A Pub Crawl to the Tropics

We left Rum Cay after spending 6 days there. We hooked with another cruising boat, Homeward Bound, and had a great time rotating between our boats for evening dinners of freshly caught seafood, and guitar playing. The seafood being much better than the guitar playing, but after enough beer and rum everything started to sound good. During our stay in Rum Cay a front came through with a strong westerly, which resulted in us ducking into the marina there for three days, as there is no protected anchorage for western quadrant wind. This was a welcome change and our first Marina since Nassau at the end of November. The batteries definitely appreciated the three days of charging. Rum Cay has a very small settlement, probably 50 people, with some scattered resort/villa/marina development. The people were extremely nice, but clearly under pressure as the only game in town is tourism and there was nothing happening on that front. Like a strong U.S. cold front, the economic chaos is moving south east and engulfing the Bahamas. One curious defensive habit has developed; prices for goods and services are not published and to get a quote one must beg, the preference is to provide the goods and services and then make up the price afterwards, at a much inflated value. This leaves a bad taste for everybody involved, and I think creates only a small short term gain.

We left Rum Cay, with Jake saying "I really enjoyed that place", to head for Clarence Town on Long Island. The cruising guides were mixed on Clarence Town, as an east coast anchorage it is very exposed to the large swells from the Atlantic ocean, essentially coming unchecked for Europe/Africa, however the town itself is to contain some fascinating history. Well after 12 hours we have found the anchorage comfortable, more so that Rum even, and can see that the town will hold a great deal of interesting exploring for the next week or so.

One very troubling event, on our sail down from Rum, I made a terrible error. The trip is about 35 miles, so a 5 hour run for us. The winds were on our port quarter at 20 knots and seas on the beam running 4-10 feet in swell and wind chop. A nice, fast and comfortable sail. Alas not one that you should tow your dinghy through. This is what I did and we lost it off the cleat at some point, even though I was trying to keep an eye on it. Now a dinghy is the most important piece of equipment in an anchorage after a good anchor. It is your car; grocery getter, beach and snorkeling trips, visiting other boats and shore side attractions. Without it one is stuck on the boat. We are fortunately still buddy boating with Free@Last so can now buddy dinghy. The replacement though shall be a challenge as we are far enough into the out-islands that it shall be either very expensive or impossible, likely both. Wish us luck.

The Pub Crawl; Hammish and I attempted a pub crawl on Rum Cay. There are three bars, however one was closed. We made it to all of them, the best being Kayne's which was proud of its "Sand Bar", which upon close inspection was a simple two room structure with a bar made out of wood and sand on the floor. Good fun though. The locals were watching "Trading Places" when we walked in. We finished the pub crawl with a few more on the boat. Lastly, on our trip from Rum to Clarence Town we crossed the Tropic of Cancer, so we are now in the tropics!

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Escaping Chicken Harbor

Well we made it out of Georgetown, leaving on Thursday. We had little choice but to wait that long as the propane fill was Wednesday. We almost clucked though. As we sat at the bar on Chat N Chill beach we were told that the coming cold front and winds were going to be to strong, that our intended destination would provide no protection - just stay they said, leave next week. The famous Georgetown refrain. We did enjoy Georgetown, the provisioning is absolutely first rate, probably dangerously so as you can find things you do not need. The gatherings on the beach each afternoon were fun as many kids (all older unfortunately) were there for Jake to try and run with. The adults found their way to the beach volleyball afternoon. It is clear that the semi-permanent community, the organization and perceived stability - purely the numbers as we estimated 150+ boats - provides an important backstop for many people. That said the downside is some very poor water quality, well overfished reefs and a pattern to each day that does not vary from the previous or the next.

We left Georgetown bound for Conception island, arriving after a long motor sail in very light wind in seas. Conception is uninhabited and absolutely pristine. Rae Ann commented that the beach was the best she has ever seen. The water clarity was crystal clear, absolutely unbelievable. The afternoon was sunny, dinner was scrumptious bounty of the sea, the drinks free flowing ... too free flowing and the company (Free@Last) outstanding. The winds built as forecast during the night, but we were protected. However, as Conception is a very small island any large swell wraps around the island, thus our anchorage had a fair roll to it. Reluctantly we left paradise and ran for Rum Cay. We had a brisk beam sail in 20 knots of wind and 6 foot plus seas. We will stay at Rum for the next couple of days, looking forward to the snorkeling and spear fishing here.

A spear fishing update. After procuring new spear tips in Georgetown we, Hammish of Free@Last and myself have become even more deadly. My latest was a lobster so large that it fed four adults, and was so heavy it kept pushing my under water filling my snorkel as I swam it back to the dinghy.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Georgetown

So we have arrived in the cruising mecca of the Bahamas. Elizabeth harbor is formed by Great Exuma and Stocking Island (and other cays) running parallel roughly in NW/SE direction. The harbor is about 10 miles long and 1.5 miles wide with many shallow areas. The easterly trade wind pattern results in most boats anchoring in the lee of Stocking island. Stocking island sports the Chat n Chill beach bar and volleyball beach, where all cruisers gather for their afternoon of play. The town of Georgetown on Great Exuma is then a somewhat long and very wet dinghy ride. However, we found all of the re-provisioning that we needed plus some. Very welcome as we expect to head to the Bahamas Out Islands where supplies will be thin to say the least.

There are several cruisers who departed the U.S. on the same day we did, who came straight to Georgetown. There are even some who do not leave. All told there are about 100 boats here right now, but that greatly increases the farther you get into the season.

Georgetown is also known as chicken harbor, as many arrive with grand plans of moving farther south, but few actually go. The reason being is that going south is then almost all open ocean sailing and within 15 miles one is in the tropics crossing the Tropic of Cancer, thus one becomes quickly exposed to the trade winds with little relief in the easterly flow of both wind and waves. The route south is mostly direct into this flow.

