Finally, 3 days after we had planned (actually a long time after we first planned) we got a weather window to move to the Exumas. It wasn’t easy and it was only on the Tuesday morning when I got up that we finalised our planned destination – Waderwick Wells Cut and then as far south as we could get in the day. Now I say planned destination, as the forecast large swells were only just receding, so we were unsure what it was going to be like once we got out of the shadow of Eleuthera, so we had entrances planned as far north as Ship’s Channel. The winds however, should just be strong enough for us to sail at 10-15 knots and we may even get a beam reach...
Now to execute a first light departure, we do as much preparation the night before, but we still have to get up before the sunrise to get this to happen. Now this always makes me nervous, not because I’m scared of the dark, but because I have to wake Karen. On these occasions she never really has a problem with getting up early, but I am nervous that one day I will wake the beast and it won’t be pretty. Luckily, not this time.
Well when we got out, the 6 foot seas were still there but receding and not on the nose and the wind was more than expected, running 18 – 20 gusting to 23 but unfortunately they were at about 45 degrees and were supposed to go further south (on the nose) as we headed down. Nevertheless, we managed to keep pointed towards Waderwick, making speeds up to 8knots.
A couple of hours into it, we started to see lots-a-yachts on the horizon. Given the poor weather in the Exuma Sound, it seemed like today was the day that everyone was moving and we must have passed at least 25 sailboats heading to Eleuthera on their way north. You would think that would put a hole in the yacht population in Georgetown where we were headed to pick up our friends from Melbourne, but we had heard that there were close to 400 or more boats there, so we weren’t that enthusiastic.
We struck up a conversation with Blue Planet on the way and they had a later tide prediction for the Cut at Waderwick Wells, so we chucked in a reef and tried to slow Where II down. In the meantime, the wind came round on the nose and we then had to start an engine and motor sail the last hour or so to the cut. We hit the cut as close to slack as we have got and glided through, but decided to spend the night at Emerald Rock and followed Blue Planet in. We took the first mooring in for an early start the next morning. Unfortunately our method for picking up the mooring needed a bit of polishing and Karen got her hand caught in the mooring line and skinned her finger so it was not a comfortable carefree night as planned. It did however mean she had to take the helm and for me to do the heavy work up front, which I was hoping would become our new modus operandi.
Next morning up early again, but with no wind, it was a 4 hour motor down to Little Bay, Great Guana Cay to hide for the next front. We were planning on trying Black Point and most of the blow was coming from the North with very little west, but it was a bit crowded where Little Bay just to the south had better protection and only 4 boats in there when we got there. However by the end of the day, 14 more boats had arrived but decided to stay clear of our fat cat. Yeah!
Little Bay – Where II on the right
Little Bay is a pretty little bay with two houses on it and once the blow had subsided a bit, a lot of the boats departed. We took the opportunity to walking into Black Point (about an hour away) for some shopping and lunch (I was hanging for a beer out of glass) and we were glad we chose Little Bay as Black Point was still very choppy and uncomfortable and more crowded. After a second unsuccessful shopping trip into town at about lunchtime Sunday (of course everyone was at church) we organised to catch up with John and Jeri (Ahyoka) at Little Farmers Cay.
The sail down on Monday was pretty good, the seas were flat and the wind light (about 13 true) but on the nose (30Deg apparent) but ended up getting about 7knots over the ground, sails up from anchor to the entrance to the anchorage at Little Farmers. A quick motor over the sand bar (that was on the charts but not on the bank) and we dropped anchor a couple of minutes ahead of Ahyoka. Our friends from Brunswick Landing Marina, John and Jeri, are one season veterans, and unlike us are not adverse to inches under the keel, had anchored a bit closer to the point which looked a bit more protected, so we thought we would be more “go hung” and head in next to them, but after an exploratory trip paste their boat we turned Where II around and headed back to where we were, not that they were in dangerously shallow water, it was just shallower water.
We re-anchored, had our (my) “We’re here beer” and made up a batch of my world famous rum punch with a twist of coconut rum and headed into town, unsuccessfully shopped again but did pick up a couple of nice conch shells from the scrap heap to add to the collection.
