Staniel Cay 2012 and Daniel's Visit

JANUARY

Here is a map of the Exhuma Chain.  New Providence Island and Naussau, its Capital are to the west,   Florida is northeast.  We crossed from Nassau to Ship Channel, went on to Allen's Harbor, Exuma Land aand Sea Park, Staniel Cay and Black Point Settlement. 



So, you are probably wondering why we chose to get back on Sea Star and head to the Bahamas.  For me one part of the cruising life is spending time in or under the water. The water should be warm, preferably. Well, the Bahamas has the water of anyone's dreams; every shade of blue imaginable from brilliant turquoise, through an entire range to sea green, deep navy and black when  there is grass growing on the bottom, or brown when a coral reef is exposed, glowing blue with pure white sand bottom in graduating rings around each island depending on depth and bottom structure. A camera doesn't usually do it justice, and often photos of the low, sandy islands we see or anchor near don't photograph that well either.

Bottom structure can be of course coral reefs; rock-like mounds containing splashes of color. When one swims in and looks more closely,  floating hair-like appendages, textured swirls ,tubes and fans remind one that all of the reef, attached directly to the bottom or not, are vibrantly alive.  To top off this visual extravaganza a quiet observer is allowed the enjoyment of viewing a variety of flashing sleek silver or unbelievably shaped multi-colored fish.  Water temperature can be cozy warm, allowing a snorkeler to stay in and check it all out until she is tired.

Snorkeling, and for some scuba diving, are good reasons to spend time in the Bahamas; pleasant people is another, and sailing or island exploration in a pretty relaxed atmosphere round out the things we enjoy. In a relaxed atmosphere like the islands, we meet fellow cruisers and exchange information on routes to sail and help each other cope with the daily frustrations that are a part of boating    

Here at Allen's Harbor, Leaf Cay- on this tiny strip of beach off the anchorage this speed boat and others, bring tourists from Nassau to see the endangered Rock Iguana, daily.  They emerge from the noisy boat looking like swarming ants, but in bikinis. Most feed the encroaching  iguanas grapes, lettuce or whatever to entice the long tailed dinosaur-like two foot long creatures to pose for pictures. In one half hour the tourists are back on the boat and heading back to the city.  That day we had hoped to move on the Exuma Park, but wind was 22 to 25kn and we stayed put since our anchor was holding.  Allen's can be a tricky place to be as the strong current changes directions two times each day.  That motion can dislodge anchors and cause a mess in the anchorage.  We were a bit miffed with one sailboat that put out two anchors, taking up a large part of the space.  I think that could have been the reason a later arriving charter sailboat ended up needing a pull off the reef in the center of the anchorage. 

We arrived at Allen's Harbor very near New Years.  The Exuma chain is apparently very popular and there are scads of visitors from Nassau, or Florida for fishing and holidays. The visitors to the Bahamas come by plane or boat. Many boats are private yachts and chartered power boats of impressive size.  This one has its own helicopter.  The people aboard can be seen dining, playing and more through the windows in or out of their new cruise wear or buzzing around just looking fabulous on personal watercraft or other water toys.  Yes, it was the holidays, but all that wealth seems repugnant. I can't imagine what a land-based Bahamian fisherman thinks when he sees the extravagance.  Since the infrastructure is weak in these small islands, the yachts probably carry all their needs for their cruise. They don't rent the local boats because they tow their own dinghies or larger  motored fishing vessels and equipment, some are too large to large to consider a berth at a marina and anchoring is free.  

  We met these nice people at Warderick Wells Park, near Emerald Rock where we also saw and heard many of the big guys enjoying themselves.

This yacht, we were told, belonged to Steven Speilburg and the plane was kept quite busy with guests leaving or arriving.

So what you may ask are these pigs doing here on a sandy  island. beach.  These are two or three of the world famous Staniel Cay swimming pigs.  An important tourist attraction, and we did it too, is to approach the island in a dinghy or small boat with fruit, vegetables, crackers-you name it (they ask it not be meat) and offer it to the pigs who come right into the water off the beach to swim up to your dinghy to eat.  Some folks or tour operators encourage them to swim quite a distance away from shore- you wonder if the pigs will be able to swim back!

