April 3, 2009.

After a couple of days in Black Point it was time to head out. You see, the laundry was done, coconut bread was purchased from Lorraine's Mom, some fresh veggies taken aboard and a bit of mingling had taken place.

We headed up to Sampson Cay. It was a very nice 10 mile sail and went quickly. We had never been here before and were treated to an absolutely beautiful but crowded anchorage. We wanted to stop here because topping off the diesel and gasoline tanks is very easy at the beautiful marina. After taking on 16 gallons of gasoline for the dink and 20 gallons of diesel for the big boat we should be set until we return to the states.


In the afternoon we decided to do a bit of walking around the island. I’m glad we did because Sampson Cay is a beautiful first class resort. There are private bungalows scattered about the island offering privacy and unbelievable views. To give you an idea about what I mean by first class, one of the fancier bungalows rents for eight
thousand dollars per week. Yeah, it was empty.

We saw a map which indicated a path of sorts that seemed to run the circumference of the island. We headed out to explore with our friends Bess, Nancy and Jim. The importance of proper footwear was not taken seriously enough by all the members of our little group.

At first the path was a 10 foot wide concrete walkway. After about a quarter of a mile the path gave way to a hard packed dirt trail. Still no problem for those silly enough to be barefoot. As we made our way along the trail made the transformation from dirt to pebbles, to stones to chunks of crushed limestone. All of a sudden the barefoot thing wasn’t lookin’ so good.

We passed random bungalows as we made our way along. Eventually we came to a picturesque beach complete with a waterfront gazebo. Bess, Christy and Nancy were happy to sit for a bit before we headed back.

A bit of history about some of the walkers. Nancy was a bigshot with the FAA and Bess was an office manager for one of the senators in Washington, DC. So they were both pretty busy women with a lot of responsibilities before they ran away to the sea. I had to laugh at the transition that’s taken place in their lives as they had a serious discussion of the correct technique for maintaining a proper rectangle while basket weaving.

After our brief break we were headed back. The path we had come in on was a known quantity. It was kinda rough on bare tootsies but really not uncomfortable, so we could go back the way we came. Or we could continue to complete the circuit on what would prove to be a trail composed mainly of very prickly “iron shore”.




In line with maintaining our tradition of doing the unexplainable for God knows why, we chose the iron shore. Iron shore resembles very rough stucco. Instead of being on the wall its on the ground with the points sticking straight up. I would liken it very much to trying to walk across a Hindu’s “bed of nails”. And of course there was more than a half mile of this ahead of us.

Let’s just say that the slower pace gave us some quality time to talk as we very slowly made our way back to the marina. God forbid someone laughed and lost their balance. It sounded like ha ha ha, ouch ouch ouch. Somewhere along the way the humidity went through the roof and the only thing that kept us going was the promise of a cold beverage at the resorts bar. We all arrived no worse for wear but I really don’t have any idea how.

After that it was back to the boat for dinner and some interneting. Friday we’ll head up into an area called Pipe Creek to hide from a pair of fronts that are supposed to roll through in the next couple of days. Its beautiful, its pristine and there could be some good fishin’.

April 2, 2009.

Okay, enough of the holiday induced tomfoolery.

Our trip back to the real world was to be something new for us. Usually most boats head down the Exumas to Georgetown. Then anyone who opts to continue on will wait for an opportunity to head east to Long Island where they once again wait for favorable conditions before heading southwest into the Jumentos. So coming back north involves just reversing this course.

We talked to a few boats that favor the back door route. This involves heading directly north from Flamingo Cay to the Black Point settlement which lies close to the center of the Exumas. This route allows you to skip the trip eastward to Long Island. It also allows you to skip the buffoonery of Georgetown as well while saving dozens of miles.

The charts show a route comprised of 8 to 9 feet of water with scattered coral heads for the first 33 miles. More experienced travelers told us that the water was much deeper and the coral heads were not an issue.

They were right. We left Flamingo at 0700 and were sailing along at between 5 and 7 knots for the first 4 hours. As the sun rose behind us the coral heads became readily apparent. We didn’t want to take any chances so we still dodged them as we moved along. Instead of the charted 9 feet of water we were rewarded with 20 feet for the bulk of the trip.

The wind slowly died as the day wore on but we were able to complete our trip running dead down wind, wing and wing before 8 knots of breeze.

Since the wind was dying we decided to break the 80 mile trip into 2 days. We stopped for the night in the lee of the tiny cay at Rocky Point. It was a peaceful spot that offered good protection from the evenings light winds.

The next day started at 0730 with a pleasant 16 miles of sailing before the wind completely died and we were forced to motor the last 20 miles to Black Point.

April 1, 2009.

You know what they say about making plans while traveling on a sailboat. Don’t.

We have been slowly heading north to make our inevitable crossing back to the states. But then we ran into our friends on Solitaire. All I can say is that I’m not really sure what happened but Nancy can be pretty persuasive. They’ve decided to head south to Cuba and then continue on southward and we’ve decided to tag along. It’s a chance of a lifetime; can you really turn down a chance of a lifetime? Adios mi amigos.

We’ve decided to join them and spend this years hurricane season hiding in Trinidad which is south of the hurricane belt. Since its already getting late in the season we would have to pretty much barrel southward after visiting Cuba. Then the following winter we could take our time and head north as far as the BVI’s and then turn around once again before heading back to Trinidad for the following autumn. This would enable us to take advantage of the prevailing easterlies both going north and then south.

Finally the year after that we could make our way back up the Windward Islands hitting what we missed and then through the Virgins, past Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic then finally back through the Bahamas to the states by June of 2011.

