Moving northwards - slowly
AJAYA'S CRUISE
Phil & Nikki Hoskins
Tue 20 May 2014 22:16
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In position 24:42.79N, 076:49.75W
Today we find ourselves at Highbourne Cay. In fact
we've been lying uncomfortably at anchor here for the last three days being
blasted by twenty-plus knot winds and rolling with the swell that creeps round
from the Exuma Sound. It's worse when the tide is high as we lose protection
from the reefs. Still, better to be here than out there. The forecast is for
winds to moderate steadily towards the end of the week when we hope to move
northwards to the Abaco islands.
Since the last blog quite a lot has happened. Much of the last
week we seem to have been either preparing for or enduring the transit of a
'tropical wave' passing south of us over Cuba heading westwards. Boy! did it
seem to move slowly. Tropical waves can form into tropical storms and hurricanes
if the atmospheric conditions are right which they thankfully weren't for this
one. However, depending which side of the wave you are located on
will determine what your weather is like. 'Wiki' has a good
description for this weather situation if interested. Needless to say we
are not talking about idyllic weather here unless you are a thunderstorm
and squall enthusiast, in which case you probably reside ashore!
Oddly enough, Staniel Cay seemed to miss the worst of the
weather for some reason. We could see squalls hitting areas north and south of
us but rarely did we endure a real good downpour and more importantly not one
good thunderstorm as this weather system edged over Cuba before lifting
northwards. The downside of this was that we were unable to collect very much
water from the deck dams that divert water into our keel tanks for washing up
and washing us. Drinking water we make from sea water via a 3 gallon per hour
watermaker.
So the Staniel Cay area became our home
for much of that week. We did what we haven't done before - walked most of the
island which is split in half by the airstrip runway and some large
saltponds. It's not the most beautiful of islands - none of the Exumas are but
there's a lot of development happening on the east side as could be seen by
a large bull dozer nicely parked on the highest point visible to all. Its
the stunning beaches and colourful waters that provide the 'wow'
factor.
  Views of Pirate Beach at Staniel
Cay....
  ...and the 'ocean side' showing the extensive coral
reefs just offshore
Whilst there we finally celebrated our seventh wedding
anniversary at the famous Staniel Cay Yacht Club. It wasn't our actual
anniversary on that day but on May 4th it had been too rough to consider
getting off the boat into the dinghy to go ashore so deferred the meal for
another time. The next day was 'Cinco de Mayo' and slightly calmer. There
was a good atmosphere in the yacht club with a celebratory Mexican theme.
We enjoyed the fayre but 'Skip's' digestion system was
challenged when he had to bodily extract our dinghy from a dried out melee
of small craft grounded in the dinghy park. The tide had long since departed and
wasn't due back for quite a few hours.   Sort that lot out! Ours being the green
one. Ever-present
Nurse sharks waiting for some food at Staniel Cay Yacht
Club
Speaking of weddings. One casualty on board around this time
was the glass in the barometer (a wedding gift) which crashed to the floor in
the navigation area shattering into pieces - yes, we thought about the old
saying about the glass falling indicating bad weather - but surely not like
that! We spent an interesting few minutes tracing the slivers of glass that were
lying in the carpet but seem to have gathered it all.
  Glass-less but still
functioning...
...but not much to be done with this little lot
The following day we moved location to protected Big Majors Spot island, one of our favourite Exuma anchorages. This
was mainly to get some weather protection but we are always happy to
see the ever present family of piggies on one of the beaches.
It's been three years since our last visit which means that the young
piglets at that time are now the big sows of today and the old sows at
that time are ...er? Bacon? We cast these thoughts aside and settled
down to watch the hilarious sight of these friendly but always hungry creatures
swimming out to any approaching boat that may have a bag of old vegetables for
them. The rules are - either feed them on the beach if they allow you exit
from your dinghy or out in deeper water, say five feet or so. Any shallower and
you will have a very large hungry pig with its trotters firmly perched on your
dinghy tubes or worse, in the floor of your boat. More close up and
personal than is desirable really. We gave the feeding a miss this time and
watched others instead. Around sunset we were astonished to see on our
neighbouring boat, a Nauticat 36 motorsailer, just fifty yards distant a lone
piper blast out a couple of laments earning the player a round of applause from
the immediate vicinity. We learned later that this was a lady piper. And very
good she was too. The night before they left she was seemingly unable to perform
due to the windy conditions - possibly fearing a 'blow-back' in the drone
department!
  Our entertainment at
sunset
 ... and our entertainment throughout
the day
!!!
remember being tickled pink?
