Northern Exumas

The last two weeks we have spent slowly 'gunk-holing' our way north through the Exumas.  After re-provisioning and filling our water tanks at Staniel Cay, we made our way back to Black Point for one last load of laundry and one last plate of conch!  On March 10 we finally pointed Wyvern's nose north and had a lovely, albeit short, sail, anchoring off Bitter Guana Cay where we had a beautiful evening....so calm and with a full moon, the dingy looked like it was floating in midair off the stern of the boat!  The next morning we had a beautiful sail to Cambridge Cay, where we wanted to wait out the next front that was due to come through, and have one more visit to some of our favourite spots!

"...me and my shadow!..."

The day we arrived the wind hadn't picked up yet, so we were able to dingy over to the Sea Aquarium for one more dive with the fishes!  On our way back to the boat, we wandered over to the north end of O'Brien's Cay where the water was so shallow we simply dragged the dingy behind us as we walked over to the beach!  The white sands and turquoise water was stunning, and I was sorry I didn't have my camera with me.

While at Cambridge Cay, we also hiked up Little Bell Island along the windward side.  The front was moving through by then, and the winds were about 25 knots, so nice and cool for hiking, with impressive views of the Exuma Sound from the cliffs!  Not too many people out sailing that day!  We also made it around to honeymoon beach for one more swim and I finally captured a photo of a sea turtle as it swam by the beach!  We ended up staying at Cambridge Cay for almost a week, as a double front actually came through while we were there, and with very little protection from the west winds as we make our way north, we wanted to wait until there was a stretch of good weather so that we could take our time and enjoy our sail through the northern Exumas.

Looking southwest from Cambridge Cay mooring field

Sea Turtle

at the leeward side of honeymoon beach, Little Bell Island

mooring field from south, leeside  of honeymoon beach

path to the windward side!

...when the beaches aren't sandy!

honeymoon beach, windward side

Bell Rock beach

windward side during the passage of a front on Exuma Sound

leeward side, same day!!!  Exuma Bank in the distance

Bell Rock

Looking south from the north end of Little Bell Island.  Exuma Sound to the left and Cambridge Cay mooring field at the upper right.  Small lake on the island is tinged red from the surrounding mangroves

Cliffs on the east side of the island, looking out over Exuma Sound

When we did leave Cambridge Cay, we had another great sail to Hawksbill Cay.  We were hoping to stay at Warderick Wells, but because of the fronts moving through, there was essentially no room at the mooring fields there, except the one that is exposed to the west winds!!  So we gave it a miss and went straight to Hawksbill, which is essentially, the northern end of the Exuma Land and Sea Park, while Cambridge Cay is the southern end.

What a beautiful spot!!  We were actually the only ones there when we arrived and had the place to ourselves for about an hour!  The beaches are white sand that is so soft and fine to walk on, with the accompanying turquoise waters!  Also, for the first time since arriving in the Bahamas, we were starting to see coral heads and large rocks under water that had to be avoided while sailing.  I was a bit concerned about these initially, as I worried I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between rocks and just the deeper, darker patches of water, however my fears have been allayed!  The rocks are really black and are very easy to spot and therefore avoid, as long as the sun is not in your eyes and the water is not too rough.  Looking at the charts, the northern Exumas are much more prone to rocky stretches of shallow water that extend away from the islands than the central Exuma islands, so it is something we will definitely have to be more aware of!

Wyvern III at rest!

We picked up a mooring just off the southwestern end of Hawksbill Cay in a harbour off Rocker's Point; Rocker being the last person to have lived on the island, so it is now uninhabited.  Legend has it that he bled to death after being bitten by a barracuda while fishing in the shallows off the island!  After visiting the beach, we took our dingy and motored around the southern point and explored South Hawksbill Cove; a really neat area of shallows with sand bars and coral reefs.  This area was really protected from the open water around it, so very peaceful and beautiful.  As fate would have it, while we were nosing our way around, a good sized barracuda swam by and checked us out!  He really was quite curious, and hung around long enough to get a good look at us before carrying on!...our thoughts turned to Rocker!....  By the time we got back to the boat, one other boat had arrived, so that night there was just the two of us!

beaches off Hawksbill Cay

looking west toward the bank and the Wyvern III, from the beach at Rocker's Point

Rocker's Point beach

These two pictures are of South Hawksbill Cove

The next morning it was lovely and calm.  The second boat left early and another arrived shortly after, but only stayed to enjoy the flat water and do some water skiing behind their dingy, and then left about noon.  We finally had the place to ourselves!  And yes, we finally got our skinny dip, in the clear, clear water and enjoyed the peace and quiet!  It didn't last long, as about two hours later, boats started to arrive for the night, and we ended up sharing again with about four other boats!