It was then off to the Yacht Club for their rum punch (for later comparative purposes only) then it was back to Where II to introduce our friends to my rum punch. Tuesday was bocce day - a game new to John and Jeri, so we were pretty sure we had that won. The first game we won convincingly, but Jeri (apparently always the most improved) picked it up quickly and we only narrowly grabbed victory. Our planned victory barbeque had to be cancelled unfortunately as the swell was pretty bad as we were heading back to the boat, so next time we get to see our friends will be back in Brunswick where they will be preparing to sell their Lagoon 37 Ahyoka and buy a land yacht to continue their adventure. (anyone interested in a good example of these fast cruising cats, I can put you in touch).
We took off early (again and no beast yet) and headed down towards Cave Cut, but as we got to Galliot, the tide seemed right so we ducked out and started motor sailing south to Georgetown. As we passed each cut, the flotilla got larger – it reminded me a bit of the start to the Texas Ranger series on TV when I was a kid. Now Karen had bought me a new fishing rod for my birthday last year and I thought this would be a good time to start fishing (particularly since I had finally put a lure on it) so out she went, bottle of scotch at the ready (to kill the fish or sedate Karen, which ever was more necessary).
Unfortunately, after almost 21years of marriage, Karen is really rubbing off on me and all I could think of as the lure skipped through the water was killing the fish, so I reeled it in without a strike. Man does this hunter need a good bloody dose of testosterone!
The seas were calm and with only one donk on we averaged about 6.5knots and made it into Georgetown on slack high tide at the northwest cut. Thankfully none of our cut entries were like our entry here last year at the southeastern cut where we rolled through with breakers on either side and the admiral downstairs “doing admin tasks”.
Georgetown is Georgetown, so we have picked up the real estate brochure again, gone shopping at the market, dropped off rubbish and recycling etc etc. More importantly, we caught up with Jim and Dinah on Evergreen and they were on our boat the first night for an impromptu barbeque and yesterday it was bocce day on the beaches of Stocking Island. Unfortunately despite our practice, they had the home ball advantage and beat us 2 nothing.
We also celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary at St Francis Resort on Thursday night with the best calamari we have had in ages a nice bottle of South African Wine.
The long romantic dinner (we had to order over the radio, show up at 6pm and were back on the boat by sundown) was completed with a couple of episodes of Dexter!
Georgetown will be home for the next week or so as we wait for Adrian and Jenny from Melbourne who will be joining us for a sail back up to Staniel Cay over a couple of weeks in April – the start of our trek back to Georgia. Of course, there will be more bocce, Mexican train dominos, sundowners and wet trips to town before then.
Eleuthera, the large island south of the Abacos and east of the Exumas seemed like an easy stop over on our way south to the Exumas. But if the Sahara is the land of shifting sands, Eleuthera is the isle of shifting wind or so it seems. Don’t get me wrong, we have enjoyed our mostly tranquil times here, alone in tranquil bays surrounded by nothing but beautiful turquoise water and until the other day in Rock Sound, we hardly have seen another boat, having at most only two other boats in our bay. And of note, we have only seen 2 motor yachts which is very unusual in our experience in the Bahamas and the States.
So we left the Berry Islands at 0815 on Wednesday 13th February and had a ripping close hauled sail east to North Beach on Eleuthera dropping anchor at about 1615. Seas were a bit rough but not uncomfortable and we had no engine noise – a free trip - a bit unusual of late but much more enjoyable and not as boring. As the winds were blowing from the south this seemed like a nice place to wait for the winds to shift to head through Current Cut and find somewhere to hide for the next front.
We had a day to wait for the wind to change so we hopped in Muriel (the new dinghy) and headed to shore trying to find a spot on the beach with no rocks so we didn’t scratch her virgin bottom and about 20 minutes later we landed and looked for somewhere to lock her up – no such luck. Now my Caribbean experience left me nervous about wandering off and leaving Muriel to fend for herself but here in the Bahamas, no one seems to lock their dinghy.
We wandered through the settlement and the southern beach hoping to find a bar where we could quench my thirst for Kalik, but to no avail.
