NO NAME CAY

Nice set of tails

We moved to No Name Cay the next afternoon after the wind had settled down.  We enjoy being at No Name Cay because you can find lobster on the inside (Sea of Abaco side) and if the weather cooperates you can get to the outside (Atlantic Ocean side) for some beautiful reefs close to shore, lobster, fish, and seaglass.  That first day we hunted the inside and got 4 lobster. 

On Monday we were joined by our friends on Second Sojourn and Annabella.  We went hunting with Gary from Second Sojourn but were unable to get to the outside because the seas were still stirred up from the previous windy days.  Gary found a nice lobster hole and we took back 6 lobster.  That evening Annabella hosted everyone for cocktails.  We’ve decided to stay at No Name Cay for a couple more days because the weather is suppose to turn very calm and we want to get to the outside to look for seaglass and enjoy the offshore reefs.  Second Sojourn and Annabella have decided to continue south, through the Whale Cay passage to get to the Central Abacos.  We know we’ll see them again once we head further south.  

The Whale Cay passage, everyone just says “Going through the Whale,” separates the northern Abacos from the Central Abacos.  The passage is only a couple of miles long but entails leaving the typically calm Sea of Abaco, going out to the Atlantic Ocean, passing around Whale Cay, then reentering the Sea of Abaco.  In nice weather the trip is easy but if the winds and waves pick up getting through the cuts can be potentially dangerous with breaking waves.  Everyone waits for decent weather to go through and at times that can take several days or a week to get the right conditions.

The next three days were perfect weather, very little wind and calm seas.  Kathi and I got to the outside reefs and enjoyed hunting, the scenery and finding seaglass.  Friday morning was particularly calm; the sea was like a mirror and the sunrise reflected off the water.

Beautiful sunrise at No Name Cay

No Name Cay is also becoming known for pigs.  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, the locals have turned the island into a pig and chicken retreat.  The year after we noted about 5 pigs on the island, the next after that we saw 7 pigs and 9 or 10 piglets on the beach.  This year the herd has grown some more.  A large water silo has been put in place and is kept filled with fresh water by the locals.  Even though signs say the “Swimming Pigs of Abaco” are protected by law, we wonder how often a pig roast occurs.

Kathi is always good, lucky, fortunate, in finding lost items under the water.  I remember when we were in Highborne Cay in the Exumas a few years ago, she snorkeled around our boat and found three, 3/4 inch dock lines that were in excellent shape.  Some mega yacht either lost them or decided they were no longer needed and dropped them overboard.  Another time, also in the Exumas, Kathi found 2 serving bowls that had been lost, or dropped, overboard.  They had slight chips in them which I polished out and use them to this day.  Today, Kathi found a dinghy anchor just sitting in the sand.  Pays to spend so much time in the water.

Best of the Seaglass

Looking for seaglass is probably our second most enjoyed activity in the Bahamas, hunting for dinner being the first.  Most people walk along a sandy beach looking for the seaglass; we find most of ours snorkeling along the oceanside coastline.  We typically have to wait for a calm day so the waves don't push us into the jagged rocks along the shore.  No Name Cay is the first place with seaglass that we've been to this year. We got to the outside 3 days and found some beautiful glass.

On Saturday we decided it was time to move on.  We headed through the Whale for the Central Abacos.  Next stop, Guana Cay.

FIRST COLD FRONT OF THE SEASON

Lionfish

On Tuesday and Wednesday we stayed at Powell Cay.  We noticed quite a few lionfish in the area so we decided to conduct a hunt on Tuesday.  Lionfish are beautiful with long feathery fins.  They are also an invasive species, brought here from the Indo-Pacific and have no natural predators in the Bahamas.  The beautiful feathery fins are also venomous.  We always try to kill lion fish when we see them but rarely do we clean them to cook for a meal; mainly because they are relatively small and more time-consuming to clean than other fish.  We managed to kill 8 fish then cleaned them.  They are a delicious fish but to clean them you must first cut off the venomous fins using scissors then fillet them as usual.  

