Reading the Mail in Georgetown 02/20/13

 I thought instead of describing our classic volleyball moves and the new drink  we discovered yesterday, I might give you a taste of communications aboard.  With society becoming so engrained in the use of cellular and electronics, reverting back to a more simplistic means of communication takes some adjustment at first.

Although cell phones are still quite common as primary communication for the intracoastal waterway along the East Coast, once you’ve left American waters, everything changes.  That’s when the mandatory and most basic piece of boating equipment, your VHF radio, becomes your lifeblood. 

Our day in Georgetown starts by turning the VHF on and the chatter begins.  In the islands, the VHF has been and still is the primary means of communication.  Every home and business has a radio, with channel 16 being the station for hailing another party.  When in a harbor such as Georgetown, channel 68 is used for this purpose.

So we’re tuned into 68 and it starts.

White Wing, White Wing, this is Stargazer.  Come back.

Pegasus, Java here.

White Wing, Stargazer.  Pick a channel.

Let’s go to 71.

Java, Pegasus back at ya.

Go to our regular channel, Pegasus.

Not only is the chatter pretty continuous throughout the day, the boat names themselves provide entertainment.  Escapaid, Breaking Wind, Between the Sheets to Southern Yankee and Independencia – you hear it all! 

Of course when you are in trouble or needing some kind of help, this is not a bad way to get it.  Get on the hailing channel and someone is always there.  Medical emergencies, escaped dinghies, needing a ride into town or even a taxi just requires an announcement on the radio.   If help isn’t immediately available, it won’t be but minutes before it’s found!

Another aspect of life with radios is lurking or “reading the mail”.  This practice is following conversations as boats choose and switch channels.  Wondering what Sea Shell and Pandora’s plans are?  Just switch to 72 when the hails come through and, voila, you’re an insider!  

Thankfully, this practice is widely accepted and anything that needs to remain private must be accomplished while in person.  It’s not at all uncommon for someone you just met to know where your next port destination is or where you were drinking last night!  It can be embarrassing in the beginning, realizing you just referenced something you heard while hiding on the line but everyone just smiles and says they had listened to you not minutes before!

So I sit here writing as the French Canadians hail each other from the funny house boats in the neighboring cove.   Papa YA, Papa YA, this in Pineapple Ouse (or Papaya, Papaya, this is Pineapple House - without the accent! )  It took me time before I got that one!  Breaking Wind is trying to find Déjà vu – and the fun continues. 

And so it goes for a taste of life on board.  Sit tight and wait for your next installment – could be dealing with bodily functions aboard or maybe the effects of salt and sand on daily living!  Better yet – Georgetown has a great airport and we’ve got a spare room . . . come get a taste of it for yourself!!

Storms at Anchor 02/17/13

 Thought you might like a taste of being on anchor.  This is a subject that every cruiser touches on from day to day – What size is your anchor?  How does it hold?  Do you have rode or chain?  How much scope do you put out?  The questions and importance of anchoring is unlimited!

Last night saw the storm arrive that was the big talk of the previous week.  Our plans for moving down the chain were all predicated by this front.  25-30 knots from the north with possible strong westerly’s before its arrival – not a good direction for Exuma anchoring.  And that’s how the thought process goes for life aboard. 

We were coming across the one mile stretch from Georgetown on our dinghy when the clouds started moving across the sky.  Not a good feeling being so exposed with such distance to go and running ahead of a massive cloud bank with obvious rain pelting down just behind it.  The boat hatches were open and we were vulnerable!  We got to the boat just as the rain shot bullets at us and I ran around deck throwing hatches closed and taking cover.  That ended up being just a warning, the winds died back quickly and we wondered if it was all a hoax! 

The rest of the afternoon was spent checking the anchor lines, the proximity of all the boats around us and comparing lengths and type of their anchor systems.  Boats were moving from here to there and setting and resetting trying to get their position and hold before the sun went down. 

