Dec. 30th
Soooooooooo, we are in Staniel Cay right now and will
be celebrating the New Year here. It is jam-packed
full of richies on their huge three story yachts.
Yikes. They are tolerable, but the other cruisers
anchored out and the locals are very cool. Jack saw a
nurse for his skin issues and the office visit plus
five bottles prescription cream, one bottle
prescription shampoo, and prescription antihistamine
was altogether 48 bucks! Chris put it well when he
said something like “Back at home, you can’t even see
the receptionist for that much!” On the other hand, a
can of corn is three bucks. Or was it 3.50? Either
way, corn is good.
We’ve been at Staniel for only three days but it feels
like one week! We’ve done so much and met so many
great people! Friday night we were anchored in this
large anchorage on the west side of Big Majors Cay.
That is the island where the pigs live. They come out
on the beach to be fed by intrigued cruisers and they
will even get in the water. We’ve also heard reports
of them swimming and actually trying to climb into
people’s dinghies! On Friday we caught a dinghy ride
with Conrad and Sally to Staniel to see Nurse Gray and
check out the territory. It is really really beautiful
around here. The Bougainvilleas are vivid and
colorful. The island is surrounded with scattered
reefs. There are a couple small grocery stores, a
clinic, a hardware, the works. Pickin’s are slim. The
marina is for big shots but its got a nicely
overpriced bar and restaurant that is a good hangout.
We shot back to our boat on Barry and Susan’s dinghy
and that night everybody and their mom got together on
a nearby beach for heavy hors d’oevres and drinks. Dan
and Morning Glory gave us a ride to the party on their
dinghy. In anchorages like this, people are constantly
scooting around on their dinghy visiting other boats.
We’ve met more people this way than on land. We didn’t
realize that when we bought our dinghy, which is
inflatable and oar-powered. Oar Power! We only
thought we would need it to row into shore from time
to time. Everybody’s been great though. We’ve been
offered rides so many times, and its been invaluable
when we wanted to get into shore during a strong wind
or current, or when we desired to join the rest of the
big kids snorkeling. In fact, tomorrow we are getting
a ride from our French Canadian friends, Sebastian and
M.C., out to some of the nearby reefs for some lobster
grabbing! Today we went out, but we followed them in
our boat (since we can get so shallow), but we were
consequently restricted to one area whereas they were
hittin’ up multiple spots.
Anyway, the get-together on the beach was a huge
success and, like last time at Warderick Wells, we
were the last ones on the beach with Dan and Morning
Glory. The party don’t stop till the break of dawn
bitchezzz!!!
Saturday was a super fantastic fun day! It started
with us practically beaching our boat on the pig
beach! There are only three pigs – one honkin’ big
brown male and two big pink females. I call them
Pinkie and Priscilla. While we were there, only Pinkie
and Priscilla came out and Jack fed them moldy bread
(and a dead body we had been stashing away). There
was a big sloppy pile of, well, slop, on the beach
that the pig mamas crammed their face in! It was
pretty gross and awesome at the same time. What a
unique thing to witness! Afterwards we went for a swim
and I am so buoyant in the salt water that I can swim
a fairly far distance by merely kicking my feet,
keeping my hands at my side – no fins! I can’t get
over swimming around in the crystal clear. It’s such a
wonderful feeling! Especially in the N to the U to the
D to the Eeeeee!!!!
After that super adventure, we motored around the
corner till we almost reached the shore of Staniel
Cay. LOVE having a small draft! We can go anywhere! We
anchored so close we can practically leap onto shore!
It’s a real short dinghy ride and it’s nice to have
the land so accessible. We anchored around 1 o’clock,
just in time to fly onto the beach and catch the local
cookout! Mac n’ cheese if you please, chicken lickin
keeps on tickin, beans n’ rice, oh so nice. Afterwards
we went to the Isles General store to round out our
hardware supply…Dan gave us a 30 gallon water bladder
that he didn’t need anymore!!! What a gift! Jack and I
put it in last night (although J did 99 doin’ fine
percent of the work). We continued our journey through
this small town by hitting up the Pink grocery store
(haha, there is a Pink Grocery and a Blue Grocery –
awesome). We bought a small amount of goods. The food
and hardware are on the expensive side, as always.
