January 22-29: Veronica visits; A quick trip to the Jumentos

Friday Jan 22: we made our final preparations for our first on-board guest.  Willie Dawes is only 30 feet and we’ve been living aboard for the last seven months so there was some scrambling around to find new storage places for things we’ve been complacent about leaving out in the salon.  We had brought along a full compliment of guest bedding, and we unearthed it from deep storage.  My cousin Veronica’s plane came in around noon.  We dinghied in around twelve-thirty to be there when the taxi brought her to town.

     Veronica was awesomely prepared for boat life.  She had packed all she needed in two small bags and carried everything on the plane, ‘everything’ including a blanket, towels, toiletries, clothes, and snorkel gear.  I haven’t spent much time with her since she was a teenager; it was a real treat to have her aboard and catch up with her.  

     We spent our first night in Kidd’s Harbor just off George Town and went in on Saturday to take a walking tour and to visit the shops and the open air market.  There was a very creative woman at the market who makes beautiful jewelry out of shells, sea glass, and gem stones; Veronica and I spent a fair amount of time examining her wares while Dan took the camera to the nearby boatyard and took pictures of Bahama dinghies.  

     Later we moved the Willie to calmer waters in the Red Shanks district of George Town harbor.  We were expecting a major wind shift to the North with twenty-twenty-five knot winds and Kidd’s Harbor was a little choppy.  Red Shanks proved to be the right place.  We spent Saturday night and Sunday night there as well.

     Sunday we broke out the snorkel gear and went exploring.  The water, for some reason, was only 74 degrees, so Veronica and I used the two wetsuits we had and Dan stayed put in the dinghy ‘spotting’ us.  She’d never been snorkeling before; it was a real treat to see her excitement as we came upon a small grotto loaded with different kinds of fish.  We also saw a large Southern stingray.  Veronica was a natural at snorkeling.  When we were done, Dan rigged the dinghy and sailed off for his own brand of exploring.

Veronica snorkeling & Dan sailing.

Monday: we had got up early to get through Hog Cay Cut to the Bank side of Little Exuma Island.  Our original goal was to spend time on the West side (winds were scheduled to blow Easterly), maybe even circumnavigate the island.  It was so beautiful and so calm on the West side of the island, Dan proposed we head South instead, to the Jumentos, a string of Cays the make up the Northern section of the Ragged Islands.

     This is a remote chain of islands arcing down toward Cuba.  There is one town at the very Southern end of the chain, otherwise there are no settlements, no people, nothing but beaches and jagged limestone shores.  The guidebook warns that you must be self-sufficient and there must be good weather to cruise the Jumentos.  We had a beautiful, calm cross from the Exumas to the Jumentos, cruising below the Tropic of Cancer which runs through the Southern end of Little Exuma.

Veronica and me hangin' out on the bow.

     We got to Water Cay a little after noon and dropped the hook to do a little snorkeling.  It was a little too strong a current to snorkel the reef we’d had our eye on, band Veronica opted to return to the boat while Dan and I continued toward shore.  He really wanted to gather some conch for supper.  We came upon a few small cluster of rocks here and there where different fish were hanging out, but saw no conch.  We were just about to give up when suddenly they were everywhere.  It was as if we had stumbled into their neighborhood.  Big, little, young, old, you couldn’t swim five feet without finding one.  When you enter the Bahamas on a boat, your entry fee includes a fishing permit.  We are allowed six conch per day, but the regulations stipulate they must have a “well-formed lip.”  Well, we still aren’t sure exactly what a well-formed lip looks like, but we selected five of the most likely candidates, filled our mesh bag and brought them back to the Willie for supper.

Next was the process of banging out a small hole to get at the meat.  Conch shells are might hard and those snails inside are pretty good at retreating into them.  The first shell was a test case.  After than, Dan was a pro.  We had plenty of conch meat to pound into lace (it’s really tough meat) for fritters for supper.

Tuesday: we moved the Willie to the next beach where the fishermen hang out and went ashore for some excellent shelling.  The guide book also mentions good ‘beaning’ and we think we know what that is, but it was the shelling that caught our attention.  There was good snorkeling in this harbor, and we enjoyed doing that for a little while, but as it is a place where fishermen clean their fish, there are also sharks.  We had one come circle our boat.  Dan had caught a couple small fish - enough for an appetizer - and it wasn’t long after he’d cleaned them that we had our shark come visit.  That did it for snorkeling for us!  

     On Wednesday we just took the dinghy to another beach and did some more shelling.  What a beautiful, wild place the Jumentos are.  We would have stayed longer, but the wind was shifting again (to the South and Southwest) and it’s not a good place in the Westerly winds.  And we had to get back to George Town for Veronica to catch her flight out on Friday.  So Thursday we headed back to the Exumas.  The water was an extraordinary color, the sun was hot, and the South wind was humid as we made the five-six hour trip back. 

I want this color on the walls in my house!!

     We stopped at Tropic of Cancer Beach on Little Exuma to have welcome swim.  These waters are where scenes from Pirates of the Caribbean were filmed.  We had the place to ourselves for a lovely swim and beach walk before taking the Willie back into Elizabeth Harbor/George Town where we dropped the hook off what’s locally known as Volleyball Beach where the cruiser’s bar/restaurant Chat ‘n Chill is located.  The winter cruisers that drop anchor in this large harbor have quite a social scene, much of which is centered at this beach.  They have volleyball games, yoga, water aerobics, and even Sunday services here, all organized and attended by the transient cruisers who call this area their home every winter and spring.  Chat ‘n Chill is a small, friendly bar with a simple menu (burgers, fish) and a Sunday pig roast.  The three of us enjoyed our last meal together in front of a beautiful sunset (sorry, Veronica has that picture) just inside Chat ‘n Chill’s deck.

     Friday morning we crossed the harbor to anchor once again in Kidd’s Harbor and around eleven dinghied in to George Town to put Veronica in a taxi.  She’s going back home to Wisconsin, and we will miss her very much.  There were tears.  A big thank you to her family and friends who supported her and outfitted her for her trip with us.  Ronnie - you are welcome to come back anytime!!