Anchor watch at Galliot Cay

It is Monday Jan. 25, 7.30 p.m. and I have taken the first anchor watch. After a some what bumpy ride we are now anchored between Big Farmers, Little and Big Galliot Cay. It is not a really official anchoring spot (no signs on the map) and the wind is still going pretty strong, so for the first time we will take watches during the night and I am the first one to look if everything is staying okay. 

Well I have a book to finish on my Kindle, have to play a game on my Nintendo (I can not seem to beat Karyn in “word search”) and a few dishes to do. To save water we first wash them with salt water and then I only need a little drinking water to rinse them of. When sometimes the drinks tastes a little weird you know that the rinsing was not done very thoroughly, but you learn to live with that, just as laying in your bed with just a small light in the middle of your forehead to read by! Everybody who wants really to think about saving energy should live for at least two months on a sail boat.

We are anchored here, because tomorrow we will make for the first time ”THE CUT,” lots of stories about the cuts, we have to get to the other side of the islands through a small opening in between the islands and because the tides are very strong here, it seems to be a rather exciting experience. We read that the wind would turn to the north-northeast and when we then wait for a low slack tide (will happen in about twelve hours), we will have the best conditions to go through. We are a little anxious about it, so we wanted to have the best conditions, the wind is not very much turning around until now, but we have still ten hours to go. And then we hope to get to Great Exuma Island tomorrow and plan to stay for about three nights in a harbor, there seems to be a new harbor and when you do not need water or electricity they have dock spaces for around 20 dollars, would not be bad.

I am going to give myself a drink, look around outside, finish my book and hope that it is then about 12 o’clock and I can go to sleep. Sleep well everybody!!

Ria

Compass Cay to Big Majors Spot

Compass Cay is an example for the Bahamas, there only live 5 people, even had an airstrip, but that could only be used at low tide!!!!!! The island has at least six wonderful beaches where you are completely by yourself. We anchored outside (the prices for the harbor were a little bit steep, $2.20 a foot and nothing else to offer) and went with the dinghy to the harbor. There we were very surprised to see at least 10 nurse sharks, wow!!!









The owner Tucker Rolle has fed them for many years and now they stay at the marina dock all the time.

When we left the anchorage at Compass Cay I had to stand at the bow of the boat, my right arm loosely around the forestay, to spot probable trouble spots, like coral heads, sandbanks etc. I give the impression like I know what I am doing and I look really cool (that’s to reverse the manatee feelings from yesterday). I am not 100 percent sure if I would have spotted something imported, because the water here has so many colors and light (sand) and dark (could be just grass or a coral head!!) shadows. In the books we have read about sailing in the Bahamas they talk about learning to read the water, I am afraid I am still at chapter one!

It was a short hop to Staniel Cay, the books were telling about the Thunder ball Marina, where there would be mooring balls. After calling several times on the radio, somebody felt sorry for me and told that the Marina was not open anymore. Then we tried to call the Staniel Yacht club, but after several trials to get somebody on the radio we gave up and anchored west of Big Major Spot. This was the first time we were in an anchorage with at least twenty other boats. The island is not inhabited except for pigs, as soon as they hear the sound of a motor they come running to the beach and even swimming towards you, just to get some food. Only when we went they were napping, so I have no pictures, but it was very funny to see.

This was the place I wanted to go for the Thunder ball Caves, must be something fantastic, the fishes come to eat from your hand, especially frozen pies. So we eat a dish with some pies in it and I had the rest frozen for the fishes. But the next day was very stormy and you can only get into the caves with low tide and calm waters, so we had to forgo the caves.

We for sure are coming back to the Bahamas and the caves will still be there.

Ria

Compass Cay/Anniversary

It is today our anniversary, I only thought about it because the radio said the date out loud, so I was the first to remember it!! We went for a dinghy ride to the Rocky Dundas, a place were you could swim in a cave. I took my snorkel stuff with me, but was not sure I would go in the water, there was tide and going into a cave sounded a little scary to me.

There were mooring balls for the dinghy and Jacques was soon in the water. I was looking through Paul’s box with a glass bottom and what I saw was fantastic, so after exciting words from Jacques I put on my flippers and snorkel. The problem was how to get in the water; I still not jump free fall in the water. Now comes a whole movie, I laid myself queer on top of the little boat and let myself slowly slide into the water, even that went not without problems because my swimsuit got two times stuck on something?! 

Can you imagine how I got back out; it probably looked something like a manatee coming up to breath!!!!!!! Jacques had made a little rope ladder and "you just step on the first step and pull your feet straight underneath and then you take the second step etc." I do not know why Jacques feet had no problem listening to him, mine did not and I was all the time laying flat in the water with my feet glued to the first step and that to the underside of the dinghy. So it took a LOOOOOOONG while!!, but I made it.

I was so happy I went because the snorkeling was so GREAT! I have nearly never seen so many different fishes and corals on a rather small spot. And the cave was a really fantastic experience, full with stalactite and it had two holes in the ceiling where the sun came through. I must say until now the Bahamas has everything to offer you can imagine. 

