We're in the Exumas

Left Nassau this morning.  8 hours and 42 miles later (motoring into - what else? - headwinds), we are docked at Highborne Cay Marina in the Northern Exumas.  Had winds of 8-13 all day; but on the Exuma Banks (depths 7 to 25 feet) we only had 1-2 foot swells - try THAT in deep water!

Beautiful here, but very expensive for almost everything.  The green water across the banks is amazing.

Berry Islands and the Blue Hole

some of the flotilla at the Blue Hole

The Blue Hole

Bob & Ilona

Bob splashing

Bob at the helm 

Eden photographing; Chris climbing

Chris Joanie Keith

no problem - it's anchored and a mile away

Eden & Chris

Eden at the Blue Hole

Joanie at the Blue Hole

Shark River at low tide - Great Harbour Cay

another crossing

Sea Caves on Great Harbour Cay

Some of our boats, anchored behind White Cay

Off (or on) to the Exumas

We may leave tomorrow for the Exumas - if so, headed to the marina in
Highborne Cay, about 36 miles SE of Nassau.  We would be sailing with
Chris & Eden on s/v-Rag Doll (a 24' Pacific Seacraft Dana).  Several other boats we have been sailing with may be headed to Allen Cay and anchoring.

OR: We may stay in Nassau for several more days.

Internet sucks completely in the Bahamas.  Almost impossible to use.
I may have to burn money with my sat phone.

Berry Islands to Nassau

The Internet in the Bahamas is unreliable, expensive, slow, intermittent, maddening and frustrating [i.e. it really sucks] – and that is in Nassau, the capitol city.  Here's the stuff I have been trying to publish.  Don't worry if you don't get updates for a while.

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1/25 Saturday – moving and anchoring in the Berry Islands

Crossing – about 38 miles.  From Great Harbour Cay Marina, around the top of Great Harbour Cay in the Berry Islands, past two huge cruise ships, then anchored inside White Cay – on the east side of the Berrys.  Very tired.  Took about 10 tries to set our anchor – finally found a spot, but in 7 feet of water (half-tide).  Set our Rocna with 50 feet of chain and a 15 lb mushroom anchor as a kellet.  Rough night – rolling all night. Very little sleep.  Anchored with 3 boats that were traveling with us from the last marina.

What a way to spend a birthday!

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1/26 Sunday – dinghying to the Blue Hole

Took a flotilla of dinghys to the famous Blue Hole – only a mile or so by dinghy, then a ½ mile walk through the jungle.  Beautiful spot.  Everyone got to swim here.  Pictures coming.

Sundowners on Oz, a large sailing catamaran.  Joined by two couples sailing on a large monohull.  That made 12 of us for drinks!

Another rough night in the anchorage – very windy.  Again, only a few hours of sleep.  This is an extremely beautiful place, but really sucks as an anchorage.

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1/27 Monday – to Flo's Conch House

This time, we had 16 people, boat-pooling on 4 dinghys (4 people each), for about 3 miles on the inside banks (really shallow!) to Flo's Conch House near Little Harbor.  Pre-ordered dinners – lobster, conch, fish plus the usual coleslaw and rice with beans.  And lots of beer.  Very interesting place. We were, of course, the only people there – except for Chester the cook and owner, and his helper.

And yet another shitty night of rocking and rolling with winds and tidal swells.  No sleep from about 2am until sunrise.  We really need to get some sleep!

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1/28 Tuesday – to Nassau

Left at sunrise, for a 40 miles crossing to Nassau. Fortunately the weather prediction was right, for once – less than 1 foot seas, little wind – motored all the way, with our autopilot doing all the driving.  Good thing, too, as we were really tired.

Docked in Nassau Harbour Club Marina.  Exciting time trying to find the western entrance to Nassau Harbour – followed the waypoint at the entrance, hoping to be able to find the buoys (some of which were there) in time.  Worked out fine.  Passed by 4 huge docked cruise ships and under 2 70-foot bridges.

Marina has a swimming pool (!), a closed restaurant, and is right across the street from a shopping center – with a Starbucks and a Fresh Market (Florida-quality) with wonderful food – everything we could want, at outrageous prices.

Dinner at the marina on our boat, with Eden and Chris – our friends on the 24' Dana, sv-Rag Doll.

A wonderful nights sleep – about time we got to sleep all night.  We really like being tied to a dock in calm weather instead of anchoring in lousy conditions.

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1/29 Wednesday – in Nassau

Shopped for a mushroom anchor to replace the one that I lost in the White Cay anchorage – lost it while pulling the anchor just before sunrise. Hey, I don't know what happened – I really needed to get some sleep.  Also got a small anchor for the dinghy – in case we need to stop the dink on the banks if the motor quits and we have a strong current (usually do).

