Aboard Lady

Exuma Park to Georgetown

Georgetown, Great Exuma    23 30.768N 075 44.630W

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

We are safely anchored at Georgetown, off Sanddollar Beach in Elizabeth Harbour.  Here's the update on how we got here from Warderick Wells:

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

It takes a LONG time to up-load all the pictures to the blog, so we were ready to move after working on it.  We loaded out snorkeling gear in the dinghy, I put on my wet suit, and we went across the harbor to swim around the rocky edge of Tessa Roberts Cay.  The reef didn't look too healthy, but we saw some colorful fish.  It was quite cold, even with a wet-suit on, so we were not in the water for more that about half an hour.

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009

Another walk ashore.

Great views.  We discovered a termites nest just off one of the beaches, and did our part to pick up trash that had washed ashore on the Exuma Sound side of the island, which typically is where the prevailing easterly winds push ocean flotsam.

       

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

At 0830 we dropped out mooring at Warderick Wells, and headed out to the deep water of Exuma Sound, in the company of Charmed.  Less then two hours later, we entered through the O'Brien's Cut, and picked up a vacant park mooring in the lee of Cambridge Cay.

  Three of the other boats were going snorkeling together, and Charlie decided to join them.  He dropped me off on the shore of Cambridge Island - I had to wade the last part, the sandy bay was so shallow, and I walked around the beaches for a while, it was low tide.  There were lots of small conch in the shallow water.  There was also a shell graveyard, must be very old, as conching has not been permitted in the park for many years.

Another beach was formed of old corals and shells.  Looks like a bone-yard doesn't it?

I found a path and walked across the island to the Exuma Sound side.  A great beach, and Bell Rock has a door in it!

I had taken a plastic grocery bag ashore with me, so that I could pick up trash.  It was soon full. 

Further down the beach on the windward shore I found that someone had created a little camp using items washed ashore!

While I waited for Charlie to come a pick me up, I took pictures of some of the plants and other lovely items I found on Cambridge Cay.

         

Late that afternoon, the mooring field hosts from Moving On organized a get-together of all the cruisers.  Lots of yummy food!

Friday January 23rd, 2009

Crag from Charmed and John from Jay Sea Dee went by dinghy to check out the water between Bell Island and O'Brien's Cay and reported that we could probably get through.  At 0845 we dropped our mooring and a little convoy of three yachts headed through the cut.  They talk about a "rage" and we found out about it.  The rough water did not last too long, but Sooty did get sea-sick.

We were not on the Great Bahama Bank side of the islands, and shortly before lunch, we picked up a mooring close to the Thunderball Club at Staniel Cay.

After lunch, we met Debbie and Craig at the Thunderball dock, all of us loaded down with trash which we had not been able to dispose of since we left Florida.  We dropped it off at the town dump on our way in to town, where we wandered around, checking our the small grocery stores, not much bigger that this boat! We were able to finally purchase a Bahamas Telephone Company SIM card for the cell phone, along with pre-paid service.  Our number is 242-524-5274.

We were also able to purchase postage stamps.

That evening we went out for dinner at the Thunderball Club, where we met up with Kathy and Tom from Morning Wind who had caught up with us again from Cambridge.  Debbie, Kathy and I had a fun time trying to play pool while we waited for our meal.

Saturday, January 24th, 2009

We dropped our mooring at about 0815, and headed over to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club for water.  The water is reverse osmosis "RO" water, and was very slow flowing - it took almost an hour to put eighty gallons in our tanks!

There were sharks swimming around the docks.

Eventually we had enough water, and departed Staniel Cay, and moved on, dropping anchor in the bay by Black Point Settlement on Great Guana Cay.  After lunch we loaded all our dirty laundry and took it ashore to the Rockside Laundermat, which has to be the BEST laundromat in the islands.  Between loads, we wandered around the settlement, admiring a local wooden boat being restored, and purchasing some canned New Zealand butter at the small grocery store.

