We dinghied down about 6 or 7 miles between small cays and Great Exuma and under a couple of bridges until we arrived at a place called Sand Point, where there was a little cut by a beautiful sandy beach on both the creek side, where we had come from, and the harbour side. It took about half an hour on plane in the dinghy, so it was quite a trip! The first thing everyone did when we arrived was go for a ride in the 'lazy river', floating in the current through the cut and back around to the beach. When we got tired of that we congregated in a small pool with water warmed by the sun, which they were calling the 'hot tub'. Dave and I went for a walk along the beach and then joined everyone for a picnic lunch on the beach. Pam brought a huge pan of sticky buns she had made with enough to share with everyone and they were superb! It was quite a calm day, so we decided to go back via the harbour, which was a shorter route. That didn't turn out to be a great idea, as it was a bit of a pounding ride since there were still some waves even though the wind was light. We made it back not too much worse for wear and had a quiet evening after that.
On Monday we got up and cleaned the boat, ready for our guests and then went in to town to renew our cruising permit (successfully, much to our relief, as we weren't sure if they would do it for us a week early) and buy the rest of the groceries. Looking at the weather, we had decided we should leave Georgetown on Tuesday morning, so we wanted to be ready to go. Unfortunately the mailboat hadn't come on schedule, so there was less selection than there had been when we shopped on Saturday. I managed to find eggs at the second grocery store, but wasn't able to get lettuce, and the veggie selection was pretty sparse much to my chagrin, as one of the main reasons we had come to Georgetown was for good provisioning for having guests on board.
Bill and Deborah had managed to get onto the 1:45 flight from Nassau, but it ended up leaving late, so they didn't arrive at the boat until almost 5 p.m. Luckily that was perfect timing for Happy Hour so we started the trip off in style. On Tuesday morning we headed out as planned and sailed up Exuma Sound to Lee Stocking Island where we thought we could get some protection from the front that was coming through. We had a good sail up and we were anchored south of the island before 2 p.m. Unfortunately the wind hadn't quite come around enough for us to get protection from the island so we were bouncing around quite a bit. It was so choppy that we didn't think it was safe to put the engine on the dinghy, and so windy that Dave didn't think we could row with more than one person in it so we were pretty well boat bound. After a while, Bill and Dave decided they were going to swim in to shore, so they donned snorkels, masks and fins, packed their shoes into wet bags and jumped in. Deborah and I weren't keen, so we watched them from the boat and relaxed. A bit later they arrived back at the boat with a couple of coconuts in the wet bags and Bill dissected them so we had fresh coconut, which was very good.
It was a rolly night at anchor, but the following morning the wind had come around enough that the waves had calmed down and we were able to get the engine on the dinghy so we could all go in to shore. We were anchored just off the now defunct Perry Institute for Marine Science. Dave and Bill had done some exploring the day before, but this time we all went wandering around peering into abandoned buildings with furniture and equipment still in place, as if they had just walked away from it all. We did notice that much of the wiring had been stripped out at some point. After checking with 'the Google' it seems that the Institute closed down some time between 2008 and 2011, but it isn't really clear when. It is too bad, as there is a ton of infrastructure, including a dammed pond and a lot of fish tanks as well as the many buildings and residences, so it looks like at one time it was a real going concern. We walked out to see the cut and then walked along some of the beaches on the north shore where we went for a swim when we found one protected from the waves a bit.
Thursday it was still quite windy, and cool, so we did a bit more exploring on shore and hiked east to have a look at the 'Loyalist Trail' and hike up to the highest point in the Exumas, Perry's Peak, at 123 feet. Friday we woke up to cloudy and cool conditions (again) and we knew we had to wait for the right tide to get out of the cut, so we dinghied down to a little beach and hiked over to have a look at the cliffs on the Sound side before coming back to another beach and wading around to get back to the dinghy. We went to the Palm Tree Beach, which we had discovered on our hike the day before, and had a picnic lunch before heading back to the boat to see if we could leave. After much discussion, we decided to wait until the morning to let the wind and seas calm down a bit more.
On Saturday morning we got up and headed out through the cut. Conditions were good, although the waves were big enough once we got out into the Sound, and Deborah wasn't feeling the best. She was a trooper and stuck it out for the time it took us to go the 8 miles up to Rudder Cut, where we had decided to go in. When we got to the cut we found that the tide was rushing out to the Sound while the waves blew in, creating what is called a rage, with big square waves. We got into it and decided to keep going after Bill and Dave quickly furled the jib. With me on the helm and Dave navigating we managed to surf in and soon we were in calm water after a bit of an adrenaline rush.