Lionfish for fillet table

Wednesday was a chore day.  Second Sojourn has a portable water maker aboard so they filled their water tanks then brought the unit to our boat for us to fill with water.  We are very impressed with the water maker, the model is “Rainmaker” made in New Zealand we think.  Water is the limiting factor on our boat, we carry 140 gallons which will last us about 3 1/2 weeks if we are careful.  We collect rainwater when possible but during the winter, thunderstorms are rather infrequent and we need to let the rain rinse the salt off of the deck very well before we divert the flow into our tanks.  The water maker produces about 35 gallons per hour so we ran it a little over 2 hours to fill the 1 tank that was empty.  We’ve talked in the past about putting a water maker aboard but could never decide on the right place to put it.  This portable unit would store easily so we are seriously considering getting one when we return to the States.

After filling with water we went out to get dinner; Kathi found a series of holes and ledges and got the largest lobster of the season so far.  Gary and Melanie on Second Sojourn are keeping 4 lobsters frozen for Christmas dinner when they have guests visiting.  We gave them the large lobster Kathi got today so they can keep upgrading their frozen lobsters in preparation for Christmas.  Tonight’s dinner, lobster, mac and cheese and salad.  Tonight’s entertainment, more of Downton Abbey.  Love that series!

Bucket of bugs

The first major cold front of the season is scheduled to move through on Saturday afternoon; thunderstorms and wind gusts up to 45 knots.  We decided to move to White Sound in Green Turtle Cay which is a very protected harbor for winds from any direction.  The main benefit of Green Turtle Cay is that it has a nice settlement with a couple of small grocery stores and a marina where you can get fuel.  We picked up some fresh vegetables and a few other goodies, got fuel at the marina then anchored.  Cocktails were on Second Sojourn and dinner was lobster curry.

On Saturday, Kathi cleaned the boat while I went into the marina to get laundry done.  We’re pretty frugal about wearing lots of clothes on the boat since we’re in swim-suits most of the time but towels and bedding need to be cleaned once in a while.  We’ve been here almost a month so time to freshen things up a bit.

The front was scheduled to pass through around 4pm.  As the saying goes, sometimes you watch the show and sometimes you are the show.  Fortunately today we sat and watched the show.  About 3:30 the wind started picking up out of the Southwest and one of the boats near us started to drag.  They pulled up their anchor and tried several times to get re-anchored but had no success.  Around 4pm the winds started gusting to 35-40 knots and switched directions to come out of the north along with driving rain.  The first boat that had dragged was soon joined by 2 other boats.  One of the boats was directly in front of us and was swinging back and forth about 15 feet away.  The skipper of the boat was at the helm with the engine running and holding the boat into the wind to keep from dragging into us.  He had on his foul weather gear but his cockpit had no protection from the rain.  Our biggest concern was that he would swing over our anchor chain, hit it and possibly dislodge our anchor.  We started up our engine just in case that happened. 

All 3 boats that had dragged were keeping themselves in place by motoring into the wind.  After about 30 minutes of strong gusting wind and rain the boat in front of us pulled up his anchor and tried to motor further away.  The wind caught him sideways and he almost ran into one of the other boats that had dragged.  About that time, a local skiff with 3 people aboard came out and started to assist each of the 3 dragging boats to get secured.  The first boat that had dragged was helped to one of the T docks at the marina.  The boat in front of us was helped to the marina fuel dock, the third boat was assisted to a mooring.  The strong winds lasted for another 40 minutes then reduced to a steady 20 to 25 knots.  Everyone was fortunate that the front came through during the daylight hours.  At night, or worse, at 3am with most people asleep or groggy the anchorage could have become a disaster.

The next day, the winds moderated and we left Green Turtle Cay for an anchorage at No Name Cay a short 3 miles away.