Rob and I found ourselves well set and happy with our anchor but not completely comfortable with the over 40’ catamaran just off our starboard bow that was truly too close for comfort.  There was noone aboard the cat to make matters worse and we were quite concerned that when the wind clocked, we’d be directly behind them with only 80 or so feet to spare! 

Thankfully, they arrived back before sunset to tell us they’d been set in that spot securely for almost two months and had a great hold – with basic supervision, we should have nothing to worry about!  The sunset brought the real storm with high winds and higher gusts and we had a good “ride”.

Here’s a good place to think about how anchoring works.  When you enter an anchorage, you have to pick your spot.  There are lots of factors to this equation – What is the tide doing?  How strong is the wind?  Where is land protection – land stops the big waves from coming in.  Is anyone on rope vs chain (which perform completely different)?  Where will boats be when the wind or tide shifts?  As the shifts happen, every boat swings around its anchor and ends up in a totally different position relative to the boats around it.  It certainly complicated the decision!

The radio was busy through the night with people helping people – someone’s dinghy let loose and went walkabout, people’s anchors were dragging and drifting, other folks were lending aid and giving advice.  Our cruising buddy, Rick’s, anchor dragged and Rob headed over in the mess to help get him resettled.  It was a busy and wild night.

I’m happy to report that all is well this morning.  I, surprisingly, even got some sleep!  Most nights like this I get myself too worked up to barely shut my eyes but I must be becoming seasoned!  We left the radio on and set the anchor drag on the chart plotter.  We watched the wind, waves and neighbors until about midnight then gave in to sleep.

The winds are now clocking north and then east and our protection from Stocking Island is increased although we’re going to see up to 30 knots for the next three days.  Books, cards, blogs and projects will abound!

Georgetown! 02/16/13

Georgetown is a big player in cruising destinations.  It is where some cruisers spend their entire season and some avoid it completely.  It’s a great place for preparing for journeys points south or a great turn around for seasonal sailors. 

We arrived around noon on Valentine’s Day, hoping to take advantage of a rumored dance party that evening.  We anchored at the first anchorage we found (it’s a huge harbor that houses sometimes over 400 cruising boats!) and immediately headed into town.

Georgetown Harbor is located between the island of Great Exuma and a chain of cays including Stocking Island.  There are numerous anchoring areas to accommodate just about any need from solitude to services, fun to safety.  The services for cruisers here are impressive – a well maintained and protected dinghy dock, an amazing grocery store, several typical Bahamian restaurants, a library and small straw market and the numerous and required liquor stores!

Stocking Island is where all the action happens.  We moved yesterday to  anchor off of Volleyball Beach where the bar Chat and Chill lies.  There’s several regulation volleyball courts, picnic tables, a good landing beach and the BAR!  The dinghy ride to Georgetown is about a mile from here. 

After our arrival we headed to town to get the lay of the land and handle some business.  After email and coconut rum at 
Eddie’s Edgewater, Rob and I headed to Chat and Chill for the famed Valentine’s dance.  Along the way we saw Majiks and Blue Moose, boats we had met in Coconut Grove, Florida before our crossing. They most kindly invited us aboard for their Valentine’s dinner and we enjoyed our first meal of lionfish, the bane of the coral reefs.  

We heard the music get going onshore and we all headed over for a night of nonstop dancing to tunes provided by a cruising couple turned DJ.   With no shoes and the deck bouncing, we dove into the groove of this island destination. 

We due to be here for several weeks and we’re settling in just fine.  I’ve been attending yoga on the beach each morning and Rob’s getting into the afternoon “volleyball for fun” group.  The morning “net” happens each morning where everyone tunes into channel 72 on their radios and shares happenings, needs, questions and whatever. 

Yesterday we heard about a plant sale happening a couple miles north of here.  Since I’ve been growing herbs onboard and enjoying them in my salads, I was hoping to score some new plants or learn something new so Rob and I headed into town. 

