Spectacular Conception, January 23, 2014

Last year when we were in the Bahamas, we tried a couple of times to get out to Conception Island, but were turned back by contrary winds and seas. We really wanted to get there because we had heard and read about how beautiful and remote it was.

On January 20th, we were sitting in Georgetown, trying to decide where to go next. The forecast was for moderately strong WNW winds, which meant Conception Island would be a 50 mile, broad reach away. We decided to go. We had a fantastic sail. At times the waves reached the 7-8 foot range, but they were from the stern and so there was none of the dreaded "pounding." On the way we caught two Mahi Mahi and one tuna.



Conception Island is approximately six square miles in area, uninhabited and appears to rise up from the depths of the Atlantic. It is classified as as a "marine park" which means no spear fishing. Dan was disappointed, but restrained himself.





The island is ringed by a coral reef. This is the more rugged east side of the island. Dan is sure there is a lobster under every rock.


The more protected west side features long sandy beaches.


We are the only boat here and have this mile long sand beach all to ourselves.



Glory Days anchored in swimming pool clear water.

We are not sure we have visited a prettier place.


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Location:Conception Island, Bahamas

Just a taste of the Ragged Islands, January 18, 2014

As we have mentioned before, Georgetown is a winter's destination for many boaters. It offers a large protected harbor with easy access to supplies, medical care, transportation and a large social network. It is also very pretty with long beautiful beaches and breathtaking views from the hilltops. At any given time there are as many as 150 boats anchored in the various spots in the area.

For many of the people who cruise the Bahamas, Georgetown marks the furthest south they will venture.

There is a group of islands south of Georgetown called the Ragged Islands. We have met a few cruisers who have visited the islands and received mixed reviews. Comments included, "absolutely beautiful, remote, great shelling and fishing" and "there's nothing there, dangerous, challenging and if you go, be careful." Ian (Dan's spear fishing guru) from Stormy Weather, told Dan that in the Raggeds, "the lobster get in your way!"

We needed to go! Even before getting to Georgetown, we started looking for a good weather opportunity to be able to get there and back in a reasonable amount of time.

The guidebook describes the Ragged Islands as, "...unpopulated wilderness with only one tiny settlement, closer to Cuba than to Georgetown. There is a palpable sense of remoteness and adventure which draws a few dozen explorers each year." We had to go!

On January 12, we finished buying food and supplies, fueling up and filling every on board container with water. We left the comfort of Georgetown and headed south. After a night near the Hog Cay Cut, we pointed the bow south, unfurled the sails and enjoyed a fantastic beam reach to Flamingo Cay, our first stop. During this 50 mile trip, we saw one other cruiser.





We anchored in a small bay near the lone palm tree and settled in.



Soon we were joined by several groups of Bahamian fisherman who anchored for the night. These guys come from long distances to fish and dive for lobster in these waters, often staying out for weeks at a time.


They all gave us a friendly wave as they passed by, and soon after the boats were anchored, it became very silent in the bay.

They we gone at daybreak and we had the bay and the island to ourselves.





We hiked the beaches and found some nice shells and a remarkable number of sea beans.




We found this little guy protecting his hole. He didn't try to sell us insurance.



This is a nose cone to a plane that apparently crashed here years ago.

After our second night, we got an updated weather report warning of "repeated cold fronts, turning the wind to the north with no return to normal easterlies for the foreseeable future." We had to make a choice, head further south to seek protection, with the possibility of getting stuck for an extended period of time or head back to Georgetown. The Guidebook warns that, "getting caught in the Raggeds during a strong winter cold front poses serious challenges and can be dangerous."

We were disappointed, but the decision was easy. Back to Georgetown.

We are anchored in a good spot. We weathered the front and the 30 knot winds and torrential rain in safety of Elizabeth Harbor. As predicted, the wind has blown from the north with no signs of letting up.

Such is the cruising life. The Raggeds will be there for another time and in the meantime, we remain flexible.


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Location:Georgetown, Exuma

South through the Exumas, January 8, 2014

We left Staniel Cay on January 1st and went the short way to Black Point Settlement. Our stay in the Staniel Cay area was very enjoyable and was capped off by a nice fireworks display at midnight on New Year's Eve.

Nearly everyone traveling through the Exumas stops at Black Point because the people are friendly; there is a nice laundry, grocery store, a couple of restaurants, and a bar called Scorpio's. This is a "cruiser's hangout" and they have great happy hours. They also have a couple of televisions and we were able to watch MSU win the Rose Bowl game with some other sailors from Michigan who happened to be big Spartan fans.




We had been seeing signs around town encouraging visitors to come and see "The Garden of Eden." We really did not know what to expect, but felt like we had to check it out as it is the town's big attraction. As it turns out, the Garden of Eden is a collection of driftwood and rocks arranged in someone's yard. We walked around and took a few pictures, but did not get any other information as there did not seem to be anyone around.




