fetchinketch

As we were getting ready to leave Georgetown a line of showers blew across the harbor. Heavy rain, and a clocking wind blowing up to 25 or 28 knots. A good breeze, but nothing we would consider violent. From our perspective in this crowded anchorage we had eyes on about 50 boats. As the wind picked up, at least five boats started to drag their anchors. Two ended up aground on the beach! Fortunately, the winds died down pretty quickly, and everybody was refloated without serious incident.

But it was a lesson. In this relatively minor blow, about 10% of the boats around us broke their anchors from the bottom. In a crowded anchorage the biggest danger is not from the weather, but from the other boats who have bad equipment, bad technique, or both.

In a sailing forum the other day someone was posting in the highly superior tone that the internet seems to encourage people to adapt that he couldn’t understand why anyone would ever pay to pick up a mooring instead of anchoring. It’s really simple. In a very crowded harbor I’ll go to the mooring field and pick up a mooring not because I have any doubts about MY anchoring equipment or technique, but because I doubt YOURS. A mooring might have issues, and might not be as good as my own anchor, but it’s reliability is WAY better than 90%.

When I must anchor in a crowd, I look at where the wind will come from in a sudden blow. That is usually 90 or 180 degrees clockwise from the prevailing wind direction. I pick a spot so I will be upwind of as many boats as possible during a storm, not during the prevailing conditions.

We are off grid for at least a few days while we explore Conception Island. If you sent us an email or have any other expectation of communication, sorry! We’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

We are currently anchored off of Black Point Settlement, on Great Guana Cay in the Central Exuma Islands. See our current paths here: https://fetchinketch.net/where-are-we-now/

If anybody has been paying (Very) close attention, to my rantings here, you might be thinking, “Ah! They have been there before!” But you would be wrong… in the Bahamas they really were not always creative with names for the various islands, and I guess after you have named over 3000 of them, you can be forgiven recycling a few, like “Great Guana Cay.”

We had a fast sail down here from Exuma Park. Fast, but wet, it rained hard most of the way. I promised some picture of the park and its inhabitants, and here are a few…

First, the beautiful anchorage at Wardwick Wells Cay, the headquarters of the park. There are 22 moorings available. For a boat our size they charge $40 a night. Not a bad price for such a beautiful place.

We spent quite a bit of time exploring the trails on the island. These are well marked trails, although they are mostly over eroded coral rock. Not a place for sandals, much less barefoot!

The only place on the island where you could get a cell signal to check email was to climb to the top of “Boo-Boo Hill” supposedly named for the wailings of dead shipwreck victims.

Part of the trail through a thicket of thatch palm.

The thatch palm has replaced much of the original tall hardwood forest on these islands that was long ago logged to extinction.

The park staff helpfully labeled a few of the toxic “posionwood” trees at the beginning of the trail. After that you are on your own to recognize and avoid them. They are very common along the trails. They have toxic oils similar to poison ivy or poison oak.

We never got to see the most common mammal on the island. The Bahamian Hutia. A nocturnal guinea pig like rodent about the size of a small rabbit. They were once thought extinct, but 50 years ago a small colony of the critters was found on a remote island. 13 individuals were released on Wardwick Wells Cay in 1986. I have no idea how many there are now, but the island is COVERED with hutia droppings. COVERED…EVERYWHERE

The most common animal to see are the curly tailed lizards. They are fearless, barely avoiding getting stepped on. There are snakes that prey on them, which likely accounts for the large number of them that are missing some—or all—of their tails.

The appropriately named “blue-bellied skink” is less common, and a lot shyer of people.

Land crabs are very common on all parts of the island where they can reach the water table as they dig their borrows. This one was the largest living one we saw, about 1 inch across the shell.

They do get quite large, as evidenced by this shed exoskeleton we came across.

Because the island is basically dry, with no natural sources of fresh water, there are very few birds. This was the only one we saw…

In other islands in the park where there is fresh water, ospreys are common winter residents.

In the shallow lagoons, young sea turtles grow up…

And of course after a long day hiking and exploring rough terrain, a good hammock is a great destination.

Much of the central land and sea area of the Exuma chain of islands in the Bahamas is taken up by the Exuma Land and Sea Park. Although it has been here for a while, it seems to have gotten much better organization and funding in the last few years. When we stopped here in the park two years ago, we saw very little of the organization behind it. Now, it is much more aggressively operated.

