The Exuma Cays

Well, if you have to be "stuck" somewhere waiting for weather to pass, Georgetown is not such a bad place to be.  But Volver was itching to move when the risk of 40 knot squalls passed.  We motorsailed, again, to Cave Cay, where we overnighted in an anchorage we had all to ourselves.  Very peaceful.  Then we got up and had another motor into Staniel Cay, home of the very hospitable Staniel Cay Yacht Club, host to the swimming pigs, and site of the Thunderball grotto.  

Many nurse sharks sleeping on the bottom of the yacht club floor, waiting for the fishing boats to return, clean their catches, and throw out their fish gut refuse

The pigs were causing consternation on the mainland, and were brought over to Big Major's Spot, where Volver anchored.  

They are comin' to get you....

The pigs learned to swim:  they will arise from their sleep on the beach at the sound of the dinghy engine and will approach the dinghy by sea.  At the time of this photo, we were just heading home from our lunch, empty handed, and had to quickly drive away for fear of upsetting the pigs.  They are not poorly fed and are quite large.  The townspeople's original intent was to turn them into sausages, but the yachties rapidly became enamoured of the swimming pigs, saving their bacon:  who can bring themselves to slaughter a tourist attraction?  As you can see, they are reproducing now!

Mamas don't let the babies eat first here

More rain saw us spending less time at the Thunderball Grotto than we would have liked.  The best time to snorkel this cave is on a sunny day, at low slack tide, so you can both duck comfortably into the entrance and not be too troubled by strong currents.  Unfortunately, it rained for the three days we were there, but the grotto was still quite stunning.  

Thunderball grotto at Staniel Cay

Crystal clear Bahama waters and lots of Sargent Majors

BThere were beautiful sponges and corals outside of the grotto as well.  This was the site where the 1965 James Bond film, "Thunderball" was filmed.  As an FYI for boaters who may plan to visit, plan to pick up a few provisions in Black Point, as the 3 grocery stores the guidebook lists are quite meagre in their offerings.  

Beautiful sunset, Staniel Cay

Next stop, preceded by a lovely sail in a 15 knot easterly breeze:  Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, which is a 22 mile long stretch of protected marine land and sea.  We went to Warderick Wells, which likely qualifies as the most spectacular anchorage of the trip, and it receives 100% of votes for most difficult to navigate.  

this 52 foot spearm whale died from ingestion of plastic

The trough-shaped channel is deep, 2 vessels wide, and is filled with a string of mooring balls.  The basin completely fills at high tide.  

Volver on mooring ball, surrounded by sandbars

Low tide

This is the color of the sea when you start to imagine
your rudder is stuck in the sand

At low tide, you can build sandcastles on the sandbar beside your boat:  the Unknown Island gang enjoyed doing this one morning.  The sandbar is so close and the water becomes so clear that one starts to worry one's rudder will get stuck in the sandbar.  

Unknown Island crew on beautiful Barefoot Beach

There was great hiking.  The most popular is the trail to Boo-Boo hill, where one is said to hear moaning of a ghost.  At the apex, there is a pile of driftwood mementos people have made commemorating their boats.  We discovered a lovely and creative example left by Happy Chaos the week prior, and this was like a gauntlet thrown down for the Unknown Island crew, who got out craft supplies, sanding blocks, paint, and epoxy.  The sign was edged in sand and seashells and was a clear winner.   

The Causeway Trail

Nearby are blowholes, channels through the rock that are open to the sea smashing into a cave below.  Water shoots through the blowholes in rough weather.  We had our hats blown off by the force of the breeze through these "rock pipes."

Crab in the hole

We walked to barefoot beach, one of the finer examples of beautiful beaches ever, and found the Unknown Island crew covered in sand.  We tried to find Loyalist ruins one day, and instead found ourselves lost on the island's Atlantic side. 


Many animals live here, including the Hutia, an endangered species of rodent that is indiginous only to the Bahamas, and thrives on Warderick Wells.  One of these nocturnal creatures had the audacity to scurry into the Captain's path, surprising him, and reminding him of the rabbit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  

This Bananaquit joined us for breakfast

Curly tail

Camo ray on the ocean floor

We did unexpectantly spent the better part of the day on a sandbar, while we tried to beat low tide by leaving Warderick Wells in the early morning, which eliminated our ability to use visual navigation to any extent.  The sand bar clearly appears on the Explorer charts, which we don't have, and is sadly lacking on the NV and Navionics charts, which we do have.  So we had breakfast.  And lunch.  And, since half the hull of the boat was sticking out of the water, Captain stood on the seabed and gave it a good scrub.  Then, just as rapidly as the low tide overtook us, it dissipated.  Unfortunately, this was 5 minutes too late to slip out unnoticed by Unknown Island, who wisely waited for light and a rising tide.  We are mostly over the humiliation and there was no harm done to the boat.  In fact, we met another Canadian boat in Shroud Key, who shared our experience and had a good sence of humour about it.



