Feb 5 - 7: Salt Pond - Work Party & Superbowl

     Friday we assembled with several other cruisers for a work party.  A small building that was once a school and now houses the Farmer’s Market had some roof damage during Hurricane Joaquin.  A party of men quickly went to work, many of them bringing their own tools.  Dan spent a good part of his morning up a ladder wielding a nail gun.  I joined a small party of women and helped bag free trash and debris from the sides of the road around the small cement trash receptacle.  Trash here in the Bahamas is a big problem, and it’s surprising that boaters can bag it and dump it here for free.  Someone collects it twice a week but it has to be bagged.  We also chopped down the weeds growing up the path and in front of the small building so there’s no mistaking where to put the garbage.  Both our mornings were pretty productive.   While we women beautified the dump, the men got much of the plywood on the Farmer’s Market building.  Next weekend a group is planning to clean up the beach of Clarence Town, the main town on Long Island, but we probably won’t be able to join in, as son Bill is coming into George Town then.

Former school, now a Farmer's Market

    Friday afternoon we did a bit of snorkeling near the landing dock.  Another cruiser had mentioned that the hurricane had destroyed the dock, sending its aluminum ladder off somewhere nearby, and we all three went looking for it.  We found a length of aluminum pipe, many old tires, an engine block, and lots of tree and roofing debris, but no ladder.  We returned to the boat for sun showers and then came back ashore to the Sou’Side Bar and Grill for happy hour and dinner.  We were surprised not to see the whole work party there, as they had talked about gathering for happy hour, but we did meet a couple of Mainers who spend six months here on Long Island and the other six months in South Brooksville/Bucks Harbor.

     Saturday we went ashore to see the Farmer’s Market in full swing.  Lots of interesting crafts but not a lot of produce, but it was fun to see what was there and to meet some of the islanders.  Many of them thanked us for the roof work.  I did buy a loaf of bread and jug of frozen lemon-mango juice whose chief attraction was that it was frozen.  We also visited the grocery store and picked up a frozen chicken among other things.  We have an insulated bag that can work as a short-term cooler, and those two items stayed cold for several days.  I’d almost forgotten what it is like to have a cooler on board!

     In the afternoon we moved the boat over to the Northern section of Thompson Bay (still Salt Pond) and tried our hand at snorkeling over in that area.  We discovered a bonanza of langostino there - the spiny Caribbean version of lobster.  Dan and Joe spent a good hour chasing them out of their holes in the limestone rocks and bagging them up.  Those buggers move fast!  We had our version of surf and turf that night for supper - lobsters and hamburgers.  These lobsters don’t have claws like Maine lobsters, but they taste pretty similar, especially with butter.

     Sunday dawned quite blustery and the sea in the harbor was a bit rough for much of the day.  We did some more snorkeling in spite of this.  Probably the other cruisers in the harbor thought we were nuts, but we had fun and good swim.  As things calmed down in the evening, we moved the Willie closer to shore and then dinghied in to join the Superbowl crowd at Sou’Side Bar and Grille.  The windstorm had knocked out some electricity but the two large screen tvs at the small outdoor restaurant were working and the owners were ready to ply everyone with their chicken wings and ribs.  

     Watching the Superbowl together has long been a family tradition of ours; a year ago we had joked with our sons that next year we’d be watching from a little bar in the Bahamas.  Joe had said “I’m all over that!” and timed his vacation to include this day with us.  Billy couldn’t come as he is at USM, but we were all thinking of him.  

Superbowl Sunday at Sou'Side Bar and Grille.

4 February, 2016, Thursday: to Salt Pond

     Today we make a 20 mile passage down the West side of Long Island.  We had a good 15 knot SE wind and motor-sailed right along.  True to form, all the boats we saw underway were going on a reciprocal course.  We had a great ride down in the lee of the island, sometimes under main and jib, sometimes with main alone.  For a while we actually sailed with the engine out of gear, and lets just say that if the engine fails we hope our destination is off the wind and that we have a running start!

      5 miles shy of our destination,  Salt Pond on Thompson Bay, we stopped at Whale Head and did some snorkeling.  We swam among thousands of small fish and Jackpot!  We found 2 big   Hairy-ass crabs.  Joe stood guard on one while Kathy and I swam back to the Willie to get the dinghy, mesh bag, and dip-net.  We got back to Joe, he scooped up crab number-one, into the boat, and then I led him to where I had seen another.  Once there, Joe got the crab to squirt out from under the rock, netted him and also into the boat.

      Kathy already had fixings for crab soup, so finally a sea dinner!  Up anchor once again and off to Thompson Bay where we went ashore to check out the island’s grocery for a few staples. 

