Category Archives: 2014-2015 Bahamas Cruise

Spanish Wells to Stuart

We arrived back in Florida at the end of May. Guess I was a little lazy about writing the last post of the 2015 cruising season, because here it is the middle of October and I am getting around to documenting the end of our last season while we are planning our 2016 Bahamas Cruise.

We left Spanish Wells after a fantastic visit with my son Peter who flew into Eleuthera and joined us for the rest of the cruise. We then sailed from Royal Island, near Spanish Wells, to Chub Cay on May 19, leaving at 0645 and dropping the anchor at 1515. This was Peter’s first opportunity to sail with us in the Bahamas and luckily we had perfect calm seas. We stayed at Chub Cay one night and the next day sailed to Bimini, leaving at 0550 in the dark and tying up to the dock at Bimini Sands at 1650.

Here are several photos of our crossing from Chub Cay and entering the waters of Bimini. In the third picture, the red rooftops of the condos surrounding the marina at Bimini Sands Resort and Marina are visible. Sailor had been there before and I am fairly certain he recognized it, or at least he said to himself with a smile, “Land Ho!”

We stayed in Bimini two days and enjoyed the north and south islands. Peter snorkeled on the beach from Bimini Sands to the southern end of of South Bimini. He saw some fantastic underwater scenes, so next time we are there we’ll have to try it ourselves. Oddly after many visits to Bimini we had never snorkeled the reefs. Of course, we had to show Peter The Dolphin House in North Bimini, and he was impressed. He said he hopes to go back someday and rent a room from Mr. Saunders. We saw Mark’s last Minnesota license plate from his Corvette on one of the walls. We donated it to Ashley Saunders’ collection of many car license plates two years ago. In his museum, we read the famous quotes he had mounted on the ceiling. To see more photos of The Dolphin House from our previous website, click here.

One of the prettiest views in Bimini is from the Dolphin House. Mr. Saunders told us that a man from China recently approached him about buying The Dolphin House. Of course, it will always be in the Saunders family as it is a labor of love which he will no doubt continue working on until he can’t physically do it anymore. We will visit every time we go to Bimini to see the latest additions.

When we stay in South Bimini, we take a very short water taxi ride to North Bimini. We always look for two white Golden Retrievers, who live outside by the water and fish for their food! Yes, we have seen them dive for fish and bring them ashore. They seem pretty healthy so perhaps the locals provide them with other food. We especially like watching these dogs because Sailor’s grandfather is a white English Golden Retriever.

On May 22, 2015, we left Bimini Sands at 0610. Sailor was glad to spot land as we neared Lake Worth that afternoon and entered the channel.

At 1410 we dropped the anchor near the Lake Worth Inlet after a very calm crossing. We dinghied over to the park on Peanut Island to stretch our legs. The next morning at 0630, we left the Lake Worth anchorage with a beautiful sunrise in the sky, and started up the ICW to Stuart. We love being able to go under the 65 foot bridges and through the lift bridges while looking at the gorgeous homes along the route. We do not like being waked by speeding powerboats and fishing boats, and as always we seem to end up going on this leg of the trip on a dreaded South Florida weekend when they are out in force. As we entered the ICW, numerous fishing boats were ready to race out onto the ocean. Later in the day, Sailor seemed to be a little bored, but Peter had a talk with him and they relaxed for the rest of the trip.

Finally, at noon we pulled into our slip at Sunset Bay Marina, where we have spent hurricane seasons for the last four years. It’s called Sunset Bay for a reason. (That is a power cat in the next slip, not Seas the Day.)

Thus ended our fourth Bahamas Cruise and our seventh year living aboard S/V Seas the Day. We spent the other three winters in Corpus Christi, the Florida Keys up to the Gulf Coast of Florida, and one season in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale as we waited to have our hybrid catamaran converted to twin diesels. 2015 was a very different cruising season as we visited new places in the Bahamas and spent three months on a mooring ball in Georgetown. We boat buddied with good friends Tom and Cathie (Interlude) meeting up with them and spending Christmas together in South Beach, Miami, then sailing together all the way to Georgetown, The Exumas, then back north with stops in Long Island, Cat Island, Little San Salvador, Eleuthera, and finally to Spanish Wells where Interlude continued to Abaco and we stayed in Spanish Wells. We learned to play Texas Hold-em in Georgetown and played three times a week! We met a lot of new friends and hope to see most of them again in 2016. Sailor, of course, met his BFF, Portuguese Water Dog Zorro aboard M/V All In (Vivian and Chris). He’s never enjoyed playing with another dog this much and hopefully they’ll reunite this season. As we love doing, we spent the last month in Spanish Wells, renting a golf cart and staying on a mooring ball. The highlight of that month was having my son Peter visit, which added to the excitement and caused us to enjoy some new experiences. He almost didn’t make it though, because after taking the Red Eye from San Francisco, at the Ft. Lauderdale Airport he wasn’t allowed on the plane to Eleuthera without a return ticket to the U.S. When he called us as the plane was loading (thank goodness he knew our Bahamas phone number), we were able to email a copy of our cruising permit to prove to the airline people that he did have a way back to the States. In Spanish Wells, a definite highlight was when we hired James, owner of Spanish Wells Bahamas Ocean Safaris, for a phenomenal day on the water, snorkeling, diving, swimming, finding conch and shells, watching James spear our fish for dinner, and playing on a huge sandbar. Having Peter sail back to Stuart with us also added to the uniqueness of our 2015 Bahamas Cruise.

Visitor Number One Comes to Spanish Wells

We have lived on the boat since July, 2008, and been to the Bahamas four times. We finally had our first guest in the islands, my son Peter. He arrived on Wednesday, May 13, stayed on our boat in Spanish Wells, and sailed with us to Chub Cay, Bimini, and back to Florida. He flew into the North Eleuthera airport and was met by Calvin Pinder who took him by land and water taxis to Spanish Wells.

