So what did everybody get for Christmas? What ever it was, hope you got what you wanted. We sure got what we wanted; just a wee bit of paradise (and no snow)! Photo credit of above picture goes to Al on Calypso Poet.
After two days at Allan's Cay messing about with the iguanas, we headed out for Norman's Cay. We might have chosen the more protected anchorage outside the harbor were it not for a rendezvous later with friends on Desiderata and Cookin', both headed for the inside anchorage. Norman's gained notoriety during the late 70's when it was used as a base for a very profitable drug smuggling operation. A downed plane sitting awash within the harbor is a reminder of this time in history, while today residents enjoy peace and solitude.
Not meaning to bore with too many details, I should say a word or two about the folks on Cookin' and Desiderata as their tales are somewhat out of the ordinary. Indeed, both are Chesapeake Bay sailors, hailing not that far from our old stomping ground. Both couples are on the young side, taking a respite from corporate life. But the similarities end about here. Cookin' is a rather small 30 footer, short on creature comforts, but with big plans. Dave and Renee make due with no refrigeration of any sort, not even ice. In fact, their ice box has been converted into a library. But with this little boat, they hope to cross the Atlantic and return to Renee's homeland of Austria.
Doug and Kristin purchased their Whitby 42 and have outfitted her along the way for an extended cruise through the Carribean and down to South America. We first met them in north Florida as we both were making our way down the Florida ICW towards Miami. But they had a rather special reason for getting to Miami. Seems as they had planned their wedding there! That's right, their families joined them once they reached Miami for the special day. So as they made their way south, not only did they have to worry about navigation and the like, they also had to plan a wedding!
We left Norman's Cay the next day bound just a short distance south to Shroud Cay. Shroud is undeveloped and uninhabited as are many of the Exuma Islands. Not much to offer the cruising sailor except the usual pretty beaches and crystal clear water.
However, Shroud Cay does have something that we need from time to time...water. Unlike anywhere in our previous travels, water is a scarce commodity in the Exumas. Not that it doesn't rain quite a bit, it's just there are very few place to get water. Of the few scattered marinas, most have reverse osmosis water, that is fresh water made by taking the salt out of the ocean water. It's an energy intensive process, one that results in good water, but the cost is usually 30-50 cents per gallon. A few places collect rain water in cisterns and this is available dependent wholly on the amount of recent rainfall. A few other places have well water but this is often somewhat brackish and often of questionable quality. On Watermark, our tanks can hold about a two or three week supply of water (80 gallons) if we take careful measures to conserve. Long gone are the days when we could pull up to any old marina, pull out the hose and top up with fuel and water. But we were more than happy to have a chance to fill our water tanks up from the good well water at Shroud.
Thus we happily totted our water containers up the trail to the well, dropped our bucket down and commenced filling. Once or twice I pulled up a squirming little tadpole in the bucket, a sure sign that the water was pretty good. Of course we threw the tadpole back as he was too small to make much of a meal. My how our standards have lowered!
The following day we traveled down to a stop we looked forward to for some time. Warderick Wells is the headquarters for the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, and a pleasant anchorage in just about any weather. The park is a designated replenishment area for all of the Bahamas which consists of 15 major cays and numerous smaller ones encompassing 176 square miles. Within the park boundaries, the taking of any flora or fauna is prohibited and the Park Warden takes poaching of any sea life very personally.
The park has placed a couple dozen moorings near the park headquarters for visitors of which we are now occupying one. $15 per night or a day of volunteer work pays the fee for the mooring. So both Joyce and I have taken to helping out around the place. We could be accused of being too cheap to pay the 15 bucks but we've had great fun lending a hand where our talents lie; Joyce has been organizing the parks database and I and others have been solving some mechanical troubles, pouring concrete or cleaning and burning a large rubbish heap. In our spare time, we've completed some of our own boat projects and even had time for hiking and snorkeling. Being protected, the game fish and other sought after sea life here do not fear our approach as they do elsewhere. The grouper here have grown to some enormous size along with the spiny lobster.
Since the park waters are protected, it inhabits a few interesting creatures. One is "Bubba," a 4' barracuda that loves to hang out under boats and feed on leftovers thrown overboard. Bubba has gotten a little chubby with extra feeding and is reportedly harmless when smimming nearby. Another is a 5' nurse shark who hangs out at the dock waiting for his dinner. On land Bananaquits can be fed by hand with some sugar in your palm.
Boo Boo Hill is another attraction at the park. It's a short hike with a great view. Boaters have been leaving the names of their boats here for years mostly on pieces of driftwood or floats. We didn't go to the trouble of creating anything too elaborate as we saw firsthand what happens to the old stuff - it gets burned!
The park provided a rather nice Christmas dinner for the visitors here. All the cruisers pitched in, everyone brought a dish or two with the park providing the turkey and ham. With everyone's efforts it turned out to be a very nice gathering for all of us who were a long way from home missing family and friends. Our only dilemma has been that there are no phones at the park for which we could contact our families and none nearby. But even this problem was solved by a fellow cruiser. Some of the long term cruisers have devised a way to send email via their single sideband radio. Thus we were able to get a message out to let some of our family know we were ok.
All is well otherwise. We've lost complete track of the days and time. We are more often then not on solar time, going to bed soon after it's dark and waking at first light. Of course that means that sometimes we fall asleep sometimes around 8 p.m. as the days are so short this time of year. As places to spend money are few and far between, we usually don't even carry a wallet. The Bahamians do print their own money but as the denominations are the same as the U.S. and the exchange rate is the same, it's of little cause for concern. Our traveling has slowed to a snails pace, but after the months of pushing everyday, it's quite a welcome change. Getting weather information occupies a bit of time everyday. We usually try to catch the broadcast from Nassau at 7 a.m. and later in the day try to hear Herb Hilgenberg on the single sideband sometime around 4:30. Our plans then proceed based on the forecast. Almost all meals are prepared onboard unless we are lucky enough to get invited to someone else's boat. Quite often, we have cocktails and the appetizers end up being our dinner.
Our small 5" black and white TV stays tucked away as there are no stations to receive. Our telephone is the VHF radio. Much like a party line, everyone follows everyone else's conversations so you have to be careful what you say. It's really a small community and reputations get made pretty quickly. I'd estimate that there are probably a thousand boats cruising the Exumas at present. And I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that we either met or heard of most of them.
The boat is faring pretty well. The salt water has taken a toll, even on the stainless steel fittings. Gone are the days of washing the boat at the dock; the only bath she gets is when it rains. We begun creating project lists again, things that we can do as we have time. Someone said that if you don't do at least three projects a day, then you fall behind. This is probably true. Joyce is fighting the never ending battle against mold and mildew that seems to take to the tropical air. Through it all, the cats have seemed to be most adaptable. Actually, their routine seems to change little, whether we are traveling or not.
