live up to 80 years.  We moved slowly, and they seemed curious enough to watch.  I got some good photos, and we returned to the boat.  Later in the day, several “cigarette boat” full of tourists arrived from Nassau and went to a different cay in search of the same view!

Mama, Don't Let Your Babies...

...Grow Up To Be Cowboys

Iguana, Iguana

 

Great Harbour Cay to Little Whale Cay April 23

     After a delightful few days at Great Harbour Cay Marina, we departed for points farther south.  The evening before our departure, we participated in a “chill and grill”.  Locals, for $10 a head, provided steak, chicken, or ribs with two vegetables which they grilled at the marina.  It was very good—almost as good as the conch fritters we had enjoyed at noon the preceding day at Coolie Mae’s restaurant in Bullock Harbor, to which we had walked to see the town (not much to see).  Of course, after feeding us the cooks and their friends and relatives then set up their music and danced and partied until well past our bedtimes!  The next morning, we first headed north and rounded the northern point of the Berry Islands at Great Stirrup Cay.  There was a cruise ship anchored, with many local boats ferrying the passengers to shore.  One could, through the binoculars, see rows and rows of “auditorium chairs” set up on the beach for some impending tropical island performance.  I rather suspect that survival, even in the remote Berry Islands, depends upon catering to the tourists. 
     We proceeded south, spotting numerous possible inlets and overnight stops, but decided on Little Whale Cay.  While not particularly protected, almost calm weather, with easterly winds, was forecasted.  We passed Sister Rocks and entered the anchorage, dropping the hook in a beautiful area with a ring-side seat for the gorgeous sunset.

Port Lucaya to Great Harbor Cay, Berry Islands April 19

After a number of days in Port Lucaya, and a brief grocery store trip with new sailboat friends from Denmark, Cuba, and Venezuela, it is time to move on.  The weather is not perfect, but is better than it may be for another few days.  We left the dock about 0530 to arrive with the sun high overhead, and after a bumpy, but not unpleasant, day crossing the Northwest Providence Channel (4000 ft depth), we arrived in the Berry Islands chain at Great Harbour Cay about 1430.  We navigated the very shallow entrance visually (there are minimal if any channel markers), passed through a rock ledge cut, and entered the tortuous channel to the marina.  This would indeed be a hurricane hole!  As is common, the docks are high, concrete, and fixed, so one has to choose the direction of docking so that escape from the boat is possible at various tide heights.  Sometimes that is from forward, where the decks are high, and sometimes from the cockpit, where the gate is lower.  The dock staff here was quite efficient and friendly, and the marina is bustling.  Jeff and Karen (and their two yellow labs), founders/owners of Active Captain, have been here several weeks, and it is good to visit with them again in person. 

As is common here, both electricity and potable water are metered (0.75/KwH; 0.50/gal).  I can see why others prefer rum...it's not much more expensive, I'm told!  There are lots of offshore fishermen here...serious, BIG boats.  We have ordered a loaf of coconut bread from a local woman; it will be delivered tomorrow.  We will stay here for a few days before moving farther south.



Port Lucaya Beach



Port Lucaya Mermaid



Bahamian Waters



The Verge



The Fish--not the Foot!

Approaching Great Harbor Cay



It's Here Somewhere

Great Harbor Cay Marina