Exuma Market is the grocery store here and they do an amazing job of providing any item from food to service that the cruisers need.  Before the age of GPS and wifi, they even did rescue services!  They have at least a little of just about anything including CAVIAR – go figure!  And, although everything here is VERY expensive, they’re about as reasonable as we’ve seen along the Exuma chain.

We went there first yesterday to find out what we could of the plant sale.  Not only were they able to pull out a flyer about the event and give directions and such, the owner gave us a ride!  It was fun talking with Mike on the way and hearing the progression of his support of cruisers over the past 27 years and the changes he’s seen.  Pretty impressive!

The plant sale was definitely of Bahamian size and style, simple but sincere, and we bought some organic spinach, a loaf of casaba sweet bread and a home grown perfect papaya – not a plant or an herb – but a great time nonetheless!  A 4 mile walk home provided some exercise and we’re ready for the next Georgetown experience to come!

Happy Valentine's Day! 2/14/13

First off – Happy Valentine’s Day from the Exuma Sound!  We took before 6:30 this morning to make the final leg to Georgetown, Exuma.  The sun rose as we exited the cut and turned south and another beautiful day began.  The sun is shining, the sea is calm, the fishing line is set and we’re making our way.

For the past several days we have been traveling with our friends aboard Long Gone and their buddy boat, Coyote.  With the intention of arriving in Georgetown before the next big weather system blows in this weekend, we left Black Point early on the 12^th headed for points somewhere south.

I find myself in a position quite different from almost all of the other cruisers we encounter.  Most, including our current companions, love solitude and quiet moments; naps in the afternoon and quiet evening, early bedtimes.  Anyone who knows me can imagine my pent up energy by this time!

We’ve had such fun exploring the past couple days a cruising area that is less frequented than some.  We walked a vast expanse of sand at low tide, finding countless miniature sand dollars and other marine treasures.  That anchorage was just off Musha Cay owned by the one and only illusionist, David Copperfield and reportedly renting for a modest $325,000 per week!

Last night’s anchorage had coral heads in every direction and you could get in the water just about anywhere and find glorious alternative landscapes to explore.  We snorkeled hoping to find a lobster or two to share for the sunset without any luck but we still enjoyed the colorful fish and bright coral at every turn.  Apparently THIS little haven of an island boasts owners Tim McGraw and Faith Hill . . . these celebs sure get around!

So back to my particular dilemma at hand, this energy thing.  After a two hour stint snorkeling and beach combing in the sun yesterday, the balance of the boat crews were ready to siesta with me just getting geared up for some fun!  Poor Rob has to deal with being my one an only source of amusement other than cleaning or cooking diversions and I’ve really put him to the test!

So I think we’re both excited about arriving in Georgetown today.  There’s a rumored big deal of a Valentine’s party supposedly ashore that sounds like a good start for releasing some energy.  But for now, we’re motoring along at just over 5 knots with barely a breeze to lend a hand or get in the way. 

Happy Valentine’s to family and friends!!! 

You are missed more than you can imagine!

Pondering Refuse (2/12/13)

I figure you may be just about done hearing about our day to day wanderings in paradise.  Granted, I’m sure that any account of soft sand and gentle breezes is welcome amidst the usual more wintery weather experienced in the bulk of the country.  I do, however, also know that reading a diary can become tedious after a while, no matter the setting.

So as we were on a walk to the ocean side bluffs of Black Point Settlement yesterday, I took to pondering the more general impressions I’ve had of the Bahamas and our experience here – beginning with TRASH.  Cruising makes the most basic activities of daily life seem larger, more in our faces.  One of the most striking things I’m met with on a daily basis here is how much refuse we as human beings contribute to our environment. 

On our escape from the windy day onboard yesterday, we decided to find the inland lake showing on the charts of Great Guana Key on which Black Point Settlement sits.  The lake could be accessed from a winding settlement road or along the ocean coast on what was noted to be a “path” (I’ll leave that story for another time!).

