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June 4, 2012 9:14 PM
Posted By Robin & Jim
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One of my very favorite cays in the Exuma Park is Shroud because it's criss-crossed with little creeks - perfect for paddling a kayak. The weather would be turning ugly soon so we only had about a day and a half before we had to leave to find better protection from the strong fronts heading our way. Jim isn't much of a paddler, so I had the mangroves and quiet creeks to myself.
The miles of creeks have pure white sand bottoms lined by red and black mangroves and sometimes limestone rock. There is enough tide that I had to pay attention to shallow areas if the tide was falling, otherwise I might have to get out and drag the kayak back into deep water.
I saw tons of baby reef fish among the mangrove roots, as well as a lot of baby barracuda - perfect replicas of the adults. Barracuda are very fast swimmers when they are hunting, and they even have a shallow little pocket on the top of their body that their dorsal fin folds into in order to make them ultra-streamlined. Nature is pretty clever. I also saw a number of small lemon sharks cruising through the shallows, and a very small sea turtle that was pretty shy.
In addition to the life under the water, the bird life was pretty active. I saw green herons and some little warblers among the mangroves, but the highlight were the long tailed tropic birds that nested in the limestone and flew overhead. They are truly elegant looking birds with impossibly long tails.
They gambol overhead by themselves or with one or two other birds, their kek sound drawing attention to their flight and making me run outside with my long lens, or jump in the kayak to try for a shot.
Some least terns were also nesting nearby, and laughing gulls.
The weather started to turn quickly, with some ugly squalls coming ahead of the stronger fronts and winds.
I made it back with my kayak about 10 minutes before the howling wind and rain cranked up. The seas turned lumpy and we left for Nassau early the next morning to try and deal with our engine repair.
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May 25, 2012 12:37 PM
Posted By Robin & Jim
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We heard about another good area for diving on the ocean side just to the north of Warderick Wells, near Danger Cay. (What a great name!) There is a hidden mooring for a nice 45' reef site, and we set out in the dinghy to make a dive.
We arrived at the site and found a 30' center console boat already on the mooring, with a few people free diving and shooting underwater video. They confessed that they had been chumming the sharks earlier, even though it's not permitted in the Park. Frankly, we hate it when people do things to change the natural behavior of wild animals - it's just arrogant. Fortunately the feeding had stopped a while before we arrived, and the dozen or so sharks were active but not agitated. We watched them from the dinghy while we prepped our gear and could see them cruising, not darting around so we felt it was safe to make the dive. We've been in the water with sharks many times in the past and we have some feel for their normal behavoir.
Afterwards we were told by the Park staff that dive boats have fed sharks in that area so often that they will come when they hear a boat regardless. They were mostly gray reef sharks, though there was one lemon shark and one small bull.
None were any problem to us, though sometimes they were curious.
There were also two huge jewfish - they look like black grouper except that they were about 5' long. We had a swirling school of horse-eye jacks, as well as some bigger amberjacks... hence the name of the site: Amberjack Reef.
It was a gorgeous site with fantastic visibility and huge coral heads. There were big lobsters, longnose butterfly fish, hamlets, and a healthy population of reef fish as well as a few lionfish.
A dive like this really makes us long for the big fancy underwater photo and video gear that we used to have when we taught diving, but unfortunately it's all film-based and/or outdated. Now I just have a little point-and-shoot in a housing with a wide angle adapter (no strobe), and Jim has a Go-Pro Hero video with a color correcting lens for underwater work. At least we had some cameras - I feel naked diving or snorkeling without some kind of camera.
The other boat left and we had the site to ourselves for a nice long time. I kept an eye on Jim when he headed up to the dinghy to climb out - you can see the sharks still hanging around, but none were interested in him (he's at the bow).
We would have loved to make more dives in this area, but the need for our engine repair and changing weather meant we had to keep moving on.
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May 25, 2012 11:48 AM
Posted By Robin & Jim
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The headquarters of the Exuma Land and Sea Park is located on Warderick Wells Cay. It's a good place to find some protection from frisky weather, and there is a lot to do there with numerous hiking trails, great snorkeling spots, and good dive sites.
Mary and I spent some time snorkeling near Emerald Rock and we saw several lionfish in addition to the usual residents of the reef.
