Rudder Cut Cay To Georgetown

       After Big Farmer’s Cay, we moved to the next island - Rudder Cut Cay - and spent three nights there.  Rudder Cut Cay and its associated collection of very small cays were purchased by the magician David Copperfield, and it was he who installed the underwater sculpture of a grand piano with a mermaid lounging on the piano bench.  One of the first things we did was to go snorkeling over there, waiting our turn after the hovering tour boat with gawking tourists left.  

Dan plays the piano for the mermaid,

We did a lot of snorkeling in several different areas near our anchorage, often circumnavigating a small island in our quest to view the aquatic life.  We found a ledge filled with the exotic looking queen trigger fish and coral heads teaming with grunts and sergeant-majors. 

The striped fish are sergeant-majors.

        We have a Go-Pro camera now, and Dan is becoming adept at getting pictures of the fish.  We also did a couple of beach walks and picked up a few shells.  We already have quite a shell collection at home, but sometimes you just can’t turn away a really nice shell.  We’re not going to turn away any sea-beans either.  Dan has already found one hamburger bean.  

Hamburger sea-bean

We met the folks on the s/v Full Circle when they came over to ‘welcome us to the neighborhood’ and let us know they bought their boat in Camden, Maine. Ted and Stacey were happy to give us the history and to explain the name of the boat.  It had been built and first owned by Ted’s father, and had been sold a couple of times. The most recent owner did some digging and tracked down Ted and ended up offering the boat to him.  It turns out that we have known that previous owner since he was kid.  Small world!  

We left Rudder Cut Cay on Friday morning, when the winds and seas were good for making the journey to Georgetown.  For the first time since we left the US we traveled through very deep water.  Dan set up two fishing lines and we did catch something, but as our luck would have it, the fish spit the hook before we could reel it in.  We’re getting very good at catching fish, just not very good at bringing them in.  We had a very nice cruise to Georgetown and found an anchorage off Sand Dollar Beach on Stocking Island.  Coincidentally this is the same date - Jan 20 - when we arrived here the last time we were in the Bahamas!  We are one of about ten thousand boats here (just kidding, it’s more like three hundred fifty) strung out all along the beaches of Stocking Island and across the channel in front of Georgetown on Great Exuma Island.  There is quite a social scene here, with concerts and Trivia Night and water aerobics classes and such.  They even have Beach Church every Sunday, a non-denominational Christian service run and attended by the cruising community.  We like this area because there are plenty of snorkeling areas, good beaches to walk, easy access to Long Island and the Ragged islands, and there’s a nice airport in Georgetown for our guests to come to.  We plan to spend the better part of the next month in this area.

Sunset in Georgetown

Nightlife in Georgetown Harbour.  All those lights are mast-head lights on the boats!

Four Days Between the Majors

        We moved from Bitter Guana Cay back toward Staniel Cay, and anchored with about thirty other boats between Big and Little Majors Cays to ride out a strong Northerly predicted to arrive Friday night (Jan 13-14).  This area is famous for being protected from the north winds, but it is not that protected from the current.  We rolled and bounced and pointed this way and that, as did all the other vessels here.  To get away from it, we took a dinghy ride around the area to see if there were any good snorkeling (not really around the Majors, unless you want to be in the very strong current near the oceanside reefs) and we went to have a look at the pigs, along with boat loads of tourists who were zipping over from Nassau and Highborne Cay.   

These pigs are big and they are semi-tame, unless they think you have food, then they can be quite aggressive.  The tourist boats call the pigs to swim out to meet them, and toss them food before daring their passengers to get in the water and swim with them.  (Dan and I shudder at the thought - not only do the pigs have sharp hooves, they are not particular about where they make their deposits, and their poop can be seen floating in nice big clumps all around.)  Pigs aren’t even supposed to be able to swim!  But these do. 

After a little pig and people watching, we went over to Staniel Cay for a walk and a rum punch at the yacht club there.  The restaurant there feeds sharks in the marina and there were around ten of them hanging around, waiting for food.  Last time we were here, the sharks consisted of nurses and bulls.  This time all the sharks were nurse sharks, or as one local put it “calm and friendly.”  We’ve heard of people swimming with them too, and again, we shudder at the idea.  

