Spanish Wells & Hatchet Bay

Wednesday Dirk and I decided to get off the boat and poke around town a bit and check out the Food Fair grocery store. I have heard different accounts from different folks on their ideas of the best provisioning places. My advice is if you need something get it, even if it is 20 cents more but don’t over buy anywhere except for when you leave the states stocking up on items you may really like that might be hard to find. Face it, the Bahamas are expensive so be prepared to pay about double for what you buy and be happy when you find a deal. The Food Fair Grocery was fairly large with a good selection of pretty much everything you could want so we stocked up on a few items and headed back to the boat stopping only to pick up a few coconuts we saw to replenish our stock. We hopped in the dinghy and on the way back we saw a few folks hanging around a dock throwing greens in the water. We putt over and see a manatee. Hummmm, I didn’t know there were manatees in the Bahamas…..Of course I didn’t have my camera so we went back to the boat, picked it up and headed back. The other folks had gone but the manatee was still there and very inquisitive about us coming right up to the dinghy. Soon a gentleman drives up, gets out and we find out he is from some sort of marine & wildlife organization. He informed us that the manatee was actually a female and due to give birth any day now. Her name was Rita and she somehow managed to get from Florida to Eleuthera. I believe he said it was the 3rd such one that has done that, and she is actually tagged for Florida. They have no clue how or why they do it but somehow they do. The last one they had was in Bimini and they transferred it back as it was beginning to stave as I guess the food supply is a bit different here. The government has had the marine specialist from Atlantis resort come over and they say that after 3 months of her being here she is doing well. Here she is being curious with Dirk as he is taking her picture

Part of the reason being of course is the folks from Spanish Wells have spoiled her. She hangs around one dock and gets handouts on a daily basis and even the large ships going in and out of there know to look for her and it was told she held up the channel traffic for almost an hour one day. The gentleman was full of information and it was great to be so close to and photograph her. The afternoon was spent spear fishing with another couple moored next to us. Dirk did manage to spear a good size gray snapper and the last thing he saw was the fish heading for deeper water with his spear shaft. The other guy had speared one also that got away but 15 minutes into the hunt with another shaft he sees it swimming by and spears it again. Well at least he found his, and Dirk spent 30 minutes looking but never could find his. Oh well, what can you do? We decided to hit a little beach on the way back. The waves didn’t appear to be very large coming in but as I stood up to take a step out of the dinghy to pull it to shore a wave hit us and just about capsized the dinghy. I remember flying face first into the water and looking back I saw Dirk doing the same. We quickly pulled the dinghy to shore and realized it was half full of water and everything was floating in it including the canvas bag that had my non-waterproof camera inside. It only took a matter of minutes for me to realize it was a hopeless case. I was so disappointed all I wanted to do was get back to the boat as everything was drenched and full of sand. My fun meter was pegged for the day. Our neighbor told us that she heard if you take it and put it into a bag of raw rice that might help, heck at this point it wouldn’t hurt. Well it’s been in there for a day and a half and it is still not working. At least we still have Dirks camera but his is the nice one that I hate to take to shore. I’m gonna miss that camera and have stated the next one will be waterproof. Friday morning one last trash run and internet run was made along with a trip to the fish market to buy a new spear shaft for Dirk. Note to self…Next season bring more than one. About 10ish we headed out making tracks for Current Cut making sure we hit it with the incoming tide as it is a narrow cut that runs like a river through it. At just about idle speed we were making about 7 knots. As soon as you make it through you have to hang a tight right so as not to get washed up onto a grassy bar so things were a bit un nerving for me momentarily but we made it through with no problem. From there we headed to Glass window where we spent the evening anchored off a nice beach being the only boat. Sun downers and a beautiful sunset concluded the day. The following morning we prepped the boat for a short sail down to Hatchet Bay in Alice Town. Dirk pulled up the sails, raised the anchor, and off we went without starting the engine. Great start to a beautiful day until the wind shifted and we were heading straight into 20 knot winds so the engine was started and we motored the last 30 minutes or so into the very narrow opening of Hatchet Bay. Once we were inside we headed to the west end looking for a mooring ball as the bottom is grassy and holding can be iffy. Besides all the mooring balls are put here by the government and offered for free to boaters. Free is good…..As we are heading in we see a boat that looks very familiar and sure enough we spot Bill & JoAnn from s/v Ultra. Last time we saw them was when they were traveling through Panama City Florida from Texas close to a year ago. Wow, small world….Sun downers were planned at their boat for the evening and they invited most of the harbor so we met several new folks and got some nice information as we are headed in opposite directions. Sunday was a lazy day for us, It was beautiful and we should have been off the boat poking around doing something rather than lounging about reading all day but that’s what we elected to do. I stepped outside at one point and saw our friends from s/v Sovereign Swan just coming into the cut. When we had left Marsh Harbor we had to leave them behind as they were having battery issues and would have to wait on new ones from the states. They were suppose to catch up with us later but after several days of the batteries being delayed in customs we figured there would be no way they would. They pushed hard and made up several days so we will press on together. Once we turn back for the states they will head further south for Hurricane season. Several of the boaters were talking about getting together and heading into town for the evening to go to a little place called Da Spott, a little outside bar for dinner and some rake & scrape music later in the evening so we figured we would join them. It was just a little hole in the wall place that was very welcoming. There wasn’t a great selection of food but what we had was wonderful thrown right on the barbeque pit outside. We sat around watching a basketball game on the TV over the bar and had a few drinks catching up waiting on the band to arrive. One of the band members arrived and it was determined that the other one was too intoxicated to come. Oh well, this is the islands, so much for the band we still had the house music and the basketball game. Today we sit out a front and as I look at the cut I can see it is rough out there. We are in the safest Harbor in Eleuthera and it feels nice. Tomorrow it should be nice so we will head down to Governors Harbour.

