Bimini - Time to Explore

Bimini is the western most Bahamian Island only 50 miles east of Miami.  Bimini Islands include North, East, and South Biminis, Gun Cay, Cat Cay, and a chain of rocks running north to south bordering the Gulf Stream. 

Bimini blue waters

North Bimini is 7 miles long and about ½ mile wide. It has 2 main roads – Kings Highway (the low road) and Queens Highway (the high road) – named from times of British rule.  Small, but the island has just about everything that a larger island might have. We see supply boats with fuel, construction materials, and food all arrive when the weather clears. When weather prevents delivery, the island goes without!  3 days without gas, no onions or eggs to be had.    

Conch shells 

We stay in North Bimini because Jean and I have a flight out in December to the US.  She to visit her mother who turned 98 November 30 and me to visit my cats in Maine. Gordon and D will stay with the boats in Bimini.

December weather is typically northern front after northern front from the US and this December seems to be typical, so it is prudent to stay close because weather may prevent you from moving from harbor to harbor. We get a slip at the Bimini Blue Water Marina with easy access to the airport in South Bimini.  Gordon and D will continue to stay there until we return and continue our passages east and south.

We start exploring Bimini by foot, then by bike, after clearing into the Bahamas officially with Customs and immigration.  We visit the Bimini General Hardware Store, a chandlery, on the south end of the island, and up to CJ’s deli for lunch, where the flies outside were awful, but none inside with the food.  We walk to Barbara’s for bread and she has 2 loaves for us.  Then onto Roberts’ grocery and up to Bimini World Resorts to check on the ferry schedule to US, and back to the boat. We ride the ferry to South Bimini, catch a shuttle bus driven by BIG to check out the airport transportation and schedules. It’s a day of orientation and exploration.

Fold a bikes touring the island 

We visit the Office of Tourism, the Craft Center and read the historic posters to learn more about tour new home, but the real history lesson is meeting Ashley Saunders at his Dolphin House. A native Biminite, his family in Bimini for 5 generations, Ashley is a teacher, educated in the US at University of Wisconsin, Madison and attended Harvard. He has written 2 volumes of Bimini history complete with lots of pictures and local information.  He gives us a tour of his home he built and is expanding to a third floor. It’s got 41 dolphins of all kinds of creative artistic displays. It is whimsical, colorful, unique, and it’s made of materials from the sea and things found on the beach - tiles, glass, shells, bottles and other sea trash.  He spends lots of time with us and answers all our question. A must do for any visitor. His brother, Tom, a dapper dresser shows us his ‘life of conch’ display.  He said he is at the third from the bottom stage of life.

Ashley Saunders gives us a tour of the Dolphin House

Inside is more whimsical artwork

Tom Saunders displays his "Life of Conch"

We celebrate the full moon by walking to the beach for sunset over the Atlantic. We have some rum, John Watling’s Buena Vista sipping rum, and Georgette’s Amazing Biscotti.  Then we turn west to see the globe of the full rising over Bimini Bay. Amazing. Life is good!

When the weather improves we explore by dinghy.  We go north up Bimini Bay and around to East Bimini where a deep creek cuts through the mangroves. Pristine and curvy it offers surprises – a deck overlooking a bust of Martin Luther King, Jr.!  Ansil Saunders, bonefish legend, boat builder and Ashley’s brother preaches at this deck and had taken MLK to this spot when he last visited before he was assassinated.  The Healing Hole is another creek leading to cold water, maybe spring, swimming hole.  We all swam and felt much better!! Then to the beaches of East Bimini where Jean finds a perfect milk conch and steps on the tail of a stingray! A very close encounter. Luckily, no barb, she suffered scratches though – back to the healing hole. Seriously, our greatest vulnerability to a happy cruise is our health.  We must be careful, no injuries or accidents especially when we are in remote places.  We return carefully over the shallow flats of Bimini Bay at low tide.

Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial in the mangroves

We spend Thanksgiving at Seaside Cafe where Gloria Rolle has cooked her little heart out. Jean and I have stuffed lobster with all the fixings while D and Gordon have turkey and ham.  The day after Thanksgiving we continue to give thanks with a shared dinner on the boat of smoked turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, dressing, green beans, and homemade toasted bread. We have much to be thankful for.     

Thanksgiving feast - we are so thankful!

With continued calm weather we go fishing on Fair Wind. Within 2 miles we are in 1000 feet of water! After 2 hours of trolling rods and outriggers, four lines altogether, with double hooked pre-rigged ballyhoo, Jean and I pull in 2 barracuda at the same time!  We release them. Daryl finds a sunken structure in 90 feet with lots of fish activity on the fish finder, so we switch to bottom fishing. I catch a trigger fish but little eating so we release it and it swims happily down into the deep.  I catch a small fish that gives gentle resistance then wham! It dives and my reel spins, I reel in, and it spins again.  Finally we get it to the surface all that is left is the head of a small snapper.  Most likely a shark hit it and ate it.  Next Jean catches a shark and fights it for 22 minutes then gives the rod to Gordon who fights it another 30 minutes until the shark swims under the boat and the line breaks. It was exciting – a lemon shark, 8 feet, 150 pounds! Still no dinner. We enjoy hot dogs on the grill with baked beans on Fair Winds with friends.  