In the Indo-Pacific it's a real treat to see lionfish - they're very beautiful and dramatic, though their spines are poisonous. Somehow they have become established in the Caribbean where they have no natural enemies. Since they are carnivores they tend to decimate the small fish population of any reef, and efforts to eradicate them at this point are pretty spotty.
This time of the year the brown noddy terns arrive and nest in the rocks. There were a good number of noddies nesting on Emerald Rock, flying right over us as we snorkeled. They never seemed to be bothered by us, and a few followed our progress around the rock.
One of my favorite unusual things at Warderick Wells are the stromatolites. These are living fossils in the water, and to quote from the Park brochure: Fossil stromatolites were the dominant reef-building structure for about 3 billion years which is 75% of the Earth's history. They were thought to be extinct, but several clusters have been found - in Australia, and in a few isolated places in the Bahamas. They look like building blocks with straight vertical sides - they are made of cyanobacteria (plants) that trap sediment. I find them very interesting, and I love the patterns of the sand ripples around them. These are in an area with very heavy current, and can only be easily appreciated snorkeling at slack tide. We enjoyed showing them to Mary and our DeFever friends Jill and Glen - something a little different.
We've gotten to know the Exuma Park staff a little bit, and the Warden Henry is a really nice guy. We asked if there was anything that we could fix for them or help them out with, and they found some projects for us. One of the Warden's patrol boats had bad cracks in the fiberglass on both back corners from trying to tow a 50+' boat off a rock. Henry promised not to tow anything big if we could fix the cracks. I worked on the fiberglass repair and filling some holes in the deck while Jim did some electrical and electronics work, and helped me a bit. We put in a few long days but the result came out pretty nicely after some paint and non-skid on the entire deck. We had fun.
While waiting for coats of paint to dry we made a nice long dive back on Jeep Reef at slack tide.
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May 24, 2012 5:29 PM
Posted By Robin & Jim
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We reached the farthest point south for this cruise at Black Point Settlement - a very small town just south of Staniel Cay. The people are friendly and nice, and it is the best place to get coconut bread (we think). We dinghied to shore and walked up to Lorraine's Cafe for a bit of Internet and a cold soda, and to order some bread from Lorraine's mom - coconut and a loaf of cinnamon raisin. I've tried to make my own coconut bread but it's not even close. It's tempting to try and stock the freezer with this wonderful bread, but that's one of the things about cruising - sometimes you get to enjoy a real treat, but it's fleeting.
With two other DeFevers in the anchorage, we decided to host dinner on the boat deck. We had enough of a breeze to keep the bugs at bay, and it was nice to dine al fresco and watch the sun set.
It had been a long time since we had any mail, so we had it forwarded to our watermaker company in Ft. Lauderdale (you can't make this stuff up). For a small fee they will put it on their twice-daily Cessna Caravan flight to Staniel Cay - Watermaker Air. We cruised from Black Point to Staniel and dropped anchor briefly to jump in the dinghy and pick up our package. When restarting the starboard engine to leave, we heard a rattling noise near the transmission. After Jim consulted the manual and called American Diesel we concluded that it's likely a failed drive damper. We'll run on just one engine until we can get parts and make the repair, so we continued up to Cambridge Cay to visit our friends Bill & Mary and to explore.
One of the first spots we visited was Rachel's Bubble Bath - a natural pool on the north end of nearby Compass Cay. Ocean waves crash over the notch in the limestone and they effervesce in the pool. It's just a blast, especially when the waves are big at high tide. We enjoyed good conditions to snorkel the sea caves at Rocky Dundas at low tide. The caves are scoured by the waves and lit by sunlight coming through holes in the roof, but the formations are neat and the sea life just outside is lush. On a windy day we hiked to Honeymoon Beach...
...and were treated to this view. There are hundreds of pretty little beaches in the Exumas, but this one was particularly lovely.
We hiked to the overlook on Cambridge Cay, drift-snorkeled Conch Cut, snorkeled and dove at the Sea Aquarium site, and took a long dinghy ride to snorkel Jeep Reef near Johnny Depp's private island. We walked in the sandy shallows and swam in the warm water.
We love the Exumas.
