Big Majors to Georgetown (and Back)

(Don't miss the first update here)

We left Big Majors on Saturday, May 13, headed to Georgetown with a stop at Little Farmers Cay.  It was a very shallow approach from the Exuma Banks to Little Farmers Cay, and we arrived at dead low tide.  After cutting the engine and waiting on the tide to start rising, we finally made our way in and around to the other side of Little Farmers to grab a mooring ball.  Two other sailboats were already on two of the three moorings, so we took the last one.  As we were getting tied up, we noticed that the boat next to us was Receta, which was the name of the boat in the book An Embarrassment of Mangoes.  We thought it was just a coincidence, but when we looked again, it was from Canada so we figured it was the folks who had written the book that was one of our main inspirations for taking this trip...  Their dinghy zoomed away before we could get off our boat.  But when we went to Ocean Cabin to pay for our mooring ball ($10/night), we met Ann and Steve from Receta - and it was indeed the Ann that had written the Mangoes book.  We chatted for a few minutes and they gave us a boat card since we didn't have a book for them to sign (we had given all of ours away).  They had to get going because they were having dinner on the other sailboat and were already running late.  As it turns out, Mangoes made the bestseller list in Canada and on Amazon.com, and it "did well" in the States but never made the bestseller list.  The publishers have talked Ann into a second book, this one focusing more on food, so they are out again on another sailing trip through the Caribbean, this time for about a year rather than two years.  Very nice folks...

About halfway to Georgetown, while Ria was on the bow talking to her parents on the sat. phone, we noticed a trawler getting extremely close to us.  At first we were on a collision course, then they went around us, headed further out from land.  Then they turned around and came straight at us again - very close.  Ria got Brian's attention and quickly got off the phone to pull in the fishing lines as it seemed they were going to get right behind us.  We could then see bicycles on the aft deck and a man and woman at the helm, so we didn't feel threatened - we just didn't know what they were trying to do.  When Ria grabbed the rod and held it up for them to see that we had lines out, they waved and nodded and put a little more distance between our boats before heading back to land.  It's the closest we've come to another boat out on the open water.  When we got to Georgetown and checked our e-mail the next day, we had an urgent message from Ria's family asking her to contact them and let them know we were okay.  When she mentioned that a trawler was very close and abruptly hung up the phone without calling them back, they assumed the worst - that we had had a run-in with pirates.  While pirates are a little more common in parts of the Caribbean, the Bahamas are much too traveled and close together for it to be a problem here, not to mention the Bahamian government having no mercy on pirating.  Feeling bad that we had given them a scare, we contacted them right away.

Elizabeth Harbour in Georgetown is quite large and surprisingly beautiful.  We anchored Sunday night by Stocking Island in front of Hamburger Beach, which despite its name is very peaceful and scenic.  Receta and Famous Potatoes came in and anchored nearby.  The next day we moved to the marina by Georgetown on the other side of the Harbour as we had a lot of provisioning and cleaning to do.  Georgetown has the largest grocery stores in the Exumas and with four more people joining us the following week, we really needed to stock up on some items, especially fresh fruits and vegetables.  The marina was not very clean and the water in the showers was brackish - but we had some windy and rainy weather pass through so we were thankful to be tied up at a dock as we watched the other boats bob and bounce around in the Harbour. 

One day while on the dock, we noticed a trawler pulling in with familiar-looking bicycles on the aft deck.  Ria walked right up to them and asked if they had been near Rat Cay a couple of days ago and gotten really close to a sailboat.  As it turns out, our "pirates" were actually Jeff and Paige on The Bauble.  They ended up being a very nice couple who invited us over to dinner one evening on their boat.  When we asked why they got so close to us, they said they had put their boat on autopilot and since they could see that we weren't actually going to collide, they just left it alone.  About the time we started getting worried, Paige also felt as if they were invading our "personal space" and they altered course a little.  They own a couple of restaurants in Florida and in Killington, VT, so needless to say our meal was quite tasty (we supplied the ribs and they did everything else).  They take six weeks off each summer and cruise a different area of the Bahamas, although they are currently living on The Bauble fulltime in Florida while they do some work on their house.  Jeff is a very talented carpenter and in addition to doing much of the design and building of his restaurants he also did all of The Bauble's refit - over five years - and it is beautiful.  Nolan enjoyed watching a movie and playing with their two dogs - we all had a great time and we promised to stop at one of their restaurants if in that area.