After two nights in Black Point, it was on to Farmers Cay for a night. We seemed to be the only cruisers visiting Farmers Cay that day. We decided to stop by Ty's, a beach bar/restaurant we had enjoyed last year when we were there for Farmers First Friday in February Festival. This time we met the owner Ty and talked to him for awhile while we ate a delicious lunch of cracked conch. We would guess that he is about 40. He explained that he had grown up at Farmers Cay at a time when there was no electricity and little opportunity for locals. After primary school, he left the island and went to Nassau where he completed high school and also met a girl from Ottawa, Canada. He ended up moving to Ottawa to attend college and still lives there, traveling back and forth between Canada and the Bahamas. Although he lives in Canada, he clearly loves the Bahamas and wants to help develop opportunities in his home island.



One of the highlights of this part of the trip was our stop at Lee Stocking Island. We had been here last year, but didn't have much opportunity to explore the island. This year we made a point of doing some hiking. The above picture is the eastern shore, where the beach meets the Atlantic.





This photo is the western shore of the island where we anchored. These two photos were actually taken within minutes of each other from a high spot on the island and illustrate how traveling on the protected side of the islands is so pleasant and sailing on the ocean side can be challenging.

One of our favorite activities is walking the beaches and looking for shells and sea beans.





Sea beans are large seeds that fall off trees in Africa and are carried by the ocean currents to the beaches in the Bahamas. They can be sanded and polished and made in to necklaces. We found two on this day.




Sea beans are not the only things we find on the beaches. There is a tremendous amount of plastic debris that washes up. There is really no way for this stuff to be collected and cleaned up so it continues to pile up at the high water mark. The number of shoes and sandals that wash ashore is amazing. We have seen hundreds.





Who knows where all this stuff comes from, but it never goes away.

We left Lee Stocking on January 7th, and went through the Rat Cay Cut into the Atlantic. The wind was relatively light and we had a pleasant trip to Georgetown. We trolled fishing lines the whole way, but caught nothing. Very disappointing as we were counting on fresh Mahi Mahi for dinner.

We plan to stay in Georgetown until there is a period of settled weather that will allow us to head down to the Ragged Islands.


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Location:Georgetown, Great Exuma Isalnd

More Staniel Cay Fun, December 31, 2013

We are not the only ones spending the holidays in the Exumas. This mega-yacht belongs to Steven Spielberg. It has been anchored near Staniel Cay for the past several days. We looked on line and learned that it is 280 feet long and cost approximately $200 million to build. It has a swimming pool, movie theatre, spa and many water toys. We also read that it can be rented for $1.3 million a week.



As we mentioned in in earlier blog, Staniel Cay is a good place to be for the holidays. The Yacht Club is the center of the town's activities and goes out of it's way to celebrate the holidays and make the visitors feel welcome. They had a kids' Christmas party, the Commodore's ball, a Pirate party, Pig Roast, News Year's Eve dinner and midnight fireworks. In addition to these activities they sponsor two regattas. One is a Cruisers race and the other is the Class A Sloop Challenge. The Sloop Challenge consists of match racing between two local boats, the Tida Wave and the Lady Muriel. For this race, the boats are skippered by a local captain and crew along with visiting cruisers.


The night prior to the race, the locals sponsor a party for anyone in the area. They supply the drinks and put on a traditional Bahamian meal of hogfish, grilled chicken, conch soup, conch salad, mac and cheese, and lobster salad. This was an event we could not pass up. The meal was fantastic and the Bahamian beer and rum punch flowed freely. The warmth of the locals was incredible. At one point, one of the organizers got up and thanked everyone for coming and proclaimed that, "at Staniel Cay, you come as a visitor and leave as a friend."


The next day, the race got under way about two hours late. Whether that was because of the rum punch or just a matter of "Island Time," we never heard. But when it did get going, the racing was fierce. Lady Muriel won the first race, Tida Wave came on strong at the end to take the second, then Lady Muriel came back in the third to claim bragging rights for another year.



Dan spent the last two days spear fishing with Ian from Stormy Nights. Ian has been cruising the Bahamas for many years and is a spear fishing maniac. They have been doing pretty well and we had fresh lobster tails for New Year's Eve dinner.



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Location:Staniel Cay, Exuma

A World of Contrasts, December 30, 2013

We arrived at Staniel Cay on December 24 and decided to stay in the area until after the new year. This is a good place to be and there are a lot of holiday activities planned.

This will come as no surprise to people who have done much traveling, but there are places where the haves and the have-nots collide. We have seen this over and over in the Bahamas. The residents are friendly, hard working people who strive to make a living, but live in very modest conditions, some with few modern conveniences. The visitors are folks with money who vacation in the beautiful islands.

This contrast was never more apparent than when we arrived in Staniel Cay. When we first got here, we wanted to take on some fuel and water. We pulled up close to the dock and we were told that it would be at least an hour's wait while a big sport fisherman took on 1000+ gallons of fuel. We decided to hold off on getting fuel and anchored off the Yacht Club dock and prepared to go ashore to get some provisions.