We are ever mindful, being in a chain of remote islands,
of the need to try and avoid any medical incidents onboard as the
nearest hospital is in Nassau some seventy miles north. There is a private
clinic at Staniel Cay but nothing by way of specialist
treatment. This is how 'Skip' found himself decanted off of
Ajaya at short notice onto a friends yacht to accompany the
couple to Nassau. The owner of the boat had been ashore to
see the nurse at the clinic with a suspected detached retina.
They advised he travel to Nassau as soon as possible to have it checked out
by a specialist there. Given it was an eye problem our friends were
keen to have someone accompany them just in case of further deterioration. We
were anchored nearby and of course willing to help if we could. The
'Admiral' agreed to hold the fort for a couple of days as 'Skip'
packed a bag, screwed on his monohull legs and rapidly disappeared over the
horizon northwards in the direction of Nassau. They say absence
makes..........etc. It's true.
The trip was not undertaken in ideal conditions. A
motorsail up to a very rolly rough Hawksbill Cay took care of the first night
with 'Skip' still tottering around the deck like a new born giraffe. Some help!
The next day dawned a little brighter which
was fortuitous as we had some nasty reefs to negotiate on the last
leg and good sunlight was essential to avoid these patches of
coral. This was a yacht that drew 6' 7", almost twice Ajaya's 4ft
draft, meaning that water depths that do not concern us as we bumble our way
around the Exumas become a real show-stopper for this boat. Despite the
disappointing weather we arrived with no incidents either eye or boat related
and 'Skip' just enjoyed the ride as at no time was there any real need of his
experience.
We arrived in Nassau last Thursday afternoon. 'Skip' gave the
'Admiral' a call to make sure all was well onboard. All was good. The
remainder of the day was taken up with our friends heading off to an
eye specialist for a detailed examination which resulted in a diagnosis of
posterior vitreous detachment (hope we have that correct) which is different and
a little less serious than a retina detachment. But a worrying event all
the same. A final meal out at the Poop Deck restaurant and
then an early night ready for the 0530 alarm the following morning. It was
strange to hear emergency sirens in such quantity again but Nassau's a busy
place.
  Busy Nassau Harbour Club
Marina
This left 'Skip' with his own personal nemesis to
overcome - the trip back to Staniel Cay in a very small commercial aircraft
where even the passengers in the back seats can probably read the flight
gauges at the business end! But it did have two engines which was certainly on
the plus side of things.
The last encounter with Flamingo Air was a few years ago when
friends Steve and Sheila flew out of Staniel Cay back to Nassau after enduring a
week with us on Ajaya. Sheila ably demonstrated and astonished us with
her 'pig tickling' skills at Big Majors. At that time a very large lady
(certainly not Sheila) had boarded the small aircraft and sat in the back seat
causing the plane to tip up with it's nose wheel in the air. Not
a problem known to be suffered on anything Boeing or Airbus
make. On the plus side again this particular excursion, provided the
weather was clear, could offer spectacular views flying over the
island chain during the thirty minute flight to Staniel Cay.
So at 0600 Friday morning, as previously
arranged, Mr Hezekiah McPhee was duly waiting outside the marina in his taxi
van. With some 220,000 miles already clocked driving around New Providence
Island on which Nassau sits. He is to be recommended if you need transport in
that area as he is a considerate driver. (His name needs some pronunciation
practice though).
Nassau airport is as modern as any international facility and
check-in took just one minute. No seat number is allocated - sit where you want,
including the front right-hand seat next to the pilot if you ask nicely (as
somebody did). But it was still a full security check-in, shoes off
etc.
The flight was 'on time' according to the airport information
display. In fact all the early flights were indicated as such which was
encouraging but also overly optimistic as 'Skip's' 0800 flight wasn't anywhere
to be seen at that time nor was the boarding desk manned. But at 0820 a lady
showed up and took the vouchers from all six passengers before leading us down
to the concourse where there were two Flamingo Air flights parked up awaiting
their passengers. The pilots were carrying out their pre-flights, counting
wings, engines, propellers, dipsticks etc.
  Not that one.....
