UPDATE: 03/30/2009--pictures added:
Return to Central Exumas March 5-16, 2009
Yeah visitors!
Dan and I planned our trip back from the Jumentos in plenty of time to be at Staniel Cay for the expected arrival of our son, Tom, and his wife, Anina by Flamingo Air to visit us on our boat, Sea Star. Our return was with the two boats we spent time in the Jumentos with- Passport and Windsong, using what is called the “old Mailboat route”. This route shortened the trip, kept us on the shallow Banks, avoiding entering the Atlantic in somewhat windy conditions with a significant swell. The other Island Packets that had sailed with us to the Jumentos had returned via this route a few days previous with no major issues crossing the coral heads and shallow spots and we hoped we could, too. We sailed from Flamingo Cay anchorage past Coakley Cay to Rocky Point, some 40 miles, where we spent a quiet evening on the banks under a starry sky. The following day we continued on another 40 miles to Black Point Settlement where we checked Adderly’s Market for necessary provisions, then went on to Staniel Cay to meet the plane at 2:30PM.
The plane was a little later than scheduled but all was well as soon as Anina, who is terrified of flying, was on solid ground. Tom and Dan dinghied the bags to Sea Star and Anina and I waited for the second trip. It was a glorious and sunny day. Soon the two of them were swimming in crystal clear water behind the boat and forgetting the New England weather. It was Christmas for us as we had not returned home or celebrated that holiday with our family, and Tom’s suitcase contained lots of goodies: my new computer, a wifi antenna, a soft weight belt and ten pounds of diving weights for Dan, new sunglasses for me and a great little machine by Cannon that prints pictures directly from a card or computer. We gave Anina and Tom tee shirts from the George Town regatta and a rum punch to begin their decompression from their business-world lives in Boston, MA.
As we dinghied ashore to explore, we couldn’t help but see the many nurse sharks and rays in the water under where the Bahamian fishermen clean their catch. With four of us in the dinghy, Anina was quite uncomfortable at their closeness, especially to where she had just enjoyed a swim.
After dinner at Thunderball Club, we made a plan for the next day to sail the 30 miles to Shroud Cay and begin exploration of the Exuma Land and Sea Park there. The Bahamians have reserved the underwater and some of the Cays for nature preservation. In the Park visitors may hike, swim, snorkel and look freely, but no fishing, conching, lobstering or shelling are allowed. We arrived in time to dinghy the creek and visit the ocean beaches at Shroud Cay. To explore the narrow, winding mangrove creek you need a high or rising tide. We went at rising tide- but we enjoyed our adventure especially when we ran aground. We delegated Tom to get out and haul us through the soft white sand in the dinghy until we arrived at the shore.
Dan and I had visited some Cays in the Exumas, but they are so lovely we didn’t mind going back and showing them to Anina and Tom. One of the places we recalled having a great time visiting was Warderick Wells. The colors of the waters and the quality of the corals there are spectacular and we felt Anina and Tom would really enjoy them. Also, Tom could take some great photos, his hobby. So the next day we sailed the few miles toward Warderick Wells, where we had made the required reservation for a mooring ball. There was time for a swim and a climb up Boo Hoo Hill, and excellent snorkeling at Ranger’s Garden and Judy’s Reef, as well as a cruiser beach get together in our two day stop. Tom had snorkeled when our family had visited Panama ten years ago, but snorkeling was quite new to Anina. She looked adorable in her new wetsuit and hot pink fins and mask. Soon she was swimming with the fishes and I might add, the largest lobsters I had ever seen.(remember, this is a protected Park)
These “kids” lucked out weatherwise! Exumas had perfect warm, sunny, breezy weather for their entire trip. The next day brought an easy 18 mile sail to Cambridge Cay, another of the Cays in the ELSP. By now we all were dying to get in some more snorkeling while it was warm and calm and we visited Tom’s Elkhorn Reef, Rocky Dundas, Aquarium and Airplane snorkels, as well as around the rocks near our boat. Dan and I had wanted to visit Compass Cay about two miles from Cambridge, so we enlisted Jamie to drive one dinghy and we all zoomed and pounded over the surging waters by the Atlantic cuts.
On the knowledgeable recommendation of the Park volunteers on the catamaran, Movin’ On on Compass we were to have lunch at the marina, and visit a place called Rachel’s Bubblebath. Rachel’s proved to be a hit with all of us! Rachel’s is a natural limestone rock grotto located at the point where the Sound and the Ocean meet. The warm water was indeed a mass of frothy bubbles and deep enough to swim in while allowing the current, rushing, splashing and spraying across the rocks from the waters of the Ocean, to smash over and around us as we were the only group there.. Jamie of Windsong got close enough to the jagged rocks to tie a 50 foot rope where we could hold on for dear life as the current tried to send us under the water or back downstream! Wearing fins and goggles, we played there for about an hour, then went to our promised lunch at the well kept marina.