The ocean beaches here are rough.  The Exuma chain sits on the easternmost edge of a large underwater desert with New Providence and Nassau on the northeast corner of the mass and Great Exuma Island and Georgetown on the southern border.  The island chain contains hundreds of little mostly uninhabited islands with the shallow and far reaching Exuma Bank to the west and the deeper ocean-like waters of the Exuma Sound to the East.

It bears noting that with such limited settlement, the services are limited as well.  Finding a place to remove our bag of trash from the boat becomes an “issue”, many times requiring a hefty sum to add your bag to the bin.  This element in itself makes every piece of trash collected onboard more of an entity, something to be taken note of and preferably reduced whenever possible.

But that’s not really the trash I’ve been most affected by.  In walking the ocean beaches, with their exposure to the deeper waters and crashing waves of the eastern coast’s Exuma sound, we find endless expanses of TRASH.  From soles of shoes to broken buckets.  Hollowed out TV’s to endless bottle caps.  The obvious biggest contributor is anything plastic.

We see all of this “up close and personal” because these beaches are the best for finding the elusive sea beans that every cruiser grows to love collecting.  To find them requires slow prodding on the edges of anything brought up by the higher tide – mostly seaweed and, you guessed it, trash. 

In our most recent wanderings, the volume of the washed up refuse was simply overwhelming.  On one beach that required scaling a large cliff and back down the other side, we found more trash than human effort could affect.  Shockingly, amidst all of the ground up plastic-everything, we found countless sea beans, gorgeous shells and delicate sea creature skeletons. 

For hours we wandered this beach torn between the sadness over what we as a race are doing to our oceans and what, in turn, the oceans offer up to us as treasures.  With initial intentions of doing ANYTHING to try to make a difference and then realizing it was just too big to change, we finally found our way back to the boat with our collection of shells and treasures.

We’ve been to beaches before and after this here that have proved the same results.  And now every time I open a can or wrap something in saran or grab a Ziploc bag, I think about the beaches.  And I’m changing.   It’s a small but simple thing I can do to think more about what I contribute to this mess we call waste – and even if my part is small, it already feels good to think maybe we CAN make a difference!

Reunions (02-10-13)

Long Gone and Windward have arrived!  We met Windward last year in Marathon and have had numerous encounters over the year from their passing through Charleston in the spring to seeing them in Canada when both Ian and Rob had hernia surgery at the same facility just weeks apart.  We crossed paths in St Augustine and Warderick Wells on this trip and are excited to see them again now. 

They have been hosting guests for just about their entire cruising season and still have two more coming in the weeks ahead.  If we’re looking for “what to do” in an area, they are sure to know since they’ve been showing people over and over since December! 

Anyway, we were also excited to see Long Gone arrive.  We met them in Lake Sylvia this year and did the big boat parade and Santacon night in Las Olas together.  After reuniting in Dinner Key, we crossed to Bimini together, then the Grand Bahama Bank and finally the Berry Islands.  At that point, they headed north to meet up with their cruising buddy boat, Coyote who arrived with them this week as well.

We enjoyed returning to the grotto with Windward and then rounded the Fowl Cay cut to find a bed of huge starfish and a 6’ spotted eagle ray that we had fun following around for a while.  After cleaning up and regrouping, we gathered at sunset for an amazing BBQ potluck and talked until well after cruisers midnight (9pm!).

Yesterday we returned to Black Point to try to catch up on phone calls and so Windward to return their guests to the airport there.  We went into Staniel Cay one last time for the Valentine’s Day Library fundraiser complete with book and bake sale, flea market and BBQ but after seeing the lunch menu contained mostly conch (Rob’s nemesis if you recall) we decided to head back to Moonshadow for a more healthy option. 

The wind was in our favor and we had a beautiful sail back to Black Point.  As we sat on the bow enjoying the breeze, sunshine and gentle movement, we both marveled at how we’ve changed.  To be happy with moving 4mph toward a destination – that’s quite something for the Kramer duo!

