Exploring More Remote Places

We have waited several days for the ideal weather conditions to leave for Long Island.  Although Long Island would qualify as remote, we are not going alone.  Sixty-six boats from George Town are heading southeast to this island on a rally.  The rally involves a quasi-race for the sail over.  We make an early start, as Burt is the statistician for the race, and the view as we leave George Town harbor is incredible.   

The leaders leaving the harbor - many more were behind

Once we survive the large waves pounding into the south cut of the harbor, we are skimming over flat, turquoise seas for the 30 mile passage. White sails dot the horizon behind us.  It is a reach all the way, and we finish a respectable fifth out of fifteen boats in our class. 

Exuberant crosses the finish line at Salt Pond, Long Island

 

Once we drop anchor at the Salt Pond settlement, we quickly head to shore.  The native sailors are putting on a fund raiser at Regatta Point to support their regatta which will be held in July.  We wander over to the government dock to watch the launching of “Running Tide”, a Class A Bahamian sloop which has been recently re-designed with a plumb bow and greater beam in the aft section – just like modern day racing sloops.  

It took a truck crane to step the heavy wood mast on Running Tide

 Over seeing it all is Mark Knowles, a third generation boat builder.  Afterwards, I have a chance to visit with him, and he describes the building process.  Although most of the materials are found locally, some wood, for instance in the mast, is imported at high cost.  All construction is done by hand. The sails are made on Long Island from material produced in Nassau.  If you have the urge to purchase a new A Class Sloop, it will run you around $150,000. So, these beauties are few and far between.  Later in the evening I am introduced to Mark’s father, a true icon in the Bahamas.  

Mr. Knowles, the internationally recognized builder of Bahamian sloops

 He learned his skills from his father, and together they built a number of wooden landing craft which were utilized in World War II along with traditional Bahamian sloops. From this remote island to the forefront of the war effort, these men are very proud of their heritage and Bahamian sailing traditions.  The next day Running Tide is out sailing amongst our anchored boats.  Its power and speed are readily apparent, and we wish them luck in the upcoming Family Island Regatta.  

Running Tide under sail with crew out on two hiking boards

We spend the remainder of our time at Salt Pond visiting with friends, hiking the ocean side beach, 

The ocean coast near Salt Pond

and attending the rally awards banquet on the deck of the Long Island Breeze Resort, overlooking the harbor.  Our friends, Ron and Karen (Rocking Ron and Kool Karen) from Sea Dancer DJ a dance come sunset.  They are famous among the cruisers for their dances, and this will be their last one as they are retiring from cruising.  It is a bitter sweet event.

Boats are departing Salt Pond to go various directions.  We head north with three other boats to Miller’s Bay, home of one of the most renown restaurants in the Bahamas, Chez Pierre.  Pierre is a French Canadian who has settled in this out of the way location but somehow manages to attract capacity crowds to his French-Italian restaurant.  We arrive at the restaurant in time for pictures on the deck, 

The dinner crew at Chez Pierre

sunset cocktails, and a delicious dinner that is anything but Bahamian. Afterwards, we adjourn to another boat.  The three other couples are avid Texas Hold-up players, and this is their opportunity to introduce us to the game. Needless to say, our results are not stellar.

We head back to George Town as a serious weather event is predicted, and we want the protection that Elizabeth Harbor can offer.  The cruisers’ scene is a bit more laid back now that so many boats have departed.  We take care of laundry and a last grocery shopping trip at a store that supplies many American made products.  We take a last hike on lovely Stocking Island.  I hunt for shells and beach glass along a remote beach 

The beautiful beach on the oceanside of Stocking Island - note the pink sand

while Burt makes the steep climb to the monument, the highest point on Stocking Island. 

The view southeastward from Monument Hill, Stocking Island

And it is here in George Town that we celebrate Burt’s birthday, albeit a day early, with two other couples invited to our boat for dinner.  Even in a small galley, with some determination, I make a feast of roasted leg of lamp, side dishes, and homemade cherry pie.  Afterwards, we have a final game of Sequence, a game popular amongst the cruisers.  For once, the girls do not lose as we manage to play to a tie.