A baby lemon shark at the Shark Lab

We snorkel the Sapona, a landmark for miles around.  It is a concrete rebar ship built during WWI when metal was scarce.  After the war it was not feasible for commercial use, so it was sold for the cost of shipping it away. Rumrunners in Bimini towed it from the US to Gun Cay where it was a warehouse for liquor during the Prohibition in the 1920s. They decided to tow it closer to Bimini and on the way it went aground on top of a Spanish galleon and has stayed since. Plans to make it a night club with a glass floor aquarium to see sharks never happened.  It has suffered practice bombing by the US military, several hurricanes, and now, graffiti.  It’s in 15 feet of water and rises about 20 above the water.  It is about 150 feet long.  The concrete has deteriorated and the rebar is exposed everywhere.  There are several compartments to swim through the holes in the side and we find lots of fishes.  There are many colorful tropicals, triggerfish, jelly fish, sting ray, barracuda.  D sees a grouper.  The water is beautiful as we fly back in our fast dinghies. 

Ruins of the Sapona

Back to the US for a visit and then east and south to the out islands of The Bahamas! 

The Crossing

It is only 50 miles from Florida to Bimini but the crossing is one of the most treacherous with the Gulf Stream current of 4 knots to the north and with all the freighter and cruise ship activity.  We pick our weather window carefully and cross with east southeast winds and seas 2-4 feet.  We watch continuously for big boat traffic. 

Leaving Key Biscayne - Bill Baggs State Park Lighthouse

Leaving at 4:30 pm planning for a 12-14 hour crossing, we arrive safely at Gun Cay to anchor on the west side.  We average 4 knots and log 48 nautical miles in 12 hours.  But we actually sailed 5-6 knots the whole crossing as we were going against the current.  We sailed 135 degrees most of the way and tracked 101 degrees straight to our destination! The current is ferocious.

Arriving in Bimini 

It’s great to be out on the open ocean as we sail with both sails, the jib and the main.  The waves build and the sun sets.  We have a half moon that lights our way. There are some dark clouds that affect our wind, but we see Orion clearly and the Big Dipper emerges. Cassiopeia is clear and we see the Seven Sisters.  It is not clear to the horizon, but lovely just the same. 

We immediately see 3 brightly lit cruise ships out of Miami. It is Saturday and one of the most frequent departure dates for cruise ships.  One of the ships is converging with us!  As it nears, Gordon identifies it as Disney Magic on his Automatic Information System (AIS) linked to his chartplotter.  Daryl calls the boat on VHF Channel 16 and the boat immediately responds to his call.  Daryl identifies our boat and asks if we are on their radar.  Disney navigator requests our position and Daryl responds with latitude and longitude. Disney navigator finds us on its systems and acknowledges our position, and advises it will clear us no problem.  Very cool.  We do the same thing with composite tug and barge, Galveston, and freighter, Pacuna J.  The Galveston actually thanked us and diverged from its path and gave us way. We must get an AIS system linked to our chartplotter!!

It was fun sailing with Fair Winds side by side.  Its profile in the setting sun and then the bright moon was beautiful to behold.  I was surprised at the amount of rocking and rolling it did in the 4-5 foot seas because it’s such a big boat. I guess we are all small out here.  We encountered one problem at sea.  Fair Winds battery voltage got so low some of its systems started to drop off.  Refrigeration and radar are 2 of the first systems. They went dark on navigation lights and moved up close to us for protection so other boats would see us. 

Before we knew it we were on the shores of Bimini and near the lighthouse at Gun Cay.  Time to rest and be grateful for another safe crossing.  

    

The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW)

Five days and 200 miles on the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) take us from Titusville to Key Biscayne, where we plan to cross the Gulf Stream to Bimini.

Sailing Bliss

Fair Winds Sailing Partners

The ICW is a famous journey and destination for many sailors.  It changes from wide open water with small towns to a narrow channel with ultra-urban cities with lots of bridges.  The water changes from tannic brown to sea green.  As you go south you see incredible wealth, huge mansions and even huger yachts.  The guide book speaks of conspicuous consumption and you can see it left and right!  One mansion has a golden replica of Winged Victory in its front yard. The gardens, pools, lawn furniture, statues of amazing creativity – one has life sized giraffe statues, others have nautical themes, each one seems to outdo the previous.  Most have super yachts along their seawall. It is a different world! Still, all along are pristine wetlands that are environmentally protected public lands preserved for current and future generations to enjoy nature as it was. 

Huge mansions and huger yachts

Miami under one of many bridges

One of many Miami skylines

Miami - Emerald City of the ICW

Ultra Urban Residences

Pristine areas all along the ICW

Golden Winged Victory

We sailed a lot the first 3 days with an east northeast wind of 15-20 knots, sailing 5-6 knots. We actually had to reef the jib and did not need to use the main sail. This is what sailing in season is like! There are many boats going south and few (almost none) going north, much like I-95 with cars this time of year. Lots of big yachts and trawlers. Lots of sailboats.  We mostly motored the last 2 days because of 39 bridges! All fairly close, about 2-4 miles apart, and opening on a schedule that requires 6-7 knots which is faster than we typically go.  Fly Away hull speed is 6 knots! To go 7 knots lowers our stern and we take on water in the drains, not a lot and not bad, but not good either. 

Each bridge is unique – height, width, and design.  One bridge looks like a Disney castle and another bridge is ultra-modern like something in a futuristic James Bond movie.  Fly Away and Fair Winds travel well together for each bridge opening. One bridge is 55 feet and with tide level shows 54 foot clearance and Fair Winds is 55 feet above water so must wait for an opening while Fly Away at 47 feet tall can sail through.  That works because the next bridge is too far for us to reach if we wait, so Fair Winds motors faster and we meet up at the next bridge.  One other famous bridge is the Julia Tuttle, at 56 feet, Fair Winds must sail the side span not the center which has a lower clearance.  All ICW bridges that are fixed must be a minimum 65 feet but when the Tuttle was built the specs were transposed to 56! A serious uh-oh.