Black Point feels like “home”.  With the laundromat, restaurants and unique characters here, it’s always a great place to come back to.  Long Gone decided to stay in Staniel and Windward had a final evening out with their guests so Rob and I rounded up the crew from the neighboring boat, Puffin, and had a wonderful sundowner with some new folks we’re looking forward to getting to know better.

We plan on staying here until we find a weather window to get to Georgetown – 46+ miles southeast.  The winds kicked up to over 20 knots last night and are expected to stay that way for the next few days so we’re here enjoying the company of friends old and new until the next leg begins.

When Pigs Fly . . . or SWIM! 02/0713

We’re still in the Staniel Cay area and enjoying weather about as perfect as it gets along with perfectly crystal clear water and amazing surroundings.  The boats in the anchorage change every day.  This is apparently quite a cruising destination spot. 

The anchorage is protected from almost any weather with the exception of a westerly – but there are few westerly protection spots in the Exuma chain as a whole.  The area is one of the more striking we’ve seen to date with beautiful vistas just about everywhere you look. 

Staniel Cay is a nice little town with more services than are found elsewhere including fuel and water, several restaurants, quite a few rental cottages and a significant population of “imports” from the US and other countries.  The prices are something that take some getting used to – the avocado that I got so excited about seeing in the store today stayed on the shelf after I learned the $5.75 price tag!  Our $20 bag included a pound of carrots, 2 plantains, 1 apple, 2 pears and a head of lettuce.  I’m finally learning to cook for 2 instead of making big batches of everything!

Our friends aboard Pegasus and Java decided to stay an extra day so we enjoyed their company yesterday, taking a long beach hike in the morning and visiting the Thunderball Grotto in the afternoon.  The grotto is our favorite experience to date.  It’s accessed at slack tide and is entered through a couple of low lying spots in an imposing looking rock/small island.  When you snorkel in you find a hollow cave with a high “ceiling” and the most amazing light from every direction.  We loved feeding the fish and hung around until we were too cold to stay any longer!

We finished the day with a beach BBQ and a rousing game of “golf”, a new favorite card game we’re sure to play for years to come.  Of course, since I won that round I’m that much MORE enthusiastic to play again!  We compared notes of our upcoming destinations and made plans to reconnect in the Abacos in the end of March.

Our friends pulled out of the anchorage this morning early and Rob and I headed to town to take advantage of the “mail boat” arriving with groceries for the stores, thus making my expensive bag of goodies possible.  We’ve had a nice day and look forward to more friends arriving tomorrow.

We’re anchored just off the pig beach and watch them all day swimming out to get goodies from anyone passing by.  Really – swimming pigs!  And underwater caves!  I find it amazing to look on the sparkling water, the passing stingrays and sharks, the glorious rainbows with just about every sprinkle, the spectacular sunsets and sunrises and think this is my new normal!  Someone pinch me!

Super Bowl and Beyond (2/5/13)

The trip back to Black Point was uneventful with winds on our nose but without much gusto behind them.  We motored the entire 10 miles back and settled in before noon.  The afternoon was spent on an extended hike and preparations for super bowl viewing.

Apparently football is a popular sport for Bahamians and there was quite some excitement amongst the local population about the game.  The Ravens appeared to be the favorite team of many a Bahamian and we enjoyed watching the game at DeShamon’s Restaurant in Black Point with numerous other cruisers and lots of locals.  DeShamon’s put out an amazing array of snacks, including some top notch conch fritters, followed by the best conch chowder I’ve had to date and THEN a full fledged pig roast and all the fixings!  When halftime came, the cruisers found their way back to their boats – cruisers midnight being somewhere between 7 and 9pm, HA!

Since then we took advantage of all of the services available at this little gem of a Bahamian town.  We did laundry at Ida’s (Rockside Laundry) and caught up on email and internet tasks – banking, blog posting, etc.  I showed Nancy from Pegasus the deserted beach Rob and I had found and we enjoyed a long hike there and back as well as finding a treasure trove of sea beans and having a great swim on a gorgeous white sand perfect beach.

