Bahamas Part 2 - The Exumas, December 17 - January 18
The Bahamas - Exumas Wednesday 20 December Time to depart Eleuthera and head further South to catch up with friends in the Exumas, for Christmas and New Year Celebrations. We thought the Abacos and Eleuthera Islands/Cays were pretty special, but the Exumas are something else – beautiful crystal pink sand and even brighter, clearer turquoise waters. Breath-taking sunrises and sunsets. Fantastic snorkelling – numerous colourful fish, stingrays, sharks, turtles and coral gardens. Absolute paradise, unspoilt and often an anchorage completely to ourselves! Temperatures 20 to 250C. A number of islands are part of the Exuma Sea and Land Park where fishing of any kind is prohibited and removal of anything from the islands is not permitted, not even empty shells! Rock Sound to Warderick Wells, 57 miles, 9.5 hrs, 8.8 engine hrs, 6 knots ave. speed. Total Miles: 9107.2 Only 8-10 knots of wind so a motorsail in gorgeous warm sunshine, anchoring with just 0.6m under the keel! $10 fee per person gave us trail maps and access to the park and snorkel sights. After a busy day exploring both land and sea we took it in turns to cool off with a refreshing fresh water shower on the back of the boat. Being the only boat in the anchorage it was more practical and quite acceptable to undertake this activity naked. Midway through our ablutions we noticed another yacht approaching so speeded up our ritual. Fortunately we did this as it was our good friends Ian and Ann on Tourterelle! Warderick Wells, Exumas, Bahamas
Useful Useful little bridge on trail to Boo Boo Hill View from Boo Boo Hill
Bridge from top of Boo Boo Hill Empty Conch shell
To Bells/O’Brien Island – 11 miles, 2.6 engine hrs, 4.23 knots ave. speed. Total Miles 9118.2 Bells Island is owned by The Aga Khan – British business magnate, racehorse owner and trainer. We passed one of his properties/boat yard on the way into the secluded anchorage and saw his super yacht, named after his race horse, Shergar in the distance. The narrow channel in took us very close to rocks! Once securely anchored we snorkelled a plane wreck (a small Cessna allegedly involved in drug running) and the most amazing coral garden/natural ‘aquarium’ with hundreds of tropical fish of varying species.
Total Miles since leaving Falmouth in August 2016: 9137.2 We made a lunchtime stop at Fowl Cay to snorkel the spectacular Rocky Dundas caves but unfortunately the tide and waves were too high, thus too dangerous for us enter. We had been warned it needed to be done on a still day but as we were passing we thought it worth a try.
At the relatively crowded anchorage at Staniel Cay we met up with Aura, Tourterelle, Ocean Blue, Juffa and Takomoana; five boats we knew well and with whom we would spend Christmas and New Year. We took it in turns to host ‘sundowners’, all pitching in with food and drinks during the run up to Christmas. Christmas Day started aboard Takomoana for starters, main course aboard Juffa, finishing aboard Aura for dessert and dancing.
On Boxing Day we snorkelled Thunderball Cave – where a scene from the James Bond Film was staged. The picture does not do it justice! I didn’t swim around the boat that day having seen a shark swim underneath us!
Inside Thunderball Cave Fuel Dock at Stanley Cay for much needed fuel
Lemon Shark – like the one that swam under the boat! To Rudder Cay: 32 miles, 5.75 hrs, 5.56 knots average speed. Total Miles: 9169.2 Our five boat flotilla moved to the secluded anchorage of Rudder Cay for a change of scenery. No superyachts discussing what time to heat up the jacuzzi and put the champagne on ice, no jet skis, boys with toys or tripper boats! Bill and Caroline hosted Bill’s 60’s Birthday Party aboard their catamaran Juffa. We were in the habit of snorkelling our anchor to ensure it had dug in successfully. High winds were forecast and we could see our anchor was only half in – the bottom was sand over rock. We successfully re-anchored Lady Rebel after three frustrating attempts in an area with a sandy bottom where the anchor dug in beautifully and held us in the strong winds! We snorkelled caves, beautiful coral reefs and the ‘mermaid, piano sculpture’ commissioned by the illusionist David Copperfield, who owns the neighbouring Musha Cay. Musha Cay can be rented for a mere $39,000 per day for a minimum of 4 days!
