Bahamas Day 8

The wind came up over night and we were rocking and rolling. When we got up in the morning the large catamaran anchored in front of us was closer than it had been, having dragged its anchor. We decided to take Between the Sheets over to Georgetown Harbour to cut down the length of the dinghy trip. It really was a "back to reality" day as Debra and Andy went into town to do laundry and George and I stayed on the boat and packed. The wind continued to build so when Debra called (using the walkie talkie) we suggested that Andy come and get us and our luggage and we eat lunch in town and then they return to the boat and move her back to a lee anchorage.
We dinghied into town with our luggage in garbage bags and we were still in our bathing suits as it was a very wet ride. We lunched at a little snack bar in town and then said goodbye to Andy and Debra.

Our last shot of Andy and Debra returning to Between the Sheets, anchored just to the right of the
land in this picture.

Andy and Debra were wonderful hosts. Its close quarters to have 4 people on a 38 ft sailboat. Everything has its place and some of the places are out of sight so it takes a while to learn what is stored where. Although George and I tried to do as much as we could (mostly washing up and drying), the bulk of the cooking and tidying up fell to Andy and Debra. We had some fabulous meals  with a selection of the local seafood (purchased, gifted and caught). Andy was very accommodating of my need for a couple of cups of coffee in the morning and it was lovely to relax with drinks in the cockpit after an exciting and active day.
But what made them the best hosts was their ability to call forth the sea creatures. We would call across the water "We haven't seen a turtle (dolphin/shark/starfish etc) yet" and withing 24 hours we would see one. We actually did see a large sea turtle on Day 7, right next to the boat. We had heard there was one hanging around the anchorage on the 2nd day.

Andy made this wonderful sweet bread twice during our week there.

The Georgetown area was a great place to spend a week. There were plenty of beaches, beautiful snorkelling spots, hikes on the islands, a pretty little town with shops, restaurants, grocery store and 4 (yes 4) liquor stores, and plenty of activities organized by the other cruisers. From Andy and Debra we know there are also secluded anchorages with only a couple of other boats for company on the smaller islands.

Thanks Andy And Debra

From Carol and George

Bahamas Day 7

Awoke to another beautiful day in paradise. We decided to explore Crab Cay, an island opposite our anchorage. A large development had been planned for this location that can be seen if you google Crab Cay Resort, Exuma. The "artists impression" looks lovely but in fact all that has really been done is the excavation of some roads and the building of a cement plant. We dinghied around what is to be the marina at some time in the future, walked on a beach that has been ruined by the excavations, and motored past a wreck before finding a lovely secluded beach.

Mangroves on Crab Cay

Walking a beautiful beach on Crab Cay

The wreck

We had lunch and walked on the beach and then went snorkelling.

The snorkelling was the best yet. The edge of this bay had a cliff along the side with a ledge below which offered plenty of cover for a variety of marine life. There were also coral heads all along the ocean floor beside the ledge. At one point I was surrounded by a school of silvery white fish, about 4 inches long, as far a I could see in all directions. They zigged and zagged in unison and then, in a heartbeat, where gone. George swam through this school twice while exploring.

We returned home, by now Between the Sheets felt like home, to get cleaned up and then go into town for dinner as it was our last night.

Home, with our next door neighbour, Nomada.

We dinghied into town, tied up at the dock behind the market and walked to Peace and Plenty where we had a drink by the pool looking over Elizabeth Bay to the anchorage at Stocking Island.

Andy happily ensconced with a rum and coke.

Dinner was inside, overlooking the pool and was delicious. We started with conch fritters and then I had grilled tuna, the guys had ribs and Debra had seafood pasta. Total for 2 with a drink was about $75. We returned to the boat in the dark, knowing we had to return to reality the next day.

Bahamas Day 6

We had some more of the lobster, with eggs, in wraps for breakfast (Debra's creative cooking) then set out through the cut at the opposite end of Stocking Island for another day at sea. I forgot to mention the flying fish in yesterdays post. We saw them first yesterday right after we had passed through the cut. George and I couldn't believe that they weren't birds. They glided so far and looked like small ducks taking off from the water, from a distance. However when we saw them closer we could see they wiggled their tails to get up above the water and skip along the waves and appeared to  "flap" their wings/fins for a little before settling in to a long glide. At one point we saw a flock/school of about 20, gliding across the water. We saw them again sporadically this day.
You tube has some great videos of flying fish but I don't know yet how to insert a link here so if your interested just go and look there.
We set the sails but again it was too calm and we ended up motoring. We stopped the motor and drifted and let the lures sink while we made lunch.

