Wind, Wind and More Wind

Although the threat of very windy weather appeared to be right on our doorstep, this early Monday morning was calm once again; calm enough to try our luck fishing out in the ocean on the same reefs that we had found those large crabs previously. As the early morning sun reflected off the water making it hard to read the water, we realized it would be just dumb luck to happen upon the same good fishing spot. We found one spot that looked promising, but once in the water Brian realized that it wasn't the same. Even still, we did find one lobster under a shallow ledge.

In my defense, I will start out by saying that I did eventually bring the lobster up. But it was anything but pretty. With the lobster under the ledge in about 12 feet of water, I wasn't at all sure who was going to wear who out. In the end, I probably tortured the poor thing to death but I took a few good licks in turn. After 15 or 20 minutes of struggling, I thought I could just reach in and grab him out by the tail. Unfortunately, the spiny sea urchin that I didn't see sent it's spines into my fingers and me shooting to the surface in pain. The next dive I was more careful about not touching the sea urchin, but just as I reached in a moray eel showed up to wrestle me for my catch. By the time I finished the 15 or so odd dives that I took to bring him up, I was quite tuckered out and we soon retired to the dinghy.

Back at the mothership, we soon upped anchor and sailed off to Black Point, nine or so miles to the south. Our strategy for the windy weather to come was threefold; one, be somewhere where we could get off the boat and walk around during the bad weather; two, be somewhere where we could drag anchor without the threat of hitting rocks; and three, be somewhere out of the current. (If you recall, we rode out the last bad front with our backs to some nasty rocks and current so strong that even with 30 knots of wind, our boat laid with the current. We were understandably eager to not repeat that event.) The thriving little settlement at Black Point fit all these demands quite nicely. The settlement is small but hospitable, with a few places to eat, a couple of small markets, a public telephone and lots of friendly folks.

By the evening, the wind had picked up in earnest, a steady 25 knots gusting occasionally near 30. This would continue for the next four days with only infrequent breaks. The brief rain shower that accompanied the frontal passage of course occurred while we were making our way back to the boat in the dark. Guess someone figured we need a bath! Many of the boats at anchor here all showed up at Lorraine's Cafe for a nice meal and to watch Race Two of the America's Cup. (A disaster for the Italians as one man was hurt and another had to go in the water to clear kelp off the keel.) Lorraine's is a real gem of a spot. We feel a little badly not patronizing the other two places in Black Point, but we like Lorraine's so much that we don't really want to go elsewhere. Everybody in the place usually pitches in to help as everybody is served at one time, and it's only Lorraine and her mother cooking for everyone. (In this case about 20 people had shown up.) One person sets the tables, others help serving and I and a couple others load sodas and beer into the cooler and serve beverages.

Lorraine's mother also bakes fresh bread, selling for $2.50 a loaf. Although you're never quite sure what you have gotten until you slice it, it's always good. Brian and Susan got one loaf that turned out to be spiced with cinnamon and coconut and boy was it good.

After the frontal passage, we spent the next day confined to the boat as it was too nasty to venture out. The following day the weather remained windy, cloudy and cool with occasional squalls. Despite the wind, we were quite comfortable, tucked up as close as possible in the northeast corner of Black Point's harbor. We even made our way over to Seaquel during the afternoon for lunch, sharing the remainder of our lobster salad with their homemade soup and cornbread.

The harbor here is v-shaped, with the branches gradually opening up to the southwest and northwest. The rugged north side gives way to a large expanse of shallow water to the east that drys at low tide to a beach a hundred yards wide. At low water the kids pick up live starfish and sand dollars and try to sell them to the tourists. The prominent feature on the south side is the town dock. Most of the harbor is rather shallow averaging only around 6 to 7 feet at low water. In fact, the chart shows several large sand bores near the center over which lie only 3 to 4 feet of water. (The fact that this is not unusual for harbors in the Bahamas explains why having a shallow draft vessel is a great advantage here.) The wooden dock is in good repair, but the adjoining road shows only pock-marked gravel surrounded by traces of what once was an asphalt drive. The road continues on in this fashion past the small bright pink Government offices, past the market, Lorraine's Cafe, the all age school, the Batelco office and phone booth, finally dead-ending a mile later at the power plant. The road is so rugged that we were amazed at the skill of a young bicycle rider as even with training wheels on, she skillfully maneuvered between the pot holes.