One of the reasons we had decided to go in through Rudder Cut was so that we could snorkel to see the piano and mermaid sculpture that David Copperfield had sunk near Rudder Cut Cay. We had the GPS co-ordinates so we got pretty close to it and anchored Romana. Unfortunately the current was really strong, so while Bill swam over Dave rowed Deborah and I close and we anchored the dinghy so we could have a look. I wasn't able to get really close to it because of the current, but Dave and Bill managed to dive on it and get some photos. We were in a bit of a rush to get north of some shallows before the tide got too low, so the entire stop only lasted about 45 minutes, but now we can check that one off the list!
We got through the shallows with no issues and then we put the jib up again and sailed in much flatter water on the Banks than we had on the Sound. Once again it was Saturday and we wanted to get some groceries, so we headed towards Staniel Cay, dropped the hook at Big Majors around 4 p.m. and zoomed in to get to the stores before they closed. As luck would have it the mailboat had just been, so Isles General actually had everything on my list. Dave took the groceries back to the boat in the dinghy while Bill, Deborah and I walked from the store over to the Yacht Club. When we got there we found out that it was Casino Royale night and they had the whole place decked out with Bond paraphenalia and they had blackjack and poker tables set up. When Dave showed up to meet us, we decided to go in for a drink and I asked the waitress about supper. She said they were full because of the special event but we could order off the lunch menu until 9 p.m. so that's what we did.
After all of the wind and cool weather we had at Lee Stocking Island there was another front coming through and we had to get some protection from the west, so Sunday morning we took Bill and Deborah in to see the pigs at the beach and then we motored up to Cambridge Cay, which has become one of our favourite spots in the Exumas. We had some lunch and then did a bunch of snorkeling and walking on the beaches. The snorkeling conditions were really good, as it was finally sunny and the water was pretty flat in the lee. We spent Monday at Cambridge as well, doing a bunch more snorkeling and some hiking. As we were hiking up to the cut, Deborah saw a lizard and then she and I saw a snake chasing said lizard! That was the first snake we had seen in all of our hikes in the Exumas so it was a real surprise.
The wind finally died down that evening, which was a welcome relief. The following morning it picked back up again which made for a great sail up to Warderick Wells, where we arrived early enough to go for a hike before lunch and do some snorkeling after lunch. There we found out from a volunteer working on trail maintenance that the big dark hulled yacht we had seen at Big Majors a few days earlier and which was now anchored not far away belonged to Steven Spielberg and he had been on shore that morning. So that explains the grey 'stealth' tender we saw behind the boat. We wondered whether we should dinghy over and ask if he had any good movies we could borrow.
While we were hiking we saw another snake, which slithered across the trail between Bill's legs as he walked, so that was two in two days! We got to do some really great snorkeling under perfect conditions that afternoon. The only problem was that it was a bit cool. I was in the water so long at our first stop in the north anchorage that I was actually shivering when I got out, but it was that good! When we got back to the boat we warmed up a bit on the sand bar about thirty feet away from our mooring before returning to the boat and having a look at the ramoras, who must think Romana is one big shark! They are really funny looking fish, with a sucker pad thing on the top of their head, so that they can attach to sharks and dash out and grab the little bits of food that the shark misses.
Because we had decided to sail back to Nassau to drop Bill and Deborah off ready to fly home on Friday, we had to make tracks north, so the next day we headed off early and sailed up to Shroud Cay, where we stopped for a few hours to dinghy across the cay in the creek to ride the current out of the creek and have lunch on the beach there. We went back to Romana mid afternoon, weighed anchor and sailed up to Highbourne Cay where we anchored for the night amongst the mega yachts, ready to push off for Nassau the next morning. The wind had dropped off and I made a comment that maybe we would have a night without much wind to which Deborah responded "I feel like it never not winds here", which has certainly been true for their visit. March went out like a lion instead of a lamb!
Thursday morning we departed early from Highbourne Cay and sailed to Nassau. It was a good sail, but a bit too downwind for me, as I don't like the associated slap of sails and bang of booms. We arrived in Nassau Harbour and anchored where we usually do, just off Bay Street Marina, between the Cruise Ship pier, Potter's Cay and Atlantis. The guys went to get water in the dinghy while Deborah and I walked up to get groceries. We went back to the boat for Happy Hour and then we went out for supper at the Poop Deck, which is on the other side of the bridges to Paradise Island. We had a great meal there and we were treated to fireworks (apparently they are a fairly regular occurrance in Nassau) before we dinghied back to Romana. As we approached the bridges in our dinghy barely making way against the current in big rolling waves from behind, the harbour police came up to make sure we were okay, which was kind of nice.