Our next stop, which was to be our last on the visit with Anina and Tom, was to Black Point Settlement. We had a great dinner of conch and fish at Lorraine’s. Dan mentioned that the very same airplane that our guests were to depart on from Staniel Cay also stopped for passengers at Black Point. Flamingo Air was very agreeable when Tom called to change their departure stop and a woman named Ester who works for Flamingo Air, even stopped at the dock and picked Tom and Anina and their luggage up in her truck and drove them to the airport a few miles away. They were on the road waiting to be picked up at 8:45AM and in the air by 9:00AM- no waiting and no security check at that point. then zoom! On to Nassau for them and George Town for us.
Changing the tickets instead of sailing back to Staniel Cay allowed us to relax and again eat at a local business. We had pizza at DeShamin Restaurant- they have great pizza and friendly service. We explored the Settlement, meeting the artist who has created a driftwood sculpture plaza at his home called the Garden of Eden and hearing him describe the shapes of his exhibits. As he spoke he helped the visitor see what he could see in the beautiful driftwood pieces that he had gathered. Some remind an observer of animals, birds and human forms. He also showed us some of the local plants and trees.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Jumentos February 9- March 1, 2009
Jumentos February 9- March 1, 2009
On February 9 Sea Star, Charmed, Jay Sea Dee and Windsong departed Salt Pond Long Island and headed by way of the Comer Channel, Driers Reef and Water Cay into the island chain known as the Ragged Islands or the Jumentos. The Jumentos came highly recommended by the guide books and other cruisers who regale how lovely, isolated and wild these islands are and what stocks of fish, lobster, and conch are available just for the snorkeling. Most cruisers who have been through even some of the islands have had wonderful experiences with the people who either live on the few inhabited islands or work in their waters, and here you do find the self-sufficient cruisers who repeatedly visit year after year.
To prepare for the Jumentos we filled the diesel tanks on the big boat, bought an extra five gallon jerry jug for dinghy gasoline and found what supplies we could during our stop in Long Island. Luckily we were in Long Island the day the mailboat come in; the weekly arrival of supplies to the stores. We had also put aboard what supplies we could find when in George Town, not having decided on our next stop after Long Island but knowing it would definitely be more isolated.
We left as early as we could see the water clearly, and had a pleasant sail southwest using the Comer Channel and Driers Reef waypoints over the Great Bahama Bank- the inside route as it is referred to on the Explorer Chart series. Our original plan was to stop and anchor at the first cay of the Jumentos having a safe anchorage, Water Cay. As we approached Water Cay it was early in the day, about two o’clock, and the decision was made to continue south to Flamingo Cay. Weather and winds are sometimes unpredictable and changing. While we had the opportunity and good wind we felt we could advance down the chain. Often, after the winter cold fronts go through winds are more favorable to push a boat northerly or to the east than to allow southern travel. We had come around 35 nm and continued on the 20 or so additional miles to a protected anchorage at tiny Flamingo Cay, an uninhabited island fringed with reef.
Dots of land, spaced quite far apart- some flat, some hilly or rocky is what the sailor observes following the Bank route along the cays. On the other side of the cays is the Atlantic Ocean. While the boat is in the lee of the cay as you pass, the water is relatively smooth and calmer than when traversing the open areas or “cuts” between the islands to the Atlantic. These spaces of incoming water can set up adverse current and waves called “rages” when the wind opposes the tides; one of the reasons that care needs to be taken to plan and time your trip for relatively calm winds and seas and consider the time of changing tide as you travel. Since the travel is many miles in a slow sailboat, sometimes it is hard to plan ahead. Our day was fine, with no more than three foot seas and wind keeping us moving at 7kn average, allowing us to save our precious diesel and enjoy the trip in warm and sunny weather.
Another problem keeping some cruisers out of the Jumentos is the cays all lie north and south with the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Great Bahama Bank to the west. Rarely can a boat anchor safely off the Ocean to the east. Only the most settled conditions will allow that. Anchorages are located in coves off the west side of most cays with some north or south cay boundaries allowing space for a few boats to tuck in. There are few or no anchorages with protection of 360 degrees. Any north or west winds send cruisers scurrying for the few anchorages that will suit those conditions, and even then you find that surge through the cuts or over the Bank as it shallows by the shore will roll your boat uncomfortably and for hours, especially as the tide changes.
