Cave Photos from Great Guana Cay

Spelunking

That's right, cave exploration this morning on Great Guana Cay. We brought headlamps and we're able to see a ton of stalactites, stalagmites, tracery of all description, and shrimp swimming around in the pool. Really special. Not so special was the trip to the beautiful cove nearby that was severely marred with plastic of every description. It was very sobering and makes one realize what an ongoing disaster this is. We are working on solutions.

We have now moved over and anchored by the airstrip and will be going ashore soon. There must be a hundred boats anchored around the island. Should be a fun couple of days!

Best, Charlie

Photos From Pipe Creek

Checking out the view from the mast

Maggie and Mary showing off matching shirts from Rockside Laundromat in Black Point

White Seal in a narrow channel as seen from a nearby sandbar

Mary standing in 2.5’ of water just off the stern of the boat

Amazingly, the boat was afloat even though it was within feet of waist deep water

Farmer's Cay

Sailed down here from Staniel where we spent last night. Kind of choppy and a bit of a disappointment after the stellar secret anchorage of the 2 previous nights. Will try to get Mary to post some photos of that special place.

We anchored a little ways from town, which looks like it is under assault by a veritable armada of cruisers. There is a cruisers festival that features Bahamian sloop racing, hermit crab racing, music, and most likely excessive consumption of alcohol. We will participate in the first three. I will try to get the boat closer to town tomorrow. We went ashore and visited an impressive cave that Mary and I saw 8 years ago. Possible photos to follow.

Yesterday we anchored for a couple of hours near a small cay and rowed ashore for a bit of exploration. It was a delightful spot and we were joined by a pleasant couple from St Louis who were cruising around on very high end personal watercraft. We made a bit of small talk before heading back to our respective vessels. Theirs was a very large m egayacht named Glaze, which as you may expect, piqued our curiosity. A quick google check found that it had been listed for sale in 2017 for $20 million dollars. Quite a bit different from the type of cruising we are doing!

Cheers, Charlie

Pipe Creek

Hi All,

Cold front coming but we have got the ultimate place to ride it out. Very tight to get in here under engine. 360 degree protection, and we are the only boat. Mary and Maggie ecstatic with the beauty and the stellar snorkeling. There is a ribbon of deeper water we are anchored in and we should have 6 inches to a foot under us at low tide. I was here once before about 30 years ago. We will try to get some pictures tomorrow. This really is a cool place! It is not on the charts which is probably why it is empty.

Best to all, Charlie

Photos

A grocery store on Black Point.

We hiked across the island at Black Point and found a beautiful natural tunnel in the rock. 

A traditional Bahamian racing sloop in Black Point.

Relaxing in the shade of the tunnel, which was on a beautiful stretch of beach.

As local fishermen clean their daily catch at the town docks, the sharks and rays gobble up the bits the fishermen toss in. 

This is the mysterious gelatinous blob creature described in the previous post. A friend informed us that it may be a “sea hare,” a type of swimming gastropod that lives in the shallows. As the tide rose, this one got back to the water!

Black Point Continued

Hey everyone,

The 3 of us are hanging out in Lorraine's Cafe again, taking advantage of wifi and chatting with Laurie, Lorraine's daughter. Laurie spent a summer recently working at an Adirondack resort near Maggie's home. A delightfully small world indeed!

This morning involved a hike out to the small natural harbor on the north end of Black Point. Discovered and observed a gelatinous like critter in a rock crevice that was primordial in appearance and oozed and undulated around its little hides hole. It was orange with circular black spots.

We will likely head north for a couple of days to weather an upcoming storm, then we will head back south to Little Farmer's Cay for a small boat regatta next week. We're having a wonderful time! Photos will be uploaded in a separate posting.

Black Point

We decided to come down here yesterday and sailed the whole way, all 8 miles of it, including off and on the anchor. This is a lovely little Bahamian village of perhaps 400 people. I remember sailing in here in 1987 and being the only yacht. There are about 30 anchored out here at the moment. We did our laundry at Ida's and I will probably have her cut my hair later today. Ida's laundromat is the only one I have ever been to with direct water frontage and it's own dock. She runs a fine establishment.

We went into Lorraine's Cafe last night for a beer and had a great time with the locals chatting about everything under the sun. Will go ashore later this morning for general exploration and perhaps the acquisition of an ice cream or some similar treat. The crew of the White Seal is having a great time and is hoping to stay here for a couple more days. We really like this town. Our friend from Vermont, Kathleen Patten, is not coming till the 8th. Everybody seems to know her.

Best to all, Charlie

Photos

 View from the laundromat at Black Point, makes doing laundry a bit more fun!

Swimming pigs at Big Major near Staniel Cay. Tourists keep them well fed.

Maggie in front of the Pink Pearl, one of two grocery store options in Staniel Cay. The mail boat, which supplies the islands with groceries, is several days late, so shopping options were rather limited.