The next day the wind was starting to pick up again, and we reluctantly released our mooring lines and left Hawksbill and it's beautiful beaches behind.  We sailed up past Shroud Cay and anchored off the south end of Norman's Cay, just by the airport.  It was quite 'rolly' when we arrived but the winds were staying north/northeast, so we anticipated that by the evening the swell would quieten down.  It did, and we had a nice comfortable night.  Fortunately, a little wind kept up, so we couldn't hear the charter boat right next to us having LOTS of fun quite as easily as we could have, had it been really quiet!!  One thing we have noticed as we make our way north, are the charter boats starting to make an appearance.  Most of them come out of Nassau, so if they are rented for a week, they really can only get about as far as Norman's Cay or Warderick Wells before they have to turn around and get back!  It can be a bit scary when they pull up and drop their anchor about one boat length away!  We are not used to that, but fortunately, no midnight dramas yet!!

We have been very spoiled by Hawksbill Cay, so Norman's Cay did not impress us too much!  The water is more green, with more rock and sea grass in it, and the beaches are not as fine a sand, and a darker colour also.  There is quite a history around Norman's Cay, as there was a huge drug smuggling business here about thirty or forty years ago.  Everyone has been caught now and the smuggling is no more, so the people now enjoy a quiet life on the island!

After Norman's Cay, we made our way just north of Highbourne Cay to Allan's Cay.  Here we anchored between two small islands, Allan's Cay and Leaf Cay, where there is good protection from most winds except the northeast winds, however, there probably would be a lot of swell from the Sound with some good strong east winds.  We enjoyed our stay there and had fun watching the tourists come in from Nassau on big, fast boats to see the iguanas on Leaf Cay and try to feed them.  These iguanas seem to be smaller than the ones we saw on Bitter Guana, but I believe they are the same kind.  We did not bother going to look at them, as the beach was quite a bit smaller, and not as pretty as the one on Bitter Guana.  We did do some swimming off the boat when the current wasn't running too swiftly, which caused some excitement.......finally, after 10 months of living on the boat, and three months of swimming off the boat, I dove in to the water with my glasses on and lost them!!!!  George quickly jumped in with me and the two of us snorkelled beside the boat for about half an hour before George finally saw them and brought them up!!  I would have been in trouble, as I really need them to read and don't have another pair on board, other than some drugstore readers, that are probably not strong enough any more!  Needless to say, we had a glass of wine with our late lunch that day!!!

view from our anchorage off Allan's Cay, looking east toward the Sound

Aaah!  Another tough day in the cockpit of an Alberg 34!!!!

After two days off Allan's Cay, we are now in the marina at Highbourne Cay.  We have been at anchor for 14 days, have no fresh veg or fruit left, all dairy products have been gone for some time, we are on our last row of our last chocolate bar (Wil and Didi brought four giant Lindt chocolate bars as gifts when they came!), and we are on the last of our water, so it is time to stock back up before we start to make our way west across the Exuma Bank, and then over to the Bimini Islands and across the Gulf Stream to Florida.  Also, yet another front is due, so it is a good place to hold up while it passes at which time we hope to take advantage of the south easterlys and sail toward Rose Island, just off Nassau.  From there we will cross to the Berry Islands, and on to the Bimini Islands via the Great Bahama Bank, waiting there for good weather to cross to Florida.  Meanwhile, we are enjoying the beach here at the marina, and will also borrow some bikes and do some exploring of the island!

Central Exumas

Well, the last of our visitors have come and gone. Wil and Didi and Ash came for an eight day visit. Once again, we were able to get in some snorkelling at the Sea Aquarium, a small coral reef where numerous varieties of fish abound! While Wil and Didi swam and snorkelled amongst them, Nana and Grandpa and Ash fed the Sargeant Majors and Snappers cheerios! Grandpa had made Ash a 'fish finder' out of an old water container we had on board, so although Ash enjoyed swimming in the ocean, he wasn't too keen on putting his face in the water (even with his new mask and snorkel!), so he was able to see in to the water through the plastic bottom of his fish finder! This was a spot where we were able to take all our guests, so we were really pleased, as it is such a good spot to see fish!

driving to Cambridge Cay

waiting for the next wave!