After our outing, we went back to the boat and prepared for the coming storm.  Dan lowered and unplugged antennas and threw out a second anchor.  The rain and lightning began in the night on Thursday, continued most of Friday, and then the winds built to 30 knots, which blew steadily all day Saturday.   The winds were strong enough to overcome the current, so things weren’t as rolly, and Dan pulled out the sewing machine to do some repairs.  Tommie supervised.  We also broke out a jigsaw puzzle and worked on that.  

Sunday (Jan 15) dawned sunny and warm, but was still pretty windy.  We finished that jigsaw puzzle and were pleased to have a clear enough sky for a sunset.  On Monday (today) we hauled up the anchors mid-morning and took our time picking our way through the shallow bank down the Exuma chain.  We had several destinations in mind and settled on Big Farmer’s Cay.  It’s a little too rough out for snorkeling, but we got ashore for a beach walk to stretch our legs.  Dan was hoping for some sea beans to bring back, but instead he inadvertently brought back a little gecko which is currently hiding somewhere in the galley.  Fortunately they eat bugs, not people food, and this one is welcome to as many of those he finds.  Tommie was neither impressed nor interested in helping Dan look for it.  

We had to do the puzzle in two halves because it wouldn't fit on the table.

Sunset over Big Majors Cay

The Exumas!

  We had planned to spend most of our time in the Exuma chain of islands in the Bahamas.  The Bahamas are made up of several ‘families’ of islands - the Abacos, the Exumas, eg - and several larger islands such as Eleuthera and New Providence (where Nassau is located).  Our favorite remains the Exumas.  After we left Rose Island, we headed for the top of the Exuma chain, and anchored off Allen Cay where we caught up with Canadian friends Mandy and Steve on 2 Outrageous.  This cay is a favorite day stop for tourists from the resorts and cruise ships in Nassau because it is one of the islands that is a haven for iguanas, which are a protected animal here.  Small fast boats bearing half a dozen people zip in and out of the anchorage all day, to let people gaze or get up close and personal with the iguanas who gather on the beach in hopes of food.  (Feeding is not recommended, but some people do it anyway.)  We did our snorkeling away from the the go-fast boats and the iguanas.  

From Allen Cay we made our way down to Shroud Cay, which is part of the Exuma Land and Sea park.  This cay is mostly made up of mangroves, with several dinghy channels cutting through the island from one side to the other, but as we quickly found out, they aren’t navigable unless the tide is between mid- and high.  Dan and I set off in the afternoon to take a meandering dinghy ride through the mangroves to the beach on the ocean side of the island and ended up spending quite a bit of time poling with an oar or just slogging through the creek on foot while dragging the dinghy along between us.  Eventually we just tossed the dinghy anchor into the sand and trudged through the creek to the end where we found a path through the scrub to the beach.  We only had about fifteen minutes to walk the beach, before we had to head back if we wanted to reach the Willie Dawes before sunset.  Fortunately the tide was coming; our way out required only poling once or twice.  

Shroud Cay sky

We spent two nights at Shroud Cay.  Here we met up with Tim and Tawnia from Knot Quitters, whom we’d first met a few years ago in Maine.  They live aboard their trawler full time and have cruised the East Coast extensively, but this was their first excursion to the Bahamas.  it’s always fun to see familiar boats in different places!

From there we moved on to Sampson Cay.  This was a new-to-us anchorage, in a little cove off a private (and quiet) island and we had some excellent snorkeling nearby.  The only fly in the ointment here is that this is a pass-through place for those go-fast little tourist boats zipping people over to Big Majors Cay where pigs (instead of iguanas) great people on the beach.  We discovered we could tuck way up into the cove and not be bothered by those little boats, but we had to be careful snorkeling - we anchored the dinghy with a dive flag flying and stuck close to shore while in the water.  Among the many fish we saw, we were treated to the sight of a line of fourteen squid equally spaced, just hovering.  

