George Town to Staniel Cay to Norman’s Cay Exumas to Davis Harbour, Eleuthera May 11—13

      We left George Town and traveled up the Exuma Sound in several thousand feet of water, fishing along the way and entering Dotham Cut at Black Point Settlement before proceeding up the Exuma Bank to anchor behind Big Majors Spot at Staniel Cay.  Friends and fellow-Texans on K-K 58 Casablanca and their daughter and son-in-law were there, and we had a good visit.  They formerly owned K-K 44 Santa Clara.  We cleaned (and ate some of) the mahi-mahi pictured below, and then sent the remains to the live vacuum cleaner who had been circling below awaiting the scraps!  The pigs and roosters were still at the beach, and their cacophony awoke us before 0600.

     The next morning we traveled north on the Exuma Bank to stop at Norman’s Cay, a spot we had deferred on our way south with the intention of visiting it while returning.  It offers a number of islands, beaches, and places to snorkel—including a mostly-submerged C-46 airplane that crashed with its load of drugs a number of years ago.  Beach fans, please note that on one small island shown, all you need is a cooler!  The shade and a bench upon which to sit are already present!  The captions are with apologies to Milton and Strait...

     The following morning at slack tide we snuck out the small Norman’s Cay Cut into Exuma Sound, left the Exuma Islands, and crossed over to the island of Eleuthera.  We are probably fewer than 100 miles from where Cristobal Colon landed in the New World (San Salvador Island) in 1492, but this is likely as close as we will travel to that historic spot.  I’m not sure there is much more there today than when he arrived over 500 years ago.  We are actually in a marina for the first time in three weeks! With actual Wi-Fi and electricity!  Tomorrow I will actually rinse the boat with fresh water, also for the first time in 3 weeks...

 

 

Fresh Dinner

Clean-up Crew

Paradise Found

Oceanfront Property

Our Latest Venture

Davis Harbour Marina

Marina Office

George Town, Great Exuma Island May 4--10

Supply Boats Arrive!

Monument Beach

      George Town is the winter home to hundreds of boats, though the count is decreasing markedly this “late” in the season.  Many have to be north of Florida by May 31, and have already left.  There are probably fewer than 100 boats here now…and you could count the power boats on one hand!  We have met folks from England, Canada, France, Germany, and many other places, but the number of Canadians—especially French Canadians—is staggering.  I suppose one will travel any distance to escape the cold, and from my memories of our trip to their homeland a couple of years ago, the only time it is not cold is late July and early August—and even that is relative.  Some of these boats will be returning north soon, and some are venturing south into the Caribbean, Puerto Rico, Hispanola, or Cuba.

     From all that I had heard and read, I think I expected more in George Town.  Truly, the cruising community creates its own small city complete with a daily morning radio net, but otherwise this largest town in the Exuma Islands is still quite small.  One enters Lake Victoria (a shallow, almost fetid ¼-mile diameter waterway ringed by the town) through the extremely narrow bridge depicted in the photos below, walks up the hill from the dinghy dock, and enters upon the street.  There one finds a pretty decent grocery store, a Shell station, a craft market, a hotel, a couple of churches, a couple of laundromats, and a few very small eating establishments and shops—mostly outdoor—and that is about it.  A trailer parked near the hill will receive bags of garbage for $3 each (pretty fair by Bahamas standards), and with a car one can find a few slightly more refined establishments and an airport farther up the island.  It is, however, still quite “limited”.

     We did dinghy into one of the small restaurants on Stocking Island (the barrier island behind which we are anchored) for Mother’s Day lunch.  It was, at least, a rare chance for Kay to not have to cook!  And yes, there was a card which accompanied me all the way from Florida for this celebration.  We are anchored at Monument Beach, beneath the remains of an old, gas-light beacon (all of the glass structure is long gone), pictured below.  There was excitement one morning…the “mail boat” arrived.  Actually two at the same time, and they carry not only mail, but fresh produce, supplies, etc.  There will be a run on the grocery store late in the day, or the next day after arrival of the mail boat.  The miniature tanker pictured had been here a couple of days earlier to deliver fuel…it can’t get close enough to the shore, so it anchors off about 1000 yards and runs hoses attached to floats to the fuel depot ashore.  We will move north again shortly, and seek other locations not yet seen.  We are truly on (or even off?) the road less traveled, and seeing parts of God’s beautiful creation about which we had only read and dreamed!

Stocking Island, George Town

Lake Victoria Entry



View From Mother's Day Lunch

Lake Victoria Entry

Mother's Day Lunch

Fuel Arrives!

Reef Denizen

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