2-23-11 to 2-25-11

We left Lee Stocking for Great Exuma Island and Georgetown. On the way, we radioed a marina just north of Georgetown that the Cleveland couple had told us about. They had said something about free laundry and said that it was a beautiful place to stop and a must see. We found out that we could stay there, tied up with no electric or water, for $1/ft each night. There is complimentary laundry machines, showers, and a club house with a pool table, tvs, dvds, board games, good internet, and a printer. We decided to stay for a night and try it out.
We’ve been here for 2 1/2 days! Needless to say, we have been very pleased with the Marina at Emerald Bay, though we never really considered ourself resort people, let along Sandals Resort people. We rented a car yesterday and explored the southern part of Great Exuma and Little Exuma. We lunched at Santana’s in Williamstown, Little Exuma. The food was of a local flavor and very good. Good enough for the stars even, as it is here that Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom came to eat and chill sometime during the filming for Pirates of the Caribbean. Next door Santana’s mother sells bread and other baked goods. The coconut bread is to die for!

In Williamstown there is a large salt lake where plantations used to harvest sea salt. A large stone pillar sits atop a hill on the east side of the island, beckoning boats in to come and get their salt. No one officially farms the lake today, but locals will still collect the salt and process it to sell as souvenirs. Kris and Gary decided to harvest there own salt. They mucked around in the lake, picking up handfuls upon handfuls of salt. Who needs to buy fancy sea salt when you can just scoop it right off the ground!

Georgetown is a little smaller than we expected it to be, but from the few hours we spent there, I’d say it was laid-back and a good place to chill. The anchorages all around are packed with cruising boats! We’ll have to explore the town more later.

Today we used our remaining time with the car to explore northern Great Exuma. We went a little further down the road from Alexander and found a man who builds and repairs small wooden sailboats for a living. We searched for an alleged fruit and vegetable market, but a dry spell had killed most of the crops this year.
The remainder of the day was spent straightening the boat up, filling up on diesel, and relaxing. Tomorrow we will probably leave the marina and take the boat over to Stocking Island and Georgetown.

2-22-11

We left the Darby Cays this morning for Lee Stocking Island. There is a research center here, so no lobstering Gary! Unless you go out of the protection zone. You don’t want to ruin the research projects being conducted.
There are staghorn corals, stromatolites, and an abundance of sea life here. We saw many colorful fish, starfish, sea cucumbers, huge southern sea rays, nurse sharks, and more!
The highest point in the Exuma islands is here too. Kris, Spinny, and I climbed up to the top later in the day and beheld another beautiful view, the islands stretching out before us.

The wind completely died later in the day and the water was so still, it looked like glass. you could see the bottom as if there were no water between you and the sandy surface. We could see the keel of the boat just barely touching the bottom, Ooops, but not too big of a deal, as the still water would not be bouncing us up and down and repeatedly hit the keel into the sand. We just balanced, still and silent, on the bottom.

While at Lee Stocking, we met a few fellow Lake Erie travelers – a couple from Cleveland down in their C&C. They came over in the dingy and we chatted for a bit. It was nice to meet someone else from Ohio!

Just after the sun had set in a rainbow of colors, the sound of a bow sliding across strings came wafting through the still air. Shane was practicing his violin over on Moonshine. The sound was erie and soothing at the same time. It’s not every night that the sound of a fiddle comes playing over the water. For a minute I almost expected to see the ghost of a sailor lost at sea walking over the glassy bay.

2-20-11

Today we sailed from Black Point and pulled in to Cave Cay Marina. We were greeted by three huge German shepherds – Lobo, Pancho, and Bella. We put in for $2/ft on floating docks, with complimentary laundry and shower facilities, as well as access to a budding garden. It was a wonderfully deep and protected harbor. The floating dock was an amazing relief to us Lake Erie sailors, not used to the tides as we are. We were quite pleased with our stay.

