Now that our boat is out of the water and on jack stands
for the winter in Halifax, we have been invited to come to see our friends in
the Bahamas (Andy, Judy and Zoey – the cat) for two weeks on their boat “Jacobs
Ladder”. www.sailingblogs.com/member/jacobslasdder. svjacobsladder@gmail.com
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| SV Jacobs Ladder |
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| Andy and Judy Hart |
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| Zoe |
Dec 13th, 2014
We left Halifax at 7 am for our flight to the
Bahamas. With a quick stop in Toronto
which gave a really look at the winter weather. We were glad we were heading
south. We landed a Nassau airport and
when we left the airport we were welcomed to a 25c day with warm winds and a
cloudless sky. We took a short taxi ride
to the downtown of Nassau where we were going to meet Andy and Judy at the
Yacht Basin Marina. It was only $25.00
from the airport to the marina. When we
arrived Andy and Judy were waiting on the dock for us with big smiles on very
ones faces.
After a talk and drink we all when for a walk along the
main street along to explore Nassau. Some
of the best purchases were; a bottle of 151 rum, rum cake. Can you see the theme? That evening we when out for a lovely meal at
the marina restaurant. A little pricey,
but the view and staff were great.
There is also a food store, well stocked dive shop, fuel
and marine store with in a minutes’ walk of this location. Cost was $2 per foot, $15 for water and $5
for internet.
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| Atlantis |
Dec 14th
The first day in paradise!
We left Nassau in the early afternoon after we did some
repairs and cleaning to the boat. Andy
waited for me to help him fix his macerator
pump, which he said was only broken for a few days……I have my doubts
after I found out how shitty of a job it was. All I have can say about this is
it amazing how much sewage can come out of such small whole……and after four
buckets it just kept coming. I had flashback
to the trip to the boat show two years ago in my dad’s motorhome. Some of you
know that story.
That afternoon we went to anchor just off the Rose Island
which was only an hour sail from Nassau.
We all went for a ride in the dingy to a nearby beach and took our first
walk in the warm sand and water.
Andy and I went for a swim to see the bottom and how well
his new anchor set. He purchased a rocna
anchor with 200 feet of chain road. We
found the anchor set in the bottom, I am very impressed with it performance and
it may be an upgrade considered for my boat.
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| Rose Island |
Dec 15th
This morning we got up early and heading across the
Bahama bank to the Great Exuma Island. Our first stop after a 5 hour of sailing was
an anchorage between Allans Cay, Leaf Cay and SW Allans Cay. This is a well-protected anchorage with a
sandy bottom in 8 to 10 feet of crystal blue water.
After we dropped the hook we all went snorkeling to the
nearby beach which I was shocked to find out the once I got there it was full
of Iguanas. This is one of the three
islands in this area that is a protected island for these Iguanas. Andy and I then went snorkeling over on the
west side of the anchorage and found a very nice spot along the shore with lots
of coral and small brightly colored fish.
Today was the first time RaeAnn has ever been snorkeling in her life.
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| Leaf Cay |
Dec 16th
After a wonderful fried egg sandwich and a coffee we were
on our way again. We motor to our new
anchorage which was 45 minutes from our last anchorage at Allen Island. Our new anchorage was off of High Bourne
Cay. After we set the anchor we took a
short dingy ride into the High Bourne Marina.
It was such and beautiful place to stop.
They offer dock space at $2.50 to 3.50 a foot. They have water, fuel and a place to dump
garbage at $5 per bag. We when up to
their bar for a drink. I was the most
beautiful deck I think I ever sat on, the menu also looked amazing. On the way back to the dingy we stop at the market
which offers most items at a very high price.
Potato chips were $9.50 per bag; 1 lb. of coffee was over $9 as well.
But the most cool thing here was that there was a fish cleaning station at the
end of the main wharf and in the water in front of it were about a dozen sand
sharks and a couple of lemon sharks.
When they saw you on the wharf they all started to swim around thinking
that it was feeding time. This afternoon another great dive on a reef which had
hundreds of conks on the sand around the reef, and once again many beautiful
colored fish.
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| High Bourne
Cay |
Dec 17th
Nine am. and it’s up anchor again. This time we cut between two islands and
headed for east side of the islands for a transit south to Hogs Cay, which is
about 15 nm to the south. Sunny day, not
a cloud in the sky, light blue waters, great friends, what more could you ask
for?
