Category Archives: Bahamas

Boo Boo Beach

3/9/16
Warderick Wells, Exumas, Bahamas
Posted by Bill

We have been plagued by really high winds, blowing 20 to 35 knots for the last 3 days, and it doesn’t look like it is going to quit for a few more days. We have been glad to be on a mooring ball and have the protection from the waves that we do. The wind still howls, but we are not getting slammed by the seas that it creates. So the good news is that we are secure and protected, and it is absolutely beautiful here. The bad news is that this is a really remote area. There are no facilities, including no place to dump your trash, and the cellular service is very bad and infrequent. We have not been able to post anything since Bimini. It is amazing how much trash you generate. Normally you don’t notice because you can take your trash to a receptacle almost everywhere in the States. It is starting to back up, and of course, there is no place to store trash on a boat.

Yesterday, after polishing some stainless, we ventured ashore to check out the blow holes again, this time at high tide. The wind and spray was rushing up through the blow holes…very cool. We then tried to snorkel. The snorkeling is really great here. We started by drifting around in the dinghy with the look bucket (bucket with a clear bottom to view underwater). There were lots of colorful fish around the coral heads, and we saw some huge sting rays, about 4 to 5 feet wide. They swim by the boat a lot and even jump out of the water. With the high winds, the water was just too cold, and too cold to get out, so we ended up just exploring the sand bars at low tide. We saw lots of starfish, sand dollars, and baby conch. I almost got my wetsuit out so that I could snorkel, but I didn’t want to deal with washing it off with fresh water afterwards and using our precious supply of fresh water. It is very expensive to get fresh water here, and not every place has it. After that we joined the other Island Bound and Sea Lyon for some wallowing, and had a great time.

Today, we went ashore and hiked to Boo Boo Beach.

We continue to be amazed by how beautiful this place is. Boo Boo Beach is on the Atlantic/Exuma Sound side of the cay, and we were sadly amazed to see all of the plastic and trash along the beach.

So very sad. It is really nice to just sit and stare at the incredible view, but we are starting to get antsy to move on. Gotta wait for the weather to turn, and the forecast for next week looks really nice. We watched a boat run aground today right in front of the park office. The channel is very narrow here, but there should have been plenty of water where they were. A park office boat came out to try and tow them off, and for some reason the stuck boat gave them their anchor and anchor chain to tow them. Now, I am not the authority on this, but I would never have my boat towed by the anchor chain. Maybe they didn’t have a long enough rope line…not sure…but the towing was to no avail. They had to wait out the tide. I was close to issuing an Ass Captain award for that one.

A visit to Boo Boo Hill and some more wallowing

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3/7/16
Warderick Wells, Exumas, Bahamas
Position: 24 23.800, 076 37.929W
Posted by Bill

The happy hour on Saturday night was fun. Everyone gathered on the beach by the park office, brought drinks and some snack to share. We met lots of new people. When the sun went down, the Hutia started to come out, attracted by our food. They are like a big guinea pig and this is the only place that they exist. There must be thousands of these things because when we hike we see the poop everywhere. They are harmless as far as we can tell, but I’m not sure I want to be on the cay after dark for too long…lol.

Yesterday, we took a really long hike around most of the cay and up to Boo Boo Hill. Boo Boo Hill is named from a schooner that sank off of Warderick Wells long ago. Not a single person was found to be buried, and it is said that you can hear the ghosts singing hymns on a full moon. The hill is also the site where people place a piece of driftwood or scrap wood with their boat name on it. Supposedly, you put it here to appease the ghosts and are then allowed to travel further south without negative consequences. Tricia made our plaque. We all went up and placed our plaques on the pile, and are now good to go further south.

After our hike, we mixed up some Pain Killers and headed out to our own private beach to wallow. This area is chock full of secluded beaches with amazing water and views. Afterwards, everyone came back to our boat for happy hour. It was a fun day.

Today we did some boat maintenance and Mark made us some water with their water maker. This area is so remote that you can’t get water or drop off trash, and the cellular access is very rare and spotty. I have been writing the blog posts every day but can’t post them until we get to our next stop. We went ashore to the blow holes near Boo Boo Hill. There are underground caves and holes that extend to the top of the land where wind and spray are forced up. With the high winds today the blow holes were pretty active.
The forecast is calling for very high winds until Friday, so we will wait out the weather here where we are protected. We will check the weather everyday and if it lets up we will move on.