Fair Winds approaching Ocean Ave Bridge - Disney castles

Futuristic 17th Street Bridge

Fair Winds under side span of Julia Tuttle Bridge

We have good luck with anchorages along the way.  They are conveniently spaced and protected as we like to be anchored by 4:30 pm as sunset is 5:30 pm. Short days! We pulled off the ICW about ¼ mile just north of Sebastian Inlet, then anchored off Harbour Town Marina in Ft. Pierce (where we stayed coming in from Bimini in October).  The third night was huge protected anchorage at the north tip of Lake Worth and then we just pulled off ICW at Lake Lettuce in Boca Raton area.  (where Daryl’s phone popped out of his pocket and into the 12 foot water when we weighed anchor, ugh) Our last night of the ICW took us to Dinner Key a city marina where we planned to get a mooring ball, shower, do laundry, refill diesel and water, and go out to a restaurant to eat!  Unfortunately, it was so rough that Jean and Gordon couldn’t pick up the mooring and all the other boats were crashing and rocking.  So we checked with Coconut Grove Sailing Club where Jeff and Elise stayed for a few months on their cruise.  It’s well protected and has nice amenities, even a boat taxi service from your boat to shore and back. After not reaching them on phone or VHF radio, we motor to their dock to see if we can get a mooring.  Daryl rounds the last buoy marker to let me off at the dock, when, bamm! We go hard aground.  I take the boat hook and sure enough – it's shallow, feels like mud, not sand, not rock.  We rev the motor back and forth, fly a sail to heel over and then Gordie pulls us, but couldn’t get purchase, no luck.  Ugh, we continue to rock and pivot and about 20 minutes later success! Free!  So much for new bottom paint on the keel, but luckily, it is an all lead keel, and no permanent damage.   No Coconut Grove or Dinner Key for us, we motor 3 miles east to the safety and comfort of Key Biscayne.  It is a most pleasant anchorage. It is here that we discover that our 5’6” draft may not be able to navigate the approach to Angelfish Creek pass.  Angelfish Creek pass is the best position to cross to Bimini and maximize the Gulf Stream northerly current of 4 knots at the its apex.  So we decide to cross from Key Biscayne, and we reposition ourselves to the southern tip, at Bill Baggs State Park and No Name Harbor, and had a serendipitously nice day exploring by bike and hiked up the lighthouse, 42 stories.  

Bimini is approximately due east, so we won’t be sailing against the current, but we won’t be helped by it either.  Fair Winds is ok with the change as they can power across it better than we can.  We are monitoring the weather for a good window to cross and fortunately for us it seems to be favorable Friday to Sunday.  We plan to leave 4 pm Friday and arrive about 4-6 am Saturday morning. 

Looking forward to a safe crossing!

   

Back on Track

We leave Titusville Municipal Marina on Saturday, November 14, 2015, after three weeks of visiting the cats and house sitting for me and lots of completed projects for D.  We are headed south down the intracoastal waterway (ICW) to Angel Fish Creek, about 220 miles south, where we will catch the Gulf Stream and cross to Bimini and many other Bahama islands.  Our friends Gordon and Jean will be sailing on Fair Winds and joining us as we cross and enjoy the Bahamas.

I got to visit Cinnamon and Spice in Maine and house sit for friends Stu and Anne.  My cats are so lucky to get to stay in a Maine farmhouse with many rooms, levels, and windows; oh, the things that they see from those windows!  Stu and Anne are vacationing more often and longer in Florida easing into retirement from law and farming.  Their dog Casey and cat Sawks, along with my 2 cats, make it difficult for pet sitting for 2 weeks, so I offered and they accepted. The great thing about this trip was visiting with Anne and Stu before they left and having my good friend Laura come and enjoy the organic farm experience.  As always she was all in for the adventure as we took care of the cats and dogs, fed chickens, moved the chicken fence, picked broccoli and salad greens, walked the property and took a couple of day trips into Bucksport, Bangor, and Belfast.  Did I mention the lobster rolls? All in all, it was a mild and colorful fall trip.  Next I go back in December to do it again! 

D stayed and worked on the boat.  He got the bottom painted – sailed it to Cocoa, had it hauled, blocked, pressure washed, sanded, painted multiple coats, and sailed it back.  Then he found his old sail maker, South Sails, who made Ceilidh’s spinnaker, and had a new head sail made for Fly Away. Much needed and so beautiful.  He had it made with linen colored canvas cover.  He also did so many projects I will never be able to thank him enough – added lights to the cockpit, no more eating in the dark and guessing how much pepper you just sprinkled.  He replaced the fluorescent light over the refrigerator with a bright LED light, so much improved, you can even find the one thing in the very bottom of the fridge.  He built a new shelf for the v-berth making it more convenient and organized. He found a canvas maker to modify our main sail cover for winches. He polished the hull making Fly Away look years younger. 

We are back on track, and looking forward to the next leg of our open ended sail.

A Storm … The Big One

We get notice of Hurricane Joaquin when we are on our second day in the Market Fish Cays. We are the only boat in our favorite anchorage by Soldier Cay.  Jeff sends us a message on our satellite communicator, DeLorme Inreach, that a hurricane, Joaquin, has slipped past Ida, which fizzled out, and has strengthened just east of Bahamas and is headed our way.

