North to the islands again!

SYNOPSIS: Jan suggests we add a quick synopsis for those of you who just want to know we’re doing well. Saturday – GT was a wild scene as the regatta came to a successful close. Sunday we sailed 2 hours north in very rough conditions to a quiet anchorage behind Lee Stocking Island. Monday, the Marine Research Center located here seems to be closed so Jan and I decide to stay put in calm waters hoping the Center will open, while Bob and new crew Warren Alpern head out into the Sound for an wild hour ride north so they can make for the central cays and be at Staniel Cay by Friday for Warren’s flight home. See details below. Also, we've been able to upload more pics to our Flickr photo album - click link at left.

SATURDAY, APRIL 25

The Family Islands Regatta in George Town is certainly an Event not to be missed. The 50+ beautiful and colorful sailboats with their huge mainsails are magnificent to watch, and we were able to get up close thanks to our ride with Wendle on his large outboard motorboat the first three days of the regatta. The town was hopping and crowded with people who came in from all over the islands. We ate dinner next to a gal from Jamaica!

The temporary shacks (booths) constructed of plywood set up along the Government Pier just for this week each had their own mega sound system with huge speakers trying to outdo the next booth with island tunes. The booths all had numbers, but the numbers weren’t in any kind of logical order! Many booths sold liquor. Many sold great island food like conch (stewed, cracked, in salad, any kind you want), fish, chicken, mac and cheese, peas and rice, and guava duff for dessert. There were so many people Saturday night that moving about was a very slow process, but so much fun to see all the island residents out whooping it up. The ladies were all quaffed to the utmost, with fancy dresses, elaborate hairdos and a few high heels, island style.

Cell phones are widely used and cost about the same for a monthly plan as we pay in the states. But it would be very expensive for us to set up a cell account just while we’re here so we use Skype when we’re able. There is quite limited internet bandwidth coming into the islands, which severely limits our use of Skype or uploading photos to our Flickr album.

We remained anchored on the east side of Elizabeth Harbor on the west side of Stocking Island, which is where up to 350 cruisers anchored this year. The count now at the end of cruising season down here is more like 60 boats. The tidal range is about 2 ½ feet, so beaches are frequent and wonderful.

We have been mostly eating aboard as a meal out is $15-25. We have been trading dinners aboard ROLESTRA then Mystique with Jan and Bob cooking and I doing the BBQ. The well-stocked Exuma Market is the small grocery store which is just by the dinghy dock and very convenient. Groceries are at least 50% more expensive here than in the states because EVERYTHING is brought in by boat.

Unfortunately the northeast trade winds have been blowing strong for most of the week which has either caused us to make very wet dinghy trips the ¾ mile over to George Town or hire Elvis and his water taxi to keep us dry, but he charges $12 round trip each. We used him Saturday night as the wind was blowing about 25kts and we were coming back from GT after dark. Warren Alpern, an old friend who Bob and I worked with at Holubar Mountaineering in the ‘70s in Boulder, arrived amidst the mayhem Saturday night to crew with Bob this week up to Staniel Cay where he’ll fly out Saturday morning and Bob’s next crew will fly in. Bob will then depart for his trip back to Jupiter, FL.

SUNDAY, APRIL 26

Bob and Warren were anxious to head north out of George Town to explore the cays, so we both weighed anchor at 6:30 and headed out into Exuma Sound in 20kt ENE winds which built back to 25kts during our 2-hour “sail” under staysail on a broad reach in 8’ seas up to Rat Cay Cut, just off the northern tip of Great Exuma Island. The ride was a wild one with both boats often rocking over 45 degrees and many of our stored items down below falling to the cabin sole – and we thought we were prepared!

We were greatly relieved to glide in to the smooth waters behind Rat Cay and motor north over the shallow banks at high tide to a protected anchorage behind Lee Stocking Island. We were anchored by 10:30 and had the rest of the day to relax and dinghy ashore. There is a short rise between us and the Sound which we hiked over for a breathtaking view of the rough seas breaking on the tall rocky cliffs that form the northeastern shore of most of these islands. And looking back to the west you could see that amazing turquoise colored water of the Great Bahama Bank.

MONDAY, APRIL 27

The winds stayed up greater than 25 all night and we closed many ports and hatches to quiet the boat.

Today is Warren’s birthday and we gave him a happy birthday call on the VHF. We had hoped to tour the Caribbean Marine Research Center here today. It is one of NOAA’s National Undersea Research Centers. The center is affiliated with Florida State, the U. of South Carolina, Oregon State, the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences and the USGS. It offers scientists a complete marine field laboratory with easy access to pristine marine environments including coral reefs shoals, mangrove swamps, sea grass beds, and much native sea life. They have a 2-man submarine which can cruise up to seven hours at 1,000’ depth. The Center does some amazing research and I would guess you could Google them for more info.