Lee Stocking Island: 12 miles, 2.9 engine hrs, 4.14 knots average speed. Total Miles: 9190.4 Sundowners were enjoyed with Aura, Tourterelle and Ocean Blue on a stunning beach with overhanging coconut trees. We paddle-boarded over stingrays and fish. Ashore we ferreted around in the disused research centre buildings collecting pipework to make a temporary bow roller for our anchor. We walked the old runway to a beach on the Atlantic side of the island. Ken collected some coconuts, fresh from the trees, for our consumption later – yum!
Boysie Cay/Square Rock: 11 miles, 2 hrs, 5.5 knots average speed. Total miles: 9201.4 On route to Boysie Cay, Ken caught a Barracuda. Not ideal as it is advisable not to eat Barracuda if they are caught near reefs. They build up a toxin from the reefs, causing Ciguatera Disease in humans. Our next issue was how to get the Barracuda off the line – they have extremely sharp teeth! I came up with the bright idea of putting a piece of wood in its mouth so it couldn’t bite, whilst Ken used pliers to free the hook and bingo, Mr Barracuda dropped back into the ocean!
Boysie Cay was an amazing setting. Perfect for sundowners on the beach, complete with lizards and Hermit Crabs after a little piece of our picnic. The water spouting from the blow holes was pretty spectacular too. The anchorage however became extremely rolly during the night with heavy swells so very little sleep was had.
George Town, Monument Beach, Great Exuma Island, Bahamas: 21 miles, 4 engine hrs, 5.25 knots ave sp. Total Miles: 9222.4 The wind was pretty much on the nose so we had yet another motorsail to the very popular George Town. Cruisers come here and appear to stay for weeks if not months. There is a large cruisers’ community with a daily net on VHF radio – giving weather reports, safety information, social events, regatta information, local business details, items to buy sell or swap, help required, new arrivals and departures and ‘thought for the day’! 101 boats were counted at anchor off the various beaches – certainly not something we were used to but a change. We were able to re provision here, although the supermarket shelves were pretty empty; we would have to wait until the next ship came in the following week with fresh supplies.
New Years Eve started well with water aerobics. In the afternoon we met other cruisers at Hamburger Beach for sundowners. We departed early however, due to the massive invasion of biting insects and reconvened on Takomoana, each taking meat to BBQ and a side dish. We played charades whilst waiting for the midnight chimes and the firework display in the harbour. A great night was had by all!
Cruisers gathering on Hamburger Beach Monday 1 January 2018 – Happy New Year! I canoed across to the beach for water aerobics then we dinghied into George Town to meet the propane truck to replenish our cooking gas. We and others were directed here, there and everywhere in our dinghies in chase of the truck, to various docks, but to no avail – every time we caught up with him, he moved on! Eventually a very kind local took our bottles to the gas depot to have them filled and what should have taken 15 minutes took well over an hour. It is Bahama time after all!
That afternoon we, plus many other boats, moved to various anchorages across the bay. We chose Redshanks/Moss Cay, to give us shelter from the strong North West/Westerly winds forecast. It is common practice here to move and when the wind swings back again with Easterly components, everyone moves back again. They call it the George Town Shuffle! We had a day and night of winds gusting frequently to 27 knots and occasionally to 38 knots – not pleasant with the boat at anchor, winds howling, the boat swinging back and forth and the slight fear we could drag into boats nearby or worse, surrounding rocks. Although we pop our heads above decks on a regular basis to check we’ve not moved/dragged our anchor, we finally have a new app on our phones called ‘Anchor Watch’ that monitors our position by GPS and alerts us if we have actually dragged. It certainly takes the pressure off and reduces the worry somewhat – that is until it goes off in the middle of the night because it has lost signal, making us believe we have dragged and causing one of us (namely me) to rush up on deck fully expecting to find us drifting aimlessly out to sea, or towards other boas or worse, towards the rocky shore.
A second bout of extreme windy weather was forecast to come from the East/North East so a couple of days later we moved back to Monument Beach where we sat out the blow for a few days getting cabin fever and very little sleep! It was very noisy, rolly and uncomfortable once again but it gave me chance to catch up on our blog, Ken to sort his photographs and for us both to read various books relevant to our future destinations.
Next stop: The Bahamas Far Out Islands |
Although Christmas Day was great fun and spent with lovely friends, for me it just wasn’t the same as going home to family and friends of old. I guess also the hot weather meant it didn’t really feel like Christmas. Nonetheless, a great experience and one for the memory bank. 