      Staples aboard, and met a few cruising folks ashore, we came back to the Willie, steamed up the crabs, Joe and I picked ‘em out, and into the broth had going on the stove.  After having crackers and fresh guacamole Canadian style on the foredeck, we retired to the galley/saloon for Whiskey Crab Soup!  A very satisfying day.

3 Feb 2016, Wednesday: To Joe's Sound

     After breakfast we hauled anchor and drifted back to the barrier reef where we re-anchored to do some snorkeling.  Joe saw his first stingrays and we watched a small octopus changing all sorts of colors as he blended with his surroundings.  We also picked up a Queen”s Helmet Conch, really stunning coloring.

     Back at the Willie, we hauled anchor again to move 5 miles south to an inlet called Joe’s Sound.  Pictures can’t do justice to how narrow and jagged underwater ledge lined the entrance is, with a hairpin turn at the end.  We anchored outside the entrance and did a survey of the entrance with the dinghy.  Satisfied with the depths, we returned and hauled anchor again, then threaded our way into the Sound.  Of note, there is a ballast keel from a good sized sailboat laying on the edge of the channel, as if to say, “Go ahead, try it!”

Looking back (from the Sound) at the entrance to Joe's Sound.

You can see how shallow and narrow it is.  Good thing we only draw 3 1/2 feet!

    This sound, or harbor amounts to a submerged river surrounded by some very shallow and some exposed sand banks.  There were several boats anchored, four sail, one active cruiser, and one houseboat, and a sailboat and a fishing boat both aground.  We passed them all by and found a spot in the 100 foot wide channel where we set 2 anchors.  The wind was screaming across the sand flats, and continued to blow across the channel most of the night.

The sand flats of Joe's Sound.

     We had arrived just after lunch so we made another snorkel expedition to a ledge just outside the sound.  There we found many interesting rock formations, many mini deep pools and many areas with extensive rock overhangs.  Kathy and I had a large barracuda swim right between us,  and Joe saw his first Stingrays up close and personal.  Kathy saw a lobster, but we were unable to coax him out of his rock hide-away.

     Back at the boat we cleaned up and made a dinghy trip up the sound to complete our survey of the back passage around Galliot Cay. This time we brought money so we could patronize ”The Last Stop”.  Well let me tell you, the wind came on and with three adults in the fatty knees, she makes some spray. Poor Kathy caught most of the spray and soaked right thru her windbreaker.  But we persisted and made it over very shallow water much of the way, thru the same bridge we had ducked the day before and right to “The Last Stop” .  Great, closed!  Back into the fatty and thru the bridge a forth time, back over the shallows and to the Willie, just about at sunset.  Probably a good thing the bar was closed, otherwise we would have been coming home in the dark.

     We will definitely come back to Joe’s Sound sometime.

2 Feb 2016, Tuesday: to Long Island

Pancake day, Then underway for Long Island, 22 miles to the East.  A fine looking day with a Northeast wind, 15 knots, we headed for open water.  Under power and mainsail strapped in tight, as soon as we hit deep water, )over 600 feet) we started getting the fishing gear in the water.  On rod from Joe’s great-grandfather Harvey, one from a dumpster at Prock and one from Cabellas.  Also we  rigged a handline with a deep diver lead with string wrapped around a 4 inch diameter bamboo section we had picked up on a beach last week in the Jumentos.   We dragged those lines for miles, tried different speeds, several different lures on each rig, and finally caught a 30 inch Barracuda on the handline.  No eating from the sea tonite!

Joe, hoping for a good catch.

Our second barracuda.

     We reached our destination by early afternoon, Calabash Bay, near the North End of Long Island.  We made a dinghy trip up into Hoosie Harbor, a shallow saltwater bay, then followed the riverlet thru the mangroves, winding our way halfway around Galliot Cay.  We were feeling pretty adventuresome, alone in the tight little mangrove estuary and had just taken a fork in the river, when behind us a 28 foot Mako with 30 foot outriggers and 200 Horse Power came screaming up behind us full bore. Luckily he was taking the other option in the fork.

     Soon we came to a boat ramp and a little waterside bar, “The Last Stop”, but in true form, we had no money aboard, so we waved and carried on.  Soon we came to a very small bridge, just the size of the Seaquin, not wide enuf for oars, but we were under power with our trusty 3 HP, so thru the bridge we went.  We soon came to a more open bay, shallow but wide and decided to go a little further, just around the next island. 

      What’s that? Theres  a man walking in the water over there.  When we were close enuf we asked if he was Okay, he waved his fishing pole, Oh, a bonefisherman!  Looked some strange, walking ankle deep along the edge of the mangroves, no civilization in sight.

