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!

Key West on a Bus

Today is the day!  We sail off from Marathon, but before we go, let me share one more story.

We took a day off from projects to hop the Lower Keys Shuttle and ride 50 miles to Key West.  I had my bus schedule from the Marathon Library that I got when we first sailed here and we had the $1.50 that it costs for >60 year olds.  The schedule had 8 am pick up and 10 am pick up. We decided 10 am to allow workers to get to their destinations and we would not interfere.  The closest pick up was 68^th Street, quite a ways from our mariner on 35^th Street.  We rode our folding bikes that the bus would accommodate, passed several bus stops that indicated Lower Keys Shuttle, but good little do-bees, we rode all the way to 68^th.  We got picked up, stowed our bikes and settled into the open seats of the bus. It was cool and the view was great!  We then saw the bus stop a closer stops but we didn’t know and it was ok.   

We met a young man from Texas who came to the keys for lobster season and works for one of the lobster fisherman who has about 2,000 tags and traps.  He educated us on the traps and the process for dropping them. The ones he uses weigh about 100 pounds, without the lobsters!  They weight them with concrete! The boat takes about 150 traps at a time, and he lifts them to the baiter and the baiter hands off to the setter who drops it over board.  Their company does not use surface floating balls.  They use GPS to locate their traps and they string them about 25 in a row on the bottom in about 30-40 feet.  At the end of the season, about October, the traps release a floating ball in case they move from their location or whatever, so no trap is lost or abandoned.  Traps that are left after season are called ghost traps. 

We talked with an old sailor who, like us, had a folding bike, but his had miles on it, for sure.  He recounted stories of old keys and how adventurous and risky it was in days of old, with drug runners and such.  He had one eye and a cat ketch boat with shallow draft and lived in the keys for many years.  He was going to Key West to straighten out some Social Security issue.  He received VA benefits too, but they were ok. 

Once in Key West the bus dropped us off on Eaton and Whitefield. We lifted our bikes, opened them up and started cruising to find Juan Loves Lucy for Cuban lunch that Corey, our friend on Thin Line in the marina, recommended.  We rode and rode, and finally just stopped.  It was right on Duval, 125 Duval Street, and there it was!  Our GPS was running us in circles!  Sometimes you have to just use a map and your head.  Lunch was good, Cuban sandwiches, and delicious Cuban coffee in a colado, small china demitasse cup.  It had the Cuban flag on it, very cool.  Our server, Ethel, told us they fired Ricky and Juan was out of town.  She was fun. 

We headed to the Butterfly Conservatory and had a most wonderful day.  We toured the gift shop and watched the orientation film and then into the garden.  Daryl found an iron butterfly seat for two, and we let the butterflies come to us. In addition to a variety of butterflies, there were exotic birds – small and large.  Rhett and Scarlett were 2 flamingos on the beach by the pond, very sweet and romantic.  Small birds with long tail feathers flew by, much like the quetzel Laura and I saw in MonteVerde Costa Rica.  Birds walking on the ground around bushes.  We saw the chrysalis of the butterfly and a nursery for the baby birds.  We left feeling very good about the world.

We rode to Ft. Zachary Taylor, but it was closed, we checked out sunset last time so we passed on that, and went to wait for the bus home.  EXCEPT when I checked the schedule on line we found out that there was no bus at 6:30 pm, the next was 9:30 pm!  Oh no.  We went back to our original location to find the schedule was wrong, and we caught a 7:30 bus to Marathon, all is well.  The key here is to have current schedule, don’t be afraid to ask others for help, and be flexible. 

On the way back we were entertained by a sunset celebration performer, Javier.  He was a compact dark man with long hair who carried huge bags and a oversized back pack on his bike.  He off loaded his gear, sat down, and began doing yoga on the bus.  He heard me ask the bus driver about a restaurant Laura recommended, the Square Grouper at mm 22.5.  Javier spoke up and said it’s good for a $100 per person meal, and used sauces to cover up any true taste.  He then began to lecture us on the fears of doomsday and how the govt tracks him and how he is a survivalist and carries all his provisions everywhere he goes and will not make friends with anyone in fear that they will be tracked also. You can hear his views at sunset at Mallory Square in Key West where he sits on a pillow under a pyramid and invites you to join him on other pillows set in a circle.  Oh,my.

The bus stops at the marina and we get off and walk our bikes to the boat.