Along the road you will find here, as you do in most of the settlements that we've visited, construction projects in all states of process. Some of the construction appears recent, while others the bushes growing from within exceed the height of the structure. Rarely do we see any work going on however. From what we can gather, it appears that the problem getting a project finished are threefold; one of money, one of materials and one of a shortage of labor. Given the limited incomes, we are told that the locals can not get loans for a construction project so they can only build what they can put out of their pocket. So as they earn a little, they build a little, making for very long project timetables. Second, even if they do have money, the mailboat only comes once a week and only can bring a limited amount of supplies on each trip. Obviously, the mailboats can't be very big having to get into rather shallow places. Imagine doing your next project having to order almost everything for a week or two at one time. No running to the nearest Home Depot because you forgot that one thing you really needed. Most of the people do their own construction, but also have to earn a living as well. With all this, it's small wonder that anything ever gets done.

When the weather eased up a bit, Joyce did laundry and I hauled water. Black Point's water is readily available, tastes good and best of all it is free. Several water spigots are placed along the road from which both the locals and the cruisers come and fill their buckets. Repeating the process the several times it takes to fill our tanks and all our various containers, we fill our containers, lug them a block down to the government dock, load them into the dinghy and then to the boat whence we empty them into our tanks. Sure miss the days where we pulled up to the dock and grabbed the hose! Taking the opportunity to get free water, Joyce grabbed a bucket and did all of our dirty laundry by hand then hung it to dry on the lifelines. And people wonder what we do all day!

We stayed at Black Point most of the week until Saturday. Badly needing a change of scenery, we sailed back to Big Majors Spot even though the wind was still blowing pretty hard. We tucked in a double reef, pulled out our small working jib and had a short but thrilling sail right up to the anchorage.

The spot here at Big Major is quite nice, the rugged woody shoreline broken occasionally by a white sandy beach. This a favorite spot for many near the Staniel Cay settlement. As such, a large variety of boats are anchored nearby, but there is so much room that it hardly ever seems crowded. We motor the dinghy in towards the beach, and of all things a pig swims out to greet us. We've heard about this pig and have brought something for her to eat, but we have no idea how aggressive she is. She meets us while still in about 3 feet of water and threatens to join us in the dinghy. I yell at Joyce to jump out and immediately the pig makes a beeline for her. Joyce's screaming doesn't seem to bother the pig at all and only when we give her the treat and she sees that none is left does she back off to the beach. Others join us and ‘Emily', as she is known, and repeats the performance. Emily is covered in course tan hair and is rather lean for a pig. Apparently some locals placed Emily on this island and the cruisers bring Emily their table scrapes. She is well accustomed to being fed. We'd see no sign of Emily all day long until a dinghy approached the beach. Then all of a sudden, we'd see Emily come out of nowhere and be in the water swimming towards her benefactors. She's otherwise well behaved and Joyce and I walk the small beach without any bother.

A few miles further north sits the attractive Compass Cay, our intended destination the next day. The entrance into the small bay is a bit convoluted and very shallow in places. Even with our four foot draft, we need the help of the tide to negotiate the thinnest sections. In fact, on our first attempt, Starlight runs aground in the soft sand drawing just ˝ foot more than us. We back out and rethink our game plan. Just to the north is another anchorage whose approach is deeper. Unfortunately it's near the cut and when we get there, we notice a terrible swell wrapping into the anchorage. Growing a bit frustrated by now, we start to head back out the way we came, leaving Compass for another day. A last minute call to the marina assures us that we can get in if we wait another 30 minutes for the tide. We anchor, have lunch, and relax for a bit. A half hour later, we ease our way past the shallow sections by mere inches and gain the protection and deeper water of the inner bay.

Several things have brought us here; one of the most scenic beaches, a well protected harbor, and the opportunity to snorkel and fish before we enter the Exuma Land and Sea Park area just to the north. We are slowly working our way north, getting ourselves in position to cross to Eleuthera some 30 miles northeast across Exuma Sound. As we need to be in Marsh Harbour in the Abacos by the end of March to meet Joyce's parents, we are starting to watch the calendar and plan our time a bit more closely.