Bug boat be gone

December 8, 2015

In years past, we have always teased that if we get skunked fishing, we would have to eat Top Ramen for dinner. This year we have seen dozens and dozens of lobsters, groupers, trigger fish, and conch and have made no attempt to shoot them with anything but a camera. That is because we have planned meal after meal and have not had the energy to prepare the meal and end up eating Top Ramen or something even simpler. We have stayed at Manjack because John has not wanted to get too far away from Green Turtle where we can procure medicine or he could go in to the clinic if needed.

guess what this is

The clinic is staffed by a nurse who gathers information and then faxes the information to a Dr.  The Dr. then makes a recommendation for treatment and faxes orders back. We have been treated twice at the island clinics. Once two years ago when John had a leg wound that got infected and three weeks ago when I went in for this same illness that John now has. Both times we were treated immediately, professionally, and the cost was very low (extremely low if you compare it to the U.S.). The biggest problem I have is that the nurses are still very subservient to the Dr. so I can’t tell her what I have and how I want it treated (which 30 years of critical care nursing allows me to do in the U.S.), because she just tells me “we’ll see what the Dr. says”. I also don’t get to talk to the Dr. in person so I can’t tell him/her my diagnosis or treatment either. If I come away without the proper treatment for the problem, then the trip to the clinic was worthless. John and I are extremely reluctant to go to the Dr. even when we are back in the U.S. because 99% of the time, it can be handled at home. However, we aren’t foolish either. If you have strept throat, you need an antibiotic. If you don’t have the right antibiotic, you need to get it. If you go to the clinic and walk away without the right antibiotic, then you should have stayed home and continued the homeopathic cures you have been trying.

Is there a Dr. in the house?

Last night John said he wanted to go in to the clinic so you know he must have been feeling very bad. This morning when he woke up he say’s “let’s move to Crab Cay”. Crab Cay is about 5 hours from Green Turtle Cay. We did some morning chores and hung around long enough to make sure he was not just showing bravado, but really feeling better, then motorsailed to Crab Cay. Within minutes of anchoring, he took a nap. I think he really does feel better, but so do I and my energy level is still pretty low. 

I pretty much know all the great lobster holes near Crab Cay, but we still have two in the freezer and it makes no sense at all to fill the freezer with stuff you can get every day. I do want to get wet and get some exercise and possibly get some pictures for the blog so I don my wetsuit and go looking for action. The visibility is poor so pictures are out, but I do get to swim against the current so I am getting exercise. Then John says “we could have lobster tortellini for dinner” and wham..1 of three (because Kiwi gets her own now). Then home for a very nice dinner of lobster tortellini and the first episode of Sons of Anarchy. 

Chicken parmasean meatballs

We have done a bit of complaining about the weather, but truth be told, it has not been the weather that has prohibited us from our usual activities. It has been a bit windier, but the wind generator is working well.  The sky has been more overcast than not which has caused us to use our generator more as the solar panels haven’t been able to keep up with our energy usage. It has rained some off and on, but that has allowed us to keep up on the laundry and take hot showers. Overall, our biggest limiting factor so far this year has been our energy level. I also need to remind myself that poor weather here still means I am in a bathing suit most of the day and not in snow boots.

Come on out Kiwi

Kiwi seems to be starting to relax more and spend more time with us instead of her hiding spots. She is becoming a lobster monster and greets us when we return to the boat with the dinghy. She expects that we have brought her something. She chases the bat moths in the cockpit at night and sometimes even lovingly brings one into the cabin to show us what a great hunter she is. It is a bit hard to sleep with a 6” moth fluttering about your head and a cat flying about the room trying to capture it. 

Still looking forward to improved health so we can socialize, play cards and games, get seaglass, have picnics and bonfires. Anxious to set up our own golf course and play some golf. We definitely want to do some SCUBA diving and take long walks on dirty scavenger beaches.

Also looking forward to the guests that will be coming.

Snot and Cooties

Our pot of gold is just around the corner

December 3, 2015

So…… if your looking for fun in the sun and stories about 14# lobsters, you might want to skip this blog and wait for the next update. Unfortunately, this one is more about snot and cooties (this time John) and animal (Kiwi) behavior.

In the last update, Kathi was starting to feel better again and John started feeling punk. We were anchored at Manjack, trying to get our game on. As I improved, John declined. John was the great provider of lobster, hot tea, broth, and comfort when I just wanted to sleep or sit in the dinghy and watch. Now it was John’s turn to be comforted. We went to the ocean side and everything was too stirred up and visibility was zilch so we went to the north shores of Manjack Bay and it was my job to fetch us dinner. John had no desire to get in the water from an energy standpoint nor a comfort standpoint. Unfortunately, I shot a grouper that got caught between two coral heads and needed John’s assistance to bring home the bacon. Grudgingly, John helped me get our nights meal back to the dinghy and I continued to hunt for lobster appetizers. Once we got our groceries, we were both spent. I was determined not to relapse and John was determined not to get sicker. We were both so tired, we put the lobster and fish in the freezer and had broth and went to bed.

