Dave and Joan's Visit

From 7 – 20 February our friends Dave and Joan Wolf visited us from the great State of Virginia. During that time they experienced all the ups and downs of cruising. While they were here:

·         We hid from the weather, once from west winds and once from a 30 knot easterly blow.

·         We enjoyed the heat (it was snowing back in VA), and almost froze to death (it got down to 70 degrees F one day). Brrrrr!

·         We learned that one definition of cruising (the opportunity to repair boats in exotic locations) is entirely true as we broke, fixed, re-broke and re-fixed our generator.

·         We stayed at a couple of lovely, single-boat anchorages and later joined 300 of our best (?) friends in the massive anchorage at George Town, Bahamas.

·         We ate at two different yacht clubs, two beach bars and on one boat with a magnificently-equipped galley (ours).

·         We almost … almost … almost caught a fish.

Let me expand a little on each of these themes.

First, Dave and Joan flew into the airport at George Town, Exuma, Bahamas and took a taxi to the marina where we were staying at Emerald Bay. The reason we were at Emerald Bay in the first place was because there had been some not-so-bad-but-not-so-good weather for the latter half of the previous week. We had decided on Thursday to wait at the marina until Dave and Joan arrived so we could decide when to head north. We were lucky that we were at a marina, and that the marina was as fancy-schmancy as the Emerald Bay property, because they arrived on SUPER BOWL Sunday. We, and of course just about everyone else in the marina, had to go to the Super Bowl Party in the very well-appointed Captain’s Lounge. We heard that some people even stayed for the whole game. As for the four of us, we only made it to halftime. Then, both we – who normally go to bed shortly after 2100 – and our guests – who had been up since 0300 to catch their flight – continued to virtually cheer for Denver while we got some rest.

We waited out the weather on Monday and decided to head out on Tuesday. Well, I can tell you it was a little bumpier than I had thought it would be. Now, Dave and Joan are boaters and have been boating with us before, both on our co-owned boats on the Chesapeake and on visits down here to the Bahamas, so they weren’t put off by the sea state, it was just bumpier than I would have liked for their first day on Traveling Soul. Actually, it wasn’t that bad for the first hour or so, then deteriorated rapidly. In fact, while we had planned to make nearly 60 miles that day (a bit ambitious, in any event), we decided to stop a little early, near Staniel Cay. 

Since we expected a little westerly wind that evening, we spent the night in our favorite west-wind area, Big Rock Anchorage. While there, we went to the Staniel Cay grocery store, which Dave and Joan can attest is about the size of a 7-11 and has even fewer groceries. We also went to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club which, on its walls, has a number of pictures of – are you ready for this – the cast and crew of Thunderball, the James Bond film that many of you will recall was filmed in the Bahamas. In fact, we really wanted to get Joan (she is the real snorkeler) to the grotto where the famous concluding underwater fight scene was held. Unfortunately, the weather just wouldn’t cooperate. It was actually BELOW 70 degrees. Brrr.

We ended up staying at big Rock for two days, waiting decent winds. When they arrived on Thursday morning, we went to one of Ann and my favorite anchorages, just off the northern tip of Bitter Guana Cay. It is a picture perfect anchorage with beaches to behold, paths to walk, hills to explore and even local iguana to admire – or to run from, if one starts after you as happened to Dave and me.  The last time we were here, we were the only boat in the area. This time we had company from four or five additional boats. Most of them were fairly polite, so it wasn’t too bad even with the interlopers. Harumph!

The next day it was off to what I believe is one of the most picturesque locations in the Bahamas. We stayed at a mooring ball in the Exumas Land and Sea Park; but rather than being in a mooring field, the ball is a single mooring with no others around it. I think we took pictures, but you have to realize that pictures don’t do it justice as the scenery is dazzling in every direction. I know there are some cameras that can capture a panorama, but the view at Obrien’s Cay is just magnificent. Also the mooring is right next to an island owned by our own Pirate of the Caribbean, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp). After sitting in the flybridge, enjoying the scenery and listening to our satellite radio, we decided to get the dinghy down and go explore the Sea Aquarium, a well-known and wonderful local snorkeling spot. Just as we started lowering the dinghy, however, it happened – the generator conked out. We tried starting it again. Nothing. And again. Nothing. And again … I think you get the picture.

Eventually, Joan did get to go swimming. Here is proof!

I did everything I could think of doing. I replaced the start-up solenoid because the problem was similar to one we had several years ago. The new solenoid wasn’t the answer, so we started up the main engines for an hour or so to keep the refrigeration running and the lights on. The next time we tried to start the generator, I noticed, that the engine appeared to be overheating. I figured it could be the impeller, so I replaced that as well. (That was another story – replacing an impeller looks easy and probably is for folks who know what they are doing, but it certainly wasn’t for me. Anyway, I eventually got it done, but the damn generator still didn’t work.) While all of this was happening, I could still look out the hatch, though, and see the beauty surrounding us at Obrien Cay. It was then that I remembered the old saw that “cruising means repairing boats in exotic locations.” <Deep wistful sigh>

I was about ready to give up, but decided to call some friends of ours in the off chance they would be somewhere close to Traveling Soul and might be able to help. Now, you have to understand that cruisers generally like to help one another. Not only that, but sometimes they have to. When you are stuck in the middle of the Bahamas with no competent mechanics around, you have to go to your friends for assistance. Vic and Gigi aboard Salty Turtle are not only great cruisers and wonderful friends, but they would give you the shirt off their back if you needed it. And Vic, well, Vic is a pretty damn good mechanic, as it turns out. Well, as luck would have it, the next day Vic and Gigi were only going to be a relatively short distance from the marina where we were planning to stay.  

Mike (observing) and Vic (assisting) the
"Generator Whisperer" Scott (out of picture)

About an hour after we got to the marina, Vic arrived with his tools and went right to work. The first thing he did was put in the impeller properly. (I had made one slight, little mistake.) That was a major step in the right direction, but we still couldn’t get the generator to keep running. Vic then tried this, tried that and tried something else. Everything seemed to be functioning well, but the generator still wasn’t working.  Vic finally decided that he needed to get Scott – who, apparently, is the true expert on diesel engines and, to malfunctioning generators, the most feared human mechanic. Now, I don’t know Scott and have never met him. But remember what I said about cruisers in general? They really do want to help one another, so Vic was pretty sure he would be able to recruit Scott into our repair effort. Before she left, Gigi assured us that we would have a working generator before we left the area. The following day, we moved the boat to Big Major Spot and shortly thereafter Vic and Scott came riding to the rescue in Scott’s cool dinghy.

Now, lest you think that I was completely idle while awaiting Vic and Scott, I was not. In fact, I had been reading the manual when something struck me. [First a note: those of you who are not boaters might think that engines on boats are cooled with salt water; that is not exactly correct. Actually, they are cooled by FRESH water which circulates through the engine. The fresh water, in turn, is cooled by salt water that is scooped up and fed into the heat exchanger.] Everyone had focused on the sea water and the sea water – fresh water heat exchanger, but no one had looked at the fresh water itself. I went into the bilge, checked it, saw that it was low and added some more. I wish I would have had antifreeze to add to the water, but I didn’t have any on board – I never plan on being on a boat that is in freezing temperatures. Anyway, the engine started up and it looked like I might have solved the problem. I then decided to re-replace the solenoid since there was apparently nothing wrong with the one I had replaced the previous day. Oooops! Big mistake. By the time Scott showed up the generator was not working at all!