Our first night in Georgetown while we were still anchored by Stocking Island, we met a really nice family on a trawler named Trek from New York.  With three boys (Logan, 12; Malcolm, 11; and Harrison, 8), their mother Lori said that the boys named the boat Trek because it rhymes with Shrek (the movie).  They left Long Island a year ago and have been in Georgetown since January.  The boys were all very friendly and played with Nolan while we checked e-mail at one of the small restaurants on Stocking Island.  Later on while at the marina, Malcolm and Harrison stopped by in their dinghy and invited Nolan over for a playdate the following day.  It worked out well because we were moving Belisana back out to Stocking Island in order to stage ourselves to leave early the next morning to head back towards the Staniel Cay area.  On Friday morning, Nolan was so excited he could hardly stand it.  "When it my playdate with Harrison?"  "Is it time to go to Harrison's boat?"  We told him that as soon as we moved the boat he could go to Harrison's.  When we finally got anchored, it was lunchtime so we told Nolan he had to have a sandwich before leaving for Trek.  He burst into tears and said, "I don't want to eat - I want to go to my playdate..."  He had been so patient that Brian gave in and said, "Okay, forget lunch - let's go."  I made a quick milkshake for him to drink in the dinghy and they were off.  He played with them all afternoon - with Brian coming and going to check on him.  They had a sea turtle living near their boat that came up regularly for air, and Nolan and Brian both got a kick out of that.  Later on both our families got together for pizza at the restaurant near their boat.  When it was time to leave, Nolan burst into tears and kept looking at Harrison and pointing his finger.  Trying to figure out if Harrison had hurt Nolan or said something mean (which would've surprised us given how nice all three boys were), Nolan finally stopped crying enough to point to Harrison again and say, "He's leaving!"  He was so upset that they were getting back into their dinghy to return to Trek.  We promised him that we would meet up with Trek again in the Exumas next week as they made their way north and back home for hurricane season (before returning for one more year in the Bahamas before moving home for good).

As planned we left Elizabeth Harbour very early on Saturday morning.  Due to the unstable weather we had experienced in the previous days, there was a mass exodus and we found ourselves in the middle of about seven or eight boats all leaving at the same time.  There are several sandbars and some coral heads between the anchorage and the inlet so we all followed each other in zig-zags all the way out the entrance.  It was still a little rough out on the Sound but we needed to get going because we had friends arriving on Wednesday and another front moving into the southern Exumas in a day.  With Staniel Cay bordering the central and southern Exumas, we were anxious to get up that way.  

We were one of the last boats to get out of the Harbour as we were extra cautious due to the shallow water, sandbars, and coral heads to dodge.  Once we cleared the entrance, we turned into the wind and raised the main, then turned towards our course and set out the jib.  With the wind blowing pretty good, we were hoping not only to steady the boat against the swells but also to get a good boost from having the sails up in addition to the engine.  It worked quite well - and after a few hours, we were pleased that we had not only caught up with the other boats but passed them all...  Peterson 44's like Belisana are known not only as a solid bluewater cruiser but also for their speed.  However, we were still surprised that we had passed a couple of catamarans as they tend to travel faster than monohulls.

Being in deep water - several thousand feet - for the last time for awhile, we again set out the fishing lines.  An hour or so later, while we were all napping in the cockpit, we had a strike on our rod (the other lines are hand lines, or yo-yo's).  By the time Brian ran to the back of the boat, all the line was gone.  Must've been one big fish!  Disappointed we settled back into the cockpit, only for the yo-yo next to Ria to tighten.  She jumped up and started reeling in something pretty big.  We put the engine in idle but with the sails up we were still going about 5 knots.  At times the fish was surfing on its side on top of the water because of our speed.  (In hindsight and after speaking to Ria's dad, we probably should have done a u-turn, taken down a sail, or turned into the wind to stop the boat from moving forward - but we were so excited we didn't think of any of that at the moment...).  Brian grabbed the net and as Ria got the fish close to the boat, we were so excited to see a huge mahi mahi on the hook!  Finally!  It was over 3-feet long...  Because of our speed, Brian was unable to get the net under the fish while it was in the water, so Ria lifted it to put it in the net, and then - SNAP.  In one second our beloved mahi mahi was gone.  It took awhile to sink in as we stared at the deep blue water.  By that time we were almost to the cut to go through to the Bank side again, so there was not any time to fish anymore.  Crud.

