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On this trip, we were to pick up the boat from the other owners at Staniel Cay, Bahamas. After flying from Ft. Lauderdale Airport to Staniel Cay, Bahamas, we were met by the local taxi...A pickup truck picking up supplies from another plane.
The boat was moored at the Happy People Marina where we met the departing crew. They packed their bags into the "cab" (truck) and went to the airport to leave on the plane that we came in on. After storing our gear, we moved the boat from the Happy People Marina to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club to fill up on diesel and water.
We wanted to top everything off and be ready to leave through the "Big Rock Cut" to head for Little San Salvador, Bahamas. We enjoyed a day of Rest, taking in the sights, visiting the local stores and restaurants and enjoying the views. There was a large motor yacht docked at the marina with two very beautiful ladies getting some sun, so we enjoyed the view.
Since we had some time, we dingied over to the Thunderball caves. We left the dingy at the entrance and dove into the beautiful caves inside the small cay. The fish were all around and we enjoyed the swim. Being an adventurer, I dove down and went out of one of the many underwater entrances to the cave. Unfortunately, Jerry and Rick followed me. When I reached the surface, I was surrounded by thousands of small jelly fish (They were about the size of a quarter). I started to backstroke around the island to get back to the dingy. Jerry and Rick followed me and Rick had a bad reaction to the jelly fish stings. Although I also got stung, it was not as bad as Rick's. We had had enough fun and went back to the boat.
Later in the evening, we enjoyed our first SOP (Sunset Observance Party) at a sandy beach near the dock for the Thunderball Club dock. Although not a large beach, it was fine for our SOP.
The next morning, we left Staniel Cay for Little San Salvador Cay, Bahamas. Since we had a long sail ahead of us, Rick rigged two fishing poles with his special lures and we trolled for fish. After about 3 hours of sailing, we got a strike on one of the fishing lines. Rick started to bring the fish in and we realized we had a good sized "Mahi Mahi" (dolphin).
Catching a fish on a sailboat is a real chore. When we got it close to the boat, we had to stop sailing and start the motor. With the sails flapping, Rick worked the fish nearer to the boat. One technique these fish use is to go under the boat to throw the hook off. We had to avoid that. Rick went into the dingy we were trailing to bring the dolphin on board. When he got her close to the boat we could not believe the size of the fish. Both he and Jerry had to work together to get the fish into the dingy. It was approximately 5' 10" long and about 60 lbs. Rick brought it on board the Luna Sea and quickly cleaned it and cut out numerous filets. We would eat this fish for the rest of the trip and still have some left over. Thank goodness for refrigeration.
We finally got back on course and arrived at Little San Salvador late that evening. We anchored in West Bay and cleaned up the boat. Although this is a deserted island, there were numerous boats in the anchorage.
The next morning we awoke to a beautiful sandy beach. There were people already walking on the beach so we took the dingy to visit some of our anchorage mates. After a hardy breakfast, we took the dingy around the point at West Bay and snorkeled some in the reefs. After playing with the barracudas we saw, we went back to the boat. Since Jerry and Rick had brought scuba gear, they dived the caves that are in the anchorage. I stayed up top as a lookout.
The next day, we left for Bennettes Harbour, Cat Island, Bahamas. When we arrived, we anchored in Bennett's Harbour and dingied ashore. There is a dock there where we tied up. We explored the small town and tried to buy some mixers. Unfortunately, there store is not always open and when open has a very limited supply. We'll buy mixers at the next stop.
We left the next day and headed to "New Bight" where the Island Commissioner's office is. This is also where you can walk up the Hermitage. Since we were tired, we did not walk up to the Hermitage.
We met a very nice lady who worked in the Commissioner's office and offered to take Rick to the local grocery store to get mixers. When they returned, she also brought back a local who wanted to join our SOP. We were settling down in "knee deep" water, enjoying our beverages when the local stripped to his underwear and joined us. Apparently he was "high" on something, and it took us a while to finally leave him, but we had a good time.
The next day we sailed around the point and went into Hawks Nest Marina. They have about 5 slips so we rented a slip instead of anchoring out. When the sun went down we were attached by the mosquitos, so we covered the cabin and cockpit with mosquito netting. It is about 1/2 a mile walk to the other side of the point where the Yacht Club is and a nice view of Exuma Sound. They have a few rooms which you can rent.
After walking around, we stopped into the Yacht club and had a few drinks. There were some fishermen from Canada who had flown down and were staying at the Yacht club. We were lucky because they bought most of our drinks. The leader of the group has a 50 foot fishing Yacht which he leaves in the Bahamas with a crew for his fishing trips. Since they have a landing strip near by, he flies friends and customers down for a week of fishing.