How they could deal with mouths and noses full of sand was a mystery to us.

We arrived at Staniel anchorage, anchored and hurried out to see the New Years Day race of the C class Bahamian sloops.  I took a video but we zipped around trying to keep out of the way so the pictures were filmed very poorly.  This one was the winner and is a very famous sloop named Tida Wave.

This one is the Lady Murial, another well known and supported sailor from Staniel Cay

                                                                           
            This sailboat is the Courageous.  In this picture you can see well that these boats are balanced by people-weight hanging over the ships gunnels because their sails are soo impressively large.

                                                                           
             The sailors and "weights" all had a great time.  For cruisers and other tourists who were given the opportunity to sail on these sloops the cost was they bought the beer!                                                        
                                                                               

The Staniel Cay Yacht Club bar and restaurant.  A fun place to people watch; good food, too.

Look what we passed moored at the Club- another larger version of Sea Star having a barbecue on their stern.

                                                                               

                                         A few more pictures of the New Years crowd.

Moored at Thunderball Grotto where 007 James Bond was filmed

                                                                                                                       
                                This motorboat's dinghy is a 40 foot center console fishing boat                                      

               Hooray! A visitor!  A few days after New Years Daniel arrived to spend almost a week with us before he headed back to California and college.  We picked him up at the Staniel Cay airport- an easy way to have guests fly in, by the way. We picked him up in our dinghy, stuffed his bag into a big garbage bag and headed the half mile out to the anchorage on a blustery afternoon.

                                                                   
                                          Getting reacquainted back on Sea Star.  We hadn't seen Daniel since he and his father Steve, my husband's nephew, helped us sail Sea Star out of Provincetown, MA to Halifax, NS in 2008. Daniel was glad to be back aboard and we were excited to have him.

                                                    Scenes of exploring Staniel Cay
                                     

 We had met this couple, relatively new cruisers, in Nassau where they were having BiG engine issues and help was marginal at best. Dan commiserated, helped them set up their SSB radio so they could call us from their long distance radio- and a few days later we left just a few days before Christmas. They had finally sailed out of Nassau after New Years--but on arriving to the Staniel Anchorage, their engine just quit.  Dan and I pulled them into the anchorage with our dinghy until they could safely drop their anchor.  Still with engine issues, they were so glad to be safely anchored and out of Nassau that they beamed us these beautiful smiles.

                                                                           
                        Sometimes it can be rough at anchor but we cope in ingenious ways, I think.

With Daniel aboard, our first short trip was a sail to Black Point Settlement only about six miles south of Staniel Cay but in pace of living, slower and much more to our liking.  Sea Star anchored in Black Point Harbor, a nicely sheltered bay.  We were waiting for the weekly mailboat as we had ordered a new Yamaha 15hp dinghy motor from Nassau.  In Black Point there are many wonderful people.  One of the best is Lorraine from Lorraine's Cafe, our very favorite place to eat.  Her desire to assist cruisers in any way she can is legend. We had to provide an address to receive our ordered motor from Nassau.  Lorraine offered to meet the mailboat for us, cover any shipping charge and store the engine until we got there.  The problem is she explained, is often it is not known when exactly the mailboat will "reach" meaning get there. She did not want us inconvenienced or worried about our shipment.

Amazing!  Just because we had eaten a few meals with Lorraine and chatted, she would provide any help requested.  It turned out the boat was arriving earlier than expected, but Daniel had already arrived and we could make it to Black Point to pick up the order.  All went well and Dan was quite happy to have young, strong Daniel to help lug the motor and tank in its big square cardboard box off the mailboat and onto the dock, then down in our dinghy and out to Sea Star where they raised the old motor onto its storage bracket and installed the new motor on the dinghy. Why I took no pictures of the exciting procedure I just don't recall.  Sorry.