Fly Away at Soldier Cay in calm seas

 

We are midway between 2 outstanding hurricane holes, Great Harbor and Chub Cay.  We are experiencing 15-20 knot winds from the north so we decide to go south back to Chub Cay.  If we do that we will need to head back to Florida via the Bahama Bank, instead of the northern route via Northwest Providence Channel by Freeport and West End, Grand Bahama.  We agree it’s the better course, so we enjoy a fabulous downwind sail for about 20 nautical miles and endure 8 nm going into an east northeast wind to Chub Cay.  We go into the marina and get a slip. We are the only boat in the marina except for the owner's boat. The marina is protected 360 degrees with a channel that curves back and forth before opening up to the slips.  It still rock and rolls.   The fisherman who tie up along the channel are rocking about 4 feet, but where we are is still and calm, and we hope to be safe.

We remove the headsail and secure the main sail on the boom with tight crisscrossed lines.  Daryl secures the dinghy in the next slip.  In the event of severe weather, we plan to deflate the tubes a little and fill the hull with water to partially submerge.  We leave the outboard motor on to give it weight.  On Fly Away we check all the halyards and tie them off to the mast to avoid clanging and chafe. 

We visit the club manager, Michael, who is unconcerned about the hurricane as we are not in the path according to all weather forecasts.  All forecasts show the storm going northeast away from us.  For now, though, it is building and moving southwest toward us.  Michael lives in a beach house with bullet proof plate glass windows!  He also has a 2 engine plane, a Cessna Seneca 6 seater that cruises at 182 mph! He is from Eleuthera and has managed Cat Cay Club and Bimini’s Big Game and Fish.  But he does sound unsure. He shows us the marina plans and assures us we are in a very good location. He also says he will take care of us. Good to know. As sailors, we watch weather and appreciate forecasts, but we make our own decisions, so we tell him we will continue to watch the storm, prepare our boat, and be ready to leave the boat if necessary.  There are rooms available to rent – one level hotel type rooms on the island. He tells us Dan Scott is the man to talk with about flights off the island.  We ask about the captain of the big boat, C’mon, Man, from Matagorda, TX. 

The captain’s name is Bobby and he helped us with lines our first day.  He keeps the boss’s boat immaculate.  The boss is the Chub Cay Club owner, George Bishop of Texas. Bobby is also unconcerned about Joaquin and he is a survivor of both Andrew in 1992 in Miami and Katrina 2005 in New Orleans.  He was a charter boat captain in New Orleans, so he knows.  Or does he?  It’s a Disney-esque, head in the sand, nothing bad can happen attitude – weird.  The boat is a 4.5M Viking sportfisherman that goes 54 mph and gets to Ft. Lauderdale in a couple of hours!!  It has stabilizing gyros for big waves forward and back, side to side, and it all runs on an iPad! Very clever. He tells us he will keep us updated and make sure nothing bad happens to us.  Hmmm.  

C'mon, Man, a Viking Sportfisherman

the only other boat in the Chub Cay Marina

In the cool of the evening, we remove the bimini and dodger and tie everything down.  This hurricane threat is not what we hoped for, but sailing in hurricane season (June 1 – November 30) carries that risk and we have planned, and are prepared, to do what is necessary to save our boat and ourselves.  We hope it turns north sooner rather than later, but hope is not a plan. We plan to be safe.  To sail again!

Fly Away prepared for hurricane

Note the empty slips

Fly Away put back together

Note the beautiful weather

Hurricane Joaquin has quickly become a dangerous category 4 hurricane and is still headed our way.  We check our surroundings and realize there are some vulnerabilities in the marina. It’s got state of the art floating docks, but the pilings are only about 10 feet at low tide.  A Cat 4 storm with 6-12 foot surge and higher than normal tides would render the marina a mess of pick up sticks. But that’s a worst case and we are hopeful for a better scenario. 

On Friday the storm turns.  “Hooray!”  as Ann says. It is going northeast quickly, speeding away from us, exactly as all the forecasts indicated.  We are sooo very lucky and grateful to miss The Big One.  A frontal storm in the US moved though to push the hurricane on its new path, so US to the rescue!

Unfortunately, a large container ship off the coast of Long Island, (yes, there is a Long Island in the Bahamas) went down in 15,000 feet of water with 33 people lost.  We come to find later that it’s a US registered boat with a Maine Maritime Academy graduate as captain. Extremely sad.

Tropical storm conditions reach 200 miles from its center so we prepare for an interesting night.  Ready to adjust lines on the dock in the dark and maybe blinding rains.  We dress for bed in easy to dry clothes.  We tie lines up and down the 2 slips and adjust the boat for wind ‘down the hatch’ wind scoop.  It’s overcast and cool, but very light air. Hardly enough to keep the wind generator working and the seas are flat.  We adjusted lines twice, but nothing major, thankfully.

As guests at the marina we are welcome to join workers at the staff caff, so we do lunch with all the workers.  We meet Byron Ellington, the supervisor, who is a photographer when he is not working on the reverse osmosis water plant or the power plant.  He posts on facebook and has uploaded pictures of Fly Away at sunset when we were in the anchorage.  They are lovely. 

Fly Away in Chub Cay Anchorage by Byron Ellington

For more pictures and videos visit his facebook page

We awake to high seas and find it’s too rough to leave the marina so we stay another couple of days and put the boat back together.  I polish the stainless stain bows of the bimini and dodger before we put it back up.  Put the head sail back on and untie the main sail. 