To our east we had a view of the Yacht Club which was filled to capacity with multi-million dollar yachts.


To our west we could see in the distance a boat that had a very different look. We later learned that this was a Haitian boat that had run aground on it's ill fated journey to the United States. This forty foot boat left Haiti with 136 people on November 14th and ran aground near Staniel Cay about two weeks later. The Coast Guard recovered 106 people and 30 others lost their lives in their attempt to get to the States.






We took the dinghy over to the boat and looked at it and tried to imagine how 136 people could fit aboard a vessel with about the same amount of space that we have on Glory Days. The conditions must have been unimaginable. It was a sobering experience to see this boat and to see the stream of personal items that were still floating away from the boat.

We learned that the survivors were taken to Nassau to be processed and then deported to Haiti. According to a local gentleman Dan spoke to, "when they get home, they will start looking for another boat to get on to come back."




From Staniel Cay we went the short distance to the Big Majors Spot and anchored near "Pig Beach." We have enjoyed watching the steady stream of boaters stop by the beach to feed the pigs and watch them swim.









For Christmas we enjoyed a traditional dinner of conch fritters, deviled eggs and smoked oysters, followed by a New York strip steak, baked potatoes and broccoli. Not too bad!



This is Dan making the fritters. (Yes, that is a glass of rum.)


As an interesting side note to Christmas.... we met a family from New Jersey. Mom and Dad are traveling with their two young boys, about 4 and 6 years old. On Christmas Eve we heard the mom making a radio call on the VHF to Santa. "Santa, Santa, Santa, this is the sailing vessel Anticipation." Soon we heard Santa come back. "Anticipation this is Santa. How may I help?" The mom then very clearly told Santa where they would be moored for the night and Santa assured the family that he would find them. We ran into the family the day after Christmas, and the boys confirmed that Santa had indeed found their boat and dropped off presents. Everyone seemed happy!

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Location:Staniel Cay, Exumas

Livin' on Island Time

After learning we couldn't cross to the Bahamas for another week, we decided to spend some time in the Keys. We spent a few nights anchored off Elliot Key, a night at Thursday Cove, and then a night at Key Largo. We had planned to move on to Islamorada, but when Chris Parker (Marine Weather Service) speaks we listen. He suggested with the upcoming forecast, we would have a good opportunity for a good crossing from Miami to Bimini. So we turned around and headed back toward Miami. With all of our comings and goings, we had some nice sails.




Back in Miami, we decided to splurge and spend a night in a marina. This gave us the opportunity to make some trips for even more provisions, refill propane, and do some boat work. We then headed over to Hurricane Harbor, an area of million dollar homes in Key Biscayne. We had a nice treat our last night there, with a parade of boats motoring through lit up for Christmas, some playing Christmas music.




We left Hurricane Harbor at 7:00 a.m. on December 15. We shut our engine down an hour out in the ocean and didn't turn it on again until we passed Mackie Shoal on the Grand Bahama Bank. Although we have not been traveling with another boat, we did not feel alone. There was a flotilla of boats around us, others who had taken the same opportunity to get across while the getting was good. We had the sail of a lifetime all the way under a full moon. We then motor sailed the rest of the way to Nassau, with Dan bringing in his first Mahi shortly before we entered Nassau Harbor. We were tied up to a dock at the Harbor Club Marina by 9:00 a.m on December 16.




We cleared customs and immigration, then took care of getting our IPhone unlocked and getting a Bahamas phone number. Dan had been chatting on the radio with Steve from Slow Flight while we were traveling along the Banks. He and his friend Kelly stopped by Glory Days for drinks that afternoon. The following morning, while fueling up before leaving, we met Bo and Joyce from Dream Catcher, who are friends of our Michigan friends, Lee and MaryPat. Small world.

We left Nassau and sailed to Highborne Cay. From there, we spent two nights at Saddle Cay. The winds were howling, so we mostly stayed on the boat at these anchorages. That was OK though. We were ready to relax after the long crossing and were just happy to be back in the beautiful turquoise waters of the Bahamas.







We then moved to Norman's Cay, where we finally had a chance to go ashore and do some exploring. Norman's Cay has an interesting history in that it was under the control of a major drug runner, Carlos Lehder, from 1978 to 1982. Cocaine was flown into Norman's on jets from Columbia, then loaded onto small planes and delivered to Florida, Georgia, and the Carolina's. The character of Diego Delgado in Johnny Depp's movie, "Blow," is based on Lehder, who is now in a federal prison.




We met a local resident, who told us that he is one of the dozen current residents, but the only one who was on the island when we visited. There is a runway and several small planes came and went while we were anchored there. The water here is beautiful and there are some nice beaches. Dan found two sea beans while walking along one of them.





After two nights at Norman's Cay, we moved onto to Hawksbilll Cay, which is part of the Exuma Land and Sea Park. There are two marked trails to hike here and a gorgeous beach on the ocean.

Location:Hawksbill Cay