Back to Sampson Cay to wait for our friends!

It was a short trip from White Point back to the Staniel/Sampson area.  We had planned on anchoring out a night or so before moving into Sampson Cay marina again to get fuel and water and finish prepping the boat for our guests (we still had food to put away from our shopping binge at the grocery store in Georgetown).  However, the weather was going to throw some thunderstorms and a lot of wind our way, so we opted to head straight to Sampson Cay Marina earlier rather than wait a few days.  We were glad we did, as the weather did get a little nasty. 

Wednesday we headed over to Staniel Cay just before noon in order to get to the airport to meet Paul, Rebecca, Maya, and Jonah - who were taking a small charter plane from Nassau.  As it was a long ride and our dinghy is small, we took one of the small Boston Whalers from the marina to pick them up.  We arrived at the dock at Staniel Cay and saw huge black clouds to the south.  We looked closer and saw a waterspout on the horizon!  We watched as it twisted and turned for several minutes before disappearing.  Not a good day to be in a small plane.  Actually, the weather to the north towards Nassau looked totally clear.  We took a golf cart "bus" to the airport, and as we arrived the clouds from the south seemed to be getting closer.  Brian said, "If I were in a small plane, I'd want to land right now" and at that moment their plane came into view.  We could see Rebecca waving to us at they taxied in.  We had a lot of hugs and hello's and excitement as we all greeted each other, and then we hurried to the golfcart bus to get back to the (only) restaurant ahead of the rain.  We had a nice lunch while it poured outside.  The only incident was Nolan getting his arm stuck in the pool table while trying to retrieve a ball from the dispenser.

We hurried back to the marina, trying to beat the rain again.  After towing a kayaker in, we finally made it back to the marina and unloaded the Eichler-Carlino's luggage and set about trying to get their family settled in.  After going for a nice swim on the little beach nearby - while keeping an eye on the nurse sharks - we returned to Belisana.

The next day, Thursday, we left the marina early and anchored near Big Major.  We caught two huge barracuda along the way - which is less than an hour - that we let go.  That afternoon we all piled into the dinghy and went over to Thunderball Cave (really a grotto named for the James Bond movie filmed there and also where part of Splash was filmed).  Nolan readily jumped in, having been there before, but it took Maya awhile to warm up to the idea of swimming into a cave.  Once in there she had a great time and both kids enjoyed looking at all the fish.  Even baby Jonah got in the water with his lifejacket on, although with the current picking up inside the cave, Paul and Rebecca kept him just outside.  While at Thunderball, we ran into - literally ran into - some familiar faces.  The crew from Trek!  They were anchored around the corner and said they would be moving their boat near us later in the day.  Sure enough, late that afternoon, they anchored right near our boat and Harrison and Malcolm came over for awhile.  It was good to see them again.  They were heading to Nassau the next morning so we exchanged boat cards, e-mails, etc.  They will be in the Chesapeake for awhile this summer getting work done on their boat, so maybe we'll see them there.  Since we were heading into the Land and Sea Park again, they kindly agreed to taking a bag of trash to Nassau for us.