Finally Made it to Eleuthera

Well we did it. We finally broke the chains that held us in the Abaco’s. Don’t get me wrong now, the Abaco’s are great but when we were trying to leave for so long only to be forced to stay and wait and wait, and wait for weather to do anything it was getting taxing. I have said this before and saying it again, the weather Gods have not been too forgiving this year for any place. The folks here have all noted that this is the weirdest weather they have seen.
On Saturday the 17th we pulled out again from Marsh Harbor along with FinniRish heading for Lynyard Cay to stage for the passage to Eleuthera. We left our friends Dawn & Harvey on s/v Sovereign Swan there waiting on batteries to come on a slow boat from the states. Hopefully they will catch up with us at a later date. When we arrived in Lynyard Cay there were so many boats there anchored waiting to go North & South, our plan was to leave the following morning but after listening to several reports we decided to wait a day. Of course the next day were kicking ourselves as it wasn’t as bad as predicted and we could have made it. Oh well what can you do…. So Dirk and I went beach combing and added several new nice pieces of sea glass and shells to my collection. Once it got to the point of what I call beach combers cramp, basically when you can’t walk bent over another step we decided to call it quits and do some conching. Dirk hopped in the water with a line hanging off the back of the dinghy and I drive pulling him slowly around as he can cover a lot more ground this way. It almost feels as if I’m trolling for something large using Dirk as bait. Within 30 minutes or so we had 5 good size conchs and decided that was plenty. Dirk is getting to the point where all he eats these days is conch. He loves making conch salad, fritters, and trying new ways and things to batter it in and eat it. Guess the more of that he eats the less I have to cook as he cleans and cooks the conch himself.

Bowl of Conch without shell waiting to be cleaned, not too bad for an hours work

Monday was spent reading, sleeping and eating as we had horrible rain and wind all day. This was yet another cold front that was passing us.

This is what most of our day looked like from the cockpit

After watching and listening to the weather all evening we discussed it and made the decision that the following day would be a good day to give it a shot. The worst that would happen would we would get out the cut and have waves too big and turn to come back and wait another day. The alarm went off nice and early at 6am as I pulled myself out of bed to put the much needed pot of coffee on. We turned on the VHF and heard the other boats chattering about leaving also so we knew we wouldn’t be alone. We listened to Chris Parker on the single side band and felt this was a good day so at 6:45 we were firing up ole Max our trusty Westerbeke and pulling anchor heading south. The sunrise that greeted the morning for us

We made it out the pass between Lynyard Cay and Little Harbor with no problem, there were some good size swells but the time in between was good so we felt it would be a good ride for us. Not so much for poor Butters which we are getting very good at predicting the days he hurls. He must hate us by now….The trip was 63 miles and only took us 10.5 hours, wow; try doing that in your car down the highway. LOL The winds were light and variable as predicted. One minute they would be 40 degrees off our port and then 3 seconds later right from the rear so trying to adjust sails kept Dirk busy and frustrated. But what else is there to do to pass time but fish, eat, and lounge around. Now try doing that in your car going down the highway……speaking of fishing, Dirk has been waiting for this crossing to do some fishing in hopes of catching a Mahi or Tuna. As we were coming out of the pass the first thing he does is throw out his line and no sooner does it hit the water, he says fish on…As he reeled it in we saw it was a barracuda about 40 inches long with lots of sharp pointy teeth. Dangit…..Back in the water he goes and we didn’t get another strike until about 6 hours into the trip. Dirk was setting the hook when the fish leaped out of the water and leaped right off the hook, double dangit. As we pulled into Eleuthera we were complaining about no fish biting, well one line he brought in had the hook bent open so something had to have gotten that and the other line was pulled in and it had been bitten clean through, just wondering how long we towed that empty line through the water. One day….Were gonna get a big one, one day…..just not today. So we are on a mooring ball here in Spanish Wells and it is a very tight mooring field. Only 8 balls here at 15 bucks a day and it’s just a short hop to the city wall where you can tie up your dinghy and get into town.