As soon as the seas subside and the winds become more favorable, we head out for the Northwest Channel and the Bahama Bank to Bimini.  We spend 2 nights on the bank and stop at Cat Cay for fuel, provisions, and shopping for Cat Cay t-shirts for Amy and all my cat friends.  We move the boat up to the beautiful pool-like waters of Bimini and rest before we cross the Gulf Stream.  We have about 175 miles to Cape Canaveral and hope to catch some advantage of the Stream.  The seas are high from residual hurricane conditions, but they are manageable and die down as we move north.  

It’s a glorious crossing. We see stars, sliver moon, and planets at night off the Bahamian coasts. We pass between huge thunderstorms on the US east coast.   Still, the waves grow as we get closer to the US coast and we decide to go in at Ft. Pierce about 65 miles south of Cape Canaveral.  It takes us 2 days to move up the Intracoastal Waterway to Titusville and its Municipal Marina. 

Home for now.  Work to do - bottom job, new head sail, cats to visit.  Then, back to the Bahamas!

New Providence: Shonaray and Baha Man

Leroy Butler and Shonaray Johnson join us in Nassau

 We stop in Nassau to see our friend Shonaray.  She moved from Andros.

She shows us the island!  She drives us for 2 days and we cover the whole island, 20 by 7 miles, several times.  We do our errands and she includes us in her daily rounds.  We pickup her girls from school, her fiancé back and forth to work, visit her son Nickolas and wife, Linnette. She shows us her home on Mollie Street.  A fish pond, bird perch and lots of plants – healing cactus, avocadoes, mangoes, and bananas. We meet Leroy Butler her fiancé. She is a force. She knows almost everyone, and everywhere we go, everyone knows her. We are happy to find her doing well and happy.

We anchored in West Bay by Lyford Cay. Lyford Cay is most famous for the residence of Sean Connery.  We are the only boat in the harbor and when we sailed in from Andros we had a west wind so we anchored close to the north shore behind a point of land called Nygarts Cay, named after Peter Nygart the designer who owns the point and has whimsical structures built on it.  The water is beautiful and totally clear.  The beach, Jaw’s Beach, named after the famous movie that had parts of it filmed here, has beautiful pale tan fine sand.  There is an island, Goulding Cay, off in the distance that has reefs, coral, and a solitary palm tree and a white flashing marker light at night.  When we sailed in we hoped to anchor around Goulding Cay but we couldn’t find calm water.  The water was the crystal Bahamian blue and amazing to see. 

Dinghy at the dock with Fly Away in background

Jaw's Beach

The good news is that being so close to shore we found accessible wi fi and we were able to use computer, Skype video and calling!  What a treat!  We called and talked to our friends each day.  We thanked Sean Connery for wi fi. 

One night we hosted a hot dog grill out on the boat for Shonoray, her daughter Esther, 11 years old, Leroy, and his daughter, Leah, 16 years old.  We dinghy them out, they climb aboard.  D does hot dogs and we have baked mac’n’cheese, baked beans, all the hot dog fixings and Goombay Smash.  Leroy and D get along great both share a boyish sense of humor that the girls find hilarious. Leroy is a performer and entertainer.  He is a musician and vocalist in the Baha Men and has his own group Leroy and the Energizers.  He is also a world class champion limbo dancer!!  We watch a video of him going under a very low limbo stick that is on fire.  He even does it with a young child laying on his chest. He attributes his talent to leg strength and flexibility, but I also think it takes a lot of mental strength and concentration.  The Baha Men are famous for the 2000 remake of “Who let the dogs out?” music video that won many awards that year.  He has traveled internationally with the group and is preparing for the Newport Jazz Fest this year.  

D takes Leah and Esther to the boat

     

It was worth the trip to Nassau to see Shonaray.  Next is Chub Cay and the Berry Islands.   

A fabulous sunset 

Andros: Red Bays, Island Reefs, and Burnt Conch

Ten days at Morgan’s Bluff is time enough to see the routine and get the feel of the place.  Mail boat on Wednesday unless its Thursday, ESSO closes on the weekend, Unca Harvey’s Water Loop bar closes on Monday, the usuals at the bar never stop.

It’s been a great visit.  Our last visit, we arrived one day, toured the island the next day, and left on the third day.  That’s the difference in sailing on a timeframe versus sailing open ended. So much more rewarding. We actually were able to wait for favorable winds!  Not just go.

Unca Harvey's Water Loop bar, office, check-in

We met many new people and got to see our old friend Lavarette Woodside, who turned 36 years old on September 9^th.  Unfortunately, Shonaray moved to Nassau, so we missed her and her daughters, Abigail and Esther.

                         D and Lavarrette enjoy watermelon and talk in the Regatta village disco

Solomon Roberts, our local guide, took us to Red Bays to the Black Seminole settlement, the Mennonite farm for fresh produce, and the grocery store for other provisions.

Red Bays was interesting, a step back in time to a simpler way of life.  D toured it in 2011 on his way back from the Bahamas with Harry after I flew back from Nassau to go to work. He met Preacher Teacher Bertram A. Newton, who showed them all around and gave them his book written in 1965 – The History of Red Bays.  Basically, enslaved in the US, they escaped to Florida before it because a state and made friends and lived in harmony with the Seminole Indians. They even incorporated their dress and culture.  In the 1820’s they lived in Angola where Sarasota is now.  When Florida became a state the slave hunters went to get their property, so the Black Seminoles left in canoes down the west coast of Florida to Cape Sable and headed to west coast Andros, an isolated, uninhabited area where they hoped to live free and in peace.  They were discovered 7 years later by a Bahamian official who took them to Nassau and pled their case.  They then became free men and women. A sad story for America.

