Exumas

Exumas  – February 13 thru March 1^st

February 13

 With an extensive cold front looming, we reluctantly departed Cat Island in the dark, heading into the wind for a 10hr slog across the Exuma Sound.  Destination =  Emerald Bay Marina, our favorite spot when protection from wind and squalls in warranted.  It remains to be seen if this move was necessary b/c the forecast has been changing daily regarding how strong the west wind will blow and for how long (most anchorages in the Central/Southern Bahamas are fully exposed to the west). This is one of the most frustrating parts of cruising … living by the weather forecasts and wondering which forecast you should trust.

It’s hard to complain about hunkering down at the marina at Emerald Bay … it’s part of the Sandals Resort on the island and quite luxurious.  Our boating buddies, Ed and Karin s/v Passages, are also here, so it was a real treat to get together for drinks and a movie and WALK back to our boat, two slips away!  We expected to stay in the marina for 3 days and ended up staying 7 days … eek!  At least we can say we made the most of our time at the dock. 

 

 Filed our taxes, cleaned off all the green gunk that was growing on the hull, waxed the hull, waxed the deck, polished the stainless, used power tools, cleaned, cleaned, cleaned.  Free laundry facilities, and oh yeah, and we got to take showers standing up!

We rented a car with Ed and Karin and went shopping in Georgetown and toured the southern end of the island. There are ruins from when the loyalist settled here to escape those pesky revolutionaries who were seeking independence from England.  There are hills to hike and incredible views to enjoy. 

Note the termite nest on the roof ... eek!

And there’s Santana’s …. a tiny little restaurant/bar just before the road south turns to nothing.  Usually there 4-5 people there for lunch … but due to the high winds keeping all the cruisers from cruising, gobs of people had the same idea as us.  Santana’s serves a great lunch – lobster or grouper or chicken; everything’s fried and oh-so-yummy.  You can even find them on tripadvisor.com!

February 21.

Finally, time to go! Yes, the weather was nasty and windy and the ocean was rough, and we were glad to have the security of having the boat tied to dock at 3 points with 6 lines when the gusts topped 30 knots.  But after 7 days, you cannot help but get antsy.

s/v Passages exiting the marina

Ed and Karin headed over to Long Island while we headed north to Black Sound.  This is our first parting since they arrived in the Abacos mid-January.  We have to renew our visitors permit next week in Georgetown, so we decided to stay in the Exumas and hop up to our favorite anchorage of all time.  Black Sound has it all – Lorraine’s coconut bread, Scorpio’s rum drinks, great beachcoming at the ocean.

It was a great day for a sail … at least until we put up our repaired main sail (which we really had to do since we needed to cover 40 miles (6hrs at 5 knots) and we were making 3.5 knots without it).  It was a great 2-hr sail, making 6 knots, until … you guessed it … another tear in the main sail. Holy Crap Batman!  A 2^nd tear in our sail and us without any more sail repair tape.

Making the cut at Cave Cay onto the banks.

The dicey part about entering a cut is the tidal surge in the narrow opening.

 

ahhhh ... the lovely waters on the banks. such a nice change from the ocean.

We exited the Exuma Sound (think deep ocean, big swells) as soon as we could in order to reach the quiet protected waters on the banks (think shallow water, peaceful, calm).  We stopped short of Black Sound at Hettys Land – a lovely anchorage that we had all to ourselves.  While Dan considered our options with the new tear (think duct tape and heavy-duty glue), I got on the internet and learned through the wonders of Facebook that a cruising couple we know were in Georgetown, and better yet, the wife was back in Boston for 10 days, due to return on Monday.  That gave us one day to find a supplier of sail repair tape who could get it delivered to Boston by Saturday! All that with sketchy internet service and a Bahamian cell phone with $10.00 talk time! By 8:10am on Friday morning, we had placed an order for 150 yds of sail tape, with overnight delivery on a Saturday.  Thank you UPS!  Delivery cost more than the tape, but at this point, who cares.  Without the main sail, our sailing season is over.

So our bad luck/good luck streak continues. 

We stayed at Hettys Land for two days because it’s such a great spot.  No other boats stopped there, even though we’d heard there were 50+ boats anchored at Black Sound, which is less than 7 miles away. 

As we pulled the dinghy up to shore, we found the shoreline scattered with TONS of sand dollars.  TONS.  No searching involved; they were just lying in the shallows, up and down the beach.  Last year, we searched every beach we walked for sand dollars and found only ONE (which broke in Dan’s pocket on the hike back). We collected about two dozen today and had to pull ourselves away from the beach because it was so much fun! We gathered palm leaves so I can get back into basket weaving and hiked over to the ocean where we found a variety of sea beans.  All in all, a great day (just don’t ask about the mainsail!)

Assorted sea beans and sea glass

 

Saturday, February 23, we finally arrived at Black Sound, a place we know so well that the bartender at Scorpio’s welcomed us back!  We met a couple who own another Bayfield 40 that we first met back in 2010, up in Annapolis during our first year on s/v Maja. Surprisingly small world indeed! 

The only issue with have with Black Point is no TV service … which wouldn’t be that big a deal except for the Oscars on Sunday … which wouldn’t be that big a deal except that we’ve managed to see a lot of the top movies this year (Argo, Les Mis, Lincoln, Silver Lining Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty, Skyfall – mostly due to the pirated copies sold in the Abacos).  Since Scorpio’s bar has a big TV, we asked if we could watch the Oscars there and, much to our surprise, the owner said yes.  Besides a handful of locals, we were the only cruisers there, and the only two people left for the final hours of awards.  Much to our surprise, they didn’t ask us to leave so they could close!

February 28, 2013

Alas, we had to take a weather window to sail back down to Georgetown (remember the sail tape), so we raised anchor and left after just 4 days).

But it was soooooo worth it!  Today was the FIRST absolutely great sailing day that we’ve had this season.  No motor needed.  Just sails, Just humming along at 6 knots, powered by the wind for 7 hours.  Just one day, but magnificent!

 

Entering the cut into Elizabeth Harbor, Georgetown was a real adventure.                   

Opposing tides and winds resulted in big breakers over the reefs on each side of the cut.

Wowzer ....

We are now anchored next to s/v Runaway who saved our sail by traveling back from Boston with our sail repair tape.  Tomorrow, we’ll go to the Immigration Office to extend our visitors permit for another3 months.  Repair the main sail. And hopefully have a 2^nd great sailing day over to Long Island, where s/v Passages is still anchored.

MARCH 1ST ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAN DEVEREAUX

p.s.  After our one day reprieve, Mishap #9 (or it could be #10 if I was intent on keeping an accurate count) returned on Friday.  During the dinghy ride over to Georgetown (about 2 miles), the engine kept revving but we stopped making much forward progress. Hmmmmmm.  What could that be?  We hoped to make slow, putt putt progress back to the boat after a day of errands in town, but alas, we ended up rowing .... or rather paddling (like a canoe).  Not much fun in due to the swells and wind.  Fortunately, another boater towed us the remaining way and Captain Dan got to work,  Pulling from his supply of boat parts, he replaced the propeller on the motor and we were back in business. 

Just to let you know that it's been a never ending saga on s/v Maja this year ....