Last night was the Staniel Cay Yacht Club’s Pirate
Party. Those who knew of it beforehand came dressed up
and there were winners at the end of the night for the
best male/female costume. Beforehand, we invited Dan
and Morning Glory over to chill. They really enjoyed
our Velcro System, in which every G.D. thing that will
fit is velcroed on the wall or ceiling! Haha, I guess
it never occurred to me how ridiculous it looks – or
what a sweet method it is! Go Jack! We received a
surprise visit from a couple anchored nearby who
wanted to check out our boat. Martha and David were
their names and David is from Australia. CRICKEY! He
ACTUALLY said it. And I told him it made my night.
That was my first authentic Crickey experience and
boy, was it golden.
After awhile, we moseyed on over to the yacht club’s
bar & grill for the Pirate Party. It was packed!
Bahamian music was blaring. There was a little
drinking, a lot of dancing, and a lot of introducing
and meeting new people. It was a lot of fun! Even
better though was when a local told us about the bar
and disco down the street called Happy People, where
the local DJ was spinning, the locals were hanging out
playing pool and dancing. We quickly waltzed on over
to it and proceeded to dance the night away to the
sweet and succulent Bahamian tunes!
Jack just informed me that him and I were both picked
from a drawing to be a part of the sloop races! These
are traditional New Year’s sailing races that have
been going on since the 70’s. We are going to get to
ride on authentic Bahamian sloops with expert Bahamian
speed sailors!! The only downside to it is that we
were picked to ride on separate boats but the good
part is we are performing in the same race! I will be
on the sloop “Termite” and Jack will be on “It’s
Magic.” This will go down tomorrow morning at 10:30! I
can’t wait! It is supposed to be a really intense race
where you are advised to wear shoes and gloves. I am
so grateful that Dave mailed me those sailing gloves
right before we left for Miami! SO GRATEFUL! Thank you
Dave!!! The gloves will be put to real good use!
To sum up my entry, I would just like to say that when
we were out snorkeling today I turned from my intended
direction to check out a dark coral head. The water
became a little deeper and as I got closer I noticed a
species of fish I had never seen before in the coral.
I couldn’t believe my eyes! It was flounder-shaped but
with really big eyes and thin, intricate designs of
different colors delicately scattered around its body.
Its color was a mix of shiny but soft pastels. One of
the most interesting and beautiful fish I’ve seen yet
on this trip! Just as I was turning my head to bring
myself out of the water and call to Jack to have a
look, I saw out of the corner of my vision a big dark
shape of a fish along the outskirts of the coral,
about 50 feet away. I thought it was a shark!!! When I
focused my eyes on it, I realized it was a barracuda!
And I thought the one I saw in Warderick was big!
This was, no doubt in my mind, about six feet long.
Picture Jack swimming under water…this fish was as
long as Jack. I wasn’t as nervous as if it had been a
shark, but I was alarmed because they are extremely
attracted to shiny things and Jack had earrings on as
well as a long, shiny Hawaiian sling! I told him about
it and we turned around and swam away with both of us
holding the sling out of the water as we left. I
didn’t leave before getting a few more good looks at
it. It had big black spots all over and looked pretty
intimidating. Fascinating though!!! It was a fairly
lengthy swim back to the boat, but we were going with
the current so we moved right along. My job was to
swim behind Jack and check behind us every so often to
make sure it wasn’t following along. Yikes!! Hahaha! I
LOVE the Bahamas!!!
JAN 4TH, 2008
Wow, can’t believe it is the big 0h-Eight! Never
thought this year would come. Let me start by giving
updates on the most recent of the recent events:
Update #1: THE RACE! The C-Class Bahamian Sloop Race
(as it is called) was one of the highlights of this
trip!!! Basically, Jack and I, along with other
sailors who signed up, were selected from a drawing to
sail with two expert Bahamian sailors and three other
regular cronies in a race against five other sloops.
Jack and I were selected to be on different boats.
Fortunate for me, I happened to choose to sail on the
quickest and nicest boat. These sloops are a slender
18 ft with a MASSIVE sail and three pry-boards. For
those who don’t know, the pry-boards slide back and
forth perpendicular to the boat so that when the boat
starts to heel, or lean, as it sweeps across the
water, the four cronies can throw the boards out and
scoot their butts high up so that the boat doesn’t tip
over. (We are trying to upload a video of the
experience, so hopefully you will be able to check
that out if the picture isn’t clear enough).