Sunset from Calabash Bay

      We turned back and had an uneventventful ride back to the Willie, where we had a nice supper followed by Kathy beating Joe and me soundly at cribbage.

January 29 - Feb 1 : Hanging out near George Town

     After we said goodbye to Veronica we did some grocery shopping to stock up for the next guest and then moved the boat out of Kidd’s Cove in front of the entrance to George Town and back around to the Red Shanks area where there is more protection from winds and swells and fewer cruisers.  Kidd’s Cove can be quite busy.  It’s a good anchorage if the wind is from the West, the Exuma Yacht Club is right there, and there is a steady parade of dinghies from all over the entire harbor coming and going from George Town.  The only entrance to the town itself is under a very small bridge into a very small lake where the grocery store has a dinghy dock.  George Town is one of the few places in the Bahamas where there is free water, and it is at this dinghy dock, courtesy of the Exuma Market, so the dock is always busy.  The bridge entrance can only admit one dinghy at a time; it’s not unusual for there to be a line coming out or going in, and the dock can sometimes have fifty or sixty dinghies at it.  Once we had resupplied to see us at least through the weekend, we moved to Red Shanks to get out of the traffic.

This isn't the same bridge to Lake Victoria/George Town, but it looks like this one.

     Saturday we dinghied over to the entrance to the red shanks area to do some snorkeling.  This place seemed to be where sea stars hang out - we saw many of them, up close and personal.  For some reason the water here is several degrees colder than it is almost anywhere else we’ve been, and despite our wetsuits, we found it too chilly to stay in the water very long.  So after we had our sun showers, we climbed back into the dinghy to do some gunkholing.  There was a wreck we’d passed before last time we were here, and Dan wanted to see if there was anything salvageable on it.  It had obviously been in the water for a long time, and had already been extensively looted for its portholes and winches, but Dan thought if the remaining pilothouse windows were plexiglass we might be able to use some to fashion ourselves a lookee-bucket.  (That’s a bucket with a clear bottom you can use to see underwater from the dinghy.)  Turned out the windows were glass, not plexiglass, so we passed on them, but he did manage to find some little brass and bronze bits among the barnacle encrusted hull.  As we continued our tour, we found another wreck which gave up a small cleat.  We called it a day and returned to the Willie for a good meal of grilled steak and brussel sprouts.  (When you don’t have a fridge or cooler, you really appreciate fresh meat and produce!)

     On Sunday we decided to take the dinghy outside our cove and across George Town harbor in search of some larger reefs for some better snorkeling.  We’re getting pretty good at identifying the littler colorful fish we see, but we want to get more familiar with bigger fish in hopes of spearing some for supper sometime.  This whole area is a no-take zone, probably because of the hundreds of cruisers that hang out here all winter, and we thought we’d have a good chance at seeing some larger game fish at an outlying reef.  The Atlantic side was sending some good swells at us, making snorkeling a little like body surfing, and we had to mind our location so as not to get shoved into the limestone shores.  We didn’t see much in the way of game fish, but we did see two large barracudas.  One of them was over five feet long.  Back in the dinghy Dan admitted to me we’d used up all the gas getting out this far to this reef.  Good thing we have a fatty knees and not one of the little inflatable dinghies almost everyone else has. It was a long row back across the harbor, but we had those swells pushing us, and that helped a lot.

     Monday Feb 1st we upped anchor and made our way back to Kidd’s Cove.  We had a list of things to get done - laundry, water re-supply, gas for the dinghy!, a trip to the library to drop off school supplies - before son Joe came in on the 12:30 flight.  Joe will be here for three weeks.  It was a hot and muggy day and sitting in noisy, steamy laundromat took up most of my morning while Dan went back and forth with water jugs and fuel jugs, topping off all our tanks.  When Joe came in we all thought a burger ‘n beer special at the Redbone Grille sounded like a good idea before we showed him the town and went back to the boat and moved across the harbor to Elizabeth Island.  It was hot and we were all eager to get into the water to cool off.  Within twenty minutes of us exploring a reef, we spotted two lionfish, which are not included in the no-take limits, as they are invasive and have no natural predators.  Dan got out his Hawaiian sling and he caught one and Joe caught the other.  Lionfish are somewhat dangerous because they have needle-like spines along their backs and bellies that are venomous, but they are very meaty and very tasty.  We’ve read up on how to avoid being pricked (basically you keep the thing at arms’ length and use a long-handled sharp scissors to cut off the spines and fins in one motion) and Dan filleted them like a pro. 

We added them to our supper meal and look forward to more in the future.  Tomorrow, we plan to go across the Sound to Long Island.  The wind is supposed to be a convenient Easterly for several days, we should have a long time to explore this new island in the ‘far out’ Bahamas.

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!!