                                                                  Red Bays entrance

We watched them weaving baskets from thatch palms, saw the dining hut where anyone can stop and eat, there is always something cooking and no one goes hungry, three large #3 wash tubs of laundry, and very open and friend people.  We found Preacher Newton’s widow, Rose Marshall Newton, and were able to pay our respects as her husband had died in 2013 and her influential mother, Omelia Marshall, died in 2012.   

    Red Bays Settlement - Thatch bunch, Chicken, and Hut

                                   Nickolas Ber is a weaver who learned from Mother Omelia

                                                        His son and daughter also weave. 

Solomon took us to the sponge docks, another major industry for Red Bays.  All the boats that could were out, including Pete the Greek, whom D met in 2011. Pete was from Greece and lived in Tarpon Springs, Florida, before moving to Red Bays.  The dock was decrepit and there were several sunk boats in the bay.  We saw carapace of lobster in the clear water where someone cleaned lobster tails.  We saw small sponges drying in the sun.  Sponging seems to be in decline. 

   The sponge docks and a sunk boat

Next we went to the Mennonite farm for fresh produce, but they had no harvest this time of the year, the next harvest was citrus in November.  They had a sign on the door, “We expect our customers to be fully clothed.” I had on long sleeves and long shorts. 

So we went to the Supermarket on Queens Highway and they had a good selection of produce and we picked up other provisions.  Good day.

    The supermarket on Queen's Highway

One day we took the dinghy to the small islands north of the harbor to explore. So small they are not named on our charts! We dinghied around the larger. It had 20 foot cliffs of coral and no beach access. The second island had a small sandy beach access so we anchored the dinghy about 50 feet out and swam in and walked the perimeter.   It was hard coral all around with broken shells and a low island brush interior.  It was about ¼ mile around. Then we snorkeled the reeks around it – just lovely, so clear and the healthy with fish, and soft and hard, colorful coral.  There was a purple coral I’d never seen before. Like a finger plume.  We saw 2 large trigger fish and lots of tropicals.  No lobster!

                                              Daryl swims to no name island and its reefs

We saw a panga boat, a long narrow skiff, 3 guys fishing. We headed to them.  They were diving and catching lobster.  It was Christopher and Bob in the boat, and Mike in the water. We agreed to buy 2 lobsters after seeing the size and asked that they bring them to our boat later.  When they came they sold us 4 for $30 – good deal! We grilled 2 and steamed 2.  Delicious.  The most frequent question – Is Maine lobster or Caribbean crawfish better?  The main difference is claws, Maine lobster has the tender tasty claws, so we’ll debate tail meat.  There’s no debate, they are both fabulous.  D says crawfish is not as lobstery, for what that’s worth! To me they are both sweet meat.  To my surprise I found I preferred them steamed. They were juicier and more tender. 

           Chris shows us their lobster, we buy 4.  

One of the special people was Monroe, AKA Captain Hardass.  He lives on his boat with his 2 skiffs.  He is 70+ years old.  He fishes, dives lobsters and conch and one time on his way to Chub Cay his motor failed so he swam his boat the rest of the way!  He is also the conch chef.  He makes the best conch salad!  He shops for lime, peppers, onions and hot peppers. He chops the salad, pounds the conch and mixes it in juices in his little hut in the bar.  For me he added lobster which was a real treat.  He also serves me burnt conch salad – to this day I am unsure what that is, but he assures me it’s not cooked and not spicy.  I think it’s the edge meat that is burnt orange in color.  I think … to be determined. It’s not in google.  He is leaving for Chub Cay and the Berries on Wednesday so we hope to see him again on this trip. Did I mention he is also a dapper dresser?

    Monroe AKA Captain Hardass, Conch Chef

Monroe's conch salad and Kalik

One last story before we leave Andros. We awoke one morning to a black splash stain on the transom and bottom of the boat. It was very dark, almost black, and about the size of a basketball. It didn’t smell and it was smooth to the touch, like a stain on the gelcoat. As I dive in the water, I try to wash it with a scrungy sponge.  No effect.  I use tide, it cleans everything. No effect. D says it may be organic, try bleach. I dab chlorox and rub it again, voile!  It disappears. We conclude that an octopus must have been caught between the boat and dinghy and defensively squirted its ink.  That’s our story!

We enjoyed Andros and look forward to sailing to the next island, New Providence (Nassau), where we hope to see Shonaray.  We will not miss the mosquitoes and the doctor flies!!

Favorable weather for crossing to Nassau

The harbor and beautiful water off Nassau

The Bahamas Arrival

We are officially in the Bahamas! 

We cleared Customs and Immigration at Morgan’s Bluff, Andros, on Thursday, September 10, 2015. 

Andros is a unique Bahamian island. It is the largest Bahamian island at 120 miles north-south and 20 miles east-west, with a sparse population of 8,000, because much of it is swamp and there are 3 big bights through the center; North, Middle and South Bights, isolating each part.  Most of the population is Black, but there is a Haitian community, Mennonites who farm, Black Seminoles, and others, according to our local guide, Solomon Roberts. 