The race was EXCITING!! There were three tacks
throughout the course, which means the boat had to
turn either into or away from the wind in order to
maneuver around the buoys. Right before the tacks, the
Bahamian sailor who was controlling the main sheet
(the line that controls the direction of the main
sail) would count to three and on “three” we would
have to push the heavy wooden pry-boards to the other
side of the boat while we crawling under the boom (the
metal pole parallel to the length of the boat that the
main sail is attached to and rests upon). Then we’d
have to turn around, position ourselves on the boards
and pull them all the way out with a rope that is
attached to them while we scooted back as far and as
high as we could. All this had to take place in a mere
few seconds or else the boat would have tipped! During
the race, one boat actually DID tip and I saw its mast
dip into the water! The crew eventually got themselves
upright. Another boat actually SUNK during the race
because it was in such poor condition! The boat Jack
was on actually rammed into another sloop because the
other sloop didn’t give them the proper right of way.
Everyone was fine though. The boat I was on won a
tight first place! We had a really fantastic captain
and helmsman, and a great crew!
The entire race was a battle of balance, and depending
on the heel of the boat and the strength of the wind,
we would ride either the highest and tallest points of
the planks or quickly push them in and balance
ourselves in the center of the sloop. There were
three boards on the sloop I was on – the other crew
members were two to a board and I had to manage a
board on my own! It was a very athletic workout! When
I was on the tip of my board, my feet didn’t even
touch the boat – that’s how high I was in the air.
Imagine a slender boat with a huge sail, riding the
water practically on it’s side, and me lying flat on a
board that’s hanging over the edge of the boat, trying
my hardest to keep my balance while forcing my weight
against the board so that the boat doesn’t tip! It was
soooo much fun!! The morning of the race I had run
four miles, stretched for awhile and ate a carb-loaded
meal of cheerios mixed with grapes, honey, and
applesauce. I was grateful to have had such a
refreshing start to the day because I had not known
what to expect of this race and I happened to come
physically and mentally prepared! One of the
crewmembers on my sloop (which was named Termites) was
a contributor of the Explorer Chart Books, which
practically every cruiser down here has and which we,
ourselves, use to navigate around the Bahamas. A
little side note: He complimented me at the end of the
race telling me that I did a great job getting a hang
on the balancing! Yay, I felt proud J
I owe a huge chunk of my performance to my brother,
Dave, for giving me the sailing gloves! In order to
keep yourself on the pry-boards, you are supposed to
hold onto the board with one hand and hold onto this
rope that runs along the top with the other. If it
weren’t for the gloves I would have had one hell of a
time holding on! I would have definitely chaffed my
hands too! Thanks Dave!!!
Update #2: THE COOKOUTS. All weekend, New Year’s eve,
and New Year’s day the local community put together
cookouts on the beach right in front of our anchorage.
Ribs, chicken, macaroni, beans n’ rice, veggies,
burgers, you name it. Although Jack and I eat very
well on the boat, it was nice to celebrate the holiday
by splurging a little at these get-togethers. We
certainly can’t get ribs and macaroni any day on the
boat. It was nice to support the local community too.
People are very very relaxed and extremely welcoming
and friendly here. Plenty of both locals and cruisers
attended the cookouts, and Bahamian music blared
through big stereo speakers. Twas a joyous time.
Update #3: THE STORM. Throughout the past week, we
kept hearing about the cold front that would be moving
in. We were constantly asked where we’d be anchoring,
if we’d be moving south to a better anchorage or tuck
in around the corner? Many people told us that they
would move south to find better hiding spots to get
away from the storm. The wind was predicted to start
from the NW clocking N then to NE and would blow at 30
mph with gusts up to 40! Jack and I were surrounded on
three sides by land at our old anchorage, the open
water being to the west. We were very close to staying
put but were advised by many others (with bigger boats
of course, that couldn’t tuck as far inland as we
could) to move. We took their advice and moved a bit
northeast of where we were before, and anchored
between Big Majors and Little Majors islands. We
prepared by throwing out two anchors off the bow (and
Jack eventually threw out an additional anchor off the
stern). After spending some time positioning the
anchors correctly and securely, we took down the jib
because the strong wind we endured in Michigan at the
Elk Rapids marina in September was so forceful it tore
our jib loose from the forestay. The jib flapped about
so hard and fast that it ripped, the tear being about
8 feet long. We still have the same jib (we both taped
and sewed it back together), but we were not willing
to take the risk. We also prepared by making sure we
had easily accessible water and food inside the cabin.