A week of Fun

A WEEK OF FUN

Most of the past week we spent at Double Breasted Cays snorkeling and hunting.  Two other sail boats moved into the anchorage and the couples aboard were wonderful to meet.  The first boat, Second Sojourn, with Gary and Melanie aboard are in the Bahamas for the second season.  Gary was very interested in spearfishing but did not have much success last year so we offered to take them with us on one of our daily hunts.  The second boat, Annabella, had a young couple, Collin and Elizabeth, from New York, here for the first time.  They both work and are here until the end of December.  They have never spear-fished before but were wanting to learn.  We loaned them gear, spears, weights and hoods and took them along with us also.  On the first hunt, we picked up 4 conch and got 6 lobster.  Neither of the couples had ever cleaned conch so we went to the beach for a lesson.  

Collin and Elizabeth, Annabella, first hunt

Gary and Melanie, Second Sojourn

Kathi with her catch

After that first day of lessons they picked up hunting very quickly.  Fortunately Double Breasted Cays is a great environment for getting lobster, conch or fish.  On Wednesday, I speared a large Crevalle Jack which got off my spear.  Kathi, who was about 100 yards away saw the wounded fish and gave it the coup-de-grace.  We invited everyone over for a seafood fry; popcorn lobster, cracked conch, fried hogfish and Jack.  Kathi made a great salad and we feasted.  After dinner we taught everyone to play the card game Golf. 

Sailing to Strangers Cay

The weather looked good for sailing to a new spot on Friday and all of us left Double Breasted Cays.  Annabella headed for Allens-Pensacola Cay.  We let them keep the spear-fishing equipment we’d lent them; we know we will meet them again before they leave and can get the gear at that time.  Second Sojourn sailed with us to Strangers Cay.  We had a wonderful 3 hours of sailing before we got into the anchorage.  

Strangers Cay is an isolated, rarely visited Cay.  It is a little out of the way from getting to any other Cays due to shallow sand bars that almost surround it.  To sail there you need to get around the sandbars then backtrack a short ways to reach the anchorage.  It is uninhabited.

Once anchored we went exploring this new Cay; unfortunately we were a little disappointed.  The entire area is very shallow and sandy so not a lot of fish life.  We did find a couple of spots to hunt and got a couple of lobster that Gary and Melanie wanted to freeze for Christmas Dinner. They invited us to join them for dinner and we feasted on rack of lamb, deliciously prepared.

Anchored at Strangers Cay

Since the terrain was not the best for picture taking or hunting we moved on Saturday to Crab Cay, one of the anchorages that we know very well.  We were able to sail for about half the 6 hour trip but then had to turn into the wind so motor-sailed the rest of the way.  Once we arrived we jumped into the water to collect our dinner, Gary and Melanie along with us.  We picked up enough lobster and fish for dinner then went back to the boat for the evening.  Gary and Melanie had loaned us the complete 6 seasons of Downton Abbey so that is being our evening entertainment most nights.  

On Sunday we relaxed then went exploring along some of the coastline of Crab Cay that we haven’t spent much time at.  We found a nice ‘Honey-hole’ with several ledges and 15-20 lobster and numerous large fish.  We spent about an hour exploring the area, tickling out some lobster and chasing hogfish.  We came back with 6 lobster which we shared with Second Sojourne and a nice hogfish.  Dinner that night was seafood fettuccine.

Sunset at Powell Cay

On Monday we moved to Powell Cay, a short hour journey.  We’ve been to Powell Cay before and know the area pretty well.  We wanted to go by dinghy around the Island to the ocean side so we could get to the adjacent Cay, Bonefish Cay, where we’ve hunted for seaglass before.  The seas were a little rougher than we wanted to tackle so we hunted a new area between Powell Cay and Spanish Cay.  Kathi found another ‘Honey-hole’ with 4 small spotted eels and a ledge with about a dozen lobster.  Near by, another ledge had 4 or 5 lobster.  We harvested enough for dinner and then just spent some time looking around.  Melanie found a Short-nosed batfish, something that looks like it belongs in a prehistoric era.  It has 4 fins that it uses to walk along the bottom of the seafloor.  Truly a bizarre sight.

