Georgetown or Bust

On Monday, March l9th we said our good-byes to our friends and travelling companions on Tsunami and Blind Faith and set sail for Georgetown - 48 miles south.
We had 8 days in which to get there for Donna to catch her flight out.
The winds had been blowing 20-25 knots out of the E-NE for the past 12 days.
We pick up Chris Parker's weather report on our single side band radio each morning and he is in as much awe of this continued blow, as we. He uses the word "trough" alot - John Kabel (CPS) would know.
The wind appears to be causing considerable problems for the snowbirds who are attempting to make their way back north.
We heard reports of rescues being made as the gusting wind flipped people's dingys over in Georgetown while they were making the trip across the harbour. Gusts of 65 knots were recorded in Georgetown.
Because of the strong E-NE winds we attempted to travel on the Great Bahama Bank (lee) side of the islands as the waves on the Exuma Sound (ocean) side are running in the 8-l0 foot range (and higher).
We edged our way along the banks with the winds gusting to 30 knots and made Galliot Cut the first day (l6 miles progress). This turned out to be the most enjoyable sail we've had in the trip, so far. Obviously you just never know when the fun will happen.
The next day the winds continued to blow. We made Lee Stocking Island (13 miles progress).
We continued to edge along in the shallow lee of the islands at high tide and made Rat Cay by Wednesday (6 miles progress). Here, further progress in the lee of the islands was impossible due to the extremely shallow waters. We were forced to wait for an opportunity to make our way along by way of Exuma Sound.
Each day Chris Parker's forecast was unchanged and right on - 20-25 knots - gusting in squalls - E-NE.
Thursday saw us waiting for better weather, as did Friday. On Saturday the forecast was the same, but worse for Sunday (30-40 knots) and no improvement until later in the week.
We decided that the 20-25 knots was better than 30-40 knots and set out on the Sound. Eight miles along we made the channel into Emerald Bay marina/resort/golf complex, at the north end of Great Exuma Island - no worse for wear.
As we came through the channel we saw at least 20 people watching us from the dock. We found out later that the last boat that came in was 3 days before hand and the following waves had tossed their dingy on to their boat, breaking it's seats off.
We find that some cruisers had been stuck here for 3 weeks awaiting the proverbial "weather window".
Hopefully the weather will improve but until then we're happy to have found a safe haven for Barry to stay on Sea Star while Donna is away visiting with their daughters.

Thunderball Grotto - Staniel Cay - Exumas

On Sunday, March 18th, 2007, we carefully slipped through the shallow water surrounding Staniel Cay to drop anchor in the strong current beside the grotto.
We have the James Bond movie "Thunderball" on board and were anxious to see the grotto movie location first hand.
As advised, we visited at low tide. Y
The strong current in the area flows right through the grotto, from one side to the other, so it turned out to be quite a struggle to get inside. We used our hands on the top of the cave to pull ourselves along through the current. Once inside, the cave opened up to a very large cavern with 3 holes in the top, opening to the outside. Those familiar with the movie will know that 007 made a very slick get-away through those openings - as only he could, of course.
After weeks away from civilization we enjoyed a delicious dinner of Mahi Mahi at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. This marina, as well as the one in Compass Cay had a good number of nurse sharks swimming about that they were encouraging to stay by feeding them. Definitely an interesting attraction for the tourists, but a bit intimidating when using their dingy dock.