I know that Cuba is a big “no-no” for American citizens. We figure if we hit it on the way down and then spend two years nation hopping then tracing us back to Cuba would be pretty much impossible. Besides, by the time we get back I figure that Barrack will have normalized relations with the Cubans. We’ll just be ahead of the curve. I’ve always wanted to be a trend setter.

If you’ve been following us for a while then you realize that I really enjoy April Fools Day. We should be back in the states around the first of May.

March 28, 2009.

We left Buena Vista at 0700 and rode a brisk 20 knot breeze from the east southeast. We were headed pretty much due north so it was a great day of sailing.

The wind had been cranking for a couple of days out of the east so the swell has been in the 10 foot range. Top that with some wind driven chop and you’ve got a recipe for potential misery. Our 30 mile day was to include an unprotected 15 mile stretch. Fortunately, we were able to time it so that we had the wind and tide going in the same direction and actually had a pleasant but somewhat lumpy sail.

We had a double reef in the main and a partially furled headsail and still averaged 6.7 knots for the trip. Unfortunately, the anchorage at Flamingo was fairly rolly but we made due with what we had.

After lunch we hit the water and were able to take a grouper and another hogfish. Norm hit the jackpot by nailing a grouper that weighed in at 15 pounds. Nice fish.

March 26, 2009.

Today we moved the boat about 5 miles from Raccoon Cay to Buena Vista. The wind was down under 20 knots so we decided to make the move. We were planning to head to Flamingo Cay tomorrow once the sea state has had a chance to lay down a bit but that plan changed after spending the day here.

We spent the extra day at Buena Vista in the water, what else, looking for lobster. Norm took a lobster and a grouper while I took a lobster and a pair of hogfish, one of which was pretty big.

Since we’ve been here and have been having such good luck with our hunting I’ve decided to give something back to the environment. I’ve recently started the wholesale slaughter of Lionfish.

The Lionfish is an invasive species. Its not found naturally here in the Bahamas and has no enemies in this area. It eats the young of the normal reef dwellers that belong here; everything including lobsters and grouper. They’ve become so common that you see them pretty much everywhere; almost every reef has one or two.

They’re a very docile fish that just hovers in one spot. There basically brown and white and surrounded by a beautiful, protective, poisoness “plumage”. It has no enemies so it doesn’t flee from fish or man. They often hide in the holes that usually yield lobster so it’s not uncommon to put your face up to a hole and come face to face with a Lionfish. They have a very painful, venomous sting that could prove fatal.

On our way down through the Jumentos we ran into an Englishman that had been stung on the hand. His hand had swollen to twice its normal size and was ridiculously painful. It took several days for the pain to subside and there was still considerable swelling.

The Bahamians realize that there’s an issue but have no official plan on dealing with the problem. They do however encourage you to kill as many as you would like. So I’ve decided to do my share.

The technique is pretty basic with one notable exception. Before I shoot them I unscrew the barbed tip from my spear. The threaded rod at the end of the spear still makes great penetration and leaves a nice clean hole. This way, I can just withdraw the spear from the fish after the shot. They’re actually a pretty delicate fish and while using this technique might enable tougher fish to get away; the lionfish is pretty much devastated from the blow.

After the kill I just surface and give them a good fling, kinda like Lionfish Lacrosse. Barracuda are usually hanging around and even the most evil looking of them turn and head away when offered a newly killed Lionfish.

Speaking of Barracuda, I was shadowed by a huge one for a while today. He was every bit of 6 feet long and thicker than my thigh. He had a 3 foot piece of monofilament trailing from his mouth. I’m sure whoever caught him, took one look, said f**k the lure and cut him loose. I gave Christy the Barracuda signal and she chased and harassed him with the dinghy until he disappeared.

March 25, 2009.

It’s been a few days and my bout with vertigo is pretty much behind me. Something’s going on with my ears, but I’m not really sure what the deal is. It probably has something to do with me spending half of every day in the water. But I’m feeling fine and once again and am back in hunter/ gatherer mode.

We hunkered down behind Raccoon Cay as the winds blew 18 to 25 knots for 4 days. We spent the time hiding behind the cay hiking, reading or spearfishing with the crews from Blown Away and Wild Card.

Norm from Blown Away is the first person I’ve met that can spend as much time in the water as Christy and I can. We’ve both been very successful spearing lobster and fish. The big difference between us is that he uses a Hawaiian Sling, while I use a pole spear. With the pole spear I basically have to get within 4 feet of a fish in order to get complete penetration and a clean kill. The advantage for me is that the spear is 6 feet long and never leaves my hand so the victim is in my control right from the shot. I shoot em’, rip them from the water and flop them into the dinghy as quickly as possible so as not to allow the bleeding prey to draw sharks. Another advantage is that the pole spear is a one handed weapon allowing me to position myself with my other hand.

I have to admit though that the Hawaiian Sling is a pretty neat weapon. The shaft is made of stainless steel with a barbed end. To fire the spear you have to draw it back inside a wooden handle with a hole bored through it. Picture…..firing an arrow from a slingshot. It requires 2 hands but the big advantage is that the effective range is at least twice what the pole spear allows. There are a few disadvantages though. It seems to be a pretty regular occurrence that the spear blows completely through the fish. If it’s not a well placed shot it allows the wounded fish to flee and die without being recovered. Even when the blow cripples a fish it often spins and flops during its death throws spreading blood everywhere while you try to collect it. Then there’s the reality of having to chase down your spear in the event of a miss.

On the backside of Raccoon Cay there’s no real reef, just random scattered coral heads and patches spread over a couple of miles. So if you decide to anchor the dink, work the patch and then get back in the dink to move to the next patch it can be a giant pain in the ass. Sometimes it might only be 30 feet to the next coral head while other times it’s a hundred yards, which is way to far to be swimming with a bleeding fish.