Sunday, January 25th, 2009

After getting the anchor up at about 0900, one look at the big waves in the cut (wind against a swift ebb current) we and Charmed switched to Plan B, and instead of exiting out to Exuma Sound, turned around and went the inside route.  Another vessel, a catamaran, Lead Free II, was also going our way, and he gave us depth readings, as he went in front, and we only lightly touched sand once, before getting the anchor down in the lee of Cave Cay.  The island is private, but there was a big marina in the lovely harbor.  No boats in the marina, but when we went by in the dinghy, the dock-master told us the rates ($2.00 per foot, $10 for electricity).  It would be a great location to have to park a boat in a storm.  Three boats came and anchored near us later in the afternoon, including Centime, who we had met at Warderick Wells.

Monday January 26th, 2009

The dawn sky did not deter us.

We left the Cave Cay Cut shortly after 0700, and soon were heading south-east at about 7 knots under full jib only.

By noon, we had reached the Smith Cays way-point on the Conch Cut, and using the way-points on the wonderful Explorer charts, found our way in to the large Elizabeth Harbour on Great Exuma, where we will be for a while.

We anchored near the Sanddollar Beach off Stocking Island, close to Charmed and Jay Sea Dee, and congratulated ourselves on having got this far!

Exuma Land and Sea Park explorations

Monday January 19th, 2009

24 23.775N 076 37.927W

Warderick Wells Cay

Sunday January 18th, 2009

  We listened to the 0900 radio broadcast from the Exuma Park ranger, a very nice sounding lady, and were advised that we were on the list to move up to the North Anchorage, and to advise her when we were approaching the harbor.  Although it was easy enough to get there in the dinghy, the mother ship needed to take a deep water route.  By about 1030 we were under way, and took the long way round the shoals, and eventually picked up mooring 10 shortly before noon.  As I was making lunch, Charlie hailed me out to the cockpit.  We were amazed to see a waterspout forming in the channel to the north of the anchorage.  A yacht was receiving mooring instructions over the radio from the park ranger, and Charlie broke in to their conversation to warn them of the waterspout behind them.  They had not seen it.  It must have been scary to be quite that close.  In Oklahoma we've been taught to go the the basement when a tornado is coming.  Don't know where we'd go on the boat. 

            

  After lunch we went ashore, where we ran in to Charmed's crew, and they told us about their explorations of the island that morning, and showed us how to feed the bananaquit bird sugar.  The birds are so cute, so light on my hand, and they have to scoop up the sugar by turning their heads so their long beaks can get to it.  They fed each other as well.  One of the Bahamian Defense Force members had left them a cut orange in their feeder that they were enjoying as well.  The Bahamian Defense Force is here to protect the ranger from threats from poachers, since the park rules prohibit any fishing, conching, lobstering.  You cannot collect shells, or remove anything from     this "no take zone by land and sea". 

The ranger's office was closed on a Sunday afternoon, and Debbie gave us her copy of the trail guide and we set off.  The trails are narrow and many of them are sharp rocky, ancient remains of coral. 

We had a good walk along the Causeway Trail, across the Sunshine Causeway, and up Hutia Hill over to the other side of the cay where we looked out on the deep waters of Exuma Sound. 

      

Then we headed north and got to the top of Boo Boo Hill, where visiting sailors have left driftwood mementos of their visit.  There are legends of ghosts here, and we found the blow hole - no water eruption from it, but eerie sounds as the water under the cliff drove air up through the holes. 

Charlie had time for a nap, while I baked brownies before we headed to dinner aboard Onward, where Joe Rocchio cooked delicious pork on his grill.  We enjoyed meeting Skip and Harriet from Moondance and Mike and Angie from Lady of Lorien.

Monday January 19th, 2009

  The wind changed suddenly as a front came through.  For the past few days, the wind has been blowing from the northeast.  It turned to the west, and may change and move to the southwest later.  We were pleased to be in the north anchorage, as the Emerald Cay anchorage would have been exposed.  We were able to connect to the Internet, for the first time in a couple of weeks, and spent the morning checking email, and updating facebook and this blog.