Looking out towards the Atlantic

A typical street here in Spanish Wells

At low tide it looks impossible to leave or enter here as they left just enough room to swing without hitting bottom. But as usual, when we make a long crossing we like to spend the first day in a marina or a mooring so that we can get a good night’s sleep without worrying about the anchor in an unkown area. On Thursday we will probably head out of here and head somewhere else around here. Not quite sure yet, maybe anchor out around Royal Island, perhaps do some snorkeling and beach combing for a couple days before we start heading south. Tomorrow will also be the day that our buddy boat FinniRish will be departing as they are heading to the Exuma’s tomorrow. We have been together since we left Marathon in January and hope to run into them one day down the road. As for us, we will continue looking for adventures and hope that Mother Nature will give us several good weeks to enjoy the time we have left here in the Bahamas before beginning our journey back to the states. Will keep you all updated as internet will allow.

Will we ever break away from the Abacos?

Last place I left you all was in Little Harbor awaiting a weather window to scoot on down to Eleuthera Island. We were moored there for 3 days when we decided to take our bikes off the boat and see if we couldn’t run into Cherokee Sound which is 5 miles away to pick up a couple things we were running low on. One of our buddy boats decided to do the same but decided they would walk it. Two miles of the road is dirt & gravel, & rock and also not very well maintained. I thought for sure I would wreck my bike when my tire would slide down in a pit or hit a large rock as some of the hills were very steep. At best I figured I would end up carrying my lungs back as I am not at all in the kind of shape it takes to pedal a bike up some of this terrain. I was never so happy to see the paved road begin, but once we were on it, it seemed to go on forever. 45 minutes later we arrived in Cherokee Sound, a very nice quaint town that was so nice and clean. It would go on my list of prettiest and cleanest towns along with Hope Town. You can see some of the folks take so much pride in their homes as it shows by the details they put into them. Here is one of the main roads, yes road in Cherokee Sound

Here is Cherokee Sound at Low Tide, Boy is it shallow in there.

We hit the one grocery store in town and as always had a good chuckle looking at some of the prices of food. Our total was $63.45 but I had only brought 60.00 with me so something would have to be put back as they don’t accept debit cards. Oh well, bye bye pretzels, some other day….We couldn’t bear to part with our $6.85 bag of Oreos though. They were going home with us no matter, sometimes you just have to splurge. It took Dawn & Harvey 2 hours to make the walk there and lucky for them but they were offered a ride back which they gladly accepted. The next day was day number 4 of waiting out the weather and unfortunate for us but it wasn’t getting any better for at least a week. The decision was made that the following morning we would leave Little Harbor and head back to Marsh Harbor as our water and fresh food supplies would be next to nothing when we did decide to make the jump. Besides that our refrigerator decided that it wasn’t going to cool anymore. Geeeeze what now…..I guess this would be as good a time as any for it to go out as we are close enough to Marsh Harbor to get what we needed. Turned out we had a fitting shake its self loose and let the Freon escape. Easy fix for once…..at least we hope it’s fixed. So once again here we sit and wait until Mother Nature gives us the go to head south. Today the Bahamians put on an agriculture type fair. There were food booths set up selling all the wonderful Bahamian foods, booths set up with ladies selling their straw handbags & hats, some selling sea glass jewelry and jewelry made with all the oceans bounty such as sea shells, conch feet, or toenails, and Chitons which I understand they also eat. We saw an interesting demonstration on safely cleaning and eating Lion Fish. Lion Fish are gorgeous fish that unfortunately have somehow made their way into Bahamian waters and are beginning to do damage as their numbers are increasing very quickly and they feed on the same fish, lobster, and crabs we do so it’s only a matter of time before it begins to harm the fishing industry. They are trying to educate people on proper methods of handling, and cleaning them as they are a fish with toxic barbs that can really put a hurting on someone. They also gave out free samples of the cooked fish and it was very good. To me it tasted like bass. Very clean tasting with a nice texture. Hummmm looks like Lion fish may be on future menus. It looks as though tomorrow the 17th that we can make the 4 hour trip back down to Lynyard Cay to stage and hopefully take off Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday. Our first destination will be Royal Island or Spanish Wells if we have enough daylight. Hoping to update once we get there to let you know where from there.

