Monthly Archives: March 2010
Track Data – 3/29/2010
Roombas
Today, just our first day at Georgetown, we went ashore at “Chat and Chill”. Technically speaking from a correct grammar, parts-of-speech type of standpoint I believe that “chat and chill” should be capitalized since it is the name of an establishment, however since the establishment is also just a small wooden shack with tattered t-shirts hanging from the ceiling that serves as a bar and beach restaurant I think that you should overlook this seeming grammatical faux pas.
While the “chat and chill” may not have much to offer in the culinary, amenities or atmosphere front the “chat and chill” owns one of the prettiest and most popular beaches in Georgetown. Some of the things that make this beach special are it’s white sandy stretches that are uninterrupted by rocks or other blemishes. This in itself would not make the beach unique, as there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of white sandy beaches in the Bahamas with at least a dozen or more scattered around Georgetown.
Another thing that attracts cruisers is the volleyball courts. These are more difficult to find in the Bahamas than beaches are and there are two at “Chat and Chill”. Nearly as magnetic a pull (at least for cruising kids) is the collection of tree swings. There are about a dozen in different flavors including one that the kids climb up into the tree with and do this crazy Tarzan thing on. The beach chairs, picnic tables, and easy dinghy tie up also contribute to the pluses at “chat and chill”.
For me though the real pull is the roombas. Before I go any further I should make sure you know what a roomba is. Back home my neighbor has a real Roomba. There it’s round electrical device that’s a cross between a vacuum cleaner and a robot. For a mere couple of hundred dollars you too can have a vacuum cleaner that, once activated automatically negotiates the rooms of your home sucking up all the scraps on the floor. When it encounters a static object it is programmed to reverse slightly, change course by a few degrees and then move forward again. In this way it is able to work its way around chairs, other obstacles, and out of corners and continue on its mission of sucking up all of the pieces of junk on the floor.
Here the roombas I’m talking about are quite similar but most people call them stingrays. Near the chat and chill there is an even smaller and less impressive structure, which is a close cousin to the lemonade stand back home. It is the establishment of the “conch salad guy”. Here a young and enthusiastic Bahamian guy shows up. His schedule seems to have no pattern or rhyme or reason to me but when he shows up he always has conch, onions, peppers, oranges and a couple of baggies with mystery ingredients to make the conch salad.
He is the reason that the roombas come. When “conch salad guy” shows up and starts to prepare the conch he puts the scraps on a big piece of drift plywood nailed to a nearby tree. Those who are brave enough to pick up the slime-covered stuff then hurry to the waters edge (just mere feet away). In come the roombas, better know as stingrays. They glide silently along the waters edge and converge in a collection of 2-3 foot diametered dinner plates at the feet of their mentors. Their long stingers trailing behind make them are distinct and remind us that they are not harmless.
Much like their namesakes, the Roomba these stingray slide along the floor of the ocean coming into the shallow water and hovering over the outstretched conch-filled hands. They suck up the scraps of conch and then slide forward gently bumping against your feet and ankles. As they encounter the barrier of your ankles they reverse change their direction by a few degrees and go forward again. They are for me, “The Roombas of the Sea.
Track Data – 3/27/2010
On to Georgetown
From Bitter Guana our goal was to find some weather that would allow us to sail on to Georgetown. We lifted the anchor and left the iguanas to themselves. Both boats, ours and Taua needed fuel and we needed water as well so we stopped at Safe Harbor Marine in Cave Cay.
Safe Harbor Marine is aptly named as it is a small harbor nearly completely surrounded by high walled island. It’s almost like boating into an extinct volcano. The dock hand (the owners son) was pleasant and informative. His family purchased the island and moved to it 16 years ago and have been working on creating a resort by dredging and building a hotel for most of that time. I would have liked to meet his parents and find out more of their story. It seems an interesting thing to purchase an island and live in virtual isolation for such a long time.
Prices were high there but Safe Harbor Marine is one of only two marinas that offers dock side fuel pump until you get to Long Island so we paid what we had to. The other marina is in Farmers Cay and we can’t quite wedge ourselves in there since they don’t have enough water for a 5.5 draft. After that stop we anchored for the night at Musha Cay which is owned by David Copperfield (the magician) as is the island next to it.
There is absolutely no going ashore allowed but from the boat it looks like a well-run resort rather than someone’s personal home. Apparently he does rent out the entire island for a mere $325,000 per week. Just in case any of you out there are interested I have contact info if you need it. No? Me either, I probably can’t even afford the 1 hour tour at that rate.
It blew like the dickens that night but fortunately the wave action was relatively flat in the anchorage in spite of the minimal amount of protection. As a result of the large shallow area there wasn’t much for fetch.
Next morning we went out Musha Cut and headed for Georgetown. Taua put up a sail right away but the wind was so minimal that even Boyd wasn’t tempted to put any sails out. Our wind speed indicator didn’t even make it to a full knot until after lunch. By the time we got to Georgetown it was almost 3.5 knots but still not enough to do anything with. We entered and anchored in Elizabeth Harbour.
It’s a wonderful, large area and there are several anchorages with good holding. If the winds are westerly, all the boats migrate to Kidd Cove and if it’s an easterly, they come back again to Volleyball Beach or Hamburger Beach.
Track Data – 3/26/2010
Thunderball Cave
No photos with this one I’m so sorry to say but I just have to share the experiance anyway. We spent the morning at Thunderball Cave. It’s of the fame of the James Bond movie with the same name and was well worth the time and energy to see.
Thunderball cave, when approached, is less impressive than expected, at least less impressive than I’d expected. It is essentially just a big rock in the water. Here there are hundreds of those so not such a big deal. When you get close enough you’ll see that there are a couple of non-descript mooring buoys near the rock and once you get close enough to tie up to one of those you should be able to make out the entrance to the cave. Still it’s just a low dark hole just a foot or so above the surface of the water. Not enough to create adequate anticipation of what is to come.
Thunderball cave’s entrance is low and nondescript but what lies inside is amazing. Nearly the entire rock is hollow with a large opening in the top of the rock, which generously allows sunlight to pour into the cave. Likewise the entire lower portion of the rock, the part in the water is hollowed out as well.
Therefore once you duck and enter the small opening in the rock you are immediately treated to an underwater bonanza of fish and other sea life. Conditions are such that you are instantly swimming inside the most incredible fish tank you’ve ever seen. Fish of all kinds, colors and shapes and sizes abound.
The fish here are used to being fed and they are not the slightest bit afraid. The fish come right up to you and wait to see if you have anything. We brought a bag of frozen corn and a can of cheese whiz. It’s amazing how much fun you can have with just this amount of food. We had a fantastic time feeding the fish and swimming through the cave. Within and hour the current in the cave got too strong to swim through the cave and we had to leave but I’m convinced I could do that every morning and not get bored.
Bitter Guana Cay
Today we stopped at the most stunning island. The cliffs of sand stone seem to tower above the crystal blue water, at least by Bahamian standards. This is a change from the average scenery not because of the water but rather the height of the land.
Here the land is low and what trees there are struggle against poor soil condition, low rainfall and the intermittent hurricanes. Often islands have a profile of just 10s of feet above sea level including the tree line so this island was a lovely change of venue for us.
Our trip from Piggy Beach to Bitter Guana was short and uneventful. In fact before we left we went snorkeling and we still had the anchor down and the dinghy in before 3pm at Bitter Gauna.
We were eager to see the 3 ft iguanas that reside on Bitter Guana and I’d even saved some additional food scraps. The iguana’s, we’d been warned, were not as friendly as the pigs (imagine that) and one boater had even told us that an iguana had bitten his son so we were somewhat cautious about our approach.
The iguanas were so big and plentiful that we could see them moving around the beach from the anchorage before we even got into the dinghy. Unlike the pigs there is no legal thinning of the iguanas so with no natural predators they rule the island.
When we beached the dinghy and were approached by the many iguanas it was a bit like stepping back into a forgotten time and place. I know that iguanas live through out the world even now, but it seemed as though they were some prehistoric beast. If you’ve ever seen and iguana close up I’m sure you’ll agree). Even Boyd commented that he felt as though he should expect a pterodactyl to fly overhead at any moment. The setting, with it’s perfect undisturbed water, the land with it’s complete lack of any manmade structures and the leathery lizards at our feet all contributed to the feeling of being thrust a thousand years into the past.
True to the promises the iguanas were less “warm and fuzzy” than the pigs, in just about every way. They looked less warm and fuzzy and they surely acted less warm and fuzzy. They were, however happy to take our food scraps and were less fussy than the pigs who, perhaps not surprisingly, wouldn’t eat onions, celery or citrus but loved our leftover cake.
The iguanas would not sit when told to and if you walked towards them or made some gesture that might be interpreted as threatening they stood their ground. The iguanas had a primal type of pecking order and if that order was breached there was heck to pay. More than once when we were doling out the food one of the iguanas stepped out of the preordained hierarchy and attempted to get it’s share before it’s turn. When that happened the dominant iguana would attach the lesser iguana. The dominant iguana would begin chasing the lesser iguana around the beach and when it caught the smaller iguana vigorously bite the back of the offending iguana with such strength and tenacity that I was glad for their leathery skin.
The iguanas were amazing wild creatures who astounded us with their raw nature and sometimes violent ways. They were untouched by the human impact with no signs of any civilization in sight. We entered their world only briefly and passed from each others influence without so much as a scratch. Okay maybe just a small scratch. I did get a bit too close to the stern end of a rather defiant iguana who, decided that I should be taught that on Bitter Guana the lizards are king. He whipped me with his tail before I could hop out of the way. Bugger!
After feeding the iguanas the kids skipped rocks, played on the beach and tried their luck at water skiing. Claudia was a pro and was even able to ski mono, with one ski. Nicole on the other hand, having never done it before drank a fair amount of water. She was a good sport and tried valiantly but never managed to get up on the skis and eventually decided she’d had her sodium intake for the day.
Paul also decided he’d give it a try and while his attempts were more skilled than Nicole’s his results were pretty much the same. Not due to the effort or the lack thereof Paul was unable to get up on the water skis due to the lack of horsepower in the outboard. It was very disappointing for him as he’s always so incredibly agile with any type of new sporting challenge but it was just not to be and eventually he too reached maximum sodium saturation and admitted that there was nothing to be done but get a bigger outboard.
Boo Boo Hill and More Friends Means its Time to Leave
We were thrilled to see our friends from Amazing Grace 2 come cruising into the anchorage today. We’ve been emailing and calling each other on the SSB radio over the last few months and they just got to a place where we were finally all close enough to meet up.
We met Amazing Grace 2 at Jekyll Island Georgia where we spent an entire month re-provisioning, and avoiding the cold weather. We were tied to the same dock and we truly enjoyed the kids and their parents. What nice folks and what a treat to see them again.
Now that they are here it seems a strange time to leave but the weather is the master and commander while at sea and we are in for more lows with a westerly component. That means, at least in this anchorage, that instead of Wardrick Wells we will have Wardrick Swells, so we’re off.
We can’t leave though until we have put our boat names onto a board or other beach found item and left it at Boo Boo hill. It’s a tradition and so we’ll all hike up to Boo Boo hill and pile our representative memorabilia up on the stack of other signs and plaques.
With the weather hot on our heels we’ll scramble to the Cambridge mooring field and anchor across from the moorings.
Turns out it was still a bit swelly but at least it wasn’t the constant bounce that it was a Wardrick.
Cambridge is still in the national park and so we dove some, Paul and Peter went cave diving, together. We explored a small rocky piece of land that passed as an island and found it was an incredible hermit crab nursery. That was cool, the kids had hermit crab races and designed elaborate hermit crab race tracks. Taua invited us over to learn to make Spaetzle, which was probably the highlight of the trip for me. It was a good time and just over too soon.
Because we want to stop at Piggy Beach, Bitter Guana, Thunderball Cave and Black Point and still need to get fuel before going to Georgetown we have to be moving on. Sadly Amazing Grace 2 will stay here. Well not sad for them they plan to dive and cavort some more so it’s great for them.
We have company coming in to Georgetown and need to make sure that we get down there before they do. We’ll be headed along and hopefully Amazing Grace 2 will catch up with us in Georgetown. Taua will move with us, kind of them to be sensitive to our schedule! I’m not sure what Nicole would do without Claudia.
Finally Some Snorkeling and Swimming
Well after a couple of days of westerly winds and a fair bit of bouncing around on the mooring ball the wind finally clocked around to the east and now the chop is significantly less and being on the boat is much more comfortable. In this particular mooring field there is a large expanse of water to the west with no protection so the fetch (as we boater call waves when they are created by the wind across an open area of water) makes sitting here on the mooring rather bumpy. To the east is the island and so the when the wind swings around from that direction the water flattens out and there is relatively little wave action, finally.
This also means that it’s better for snorkeling, easier to swim, easier to see and lots more fun. Still I can’t complain the last couple of days here at the Exuma Land and Sea Park have been great even though we didn’t get in any snorkeling. The girls loved the birds, hermit crabs, and lizard all so tame you could feed them by hand. They also liked the Hotias, which are supposedly nearly extinct although we saw plenty of them on our numerous walks on the island. Additionally the girls had plenty of fun on the beaches, looking at all of the shells and sea creatures and doing hours of cartwheels, handstands and such.
Even Paul enjoyed the hiking and the beaches but let me add here that he didn’t do any cartwheels or handstands or such. There is no fishing or taking of any kind; even empty shells here at the Exuma Land and Sea Park so it is a look only spot. That has stopped Paul’s new fishing experiment for the moment. Too bad, I’ll be ready to have more fish by the time we leave here.
Snorkeling this afternoon was fun we saw a number of beautiful fish on the small reefs here in the park. We chose to do some of the smaller reefs in shallow water for the girls and it was great. Warm water and lots of fish made it ideal for everyone. Nicole and Claudia saw 3 stingrays and we all got to look at a number of crabs, conch, live coral, and an incredible variety of fish. The colors here are amazing, coral can be purple or pink or yellow. The fish have black and blue, purple and yellow, and many other combinations, stripes, spots, stripes the other way, it’s great. I don’t have any photos of the fish or the reef because we don’t currently have an underwater camera but you can look on line and see much of what we are seeing in person. Fantastic!