Early Friday we headed towards Warderick Wells.  We arrived shortly before lunch and had some time to enjoy the afternoon after tying up at our mooring ball.  Maya and Nolan stood on the bow as we entered the anchorage and kept a sharp lookout for the whale skeleton on the beach.  When we took the dinghy over later, Maya was a little unsure of the whale skeleton and expressed her desire to keep a distance from it.  So we all swam near the little beach by the whale "stelican" for awhile.  The next day Nolan and Maya made signs to take to BooBoo Hill and we packed a picnic lunch and took off.  It was extremely hot but we all made it to the top anyway.  After Maya and Nolan placed their signs on the hill, Rebecca and Paul took their kids back down to the water to cool down - it was a bit much for small children who weren't accustomed to the tropical heat yet.  We met up with them after having our picnic and enjoying our last view from there.  Rebecca was chatting with one of the wardens so we chatted a little about our trip and about losing our "big catch" a week ago.  After awhile we all went back to Belisana.  We watched Maya and Jonah while Paul and Rebecca snorkeled for awhile, then they came back and watched Nolan so we could go take a peek - the only snorkeling we've done on our own the entire trip, although we've done a little with Nolan in tow.  It was quite beautiful down there - a few fish but varied species.  Paul and Rebecca saw a 5- or 6-foot lemon shark but we never saw it.   The next morning while Paul, Rebecca, Maya, and Jonah were on the beach and we were prepping the boat to head to Shroud Cay, some of the park wardens came up in their boat.  We immediately wondered what rule we had violated (none...?), then they held up a huge mahi mahi.  When we asked where they got it, they replied that they had confiscated it from some poachers an hour or so ago and they wanted to give it to us to make up for the one we lost (they're not allowed to keep anything they confiscate).  We were so psyched!  Ria could barely wait for Brian to take a picture of it before skinning and filleting it.  We had enough fish to feed two families for three meals...

Sunday morning we left for Shroud Cay and anchored in the same spot as the last time we came through.  We planned a huge excursion for all seven us, packing a picnic lunch and heading through the mangrove creeks to the other side of Shroud - the most beautiful spot we've encountered so far.  It took awhile since we were loaded down and couldn't get the dinghy to plane.  When we got to the beach, we unloaded the dinghy and set up our tarp for some shade at the bottom of the trail to Camp Driftwood.  Maya and Nolan enjoyed playing in the water, and we all enjoyed the beauty of our surroundings (and sandy salami and cheese and PBJs).  Once the tide started going out, we had to pack up and leave in order to get through the mangrove creeks before all the water left.  Upon returning to the anchorage, Rebecca boldly swam to one of the huge megayachts nearby and asked to use their waverunner.  Looking to make sure the owners were still off exploring, one of the crew members took her for a spin around the anchorage.  Not exactly the ride she had in mind, but she enjoyed it nonetheless.  That night, we enjoyed swimming in the dark with the phosphorescence that lights up like stardust in the water around you.  We've seen it following our boat when we've sailed in the dark but haven't yet experienced it while swimming.  Even Nolan and Maya swam for awhile before it got too dark.  It was a very memorable night, being able to enjoy and share some fun and beauty with our friends.

Back to Nassau

Wanting to tour Nassau for awhile, Paul and Rebecca chose for us to head back to Nassau on Monday rather than Tuesday when presented with that option.  By the time we made this decision, it was too late for us to get to Nassau by nightfall.  Since the weather forecast was for "light and variable" winds and no rain for the central Bahamas, we decided to just go and anchor around sunset for the evening on the shallow Exuma Bank.  It was a wonderful trip.  We slowed down around dinnertime for Brian to grill some mahi mahi, then ate underway.  We dropped anchor just before sunset and enjoyed a beautiful evening in the middle of nowhere.  We could see the lights of Nassau in the distance - we were about 3 hours away still.  Since we were a little concerned about other boats coming our way in the night, we had purposefully gotten off course to drop the anchor near a scattered range of coral heads.  It was a good plan because many BIG boats came and went during the night - on the same course we had taken earlier.  About midnight the wind had picked up and we could see lightning in the distance.  Things got a little rocky for us as we watched different thunderstorms in the distance all around us.  With the Eichler-Carlino family sleeping peacefully, we finally made the decision to head into Nassau in case the weather deteriorated even more.  Not only did we have our own child on board, but we also had another family with two small children with us.  The storms seemed to be getting more intense and closer so we awakened Paul and Rebecca to inform them that we were hauling up the anchor and going to Nassau, or at least near Nassau to some more protected waters.  As we got underway, Brian was able to keep an eye on approaching squalls and thunderstorms on the radar and made several turns to evade them.  We have never had to outrun storms before and as wonderful as it was to be able to do so rather than be a sitting duck, it was still not much fun...!  We made it to Nassau Harbour about 3:00am and were fortunate to be able to tie up at the empty fuel dock at Hurricane Hole Marina.  Everyone crashed after that, but cheery Captain Brian and baby Jonah were up at the crack of dawn, so we all got up fairly early.  When the fuel dock opened, Brian was ready to take on fuel as if we had just pulled in and no one thought any different - we got lucky that we didn't have to pay for our few hours of dockage...  We had reservations at Atlantis for the that evening and they cleared us to come in early. 