We are hoping that we do not turn into chickens.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Black Point & Beyond

We have been moving slowly south in the Exuma Chain, stopping at Black Point, White Point and are now currently at Little Farmers Cay. Black Point and White Point are both on Great Guana Cay. Black Point is a large, for the Bahamas. settlement supporting a local community. It is basically a one road town. Very friendly to cruisers with the best Bahamian bread yet. White Point is sans settlement but had some very nice coral and beaches nearby. Little Farmers was essentially founded by four people several generations ago, with most of the current population descendants of these four people. A small community but very inviting. Most importantly with a good east side anchorage to wait out the current cold front and its westerly winds. From here south the bank side of the Bahamas begin to run out of water so to speak. We were sailing in about 8 feet of water, near high tide, yesterday with our 6.7 foot draft. So from Little Farmers we will go out into Exuma sound for a run down to Georgetown, about 40 miles to the SE. This is usually a manageable distance for us, however, it seems somewhat intimidating right now as it will be about 8 times longer than any passage we have had in the last six weeks! Oh how we have been spoiled by this section of the Exuma chain.

Jake tried swimming sans life jacket off the back of the boat while we were in Black Point. I went in with him showing him how to tread water. He was able to start swimming without much fuss. Now he believes after one afternoon that he is an expert so we now need a very careful eye that he just does not jump in.

On the spear fishing front, our technique (Hammish from Free@Last and myself) continues to improve as does the variety of our catch. I am still using a spear without tip, so more or less bludgeoning the fish. The downside of this approach is that I loose my share if I hit them in a non-fatal place, like the lower belly, as they can easily slide off, being there is no spear tip with barb to hold them. Just increases the degree of difficulty. Our catch list now includes, sting ray, lobster, trigger fish and grouper. Of the fish, while the trigger is held to be the best tasting, our current vote is for the grouper, which we prepared by rolling them in a spiced flour and lightly frying. The lobster was a close second. We have also started to purge lion fish. Lion fish are very interesting, almost seeming to have feathers that fan out, are a very nice black and white color, one might suggest beautiful. They are also extremely poisonous and not native to the Bahamas, having no known predators here. They were introduced accidentally a couple of years ago, and now are almost everywhere. They like to hide under ledges in coral, but are very docile and not aggressive. I guess not having predators makes you pretty confident. Their favorite fish is the Nassau Grouper which is under immense pressure from over fishing already. We now spear and kill any lion fish we see, doing our part to reduce the scourge. Oh yeah and it is pretty fun.

Last note, we have uploaded our first set of Bahamas pictures, see the link to the right.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

New Years Eve in the Bahamas

Start as with anywhere with good friends, ours came courtesy of the s/v Free@Last comprised of two adults and importantly one 3 year old boy. We have been sailing with them off and on for the last few months and the kids absolutely go nuts for each other. The adults get along famously as well.

Next add fresh fish, this is courtesy of a 3 hour spear fishing expedition by myself and captain Hammish of Free@Last. Now not all of this is spear fishing, a big part is just going about in your dinghy to find a good place (there are no signs!), there is also a fair bit of avoiding giant Great Barracuda, two different black tip reef sharks and a sting ray that was very mad - because we decided to shoot it with our spear, causing not a bit of harm though the spear stuck momentarily, he was sleeping though in the sand so rudely awaken. My aim put the spear in his wing rather than head, so he flapped twice dislodged the spear and took off. One note of cowardice, after discovering said sleeping sting ray, we retreated to the dingy and shot the spear from there. Our catch ended up being one Squirrel Fish (bait only, but also has poisoned barbs around his gills which we were unaware of), one crab and one Bar Jack. The Bar Jack was actually caught at the boat after we had returned from the hunt. I was snorkeling about Nikita as the wind had shifted and like any good captain wanted to see where we were lying as compared to our anchor. The Bar Jack stared to follow me and as I free dove down to him let me come eye to eye. Big mistake, I swam back to the dinghy and retrieved my spear sans any tip (more on this later) and swam back. There he was still curious though a little less brave, I think all Bahamas fish know the color of the pole spear, gold, and know what to do. Anyway I free dove again, and again he let me come right up to him, Rae Ann thinks given the absence of any other fish he wanted to make friends, I did not. AS we cam eye to eye, pole spear cocked, I let fly - bam right in the head, instant kill. The Bar Jack and the crab made very good eating.

The pole spear is a two part arrangement - a pole with rubber tubing for creating the sling shot like action and a screw on tip. There are different types of tips and I bought only one a trident type. I was told this was the best type, and it may be, as it has a shot gun like effect, e.g. you can have bad aim, as a result of its three barbed prongs. Well I like adventurous spear fishing, so will free dive down until I am positioned under a wreck for instance (where the big fish are) and shoot kind of blindly. This is rarely successful and leads to hitting solid objects. This approach broke two of my three pronged trident. As it did not shoot straight any longer we eventually broke off the third prong. Now it is essentially a bludgeoning type spear, but shoots straight!

After a clean up and some organizing we retired to a nearby beach, played, gathered some drift wood and ultimately built a nice fire. The kids ate roasted weaners, three a piece while the adults consumed adult type beverages. Then back to Free@Last for real dinner more adult drinks, observing fire works and laughter. Eventually the wall was hit at 10 pm (late for cruisers by the way) and kids needed their beds so off we went to Nikita.

At 2:30 the wind shifted again and came up to 22 knots, putting us on lee shore with quite a bit of wave action. One hour of anchor watch, looking at worst case escape routes and the wind died, though not the crazy bouncy waves.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com