We left Marathon, Florida, Wednesday, September 2, 2015, about noon and motored out of Boot Key Harbor and sailed to Key Colony and anchored at Grassy Key.  The winds were very light and from the south east so we didn’t get far.  That’s sailing, and it’s ok!  The next day we motored past Channel 5 where we planned to anchor, and anchored offshore at Lower Matecumbe.  Because the air is so light we are able to anchor offshore instead of finding anchorages inside on the calmer gulf side which takes more time.

We stay and play for a day at Lower Matecumbe to see two historical islands that are now state parks – Lignumvitae Key and Indian Key.  But first we have lunch at Robbies. We dinghy into Robbies dock and the first things you notice are the charter boats for fishing and snorkeling and jet skis for rent, it’s a happening.  But then, you see huge tarpon, over 5 feet long, everywhere, and people are feeding them from the dock – huge fish leap from the clear water to grab little fish held by tourists. We wind around to the outdoor restaurant and all kinds of Keys’ paraphernalia abounds. There are artist booths for painting, aluminum artwork, weaving, t-shirts, everything.  For lunch we have excellent mahi-mahi and fries.  We head out to Lignumvitae Key on the Gulf side.  The water is beautiful shades of blue and green and lots of lobster traps to avoid. We circle it, see one sailboat at anchor on the north side and come to a dock on the east side.  There is a kayak landing but we use the dock. It’s a short path to a well-groomed yard with coral stone building and 4 canons spaced precisely across the grounds.  By the time we reach the building we are swarmed by mosquitoes and have to run back to the dinghy doing the mosquito dance.  It was terrible! We had been warned to take bug spray and they were right! We hopped in the dingy and ran out to Indian Key, a smaller round beautiful little island on the Atlantic side.  We tied to the dock, but I told D to go ahead, I’ll wait here.  I didn’t want to experience mosquitoes again.  He found a family on the dock who had kayaked and hiked across the island, no mosquitoes. I am so glad I went. The island is the well preserved ruins of a town that had a hotel, hospital and homes.  Streets were named and the paths were clear.  There was no mention of the famous Indian uprising and massacre but I guess that story was for another time in its history.  Also, no mosquitoes!

The next day we motored in light air to Key Largo.  We crossed over some beautiful reefs in clear water along the way.  We anchored offshore by John Pennekamp National Park and the boat traffic was busy and steady.  Lots of charter boats for snorkelers on the reefs and lots of go-fast private boats.  We hopped in our dinghy and followed the traffic into Largo Sound through a mile or so of mangrove canals – it looked like a Nicaraguan river that I fished in Costa Rica!  It was amazing and wild.  Through Largo Sound we find the Canal that is a manmade canal cut through to the gulf side. The sides are blasted out coral some 10 feet high and big homes above it and US 1 crosses over it.  The canal is deep and constant two way traffic. We get to the gulf side and I watch the dinghy as D goes ashore to get a pump for the water system at West Marine. 

On the way back a thunderstorm sweeps across the area so everyone is now racing to beat the storm. We are one of the few headed out, and people yell at us that we are going the wrong way! As we emerge from the mangrove canal we see Fly Away about 1 ½ miles away and the storm is bearing down.  Can we make it to the boat before the storm?  We push the dinghy hard but the storm wins.  It’s raining so hard it’s hard to see the boat and the rain is blinding us, too.  But all is well, we reach the boat and safely get on board.  The rain cools the evening and we have a nice night – except, mosquitoes! They have been bad nightly even though we are offshore they swarm the boat attacking us in our sleep.  So we fight them off and go below and put our mosquito screens up. Then you hunt the remaining mosquitoes because you cannot sleep with even one buzzing your head!

Thunderstorms behind us

The next day we make final preparation to cross the Gulf Stream.  It’s a beautiful day, light air again so we can only hope for a breeze off shore to sail, otherwise we will have to motor. We have 6 miles to cross the reefs and get in to the Gulf Stream and 60 miles to Bimini or Gun Cay (pronounced key) Cut – the pass just south of Bimini. We plan to go to Bimini if the crossing is rough and we are tired. If the crossing is smooth we plan to bypass Bimini and go straight through to Andros to check into the Bahamas.  The Gulf Stream was flat with no air as we motored across. We crossed 2 cruise ships and several container ships and freighters. We watched a huge storm behind us in the keys, but luckily it never threatened us. It made for a beautiful sunset. The good news was that the Gulf Stream current carried us faster across the stream than we expected.  We planned on 3 knots for 66 miles or 22 hours to reach Bimini around midmorning – the stream increased our speed to 6 knots.   So we arrived at Gun Cay, refreshed at 1:30 am, in just 13 hours!

Calm water crossing the Gulf Stream

Gun Cay (key) light house 

We anchored for the night offshore Gun Cay. We awake to the most beautiful water in the world, so clear you can see the anchor on the bottom at 17 feet.  Brilliant blues of all shades against the sky and the rocky coral islands with green palm trees and a bright red and white light house.  It assaults the eyes with its dramatic beauty.

Anchoring in clear water off Gun Cay

We motor though the cut around the light house that has been painted recently. The grounds around it have been cleared. Another sign of the new prosperity of Bimini.  We carefully motor around rocks and shallows near the entrance to the Bank and go down the east side of the next key, Cat Cay, to avoid shallow shifting sand.  But after that it’s a straight 60 mile shot to the Northwest Channel and then a choice of 3 islands – Chub Cay in the Berry Islands, Nassau at New Providence, or Morgan’s Bluff, Andros.  We like Andros and hope to see our friends, Shonaray and Lavarette. 