On Thursday we rode the water taxi back to Eleuthera and rented a car for the day. Peter is a surfer and lives on the coast in Central California so he was anxious to try surfing in warm water. Eleuthera is known for its good surfing, thus our first stop was Surfer’s Beach. Unfortunately the wind was the wrong direction for good surfing, so we continued south to Rock Sound. There we showed him a dramatic series of caves and a blue hole.

We then drove north to Governor’s Harbour where we had conch fritters at The Buccaneer Club and walked on the beautiful pink sand beach at the Club Med which was destroyed by Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

Our next stop was the Glass Window Bridge where the dramatic view has the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Caribbean Sea on the other. In 1991, a rogue wave came through and pushed the bridge four feet.

On previous car trips we had seen most of the places where we stopped this time, but a new one was Preacher’s Cave. In 1648, 70 people who had left Europe for religious freedom and came to Bermuda decided to find a new place to live and set sail for Eleuthera. They were called the Eleutheran Adventurers. Eleuthera means “freedom.” Unfortunately their boat hit the Devil’s Backbone reef and sunk. The survivors made it ashore but all of their provisions were lost. They found a large cave and lived in it but had no supplies so they built a boat and a small group of them headed to Jamestown, the nearest English settlement. They actually made it and returned with supplies. Later some moved to Harbour Island, Spanish Wells, Man of War Cay in Abaco, and Governor’s Harbour in Eleuthera.

The next day we arranged to go out snorkeling and diving with James from Bahamas Ocean Safaris. It was just the three of us and Sailor with James and we got to design our own water adventure. We started with some diving for Peter and snorkeling for Mark and me. The first dive was over a wreck, but the current was too strong so we went on to another area which had beautiful coral and fish. Diving near the sunken boat they saw a 300 pound turtle with barnacles on its shell. The boat is partly above water in the first photo below. James speared two fish for us, a hogfish and grouper. Our next stop was a huge sandbar that rises out of the water at low tide and disappears at high tide, much like our favorite anchorage in the Bahamas at Joe Sound. Sailor of course loved being able to run free and had fun chasing birds. Peter snorkeled and found a trumpet conch and lots of sand dollars and shells.

At the end of the day, James cleaned the fish he speared. Unfortunately when he cut into the hogfish he saw it had ciguatera poisoning so he threw it out, but the grouper made a tasty dinner for us.

On our last day in Spanish Wells, Peter went kayaking. We had lunch at Buddas, watched a final sunset, and made our last nightly visit to Papa Scoops.

A Month in Spanish Wells

An early Spanish explorer found fresh water on an island north of Eleuthera, thus it got the name Spanish Wells. We arrived here on April 18 and took a mooring ball for a month. We also rented a golf cart and set up a time to have the boat hauled out and the bottom painted at R&B Boatyard. This is our fourth visit to Spanish Wells and we have always been on a mooring ball for a month. Spanish Wells is a nice transition for us before returning to Florida, after spending most of the cruising season in The Exumas. It’s still in the Bahamas so the town has a relaxed island feeling, but unlike most of the other islands where we stop, we can find almost anything we need here, including a large well stocked grocery store with reasonable prices, every type of marine service we might need, a large hardware store, several nice casual restaurants and a more upscale one, the above mentioned mooring ball and golf cart, Papa Scoops Ice Cream, a bank with a 24 hour ATM, clothing stores and gift shops, hair salons, a dentist, and even dog groomers.

We visit Papa Scoops almost every night and have their soft serve ice cream for dessert. They serve two flavors each night, available from 7:30 pm until 10:00. The evening’s flavors are listed on a posterboard sign on the main street near the shop or on the Papa Scoops Facebook Page, where there is a new photo of their current poster each day. (Notice the sign from Sunday that says they will be “open after church.” The Sunday night services last until 7:30.) The open air building is next to their house and a young daughter of the owners, who live in the house next door to Papa Scoops, comes to your car, bike, or golf cart, takes your order and makes your soft serve treat.

The first residents of Spanish Wells were English Puritans who traveled to Bermuda in search of religious freedom, but apparently they wanted more and in 1648 a group called the Eleutheran Adventurers left Bermuda, headed for Eleuthera. They were shipwrecked on the dangerous Devil’s Backbone Reef and the survivors lived in a cave, now called Preacher’s Cave, in north Eleuthera for awhile until some of them started a settlement in Spanish Wells. Most people living on the island are white Bahamians, descendants of those early Puritans and still very religious. They are a simple, hard working group of people with an unusual accent unique to this town. Until 1967 there was no electricity on Spanish Wells, more likely because they didn’t need or want it than they couldn’t have it. Now they have their own power plant on the island. The commercial fishermen make six figure salaries and there is obviously a lot of money on the island and plenty of opportunities for becoming wealthy but you wouldn’t know it from observing their lifestyles. The lobster industry is the main employer and the docks are lined with large fishing vessels. Young men buy into ownership of the boats when someone retires or dies. The lobster season runs from August 1 to March 31 and the fishermen are gone most of that time. The fishing fleet here provides about 80% of the lobster served at the Red Lobster restaurant chain. In the off season most of the fishermen work other jobs. For example, a chef on one of the fishing vessels caters meals in the off season. You can go to his house and take home a meal or eat it on his front porch. Each week he posts a different menu on the Food Fair Grocery’s bulletin board on Thursday or Friday with four or five choices of entrees and you call his house or stop by to place your order for the Saturday night meals. This past Saturday, Mark and I shared a delicious prime rib dinner. A captain of one of the fishing vessels repairs diesel engines. In addition the fishermen spend time during the off season building new lobster traps and making repairs to their boats.

