PGSC 2003 Bahamas Cruise Part 5


Bahamian Boat Under sail 
(click to enlarge)

This fifth installment is a day by day recap of the island adventuring of the PGSC Bahamas Cruisers who departed Punta Gorda on March 1st.,  2003 for a three month cruise to the Bahamas.

 

This installment, again, was documented by Kay Haller on board "Jammin" with her spouse, Jerry.

 

 

Easter Sunday - April 20 - We arrived at the Gethsemene Baptist Church early to assure a good seat in the back.  The usher offered us closer seats but we deferred due to our lack of proper dress.  There were two other groups from sailboats in church.  The service started with almost an hour of songs and rejoicing.  The accompaniment was drums and several tambourines.  But the singing was loud enough.  We sang along the best we could, as none of the tunes were familiar to us.  A visiting reverend gave a good sermon and he had everyone on his or her feet.  We then walked out to the east shore and found the blowhole.  This was a good one with water spraying 12 to 15 feet into the air.  We tried timing pictures to coincide with the action.  Once back in town we went to Lorraine ’s to finish sending email and to give Lorraine a couple presents.  She responded by giving us each a piece of chocolate cake.

We planned a Easter potluck dinner.

 

April 21 - Whit-Monday -  We left Black Point at 8:30 AM to be able to stop at Staniel Cay Yacht Club for fuel and water and still make it to Thomas Cay while there was still plenty of tide left.  There was a nice 10-knot breeze from the NE and we sailed most of the way to Staniel Cay.  We called the yacht club on the radio to see if we could get fuel today and we were told, “no problem”.  As we got close we could see there was a problem.  An 80-foot mega-yacht blocked most of the dock as the passengers disembarked into the dinghy to go to the beach.  Another motor yacht and a large fishing boat took up the rest of the fuel dock.  The dockmaster told us that one of the boats would be leaving shortly.  This was the fishing boat, the smallest one, and the one in the middle.  There was no way we were going to try to dock between two large yachts in a small space with the wind and current running.  So we radioed our “no thanks” and sailed on to Sampson Cay Marina.  Here we were able to get in to refuel quickly and easily.  Then we sailed up to Thomas Cay to anchor in the protected storm anchorage we’d heard so much about.  All went well until we enter the anchorage.  We had studied the charts well, but were still not prepared for the minefield of sandbars, coral reefs and swift currents.  The current, running at more than two knots, was the biggest surprise.  The water depth varied quickly from more than 15 feet to less than 5.  The only decent spot, with sand bottom, we saw was occupied by two large motor yachts.  Everything else was a mixture of coral, scoured bottom, occasional sand patches, and rocks.  We decided we wouldn’t anchor here unless there really was a hurricane.  Then on the way back out Jammin ran aground on a sand bar.  Coming back out Jerry couldn’t tell for sure where their route should be and chose the wrong one.  And then to make it even more nail biting, the tide is falling rapidly.  They deployed the jib and gunned the engine and were across the bar in less than a minute.  Time to leave this anchorage.  We then sailed a little further north to the south end of Pipe Cay and anchored just off shore in nice sand.  For once all three boats got a good set on the first try.

We were now 10 miles from our starting point and had covered 30 miles to get here.  Overnight the wind died and we really slept well.

 

April 22 - We finally heard the weather report this morning from Highborne Cay. We left on the dinghies to tour Compass Cay Marina.  There are many nurse sharks in the water at this marina.  The dockmaster has trained them to be fed by hand and to let you swim with them.  We weren’t that interested.  Then we got Kaliks and then we walked across the island to a fine beach.  The residents on this island have created a fine network of cleared and leveled pathways.  Some of the paths are lined with conch shells.  After the marina we tried to view some coral from our dinghies but the current was too strong.  We stopped at a beach with very fine coral sand, and then we returned to the boats.

We had another windless and quiet night.  When the wind blows hard we can’t get a good anchor set.  When we get a good anchor set there is no wind.  Go figure.

 

April 23 - This morning we went on a conch hunt.  We rode our dinghies over to the west side of Compass Cay to a bay called the Conch Nursery.  One of the locals has been seeding conch here.  At first we only saw sand and sparse grass.  Then Matt and Sue found the first conchs in about four feet of water.  We joined them and altogether we had five conchs we thought were legal size.  The description said they had to have a “fully flared lip”, but we weren’t sure just what that meant.  So we took our conch to the marina to check and to find out how to clean them if they were OK.  On the way back we saw what looked like a rocky reef, but on closer inspection we found a wall of young conch.  We kept trying to find a big one but there weren’t any here.  But the numbers of conch were impressive to us.  Well, when we got back to the marina, we found out our conch were too young and we had to throw them back.  But then we didn’t have to clean them either.

