26 - 29 April 2009

26 April 2009

Mark, Rachelle, and I hitchhiked 12 miles north to Stella Maris Resort to use their WiFi.  Five dollars for all day WiFi was a good deal.  A local lady and her daughter gave us a ride all the way to the resort.  She was testing the new engine in her old car.  The high import taxes make new cars expensive, so the locals just keep bandaging their old cars as long as they can.  Very few accessories work, such as speedometer, engine guages, or air conditioner, so the car is basically nothing but a motor and a body rattling down the road.  Later, we walked about a mile back before a local family in an old minivan gave us a ride home.  It was almost dark when we returned, but Rachelle made her delicious lobster pasta for supper.

27 April 2009

Walked over to the ocean side today for some exercise and to explore a new stretch of beach.  I keep hoping to find a stretch of beach with good surf to try out my surfboard, but most of the beaches are protected by off-lying coral reefs that break up the surf.  Then, bought some groceries on the way home.  Basically did very little today except hang out for one more day in a tropical paradise.

28 April 2009

Long Island Breeze Resort re-opened today.  Mike, one of the owners, had been sailing in the Family Island Regatta over in Georgetown, while his wife Jackie was shopping in Fort Lauderdale.  Their WiFi is excellent, even though their resort lacks a certain air of hospitality.  In the evening, Mark, Rachelle, and I joined Peter and Monica Holter on their boat Tava for Happy Hour.  Tava is a remarkable steel sailboat the the Holter family has sailed on for several years throughout the Caribbean.  We experimented with various mixtures of coconut milk, pineapple juice and rum.  Peter's mixture won the taste test.

29 April 2009

Mark and I explored a nearby cave.  It was quite large, with many branches and side chambers.  Then we spotted the supply boat coming into the harbor, so we walked into town to watch it.  In the afternoon we walked over to the ocean side to snorkel the reefs again.  Several large fish were hiding amongst the coaral heads and Mark spotted a lobster.  I slid over a coral head and discovered an 18-inch diameter sleeping sea turtle.  His sixth sense saved him from my grasping hands and he darted away.

18 - 25 April 2009

18 April 2009

Smith Bay Harbor is very protected and it was a quiet, still night.  Mark and I walked a mile south to Ferndandez Bay Resort to check for WiFi.  Fernandez Bay Resort seems to be a family run affair.  Things were clean and well-arranged.  The overall air was one of very respectable hospitality.  Definitely not created by locals.  However, even though the had WiFi, they would not let non-guests use it.  Seems that people in the past had abused their limited bandwidth.  One of the teenagers did tell us that Sammy T’s Resort about 15 miles north had WiFi.  A phone call to Sammy T’s confirmed it.  Tomorrow we are sailing north to Sammy T’s. 

19 April 2009

Left Smith Bay Harbor at 7:20 am.  Anchored north of Bennett’s Harbor, right in front of Sammy T’s Resort at 1150WT 2434 7539.  Went ashore right off and were quite impressed with the landscaping of the resort.  They used native plants and really created a work of art.  However, their WiFi system was terribly slow.  Connecting was the first struggle.  Then, every page that finally loaded seemed to take forever.  In the entire afternoon, I read two emails and sent one.  Is there any useable WiFi on this island?

20 April 2009

Last night, Mark, Rachelle, and I decided to sail south to Hawks Nest Point today.  A resort there may have WiFi, and it also puts us closer to Georgetown.  I need to be in Georgetown the first part of May to meet Jim Boernge.  Then the boats Markelle and Pequod will sail together through the southern Bahamas to the Turks and Caicos Islands, and then on to the Dominican Republic to hide out from hurricanes.  Pulled up the anchor at 09:20 am.  Positions enroute:  1204WT 2421 7543, 1535WT 2418 7535.  Anchored at 2146WT 2411 7529.  Most of the trip was spent tacking directly into the wind.  Very slow trip.  Trailed a fishing line, but only caught some sea grass. 