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May 15, 2012 9:49 PM
Posted By Robin & Jim
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The colors of the water never cease to amaze us - they almost look fake with such vivid shades of turquoise, cobalt where the water is deep, and almost white where the water is shallow over the sandy bottom. No matter how much I try, photographs just can't seem to capture what our eyes enjoy. The water is so very clear, and it's common to look over the side when we're anchored or on a mooring ball and see every grain of sand and every blade of grass quite clearly. Occasionally a nurse shark or a stingray will make a lazy cruise through the anchorage, and sometimes little tiny fish will school behind the boat.
We spent some time anchored off Big Majors near Staniel Cay, and near the famous pig beach where a small group of feral pigs will run out on the beach and swim out to your dinghy looking for a handout. The piggies are pretty big and if you drift into shallow water they will try to climb into your boat with their sharp hooves!
Another highlight of this area is Thunderball Cave made famous in the James Bond movie. The cave is half under water in a small island, and there are good-sized holes in the roof of the cave to let sunlight in. The entrance is accessible for snorkeling at low slack tide, and is a really fun place to explore. I love the shafts of sunlight that pierce the water and light up the fish and sponge life in the water.
We happened to be around for Cinco de Mayo, and the staniel Cay Yacht Club was having a special Mexican dinner. We went ashore with friends from two other DeFevers - Susan & Slade on SOJOURNER and Carol & Bob on CASSANDRA JADE, and enjoyed a cook's night off and the yummy margaritas.
There's a fish cleaning station on the seawall at the Yacht Club, and there's a resident population of big, fat nurse sharks that hang around the marina. You can jump in the water and swim with them - they are not interested in humans unless you happen to have fish scraps.
We started having some problems with our davit (the small crane we use to lift our 550 lb. dinghy), so our friend Bob came over to help Jim make the repair. We could have managed with just the two of us, but it sure was nice to have another handy guy to make things easier. We have really enjoyed traveling with various other boats for short periods of time - lots of dinner parties and people to hike, picnic, and snorkel with.
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May 1, 2012 11:29 AM
Posted By Robin & Jim
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We arrived back in the Exumas and headed to the Park Headquarters at Warderick Wells Cay since there are some hiking trails we still want to explore. Although the weather was nice when we arrived, we knew the forecast called for a few days of high winds out of the east and the protection here is good for that.
We had fun exploring the island a bit more on foot, and we continue to marvel at how much the landscape looks moon-like, with large stretches of pockmarked limestone, turned black by the sun. There are palm trees as well as buttonwoods, poisonwood, and other hardwood trees, but they are gnarled and twisted by the tradewinds. Natural pockets in the limestone like this one can hold rain water and catch dirt, making a place for trees and plants to establish themselves in an otherwise inhospitable place.
In addition to the craggy limestone there are a number of beautiful little beaches, an extension of the vast sandy plains of the Exuma Bank. The clear blue water and light sand bottom makes it easy to spot rays and sharks cruising by.
We were able to do some snorkeling before the winds picked up. We've seen lots of big lobsters, curious barracuda, countless small tropical fish, parrotfish, queen triggerfish, and even some of the unwelcome lionfish - an invasive species. We primarily look for patch reefs with coral heads, but sometimes the most interesting finds are in the less pretty areas - you just have to take the time to look. I was lucky to spot this peacock flounder - they can camouflage themselves very well when they want to, but this one kept his circle markings vivid blue so it was easier to see him.
Flounders are strange fish - they are born looking like regular fish, but as they mature one eye migrates to the other side of their head and they develop into a pancake with a face.
The water temperature has dropped 5 degrees so the cooler water has made snorkeling sessions a bit shorter. We were swimming back to the dinghy when Jim spotted three reef squid. They are shy but curious creatures, and they stayed near us for a long time. They can change their body's color and pattern, and sometimes they adopt interesting gestures with their tentacles - I wish I understood what their behavior means! They really seem more like aliens than fish.
The stormy weather moved in and we had several days of pouring rain and wind. It was a good time to catch up on some chores, movies, and a good book. Yesterday we had a break in the rain and went over to a friend's boat to play dominoes.
Even when the weather is bad here, the water still has a lovely turquoise color and it's pretty against the stormy gray sky.