The first day on the bank is dead calm. We motor the rhumbline and go 18 miles before we pull over off the main route and anchor for the evening.  The water is gorgeous.  We’ve seen few boats and no marine life.  You can turn 360 degrees on deck and not see land, yet you are in only 12 feet of water.  It’s an amazing experience, an amazing place.  There is no place I would rather be.  I am so happy right here, right now.  I dive in from the boat and instantly I am cooled to the core and refreshed.

The Bahamas Bank

Day two the air picks up out of the south east and we are able to sail, although we have to tack because the wind is in front of us.  We sail 30 miles and advance 15 miles to the NW Channel.  It’s a great day!! We see lobster fishermen on the bank.  They make lobster condos in the water and mark them with their GPS.  Then they race out with their skiffs trailing a long safety line, and when they get to a condo, one guy jumps off the boat and dives for the lobsters.  Once back on the boat it races off to the next condo.  Once they have their haul, they race to one of the bigger mother ships, and do it all over. 

Day three the air eases so we start sailing, but once again it’s on the nose so we must tack.  After 8 miles of tacking and only 3 miles closer to the channel, we start motoring and we get to the NW Channel and anchor off to one side. We see the first mail boat of our journey.  They are large boats about 70 feet long with a large superstructure on the back and a landing platform and forklifts for delivering goods and supplies to the islands, but they are very slow. They also take passengers. D and I want to travel that way, at least once. 

The mail boat

Day four on the bank we motor carefully though rocks and shallows hoping for a short cut past the NW Channel but we are unable to find it.  We make our way back around. I spot on the bow and the coral are just beautiful – it’s a great way to sail. Out through the pass we enter the Tongue of the Ocean where the water quickly descends to 2000 feet! And on to 6,000-7,000 feet! We motor sail south east 20 miles to Andros with beautiful view of sparse islands and coral reefs to our right.  The forecast called for 2-4 foot seas, but we find less than 1 foot calm water and are grateful for an easy passage. 

Morgan’s Bluff is visible from far away because of its high elevation.  Relatively high for a Bahamian island. We raise our yellow Q flag to announce we are arriving from a foreign country and will be checking in. We easily find our way into the harbor, but all the marks are gone.  The channel markers have rusted and washed ashore and the range marks are damaged and the taller range is gone. It’s just been 4 years since our last visit, but it looks like it has experienced some harsh weather.  Also, it once supplied Nassau with over 50% of its water, now Nassau uses reverse osmosis instead of importing water, so that leaves Andros with a loss of revenue, and a major loss of activity in the harbor.  The government docks are still the same, with the same tug sunk on the south end.  There is a fuel barge and tug currently docked. 

We see a 20+ sailboat on shore of their sandy beach, never a good sign.  But the brightly painted regatta booths are still there giving it a festive look.  There are the typical Bahamian boats wrecked ashore also.  There is no one anchored in the harbor so we have our choice of anchoring locations.  We drop the fortress anchor in a sandy hole and motor over to drop the second anchor, a plow, in another sandy spot.  D gets cleaned up and races in the dinghy to the dock master to pick up the paperwork to clear us.  He races back and we fill out 4 pages of information, and he races back with the paperwork completed and signed and $150.00 for the cost of a cruising permit that includes all fishing permits. I set up the boat – cover the main, set up the wind scoop, prepare mosquito screens, and general chores until he returns. He races up and says, we’re in, and there is food if we hurry! So I hop in and we race to shore to a road side stand where Sophia Loren, yes, has brought food from her restaurant, Café Loren, in Nicholls Town.  Fried fish heads on, fried chicken, and ribs.  There is baked mac ‘n’ cheese, just the way I like it with bits of jalapeno. Rice and peas – pigeon peas.  So D loves it. I get a small fried snapper and it is deliciously spicy.  Now, can we slow down, mon?

Our boat is anchored in crystal clear water. It’s not beautiful like Bimini or the Bank, but the clarity is the same.  We can see immediately that neither anchor is holding. When we dive down on them, we find coral rock topped with an inch of sand!  The anchors will just drag across it if a storm hit!  So we scout the whole anchorage for better holding and find some grassy patches that hold well. Now we can sleep well at night.

Daryl races to clear customs at Morgan's Bluff

The marina is though a short channel and opens into a wider circle about 1000 feet in diameter.  There is a coral rock seawall around it and boats just tie up anywhere, no organization, but it works, and it’s quaint.  There are several sportfishermen boats, some working fishing boats, and skiffs.  There are at least 2 boats sunk in their dock.  The mail boat comes all the way in to make deliveries.   Around the rim, the most prominent building is the bar, Unca Harvey’s Water Loop, and it is the social center for all information and entertainment.  You don’t have to drink to go there; I go there for wifi.  Then there is the little pink building that houses the dock master, Kadra, who is gone by now, so I don’t get to meet her.  D says she is attractive and an energetic person.  There are bath cabanas behind the dock master, but they have been abandoned and no longer work.  There are tanks and trailers for storage of supplies delivered by the mail boat.  There is an ESSO station behind the bar for diesel and gas.  Everything you need, right there.  There are palms and pines.  You can watch the fish in the clear water swimming. Every once in a while the bigger fish set on the smaller fish and a feeding frenzy ensues, calling the sea gulls into play. 

A sunset

We don’t know how long we will stay in this paradise, but we are watching the weather, and while it’s clear of any hurricane activity, the remnants of TS Grace is scheduled to pass by in the next couple of days, so we will sit tight and decide our next island then.

Hope you are well!