On our way to the boat we checked out the way out of the anchor spot because it was full of sand banks there. Back home I made 'roesti,' I had brought that back from Switzerland and it made a special ending of the day. 44 years is a long time, but we felt good, still doing new and exiting (sometimes a little scary) things, that makes you not feel elderly at all.

Ria

Highbourne Cay and Warderick Wells Cay

Sunday 1/17

It is 10.45 and the wine and dinner we had yesterday on the beach (organized by the marina, paid for by ourselves) clearly has done Jacques's back good, because we are now in an intense cleaning mode. The master (that is how he has called himself in the official paperwork) has taken the water hose in his hands and then you better hide inside. Even when captains never would clean anything, on board they get dangerous and they really like it!!!

We went for a walk on the island and had the neighbors over for some wine and crackers. Their son has a Swiss girlfriend, you would not believe it, but works for Swisscom in Bern, where Mark also works. We had a nice evening. It is now Tuesday 1/19 and we are on a mooring ball off Warderick Wells Cay, the headquarters of the Exumas Land and Sea park. Because there is a ranger station here, we could again buy some internet time, great!!

The trip to this very wonderful place was not without stops. We left the harbor around nine o’clock, had soon the sails up, motor off and enjoying a perhaps not so fast but very peaceful sail ride. Then came from the harbor a motorboat, going really fast, I was already complaining that that would be a big wave maker, but he came straight to us and started talking something in his big horn. He wanted us to put the motors in neutral, the only problem: the motors were not running. To show some cooperation we put down the foresail and tried to get the boat into the wind, to stop. Then we asked if they wanted us also to take down the main, but after some discussion, everything was fine. 

They came with three men on our just cleaned boat, (big black boots and several guns). They first wanted to see our paper work of course, filled out new papers and did a tour of the boat. I think they soon felt already a little stupid, it was very clear we were just two elderly people enjoying their life. They were very friendly, I must say, and in the end we had to sign a paper if they had done a good job and asked us if we had seen suspicious boats, I told them I have no clue how they would look like!!

Because we had the foresail down, we wanted to try the spinnaker again, after all the preparations, he went up and was at least till halfway completely twisted, down, a few twists back, up again, still twisted, down again, after more of this the captain shouted “motor on!” So the rest of the way we motored. And here we are, Jacques looks like he is into S&M, he cleaned the propellers today and the barnacles were razor sharp. Tonight we saw a shark next to the boat, about five feet, GREAT!!!!!!!!!!

Ria

Exumas

Allen’s Cay - Jan 13, 2010
We had light winds from Chub Cay to Rose Island, E of Nassau. At one time we put up the chute but this was no success. Atlantis dominated the skyline of Nassau, we have a picture included. 

Because we had no need for shopping we anchored south of Rose Island in a little cave, was very nice and left for Allen’s Cay the next morning on Jan 13. We had a great sailing day (the best till now) on a beam reach; we just kept on going 5 to 8 knots, fantastic. After the anchor was set, just in between two little islands, very cute spot Jacques had unfortunately a strained back muscle and could hardly move. 

Ria saw the first iguanas for which Allen’s Cay is known. Jacques went for a rest to see if that would help his back. The next day we hopped, with me you can not really talk about hopping) in the dinghy and went to the beach where we were between about 30 iguanas that came out of the bushes to get some food. We only had some apple peels and an egg sandwich. But it was grandiose, great!

Jacques & Ria

Bahamas Bound

4.38 AM
We have left key Biscayne behind us and also most of the red and green lights to mark the entrance. The engines have been started, I rolled out of my bed at 3.30 and the coffee was ready, I have a prima captain on board. I have to go outside. The anchor will be raised. Helmi (the automatic pilot) is doing his job and Pim (the chart plotter) is making its money’s worth. It is half clouded with a half moon, so we have some light from above. The water temperature is 71 degrees, that is important, because the gulf-stream is much warmer, so we think that the water temp will be the first indicator of having arrived at the gulf-stream.

5.25 AM
We have been singing “on the boat again” to the music of “on the road again” from Willy Nelson and have done some high fives, we are happy we are on the way. Yesterday we left Dinner Key Marina around eleven to go fill up the gas and water, at the gas dock they did not sell water, what gave the captain a serious fit, so we had to go back to the marina to fill up the water tanks. Then we went to “No Name Harbor”, it is really the name, a very nice inlet at the south end of Key Biscayne, so that we could get out quickly in the morning. After us at least seven more boats arrived, of which at least four left the harbor this night ahead of us. And on one of the boats were Doris and Dennis, with whom we had Thanksgivings dinner in Boot Key Harbor, was really nice and special to see them, they wait for the next weather window (that is what all insider crossers call the time when there is no north wind and it is good to cross the gulf stream) and we hope to see them again somewhere in the Bahamas.

5.54 AMIt is a little choppy, leftover wave from yesterday, but the foresail is up and when daylight comes the main sail will also have to do some work. I am going to make the second pot of coffee, what will for sure not be the last one. We just saw the first big freighter (we thought it was a shrimp boat till we got closer!) I got the message from outside that the water is 78.1 degrees, so I think we are getting there. Now first the coffee.