Hunkering down for weather in Warderick Wells

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3/5/16
Warderick Wells Cay, Exumas, Bahamas
Position: 24 23.800, 076 37.929W
Posted by Bill

Yesterday, we put the dinghy in the water and gave it a good leak test. It leaked no more than it did after we fixed it in Bimini, and it is certainly a manageable leak…very slow. We explored Shroud Cay in the vicinity of our anchorage. There was a really nice bay with a great beach just off the anchorage, and we explored up the bay as far as depth allowed us. Then we went back to the boat to prepare for some wallowing. If you read the blog last year, you know that wallowing is the act of hanging out in the water, shooting the shit, and drinking libations. It is one of the best things to do in the Bahamas as the water is warm, clear, and you can find calm secluded beaches. We dubbed the beach inside this protected bay “Wallow Beach”. Rum drinks were made, and we met our friends on the other Island Bound to wallow. It was a great day to just relax after a long passage.

Today we left around 8:30 to head to Warderick Wells Cay. It is the cay where the Land and Sea Park office is. We reserved a mooring in the north field and arrived about 11:30. Upon entering the mooring area, we were amazed at how absolutely beautiful it is here. The pictures just can’t capture it. We took mooring number 9, which is above a sunken boat that you can see as clear as looking through glass if the wind is light. We checked in at the park office and paid for our mooring, then took our dinghies down to the south side of the island to explore a place called Pirate’s Lair. As legend would have it, pirates used to camp out here and wait for ships to pass from New Providence Island/Nassau. The ride over was spectacular as were the views from Capture Beach where the trail to the lair starts. It was cool. We intend to go to the happy hour gathering that takes place every Saturday on the beach by the park office. We are planning to stay for at least 3 nights here, as we are expecting some high winds for most of the weekend and next week. The mooring field is well protected from all directions. There are many trails to hike ashore, and tons of snorkeling areas around the island, and lots of wallowing beaches, so we will keep busy.

From Bimini, through Nassau, to the Exumas

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3/2/16
Shroud Cay, Exumas, Bahamas
Position: 24 31.933N, 076 47.884W
Posted by Bill

I’ll give you one guess what we did in our first full day in the Bahamas….work on the boat. The marina here at Bimini Sands is really nice. Nice floating docks, nice pools, and a really nice beach. It is very secluded…there is hardly anyone here. The showers and rest rooms leave a bit to be desired, but they are good by Bahamian standards. The people here are extremely nice. The one bad thing is the no-see-ums! They are terrible and are always active, day and night. We quickly closed up the boat and paid for shore power to run the air conditioning. In typical cruising style, the main air conditioning unit, the one I just replaced started but wouldn’t restart. The smaller unit wouldn’t drain the condensate. Curses!! After messing around with things a bit, Tricia figured out that the drain tube from the smaller unit had an air lock from being too far down in the bilge, and viola it started draining after she moved it up! I figured that the larger unit had blown a fuse again, so pulled everything out of storage in that area of the boat, removed the electrical box for the unit, opened it up and replaced the fuse. That got it working. Next I changed the fuel filter, and after that we were going to launch the dinghies and ride up to the Bimini Roads dive site to snorkel. It is a cool dive site that has rocks laid out like someone build a road under water. We got the engine back on the dinghy, and just as I was going to unhook all of the lines, I noticed water in the dinghy. Sure enough we had a significant leak…not good!!! This is our “car” while cruising and is essential to explore the Bahamas. We sent the other boats off, pulled the engine off again, pulled the dinghy out of the water on to the dock and found that the transom seal was pulled loose and the transom was rotting. We dried it out and put some epoxy on. While we waited for that to dry, we went and drank rum by the infinity pool that overlooks the ocean…nice. Then we came back and sealed the seam back up. We purchased lobster tails from a local guy who had a connection, 12 tails for $40, and that night we had a major pig out on Mark and Jan’s boat, and drank mass quantities of vodka.

The next day, yesterday, I checked the dinghy and it still has a really small leak, something we can deal with. I just hope it doesn’t get worse. We fueled up and headed out to sea around 11 AM. We sailed 29 hours straight, going across the Bahama banks, through Nassau harbor, and over to the Exuma chain of islands, stopping at Shroud Cay. The passage was pretty much uneventful, with the exception that we almost ran into the back of another boat. Passages at night require a visual check about every 20 minutes to see if there is anything in your path. There were a couple of boats moving in our same route and several boats anchored off of the beaten path, and after the moving boats passed, we sat down to dinner in the cockpit. Just as we finished up, I noticed a dinghy right next to our boat…then I saw that it was attached to a 30 something foot sailboat. We were overtaking the boat and it was no more than 30 feet from our port side. The guy in the cockpit says “good evening”. I tell him he needs to put some lights on. His stern light didn’t work and neither did his red bow light. Coming up on him, you couldn’t see him at all. We are so lucky we didn’t hit him!! During the day, the wind was so calm that the water was like a sheet of glass, and so clear that you could see starfish on the bottom.

Shroud is the northern part of the Exuma Land and Sea Park, which is a large protected nature preserve in the Exumas. We intend to do some wallowing and exploring here for a day and then move on to Warderick Wells, the central part of the park.