Chris stayed and worked on his boat.  Ilona, Eden & I walked downtown.  They split while I hit a bank and replenished our cash supply.  The west end of town is by the cruise ships – more like Palm Beach or Beverly Hills than the Bahamas, but definitely with Bahamian culture and "architecture". Interesting.  Walked for 3 to 4 hours.

Dinner on sv-Rag Doll, this time Ilona didn't have to cook and I didn't have to clean up.

They may have talked us into leaving Friday for the Exumas, particularly if we get to go to a marina there.  [Did I mention that I need to sleep?]

Arrived Nassau Harbour today

We arrived safely in Nassau today, docked at Nassau Harbour Club Marina. Will be here for several days. Expect to get Internet soon, so more details later. We were anchored out in the Berry Island from Saturday through today with 3-4 other sailboats - wonderful times. Pictures soon.

Headed out - towards Nassau

Leaving great Great Harbor Cay Marina with 3 new buddy boats for 1-2 overnight anchorings. A real test of nerves for Bob and I. Bought hogfish and lobster from local fisherman tonight. Ate at local outdoor grill tonight. Excellent. BBQ. Walked 5 miles today with the group. Wore jeans, wool socks, 4 layers on the top and MN winter hats. Now for the electric blanket and sleep. Departure at 9 am and offline. Love you all! Shabbat shalom and lila tov!

A flotilla

We are now traveling with two other boats:

1. Chris & Eden, on their 24' Pacific Seacraft Dana, s/v Rag Doll.

2. Keith & Joanie, on their 43' Jeanneau, s/v Pelican

Nice to have new, good friends to travel with.

Headed out tomorrow, probably.

Leaving Great Harbor Cay Marina in the Berry Islands.

Anchoring in the east Berrys - Sat, Sun, maybe Monday? Most likely behind White Cay, with Little Harbor as a backup.

Will stay for a few days, then off to Nassau on Monday or Tuesday – an easy 35 mile crossing with calm weather expected.

So, by Monday or definitely by Tuesday night, we should be in Nassau - probably docked at the Nassau Harbour Club Marina.

Then staying, provisioning for a few days; after that, TBD.

HAWT-WYWH [Having a wonderful time, wish you were here]

Today, Friday 24January

Beautiful day today.  Walked into the settlement (Bullocks Harbor), here in the Berry Islands.  About a 1.5 mile walk.  Hardware (very little there), Groceries (a few more items), Beer (at a small "bar/restaurant" in town overlooking the Bahama Banks to the west, Ice Cream cone.
Got a ride back in a pickup truck with some locals.  Fun!

Tonight: "Chill and Grill". A fish fry for $10 down at the end of the docks here - ribs, steak, chicken, fish, whatever.  Sounds like fun.  Everyone in the marina (6 boats maybe?) will be there.  As well as the locals.

Jeep, Provisions, Conch, Credit

Yesterday - Jeep Thrills.  Rented a POS jeep for 24 hours. Drove (with Eden & Chris) around the island. Beaches. Sunshine. Green water. Sea caves. Grocery run into the "settlement" of Bullock Harbor (too small to be called a town or village). "Hosted" a sundown get-together on Ihana, with Eden & Chris from the P.S.Dana, and Gary & Christelle from the trawler.  Ate so much that we settled for a light supper.  Another wonderful day.

Today - Conch salad. Local fisherman down the dock made a fresh conch salad for us - raw conch, onions, tomatoes, lime, orange, peppers, whatever.  Sort of like a conch ceviche. Saved it for dinner tonight.  The Ilona and Eden hiked into town (1.5 miles 1-way), since we needed more ketchup. (WTF?) Chris is working on his boat.  I'm on island time, as usual.

Yesterday's Breakage Report - our credit card!  Seems the Visa company decided to mail us new credit cards (to Minnesota where we can't get them) - and cancelled our current cards (which were supposed to expire in October).  Nice.  Good thing we have some cash stash so we could pay for the diesel fuel.  Dealing with bank and credit card companies is really fun when we have only expensive phone calls possible to the USA using our Bahamas cell phone, and occasional lousy Internet. And you all know how well Customer "Service" works over the phone.  Supposedly our bank is working to get new credit cards to us.  Fortunately we have a spare card from another company.  