I think it took Scott all of half-an-hour to figure out that I had broken the generator, fixed it by adding the fresh water, then broken it again by incorrectly replacing the solenoid. He moved the one wire I had mis-connected and voila! The generator worked again!!! He and Vic were then off to help another cruiser with his engine. Scott, aboard his tricked out dinghy, reminds me of the Lone Ranger riding his horse Silver, which, of course, makes Vic his faithful companion Tonto (sorry, Vic, but sometimes I back myself into literary corners).

After our generator tribulations, we headed down to Little Farmer’s Cay. There, we had lunch at the Farmer’s Cay Yacht Club. It is kind of difficult to describe this particular Club. First, it is not like a yacht club that you might normally consider. It is a pretty beat up building that has a couple of rooms inside, one of which is empty and one looks like a 1960’s restaurant, with old tables, table cloths and variegated straight-back chairs, and two picnic tables outside. We ate outside as did the only other group at the Club.  The Bahamian serving us also either owned or managed the Club and had his other employee cooking. It took a while to get the food and it was very okay. So, why did we go? Because we wanted Dave and Joan to be able to say that they ate at multiple Yacht Clubs in the Bahamas, of course!

The following day we headed to George Town. On the way, we … yes, you guessed it … we (almost) caught another mahi! Don’t worry, I am not going to go into great detail. Let me just say that I hooked him and brought him within feet of the boat, where he proved to be very rambunctious. Although I tried to gaff him, he kept jumping and moving away from us. Finally, on his last jump, he was gone. I know exactly what I did wrong. I should have fought him longer and tired him out more. That way, we would not have had the energy to jump and we would have been able to get him on the boat. Lesson learned!

Dave and Joan at the "Chat and Chill"
 beach bar. They saw a sign on this post for
"Put-In Bay, Ohio," One of those cold places
they used to go.

After arriving in George Town, we anchored, went downtown, visited Chat and Chill (the local beach bar) and did some regular touristy-things. The day before Dave and Joan left for their return flight, we stayed at the Exuma Yacht Club – which is more of a marina than a yacht club – and had some excellent lobster quiche made by Ann.

 Ann’s Notes: Just wanted to fill in a few blanks…

The visit with Dave and Joan was fun, glad we can share some of this adventure with them. They know they are always welcome on board Traveling Soul. Plus Spot gets a lot more spoiled when they are around. Dave builds the best cat forts from pillows on the sofa. I have tried to duplicate the fort but Spot just thinks I am crazy and walks away after a big yawn and stretch.

Michael pointed out that while lowering the dinghy the generator stopped. Please note that at that point the dinghy is hanging over the side of the boat and I am up on the second deck holding on to a bow and stern line – and the hand holds on the dinghy. Standard procedure in lowering the dinghy…the bad part is that we need the generator to power the motor that makes the winch – and the cable on the winch – go up and down. The only good things about this incident are: the generator did start again, long enough to get the dinghy back on board AND there was very little wind while it was being deployed and I was handling it. Not too much panic on my part, just some silent prayers.

Joan did get to go swimming once, while we were at the Chat and Chill in Georgetown.

The four of us had a few wet dinghy rides, Dave and Joan saw what the local Bahamians call a grocery store. They range from a little building to massive ones; provisioning, has become an art form for me.

That is all for now, Thank you for following us.

Traveling Soul…OUT

Fish On!!

About three days after Blowmagedon, there was yet another little wind storm for which we had to prepare. It wasn’t supposed to be as serious, but the winds were going to be out of the west, so we went back to Big Rock Anchorage.  This time, though, we were both surprised and chagrinned to find that there were a number of people joining us – there were at least eleven boats. Moreover, they all must have figured we had the best spot in the whole anchorage as they all came much closer to us than any of the boats did last time. Seriously, last time there were about seven boats spread throughout the anchorage. This time there were eleven boats in about half of the anchorage. And one of them … well I won’t go into detail, but let’s just say it was WAY too close. But this little wind event is not the story of this blog entry. The story of this blog entry is …

Are you ready? I mean are you sitting down? Are you really ready? Ok, here goes … I, with help from my first mate, caught a fish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A huge fish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I (with help from one of our friends) filleted it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And we are in the process of eating it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Story

There we were cruising down the Exuma Sound on our way to George Town without a care in the world. The weather was decent, but the seas were a little cantankerous, I am guessing 2 – 4 feet. We were trailing two lines, one from each of my rods. At the end of one was a green and yellow cedar plug, a well-known and effective lure when fishing for mahi-mahi. On the other line, I was using a pretty blue thing that had feathers on it; it looked a little different and I thought it might attract some kind of fish or another. I would check out the back periodically to make sure the lures were dancing at the end of the line and looked like the bait they were emulating; the cedar plug really looked like a wounded flying fish and the pretty blue thing looked like … a pretty blue thing skipping through the water. I wasn’t particularly anxious, I was just waiting. Then it happened.

Me in my "fighting chair" on the aft deck

The line started ripping off the reel as the fish launched into the deep blue. Ann shouted “Fish On!” I took the synchronizers off and put the boat at idle speed and headed aft. (Ok, Ok, you caught me. Ann didn’t exactly say “Fish on!” She said something like, “I think you have a fish,” But, come on, “fish on!” sounds better and more professional.) Anyway, after putting the boat at idle speed I turned over the helm to Ann, just as we had planned, and took the reel out of its holder, gave two good jerks to set the hook and started ever so slowly turning the drag up. As I was doing that … I swear … the line starting ripping out of the OTHER REEL!!! Oh My God, I had two fish on the line. Now, remember, before this I had never even caught one fish trolling from Traveling Soul. The first fish appeared to still be on the first reel, so I put it back in the rod holder and headed to the second one. I picked up the rod, gave two big jerks and started slowly ratcheting up the drag. Just then I noticed that the lines had crossed one another. Oh, oh. This was not good. It would be easy for the friction from the lines to break one or the other – or quite possibly both. I wasn’t quite sure what to do, so I kept trying to land the fish on the port side of the boat. It didn’t seem that hard as he didn’t seem to be fighting that much. I brought him to within sixty or seventy feet of the boat and finally saw color (that is what we fishermen say when we can see, what in this case was a magnificent swash of green, in the water). It was at this point, when he was five or so feet deep and sixty feet from the back of the boat that he decided he didn’t want to come to dinner after all. He took off as only a big-honkin’ fish can, and started taking line again. Lots of line. It was then that two things happened simultaneously. First, I saw the line from the starboard reel go completely limp and start fluttering in the breeze. At the same instant, I felt my line go limp as well.