The objective of the park is to be self-sufficient in funding. To that end, they have a set of fees for anchoring and use of mooring balls in the park. To both collect the fees, and enforce the “no-take” fishing regulations they have roaming patrol boats, and to add a bit of extra muscle to that, they have a Royal Bahama Defense Force patrol boat that is based in these waters.

To add a bit of extra “incentive” when they catch someone poaching in the park boundaries, they make a big public display of it. When we were back in Florida we heard news of them snagging a large American boat fishing inside the park. Fines start at $500, and they can confiscate your boat.

Overall to us based our contacts with the patrol boat, and the headquarters staff the operation seems very well run. Tonight, we are at a mooring ball in a small, well protected harbor just outside of the park headquarters. The mooring balls are very well maintained—some of the best I have seen anywhere. Fees are reasonable, $0.50/foot/night for anchoring in the park, and $40/night for the moorings. The park equipment and facilities seem well maintained, and the people are friendly and efficient.

AND…. it is a beautiful place.

We’ll post pictures where we are back in a place with an internet connection. For now, we are doing this with the satellite phone connection.

We’ll be here exploring for a day or two, and then run further south to Georgetown where we can catchup on email, internet necessities, and groceries.

We had a problem with one of our refrigerators… I happened to notice that it was too cold. A bit of troubleshooting determined that the internal switch had been bumped from “Fridge” to “Freezer” while it was being packed. When we put the switch back to where it belonged… nothing. No cooling. The “Fridge” half of the thermostat seems to have died. It works fine in freezer mode. Hmmm….

When it comes to mechanical things, I am not a big believer in coincidences, but this time, everything I do points to the fact that the thermostat just seems to have died at the same time and from an independent cause, as the switch to freezer mode. Hopefully we can get a replacement in Georgetown.

Yesterday was one of those rare days where all of the weather models got it wrong.. Forecast was for 10 to 13 knots, In the afternoon the actual was more like 20 to 35. It wasn’t a big deal for us, we had the foresight (OK, luck!) to have come into Highborne Cay Marine first thing in the morning before things get really exciting. The weather was the talk of the docks today.

Highborne is a small marina associated with a small, and very high end resort. They have a Seaplane dock and helipad. The only way to get here is a chartered aircraft or boat. The only things on the island are about 8 cottages, the marina and associated amenities for guests and staff.

Many of the boats here are quite large, greater than 100 feet.

Karen needed to check out the beach cabanas.

All of them…

In the “Old Days” one of the most important things an island could have was an easily accessible source of fresh water. An island with a spring was a draw for passing ships looking for fresh water, and sometimes a lair for pirates looking to relieve such ships of their valuables.

When we arrived here, the map of the resort indicated they had a spring on the southern end of the island, and we flagged it as one of the potential destinations for our daily walks.

Without really planning it, on our first stroll we came across the sign directing us to the spring. Actually, to “Da Spring” down the hill…

We followed the path down to the beach…

Where another sign made sure we’d find the way…

Karen is excited about following the next sign’s direction back into the woods…

Where we found….

The Spring!

What? You were expecting water?

We should be out of here tomorrow, with favorable winds (we hope!) for travel south. Our planned destination is Conception Cay. An uninhabited island that is part of the national park system.

We spent a couple nights in Spanish Wells, one of our favorite towns in the Bahamas. A settlement of about 1500 people very friendly people, it is dominated by the commercial lobster fishing fleet. Last time we were here was after the close of the lobster season so the entire fleet was at the dock. With several weeks to go cashing the tasty shellfish, this time the commercial docks are mostly empty.

I’d guess there are about 35 large boats fishing out of this harbor. Guessing that each of those has a crew of 4 to 6, that’s a rather large fraction of the local population out to sea at a time.

Since the local town is relatively prosperous, the markets tend to be well stocked. We loaded up on fresh veggies, and are back on the move south.

Today was a beautiful sail south along the west coast of Eleuthera. We made it halfway down the island, and anchored in Alabaster Bay. We dropped anchor just as the sun was setting. We turned on our flood light and watched the small fish gather in its glare as the moon rose and the night darkened. Life is good!

Right now our planning is looking at some rougher weather coming through over the weekend. We’ll be looking at finding a place to hide from it before we move on.

We are still struggling a bit to sort out our internet connection. Until we do pictures will have to wait!