On Monday, May 12th, Jerry dropped by on his way to Sampson Cay to get some gas and Todd decided to ride along with him and pick up a bag of ice. Jerry's boat, "Watchout," is on a private mooring ball between Pipe Cay and Kemp Cay (Little Pipe) and we met he and his wife Dotty late Sunday afternoon when we went exploring in the dinghy. We went back over to their boat that afternoon for happy hour and had a great time talking and sharing stories. Dotty is an accomplished photographer and many of her photos can be seen in the Explorer Chartbook, including the cover photo! We took a photo of them and had planned to post it, but the storage card in the camera went on the blink and we lost most of our pictures. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to take another one on the return trip.
More beautiful sunsets in the Exumas.
Tuesday we moved to an anchorage at the southwest corner of Big Majors near the Staniel Cay Yacht Club and took the computers to the club to update the blog and check e-mail. Tom & Jackie from "In Your Dreams" were also there and we met their friends, Jim & Sherel, aboard "Sandpiper." The Internet signal was very poor and after a couple of hours, I gave up on downloading the many photos I needed to download and just posted the blog update with a few photos. Todd didn't have much better luck with e-mail so we went back to the boat and decided to move to the west side of Big Majors where the other two boats were anchored.
The Admiral enjoying the evening on the bow of "Life's2Short."
We took off in the dinghy Wednesday morning in search of a beach to the south that Tom & Jackie told us they were going to, but it got pretty rough and we still had quite a distance to go, so we cut the trip short and spent some time walking around town instead. The photos we took at Staniel Cay were also lost so we'll take some on the return trip and include them in the next blog update.
Just one advantage of not owning a sailboat!
The supply boat from Nassau was due in that morning so we went to Isles General Store where we purchased a package of three hearts of romaine, a loaf of Roman Meal bread, two tomatoes and four bananas for a shocking total of $17.40! I knew it would be expensive but I had no idea it would be that expensive!!! I'm just glad we didn't need much.
That evening we went to dinner with Tom & Jackie and Jim & Sherel at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club where we enjoyed a nice meal and good company. We left for Black Point Settlement on Great Guana Cay on Thursday where we dinghied ashore and walked to Lorraine's Cafe to check out the Internet. For some reason I wasn't able to get our computer signed on, but Lorraine had several computers available for boaters to use so Todd was at least able to check e-mail. I decided that I would download our blog photos to a jump drive and bring it back over the next day to finish the previous blog update. Tom & Jackie stopped by while we were there and we decided to make reservations for dinner at Lorraine's Friday evening.
The dock and bay at Black Point.
Building boats for the Regatta is BIG business in the Bahamas; they race for "bragging rights."
Sunset in the bay at Black Point.
The world famous Lorraine from Lorraine's Cafe. Don't forget to purchase some of her mom's coconut bread while you are at Black Point!
Friday we took our laundry over to the "laundermat," which is probably the newest and most impressive structure on the entire island. It has twelve washers and ten dryers, all of which are like new. The price is $3.50 to wash and $3.50 to dry, but thanks to my bucket laundry we only had to do a couple of loads. The "laundermat" is just down the road from Lorraine's so I spent about three hours adding the remaining photos to the previous blog update while Todd caught up on e-mail. "Sandpiper" arrived at the anchorage early Friday afternoon and decided to join us for dinner.
It's the lunch hour for the kids attending school.
The Captain wants to adopt this young lady. What a smile!
Annie and Agnes, basket and mat weavers at Black Point.
We got back to the boat about 2:30 and decided to do a little exploring in the dinghy. We left the anchorage and went north to a very nice beach that was separated from the Sound by a thin line of jagged rocks. Several iguanas wandered out onto the beach to see if we had any food for them, but we didn't have anything with us. There was a "Do Not Feed the Iguanas" sign on the beach anyway, so I guess it's just as well.
Tom & Jackie had invited everyone over to their boat for happy hour before going to Lorraine's for dinner so we quickly showered and changed when we got back to the boat and then joined the others for a nice evening. The dinner at Lorraine's Cafe was nothing fancy but it was good, relatively inexpensive (by Bahamian standards) and I think everyone enjoyed it.
On Saturday we hiked to a beach on the Sound side with Tom & Jackie. Jackie had gone there the previous day and found some sea glass and a few other treasures along the way. We spent several hours collecting all the sea glass we could find and were literally worn out when we returned to the boat three hours later!
The next day we moved a few miles south to Isaac Bay, also on Great Guana Cay, in the hopes of finding some fish near the reefs there. Tom & Jackie arrived ahead of us and then decided to go on south to Little Farmers Cay a short time later; Jim & Sherel stayed at Isaac Bay with us. Todd did a little spearfishing that afternoon but only managed to get a couple of trigger fish. The anchorage was pretty rough most of the day and a good portion of the night, so we were more than ready to move on to Little Farmers early Monday morning.