We then sailed over to the north end of Compass Cay to see a landmark called the “bubble baths”.  The tide was too low to get there on our dinghies, so we walked about a quarter mile.  We could see that it would be impressive under the right tide and sea condition, but today the bubble bath was just a gurgle.

Then we sailed over to Fowl Cay and took a dinghy ride to Rocky Dundas.  There we snorkeled into a cave.  The coral in the area was quite fantastic.  There was large Elkhorn coral that was bigger than any single coral we had ever seen.  There were coral of all varieties, but not too many fish.  The wind and tides cooperated to make this a nice swim.  As we were finishing the brown thimbles started moving in.  There were clouds of them in the water.  Brown thimbles are small jellyfish that look like, well, a brown thimble.  They are known to sting, but they haven’t bothered us too much.  But it could have been a particle of one that got in my eye on the last visit.  By the time we returned to Fowl Cay the thimbles were so thick we were no longer interested in snorkeling the reef there again.

So we sailed to Bell Island .  The chart says it is a private island.  We could see what looks like factory and office buildings on shore, but we have no idea what it could be.  The sand was good and we got a good anchor set.  We must have set a personal record today.  We sailed three legs (anchorage to anchorage) and only covered a total of six miles.

 

April 24 - We sailed up to Emerald Rock near Warderick Wells Cay.  As we approached the anchorage we talked to Bella and Phoenix by radio.  They are both from Burnt Store Marina.

There was supposed to be good snorkeling at the rock and at the south end of the island. There are only a couple isolated coral heads at Emerald Rock.   The chart shows a large coral reef at the south end of Warderick Wells that we couldn’t find.   The park asks cruisers not to anchor near Hog Cay at the south end and we did find a little coral there, but not enough to get excited about.  We did walk trails on the island and found the pirate’s lair.

Jerry saw another Tartan 37, named Hooligan, anchored near us so we introduced ourselves.  Tom and Lisa are from Miami , and they gave us good information about cruising in the area of Miami .

 

April 25 - We left Warderick Wells and sailed up to Shroud Cay.  We were looking for an anchorage that provided protection from a south wind and this place looked good.  The wind this morning was SSE at 15 to 20 knots.  We raised our main before hoisting the anchor and as soon as we were underway we set the jib.  Soon we were flying at better than 7 knots.  The wind was building.  After a couple miles we turned north and we were running almost down wind.  Now it became a problem of finding a course that let us sail either wing-and-wing or broad reaching.  We just can’t seem to get the heading right for either.  But we were making good knots so we didn’t really care.  On this leg we have to sail well into the Banks to clear all the sand bores.  Then finally we tack back towards the islands to get into the anchorage. 

As we approached Shroud Cay we took down the sails and motored in very slowly.  The charts here are rather vague about the depths.  They also show coral heads in the area.  But the least water depth we found was 6.5 feet (with one foot of rising tide) so we made it in without a problem.  Then we took a dinghy ride through the mangroves inside of Shroud Cay.  There is a waterway that is only good at high tides.  We rode through the area until we came out on the other side facing Exuma Sound.  There we found a beautiful beach with very little plastic litter washed up.  After walking the beach we boarded our dinghies and continued the trip through Shroud Cay.  We came out at the other end of the anchorage.  Then we motored to the coral patches to see if there was anything of interest but there wasn’t.  So it was back to the boats for happy hour.

 

April 26 - The wind blew 15 to 20 knots last night and shifted to the SSW.  This brought some wave action to this anchorage and caused a little rolling.  The forecast is for two more days of the same winds.  As a result we changed our next destination to the cut on the south side of Norman ’s Cay.  It has better protection from southerly winds than the west side of the island.  So midmorning we hauled our anchor and moved to Norman ’s Cay.

It took us three tries to get the anchor to hold.  The first two places we dropped were grassy.  So the third try we moved to a spot in plain sand.  Unfortunately this was closer to other boats, but no one complained. 

