Little Farmers Cay

Denzell the peanut guy

Welcome to Farmers Cay

Pictures are out of order bc laptop decided to roll over and die; thus my tablet has been called to duty. Revisions will be made when a new one is acquired.

Another visitor

JR's beautiful work

On Wednesday, February 5 we picked up anchor and moved north approximately 3/4 of a mile, to Kemp's Bay anchorage. Besides being a little closer to Farmers Cay, it also provides better protection from the upcoming southwest winds.  After the move we dropped the dink and made a visit to Kitty Hawk, chatting with Brett, Kim and Mike who we last saw at Black Point Settlement.  From there we dinked to the west side of the island pulling the little boat onto the west bay beach in front of Ty's Sunset Bar and Grill.  After a couple of hamburgers and fries we were entertained and informed of the history of the island and the lay off the land, including areas of interest.  It seems Ty is a descendant from the Nixon-Brown family one of the original settlers and owners of the island.

Little Harbor visitor

Little Farmers was settled by a woman, Chrisanna (circa 1842), and has a current population  of about 45.  Chrisanna, a freed slave from Great Exuma moved to Farmers Cay with her two sons and daughter Michael Joseph Nixon and Adam and Eve Brown. She bought the island from the English Crown and willed it to her descendants as generational property. It remains a private island owned by those descendants.

We hiked some of the 68 acre island meeting many of the residents. Denzell was playing his homemade drums in his front yard and invited us for roasted peanuts, pomegranate and tamarind.  The peanuts were delicious and the others had their own distinct flavor.  When leaving Denzell also requested Ruth take along fresh picked thyme. Next we visted with JR, a very talented wood carver.  Apparently he is known and sells throughout the Bahamas.  He was not pushy and of course we don't have room aboard, though I considered purchasing a beautiful wooden Mahi Mahi.  Finally we made it to Little Harbour, where you can swim with turtles.  These are wild turtles, captive by no one. We also saw stingrays and other fish in the harbour.

On Thursday, after coffee I attempted to turn on my laptop to make a few notes in preparation of this blog entry.  No luck. The laptop appears dead.  We got rain last night but Pura Vida has never leaked a drop.... until now. Unwisely I left it under a portlight and it had a puddle the size of a 50 cent piece on its top.  I wiped it off and she wouldnt come on.  I've tightened the frames on the portlights and hopefully can have laptop repaired in George Town.  On this day we also explored the Great Guana Cay Cave near Oven Rock.  It was a 15 minute hike from the beach and not something you'd expect.

Bahamian racing boat

The Farmer Cay festival started Friday. It is the islands biggest event including Bahamians from across the islands as well as cruising visitors. There is food, music, dancing, various contest and a one design regatta.  The regatta boats are locally made and each has hiking boards that extend outward, mid beam, where the rail meat gets to ride.  In other words guys sit on the extended boards as counter weight.  We chased them around in our dinghy for a while until we realized the course extended through our anchorage.

Tomorrow we plan to shove off, at high, slack tide, around 0700 toward George Town, which will be our home base for a while.

Black Point Settlement to Little Farmers Cay

Date:  Feb. 4, 2020          

Arrival Time:  1530          

Location:  Oven Rock, Little Farmers Cay, Bahamas

Weather:  Perfect 75     

Sea State:  2 ft chop

Total Engine Hours:  1488                                                             

Crew:  Same set of Lynds

One of natures most beautiful at Black Pt. Settlement

Comments:  We set our course south again after spending a few days at Staniel Cay.  We exited the Big Rock Cut between Little Majors and Staniel Cay into the deep waters of the Exuma Sound.  After sailing about 2.5 miles south we entered back onto the Great Exuma Bank, through Lumber Cay Cut, and anchored at Bitter Guana Cay with one purpose in mind; to see the iguanas.The iguanas are exclusive to the Bahamas and are protected by law.  They are not shy.  It was worth the stop.  From Guana Cay we continued south to Black Point Settlement to pick up a few things including free water, for a donation,  and wash clothes.  As previously mentioned the laundromat is known as the best in the Exumas, with its dinghy dock landing.  However this day, the machines might have had their fill.  The first setback we were able to avoid as the business ran out of water as we finished washing.  The second setback caught us, in that they ran out of propane which heated the dryers.  After a delay, they changed out the tanks, made it right to the cruisers and we finished up.  It’s always a large social gathering with the ladies visiting inside and the men bouncing around the covered deck and dinghy dock; thus leading to dinner at Lorraine’s Monday night.

 Tuesday started with my weekly call to mom.  The internet has been spotty throughout the Exumas, we are told, so we were cut off.  I scored about 20 gallons of water, in our 5 gallon jerry cans, while Ruth picked up a few missing parts at Adderley’s Market.  Throughout the day, we sat around feeling lazy.  I finally talked Ruth into talking me into doing something.  We pulled up anchor at 1400 and headed south again; our destination Oven Rock, 1 mile north of Little Farmers Cay.  This weekend is the Farmers Cay Festival, one of the biggest festivals and regattas in the Exumas.

Tomorrow we will explore the area and decide if we’ll stay for the festival or make our way south to George Town.

Iguana Faceoff

Staniel Cay, part 2

Date:  Jan 30 – Feb 2, 2020                          

the Pink Store

Comments:  We spent the last few days at Staniel Cay exploring the beaten path.  I have noticed Staniel Cay to be a very clean island.  They obviously make a strong effort to keep it tidy as we see workers landscaping and collecting garbage.  Many of the islands seem to have debris throughout; not necessarily the fault of the locals or visitors but wash up from the sea. 

The Blue Store

The mail boat is more than just the Pony Express.  Besides mail they are the supply boat for the island and arrive weekly.  The mail boat landed Wednesday evening and everyone on the island was aware; due to fresh veggie withdrawals.  Ruth and I went to the local stores on Thursday and scored enough food to last at least a week.  There are two grocery stores, the pink store and the blue store.  Between the two stores is a pink house and a blue house, where the owners live.  They are actually cousins.  The stores are smaller than a convenient store at home but seem to have everything.  The prices are about twice the price as in the US. 

Pig Beach

Pig Beach is well known and well visited.  It is one of the places, it is said, “you must see” while in the Bahamas.  So we did a drive-by Thursday morning without interaction.  Fortunately, there was one dinghy which arrived before us and had the complete attention of the pigs.  The visitors were holding the baby pigs for pictures and feeding the big ones.  We stayed 4 feet (of water under the boat) away.  

Thunderball Groto is where the James Bond movie Thunderball was filmed, as well as Never Say Never Again, Splash starring Tom Hanks and Into the Blue with Jessica Alba and Paul Walker.  It looked like we were going to miss the opportunity to snorkel into the grotto as it is only safe to enter without scuba gear at low, slack tide and the low tides were near 0500 and 1700; sleeping and eating times.  However, we made a run for it Friday around 1630 and found the tide and currents adequate for the adventure.  So we snorkeled through the entrance into the dome shaped structure. It was worth the effort!

We were invited aboard Don and Carol’s Island Packet 42’, Isle of Grace, for sundowners on Friday.  We met them during the big blow at Norman’s Cay, then ran into them a time or two at Black Point Settlement and again at Staniel Cay.  What a beautiful boat and such nice people.  

We are currently waiting out another norther, on this Super Bowl Sunday, which blew in last night.  We

Beautiful 150' vintage in our anchorage

plan to pull up anchor tomorrow morning and check out the iguanas, on Bitter Guana Cay, on our way back to Black Point Settlement, to pick up some water and refresh our clothes at the best laundromat in the Exumas.  From there, we are off to Farmer's Cay.