Little Bay to Emerald Bay

We had a great week (except for the stormy days!) enjoying Big Run's company in Little Bay.   They taught us the fine points of beach combing for sea glass and we shared many happy hours, strangely never running out of things to talk about.   We are especially grateful that they spotted us 20 gallons of water.   Very gracious and a life-saver.   What are the chances that we would meet a boat with a name that is the polar opposite of ours (Big Run/Short Walk) and become such good friends!

After a week, we left Little Bay and anchored just a few miles south off of Little Farmer's Cay for one night.   Last year we explored Little Farmer's completely during the Five F festival (First Friday in February at Little Farmer's Cay Festival).  We skipped the festival this year and didn't even go ashore when we anchored.   Too many islands/cays still to explore!   The next morning we rode the tide through the cut into the sound and then down to Lee Stocking Island.   Lee Stocking is the site of the Caribbean Marine Research Center.   We had hoped to get a tour of the site but they really don't start work or tours until March.   Students from various universities spend time there studying the local fisheries, water and reef quality.   They provide several free moorings so we had a secure anchorage for a few nights and spent some time exploring the trails and beaches on the island.

From Lee Stocking, it is a quick trip down to Georgetown on Great Exuma.   Many boats make Georgetown their anchorage for the entire season.   When we pulled in there were about 250-275 boats in the anchorage.   The Cruiser's Regatta (a 2 week program of parties, activities, lectures and races) began this week so the census will probably go up from there.  For our taste, it is a bit crowded but it is an easy spot to reprovision, get free water and catch up with cruising friends.   We finally caught up with Ken on Sail Away just as he was preparing to leave - headed for Cuba - we're jealous!

As predicted, another cold front rolled through last night and the wind, seas and ocean swell are expected to build over the next few days.    We are having friends from home (Donna and Sterling) down for a week staring on Saturday so in anticipation, we headed back north a bit to the marina at Emerald Bay.   We don't stay at marinas (the last one was Charleston in November) while we travel but this one is one of our favorites and well worth the $1 foot (no electric at the dock, water @ $.40/gallon, showers that are North Point clean and free laundry and internet!).   The marina and a nearby resort was originally built by Four Seasons but they declared bankruptcy and in 2010 the facilities were bought by Sandals.   The marina is beautiful and there are a couple beaches to enjoy within walking distance.    The cut coming into the marina is one of the trickiest if there is much of an ocean swell.   Last year we almost broached in the inlet with Ami, Ken and the grandkids.    The grandkids probably thought it was just another cool adventure courtesy of Gram and G-Daddy but the adults were shaken to say the least.   This year, we made sure to enter on a day with negligible ocean swell.   You do learn your lessons quickly sailing out here.   We are enjoying the luxury here for a few more days and then will head out with Donna and Sterling.   As usual, the next destination depends on wind and weather.   Stay tuned.

Emerald Bay Marina-looking back at the cut

A sailboat or a hobby horse?

So far we’ve done a fair bit of blogging about the weather.   It governs everything decision we make and living on a boat you just get used to being truly “in” the weather.   Recently we were catching up with friends on Big Run (a beautiful Katy Krogen 42) and were anchored in Little Bay (Great Guana Cay in the Exumas).   We anchored there on Monday and had 4 calm sunny days filled with snorkeling, beach combing, happy hours (i.e. perfect Bahama Days).    But we all know there is no free lunch.   The weather forecast predicted a big front to move through the entire Bahamas over the weekend.     Usually these storms come down the East Coast of the US (when you get snow and rain, it comes to the Bahamas as wind and waves as the front blows through).  However, the weather gurus indicate the tropical jet stream is unusually active this year sending big storms through Florida towards the Bahamas and the rest of the Carribean.   This front was powered by the tropical jet stream (originated in the Gulf of Mexico) and was huge.

All the anchorages on Great Guana are open to the Great Bahama Banks and as such many have beautiful beaches on the west (the lee side) of the island.   During this time of year, the easterly trade winds are dominant and the anchorages are perfect for that.  During the front, the winds were predicted to clock around going from E to SE clockwise to NE over a 24-48 hour period with winds predicted to peak around 25 kts.    A few squalls were predicted with winds to 30 but most of those were predicted to be far north of us.   Big Run and Short Walk both strategized to snuggle in as close to the land as possible and ride out the storm.   There are very few perfect hidey holes in this area when the winds are predicted to clock around so quickly.

