So far, this blog is a travelogue about our cruise south. We are at a temporary stopping spot in George Town, Exumas, and at a point to examine what the realities of the trip have been. Sorry, there will be no pictures this time and the following may be of more interest to those contemplating a similar journey.
First of all, I can emphatically say we are not on a vacation. Rather, we live on a boat which is generally on the go to some amazing places. We still have all the issues that one would have when living ashore, albeit the issues are more challenging when you are on board. For anyone who thinks our days are like those you might spend at a resort or on a cruise ship, you are quite mistaken. I am not complaining as our cruising has been a conscious decision, one made with input from other cruisers prior to leaving, and we know we have been able to have experiences that would not be available to most travelers. So, here’s an examination of the realities, category by category.
Weather
Your life is controlled by weather, and you get pretty good at obtaining accurate weather information from a variety of sources. We listen daily to Chris Parker’s Marine Weather Center broadcast on SSB radio. In addition, we plan to take several courses from Chris Parker this week in George Town. We are not subscribers to his services but would definitely consider it in the future. We also get forecasts from BASRA (Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Ass.) and from internet sources when available. At some locations, there is a morning weather net over VHF. Our WX weather system was very useful in the States but less so here in the Bahamas. One concern in the Bahamas is the approach of a cold front that allows winds to clock through 360 degrees with ever increasing velocity. Very few anchorages provide all around protection, so you must search for a safe location to weather the strong winds. With our deep draft, that isn’t always easy. We have been fortunate this season as, so far, we have only had a few strong cold fronts pass through; in prior years fronts came through once a week or more. Weather also controls the direction you can travel under sail and wave and swell height in exposed waters. Thus, staying flexible in your plans is a must.
Also, it is winter here. In the Bahamas winter results in temperatures in the 70’s to low 80’s and little humidity – a delightful climate, but sometimes a little chilly for swimming if the breeze is blowing. It also means that days are shorter. This was a real problem coming down the ICW as our traveling time was limited. Here it means that your daytime activities end sooner than expected. We look forward to the lengthening days. Finally, we wonder if spring time will bring more blooming vegetation on shore and more birds.
Choice of Boats
We are happy with Exuberant; she is a safe and sturdy boat for our purposes, and a good size for two of us to handle. We chose her with a variety of sailing venues in mind. But, if your only plans were to sail the Intercoastal and Bahamas, a shallower draft boat or perhaps a multihull would be a better choice. We can confidently sail in off shore open waters and sail to windward, something the shallower draft boats are less comfortable doing. It is all a trade off, but we struggle with depth as we look for anchorages and have to pass by some interesting territory that is too shallow to explore. This will not be a problem if we venture further south in the Caribbean.
Provisions and Supplies
We have spent the last two months in areas with very little infrastructure. Knowing this, we provisioned extensively prior to leaving Florida and have had no mechanical breakdowns that required parts not carried on board. We are fortunate in this respect. Nevertheless, supplies are depleted and restocking is difficult. The grocery stores, other than in George Town, get restocked every week or two on a schedule that seems to confound just about everyone. If you don’t arrive in a store the minute it is restocked, everything is gone and you are back to empty shelves with only a few canned goods. In many places you must travel by dinghy several miles to these small stores. At any given time, we have been on desperate quests for eggs (only one egg available that given day in all of Staniel Cay), orange juice, long life milk (forget finding any milk by the half gallon), or any sort of meat other than pork. One time we purchased what we thought were very frosty frozen hamburger patties to find once they were on the grill, they were slabs of bologna – we improvised and found grilled bologna with barbeque sauce to be edible. Now that we are in George Town, the grocery store is much larger with carts and many American made products, although it still does not measure up to stores in the US – all meat is frozen and selections are still limited. Yet, I did buy a half gallon of real milk for a mere $6.
Parts are another challenge. Tomorrow we will cart bicycles over a mile on the dinghy to ride several miles on pot holed roads to a NAPA store where we can purchase a 6mm nut that is missing on our alternator. This will be a half day adventure to buy something readily available in any US hardware store. You take it in stride; we will certainly see or find something of interest along the way. Things get more difficult if you have to import parts from the US. There is great expense involved for air freight and import duties that will easily double the cost of any part. Plus, you have to position yourself near a place where the freight can be received – not many such places are available along this over 100 miles of the Exuma chain.