To hunt more efficiently Norm, Christy and I set out in Norm’s dinghy. Christy stayed in the dink while Norm and I swam from coral head to coral head working separate patches. Whenever one of us speared something Christy would race over in the dink and retrieve the harvest. Norm and I were often 200 yards apart with Christy keeping an eye on both of us waiting for the signal.

With 2 people bloodying the water there are bound to be sharks around. After an hour Norm got chased out of the water by 2 aggressive reef sharks. Christy and he came over and collected me, but we decided that it was too early to go home. We went back to the area Norm had been working, as it had been productive. We decided to stay together, one hunting while the other kept watch.

When he dove to the bottom I stayed at the surface and scanned 360°. When he came up, I went to the bottom while he kept watch. Christy was slowly circling the coral head keeping an eye out for sharks as well. Hey look, the sharks are back.

Usually, if a shark comes meandering into view you can send him on his way by swimming aggressively directly at him. They usually are
pretty startled and dart away (It’s pretty funny that while in the water this seems like a logical course of action, but while sitting here writing it comes off as a pretty stupid thing to do). These two weren’t having any of that crap though. They knew something was bleeding and were determined to find it, so we ended up heading back to the boats as they just wouldn’t leave us alone.

March 22, 2009.

Duncan Town turned out to be well worth the effort. And there is a bit of effort. The easiest way to get into town is to anchor at Hog Cay and dinghy in to Duncan Town over on Ragged Island.

Ragged Island is surrounded by shallow water with a single navigable channel that will only allow small, shallow draft boats to enter. It’s been dredged right though a mangrove swamp with mounds of conch shells lining the channel. So the conventional wisdom is to anchor in the protection of Hog Cay and take the dinghy for the 3 ½ mile ride into town. About 2 miles of the trip is through unsheltered waters so you can only make the trip on a reasonably calm day.

Duncan Town is the only settlement in the entire Jumentos chain. There are fewer than 100 residents on the island and they seem pretty happy to see anyone who takes the time to get here.

The surrounding shallow waters are a bonefisherman’s paradise. As a result, an entrepreneur is in the process of building a bonefishing lodge. There are a few cottages and a well appointed central hall/ pub. Fishermen fly into the tiny airstrip and spend time fishing the flats with a local guide.
The attraction for us was that the pub had Wifi, a flat screen television complete with CNN and cheeseburgers. This is the first time that wifi or a cheeseburger has been available in the Jumentos.

The Ragged Island Lodge was beautiful, comfortable and served a great platter of cheeseburgers and fries for $4.50. Combine this with free wifi and $2.50 beers and what more could you ask for? We spent several hours having lunch and catching up on our email.

While we were there Far Niente decided that they wanted to get going early tomorrow morning for Long Island where a friend has a wonderful waterfront home. My Destiny is also headed for Long Island so they opted to head out with them. They left us to our interneting and went back to their boats to move a few miles north to get a better jump on the morning.

We’ve been traveling with them since we left the states, so it was hard to see them leave. Saying good bye to good friends is one of the toughest parts of cruising but we know it’s only a matter of time before we run into them again.

Another concern is gasoline. By the time you get this far down the Jumentos having enough gasoline for the dinghy is starting to be a issue. We were fortunate to be able to fill one of our gas cans in Duncan Town for $5 a gallon. There’s no gas station, but if one of the locals has enough that he can part with some, they are happy to help.

We stayed at Hog Island for a few nights before heading a few miles north to Double Breasted Cay. The anchorage at Double Breasted is best used only during settled weather. We decided that we could spend a single night before a period of big winds from the east was due to arrive.

We dropped the hook at noon Thursday and hit the water for a little spearfishing. Between some limited time in the water at Hog Cay and here at Double Breasted we were able to take 5 more lobster, 2 grouper and 2 hog fish.

On Friday morning the wind was already starting to pick up a bit. We had intended to spend the morning in the water and then move the 4 miles up to the better protection offered by Raccoon Cay in the afternoon. There was a problem though.








When I awoke on Friday morning I had vertigo. There was no way I could get in the water or do anything at all. I was dizzy as hell and could barely sit up, let alone stand. We had made plans to spearfish with the crews of 2 other boats so Christy called them on the VHF to tell them that they should go on without us.

It turned out that the couple on Blown Away are an EMT and an RN and had treatment advice at the ready. One of the crew of Wild Card had experience with vertigo and still had some meds onboard. So I was drugged and back asleep by 0900. I awoke around noon and already had some relief from the dizziness.

I was feeling a lot of pressure to move the boat because if we had to spend the night at anchor there it would undoubtedly be a miserable one. Earlier, the crews from the other boats planned how they were going to haul our anchor for us and see to it that we got to Raccoon safely. We had only met these people the day before and they’d already assured Christy that they wouldn’t leave us here, with me being disabled.

Since I was feeling a bit better after my nap we decided to get underway as soon as possible. Christy wanted to wait for the others to get back from spearfishing but I wanted to get going while I felt okay. The sun was high in the sky which would aid us in reading the water for our reef strewn jump to Raccoon Cay.

The trip went well and we dropped the hook and I was back to sleep in just over an hour. Wild Card and Blown Away joined us in the new anchorage shortly thereafter.

Since then I’ve spent a couple of days reading and pretty much just laying around, medicated. I’m once again feeling fine so I think we’ll be doing a little diving tomorrow, we’ll see what morning brings.

March 16, 2009.

After several days of hiking and hunting at Raccoon Cay it was time to move on. We had a 10 mile day to Hog Cay scheduled. The wind was supposed to be down in the 15 knot range and once again we were subjected to winds in the high twenties.

At 1000 hours Christy and I sailed off the anchor and headed out towards our first waypoint. We had about 4 miles of running downwind, then a mile and a bit of beam reaching before we were forced to turn pretty much dead into the wind for the last 5 miles of the day.