We have not been able to raise anyone at the Research Center for permission to come aboard and take a tour this morning which we very much wanted. Since Bob and Warren are on a time schedule and we’re not, they decided to head north in the rough waters of the Sound (the Banks are too shallow here to stay behind) to another cut where they can travel farther north on the calm waters of the Banks. We decided we didn’t need another trip out into the Sound today and decided to stay put, hoping the Research Center would open this afternoon.

This is a great day for reading, writing and “mechanical opportunities”. Aside from installing the new diesel engine raw water cooling pump when I first arrived aboard Mystique, this trip has been refreshingly free of mechanical breakdowns (knock wood). I was able to connect the ‘drain to nowhere’ in the forward head to the shower sump pump via a new ½” drain fitting and T connection so now our guests can take showers in the forward head next to the “V” berth.

Saturday, April 25, George Town, Exuma

We have had a fantastic week + here in George Town. Sunny days, warm breezes (or winds), cooler nights, turquoise waters and white sandy beaches. Wendle, who looked after our boat over the winter, took us out on his 23' Whaler outboard for 3 days to watch the Family Islands Regatta which is DEFINITELY the highlight of the year here.

Each year Bahamian wooden sailing working boats are brought here from all over the Bahamas for their grand championship of yachting. I can't upload very many pics right now because of the limited connection, but there are a few examples I've posted on our Flickr photo album - see link at left.

We're sailing back north towards the middle of the Exuma island chain for a week of cruising and island hopping before Bob leaves for Florida aboard Rolestra with new crew, and we head back to GT next weekent to pick up my cousin Robiananne Holzworth and her husband Alan who are flying over from FL. They'll be with us for a week of adventure before flying home the following Sunday.

We'll post more pics as connections allow, but in the mean time, imagine us having a wonderful time in these gorgeous waters and warm, friendly people of the Bahamas.

George Town, Great Exuma Is., Bahamas

4/17 Friday

Boy, it’s been a long time since good wifi access and the ability to upload pics and blogs. I'll do the blog first as pics will take a higher-speed connection. As always you can look at previous pics by clicking on the Flickr photo album link to the left. I’m writing now from Stocking Island across Elizabeth Harbor from George Town, Great Exuma Is. where life is good. More about it later. I’m not adding daily bits about the weather because every day has been sunny, 80-85 degrees with mild to moderate winds. Nights usually get down to 72-75 and are great for sleeping. Pretty ideal.

Thursday, April 9.

Aboard Rolestra, our friend Bob Bruce’s IP 40 we continue our adventure. Bob has been a gracious captain and good cook and I have enjoyed my voyage with him. He's a long-time friend who I originally met working at Holubar Mountaineering in Boulder in 1971. We have enjoyed many sailing adventures together, including a year ago to the Abacos.

Jan is still in Frisco skiing her heart out as Colorado gets snow day after snow day! Hard to imagine down here in da islands. After a lovely stay on the hook at Norman’s Is. with a nice meal ashore we headed the next day out the cut east into the Exuma Sound (deep water) and motor-sailed a short distance down to Shroud Cay which is uninhabited and the northern-most island in the Exuma Land and Sea Park which we wrote much about last fall. Shroud Cay has a wonderful lazy mangrove stream that winds its way from the banks side to the sound side which we dinghied through. The mangroves dry out at low tide but have 2.5’ water at high tide, and there’s always a current in the stream. At the eastern end of the stream we ‘climbed’ a 35’ hill from where you could see the whole island and far beyond. This hill used to be an outpost for the US FDA drug buster team as they were tracking a notorious Columbian drug runner using the air strip on Norman’s Is. They tracked all the flights in and out of Normans long enough to put the guy out of business with evidence. That was the ‘60’s, man!

That same day we weighed anchor and headed 15mi or so down to the Exuma park HQ on Warderick Wells cay. After a quick stop and trip ashore we continued on south out in the Sound past Hall’s Pond Cay (owned by Johnny Depp – but no Black Pearl) and many other islands which Jan and I visited last fall, to Staniel Cay. The Staniel Cay Yacht Club is a marina, small resort and primarily, an active bar. There are yacht club flags hanging on every inch of the ceiling from all over the world. I’m sure I looked like the goofy tourist, but it’s fun to walk around with your eyes up looking at all those flags and wondering about all the cruising trips like ours that got those flags there.

Friday, April 10

The next day Don finally got to get out his SCUBA gear and head out on the Staniel Cay Yacht Club dive boat. Don is a rancher and farmer from Bozeman and northern Montana and he was very surprised to learn that the dive boat owner and divemaster was formerly a cowboy in Wyoming! Boy, did they hit it off! At night the divemaster played in the band at the Thunderball Yacht Club which is an even more laid-back place than the SCYC if that is possible. Bob and I arranged to have laundry done and had a nice relaxing day ashore sipping Kalik beer “The Beer of the Bahamas” and doing some Skype phone calls. It was great to have a down day.