Now it is possible that I hooked only one fish and that he got tangled in the second line, so when I lost “my” fish, both lines went limp at the same time. It is possible. But I would have sworn that for a few seconds there, I had two good sized fish on the line and that it was only a matter of deciding which one I would bring on deck first.

But I lost them. I was convinced that the story would end there. That’s okay, I thought, it would be a nice blog entry. Not the same as landing one, of course, but what the hell. Each time I hook a fish I am getting a little bit closer to putting him on deck. I knew that hooking a decent-sized fish, let alone two, was not a commonplace occurrence and I figured that had just lost my chance for the day. Oh Well. I sat and tried to figure out what I should do and finally decided that the only way to guarantee I would not catch a fish today was not to put a line in the water. So I dropped another cedar plug in and let it drift until it was about 200 feet behind the boat. OMG, thirty minutes later, it happened again. “Fish on!” (Ann didn’t say it this time either, but I knew that is what she was thinking!)

Again, I turned the synchronizers off, set the boat to idle, turned the helm over to Ann and headed to the aft deck. I sat on the pile of fenders that I used as my “fighting chair” (so I don’t fall off in bumpy seas) and began going through my process. Two big jerks to set the hook, let him run a little further, then   slowly start to increase the drag. So far so good; I still had the fish. At that point it became a bit of a waiting game. He kept pressure on the line and I held the rod in place. I had 30# test on the reel and I would say that he was putting just about that much pressure on the line. For the next twenty minutes or so, all I could do was hold on. After a while, my forearms began to ache, just a little. It had been a long time since I had lifted weights and my forearms aren’t quite as strong as they once were.

The fish tried a few tricks during our little chess match. At least twice, he dove. Although not nearly vertical, the line was at a fairly steep angle. The water was 2000 feet deep. Well, he wasn’t going that far, but I am sure he got down a couple of hundred feet. He couldn’t get away. When that didn’t work, he tried running faster than the boat. My fear was that he would get under the keel and the props would cut the line, so when he started moving, I called “forward,” to Ann so she would speed up the boat a little. As soon as we moved ahead of him, I asked her to put it back in “neutral.” This went on for a good ten minutes—“forward,” “neutral,” “neutral,” “forward” – but every time we put the boat in gear, I could generally reel in some line by cranking as fast as I could. I actually started bringing him closer to the boat. At fifty feet away, I could see color. Unlike the last fish, this one had worn himself out during the fight; he had nothing left to put in a final sprint away from the boat.


Now tell me that's not a big honkin' fish. I am 5'11", his nose is touching the deck

Now, the moment I had dreaded was almost at hand. How the hell was I going to get him in the boat. As I reeled him even closer, I could tell this was going to be an even bigger problem than I had thought. The fish was big. He was at least five feet long. I pulled him closer and closer and even got him up on the swim platform. Ann was trying to get our net around his huge damn head. We figured if we could get the net around his head, that between the fishing line and the net, we could be able to muscle him on to the boat. Nope,  no way. I then gave the rod to Ann and asked her to bring the fish up as far as she could. I lay down on the deck and reached as far as I could to get my hand in his gills. It kind of worked, but I couldn’t get any leverage. Finally, I asked Ann to bring it up as high as she could, and I would grab hold and bring it the rest of the way over the rail. She did a great job. When we got it on deck, I asked for a shot of rum, so we could pour some in its gills – a guaranteed way to make sure the fish doesn’t suffer any more.

Now I am not going to speak for Ann, as I am sure she will have something to say below, but while I love fishing and catching fish, Ann doesn’t feel the same. She doesn’t like killing the fish. Yes, she does like to cook and eat them. Yes, she knows this doesn’t make a lot of sense. No, she still does not like fishing and catching fish. So, while I was very happy that, through teamwork, we had managed to put the fish in the boat – Ann did not feel the same. Nevertheless, we had the fish; it was on the aft deck.

Russ and I filleting the fish. Note that I am holding one of a
 couple of bags of pure mahi meat. MMMMM

Now, what were we supposed to? (I should point out here that I have cleaned hundreds of fish, most of them trout or bass, with a couple of catfish, pike and stripers thrown in. But I had never filleted a five-foot long, 30+ pound fish. And there is a world of difference.) We were en route to George Town, Great Exuma. I asked Ann to call our friends Russ and Lori, who were already there, to see if either of them knew how to fillet a fish. It turned out that Russ had filleted a fish once before – and he still had the book that he used when he did so. Well, that was good enough for me! I offered half of the fish if Russ would show me what to do. Russ and Lori are great friends and agreed to help, but didn’t really want a whole half-fish; maybe just a piece or two. When they arrived at our boat, Russ was a little surprised by the size of the fish; he pointed out that the fish he had filleted was between two and three feet long. Oh, well, he STILL had more experience than I did.

Well, we laid out the fish on the large chest we have on the back deck – it was the only five-foot long platform we had. We watched a video, read the book, looked at the pictures, made sure we had sharp knives, then started cutting. Lord, I wish I could say we filleted that fish, but I am afraid we came closer to butchering him. It took us about an hour, and, even with our butchery, we managed to put about 14 individual meals into baggies. We gave four to Russ and Lori, ate some of the very small individual pieces that evening and put ten meals away for later. The pieces we had that evening were scrumptious – all the more so because we had caught the fish ourselves.

The Statistics

Russ and Lori's first glimpse at the fish they had promised to help fillet.

·         Dollar amount of fishing gear I have bought recently (not including boat, fuel, etc.) … $500
·         Cost of the gear I have lost recently … $50
·         Cost of the fish … $550
·         Size of the fish … 5 feet
·         Cost per foot … $110/ft.
·         Meals from the fish … 14
·         Cost of fish meal … $35.71 per meal
o   Now, in any really good restaurant, freshly-caught mahi will cost you almost that much!!

Ann’s NOTES:  Well what can I say, I am a team player even if I don’t want to be. Michael was so excited and he really could not do it by himself without the possibility of him actually falling in the water with the engines running. * note…I NEED him to captain the boat…although I do know now how to go from neutral to forward* All I can say is that it was a big ass fish, and heavy to lift out of the water. I hope next time he will catch a normal size fish, I do know there will be a next time. I still will not like it but it is what it is.

The days have been rather normal, not much to report. If you like hot and humid, this is the place to be.

Traveling Soul…OUT

  

BLOWMAGEDDON I: The Story of a Cat, Her Staff and the Wildest Wind in Over a Week

Have you noticed that a snow storm in Denver, Buffalo, Indianapolis or just about anywhere else in the country is just a snowstorm, but when it occurs on the East Coast near some of the self-important media personalities and politicians, it becomes SNOWMAGEDDON. Well, to be honest, Ann and I agree with the general principle, though not as it is currently applied. We believe that BLANK-MAGGEDON title should be given to weather events where WE are. Thus, while our son and many of our friends may think they have just been through a weather event, they have not. For they were not in the Bahamas during (this must be said with a deep resonate voice) BLOWMAGEDDON.