Enjoying some shade on a beach of Staniel Cay

Staniel Cay

Hi everyone,
I ran out of data the other day and had to go to Batelco to buy more which I did this morning. I apologize for dropping off the map again.

We are currently anchored behind Thunderball Cave in winds of 25 to 35, with higher gusts. It is absolutely howling out there. We had been closer to town, but pulled anchor and moved to cut down the distance we would need to row. We have 2 anchors out off the bow at about 45 degrees from each other. The boat is riding well. Tidal currents were strong at the other spot, not so bad here. 

We had a great time at Warderick Wells, although the last night was rough as we got pummeled by a cold front. Great hiking, saw lots of hutias, the small, rabbit sized mammal found only in the Bahamas. Sailing has been great, although a bit much wind at rhe moment. High winds tomorrow will keep us in this area. Went out for lunch today and had some nice fried fish. Snorkeled in the cave, which was used in several big movies.

I will try to get in to the rythym of posting again.

Best to all, Charlie

Exumas!

Here are some photos from the past few days. We are currently anchored in Norman’s Cay, and enjoyed a nice day of snorkeling and beach combing with the iguanas of Allen’s Cay yesterday. Headed further south later!

Around and about Nassau

Hi everyone,
The three of us had a nice day in Nassau, with a blend of chores and being tourists. There was a stop at Batelco, where Mary got her phone set up for use here in the islands. We procured some more groceries at two different markets. We checked out of the marina and went back to the anchorage. Then we walked all over the older part of town, finally returning to the boat for dinner. And then just hanging out in the cockpit, solving the problems of the world and reflecting on how fortunate we are to be enjoying this tropical sojourn. We will likely sail over to Allan's Cay tomorrow.

Best to all, Charlie

Arrival of crew

Mary and Maggie arrived without incident yesterday and I am delighted to have them aboard! We are planning to hang out in Nassau today and will get some provisioning out of the way. At the marina at the moment, but heading back to the anchorages by lunchtime.

More to follow,

Charlie

Observations

As I am hanging out waiting for Mary and Maggie to show up tomorrow I thought I would climb up on the soapbox and pontificate for a bit.

It appears that I am the last cruiser relying on oars to propel my dinghy around. This has been a slow transition that I have been seeing play out over the last 50 years. And I find it rather pathetic. I feel sorry for all these folks, dealing with expensive, filthy, polluting, gas guzzling, noisy outboard motors. They have to maintain these horrible things, store dangerous gasoline onboard to feed them, and worry about being sliced to ribbons should they have the misfortune to fall overboard when these aquatic cuisinarts are in operation. Plus, their limbs atrophy from lack of exercise, and they obviously haven't heard about global warming. And I wonder if there will even be a rowing competition at the Regatta in Georgetown. And I also wonder what it is like if they need to run a second anchor out at 4 AM with an inflatable and an outboard. Cause you sure as heck aren't going to be rowing an inflatable in a stiff breeze.

Next topic, megayachts and the unequal distribution of wealth in the cruising fleet. This situation mirrors what has been taking place on land, but boy, is it noticeable here on the water. A few feet away from my boat is a motor vessel of around 175 feet in length, which I would expect to have cost somewhere in the 20-30 million dollar range. And this is just one of many. Fortunately, these aberrations are so big that they can't fit in to the smaller nooks and crannies of the Exumas, but they are having a deleterious impact on the sport as they slowly elbow out the low budget cruiser such as myself. For example, Highborn Cay, a once rustic place where anybody was welcome, has morphed into a facility that caters mainly to megayachts, with correspondingly high prices.  Ditto for Nassau, as marinas try to figure out how to accommodate ever bigger boats, while pushing aside the smaller ones. And this is a trend that has really taken off in the 8 years since I was here last.
What about the environmental impact of these yachts? I know we are all complicit to some degree, but these things are very big contributors to the carbon situation. I remember when I was at the dock in Charleston and the attendant laughed because I only got 6 gallons of fuel, while the megayacht next to me got a thousand. Oh well. I guess the boats are just getting bigger as the uber rich continue to lavish ever more money on to their exalted selves. Hope they are getting enjoyment out of them. Personally, I would be embarrassed to be seen on something so ostentatious and reeking of self importance.

I will be quiet now! All the best to my fellow sailors and followers from the proletariat!

Charlie

Continued

Since arriving in Nassau I have been more or less hanging out. I sailed over to the northern Exumas for a few days, came back to Nassau because I was out of fresh food, and decided to hang here and wait for Mary and Maggie. I greatly enjoyed Junkanoo on boxing day, but am recognising my limitations in regard to age. By about 3:30 I was ready for sleep, and so returned to the boat. But Junkanoo really gets going at about 4 AM, and I know I missed the best part. I have been doing a ton of reading, some writing, and a lot of walking around in the old part of Nassau. I spent a couple of hours at the Bahamas Historical Society, and got to talk at length with the president and one of the other officers. I have also spent some time drinking cheap iced coffee in shops in order to get wifi. But now that I have a phone I don't have to do that.