21 April 2009

Mark took his two folding bicycles ashore.  We rode three miles down a dirt road to Hawks Nest Point Resort.  A real nice place with brightly painted cottages, paved streets, a private airport, and a clean marina stocked with high-dollar sport fishing boats.  We peddled right through the front entrance and settled down in the deserted marina clubhouse.  Their WiFi worked great.  What a surreal experience to finally find high-quality, open WiFi in a deserted building.  Nobody seemed to mind as we peddled home later in the afternoon. 

22 April 2009

An approaching weather system convinced us to head further south, back to Thompson Bay, Long Island.  That will put us closer to Georgetown.  This week in Georgetown is the Family Island Regatta.  The biggest event there all year.  It is a Bahamas national-level sailing championship, so anchorages, docks, and stores will be crowded with people in town for the regatta and the parties.  Pulled up the anchor at 07:30 am.  Positions enroute:  0900WT 2410 7533, 1207WT 2358 7530.  Anchored ate 2200WT 2321 7508 in Thompson Bay.

 23 April 2009

Pulled up the anchor and moved a little closer to shore, and closer to a good dinghy landing.  Without an outboard motor for the dinghy, I like to be close to shore.  In the afternoon Mark, Rachelle, and I hitchhiked eleven miles south to Max’s Conch Bar to use their WiFi.  The second car along the road gave us a ride to Max’s.  We spent a couple of hours relaxing in the shade and using their internet.  Mark and Rachelle were able to use their free, internet-based telephone service called Skype.  The trick is to find enough bandwidth.  Many of the internet connections in the Bahamas cannot support Skype.  Getting home took two rides.  The first was from a local policeman, since he was only going halfway he arranged our second ride with a friend.  Who needs a car?

 24 April 2009

Wired up a remote speaker to my VHF radio.  The engine, when it is running, makes too much noise to hear the radio.  Now, the remote speaker can be held next to my ear when I am steering the boat.  In the afternoon, walked over to the ocean side of the island, then a mile south along the beach.  There were many shallow reefs just offshore that broke up the ocean swells.  Along the shore were several small coves with sandy beaches.

 25 April 2009

Helped Mark repair a 12-volt power cord for his laptop computer.  Then we spent the afternoon snorkeling the reefs on the ocean side.  Saw lots of fish.  Several large parrotfish were hiding under the coral ledges.  A couple of large groupers caught our eye.  One fish was huge, but not sure what kind it was.  Mark came close to a nurse shark and I spotted a couple of young barracuda.  Finally, with the rising tide bringing more waves in, it was time to quit and head home.

8 - 17 April 2009

8 April 2009
Packed the laptop to town and connected to WiFi at the Long Island Breeze Resort, http://www.longislandbreezeresort.com/ The resort is the creation of three investors. In many ways it is much too nice for the area, but its poor location will keep it from ever being a destination resort. Two of the investors run the daily operations and it seems they are in a long, slow slide to losing their money. Their desperate actions to save money just drive away the few customers that do stop in.

9 April 2009
Mark and I decided to spend the day exploring. We sailed my boat a few miles and anchored at 2317 7507in the bight just south of Dutchman’s Point. Close to where we landed the dinghy is an old Spanish church, built in the 1500’s. It is in sad shape and there is no evidence of anyone trying to save it as an historical site. Then we hitchhiked about 12 miles southeast to the world’s deepest blue hole. Last week a woman set a world record there for free diving. Today, Mark and I swam around the edge of it while several European free divers were practicing in the center. The blue hole is 660 feet deep and the water is quite cool. We hitchhiked back to the dinghy and rowed out to the boat, only to find that the tide was out and we were stranded on a sandbank for 4 hours. Finally, the tide came back enough to clear the sandbank and we returned to Thompson Bay by 9:00 pm.

10 April 2009
Sailed from Thompson Bay to Hog Cay. Left Thompson Bay at 10:30 am. Positions enroute: 1215WT 2324 7513, 1420WT 2333 7521. Anchored west of Hog Cay at 1520WT 2336 7521. Snorkeled a nearby reef and found several coral heads with fish. Hit a couple of fish, but they were too close to the coral and the spear did not penetrate enough for the barbs to open, so the fish wiggled off and got away. I figured a couple of wounded, bleeding fish would attract any nearby sharks, so I quit for the day.