After Don’s dive trip we dropped our mooring about 3:00 and sailed 12 miles down to Black Point on Great Guana Cay which we had learned was having a celebration that night. The anchorage is wide open and had great protection. This night there was music blasting ashore, floodlights and a ceremony to begin the fishing tournament the next day with lots of speakers boasting about how they were going to win the big prize which was a giant trophy, and apparently major bragging rights. Also there were many small plywood booths selling all kinds of local fare (and beer or rum). We stopped and had some guava duff, a delicious rich smothered cake desert with strong nutmeg flavor. Oh, and some Kalik!

Saturday, April 11

We had thought about sailing all the 48 nautical miles (about 55 statute miles) to George Town this day, but it was blowing like skunk out of the southeast – right on the nose. The forecast was for light winds the next day, so we decided to head down to Cave Cay and found a beautiful protected anchorage from where we explored a private marina/resort (under construction, like everything in the Bahamas – not because the economy is booming but because projects seem to take decades to complete), saw several caves and went out about a mile west on the banks to a sand island which we walked around at low tide but it was so shallow that at high tide it completely disappeared! We spent another peaceful night aboard after the daily showers and simple but delicious meal.

Sunday, April 12, Easter

As predicted we awoke to mild winds and motor-sailed the 7 uneventful hours down to George Town. I have been getting more and more anxious to see Mystique and see what kind of shape she was in. I was delighted to find her looking good and floating!!! It had been four months that she had been alone in this beautiful little hurricane hole. Over the next two days prior to the arrival of the Admiral from Colorado on Tuesday evening I worked like a dog getting everything put back together. Dinghy launched off the aft deck, outboard attached and started (on the 2^nd pull!), bedding, books, foodstuffs and electronics all removed from plastic bags and put away, some cleaning done and a major trip to the local and very complete grocery store. A major project was to remove a broken engine cooling pump and replace it with a new one. After that, the diesel engine started right up. So Mystique was ready to roll!

Tuesday, April 14

Jan arrived on schedule at sunset and I met her (and Samantha) at the airport. The next day was anothe obligatory trip to the grocery store and giving the boat the Admiral’s touch. When we leave Mystique for months, we put Everything we can in plastic bags and so far, knock on wood, we have not had any mildew or mold.

The Family Island Regatta is beginning next week and preparations are furiously underway in Georgetown. Every island chain in the Bahamas sends their local winning boats to this super bowl of sailing. It is said to be bigger than the Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, World Cup, etc. The boats must be designed, built and mostly manned by Bahamians. They are traditional Bahamian working sailboats with HUGE mainsails. They must be made out of wood, with wooden masts that do not bend. They have hiking boards that slide from one side of the boat to the other as the boats tack, followed by enough bodies to keep the boats upright. Moveable lead ballast is also used in the boat, and if the boat capsizes the lead is so heavy that the boat sinks! It is recovered later by first removing the lead pieces, then raising the boat.

The boats alone are fun to watch, but the preparations are also entertaining. Everyone in town is madly building temporary booths out of plywood – some with decks overlooking the water! There is one booth that told us they would be selling beer and other alcoholic drinks. The name of this booth for the sailing races - ‘Liquor is quicker’. As a racer - - - hummm. We have secured crew spots on a photorapher’s boat for several days and are looking forward to that next Wednesday – Saturday.

More to follow, including pics, I promise, as soon as I find a faster connection across the harbor in George Town!

Exumas at Last! Norman's Cay

Wednesday, April 8

Long story short, the motor wasn’t back and installed in the windlass until Friday evening. Bob, Don and I took advantage of the pool, shower and covered patio at "Casa" to our hearts content. The traditional afternoon “opening time” of 4:30 was honored with spirits and 'horse doovers' and lots of friendly talk. Meanwhile the screaming southwest winds blew over and we avoided a nasty time heading south in the ocean.

Saturday was a glorious day and we headed out the Ft. Lauderdale cut around 8am. The light wind was behind us and would not propel the boat very fast so we motor sailed, passing a US Navy submarine several times as it practiced going up and down the coast. The shoreline along this stretch of ocean is even more crowded than farther north with huge condo complexes with their tenants wondering where their net worth went.

Our route took us into Miami Harbor straight west to downtown, then south to the southern tip of Key Biscayne where we were last year before jumping east to Bimini. We anchored in No Name Harbor with about 15 other sailboats and a few power boats. Since it was my birthday I was treated by Don to a wonderful dinner and drinks with key lime pie with a candle, and a serenade by the wait staff. A beautiful evening and peaceful sleep before our crossing. The Harbor Grill is the only establishment around this popular destination and is lively with Latin American music, owners and patrons.