While we were in the Cambridge Cay area, we also walked and swam off some of our favourite beaches, again, where we had taken our previous visitors! When in the Bahamas, one must stroll along white, soft sand with palm trees and turquoise water rimming the edge!

We also finally found the iguanas! These iguanas are actually an endangered species and unique to the Bahamas, so we were pleased to see them! They come running out of the bushes on to the beach when you land your dingy, which can be a little intimidating, however they stop and wait to see if you have any food for them without getting too close! While we were anchored off the beach we also saw a lemon shark, so swimming was put off until after lunch!!

beach at Bitter Guana Cay where the iguanas are

Rock Iguana

After seeing the iguanas, we carried on to the settlement of Black Point, another spot where we have stopped with all our visitors, as the people here are friendly and the pizza at DaShamon's is a nice treat!

getting a hair cut and doing laundry at Ida's laundry in Black Point....nice view!!!

good Bahamian fare!!...deep fried conch bits with a cold Sands beer!

Finally, we returned to Staniel Cay, where everyone flew in and out by Flamingo Air from Nassau. In Staniel Cay, we always take our guests to the Thunderball Grotto, where the James Bond movie, Thunderball, was recorded! It is actually a lovely grotto, where, at low tide you can swim right in to the cave and look up where the sun shines in through the opening at the top of the island and the roots from the plants above dangle down towards the water! There are also plenty of fish to see here as it is a coral reef as well as a cave, however, the day we went with Wil and Didi and Ash there were more people there then we have ever seen before, so most of the fish made themselves scarce! The cave was still lovely, though, and Wil and Didi swam right through the cave to the other side of the island, and then swam around to where we had moored the dingy. This was something that Pat and Fiona were also able to do, but the water was too high when Cindy and Carlie were here.

leopard spotted ray swimming by the boat

Since saying goodbye, we have been spending our days quietly, waiting out yet another front that fortunately passed once Wil and Didi had left, and starting to plan the next part of our journey!

fisherman bringing home a grouper as big as he is!

the mail boat...how all supplies are brought to the Central Exuma settlements

We have really enjoyed the turquoise waters and white sands of the central Exumas, and the people here have been very friendly and accommodating.  With only one exception....the perfectly miserable girl that works for Flamingo Air who has lots of time and jokes for the locals, but no time or humour for the tourists! Otherwise I cannot tell you how many times I have heard the phrase “No problem!” and walking through the streets, the people always have a friendly hello and how are you when they see you! We even got a ride with 'Officer Kelly' in her police vehicle when she saw George limping on his way to the Blue Store in Staniel Cay!

However, we feel we have explored this part of the Exumas pretty well, so we will now move on to the northern Exumas in search of more beaches, and hopefully some 'private' anchorages! This is a lovely part of the world, but a whole bunch of Canadians have already discovered it and there is always, on average, about twenty boats anchored and/or moored everywhere we have been so far!!

yet another beautiful sunset!

Bahamian Blues from the cockpit 

Finally, for all the Alberg fans out there, we have, for the first time since arriving in the Bahamas, seen another Alberg! An Alberg 37 dropped anchor beside us at Black Point Harbour! It is owned by a young man from Brisbane who has just bought her last summer in the Great Lakes and is taking her south for now. And for the trivia fans, another Wyvern anchored beside us last time we were off Bell Island!! A number of people at the anchorage remarked on the coincidence, as Wyvern is such an unusual name!

On that note, I shall sign off and try to get this posted! I have heard there is not much in the way of internet as we head north, so may not get another chance to post for a few weeks! Until then, we hope that spring is slowly starting to make it's presence known for all our winter-weary family and friends! We know this has been a hard winter at home, so warm weather will be a welcome arrival for everyone!

Exumas

Well, we have been in the Exumas for a month, now, and only just now getting a chance to add to my blog!!  We have been at anchor ever since we got here, which means no internet for us, unless we go in to a restaurant or bar, which have also been far and few between!  Also, we can only get a phone signal when we are anchored off one of the very few and very small settlements, so essentially have been 'off-line' since we arrived!