So, one would ask, “Why go there?” The answer lies in the pristine water, lapping turquoise blue over sand. Under that water available because of the water depth, lie reef systems along the cuts and in the shallow areas where snorkeling allows the boater to see the beauty and bounty still available on the reefs in this small area of the Bahamas. On Flamingo Cay Dan and I were able to gather our boat limit of six conch while snorkeling our first area. Another cruiser invited us to conch cleaning 101 on the sandy beach by our boats, where I learned the basics in the broiling sun. Conk the conch on the third spiral to make a hole, detach the conch from the shell, lift the animal out with forceps, gut, then remove the tough skin from the meat taking care to cut open and remove a black line of the intestines carefully. To prepare, cut thinly and pound the meat flat, bread and fry or make raw conch salad with lime juice, onion and pepper. YIKES! I was a total mess and burned to a crisp after trying just two. It is not easy! The fun part was watching the stingrays come close to shore and gobble up the remains as I threw guts back into the water.
Well- then entered my hero, Ramon. Ramon, a local fisherman, had been conching all day. He had cleaned 200 conch in the morning, and now in the afternoon he was back to clean the 200 more he had gathered (he is allowed to use air tanks as he works the reefs, which tourists are not) He conversed pleasantly while his knife worked by itself, seemingly effortlessly. He of course had been doing this for all his life he explained as he took our catch one at a time- pop- with a special hatchet, quick insert of a flat bladed dull knife, turn conch over and it falls into his hand, detached. One quick cut with sharp knife to remove the foot, siphon and guts. A pull to remove the tough skin, then one more quick cut and pull and DONE. Thanks, Ramon and to Foolin Around, the boat that showed me what had to be done to enjoy a simple sea snail meal.
We stayed at Flamingo Cay a second day, hiked, drove the dinghy into the grotto cave and later in the day, snorkeled. This time I realized how much I still had to learn to be comfortable in that water environment. As I entered the water from the dinghy a three foot fish I thought was a shark went after me- or so it seemed. I jumped back in the dinghy, alarmed. Dan and I went in at the same time to find that my attacker was a remora and it sure liked the dinghy underside. A short time later we looked up and saw not the usual one or two, but a big stack of maybe thirty barracudas. There were small, skinny ones near the surface with more and larger underneath those, and still larger and fatter under those until again I swore I saw a shark at the very bottom-but Dan said it was grandpa barracuda, long, large and scary. Why they were all together there is a mystery. They didn’t bother with us.
I was swimming near a cut into the wilder Atlantic water on the other side of some rocks and entered the cut to go to the reef on the other side, I thought cautiously and slowly. Suddenly with a whoosh I was being pulled by the current and I knew I had to turn back through the cut, but couldn’t swim against it. Dan was able to hold on by his hands to a rock and offer me his fin to hold on to until I could get to the rock myself, then pull hard to get myself back through the cut and around to the backside of the rock slowly inching my way around. As soon as I was through I realized I was quite tired and went back to the dinghy- yes the remora was still there, quite a handsome fellow with green gill markings and a yellowish belly.
We had been expecting only a few boats at Flamingo. There may have been thirteen or fourteen boats who decided to go to the beach at sunset for a beach get-together on shore so we met more cruisers. One couple on a boat named Passport were planning to go on down the islands the same as we were, so Jay Sea Dee, Charmed, Windsong, Sea Star and Passport and more made our next stop at Buenavista Cay where good shelter from the higher velocity and north winds was available. We snorkeled without incident this time, hiked and beach combed and attended another cruiser social organized by Passport on the beach. A fire was made and we watched our paper rubbish burn, then returned to the boats for a rolly night.
Our next night was spent at Raccoon Cay where we walked the beaches and were introduced to “beaning”-collecting sea beans that floated in from trees in Brazil. There are heart beans, hamburger beans, monkey faces and the rare and infrequently found, Saint Anne’s bean that is small and has a cross on one side. With a stick you push aside the sea weed, plastics, driftwood and poke around at the highest tide line for hours to find some. Beans are easier to find than exceptional shells on these cays. Its addicting once you find one!
Our weather had been ok and we were beginning to realize we could make it to the “last stop before Cuba”- a place of 150 hardy Bahamians called Duncan Town down the chain past Hog Cay. We sailed to Hog Cay and anchored, where we met Scotch Mist and old friends of Passport on Windswept at yet another beach get together. The next day we dinghied the two bumpy miles into the mangrove creek leading to Duncan Town.
At Duncan Town we were lucky to ask Sheila to open the only restaurant in town for our lunch. Duncan Towners are the fishermen and conchers so we had a nice lunch. We walked up a hill and down another to see what the southernmost cay that was too shallow for our boats to visit was like and walked another road to where salt flats are still worked. We then returned to our boats, planning to move on the next morning.
From Hog Cay north where the cruisers have built a Yacht Club under rock overhang on the beach we moved to anchor a few beaches south where the north protection was better for a night, then we moved back to Buenavista’s west anchorage.