There are a lot of reefs, coral heads and shallows to deal with so tacking up wind to our destination was pretty much out of the question. With the wind whipping the surface of the water it was all but impossible to read the water depths, so we were relegated to following the suggested route on the charts.

We had never been south of Raccoon Cay before so this was to be our first visit to Hog Cay. A 4 mile dinghy ride from Hog to the south will bring us to Duncan Town, which is the only settlement (town) in the entire Ragged Islands. The population there is under a hundred people and this is the end of the trail as far as the Jumentos goes. We’d heard rumors of internet being available there for the first time ever. (So, if you received this email, the rumors are true!) There was none here last year, plus we were running out of gasoline for the dinghy and water, so we didn’t bother with a trip here. Cuba is less than 60 miles to the south.

Once in the lee of Hog Cay the sea state calmed down and we entered yet another lovely anchorage. After lunch we headed out to walk some of the extensive network of trails that crisscross the cay. We ended up doing a lot more walking than we thought we would, including a bit a searching for Molly.

We had been walking along a trail and came across a small herd of wild goats. They saw us and took off through the tangle of dense underbrush. Unfortunately, Molly saw them and was off in a flash, in pursuit. After 20 minutes she decided to once again grace us with her presence. We were lucky that she decided to come back because there was just no way to effectively search for her in the dense scrub that covers the cay. This place is a couple of miles long by more than a half mile wide. I already had visions of walking the trails in the evening shaking her food bowl, in an effort to find her.

After dinner we were invited to the Hog Island Club & Resort. A small group of cruisers spend most of the cruising season anchored here and as a result they’ve put together a pretty impressive camp site.

Under some trees near the mouth of a cave they’ve put together a social club of sorts. The trees are decorated with flotsam of all types. There is seating for over a dozen people on various chunks of driftwood and floating debris, around a fire pit. It’s very reminiscent of a set from “Survivor”.

They’re very organized and have put a lot of work into this gathering place. They’re not like the mondo organized Nazis of Georgetown; here the focus seems to be to have a nice place to relax. Another big difference is that in Georgetown there are 300 boats, while there are just a half dozen here.

Today we spent the morning walking some different trails. We found a fairly large set of ruins that were a lot newer than I had expected them to be. There was a date scrawled into the foundation of 7/29/81. It’s just more proof that these islands are a pretty tough place to live. In less than 30 years there’s nothing left but a few foundations and some extensive stone fences. We were able to gather a few coconuts which was fun, except for the part where you have a machete them……open.

After lunch we did a bit of snorkeling and were a little disappointed by the lack of underwater structure that the fish and
lobsters depend on to survive. I did however bag a very large snapper known as a Schoolmaster. We might come back to the states with more food them we left with……?

March 13, 2009.

Before I get started I need to relay a story about something new that we’ve learned. Tucker evidently suffers from some type of separation anxiety. Usually when we leave the boat he howls like a wolf for a few minutes and then gets bored and mellows out. If we’re in a crowded anchorage I feel like the “bad pet owner” so it kinda drives me crazy. The other night we were about 300 yards away on Far Niente and Tucker started his howling. Ooooooooooooo, Oooooooo. We had left our VHF on so I picked up Jay’s mic and selected our channel and said “Tucker, shut up” as sternly as I could. He heard me, recognized my voice and thought I must be somewhere on the boat with him. He stopped in mid howl and shut up. It was a long distance behavioral adjustment.

Yesterday I spent the morning replacing the solenoid for the propane supply to the stove. That propane solenoid is a pain in the ass, they just don’t seem to last as long as they should. After that we had a big lunch of lobster tacos and headed out for a little spearfishing.

The day before, I had seen a lobster that I was unable to get an angle on for a shot. So we headed down to the same coral head and found him waiting for me. There was a boat anchored nearby and if they were watching it must have been a pretty incredible sight. We pulled up in the dinghy, I slipped into the water, went down speared the lobster, swung him into the dinghy, climbed in after him and zoomed away. Two minutes, start to finish and we were gone with lobster in hand. Easy peasy.

After that we worked our way home through the anchorage going from coral patch to patch. I found 2 more lobsters, I took 1 while the other one was too small. I was also able to take a nice grouper.

Today we took the dogs for a long walk across the cay to the windward shore. The walk included sections of scrub, hills and a dry salt marsh. Once there we scavenged through some of the innumerable treasures that have washed ashore. We also found a pretty cool series of blowholes.

After getting back to the boat we had lunch and decided to head north for some hunting. We found an area of coral heads and rocky ledges that seemed to go on forever. As soon as I hit the water I scored a nice sized lobster, shortly followed by a smallish grouper.

On the grouper I was victim to a classic “bait and switch” scam. I was swimming along and saw a large grouper hiding next to a large brain coral. He ducked behind it and I went the other way to position myself for a quick shot when we met face to face. As soon as he came into view I put my spear right through his face. It was then that I realized that it wasn’t the same grouper. It was a much smaller grouper that had been behind the coral and the large grouper rocketed away to safety.

After that I nailed 2 good sized grouper and another lobster. We were headed home when we came across a series of small coral heads. They were kind of off the beaten path so I dropped into the water for a quick look see.

One of the heads had a perfect lair for a lobster and I couldn’t believe there wouldn’t be a lobster in there but alas….nothing. That was until I glimpsed the tiniest tip of a feeler. I was looking down into this shaft and it did appear that there just might be a lobster in a “room” off to the side of the shaft. I swam around the coral looking into every tiny opening for a way to catch more than just a glimpse of this lobster. Finally, through a 3 inch hole I could plainly make out a single leg.