One of Sailor’s favorite activities here is riding in the golf cart looking for goats. We’ve noticed quite a few goats in Spanish Wells and nearby Russell Island, which is connected to Spanish Wells by a short bridge. At first we thought some enterprising entrepreneur was renting out goats to clear property, but that’s not why they are behind fences on empty lots. Recently we found out they are raised to be eaten! (We won’t tell Sailor.) As we ride down the streets here, Sailor’s nose is constantly sniffing, looking for the goats. I think he’s figured out they are always behind fences so when he sees a fence he gets more excited. All we have to do when we are driving down a steet in the golf cart is say, “Sailor, where are the goats?” and his head starts spinning around looking for them.

Sailor also loves to spend time swimming and fetching a ball on the beaches. Since he sometimes likes to take off running down the beach, he has to wear a 20 foot long floating leash so we can catch him while he’s racing past us.

Until several years ago, Spanish Wells was dry. However, Eleuthera wasn’t and people regularly took the short water taxi ride there to purchase liquor. Now there are several casual restaurants that sell drinks and food, Budda’s and The Sandbar. Neither would be considered a “bar.” We had the best cracked conch we’ve ever eaten at The Sandbar. Besides eating and drinking, you can swim, rest in the beach lounge chairs, or swing in a hammock. An upscale restaurant, The Shipyard, also serves drinks and has a very popular “Happy Hour” as does Budda’s.

Last week we had the boat hauled out and the bottom painted. Due to rain, a three day job lasted a week. There is a unique lift system at the R&B Boatyard. We pulled into a slip that has a platform under it, a diver (the owner of R&B) dove under the boat and placed jack stands under the hulls to hold the boat upright and steady, the lift went up and the boat was above water resting on the keels and jack stands on the platform, ready to have the workers powerwash and paint the bottom then wax the hulls. (The photos below were taken right after we were hauled out. Seas the Day looks much better now.) We could have stayed on the boat, but since we couldn’t let water drain from the sinks and showers while they were painting, we decided to rent an apartment for the week. While it was an unplanned expense, having the following for the past week has been wonderful: long showers, unlimited electricity, air conditioning, cable TV with premium channels, fast free wifi, a bed you can walk around, a washer/dryer, and a full size refrigerator and stove.

We stayed in a one bedroom apartment on the second floor of the Harbourside Gift Shop.

Although there are a few apartments, cottages, and homes for rent in Spanish Wells, the tourist business is not the most important feature of their economy. They are very industrious, hard workers and their businesses seem to be successful. Unlike other Bahamian islands we have visited, there doesn’t appear to be an unemployment problem here. Everything in Spanish Wells is geared to the residents, not the transients like us. While quite a few cruisers pass through Spanish Wells on their way to or from Abaco, or on their way back to the States, most don’t stay too long. Without a bike or golf cart (which is the main vehicle on the streets) it is a long walk to the grocery store or some of the restaurants and beaches. I recently read a blog where someone said they thought the residents of Spanish Wells were not very friendly. We have found just the opposite. Everyone waves at us when we pass them in our golf cart. In stores or on the streets, they are very friendly and helpful. Two CLODs (Cruisers Living On Dirt) host a happy hour on their front porch every night at 5:00. Anyone can show up and join them. They also have a lending library in their living room. At restaurants, the owners stop by tables to visit customers. (That’s how we discovered the owner of Budda has a large belly, much like Buddha.) Our friend Tom on Interlude left his Crocs on the bottom step of our sugar scoop while visiting. When he was ready to leave, they were gone. We found one floating away, but the other was lost. I went on the VHF radio and asked if anyone saw a brown clog floating in the harbor could they come back to Seas the Day. Immediately we got a reply that one of the water taxis had it and would drop it off on our boat. The taxi driver told Tom he looked for the other one but couldn’t find it. I could go on and on, but suffice it to say, we think the Spanish Wells residents are very friendly and welcoming.

The citizens of Spanish Wells seem to live comfortable lives, and many are well off, however their homes are simple and nicely maintained. We haven’t seen a single large mansion, but we also haven’t seen any partially completed abandoned houses or tiny shacks found on many other Bahamian islands. Below are a few of some of the lovely homes in Spanish Wells. The majority of them are modest ranch style houses or two story Cape Cods. Looking at real estate listings, however, these houses are not bargains. Simple cottages are $200,000 and up. Ranches start at $300,000. One large home listed with 2700 sq ft and a dock was 1.1 million. A two bedroom, two bath cottage on a 115 ft of beach is $2.2 million.

Finally, we have always been very impressed with the lack of crime in the Bahamas. (This does not include large cities like Nassau and Freeport which are dangerous.) A picture can be worth a thousand words, and the photo below is a good example. It was taken on a Saturday night after the local dive shop was closed, not to be reopened until Monday morning. Can you imagine what would happen if stores in most parts of the world left all of these “for sale” items outside for an entire day and two nights?

There isn’t exactly a big police force here. In fact, their police car is a golf cart. No high speed chases in Spanish Wells.

Last year I wrote an extensive description of our visit to Spanish Wells, which can be found here.

Skip, Hop and Jump Through Eleuthera

After leaving the cruise ship island of Little San Salvador we set sail for Eleuthera. Our plan was to stop at Cape Eleuthera Marina at the southern end of Eleuthera. However, we got there early and decided to “skip” it and continue on to anchor at Tarpum Bay, a little farther north. When we arrived there we motored in towards the shore and discovered it was very shallow so the plan changed again and we “hopped” another 14 miles to Governor’s Harbour. It was mid afternoon when we anchored and went ashore.

Governor’s Harbour is a busy town, the seat of government for Eleuthera. There are shops and restaurants a block or two from where we bring the dinghy ashore. The homes are built on a steep hill and on the other side of the hill on the Atlantic Ocean side of Eleuthera is the beautiful pink sand beach of a Club Med Resort that was partially destroyed in 1999 by Hurricane Andrew. It has not been rebuilt but some of the buildings and the beautiful landscaping remain.

The next morning we went out to breakfast with Cathie and Tom (Interlude) at the Buccaneer Club, where we had delicious food in a uniquely decorated restaurant.