Just as we finished anchoring, we saw a Bahamian boat leaving by sailing off the anchor.  It was something to watch the three men on board as they maneuvered the boat.  They raised the gaff-rigged mainsail, and then they tacked the boat up wind as they hauled in the anchor line.  The helmsman was using a tiller that was longer than he was tall.  Then they sailed up the narrow channel tacking the boat every few minutes.

 

April 27 - Jerry was up about 2 AM and checked the boat.  The wind was back to the SW and the anchor had four wraps around the rode.  We use a 16-lb. Mushroom anchor as a kellet on the rode and the lines were wrapped.  At this point we had had only one tide change so the other wraps must have come from the storm and wind changes.  About 6 AM Jerry felt the boat go into the roll mode, so Jerry knew the tide was changing.  Shortly afterwards the boat went back to the pitch mode.  About sunrise the wind finally let up and was only blowing 10 knots.

This morning we went for a tour of Norman ’s Pond.  It has a reputation as a good all-weather anchorage.  The chart shows the south end is dry at low tide, so we left early to have enough water.  We checked the entrance to the anchorage and could not see how any one could get a boat in through this channel.  We were glad we didn’t try it.  And there were no other boats inside this anchorage.  To get back to the boat we went outside the island along the beach to avoid the shallow water.  We stopped on one of the beaches and got started picking up plastic trash and putting it into piles above the high water mark.  Then we crossed back into the inside through a small inlet and made it back to our boats.

Later Kay and Jerry went out to look for conch, but we had no success.  We found a few shells with hermit crabs.  Then we joined the others walking the sandbars in Norman ’s Pond when the tide was out.  There were a few nice shells and some sand dollars to be found.  The sand seems to go forever at low tide.  It is fine and soft.

Later during happy hour, and maybe because it was happy hour, we decided to make the run to Nassau .  Matt and Sue were going to leave early and then we would have a radio chat after the weather.

 

April 27 – Matt and Sue left for Nassau early then Jammin and JourneyOn left at 7:30 AM .  The wind was fresh from the SSW at about 10 to 15 knots.  We felt good about our departure.  Jammin hoisted the main while they were still at anchor, then as soon as the anchor was up and we unfurled the jib.  They were under full sail before we had gone 400 yards.  We decided to run the engine for an hour to charge batteries then stop the engine and sail. Jammin wanted to average 6 knots in order to reach Nassau before the marina office closed.  As soon as an hour was up the wind slackened.  So we had to keep running the engine to make 6 knots on a downwind run.

We reached the Yellow Bank about 11:40 AM and Jerry stood watch on the Jammin’s bow as we sailed through the coral heads.  We didn’t see many, but it was confusing as always with the numerous grass patches.  Fortunately the sun had peeked out by this time so we had good lighting.

We reached the outer harbor of Nassau by 3 PM and called harbor control and the marina.  We had decided to try Nassau Harbor Club, but they didn’t have slips available for all four days; a group from Punta Gorda is coming in and they have all the slips reserved!  What nerve!  So we decided to try the marina anyway since it was recommended, and then move later if we had to.  The Punta Gorda group included our friends Pig Pen.  Once we were docked we found they didn’t have ladders at the dock for short people, and the ladies didn’t like their shower facilities or the laundry.  So we decided to stay the night, go to the grocery and liquor store (across the street) and then move to Yacht Haven the next day.

 

April 28 - We spent the morning doing boat chores, especially washing off the salt accumulation.  We topped up our water tanks.  Then we checked out and left the marina.

We saw a local fisherman at the dock with a load of large conch.  It didn’t take us long to decide on conch for dinner.  The fisherman recommended three conchs as enough to feed six.  But our group wisdom said we needed six conchs.  They would clean them for us so it was a deal.  Of course we took pictures of the whole process.  Jerry was coaxed into swallowing raw a piece of the male conch.

Bob and Mary volunteered to make conch fritters.  Matt and Sue were to make cracked conch.  I don’t know which job was the most demanding; dicing the conch for fritters or pounding the conch like cutlets.  Kay made rice and pigeon peas and conch sauce.  This was all accomplished while drinking rum punch.  The conch turned out better than any conch we’d had on the islands.  Mary took samples to the fisherman and they seemed to be impressed. 

                       Blow Hole               (Click Pictures to Enlarge)            Queen Stairs

Gettinair trolling for fish
 (Click Picture to Enlarge)

                        
  Come back for the next installment of the PGSC Bahamas Cruisers. 

   

 This page created May 6, 2003  by The PGSC WebMaster