Underway Again #11 Big Major Spot

At Big Major Spot, we finally caught up to the boats with whom we were originally going to cross over to the Bahamas. We got together every night on one boat or another and had a great time. Harry and Melinda (Sea Schell) Bill and Maureen(Kalunamoo) and Bob and Brenda(Pandora) are terrific company and we do a lot of laughing when we get together.

One of the days we went to the Thunderball Grotto or Cave -awesome! We tried to go at Slack Water but the tide was already going out. It was a beautiful but windy sunny day and the ride there shook out all our insides and vertebrae it was so rough.

The cave has two entrances both almost entirely under water.We went through the west side, the primary entrance with our snorkeling gear.

Roman actually went in the water!

This was the dome of the grotto.

 



Once inside there was a high dome shown above with spectacular beams of sunlight and below a wonderful world of all kinds of fish which did not seem at all afraid of us.



 

Sunlight reflecting through the grotto.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unbelievable colours!

 

Lots of little nooks and cranies for the fish to hide but they seemed acostomed to divers.

 

 

 

 



Can you spot Roman?



 

 

 

 

 

 

 I used my Olympus camera with the underwater setting to take one picture after another and the constant automatic flashing soon drained the battery; I could have taken so many more pictures. It was truly the best snorkeling we had ever experienced.

At Big Major Spot we also learned how to play the fast moving hilarious dice game of Farkel on Kalunamoo.

Underway Again #10 Allens Cay to Big Major Spot

Allens Cay

We decided to leave for Allens Cay the next morning as the winds would be a beam reach and we would have a great sail.  First we filled up at the Texaco station where diesel was $5.24 at least a dollar more than in the States but less than most everywhere else in the Bahamas.  We literally ripped over the waves at a steady speed of over 6kn. and anchored at Allens Cay where we watched the iguanas on shore from the boat.

 A tour boat came by with about 20 people on board who jumped in and swam to shore to see the iguanas who appear tame and come out looking for handouts but they are definitely wild and must be treated with caution. 



The next morning we decided to sail to Hawksbill Cay which is part of the large Exuma Land and Sea Park which covers 176 square miles. Last time we spent a week in Warderick Wells and thoroughly enjoyed it. You may not take any lobster, fish or souvenirs(shells, rocks etc) from the Exuma Land and Sea Park. There is a $500 fine per person per item and your boat may be confiscated. as well The park wardens take this very seriously as they are truly trying to preserve the Beauty of this pristine park.

We took a mooring ball and dinghied to shore where we spent a great afternoon.

 



The dinghy was pulled ashore quite a way and secured with an anchor on the beach as the tides can come up and float your dinghy away away!

 

Hawksbill Cay was wonderful.  It is uninhabited and has several beautiful beaches (with beautiful shells which I did not touch) on its western side.  Our dinghy was the only one on the beach. 

We climbed, yes I climbed very carefully and in retrospect, foolishly, to a hill where we overlooked a river.



The river fills at high tide and at low tide creates very warm pools of salt water to soak in.



It was very tempting to climb down the other side and soak in the pools.



 Wisely I decided just to climb down the way I came with Roman's help.

 

One of the most awesome things about the Bahamas is the colour of the water.  If you look closely on the left you will see a darker spot which indicates something in the water either grass or a group of rocks or reef.  On the horizon you can see the deeper colour of blue indicating deeper water. The sky is another shade of blue.  Absolutely beautiful!

 After spending a couple of days at Hawksbill we decided to move to Big Major Spot before the predicted winds and squalls.  We started out with a nice sail but when we changed course we just motored as we were going straight into the wind.  It was a very bumpy ride.  At one point a squall caught us with high winds and rain.  We thought, great! the boat would be cleaned of the salt but when the squall passed the waves continued to come up over the boat and covering everything with salt.  Just as we were entering Big Major Spot anchorage, I went down to get something and noticed water on the floor of the v-berth.  I looked up and saw that the forward hatch was not closed and that our bed was soaked with sea water.  I had asked Roman if he had closed it and he thought he had.  It was closed but not latched so every time the boat bounced the latch opened and the salt water poured in. 

 

Anything wet with salt water takes a very very long time to dry so I took off the slipcovers, rinsed them in fresh water and hung them up to dry.  It was late in the day and of course nothing dried even though I used up all our clean rags and towels getting the water out of the foam.  I slept in the pilot house for the next two nights while Roman slept in the galley berth.  The next two days were intermittently sunny with a few showers where we quickly put everything outside and inside again.