Monday night was pizza night and we invited Gary and Melanie to join us.  The four pizzas were cooked on the grill; lobster alfredo, thai-lobster, pepperoni with onion and olives, and sausage and red pepper.  Delicious as usual.

Double Breasted Cays and Thanksgiving

MOVING TO DOUBLE BREASTED CAYS AND THANKSGIVING

What a difference a day makes.  Yesterday had squalls and gale force winds, today the sun is out and seas are calm.  Actually, the winds died down yesterday evening around dusk leaving Kathi just enough time to go explore the shoreline at our anchorage.  As I prepared dinner, Kathi swims back with our first three lobster of the season.  She said there had to be a hundred of them along the shoreline.

Wednesday we moved from Grand Cays to Double Breasted Cays; a short trip of about 4 miles.  There are several anchorages to choose from and since we have never visited this group of Cays before we chose the anchorage easiest to get to and centrally located.  We plan to be here for a week or ten days.  Another anchorage close by is more protected but the route into it shows some shallow depths and narrow passage-ways.  We will explore the route by dinghy before we move there tomorrow.

Double Breasted Cays are uninhabited and provide lots of shoreline for us to explore as well as numerous reefs offshore that can be explored by dinghy in calm weather.  This is the type of place we love; isolated, beautiful water, lots of sea life and good anchorages.  Maybe we found our paradise!

After getting Makani anchored we went to check-out the more protected anchorage we want to move to and then for a snorkel.  The path to the anchorage is narrow but easily seen in good light and has plenty of depth for us to pass through as long as we wait for a rising tide.  We decide that we will move on Thursday.  Our first snorkel here is wonderful.  Lots of sea life to enjoy watching and plenty of fish, conch, and lobster to keep us fed.  We bring back 6 conch and 6 lobster; plenty for dinner tonight and a few meals to put in the freezer.

On Thanksgiving Day we moved to our more protected anchorage, Kathi at the helm and me on the bow watching for any shallow coral heads.  The only problem Kathi had was as we went past one of the inlets to the ocean the current from the rising tide pushed the boat toward the shallows.  The route here is only about 30 feet wide with rocky shoreline on one side and a sand bar on the other.  We made it through safely then found our anchoring spot.  Our anchorage can be seen in the photo above.  In the center of the light blue area is a small cay called Sandy Cay.  The light blue is shallow sand.  We anchored just to the south-west of Sandy Cay in the small channel between Sandy Cay and the Cay to the south-west.  

Many people would expect that we would feast on lobster and other seafood for our Thanksgiving dinner.  I’m a traditionalist though; turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, biscuits and cranberry sauce for us.  We got dinner started then went for a snorkel.  Since we have all of the food we need for the next few days I took a camera rather than a spear.  I was able to get a nice short video of a nurse shark that showed some curiosity about us.  We came back to the boat and the aroma of turkey greeted us.  The smell of turkey roasting is one of my favorites.

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious as expected.  We wish we had some friends of family to share with but for now we will just enjoy each other.  We hope all of you enjoyed a great Thanksgiving wherever you are at.

Friday was a day to explore more of Double Breasted Cays; swimming along the shoreline, seeing the sea-life, and fighting the currents.  We read that this area has strong currents and we found that to be true.  In the center of the “streams” between the Cays the current is too strong to swim against, even with fins.  Fortunately, close to the shoreline, the current is very slight.  Kathi had a surprise when a large nurse shark swam directly beneath her.   After about 3 hours of snorkeling we returned to the boat for a late lunch/early supper of Thanksgiving left-overs.

Saturday is Kathi’s birthday.  Plan for the day is to get 2 lobsters for dinner to go with the steak we have, then give her a sand massage on the beach near the boat.