Stubborn folks move - We have a break in the weather and we are sitting here taking naps every two hours.  We sleep 18-20 hours a day. We have got to move. Moving will cure us. So we go into Green Turtle Cay to get rid of trash and buy some fresh tomatoes for pico-de-gallo to  have fish tacos. We moved again and anchored at No Name Cay so we could find octopus and seaglass. By the time we anchored, we were spent and ate broth and slept.

John continued to get sicker, but his theory is “all medicine does is inhibit your bodies own abilities to fight off infection”. So he is gargling with hot salt water every 2 hours and having me put a syringe full of hot salt water up his nose to “wash his sinuses”. He is miserable with sinus headache, soar throat, persistent cough and mucous from every orifice above his Adams apple. I however am feeling better and am now anxious to kill something and eat it. John took me out and I was able to get a few lobster and found a good bed of conch. Of course, neither of us have the energy to clean conch, but we marked it on the GPS for future hunts. I have a weeks worth of menus and I chose something grand as all we have eaten for the past month, or so it seems, is broth. Once again, our energy levels are zapped and all I can muster up is some steamed lobster and mac and cheese. Even the “wild” pigs and their cute little piglets can’t draw us out to take some pictures for the blog. 

The winds are in our favor to go to the outside of No Name and do some seaglass hunting, but John has finally gotten sick enough to want to go to Green Turtle and get some medicine. We go into Green Turtle and then return to Manjack due to forecasted winds and rain for the next 5 days. 

At least the sunsets are beautiful

Immediately upon anchoring at Manjack, we go snorkeling on the outside and find hoards of lobster condos.  We only take two and finally take the grouper from the freezer and have fish tacos and fresh pico-de-gallo. John is starting to feel better and it is the first time since we left the U.S. that John and I are sleeping in the same bed. I didn’t want him to get sick and then he didn’t want me to relapse AND it is difficult to get a good night sleep when one partner is coughing all night. It is one thing to have one partner ill and another well, and one can take care of another. Quite another thing to have both ill and not be able to provide comfort for either. Which brings me to animal (Kiwi) behavior………..

Cool Eagle cloud

In the last blog, Kiwi was “making some adjustments”. To tell the truth, I was thinking of leaving her as pig food on No Name Cay. She literally screams from the time we go to bed to the time we wake up. I admit, there was no bed time, eat time, move time, or any time since we have been here, but she was driving us crazy.  Last night when we slept together, she snuggled up between us and slept all night long. I think she just thought it was wrong for us to be in separate beds. Thinking about it, she would run from me (and scream) and then to John (and scream) and she could not figure out why we were not together. In the mean time, while she is trying to escape her HELL, she has found every tiny hidey hole on the boat (see liquid cat on YOU TUBE) and managed to hide the squeaky mouse that we bought for her before we left the U.S. because …well you know….she doesn’t have 5 million toys and a cat tree and scratch rugs over 75% of the boat and a railing of yarn and a jumpy window already…… and she has managed to hide this squeaky mouse where human hands cannot retrieve it, so whenever the boat makes any kind of movement..like when we motor, or sail, or the wind blows, or when it rains, or when it is calm or wheneverthefuck we are on the boat, we hear squeaky mouse. Hopefully, as with all of us, squeaky mouse has a limited life. As for Kiwi, well we will see tonight, because John has taken a nap and I think he is feeling better. I have spaghetti with lobster/parmesean/meatballs planned. Tomorrow, pizza Friday, with lobster on tai sauce. It is so very calm outside with a very light rain. We are very blessed that it has rained all day and again our tanks are full and we have both enjoyed a very long hot shower and filled our wetsuit rinse buckets and have all the laundry done. LIFE IS GOOD.

No Name Cay is a nice pleasant anchorage in good weather just south of Green Turtle Cay.  On the outside (the Atlantic Side, as opposed to the inside, the Sea of Abaco side) are some beautiful reefs very close to shore and some very nice spots to find seaglass.  When we first came here years ago, we took our cat, Indi, for a walk on the beach.  To our surprise, a rather large boar came trotting up to say hello.  Indi cowered down by a tree while the pig put its large muzzle down and sniffed her.  Fortunately she did not react and the pig soon moved on to asking us if we had any food.  We were unsure how wild the pig was so we moved quickly down the beach and the pig went in search of food elsewhere.  Well, it appears as if the locals have turned the island into a pig retreat.  Last year we noted about 5 pigs on the island and this year… we saw 7 pigs and 9 or 10 piglets on the beach.  Signs on the beach say “Bring food and water.”  We wonder how often a pig roast occurs…

Makani Update

November 26, 2015; Thanksgiving

During this past week we have experienced one of the longest stretches of windy weather that we have ever seen in the Bahamas.  The winds have been blowing 20-30 knots constantly and with frequent gusts in the mid to upper 30s.  The forecast is for this weather to continue until Sunday before moderating.  We are not complaining though; seeing the snow and ice storms that is occurring across the States. Also, we had looked at long term weather predictions and pretty much knew what was in store for us. The good news is it has rained some every afternoon so we are able to keep our water supply topped off and take hot showers.

