Life in the Exumas

We've backtracked a bit this week, sailing a scant total of only about 12 miles! From the Staniel Cay Settlement, we sailed north to Sampson Cay to rendezvous with Rick and Sandy aboard Changing Channels. From there, we both sailed the few miles back to Pipe Creek where we've been for the rest of the week. Pipe Creek, rather a series of shallow lagoons surrounded by islands and rocky islets with a few patches of deep water running through, is one of those delightful undeveloped areas where you could spend a day, a week or the whole cruising season, so varied beautiful are the surroundings. We've snorkeled four separate reefs, all different and all within about 2 miles from our anchorage. One of the larger islands called Thomas Cay is uninhabited, thus allowing exploration and access to the rugged beaches on the windward side.

Thomas Cay also houses the Pipe Creek Yacht Club, the little Tiki Hut we constructed with materials found washed up on the beach. We know many of the boats here, thus organizing a happy hour at the Yacht Club one sunny afternoon. And this time, the bugs didn't chase us away!

Not everyone has such a good time in the Bahamas. We've learned of at least three boats who have decided that this lifestyle really is not their cup of tea and are returning to the states. Some had a difficult crossing or once across, got beat up while anchored on the banks. It's very sad to hear of this stories, especially after all the planning that is involved. Dashed dreams I would guess.

And this in a year when the weather thus far has been particularly cooperative and pleasant. This from Al and Ann aboard Calypso Poet. On their fifth year cruising the Bahamas, they claim that this has been the best weather year so far. Normally, cold fronts develop every two to four days and make their way south towards the Bahamas. So far, only one has had enough momentum to make it to the Exumas, the one that came through at Christmas while we were snugly tucked on a mooring in the Exuma Land and Sea Park at Warderick Wells. And even then, it blew about 25 knots from the northwest for about 12 hours before switching over to the northeast. Al said that in a bad year such as they had two years ago, almost all the fronts made it through. They couldn't even move for more than 3 weeks as the weather was just too rough. One front was so bad that the weather forecasters were predicting storm conditions and hurricane force winds. Al said that they prepared for a hurricane, removing all canvas and sails and lashing everything down. But even in their protected anchorage here at Pipe Creek, they said the waves were so high that their dinghy came up and hit their BBQ grill mounted on the stern pulpit! Most boats gave up on the Bahamas that year and still more did not try to cross and remained in Florida.

In the past week, we've had two fronts stall north of our area. So every day the weather has been sunny and warm, highs in the 80's with patchy cumulus clouds drifting through. Some days are windier than others, but rarely exceeding 20 knots for very long. Water temperature is around 75 degrees, warm enough to go in without a wet suit for a little while. And at 24 degrees of latitude, the sun is high enough in the sky to feel warm on your skin.

While the water and beaches are absolutely beautiful, the fauna here is rather drab, owing to the poor substrate. Most of the islands are composed of hard limestone sometimes covered by a layer of sand. There seems to be very little dirt. The plants are mostly low, about 6 or seven feet max, comprised of tough mangroves, palms, or a variety of viney scrub bushes. One such scrub brush that seems plentiful enough is the poisonwood tree. Rubbing against it's leaves or bark will produce a rash much worse than poison ivy or oak. Along the shore, the soft patches limestone have been eroded, forming sharp crags of rock. A boat or especially a rubber dinghy coming into contact would be chewed to bits in a big hurry.

Despite what you may think, we are not lazing around the boat or beach all day long. We are usually up early to have breakfast and to catch the early weather forecasts at 7 a.m. After cleaning the boat, we usually work away or our project list until around lunchtime. After lunch, or when the tide is slack, we try to go for a swim, taking the pole spear along just in case we see something for dinner. And as silly as this sounds, we are usually falling asleep by eight p.m. We're not the only ones either. To a person, every cruiser we talk to says the same thing. Without the TV or telephone to provide the stimulus, we eat dinner, it gets dark and we fall asleep while reading. Try as hard as we might, we just can't seem to make it until nine most evenings.