After lunch, another dinghy ride ashore and more explorations of Warderick Wells.  The trails are marked by cairns that have been built by park volunteers and rangers, and we saw more of the Exuma Sound side of the Cay.  This is normally the windward side of the island, but today the seas were calm.  Quite a bit of debris gets washed up on the shores here, so after we found an intact milk crate (it was faded, but from Garelick Farms, Hamlin, Massachusetts, I think) we loaded it up with other trash found on the shore to make things easier the next time there's an organized beach clean-up.

We checked in to the ranger's office, met Judy the friendly voice from the radio, and did our part to improve the economy of Warderick Wells and the park.

We spotted manta rays as we headed back to Lady, but there was too much wind on the water to get a picture of them.

Dinner aboard Charmed was delicious, and we enjoyed the Mexican Train dominoes with Jim and Loretta from Plan Sea and Walt from Centime, even though neither of us won.

     

Chub Cay to Warderick Wells

Monday January 19th, 2009

24 23.775N 076 37.927W

Warderick Wells Cay

...continued...

Tuesday January 13th, 2009

The wind had picked up during the night, and although our little cove was protected from the wind, it ended up being rather rolly. We decided to go in to the marina, so that we could clear Customs and Immigration.  The marina/resort charges $100 for even a dinghy to land, so we might as well take a slip for a day. Only the Master of a vessel can land until the ship has cleared, so the marina gave Charlie and Craig a ride to the air-strip, where they took care of the formalities.  Once completed, we could exchange our "Q" flag for the Bahamas Ensign.

There were very few yachts in the marina.  The fuel dock had no fuel.  At the lovely infinity pool, we were the only people there. Craig reported that the marina was in bankruptcy and that the manufacturers of the first-class floating docks were coming to repossess them! We were glad to be there before they did that.

A lovely lunch at the resort's dining room - first time I've had cracked conch, delicious! 
Debbie and I did laundry in the afternoon.  With two washing machines, and each of us having three loads it took us three hours, but we also took showers while we were doing the wash.

Wednesday January 14th, 2009

Another early start to the day.  We slipped the dock lines and cleared the Chub Cay entrance at 0730.
There was a lovely breeze from the north, gusts over 15 knots at times, so we unfurled sails, and were soon scooting along at over 7 knots, headed to Nassau Harbor entrance.

There were a half-dozen or so other yachts heading in the same direction, crowded after the quiet of the Great Bahama Bank.We made the  40 nautical mile passage much faster than planned, and by about 1230 were contacting Nassau Harbor Control for permission to enter the harbor.  Later in the afternoon, it was interesting to hear the officer on Norwegian Sky requesting permission to blow the horn an hour and a quarter before departure.

Some of my nephews and sons may remember another Senor Frogs, one that may have allowed under-age consumption of alcoholic beverages. 

We investigated a number of possible anchorages in the harbor, then decided to go back to "Plan A" and look at the Rose Island anchorage; we had plenty of time if that was unsatisfactory to return to Nassau before dark.  It was a great anchorage.  We were sheltered from the strong winds forecast from the north and east, the bottom is sand, the water clear, and there was plenty of swinging room between the half-dozen yachts anchored here.  Ashore is a sandy beach at low water, and a few cottages.

Thursday January 15th, 2009

The forecast fronts kept us at Rose Island.  A cloudy, windy day meant little activity for this crew.  Tidying the boat, reading, knitting, baking, needlepoint kept us busy enough.  We invited Debbie and Craig to join us for dinner, and then when Aftica anchored next to us, we included Guy and Sylvia.  We had met them a few days ago in Chub Cay.
It was a fun evening.  Craig brought dominoes, and Debbie won the hard-fought game of Mexican Train.

Friday January 16th, 2009

Despite the breezy day, Lady and Charmed decided to head to the Exumas.  By 0900 the anchor was up and we were leaving Rose Island.  We safely passed the Porgee Rocks, and headed out to the southeast.  We saw gusts up to 30 knots, and our speed exceeded 7.5 knots under reefed jib only. As we crossed the Yellow Banks, looking out for coral heads, the only other vessel we saw this trip was coming towards us: a large motor catamaran, Aqua Cat, a dive boat that takes guests out for week-long trips.  Although our original destination was Allan's Cay, we decided that the anchorage there would not offer much shelter from the strong northeast winds, so we diverted to Highborn Cay.  There were a half-dozen yachts in the anchorage. 