Cambridge Cay
Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park

As we continued to make our way southward we next anchored in the lee of Cambridge Cay. Here we had one of our best snorkelling experiences ever.
Our first location to snorkel during the day was an area shown on our chart as "sea aquarium - coral garden". We were delighted to see the great number of brightly coloured reef fish and corals we found there.
We next moved along to Conch Channel at the south end of Cambridge Cay. Here our chart showed the many shallow coral heads in the area. With my swim mask on, I popped my head below the water to look at the coral, before getting out of our dingy and came face to face with a 6' nurse shark. Bit surprising, for sure!
Both of these locations are within the boundaries of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. It covers l76 square miles, beginning at Wax Cay Cut and stretching along 32 miles to Conch Cut. The Park extends out 4 nautical miles on both sides of the Cays.
The Park offered several mooring balls at a cost of $l5.00 per night. These were scattered at different locations along the park's 22 mile boundary. The monitoring and collecting of fees was done by the "friends of the park" support fleet. Some of these dedicated volunteers spent many weeks selflessly working on the parks behalf as well as offering information and assistance to cruisers that took refuge in their areas.
A short hike across Cambridge Cay gave us a look at the hole in the Bell rock which was just offshore.

Shroud Cay - The Exumas/Bahamas

Another short sail down the Exuma chain brought us to Shroud Cay.
Here we found an inland waterway through the mangroves, that was passable by dingy at high tide.
Our friends from Tsunami, Larry and Debbie, joined us as we made our way across Shroud Cay to the breath-takingly beautiful beach on the ocean side. We enjoyed a swim there in the crystal clear water that revealed an icy blue line of colour as it rolled in to shore.
During our time at Shroud Cay we were awed to sight 7 White-tailed Tropic birds. Their undersides and long streamer tail feathers appeared pale lime green as we viewed them with the turquoise sea reflecting on their white under bodies.

The Rands in Norman Cay

A short hop down the Great Bahama bank side of the Exuma Island chain brought us to Norman Cay.
Much to our surprise a 40' C&C "Windswept 1V" set anchor there behind us. We recognized this as Heather & Murray Rand's boat (out of St. Thomas, Ontario).
We first met the Rand's last July at the Killarney Mountain Lodge in Georgian Bay. They both work there for 5 months each summer and have wintered for the last 10 years on board Windswept 1V in the Exumas.
They kindly invited us on board and shared some of their vast knowledge of the area.
We wished them "fair winds and safe harbours" as they set sail heading north and we, south.

Allan Cay - The Exumas/Bahamas

We shared the anchorage at Allan's Cay with 14 other boats and many iguanas.
The Allan's Cay group of small islands is one of the remaining habitats of iguanas in the Bahamas.
In our visit to one small beach here we got a head count of 54 iguanas.
The iguanas are herbivores and are protected by the Bahamas National Trust.

Intimidated Yet?

March 11th saw us under-sail from Rock Sound, Eleuthra to Allan Cay in the Exumas.
It took us 3 hours to cover the shallow water from Rock Sound to Powell Point where we finally found some depth. One of the charts we used during this travel was EL19 in the Explorer charts (Monty & Sarah Lewis). These are some of the notations from that chart - unsurveyed shifting sand bore / shallow sand / rocky bar / shallow hard bars / grass patches / sand dry at LW (low water) / sand, grass and widely scattered coral / awash LW / strong current / nearly dry at LW / unsurveyed area / poor holding / narrow - strong current - may shift
We safely arrived at the deep water in the Exuma Sound only to find the charts at the other end of our day's journey listed as VPR - "visual piloting rules apply in areas covered on this chart - good weather, sunlight, bottom reading and piloting skills required".
- and you thought we were just having fun !

Rock Sound - Blue Holes

We had a brisk sail in 20 knot east winds from Governor's Harbour to Rock Sound, which we found to have good holding and offered excellent shelter.
On route 6 dolphins played along with us in the 5 foot seas.
When we arrived we joined the 15 boats already on anchor in the shallow (6') waters of Rock Sound.
A short hike on land revealed to us one of the many ocean (blue) holes that dot the area. Researchers are unsure of the depth of this semi-fresh water hole and whether or not it connects to the sea through a series of caves. There is an abundance of sea-life in the 360' diameter hole but locals say it was placed there by the area's fishermen.
We have been unable to find laundry facilities on Eleuthra, so we "sent it out" in Rock Sound. A local gave us 24 hour return service at a cost of $5.00 per load. We failed to find any down-side to this.
We proudly have mastered the skill of riding our dingy while standing. After months of arriving on shore with wet bottoms we are now much more presentable.