For our SOP, there was not a sandy beach near by so we dingied over to the shallows and had our party there. After a few days, we anchored out right below the entrance to the docks. Unfortunately, the mosquitos were worst there so we decided to head for Elizabeth Harbour and George Town that night. As usual, I slept most of the way and awoke as we were approaching Stocking Island. Since it was at night, we approached very slowly. Using our spot light, we slowly tried to work our way to the entrance to Elizabeth Harbour. After passing a few "rock" islands, we decided it would be better to anchor until daybreak to enter the Harbour. We anchored in 30 feet of water and Jerry and Rick went below to sleep. I stayed up as anchor watch.
When the sun rose, we could see where we were and knew we made the right decision to anchor. We had missed the entrance by about a mile. After breakfast, we hauled the anchor and entered Elizabeth Harbour and tied up at the dock at Exuma Docking Services. We spent a few days exploring the island. We rented a car so we could explore further. They had had a lot of rain that year and a lot of the roads were flooded. It got a bit scary when going through the flooded areas and the water would cover the floor of the car. A few times we thought the engine would stall. An exciting trip. We had a few drinks at the Peace and Plenty with the Doctor of Libation (Lermon Rolle). We came back to Georgetown a few years later and he still remembered us.
Unfortunately, Rick had to leave, so the next day we took him to the airport to catch a flight back home. When we returned to the boat, we cleaned her up and topped off our water and fuel. The next morning we left George Town taking the southeastern route to Long Island. When you get between Guana Cay and Man of War Cay, it gets real shallow and you need to only use this passage in fair weather.
We had a nice sail to Long Island and arrived at Salt Pond early afternoon. There were a lot of boats so when we anchored, we used two anchors to restrict our swinging. After anchoring, we noticed the local Bahamians having sailboat races. These boats (which come from all over the Bahamas) carry a lot of sail and the crew has to climb out on a board to keep the boats from flipping. We had a great view of the race when the boats rounded one of the marks and started heading right towards us. We suddenly realized that we had anchored right in the middle of the final leg. With two anchors down there was no way we could pull them both up and get out of the way. There were some unhappy Bahamians who passed us on both sides. That night there was an awards party on the island, but we felt we would skip it since we caused a bit of a problem. They use the island ferries to bring their boats to the different island races and by the next morning all of the boats and ferries were gone. We went to shore and walked over to the ocean side of the island. It was a bit rough so Jerry and I decided not to go for a swim.
After seeing all there was to see, we pulled up our anchors and headed for Point Ferguson. There we anchored in 10 feet of water and went for a swim. The water was crystal clear. Then we took the dingy over to the docks and walked around the small settlement here. There was a school, a group of small homes and a restaurant. Since we forgot to bring our money, we had to skip lunch. When we got back to the Luna Sea, we pulled up the anchor and headed to Stella Maris Marina.
After a short sail, we dropped the sails and motored into the Marina. The channel leading into Stella Maris is real shallow and we hit bottom a few times. After making the last turn we entered the Yacht basin. This is the first time we had to tie up stern end first. This meant that there was a bit of a jump to get to the shore. We checked out the facilities and found out the major part of the resort is on the ocean side. We were told that there was bus service between the Marina and the Resort so we decided to start walking and catch the bus where it came by. Unfortunately, the bus never came by so we walked for an hour to get to the Resort. We walked around the Resort area and ended up in the Bar. We had a few drinks and since it was getting late, decided to head back. Lucky for us the Bartender was finished with his shift so he gave us a ride back to the marina. The next morning we had a good breakfast at the small restaurant at the marina and then headed back to George Town.
We had a nice beam reach all the way back to the southeastern entrance into Elizabeth Harbour and ended up at Exuma Docking Services. While we were at the dock, we meet three people who had come from England in their 23 foot boat. I could not imagine crossing the ocean in such a small boat. They were anchored out so we went out to see their boat. It looked pretty cramped with three people. The captain had to leave to attend a wedding and left his girlfriend and their mate (who was from New Zealand) to watch after the boat. We spent the next day hanging out at the Peace and Plenty with our new friends.
Unfortunately, time in paradise must come to an end and Jerry and I had to leave for the states and leave the boat for the next owner. Our new friend from New Zealand wanted to return to the states so we offered him a ride on our plane. Since we were returning on the charter plane that was bringing in to new crew, we were paying the same price, no matter how many passengers. We were trying to be helpful but we made a mistake and almost got the pilot into trouble. When we cleared customs in Fort Lauderdale, FL. we found out that our friend did not have the proper Visa to reenter the states and the pilot was given a strict lecture. We were finally allowed to enter, but it points out that you need to be careful when trying to help others.
After clearing customs, I went over to the main terminal for my return flight to Atlanta, GA.