After a late lunch and a nap for the skipper, we launched the dinghy and went into the small harbor at this island.  We want to bring Lady in here for fuel and water, and sounded the depths, deciding that we needed to come in on a rising tide, as there were some shallow places close to the fuel dock.  The signs indicated that they would take our trash - for $5.00 a bag, although we can leave aluminum cans there.  We only have a small bag right now, so we'll dispose of trash later.  We found the range markers for the channel as we left, and feel comfortable about bringing Lady in tomorrow.  Debbie invited us over for dinner, and Jodie and John from Jay Sea Dee, an Island Packet 48 also came.  Dinner was followed by another game of Mexican Train that left Craig the winner.

Saturday January 17th, 2009

After another windy night, Charmed departed early, but Lady lingered, so that we could go in to the harbor at Highborne Cay for fuel and water.  A cargo ship was entering the harbor, but the marina's radio operator assured us that there would be room for us too.  After taking on 30 gallons of diesel, while Charlie filled the water tanks, I wandered up to the village store, and was able to purchase tomatoes and peppers.  It was a good thing we didn't purchase fuel yesterday - the price here dropped $2.00 overnight, today's price being $3.61 a gallon for diesel, and .50 a gallon for water. Quite a bit more than in Florida. 

There were some very sweet little birds that were bold enough to come aboard to sip on the fresh water spilled on deck.  I think they are Ruddy Turnstones, in their winter plumage. Perhaps my friend Mary Anne Swain can confirm this if she reads this post.  Shortly after 1030 we departed Highborne Cay, and headed out, first to the west to clear shoals to the south, and then turned southwest, and had a rollicking broad reach all the way past a number of cays that we'll visit another time, headed for the Exuma Land and Sea Park headquarters on Warderick Wells.  Our speed was over 8 knots most of the way, and Charlie saw over 9 knots several times. 

All these strong winds over the past few days have been caused by a series of cold fronts sweeping across North America.  We have heard about the extreme cold in the Midwest and Eastern United States, and hope that our family and friends are staying warm!

Charmed had made a reservation for us earlier in the day, so when Charlie contacted the Park by radio, they were expecting us, and gave instructions for finding our mooring, E11, behind Emerald Cay.

On Saturdays, the cruisers meet ashore for Happy Hour at 5:00 pm, so I fixed a snack to take with us, and loaded our drinks into a bag; we launched the dinghy and headed to the beach with the whale skeleton.  Everyone was very  friendly.  We met up with Joe Rocchio, from Onward, another Catalina 470 that we had met in Northeast Harbor in Maine last August and tried to contact a few weeks ago as we went down the ICW and had dinner with Ron and Ingred from High Priority.  We also made new friends, and it was an enjoyable evening.  Launching the dinghy from the beach in the dark was a new experience, but between us we made it and found our way back across the Emerald anchorage to Lady, where Sooty had done a good job of mooring watch.

Key Biscayne to Chub Cay

Monday January 19th, 2009

24 23.775N 076 37.927W

Warderick Wells Cay

It has been a couple of weeks since we had Internet connectivity.  Here's an update of what we've been up to:

Sunday January 11th, 2009

After two nights at anchor in No Name Harbor, Key Biscayne, Florida (which on a weekend is very much like Dripping Springs or Party Cove, Grand Lake in Oklahoma, except that the boats are bigger, and the music is Cuban Salsa), at 0300 a little flotilla of four sailing yachts, Lady, Charmed, Spartina and Mekaideparted the harbor and headed along the south shore of Key Biscayne, out the Cape Florida Channel.  The other boats had shallower draft than Lady, and went ahead and reported depths by radio.

We had a beautiful full moon over us as we headed into the deep blue sea.  Our course to Gun Cay was 092 True, distance of 42.7 NM according to the chart, but allowing for variation, and the 2 knot drift and 010T set of the Gulf Stream, our heading was 124 Magnetic.  The light wind was from the south-east.  We had the sails up most of the way, but had the engine running too, in order to keep our boat speed up to about 6 knots.