We’ve really enjoyed the past week or so traveling with Pegasus and Java.  Last night we had a sundowner aboard Java with their famed “java juice”, a concoction of coconut and dark rum, pineapple juice and ginger syrup.  Yummy but lethal!  This morning we all left the anchorage together and sailed the perfect breeze up the seven or so miles to today’s destination of Staniel Cay.

Staniel Cay boasts pig island – yup, pig island – and the Thunderball Grotto.  Crazy enough, somehow some domestic pigs ended up on the island ages ago and they have adapted.  They actually swim out to boat for food and the sight is quite something.  We enjoyed a feeding excursion ourselves and then scoped out the other beaches in our little stretch of paradise.

A set of power boaters have claimed a section of beach here and have set up an all out mini resort with picnic tables, chairs, a fire pit, beach games and even a gas BBQ grill!  We met there late this afternoon for a swim and happy hour and enjoyed the sunset with a couple of the “founders” and some fellow cruisers. 

Most of our little group will be heading north for their crossing to Eleuthera later this week while Rob and I stay here to explore the grotto (the underwater cave in the James Bond movie) and the surrounding area.  Good friends aboard Windward and Long Gone are just north of us and heading our way – more to look forward to – and soon we’ll make our trek to Georgetown for the so called “adult day care”.  The fun continues!

5 F's (02/03/13)

 After a couple of leisurely and enjoyable days at Black Point Settlement, we headed for Little Farmers Cay for the 5F’s festival (First Friday in February Festival at Farmers). 

With a distance of less than 10 miles to go, we headed out early to hopefully secure a mooring at the Farmers Cay Yacht Club.  There wasn’t much in the way of wind so we motored and were then in just under two hours, almost beating the rising time of all of the staff at Farmers – ah, Bahamian time!

We were, in fact, lucky enough to “score” a mooring in the more protected east side of the island to keep us secure during the projected big winds coming.  We tied up with little problem and headed to land.  Farmers Cay boasts a year round population of about 55 people almost entirely from one original family.  Mr. Roosevelt Nixon, the owner of the yacht club, is a kind and gracious man with a lovely family we were fortunate to meet throughout the weekend.

This festival is their biggest event of the year.  There are three places to eat on the island and all of them had their particular place in the festival.  It was fun moving from place to place on this island of less than a couple square miles.  Bahamians came in droves to cheer on their island teams and the cruisers were there too – over 75 boats were anchored or moored. 

We did some great beach exploration with new friends aboard Pegasus and Java before the weekend officially began.  We wandered the coast of the nearby shoreline and found a host of baby conch shells and even some sea beans.  With the most beautiful day we’ve seen since being in the Bahamas, we swam and enjoyed it fully.

The racing was so fun to watch and some cruisers even signed on as crew on a couple of the boats.  The winds were really strong, gusting to almost 30 knots the first day and 3 of the boats capsized and were out of the competition.  The second race of the day was cancelled and the Bahamians and the cruisers headed to their respective places for the night to watch their anchors and wait for the winds to subside.

Rob and I stayed ashore the entire day wandering from place to place and meeting people and otherwise occupying ourselves.  We were some of the last cruisers “out” and we went to the race site to grab a plate of BBQ for dinner. 

The food was great with big plates of barbeque or fresh conch salads.  We were the only cruisers in the place which was filled with Bahamians from the surrounding islands doing their utmost to take advantage of the weekend’s partying.

Yesterday saw more reasonable winds and three races were held.  Although the sun didn’t show much, it was a great day with good racing and lots of celebrating.  We joined forces with our new friends on Pegasus and Java for a sundown dinner and a new card game for us called Golf – this is one we’ll be playing for years!  We made plans for our return to Black Point for Super Bowl reveling today and called it a day. 

Yesterday marked our one month stay in the Bahamas and certainly was a great way to usher in the balance of our journey here!