A night at the movies We took in a movie while in Governor's Harbour - "A night at the Museum". Our curiosity was more in seeing the only theatre on the island than the movie itself. Ticket prices were $5.00 (U.S. or Bahamian dollar) per adult-$5.50 for the balcony seats. The concession booth offered popcorn, burgers, hot dogs as well as conch salad. We, and our friends, were the only patrons on the night we attended. Even though we bought the best seats in the house (balcony) and made purchases at the concession booth, we were concerned about how air-conditioning this large theatre and the 3 or 4 staff operating it could bring any profit. This concern would be ours alone as we have repeatedly witnessed the Bahamian attitude which is centered on happiness rather than commercial gain.

Governor's Harbour - Hatchet Bay

Hatchet Bay was our 3rd stop along the Bight of Eleuthra.
We had our friends Larry & Debbie (Tsunami) and Tom & Alex (Blind Faith) on board for sun-down drinks on Saturday March 3rd. Much to our delight and surprise the clear evening sky that night allowed us to witness a full lunar eclipse.
Our next stop along Eleuthra's lee shore was our favourite - Governor's Harbour. Everything we saw and experienced here left us feeling good.
The buildings were painted beautiful colours and the dogs and poultry roaming the streets were entertaining and delightful.
The friendly, happy community spirit was obvious to us in the evening as the town came to life "under the lights" with a baseball game, a basketball game and a choir practice.
We fully enjoyed the beauty of Governor's Harbour from the many flowers, pink sand beach, turquoise waters, pretty churches and brightly painted houses. Here we witnessed the full beauty of the Bahamas and its people.

The Glass Window - Eleuthra

March 2, 2007 - Once clear of the turbulent waters at the end of Current Island we enjoyed a 30 mile sail in l0-l5 knot south winds along the Bight of Eleuthra to the Glass Window.
The turquoise colour of the water here has to be seen to be believed.
The Glass Window is a rock formation where the serene turquoise Bight of Eleuthra waters almost meet with the restless cobalt blue waters of the Atlantic. It was originally a natural rock bridge 85 feet above sea level but in l926 it was washed away in a hurricane. In l960 a bridge was constructed to allow the Queens Highway to cross the land which is high on either side but falls away abruptly nearly to sea level, for all practical purposes, dividing Eleuthra in two.
On Halloween day in l991 a rogue wave picked up the bridge and moved the northern end 7 feet westward to where it sits today.

Eleuthra

We had a fairly rocky ride around the end of Current Island as we made our way through the choppy waves caused by the strong conflicting currents.
Once in the lee of Eleuthra (the Bight)we enjoyed travelling sheltered from the prevailing north and east winds.
We found the breathtakingly beautiful turquoise water along the whole 90 mile Bight of Eleuthra offered good depth with few obstacles.
Eleuthra varies in width from virtually a few feet at the Glass Window to barely more than 2 miles at its widest point.
While moored in Governor's Harbour we strolled the short distance to the Atlantic (windward) shore and enjoyed swimming and snorkelling at the beautiful pink sand beach we found there (former Club Med location).

Current Island - Eleuthra

On February 28th we left Nassau by it's eastern entrance, inched through the shallow channel between Paradise Island and Athol Island, rounded Salt Cay and set sail along the Eleuthra Cays for Current Island, Eleuthra.
Our friends on Tsunami and Blind Faith continue to travel with us.
The winds were light when we left but built during the early afternoon (NE gusting to 30 knots - seas picked up to 6 feet). By the late afternoon the wind started to settle back down again (10-15 knots) as it clocked to the east.
We passed just below Pimlico Island, between it's western edge and a turbulent, choppy wave area (cross currents).
We anchored off of the west end of Current Island, between it and Pimlico Island in 14' of water.
Here we enjoyed an evening bonfire, snorkelling and beach combing on our own private beach.