Below are photos of the Governor’s Harbour Library, near our anchorage, and several homes on the hillside.

After breakfast we decided to leave and sail to Goulding Cay. Our next destination was Spanish Wells and while we could leave from Governor’s Harbour the next morning and get to Spanish Wells in the afternoon, we wanted to time our entrance through Current Cut for slack tide in the morning. Goulding Cay is a lovely anchorage near the Glass Window in northern Eleuthera a short distance to Current Cut. We spent the night there and left in the morning for the “jump” to Spanish Wells. On the map below, the narrow Glass Window is just below the top arrow from the word “Eleuthera Island.” Goulding Cay is a very short distance south of that.

One of the houses on the beach has a surfboard table in the yard. I guess Sailor is practicing surfing. You can see Seas the Day anchored off the point of the cay. Goulding Cay has a great shallow swimming beach, usually deserted, and the perfect place for Sailor to fetch his ball in the water.

This was our quickest visit to Eleuthera in the four times we have come here. Other years we have also stopped at Rock Sound, which we skipped this year, and spent time renting a car to drive the length of the island, visiting a number of beautiful pink sand Atlantic beaches. Once in Spanish Wells, we are only a short $8 water taxi trip back to Eleuthera so we’ll be able to rent a car for a tour of the island.

Our goal was to reach Spanish Wells by the middle of April with a month available to stay there before returning to the States at the end of May. When traveling on a boat, plans are written in sand, but in this case we had good weather and were able to adjust our stops to reach Spanish Wells. We were lucky the weather cooperated because that is always the determining factor on when and where we go.

First Visit to Cat Island

Normally when we leave Georgetown, we go out to the deep water of the Exuma Sound and follow the shore of Great Exuma north to a cut into the shallow water of the Banks on the west side of the islands. We try to avoid sailing on the Sound except for this one leg since there are generally higher waves and rougher water than on the Banks. Once in shallow water, we continue north to stop at islands we didn’t visit on the way south a few months earlier. We take more time to swim, snorkel, kayak, and hike at some of our favorite destinations in the Exumas. Then we cross from Warderick Wells to Eleuthera. This year we decided to take a different route. We left Georgetown and crossed the Exuma Sound sailing northeast to Cat Island. From there we went to Little San Salvador and on to Eleuthera.

Cat Island was settled in 1783 by the Loyalists. It was named after pirate Arthur Catt who made many stops on the island. Another claim to fame for the residents of Cat Island is that actor Sidney Poitier was born here. It is 48 miles long and 1 1/4 miles wide. We made three stops on Cat Island: New Bight, Fernandez Bay, and Bennett’s Harbor.

New Bight was chosen so we could visit a monastery called The Hermitage which was built by Monsignor Jerome Hawkes, also known as Father Jerome. He came to the Bahamas as an architect and an Anglican priest to repair Long Island Anglican churches and later was ordained as a Roman Catholic Priest. In 1930, at age 62, he built the Hermitage on Mt. Alvernia in Cat Island. He named the high hill after one in Tuscany where St. Francis received the wounds of the cross. From a distance the monastery looks huge, but once we climbed the steep hill to the top, 206 ft above sea level, we realized it is a scaled down model with four small enclosed rooms: a bedroom, living area, chapel and kitchen. There is also an open air bathroom and a bell tower. Father Jerome’s monastery includes a guest building and the grave where the priest is buried. Below are photos of the Hermitage beginning with the sign on the main road near our anchored boats.

Mark, Cathie, Tom, Sailor and I walked up the road to the Hermitage. In the distance is the monastery at the top of the hill.

Next we left the road to walk up a path. This is the entrance to the steep, rocky path.

At a fork, we chose a path that went past the Stations of the Cross, hand carved by Father Jerome.

The path continued and became much steeper. I stopped and waited by the stations of the cross because I knew it wasn’t safe to go any further with my recent total knee replacements. The path ended and there were very steep hand carved stone steps leading to the monastery.

This is the view approaching the Hermitage.

Tom, Cathie, Sailor and Mark came back down the hill by a more gradual path. Mark and I went back up choosing the safer way at the fork in the path to the Hermitage. Here we are in front of the monastery’s bell tower. This demonstrates the small size of Father Jerome’s rooms. The Atlantic Ocean is visible on the other side of Cat Island. He had a 360 degree view of the area from his monastery.

It’s hard to image how he was able to construct the intricately designed monastery, but recalling that he was also an architect it is understandable that each room was built for a specific purpose no larger than he needed them to be. He built this monastery to live in for the rest of his life and he was looking for solitude.

His chapel has a chair and desk to sit at as well as an altar.

Sailor enjoyed the cool shade of the bell tower.

A ladder leads up to the top of the bell tower. As I was waiting for the group to return to me, I heard the working bell ringing.

This window looks down at the road we walked on to get to the Hermitage. You can’t see the steep path because it is under the window.

Father Jerome built his personal monastery stone by stone. From left to right, the rooms are the bell tower, his chapel, the living area and the kitchen, an open area with pillars and carved quotes and at the far right his bedroom. The words “Beata Solitudo” mean “blessed solitude” and he carved this into the area with pillars. Amazing and well worth the long hike to the top of the hill.

He even built a guest house. It contains two fireplaces, one outside and one inside the building. There are also fireplaces in each of the monastery’s rooms.

Father Jerome died in 1956. He is buried on the property of The Hermitage.

Our next stop was a short sail away in Fernandez Bay, where there is a beautiful beach and lovely resort. We had dinner at the resort with our boat buddies Cathie and Tom (Interlude).

Before dinner we watched a stunning sunset over the bay where our two boats and one more were anchored.

We were the only dinner guests who weren’t staying at the resort. The dinner was a delicious buffet but the best part was the ambiance of the resort and of course the company of our good friends Cathie and Tom. By the way, Cathie and I did not plan to dress alike! We sat inside because when we arrived it was much cooler than the patio seating and our table was open to the water just like those on the patio.

