Southern Bahamas 12.4.09
Swiftwing
Mon 13 Apr 2009 22:06
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23:30.31
N 75:43.72W George Town, Great
Exuma Island.
We arrived in Acklins island
after a very pleasant 24 hour crossing form Povidenciales, calm seas and
gentle winds meant that although we had to sacrifice speed, we slept, ate, read
and listened to music and the pod casts that we had downloaded before leaving.
It's great to listen to 'Scottish Garden', 'Politics Now' and even 'Obama at the
Pentagon', while down wind sailing to a new destination.
Our first stop at Jamaica Point
was at the Southern tip of Acklins Island. We had a few miles of coral head and rock spotting to do
before we anchored about half a mile off the beach. It is quite
strange, at night, to go on deck and all you can see is water all around, and it
is the strangest colour because the strong moonlight there, is
reflected off the sandy bottom which is clearly visible giving the
surrounding sea a luminous quality; and not another boat or soul in sight.
The sky is also huge with Orion's belt and sword tiny in the northern sky,
whilst the Milky Way is a splash of
phosphorescence.
The following day we set sail for
Long Island, anchoring behind another reef off another sandy beach; I
think this could be a feature of the Bahamas. This time we could see a house in
the distance and during the afternoon 3 people on the beach having a stroll [it
was Sunday]. The beach was at least ten miles long. Clarence Town is the
main settlement in Long Island, that was tomorrows goal and instead of sea
and more sea to look we had land all the way as we sailed slowly up the
northern coast. We stayed about two miles out to avoid reefs. Long
Island, like the rest of the Bahamas, is low lying and the land
rarely reached 100 feet above sea level . When we got to Clarence Town, we found
eight other yachts and a small marina which had three very fancy
80' sport fishing boats in it. These were the first yachts we'd
seen since leaving Provo four days before! On speaking to an American who
owned one of the sport fishing boats, he told us that he had been out fishing
the day before and had spent $1000 on fuel for 10 moderate sized fish.
This is the type of fishing where you sit on a very big chair at the
stern of the boat, and brace yourself, in this case the chair was a huge
affair made out of stainless steel, varnished teak and acres of
white leather. It also had about eight rods in front and behind it all within
easy reach of the fisherman. Apparently Marlin like to attack a fast moving
target so when they are fishing for them they trawl at 25 knots. The big fish
like Marlin and Swordfish, I was glad to hear they throw back. We soon got friendly with the other people in the anchorage and met
up with a Dutch guy and his wife, travelling with three children, whom
we first met up with in South Caicos. They too are travelling to the States as
are nearly all the other boats we have now met up
with.
Clarence Town, is famous for the
two churches built by a Father Jerome. He was originally a trained
architect who first arrived on the island to build a new catholic church,
the old one having been blown down in a hurricane. After building the churches,
he became a catholic priest first, then an Anglican missionary. The first day we
went ashore we headed for the churches, picking up a wee friend, a little
boxer pup, on the way. He followed us for the whole morning, well
actually, he led and we followed. The Catholic church was beautiful in it's
simplicity and the American priest told us to climb the tower to get a
good view. This involved climbing a few small ladders and we had an amazing view
from the top, as this was the highest point for miles. Our wee friend was
waiting for us at the bottom and we continued on to the Anglican church. ( he
ran off chasing chickens before we got there) Two ladies from another church
stopped to offer us a lift but it wasn't far so we politely declined. We rested
in the cool of the Anglican church and then headed for the local shop for
provisions. Again somebody stopped and offered us a lift. The shop keeper was a
very friendly chap and told us a lot about his family life and local history.
His Great Great Grandfather had been Irish and had jumped ship, married locally
and become a wrecker. This was common employment in those days and
eventually was the reason why the British built lighthouses in the
area.
Now for the history bit which I know you
all love..... Columbus discovered the Bahamas in 1492. 25 years later, all
but one of the Lucayans, the original residents, had succumbed to European
diseases or been deported for slavery. The islands were then fought
over by the Spanish, English and French. By 1642 the persecuted Puritans,
from the English civil war, called the Eleutheran Adventurers, set sail for
the Bahamas. Oliver Cromwell also had a hand in sending Puritan settlers here
aided by privateers, two of whom were, Drake and Raleigh who made vast fortunes
for England by plundering Spanish bullion ships. Indeed it is estimated that
over 160 Spanish bullion ships foundered on the reefs and shallows of the
Bahamas Bank. During the seventeenth century pirates and wreckers abounded.
It took the attentions of George II to sort the problem out. The
American revolution led to the Bahamians becoming involved with
blockade running, and prohibition led to the Bahamian smugglers to take
advantage of Rum-running. By the mid 1970's the new nation (given
independence from Britain in 1973) had slid into recession again.
Drug smuggling from Colombia blossomed, as is evidenced by all the
abandoned Dakota's at hastily made landing strips, but the US Drug
Enforcement Agency led a massive crackdown in the mid- 1980's. Out of this
turbulent past the Bahamians have miraculously survived. The Bahamas we have
found are peaceful and unspoilt, crime is very rare and the people
very warm and friendly, the place is all the word ' Bohemian'
conjures up in my mind.
After sitting out a Northerly front in
Clarence Town, we headed North again with a Swiss couple we had first met in
Puerto Rico. With still a touch of North in the wind we couldn't lay Rum
Cay and didn't wish to motor, so we headed up Long Island, the 45 miles to
Calabash Bay at the North end. Appropriately named, it took us twelve
hours and was a long day sailing up Long Island. Again we anchored
behind a reef off a sandy beach and the next morning Duggie spent cleaning the
carburettor on the outboard so that we could go for an explore. It was almost
impossible to walk ashore because of the vegetation, no paths or road. We were
heading to Columbus's monument, so we gave up the struggle and went with
Doodie instead, and later cooled off with a swim. No access to the beach except
by boat meant that we had it to ourselves; this is not unusual in the
Bahamas!
Our next sail was only a
short hop to Georgetown, Great Exuma a distance of 25 miles, but I
will leave that for another day, as I want to go and do some varnishing.
The blog takes a lot of time to do but then it is our personal diary of our trip
and I am sure in years to come we will have a good laugh at what we have
written. Duggie once said to me that I will only remember the stormy sails that
I had, and largely that is true. One that comes to mind is sailing Smokey
Bear, up the Kilbranan Sound with Craig Scally and myself both holding on
to the helm as we touched 15 knots with the spinnaker up; we took it down
pretty quickly.
That's all for now Bev.
History lesson gleaned from the following
publications: Rough Guide to the Bahamas (Rough Guides.com) , The Story of
the Bahamas (Albury), The Voyages of Columbus (Keegan), The Cocaine
Crisis (Allen), A History of Bohemian People Vols. 1 & 2 (Craton &
Saunders), and Eleuthera the Island Called Freedom (Young) and yes, these
are all genuine publications.
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