After much hemming and hawing, we decided to make Nassau our last Bahamian stop.  We went to a marina.  We spent a little time preparing for the 40 hour passage, and a lot of time submitting our notice of arrival form to the US Coast Guard.  We had the kind assistance of a nice tech support person from USCG, who was surprised the bureaucrats in Hampton, Puerto Rico, and the USVI had not insisted we file this form each time we departed US seas.  We would not have known had it not been included in our guidebook to Bahamian Cruising.  Then we got to be tourists.  The downtown looks like many other US downtowns:  burned out, except for the area immediately surrounding the cruise ship docks.  Paradise Island is home to the Atlantis resort complex, as well as many other hotels.  There are beaches, a lagoon, a golf course and gated community, and the Versailles Gardens to visit.  For the most part, it reminded us of Florida, as it bore little resemblance to the rest of the Caribbean.

Versailles gardens, Paradise Island

The British emulate the French

12th Century French Cloister, moved to Nassau in 18th C.

Versailles Gardens, Captain at Nassau waterfront

The forecast is fairly benign, some risk of thunderstorms, but this is almost inevitable at this time of the year, and we hope our last two nights of passaging are uneventful.  As much as we are ready to be land dwellers now, we are also lamenting the end of our cruising lifestyle.  Last stop:  West Palm Beach!

The Mailboat, Lifeline of the Bahamas, Nassau Harbour

Georgetown

Bahamas

We can humbly say this is the truth:  Volver knows how to time her arrival for a party.  Humbly, because there is usually a large dose of serendipity involved.  

We arrived in Georgetown just in time for the 61st annual National Family Island Regatta.  Old time Bahamian sloops race around Elizabeth Harbour, and in our case, they raced right through our anchorage:  some of the boats were close enough to touch, and extend an offer of a beer.  The sloops start from anchored position, with all sails down.  They are not allowed any gizmos, not even a passive wind indicator.  


They are shoal draft, with only about 3 feet under the keel, and have very large main sails and small jibs.  They have such a high sail area to displacement area that they employ a great deal of human ballast, who cantilever themselves out over the water on hiking boards.   


Shacks spring up at Regatta park, serving food, drink and music up to the spectators in the Grandstands!  We had many glorious days of watching these beauties sail into the sunset.  The race seems to be the finale of the Bahamian sailing season, and many boats left at its conclusion, most of them heading back to the US.  

Georgetown is a very easy town to like.   We anchored across the town off of Volleyball Beach, Stocking Island.  This is the home of a cruiser's hangout, the Chat and Chill, and also the St. Francis Resort and Marina, which is very welcoming to cruisers.  The Chat and Chill has a Conch Salad bar, where Naldo eviscerates fresh conch 7 days a week, making a ceviche that we indulged in quite regularly.  He leave the conch guts on a nearby step, and people help themselves and feed the 7 adult and 2 baby/toddler? stingrays that sleep in the grass nearby and feed greedily every afternoon.  

First Mate "petting" the ray

We can not comment on the problems of humans destroying the ecosystem by feeding wild animals when we participated.  The only thing we can hope for is that the Chat and Chill lives on forever!

Yeah, I'm cool.  Just hangin' at the Chat and Chill...

Georgetown is surrounded by many beautiful beaches and hiking trails and the sunrises and sunsets last forever and are characterized by a stunning shade of pink that won't quit.  We were able to swim with a wild dolphin, who circled a neighboring boat several days in a row.   

not Jaws

The water was not as crystal clear as one expects in the Bahamas, so the big guy could silently approach and swim right under you when you are still looking for him.  He seemed oblivious to the funny looking people with big floppy feet and masks who were chasing him.  

it's your friendly circling dolphin

Volver spent a week on a mooring ball whilst her crew made a quick dash to Canada to find her a new home.  After a year lived outdoors, we decided to find a place we can do more of this:  Volver will be moving to Victoria, Beautiful British Columbia.  We look forward to new sailing opportunities, and also to our new land life.