Our friends Dave and Joan Wolf came to visit us from 14 – 23
February. We had a busy itinerary planned, traveling to places like
Shroud Cay, Hawksbill Cay, Warderick Wells, Staniel Cay and Highbourne Cay – in
addition to trips downtown in Nassau. As it turned out, however, we had to make
major changes to the schedule because of weather. So what follows is a talk of
two Bahamas, a few of the beautiful nearly deserted Out Islands of the
northern Exumas and the ever-busy and cruise ship filled Nassau.
The Northern Exumas: Shroud Cay, Highbourne Cay and Allen
Cay
As I said, Dave and Joan arrived on the 14th and
we departed for the Out Islands on the 15th. Our initial destination was Shroud Cay, just
inside the Exumas Land and Sea Park. The ride was a little choppy, but it
really wasn’t too bad. It took us about 5 hours to get to Shroud. We then took
a mooring ball and deployed the dinghy. I must say that it was a bit choppy
even in the anchorage. Deploying the dinghy was not the easiest of tasks, but
we did get in down and ready to go. Since we had a bit of a ride to get to the
Shroud Cay Creek we wanted to show our friends we decided to wait until the
following day -- when we hoped the water would have calmed down a little and would be
a little less choppy. Meanwhile we
headed for a small protected beach on our side of the island and spent maybe
half an hour walking around.
Before we left Nassau I had heard that there might be a
little weather coming. Our hope had been to get to Warderick Wells before it
came in. We had already sat out a light storm at Warderick Wells and knew the
mooring field to be well constructed, well maintained and fairly well protected.
Moreover, we would be able to go ashore and explore new parts of the island even
if the wind was blowing. It looked, however, like the storm was coming in a
little sooner than I had hoped and that we would need to form contingency plans
in case we didn’t get a mooring at Warderick Wells (I am not sure I touched on
this in our last entry or not, but basically, you have to be on the radio, and
close enough to Warderick Wells to receive the broadcast, by 0900. The staff
then makes a list of who is departing that day and who wants a mooring along
with their length and draft. They spend ten to fifteen minutes musing, then
make mooring assignments for the day. If you do not get a mooring ball, then
you have top priority the following day.) As you might have guessed – and as we
feared – because of the storm, nobody was leaving their mooring, so we had to
come up with Plan B.
Staniel Cay is about 20 miles beyond Warderick Wells and has
a marina. We had not been there before and a number of people had recommended
it so our first choice was to go to the Staniel Cay Marina and weather the
storm there. Sadly, we weren’t the only boaters to have that idea; their marina
was full. There were a couple more alternatives, but next safe harbor on the list was the
marina at Highbourne Cay. We had visited it by dinghy when my mom and sister
visited so it wouldn’t be a brand new experience for us, but it would for Dave
and Joan. We called Highbourne and they did have slips available so we made a
reservation. We decided, though, that we would go ahead and explore parts of
Shroud before heading back to Highbourne.
I discussed Shroud Cay in our last entry; it is really an
archipelago of three islands cut by what appear to be two rivers which stretch
from one side of the island to the other. In the northern creek you can take a
motorized dinghy from one side to the other. In between you can explore the
mangroves and other kinds of plants, birds and animals en route to the Sound.
It is really quite an experience.
 |
| In some ways on Shroud Cay you feel like you are a true explorer. Maybe no boidy has been here before ... then you see the "slow"buoy in the middle of the channel. |
Well, after finishing with the creek we headed back to the
boat in the dinghy. Let me just say, it was a helluva ride! It was choppy enough to get just about
everyone wet, even though we weren’t traveling THAT fast. Getting the dinghy
back aboard the boat was also a chore. One of Ann’s jobs is to get in the
dinghy and hook it up to the winch. Usually it isn’t too difficult. Because of
the chop on the water, this time it was like mounting and riding a bucking
bronco. Yeee Haww!
We headed to Highbourne and pulled into our slip at the
same time the heavens opened up. I mean as Ann was handing the lines to the
dock hand to tie us up it started sprinkling. By the time we were all tied, it
was coming down like cats and dogs. It was a true Bahamas squall; the wind was
blowing, the rain was pouring and we could hardly see across the marina. It
only lasted a little while – thirty minutes tops. Although it remained windy,
cloudy and unseasonably cold (it seems the weather was the result of two cold
fronts meeting in the Bahamas) it didn’t rain any more.
Highbourne Cay is a private island. The owners appear to own
several “cottages” that they rent out, a marina, a small store and a
restaurant. The last time we were here, we weren’t technically “guests” as we
anchored out and dinghied in. This time, though, we were paying money (a lot of
money – I’ll come back to that) and were official guests. Still, we really
didn’t do much different than we did the last time. We walked the island’s
roads and visited the beautiful beach on the Sound-side of the island, but I
guess we should have felt more “official.”