The weather has reduced, but not stopped, our snorkeling excursions.  For a few days in this past week however we have been to tired to do much of anything.  Kathi has been struggling with some type of cold or flu or infection since early November. We even considered staying in the U.S. until she felt better, but the stubborn nurse wanted to be in the Bahamas for her birthday. After we used our entire supply of Nyqil, Alka Seltzer Plus, Loratadine and 10 days on Augmentin and Erythromycin eye ointment, she started to feel a bit better so she decided to clean the bottom of the boat. She worked for two hours the first day AND then cleaned and polished the stainless.  I was so happy she was feeling better and her energy had returned. After we went hunting the next day, she worked for another two hours cleaning the bottom. This is not an easy task. It requires a lot of diving and breath holding and elbow grease. That night Kathi started feeling punk again. Over the next few days the virus or bacteria returned with a vengeance. She woke up with sore throat, matted eyes, ear aches, and a persistent cough. She dug through our first aid kit and found a few more packages of things that would control the symptoms, but finally relented and allowed me to take her into the clinic at Green Turtle Cay. She had been sick for 23 days and was worn out. Unfortunately, the Doctor would not prescribe any more antibiotics because it was “too soon” since the last dose. He did give her more medications that somewhat control the symptoms. She has read 12 books and has watched most of seasons I,II, and III of Downton Abby.  Normally she would be going stir crazy, but she doesn’t even have the energy to complain. I’ve managed to fight it off until two days ago. I don’t have all the symptoms that Kathi has (knock on wood), but it sure does zap your energy. 

 It hasn’t all been snot and cooties. Yesterday was Kathi’s birthday.  We celebrated with steak and fresh-caught lobster. Today we are anchored at Manjack Cay in the northern Abacos.  People who have one of the houses ashore, and also have a cruising sailboat invited everyone in the anchorage to their cottage for a Thanksgiving potluck.  Unfortunately we had to decline because of our illnesses and not wanting to risk spreading the cold or whatever it is among others.  We are cooking a traditional meal aboard, turkey, potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, etc so we will not go hungry!

Kiwi is doing a bit of her own adjusting. Between to fowl weather and sick owners, she has not been able to get into any sort of sleep, eat, and be merry pattern. She does not like the noises caused by excessive winds and rain and she can’t seem to dig herself into a hiding place that suits her. She is very vocal when she is not happy and unfortunately she is most unhappy around 4am. Right now we have to excuse her as our own sleep patterns and routines are discombobulated to say the least.

We are thankful to be back in the Bahamas doing those things that we love most. We hope that next week we will have beautiful weather and we can move about and explore some of our favorite islands in the northern Abacos. Sorry no pictures with this post, but we promise lots of pictures next post

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

The weather has turned quite blustery, as was predicted.  The winds are blowing 20-25 knots and are projected to stay that way for the foreseeable future, which in terms of weather prediction is generally 4-5 days.  Fortunately for us, the winds are out of the east and we’ve moved from Spanish Cay to Powell Cay and have a fairly protected anchorage.  

Carl and Annie on Muse

We feel fortunate that we crossed the Gulf Stream and got to the Bahamas when we did.  Long term projections are for windy weather and no good crossing opportunities until around Thanksgiving or later.  We would much rather be here in the Bahamas than waiting in the States for a weather opportunity to cross over.

New trac LED lighting

We met another cruising couple while at Spanish Cay; a Canadian couple who 3 months ago sold all of their stuff, bought the boat and are now full-time cruisers.  This is their first trip to the Bahamas.  They have never spear-fished before so we shared our tools of the trade and went out hunting yesterday.  We came back with 7 lobster and 3 fish (two yellow snapper and one red snapper).  Carl is a natural with the Hawaiian sling and was immediately hooked on the sport.  Annie needs some practice using the pole spear although she got her lobster also.  We cooked the lobster for them last night and discussed cruising plans.  They have family flying into Georgetown in the Exumas for Christmas so they will be heading south as quickly as weather permits.  We have decided to stay in the Abacos as we have family and friends flying in to Marsh Harbor beginning in early February.  Kathi and I had discussed going to the Exumas again this year for December and January but we have heard over and over that “due to  El Nino, this years weather is going to be unpredictable”, so we’ve opted to stay “close to home.”

New countertops

Makani has been working beautifully and we’re pleased with the projects we completed this past summer.  One of our major jobs was replacing all of the fuel lines.  Last year we were having problems with fuel filters clogging which we attributed to the old fuel lines.  We replaced the old 1/4 inch lines with 3/8 inch lines and have had no fuel issues this year.  We also repaired our wind generator and it is helping to keep the batteries at full charge.  Kathi painted our corian countertops to better match our interior and we installed additional lighting which has brightened our home.     

Sunday, November 15, 2015

We left the Lake Worth inlet (West Palm Beach, Florida) at 4am on Thursday, November 12.  Our destination was West End on Grand Bahama Island where we intended to check through Customs and Immigration.  We had never been to West End before so this would give us an opportunity to travel a different route.

The travel from Florida to the Bahamas Banks can often be difficult as the Gulf Stream pushes through the Straits of Florida at 3-4 knots and can build rough seas.  This time, the seas were about as smooth as we've experienced with about 2 foot swells.