It was a good sized leg so I felt as if I had a big lobster in front of me. I needed to “goose” him towards the shaft so I could get a shot at him. So I had Christy remove the tip from her spear and give me the spear. By looking at the leg I tried to figure out where the tail end of the lobster was. I slipped Christy’s spear in the tiny hole at an angle in an attempt to move him towards the shaft. He scurried away from the spear, wheeled about to face it and presented me with a target of sorts.

I could now plainly see 3 large legs and one big feeler. I couldn’t see his body at all but I could sort of triangulate where they all would come together. I was sure he was big enough, so I worked my spear down into the hole, got the angle I needed and drilled him. Bingo, he turned out to be bigger than average, coming in at about 4 pounds.

March 12, 2009.

Yesterday morning we took our machete’s and cut a new trail from one beach to another on the windward side of the island. We spent an hour looking at all the junk that has washed up over the years.

On the way back to the boat we stopped to do a little spearfishing. We came up empty, but our friends Greg & Judy took home a nice lobster. After stopping at the boat for lunch and a few chores we once again headed out with our spears.

This time we headed north and it was Christy’s turn to be the first one into the water. We found a promising looking coral head and after donning her gear she slipped into the water. She immediately looked up and said “You just dropped me off into the middle of a school of Barracuda”. They were smaller fish so they swam away and left her to the coral head.

She swam the 10 yards to the coral patch and surfaced again said “There are 2 sharks in the coral head”. They turned out to be Nurse sharks, which are very docile sharks, as far as sharks go. They’re said to be harmless unless provoked. I’m just not sure what constitutes provoking. In Jersey, if you look at someone too long you’ve provoked them…..so we decided to move on to another patch of reef. Better safe than chewed upon.

We ended up spending 2 hours going from small coral head to coral head. We did end up taking our 7th lobster of the season but we were chased from the water on several occasions by a very large Sand Tiger shark. I was 20 feet away from and paralleling the iron shore in about 8 feet of water, to my right the water was only 3 or 4 feet deep. Out of my peripheral vision I saw the movement of a large fish. It turned out to be the Sand Tiger, he had come up behind me and overtaken me on the shallow side without me being aware of him until he was passing me. I got back in the dinghy and we called it a day. Christy had lobster to clean and I had to scrub my wetsuit.

March 10, 2009.

We got underway from Jamaica Cay after a rolly night at anchor. Jamaica was a nice respite from the pounding we had been absorbing but left a bit to be desired as an anchorage.

What a difference a day makes. We headed out with our double reef in, as a precaution, due to a series of squall lines coming out of the east. The seas had abated during the night and we were down to a very reasonable 15 knots of breeze.

We covered the 23 miles to the anchorage at Raccoon Cay by noon. The cay makes for an excellent anchorage with plenty of room, we are anchored a half mile from our nearest neighbor and there were 5 boats here when we arrived. We spent the rest of the day dealing with a head issue.

When I took my morning visit to the head there seemed to be a problem. Now that we were safely at anchor, it was time to deal with it. The whole ordeal was pretty disgusting so I’ll spare you the details but things are once again disappearing when the magic handle is pulled.

When we woke after a wonderfully calm night Christy headed to shore for a little hiking across the cay with some friends. They were gone for a few hours and found a windward shore full of interesting debris.

After lunch Christy and I decided to do a little hunting. We decided to limit what we might harvest; we would hunt for hogfish, grouper or lobster. We took the dinghy to the southern end of the cay where the chart shows an area that looked promising so we wanted to check it out.

We found some nice coral heads and rock ledges and during the course of the afternoon we were able to spear 3 lobsters. It was 1800 hours before we knew it and we had just enough time to meet the others for sundowners on the beach, where we were treated to a glorious sunset with our second consecutive green flash in a row.

March 9, 2009.

It’s been a while since I have written and a lot has happened. When I wrote last we were anchored in the lee of Flamingo Cay. The wind had been steady from the east-northeast in the 20 to 28 knot range so we stayed at Flamingo for 5 days.

We really wanted to spearfish the northeast side of the island but the big winds were driving a ferocious sea and the danger was just too great. So Christy and I decided to try a new spot along the northwest tip of the cay. It turned out to be a great decision. The water was dead calm and full of life. I was able to spear a huge Hogfish and another lobster.

Of course, our week spent hiding from the weather was the week that the weather guru, Chris Parker took off on vacation. There was supposed to be a replacement, but nobody was able to hear him on the SSB. So we pooled our weather information with the boats we were traveling with and decided to head out on Sunday for the 35 mile trip down to Raccoon Cay.

The wind was supposed to be in the 16 to 22 knot range which is doable. The point of concern was the sea state. The seas were big and from the east, the tide would be ebbing from the west, the wind was still strong from the east so we were going to be dealing with that whole “tide versus wind” thing again. But instead of going in or out a cut and getting beat up for a few minutes we would be traveling parallel to this sea state for about 20 miles of our trip. Compounding the situation is the fact that 2 miles to the east, the water is over a thousand feet deep while our route of travel will have us in 25 feet of water. So we’ll have big seas running up onto the shallow bank and breaking into the ebbing tide. READ: This could be a recipe for an ass kicking. We did wait an extra day before we finally decided to stick our noses out and check it out. We double reefed the main and put out a slice of jib and headed out. We’d just take a look…….

Hey look, we’re getting our asses kicked. The first 6 miles were fairly protected behind a series of small cays and our course had us broad reaching along, under shortened sails at 7 knots. Things looked pretty good until we reached the waypoint at 6 miles out and turned to a course of 180° which put us abeam to the big seas on a beam reach. Coincidentally, this is about where our island protection ran out. Fortunately, we were only skirting a series of reefs for a mile and a half and our new course would have us close reaching. Unfortunately, we were on this new course through nasty seas for about another hour.