11 April 2009
Sailed from Hog Cay to the south end of Calabash Bay. Left Hog Cay at 12:30 am. Anchored at 1400WT 2338 7521. Several resort houses along the beach and a nearby dive boat full of divers from Stella Maris kept me from spearfishing, since there may have been some local regulation prohibiting spearfishing there. Instead, swam ashore to the beach about a quarter-mile away and swam back for the exercise.

12 April 2009
Left Calabash Bay at 10:30 am. Just a short sail north past St. Peters Point to the next bay. Anchored at 1130WT 2340 7521. Markelle and Pequod were the first two boats there. By evening there were three more. Mark and I took his dinghy about a mile north and climbed up the point where a monument stands to Christopher Columbus. We checked likely reefs for spearfishing spots on the way back. I then rowed to a nearby reef and speared a couple of fish. It was too easy. Climbed out of the dinghy onto a submerged coral head. Sank down the other side of the coral head, speared a small snapper, and put it in the dinghy. Went back and speared a medium snapper. Went back a third time for a big snapper hiding under the coral, but almost had to push a large barracuda out of the way. He was waiting to take the next fish I speared. If he already knew what I was doing, then surely the local sharks were coming over for dinner. Time to quit fishing for the day and eat own my supper.

13 April 2009
A cold front coming into the northern Bahamas will cause the wind to shift westerly and this bay is too exposed to the west, so we decided to head north to Cat Island. One thing to see on Cat Island is the Hermitage, hand-built by Father Jerome as a retirement home at the age of 62 on the highest hill in the Bahamas. Pulled up anchor at 10:00 am and put the dinghy on the foredeck. Nice day sailing north. The seas were fairly calm and there was a light southerly breeze. Positions enroute: 1201WT 2348 7524, 1405WT 2358 7527, 1808WT 2412 7527. Anchored at 1900WT 2414 7524. Anchored just west of Old Bight, Cat Island. Not sure what is in the water, but the bottom is quite dark. Unlike the clear water so far in the Bahamas.

14 April 2009
Went ashore about 10:00am and walked to the southern end of Old Bight. Then walked to the northern end. Lots of abandoned, small stone houses. The locals complain of a shortage of land, but they have a form of property ownership called “generation property” where property is passed to the entire surviving family. For anything to be done with the land, the whole family must agree and sign a document. One person can hold up the whole process. Much of the so-called land shortage in the Bahamas seems to be caused by this outdated law. Hence all the unused stone houses. Picked several coconuts and took them back to the boat for food, and the fun of chopping them open.

15 April 2009
Stayed anchored off Old Bight until 3:00 pm and then sailed north to New Bight. Quite rough because swell is coming straight into the harbor. Rowed ashore and walked a mile south along the main road. On the way back, I passed the local policewoman, Ella Mae Rolle. She was walking along the road carrying a swagger stick, going to her evening check on an elderly couple, a blind man and a crippled woman. Ella Mae, as a cop, definitely wanted to assess the new stranger in town, and called me over to talk. At the same time, she seemed to be a genuinely nice person. Maybe America could improve its police effectiveness by having cops to walk through neighborhoods, talk to people, and check on those who need help.

16 April 2009
Still anchored off New Bight, Cat Island, which is still quite rough with the westerly swell. When will the wind finally shift north? By 9:00 am was walking up Como Hill, the highest hill in the Bahamas. On top is the Hermitage that Father Jerome hand-built at age 62 and lived there until he died at 80. Father Jerome followed a wandering career path, starting as an architect, an Anglican priest, a wagon driver, a bush missionary, a Catholic priest, and finally a hermit. Explored a cave on the way back, but it was too full of bats. Carried a bag of laundry 2 miles south and washed clothes for the first time in a month. Actually, washing shorts and t-shirts in salt water works okay if you can dry them in hot enough sunshine to crystallize the salt, then shake the salt crystals off. Walked to a grocery store a mile north of town. Carrying groceries on the way back, decided to stop at a barbershop and get a haircut. No deal. Haircuts for “Whites, Indians, and Chinese” were $20 and about 3 times more expensive than for locals. The barber swore the price difference was because of the poor texture of their hair, but additional questioning drew out amazingly intense hostility. Not a friendly barber and not on the path to success.