We took Happy Hour at Scorpio's Bar, ate at Lorraine's, the next day explored the settlement and prepared to sail off for Cambridge Cay and Warderick Wells in the Exuma Land and Sea Park so Daniel, a California surfer dude, could enjoy some snorkeling in the Bahamas and relax in the sun. (He had flown to us from New England, brrr!)     

Blue, calm water at the dock in Black Point

The sign and doorway of Lorraine's Cafe.  Lorraine's Mom cooks in the Cafe with Lorraine and bakes the delicious Coconut bread the Islands are known for. She supplies cruisers with bread with one day of notice. It can be very busy in the harbor (and restaurant) when at times there are as many as thirty boats. A hard working and charitable family.

There is a small airport on Black Point also.  The ticket holder can decide to land or leave from either Staniel Cay or Black Point with the same ticket. They hop over on the same plane that stops in Nassau.

Ahh, more lovely, graceful Bahamian sailboats.

These are much smaller than the ones we saw at Staniel, but speedy when they have the wind.  This is a race between a father, the current sailing champion, and the son.  Father and son built the new boat together.

Taking down the incredible sails 

This is the home and life-long project of  a man from Black Point. He has collected interesting driftwood that appealed to him in some way.  In his "museum" he guides and says, "This looks like a........," and sure enough  , a tourist can see the resemblance. All shapes and sizes are shown. 

This Bananaquit slipped in for a look around Sea Star

After a four hour sail and motor we have passed some homes, well, actually islands of the rich and famous; Johhny Depp has an island right next to a Shaw from somewhere who seems to be rebuilding his island from the ground up. He bulldozed a road right through the center of his mountain and down to the sea on the other side which just happens to be the Land and Sea Park- an effort by Bahama's government at a reserve to replenish fish stock and keep the corals and natural areas undeveloped and pristine.  How these islands within Park boundaries have been sold at all is a mystery and unconscionable according to some local Bahamians. Not only have the island been sold but they have been sold to foreign interests.  People say, and we could see that the Shaw intends to have a marina right in the Park,  Others say the marina is for his own yachts and those of friends and he has agreed to help preserve the Park.  Time will tell how this develops. 

From the right of this lovely picture of Dan, Daniel and I taken by a friend in Cambridge Cay, in different light the blight of the road and dredging on the Shaw's private island can be seen, and at times, heard.  Tonight, though, everything is still.

Just a gorgeous sunset

Geeze, what a bright anchor light on that yacht outside the mooring field.

Umm, no I guess not.

Goodnight from Cambridge Cay

                                                                           

After another few days at Cambridge where we three snorkeled the places named Aquarium, (you can guess why I'll bet), Airplane, an underwater plane said to have been carrying drugs that now is growing a reef around it and others and it was time to head back to Staniel Cay.  We took Daniel to feed the pigs, then to a shoreside local restaurant for conch and walked him up the hill to the airport to see him off.
                                                   Have a great second semester Daniel!

 These planes can be pretty small and the weight must be distributed well.  Daniel and a few other lighter-weight people were placed in the tail.  It's about 40 minutes to Nassau.

At the anchorage at Staniel we noticed that our genoa sail was ripping out in a few places.  You saw my pictures of beautiful Bahamian sailboats with massive sails. We figured it would be easy to find a person to repair ours.  Not so.  Our only recourse was to send the sail out for repair. Despite suggestions to send the sail back to Florida on the small airplane from the company Watermakers, we found that too costly and sent it by mailboat to Nassau.

It was a struggle to pull the sail down and flake it (fold) and shove it into a big sailbag. It made a lump about four feet by three feet and weighs quite a bit.  Since we were at anchor we slid the huge sail into the dinghy over the gunnels and lifelines, (whew, plop!) and ferried the lump to Isles General Store where we lugged it up to their store out of the dinghy.  That's where we left it for inclusion in the freight to be sent to Nassau from all the out islands.  See ya someday, sail we thought.

As  February approached we had more guests to look forward to.  Hope we get it back so sailing will be possible!