I sure wish I had known that this might happen before we left home; I would then have carried more cash instead of credit cards – our history with bank credit cards is that there is much less danger in us being robbed of cash by people than of having our credit cards inactivated by the bank and credit card companies! Really - our card has been inactivated many times while we were traveling over the past several years: "Someone used your card in AZ, CA, KS, FL, Bahamas, ... - must be fraud." No, you idiots - we told you where and when we were going - it's us.  [Additional expletives deleted.]  I suggest you be nowhere near our local home bank when we return - it WILL be ugly. I promise.

More pictures from the Berry Islands

view from our cockpit

sunset from our cockpit

The restaurant and bar at Great Harbor Cay Marina

Manatee - right at our dock

New sailing friends

24 ft sailboat from Toronto just came in next to us. Pacific Seacraft Dana  24' (27' with bowsprit). Trailered to Miami from Toronto. Chris and Eden. Had them over for dinner as they had been up since 2 am when they left Bimini.  For once, we are not the smallest sailboat.  

Tomorrow- Rent jeep. Jeep Thrills! 
Probably with the new sailing friends.Transfer diesel from carboys to tank, then refill carboys with diesel by jeep as getting to fuel dock by boat is a challenge (high tide only). Try to get groceries - Mail boat comes in on 3 Wednesdays a month and brings groceries. And frozen meats. Not this Wednesday. Down to canned proteins and veggies and dry goods. Then explore the island. And Shark River with snorkel equipment; gotta get some conch for us. Sea Caves if we can find them. The Rat Pack's superhome ruins, if we can find it.  

Chris says next front comes thru Tues. nite and Wednesday. No problem - Staying here for awhile. 

Weather to go; Whether to go

We are really dependent on the weather here in the Bahamas.  We are only able to comfortably leave port and travel on some days; best to stay tucked in on others.

We hope to get a 2-day semi-calm window so we can make a jump to Nassau with one night of anchoring out in the East Berrys, without really strong winds and especially without a strong overnight anchor-dragging wind shift.

It looks now like we could have gone today (Monday) and tomorrow, but this place is really nice with beautiful beaches and friendly people and in a bombproof hurricane hole. So we will stay for a while.

Tuesday night and Wednesday will be awful, with another strong front coming through – best to stay here.  Looks like we might get good days for travel on Thursday-Friday, and even through the coming weekend. 

We are in no rush, as Nassau is more expensive to dock, crowded, noisy, and not that safe outside of the tourist areas in the daytime.  Our buddy boat, sv-Utopia, won't be leaving Miami until next week, so we can easily get to Nassau a week ahead of them.

For weather information, we rely on several sources:

1. Chris Parker.  We have never been able to pick up his SSB broadcasts on either of two SSB receive-only radios.  We subscribed to his daily e-mail weather updates, receiving them in the afternoons (except Sundays) by Internet if we have a land access point, or by Iridium Satellite Phone with X-Gate compression if no Internet (but only downloading these on days we need it).  EXCELLENT!  mwxc.com

We have been able to send a question ("when to go") to Chris by chat during his broadcasts, and get very good answers.

2. NOAA via VHF. When we can get it. Mostly for the Florida coasts, though.

3. NOAA Surface Analysis Map.  Current weather, interpreted by real meteorologists. http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/shtml/A_sfcbw.gif

4. NOAA National Data Buoy Center. http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov

5. Other sources when we have a land WiFi Access Point and Internet:

o             Passageweather.com

o             Buoyweather.com

o             Windalert.com

o             Windfinder.com

o             WUnderground.com

o             Weatherbug.com 

6. Other boaters – everyone has a different idea about what is happening and when to go and where.  Interesting to hear, but not often to be trusted.

Life in the Berry Islands

We are very comfortably on a dock at the Great Harbor Cay Marina in the Berry Islands.

It looks calm enough today that the local fishermen may go out and we can buy fresh fish on the dock later this afternoon. Weather in the low-mid 70s, sunny. Back to the beautiful beach – 15 minute walk!

This place sounds like a cross between the "civilized" ports in the Abacos, and the remote tiny villages in the Exumas.  A perfect mix for us.

Food – in Bullocks Harbor (almost a village): Some food in the almost-groceries, a mile away by dinghy or 1.5 miles by road/walking – frozen, only fresh when the mailboat comes in a week from this coming Wednesday.  One restaurant – good, cheap.

Food – in the marina: A good semi-outdoor restaurant right here in the marina – great food, but not cheap. A social center (i.e. bar) to meet other boaters and locals, of which there are not too many here.

A day at the beach

The beach on the east shore of Great Harbor Cay in the Berry Islands, The Bahamas.  This is a 15 minute walk from our slip at the G.H.C. Marina.