After our night at Sampson Cay, we moved past Staniel Cay and on to Black Point on Greater Guana Cay.  This was also new to us and what a fun place it turned out to be!  Black Point Settlement is a small, very laid back community that welcomes cruisers.  It’s famous for the laundromat run by Miss Ida, a white building with its own dock and gorgeous views of the anchorage.  The small town also has several little restaurants and bars, a couple of small grocery stores, and a post office.  Everyone who works in any of the establishments lives just a house or two away, and if they aren’t in attendance, such as when I needed tokens for the laundromat or when I wanted to buy stamps at the post office, someone else either tells you which house to go knocking on, or they’ll call them on the phone as ask them to come help you.  It was wonderful. The laundromat sells souvenirs, plumbing parts, oil for your engine, and snacks.  They also offer haircuts, hot showers, and occasionally sell hot dogs or baked goods.  And if you’re lucky, you’ll be treated to Miss Ida’s gospel singing while you do laundry.  Dan and I had a drink at Lorraine’s, ate dinner at Scorpios, and did two large loads of laundry in Black Point.  

Killer, the bartender at Lorraines.

Corner booth at Scorpios

This morning (Weds Jan 11) we moved over to Bitter Guana Cay.  This is another iguana refuge, and there are tourist boats that come here from Staniel Cay, but it is nowhere near as busy as Allen Cay.  We are only one of two boats here.  We walked from the beach across the narrow island to the ocean side, which has some impressive limestone formations, and later in the afternoon we snorkeled along the island.  Since much of this cove is just sand, we really didn’t expect to see much, and we were delighted to find several large coral heads teaming with fish of all kinds and sizes.  It was the best snorkeling we’ve found so far.  We’ll definitely keep Bitter Iguana Cay on our list of places to revisit.  

Limestone beach, Bitter Guana Cay

Sunset, Bitter Guana Cay

The Crossing

Navigating pre-dawn.  You can just see Dan's beard.

       We got up around 0400 on New Year’s Day to get underway for the Bahamas.  It had been a rather sleepless night - a little too rolly, a little too hot, and fireworks at midnight - but we were excited to get underway.  Mike on Gilkey as Charged took the lead, we were in the middle spot, and Rick and Debbie on Raison D’Etre were behind.  We slowly threaded our way through Angel Fish Creek, using handheld spots to pick up the markers and show off the few obstructions lurking in the dark.  About two miles from Key Largo, Debbie informed us all they’d developed an engine problem and were turning back.  “Bon voyage!”  was her parting wish, while ours was “Good luck and keep in touch!”  The two of us left in the convoy pushed on into the glorious sunrise.  It was a little lumpy, but we’ve been through worse.  About midmorning a large pod of dolphins came to frolic around us, leaping and breaching.  We took it as a good sign.  We also saw a lot of flying fish, and many Portuguese Man of War ‘sailing’ by.  

Sunrise in the Gulf stream

We reached Cat Cay about 2pm and pushed on, having decided our check-in point would be at Chub Cay.  We raised the Q flag and kept going another ten miles or so, putting the anchor down on the bank of Mackey Shoal just after sunset.  Mike anchored nearby and we all slept soundly that night.

Cat Cay

            We reached Chub Cay mid-afternoon on Monday, Jan 2.  This is a small island with some large colorful homes and a very busy marina that seemed to be catering to larger yachts.  They closed the fuel dock for us and gave Dan and Mike a lift to the airport where customs and immigration were located. Since we’d all already gotten our cruising permit via Click2Clear online, checking in in person was just a formality and took only a few minutes.  It took longer to get to and back from the airport than it did to check in.  Once back aboard, we both left the dock and moved out to nearby Bird Cay to mellow out for a few days while the wind shifted and stirred up some heavier seas.  The water there was various shade of emerald green - so beautiful and yet so elusive to capture on film.  We snorkeled.  We swam.  We visited Mike on his trawler for dinner and then we hosted him on the Willie Dawes the next night.  We watched the sun set every night and saw our first green flash of the year.  

Trust me, it was green at the very end.

This morning (Thursday Jan 5) Mike left before dawn for Nassau.  We had a quick swim and then left around 0830 to follow in his tracks, but our destination was Rose Island, as we’re not fans of Nassau harbor and have no reason to go ashore anyway.  We got to the anchorage at Rose Island about 3:30 pm and almost immediately donned our snorkel gear and set out to see what we could see.  Bird Cay offered very little beyond grass and snails (though we did see a lion fish lurking under some sunken construction materials) but here at Rose Island there were many coral heads and lots of tropical fish of all colors and sizes.  There were too many to name here, but they were a welcome sight and now we feel like we’ve really arrived!  

This doesn't quite capture the beautiful green color, but it's close.