We were heading back in when my line went "zing". Almost immediately Debra's also went. I was too excited and failed to "set the hook" by jerking the rod so my fish slipped off but Debra set hers and then let me reel it in. It looked like a snapper with a long black stripe on its head area and we couldn't find it in the fish book so don't know quite what it was.
Back at the anchorage again, George and Andy headed into Georgetown for a liquor run and Debra decided to filet the fish with me videoing. We got 4 fine fillets of him and set aside the remains for Andy to dump out in the deep water.

About to start the operation. Note Debra's braided and beaded hair,
she took it out the next day - too itchy

After preparing the fish, Debra and I decided to wash our hair off the back of the boat. I had just dived in to rinse out the shampoo and Debra was still on the swim platform when she started shouting conflicting instruction: "Carol get out of the water, NOW", "Swim slowly." Get out NOW". Once I was out on the swim platform again I saw him too. A 5 foot shark slowly circling the boat. He just went around the twice and then we didn't see him again. We shouted a warning across to Karen on Nomada and she said "Were you cleaning fish?" We realized some of the blood from the fish must have gone down the sink which drains right into the water, attracting the shark. We looked him up and he fit the description of a Bull Shark. Andy and George seemed unconcerned and swam when they returned to the boat.
Supper that night was my (actually Debra's) Snapper, the rest of the lobster and Mahi-Mahi that they had caught a week prior and frozen. Followed by pears flambed in rum, over whipped cream cheese. I have to say that the food at this resort is very good.

Bahamas Day 5

The weather forecast on "cruisers net" indicated that the big swells had died down on the ocean side so we pulled up the anchor and headed out to sea. This involved motoring out of the lee of Stocking Island and taking a dogs leg course around a couple of reefs and out a cut between two little islands. Debra, followed the line on the chart on Andy's I-pad (currently his only chart plotter) perfectly and we were out in very deep water.

Debra on the helm during the anchoring procedure

Sometimes you can see the waves breaking over a reef, sometimes not.

After getting into the ocean we set three rods with lures that Andy and Debra refer to as "cheerleaders" due to their resemblance to the pom poms.

Cheerleaders

We motored for a while, to charge the batteries and then set the sails. It was not windy enough, however, to troll. So we furled everything up again and motored at about 5 knots, trolling. We went into the marina at the Sandals resort because we had heard mooring there was only $1 a foot. This proved to be true but you had to stay for 3 days so we decided the use of the laundry facilities wasn't worth the price. We got fuel, water and pumped out and headed back for Georgetown. I was on the helm, most of the time that we were at sea.

Andy took the helm to come back in through the cut and I set a rod out. The fish struck just as we were anchoring. "I don't have time for a fish now" was Andy's response "bring it up to the boat but don't let it go underneath, the motors on". So the poor thing got dragged around for a while until we were safely at anchor and then I bought it in.

A grouper, such a pretty fish.

He was only about 14 inches long and there wasn't much meat on him but he's in Debra and Andy's freezer ready to be added to other catches for a fish dinner. My first deep sea fishing experience and I caught him at anchor. Needless to say we had chicken for dinner that night.

Bahamas Day 4

Along with listening to "cruisers net" each morning Andy also ran the engine to charge the batteries of the boat. Lights, pumps and most importantly the frig and freezer all pull from the batteries. Sometimes he topped them up using a small generator as well. Andy, Debra and George went off for a day of snorkelling and exploring while I stayed on Between the Sheets to babysit the generator and turn it off when the batteries were sufficiently charged. This also gave me the opportunity for some "alone time", reading, writing in my journal and generally just enjoying the location (lounging, in the sun, on the fore-deck)

It's not all beaches, jagged coral coastline too.

Andy found some beautiful shells while snorkelling. Note the totally Port Dover
snorkelling ensemble.