The one thing we did this time that we did not do the first
time was eat at Xumas, the Highbourne bar-restaurant. Now I am not going to
tell you it is the best restaurant at which I have ever eaten, but I would give
it a good solid “B” – and an “A” for location as I don’t think there is another
restaurant within 40 or so miles. Actually we had two meals there, lunch and
dinner. For lunch we had appetizers and a couple of beers. For dinner, three of
us had seafood dishes and one of us had pork. All-in-all, it was a good but
expensive meal.
 |
| A Happy Stop Sign at Highbourne Cay |
Speaking of expenses, the marina itself was pricey – but as
the only marina within 20 or so miles, that is understandable. However, what
rubbed me the wrong way was the cost of the electricity. Now I know they have
to produce their own electricity and I know that since (for some strange
reason) they don’t use solar or wind power and instead rely on a big generator
that the electricity is expensive. However, for one fifty amp hook-up they
charged us $62 per night!!! Now that is ridiculous. So, since it was a little
stuffy the first night we were there, we turned on our air conditioners. Nyah, Nyah, Nyah! If that wasn’t bad enough,
water was 50 cents per gallon (remember when gasoline was 29.9 cents per
gallon?) Well, the water in the marina looked pretty clean so we just turned on
our water maker – and used their high-priced electricity to make some low-priced
water.
On the 18th the worst of the storm appeared over
so we headed out. Instead of going back down the archipelago, however, we went
further north, to Allen Cay. We have already been to Allen Cay and reported on
it in our last entry. This time, however, it was a LOT choppier in the
anchorage so we didn’t even deploy the dinghy (apparently Ann didn’t want
another bucking bronco experience). We do have some pretty good binoculars on
board so Dave and Joan did get to see the iguanas. We also saw a VERY big fish
in the anchorage – and we saw him on two different occasions. Now I am not
going to say it was a shark, but if I were a betting man …
Nassau:
On the 19th we returned to our marina in Nassau
and the following day headed onto town. We took a bus downtown that followed a
route that we had not been on before. When we got to town we went straight to
the high-falootin’ area of Nassau, but no one really wanted to shop there. So,
we followed up with the Straw Market where we got a few things at what we hope
were greatly discounted prices. We followed that up with a “lupper.”
 |
| The entrance to what was once the "Royal Victoria Hotel." The only thing that is left is the gardens, the rest has been converted into socially useful but aesthetically unpleasing buildings. |
Lupper, as you may or may not know, is a word of my
invention intended to combine “lunch” with “supper” (just as "brunch" combines
breakfast with lunch). If I eat a good noon meal, I am just not going to be
able to eat supper. So, if I am going to have something around lunch time, I
would prefer to eat a late lunch – say 2 or 3 PM – and then forget supper.
That, my friends, is a Lupper. Anyway, we had a combination of conch fritters,
cracked conch, grouper fingers and something else. (Yes, Mom and Kathy, we went
to the same restaurant and had almost the same meal.) It was scrumptious!
On the 22nd we decided to do a historical day. We
went to the Bahamas Historical Society Museum, the Queen’s Staircase, Fort
Fincastle, and the Nassau Water Tower (which, for some reason, is supposed to
be historical – but I don’t quite get it). We decided on another Lupper and
went to Senor Frogs. Now if you haven’t been to a Senor Frogs before you won’t
know that for the younger crowd – particularly those on a cruise ship – it is a
place to drink as you can get free shots for answering trivia questions (Ann, I
am not going to say a word. Not me. Nope.) For the Middle Age crowd, it is a
chance to chair dance and try to be as cool as you once were. For the older
crowd, it is a chance to make fun of both! Dave and Joan left the following
day. We hope they had as good of a time with us as we had with them.
Now I have some disappointing news. My foot is not getting
any better. So we are going to leave the boat in Nassau and fly back to the
States on Saturday. We are then going to try to find a doctor somewhere who
cares about the fact that I have two gaping holes in my foot, a pretty serious
infection, have had my quality of life significantly impaired and knows what to
do about it. Apparently this kind of doctor is pretty hard to find. (Sorry, but
I had to vent somewhat.) Anyway, we are going to hold off on the next Blog
Entry until we get back to the boat and have something interesting to say.
ANN’S NOTES: Michael
pretty much covered the past couple of weeks…
We did have a wonderful time with Dave and Joan even if we
had to change plans a few times.
 |
| The Queen's Staircase |
The off and on loading of the dinghy was an experience … a
wet bucking bronco no less … plus one of the hooks that attaches to one of the cables, that attaches to a
larger hook, that is attached to the winch broke. So we had to use the weight
of the dinghy to keep the broken hook in place while it was being lifted back on the boat. Not a fun time but we got
it done. The broken hook has been replaced with a shackle that is much better.
Thank heaven…
Our day exploring Nassau was fun ... there is so much
history on this island. I had just finished reading a book titled “Winds from
the Carolinas” and the lady at the book store said it was the “Gone with the
Wind” of the Bahamas. It was very really good book … a little on the long side
but it gave me a sense of what it was like back in “the day.” I thought the
Queens Staircase was really beautiful. It was carved out of the limestone by
slaves. It has 66 or 67 steps, on step for each year that Queen Victoria ruled.
The whole day was fun. Yes, I did a shot at Senor Frogs … they were playing a
music game of theme songs from movies and tv shows … the answer was The Adams Family. It was like name that tune
only the prize was a shot.
I don’t really have a wild life count per say…we did see
birds, fish, sea rays, iguanas, all the normal creatures on the islands. I was
busy keeping company with friends and holding on for dear life in the dinghy.
Yes … we are heading back to colder weather on Saturday.
Send good thoughts to Michael. We don’t want to leave Traveling Soul but we
need to get her Captain and his heel well and the infection gone.
Thanks for reading our blog and we WILL have only good news
in the next blog…
Traveling Soul…OUT
No comments:
Post a Comment