The story of BLOWMAGEDDON I

If you will recall, we had just replaced the membrane for our watermaker and been told that we would not be able to stay at the marina another day. (Actually, we already had a pretty good idea that, because of the coming winds, they were not going to let us stay.) About 1710, we heard the sailing vessel Strava calling the marina. Well, at 1700 everything marina-connected closes at Staniel Cay. When we called and told Strava that we believed the marina was closed for the evening, the captain told us that he had made reservations for two nights to hide from the coming weather. I really don’t like to be the bearer pf bad news, so I just pointed out that we had been cast off the dock starting tomorrow and that he might have to re-think his plan. However, since we don’t work for the marina, Ann and I helped ho with his lines and helped him tie up to the dock.

Because both Ann and I were pooped, we had decided to go to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club for a celebratory hamburger and beer.  While there, we met the folks from Strava, and a young lady, Heather, who writes an adventure blog. Heather was quite a looker. In fact, if I were twenty OK, thirty, OK darn it, maybe forty years younger …

Anyway, we left Staniel early in the morning. We intended to visit each of the three anchorages we had reconnoitered the previous day to see how full they were. If there were a lot of boats in all of them, we would proceed another ten miles to an anchorage we knew would have enough room for us, Bell Island. Before continuing, however, maybe we should let you know what, for us, constitutes a good anchorage in potentially bad weather. In good weather, of course, a good anchorage should be near a beach, a town, a snorkeling site, etc. When hiding from the weather, however, everything takes a back seat to protection.

·         Holding. Anchors generally hold well in sand or mud and less well in weeds and rocks. Because no one can afford to have their anchor detach from the seabed when things get dicey, we always look for a bottom that can hold an anchor VERY securely. That is almost Rule Number 1.

·         Wind Protection. Generally, usually, almost always, the reason folks move from one anchorage to another is to get better protection from the wind. In the Bahamas the prevailing winds are from the east and luckily, the islands are on the western side of the very deep, very open Exuma Sound. One can usually hide behind the islands for protection from the prevailing winds. When the winds shift, however, as they do in low pressure systems and in cold fronts, there are not that many anchorages that provide protection from westerly winds, so all of us try to find somewhere that will place something – preferably an island – between the west wind and our boat.

·         Current protection. In some anchorages, tidal currents, particular when sneaking around an island can lead to a great deal of surge which can make boats roll.  When current and wind combine, they can make for a particularly uncomfortable night. (See our discussion of Hawksbill Cay two years ago. That was probably our worst night at anchor anytime, anywhere).

·         Other Boats.)One thing that makes us different from many boaters is that Ann and I will sacrifice a lot to be away from other boaters. It is bad when your anchor drags, but at least you have some control over that. However, the results can be just as catastrophic when your neighbor’s anchor drags anchor – but, over that, you have zero control. Now don’t get me wrong, we love other boaters, but neither Ann nor I like to anchor near other boaters when we are concerned over weather. We just don’t trust their anchoring skills.

With that as background, let me go on.

There we were. Traveling Soul had just left the marina and was innocently cruising north trying to get to the anchorage called Oz—just over a mile away – and thirteen sailboats stood in our way. With scowls on their bows and masts pointed toward the sky, it was almost as if they were daring us to try and get through. Spot, of course, likened them to flies and wanted to chase down each and every one of them. With our 1100 horse power engines (VROOM, VROOM) and Spot at the helm, we just might have been able to do it. But, for some reason, Ann didn’t think it was a particularly good idea. I then considered slaloming through the boats, jigging left, jigging right, fainting where I had to, and plowing ahead when necessary. I really thought I could do it. But wait, we all realized that there may be a better solution. I looked to my left and the Big Rock anchorage was open – there wasn’t a single boat there. I could do it. I could faint to starboard, get al the sails thinking we were heading that way, then turn hard to port and enter the anchorage and maybe, just maybe we could leave the sailboats behind.

We entered the anchorage, looked for a place where we had sufficient protection, then dropped the anchor. We then backed down on it, first using the starboard engine, then the port engine. Both looked good, so we went ahead and tried both of them at the same time. Was that a waiver? Did I see the speed indicator indicate that we might have moved? I wasn’t sure, but I wasn’t going to take a chance with serious wind coming, so we brought up the anchor, moved forward a hundred feet or so and tried again. This time the anchor stuck unequivocally. I tried each engine separately than both together. The anchor was in. I was reasonably certain we weren’t going anywhere.

Initially, the anchorage was very rolly, I mean VERY rolly. Spot at one point went into her special “underway” place behind the sofa to keep from falling over. It seems that the tide in conjunction with the normal easterly winds make boats roll back and forth. We braved the roll, however, and a couple of hours later, the winds began shifting and the tide turned. No more roll.

The first night, the winds were more or less from the south, so, although we had a little protection, we did not have a lot. But it didn’t make that much difference as the winds weren’t that strong. During the second day we started to get a little company. By the evening, we had about six boats in the anchorage, but it was okay – the anchorage was big enough to handle a number of boats and people were smart enough to spread themselves out so that there was probably 500 feet between most of us. Certainly, we didn’t feel concerned.

The second night was a different story. I started sleeping down below with my anchor dragging app, “Drag Queen” on the table beside me. However, the app wouldn’t stay on and the winds seemed to be picking up, so I decided to move up into the salon so I could see more and know what was going on. At about 0230 I heard this enormous whoosh! And looked at the wind speed indicator long enough to realize that the wind speed had just hit 37 knots – that is gale force on the Beaufort Scale (and remember, we were behind and island that was absorbing at least some of the wind’s force). At the same time the boat began pivoting around the anchor. Within what seemed like minutes, the boat spun in almost a 90 degree arc and was facing the direction of the wind – due west. A few minutes later, the winds decreased – if you can call it that – to 20-25 knots, with gusts up to 30. It was definitely a windy night.

We did not drag, nor, as far as we can tell, did anyone else in our anchorage. And, while it was windy, it was not at all rolly. So, while we could hear the wind blowing up a storm outside, inside the boat we were very comfortable – though starting to go a little batty from sitting on the boat for two days.

Other boats were not so fortunate. Remember the thirteen masts through which we were not sure we could slalom? Well, there appear to have been a lot of movement among them. On the radio we heard of at least three boats that dragged their anchor. One apparently kissed another boat, but there was no actual damage to either boat as far as we know. In the second occurrence, a boater was watching the first incident while his boat dragged about 35 feet before the anchor re-caught and stopped his rearward movement. And in the third, the boat was not anchored very well and just drifted about 65 feet backwards. How do we know about these things? Ok, we’ll tell you one of the many dirty little not-so-secrets of boating.

In marine radio, Channel 16 is the international hailing and distress frequency. You are supposed to call your interlocutor on Channel 16, then shift to an agreed working channel to discuss business. Well, when we are bored, as is often the case when on anchor watch, we listen on other peoples’ conversations. So, when they agree to shift to channel 17, many of us who are listening to Channel 16 do the same. Now, it is not as bad as it sounds. Everyone knows that you should not be spilling state, family or even personal secrets on VHF radio because, well, everyone is listening. Moreover, it can be useful and important. If someone in our anchorage had been dragging, we would certainly want to have known about it! Ok, now you know that every boat is its own little NSA listening to other peoples’ conversations. Shhhh!