They stopped of at the boat again at lunch time and asked it I wanted to go into Chat n Chill (beach bar/restaurant on Stocking Island) but I was loving relaxing in the sun too much, so off they motored again. At Chat n Chill they had a drink and ordered a Conch Salad to bring back to the boat for dinner.

Preparing the Conch Salad

While they were gone, Jamie, from Nomada, motored over with a gift. 3 lobsters. They do not have front claws like cold water lobsters but look like huge crayfish. Jamie had spear fished them with a long barbed spear shot from a slingshot at close range. What a generous and delicious gift!

This was the largest one.

When the others returned Jamie came back over to show us how to clean them and what parts to eat.

Jamie slipping the knife around the base of the tail.

As with most of the sea life the colouring is beautiful.

Debra and I steamed the tails of all 3 and legs and base of the antennae of the largest one, in a cup of water and a cup of white wine. We then peeled off their shells. We got about 4 cups of meat. Andy took all of the shells and other discarded parts out into deep water, away from the anchored boats, as we didn't want to attract any sharks to the area. Jamie had described a boat full of young people who had been deliberately tossing stuff over the side to attract sharks and that this was generally frowned upon by the cruising community as so many people and their dogs, swim off their boats.

Meat from one of the tails.

We then used about a third of it to make Lobster Alfredo over pasta with veggies and conch salad on the side. Add a couple of glasses of wine and it doesn't get much better. End of another beautiful day.

Bahamas Day 3

Every morning we listened to "cruisers net" at 8am on Marine Radio channel 68. This was run by volunteers and provided information to cruisers and helped connect them. It gave an interesting sense of community. It was divided into: Urgent Traffic (if anyone had a medical emergency or was concerned that a cruiser was missing. One day someone was asking about how to find a vet for their dog.), Weather (a weather summary was given from 3 different weather sources. It was interesting how often they differed), Local Business (Local businesses would make announcements about their specials for the day, hours of operation, special events etc), Activities (different boaters offered things like yoga on the beach, softball and there was volleyball every day at Chat n Chill, the beach restaurant/bar.), and Boaters General (this was for general questions - how do we call the pump out boat? where did the garbage dumpster go? etc and for helping each other out - we heard requests for help with a computer and lots of things offered for sale as no longer needed). Afterwards there would be a lot of radio communication as people connected either around something from "cruisers net" or just to plan their days together. On "cruisers net" there was an announcement that a shuttle would be offered to a butcher who was 3 miles out of town so Andy and Debra decided to check that out while George and I did some grocery and liquor shopping and explored Georgetown.

Georgetown as we dinghied in

Andy and Debra were squished into the back of a pickup truck (the shuttle) with 12 other people and George and I walked around Georgetown. It has a population of about 1000 permanent residents, there are a number of housing developments with winter owners, Sandals resort and of course the cruisers. The economy is totally reliant on tourism. George and I walked the "business section" that is around Victoria Pond. Georgetown has a grocery store, a few cafes, a few restaurants/bars, a straw market (where you can watch the baskets and hats being woven), a hair salon and a couple of souvineer/dress shops. There are at least 3 churches.

The Anglican Church from across Victoria Pond

We had been discussing sailing to Stanial Cay and then George and I taking a "puddle jumper" flight back to Georgetown but the Tourist Office was unable to get a hold of the only pilot who could do this so we had to revise plans and stay around Georgetown.
Debra and Andy's excursion had been very successful with good meat purchases at reasonable prices. Meat and produce were about twice the price of at home in the grocery store and most other groceries about a third more.
We returned to the boat for lunch

Between the Sheets becomes "Bet the" with the transom down

The afternoon was spent snorkelling on the nearby beaches. It took George and I a while to get the hang of our gear again as it had been a few years since we had used it. The water was crystal clear and the few coral heads along the beaches were live (so many we had seen at resorts were dead) and full of the colourful little fish you see on television. We saw a young ray (it was almost white, not dark brown like the adults) and Andy saw a squid.

Back to the boat, a few drinks, BBQ of steak and chicken and to bed before "cruisers midnight". We couldn't believe how tired we got, outside all day and active, and how well we slept.

