We are waiting patiently for appropriate weather to head to
the Bahamas, but the weather gods have other ideas sending us strong persistent
easterly winds- a bad idea if you are trying to head east in a sail boat. Thus, the activities at Marathon
continue to occupy our time. We enjoy
more seminars, meals out, and evenings of music. One afternoon I take a class in jewelry
making. Someone on the morning net
remembers having Wednesday evening “meet and greets” in previous years, so Burt
and I agree to host the first one of the season. Name tags seem like a good idea, but finding
them in Marathon proves to be a challenge. Ten
miles of biking later, we return with the name tags, and the evening proves to
be a success.
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| Just befor sunset under the Tiki Hut |
We take a cab with friends to the Dolphin Research
Center about ten miles
away. Upon entering, it becomes
immediately apparent that we are not at Sea World. This is a much smaller venue with an emphasis
on research and husbanding healthy pods of captive dolphins. We are able to get close to the pens and
watch the trainers and caretakers at their daily tasks. Yes, there is an
entertainment aspect as this is what funds the center, but its purpose extends
much further. The trainers take time to
talk personally with us, explaining what they and others are doing. We watch their veterinarian take ultrasounds
of the dolphins, something that is done on a monthly basis, and while we are
there, they discover two of the females are pregnant. And speaking of pregnancy, since there is
concern about maintaining a strong gene pool among captive dolphins, we watch a
sperm collection that will be used for artificial insemination. Obviously,
nothing is done behind the scenes! We get close to some of the dolphins who
especially enjoy human contact, talking and making gestures to them – they seem
to respond back to us in kind. There is
a quasi show with some of the larger dolphins showing off their jumping skills,
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| One of the big boys struts his stuff |
but we also see less structured play time with water showers, balls, toss toys,
and chasing trainers along the perimeter of the pool. Dolphins need the
relaxation and creative stimulus of play.
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| The dolphins play just like a small child would |
How do dolphins sleep? Since they are conscious breathers (they need to
think about breathing), only one side of their brain and body can sleep at a
time. Close up we observe a dolphin with
one eye open and one eye closed, rolling side to side to keep an eye on what is
happening above and below him - that’s
how dolphins sleep. We are told that during hurricanes, the dolphins are
released to the open, deeper waters as this is their natural preference. When the storms pass, they return to their
pens by choice as they seem to realize they really do not have the learned
skills to survive in the wild over long periods of time. And finally, we see a
very interesting research project where several dolphins are displaying their
ability to discern less from more. Two
panels are presented with an array of different sizes and quantities of
dots. The dolphins study the panels and
then pick the one with the fewer dots. No one knows exactly how they accomplish
this, but it implies that they have some level of number sense – fascinating. I
could have spent hours watching these beautiful and interesting creatures, but
sadly, closing time comes all too soon.
Finally we get the weather forecast that we want for the
long trip east. Super Bowl Sunday is our last day in Marathon,
and we are invited to friends’ trawler for dinner and the game. Life on a
trawler is much more civilized than a sailboat.
We sit in actual living room furniture and watch the game on an actual
TV with a satellite feed. We are in the lap of luxury and appreciate this fun
farewell from these good friends we met over a year ago.
Early Monday morning we raise the dinghy onto the foredeck
and deploy our jacklines. Although the forecast
is for calm motoring the entire 220 nautical miles to Nassau, we prepare the boat as if we might
see some serious weather. The motor east
in Hawk Channel is uneventful, but lovely with the multihued turquoise water. Uneventful
except that early on, we run over a crab pot float, something that ordinarily
would cause the line to wrap around the prop and kill the engine. But, it is
our lucky day as all we see in our wake is some shredded styrofoam. Forty miles east of Marathon, we cross over
the barrier reef and head towards the Gulf Stream. Chris Parker, our weather forecasting guru,
says that three hours after winds drop and change direction at the Fowley Rocks
weather buoy, the Gulf Stream would lay down. It is now five hours after that change, and
we find Chris’s typically accurate predictions aren’t spot on this time. We have no wind but the short period waves
are coming from all directions. It is
really unpleasant, and Burt and I take seasickness meds for the first time in
our memory. Somehow we get through the
night and enter the Great Bahama Banks at dawn.
Only then does the motoring become comfortable. We have a sixty mile transit across this
plateau of water, no deeper than 15 feet, that rises from ocean waters
thousands of meters deep. We see no land
and no other vessels. At sunset we enter the Tongue of the Ocean, a trench of
extremely deep water on the east side of the banks. We drop anchor at the southeast corner of the
Berry Islands, on the north side of the
Tongue, to catch a little sleep. The
stars are amazing, packing every square inch of the dark night sky – there is
no ambient light in this area of the world.
The next morning we make the final hop to Nassau with sails unfurled as there is enough
wind to finally do some motor sailing.
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| Entering Nassau is a bit intimidating - you must get permission from Harbor Control and then encounter some preeeety big ships |
Nassau
is not a very appealing destination; it is a place where you arrive, take care
of necessary business, and leave as soon as possible. Crime is rampant, so most of the city is off
limits, and no one goes out of the guarded marina at night. After none months away from the Bahamas, we
realize we have lost our ability to decipher the Bahamian dialect and are
constantly saying “Pardon me” when talking with the locals, making us feel and
perhaps look a bit foolish. We clear into customs, asking for a 120 day permit
and receive a 150 day permit – go figure as usually you get less than the
number of days requested. We do a few
quick errands and visit BTC (Bahamas Telephone Company) several times to get
our phone and data plan changed over. It is a frustrating process, and we still
do not have it totally operational. Since we crossed to the Bahamas in an
unusually good window, we are joined at the marina by many other boats that
crossed in the same time frame. The boaters organize a happy hour along side
the pool, and we see all the faces that correspond with the voices we have been
hearing over the radio the past days.