We carry 100 gallons of diesel and 15 gallons of dinghy gasoline and sail whenever possible, so our fuel needs are not a daily concern. Yet, the wise person keeps fuel levels up as clean gas and diesel are not always available. The fuel tankers run on a random schedule so sometimes docks are out of fuel. There are marinas along the chain, although some lost their fuel docks during Hurricane Irene this fall, so availability isn’t as easy as in previous years. One popular fuel stop received a batch of bad fuel with unfortunate consequences for those who unknowingly purchased it. A fellow cruiser had to return to Nassau to have his fuel removed and engines serviced due to the bad fuel. We have the capacity to polish our fuel, and we test all new fuel before it goes through the engines.
Communication
Everyone is on a quest for good internet, and so far no one has found a simple, affordable, ideal solution. We have an unlockable cell phone that now has a Bahama’s SIM card installed. We can tether our phone to the computer to get internet where ever there is a cell phone tower. It is painfully slow although BATELCO is going 4G throughout the islands in the near future. Meanwhile, the installation of the 4G system is making things slower than usual. Other people take their computers to shore via dinghy to get higher speed access at internet cafes or stores. Charges are generally $10 per day or more.
Using our phone is possible here with the installed SIM card. It is reasonably priced for calls within the Bahamas, although we use it infrequently as most communication is done by radio. Calls to the US are much more expensive; we spent over $100 for some brief calls home at Christmas. Skype is another alternative, but our internet access does not have the bandwidth for Skype.
We use a mail forwarding service out of Florida. All our mail is sent there, and we are notified of its arrival by email. Logging in to their site allows us to look at the envelope and, if important, have the contents scanned and emailed to us. Otherwise, mail is held until we ask to have it packaged up and sent to a location. We hope to avoid having mail sent to the Bahamas as the logistics are difficult.
Marinas
There are some marinas in the Exumas but they are generally quite expensive, running between $2 - $4 per foot with water and electricity metered and billed separately. Very few cruisers go to marinas; rather the docks are occupied primarily by super-yachts and charter boats. The one exception was the marina associated with Sandal’s Emerald Bay Resort. Non-service docks (no electricity or TV) ran $1 per foot. It is a lovely facility with huge, clean showers, a free laundromat, a large air conditioned boaters’ lounge building, and free high speed WIFI. We stayed for two nights and plan to return for another taste of luxury.
Money Matters
One of our biggest surprises was the lack of banks and ATM machines until approaching George Town. We were down to our last few dollars, thus necessitating the trip south. More and more places accept credit cards but there is between a 5 – 10% charge for their use, plus the concern that not all transactions have a high level of security. We have chosen to use cash almost exclusively. The ATM machines, when available, charge fees similar to those in the US.
The Bahamian People
One of our biggest joys has been our interaction with the Bahamian people. Once we left Nassau where crime and bad attitudes were evident, we have sought out interaction with the locals. The Bahamians are consistently cheerful and friendly. Honesty and religious devotion are central to the culture. Many of the churches sport signs saying, “Enter to worship, leave to serve”, and such attitudes are routinely practiced. We definitely enjoy their sense of humor although the local dialects sometimes make that difficult to understand. While the standard of living is below that of the States, their means provide for decent housing and suitable transportation. They are hardworking and entrepreneurial as they seek a living in these barren islands. Stores, restaurants, and homes are immaculately clean, and we have no worry about sanitary food preparation.
The US recession has hit the Bahamas very hard. We are forever stumbling upon half built tourist facilities such as resorts and marinas. Restaurants and gift shops are closed. All construction seems to have been halted in the mid 2000’s. Additionally, Hurricane Irene destroyed some of the infrastructure and without the tourist dollars, there is little incentive to rebuild. These shells are a reminder that the economy of the Bahamas is inextricably linked to the United States, and that here, the people suffer perhaps even more from our economic woes.
Social Life
For the most part, the cruising population is open and friendly. When several boats gather in an anchorage, it is not unusual to find a happy hour on the beach or on one of the boats. You make friends easily, stopping to chat or share information, and cruising with one or more boats for a while, until everyone goes their own way due to commitments elsewhere. The “leavings” are always a bit sad. It was recommended, and we agree, that cruising with a “buddy boat” exclusively is not a good idea. It requires you to move at the speed of the slowest boat, stop in places you may not wish or need to visit, and keeps you from meeting other boats or locals as easily. While we enjoy anchoring alone in out of the way places, we find we need to return to a more sociable environment after a few days.
So, now we are in the big city of George Town, population a couple of thousand. There are between 250 to 400 cruising boats here at any given time during the season, along with a sizable expatriate population of Canadians and Americans living ashore. We have amenities we haven’t seen for over two months and are enjoying the change. Pictures and details of this regions will be forth coming.