  By 1100 we were off Gun Cay, and Charmed led our way out through the gap between Gun Cay and Cat Cay, in to the Great Bahama Bank.  The turquoise sea was flat calm as we motored on, heading for Chub Cay.  The depth was about 12 feet for miles. 

Looking over the side I could see small fish darting out of our way, starfish on the bottom, grassy spots, lots of sand.  It looked like you could hop off the boat and be touching the bottom.  We motored on all afternoon, with nothing to see but sea.

By 1630 Lady and Charmed were ready to stop for the night.  The sea was flat, the depth was still 12 feet, so we rafted together and all went for a swim.  The water was cold, after all it is January, but tolerable. Before it got dark, we parted company and dropped our own anchor.  Mekai and Spartina had left us, wanting to push on further.

Monday January 12th, 2009

There was no reason to hang around in the middle of the Great Bahama Bank.  There was a light wind from the north, and at 0730 the two vessels pulled up their anchors and continued east under power.

At 1110, we passed another Catalina 470 going the opposite direction.  We tried to raise Samvaro III, #105, by radio, but were not able to contact them.

Debbie got a great picture of dolphins swimming off Charmed's bow.

By 1250 we reached the North Shoal Light, found our way through the shoals and by 1310 were off the Bank, and in to the deep, deep blue water of Northwest Channel - deeper than our depth meter could register: according to the chart as much as 2800 feet.

At 1515 we dropped anchor off Chub Cay in about 8 feet of water. Charlie and Craig got in Charmed's dinghy and entered the harbor to scout out the situation, returning with the papers that needed to be completed for our ships and their crews to enter the Bahamas.

More to follow...

Goodbye Hollywood, Hello Biscayne

Friday January 9th, 2009

Hurricane Harbor, Key Biscayne

25 41.189N 080 10.424W

The riggers did not return on Monday, and although they promised 0930 Tuesday, it was after 1030 before they got there.  I was busy doing the ship's laundry while the new radar reflector was installed, and then they worked on installing the LED lights for the mast top.  By the time the laundry was all done, the riggers were leaving...but they were far from done.  Turns out that when the wire to the existing light  was cut, it fell into the mast, and there was no way to retrieve it.  Charlie was unhappy.  There was no messenger wire in the mast to thread a new wire.  The riggers had various suggestions, none of which Charlie liked.  After they left (they were just going to lunch apparently), he and I researched phone numbers, and called Catalina, Charleston Spars, other members of the C470 Association, and finally came up with an acceptable plan that involved drilling a hole in the mast, pulling the lost wire out, sending a new messenger down from the top, lengthening the existing wire and pulling it back up.  They were finally done by 1730.  We are still waiting for their bill, but most of the afternoon's work will not be included in our charges

    We had a lovely night out our last night in Hollywood.  Betty Crawford (Sovereignty) had arrived from Tulsa, and we wanted Bob and her to meet Byron and Lynn Nelson (Voyager), so we all met aboard Lady and went out to dinner and had a lot of fun.

After checking out of Loggerhead on Wednesday, we headed north to go to sea via the Fort Lauderdale cut.  We had a great sail south to Miami, winds up to 20 knots across the deck, rail in the water at times with sunny skies.

We entered Government Cut, and took the southerly channel into Biscayne Bay.

Here's an interesting statue:

A little further south, we pulled into Hurricane Harbor, Key Biscayne.  Charmed was already there, but there was plenty of room for us to anchor in the lovely cove as well.  Plans for getting together that evening was canceled when a storm came through.

We were a little nervous coming into the harbor, as it was VERY shallow at the entrance, so Thursday morning, we launched the dinghy, and headed out to the entrance to the harbor to take soundings with the hand-held depth meter.

Then a visit to Charmed, where Debbie and Craig welcomed us, and we spent the morning reviewing charts, guidebooks and discussing plans for crossing the Gulf Stream together.  The wind has been mostly from the east and north, and we are waiting for it to turn south.