We had been to Atlantis with Steve and Robin and their family, almost two months before.  But the luxury of the place takes on a whole new meaning when you've been on a sailboat in remote islands for a couple of months, rather than arriving virtually straight from the States.  We were definitely ready to bask in its glory and all it had to offer.  Again it was a scorcher of a day, so we quickly packed up and took off to enjoy the waterslides and pools.  Paul and Rebecca were brave enough to go down the freefall waterslide a couple of times and also raced each other on the double-tracked slide.  Brian and Ria took it easy and played with the kids in the children's pool.  That afternoon, Ria told Nolan to take off his floaties and swim to her.  He said, "Okay" - and did it!  It was only a couple of feet but it was the first time he's ever swam by himself and was a huge step.  By the end of the day he was able to go four or five feet.  The Eichler-Carlino family left a little early and went to the straw market in Nassau and we all met up in an area of Nassau known as 'the fish fry' for a nice dinner to celebrate a wonderful week together.

Wednesday morning was spent getting Paul and Rebecca packed and on their way to the airport.  We're so glad that they were adventurous enough to come for a visit and share in our wonderful trip - !  Not only was it great for Nolan to have Maya to play with (as they are only two weeks apart in age), but we really enjoyed spending time with Paul and Rebecca, and getting to know Jonah better.  Having traveled the world but never visited the Bahamas, we knew they would jump at the chance to come visit us, and we're glad they were able to squeeze in a visit before we head back to the States.  We can't wait to see them when we return home to Alexandria...

After they left, we spent the day by the waterslides and pool.  We put Nolan's swimmies away about midday and have not put them on him since.  He has turned into a little fish, going down the waterslides headfirst and swimming by himself to the steps.  It took a little coaxing to get him to swim with his face in the water, but now that he's got the hang of it (after four more days of swimming at Atlantis...), he swims quite well for having never had any lessons - and all in just a couple of days.

We had planned on checking out of Atlantis on Thursday, but with bad weather headed our way and Ria battling the flu or some sort of virus, we opted to stay as long as we could, which was Saturday.  We would've stayed longer but they're booked solid, so we moved to a much cheaper marina across the harbour - who told us in April that they didn't have the depth for our boat but apparently they do.  Having spent every day enjoying the waterslides, pools, and the food at Atlantis, we hated to leave.  So before we checked out at 11:00am, we got up at 7:00am to wash about eight loads of laundry and run over to the pool to get our wristband for the day before our "room key" expired.  Then we moved the boat and came back just after lunch to enjoy yet another day swimming and going down waterslides.  As we write this, we are sitting in the lobby having drinks with another family while Nolan plays with their children.

If you haven't figured it out yet, we are headed back to the States rather than continue through the Caribbean.  While we have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, we wouldn't enjoy the rigorous sailing and hectic pace that it would take to sail all the way to Grenada or Trinidad for hurricane season.  After receiving an update today from Freedom's Hope, the boat with the two boys we met at Allen's Cay who we were tempted to travel with, we feel even better about our decision.  They sailed for five straight days to get from the Turks and Caicos to Puerto Rico, then another six days straight through the Caribbean to Venezuela then over to Trinidad.  They will be leaving their boat there for hurricane season and returning in the fall to continue their journey, and clearly voiced a yearning for a much slower pace then.  While it sounds beautiful down there (more in terms of the land than the water), we don't have the timeline nor the budget that they do, and we could not have picked better cruising grounds than the ones we did for our family.  We can recommend the Exumas without any hesitation at all, except to pack a lot of food.

We hope to leave Nassau sometime next week, but we are keeping a close watch on the weather.  With tropical storm Aletta in the South Pacific and a tropical "system" in the Caribbean off the coast of Mexico and moving our way, we're extremely anxious to leave the Bahamas and get further north.  But we can't leave just yet because we're in the middle of a few low pressure systems all around us and lightning and thunderstorms coming and going.  When the weather settles and we have a "decent" weather window, we'll start our 3-day trip back to the Florida.  If we have great weather, we'll sail nonstop and make it back in half the time.  Please wish for us to have fair winds, following seas, and safe sailing.  Our next update should be from the States.