Exactly as predicted, the winds increased to 15-18 kts and moved from the E to S to SW on Friday.   Not so bad but we all checked our anchors frequently.   We had 100 feet of chain out in 8-10 feet of water.   Luckily, there were only about ½ dozen boats in the harbor so there was plenty of swing room.   The fun really began on Saturday as the wind moved SW-W-NW and peaked at 24.4 kts.   The problem was that the anchorage is open to the west and the wind driven waves coming in off the Great Bahama Banks were 3-5’ in the anchorage for approximately 12-18 hours.   We’ve actually had Gulf Stream crossings that were easier and calmer than that.   This boat will usually ride 3-5’ waves easily (depending on where the wind and current are) but when you drop anchor and try to hold the boat still in those waves, she behaves like a hobby horse.   For the majority of the time, the boat was facing right into the waves and the bow was riding up and down.   The dinghy was tied behind the boat (two ropes for security) and standing below in the safety of the boat, we could see the dinghy ride the waves ABOVE the stern of the boat.   We had the cockpit enclosure zipped up except for the back panel (in case we needed to adjust the dinghy lines quickly) and the waves actually splashed into the cockpit providing a nice crusty salt coating to everything.   If you have any inclination towards sea sickness, this would be a nightmare.   I did start to feel a little dizzy and took a preventative Bonnine but neither of us was sick.   However, there was not much cooking or eating going on during that time either.  We had to stow everything below like we typically do to make an ocean passage because the boat just rocked and rocked (picture a sugared up 5 year old on that hobby horse).   Basically, we had to lie down most of the day and read books or try to sleep.    Our berth is in the front of the boat so we abandoned that (the bow moves the most in that steep of a sea) and huddled in the middle and back of the boat.    Sleep only came in fits and starts as the swim platform on the back of the boat makes a phenomenal amount of noise as it slams into the water and goes underwater.   The brake that holds the rudder in a fixed position was loose to begin with and Joe had to lash the wheel down with ropes to keep the rudder from slamming from side to side.   Sunday morning, the wind finally moved to N and to NE.   Initially, the boats stopped the hobby horse action and began to rock side to side as the waves hit us broadside but eventually, the wind dropped back down below 20 kts and moved N-NE enough to give us some protection from the land again.  During the storm, Big Run said they could see our rudder and hull (and we were admiring their bottom paint job) as our stern lifted out of the water on waves.   They tried to take pictures but as you can imagine the action on their boat made the photography challenging.   The picture below is well before the waves peaked.   With the front came cooler temperatures (cloudy and a daytime high of 72) so snorkeling is canceled until the sunny 80 degree days return.    Just in case you’re sick of hearing about all the fun we have, the long-range predictions are for another strong front to come through this weekend.    Oh goodie!

Short Walk just beginning to act like a hobby horse

Dinghy Rescue

As we prepared to leave Eleuthra, we knew another weather system was coming in with winds in the 25-30 knot range so we looked for a destination that would have protection as the wind clocked around from the north to the east/southeast.   We chose Cambridge Cay in the Exumas as our destination and set out with our friends on the  boat (Plumpuppet) on Saturday, January 28^th.    To make Cambridge Cay we sailed west across the Exuma Sound in deep blue water (around 5000 feet).   We were a little too close to the wind and had to motorsail but it was a pleasant 35 mile run.  About 2/3 of the way across the sound, Plumpuppet called on the radio to say that while watching a pod of dolphins, they spotted a dinghy floating off to starboard behind them.   We diverted to check it out and found a brand new 10’ Zodiac rigid bottom with a 15 horse Yamaha motor just floating along.   There was some water in the boat and the gas can and a pair of flip-flops were floating in the water.   No owner in site.    We announced the find on the radio several times but never heard a reply.   We picked up a mooring in the Exumas Land and Sea Park in Cambridge Cay and continued to make radio announcements that evening.   A boat on another mooring in Cambridge indicated they had heard of a boat missing a dinghy down in Rum Cay (about 100 miles away).   Since VHF radio won’t usually transmit that far, Joe waited until the next morning and made an announcement on the single-sideband radio on the Cruisenheimer’s Net.   Low and behold, we got a reply and the dinghy was lost from Rum Cay.    To make a long story short, the owner, a single-hander, arrived in Cambridge Cay on Monday and claimed his prize.   We made a ceremony of him trying on the floating flip-flops to prove ownership.   The dinghy had been missing for 5 days and he was VERY relieved to get it back.   He was just about to file an insurance claim when we found it.   It was brand-new, not a scratch on it and didn’t take any damage when it broke loose from his boat anchored in Rum Cay.   It would have been hard to replace down here.   We hear you can get dinghies in Nassau for about 40% more than you would pay in the states.     To tell you the truth, we were just glad to help out and even happier when there was not an injured person in the dinghy.   We had to motor about a mile to catch it and as we were doing that, we were both a little worried about what we might find.   Luckily it all worked out. 

Shoeless

As we were heading over to have drinks with new friends on an IP44 Rejoice!, it occurred to me that we don’t even think about putting on shoes before we go.  We just get in the dinghy with our drinks and a snack to share and climb on someone else’s boat in our bare feet.   Joe’s mom used to hate that we walked around in our socks at home so I can just imagine what she would think about this new phase of our social life!  One of the hardest things about going home and then back to work last year was having to wear shoes all the time.   When we were in Cambridge Cay the other day, 4 boats got together for happy hour on the beach and since we were beaching the dinghy (no dock on these beautiful deserted Cays) we just swung our feet into the shallow, warm blue water and pulled the dinghy the last few feet ashore.   Clearly we weren’t the first cruisers to have Happy Hour there as there was a makeshift table (stones piles up to make legs and remnants from a dock for a table) and a bench.   However, the islands and cays of the Bahamas are predominantly coral so when we walk the trails or climb the rocks we do have to wear some type of rugged shoe (e.g. Keenes) to keep the rocks from tearing our feet apart.   Sometimes it reminds me of moonscape with its jagged profile.   And we haven’t totally lost all sense of propriety (probably most but not all).   We wear shoes when going into the towns or restaurants but I don’t think it is a requirement.   I have yet to see a sign that says “No shoes, no shirt, no service.”      Shoeless in the Bahamas-it’s a good thing.

Baby conch and trail in the sand

Shoeless Happy Hour on the beach

Ocean trail Cambridge Cay

Bell Rock on Cambridge Cay