Jacob’s Ladders new solar panel and control system that
they installed before they left Halifax is working well but is not really
supply enough power without running the engine or generator ever few days to
keep up with the demands of the lights, fridge and freezer. They are looking to upgrade the lights to
LED and either adding more batteries for storage or install a wind generator. There seems to always be a breeze here, so
between a wind generator and a solar panel I think it would supply lots of
energy. I think if I was to travel on my boat a wind generator would be a must for
me. I like my electrical gadgets too
much to be running out of power.
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| Spotted Ray |
Dec 18th
Today we decided to stay put for the day. We arrived at Hogs Cay in the early afternoon
yesterday. After spending the rest of
the day on the beach and swimming. We
had a great bbq, with steak, bean and rice salad.
I went for a really great swim (snorkel) I saw a large
Barracuda, Red drum, Southern stingray and lots of other fish. This anchorage so far has been the cleanest
of the places that we have stopped. I
never saw any trash on the bottom here.
It could be because of the strong current that runs through between the
two islands. The area that we are in now
is part of the Bahamas Land and Sea Park.
There is no fishing allowed within 4 nm of the islands. There are also mooring balls throughout the
park that you can rent per night at a rate of $20. We are at anchor on a nice sandy spot on the
west side of Hogs Cay. RaeAnn once again
found the water too hard to resist. We
snorkel all along the shore with the current and she even found the courage to
swim from the shore to the boat which is anchorage in 30 feet of water and 300
to 400 hundred feet from the shore.
We had lunch on one of the beaches that are here. There are six or seven of them in this
cove. The sand is so soft it’s like silk
when you touch it. I even found a
coconut tree to lie under and contemplate life.
Almost forgot that we saw our first Spotted eagle ray today swimming
over one of the sand bars in the cove.
Dec 19th
Compass key was our next stop. This place is famous for their nurse
sharks. We all when for a swim with the
sharks in the marina. Also there are lots of large fish here as well. The Island is pretty much empty, but there is
a mangrove river with stingrays, turtle and lots of small fish. On the west side of the island there is a
large crescent beach when no one around.
There is not much here in the way of provisions. There are lots of docks at $2.50 per foot, garage
is $25.00 per bag, and water is $.80 per gallon. There are no mooring balls available any
longer. The staff is really friendly and helpful. But besides the sharks and fish around the
wharfs there is not much more to offer.
Dave and Chorine show up on their boat “At Last” around dinner
time. They are both members of SYC as
well. It was good to see them again.
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| Lobster |
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| RaeAnn toes |
Dec 20th
Around 10 am we departed Compass Cay for Stanley Cay
which was about 6nm to the south of Compass key. This port is the first really spot that
offers a market to resupply the boat. We went shopping when we arrived at the
island. The prices were high but not too
bad. There are about 8 boat anchored
here from Canada. The island is very
nice with lots to do in this area. The
two big attractions in this area are; visiting the island that has the swimming
pigs and Thunder ball cave which was featured in a James Bond movie in the
70’s. Tomorrow we are going to visit
both of these.
On the way here today we had a problem with the
engine. It was over heating very badly
and we have to shut it down and only use it when we came to anchor. Dave towed us into port because of the
restricted habour entrance. We are going
to take a look at the engine once it cools off……maybe after beers and a swim.
Dec 21th
After a quick check of the engine it turned out to be
that the anti-freeze was low. After
adding so it seems to be okay now. We
went into the yacht club for lunch. It
was recommended to me to have the “Por Boy” which is a sandwich made from homemade
bread with conch, tomato, lettuce and hot sauce. It was amazing…….
After lunch we went for a swim in Thunder Ball cave and
then went to the beach to feed the pigs. There were a lot of people feeding the
pigs on the beach so they seemed to not be very aggressive towards us when we
showed up. This is a great place to come
to, lots to do and a great anchorage for many boats at one time.
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| Swimming Pigs |
Dec 22nd
After a quick run
ashore this morning we left the anchorage and sail to Black Point it took only
two tacks and about 2 hours to arrive.
We drop anchor off of the public wharf and head into town. We stopped at Lorene’s for a few beers and a
fish fry. This area is very nice with free internet and Dark spiced rum for
$15.00 per bottle.
Dec 23rd
The next hop was about 3 hours south to Little Famers
Cay. This island is the second smallest
populated island in the Bahamas with the population of 55 people. We anchored off of the south end of the
island which we thought would provide us a great sheltered spot. But it ended up to be too little water for
the boats so we spend 45 minutes on each side of low tide bouncing off of the
bottom. There is no damage done to the
boat because it was all fine sand here and the swell was almost nothing. The yacht club on the south tip of the island
offers free internet as long as you are drinking or eating there. It’s a nice club with a wonderful view. The club also offers mooring balls for rent. I asked the prices and the owner said how
much is it worth to you! This seems like
a common statement from a lot of locals here.