Bimini Sands:

Crossing the Bahama Banks:

Sunset during passage:

Sunrise during passage, with buddy boats Island Bound and Sea Lyon in the foreground:

Nassau Harbor:

Our anchorage at Shroud Cay:

A safe voyage to Bimini

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2/29/16
Bimini Sands Marina, South Bimini, Bahamas
Position: 25 42.602N, 079 17.947W
Posted by Bill

Finally a last minute window of weather…and we are up and moving at 6 AM. Once in the Atlantic Ocean, we took a 120 degree magnetic heading. You have to head south east to correct for the Gulf Stream current, which can be as high as 3.5 knots. We use an average of 2.5 knots to calculate the correction. The winds were as forecasted and mostly around 10 knots. The seas were really rough for the first couple of hours and very uncomfortable, mostly 3-4 footers every 4 seconds, and hitting us on the beam (side of the boat) which caused an uncomfortable roll. After the first few hours, the seas calmed enough to ease the boat motion and we put up a scrap of sail which also helped some. We held the 120 degree heading until we were about an hour from landfall and we didn’t have to back track south at all, and were in fact south of our target, so we rode the current for the last hour. Yay!! We pulled into Bimini Sands Marina on South Bimini around 2:45 in the afternoon, cleared customs at the airport after a short taxi ride, and went to the beach club restaurant here at Bimini Sands Resort for dinner.

This is a nice place, especially for Bahamian marina standards. They have really nice floating docks and the marina is well protected. The water around the docks looks like a fish aquarium, clear as one, and full of tropical fish.

The weather for the next week looks very settled (finally) so we will get our boats in order tomorrow and head out the next day for Nassau, then on to the Exuma island chain.

The internet connection here is so slow that I could not post pictures. I’ll get some posted when I find a better connection, or when our Bahamas phone has the cellular data activated.

Passage home

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4/25/15
Lake Worth, FL
Position: 26 50.273N, 080 03.225W
Posted by Bill

We left West End at 5:19 in the morning. We took a heading of 250 degrees, aiming 20 degrees south of our destination to compensate for the strong north current in the Gulf Stream. We had less than 2 foot seas and winds less than 12 knots, and winds were out of the south, allowing us to get some sails up. Here is a look back at the sunrise over West End:

We predicted a passage of around 10-12 hours depending on the wind and seas. Sofia Jeanne and Byrd Ketcher put out some fishing line, no one having much luck. Finally, I told them to have the girls spit on the lure, a wives tale that I read about, and immediately after Sharon spit on the lure Kurt caught a 4 foot Mahi Mahi! Very cool.

(photo courtesy of Byrd Ketcher)

Around the half way mark, the winds picked up and the seas started to build. When we got into the Gulf Stream things got really rough, and the last 15 miles of the trip was exhausting. We were so happy to get into the inlet at Lake Worth, finally out of the washing machine effect of the seas, and we ran right smack into weekend on the Florida ICW (Intracoastal Waterway). If you remember from previous posts, we vowed to never traverse the Florida ICW on a weekend again! Boats, kayaks, wave runners, paddle boards…seamanship out the window…boats going full speed and throwing wakes, one right after the other…complete insanity…all in shallow water, and a waterway that is as wide as a small river! It was almost as bad as the seas we just escaped. Temps were in the 90’s, so everyone who had something that floats was out on the water.

We made our way up to the anchorage on the north side of Lake Worth, put down the anchor, cleared in with Customs and Immigration, and had several cocktails. Here is a few of the anchorage:

Quite a contrast from the Bahamas…more on that in another post.

Tiger Woods’ boat is docked just across the anchorage from us. It is the one on the far left:

It was really hot and the wind was blowing into the mid-20’s, but we made it home!

Chasing another window

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4/24/15
West End, Grand Bahama, Bahamas
Position: 26 42.079N, 078 59.467W
Posted by Bill

The weather has been really crazy in that no one can seem to predict what is going to happen, even for the current day. Winds coming from all directions. Rain, when there is a zero percent chance. Etc…..

It has been difficult to determine when to make a move to cross back to the States. We need at least a 3 day weather window, and after spending a couple of days more at Green Turtle, we got another chance to move.

We left on the 22nd and sailed over to Crab Cay (position 26 55.145N, 077 35.671W), a really nice anchorage, which we had mostly to ourselves. Nice and remote. Here was the sunset behind Sofia Jeanne and Byrd Ketcher:

The weather was beautiful.

On the 23rd, we originally planned to stop at Great Sale Cay, as it has excellent protection from all sides but the south, and we had a slight chance for some weather. On the 24th we were planning to go to West End on Grand Bahama via Indian Cut, which is less than 5 feet at low tide, and low tide would have been close to our arrival time if we stopped in Great Sale. Instead, we decided to go past Great Sale and stop at Mangrove Cay, a small cay that offers less protection, but allowed us to traverse Indian Cut on a favorable tide.