Yesterday we started back up through the Jumento chain. What a day of sailing! We put out all the sails in the moderate wind 15kn on the beam, and just flew the 5 hours to Flamingo Cay where we are waiting for yet another cold front to come and then go. When we passed Flamingo a few weeks ago, there were more than thirteen boats crowded in. When we arrived at Flamingo we were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves the first boat into the gorgeous anchorage. We quickly set anchor in sand close to shore and jumped in the crystal clear water. We had been traveling with Windsong and Passport and we the only three boats there even at the end of the day. We got together for sundown and supper at Sea Star, Passport-Dave was from Newfoundland, gave us some Newfi music on the iPod and we watched the Captain Johnson movie Around Cape Horn. It was a special day! We got up this morning and all went snorkeling and had a great time. Tonight as I write this one fishing boat trailing four smaller motorboats has just arrived to Flamingo, and it is pouring rain. It’s wonderful because we have not had any fresh water wash on Sea Star since-well somewhere in the Abaco I think. We probably will not move tomorrow either, so it will be a sleep-in morning and I’ll have some reading time. It may be a day to bake bread as we didn’t buy enough home made in Duncan Town.
On February 9 Sea Star, Charmed, Jay Sea Dee and Windsong departed Salt Pond Long Island and headed by way of the Comer Channel, Driers Reef and Water Cay into the island chain known as the Ragged Islands or the Jumentos. The Jumentos came highly recommended by the guide books and other cruisers who regale how lovely, isolated and wild these islands are and what stocks of fish, lobster, and conch are available just for the snorkeling. Most cruisers who have been through even some of the islands have had wonderful experiences with the people who either live on the few inhabited islands or work in their waters, and here you do find the self-sufficient cruisers who repeatedly visit year after year.
To prepare for the Jumentos we filled the diesel tanks on the big boat, bought an extra five gallon jerry jug for dinghy gasoline and found what supplies we could during our stop in Long Island. Luckily we were in Long Island the day the mailboat come in; the weekly arrival of supplies to the stores. We had also put aboard what supplies we could find when in George Town, not having decided on our next stop after Long Island but knowing it would definitely be more isolated.
We left as early as we could see the water clearly, and had a pleasant sail southwest using the Comer Channel and Driers Reef waypoints over the Great Bahama Bank- the inside route as it is referred to on the Explorer Chart series. Our original plan was to stop and anchor at the first cay of the Jumentos having a safe anchorage, Water Cay. As we approached Water Cay it was early in the day, about two o’clock, and the decision was made to continue south to Flamingo Cay. Weather and winds are sometimes unpredictable and changing. While we had the opportunity and good wind we felt we could advance down the chain. Often, after the winter cold fronts go through winds are more favorable to push a boat northerly or to the east than to allow southern travel. We had come around 35 nm and continued on the 20 or so additional miles to a protected anchorage at tiny Flamingo Cay, an uninhabited island fringed with reef.
Dots of land, spaced quite far apart- some flat, some hilly or rocky is what the sailor observes following the Bank route along the cays. On the other side of the cays is the Atlantic Ocean. While the boat is in the lee of the cay as you pass, the water is relatively smooth and calmer than when traversing the open areas or “cuts” between the islands to the Atlantic. These spaces of incoming water can set up adverse current and waves called “rages” when the wind opposes the tides; one of the reasons that care needs to be taken to plan and time your trip for relatively calm winds and seas and consider the time of changing tide as you travel. Since the travel is many miles in a slow sailboat, sometimes it is hard to plan ahead. Our day was fine, with no more than three foot seas and wind keeping us moving at 7kn average, allowing us to save our precious diesel and enjoy the trip in warm and sunny weather.
Another problem keeping some cruisers out of the Jumentos is the cays all lie north and south with the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Great Bahama Bank to the west. Rarely can a boat anchor safely off the Ocean to the east. Only the most settled conditions will allow that. Anchorages are located in coves off the west side of most cays with some north or south cay boundaries allowing space for a few boats to tuck in. There are few or no anchorages with protection of 360 degrees. Any north or west winds send cruisers scurrying for the few anchorages that will suit those conditions, and even then you find that surge through the cuts or over the Bank as it shallows by the shore will roll your boat uncomfortably and for hours, especially as the tide changes.
So, one would ask, “Why go there?” The answer lies in the pristine water, lapping turquoise blue over sand. Under that water available because of the water depth, lie reef systems along the cuts and in the shallow areas where snorkeling allows the boater to see the beauty and bounty still available on the reefs in this small area of the Bahamas. On Flamingo Cay Dan and I were able to gather our boat limit of six conch while snorkeling our first area. Another cruiser invited us to conch cleaning 101 on the sandy beach by our boats, where I learned the basics in the broiling sun. Conk the conch on the third spiral to make a hole, detach the conch from the shell, lift the animal out with forceps, gut, then remove the tough skin from the meat taking care to cut open and remove a black line of the intestines carefully. To prepare, cut thinly and pound the meat flat, bread and fry or make raw conch salad with lime juice, onion and pepper. YIKES! I was a total mess and burned to a crisp after trying just two. It is not easy! The fun part was watching the stingrays come close to shore and gobble up the remains as I threw guts back into the water.
Well- then entered my hero, Ramon. Ramon, a local fisherman, had been conching all day. He had cleaned 200 conch in the morning, and now in the afternoon he was back to clean the 200 more he had gathered (he is allowed to use air tanks as he works the reefs, which tourists are not) He conversed pleasantly while his knife worked by itself, seemingly effortlessly. He of course had been doing this for all his life he explained as he took our catch one at a time- pop- with a special hatchet, quick insert of a flat bladed dull knife, turn conch over and it falls into his hand, detached. One quick cut with sharp knife to remove the foot, siphon and guts. A pull to remove the tough skin, then one more quick cut and pull and DONE. Thanks, Ramon and to Foolin Around, the boat that showed me what had to be done to enjoy a simple sea snail meal.
We stayed at Flamingo Cay a second day, hiked, drove the dinghy into the grotto cave and later in the day, snorkeled. This time I realized how much I still had to learn to be comfortable in that water environment. As I entered the water from the dinghy a three foot fish I thought was a shark went after me- or so it seemed. I jumped back in the dinghy, alarmed. Dan and I went in at the same time to find that my attacker was a remora and it sure liked the dinghy underside. A short time later we looked up and saw not the usual one or two, but a big stack of maybe thirty barracudas. There were small, skinny ones near the surface with more and larger underneath those, and still larger and fatter under those until again I swore I saw a shark at the very bottom-but Dan said it was grandpa barracuda, long, large and scary. Why they were all together there is a mystery. They didn’t bother with us.
I was swimming near a cut into the wilder Atlantic water on the other side of some rocks and entered the cut to go to the reef on the other side, I thought cautiously and slowly. Suddenly with a whoosh I was being pulled by the current and I knew I had to turn back through the cut, but couldn’t swim against it. Dan was able to hold on by his hands to a rock and offer me his fin to hold on to until I could get to the rock myself, then pull hard to get myself back through the cut and around to the backside of the rock slowly inching my way around. As soon as I was through I realized I was quite tired and went back to the dinghy- yes the remora was still there, quite a handsome fellow with green gill markings and a yellowish belly.
We had been expecting only a few boats at Flamingo. There may have been thirteen or fourteen boats who decided to go to the beach at sunset for a beach get-together on shore so we met more cruisers. One couple on a boat named Passport were planning to go on down the islands the same as we were, so Jay Sea Dee, Charmed, Windsong, Sea Star and Passport and more made our next stop at Buenavista Cay where good shelter from the higher velocity and north winds was available. We snorkeled without incident this time, hiked and beach combed and attended another cruiser social organized by Passport on the beach. A fire was made and we watched our paper rubbish burn, then returned to the boats for a rolly night.
Our next night was spent at Raccoon Cay where we walked the beaches and were introduced to “beaning”-collecting sea beans that floated in from trees in Brazil. There are heart beans, hamburger beans, monkey faces and the rare and infrequently found, Saint Anne’s bean that is small and has a cross on one side. With a stick you push aside the sea weed, plastics, driftwood and poke around at the highest tide line for hours to find some. Beans are easier to find than exceptional shells on these cays. Its addicting once you find one!
Our weather had been ok and we were beginning to realize we could make it to the “last stop before Cuba”- a place of 150 hardy Bahamians called Duncan Town down the chain past Hog Cay. We sailed to Hog Cay and anchored, where we met Scotch Mist and old friends of Passport on Windswept at yet another beach get together. The next day we dinghied the two bumpy miles into the mangrove creek leading to Duncan Town.
At Duncan Town we were lucky to ask Sheila to open the only restaurant in town for our lunch. Duncan Towners are the fishermen and conchers so we had a nice lunch. We walked up a hill and down another to see what the southernmost cay that was too shallow for our boats to visit was like and walked another road to where salt flats are still worked. We then returned to our boats, planning to move on the next morning.
From Hog Cay north where the cruisers have built a Yacht Club under rock overhang on the beach we moved to anchor a few beaches south where the north protection was better for a night, then we moved back to Buenavista’s west anchorage.
Yesterday we started back up through the Jumento chain. What a day of sailing! We put out all the sails in the moderate wind 15kn on the beam, and just flew the 5 hours to Flamingo Cay where we are waiting for yet another cold front to come and then go. When we passed Flamingo a few weeks ago, there were more than thirteen boats crowded in. When we arrived at Flamingo we were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves the first boat into the gorgeous anchorage. We quickly set anchor in sand close to shore and jumped in the crystal clear water. We had been traveling with Windsong and Passport and we the only three boats there even at the end of the day. We got together for sundown and supper at Sea Star, Passport-Dave was from Newfoundland, gave us some Newfi music on the iPod and we watched the Captain Johnson movie Around Cape Horn. It was a special day! We got up this morning and all went snorkeling and had a great time. Tonight as I write this one fishing boat trailing four smaller motorboats has just arrived to Flamingo, and it is pouring rain. It’s wonderful because we have not had any fresh water wash on Sea Star since-well somewhere in the Abaco I think. We probably will not move tomorrow either, so it will be a sleep-in morning and I’ll have some reading time. It may be a day to bake bread as we didn’t buy enough home made in Duncan Town.
The Race February 4 and 5, 2009
The Race!- George Town, Exuma to Long Island- February 4 and 5, 2009
Weather, weather! Chris Parker’s weather forecast came on SSB 4.045mz at 6:30 AM while we were in Monument Beach Anchorage in George Town. During our short stay in George Town we had climbed the Monument path, walked the ocean path, played Bocci on the beach, had a cruiser’s beach party, listened to a Ham Radio seminar at the beach pavilion, visited St. Francis Resort for food and the Superbowl, filled the propane, checked the supermarkets, Exuma Market and the Shop Rite, eaten at Eddie’s, bought diesel in jerry jugs and put it in the fuel tanks---and so when the race committee came on the VHF and suggested that the race should be a day earlier than planned, we decided we could go!
George Town, a Bahamian town larger than some and the cruiser hang-out with four coves and two beaches where the many boats can anchor, is a place to meet, greet and reunite with other cruisers. We had been waiting, in a group of over two hundred anchored boats, to meet up with cruiser friends on Jay Sea Dee and Charmed, two other Island Packet Yachts, for a few weeks. Both boats came into the anchorage the day after Sea Star arrived. We all decided to enter the Regatta to Long Island. Dan felt our real competition in a race of extremely varied boats; monohulls of all kinds and sizes and catamarans, would be with the Island Packets, and there were five IPYs signed up. Charmed is an identical boat to Sea Star, there were an IPY 38’ and a 42’on the list and Jay Sea Dee a 48’ IPY. When the race date changed we three and Lady, a Catalina 47 and nineteen other boats with sailors from all over the world, but mostly US and Canada, many Canadians from all the provinces plus sailing folks from England, France and Germany decided we could be flexible and go on Wednesday, Feb. 4, at about a two hour notice instead of the planned Thursday, in hopes in my case, to avoid predicted eight foot seas at the cut into Exuma Sound near the start of the race- and not have a heart-pounding boat thumping wild ride.
The organizers informed participants that boats could start as early as they wished, we should just pass the motor yacht keeping the racers’ time and hail them when beginning the 34.6 mile course to Indian Point waypoint in the Long Island Salt Pond anchorage. The rules allowed the use of motor when moving between a waypoint called North Rocks and Middle Rocks for obvious reasons. The rules also included that since this is a fun cruiser’s race, boats were not to unload weight- just go as a cruiser with barbeque on the rail etc. and no poles, spinnakers, or screecher sails allowed.
Three of us, Charmed, Lady and Sea Star lined up at the designated marker about a half hour before most of the field. It seemed the right thing to do to avoid the crowd in the narrow channels, especially as the rules required rounding the waypoints. Then we started off with jib- at a whopping 4 knots! There was noo wind. As we progressed through the cut, the wind filled in from behind us at 10 to 15kn and we had a pleasant, then boisterous sail with up to 29 knots as we neared Long Island. As we sailed, Lady and two catamarans, Windsong and Zing passed Sea Star. We felt we had sailed our best race with full main and jib, then the staysail and main wing on wing on another leg, finally full sail again as we made the last waypoint, then struggled a bit to crank the sails in as we fairly flew past the time-keeper and into the anchorage. The trawler, Southern Estate, announced the time for Sea Star was 2hours, 50minutes and 10 seconds.
After the race, since we were actually a day early for the planned events at Long Island, a cruiser get together was held at sundown on the beach. The next day the weather for the 13 additional racers was even windier than when we crossed- the last of the racing boats were in the anchorage earlier in the day than we had been, and the wind was expected to stay up at 20-to 25 knots holding steady for days to come. No one was going to be able to return to George Town comfortably for a few days. Luckily , as I write this, we are in a great anchorage with protection from the Northeast, but some wind chop that keeps us on the boat.
The first cruiser event after the second group arrived was to meet at the lovely, curved Thompson Bay Beach and have a group photo with the 80 or so participants in the 2nd annual George Town to Long Island race. Siggy’s Dancer, one of the organizers, lined us up for the photo and it was like herding cats! Hopefully, I can get the photo from someone through email.