And in the next issue?? YESSSSSSSS I caught a fish!!!!!!!!!

Ann’s Notes:  I really do not have much to add to this blog, besides all the excitement that Michael described so well.  That being said, it was an experience and  just confirmed that our thought pattern and communication skills are becoming very much alike.

This blog has been reviewed and approved by the First Mate…ME

Governor's Harbor to Staniel Cay

Before I completely leave the subject of Governor’s Harbor, I have a bit of ‘fessing up to do. It was hot, I mean very, very hot. Moreover, we had made the mistake of not putting up the sun shield on our front windshields. Since we were facing southwest, the sun was heating up our “pilothouse” every afternoon. In fact, it was well over 90 degrees inside the pilothouse during part of the time we were there. Now, don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t quite that hot in the salon, but it was still very, very warm.  At 1700 we usually start up the generator to recharge the batteries, to provide electricity for cooking, etc. Well, on the second day we were in Governor’s Harbor, the heat got to me. I made a command decision and TURNED ON THE FLIPPIN’ AIR CONDITIONER!!! Within minutes, the room was tolerable and within 15 minutes or so, it was actually getting cool. Ann, the woman who abhors the heat had nothing to do with it. (She made me say that!) There. I have admitted that I was the one who wanted the air conditioner!

After Governor’s Harbor, we were off to Rock Sound. Rock Sound is near the southern tip of Eleuthera. It is a body of water about two miles wide by four miles long with an opening about a mile wide in there are channels from one side to the other. Now, the good part about Rock Sound from a boater’s point of view is that if weather comes from the north, you can anchor near the northern end; if from the south, you can anchor near the southern end, etc. So, in my view, it is not just an anchorage, it is set of anchorages. When we arrived, we had heard that the weather was coming from the northeast, so we decided to anchor near the northeast end. The other good thing about Rock Sound is that it can hold a lot of boats. When we arrived and headed for the northeast corner, we found that we were not the only people who can read weather forecasts. There were seventeen other boats there – but we all had lots of room. It was a great anchorage.

The weather was also decent while we were at Rock Sound. Yes, it was overcast and yes, it did rain once or twice. But it was cool – and after our experience with the heat in Governor’s Harbor, we were certainly ready for a little chill. We walked around the settlement, visited some nice gift shops and a grocery store, that while not on par with Marsh Harbor in the Abacos, was  very well-stocked.

Ann's back and the Ocean Hole at Rock Sound.

Now, Rock Sound doesn’t have thousands of tourist attractions, but one that it does have is called the “Ocean Hole.” The Hole is about ½ mile from the Sound and is basically a hole in the island that is filled with sea water – and it is 600 feet deep! Yes, you read that correctly. I’ll bet you are wondering how, if the Sound is only 6-10 feet deep for most of its width and length, can the Hole be 600 feet deep. That would be a good question, except that the connection between the ocean and the Hole is not through the Sound, it is to the other side of the island – the Atlantic Ocean!! It is basically a cave like Carlsbad and others in the States, it is just that this one is underwater. There were all sorts of ocean fish in the Hole and it was fun seeing them up close and personally without having to snorkel.

After the Ocean Hole we stopped by a little restaurant/bar for conch and beer and while there met three couples, vacationing together, who had flown in from the States (actually, one of them flew in from Scotland), as well as the crew from Sophia. We turned a short conch-and-beer stop into an hour-and-a-half gabfest and had a great time.

Our plan all along had been to go to the Cape Eleuthera Resort and Marina before jumping across the Sound to the Exumas. We had stayed at the marina before, but were surprised to see that they actually had built up more of the resort (including a swimming pool) and that they had some guests staying there. The last time we were there, no one was staying in the resort and only one other boat was at the marina. While we were at Cape Eleuthera, it was very windy and it continued to rain on and off – but at least it wasn’t hot.

Without much else to do, Ann and I decided that we would rent a car (at $90 per day) and tour parts of the island that we couldn’t see from the sea. We rented from Friendly Bob’s Car Rental, which is not to be confused with Big Daddy’s Car Rental – which is apparently the competition.  Although we already knew it, we realized once again how poor of a country the Bahamas is. Moreover, it is very sparsely populated.  Eleuthera, the island we were exploring, is 110 miles or so long, and although it can be as narrow as one mile, it is probably an average of 2-3 miles wide. And there are only about 10,000 people – most living on the northern part of the island. Of those who live in the south, the vast majority live in “settlements”. These settlements, for the most part, consisted of only twenty or so houses, a couple of churches and maybe a general store that sells everything from groceries to hardware to clothing. So, while our drive was informative and interesting, it was not particularly entertaining.

We left Cape Eleuthera to cross the Exuma Sound on the perfect day. The weather was beautiful and the seas were calm. Initially, Spot wasn’t sure what we humans were up to, so she hid in her regular hidey-hole behind the sofa. But when she saw the journey was going to be a smooth one, her highness actually came out and actually associated with us, her staff.

As we came in from the Sound, we went through the cut that takes us to Cambridge Cay. We knew that the weather for the next day or two was not supposed to be especially nice, so we wanted to hide in the Cambridge Mooring Field. It is run by the Exuma Land and Sea Park (about which, more later). When we got there, there was only one mooring ball left and it was built to handle a 125’ boat. Now the rules of the Park state that, if you are a regular-sized boat, you should take the mooring balls that are designed for regular-sized boats and should leave the moorings intended for BIG boats to them. However, if there are no regular mooring balls available, then you can take those intended for BIG boats. There were no other mooring s available, so Traveling Soul took a mooring space intended for a 125’ boat.



Sunset at Cambridge Cay.

For those who don’t know, let me spend just a minute explaining how a mooring system works. A mooring ball floats on the surface and is connected to a large, heavy anchor permanently attached to the seabed. A length of line called a pennant – usually with a loop at the end – is attached to the mooring ball. You attach your boat to the pennant and are thereby connected to the big, heavy anchor. There are three keys to a good mooring: the size of the anchor, the strength of the line connecting the anchor to the mooring ball and the strength of the pendant itself. If any of these are too weak, you can have a catastrophe. Well, the Park built a good system and maintains the moorings very well. Moreover, since our mooring was built to handle a 125’ boat, I can assure you that those evenings we were connected to the Park’s mooring, we slept very well.

After enjoying the view from the upper deck at Cambridge, walking across the island itself and exploring a couple of pristine beaches, we set off for Staniel Cay. It is here that the story gets interesting.

The Watermaker Episode

When we left Spanish Wells, our watermaker  was working perfectly. Yes, she is old; yes, she is finicky; no, she doesn’t produce much water, but she is ours and she worked. I think we were at Governors Harbor when she finally gave up the ghost. Everything ran like it was supposed to, but the system just would not produce water. I knew what was wrong and I knew what I needed to fix it.

Not the best picture in the world, but the assembly
with the membrane is the long, skinny tube.