We picked up a mooring ball near "In Your Dreams" for $10 per night at Little Farmers and a short time later went with Tom to the Sound side where he dropped me off on the beach with Jackie and he and Todd went fishing. Tom & Jackie have a very nice center console tender that is bigger and much more comfortable than ours. The boys caught six relatively small fish and the girls found only a few treasures while beach combing but we all had a good time anyway.
Some of the caves located on the Sound side of Farmers Cay.
"In Your Dreams" and "Life's2Short" out for some fishing and beach combing.
When we got back to our boats, we put a cooler together and went to the sand bar in the middle of the mooring field. It was somewhere in the vicinity of low tide and the sand bar had just a few feet of water covering it. Jim & Sherel joined us and Tom brought rum punch for all, which we proceeded to sample while enjoying the water. After we were shriveled (and pickled) enough, we left to take a quick shower and then took hors d'oeuvres over to "In Your Dreams."
Getting "rum-punched" on the sand bar at Little Farmers Cay. What a great afternoon!
Tom & Jackie took off for Georgetown Tuesday morning and, unfortunately, we probably will not see them again while in the Exumas. They have some guests flying in to Georgetown Thursday morning and will spend a couple of weeks there before heading north again. We will start heading north Wednesday and plan to gradually work our way back to Nassau over the next three weeks or so, so our paths likely will not cross again, at least not in the Exumas.
Moonrise over the anchorage at Little Farmers Cay.
Todd and I dinghied over to Little Farmers Tuesday morning to walk around. Little Farmers is one of those priceless little communities that one hopes to find in the Bahamas. All fifty-five of the population are typical Exumians - very warm, open and friendly. As we arrived at the town dock, there were a few young men cleaning fish and harvesting conch, a common sight in the Bahamas. The Ocean Cabin Restaurant & Bar, a small grocery store, a tiny liquor store, a post office and the Farmers Cay Yacht Club pretty much cover the "must-see" stops on the island.
A couple of locals cleaning conch in the bay.
Little Farmers bay, called Little Harbour.
Our last stop before heading back north.
If and when Todd ever goes back to work, these will be his operating hours!
Tuesday afternoon we took the dinghy out into the Sound, which was very calm, and went north a few miles to a horseshoe-shaped beach on Great Guana Cay that Todd had seen on the map and thought might be a good one for sea glass. As it turned out, there wasn't any sea glass at that location, but Todd hiked around on the rocks and searched through the sea debris and managed to locate several steel floats he just couldn't pass up! Jackie had found one for him the previous day but got tired of carrying it as we hiked over the rocks to yet another beach and decided to leave it behind. Todd doesn't know how old the steel floats are but hopes to find someone who knows their history.
Another secluded beach where we spent a few hours looking for treasures and enjoying the view.
Todd with his treasure trove of steel floats.
After leaving that beach, we hit a couple of others on the way back and managed to find some sea glass but nothing compared to what we found at the beach near Black Point. After joining Jim & Sherel for happy hour, we went to the Ocean Cabin Restaurant & Bar where we had a couple of beers and an order of cracked conch, which was very good! While we were there, we met Terry & Ernestine, the owners, and another local named Samuel. They are very proud of their little community and told us they were glad we had decided to pay them a visit.
Wednesday morning we wrote our boat name, our names and the month and year on a plastic float Todd found the previous day and he took it over to Ocean Cabin so Terry could hang it from the ceiling inside the restaurant. The wind picked up out of the southwest overnight and we had a bit of a rough trip back up to Black Point Wednesday morning. The anchorage was also a little on the rough side with no protection from the west, but at least it offers some protection from the south.
About mid-afternoon, at low tide, we walked back over to the sea glass beach to see what we could find and, much to our delight, we found plenty! We had just been there a few days ago and cleaned up, but there was a whole new batch waiting for us. We beachcombed until we were both exhausted and then made the trek back to the boat for a much needed shower and some rest.
Todd fried a mess of fish for dinner that included yellow tail snapper, grouper and trigger fish. He and Tom had caught the yellow tail snapper and grouper in the Sound off Little Farmers on Monday and Todd speared the trigger fish at Isaac Bay the day before. What a great meal! We both stuffed ourselves and finished all eight fish supplemented by fresh cole slaw (in our defense, most of the fish were pretty small)!
Today is Thursday, May 22nd, and our plan is to continue north to Staniel Cay after we go ashore and update the blog at Lorraine's Cafe. A late season cold front with some pretty strong north winds is supposed to be headed this way by Sunday and continue into early next week, so we hope to be on a mooring ball in Cambridge by then. After Cambridge we will probably go to the Exuma Park south mooring field and then on to the north mooring field where we will once again have Internet access and be able to update the blog.
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