The passage to Bimini on Sunday was a breeze. First, the anchor windlass worked! Sunny, warm and mild winds from the south allowed us to enjoy the day with conversation and reading. We had to motorsail with a heading about 25 degrees south of Bimini in order to counteract the amazing force of the Gulf Stream which flows at 3 knots northward. It is said the Stream carries a greater volume of water than all the rivers of the world combined, and it’s not surprising as the canyon is thousands of feet deep and the stream about 40 miles wide!

We arrived in Alice Town, Bimini around 3pm and got a good eyeful of the beautiful blue and green hues that make the Bahamas so gorgeous. We checked in with customs and immigration and Capt’n Bob paid the hefty $300 annual cruising fee. We decided not to stay at the dock in this sleepy little town but rather anchor out south of Bimini that night for an early start across the Grand Bahama Banks the next day – a 70+ mile day at 6 knots. After dropping the anchor we took our first swim of the trip which felt wonderful.

We decided not to attempt the overnight passage down the Tongue of the Ocean between Andros (the largest island in the Bahamas) and New Providence (Nassau) because of the weather forecast. We would instead stay north of Andros and go downwind to the west end of New Providence the next day in the 25kt northwest winds. Then head to the Exumas on Wednesday which was forecasted to be beautiful.

Monday the sky was clear and the winds started at 15 knots (about 18 mph) and built during the day to 25 knots (30mph) out of the south southwest. It was a great day for sailing due east across the banks and we had the engine off all day. We weighed anchor at 5:30 am and dropped the hook at 5:30 pm just east of Joulter Cays on the north side of Andros. The wind was forecasted to switch from the southwest around to the northwest overnight and we needed as much protection as we could get. We had seen no sailboats all day and we were all alone at anchor that night. We did get an amazing amount of sleep in spite of 20kt winds at sundown and 25kt winds at sunrise the next day.

Our ride down the 2000 meter deep Tongue of the Ocean was a wild one, to say the least. It blew 25kt steady, gusting to 30, behind us and the waves were big (8 – 10’) and coming from two directions. The most sail we dared put up was the small staysail with the engine.. We didn’t see any other boats and felt very much alone out there for the 6 hour adventure. It was not a comfortable ride.

Finally we rounded the western tip of New Providence Is. and returned to the comfort of the shallow banks which really cut the waves down to size. The Bahamian Defense Force has a harbor which allows sailors to take refuge from the weather, Coral Harbor Marina, and we took full advantage with a wonderful, quiet night at anchor.

Wednesday broke clear and gentle with north winds at 10-25 which were very welcome for our 45mi journey across the banks (12' deep average) to the Exumas. The temperature has been moderate in this cold front with 75 degree highs. Norman's Cay was our destination and we dropped anchor about 3pm. After chatting with our cruising neighbors and taking the dinghy out to see the partially submerged wreck of an old drug-running DC-10 we walked across the airfield to have a celebratory dinner at McDuff's restaurant from where I'm sending this update. Sorry not to have been able to post more pics tonight, but I'll do that in Georgetown where we plan to be Saturday or Sunday.

Another stop at Casa del Sol

April 2, 2009 - Ft. Lauderdale

All the food was loaded, crew Don arrived from Bozeman, Montana, we had a final lovely meal with Bob's mom Elana in Jupiter, and after an anxious night dreaming about the voyage we left the dock at 9am on Tuesday. The sun finally poked through the clouds as we headed south down the ICW, and we had a wonderful day. We learned later that those clouds produced torrential downpours, lightning and tornadoes around Jupiter! We anchored for the night in a peaceful round basin in Delray Beach and threw some chicken on the barby.

After a sound sleep we had breakfast and made preparations to weigh anchor with Don and I at the bow. Bob moved the boat slowly forward to put slack in the anchor chain and we pressed

the 'up' button on the windlass. "Click click". No movement! This brought back vivid memories of our Abacos adventure with son Andy aboard when Mystique's windlass did the same thing. Don and I pulled the chain in hand over hand, and we set out for Ft. Lauderdale knowing the windlass would need to be fixed before going any further.

Casa del Sol to the rescue again!! This wonderful small condo with docks and swimming pool and party patio with awning had been Mystique's first home after we bought her two years ago and spent two weeks refitting our new boat. And home again last fall when we waited for favorable weather with Swabby Jim aboard - attending the Boat Show. What a perfect place for working on boats and enjoying the friendship of Shelly and Arone, the owner/managers. Bob found a mechanic through a friend who came over right away, removed a non-working electric motor from the winch and delivered it to an armature repair shop. Another "mechanical opportunity", but this time another mechanic did the work;-)

The motor will be installed in the morning, and we plan on heading south to Key Biscayne south of Miami by noon. Saturday morning the weather forecast is for mild winds which should make for a good Gulf Stream crossing to Bimini.

For more pictures, click on our Flickr photo album link on the left of this page.