17 April 2009
Move a couple miles north to Smith Bay harbor. Pulled up the anchor at 7:30 am and dropped it at 1030WT 2420 7528. Smith Bay Harbor is a small commercial basin where the supply boat docks. We rafted the two sailboats, Markelle and Pequod, to conserve room. Nice protected harbor with a short dinghy ride to shore. Filled several water jugs from a convenient spigot on the dock. Came here for the nearby Internet Café, which is a real disappointment. Once the ancient, ailing computers finally die, I think the proprietress will simply continue dusting them, while waiting for them to rise from the dead.

Gear Report – Bahia Boat Inflatable Dinghy

Overall Assessment:  Typical false-economy of a Chinese-made product.  This 7-foot, six-inch inflatable dinghy is a Chinese copy of what I believe is a Mercury 230 inflatable.  Bahia Boat’s web special sold them for $260 and sales representative Matthew Lewis said five Chinese plastics manufactures built test dinghies and Bahia Boat chose the best one for production.  Sounded good.  The dinghy arrived without any assembly instructions.  Another boater I know had the same problem.  From the factory, it arrived with a patch over a skin defect.  One air chamber has a slow leak.  After using it for a month, one oarlock broke suddenly and almost left me stranded.  Now both oars are tied on with rope instead of oarlocks.  It works, but is not the quality expected for a product that is warranted for five years.  Will Bahia Boat stand behind their warranty?  Probably not.  They did not return my phone calls when I was trying to order the boat brand new.  By the time this dinghy dies, I will gladly pay three times as much for a brand-name, trustworthy one with a real warranty.

1 - 7 April 2009

1 April 2009

Rowed the dinghy to the beach and walked two miles to town.  Bought 4 bags of groceries and carried them all the way back.  Updated the blog.  Wireless Internet service was available for $5 by the day in a third-world shack.  It was quite slow because so many people were using it.  Finally, in the afternoon the whole system simply quit, which meant it was time to go grocery shopping.  Later, while eating a hamburger at Eddie’s Edgewater Café, an obnoxious, older woman came in preaching loudly about why the world should recycle and demanding to know where she could recycle her trash.  The bar maid said she thought some guy in a green pickup truck collected beer bottles.  The lady was technically correct in the points she was making, but completely out of place and an embarrassment.  An ugly American out to save the world, preaching from a moral fortress.

 

2 April 2009

Lazy day.  Mark and Rakelle stopped by and we all went to the Chat-n-Chill, the main cruisers hangout on Stocking Island across the Georgetown Harbor.  Around the Chat-n-Chill are the big showoff boats.  Reminds me of Ego Alley in Annapolis, Maryland.  Mark and I hiked to the stone monument overlooking Stocking island.

 

3 April 2009

Kayaked into Georgetown.  Paddled 1.7 nautical miles in 45 minutes against a 15-knot wind and two-foot chop.  It was a good workout and much easier than walking from town with heavy groceries.  Checked out the Dive Exuma dive shop in Georgetown.  It is safely hidden in the gated community of February Point and obviously set up to cater to rich tourists.  Gear was limited to basic rental gear with high prices.  But, they send a boat out almost everyday, sometimes as far as Conception Island for a wall dive, then on to Long Island for a shark dive.  Will sail to Pigeon Cay tomorrow with Mark and Rackelle.  Looking forward to a remote anchorage with a chance to go spearfishing.