The good weather holds, and we head further east to
Highbourne Cay and the north end of the Exuma chain. There is no tarrying, though, as a front is
forecasted to come through. The next day we have a great sail down to Warderick
Wells and the headquarters of the Exuma
Land and Sea
Park, a Bahamian National Park. The mooring ball field there is well
protected and a great place to ride out a blow.
We are just in time for the weekly happy hour organized by the
park. Gathering under the beach front
tiki hut, we visit with old and new friends while gazing over the spectacular
scenery.
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| Sunset on the beach in the Exuma Land and Sea National Park |
We have been away from the Bahamas almost nine months and have
forgotten how beautiful the water and beaches can be. Come dusk, we are joined on the beach by some
of the resident hutias, a rare nocturnal rodent similar to guinea pigs. They seem oblivious to the humans and focus
in on the snacks that have found their way to the ground.
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| The nocturnal guests at Happy Hour |
Due to the weather, we will be in Warderick Wells for
several days, and we spend our time enjoying this special setting.
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| The protected mooring field at Warderick Wells |
Hiking trails take us along ridges
overlooking the crashing waves of Exuma Sound and across beaches where the sand
is powdery soft.
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| Spectacular hiking along the Exuma Sound coast at Warderick Wells |
Everywhere we come
across the plentiful curly tailed lizards that peek out at us with curiosity.
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| Tame Curly Tailed Lizards are on all the hiking trails |
We snorkel off the back of our boat as we are moored right next to one of the most
popular snorkeling sites. Amongst the
corals are tropical fish of all varieties. We see a large spotted eagle ray
gracefully swim by. And, when we return to the boat, we find a three foot
sharksucker attached to our keel.
Apparently, we are growing some very tasty algae down there.
Moderating winds entice us to head further south. We have a fantastic beat to windward down to
the small settlement of Staniel Cay and its anchorage at Big Majors Spot. We spent quite a bit of time here last year,
so we skip some of the common attractions such as the swimming pigs, and
instead spent the rest of our afternoon snorkeling the grotto where the James
Bond film Thunderball was partially
filmed. We feed bread crumbs to the
school of sergeant majors and find ourselves in the midst of a huge feeding
frenzy with the fish bumping into our masks.
The corals here are spectacular; many are virtually neon colored in
tones of green, yellow, red, and lavender. We spend the next morning taking the
dinghy to the rocky shore of Exuma Sound and hiking the jagged cliffs.
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| Rocky shoreline of Staniel Cay |
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| Crashing waves of Exuma sound |
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| View from the cliffs |
And, in
the distance we see the approaching island freighter, the Captain C.
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| Unloading the precious cargo from Capt. C, a typical inter-island freighteer |
That means only one thing – in a couple of
hours Isles General Store will have fresh vegetables and fruit. We plan the remainder of the day around
replenishing our supplies as fresh food is so hard to come by in the Out Islands.
Our latest email forecast from Chris Parker gets our
attention. When Chris puts phrases in
all caps, we take things pretty seriously.
A strong cold front, a result of the severe weather being experienced in
the States, will pass through the Bahamas with potentially gale force
winds from several directions, requiring an anchorage with all around
protection. Due to our deep draft of almost seven feet, our possibilities are
limited. We make the decision to head to
Georgetown at
the southern end of the Exuma chain. We
are skipping many enjoyable destinations in our rush to get protection, but we
hope to head back this way when the long term weather patterns seem more
settled.
We have a beautiful motor / motorsail / sail for 60 miles
down the Exuma chain in sapphire colored waters. Coming into Georgetown is a bit like coming home. We know many of the boats that spend the
entire winter here and are amazed at how many new boats also occupy the
harbor. With over 250 boats anchored
along a several mile stretch of Stocking
Island, this shouldn’t be
a surprise. We arrive late afternoon on
Valentine’s Day and have just enough time to get showers, eat a quick dinner,
and head over to Chat and Chill, the local beach bar, for the Valentines
dance. The place is hopping and the
dance floor is packed with “Rocking Ron” and “Kool Karen”, friends from Vero Beach, playing disc
jockey. The next day we head into Georgetown
proper to do laundry, consult about our internet problems, and visit Exuma
Market, a fairly adequate grocery store.
With the coming heavy weather, we will be unable to get to town for a
number of days. That evening we attend our first meeting of ARGggg (Alcohol
Research Group), otherwise known as Happy Hour at Hamburger Beach.
Powdery soft sand rimming turquoise water and a beautiful sunset make this an
ideal setting.
The foul weather is due to arrive the next afternoon. Boats reposition, anchors are checked, deck
gear is tied down, already wind shredded flags lowered, and we wait. One boat goes aground off the beach during a
pre-frontal gust, but several dinghies manage to push it off the soft sand so
it can reset further out. At sunset the winds pick up to the mid-20’s
accompanied by some higher gusts from a direction where we will have about five
miles of open fetch. It’s a bit bouncy,
but the fresh breeze and bobbing of the boat make for some pretty good sleeping
conditions. Having a huge anchor and
lots of heavy chain also makes sleeping a bit easier. Once the wind swings more
easterly, dinghy access to the beach and all it’s activities will be much
easier, and then, life in Georgetown
will get back to normal.