With a period of settled weather predicted, we head east to Cat Island. Cat Island, rarely visited by cruisers, is around 50 miles long but with only 1500 residents.  It is a quiet agricultural island.  We stop at New Bight in the southern portion to revisit Father Jerome’s Hermitage.  This miniature Italianate monastery is situated on the highest point in the Bahamas, Mount Alvernia.  

Looking rested before the ascent up Mt. Alvernia

The trip up gets strenuous as we hike a steep, rocky trail among Stations of the Cross carved into the native rock. The buildings themselves, constructed entirely by Father Jerome, the architect of many of the churches in the Bahamian Out Islands, are sized for just one person with sleeping quarters, a small kitchen, an exterior shower, and a miniature chapel with bell tower.  

The Hermitage

 Outside is an intricate cistern system.  

We are ducking rain squalls while at the Hermitage, and once we get down to the beach it really lets loose.  We take refuge in a small restaurant at the Fish Fry (a fancy name for “fast food” shacks).  We are greeted by the effervescent Crystal.  We only want shelter from the rain and a cold drink, but the entire staff, who has nothing else to do, sits down with us.  We are introduced to all, and learn a bit more about life on Cat Island.  During the course of the conversation, I mention that I had heard that a famous Rake and Scrape band heralds from this area.  As I try to decipher the local dialect, we discover that the leader of the group, Pompey, is sitting with us.  “Do you ever play anywhere around here?” I ask.  “Certainly, even tonight, at this location if you are interested”, Pompey replies.  Boy, are we ever interested.  We put out the word to all the cruisers nearby, and come sunset 30 people have arrived for dinner and music. Tables and chairs materialize from nowhere, and we are seated and served traditional Bahamian food as the band, Bo-Hog (Mr. Pompey) and the Rooters sets up in the street.  

Bo-Hog in the middle with Cedell (owner of the restaurant) on the left and Duke who runs the conch shack across the street on the right

 Now, Cat Island is a pretty quiet place so setting up a band in the street and the subsequent dancing doesn’t impede traffic much.  Actually, the few cars just stop, park in the street, and join our little festival. We are amused when the locals start taking pictures with cell phone cameras of all the cruisers enjoying themselves.  Amongst the Bahamian attendees are Mark Knowles and his wife who we had met at Long Island.  They have come over to Cat Island to launch their latest A Class Sloop, the Susan Chase. It is arriving the next day on an inter-island freighter. There are no boat builders on Cat Island, so this will give this island an A Class sloop to call their own. We are partaking of traditional Rake and Scrape that features no amplification as contrasted with the Rake and Scrape that most tourists see at resorts.  Pompey and his group are another Bahamian icon.  They have been recently featured on “Good Morning America” and were sent to France to participate in a festival of international indigenous music. Tonight we are entertained by a saw “raked” by a screw driver, a goat skin drum, and the accordion that once belonged to Pompey’s mother.  It was recently damaged in Hurricane Sandy and the repair job is definitely low-tech.  All in all, it is a magical evening, and one that few outsiders will ever experience.

Before leaving New Bight, we explore the area a bit by bicycle, something that is definitely safe as there is so little traffic.  We pass by the ruins of a church designed by Father Jerome and walk through an interesting grave yard. Life here must be pretty healthy as many of the buried have lived into their 80’s and 90’s.  With little available health care, bush medicine is universally practiced.  A little further down the road we find a house in ruins.   

Cat Island ruin - who knows what spirits lurk inside

Cat Islanders practice some black magic and one of their tenets states that spirits of the deceased still reside in their homes.  Thus, old homes like this are never razed.

We leave New Bight for a short hop up to Fernandez Bay. This beautiful half circle bay is home to two resorts that cater to people who want to go somewhere where there is nothing to do but stroll the beach and swim in the crystal clear waters.  We take long walks through the shallow waters and dinghy up a nearby mangrove creek to find turtles. But, the main reason we have come to Fernandez Bay is to join our friends Jim and Bentley from the catamaran Salty Paws.  They are both accomplished musicians and have been invited by the Fernandez Bay Resort to play during happy hour.  It is Bentley’s birthday so we join them for music at the gazebo bar and then dinner on the candle lit patio with their resort fans. 

Jim and Bentley entertain at Happy Hour at this upscale resort

This is definitely an upscale and memorable event with some special friends.