The dining room was in a stunning thatched roof building with intricate designs in the ceiling.

Another short sail the next day brought us to Bennett’s Harbor. This destination was chosen mainly as a place to anchor where we could leave Cat Island the following day and reach Little San Salvador. There were houses on the beach by our anchorage, so we took the dinghy for a ride in a channel running though nearby mangroves. Returning to Bennett’s Harbor, we found another beach, totally deserted with powdery white sand. Sailor was free to fetch his ball and we could swim in the shallow warm water.

After all this fun, we returned to our anchored boat to get ready to leave in the morning.

Little San Salvador is a private island for several lines of cruise ships. When we arrived in the early afternoon, a Carnival ship was anchored and the next morning a Holland America cruise ship arrived. After the ships leave at 4 pm, cruisers anchored nearby are allowed to go ashore.

Sailor could have had “boat envy” as we anchored near the cruise ship when he seemed to stare longingly at the huge vessel. He would love racing down the decks on that ship. The passengers were brought back and forth from the ship to the shore all day in small ferries seen next to the big ship.

One of many onshore activities for the ship passengers was horseback riding on the beach and nearby trails. Others snorkeled, walked on the beach, visited the various buildings built for their use, ate food, swam, and sunbathed.

After the cruise ship left the private island, we re-anchored closer to the beach and went ashore in our dinghies. There was only one other boat there besides Seas the Day and Interlude. Sailor loved running on the deserted beach. We had to watch out for the big tractor smoothing the sand on the beach. We also kept him away from the stalls where the horses live.

To cool off we all went swimming in the crystal clear water. Behind us on the shore you can see the buildings used for the visitors from the cruise ships.

Naturally the water and sandy beaches are beautiful, a big consideration when cruise ships buy their private islands. Of course, before it was purchased this was no doubt a fantastic place for cruisers to stop and spend a few days when crossing from Cat Island to Eleuthera. Now, visitors on private boats have to wait until 1600 to come ashore and leave by 0800 the next morning if another ship is arriving or at least move out of the way. In the Bahamas, all beaches are public up to the high tide water line and no one can stop you from anchoring anywhere, except in the Land and Sea Park in The Exumas. Permanent workers stay on the island, and they were very welcoming when we came to their beach. The only consideration in anchoring on Little San Salvador is to stay out of the way of the ferries delivering people to and from the islands.

We left at 0730 the next morning and passed a Holland America cruise ship pulling into the anchorage as we sailed towards Eleuthera.

Goodbye Georgetown

We have been in Georgetown for three months and while we haven’t written many blog entries, there are quite a few pictures on my Facebook page. The link for that is near the top of the right hand column of this website.

While in Georgetown, we made a lot of new friends, kept busy but also found time to relax, and had fun learning to play Texas Hold’em poker. With two months remaining before we have to be back in the States we will leave this week to start heading north. Instead of going up the Exuma chain of islands and crossing to Eleuthera as we usually do, our first stop will be Cat Island and then we’ll work our way up to Eleuthera and Spanish Wells. We’ve never taken this route, but have been told we’ll enjoy Cat Island. I’m sure we will.

A few weeks ago, we took a one week trip south to Long Island and stayed in our favorite anchorage, Joe Sound. We went with most of our poker buddies in four boats, so there was poker playing almost every night. The first day we went to Cape Santa Maria, while we were anchored nearby in Calabash Bay, for a delicious lobster salad. One day we rented a van with Tom, Cathie, Vivian and Rena. Dennis and Chris stayed aboard All In and watched Sailor and Zorro. Zorro is a Portuguese Water Dog who lives on MV All In. Sailor met him shortly after we arrrived here and they have developed a very special bond. On our car trip, we visited Stella Maris Resort, had lunch at a roadside restaurant, visited Dean’s Blue Hole (deepest blue hole in the world), had rum punch and Kalik beer at Max’s Conch Bar and Grill, and ended the day with a gourmet dinner at Chez Pierre.

Dean’s Blue Hole, 663 feet deep:

Natural salt water pool at Stella Maris Resort:

View of the Atlantic Ocean from Stella Maris overlook:

Drinks at Max’s Conch Bar and Grill:

Chez Pierre Restaurant:

Joe Sound is a unique anchorage, but not for the faint of heart. The entrance is narrow with a rock ledge on one side and a sand ledge on the other. Seas the Day is almost 25 feet wide, so we have to watch very carefully as we enter and exit with only a few feet on each side. In the Sound, the current is very strong and the anchored boats reverse direction with the tidal change.

The anchorage is a narrow channel able to hold about ten boats. There are four local boats permanently anchored there. At high tide Joe Sound is a large body of water. At low tide numerous beaches appear until the tide comes in again. The scenery changes almost by the minute. The beautiful turquoise water is crystal clear and the sand feels like sifted flour. Below are photos of the crescent shaped anchorage and the Sound at low and high tide. The low and high tide photos are taken from our boat looking at the same location.

When the tide was low we took Sailor, our chairs, a beach umbrella and something to drink to the beach near our anchored boats. The water was the same temperature as the air, 80 degrees.

Sailor and Zorro enjoyed the low tide beaches as much, or more, than we did. Here are a few pictures of them having fun. In the first picture, notice that all eight feet are off the ground as they race down the beach. In the last picture you can imagine them saying, “OK buddy. What should we do next?”

The night before we left Joe Sound we discovered the port rudder was not turning. Mark was able to temporarily fix it. We weren’t looking forward to going through the narrow cut but all was well and it looks like we’ll be fine until we get back to Florida where we can get a part for it. Of course with two engines we could use the throttles to turn the boat but it’s much easier using the wheel.

Tomorrow we’ll dinghy across the harbor to do some provisioning before we leave and fill our tanks with some free water. I’ll also visit Vanria’s Salon to have my hair cut. Mark has done a good job in the past but it has been nice to have a stylist do it while we were in Georgetown.