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April 25, 2012 7:37 AM
Posted By Robin & Jim
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The days here in Nassau have flown by thanks to the company of good friends and the warmth of the Bahamian people. Having a Dairy Queen right across the street is good for the soul, too. We had a suprise two day visit from Betty and Jill on LiLi - which meant more dinner parties and a big group trip to the grocery store to stock up on local favorites and fresh veggies. We also stumbled on the Bahamas Hand Print fabric factory and shop - and they showed us how they print the fabrics, which was interesting. I could only afford a small placemat for our coffee table, but they had beautiful things!
We've been hanging out with our friend Hampton from DeFever 43 SMALL WORLD, and we've really enjoyed his company. Since gusty winds and storm fronts have extended our stay here in Nassau, we all decided to go back over to the Atlantis Resort and pay to see the aquariums. It was a splurge, but when in Rome...
There are multiple aquariums with a wide variety of marine life, all very well done - from the elaborate big tank with two small manta rays...
...leopard sharks, eagle rays, and plenty of jacks and topical fish, to a lagoon with lemon sharks, huge sawfish, big tarpon, and bonefish, to another pool with golden cow rays and little week-old rays, a few sea turtles, lionfish, jellyfish... and even some fresh water tanks with alligator gar and pirahnas.
It was really fabulous, and well worth the $40 fee. We wandered all around from 10am until 7pm, and capped off a perfect day by walking to the outermost docks in the Atlantis marina and finding another DeFever boat that we know. CASSANDRA JADE is a Grand Alaskan 65 with friends Carol and Bob Bryan (and dachshund Sallie). It really is a small world! They were looking to move to a less expensive marina and we suggested ours. They're also heading to the Exumas so all three boats will travel together to cross the Yellow Bank. More dinner parties... another visit to Dairy Queen... talking with the warm and lovely Bahamians... haircuts... more grocery shopping, and another visit to Potter's Cay. Everywhere we go, the Bahamians always say a warm "hello" or "good afternoon". They are very gentle and kind and friendly and their smiles are warmer than the sunshine. It has been an unexpected two weeks, but we certainly succeeded in "making lemonade from life's little lemons"... "with sugar", as the gal in the marina office said!
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April 24, 2012 9:37 AM
Posted By Robin & Jim
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Who knew a dental emergency could turn into a great adventure?
We are getting ready to (finally) leave Nassau after two weeks of dental visits and now waiting for the wind to settle down. Tomorrow we head back to the Exumas where we can get back to snorkeling, diving, hiking, and kayaking. We've had a series of strong fronts come through since early April which is unusual for the springtime. Hopefully the trend will go back to normal soon and we'll have nice settled weather. In the meantime we have had a ball here in Nassau, thanks to a series of friends who have passed through or are still here with us.
We arrived two weeks ago, back-tracking from the Exuma Park because Jim broke a tooth. We were feeling a little gloomy at the prospect of sitting at a dock in town and dealing with dental work, but we decided to mix a little exploring with some chores and make the best of the time. The second day we were having lunch overlooking the harbor when we saw friends on FINALLY FUN come into the dock. They were delayed a few days waiting for weather to cross back to the US, so we had a great time together touring and walking around. We visited Potter's Cay where the various mail boats come to load and unload from their runs to the different out-islands, and we bought some produce from the market stalls there.
There was an interesting array of fruits, vegetables, and peppers, some things we couldn't readily identify,
as well as land crabs and dried conch in this interesting (but malodorous) arrangement.
We went over to Atlantis Resort another day just to see how the other half lives. The marina charges $7/foot which is a staggering price, especially when you consider that most of the yachts were around 150' long! Some even bigger. Oh, and power and water are extra. We wanted to see some of the aquariums and more of the resort, but you have to pay $40 a person to get into the lobby or aquariums or any cafes or restaurants. We've heard their aquariums are amazing, but we decided to just wander around the casino where we could see the Chihuly art glass and the marina village where we could watch the behemoths pack into the basin.
The next day another DeFever boat with friends arrived in our marina - SMALL WORLD, so we expanded our planned dinner party to include the whole gang!
It was a terrific evening and a farewell for FINALLY FUN heading back to Florida, and for two of the three fellows aboard SMALL WORLD who were flying back to Florida. Oh, and the next morning Jim was having his root canal - what fun! Stay tuned for more adventures from Nassau...
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April 16, 2012 9:27 AM
Posted By Robin & Jim
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We headed down to Warderick Wells Cay, Headqarters of the Exuma Land & Sea Park. We had to bypass a few beautiful spots because we needed good protection from another round of strong winds coming in. The Park hosts a little sunset get-together on the beach every Saturday for all the visitors, and in addition to DeFever friends we saw a Great Harbor 37 that belongs to friends we haven't seen in years! This was a huge thrill!