Bahamas Day 2

Due to "cruisers midnight" being so early, "cruisers morning" is about 7. We woke to warm breezes. We were anchored in the "first hole" in the lee of Stocking Island, by the monument with about 40 other boats. Mostly sailboats - about 10% power boats, 15% cats and the rest mono-hulls  Between the Sheets was about the middle of the pack size wise with some really huge motor yachts and a very few small (27'/30') sailboats.
We took the dinghy to the island and walked one of the many trails through to the ocean side. The sand was granular and "sinky" and the rocks rugged and sharp. It was a beautiful series of sand beaches and we only saw one other group of people.

We swam, shell searched, sat in a rock pool and climbed through rocks into little coves. There was quite a swell left over from the previous windy days.

Back across on the other, lee, side again the sand was like talcum powder and swimming was lovely. Back to the boat for lunch and then motored up to the 3rd hole to anchor next to Nomada. She is a 65 foot trawler, built in Port Dover and owned by Jamie and Karen Nadrofski (of Nadro Marine) who had invited us all to dinner.
In the afternoon we went on a dinghy tour. Debra and I stroked Stingrays at the beach (the locals feed them conch remains to attract them).

We toured around, into the coves, passed some lovely homes and amazing boats (also some rather scruffy looking ones that are obviously lived on but never moved) when we sighted some dolphins. There was a young one with its mother and the young one, curious about the dinghy, circled us a number of times before the mother pushed it away.

After returning to the boat we "showered". This entails diving off the back of the boat, getting back onto the swim platform, washing hair etc with salt water shampoo, diving back in to rinse off and then doing a final rinse with the fresh water hose at the stern of the boat. We then dinghied over to Nomada with our dinner contributions.

Nomada is beautifully appointed with George, of course, being most interested in the full size frig with plumbed in water in the door, in the galley. Jamie and Karen gave us a tour of the wheel house, 4 bedrooms and huge engine room with laundry facilities. Appetizers include lobster dip made from fresh lobster caught by Jamie. Jamie saluted the sunset by blowing a conch and taught Debra how too.

Sorry its such a long post but it was a very full day and shortly after dinner we returned to Between the Sheets and fell, exhausted, into bed.

Bahamas Day 1

We flew from Toronto to Miami and Miami to Georgetown, Exuma, Bahamas on American Airlines and all went well. Landed in Georgetown and shared a taxi into town with Dianne who was meeting her husband on a catamaran called "Two of a Kind" that he had sailed over alone, in a flotilla. The taxi driver had a marine radio to call her husband. This was the first example of how important the cruisers are to Georgetown's economy, many of the businesses can be reached on marine radio.

Peace and Plenty Hotel, Georgetown, Exuma

Andy had indicated that he would meet us at the bar of the Peace and Plenty Hotel and true to his word, there he was and just starting on his first rum.

We had our first rum punch of the trip and then put our baggage into garbage bags as the crossing, in Andy's small rubber dinghy, was pretty choppy. The ride across Elizabeth Bay took about 20 minutes and Debra flashed the anchor lights so we could find Between the Sheets, in the dark, among the other anchored boats.

A few more drinks, a lovely roast chicken dinner, some stories of Andy and John's trip down and we then heard the expression "cruisers midnight" for the first time. Andy and Debra were yawning by 9pm and looking around there were no lights on any boats by 10pm (cruisers midnight). We had no trouble sleeping either and looking forward to seeing Elizabeth Bay in daylight.

Back from the Bahamas

Well the internet was not easily available on "Between the Sheets" in the Bahamas and I didn't want to use up all Andy's available data. So instead, now I am back, I am going to post one days worth of pictures and comments each day. That way I can relive the trip for another week and practice using the blog.

2nd picture trial

Canigou , from Ceret, France

Thought I should practice

Picture trial

Chris is teaching me how to post a picture on the blog.

This is a shot from our California trip - Rick's  cones

Trying a new thing

I have heard that it is a "good thing" to try something new every day. Keeps you young or stops you getting dementia or something. Anyway, I'm trying a new thing.
Last year, 2012, we went to France for 2 months and every day I sent 3 pictures and some comments on the day, to a group of family and friends - so they could vicariously travel. I got many positive comments back but a couple of people indicated they couldn't partake as the pictures loaded up too slowly or it filled up their allowable e-mail space. So this is an attempt to use a different technique with the same purpose.
My trial run will be a 1 week trip to the Bahama out islands though I am not sure how accessible the internet will be from a 38 foot sailboat.