Heading South

Wednesday the 31st we pulled anchor, headed to the marina to fill the fuel cans and fill up the water tanks. This would be the first time we had to pay for water to fill them if you don’t count the “no option” water charge at the marinas for $4.00 a day. Twenty cents a gallon wasn’t bad and it had been some time since we last filled the tanks. We took off about 11am and waved Marsh Harbor goodbye. It served its purpose but we are getting bored and ready to go. s/v Sovereign Swan, FinniRish, and Tybee Time all took off finally making tracks for islands south. The weather is calling for calm winds and beautiful skies for the next 5 days so we wanted to take advantage of it. Our first stop was anchoring in front of Tahiti Beach on Elbow Cay. We dropped anchor in about 8 feet of clear water and took the dinghy to shore where there was a pretty beach and many coconut palms lining the scenery. It was the last day of lobster season so Dirk & Harvey took off around the cut to see if they could get lucky. Ellie, Jim, Dawn, and I decided to hit the beach and do some relaxing and beach combing. I was happy as I was finding sea glass from the start, besides I can be perfectly content beach combing all day. Later, Dawn & I walked into the palms to see what coconuts we could dig up. I of course forgot my shoes so I spent most of the time digging sand spurs out of my feet while Dawn was able to go a lot deeper and find some nice ones. The men came back empty handed but with tales of trying to tag team a grouper, the grouper won. Dawn decided to have Dirk try and climb a coconut tree and grab some green ones for sun downers in the evening.

This is Tahiti Beach where there were so many coconut Palms

We all met at FinniRish and the men began hacking away at the green coconuts finally cleaning enough for us to have our sun downers. What a nice evening it was and it was the first time I had the coconut milk right in the shell with rum. Ummmmmm .

Just pour a bit of coconut milk out and replace with rum, insert straw and enjoy

Sunset at Tahiti Beach

The next day we headed to Snake Cay which is an old abandoned lumber operation. We anchored just south of the mouth and dinghied into the opening where about 15 to 20 spotted eagle rays hang out. The entrance has a fairly deep spot where the currents work in and out and I guess the eagle rays like that. Everywhere you look you can see remains of the old operation as you can see parts of machinery and vehicles along with many old tires littering the bottom. We anchored the dinghies and all jumped into the water hoping to have a close encounter. I saw a rather large ray and dove down to swim alongside him. It was absolutely wonderful and it’s so easy to forget that one must come up for air when you are alongside them. Totally amazing when you see how large and graceful they are really never paying too much mind to us. Dirk managed to capture the entire group on video. After testing our lung capacity for a while I played around a bit in the shallower water and found several fish and a green moray eel hanging around. Soon we climbed back into the dinghy and made our way about the maze of little isles that littered the scenery looking for rays and other assorted sea life littering the sea bed.

Here's a pretty star fish "sea cushion" brought out for photo opps.then released

As we approached the end the guys happened upon another deep hole which unfortunate for them but three conchs had fallen into. Two were legal so Dirk decided they would be a good addition to sun downers in the evening. When we got back to the boat we decided to pull anchor and head to Tilloo Cay and anchor for the evening. While we were at Snake Cay we spotted Hobbs & Heidi from Big Toot. We had spent some time with them in Marsh Harbor and we asked if they wanted to join us, so now we were a pack of four traveling together. That evening sun downers were at Big Toot , introductions were made, and assorted snacks were happily consumed along with the fresh conch caught only hours earlier. Can't get any fresher then this

The plan for the next day was to head to Sandy Cay to do some snorkeling and diving but we found when we arrived the next day that the anchorage was not the greatest as it was hard to set an anchor. S/v Sovereign Swan was not happy about the anchor set so they said they would meet us at the Lynyard Cay which was our next anchorage. We set anchor and decided that the seas were too rough to attempt the dive so we all picked up anchor and headed to Lynyard Cay which we would end up staying for a couple days due to seas being too rough to make it to Cherokee point. Easter Sunday found us up early with calls to the family wishing them a Happy Easter and heading into Little Harbor and Pete’s Pub where we had lunch and several Pete’s Pub Blasters.

Pete's Pub, is a great quaint outdoor pub

There’s a reason they call them blasters…..We were joined by Stu and Chuck from s/v Long Gone who we had met in Marsh Harbor along with a couple of their friends. A great day was had by all and a nice day on the beach collecting sea glass and shells made it that much better. Here is Dirk adding our Tybee Time to the wall