Unfortunately, even with the gentle swells, the wind/swells/currents made travel to West End slightly difficult so we altered our course and headed for Memory Rock, our usual arrival point on the Bahamas Bank.  We arrived there around 2pm and continued motor-sailing to Mangrove Cay, a small deserted island, where we anchored for the night just before dark.  The next morning we travelled 8 hours to an anchorage outside of Foxtown on Little Abaco Island where we had internet access and could get updated whether information as well as let people know where we were so they would not call out the Coast Guard to start a search for overdue vessels since we had intended to be in West End the day before.  On Saturday, we travelled another 4 hours to finally reach Spanish Cay where we could check into Customs and Immigration and be legally in the Bahamas.  The overall travel from Lake Worth to our check-in arrival point was about 25 hours.

We're thrilled to be back in the Bahamas!

Being in the Abacos is like being in our backyard; so many areas that we are familiar with and really enjoy!  The Abaco’s are the best area, in our opinion, to entertain guests; and we have guests coming in a little over a week.  We spent March 7th-18th scoping out our old hunting areas and seaglass areas to make sure they are still good hunting areas and the seaglass is plentiful and cooked.  The first week we were anchored in our favorite spot at Lynyard Cay and we met a big group of people that gathered on the beach every evening for cocktails and socialization.  We felt a bit like the Lynyard social directors as we took them to the blue holes (and discovered some new ones), told them where to get conch and lobster and fish, and marked their charts up with just about anything they were interested in while in the Abacos.  John gave them GPS lat/long points for bone fishing, seaglass hot spots, blue holes, conch beds and much more.  

The second week, we anchored off of Hopetown and hunted in our favorite spots and continued to scope out things to do, places to see, and people to meet while Alee and Kale visit.  We briefly visitied with our dear friends on Siren’s Call, but they were heading home (to Maine) the day we arrived at Hopetown.  

On March 18, we went into the Abaco Beach Resort marina to clean the boat, do laundry, reprovision, and do all that is necessary to prepare for guests.

Kale scores a BIG lobster day 1

Alee and Kale arrived in the morning on March 19 and I don’t think they knew what hit them until they left the following week.  As soon as they got on the boat, we left the marina and headed for the anchorage off of Hopetown.  One of the other boaters in the marina whom we had met the previous night hollored over to us, “You certainly don’t waste any time once guests arrive!”  We had a goal of getting conch for a conch medley dinner.  We immediately jumped in the dinghy once the hook was set and had our GPS points marked and headed out for our conch hunt.  I had to give Alee some shit and tell her not to let the conch bite her and how fast they were so she had to sneak up on them.  It was pretty funny watching her “hunt” them until she recognized I was giving her shit and all she had to do was pick them up.  We got the conch and were ahead of my very regimented schedule to see everything and do everything, so I decided I wanted to teach Kale how to hunt lobster.  I found a hole with a big lobster in it and showed Kale what to look for.  He thought I was crazy because he didn’t see the antenna until I chased the lobster out of its hole and told him to shoot it. SCORE!!!! Kale gets his first lobster on day 1. Alee had written to me that her greatest goal was to see an octopus and I had been snorkeling an area a few days before where I played with an octopus so our next stop was to go visit Ollie the octopus.  Unfortunately, Ollie had moved on so now it’s off to see the

Hopetown Lighthouse

Niece Love

Hopetown lighthouse and explore Hopetown. Meanwhile, John stayed on the boat to prepare conch cervice, cracked conch, conch sliders, and coconut conch soup. After a fantabulous dinner, we took the iPad up top and identified constellations.  We also had a brief lesson on how to SCUBA dive. Alee and Kale slept on deck and still had no clue of what they were in for this week.

Day 2:  We moved to Lynyard Cay while Kale and Alee slept on the front deck.  Once anchored, we went lobster hunting and saw about 20 lobster, but because they are inexperienced hunters, we only brought home two (Alee hunts just like her dad). We went seaglass huntiing at low tide and then did yoga and already Alee is asking me “you do this every day?”. We had a lobster medley meal and watched a movie. Also, another dry land lesson on SCUBA diving. We probably only swam two miles today and had a relatively easy seaglass day.

Sea Glass Hunting; Dive Alee dive

Jewels of the sea

Day 3:  Went to Pete’s Pub and art gallery (still our favorite pub in all of the Abacos). Alee and Kale decorated a T-shirt to hang up and saw the shirts left by Scott and Jeannie during their visits.

Pete's Pub tradition

Good memories

After an awesome lunch (as usual at Pete’s Pub), we walked a mile to a superb seaglass spot.  Initially, Alee didn’t think she wanted to climb down the 20 feet of ironshore rock to get her ass slammed by big waves only to collect a few pieces of broken glass, but I showed her my first “jewel” and she jumped right in and started calling “winner, winner chicken dinner” when she found a great piece. All four of us were in the cove and the seaglass could not be picked up fast enough. After an awesome day of seaglass hunting, we hiked the mile back to Pete’s Pub and I took John back to Makani so he could begin making pizza dough for pizza night while our guests did a bit of spelunking. After we returned to Makani, Alee and I did our daily yoga and then we all participated in preparing 4 of the best pizzas we have ever served. While enjoying dinner, we watched a great movie that Alee and Kale brought.  

Day 4: SCUBA Lesson in 8 feet of water with full gear on in the morning. After Kale and Alee felt comfortable in the SCUBA gear we moved the boat to Sandy Cay and did an actual dive.  Both Alee and Kale dove like pros. After the dives, we moved the boat to Armstrong Cay and Kale and I went out to lobster hunt.  We had steak and lobster for dinner and played poker well into the night.