The tide to Mangrove was with very little wind and flat seas. I had the autopilot on and stood at the bow of the boat for hours just looking into the water. We were in 9-12 feet of water and you could see everything on the bottom of the Little Bahama Bank. It was just like sailing on a pane of glass…incredible!

There just wasn’t a way to capture it to share. That was the best I could do.

We had a slight bit of rain and the wind picked up over night into the mid-teens. We made the move to West End in choppy seas and winds up into the 20’s, not what was forecasted of course! We went through Indian Cut with lots of water under us…never saw less than 7 feet, and out into the Atlantic Ocean for a run south to the marina. That part of the trip was rough. Big rollers on the ocean were hitting us on the starboard beam and rocking the boat pretty bad. We went into them for a ways so that we could run the final leg with seas on the quarter, and we made it into Old Bahama Bay. Old Bahama Bay is a really nice resort and marina with several restaurants, a pool and a nice beach. The grounds were well kept and the lodging was upscale. It was hot and we hit the pool with cocktails to wallow. The only problem is that the slip rental is very expensive. Not someplace you want to have to wait for a week for weather. Tomorrow winds are supposed to be 5 to 10 knots out of the S and SE, with north swells to 2 feet…let’s hope it holds, as there is not another window for 7 to 10 days!

Treasure Cay

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4/14/15
Treasure Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
Position: 26 40.239N,077 19.036W
Posted by Bill

Treasure Cay is one of those places that everyone says is a “must see” when traveling the Abacos. They reportedly have one of the nicest beaches in the world. We spent 2 days there anchored out in the harbor. It is well protected and the holding was pretty good, but it is a crowded anchorage. We had fun watching the boats come in and try to anchor, some getting it done in one try, and others taking 7 or 8 tries.

Anchoring can be a very difficult chore. Depending on the sea bottom, one type of anchor works better than others, so you need to carry several types and know which one to pick. Then you have to let your anchor chain out in stages so that it doesn’t pile up and keep the anchor from setting properly. Then you have to have the right amount of chain out to insure you pull the anchor into the seabed at the proper angle to make it set. This depends on the wind conditions and the depth of water.

Fortunately, ours set the first time and we set out to check out the nice pool at the marina, and also do some wallowing on the beach. The beach was really nice, but not as nice as the one we had at Great Harbour Cay in the Berry Islands. Here we are wallowing:

Kurt made some Skyline Chili the second night we were there. That was awesome! Been a long time since I had that.

Staying there a couple of days allowed me to finish our taxes and get them submitted. Yay, glad that is done. Despite being able to do it all remotely via internet, it was still a pain in the ass getting it done.

Other than the pool and the beach, there wasn’t a whole lot to do and see at Treasure Cay. They did have a row of small shops behind the marina where there was a liquor store, a well stocked grocery store, and other miscellaneous businesses. There are also several vacation rental units in the area that looked really nice. Something to consider if you can’t get there by boat.

The main reason we stayed a couple of days is that we were waiting for the perfect weather to cross the Whale. The Whale is the passage around Whale Cay that you have to take to get between the southern part and northern part of the Abacos. You go out into the Atlantic Ocean on one side the Whale Cay and come back in on the other. This is where the Atlantic meets the shallow waters of the Sea of Abaco, and high winds or a large NE or E swell can cause what is called a “rage” in the inlets. It is as bad as it sounds, believe me. Tomorrow looks like the perfect day to “do the Whale” so we will time the tides and make a run of it.

Great Guana Cay and Nippers!

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4/11/15
Great Guana Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
Position: 26 39.885N, 077 06.693W
Posted by Bill

Great Guana is also one of the smaller cays in this part of the Abacos, but they have 2 bars that are pretty popular, Grabbers and Nippers. On Sundays, Nippers has a pork BBQ party, so we picked up the last 3 mooring balls in the harbor and stayed 2 nights for the party.

It was packed with people that came in on boats and the ferry. The party was fun, and we drank rum all day. Not good for the budget though! There is also a beautiful beach at Nippers.

Man-O-War Cay

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4/10/15
Man-O-War Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
Position: 26 35.398N, 077 00.077W
Posted by Bill

Man-O-War is a very small cay with a small population. It has a great protected harbor with a very narrow and shallow entrance. We used the tide to make it in and after poking around the harbor found mooring balls to tie to. They have really good repair facilities for most boats and also a boat building business here, Albury Brothers Yachts. They are center console power boats that have a great reputation:

The cay is well kept, no garbage, and the houses are nicely maintained. There are concrete streets that are wide enough for a golf cart, which is the primary mode of transportation. This is pretty typical throughout the Bahamas. Pics:

Banana trees:

A gorgeous beach on the Atlantic side:

Check out the name of this house that was on the beach: