Wardrick Wells

An approaching windy front had us scurrying for the mooring balls at the park headquarters. The mooring balls , tucked between the cays in the narrow winding channel, have become more expensive since we were there last, up to $30 now. Tuesday night, the entire group from Hawksbill met to cook burgers on the beach in a light mist, and hikes a long trail to several beaches the next day.

 

We all had to revisit Boo Boo Hill and examine the carved and painted signs left by previous mariners.Several of us snorkeled the Ranger Coral Gardens within the mooring field and another at the entrance to Warderick Wells. The colorful coral in yellows and purples, blacks and oranges, competed with a brilliant rainbow of fish, such variety, so many designs and hues.  Enormous lobsters hid there too, peeking at us from spaces under the rocky coral heads.

Shroud Cay Reunion

Atlantica and Black Pearl joined us at Shroud Cay. We shared dinner that night and a dinghy ride up the tidal river to the Atlantic Beach the next day.

Rick and Lou



Shroud Cay Atlantic Beach

 



The beach was dazzling and we saw beautiful tropic birds nesting in the rocks along the shore. These birds, graceful in flight have legs too short to support them. They waddle clumsily the few steps in and out of their nests.

 



Hawksbill, a Treasure in the Exuma Land and Sea Park

After a quick stop overnight for water and fuel at Cape Eleuthera Marina, we left Eleuthera and motor sailed to the Exumas. We remembered the waters of the Exumas had thrilled us before, but the memory paled before the vivid palette of blues as we entered Wax Cut.

 

Our destination was Hawksbill Cay, a beautiful stop, with a hill overlooking the mooring field and marked with a cairn, At Hawksbill, we found a lovely hidden beach pebbled with small islets and rich in all the varied blues of the Bahamian waters.

 

 

Mooring Field at Hawksbill
 



Two days later, after our Shroud Cay reunion with Lou and Nancy on Black Pearl and Jose and Char, on Atlantica, we returned to Hawksbill. we had Happy Hour on the white sand beach directly in front of the mooring field. There were seven boats there, our squadron of four, and a small world coincidence of Tom Spaulding, who works on boats in Boca Chica, Liam and Annie, from Australia, who were aquaintances of Jose and Char, and Phil and Matey, on Susannah Gale.

Rock Sound By Land and Sea

Rock Sound is a huge bay, with about 300 degrees of protection. We arrived there after a 4 hour jib  sail in following winds. The town is well supplied with groceries, a NAPA store,hardware. gas stations, and car rentals. Our outboard on the dinghy had developed problems, so we rented a car from James MAjor for $60 a day for the dual purpose of  delivering the motor for a local repair and exploring the area. we liked the way they do business there. James stopped us on the street, asked if we wanted to rent a car. We bargained. He handed over the car, we gave him $60 in cash, no signing papers, no presenting driver's liscenes,, pretty simple exchange based on trust.

During the two days we had the car, we discovered the quaint town of Tarpum, an ocean side restaurant called Tippy's, near Governor's Harbor, an amazing cathedral like cave, full of spider webs, tree  roots, and bats, and a great restaurant run by a gal named Rosie. We also found a terrific engine Mechanic, Mr. Pindar.

Rosie's was a  great find.We clanked up to the top of a cliff  on a rutted one lane road, in our rental car, jerking first into the bushes on one side, and then the other. At the top, we found two lovely rental cottages and a restaurant. The restaurant was perched high above the Atlantic beach. Inside, a radio played music, and a fat old yellow dog thumped his tail on the floor in welcome as we walked across the sand floor of the bar. "Anybody here? Hello! Are you open?" We walked on through the empty restaurant shouting, a white cat appeared, no one else.So we gave up and left, jolting back down the road, until we met a car moving in the opposite direction. It was Rosie, on her way back from the grocery store. So we followed Rosie back and she cooked us a fantastic meal of grouper and green pepper and onions in a heavenly sauce, with a serving of Bahamian peas and rice. Rosie  showed us pictures of her children and grandchildren, and one with her and Nelson Mandela. She was "good people" with a homespun philosophy and a comfortable life, doing what she likes.

 

 

At Rosie's with an exceptionally beautiful blooming century plant in the background.

 

 

Rosie telling us what is on the menu.

Mr Pindar, who worked his magic on our engine.



Return to Governor's Harbor

At  Governor's Harbor,  were delighted to find mooring balls, managed by the French Leave Resort and Marina, a new boutique resort, with a classy restaurant, pool, bicycles, and a beach on the Atlantic.

We enjoyed our stay, eating hors d'oeurves on the deck, lunches at the Buccaneer Club, and ice cream at the custom house. The Buccaneer club owner was a fascinating lady, mocha skin, grey eyes, reed thin body, hair pulled back from an angular face into a severe bun. She went to boarding school in Switzerland and resides part time in Tuscany

 

 .

 

We bicycled one morning to the endless Atlantic Beach, with pink sand, a calm pool of brilliant blue.

Friday night was fish fry night on the island and we ate cheap on paper plates. Joining us was a couple from another moored boat, an American sailor and a British ex-pat, who was looking for love, but apparently not finding it with her sailing companion. We regaled each other with sea stories and life stories over chicken, fish, wine, and Bubba Rum drinks.

Eleuthera

The tattered island of Eleuthera was our next stop. We sailed and motor sailed for several hours, sometimes in little squalls, to a lovely anchorage near the glass window, an area where at high tide, the Atlantic surges over low rocks and pours onto the banks. A bridge across the top provides the window through which the waters enter.

 

 

We hiked on shore,examining the bridge and discovering the beautiful, Queen's Bath, a luminous rectangular pool of pale green waters, trapped in rocks at low tide and reachable by climbing down the jagged limestone cliffs. Other interesting rock formations and views dotted the roadside.



Rough Ride to Athol

At 0545 on May 18, 2015, we pulled anchor and set our sights on reaching the Nassau area.Winds gusted to 21, waves to 5 feet, and a course, once again, close hauled into the wind. Sometimes sailing with main and jib reefed, sometimes motor sailing, we spent a long tiring day churning towards Nassau in the choppy seas of the Northwest Providence Channel.



 

View from inside as the wind turned our boat into an aquarium

At 1800, just as we arrived at the narrow channel entrance, an avalanche of pouring rain enveloped us, erasing the landscape of shallow rocks and jagged reefs. We motored in giant circles in the open waters before we were able to move into the shelter of Rose Island, where we hoped to find protection from the wind and waves.

 

Luke and Jan tried several anchorages, but found poor holding at an unacceptable distance from the shore.  At this point, we made the choice to do a mad dash, through the darkening twilight to reach another anchorage near Athol Island, 5 miles away.We strained the engines to reach safety before we lost the light. Mockingly, the clouds parted, just at the horizon, allowing us to watch as the fierce orange eye of the sun blinked closed.

 

Another first experience, anchoring in the dark, listening to waves crashing against the rocks of the adjacent shore.  The first attempt by both boats failed as the scoured bottom near the shore proved untenable. Further out, in 12 feet, we found sand and after setting the anchor alarm, retired for the night, a 14 hour day over at last.

Craig Wells: Rennaissance Man

The scenery isn't the only draw of the Bahamas. While walking the beach, we met island character and renaissance man, Craig Wells. He invited us to his home  on the beach, which is reached through a casarina forest, decorated with 38 years of beach-combing. Multicolored floats and fishing lures dangle from trees, buoys of every size and shape, volley balls and abandoned engines, there is a spot for everything.



 

 

Craig grows exotic fruits and flowers and was pleased to show us his garden, with a running commentary of local and Latin names, and the uses of each plant. On an Ipad, he had dozens of pictures detailing how he built his own septic tank, digging trenches and lowering massive pipes with a system of pulleys.

 

 



Later, he read to us in a mellifluous voice, poetry of his own invention. What a wonderful afternoon we spent in his presence.