(that's Turks and Caicos
Air)
.... but this one - a 9 seat Cessna 402Cs operated by
Flamingo Air
  Surely not the co-pilot for goodness sake - no,
just another passenger, but our pilot was a veteran flyer and a
suspected regular patron of 'Dunkin' Doughnuts' at the
airport departure lounge
Our pilot was a scream. In fact 'Skip' didn't believe he was
the pilot at first but merely a local pretending to be a pilot just to wind
up the passengers. It worked! But he then secured the passenger door from
the inside meaning he WAS the pilot and asked why everybody was
sitting at the back! Nobody bothered to move so he manoeuvred his
considerable bulk up to the front left hand seat and commenced having a chat
with everybody behind him before starting an engine and opening his
side window to get some prop wash blasting into the cabin. Air-conditioning
of course. Suggestions about in-flight drinks and meals were met with a loud
guffaw as he proceeded to start his other engine. He then taxied towards
the runway programming his in-flight computer with his right hand, holding the
window open with his left whilst steering the plane with his knees. We've all
done that of course - but in cars. 'Skip' asked if he could possibly fly
over Ajaya on the way into Staniel but he didn't promise anything.
(is off de' track mon).
We were next for take off and 'Skip' grovelled around the
adjacent floor space looking for a seat belt, eventually finding one. The
pilot's window was still wide open and we continued to be blasted with port
engine prop wash before he obtained the 'all clear' slammed the window shut,
taxied onto the main runway and shoved the throttle forward. We were
off!   Smooth take off on the international quality
runway........
heading S.E over New Providence Island towards the
Exumas
Exhilaration. Total exhilaration. An amazing thirty
minutes. With a number of cloud breaks many of the islands we are so
familiar with at sea level could be seen in all their aerial beauty. But not
only islands, even the sand bars that form at the cuts (small entrances where
the waters of the Sound meet the shallow banks) could be seen in a their natural
sculptured shapes.
  Shroud Cay - southern
point
Hawksbill Cay
  Halls Pond
Cay Warderick
Wells (with (reflected) large carrier bag at
anchor!)
In-between taking pictures out of the window 'Skip' was
watching the gauges and controls mindful of looking for needles staying firmly
in their green sectors! Then our pilot turned round and shouted above the
considerable noise "Where is your boat?"- "Big Majors next to pig beach"
was 'Skip's' reply leaving his seat to hover behind the pilot (no seatbelt
warnings on this flight). It was clear he was going to grant one of his
passengers a special wish. "Which one! Which one is yours?" "That one" 'Skip'
pointed out of the windscreen as Ajaya could be clearly seen in the
distance.
 
Pipe Cays
Big Majors
Spot with Ajaya nearest to shore in line with the large
powerboat after our flyover
 
final approach to Staniel
Cay..
& ...Safely back on terra firma at Staniel Cay -
collect your own bags please
Locked onto his 'target' the pilot dropped to about two
hundred feet flying low over the anchored boats and straight over Ajaya
before turning into a steep (very) left-hand bank round the
island and lining up on what his correct track should have been for
landing at Staniel Cay. An amazing experience leaving 'Skip' to almost plant a
kiss on the pilots right cheek - he didn't of course. Just a good old shoulder
slap - man to man like. And of course the 'Admiral' now knew that 'Skip' was
home again. And that we still mercifully had a mast standing. She launched the
dinghy, started the engine and motored the mile or so to collect the
still euphoric 'Skip' who didn't stop prattling on about the trip and
the flight back for some time. His body was on the ground but his head was still
in the clouds. Actually when the 'Admiral' arrived, saturated from her wet
ride in the choppy water off Staniel Cay he was standing on a brand
new Lagoon 45 catamaran which was to have dropped him back at Ajaya
had the dinghy engine not started - but it had.
We decided to haul anchor and head north ourselves. There was
a break in the weather that would give us a gentle sail up to Warderick Wells
giving 'Skip' chance to regain his multihull legs - not that he ever really
mastered the monohull ones over two days. That boat sailed beautifully compared
to our old plodding Ajaya.
  Soon as we dropped anchor the 'nurse' arrived !
Pays to know your shark species here but the 'Admiral' declined a swim all the
same. Sensible.
No sooner had we dropped anchor at Emerald Rock at Warderick
Wells we spotted (difficult to miss really) this inquisitive Nurse Shark which
seemed to think we might be about to gut some fish. It took some time for it to
realize that we weren't. It circled the boat for about twenty minutes before
disappearing. 'Skip' went in for a swim after it had swum away and just
after he had emerged for a shower the thing was back in circulation.
Obviously didn't want to risk swimming close to the boat when there was a human
around! An amazing specimen (the shark was pretty good as well).
From Warderick we left early to get to Highbourne before the
strong twenty plus knot winds were due to kick in from the northeast. We failed
by about one miserable hour as we pounded into short steep seas that came up
from nowhere to make the last three miles hard won. The anchorage was hardly any
better but that's where we started this blog so there we will finish for now.
.......................
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