When we arrived at Romana just after 9 p.m., the people on the boat anchored next to us called us over, so Dave and Bill went to see them after dropping Deborah and I off. It turned out that while we were away enjoying our supper, Romana had dragged anchor and run into another boat. The people on that boat got a line onto Romana and thought their anchor would hold both boats, but it didn't, and they started dragging too. When they got too close to another boat, the girl on that boat jumped onto Romana and somehow managed to get a line onto our spare anchor and get it set so that it held. She was just going to see the other boats in the anchorage to let them know what the situation was when we got back!
Although this was not a great way to end their visit, I was certainly glad that Bill and Deborah were with us when this happened, as the next twelve hours would have been much more difficult without them on board to help. Our solar panels were hanging from the davits vertically, so Bill and Dave got them secured with some ropes and then they went to see the people on the boat we had collided with. Next we got the main anchor up and then pulled in the Danforth and went to re-anchor. It was dark, so I was grateful for all the lights of Nassau around us, which made it a bit easier to see what we were doing. We anchored twice more and couldn't get the anchor to hold and then on our third try it held, but it was too close to other boats. By this time it was midnight and when we were discussing what to do next, I suggested that we might be able to go to the marina and tie up there, since I was pretty sure no-one was going to get any sleep at anchor that night. Dave went off in the dinghy to see if that would work while we stayed on Romana to make sure we didn't run into anyone else. After much cajoling, Dave convinced the security guard at the marina to let us tie up and we got fenders and lines ready and discussed how we were going to dock in the current and wind conditions. We pulled it off, with Bill leaping off with the stern line and me with the bow line. I know that distances are deceptive at night, but I took a big breath before I made that jump!
By 1 a.m. we were tied up securely and we all fell into bed and everyone fell asleep despite the loud music from a party boat near the bridge. The following morning Dave was up on deck early to assess the damage and it turned out to be a lot less than expected. The damage was all to the mounts for the panels. Miraculously, the wires were still intact and the panels were charging the batteries. In order to get to them to fix them we had to turn the boat around, but luckily the slip we were in was for a catamaran and there was just enough space for Dave, Bill and Deborah to manhandle Romana around to the other side of the slip so she was stern in while I stayed on board and fended off with the engine running, just in case. Bill and Dave worked on fixing the panel supports and at one point all four of us were there with Deborah and I supporting the weight of the panels while Bill and Dave connected the supports. Bill just had enough time to have a shower (the plus side of having tied up to the marina in the middle of the night was that it was a pretty swanky one, with good showers, laundry, wifi, an exercise room and a beautiful lounge) before it was time for him and Deborah to head to the airport.
Once we said goodbye Dave went off to assess the damage to the other boat while I got the laundry done. Luckily there was minimal damage to their boat, and all they would take for their help in securing Romana was a couple of bottles of wine. Dave also tracked down Montana, the girl who got Romana anchored again and convinced her to take some wine, even though she feels the same as we do. We help people out when we can and hope that if we need help one day we will get it. I guess in this case 'paying it forward' worked out.
After we had arrived in Nassau on Thursday, Dave realized that our friend Milton was here on vacation with his girlfriend Paula, so we had managed to get in touch with him to see if they wanted to meet up. We used the (free) phone in the lounge (how civilized is that) to call them at their hotel and we arranged to meet them mid afternoon. Unfortunately just as we were walking up the wharf to head over to Paradise Island, one of the marina staff told us we had to move our boat to make room for a catamaran, so back we went to the boat where we left one slip, moved the lines and fenders to the other side and got into another slip. We finally got over to meet Milton and Paula around 4 p.m.
We had a nice visit, having a few drinks at the pool at their hotel, then back to their room where I had my second hot, 'not wearing a bathing suit' shower of the day (almost too much decadence to handle) and over to Atlantis resort where we got slices of pizza and the biggest piece of carrot cake I have ever seen for supper. Since we hadn't had much sleep the night before, we kind of petered out early and took a cab back to the marina to get to bed reasonably early.
Today we left Nassau and motored up to Royal Island at the northwest tip of Eleuthera in the flattest calm conditions we have seen under way for months. When we arrived the wind was blowing 2 knots but we made sure we set the anchor really well anyway. Hopefully tonight we will get a good sleep as tomorrow we have a fairly long passage to the Abacos. My next blog will come from somewhere there.