Enjoyed a nice sail across the Exuma Sound, a distance of approximately 50 miles, from Point Eleuthra to Warderick Wells, the point where we entered the Exuma Islands chain.  This is also the headquarters of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park which stretches along the chain for a distance of about 22 miles.  They have mooring balls which are available by assignment, and luckily, when we called ahead, they had two available for both the Wyvern III and Tina.  The water is a beautiful turquoise, with a sand bank that exposes itself at low tide in the middle of the mooring field!  The next day was actually quite cool and windy, but sunny, so I spent the day reading and relaxing in the cockpit, while George finessed the workings of our watermaker.  Have finally reached water where we can safely turn it on, so will now get in the habit of making water about every other day in order to keep the watermaker clean and fresh.  Due to the confines of our boat, we have bought the smallest one we could find, so it only makes about a gallon and a half every two hours, but it also works within our battery bank limitations, so is providing our drinking water, and then our tanks will provide for everything else!  We have been very pleased with our solar panel, also.  The batteries will, if we are anchored for long enough, eventually get to the point where the solar panel can't get them charged fully,- mostly due to the draw from our fridge, - so we have found that we need to run the engine every couple of days, and we make water at the same time.

Whale skeleton at Warderick Wells

Exuma Land and Sea Park Headquarters

Mooring at Warderick Wells

After spending two nights in Warderick Wells, we headed downwind on the Exuma Bank to Staniel Cay, anchoring off Big Major's Spot, across from Pig Bay.  Pig Bay is a stretch of beach where some feral pigs live.  Apparently, they were initially put on the island by a local farmer, but it seems they now live there, along with a couple of chickens and goats, being fed and visited regularly by both cruisers and the local restaurant staff!  At first blush, I must admit I couldn't see the appeal of 'seeing the pigs'...after all, they're just pigs, for heaven's sake...but there is something unusual about having a pig run across the sand, jump into the ocean, and then swim out to your dingy, looking for some good left-overs!!  I personally wouldn't recommend getting in with them, as they are not – to put it bluntly – toilet-trained, and you do run the risk of running in to the 'fall-out' of the aforementioned left-overs!

The anchorage, is, however, delightful!!  With the beautiful, sandy bottom, in the shallow areas the water is almost white, at about the 10' mark, the colour turns to a gorgeous turquoise, about 20' it becomes a light green, and finally, over 20' it is a dark blue.  That means that as long as the bottom is sandy, wherever we anchor, I feel like I am anchored in a swimming pool! On the occasional day when it is not windy, the calm water is reflected in prisms off the bottom of the ocean floor!  The water temperature, while not as warm as we had experienced in the Andaman Sea off Thailand, is warm enough to easily dive in to, and cool enough to be refreshing!!  At all our anchorages, because of the sandy bottom where we choose to anchor, for both good holding and we don't wish to harm the coral beds in other parts of the seabed, we don't see very much sea life.  The occasional Southern Ray swims by and also Nurse Sharks can be spotted.  Rarely, a school or single fish will pass through the anchorage, and finally, if the water is deep enough, we will see large starfish, but that is usually it.

anchorage off Big Major's 

swimming off the boat!

To see the fish, we head for coral heads or reefs off the islands we have been anchoring near.  It is amazing how we will not see a single fish over the sandy bed leading up to a coral head, but as soon as you reach the coral, there will be hundreds of multi-coloured fish!!  My favourite are the beautiful parrot fish!  They come in a variety of colour schemes and are easily spotted munching on the coral!  Of course, there are always the curious Sargeant Majors, small black and yellow striped fish who will swim right up your mask, look you in the eye, and check to see if you are going to feed them!  Along the bottom, and under rocks, Groupers will be hiding.  We are always sure to see angelfish and butterflyfish, usually the Spotfin Butterflyfish and Queen Angelfish, also the bright blue Blue Tang.  Pat and Fiona spotted a Moray eel, and Cindy and Carlie and I saw a Lionfish, both very shy breeds of fish, so hard to spot!  Although, we have read that unfortunately, the Lionfish is not a native of the Caribbean, and has become so numerous, that it is considered an invasive species here, so not a welcome sight for the locals!  Also, while snorkeling with Pat and Fiona, a Barracuda swam past me!

When we are not snorkeling, we are beachcombing!  Different beaches offer up different types of shells, and we have been somewhat successful in finding various conch shells, not to mention lots of periwinkles, whelks, limpets, barrel bubbles, cowries, tops and turbines, moon shells and nerites.  The sand, of course, is soft and white on many beaches, but can be coarse and grainy, also.  Where the beach is not sand, it is a jagged, almost lava-like rock, that is, in fact, a type of limestone created by the compression of millions of shells!