SCUBALEE

Number one rule? Don't pee in my wetsuit

Day 5: John and Kale went out lobster hunting and blue hole exploring while Alee and I stayed on the boat and cleaned, baked fresh homemade pretzels, did our daily yoga and had great girlie conversation. We took turns on the paddle board. We explored the ruins of the old bone fish camp and gathered wood for a fire on the beach. After enjoying a great meal of conch and lobster, polynesian style, the highlight of the day was a beach fire and “stick stories”.

Umpalumpa's?

 I don’t have any idea what umpalumpas and big birds and little birds and sailing all have in common, but that is what usually happens when the stick stories are told.  Of course, Nassau Royale might be a contributing factor.  We lighted Chinese lanterns and a good time was had by all.

Day 6: In the morning Kale, Alee and I went lobster hunting.  We saw turtles, a shark, snails and lots of other creatures and got a few lobster.  When we got back to the boat, John went out and got 5 different types of fish while we prepared the fixins for fish tacos.  While John was frying up the fish for a fish taste test feast, Alee and I went in search of an octopus. Unfortunately, we did not see an octopus, but I did get to point out some other cute creatures to Alee.  After we had lobster the other night, Alee said she wanted lobster every night while here, but tonight after she had the fish tacos, she said she wants fish tacos the rest of the time she is here. Everyone was pretty worn out, sunburned and ready for a relaxing night so we started a movie and everyone fell asleep almost before the introduction.

Day 7: Anchored off of Man-o-War Cay and did the island tour.  We showed them the zen gardens and the cemetary and met Lola (who unfortunately can’t run her bakery anymore). Alee and Kale were able to pick up some souvenirs for their kids and we visited the spot where Alee’s dad saw his life pass before him while he and I were lobster hunting on his 50th birthday.

Satisfied guests

Paddleboarding

 In the afternoon, we had to go to Marsh Harbour and check into the marina so our guests could shower and get their belongings together.  We had time to go to the pool and relax some and had fish tacos again per Alee’s request. Alee and Kale were great guests and we were sad to see them go, but we could tell they were missing their kids and all that we didn’t get to this trip will just have to wait until the next time.

We went to breakfast at the marina before Alee and Kale had to catch their early morning flight out. Kiwi had gotten off the boat during the night and had not returned by the time we said our goodbyes.  We started our post-guest routine of laundry, cleaning, and putting gear away and occasionally walked around the marina to call and click for Kiwi, but she still hadn’t shown up by dusk.  By now we were starting to get worried, because like Indi, if she doesn’t come when we click, she probably CAN’T come. We increased our efforts walking each pier and around the grounds calling and clicking, but still no sign of Kiwi.  We went through all the emotions that we had when we thought we lost her overboard in December and felt sick and depressed.  We went to bed, but John couldn’t sleep and got up every hour and walked the grounds of the marina calling for Kiwi.  By morning, we had pretty much given up on finding her and had to make a decision to leave the marina today or stay and look another day.  At 6am, John made a final walk around the grounds and heard a mew.  He spotted Kiwi sitting under one of the condo porches.  She was obviously scared to death and moving very slowly.  John tucked her into his shirt and got her safely back to the boat, but she was obviously hurt and frightened to death. I did my best assessment and determined that she didn’t have any broken bones or open cuts so we tucked her into a quiet place and left the marina.  It was three full days before she started moving like her old self and a full 5 days before she started acting comfortable and trusting and emotionally secure.  We can only guess what happened to her during the time she was gone, but judging from her injuries and cowering demeanor, we think someone hit her or kicked her.  She is such a love bug, she would certainly go to any person, but we think she went to the wrong person.  Anyhow, she is back home and safe and recovering both physically and emotionally.

Man-O-War and more niece love

Final day of lobster season

Nursing Kiwi back to health

Starting to be trusting again

Now we are starting to discuss when it is time to leave and start the journey home.  I wanted to get in a few full days of seaglass hunting in our spot behind Pete’s Pub and get our last lobster hunting in before the season closes on April 1.  The weather was most conducive to us staying at Snake Cay for a few days where we hunted our butts off, finding some of the biggest lobsters of the season.  We then moved to Lynyard and had several days of great seaglass hunting both in the cove at Little Harbour and the cave off Lynyard.  Now lobster season is closed and our ankles and feet are torn up from seaglass hunting. Also, we have some things brewing back in the United States that makes us feel like we should be “home” to take care of so we will be heading to Marsh Harbour today to reprovision a final time and then start looking for an opportunity to go through the Whale. We will spend some time in the northern Abacos and watch for a weather window to cross.

Makani Update 3/7/2015

We left Lynyard Cay in the Abacos on December 22.  We have just returned to Lynyard Cay after logging about 700 miles over 74 days.  Our travels took us to Eleuthera, Little San Salvadore (aka Half Moon Cay), Cat Island, Long Island, Conception Island, Rum Cay, back to Long Island, over to Georgetown on Great Exuma, then up the Exumas chain, back to Eleuthera and finally back to Lynyard Cay in the Abacos.  We had some great sailing, some bouncy sailing, and a little white knuckle sailing.  