Tuesday the 6th we decided the anchorage was getting a bit rolly and the winds were due to clock around which would mean we would be exposed to more waves. Two nights of restless sleep and our decision was made to make way for Little Harbor which was a 30 minute trip from the anchorage. We had to wait until high tide as there isn’t much water getting in there and Dawn & Harvey draw a bit more than we do so they followed us in with us calling out depth every few feet so they wouldn’t ground. We grabbed a mooring ball and they anchored in one of the few spots to do so. Big Toot had come in the day before and FinniRish decided that if we had to wait on weather they would do it from Marsh Harbor so they could at least re provision and take care of some business. We should be here a few days so they will rejoin us before its time to head south. Little Harbor is a great little place, little being the best description. There is a small harbor surrounded by a high cliff on one side which opens to a small cove with a beach on the other side. Pete’s Pub is an open air bar that serves lunch at a pretty reasonable price. Large angus cheeseburger with a side of rice & corn and coleslaw for $14.00, and I might add, it’s very tasty. Of course one must wash it down with their signature drink called a Blaster. Moorings are 15.00 daily and the 4th day is free when you pay for 3. Garbage is 5.00 per bag to dispose and there are no facilities. But what a great place to hang out…..There are no grocery stores or businesses so stock up on food, water, and anything else you might need before you get here. Here is where we are moored in Little Harbor

Today Dirk was itching to do some conching as he keeps seeing the locals come in with lots but can’t find any himself. He ended up going over to the bar and asking if there was a local that could help him out. Charlie was pointed out and agreed to give Dirk some pointers and show him some good spots to go. Not an hour later they returned with their limit and a beaming Dirk. He was happy as he always is when he gets to do his hunting and gathering business. Charlie also sat there and helped Dirk clean them up giving him pointers along the way. Looks like conch fritters might be on the menu tonight. We finally decided that if we were to be here for several days we would bite the bullet and buy Internet for the week so we could check in with folks back home, update the blog and have access to some weather sites. One never realizes just how much we rely on these darn computers to make our lives easier, but just like TV we are learning to live without it. Our plan is as soon as we get a decent weather window is to head south to Eleuthera. You may hear from us before then depending on how long we will be here.

Back in Marsh Harbor

When I last left you readers we had grabbed a mooring ball in Black sound to wait out some weather. I had mentioned how picking up the mooring was a challenge and one of the reasons being is that there was no pendent on the top so you had to snag the whole ball to place your lines through the chain. Well once I got the ball snagged with the hook, I pull it up and there must be 5 different lines tangled in among the chain. None of which we would have trusted to hold us securely in place. Also with the heavy mess of lines attached, it made it impossible for me to run the line in without two hands and I had to keep a death grip on the line due to current and wind dragging us backwards. Here is the ball and you can see the octopus of lines hanging down and onto the bottom. The two lines you see out of the water are our two lines attached.

So I had the ball, Dirk would run up and try passing the line through and by the time he fought with it we had drifted too far for me to hold on any longer. I held on pretty good too and have the bruises to prove it. So we finally did enough go a rounds, that the last time I had the ball Dirk kept the boat in forward gear, ran up and managed to get one line through and tied off to the cleat. I got back on the helm and took it out of gear and returned to help Dirk get the other on. Whew, that was done……Fun, fun…..The next couple days were a wash out due to the winds and rain. At least the boat got a good wash down. On the 3rd day we decided to take the dinghy around the bottom of Green Turtle and go out to Pelican Cay which is a tiny island with a single house on it. The cruising guide shows mooring balls but trust me, no mooring balls were to be seen. We did get lucky and spot the old mooring line while we were looking for a sand spot to throw the anchor out. Dirk dove down and tied our dinghy underwater to that line. There is a large reef and rock system with lots of beautiful sea life. We snorkeled a while spotting a nurse shark asleep tucked in the coral and right by him was a huge sea turtle nestled in some rocks catching a nap also. Hummm , must be that time of day. Dirk of course was in hunting mode as there are only so many lobster days left so he had spear in hand and was at the ready. We spotted a hole and Dirk asked me to take a look and see if I was seeing the lobster he was seeing. Indeed I did so he went down again and when he returned he had the lobster on the end of the spear. It was a Spanish lobster and if you have never seen one, well all I can say is ugly.

But…hummmm looks like dinner to me. I started getting chilled so I crawled back into the dinghy, peeled off my wetsuit and let the sun warm me up again. Before I knew it Dirk was swimming towards me and tossed a really good sized lobster into the boat and before I could really say anything he was gone again. He was in the zone…..One more lobster found its way to the boat and he topped it off by spearing his first fish which was a tasty Amberjack. After that it was time to get out of the water and head back to the boat where fresh lobster and fish were prepared, eaten and then it was early to bed as we were whipped.

The next morning we decided to lose the mooring ball and anchor outside of Black Sound where we met Dawn & Harvey on S/V Sovereign Swan. We ended up taking them with us the next day back to snorkel and hunt as Harvey wanted to bag a lobster before the end of season. We went to the front side of No Name Cay which is right next to Pelican Cay and hopped into the water. We didn’t see as much wildlife but we did see some of the biggest and prettiest Elkhorn coral we had ever seen. Harvey bagged a lobster and we zipped back to the spot where we had had better luck the day before. Nothing was bagged but a nice spotted eagle ray was seen.