Those of you who want to know watermakers  work should go find someone with a chemistry degree because it is very science-y and very complicated. For the rest of us, let’s just pretend that it is a system that forces seawater, under great pressure (700-800 psi, in my case), through a semi-permeable membrane that basically “squeezes” the salt and other impurities out, dumps them overboard and produces good, safe water. The membrane can be finicky, however, and can dry out easily. When that happens, you have to buy a new one and replace it.  That is what happened to us. We needed a new membrane. Now, I suspect you are asking the same question I was. How in the name of Heaven was I going to get a fairly hi-tech semi-permeable membrane in the out islands of the Bahamas. Hmmm.

Well, among useless pieces of knowledge I keep stored in my noggin, is the fact that Staniel Cay is the Bahamian HQ of a company called, oddly enough, Watermakers. And that company makes and services – you guessed it – watermakers! But wait there’s more. The same company owns – are you ready for this – their own airline. Yes, you can fly from Fort Lauderdale to Staniel Cay aboard Watermakers Air. More importantly, they have a service that will pick up parts in the States and deliver them to Staniel Cay. Even more importantly, they will help you troubleshoot your watermaker and figure out specifically what size and what kind of membrane you need and then they will ship it to Staniel Cay – for a fee of course. Fee, shmee, I was saving on the cost of water and/or of a repairman coming to Staniel to work on my system. A perfect set-up, right?? Read on.

Well, we made reservations at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club Marina so we could pick up the membrane and put it in. In fact, we reserved a slip for two nights – Thursday and Friday – just in case the process took longer than we thought. We left Cambridge, went to Big Major Spot (an island near Staniel) for a couple of days – and then began a series of events that, my friends, is nearly unbelievable.

The first thing that happened concerned the weather. We knew there was a front coming in, but we only learned two days before our reservations started that Staniel Cay would  not honor reservations if there were Westerly winds over 20 knots – and on Friday, westerly winds over 20 knots were predicted. (You have to realize that in the Bahamas, the prevailing winds are from the east, and while they can get up to 20-25 knots, the islands are generally located so that you can easily find protection from the winds – the marina at Staniel Cay is so protected. But when there are westerlies, especially if they are above about 25 knots, it gets downright nasty). We thought about our dilemma and decided to go ahead and stay at Staniel on Thursday, then pick up the part and put it in on the same day. On Friday morning we would have to find a protected anchorage – and we would have to do so with about a hundred other boats that are in the area.

Well, we spent time on Wednesday cruising around looking for places to hide from the winds. We found three that we thought might fit the bill. However, we weren’t sure how many boats would have chosen the same three spots by the time we were ready to anchor on Friday morning and how much competition there might be for the spots. We thought about just skipping the stop at Staniel altogether, but we needed our membrane. Hmmmm. ‘Twas a conundrum.

Our solution was to develop a plan. It seems that is my solution for just about everything. We would stay Thursday at the marina as planned. Then, early Friday morning, we would leave and would search each of our three potential anchorages to see if there was still room for us. If there was, we would, of course, drop the hook there. If all three places were full, though, we would proceed to Bell Island, where I knew there would be space (because it is a big anchorage). I am going to leave here until next week when I discuss the “Big Blow,” – or as we call it “BlowmageddoN” – because I have to first explain what happened with the watermaker.  

All I had to do was take the pressure vessel assembly off the bulkhead (wall), unfasten the bolts with an Allen wrench, take off the end caps, remove the old membrane, put in the new one – with some O-rings – then reverse the process to make everything work again. Simple, right? OMG, not quite. First, the watermaker, of course, is located on the forward bulkhead of the generator room – the headroom for which is a rollicking 4 feet. Second, the generator room is full of lots of stuff, so if you think it is easy to get to the watermaker, you would be most incorrect. In fact, it is inches away from a permanently-mounted fire extinguisher. My point is that nothing is simple while working on any boat, but particularly our boat, in the generator room on the forward bulkhead.

First, I took the fire extinguisher off the wall so I could get to the watermaker. I then took the electronics for the watermaker off the wall so I could get to the pressure vessel assembly, then I unscrewed the bolts holding the end caps in place. Now, all I had to do was take the end caps off, right? Nope, they wouldn’t budge. I twisted, I turned, I pushed and I pulled. Nope, they still wouldn’t budge. I was getting frustrated and I was getting pissed. With all the strength I could muster, I braced the electronic unit (to which one of the end caps was connected) against the bulkhead and twisted as hard as I could. I felt movement. I tried again and finally, finally it twisted off. Success! I pulled out the old membrane and prepared to put the new one in. I tried like hell to get the other end cap off, but it wasn’t going to happen. Eventually, I came up with the solution – I didn’t need to take the other end cap off. All I needed to do is slide the new membrane in. Again, nothing is as easy as it sounds. 

Ann had found a video on-line telling us how to put in the membrane. Unfortunately, the instructions suggested we use a particular kind of water soluble lubricant that we did not have – and NOT to use a petroleum-based lubricant. The membrane simply would not go in without some kind of lubrication. Hmmm. What to do. Well, we went with the only water-based lubricant we could find on board, KY Jelly. Actually, the kind of KY we had was enhanced with vitamin E, so we figured that it would be a healthy watermaker. With the KY and a little twisting and turning, the membrane slid in. A little hammer work to make sure it was seated. Then I only had to reverse the installation process. Voila! We now have a working watermaker that produces water. YEEESSSSSS!!

Next week, we’ll finish the tale of BlowmageddoN.

ANN’s NOTES:  Wow… I have a lot of ground to cover… according to my mini-journal I need to go back to 01/07/16…so here we go

Thursday 01/07/16: We are still in Spanish Wells, beautiful weather. Walked to the grocery store , we were out of paper towels and of course I could not just buy paper towels, I had a few more items that I just had to have. I still have not learned the items in your cart lesson. Anyway, a very nice local lady in her golf cart (that is how most people get around on the island) asked if I would like a ride  back to the marina…I had a very large package of paper towels plus the above mentioned ‘other’ items. I was very thankful and had a short conversation with her. She was born and raised on the island and would never think of living anywhere else. We went out to lunch at the Shipwreck restaurant, such a wonderful view. Both our boat neighbors departed today, we have the dock to ourselves.

Friday 01/08/16:  Annie’s Bight/ Gregory Town Eleuthera. Beautiful little cove during the day, turns into a washing machine on spin cycle at night, thank heaven it has a sandy bottom to hold Bertha, plus the bounce back noise off the island from the waves was loud. Michael got the kayak down (another activity that has more than one or two steps). Watermaker acting up, first signs of trouble. Burgers on the grill

Saturday 01/09/16:  Arrived Governor’s Harbor Eleuthera.  Bumpy ride over Exuma  sound. Very hot and humid day. Dinghy over to town, dinghy shore yucky and dirty, water yucky and dirty, not my favorite place. Looked around in the grocery store, $6.50 for a small jar of baby dill pickles (I think I will wait and restock somewhere  else)   I was happy to return back to my clean boat, I need a shower after walking in that water to anchor the dinghy to shore. Good news free WiFi from Ronnie’s, whoever he is, thank you.