We took the time we had in a quiet marina to scrub down and polish up the back outer ports. We had them shined up and looking like brass once more. Compare these ports to the forward ones that still need scrubbed and polished (a photo of which is included in the gallery).

2-21-11

We took off today for Rudder Cut Cay, but once we were there, decided that the anchorages did not have deep enough water at low tide for our 6 ft draft. So we moved down to Darby Cay instead. We found a narrow but deep inlet between Darby and Little Darby. In front of us is the Darby Cay Research Center, but no one appears to be home except a few chickens. The rooster was crowing earlier today. That should be fun in the morning!

We took off exploring later in the day. Mike and Gary took the Moonshine dingy and Kris, Shane and I took ours. We explored a few nearby caves and tiny rock islands. Once such rock that I had named “cupcake rock” had an osprey nesting at the top. Shane decided to climb up through a hole we found in an outcropping. Kris terrorized us on the waves in the dingy. Shane was having a ball, holding the forward line and standing up like he was riding a bucking bronco. I was clinging for dear life.

We made our way in on the other end of our inlet. On the way we met a couple of big spotted eagle rays. We chased them about in the shallow waters.

We pulled in as the sun was beginning to close in on the horizon, and prepared to head over to Moonshine for dinner.

When coming back home to Horizons, later tonight, we looked up at the sky. It had been transformed into a deep black cave, glistening with millions of tiny quartz crystals and diamonds. When the moon is not yet up and you are far away from any large cities or towns, the sky explodes with stars! I wish I could take a photo of it for you all, but my camera does not quite have the capacity.

2-14-11

Our Valentine’s Day was simply packed! We started off searching for lobster that we could not catch. Gary had found 3 on a coral patch nearby. But we could only look, not touch, as we were in a protected park.  We settled for exploring the island paths further instead of lobstering. Kris flew his kite for a bit on the beach. He got a few nice jumps in there, as well as a couple crashes.

After kite flying we caught up with Carol and Gary who had hiked to the top of a nearby hill. Climbing is very interesting on these islands as they are made of a sort of limestone “moonscape” rock that is very porous and light, but full of sharp peaks and points as well. The island is littered with large holes here and there, some with water visibly at the bottom. These must be the wells the island is named after. The view was beautiful from the top! Kris and I explored a few other paths, coming upon the Pirate’s Lair as well as a couple little lizards. Gary and Carol took the dingy out to torture themselves by finding more lobsters.

Later Kris stayed on the boat to study for his captain’s license and the rest of us went back over to Boo Boo Hill to see the blow holes. Carol and I walked back down the trail to the park headquarters, hoping to see the little birds that inhabit the island. It wasn’t until we got to the office itself that we found the birds. We fed them cake mix that we’d brought along. They loved it, as they seem to be primarily nectar feeders and the cake mix is nice and sugary.

Just before sundown, we left the birds reluctantly to go and get Kris so that he could see the little guys. By the smile on his face, I’m guessing it was well worth it!

That night, Gary and Kris took Spinny for a night walk on the nearby beach and they came upon the little rodents that live on the island. They looked like a mix between guinea pigs and rats. I thought that they were adorable!

Well, from all of us at Horizons, happy Feb. 14th!

2-16-11

Hello all! Just letting you know that we have been safe at Staniel Cay for the past couple of days. I will have more details for you about our days here and our last day on Warderick Wells later (hopefully by tomorrow). The days have been just packed and I have many photos to sort through so that I can post the best on the blog. Today was another busy day full of shopping, snorkeling, dingying, climbing about, feeding and running from pigs, and cooking a delicious dinner! Now the wind is howling on this windy Wednesday night, but we are secure on a mooring ball close to Thunderball Cave (yes, that’s the James Bond Thunderball, incase you were wondering). Blog to you soon. Wish us good weather tomorrow morning!