At this point, it had become an official ass kicking. The wind was up over 25 knots and the waves were in the 8 to 10 foot range and very close together. Wave after wave, bash after bash, seawater over the top…we’ve definitely seen much worse, but this wasn’t any fun. Our 3 options were: 1 We could keep going with the worst definitely still in front of us, 2 We could turn around, which wasn’t a very attractive option at all, or 3 We could try to hide until tomorrow at Jamaica Cay.

Pop quiz….who knows the difference between a Cay and an Island? The difference between an island and a cay is that an island has its own source of fresh water, and a cay does not. FYI, Cay is almost always pronounced, “Key” not “Kay”.

Christy called back to My Destiny and Far Niente to propose the stop at Jamaica Cay and they jumped all over it like fleas on a dog.

We sailed right up to the calm in the lee of the spit, started the engine and dropped the sails. We motored into the inner harbor, found a suitable spot and dropped the hook. The wind was still cranking but it was fairly comfortable and we all had hooks down before noon. Welcome to Jamaica, mon!

Jamaica Cay was, at one time, going to be a resort of sorts. To say that it was an ambitious undertaking is an understatement. The area is a series of small cays with the largest being too small for a runway. How guests were to arrive, is anyone’s guess. The nearest runway that I know of is at least 50 miles away. Land there and hop in a fast boat and its still a half day trip by motorboat. That’s “if” the sea state permits the trip at all. Anything like the conditions we had today and the guests could end up sitting at the airstrip for days waiting for an opportunity to get here by boat. I dunno, maybe they were planning to use helicopters or seaplanes, sounds expensive just to get here. So, not so surprisingly, the resort sits there uncompleted and abandoned.

While the crews of Far Niente and My Destiny did a little beach exploring, Christy and I decided to check out the spearfishing.

When the wind is strong it’s too hard to swim and pull the dinghy along. We can’t anchor the dinghy because when you take a fish you have to get the speared fish out of the water as quickly as possible so the blood doesn’t draw sharks. So on very windy days we take turns driving the dinghy while the other one hunts nearby.

Christy was in the water first while I floated, idling, a hundred feet away. I heard her squeal with delight through her snorkel so I was already on my way when she surfaced and signaled that she had speared her very first fish.

Last year we only had one spear and Christy and I always worked as a team and searched together, but I did all the spearing. She decided that this year she wanted a spear of her own. The fish she killed wasn’t in any of our books but had nice white fillets when I cleaned it so we figured we would give it a try. The area turned out to be a spearfisherman’s paradise. We took 3 grouper, 2 huge triggerfish and Christy’s phantom Moo Goo.

March 5, 2009.

Before I get started let me say that its good to be back in touch but it will only be for today. We ran into a new wifi source that will only be available to us while we're in the Jumentos.

We’ve made it to Flamingo Cay in the Jumentos. It’s one of my favorite cays of the Bahamas. Flamingo possesses 3 of the essentials that we enjoy most, beautiful beaches, some hiking trails and a bit of snorkeling.

We hauled anchor at 0600 in Thompson Bay and headed out. We left at first light so we could transit the skinniest water of our day on a rising tide. There was a calm breeze out of the north so we covered the ten miles to the Comers East waypoint at about 6 knots.

The Comer Channel is about 11 miles of fairly shallow water. The bottom is all sand so running aground after low tide would be nothing more than an inconvenience. We draw about 5 ½ feet and we never saw less than 9 inches under our keel. The Far Niente’s were a little closer to the bottom dragging their 6 foot keel with them, but all went well.

The rest of the trip was spent alternating between sailing and motorsailing. The forecast had been for 10 to 12 knots all day but Jay on Far Niente got too generous and gave all our wind away. He had been talking on the VHF to another boat that was becalmed several miles away. He was amazed that we were able to sail as he had practically no wind. While signing off, Jay promised the guy some wind and next thing I knew we were starting the engine as our entire forecasted breeze was gone.

We arrived at the 2 Palms Anchorage in Flamingo Cay around 1500 hours. The wind was from the north so we had some protection from the breeze, but the northwest swell was still rolling into the anchorage.

Our first night the anchorage was a rolling mess. The wind had come around to the northeast so it was getting better, but it was still not great. Our first full day at Flamingo was spent hiking and snorkeling. We spent the morning walking over to the northern anchorage where we once again came across the wreckage of our friend Gary’s plane. The past years hurricane season has eroded some of the familiar beaches and has added a bit of sand in other places. Part of the plane that once sat atop the beach is now practically buried.

After getting back to the dinghy we decided to go down to the next beach and climb to the light tower at the top of the island. Just like last year the view from the tower was outstanding.

After lunch at the boat we headed down to the southern end of the cay to do some spearfishing. My favorite reef had no fish of intriguing size so I headed over to an area I like to call “The Bowl”. The Bowl is about the size of a football field, and it drops off to about 20 feet deep from a surrounding depth of only 4 feet. The vertical sides are home to several schools of fish, including some of good size.

At the bowl I was able to take a pair of large Triggerfish. After that Christy followed me in the dink as I swam the backside of the cay on the way back to our boat. While swimming the backside of the cays I often find random smaller coral heads that are home to some good sized fish. It was on one of these small non descript knobs of coral that I was able to spear our second lobster of the year.

To be able to cover more area Christy will often tow me behind the dinghy. I lay face down holding the tow rope while she drags me homeward. If I see anything that looks like a good opportunity I just let go of the line and she circles back to collect me and hopefully our catch.

In the evening we decided to get together on the beach for cocktails and a little garbage burning. When the tide is low you can dig a fire pit, stack some driftwood, build a roaring fire and burn all of your boat garbage. Down island it’s a necessity so it’s only natural that it becomes a social event.