MAKANI MUSES

Bahamas

November, 2017- May, 2018

Makani saying farewell to the US

This year’s journey to the Bahamas began in Lake Worth, Florida on Saturday, November 18, 2017.  A narrow weather window for crossing the gulf stream  was projected for mid-day Saturday through early Sunday.  After finishing our provisioning on Saturday morning we hoisted the dinghy engine onto its mount on the davits and then raised the dinghy onto its place on the bow.  Seas were projected to be 3-5 feet early Saturday, diminishing through the day to 2-3 feet. 

We left Lake Worth inlet at 12:30pm heading for Memory Rock, our entrance onto the Little Bahama Bank, 54 nautical miles away.  Winds were very light and coming directly at us so we motor-sailed; the sails were up mainly to provide stability against the ocean swells.  We were pleasantly surprised that the crossing was one of the easiest we have done.  Kathi navigated us onto the Banks at Memory Rock at 9:30 pm.  I had napped for as much of the crossing as I could then took over for the next part of the trip.  We decided to head for Mangrove Cay, a tiny uninhabited Cay, 24 miles from Memory Rock.  We reached the anchorage around 1:30am, set our hook and settled in for some well deserved rest.

In the morning, we took care of our chores including getting the dinghy back into the water and remounting the outboard, then did our traditional swinging off the boat and down into the water.  After a nice bath in the salt water we were on our way to our next destination, Grand Cay.

Grand Cays is one of the northern-most Cays in the Bahamas and is a check-in point for customs and immigration.  We have never checked in at Grand Cays before but were told it was an easy process.  The trip of 24 miles took us about 5 hours but the winds had shifted to the north-west at about 12 knots allowing us to turn off the engine and sail using all 3 of Makani’s sails.  After a beautiful sail we reached Grand Cays, anchored, then went in search of the Customs office.  The Customs office was closed (of course) with a phone number to call posted on the door.  We went to Rosie’s Place, the local restaurant, and one of the patrons called the number.  The Customs officer is actually headquartered on Walkers Cay, 5 miles away, but she boated over and we completed the paperwork sitting at a table at Rosie’s place.  The biggest concern in clearing through is wether you will receive immigration stay for 3 months or for 6 months.  If you only receive authorization for 3 months you must return to an immigration office no more than a week before your time is up to request an extension.  Fortunately, we were given a 6 month time-frame.  We are now legal to travel through the Bahamas, spearfishing to our hearts and stomach’s content! 

At anchor in Grand Cays

Grand Cays consists of 5 populated Cays, Grand Cay, Big Grand Cay, Little Grand Cay,, Seahorse Cay, and Felix Cay.  The largest settlement is located on Little Grand Cay with the Government Administration, a small grocery store, three restaurants and a few other shops.  In the recent past, many of the inhabitants worked at the resort on Walkers Cay, about 5 miles away.  Walkers Cay was a hotspot for offshore fishing, boasted a first-rate marina and hotel.  The area was one of President Nixon’s favorite vacation spots.  Hurricanes essentially destroyed the facilities on Walkers Cay which now lie abandoned, eliminating one of the primary sources of livelihood for the locals of Grand Cay.  Today most of the population makes their living from fishing.  Each evening you can watch the small boats returning to the harbor to drop their catch off at the dock for future shipment to Marsh Harbor and the processing plant.

Blustery in the anchorage

  As predicted, the weather turned nasty late Sunday with gale-force winds from the north clocking around to the east.  The winds will persist through Tuesday afternoon so we stayed on our anchorage for the next two days.  We still feel good about crossing to the Bahamas when we did since the next potential weather window isn’t until November 25.   

Regardless of how strong the winds are we can always find a place to snorkel and enjoy seeing the undersea life.  We saw about a dozen lobster but they all looked too small so our conservation ethic kept us from spearing any.  This is just a time to enjoy being in the water again. 

Tuesday brought squalls along with the wind so we decided laundry was the task of the day; wash in salt water, rinse in salt water then hang on deck for a final fresh water rinse. Tomorrow we can hope for sunshine to provide the drying.