Of course to get to the beach and then the restaurant required fresh clothes to look decent, then a dinghy ride into the wind and salt spray considering the wind velocity and surge, a dinghy pull-up on the beach over the sharp rocks at low tide and an exit into the water to pull the dinghy up on the beach. Using our flashlights there was a hike along a conch shell lined path to a Bahamian buffet feast prepared at the Thompson Bay Club, an open-air room. While waiting for dinner, one cruiser had prepared a Trivia quiz of sailing information that helped to pass the time. Great food; fish, conch, Bahamian mac and cheese, peas and rice, barbecued ribs, chicken, a wonderful night- then lug the dinghy back into the water and slog on back to the boats.
The lovely lady who cooked and provided the food, Tryphena, invited a group of us to go beach comb her private beach the next day. Twelve or so cruisers appeared the next morning for the five mile trip on the back of her son’s pick-up to a most wonderful view of the ocean side of the narrow island and then to the dune above the sheltered beach as we wound our way to the drop off spot. Looking down we could see waves crashing against a cluster of rocks just off-shore. When we walked down to those rocks we saw the place Tryphena had called her spa- the water swirling between the sheltering rocks. She left us there for a few hours of private time to poke through mountains of yellow, stringy sea weed searching for treasure of choice, or to take a long walk along the curved beach where each rise enticed you to continue on.
Our second night was a cruiser prepared Potluck Awards dinner at the Island Breeze Resort. Mike and his business partner opened the resort especially for our party and at other times provided a friendly atmosphere and the needed amenities- dinghy dock, food, internet, and washer/dryer. The race results for the two days were calculated and the handicaps introduced into the times. We were sort of penalized for leaving a half hour earlier than others because the wind had been stronger for the later starters giving them better overall times! Gag and winning gifts were given, with each cruiser previously requested to bring a wrapped gift off of their boat, everyone could win something. Sea Star’s gift was a Christmas wrapped Nokia Cell Phone- didn’t work, no cord, who cares? Some gifts were useful but some were flotsam off the beaches, old loran, or used books or movies. The new Island Breeze Resort with its huge open-air deck over-looking the Bay and Salt Pond provided a perfect Bahamian setting to watch the sun go down and later dance to the Unstoppables- a local music group providing dance tunes with a Calypso beat. We danced and watched others dance until we needed to return to our boats. Everyone had a great time, returned to the boats wet and salty-and still the wind blew, and blew. In the next few days the boats slowly began to depart, some back to George Town, Exuma, some on to the Turks and Caicos Islands and others like Sea Star, Charmed, Jay Sea Dee and Windsong , decided that the “jewel of the Bahamas”, as Steven Pavlidis refers to these tiny cays in his guide book, On and Off the Beaten Track, the Jumento Cays south of Long Island were to be our next stop.
Weather, weather! Chris Parker’s weather forecast came on SSB 4.045mz at 6:30 AM while we were in Monument Beach Anchorage in George Town. During our short stay in George Town we had climbed the Monument path, walked the ocean path, played Bocci on the beach, had a cruiser’s beach party, listened to a Ham Radio seminar at the beach pavilion, visited St. Francis Resort for food and the Superbowl, filled the propane, checked the supermarkets, Exuma Market and the Shop Rite, eaten at Eddie’s, bought diesel in jerry jugs and put it in the fuel tanks---and so when the race committee came on the VHF and suggested that the race should be a day earlier than planned, we decided we could go!
George Town, a Bahamian town larger than some and the cruiser hang-out with four coves and two beaches where the many boats can anchor, is a place to meet, greet and reunite with other cruisers. We had been waiting, in a group of over two hundred anchored boats, to meet up with cruiser friends on Jay Sea Dee and Charmed, two other Island Packet Yachts, for a few weeks. Both boats came into the anchorage the day after Sea Star arrived. We all decided to enter the Regatta to Long Island. Dan felt our real competition in a race of extremely varied boats; monohulls of all kinds and sizes and catamarans, would be with the Island Packets, and there were five IPYs signed up. Charmed is an identical boat to Sea Star, there were an IPY 38’ and a 42’on the list and Jay Sea Dee a 48’ IPY. When the race date changed we three and Lady, a Catalina 47 and nineteen other boats with sailors from all over the world, but mostly US and Canada, many Canadians from all the provinces plus sailing folks from England, France and Germany decided we could be flexible and go on Wednesday, Feb. 4, at about a two hour notice instead of the planned Thursday, in hopes in my case, to avoid predicted eight foot seas at the cut into Exuma Sound near the start of the race- and not have a heart-pounding boat thumping wild ride.