There were 2 other boats in the anchorage so I dinghied over to invite them to join us. The first boat declined as they were tired from just having arrived. When I arrived at the second boat, a large power cat, they accepted our invitation and upped the ante.

Instead of meeting at the beach they asked us all to come over to their very large boat. Ummmm….okay. So we spent the evening aboard the power cat Magic. We had a great time, made new friends and no, we didn’t bring our garbage. There’s always tomorrow.

March 1, 2009.

We hauled anchor in Georgetown at 0830 on Saturday morning. Sunday would have offered a better opportunity for sailing but we wanted to be sure to be well set before the weather goes to hell on Sunday night.

By leaving at 0830 we would be transiting the Middle Rocks Channel at about high slack tide. The water depth wasn’t the issue it was the fact that we were trying to avoid a wind versus tide situation.

The wind was coming from pretty much where we wanted to go so we spent the day motorsailing to our destination of Thompson Bay on Long Island. The trip was a slow affair into a small head sea. The only fish we were able to land was another Barracuda. We passed about 15 sailboats headed to Georgetown so we were confident that we would pretty much have the huge anchorage practically to ourselves.

Once we had the hook down we quickly gathered our laundry, hopped in the dink and blasted down to the Long Island Breeze resort. Here in the lower Bahamas the businesses can’t really afford to turn away a buck. So this brand new resort lets cruisers do their laundry in the resorts laundry room.

We had our laundry done in short order and just got back to the boat in time to head to Trifina’s for dinner. Trifina’s is the place we went to last year with the crews from 22 other boats for dinner. It was a little less crowded as there were only a dozen or so cruisers and a handful of locals in the place. Again we had a great meal at Trifina’s buffet, all for only 15 dollars.

On Sunday Jay from Far Niente rented a van and we took a tour of the island. It seems there is a church of one denomination or another every couple of miles. We stopped to see several including one that had been built in the early 1700’s but now sits abandoned.


We stopped for lunch in a small place called the Outer Edge Grill in Clarencetown. A couple of Grouper sandwiches with fries and a couple of cokes was only 20 bucks. Good deal.

We stopped at several beaches during the day. One beach called the Compass Rose was as picturesque as they come with crystal clear, calm water with a narrow gap for the sea to enter. Another beach was flanked by unforgiving shoals and was littered with wrecks.


We also stopped in to see the islands most famous blue hole. Its 660 feet deep and sits right next to the edge of the island. You can literally walk in knee deep water into a 600 foot abyss. They hold yearly world free diving championships here.

The weather should present us an opportunity to head south into the Jumentos on either Tuesday or Wednesday. Once we head out it could be as much as a month before we get internet and are able to post an update. Until then…..be well.

February 26, 2009.

It’s been a week since our Friday arrival in Georgetown. The weather during the weekend was pretty benign. Since we’re anchored at Sand Dollar Beach we’re a bit more than a mile across Elizabeth Harbor away from the town itself. The trip across the harbor in the dink is a wet one unless it’s done in fairly settled conditions.

We went over to town twice in the first 3 days. Christy got some fresh broccoli and cabbage at the market while I jerry jugged fuel back to the boat. We also off loaded our garbage and walked around a bit.

Monday we went out one of the cuts in the dinghy and did a little snorkeling. The wind was already starting to build and the waters surface was a little rougher than I had hoped for. There was a lot of good structure, but no fish that I cared to take. I did however spear our first lobster of the year.

As forecast, Monday evening the weather started to deteriorate on us. We are supposed to have anywhere from 20 to 30 knots of wind from the northeast until late Thursday.

We’re anchored in right up next to the shore so there is no real wave action. The wind is cranking and it’s more inconvenient than it is uncomfortable. We won’t cross the harbor to town as the ride back would be wet and nasty. We do however have Stocking Island at our disposal.

We’ve attended a couple of ARG meetings in the late afternoon. ARG stands for Alcohol Research Group, it’s a tongue in cheek group that takes themselves as anything but serious. The dress code is informal but rigidly enforced with the possible loss of your research materials as penalty for over dressing. It’s been good to run into several old friends, some passing acquaintances and to meet some new people.

On Wednesday the wind was still over 20 knots when we got together with the crews from 5 other boats for a bit of hiking. First we headed up to the highest point on the island and then transited trails and beaches for a few miles. It was good to get off the boat and “blow the stink off” as they say. Once again during the evening the wind built back into the 25 knot range.

Since the wind has been cranking for a few days we’ve spent a lot of time on the boat reading and tackling boat chores. The water maker has been a pleasant surprise so far. It’s a high energy demand item and we’ve been pleased to see that we can use it without running the generator. It draws 17 amps while running and at this latitude we generally make just about that from our solar panels. So we can make water without drawing down the batteries. On the other hand, now every time we have to run the generator (to make hot water) we can run the water maker at the same time with no impact on our charging regimen at all. So for now its “water, water everywhere and even some to drink”.

Since we’re in Georgetown its time for my annual Georgetown rant. Last year we arrived here under the impression that we were like Muslim pilgrims finally arriving in Mecca. We heard that this was the place to be, the goal, the pot o’ gold at the end of the rainbow. Talk about an anticlimax. There are about 300 other cruising boats here so there is a lot of opportunity to meet and interact with other folks, as well as AHOY and ARG functions to attend. But for me that’s pretty much where the attraction ends.

So many of these people drop their hook and spend the entire winter here doing the same thing everyday. Most of these people motor their sailboats straight here for a thousand miles braving weather and seas just to sit here and play canasta, bridge or bocce´ with the same people everyday. It seems to me that it would be simpler to just move into a retirement home and shuffle down the hall to the game room everyday. I dunno, I just don’t see the allure.

While I’m having a mini rant let me cover all the bases. The freaking French. Everyday at 0800 there’s a cruiser’s net here in the harbor. The local businesses advertise specials and such, there’s info passed about what events are happening where and when and then there’s a time for asking for or offering to help with various issues that some boaters are having.