There is so much we like about Georgetown, but most of all we’ll miss the new friends we have made here. Ask almost anyone who is on a boat and they’ll tell you that the best part of cruising is the people they meet. Every Saturday night we hosted Texas Hold’em on Seas the Day. Since we have two large tables, one in the cockpit and one in the salon, we could easily have 12 people sitting comfortably. As we would get to the end of the game we’d go to one table and sometimes the “losers” would play at the other table. Usually we had friends from five other boats moored with us in Hole 2. On Saturday we had our last poker game and as usual had lots of laughs, ate delicious snacks, and enjoyed playing with each other. Using a timer on a camera, we captured a great shot of our happy group.

Of course we have enjoyed many stunning sunrises and sunsets while we have been in the Bahamas. We even saw the “green flash” while anchored in Calabash Bay (before we entered Joe Sound) in Long Island. Neither Mark or I had ever seen one and the first night it was spectacular with a very large green flash as the sun set over the water and the green flash even came back a second time before disappearing. The second night we saw it again! Now we are believers.

On Easter Sunday we joined a few friends on the Exuma Sound (aka ocean) beach. We almost missed it but luckily Sailor woke us up by ringing his “poochie bell” to go outside. We were able to race in our dinghy the short distance to a small beach and follow the path over the hill to catch the sun as it came up over the water, a fitting end to our time in Georgetown. We feel very blessed to have worked hard our whole lives to afford this lifestyle and be healthy enough to enjoy it. There is no doubt that the cruising lifestyle is one reason we are healthy.

We are waiting for good weather to leave here, probably in a few days, and sail (more likely motorsail) about 50 miles to Cat Island. We’ll be going with our good friends and boat buddies Cathie and Tom (Interlude). Sailor doesn’t realize that he will be leaving behind his BFF Zorro since they are staying here another month. Sailor’s beach visits won’t be the same. Gone will be the rides to the beach as they stare at each other from their dinghies, then chasing each other back and forth, fetching balls, and of course rolling in the sand.

Just Relaxing

We’ve been in Georgetown 2 1/2 weeks now and have settled into a routine dominated by reading and relaxing as well as frequent get-togethers with other cruisers. The weather is almost always in the low 80’s and when the wind kicks up, we are well protected on our mooring ball in Hole 2.

Mark and Sailor visit nearby beaches twice a day in the dinghy. Sometimes I go with them but have been avoiding the rocky path near us up a hill to the Exuma Sound side of Stocking Island where the longest ocean beach is located. I was worried about slipping and falling on my new knees, but found it fairly easy to climb the hill and follow the well groomed sandy path to the other side. On this day, Sailor decided to race down the beach by himself. When no one is around we let him off his leash. He always comes back but he LOVES to run. We got him to pose on a piece of coral after we caught up with him. The first photo below is the small beach near us where we leave the dinghy. You can see the opening to the path that goes to the other side where the Exuma Sound beach is located.

Our favorite place for swimming in Elizabeth Harbour is Flip Flop Beach, which is a dinghy ride towards the north end of the harbor. On the harbor side the water is shallow and very warm for swimming. Sailor prefers to swim out to us and then makes one of us hold on to him so he can be with us but not overexert himself. Spoiled dog? Perhaps.

Before our swim, we followed the path from Flip Flop Beach to the Exuma Sound side and had a nice walk with Tom and Cathie (Interlude) down that beach. Then we relaxed for awhile in several chairs someone had left behind. There are some nice snorkeling areas in the harbor which we’ll visit soon.

Last year we had strawberry and tomato plants, but this year it’s just tomatoes. I miss the fresh strawberries, but couldn’t find any plants before we left. The tomatoes are starting to ripen now. It’s easy to find tomatoes to buy in The Bahamas. They are $1 each at Exuma Market but sometimes aren’t very tasty. A local man comes to town and sells vegetables from his garden twice a week, but lately his tomatoes were mostly green and $4 for a small bag. Our tomatoes are always going to taste better than what we could buy. The smaller plant has cherry tomatoes.

This weekend I made caramel rolls using my mom’s overnight roll recipe. We freeze them and thaw a few to eat a day so they last several weeks. It’s difficult to find homemade bakery items other than bread here so we have to make our own. In past years there was a Bahamian woman who would bring bakery goods to town several times a week and set them up on a table next to the Exuma Market, but apparently she has retired.

I think we have met more cruisers in the last two weeks in Georgetown than we have in our entire past three trips to the Bahamas. The two main reasons are we are in Hole 2 with friendly neighbors and we have been playing Texas Hold’em. Yesterday we went to a bonfire get-together on one of the small beaches in the Hole. About 20 Hole 2 cruisers were there. Everyone brought their own meat to cook over the fire and something to share. We had people coming over to play cards last night so just went to visit and didn’t eat this time. It seems like the Hole 2 beach get-togethers are weekly events.

I have learned to play Texas Hold’em Poker, a very popular game here. We play two times a week at the St. Francis Restaurant and Resort. It costs $5 to play and the top three winners split the pot. There are three tables of nine or ten playing, but later in the season there will be more tables. Some of the people are here for a week or two at the resort, some live in houses, but most are cruisers. We have also been hosting games with a few other couples on Saturdays on Seas the Day, mainly because we have a big table in the salon and another in the cockpit. We also play Mexican Train dominoes with Cathie and Tom occasionally.

The photo below was from last night as we were “chipping up” when we exchange our smaller chips for thousand ones. Unfortunately the hanging lamp over the cockpit table caused a glare in the picture. Cathie (Interlude) was helping Jean (Winterlude) count her chips. Obviously Jean was having a good night! I only had a few of the thousand chips at that time, but ended up coming in second and Jean won.