So to get a bit of exercise and see what we were up for the next day we headed out to Current Cut. This is an interesting waterway, with people reporting up to 10 knots of current when the tide is running, which is about 2 knots faster than I can motor at full throttle, so it is important to time your passage for slack tide. We arrived about an hour before slack and you can still see the tide rips as the water exits the cut (the darker rougher water).
Now most reports say that slack tide is 2 ½ hours after Nassau at the cut, although in one of our guides it says 1 – 1 ½ hours but strength of numbers we were looking at the 2 1/2hrs. We had just got back on the boat by then and sure enough 2 boats arrive and start heading through the cut. You could see them slow down sharply as they entered and I didn’t know if that was deliberate or if it was the current. Next day we hang around until 13:30 (slack high tide supposedly at 13:45) and we head in. As we approach you could still see the current ripples as we entered but we were committed so off we went. Well I think the 1 ½ hour prediction was correct as the tide had definitely turned and we had 3.2knot against us. It made the passage a bit slow but controlled and after a tense half hour we had made the turn and were clear to head to what Active Captain calls the Cove anchorage (which we later found out was Gaulding Bay) which we felt would provide us with some NW protection for the upcoming blow.
We anchored in about 3meters of water, which meant at low tide we had about 0.9m under the keels. Karen wanted deeper water, and I wanted protection so this was our compromise.
As it turns out, the compromise was not so good, as it would have been nice to have more water under us as we bucked in the swell and more protection would have stopped the bucking, but not through the worst of it – the western fetch was just too big and the westerly winds lasted too long. But we were safe, didn’t hit bottom and didn’t spill a drink so in the end we were just a bit uncomfortable.
While hanging in the bay, we heard our friends, Terry and Julie and their son Owen from Melvin (Lagoon 37) on the radio hailing another boat in Hatchet. They were waiting out the blow and in search of the elusive Bahaman surf and after watching the weather a bit they decided to head up to Gaulding for a visit and my famous rum punch was to be broken out for the first time. In the meantime we started our hitch hiking adventures in Eleuthera by striking out for Gregory Town – about 3 miles away by sea and about 4 by road. An hour and a bit later we finally walked into town – not one ride! But just then someone pulls up and asks us if we needed a lift and I stifled my “bit late now buddy!” comment and instead responded with a “Thanks but we are just heading into town”. After a look around and the coldest beer I have had in a long time at Rachel’s Place, we decided to have lunch at the Laughing Lizard – a bit back out of town. Just as we were just about there, a lady pulls up and asks if we needed a lift and again we politely turned it down, mumbling to ourselves as she drives off. Now the lunch here was fantastic and gave us the energy for the rest of the walk back – again with no offers of a lift!
After and enjoyable night catching up with the “Melvinites” we all decided to try our luck with the hitch hiking again and headed into Harbour Island. This time, although there were 5 of us we were much more successful, being picked up twice by pickups (utes to us Aussies)– ladies in the front and blokes in the back. We caught the ferry (really a water taxi) that takes everything across from the main island and wandered all over town and down to the long pink beach before enjoying lunch back at the dock.
We caught a lift back with one of the girls on the ferry and finished the day up with a game of Mexican train dominos.
Melvin took off the next morning for current cut and Spanish Wells and we decided to spend the day sightseeing around Gaulding Bay. We jumped in the dinghy and headed to the Glass Window Bridge which has the raging Atlantic on one side and the serene banks on the other. An interesting view but hard to photograph the effect unless you are in a plane.
Then it was past the local houses (one with a fantastic pool house and an array of water toys although why you need a pool here unless it is heated I don’t know)...
...and off to the beach to play boules.
I was playing pretty well but Karen was on fire and we lamented it was a shame Jim & Dinah or Jim & Wendy weren’t here as we would have whipped their butts.
With the weather starting to build towards the next front which we did not want to ride out here after the last one we decided to defy common wisdom and go to Hatchet Bay and instead hop down to Alabaster Bay where we were planning a night out at the Italian Restaurant at Coco Di Mamas which is reportedly very good. We started off anchoring just of Coco Di Mamas giving us good protection from the upcoming southerlies and relaxed after the 5 hour motor.