 

4 April 2009

Left Georgetown about 9:00 am.  Anchored northwest of Pigeon Cay about 1230WT at 2328 7536.  Am getting closer to the tropics.  Am now just one mile north of the Tropic of Cancer.  Paddled ashore on the surfboard but the swells were too small to ride.  We went spear fishing and Mark speared a decent lobster.  I took several shots at fish, but did not hit anything.

 

5 April 2009

Left Pigeon Cay at 10:10 am.  Moved southeast to Pelican Cays and anchored there at 1100WT 2327 7536.  Am finally in the tropics.  Snorkeled for a couple hours looking for lobsters or fish.  Found a few rocks where fish were hiding.  Took quite a few shots but did not spear anything.  One large grouper looked especially tasty.  Swam into a cave until the surge from the waves coming in from other side of the cay became too strong.

 

6 April 2009

Left Pelican Cays at 10:00 am.  Headed for Thompson Bay on Long Island.  Decided to navigate the 26-mile trip solely by dead reckoning to practice navigating without the GPS.  Position enroute:  1300WT 2326 7525.  Anchored in the north end of Thompson Bay at 1822WT 2322 7508.  A strong cold front is blowing through.  We used the clocking wind to sail to Long Island.  The trouble is that Thompson Bay is open to the West, so it is a rough anchorage until this westerly wind finishes clocking around.

 

7 April 2009

Wind shifted back southerly during the night, so I was sheltered during that time.  Cooked pancakes this morning.  Need to mix an egg with the Bisquick so the pancakes hold together better.  Am leery of buying eggs without refrigeration, but have heard they stay fresh if you turn them every couple days.  Rowed ashore and walked a couple miles to the main crossroads of Salt Pond, Long Island.  Along the way, saw a couple of good grocery stores and a decent marine supply store.  The business owners seem to be more self-motivated here than in some places.  Easy tourist dollars seem to harm the fragile Bahamian work ethic.  Or, maybe simple hunger is the only thing that gets them going. 

31 March 2009 - Haitian Deja Vu

Today a small handmade wooden boat sailed into the Georgetown Harbor carrying three Haitian men.  Over the years, illegal Haitian immigration has caused considerable turmoil in the Bahamas.  Bahamian Immigration was predictably excited by their arrival, but frustrated because this trip is sponsored by a Dutch citizen, Geert van der Kolk, accompanied by an American writer, Mary Houghton.  At first, I was wondering why such a sad chapter in history needs a sequel.  It turns out that Geert was sailing in the Bahamas several years ago with his family.  One night the Coast Guard unsuccessfully trtied to rescue a sinking Haitian boat.  Geert sailed to the area to assist, but could not get their in time.  All forty people onboard drowned.  Geert’s group started building the boat a year ago and they spent the last two weeks sailing towards America, where the boat will be placed in a Palm Beach museum.  Labelled the “Si Priz” Expedition, look for an upcoming article in Outside Magazine.  Late in the afternoon, the Haitians were engaged in protecting their boat from the barnacle-crusted dock pilings.  Simply moving the boat to the downwind side of the dock would have solved the problem, but they refused to move the boat without word from “Le Capitan”, who had eaten, showered, and retired to better accommodations.  When I left, one man was squatting on the boat holding it away from the dock, presumably for the rest of the night.  The other two Haitians were content to watch him work, but my guess is they 

23 March -- 30 March 2009

23 March 2009

Itching to keep moving south, but a couple more days of strong and gusting wind are in the forecast.  Scratched the itch by grocery shopping and blog updating, but the empty shelves of the grocery store were a grim site.  Tomorrow the supply boat comes in.  A middle-aged white lady in an older nondescript Japanese car gave me a ride to the grocery store.  Two black schoolgirls were riding in the back seat, so I assumed the lady was a school teacher or church sister.  Many of the local whites are descendants of British Loyalists who were disenfranchised after the American Revolution and moved to the Bahamas.  “Winds from the Carolinas” is an excellent historical novel describing this migration.  Whites here are a minority.  They are represented in all economic classes, but seem to provide the bulk of the nation’s middle class as business owners and professionals.  They are especially scarce in the social and political circles and almost non-existent in the local media.