There are many other activities going on in Georgetown. Every morning at 8 am we can listen to the Cruisers’ Net on VHF channel 72 to find out what is happening. The Net lasts 15-20 minutes with lots of information besides activities. Cruisers can ask for help, offer items for sale or trade, introduce themselves if they just arrived, hear the weather report, etc. Local businesses also talk about what they have to offer. Last night there was a free outdoor country western concert in town with US Grammy nominated singers and a Canadian who was their Entertainer of the Year. Also tonight the St. Francis is hosting their weekly Trivia Night where teams complete. A yoga instructor has classes on the beach every weekday morning, but I haven’t gone yet because I am not supposed to kneel therefore I can’t get on the ground. Beach Church is held on Volleyball Beach Sunday mornings. A very entertaining local historian gives talks every Sunday afternoon about The Bahamas. At 2:00 every day, people meet on Volleyball beach to play games and visit. When Regatta starts in mid February there will be more activities culminating with a sailboat race around Stocking Island and another one in the harbor. The nice thing is you can do as little or as much as you want here. You can be around lots of people or go someplace by yourself.

Hole 2

Two days ago we moved from an anchorage in Elizabeth Harbour to a mooring ball in what is called “Hole 2.” There are several other mooring fields, one where boats are stored without people on them and another is nicknamed “The Fruit Bowl” because many of the boats have fruits in their names, like Pineappple House and Cantaloupe. There are a few houseboats here, which obviously don’t make the trip back and forth from the States. Hole 2 is very protected from all directions so even in high winds we barely move. On the day we arrived the wind got close to 30 kts and we didn’t feel it in here, but out in the harbor boats were bouncing around. Below is a photo of Hole 2. A narrow exit to another mooring field and then to the harbor is near where the dinghy is headed. We are located in the center of the back.

Most of the boats moored here are empty right now. Some owners fly down and either haven’t arrived yet or come and go throughout the season. Behind us through the bushes you can see a bit of the water in the large Elizabeth Harbour. We can take our dinghy about 80 yds to a tiny beach in the mooring field where there is a very short path over a small hill to an area called “Honeymoon Beach,” one of many sandy beaches in the harbor. This means when the wind is blowing and the waves are crashing in the harbor, we can still get Sailor ashore easily because the water in here will be calm.

Most cruisers will say that the only mooring balls you can trust in The Exumas are the ones in the Land and Sea Park. However, these are very secure. In fact, about half of the boats in Hole 2 stay here all year, through hurricane season. The monthly cost is $300, the same most mooring fields charge in Florida. Of course for that fee here, we don’t get a nice shower, free wifi, a captain’s lounge with cable TV, and a laundry like we would in the States. However, not having to worry about the weather is worth every penny. A pumpout boat comes through the anchorages and mooring fields three times a week. While everyone in the harbor doesn’t necesarily use it, the boats in Hole 2 do, so the water is clean.

We are just a short dinghy ride from the St. Francis Resort on Stocking Island which has a nice restaurant and bar. Right behind the restaurant is the long sandy beach on the Exuma Sound side of Stocking Island. Below is a screen shot of a Google Map of Elizabeth Harbour with George Town on the west side and Stocking Island on the east side. The Exuma Sound, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean, is on the far east side of the map. The blue dot is where we are moored. I guess in the States we would call Stocking Island a “barrier island” but the other land mass is a much larger island, Great Exuma.

Thursday night we had dinner at the St. Francis with Cathie and Tom (Interlude) who are also moored in Hole 2 and traveled with us from Florida to George Town. All of us are happy to be here and quite honestly taking a deep breath and relaxing. As nice as it was to visit all the places we stopped at before we reached here, we were always one step ahead of the weather, so couldn’t enjoy ourselves as much as we would have liked. In the Spring when we head north, the weather will be more settled and we can enjoy stopping at the small islands along the way. We also plan on heading a bit farther south after we leave George Town, at least to Long Island which is a short day sail away. We plan to stay here through the George Town Regatta at the end of February.

Sailor went to four diferent beaches in the first 48 hours we were here. There are many more to explore and they are usually empty. Cruisers staying in Elizabeth Harbour usually go to Volleyball Beach where the activities, other than volleyball, include dominoes, yoga, beach church, speakers, meeting new and old friends, basket weaving (using palm fronds) and much more. Below is a picture of Sailor on the Exuma Sound beach yesterday. Another dog from the mooring field was there to play with him for awhile, but mostly he ran up and down the deserted beach.

Today we are making our first dinghy trip across the harbor to Georgetown. We’ll pick up some fresh fruit and vegetables at the well stocked Exuma Market. Every time we go to town we take our four 5 gallon water jugs and fill them at the dinghy dock. While here we will give our watermaker a rest and use the free RO (reverse osmosis) water provided by Exuma Market.

Blackpoint to George Town

After being treated to a boat wash courtesy of Mother Nature, we left Blackpoint Tuesday afternoon and motorsailed to Cave Cay. We anchored near Cave Cay Cut, which was where we were leaving the shallow waters of the Banks to go out on the deep Exuma Sound on Wednesday. We always try to take Sailor for a beach run when we arrive at a new island, but Cave Cay didn’t look too promising. The shores near us did not have any beach, just rocky cliffs. Still, Mark took off in search of a sandy beach and found a great one. Posted signs said “private” but all Bahamian beaches are public up to the high tide line, and Sailor always stays on the edge of the water or in it. Cave Cay is a privately owned island with a marina and a resort.

At 0750 today we left the anchorage, motored the short distance to the cut and headed south on the Exuma Sound with less than 5 kts of wind out of the NE. Needless to say, we did not bother to try to sail. There were quite a few boats out on the Sound ahead of us and a storm brewing behind us, so we went a little faster than our normal cruising speed. We counted 18 boats as we passed them and more came out of the cuts behind us. It’s not that we are that much faster than the boats we passed. We just chose to use more fuel in order to reach George Town before the storm clouds. The photo below shows some of the boats following us into Elizabeth Harbor.