The next day we enjoy a beautiful sail further north to Little San Salvador Island, otherwise known as Half Moon Cay.  If you have ever taken a Holland American or Norwegian Cruise Line trip in the Bahamas, you have stopped here.  The cruise lines have purchased this island and set up facilities for their guest to enjoy an “Out Island” experience.  Cruisers are allowed to anchor at the far end of the harbor and, once the cruise ship leaves, may walk the beach and interior portions.  We are lucky as the next day no ships are arriving, and we have the run of the place.  We walk past air conditioned beach cabanas, 

Cabanas along the beach at Half Moon Cay

some with hot tubs, food pavilions that can serve thousands, many themed bars, and a sanitized ray experience where one can wade with rays that have had their venomous spines removed.  

One of nine rays in the wading area.  Outside the protective netting lurked a plastic rendition of Jaws - a bit cheesy, eh?

It’s a bit too Disney-ish for us, but it doesn’t take away from the spectacular beach.  After a snorkel in the gin clear waters, we settle ourselves into hammocks strung between casseria pines in the powdery sand and wile away the day.

Water colors at Half Moon Cay - yes, it really does look like this with almost phosphorescent turquoise water

 Another period of foul weather is predicted, and we join over a dozen other boats seeking refuge in the protection of Rock Sound, Eleuthera.  Squalls of 40+ knots are expected along with several days of winds 20 – 30 knots.  As we are motor sailing north, we are overtaken by an early squall.  There is little increase in wind, but the rain is so heavy that the waves are beaten flat and visibility is reduced to virtually nothing.  On the plus side, the power wash has taken away months worth of salt accumulation.  At this point, safe harbor has big appeal. 

Easy Living in George Town

We have been in George Town for almost a month but will be leaving in a few days to venture down to Long Island.  George Town is the capital of the Exumas and its largest town, although all is relative in the Bahamas.  

Exuma government building in George Town with Elizabeth Harbor in the background

 

Close by the government building is Regatta Point, home of the National Family Islands Regatta in late April.

 Here there are more cars than golf carts, but there are no stop lights anywhere on the fifty mile long island and the roads are crumbly and pot holed. Yet, at some times of the day, you actually need to be attentive to traffic which incidentally drives British style.  Downtown is centered around Lake Victoria, a naturally occurring lake with a small manmade outlet (more like a large culvert that can accommodate dinghies) into the harbor proper.  

The dinghy dock in Lake Victoria provided by Exuma Market - sometimes it is so crowded that dinghies are stacked three deep

 

Beautiful St. Andrew's Anglican Church on a hill overlooking Lake Victoria

 In town we can find groceries at Exuma Market 

Interior of Exuma Market - not a glitzy American grocery store but it stocks most of what we want

where a freighter comes at least once a week, hardware and boat supplies at Top 2 Bottom, two banks with ATM machines - the only ones in the Exumas, computer help and relatively inexpensive international phone calls at J & K productions, a Betelco office, an all-in-one barber/beauty shop/fish market, and various stalls for fruits, vegetables, straw work, peanuts, and conch along the road.   

The local straw market where you can find locally made straw goods, t-shirts printed in China, knickknack also from China, and fresh Exuma grown vegetables

There are several souvenir shops catering to the surrounding resorts, restaurants, bars, and liquor stores.  I do laundry at the Corner Laundromat on Lover’s Lane. 

The Corner Laundry on laundry day.  Lee, the proprietor is a typically delightful Bahamian

You can get diesel and gas to jerry jug back to the boat, and trash disposal is available at one of the gas stations for $2 per bag. Slightly out of town is a new high school and the continually “under construction” hospital that may finally open next year. (Even in “developed” George Town, health care is an issue. A fellow cruiser had to be airlifted to Nassau and eventually to Florida when she tore out ligaments in both knees.) Several times a week we make the over a mile long dinghy trip to town for necessities, and if the weather is calm we can even go in for the evening. On one such night we go in for a dinner at the in-town resort, Peace and Plenty, 

Street side view of the Peace and Plenty Resort. The backside overlooks Elizabeth Harbor and sports a lovely patio bar and swimming pool

and then head over to Eddie’s Edgewater for a night of Rake and Scrape music and dancing.  In an other worldly experience, we are entertained by Bahamian renditions of “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” and “Brown Eyed Girl” while locals entice the cruisers out on the floor for some lively dancing.  One favorite of the crowd was an older man dressed in a tux trimmed with fake zebra hide and wearing some very flashing carnival beads – quite a show!