Boat chores occupied the afternoon.  Lady showed which team her crew was supporting for the college football championship.

Friday's review of the weather and discussions with Charmed have determined that it looks like the wind will be right for us to cross the Straits of Florida on Sunday.  We had a leisurely day that involved not much more than visiting a marina for fuels, water and ice.

Bahama Preparations

Hollywood, Fl

26 00.205N 080 07.276W

Monday January 5th, 2009

We have been busy getting ready to leave for the Bahamas.  One of the things that we needed for Ladywas a rigger.  We needed a YOUNG person who will go up the mast to install a new LED tri-color running light at the top (uses much less power than the traditional lights we have), and also to work on our radar reflector, which is installed on the mast, close by the spreaders, and has been knocked about by the jib, and was askew.

Charlie had talked to Bob Crawford (Sovereignty), who has his boat here and he recommended the same firm that we had ordered the new electric winch switch from.  Great.  They sent out Paul, and after he and Charlie had fixed the winch (which first necessitated disassembling one of the lights in the aft stateroom, so that they could get underneath the control) Paul was ready to go up the mast. He hooked his bosun's chair to the spare genoa halyard.

Charlie operated the winch.  He says he would have gone up the mast, but it wasn't a heavy-duty winch.

Since the bimini/dodger restricted vision, I was between them to signal "stop" and "go".

After going to the top, stopping at the spreaders, Paul reported that we needed another fitting to install the masthead light, and that the hardware holding the radar reflector's fitting was corroded.

After getting a propane torch (a trip to the parking lot) he went back up the mast and was able to remove the radar reflector.

He took our masthead light and the radar reflector with him when he left, saying he might be able to get back on Friday.

We have been doing lots of shopping...Sam's Club, Winn Dixie and Publix grocery stores, West Marine (daily trip there!), suppliers of parts in Fort Lauderdale.

We invited our new friends, Byron and Lynn Nelson from Voyager to join us for dinner New Years Eve.  We had Christmas dinner with them the previous week - Lynn had roasted a turkey in Voyager's amazing galley - the gorgeous motor yacht was originally built for a previous owner of Swan and Baltic yachts and has traveled the planet.

  We picked up Bob Crawford from the airport New Year's Day.  He is getting Sovereignty ready for Betty, Robert and Rachel who are coming to support the University of Oklahoma.

We were disappointed Friday that Paul did not return.

We had made an appointment to visit Customs and Border Patrol at Port Everglades to apply for the Local Boater Option where we got pre-clearance so that when we return to the USA, we do not have to show up at Customs in person, but can phone them to check in.  We took along all the vessel documentation and our passports, and we now each have BR numbers, Lady has a Customs decal and the formalities that we can do ahead of time are complete.

Over the weekend there was time for some self improvement.  When in Tulsa, Melanie Roberts "Mel" at Arcs Salon is my stylist.  Saturday, I got my hair done at the local Paul Mitchell salon, Paul Miller.  Here's Deborah, the stylist and me after it was done.

We got a package of mail...you've been in one place too long when the mailman/UPS truck can find you...but it was lovely to look at all the Christmas cards from friends.  Most people knew we were not home, and didn't send a card this year, and now I have a list of others that I need to mail our Christmas letter to.  The package also contained gifts!  Thank you IV and Olivia. We will learn how to fish from Lady now that we have a book on how to do that, and a glove so that the fish won't bite us.  And a lovely new cheese board, just what Lady needs!

We are just about ready.  We check the weather forecasts daily - a new (to us) site that Byron told us about is www.PassageWeather.com.  It will give us wind forecasts for a week.  Right now it looks like too much wind for Wednesday, as although it's blowing from the south, it will put us trying to enter Bimini on a lee shore in up to 25 knots.  We found out earlier this week that the last round of hurricanes blew away Bimini's channel markers, and they have not been replaced.

Our friends aboard Charmed, Craig and Debbie Roser, have made it to Miami.  We will welcome Betty Crawford tomorrow, and then take off Wednesday, and head to Miami to meet them and make the Gulf Stream crossing together.