Sunday 01/10/16 :  Very warm day, harbor very choppy  and we have lunch reservation at  the French Leave  Restaurant and Marina. * note* in order to get to the restaurant we need to get into the dinghy and motor over, please also note, the harbor very choppy comment. I do not like trying to get into a dinghy that is bouncing around, the problem is actually many safety problems I have about getting into a bouncing dinghy. The dinghy is going one way with the chop on the water, Traveling Soul is going another way, the  water is trying to make it impossible  to get off the boat and into the dinghy. But there was the food incentive pulling us into the dinghy and to the restaurant (I could make this a lot longer, I may have a few issues to work out) Let me just say, the lobster pizza was amazing and we made it back to the boat. Michael took out ALL the fun I was going to have, that HE TURNED ON THE A/C!!!! I was the hardy pioneer women that day…just saying.

Monday 01/11/16:  Arrived Rock Sound Harbor. Rain squalls off and on most of the day. Nice anchorage, lots of boats. Started calling for replacement part for the watermaker, this may take some time, better to start early and ”get’er done” as the cable guy would say.

Tuesday 01/12/16: Dinghy to the Wild Orchid bar and grill to use their dinghy dock, it looked safer than most in the area. Walked around town, saw the Ocean Hole, stopped at a cute gift store, all handmade items from locals .Went to the grocery store for fresh items, Michael was with me so the items in the cart and his reminders helped. Went to the bar and grill for a quick snack and meet some nice people on vacation and another couple in the harbor on their boat Sophia. It was a really fun day.

Wednesday 01/13/16: Arrive Cape Eleuthera Marina.  Bought fuel and then went to our assigned slip. Easy cruise over, Good WiFi, Nice relaxed day

Thursday 01/14/16:  Car for the day, bought a not-really-very-good $10 map from the marina, at least we could read the print. Went looking for the lighthouse, could not find the light house…hum that is strange, one can usually see a lighthouse from a long distance and we were on the coast line and on the beach. * note* a few days later  in the book I was reading about Eleuthera, it said the lighthouse was not maintained ,was abandoned and no longer standing, well that explains why we could not find it. Roads are in terrible shape, the settlements are few and far apart and rather depressing. Found an old abandoned church, at one time probably the center of a settlement but as people on these islands often do, they just leave and that is that. We found a lot of small liquor stores, I think that is one way to handle poverty and yet you see the children in their clean and pressed school uniforms playing in the government run school, such a contrast. Went to the grocery store only this time we had a car so I could go wild and put anything I wanted in the cart and Michael was with me. (It is nice to have a car) Found out our friends Dave and Joan are coming to visit!!!

Friday 01/15/16:  This is my “get ready to leave day.” We are still at the marina and they have some amenities that most marinas in the Bahamas do not have, for example a laundry room. So … in my head I had it all planned out. The pantry is restocked, the fridge is full from yesterday’s shopping spree so now is the day to tackle the laundry. Right??? NO!!!  There are only two washers and two dryers, only about three other sail boats in the marina and they were all doing laundry yesterday, so I figure, a couple of hours and done.  I load up the car to bring it back to the office for Friendly Bob to pick up and drop off the laundry. I get to the laundry room only to find two local women, in a small hatch back full of dirty clothes, unloading it. Yup…you guessed it, the locals can use the laundry room. They each had about five loads each and I could tell it was going to be a very long day for me if I stayed. I was not a happy boater at that moment. I went back to the boat to tell Michael that I wanted to do the laundry on the boat. Now the marina charges for both water and electric, water is .35 per gallon and electric is .50 per kilowatt hour. He helped me bring the laundry back to the boat  and  even in my math challenged mind I knew having clean cloths was going to be pricey.* note..it  was*  Then to add insult ,to injury, we  had to top off our water tanks, since our watermaker was officially not working.

Saturday 01/16/16: Beautiful day to cruise( in clean clothes) Me and my eagle eyes spotted the last mooring ball  in Cambridge Cay. The mooring hosts (I will explain what they are in a moment) were in their dinghy and handed me the pendant so I could put our lines through and be connected to the mooring ball. Anyway , the Bahamian  Park system has a volunteer program  that  you can sign up for, that allows you to stay on a mooring ball at a discounted rate. Their part  is  to help people as needed, such as handing  new  incoming boats the pendants and collecting the mooring ball fee. Nice to know we are tucked in when the bad weather front comes in tomorrow.

Sunday 01/17/16:  Glad we are on a mooring ball, it is very windy out, a few squalls have come through bringing more wind and rain. Did lots of reading and cat petting. I have not mentioned Spot in a while, she really has become a true cruising feline. She is such great company and she keeps us amused and entertained every day, she is a joy to have around.

Monday 01/18/16:  Beautiful day in Cambridge Cay, it is our beach day. Wind not too bad, got the dinghy down and back up (an important part to remember) to go exploring. Walked a few beaches and just enjoyed the many colors of the water in these parts. It is so very hard to even explain how beautiful the water is, it takes all your senses to appreciate it.

Tuesday 01/19/16: Michael did a great job getting us out of Cambridge Cay. Unlike the Chesapeake Bay, there really are no tidal charts to refer to, so you need to know how much water there is below you at all times and not depend on knowing when the tide is up or down. To depart Cambridge Cay is like a maze, we lightly touched bottom once, not a problem. Arrived at Big Majors Spot/Pig Beach. Found a good place to anchor. Still windy out, watched some old movies on DVD to pass the time. Lots of radio chatter about the bad westerly wind that was due in a few days.

Wednesday 01/20/16:  Started to formulate a plan in case we could not stay at the marina. We took what I would call a joy ride (not really so joyful) to find a place. Now you need to remember (again nothing is easy on a boat) that there are many steps to putting down and anchor and bringing one up. So just to say that we went for a joy ride really did take some time and all the steps that go with it, times two, we had to anchor  back again at pretty much the same place we had left. The joy ride led to a good plan all and all, and gave us an idea where we could go and not have to scramble looking for an anchorage like so many people had to do. Bahamian tourist board filming on Pig Beach, our boat may be in the back ground. Look it up on Google, these pigs are well feed and big. A new batch of piglets were on the beach also, the male pigs must be happy.

Thursday 10/21/16: Arrive at Staniel Cay Yacht Club(and “sort of a marina”) The new membrane arrived on the 9:30 flight, we pulled into our slip at 11 am and that is all I saw of the island. I was the “go get” girl in this project. I am very proud of Michael for sticking with this project, it would have been much easier to just say “to hell with this” and get someone else to do it. The space is very tight to work in and not a normal position to work in. It was an all day project, but we do have a working water maker that hums along and makes safe drinking water at 7 gallons per hour. I will be really good and not say anything about the KY jelly and sliding in.

Traveling Soul…OUT

Spanish Wells to Governor's Harbor

Getting from Spanish Wells to our next destinations on the West Coast of Eleuthera takes a bit of doing. There are two ways of getting there. One is to go through Fleming Cut. The other, about fifteen miles shorter, is through Current Cut. As an article in BOATUS magazine put it,

Current is the name of the Bahamian settlement, and Current Cut is the turbulent channel in front of it — its famous namesake, actually — where the tide ebbs and floods like a freight train in and out of the Bight of Eleuthera. This can be a treacherous place for those who arrive or leave by boat. At the height of the flow, the current can rush as fast as 10 knots in a channel barely 100 yards wide. As you pass through, there's no room for error as the water churns.