He finally told me $20.00 per night for most people. We took a walk into the little settlement
which had two very small food stores, but a wonderful restaurant and bar. The staff is very nice and helpful. The owners of the place want to be in all of
our pictures. He told us that he lived in Toronto for a few years but he had to
move back to paradise. I could see his
point as I set on his deck overlooking the small habour with pale blue water
and listening to music.
On the backside of the island was the diesel powered
power plant that ran 24/7 and a small school house. The school house had a across walk in front
of it which seemed weird to us since we only saw two cars and one motorbike.
Dec 24th
Engine problems are back again. After only an hour we left from the last
place the engine overheat light came back on.
So we had to make a dash to the closes anchorage which was at a spot
between two islands Cave Cay and Musha Cay.
Both of these islands are privately owned by David Copperfield.
After we went over to one of the small island for a swim
and a beer on the beach we came back to the boat. We also had the dingy out and played in the
surf zone for a bit. That was a hoot
when the boat came out of the water.
As for the engine we took out the thermostat and refilled
it with antifreeze and bled it again. We
are hoping that this will fix the problem.
If not the next step would be to take the coolant system apart as see if
there is a blockage or if the heat exchanger is leaking the coolant into the
seawater coolant system. All of us went
swimming again to cool off.
David had us all over to his boat for sun downers and
snacks. I think everyone had a good time
for Xmas Eve.
Dec 25th
Woke up to no snow,,,,,,,so we had to have coffee and
breakfast in the cockpit. One thing I can say about the Bahamas the weather is
pretty must the same every day. The
sunny comes up; it is about 27c each day, no clouds, and no rain……sun goes
down. We are going to try to motor sail
to George Town today which is about 35nm away.
After 2 hours of beating into the wind we decided to stop
at Lee Socking Island which was a marine ocean research station in the late
1990’s and early 2000’s. For some reason
the project was shut down and the station was abandoned. I was weird walking
around it. It seemed that the people
just decided to leave and everything still remains there. I one area I walked into was some sort of
fish hatchery and all the glass tanks are still sitting on the table with the
fish names on them. I also walked up to
the airport and there were shelves full of stock. Like bolts, tires, oxygen tanks and also
there were tractors, diesel generators.
I could have spent a whole day there poking about.
After that we motored for about a half an hour to an
anchorage beside Williams Island which has great beaches and also the hill
which is the highest point in the Bahamas.
RaeAnn and Judy cook us a great Christmas dinner with ham, potatoes,
beans, dressing and squash. It was a
meal fit for kings. We shared this great
meal sitting at the cockpit watching the sunset. Don’t think I ever went swimming before
Christmas dinner.
Dec 26th
Once again we are making a dash for Georgetown. The winds are still from the Southeast and
the swells are about 3 feet but we are making good time at 5.5 knots and we are
only 25 nm for Georgetown. RaeAnn and I
are now going to fly from Georgetown to Nassau on the 28th to change
planes and fly back to Canada. The price
to fly between the islands is not too bad.
It is about $170.00 to fly from Georgetown to Nassau with taxes
included.
I was surprised about the weather that there also seems
to be a wind blowing. We only had one
day that was windless. Also the currents between and around the islands is a
lot more then I would expect for this area.
These currents are also tidally and not just a constant flow of water
from one side to the other side of the islands/cays.
Dec27th
Spend the day in Georgetown at anchor watching the other
boats come and go. Did a little shopping
and had our final swim in the ocean. Had
a very wild dingy ride back to the sailboat.
We found out that it’s not a great idea to put in 4 people, food, two
cases of beer and two 5 gallon water jugs into a dingy and go out in big
waves. I must say that RaeAnn is pretty
good with a water hand pump. But she was
not good enough to keep ahead of the water that was coming into the dingy.
Dec 28th
We are on our way home.
We started our flight back to Canada at 8 am this morning. Hopefully we will be back in Halifax before
midnight. Should not be too bad going
from plus 28c to plus 4c.
We had a great time.
I would recommend the Bahamas to anyone that likes to sail. The water is wonderful, great places to
anchor and lots of still unspoiled beaches.
We saw all sizes of boats here from 25 foot boats to over
200 feet. The smallest boat was a Hunter
25 from Montreal, Canada with 3 people on it.
So it still proves that you don’t need much to travel to distance
places.