New Adventures in the Bahamas

In early May, we left for the Bahamas with Buddy Boat, Sand Castle, marching from Boca Chica to Marathon to Bimini, where we checked in and enjoyed a brief stay at Bimini Sands, a nice marina, available, without entering the shallow Alicetown bay.

On Monday, May 11, 2015, we left Bimini for Lucaya, a destination we chose soley because of wind direction. For much of the journey, we screamed along, close-hauled in 15-17 knots of wind, the angle creating gusts of apparent wind to 23 knots, time to double reef the jib.

We arrived in Lucaya in time for Rick to replace one of our macerators, another fun task. Lucaya is a tourist town, filled with market stalls and industreous islanders calling out, "Come in and see what we got, pretty mama. What are you looking for? Wanta hat? We got  beautiful hats for you, mama.",

Time to move on to Great Harbor. We motor-sailed across the Northwest Providence Channel onto the Bahamas Bank and anchored near Bullocks Harbor, protected from predicted easterly winds by the bulk of Great Harbor Island. We went inside to the marina the next day to contact our satellite phone company about problems we were experiencing. Turns out our phone was incorrectly programmed and with the help of a SKYPE call to California, we were able to reprogram it, restoring our email service.

The Bahamas are full of ambitious developments, glitzy private club houses and pools, restaurants and golf courses which, like fireworks , explode in bursts, linger momentarily, and fade, rapidly. Operating from the 60s to the 80s, the Great Harbor resort has gone the way of many others. The climate is demanding, and even though the clubhouse was built of stone and steel, the wooden beams and shake roof have succumbed to voracious termites and the tarry water barrier has melted and oozed onto floors below. Once peopled by the rich and famous, Bridget Bardot, the Rat Pack,, the club stands empty with the ghost of a bar remaining. The huge kitchen, once pumping out gourmet meals for Gregory Peck and Jack Nichlaus, lies hidden in the bowels of the structure, its 5 commercial stoves and tile walls still intact.

Sunday evening, the marina piles allcomers into a pickup truck anad transports us to a Bahamian BBQ to The Beach Club. Bahamian common sense doesnt waste any effort. Our order is written on a styrofoam container and tossed into a trash bag. As the BBQ cooks, they reach into the bag, fill a container, and call out your name to fetch your dinner. We partied with new friends at the beach bar, jammed with natives and visitors alike.

Catching Up

This  is such a busy year, that the blog is being neglected. So here is a quick attempt to catch up.
We did make it back to Dataw, SC, where we kept our boat for the third summer. And, we returned once again in October to take Wind Dancer back to her winter home in Key West. This time we had a little twist to the cruising. We decided to buy an house in Dataw, so we put in a bid, but not in the usual way. We chose to write a contract on a house one hour before leaving on an overnight to Florida.  As we were motoring down the Morgan River, headed to open sea, we received a counter offer. Several hours later, off the coast of Hilton Head, we made a counter to their counter offer.

Now we are out of phone range and don't find out until  noon the next day when we pull into St. Augustine to check....we just bought a house in South Carolina.

This cuts into our winter  boating time in Boca Chica, but will benefit us in the long run as we will now live near our boat all year round and Rick can take care of his beloved projects in the summer.
We continued south with Sand Castle, motoring on a second and third overnight at sea around Cape Canaveral and on to the Miami area. Just inside the entrance, we stopped for fuel...huge convenient Marina. After fueling, we traveled on to Dinner Key, at Cocoanut Grove. Lots of mooring balls available, free pick up and delivery from boat to shore all day until 5:30. This was our first stop there and one we really enjoyed. We spent a day on a mooring ball, ate at the Jaguar Cerviche Spoon Bar, Wonderful food. After a lunch, we stopped by an interesting state park, hidden away off a downtown Cocoanut Grove street, the Barnacle State Historic Park, has interesting early history of boating on Biscayne Bay, and beautiful views.

On toward Boca Chica, with a lovely sunset during our anchor at Rodriguez Key. Motoring again, we stopped overnight at Marathon before a final day.....with a great sail, home again to Boca Chica.