Of course, there would be no childish “Fleming Cut” for us; we had to go through Current Cut. I know, I know, you all think we are intrepid adventurers who take on life-threatening challenges simply because they are there; that we scoff at danger; that fear is afraid of us. Well, not exactly. As is often the case, if you do a little homework, you know how to beat the odds. There is always a little current running through the cut. But if you can avoid the spring tides (which have nothing to do with the springtime, and everything to do with whether the sun and moon are directly in line with the earth and their gravitational pulls reinforce each other) and you can determine when slack tides will be (about two hours after the well-published tides in Nassau), you will be able to defy death and make it into the Bight of Eleuthera. In the event, the water ranged from 12 - 40 feet deep and the current was about 1.5 MPH against us. And oh by the way … we had 1100 horsepower in our engines if we had needed them.

Eleuthera is an interesting island. It is about 110 miles long and at places less than a mile wide. It became the first English settlement in the Bahamas when the Company of Eleutheran Adventurers (Eleuthera meaning “freedom” in Greek) set sail from Bermuda, in 1648, searching for a place where they could practice their Puritan faith. These Pilgrims were smarter than their New England brethren who were freezing their butts off in and around Plymouth, MA at about the same time. Although the Adventurers eventually established a couple of settlements, the most important of which was as Governor’s Harbor – the capital of the Bahamas for a time – for over 350 years, Eleuthera has struggled economically.



Sunrise in Paradise

The initial Pilgrims tried to grow crops on Eleuthera, but, while the island’s soil was not as bad as that in some parts of the Bahamas, it wasn’t good enough to support an economy. Then the inhabitants turned towards the sea and what is called “wrecking” (where inhabitants go out and take the cargo off wrecked ships). That proved lucrative until navigation improved and lighthouses were built. Later, Eleuthera served as the new location of many Loyalist plantations after the Revolutionary War – all of which failed. Later still, it became a major pineapple producer – until the US put a tariff on Bahamian pineapples. It has also served as host to US Navy and US Air Force facilities during the Cold War – both of which are now closed down. More recently, efforts were made in the 1970s and 1980s to convert parts of the island into hoity-toity housing developments and large, expensive resorts – which also seem to have failed. In short, Eleuthera is somewhat like the rest of the Bahamas. It is a magnificent island that is unable to support the economic development of even a small population. But it is a hell of a cruising destination!

The last time we were in Eleuthera we visited the Glass Window and wrote extensively about it in our January 2014 Blog. This year we skipped over it and decided to anchor for the evening in Annie’s Bight, about ½ mile north of Gregory Town. In years past it had possibly been used as the headquarters of a real-life pirate. According to Eleuthera: the Island Called Freedom, George Thompson of Gregory Town tells a story:

My mother’s great-grand-father used to live with a man whom everyone called Mr. Saunders. That wasn’t his real name, which was foreign, and nobody could say it, so they just called him Mr. Saunders. He had been sailing from Abacos Cays when his ship was chased by Blackbeard or Bluebeard or one of them boys, and he was comin’ down the coast at nightfall when he found the entrance to the Cove and managed to slip in, thinking that it might be a good hiding place. The pirates’ ship went by and missed him, so he escaped them and when morning came he looked around and decided he would settle there.

The story goes on that Mr. Saunders formed his own little pirate company using the Cove as a base. According to the teller of the tale, George Thompson, thieves from Nassau came years later and relieved Saunders’ heirs of their pirate booty. Anyway, that’s the story.

Back to the cove. This place looked like a magnificent anchorage. Not only could we hide from the pirates, but it was in kind of a “U-Shape,” open only to the south, which we figured would provide protection from the winds and currents coming from the north, east and west. It had a sandy bottom, so we figured the anchor would hold well, and it was over ten feet deep as close as 200 feet from shore. It had everything we were looking for. In fact, I kayaked the cove and took several pictures, but none of them quite captured the magnificence of the anchorage. Then came the night.



In case you didn't believe I was in my kayak. Hah!
That is Traveling Soul in the background.

Remember when I said the cove was only open to winds and current from the south? Well, that night the wind shifted and winds and current came from the south. I mean it was like a washing machine in there. I woke up at about 0100 from the booming crash of the waves on the shore and the rolling of the and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I went up into the salon. There was just as much roll up there, but a whole lot less noise – as our stateroom is connected t the swim platform. Moreover, when I was in the salon, it was much easier to check the chartplotter and make sure our anchor wasn’t dragging. I knew Bertha (the name of our anchor) was set pretty well, but I also knew that any anchor can drag just about any time. Besides, I am a worry-wart. Ann? She slept away and only awoke when I came to make sure she was still asleep.

Needless to say we left the following day and headed to Governor’s Harbor, the former capital of Eleuthera and of the Bahamas. Our goal was to get out of the Washing Machine and get to a location just a little more comfortable. I will say that in these southerly winds no place in Eleuthera is very comfortable, but Governors Harbor was good enough.  We had spent three days here two years ago so we really weren’t that interested in touring the area. Now people say that Governor’s Harbor does not have good holding for your anchor. Ok, but then I remember that Governor’s Harbor as been holding ships at anchor since about 1650. And during parts of the eighteenth century when Eleuthera was exporting pineapples, there were 40 or more ships at a time. If you look around, you don’t see too many of them broken to pieces up on the rocks. So, while I will agree that it does not have the best holding in the world, if you are careful, you can anchor here.

It was in Governor's Harbor that we discovered that our watermaker has given up the ghost. You may remember that we had the watermaker "repaired" before we left Florida. At the time I was pretty sure we needed a new membrane (the piece that kind of "filters" the salt out of the water). The repairman, however, didn't think so. Since they cost about $500, I was more than happy to take the expert's suggestion. Obviously he -- and therefore I -- were wrong. So, I called the States and found someone who will order the part from California, fly it into the Bahamas, handle the customs and get the part to me in Staniel Cay -- I hope. I am pretty sure there will be more to follow on the watermaker.

What had really captured our interest in Governor’s Harbor was a restaurant that was closed the last time we were in town, but had since re-opened its door – The French Leave. We had heard that, while pricey, it was excellent. In keeping with our new culinary habits, we thought we would try it for lunch rather than dinner because, frankly, lunch is typically less expensive.

MMMMMM Pizza

Nyeh, Lobster roll

We ordered a lobster roll and lobster pizza. The lobster roll was okay; we have had better. (As most of you know, Ann is a connoisseur of lobster rolls.) But the pizza – wow! Now that was something. We finished the lobster roll at lunch, but only half of the pizza. So when I tell you that the bill (we also had one cocktail each) was $87.13 (FOR LUNCH!) at least I can say we got two meals out of it. Oh Well, we have now dined at the famous French Leave Restaurant and Resort.