By 1350 we were dropping our anchor in the Monument anchorage. Tomorrow we will pick up a mooring ball in Hole 2, a very protected hurricane hole in Stocking Island. Our friends Cathie and Tom (Interlude) always stay there and we know that we won’t have to be concerned about the weather.

There are many anchorages in Elizabeth Harbour and when a storm or heavy wind is predicted, boats move to different anchorages for protection. The harbor sometimes gets very choppy and the current is strong. There have been times when we couldn’t get into the dinghy. We decided that due to the fact that I am not fully recovered from my knee surgery, it would be best to be in a situation where I am not constantly trying to stay balanced. I discovered since we left Stuart on December 19 that on days when the boat was rocking a lot, my knees became sore.

Sailor has become more comfortable on the boat as the days have passed and when it isn’t rough, he likes to stay at the helm. However, on the days when the boat bounces around in the waves, he wants to be inside, usually in a bed with me next to him. Today was a good day.

Of course, as soon as he saw and smelled land in Elizabeth Harbour, he was ready to come to the foredeck to check it out. We undo his tether when we approach land.

He knows that soon after we stop, Mark drops the dinghy and they are off to play on a new beach. Once we are in Hole 2, we will be a very short calm dinghy ride to shore where we can go over a hill and be on a long sandy Exuma Sound beach. Today, Sailor enjoyed another new beach on the harbor side of Stocking Island. The monument in the background is how this anchorage got its name.

This is the earliest we have arrived in George Town, mainly due to getting good weather windows along the way. Except for Sunset Lake in Florida and Warderick Wells where we waited for weather to pass, we never stayed more than a night at any stop. People either love or hate Georgetown. Yes, there are a lot of boats here, but if you don’t want to anchor amongst them, there are plenty of anchorages where no one goes. On one side of the harbor is the city of Georgetown. Of course, this is where you go to shop. The Exuma Market has built a large dinghy dock and provides free water to cruisers who line up at a hose to fill their jugs. The market is the best since Nassua, large and well stocked. There are at least seven roomy anchorages on the George Town side. On the Stocking Island side, where we are, there are also many anchorages, but these are the populated and crowded ones since they are the most protected from the prevailing winds.

Lots of activities here to join or ignore. Someone just came on the VHF radio announcing a meeting of the ARG (Alcohol Research Group) this afternoon. All interested parties are to gather their research materials and meet in the harbor in their dinghies to raft together and drift. Mark chose to do his own research with a rum punch in the cockpit after returning from Sailor’s beach run. As I said, some people love it here and some avoid George Town like the plague, but the good news is there are a variety of things to do, everything you need is available in town, the phone and Internet signals are strong, the scenery and water are beautiful and that makes for many choices.

Nassau to Blackpoint

Before I begin our first blog post from The Exumas, I want to mention that I do regularly add photos and brief descriptions of our travels on our Facebook page. The link to that is in the right column of the website. Also, when a new blog entry is posted, there is a notification on Facebook. Followers of the website receive an email message immediately after an entry is posted. There is a place to enter your email on the right also. I do not have access to your email address, but you will be sent each new blog entry.

We left Nassau on January 1, after staying up until midnight for the dueling New Years’ Eve fireworks in the harbor. I can’t comment on them because I was huddled on a bed with a shaking Sailor. Mark, Cathie, and Tom (Interlude) said they were very impressive. Our first stop in The Exumas was Norman’s Cay. Sailor and a Mark went ashore to a nice deserted beach. Sailor always knows he goes to a beach when we stop so he positions himself where he can see it until he hears the dinghy start to be lowered when he races to the cockpit to hop aboard.

The next day we sailed to Warderick Wells, which is in the Exuma Land and Sea Park. This is a “no take” area so the beaches and underwater life are left as they are. We stayed for three nights, waiting out some strong wind. Luckily we got in the north mooring field which is very protected in all directions. We barely felt the effects of the wind. Mark walked up to Boo Boo Hill and found our sign which we first put there in 2010. He updated it with 2015 but forgot the camera, so here is a picture of it from last year. If we return again this year, he’ll use a drill bit to etch Sailor’s name and the new dates on the sign to replace the Magic Marker.

We went to our first group sundowner in Warderick Wells. Almost all of the cruisers on the mooring balls came with a variety of snacks and of course their own drinks. Friends Nancy and Jim (Summer Breeze) happened to be on a ball so we got to visit with them, pictured in the foreground wearing a blue shirt and white blouse. Also, Steve and Susan (Peregrine) who were a few slips down from us at Sunset Bay were here. We motored past their Lagoon 380 in our dinghy and thought someone came out to wave as Lagoon owners often do to each other, but she called out, “Is that Sailor?” Everyone remembers Sailor and then we realized who was on the boat. One nice thing about cruising is that you constantly run into old friends and make new ones.

The north mooring field is definitely a “Kodak Moment.” We are hidden a bit on the curve, the fourth boat from the front. It’s hard to believe water can be this beautiful, but this is what we usually see in The Exumas, with the variations in color due to depth. The darkest blue on the left of the photo is the deep water of the Exuma Sound.

Yesterday we left Warderick Wells and motorsailed to Blackpoint, about a four hour trip. Blackpoint is known for several things. The most notable is the US style laundamat. However, prices are a bit different with $3.75 for a load of wash. Ida, who owns the laundry also sells baked goods, gives haircuts, provides free wifi, has a small store, and recently opened a “gaming room” aka online gambling, and a golf cart rental. Quite the entrepreneur. In the photo, Cathie and Tom (Interlude) are folding their laundry. Only about half of the machines are shown here.

Today we will leave Blackpoint and sail a few hours Cave Cay, and tomorrow we will exit the shallow water to the Exuma Sound through Cave Cay Cut. We’ll be in deep water again for a half day sail to Georgetown.

SV Seas the Day

Life Aboard Our Lagoon 420 Catamaran