The spot in front of Pelican Cay where there is nice snorkeling and lots of sealife

The next morning we decided it was time to head back to Marsh Harbor as the fridge needed restocking and the laundry was piling up. Saturday we finally made it to the grocery store where once again the cruising kitty was hit pretty hard. I always liked reading what people paid for things in the Bahamas so I will add a couple if anyone is interested.
1 Vadalia onion $1.77
Fresh Step Cat Litter Scoop 40lb tub $27.49
Nabisco Saltine Crackers box $4.19
Green Giant Cream corn $2.45 per can
½ gallon 2% milk $3.30
Liquid coffee mate 32 fl oz. size $6.79
16 oz package of sliced ham lunchmeat $6.19
Campbell’s cream of chicken soup $1.50 per can
Now as you can see it’s not all bad, but then again some of the items triple shock you like the kitty litter. I guess it’s all relative. Heck I think it might be cheaper for us to cruise as we seem to spend less. When you think about it there are no monthly dock fees, no cell phone, internet, or cable bills. Hummmm, something to think about, but we are keeping a log of all our expenses and will have a good handle on how much it actually cost us to cruise once we get done with the season. To me laundry is the scary number as we spent 22.00 for it today. One of the double loaders was 6.00 and one that held a bit more was 8.00. Dry was 25 cents for 2 minutes. Although when we were at the marina it was 4.00 for wash and 4.00 for dry so I think I did a bit better in town at the Laundromat. Looking forward to getting out of here and heading south which we are suppose to do tomorrow, weather permitting. Yesterday the weather was very windy and the harbor has gotten full of boats looking to wait it out here. The buzz on the radio is that there had been two tornados, one in Luciya and one in Freeport. It doesn’t sound good as we hear there has been loss of life and damage to boats. We didn’t hear the net this morning so we can’t confirm anything. We did hear a call on the radio around seven saying there was a boat on the loose and it had hit another boat but was still heading to the back side of the harbor. Dirk hopped in the dinghy and headed to see if he could lend a hand as we knew the people on the run away boat. When he arrived the owner of the boat that had been hit had managed to get on board as the couple was gone and managed to find another anchor that he threw out. Shortly after the owners arrived and managed to get anchored securely once again. We hear this morning that there was only minimal damage to either boat so that was nice to hear. In winds like we were having last night I can’t imagine leaving the boat unattended. Internet has been sporadic so I don’t know when I will get to make another post once we leave here. Our next stop is going to be down by Lubbers Quarters so we can do some snorkeling and visit Tahiti Beach as I hear it is beautiful, but then again, I find that so many areas here are beautiful. I will update as soon as I can.

A bit of Island Hopping

I think the last place I left you followers were in Marsh Harbor where we had Dirk’s mom onboard for a visit. Well her vacation has ended and after many goodbyes to all the new friends she met while here we took her to the airport on the 13th. With a few delays her plane finally made it in about an hour late and in just enough time for her to make her connecting flight to London from Nassau. We had a wonderful time while she was here and we hope she returned home with some very fond memories. We just wish Mother Nature had showed us some better weather, but what can you do. Here is Anke with Judith and Erik from Bravo on the left & Ellie and Jim from FinniRish on the Right.