 

 

Underway again # 9  Fort Lauderdale to Nassau

Goodbye Florida

We listened to the weather reports and determined that there would be a brief window on Monday and early Tuesday so we decided to make a run for it even though we had not found a buddy boat  this time.  We went to bed at 7:00 on Sunday and got up at midnight and by 1:00 we were on the ocean.  This time the seas were much smoother as the wind was under 10 knots and the waves about 3 feet with the wave intervals at 9 seconds. 

 

I had secured everything and it was a good thing that I did as just as were about halfway through the Gulf Stream, we saw a dark patch of clouds on the horizon and very quickly the winds picked up to over 30 kn and the rain fell in large drops that sounded like pellets hitting our bimini. Although the squall lasted only about 20 minutes, it felt like much much longer. Roman had plotted all our waypoints allowing for the northerly flow of the Gulf Stream at a steady 2.5 knots and we stayed on course. Except for a few hours, we motored across just before 11:00 saw the first signs of land.
This was North Rock just north of the Biminis.  We soon left the Biminis far behind as we continued onward across the Bahamas Banks to Mackie Shoal, planning to anchor south of Russell Beacon but when we had listened to Chris Parker in the morning, he had predicted that the winds would increase steadily on Tuesday and would really pick up by the afternoon.  We thus resolved to continue non stop to Nassau. 

 

We do not have an autopilot system or should I say we do have one but it is non functioning.  The motor Roman planned to use with the new system he bought in Cocoa did not work when he tried to hook it up in Middle River and he decided to replace it with a hydraulic motor which he needed to order as well as hydraulic lines etc. so we are doing this crossing without an autopilot which I swore would never do again!  I guess the saying "Never say never" is sooo true. When it was my turn to steer I would pick an oddly shaped cloud on my course and follow it until it changed, always checking to determine that I was not going off course.  I followed a line of ducks, a pair of dinosaurs, a gorilla which changed into a swan, a human profile, a dancing bear etc. etc.  Often we would pass a freighter or should I say, a freighter passed us.

 

We took turns sleeping for 3-4 hours and when it was my turn to steer, I looked up and I was just blown away by the beauty of the sky.  Hardly a cloud to be seen but the stars, oh the stars, twinkled and sparkled and just filled the sky.  Now I used the stars to steer by.  Soon I saw a lighter patch on the horizon which was directly on my course and as I steered towards it, it grew larger and became a small streak of light and then it expanded into a larger band of light and then larger until it glowed on the horizon like a beacon.  It was no surprise then when we approached closer and realized that these were the lights of Nassau.


We could see the lights of the big cruise ships as they entered the harbour. 

 

We requested permission to enter but we told to wait for over an hour as the last of the cruise ships (Carnival Cruises) entered.

One of the first things we saw was a small home just inside the harbour. It looked as if it had been built on stilts.

Just as we were coming into the harbour a mail boat came in quickly behind us and blasted us with a loud horn and we both jumped with our hearts up in our throats.Then it passed within two feet of us again scaring the heck out of us.

 

 

Our first glimpse of Paradise Island

 We docked at Nassau Harbour Club about 9:30 where we met with polite immigration and custom officials who came to the boat.  $300 later we had a 90 cruising permit and fishing licences  The first day we were tired as we had been up for two days and went to bed by 7:00. 

I exercised and swam lengths in the pool as well as relaxing on the boat.  There was no WiFi but Roman did go to the Starbucks down the street and send a message that we had made it across and that we were all fine. 

 

We did not do much walking because of my leg but we did take the bus around the island to the downtown area where we went to the parliament buildings for a brief tour and chat with the guard. 

Everywhere we went the were signs Vote Yes; even people were wearing T-shirts with that logo.  On Jan. 28 there was to be a vote to legalize gambling in the Bahamas.  Right now it is illegal to gamble if you are a Bahamian.  Tourists can gamble at the casino on the Paradise Island but you will be arrested if you are a Bahamian.  This is a highly debated issue and we heard about it on the bus, on the streets and even at the straw market which is now housed in a new building as the old one was destroyed in the hurricane.

It was fun to go through and talk to the vendors.  Although I said I was not going to buy anything, I could not resist buying a few small gifts for my grandchildren. 

 

 

 

One of the gifts was made to order.
 

 

All the children and young people wear uniforms to school

After we took a bus to near the bridge to Paradise Island and had jerk chicken and pork in a small local restaurant where only the locals came in. Even the chef who came out to talk to us discussed the coming vote.