During this net if a French Canadian has something to offer they give their message in English and then often repeat the entire schpeel in French. Considering that 99 percent of the people here are fluent in English it’s a giant waste of time for most of the boaters here to listen to someone drone on and on in French about who won yesterdays Bocce´ tournament. Until now I never realized what a slow language French must be. Something said in English seems to take 30 seconds but drags on for a minute and a half when spoken in French. The only thing that slips from their lips quickly seems to be “They’re coming, quick, drop your rifles and run this way”.

It’s been suggested that the French host their own net but that hasn’t happened. Its also been asked that if there is something important that needs to be conveyed just do it at the end of the net but that seems to be too much to ask. It’s degenerated to the point that when someone starts to drone on in french several people start to key their mic’s thus disrupting the french speakers.

Often times it’s assumed that it must be Americans doing this but I have a theory of my own. I think that it’s the non french speaking Canadians. The two groups of Canadians seem to dislike each other at about the same level as the Shia’s and the Shite’s of the Muslim world. Although at a much more civilized level. Instead of sending suicide bombers at each other they just sit and click their mic’s as their own little act of defiance.

What bothers me most about all this is the content of what is repeated. When people are asked not to use certain trash receptacles in town, or to clean up after their dogs while on the beaches, or to not bring your own food and drink to local bar owned beaches and the like, nothing is said for the benefit of the supposed English impaired. But the time for geriatric bingo has been changed please God, we must be allowed to inform the French.


The winds are supposed to abate a bit on Friday so we’ll probably wait a day for the seas to lay down before heading out on Saturday bound for Long Island. So until then au revoir….

February 21, 2009.

The weather has once again been the deciding factor in our decision making. On Thursday the wind is supposed to clock around to the west. Friday afternoon there is another front due to move through followed by a week of unsettled weather.

We could stay in Pipe Creek but if we do that means that we’ll probably be here for a bit more than a week. We know that a bunch of boats are staging at Galliot Cut for a Friday run down to Georgetown before the front rolls through.

So on Thursday afternoon after a morning of exploring we pulled the hook and motor sailed south towards Galliot Cut. We were underway by 1320 and arrived just in time for an impromptu beach party. It was good to catch up with everybody and plan the trip down the outside to Georgetown.

On Friday morning we were supposed to be leaving at 0800. I woke at sunrise and checked all the boat systems before 0630. We decided to get underway as the tide was already ebbing out through the cut. We retrieved our anchor from the 12 foot deep crystal clear water and headed out. Shortly thereafter the rest of the anchorage came alive and we were soon at the head of a 9 boat parade headed south.

The weather was beautiful, the fishing sucked and the wind was practically nonexistent. We did have sail up throughout the day but were only gaining a quarter of a knot here and there.

We arrived in Georgetown just after noon and navigated our way into the harbor. We did a slow tour of the anchored boats, noting who was here and who was there. We made our way down to Sand Dollar beach and dropped the hook in the midst of several boats.

We’ve got a good spot and it looks like we should be pretty comfortable while these next few days of crappy weather unfold around us.

February 20, 2009.

We’ve been fairly busy since last I wrote. We spent 2 nights in the beautiful desolation that is Pipe Creek. Desolation is probably not the right word for Pipe Creek. The marina at Compass Cay lies a mile or so to the north and the large private island estate of Little Pipe Cay lies to the west.

What makes me think of desolation is the fact that very few boats stop in at Pipe Creek. The various entrances look fairly daunting on the charts with random rocks, reefs and sand bars scattered about. We’ve explored a lot of the area in our dinghy with our portable depth sounder and have found deep water in several spots where the charts claimed there was none. But then again, we've run aground in the dinghy when we were supposedly in 10 feet of water so the area can be a bit dicey.

We spent one afternoon snorkeling and hunting but came away empty. We did see several small grouper and a tiny lobster but left them all to grow for another day.

During the evening we watched as a passing dinghy sputtered and died. The tide was starting to ebb and it was getting dark. They were able to restart their engine and slowly idled their way over to us. It seems that they had run out of gasoline. We gave them a gallon of gas to get them on their way. They couldn’t have been more thankful and agreed to call us when they got back to their boat so we knew they were safe.

It was by random chance that we decided to come to Pipe Creek and if we hadn’t had been there it was a very good chance that their evening would have really sucked.

February 18, 2009.

We woke to 20 knots of wind out of the north. Our traveling companions were still taking a beating to the north of us and were eager to get underway. One of them described their attempt at sleep as being like “Being stuck in a sack of bowling balls while rolling down the stairs”. Our night had been a lot nicer in the lee of Elbow Cay but we were looking to get south as well.

Solitaire has friends they’d like to catch up with at Warderick Wells so they’ve decided to head there. The rest of us had points further south in mind. We passed by the large sailing vessel Meteor as we got underway. Meteor was the huge sailboat that had passed us as we waited to leave Lake Worth several days ago. Small world. I thought it was pretty funny that even though she’s over a hundred feet long she’s hiding here just like we are.

The 20 knots from the north gave us a great beam reach. We averaged 6 to 7 knots under headsail alone for our 20 mile day. As we peeled off towards Pipe Creek the rest of the group headed south to Big Majors Spot. There’s a lot to do and see there but the big allure for them is the excellent protection they’ll have for a good nights sleep tonight.

Our destination for the evening was Pipe Creek. There’s a front due to arrive on Thursday and we’ll have good protection in Pipe Creek. It’s also quite beautiful and lies just outside the Exuma Land and Sea Park boundary so hunting gathering is once again allowed. So we’ll be hanging here for a few days before heading down to the Black Point settlement on Friday.