 

24 March 2009

The supply boat arrived early this morning.  Pallets are lifted off the boat one at a time by an old crane driven onto the pier amidst a swarm of people looking for their stuff.  Seems like a lot of chaos and effort for something that happens every week.  Now, how long will it take the grocery store to fill its shelves?  Explored a cave south of town.  The mouth sits a few feet above the water level and the cave branches into several tunnels twisting back into the island.  Bought $57 worth of groceries in preparation for the next trip.

 

25 March 2009

Wind this morning seemed manageable and I almost ignored the forecast and headed out.  By mid-morning the wind was howling in the rigging and by noon two more boats ducked into the harbor.  While I was wearing swim trunks, they pulled in wearing full foul weather gear.  Outside the harbor must be wild.  The forecast did call for 10-foot ocean swells and 8-foot chop going in different directions.  Probably best to go to town, eat a hamburger, and wait until tomorrow.

 

26 March 2009

At 7:00 am some sort of native unrest started in town.  The bullhorns garbled the words, but it seemed like a political protest.  Maybe that is why all eight sailboats left the harbor within an hour.  The weather was great, but once south of the Bight of Eleuthera, the leftover swell and chop were rough.  Positions enroute:  1413WT 2434 7619, 1534WT 2424 7622, 1916WT 2415 7621.  The wind allowed me south to Dotham Cut in the Exumas.  Just after dark, I was heading in to anchor off Black Point Settlement, but the darkness, along with the surge, wave chop, and unknown tidal current in the narrow rocky cut led me to bail out, tack away, and head offshore to spend the night.  Yesterday, I diligently prepared food so I would not have to cook while sailing today.  It worked well until sometime in the night everything eaten today came back up.  Four heaves before it all escaped.

 

27 March 2009

Position enroute:  0224WT 2411 7613.  Just as dawn was breaking, arrived at Rudder Cut Cay.  Rudder Cut Cay is privately owned, so permission is required to go ashore, but it yields a few small anchorages sheltered from the ocean.  Found a small beach with a cave and by 7:30 am was anchored at 2352 7614 west of Rudder Cut Cay.  Soon the wind shifted south, pinning me in the small rocky anchorage, with two anchors down in six feet of water, backed up close to shore praying at least one anchor would hold.  The worst part was this south wind would have carried me to Long Island.  Instead it had me trapped in a dangerous spot.  The chop coming into the open south side kept me too queasy to eat until things calmed down around sunset.

 

28 March 2009

Stayed anchored at Rudder Cut Cay as the wind weakened and shifted.  Was lazy the whole day and felt bad about not getting much accomplished, until I realized that lounging around in swim trunks with no real cares or interruptions in such a beautiful, natural place was okay.

 

29 March 2009

The wind shifted south and the seas were mild, so I headed out about 2:00 pm.  Today, though, I was actually enjoying the lounging around and was almost too lazy to leave.  It is amazing how changing perspectives can change your whole outlook.  Still not sure where to go.  This wind might still be good enough to take me to Rum Cay, Conception Island, or Long Island.  Positions enroute:  1725WT 2346 7601, 1911WT 2345 7557.

 

30 March 2009

Positions enroute:  0203WT 2343 7548, 0619WT 2343 7543, 0938WT 2341 7549.  The wind almost died out last night and was too light for the boat to maintain course while I slept.  But, was able dream.  Dream sleep seems to be a threshold that allows adequate functioning the next day.  Woke up between Georgetown and the northern tip of Long Island. Which way to go?  Decided on Georgetown.  Anchored at 1536WT 2332 7547 by Goat Cay, two miles north of Georgetown.  There are approximately 150 cruising boats in Georgetown now.  Many cruisers spend the winter here until their insurance companies demand they leave the hurricane path each Summer.  The colors are amazing.  The water is several colors of blue, with the main color turquoise.  The water is clearer than many swimming pools.  A large starfish 8 feet below the boat is clearly visible.