Pizotes

Our last blog post had us getting to Georgetown in the Exumas.  Shortly after arriving, Kathi left to go to Costa Rica (Feb. 14) for a week to meet her mom, 2 brothers, and our son, Dakota. While she was gone, I spent the week doing boat chores; changing oil in the engine and generator, checking all fluid levels, sanding and re-staining a hatch cover, replacing a hatch screen, and generally trying to keep busy.

Repelling

Kathi on the other hand was zip lining, repelling, horseback riding, white water rafting, trekking over the canopy on suspension bridges, sitting in natural hot spring pools, getting massages, surfing, dining at the Avion, staying at the Fuselage Hotel, swimming in 84 degree oceans, viewing exotic flora and fauna, and generally having a great time with family.

Mono

Fuselage Hotel

That's my 75yo mother

After Kathi got back, the cruisers regatta was going on in Georgetown.  It is a week long celebration with lots of daily activities and we were signed up for the poker tournament on Wednesday night , but we saw a weather window to start heading up the Exuma Chain and we left (Feb. 24).  They do a great job of putting together all sorts of organized social events in Georgetown, but it is just not our gig.

So, we headed up the Exuma Chain which consists of hundreds of small islands, cays, and rocky outcroppings.  We visited Rat Cay, Hamlet Cay, Musha Cay, Great Guana Cay, Staniel Cay, Big Majors, Compass Cay, Bell Island, Shroud Cay, and Highborne Cay.  At each stop, we got into the water and explored and hunted in the water and went on shore to see what each little Cay had to offer.  We saw the swimming pigs at Big Majors and attended a meet and greet on the beach.  We saw the nurse sharks at Staniel Cay Yacht Club. We went to the “Sea Aquarium” off O’Brien’s Cay and watched the private helicopters fly in and out of privately owned Bell Island.

One item we were disappointed about is the difficulty we had in finding lobster.  In the Abacos, we know lots of spots where the lobsters congregate.  In the other islands we visited we weren’t able to figure out the habitats that they frequented.  The lobsters we did get however were huge!  Also, The Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park covers 176 square miles of the Exuma chain and includes over 15 major cays and numerous smaller ones and: of course, a no take zone.

Swimming Pigs

On our travels up the Exumas, the biggest highlights were the grottos that we visited.  The most famous, Thunderball grotto near Staniel Cay is famous for being used in the movies Thunderball (007 movie) and Splash.  The other two grottos, located near Rocky Dundas were maybe more spectacular, if less famous, because of the stalactites coming down from the roof.  Another highlight was a “bubble bath” at Cambridge Cay where ocean swells spray up over a narrow rocky ledge into a large pool.  If the water were warmer, it would make a nice hottub!  As it is, it’s a refreshing pool to enjoy.

Bubble Bath

Grotto

Musha Cay is owned by David Copperfield.  It is a magnificent development with several cabanas, large hottub pool and lots of other fancy buildings.  We took advantage of the hottub for a short while one evening.

Bell Island is owned by Aga Kahn and has been a political hot button in the Exumas for many years as the owner has been raping the island of its natural beauty to overdevelop the island with extravagant structures and has paid many a politician to look the other way as he dredges, builds, and destroys whatever it takes to build his empire without regard to the Bahamian values or ecosystem.  You can read about this by googling his name or the name of the island.

Another great Exuma story is about Norman’s Cay and the drug kingpin Carlos (Joe) Lehder.  We did not visit the island on this trip but will on our next visit to the Exumas.

Thunderball Grotto

Nurse Sharks at Staniel Yacht Club

There are some great dives that we had intended to do on our trip north, but weather did not permit any diving.  It has been extraordinarily windy the entire time since we left Georgetown.

Check out this guys web site. He came to the Bubble bath at the same time as us, along with his entire filming crew.  What a piece of work!

After leaving Highborne Cay, we took an alternate route than we have before through a passage off of Ship Channel Cay then through Flemming channel called the White Banks where we were required to keep a sharp lookout as this area is shallow and has scattered coral heads, some of which rise close enough to the surface to be of great danger.  You don’t know which ones are shallow enough to be dangerous, so we dodged them all.  Overall, this cut our trip down by a day and allowed us to get to Royal Island in 7.5 hours and leave from Royal Island the next morning, during the same weather window, and travel the 55 miles to Little Harbour inlet in Abaco.  We arrived at 5:30pm Friday, March 6 - hungry and exhausted. I wish we had fish pictures to post, but we were unable to land any of the Mahi Mahi that we caught and we threw the Barracuda we caught back.

Being back in the Abaco’s feels like home.  In fact, it was the first time in a very long time that we had consistent internet. and when a video on the internet said “not available due to your location” I forgot that I still wasn’t in the United States.  But the real welcoming package came today when we went to one of our favorite hunting holes and found more than a dozen lobster.  We took two for dinner and left the rest for our guests coming in two weeks.  We also went sea glass hunting and came home with a bucketful of treasures.  Now THIS is our gig.

Wednesday, 1/28:  The winds calmed down through the night and after Kathi had made some modifications to our “Flopper stopper” we were not rolling uncomfortably any longer.  We went for a snorkel to where the shallow reef meets the wall, dropping from about 60 feet to over 1000 feet.  The day was cloudy so we decided against a dive.  Snorkeling we saw spotted eagle rays, turtle, barracuda, and a shark.  We’ve looked in both deep water and shallow water around the reefs near Port Nelson on Rum Cay but have not found any lobster to photograph or shoot.