6.15 AM
The last measuring of the depth meter was 567 feet and now we can not see how deep it is anymore because the depth sounder doesn’t show depths below a certain depth, the water temp now is 79.1.

6.27 AM
Ahead of us the sky is getting lighter and there is a wonderful red horizon, this is one of the moments that make this way of life so special, it seems the sun is coming up just for you, GREAT!!!!!

8.20 AM
The swells are getting somewhat higher and the water is a wonderful deep blue, perhaps like midnight blue, really fantastic. I have tried to lie down on the couch, because I am still not feeling very good, but I am so afraid I will miss something, so we are sitting peacefully outside in the cockpit.
Pim tells us that we have done about a third of the way and we are already turning a little bit to the North. The wind should have changed directions by now, but as is always (so it seems) the weather channel is more often wrong than right. But we went because there would be only light winds, and there they were right, so it does not matter a lot.

11.25 AM
I had to do a short nap and feel a lot better, it is warm outside and the water temp is 83.6, the wind has changed and there are practically no waves, just a little bit. Jacques has already put up the yellow flag, because we are officially in the territorial waters of the Bahamas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The yellow flag tells the authorities, that we have not checked in and they can come to us to do so (I think that is about the meaning) We probably can soon loose our thick sweaters, GREAT!!!

12.30 PM
We see since about half an hour land and because we have not seen other boats we still can feel a little bit like Robinson Crusoe. The sweaters are off and it is wonderful weather, I see a lot of small flying fishes, but nothing big so far on this trip, I for sure will not give up hope.

14.00 PMWE HAVE ARRIVED IN THE BAHAMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are in the Cat Cay yacht club and are filling out about ten pages of paperwork, the harbor is practically empty, is very nice and the people till now very friendly. The colors of the water are spectacular, from dark greenish to swimming pool blue.

Saturday, Jan 9
It is 6.00 in the evening and the day today did not go as we wanted. But first the rest of the day yesterday. After filling-out the paperwork we proudly raised the Bahamian guest flag, took a long shower and noticed that there was exactly nothing to do there, you could not even go for a walk on the island because the people really want their privacy. So I made a spectacular dinner with two steaks (left from Karyn and Paul’s visit, a tomato salad with white and green onions sprinkled with a bourguignon sauce (I think I can start writing for a food magazine), it was a perfect ending for a perfect day.

We also noticed that we are in the islands now because when we complained to the dock master that the internet did not work, he looked at us with "do you expect me to do something about that" eyes? In the end he murmured perhaps the tower or the signal!! We gave up.

We knew this morning that there would be some wind but because it would come from behind, we expected a sensational sailing day, even thinking of the spinnaker. The beginning was good; 7-8 knots, the first Bahamian dolphins came to welcome us, and swam a little while with us. But the sky soon became dark and the wind meter showed 20 to 25, even 30 knots, to be sure we took the mainsail down, it started to rain at around 11.00 and it is still raining. 

At three o’clock the "master" found it was enough and we put out the anchor. We are now in the middle of the Bahamas banks at 25˚28’N/78˚36’W, really, really in the middle of nowhere, are securely anchored in 20 ft. of water. We haven’t seen a single boat since leaving but found it wise to move two nm south of the shipping lane to the NW channel buoy at the east point of the "tongue of the ocean" and are going to sleep and hope that tomorrow the rain will have stopped. We hope to get to Chub Cay tomorrow and will be trying an internet connection there.

Well, it didn’t turn out as we hoped. This morning, Sunday Jan 10, the wind is piping 30 knots plus from the NNW so we have decided to stay at anchor until tomorrow when the last forecast said that the wind would reduce. When looking at the chart plotter we see that the anchor is not dragging but we are in for a bumpy day and night. The boat is bucking like a bronco but takes the short waves well. The advantage is that we immediately see what is not stored correctly and will correct this today. The rain has stopped, the barometer is rising and we see some blue sky. Ria tries not to look outside at the waves but fortunately none of us is susceptible to seasickness.

Monday Jan 11We had two miserable nights and the day was not much better. We were seriously thinking about going back, No Name harbor felt sooooooo very comfortable to us. Last night at 1.00 I saw for the first time (even if it was for a very short time) winds under twenty knots and after that came immediately 30 again, not good. We saw nothing, not a fish or a little bird, anything would have been welcomed. This morning winds were between 20 and 25, first we wanted to wait out another day, but decided we could at least try to get a little further on the banks toward Cub Cay. This was a wise decision, although we had to take the mainsail down (too much wind and waves), with the foresail and the motors and a declining wind it became soon rather comfortable.

It is now 1 o’clock in the afternoon and we have seen the first boat and Land ahead! We hope to anchor off Chub Cay around three o’clock and will have a immediately a nice drink, we have deserved it. We will see how far it is to dinghy into the harbor, where we could get maybe, internet or make a phone call, but we are not sure. For now we think we had our portion of bad weather for the whole trip!!

Jacques & Ria