We first met Paul & Sue Graham at a TrawlerFest in the late '90s when we were all still in the "dreaming" phase of our boating plans. Both couples knew what boat they wanted, but were still a few years away from purchasing. We corresponded and met at TrawlerFest each year, until the happy day when we ended up at TrawlerFest with our respective new boats - we bought them in the same year - 2002. But it's a small world and here they were - so we had a very happy reunion on the beach and we raised a toast to the fact that our dreams came true.
It was Easter weekend, and the Park graciously hosted an Easter pot-luck luncheon for all the cruisers at the Warden's quarters. It was a lovely party and the views from the wrap-around porch were just gorgeous. We knew a lot of people from the DeFever club - everyone cleans up pretty well!
We were able to do a little snorkeling, but the high winds made it difficult; fortunately there are plenty of hiking trails on Warderick Wells, and we did a little exploring. We also hiked up to Boo Boo Hill where cruisers are allowed to leave driftwood signs with their boat names on them. It's a nice little tradition, though the pile of signs looks like a pretty big mess up there! Mother Nature comes along with a good storm now and then to rearrange things. We found our sign from 2010 and Jim carved this year's date on it.
Cruising plans are usually cast in Jell-O - flexibility is the name of the game. Unfortunately Jim broke a tooth on Easter, and he really needed to get to a dentist to take care of it. The nearest dentists are in Nassau, and one of the Park staff recommended her dentist. We talked with them on the satellite phone and they said to come in as soon as we docked. We made the day-long run back up to Nassau and they took care of Jim right away - very nice people! He has a temporary patch and he needs a root canal, so that will be done this week. We'll stay around for a few days after that to be sure he heals, but then we're free to head back over to the Exumas to explore. We'll keep our cruising plans a bit less ambitious in case of any further problems with the tooth, but there are a ton of wonderful places to enjoy. In the meantime, the winds have cranked up and are really howling, so it's just as well. We're exploring Nassau town, hanging out with friends, and catching up on a few boat chores.
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April 8, 2012 6:52 PM
Posted By Robin & Jim
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Our last day in Marathon was highlighted by a marvelous Easter party hosted by the marina. They had a big breakfast buffet set up, and while we feasted the staff hid hundreds of plastic easter eggs and several special golden eggs. They gave us fancy baskets and it was hysterical watching all the adults scamper and run around picking up eggs. The eggs were stuffed with candy and the special ones won prizes. Just wonderful!
The next day we had a nice crossing to Bimini in the Bahamas along with friends on LILI (Betty and Jill) and HARBOUR REACH (Bill and Mary). We cleared customs and headed over to N. Bimini for a nice dinner to celebrate.
We were going to make the long trip across the Great Bahama Bank to the Berry Islands, but one engine was running a bit hot so we stayed an extra day in Bimini to replace the thermostat. Lucky for us the Univ. of Miami Shark Lab happened to be offering a tour, and that was just great. They're doing very interesting work with the local lemon shark population, as well as many other types of sharks.
We fixed the engine and had a glassy crossing of the Bank to the southern Berry Islands, and left again the next morning headed for the Exuma island chain. Jim had fun playing with his new video camera, putting it down near the water while we were underway.
We made a short stop in Nassau to top off our fuel tanks - diesel was $5.28/gallon, and we needed 189 gallons to top up. Nassau was a flurry of activity, with four cruise ships in port plus many mega yachts and people on spring break.
We anchored off Highborne Cay in the Exumas, but some unexpected weather moved in and we had a bouncy night. The closest shelter from the west winds was in the channel on the south side of Norman's Cay, so we joined a number of other boats (some we know - small world) and stayed two nights while the winds blew. The sky got ugly for a bit, but it never got bad, thank goodness.
I managed a nice long paddle in the kayak, and Jim went snorkeling with friends on the DC-3 airplane wreck, left over from the island's days as a drug lord's haven.
The winds are clocking around and we need some good protection from the NE, so we'll head down to Warderick Wells Cay - the Exuma Park headquarters. We'll have good protection, plus nice snorkeling spots and plenty of hiking trails.
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