Jack made a huge pot full of bean and vegetable soup
and another big pot full of beans and rice with
hamburger. Mmm! The next two days were spent holed up
inside the cabin while the winds howled and the rain
sprayed off and on. There was no lightening or
thunder, and there never is. It is the strong winds
and the confused water that the wind churns up that we
needed to stay protected from. We spent the entire
second day in bed! That worked for me because I had
come down with something sickly that I wanted to sleep
off. We just read, listened to music, and slept a lot.
It’s very easy to get in hibernation mode when it is
dark, cold, and cloudy outside and the winds are
blowing hard and LOUD. The boat barely moved except
for during the night when the strong opposing current
rushed through the wide channel we were anchored. Then
it got a bit rocky, but for the most part the boat did
VERY WELL because of the anchor system we set up
(Jack’s design so he gets credit!)
Update #4: THE DOCKAGE. As I am typing, we have made
out way back to Staniel Cay and are docked at their
expensive marina. The catch is we came here earlier
to charge our batteries and since we had to pay $20
for it, Carl who works at the marina told us we could
stay for 20 hours, which is extremely nice of him.
They would normally charge us an additional $50 just
to stay. So now we are plugged into electricity and
the batteries can charge, the fridge can get super
cold, all the electronics on the boat can charge and
we can use our computers endlessly to type blogs, work
on music, watch movies, or do whatever else we’d like!
J Yay!
The cold front continues, but has died down a lot. On
this side of the island we can barely feel it. As it
turns out, the wind didn’t come out of the west at all
and we could have kept our old anchorage. Ah well,
best to take the precaution.
Right now we are surrounded by HUGE yachts like you
wouldn’t BELIEVE. I could compare some of these boats
to houses in Grosse Pointe. Some of the boats are
three-story, at least 200 feet long (which means $400
A DAY at the marina), most have huge flat screen TVs
in the “living room” near the back of the boat, and it
wouldn’t surprise me if there were about seven more of
them throughout the boat itself. Some of these yachts
are big enough for four families (at least) to travel
on together. Haha, I took a picture tonight that makes
Fiberglass Vengeance look like an ant compared to
these monsters. Despicable! (and I mean its despicable
to have such a big boat!!) I LOOOOVE our boat so much
its unbelievable!!! Yay Johnny!!!!
Last but far, far, far from least: I just want to
mention that while we were holed up in our cabin
during the front, Jack and I studied the Explorer
Charts for the south half of the Exumas and wrote up
an itinerary. It covers what we’d like to do here in
Staniel Cay and everything in between here and
Georgetown. We are giving it all the time in the
world, but we have numbered it according to region.
It’s a REALLY cool itinerary and rather than explain
it, I will just jot it down for you:
1) Staniel Cay –
a. fill up on water, gas, work online/post blogs/check
email, stock up a bit on food
b. snorkel Thunderball Grotto (where the James Bond
movie with Sean Connery “Thunderball” was shot, along
with other Hollywood flicks), snorkel the plane wreck
nearby, possibly go lobstering along the surrounding
reefs
2) Black Point –
a. Snorkel caves on the way sailing down
b. Snorkel submerged wreck at beach near Black Point
marina
c. Hike the trails past Dotham Point to the White
Horses cliffs (cliffs that are said to resemble white
horses)
d. Log onto internet at local café to post blogs of
our amazing experiences!
3) Jack’s Bay –
a. Snorkel submerged wreck and coral heads near beach
b. Spear Fish Baby! Hawaiian Sling it uP!
4) Lil’ Farmers Cay –
a. Water, internet, grocery, electricity 1.25/ft, many
amenities
5) Sail South
a. Snorkel cave south of Big Galliot Cay, snorkel
submerged wreck by Marina at Cave Cay, snorkel plane
wreck near Little Lansing Cay
6) Sail South
a. Check out plane wreck @ Tea Table Rock 23, 48
b. Lobster and fish between Prime & Bock Cays 23, 49
(plenty of coral heads and reefs)
7) Lee Stocking Island –
a. Hike Perry’s Peak, the tallest point in the Exumas
b. Snorkel wrecks at 76,06 and 76, 03
8) Barrataria –
a. Ice-cream, boat building, produce, H2O, gas, wreck
off of Little Hog Cay 23, 42
9) Georgetown
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