Staniel Cay

Date:  Jan 29, 2020          

Arrival Time:  1030                          

Location:  Staniel Cay

Weather:  70’s  

Sea State:  calm

Total Engine Hours:  1480                                                             

Crew:    Greg & Ruth

Mileage Log:  1352

The Birthday Girl

Comments:  Happy birthday to my sweet wife, Ruth.  For your birthday I’m surprising you with a trip to the Bahamas aboard a private yacht.  I hope you enjoy!

We pulled up anchor from Black Point Settlement around 0830 and turned the ship north.  It is the first time our destination has been north during the entire trip; and wouldn’t you know it the wind is from the north.  After talking to several people about Staniel Cay, we decided we might have missed a beautiful place.  Staniel Cay is only about 6 miles, as the crow flies, but maybe 15 as a fish swims.  Besides its beauty, we are expecting a couple small northers toward the end of the week and Staniel Cay has good protection.  Further, we are considering attending the Farmers Cay Festival starting Feb 6 which is about 15 miles (crow path) south and is our jump off spot to George Town.  Thus, we have time to kill.

Where Next?

Staniel Cay is home to Thunderball Grotto, where a James Bond movie and several others were filmed, Pig Beach and a very friendly yacht club with a restaurant open to the public.  The SCYC also has a very nice dinghy dock for public use.  We explored the island via flip flops then went to the yacht club to celebrate Ruth’s birthday.  Leaving the restaurant we ran into Paul and Sheryl Shard of Distant Shores III, who are famous among cruisers for having one of the first cruising TV shows.  Their program was originally a syndicated show and now they are on YouTube.   We ran into them again at the grocery store.  Each time they treated us like we were long lost friends.  They are as nice and genuine as they appear on their TV show.

We’ll stay here through the weekend then turn south again to Farmers Cay.

With Paul & Sheryl Shard

Distant Shores III

Black Point Settlement

Date:  Jan 26 & 27, 2020          

Arrival Time:  1130                          

Location:  Black Point Settlement

Weather:  A few showers, little wind, 70’s           

Sea State:  calm

Total Engine Hours:  1475                                             

Crew:  Greg and Ruth    

Mileage Log:  1343

Nurse Shark at the Lorraine's dock

Comments:  After 3 days with no cell service, no wifi, limited fresh vegetables, limited clean cloths, no anchoring and no fishing, it was time to move on.  The Land & Sea Park is a beautiful area and fortunately they intend to keep it that way.  We released the mooring ball at 0730 and turned the ship south.  The 25 miles covered was pretty uneventful. Though 2 fishing lines were deployed once we were out of the park boundary, no sea creatures were slain.  However, there was much talk on the VHF.  My ears perked up when I heard someone calling Distant Shores III, then a reply from Sheryl Shard who owns the boat with husband Paul.  I’m not one to feel star struck but I actually felt that way when I realized they were very near.  Paul and Sheryl were the original sailing video gurus, on cable TV, way before all of the "YouTubers," and I’ve been following them for probably 10 years.  We also had a conversation with Val aboard Eyra and saw a few other boats we’ve been schooling with.  We anchored at Black Point Settlement near 1130 and waited for a rain shower before deploying the dinghy and heading to town.  Most places were closed because it was Sunday; but, we were able to empty trash, for a donation to the local school, and score water for a donation to the local regatta.  We stopped by a couple establishments and saw several large nurse sharks; one directly under the dinghy on the return trip in about 5 feet of water.  They seem to hang out around docks perhaps to eat scraps.  

The world famous Lorraine's Cafe

Spotted Eagle Ray at the Laundromat dock

We made it our mission Monday to visit the local laundromat, grocery store and eat at the famous Lorraine’s for lunch.  Lorraine’s mother also cooks fresh bread in her home behind the restaurant which is next to the laundromat.  I picked up a loaf of white bread and a loaf of cinnamon raisin coconut bread which was being pulled from the oven when I entered.  Lorraine and especially her mother are extremely lovely people.  On my return to the laundromat, I was robbed of about ¼ of the loaf of cinnamon raisin coconut bread from someone I didn't get a good look at.  Or, that was my story to Ruth and I’m sticking to it.  No police report was filed.  We saw an abundance of sea life again today, including several sting rays and spotted eagle rays and many nurse sharks.  Many of the establishments have their own dinghy docks where most of the sea life like to hang out. 

In the afternoon we made a trip to the post office and a couple other minor stops.  On the return to the dinghy, we passed a couple coconut palms and inquired of a gentleman working nearby if they were up for grabs.  He took off his shoes, climbed the tree and removed a couple coconuts.  Then without asking he grabbed his machete and started chopping on them.  So we drank a little coconut water from one and brought the other back to the boat for tomorrow. Coconut water is very good and what's more natural?

Nice people here in the Bahamas!!

Walderick Wells - Exumas Land and Sea Park

Date:     Jan 24-25, 2020 

Arrival Time:  0145          

Location:  Warderick Wells - Exumas Land and Sea Park

Weather:  Intermittent rain        

Sea State:  2-3 ft chop

Total Engine Hours:  1471                                                             

Crew:  Ruth and Greg    

Mileage Log:  1318

Comments:  After morning rain showers we pulled up anchor at 0745 and left Norman’s Cay after

Sperm Whale skeleton at Walderick Wells

Boo Boo Hill

squatting for 4 days.  Our destination was Warderick Wells which is the central location of the Exuma Land and Sea Park.  We pulled into the Emerald Rock mooring field around 1330, dropped the dinghy and putted to the park office and paid for 2 nights.  The park is one of those places that YouTubers cover thoroughly.  We hiked past the sperm whale skeleton and up to Boo Boo Hill.  We left our little Pura Vida sign on the sign pile with the huge collection left by sailors before us. We checked out the famous blow holes but being low tide they weren’t blowing much.  With rain approaching we made our way back to the dinghy and Pura Vida to watch the sunset off our back porch.  Our mooring field faces an island with beautiful white beaches strewn throughout and secluded islands as far as the eye can see.

The Great Wall of Walderick Wells

Saturday brought another day of exploring, snorkeling and some boat work.  We left Pura Vida via dinghy around 0900 to visit the nearby Davis Ruins.  What remains of the ruins is a few rectangular man made rock formations a few feet tall.  Along the hike I was most impressed with a rock wall that dissects the entire island east to west.  It is a piled rock structure standing about 4 feet tall and must have taken years to complete.  On our dinghy journey toward the ruins I circled the boat a few times, as I always do, to give it a good look over.  I noticed the jib had a piece of material extruding abnormally.  When we returned we unfurled the jib and realized the leach had some separation.   We pulled it down, pulled out the Sailrite and sewed for the next couple hours.  I guess it’s all a part of cruising.  Once all was back in order, we dinghied over to Emerald Rock and snorkeled a couple coral heads.  From there we went south and walked a few untouched islands.
What a beautiful place. 

Tomorrow we sail south toward Black Point Settlement, on Great Guana Cay, to provision and wash clothes.