Bob and the beach

Ilona and the beach

Today's breakage report

Today's breakage report:
1. (Fresh) water in the bilge. Maybe 1 gallon total. No leaks in the water tanks or tubing or faucets. WTF?  Probably just water that got into the hollow floor joists back when we had the water heater tank leak, then sloshed out when we did the last crossing.  Water pump is not running, so we assume that the fresh water tank system is holding pressure. Solution: Dry out bilge (done), check again (later).
2. Wheel autopilot.  Lever locking the wheel to the autopilot works loose.  Temporary solution: Continue using the rubber band solution to hold it in place when at sea.  Permanent attempt at solution: Take off steering wheel; try to adjust the autopilot clutch.  Raymarine (as usual) does not address this in their "instruction" manuals.
3. NMEA Connection.  Works fine when at the dock. Does not work when at sea. WTF? Solution: Take the binnacle apart again (some day - some other day); try to replace connectors on the much-too-small wires on the (Raymarine, again, of course) wind instrument display.
4. Anchor.  Re-rig bridle with quick-releaseable hook (so we can raise the anchor quickly the next time we drag.). Rig kellet (15 lb mushroom anchor) for dropping down the chain.  Rig a trip line and float. Solution: Ignore for today; go to beach.

What to do:  Ignore these. Beautiful day. Go to beach.

Pictures, Freeport Crossing and Great Harbor Cay

Sunrise, one hour out of Freeport
crossing to the Berry Islands

Bob - on duty

Bob - off duty
Ilona at the helm and camera

Cruise ship anchored off Stirrup Cays, Berry Islands
closest point of approach = 4 miles

The Cut - entrance to Great Harbor Cay Marina
in the Berry Islands

Main Street, Bullocks Harbor
a short dinghy ride from the marina

Lunch at Cooliemae's Restaurant
in Bullocks Harbor

The Cut - the entrance into the marina

Marina Office, Great Harbor Cay

Most protected anchorage in the islands.
The arrow points to our dock.
The Cut is the entrance to the bay on the left.

Arrived in the Berry Islands

Left Freeport this morning. Had to wait for 1/2 tide and rising to get out of the marina, so we left at 6am in the dark.  Touched bottom once when we hit the bar; just made it out.  Had to leave as early as possible to make the 63-mile crossing and get into the Great Harbor Cay Marina before dark - arrived at 5pm; had to slow down to wait for the tide (again, as usual).
  Easy crossing.  Auto did almost all of the steering.  Seas were calm - about 1 foot most of the time. Thanks to Chris Parker for providing the beautiful weather.  Cold - wore foulies to keep warm most of the day, as the temperature was in the 60s with a wind (not enough to sail with, though).
  Beautiful marina. Laid-back island town; reminds me of some of the smaller places on the Chesapeake, or maybe in Maine. We are here for a few days or more; depends on when our stuck-in-Miami buddy boat can make the crossing and join us.  And this looks like a really nice place to hang out.
  Today's breakage report: 1. the lever locking the wheel to the autopilot kept working loose; temporarily fixed it with a big rubber band so we didn't have to hand-steer all day.  2. The NMEA connection between the wonderful Garmin chartplotter and the not-so-nice Raymarine autopilot stopped working again. Someday I have to tear it all apart and finally (FINALLY) replace the cheap undersized Raymarine wires and connectors with something that will stand up to being in a boat.
  Pictures etc. when we get the time.

Free from Freeport, Bound for the Berrys

Plan to leave Freeport tomorrow morning, Friday, bound for Great Harbor Cay Marina in the Berry Islands.  65 nautical miles @ 6.5 knots.  Sunrise to sunset. Leave & arrive at half-tide and rising.  Winds NW-N 5-10 knots. Seas 1 foot.  Should be a smooth crossing.

Lucaya - the tourist area of Freeport

and now for something completely different ...

Pool and beach at the Grand Lucayan Hotel & Resort

Grand Lucayan Hotel & Resort

Hotel Lobby at the Grand Lucayan Hotel

The marina in Lucaya

The Majority Rule Day Parade in Freeport

Schoolkids marching

Police Band

Police Band

She got the vote for women in The Bahamas - about 40 years ago
being honored during the Majority Rule Day festivities

Police Band
new outfits

How 'bout dem shoes, mon

55 gallon drums - really!

Sailing and living in the Northern Bahamas

Shark, underwater - from the dock at Old Bahama Bay Marina
West End, Grand Bahama Island

Crossing the Little Bahama Bank
north of Grand Bahama Island

Sailing with buddy boat Tranquillity
across the Bahama bank

Getting towed back after the bad day at Great Sale Cay

The propeller and saildrive - not too much damage after the chain-wrapping incident