Yes, the hunting and gathering has yielded some very positive results this week. We speared our first lobster, one sufficiently large that we had a little trouble finishing it in one meal. Not without some regret as it's so pretty, the colors seemingly varnished on. But cooked on the grill, it sure tasted good. Later, we got a small grouper to supplement our rice. And still another day, we gather enough conch for two meals. Joyce made conch Polynesian one evening and then conch cakes (conch instead of crab) for lunch the next day.

I think some folks back home would be amazed at the lengths we are going through in the name of water conservation. You see, we carry only about eighty gallons of water. Purchased water can cost about 50 cents per gallon, but the real pain is having to take the boat somewhere to get it. Water sources are few and far between, and not always open when you want. And catching rainwater has proved much more difficult then it seems. So we stretch every drop. We wash our dishes in salt water, only giving a light fresh water rinse afterward. We wash our hands with hand sanitizer instead of water. I take a bath in salt water, sprinkling off with a little fresh water just to get the salt off. In the process, I usually wash out my bathing suit and any clothing that has gotten salty. Back in the real world, people usually use about 40 gallons per person per day. Here, we are stretching our eighty gallons to about three weeks for everything; that's four gallons per day for both of us!

Other things such as communications have been challenging. The phone system is run by the Bahamas company Batelco and many phones don't even work even if you can find one. You really learn to appreciate the modern conveniences of public phones everywhere in the U.S. and remember that Bahamas is a third world country. Since cruising in the Exumas since mid-December (after leaving Nassau), we found our first phone on Staniel Cay which was the first settlement we visited. The most reliable method of placing calls is to buy a Batelco phone card for $1 per minute. Some people (us included) have tried various phone cards, but none seem to work reliably. Our email device, PocketMail, doesn't have a toll-free number as we had in the U.S., so email isn't checked as often as it usually runs about $3-4 per call and phones aren't available usually where we visit anyway. Some people with cell phones have gone to the trouble and expense of registering it with Batelco, but that also hasn't worked consistently.

Laundry is another area that is taken for granted when freely available. After moving aboard, laundry became a more difficult and time consuming process of finding facilities in either a marina or a coin-operated laundry. Checking into various options in this area, our choices are very limited. In Staniel, the only public facility had a washer available for $5 per load, but no dryer. Another option is to have a local woman do the laundry for which you are charged by the item. For example, shorts and t-shirts were about 50 cents each and a sheet was several dollars. Another marina listed in a cruising guide listed that laundry was available for $16 per load! We hope to hold out until we find facilities further south in the larger settlement of George Town.

Mails and bills are another issue. All of our mail is sent to Joyce's parents who have been helping us handle it since we left (thanks Mom & Dad). Before we left we set up most of our bills to be paid automatically. It not easy to verify that bills have been paid when you don't see the monthly statements and you can't use the toll-free numbers that worked back home. The last time we received mail was Thanksgiving when we saw Joyce's parents in Jacksonville. It's difficult to have mail sent to the Bahamas as it can take 4 weeks or more to receive it via a mailboat throughout most of the islands. We'll probably wait until we visit George Town to receive mail where mail can be received by airmail taking about a week - hopefully.

But, even with the minor inconveniences of daily life, it's definitely worth all of that and more to be here in such a beautiful area, most of which is completely undeveloped maintaining it's natural beauty. It never ceases to amaze us every day we are here that we see the many shades of remarkable blue water which we can see clearly through to the bottom, along with the white sandy beaches. And to swim with the colorful marine life when snorkeling has been a highlight as well. Last but not least are the many opportunities of viewing spectacular sunsets over the water.

From here we will probably start drifting south again towards George Town which is towards the southern end of the Exumas. A rough game plan has started to form and that is for us to make our way slowly to George Town, spend a couple of weeks there and then come north again, stopping at some of the places we've missed in the Exumas. From there, we'd like to travel northeast and cruise Eleuthra in early March, making our way north to the Abacos by the end of March. We'd then like to spend April and early May in the Abacos before returning to the states, assuming our cooking fuel holds out that long.