Month: January 2021

 

I heard a great line the other day. “Cruising just means fixing your boat in exotic locations.” Seems about right. No matter how well you plan your maintenance and boatyard stays, if you use your boat it will break when you least expect it.

Coming into Staniel Cay Gary noticed that our port stabilizer fin wasn’t centering the way it should. So he started disassembling it. It’s in our walk-in closet under the floor. Remove hanging clothes, pull up rug, get out tools. Once disassembled he decided that someone was going to have to get in the water and hold onto the stabilizer fin to align it correctly. Someone. Someone is Betty.

Get out the hookah, attach it to a scuba tank and … oh we haven’t used the scuba tanks in over a year so they need to be filled. Start the generator to fire up the compressor and… you guessed it. Remember the generator is a siren song for the sharks? Yeah. I was in the water when Gary said “incoming” so up the swim ladder and out I came. I can deal with sharks and these are nurse sharks so they are fairly benign but there were three or four and one was bigger than me so it was a little intimidating.

Once we turned off the generator they lost interest and left. Except for one that settled down for a nap on the seafloor under the boat. Oh, and his friend the white finned shark sucker otherwise known as a remora. Remoras are usually about twelve to eighteen inches log but the guy was well fed and  about two feet long. Being a remora he wanted to get up close and personal and become my new best friend. So here I am, holding the stabilizer to keep it from swinging, trying not to kick the sleeping shark on the bottom with my fin and fending  off a lovesick remora. It took about twenty minutes all told which wasn’t bad. It also gave me time in the water which I love and a chance to get reacquainted with breathing under water. My happy place.

Last night we had a big blow come through with sustained winds of about 28mph and gusts to 30mph or so. Everyone here at Big Majors anchorage was hunkered down, rocking and rolling for about eight hours. Today is much calmer but we still have 10-12 mph winds and another big blow coming in a couple days.

Several nights ago we looked up at the night sky and saw an amazing cloud ring around it. Really large and something neither of us had ever remembered seeing. I posted it to Facebook and several people came back with the idea that it was an indicator of a significant weather change. After last night’s winds we’ll be on the lookout for that again.

With winds picking up we went back inside to the marina at Great Harbor for a couple nights. While there we got our second covid test as Bahamas requires retesting at day five. Since the nurse came right to the marina it couldn’t have been easier.

Leaving Great Harbour Cay we had to travel north to go around the east side of Little Stirrup Cay and out into the Atlantic as the west side was way too shallow for our boat. On the north side are the “playgrounds” for some of the cruise ship lines. They apparently stop for the day and offload passengers to play at their version of amusement parks. With the cruise ships closed down the playgrounds are empty and rather forlorn looking.

From there we set our sights on Highbourne Cay with overnights at Bird Cay and the west tip of New Providence. Both were a little rolly so it was nice to get to Highbourne and a peaceful anchorage. Having been there on a previous trip we knew to go to the marina restaurant hungry and were not disappointed. The food is amazing. We grabbed some gas for the dinghy, said hi to our favorite parrot and then continued onward to the Exuma Land and Sea Marine Park. To get there we went through the cut at Highbourne to the Atlantic and down to Norman’s Cut which took us back to the west side of the island chain. Both cuts are narrow but Norman’s is the real challenge as it is also an anchorage so we wended our way between boats always careful to stay in the channel so as not to go aground.

First stop was Shroud Cay which is now my favorite in the Bahamas. If it weren’t for the fact that we had absolutely no cell phone connectivity we could have stayed there a week or more. It was that stunning. The kayaks came down and we checked out several of the creeks that are simply too shallow for the dinghy. We found turtles, small sharks, several herons and lots of little fish.

 

At dusk we were treated to a romantic get together of two large turtles not far from the boat. At first we couldn’t figure out what was going on as we kept seeing a large flipper extend straight up into the air and lots of turbulent water. Once we saw the second turtle we realized that rather than it being a turtle in distress it was two turtles in bliss. No pictures as it was a private moment.

We found a different critter under the boat later that night. In the evening we usually turn on the generator for a couple hours to charge up the batteries. This seems to be a siren song to sharks who come hang out waiting for leftovers and scraps that are thrown overboard. The food hit the water and there was a pronounced chomping going on. In the moonlight we saw a 5-6 foot reef shark enjoying the last of a baguette that had gone moldy along with other scraps.

The water is so crystal clear that pictures don’t do it justice. One morning I was looking off the side of the boat and saw what looked like a log on the bottom but the sand was disturbed in a pattern. I was trying to figure out what was going on when I realized it was our anchor almost totally buried in the sand and sitting right next to the boat. No wind or current so the boat was just wandering.