Bell Rock

windward beach

leeward beach!

path to Honeymoon Beach

Honeymoon Beach

view over Little Bell and Bell Islands, looking toward the Exuma Bank

Finally, when Cindy and Carlie were here, (unfortunately winds did not co-operate while Pat and Fiona were here) we went to visit a local phenomenon called Rebecca's Bubblebath, or simply, the Jacuzzi.  This is a spot where, at high tide, the incoming waves rush up a small wall of rock, between two high cliffs, and spill over and down the other side in to a small, protected pool, where you can wait to get 'washed' over by the incoming wave!  Not nearly as dangerous, and much more fun than it sounds!!

Rebecca's Bubblebath

Before......

During.......

and after!!!! (note 'bubbles'!)

Since arriving in the Exumas, we have thoroughly enjoyed having two sets of company on board!  Pat and Fiona arrived shortly after we did, so submitted gamely to all our 'this might be a good place to go' experiments!!  After an all too brief visit, we prepared ourselves for our next guests, Cindy and Carlie!  Again, wonderful to have visitors on board, and nice to have a few places already 'cased out' that we could take them to!  As I write, we are anxiously awaiting our final set of guests; Wil and Didi and our oldest grandson, Ash (who just turned 4!)  We can't wait!!  We have been so fortunate with our guests!!


I will admit to being caught off guard as far as provisioning goes.  I had hoped that we would have lots of fresh fish and local fruit and veggies available once in the islands, but we have been disappointed to find that the Bahamas grows virtually nothing that can be sold to a large market, like tourists, so everything comes by boat from Florida, and nothing in great quantities.  Frequently the 'fresh' fruit and veg are tired and not in good shape, and packaged goods such as crackers, cookies, and cereal are usually stale by the time you buy them.  I have also been caught more than once purchasing dairy products that are way past their 'sell buy' date!  Most serious of all, there is NO CHOCOLATE!!!  At least not if you don't want to buy 'Bounty' chocolate bars.  George and I (and now, I fear, our guests!!) are going through serious chocolate withdrawl!!!!  Generally speaking, the 'mail boat' arrives once a week to the small settlements here in the Exumas, and delivers everything the community needs for that week, from building supplies to groceries.  Frequently it is late by a day or two, and, in the event of something happening in a different community, the boat may not come at all, and only go to where the event, (and therefore, the crowds!) will be.  We did get lucky, and stumbled upon a fisherman at Black Point cleaning some snapper he just caught while Pat and Fiona were here, so we bought three for dinner that night, but it is the only time we have seen any fishermen, and no fresh fish is offered in the small grocery stores in the towns.  So, while I had dreamed of  cooking and eating 'local', that has been virtually impossible to do.
In fact, since arriving here, we have discovered that the local fare consists mainly of conch in various forms, popularly as fritters, or breaded and fried in 'bits' or 'burgers'.  It can also be a chowder, and our personal favourite, marinated in lime juice as a salad, although unfortunately, the salad is the only form of conch we have not been able to find in the Exumas!  All of these conch are available only at restaurants, as conch is not sold raw anywhere, and I am not prepared to catch and clean the things myself!!!....A very messy business!    Other than conch, peas 'n' rice, (a form of fried rice with pigeon peas), are a staple with a meal, as well as baked macaroni and cheese.  The local women bake, on order, fresh bread which is much sweeter than what we are used to, but delicious, so we have been enjoying that on board also!

Staniel Cay Yacht Club

All in all, we have been enjoying the Bahamas, and I don't want anyone to think we are suffering in any way!!  We have been eating well, just not as I had hoped, as far as 'buying local', and we are certainly enjoying the warm breezes and sunny days!

At this point in our travels, we are starting to think about when we will be heading home.  We have been gone 9 months and have travelled approximately 3000 miles, with a return journey of about 1500 miles ahead of us.  While we have thoroughly enjoyed our experiences and adventures, we are also looking forward to plying the beautiful waters of Lake Ontario again, exploring our other Great Lakes, and, most of all, spending time with our family and friends!  We anticipate continuing to explore and enjoy the Exumas until the end of April, at which point we will have to start to plan our return trip across the Gulf Stream to Florida, and then back up the Eastern Coast towards New York, through the Hudson River canal system to Oswego where we will cross Lake Ontario to reach Kingston.

Meanwhile, I will try to keep you all up to date with our plans, but given the lack of wifi here in the Exumas, it may be another month before you hear from me again!

Rest assured, we are content, Wyvern III is continuing to look after us and keep us dry, and we will continue to search for that quiet anchorage where we can skinny dip without frightening the neighbours, and shower on deck without going through Mr. Bean-like gyrations in an effort to get out of our bathing suits and under a towel....all without revealing any of our 'naughty bits'!!!