Ahoy there!

Well we've briefly hit a communications hot spot so we'd thought we'd take advantage of it and get the latest out, and with any luck update the website!

 

At last on 20 th April we managed to escape from Marsh Harbour and start our long journey south. Weather was against us from the start so we didn't leave The Abacos until 22 nd April. It was quite a long day and not pleasant sailing conditions, sailing very tight to the wind and 7 foot swells, so Andrew's birthday was postponed for a couple of days. However we did make it to the Eleuthras, the next chain of Bahamian islands and a calm anchorage without another boat in sight. At this point, despite seeing lots of Batelco telephone towers we lost phone signal.

We found out later that not all Batelco SIMS work everywhere in the Bahamas !

 

The following morning we carried on through Current Cut. This is an innocuous   looking passage but fortunately we had read our pilot guide and knew to go through at slack water. Despite this, and only a 5 knot wind the current slowed us down to below two knots. Andrew said it was the sailing equivalent of driving on ice. The Eleuthrans & Exumas   are less inhabited, and less visited, than The Abacos and in a ten hour day we only saw two other boats. The charts are a little worrying as they are covered with little notes ‘V.P.R' – visible pilotage required, this means that not all hazards are charted so keep an eye out for sand banks, rocks and coral heads, easier said than done. Sand banks are fairly easy in good light as the shallower the water the lighter blue the sea. Weed and rock are trickier as they both show up as dark patches. Coral heads are easy to spot as they are almost black but for novices it's almost impossible to judge the depth of them.

Our anchorage for the night was Rock Sound which the pilot guide didn't give as brilliant, and with ‘ V.P.R's ' all over the chart but it was our only choice.   What we found was a large bay, not many rocks and about 8 feet of water, enough for us.

 

We decided that Monday was Andrew's official birthday and that we would stay for a couple of days, particularly as we had no wind. Rock Sound ‘town' was great. Not very big but with a good dinghy dock, a good supermarket and a baker that didn't stop laughing. We nearly had to pick him off the floor when Sharon said to him ‘Do I look like a sliver sought of girl?' when he offered her some pineapple cake.

Sadly there were no real restaurants for Andrew's birthday lunch so Sharon baked a baguette and he had the salamis given to him by 'Metalia' – he was in heaven and raised a glass to them! An afternoon of swimming and reading followed.

 

Sadly we had to leave Rock Sound and continue south. We had originally planned to go to Cat Island but the wind was all wrong so we sailed across ‘The Tongue of the Ocean' to the Exumas . Our first anchorage was a bit nerve wracking with to many rocks but the second night was wonderful. Andrew found Childrens Harbour Cay, a tricky entrance but eventually opening up to a large lagoon. We were all alone with nothing manmade in sight. As soon as we anchored we were in the water swimming! That evening there was a spectacular thunderstorm in the clouds but fortunately not near us.

 

The following day was a half day sail to the fabled George Town , also known as ‘Chicken Harbour'. George Town is the southernmost Bahamian town suitable for cruisers and you can't really go any further south without involving overnight sails. Each winter hundreds of ‘snow birds' stay here moving between the facilities of George Town and the shelter and entertainment of Stocking Island.

But don't be fooled into thinking that George Town is a stunning resort. It's not very large and not very attractive, what it is famous for though is the annual Family Islands Regatta now in it's fifty-third year, and we managed to arrive in time for the last two days and the closing celebrations! It's a big event in The Bahamas with even the Prime Minister staying for a couple of days.

A race was in progress when we arrived Friday afternoon but we couldn't see much and decided that we were over heated and went in for a swim. Sharon looked up and saw an ominous sight, a water spout, the sea equivalent of a tornado! Never have we got back in the boat so quickly. In total we had four waterspouts and luckily none came very close. There was lots of cruisers radio chatter about them and Sharon sparked a great deal of Wizard of Oz feedback with her ‘You will go back to Kansas Dorothy' over the airwaves!

 

The following morning we were about to head for town in the dinghy when we noticed the regatta committee boat moving the race can nearer to us. We found that a race was about to start and so stayed put. The boats were traditional sloops with very long booms. As the boat rounds the can the crew acting as ballast leap across to the other side of the boat and sit out on poles to stop the boat flipping. This is a fairly risky manoeuvre and sometime in the 1970's a rule was introduced that you had to finish with the same number of crew as you started with!

There are lots of small boats where the competitors round the cans as this is the most exciting point. One little Hobie catamaran got to close and as the sloop swung round the long boom caught the cat's mast and flipped him over! Fortunately they are designed to upright quickly and no one was hurt.

That evening there was the awards and closing ceremony and we had the Royal Bahamian Police Marching Band which was terrific. Dozens of multicoloured food shacks had been built and the town was packed, everyone in their best clothes and lots going on.

 

Stocking Island is about a mile across the bay from George Town and is where the majority of cruisers anchor. There are only a couple of houses but it is the hub of cruisers entertainment. A small bar/restaurant called Chat'n'Chill has built some beach volleyball courts and provided picnic tables and chairs under the trees. Each morning on the Cruisers Net the events of the day will be announced. Northbound meetings, childrens birthday parties, sports and games and numerous gatherings. The beach is great with lots of room for everyone.

We had a beer at the Chat'n'Chill on Sunday afternoon and were fortunate to be there for the ‘legendary' Foxy from Jost van Dyke, B.V.I. Foxy owns a bar there and all cruisers and holiday makers try to make at least one visit to hear his island songs and tales when they are in the Virgin Islands.

So what's next?

We hope to leave George Town on Thursday and continue to the Turks & Caicos . If the weather is favourable we should be there in about a week. We will travel down the chain and then make the decision about the B.V.I's, we are still hoping to make a four day jump from T & C. We will let you know and file a passage plan with someone. Until we make landfall at Provo . in the Caicos we suspect that communications will be non-existent so don't worry! E-mails waiting for us would be great!

 

Warm regards

Sharon & Andrew

P.S. Request from Sharon . It's our 20 th wedding anniversary this month and we don't know what it is i.e pearl/paper/wood. Does anyone know?