Next day we were up and into the resort to check out the restaurant menu and then head into Governor’s Harbour for shopping. Unfortunately everything was locked, so we thought maybe, possibly they opened later. As soon as we got down the steps of the resort a car pulled up and offered us a lift towards Governor’s Harbour. The couple were German and had owned their property on Eleuthera for 33 years. They said that it took their German sensibility a very long time to get use to Bahaman “Island Time”. I wonder how they would cope in the Caribbean as I think the Bahamans are punctual compared to some islands down south.
Despite not having to go to town, our kind friends went the extra miles and dropped us at the supermarket. We wandered around town taking in the sights and sounds and were amazed to see the raft that we saw come into St Marteen after following the course of the “Contiki” (I think) across the Atlantic.
We completed our shopping and Karen was surprised to find a small cafe offering spinach and fetta quiche but as her salivations dripped onto the counter she was informed that they had sold out and it was back to the boat for cheese sandwiches. We were lucky enough to get 2 rides back to Alabaster Bay – both by the same driver in a little Daihatsu van. The passenger next to us was eating chicken wings – boy did they smell good particularly when we had missed out on lunch in town!
The next couple of days we played bocce and sanded and re-varnished the cockpit table enjoying being – for the most part anyway – the only boat in the bay. It is hard to believe that only 60 odd miles away is Georgetown with over 300 boats in it and we are alone for almost 2 weeks!
We also ventured out hitch-hiking again to see the south of the island – we had read that Tarpun Bay was a quaint little settlement with an artistic community and a couple of restaurants. Four rides later (Gov Harbour, Palmetto Point, somewhere past Savannah Sound and then on to Tarpun) we arrived in town and quickly looked around to find .... well not much. So we decided we would try to get to Rock Sound for lunch but the rides seemed to have vaporised and with the threat of rain we decided to head back to Governors Harbour and see about that spinach quiche. Two informative rides later we hit the cafe and Karen got her wish while I had the Lasagna.
With the winds starting to clock to the west we moved up to the north of the Bay behind Pelican Cay and rode out the front. All in all, we spent about 5 days on the boat due to the weather and despite the pretty sunsets and the green flashes (yes I have finally seen the Green Flash!), we were keen to move on to Rock Sound and get off the boat.
Rock Sound is a big settlement with a large supermarket, a couple of hardware stores, bank, couple of gas stations and restaurants, the day after an uneventful motor south we headed across the harbour to visit town and check out the food. Karen took over navigating and displayed her unparalleled ability to read arrows back to front and took us out of town away from Sammy’s Place! After realising there was no more to be had to the south we turned around and eventually asked a local, John, sitting on the side of the road where it was and he guided us to the spot and he joined us for a drink before we decided to head back to the boat for lunch.
Next day it was shopping at the market which is pretty impressive, although fresh was a bit wanting in variety and the wettest dinghy ride back to the boat since Mayaguana last year – yes the winds had shifted west as predicted and the chop was testing Muriel out. With the strong winds and sunshine accompanying the passage of the front, we have abundant energy on board, so the bar fridge is on and the polisher is out as we work through the time where getting into the dinghy and going ashore is not that appealing.
The weather however is not being cooperative and we now think that we would have to wait over a week for the seas to abate in the passage to Cat Island which, with guests arriving at the end of the month is too long to stay here. So this afternoon we are heading into 4 Points Bar and having a late lunch then tomorrow it is off to the Exumas and do some exploring there – maybe even the Jumentos Islands before heading to Georgetown... but then again none of our plans to date have really worked out.
STOP PRESS
As we go to press, the plans have changed (this is tomorrow morning from above) – we did wander around Rock Sound yesterday and checked out the Ocean Hole – a 600 odd meter deep hole with connections to the ocean. Interesting but still to cool for a Queenslander to swim here.
We did also go to 4 points and have a late lunch – very pleasant surrounds with a good view over the harbour.
We did not however head off to the Exumas – the weather forecast has the 1-2m waves curling around the bottom of Eleuthera and may make it to the cut we were planning on using so we have decided to wait it out here for a while and see how it shakes out.
QUIZ
Here’s one to see if you were paying attention. Look at the photo below showing the sign to the restroom and leave a comment on which way Karen went to the restroom – Left or Right?