Thursday, 1/29: The wind and swells have decreased and we decided that it was time to head for the Georgetown area on Great Exuma Island.  Kathi has a flight out of Georgetown on 2/14 to fly to Costa Rica for a week where her mom and brothers will be vacationing.  Friends that we met at Long Island, Matt and Lindsay are there also and it will be good to visit with them again.  The first stop though will be Long Island which is about 26 miles away; Georgetown, another 24 miles after that which we will do the next day.   One wind/waves forecast calls for about 15 knots of wind, 2-3 foot swells with a 4 second period.  We don’t like the short wave period but 2-3 foot swells would be nice.  Another site forecasts 20 knots of wind, 5-6 foot swells with an 8 second period.  We’d like the longer wave period but could do without the larger swells.  The first third of the sail was excellent.  After that, the wind picked up and I think we got the worst of both forecasts; 6 foot swells with a 4 second period along with 25-30 knots of wind.  Fortunately we had enough wind to keep the boat on a fairly steady heel but it made for a very robust and somewhat bumpy sail.  We reached Long Island, settled in without even putting the dinghy down.

Friday, 1/30:  We left Long Island heading to Georgetown with winds forecast to be very light, probably too light to be able to sail efficiently.  For once, stronger than forecast winds worked in our favor, rather than having to motor all the way we were able to put up all sails and have a beautiful trip with about 10 knots of wind and sunny skies.   About half-way there we got a call on the radio from Matt and Lindsey on Kindred Spirit passing us about a half mile away heading for Long Island, the place we’d just left.  They’d had enough of the Georgetown area.  We had hoped to see them in Georgetown but now we’ll have to wait to hopefully see them sometime in the future. We had never been to Georgetown before but were aware that this is the location that a lot of cruisers call their winter home; often, between 300-400 boats are in the area.  We anchored off of Elizabeth Cay which is just south of where most of the “permanent” boats anchor.  In the setting sun, the masts in the distance looked like skyscrapers from the New York skyline. 

Saturday, 1/31:  We headed into town to see what sights were there.  The town surrounds a small pond, Lake Victoria, which has one small water entrance from the rest of the harbor.  To enter the pond, you pass under an arched stone bridge with a vertical clearance of 8 feet and a horizontal clearance not much more than that. 

Entrance to Lake Victoria

During the local regatta, locals will play chicken with the bridge using high powered boats.  They will gun their boats, bringing the nose almost vertical heading straight for the bridge at high speed.  The first one to drop their bow loses.
We walked around the town and were less than impressed.  I think we thought that since Georgetown is the major settlement for this part of the Bahamas, and so many cruisers make this their winter home, the town must be bustling.  It has everything that a town needs: two small grocery stores, gift shops, a few restaurants, gas station, liquor store, but not much more than that.  It certainly has everything that we would want but I think we were expecting more.  For us, having access to free fresh water, located at the dinghy dock, is an important asset.   Since we are in the area to experience the sights and meet some fellow cruisers we moved the boat to one of the three main anchorage areas, this one the northern-most of the three.

Sunday, 2/1:  Super-Bowl Sunday!  Even though neither of us cares who wins the game, we knew we had to find someplace to watch. Fortunately, right by the anchorage, is a small resort showing the game and offering drink and food specials; imagine that!  In the morning, we took a walk to the highest point on Stocking Island and got some good photos of the boats in the harbor. 

Georgetown Harbor

Superbowl

  After the nice walk it was time to find seats for the big game.  We got there early, and had a table just in front of the big-screen projector TV.  Shortly after we arrived, the place started filling up.  Two guys came by and remarked to Kathi that we had the best seats in the house, they went to the rear and sat down.  Kathi went and invited them to join us since the table had seats open.  One, Paul was a cruiser who is here with his wife, the other man, Rob, had just flown in from Canada to visit them for a week.  They were great people to visit with and we all placed bets on who would win.  Rob and I were for New England; Kathi and Paul for Seattle. Needless to say, it was a great game with lots of ups and downs for both sides.  Of course, everyone knows, I picked the winning side.

Monday, 2/2:  Most of the Harbor area is a no-fishing zone.  We dinghied about 3 miles north to get to some of the outlying cays so we could snorkel and spearfish.  The swells at the cuts to get into Exuma Sound were breaking all across the cuts so we opted to stay to the inside of the cays.  We saw some nice coral, but nothing to catch for dinner.