With all this bad weather we have been going a bit stir crazy wanting to get off the boat and do some snorkeling, diving, exploring, or just relaxing in a nice anchorage, so we decided to head out to Treasure Cay on the 16th. While parked in the Marina for so long we met Erik & Judy a Canadian couple on their boat Bravo, so Bravo, FinniRish and we all headed out together. If you recall when we first made our initial crossing to the Bahamas our Buddy Boat FinniRish had engine problems and had to be towed in. Well they thought all was well but on the way to Treasure their engine quit again. The fuel filter was changed and we continued on. Soon after they called back on the radio saying they were getting a bit of water in and shut it down to have a look. Turns out it was just a faulty hose clamp so once it was changed we were once again pointed in the right direction. We made it into Treasure Cay, threw out the anchor and we all headed to FinniRish for sun downers. The next day was supposed to be nice so Dirk and I wanted to head to Green Turtle which meant crossing the whale once again. The only problem we had was a majorly sick kitty on our hands. Once the 3 p’s , ( puke, pee, & poo) were distributed randomly about the floor and cockpit I think Butters finally threw in the white towel and surrendered. Either that or he was finally empty…..Ellie & Jim on FinniRish decided to stay behind as they didn’t want to take any chances of engine failure in the whale and Bravo decided to stay behind with them. We however had the urge to get moving and see some of the areas that had to be missed on the way to Marsh Harbor due to our tight schedule. The entrance into White Sound is very narrow and I would hate to meet a large boat in it. We elected to get a mooring ball and hunted about looking for one that wasn’t being blocked by some inconsiderate boater that has anchored. Come on now….If you see a mooring ball, why on earth would you throw your anchor line out 20 feet from it? Guess some people have no clue. We found a mooring and got tied up and settled in as it was suppose to start blowing steady in the night which of course it was right on schedule. The next day we threw the bikes into the dinghy and hauled them to the dinghy dock as we wanted to take a ride into New Plymouth for a look around. We have had several people tell us that we needed to see New Plymouth due to the charm of the town. Not to knock the town, it was indeed charming and sweet with its roads just wide enough for a golf cart to get down but most of the pastel colored homes were in disrepair and at the least needed someone to pull a few weeds. My favorite still has to be Hope Town because of how clean and up kept everything seemed to be. We did hit a few areas on the beach on the ride back to White Sound and ended up having lunch at the Green Turtle Club. I thought I was getting off cheap for lunch having a wonderful BLT on Bahamian bread with a side order of coleslaw that made you feel you got your money’s worth until we decided to split a dessert. $7.95 for BLT and coleslaw, $7.95 for a slice of chocolate mousse. Shouldn’t complain though I guess, we splurged but somehow I feel that the mileage I put on my bike today was for nothing. There’s always tomorrow to work it off. Here is a bit of beach we explored on the way back to White Sound

On Saturday we decided it was time to shake that mooring ball off and set off for some new scenery so we headed out to Manjack Cay and anchored in the bay between Manjack and Crab Cay. There were several other boats there but it seemed like a nice place to be so after setting the anchor we took off in the dinghy to explore. We headed to the Atlantic side where there was a nice beach for me to do some beachcombing and plenty of rock formations for Dirk to hunt around. We ended up staying for a while and when Dirk returned empty handed to shore he was enthused that he had seen so much beautiful sea life even though he missed snagging dinner. We made our way back slowly through the little harbor behind Crab Cay as the tide was now settling on the low side. At one point we both had to exit the dinghy and drag it behind us. Once we hit deeper water again I hopped back in and Dirk tied himself off so he could slowly swim back to the boat with me in tow while he checked out the sea life on the bottom. The only thing that was abundant was sea urchins and sea biscuits and it was unreal to see how many dead ones were in one area, sometimes there were up to ten. So I got Dirk to retrieve some sea biscuits and we headed back to the boat where Dirk did the task of cleaning the bottom.
Here is one of the sea biscuits Dirk retrieved for me. My hand in the pic to show the size.

Here is a Star fish, AKA Cushion Star. They are all over the place and yes we put it back in the water. I don't believe in killing something just to have a trophy.

It’s been a while since the bottom has been cleaned so it’s nice to have that done. He also tackled the bottom of the dinghy which has become green with algae. That evening the winds picked up as predicted and it was a very rolly evening with us up every so often checking the anchor alarm making sure we weren’t slipping back into that limestone rock wall that makes up so much of the Bahamas. The next morning we pulled anchor and headed back to Green Turtle opting to stay in Black Sound this time. The winds coming down were sometimes clocked at 23 knots right off the nose so it wasn’t bad but as we entered Black Sound it seemed they were funneling down the length which made picking up the mooring ball quiet the challenge but it got done none the less. We will be here for a couple days before we head back to Marsh Harbor where depending on winds and weather we will decided our next course of action.

Hope Town

On Sunday the 7th we decided to head over to Hope Town. The marina was bustling with cruisers packing up and heading out. About 6 to 7 boats left one after the other and we all headed for our next destination. FinniRish and us set our sights on Hope Town and as we left Marsh Harbor it was evident that we were not to see the calm water and mild winds that were expected. It didn’t bother us, but we knew Anke, Dirks mom would be a bit nervous as this was to be her first “rough” sail. She did very well but I don’t think she was having too nice of a day and she would be happy when we arrived at our destination. We had to time our arrival into Hope Town with high tide and got into the tiny entrance with no problems. We made our way through the very tight mooring field, found the mooring ball we had reserved and got tied up and shut things down. This was the first time we had a chance to look around and see just how pretty this harbor was. The pastel colored homes sitting on the water front with the red & white striped lighthouse standing tall. It was Ellies birthday from FinniRish and we headed over to a waterfront restaurant to have dinner and celebrate. Dinner was incredible and we topped it off with a nice desert and conversation. The following day was Dirks Birthday so we woke up in the celebratory mood. Anke had snuck out of her bed in the morning and put some cards and gifts out for him so it was like Christmas. It was a beautiful day so we decided to head over to the lighthouse for a climb to the top.