That's it for now,

Charlie

Night offshore

I was really tired. Nassau was only 35 miles or so away, and I knew I could get in there. Heck, if a thousand foot long cruise ship drawing 30 feet could get in, it would be easy for White Seal. So I sailed several miles away from Andros to make sure I was well away from the fringing reef, lashed the tiller, and started taking a series of cat naps. It worked out pretty well and I just sort of poked along towards the bright lights of Nassau. Around 3 AM I started getting more serious and worked on getting closer for a daylight entrance. The cruise ships started showing up around 5 and there were 6 of them all told. I called Harbour Control and they gave me permission to enter after the cruise ships were all in. So little White Seal came nosing her way in around 8:30. I went under the bridges and tied up at Nassau Yacht Haven. After a couple of hours I had completed the customs formalities and turned in for several hours of deep sleep. When I awoke I was delighted to find Calypso tied up next to me. They had continued across the banks without stopping and arrived in Morgan's Bluff just as the wind was picking up. They anchored, but were unable to get off the boat all day. They spent all day and all night pitching up and down and finally gave up and crossed to Nassau, where they cleared in.

To be continued....

Mackie shoal

Let's see, where was I? Oh yes, crawling up on the foredeck. Normally, when I pull up the anchor I just walk up forward and start pulling on the anchor line. The boat starts moving forward, all 13000 pounds of it, and in a minute or so the anchor comes up over a roller on the bow, I secure it, walk aft, put the engine in gear, or trim the sail, and leave. But with the wind and waves, there was no way I could pull that boat forward. Heck, Arnold Schwarzenegger couldn't. So first I removed the jib from the foredeck, where I had left it secured from the previous evening. I stuffed it down the forward hatch. Then I rigged a snatch block (type of pulley) on the starboard rail. I pulled excess anchor line from the hawsepipe, ran it through the snatch block, and aft to my big primary winch. I had already started and warmed up the engine. Another trip forward to unclear the anchor line and now all the force was transferred to the winch. Putting the engine in gear, I motored ahead into the waves, steering the tiller with my legs, and hauling in the anchor line with both hands. When the chain leader reached the snatch block,knew the anchor was all the way up, I took the engine out of gear, went forward and secured the anchor. Then I hoisted the main, killed the engine, and started sailing. I was averaging over 6 knots under just the main so I didn't bother with the jib.

It was actually a great day of sailing. I had decided I would try to sail to Morgan's Bluff, Andros Island, where there is a Customs station. I knew it might be tough there, but hoped the wind might moderate and let me get in. Looking at the charts I hoped the shoals and small cays might provide some protection. I was quite tired but just kept on sailing across the banks. I encountered another sailboat out there and started up a friendship over the radio. Eventually, I left the banks and headed out onto the deep water of Tongue of the Ocean. As dusk approached I headed in towards Morgan's Bluff, and my heart sank. It was really rough and there was terrible visibility due to the glare on the water from the setting sun. I couldn't risk it, and reluctantly headed back out on the Ocean as the sun was setting.

To be continued.....

It works!

Here's a recap. When I left No Name Harbour at 7AM I was in company with a Westsail 32 named Calypso and we had a nice forecast of winds out of the WNW at 5-10. As we headed out into the Stream it became apparent that the actual conditions diverged from the forecast but it was still pretty good. The wind was NNW, and a good 10-15. This meant the wind was opposing the Gulf Stream and the seas were higher than forecast. Not at all bad, but it made me decide not to stop at Bimini, where the entrance can be dangerous in those conditions for a boat of my draft.

As the day wore on I pulled ahead of Calypso but checked in with them by radio several times. There were a number of other boats out there and several ships as well. I raised land around 1:30 and by about 3:30 I had sailed around the north end of Bimini and on to the Great Bahama Bank. My new goal was to make it to Mackie Shoal, another 30 miles, which I did, by around 8:00 PM. At this point I anchored in about 15 feet of water, which is a bit bizarre, being out of sight of land. I had a miserable night's sleep, due to the incessant motion and the frequent looking out for other vessels. I saw a number of them. Needless to say, I was showing my anchor light and also a solar powered light on the cabin top. There were several other sailboats anchored a couple of miles further on.

In the morning the wind started to build as I was listening on my new radio to the forecast. I only listened for a couple of minutes because the motion was getting worse and I needed to get the anchor up ASAP. It was a process, especially as it was now blowing 15-20 and the banks were covered with whitecaps. The motion was excessive. I put on my harness, clipped the tether to the backline, and crawled forward.

To be continued....

Is this working?

Hi Everyone,
I am in Nassau again after a few days in the northern Exumas. I found that I was unable to blog with the 3 devices I had, so finally caved in and bought a cheap Bahamian cell phone that looks like it may do the trick. I will have to keep topping it up with data as I go. I have no idea whatsoever how far 2 gigabytes will take me, but that is what I am starting out with. Can someone please let me know if this is actually working? If so, I will do a recap of the cruise.

Best to all, Charlie