Tuesday, 2/3: The ocean swells were still pretty large but had  decreased to where four or five large swells would break in the cut, then about the same number would be small enough to not break.  We timed them perfectly and took the dinghy into the Exuma Sound.  We had been told that there were lots of coral heads with lots of fish.  Kathi snorkeled while I stayed with the dinghy to keep its nose into the swells.  She saw lots of beautiful coral heads with the tops about 6 feet from the surface and the base about 30 feet down; a little too deep for her to easily spearfish.  We travelled about 3 miles looking for an area where the coral might be a little shallower, but many of the swells were breaking over the shallower reefs closer in to shore and all of the reefs we found outside of the breaks  were too deep.  Kathi got back in the dinghy to discuss what to do and a 5 foot shark followed her and came within 3 feet of the dinghy.  We thought it would hit the boat!  Knowing that friends of ours in the Abacos had their daughter seriously attacked by a shark, we are now much more leery of them.  We still enjoy seeing sharks, we just don’t want it to be close up and personal.  We headed back to Makani, once again having to time the swells to enter the cut without fighting a breaking wave.  One more day where we didn’t catch anything to eat; fortunately we still have fish and lobster in the freezer. In the evening, on Tuesday and Thursday, one of the local resorts has a Texas Hold-em poker game; $5 buy in.  We joined the fun and although we didn’t end in-the-money, we felt pretty good about how we played and enjoyed the company of fellow cruisers.

Wednesday, 2/4:  We chose a new area to snorkel but had little more luck than the past few days. Kathi got one lobster but that’s all we saw.  We never had problems in the Abacos finding lobster but have not had much luck so far in the Exumas. In our e-mail, Lindsey from Kindred Spirit wrote that she had been attacked by a shark; it had aggressively come towards her, she held out her spear and the shark grabbed it and shook her like a rag doll (her words). Fortunately, she did not get bit. The evening entertainment was a dance at the beach bar.

Thursday, 2/5:  We decided to leave Georgetown for a few days to explore some more of the southern Exuma Islands.  We headed north, having a great sail and then had to choose an anchorage for the next few days.  I opted for Rat Cay, Kathi wanted to go to Black Cay just a mile south.  The weather the next couple of days is supposed to be very windy, so we will be stuck in the place we choose.  I got my way, we anchored at Rat Cay.  The snorkel that afternoon reminded us how strong the current can be going out some of the cuts.  There was no way we could get in the water at the coral heads near the cuts and swim against the current.  We found no lobster and went back to the boat empty-handed, again.

Friday, 2/6:  The winds blew over 30 knots, the anchorage was choppy, and I had to admit that I might not have chosen the best anchorage for the weather conditions.  We managed to take the dinghy to Black Cay, saw that the anchorage there was much more tranquil than ours and also managed to find a couple of lobsters to get for dinner.  Moving to this anchorage from where we are at, even though it’s only a mile away, would entail going out one cut and into another with swells breaking across both of them.  We hunkered down and John heard about his poor choice of anchoring spots.  Oh well, live and learn and eat crow for a long time.

Saturday, 2/7:  Winds have died down some, but the water is still choppy.  We decided to go to the beach for a picnic and found a small beach very close to the boat.  I decided that we should take Kiwi along to give her some time off of the bouncy boat also.  We put her in her harness, attached the leash and a longer rope, and headed for the beach.  Kiwi, as soon as we were at the beach, took off running into the brush.  We got the picnic out knowing that Kiwi can’t go far being on a leash.  Wrong.  As soon as she reached the end of the leash, she did a Houdini-act to work her way out of the harness and off she went.  We finished our picnic, calling for Kiwi every now and again.  Our picnic over, no Kiwi in sight, I went back to the boat to get camping gear to set up on the beach for the night, figuring that eventually Kiwi will find her way back to our beach.  About a half-hour into setting up camp, Kiwi comes bouncing back to the beach, looks at me checking that I’m still around, then runs back into the brush to chase another bird.  For an hour, I tried to coax her out of the brush but the birds kept her entranced, and far enough into the thick brush that I couldn't get to her.  

Kiwi checking out our blog

Kathi came back from the boat just before dusk to see how I was doing.  Between the two of us, we rounded-up the reluctant cat and herded her back to the boat, both of us wanting to strangle her.  Another lesson learned: no shore excursions for Kiwi except on very, very small, non-brushy islands where she can’t disappear.  We try to be mad at her but how can you stay mad at a cute kitten?

Sunday, 2/8:  Clean-up day.  Kathi kicked me off the boat to do her cleaning; I took the dinghy to the beach and cleaned it.

Monday, 2/9:  Time to head back to Georgetown, tomorrow they say it’s a gonna blow.  We had a decent sail and picked an anchorage with protection from the west and north winds forecast for tomorrow.

Tuesday, 2/10:  They forecast a blow, and blow it did.  Fortunately we were in the best location for the wind and waves.  We had the radio on and one of the first calls in the morning was someone warning about a 200 foot long freighter, filled with sand that was dragging from the center of the harbor towards the boats in one of the main cruising anchorages.  People scrambled to get out of the way before the freighter finally got engines going and away from the cruising boats.  After that, call after call came about boats dragging.  One boat that had gotten towed into the anchorage the day before with a broken shaft started to drag so several “neighbors” came with their dinghies to help get the boat back into position to re-anchor.  As we’ve often said, better to watch the show than to be the show.  We went to town and got laundry done.  The biggest disappointment of the day was the cancellation of poker night due to the rough seas; cruisers would get wet dinghying into the resort.

Wednesday, 2/11:  We took a dinghy cruise to Crab Cay, about 5 miles south of where we were anchored.  The day was cold so we just toured the area, didn’t even get into the water.

Thursday, 2/12:  Kathi caught an octopus while snorkeling.  The evening’s entertainment is poker night at the local resort.