Once at the top the view was absolutely beautiful with the turquoise colored water surrounding the Island. You realize just how small the area is which makes it that much more charming. This is the view to the right into Hope Town Harbor. Tybee Time is sitting just out of view to the right.

This is looking to the left showing the entrance to the harbor

Once we were back on the ground we all decided to head back to our boats to actually put on a bathing on and check out the beach. We found our way to the public dinghy dock and set out on our way admiring the beautiful homes and flowers along the way. By far the prettiest island yet. As we entered the beach we were met by hues of blues and turquoise that can only be described as breathtaking with the waves crashing along the shoreline.

Here Dirk & I pose with the tourquoise water behind us

I of course set out on my sea glass hunt as was Dirk and he was finding them left and right. I was having more trouble, but then where he was finding them was further into the surf then I wanted to immerse myself. We wandered down the beach a ways then circled back to make our way back through town stopping at a mom & Pops place to grab a cheeseburger and fries before heading to the local grocery where I got to compare prices. That’s always fun, and I got to see what a $7.00 loaf of bread looks like, I opted for the freshly made Bahamian $3.50 loaf.

Check out these bankers hours.

On the way back to the dinghy Dirk spotted a fisherman cleaning his catch and walked over to see what he had only to return with one and a half pounds of freshly caught and cleaned yellow fin tuna. Ah, something else we can throw into the mix of Dirks Birthday dinner tonight. It was going to be steak and lobster but tuna sounds better now. Ellie & Jim joined us at the boat and we celebrated Dirks birthday with a decent rendition of Happy Birthday and a coconut rum cake I had baked for him. Afterwards Dirk decided he wanted to take the dinghy out to an area he had heard about that had conch. Off he went and when he returned he did indeed have a conch.
He spotted about 11 of them but only one of legal size so he set about cleaning the critter. Very daunting task if you ask me, but he got a book out with step by step instructions and set to work. After whacking away at the shell with a small hammer he came back in the boat to retrieve another. Conch 1, Hammer 0. Mega hammer was retrieved and Dirk evened up the score with the conch losing in the end. The conch got stowed in the fridge, the lobsters were boiled and the tuna steaks were lightly seared in sesame oil all served with melted butter and a sweet soy sauce on the side. Topped off with a nice glass of wine it was a perfect dinner to end a perfect day. The following day we were due to head back to Marsh Harbor as yet another front was moving through and we needed to be back there on Saturday for Anke to fly out. We couldn’t leave Hope Town until about 1 when we had high tide and even then on the way out we were greeted by a rather large sailboat churning up sand trying to find some water under his keel. As we cleared the channel the water was so clear that Anke & I placed ourselves up front looking in the water for starfish and hoping to catch even a glimpse of a dolphin. We have only seen one since we have been here and that was in Marsh Harbor Marina under our boat. I finally settled back and lazed about on the bow of the boat trying to steal a few rays from father sun shine. Doesn’t seem like we have seen him too much lately. Once we got close to the entrance we made a pit stop and anchored the boat near Mermaid Reef. I say anchored but as Dirk found out there is a layer of sand with rock underneath so I use the anchoring term loosely. There really wasn’t any current and the winds were light so the weight of the anchor and the chain basically kept us in place and I would be staying on the boat in case I needed to do anything. Anke had never snorkeled so we put her in a wet suit and showed her how to use a mask and snorkel.

Here Anke is trying to figure how this snorkel should fit.

Dirk and her hopped into the dinghy and headed over to tie up to a mooring ball and to each other.
Anke was very nervous as she left the boat not knowing what to expect but returned with a huge grin and tales of beautiful fish. Afterwards we started up the engine and headed into the marina getting the same slip that unfortunately we are getting use to. We will be having bad storms running through our area soon so we decided to treat ourselves and hook up to cable for the 2.00 a day charge. . Wow, television……It’s been so long but I have to say I don’t miss hearing about all the depressing news that seems to bombard us every waking hour. It will be nice to catch up on some favorite shows or just veg for a bit. Dirk cooked up the conch that evening by chopping it into bite size pieces, whacking it a bit to tenderize it and fried it up after rolling the pieces in Louisiana fish fry and Cayenne pepper. I have to say this is the best way I have had it prepared to date. Once you get past the idea that your eating a large salt water snail it’s really good. Doesn’t look like we will be going anywhere till after Sunday due to bad weather rolling in from the states. We have actually run across a few cruisers that have given up this year and are going home early due to the weather we are having. Dirk and I say that you can’t kill our spirit so quickly although it is frustrating. So forgive the lack of post, but until we do more then congregate at the jib room for steak night and rib night I hate to bore you.