2-10-11

We left Nassau later in the morning and headed out toward the Exuma Cays. The wind was parallel to our course, so unfortunately we had to motor our way over there. Spent most of the day crossing the Exuma Bank, watching for coral heads along the way.  We stopped at Highborn Cay, in a nice little cove to the north of the island. It offered good holding and a SW to E protection. We had to steer around some little reefs, but the cove offered clear water to a nice, sandy bottom. A big, wide beach was available for taking Spinny ashore, and later, for flying Kris’ big green kite. All were very pleased with our find.

2-11-11

Today we spent the day over on the neighboring islands of Allens Cay, home to a subspecies of Northern Bahamian Rock Iguana found no where else in the world. The iguanas clammer over to the beach when you land your dingy, looking for food (many visitors like to feed the iguanas things like bread and dog food). We were told not to feed them or bring Spinny over as the iguanas can get aggressive. A couple of iguanas tried to toughen up and make a move on us, but all you had to do was stomp on the sand to let them know who was bigger.

The iguanas were not the only inhabitants of Allens Cay. We also saw a few tiny lizards, an osprey, and a few conchs in the water. It was a wildlife excursion! Gary snorkeling off the north eastern end of Highborn later that day and saw a few colorful fish, eels, but no lobster (to Gary’s dismay). Later we took a walk into town and continued the wildlife safari at the marina where we saw a few small barracuda, a couple of colorful fish, and a large sea ray in the marina water. What a day!

2-12-11

We awoke to high winds out of the north this morning, along with dark grey skies. Where had our beautiful, sunny, 80 degree weather gone? Our cove didn’t serve us much protection and we had to move on.  We made our way down to Warderick Wells Cay, and even got a nice sail down, hoisting up the main and the mizzen and unfurling the staysail.  At the start of the sail the winds were clocking around 15-20 knts and built up to 20-30 knts by the end.  That was exciting!

WWC offered good N and E protection, just what we needed.  We heard tell that there are many different types of birds on this island, but it was much too windy to see any of them!

2-13-11

Today was another grey and windy day. We took the opportunity to explore Warderick Wells further.  We signed up for internet from the park and then took a walk over to Boo Boo Hill, and haunted part of the island where blow holes littler the NE coast and the hill there offers a beautiful panoramic view of the islands. Atop the hill is a pile of driftwood with peoples’ ships’ names painted and carved upon them. We have to find our own piece of driftwood and leave our marker on Boo Boo Hill.

Kris and I explored the island further, traveling to some old plantation ruins further south on the island.  Then we were off to Escape Beach on the SE side. On the far shore spray from the waves shot up 10+ feet into the air. We discovered a tunnel and blowhole further down the little island. We only saw a few birds, as most of them where all still hiding from the wind.

We like it here and may stay another day. The weather is supposed to start clearing up. Maybe we will get to see those birds tomorrow!

Hello! This is Emily posting here! Did you all miss me? It’s great to be back on the boat! Carol and I flew into Nassau yesterday afternoon and met up with Gary and Kris at the Yacht Haven Marina.

Nassau is certainly a busy island city! Cars are constantly going faster than the 25mph speed limit, beeping and shouting to the people walk about everywhere. Everyone seems to know one another around here. Well, it is an island after all. I do love the colors of the city though. Having come from the white and frosty world of Ohio, Nassau, and the Bahamas in general, were a feast to my eyes! Green, blue, and bursts of colorful flowers. It’s like the world was remastered with Technicolor.

Today we explored the Atlantis Resort on Paradise island, which is right next to Nassau. I will describe it in a few words. Fancy. Expensive. Exclusive. And, according to Kris and Gary, “hoity toity”. It was very nice, if you have a lot of money to spend on your vacation. There is plenty to do: visit the aquarium, swim with dolphins, go see a movie or a comedy show, shop at the multitude of shops at the resort, or place a couple bets at the casino. The whole resort reminded me a bit of a Disney World resort…minus the giant character actors and plus a giant casino.

We are planning to sail to Allens Cay tomorrow morning. We may not have internet for the next few days, but I will be sure to post here when we do and tell you all about it.  Wish the good winds are way!