Alas 48 hours seemed to be our limit with no connectivity so we headed down to Pipe Cay, another pristine island. We took the dinghy down and ran over to the marina at Compass Cay looking for lunch off the boat. Unfortunately with the lack of tourists this past year the restaurant and market were boarded up. We could have grabbed a burger or hotdog off the dock but they charged $10 per person just to step on land so we headed back to the boat taking a circuitous route, only grounding the dinghy twice (it’s a little shallow in the Exumas).

Back at the boat we made the call to head further south to Staniel Cay and settle in for awhile. As we were anchoring a welcoming committee came out to say hi. Three nurse sharks and a remora friend just looking for a handout.

We left Ft Lauderdale on Monday afternoon about 1:30. A couple hours earlier than we planned but we always seem to be anxious to leave. Great Harbor Cay, in the Berry Islands, ended up being our entry point because we’ve never been there and they have a marina where we could check in with the new Covid protocols.

Our night transit was interesting. Although we missed seeing the water turn from dark blue to that amazing Bahama turquoise, we were treated to seeing all the cruise ships at anchor just off Little Stirrup Cay. We had seen them in the spring when we came back from the Dominican Republic but now there are twice as many, about two dozen, and at night they are lit up like Christmas trees. We spent about 3 ½ hours wending our way through all the ships usually passing within less than a half mile. Quite the site as they can be seen from miles away.

Getting into the marina at Great Harbor was another interesting event. It’s a hurricane hole and well disguised. Unless you are following the charts you will never see the entrance as it is narrow and heavily treed. We originally thought we would have problems getting in. Approaching the cut we had to wait for a 100+ foot yacht to leave which reassured us that we would have no problem.

Once docked at the marina customs and immigration came directly to the boat to check us in. The only other place this has happened is in the DR. Usually we have to get off the boat and go hunt up the c& i offices. So now we’re feeling spoiled.

 

Once customs and immigration was done we had an inspection of another kind to get through. It’s not unusual to encounter “marina cats” on the docks but this was the first time we’ve been boarded and inspected by one. Beauty jumped on board and walked all around the outside of the boat. Only then would she acquiesce to some petting and chin scratches. She wanted to check out the interior but that was a no-go. When the hose came out to wash off the boat she casually left only to return later in the evening with a friend. They spent the night sleeping on the aft cushions. Normally I would put food out for them but they are very healthy and well cared for so no need to give them anything other than a treat or two.

Right now we’re anchored outside enjoying a day or two before heading back into the marina for our followup covid tests on Saturday and probably another Beauty visit.

A note about the Bahamas and Covid. They have a good system that is extremely responsive. When I first read about the process I was skeptical because, well… it’s the Bahamas. Attitudes are usually lackadaisical and follow up can be non-existent but they are taking this seriously. Before leaving we applied online for our health visas. Once we uploaded our negative covid test results we were approved for entry within an hour or so. Present a copy of your approved health visa on entry and you’re good to go until the five day follow up rapid test. Easy peasy.

There is a facebook page, “Bahamas, Land and Sea” that has up to date information about protocols and ever changing requirements. It seems that in the few instances where there has been a glitch in the system a phone call has been all that’s necessary for resolution.

Looking forward to a nice winter!

That’s right. We’re getting ready to head off to the Bahamas. Finally! We’re at the boatyard in Dania Beach finishing up a couple repairs that were started prior to Christmas, provisioning, scheduling our Covid tests and we should be out of here Monday. We had a nice two day run back up from Key West. Calm seas and pleasant winds.

Looking at an overnight cruise leaving here Monday afternoon, arriving at Chubb Key Tuesday morning bright and early. The Bahamas is requiring a negative COVID test five days prior to arrival so we have to get tested, obtain results and upload to Bahamas health visa website for approval before we depart and still arrive within five days of testing. So finding the weather window is the critical first step. Wish us luck!

January 1, 2021

As I sit here this morning, we are anchored out just north of Key West proper. It’s a balmy 76 degrees with a steady 20 knot wind. That’s right. It’s pretty but pretty windy. This is why we are anchored here instead of further up the keys. It will be like this for a few days so we’ll stay until Sunday and then make a two day run back to Ft Lauderdale.

Christmas was nice. Key West is always decorated and the restaurants are open so we enjoyed ourselves.

It seems last night our boat had too much to drink as we wandered all over the anchor and ended up in places we haven’t seen the past few days. This has happened before but usually the first night and not after being at anchor for four days. 

We’ve been using this down time to do little projects on the boat and give it a good clean. I’ve gotten my fishing gear all sorted for the crossing into the Bahamas and managed to catch a little white grunt yesterday. Not big but enough for a fish taco or two!

 

This is an interesting anchorage and we see a lot of action during the day. Tour boats going out of Key West, what we call “covid cruises”, jet ski groups several times a day, and even a kite surfer took off and ended up back at the sail cat next to us.