The organizers informed participants that boats could start as early as they wished, we should just pass the motor yacht keeping the racers’ time and hail them when beginning the 34.6 mile course to Indian Point waypoint in the Long Island Salt Pond anchorage. The rules allowed the use of motor when moving between a waypoint called North Rocks and Middle Rocks for obvious reasons. The rules also included that since this is a fun cruiser’s race, boats were not to unload weight- just go as a cruiser with barbeque on the rail etc. and no poles, spinnakers, or screecher sails allowed.
Three of us, Charmed, Lady and Sea Star lined up at the designated marker about a half hour before most of the field. It seemed the right thing to do to avoid the crowd in the narrow channels, especially as the rules required rounding the waypoints. Then we started off with jib- at a whopping 4 knots! There was noo wind. As we progressed through the cut, the wind filled in from behind us at 10 to 15kn and we had a pleasant, then boisterous sail with up to 29 knots as we neared Long Island. As we sailed, Lady and two catamarans, Windsong and Zing passed Sea Star. We felt we had sailed our best race with full main and jib, then the staysail and main wing on wing on another leg, finally full sail again as we made the last waypoint, then struggled a bit to crank the sails in as we fairly flew past the time-keeper and into the anchorage. The trawler, Southern Estate, announced the time for Sea Star was 2hours, 50minutes and 10 seconds.
After the race, since we were actually a day early for the planned events at Long Island, a cruiser get together was held at sundown on the beach. The next day the weather for the 13 additional racers was even windier than when we crossed- the last of the racing boats were in the anchorage earlier in the day than we had been, and the wind was expected to stay up at 20-to 25 knots holding steady for days to come. No one was going to be able to return to George Town comfortably for a few days. Luckily , as I write this, we are in a great anchorage with protection from the Northeast, but some wind chop that keeps us on the boat.
The first cruiser event after the second group arrived was to meet at the lovely, curved Thompson Bay Beach and have a group photo with the 80 or so participants in the 2nd annual George Town to Long Island race. Siggy’s Dancer, one of the organizers, lined us up for the photo and it was like herding cats! Hopefully, I can get the photo from someone through email.
Of course to get to the beach and then the restaurant required fresh clothes to look decent, then a dinghy ride into the wind and salt spray considering the wind velocity and surge, a dinghy pull-up on the beach over the sharp rocks at low tide and an exit into the water to pull the dinghy up on the beach. Using our flashlights there was a hike along a conch shell lined path to a Bahamian buffet feast prepared at the Thompson Bay Club, an open-air room. While waiting for dinner, one cruiser had prepared a Trivia quiz of sailing information that helped to pass the time. Great food; fish, conch, Bahamian mac and cheese, peas and rice, barbecued ribs, chicken, a wonderful night- then lug the dinghy back into the water and slog on back to the boats.
The lovely lady who cooked and provided the food, Tryphena, invited a group of us to go beach comb her private beach the next day. Twelve or so cruisers appeared the next morning for the five mile trip on the back of her son’s pick-up to a most wonderful view of the ocean side of the narrow island and then to the dune above the sheltered beach as we wound our way to the drop off spot. Looking down we could see waves crashing against a cluster of rocks just off-shore. When we walked down to those rocks we saw the place Tryphena had called her spa- the water swirling between the sheltering rocks. She left us there for a few hours of private time to poke through mountains of yellow, stringy sea weed searching for treasure of choice, or to take a long walk along the curved beach where each rise enticed you to continue on.
Our second night was a cruiser prepared Potluck Awards dinner at the Island Breeze Resort. Mike and his business partner opened the resort especially for our party and at other times provided a friendly atmosphere and the needed amenities- dinghy dock, food, internet, and washer/dryer. The race results for the two days were calculated and the handicaps introduced into the times. We were sort of penalized for leaving a half hour earlier than others because the wind had been stronger for the later starters giving them better overall times! Gag and winning gifts were given, with each cruiser previously requested to bring a wrapped gift off of their boat, everyone could win something. Sea Star’s gift was a Christmas wrapped Nokia Cell Phone- didn’t work, no cord, who cares? Some gifts were useful but some were flotsam off the beaches, old loran, or used books or movies. The new Island Breeze Resort with its huge open-air deck over-looking the Bay and Salt Pond provided a perfect Bahamian setting to watch the sun go down and later dance to the Unstoppables- a local music group providing dance tunes with a Calypso beat. We danced and watched others dance until we needed to return to our boats. Everyone had a great time, returned to the boats wet and salty-and still the wind blew, and blew. In the next few days the boats slowly began to depart, some back to George Town, Exuma, some on to the Turks and Caicos Islands and others like Sea Star, Charmed, Jay Sea Dee and Windsong , decided that the “jewel of the Bahamas”, as Steven Pavlidis refers to these tiny cays in his guide book, On and Off the Beaten Track, the Jumento Cays south of Long Island were to be our next stop.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