Eddie's Edgewater - home of Rake and Scrape and a much livelier place on Monday nights

But, most of our time is consumed with activities on nearby Stocking Island. Stocking Island, along with several smaller Cays, provides the northeastern barrier of Elizabeth Harbor.  Sheltered from the prevailing easterlies, harbors accommodating over 300 anchored boats this season extend along the shoreline. 

The Monument anchorage with close to 100 boats in the height of the season  - at night the anchor lights form an entirely new set of constellations

Everyone has their favorite niche; we like anchoring off volleyball beach as we have easy access to activities on the beach along with WIFI from the St. Frances Resort. 

View from our boat of the Volleyball Beach anchorage - Chat and Chill is in the center of the picture while the St. Francis Resort is behind in the distance

Others prefer the quieter anchorages off the Monument and Sand Dollar beach.  We spend our mornings doing chores onboard or exploring the windward beaches, with afternoons devoted to Burt’s obsession with volleyball and the basket making classes I give under the nearby casseria trees. Several days a week I exercise by walking in knee to waist deep water between the beaches along Elizabeth Harbor, discovering starfish and sand dollars along the way.  Some evenings are spent with friends at Happy Hours and onboard dinners while other times we just prefer to enjoy quieter sunsets alone on our own boat.   

One evening we are invited to our friends Van and Lauren's boat for a dinner of fresh mahi-mahi. They caught this fish in Exuma Sound - 59" long and many meals worth.  Before they are caught and die, a mahi-mahi is fluorescent green and blue, a spectacular fish in the wild.

Come sunset, the conch horns blow, including the one Burt made for Exuberant. It is a simple but enjoyable way to spend a month.

It’s Regatta Time for the cruisers, and our laid back existence takes on a fevered pace.  We limit our involvements to just a few activities.  Burt is invited to skipper the hot, 42 foot trimaran, Triad, for one of the races. It is an all day race through Elizabeth Harbor, out the pass into the ocean, and around the windward side of the island.  I am perched in our hammock chair to watch the start nearby, but soon the boats all disappear into the ocean.  

Triad just before the start - note the beautiful sail shape.

Meanwhile, a dolphin adopts our boat.  It swims in clockwise circles around our hull, taking three breathes at the bow where I am sitting and then diving deeper to go around our transom.  This goes on for two hours when it inexplicably changes direction and goes counter clockwise for another hour.  At that point another boat comes in and anchors nearby.  The crew immediately gets into the water to swim with the dolphin which they claim is talking to them.  After this interruption, the dolphin finally swims away leaving me wondering what in the world that was all about.   

The friendly dolphin that kept me company for three hours with its compulsive behaviors

Shortly thereafter the racing boats begin to enter the southern cut and Triad has a twenty minute lead on the next closest boat, despite their start in the last fleet, an hour after the first start.  Triad has creamed the opposition, and the boys celebrate their win at an after race party at St. Frances Resort.   

The victorious term from Triad

Volleyball also figures heavily into the week, and Burt’s Fun Volleyball (as opposed to regulation volleyball) team wins first place in the tournament, leaving with prizes of flags and rum.  

And the victorious volleyball team

Mid-week there is an Arts and Crafts Show and along with the painters and jewelry makers, I display some of my baskets, including two pine needles baskets.  I learned this new technique while in Marathon. 

Two of my pine needle baskets - the brown colored one is incomplete and awaiting more thread that is back in the States

There are numerous other parties and activities, but a soul can only handle so much.  We enjoy the closing night dance on the deck of Chat and Chill, dancing part of the time on the beach with swaying palms as the deck is just too crowded. 

With regatta over, we are enjoying quieter days, relishing the gin clear waters, powder soft sand, unpopulated windward beaches, and good byes with friends that are beginning to work their ways north and back to the States.   

Just a short walk across Stocking Island is the ocean.  We spent over two hours walking along this beach and never saw another person.

On an otherwise calm day, the ocean swells make interesting patterns when they interact with the coast line. Note the pink colored sand.

We are in no hurry as reports from the northlands indicate winter is still in full swing.  We will head further southeast to Long Island and then begin to recalculate our options.