Breeze On

After our perfect day at Pipe Cay, we are having a not-so-perfect day in Eleuthera. We made the fifty mile trip across Exuma Sound yesterday, anchoring last night in Rock Sound. As we were making our way to Conch Cut, I briefly went aground on a sandbar. Fortunately, I was able to back up and maneuver over to deeper water. We had a calm night at anchor in Rock Sound, then this morning, after spotting a large rainbow, we went ashore and to buy three jerry cans of diesel. As we approached the dinghy with our jerry cans a Bahamian greeted us and approached us for a chat. It turns out that Brion Leary is the former manager of the Rock Sound airport and has many interesting stories to tell. Quite the ambassador for Eleuthera and Rock Sound.  After returning to Breeze On we decided to raise the anchor and sail twenty miles north to Ten Bay, a favorite anchorage in Eleuthera. The wind was around twenty knots; much higher than the forecast eight to fourteen, becoming light and variable. We att

Today was the quintessential Bahamian day: Warm temperatures, sunny skies, light breeze, and crystal-clear turquoise water. It was exactly what I had in mind when I first thought of sailing to the Bahamas. We started the day by snorkeling a few nearby reefs. As usual, the fish and coral looked much prettier than those in the pictures. After running the water maker we took a dinghy ride to scope out new potential snorkeling sites and check out the nearby islands. We do like this area. The sandbars and deep water channels make for beautiful variations in color. On the way back to Breeze On we drove by the osprey nest so I could get a better picture. It is dinner time and, just like at home, one of the ospreys seems to be loudly calling for dinner. 

Yesterday morning we went for a four mile walk to Little Creek, at the northern tip of Great Guana Cay.  On our way back we met a very nice young couple, Sarah and Nick, who are on their first cruise in the Bahamas. We spent the rest of the day on boat chores. Just before bedtime the loud music from Emerald Sunset View Restaurant and Bar started up. They had played loud music the night before and we were hoping they weren’t going to be doing that every night. So much for our new favorite anchoring spot in Black Point harbor. This morning, as George took our garbage to the dock, he snapped a picture of the sharks circling around looking for breakfast. After he returned we raised the anchor and sailed north 12 miles to Pipe Cay, aka the Decca Station. We had stopped here last year and found some nice snorkeling. We are anchored near an osprey nest and the osprey’s song reminds us of home. The southeast wind had kicked up some waves, making the anchorage bouncy all afternoon. The wind and

Shortly after Dawn and Ray left on the water taxi, George and I raised the anchor and left George Town. We sailed north on Exuma Sound to Childrens Bay. It was a brisk, downwind sail with just the main sail. The waves were on the aft quarter. Yesterday morning, after one night at Childrens Bay, we exited Adderly Cut and set out north on Exuma Sound again. We had talked about taking our new route around the tip of Great Exuma Island and sailing north on the shallower banks. That route was 10 miles longer so we chose Exuma Sound again. By the time we reached Galliot Cut the current was flowing out against the wind and the conditions were wild. George did a great job getting through it. We had originally planned to stop at Little Farmers Cay for a meal at Ocean Cabin. We had a wonderful steamed fish dinner there last year. But we have eaten out a lot over the past week and neither one of us wanted to go out again, so we bypassed Little Farmers and went straight to Black Point. The sailing

Our plan while we were at Cat Island was to stay at Old Bight and enjoy the Rollezz Resort. We were going to spend the day snorkeling and sitting in their lounge chairs on the beach. The morning started out cloudy and didn’t appear to be clearing up so we changed our plans. When we first started cruising Ray would talk to us (me especially) about the need to be flexible when cruising. It has since become a private joke between us. I am a person who likes to have a plan.  Flexibility has never been my strength.  I think I have improved, though. Since the weather was not good for either sitting on the beach or snorkeling we changed our plan and sailed five miles north to New Bight. After dropping the anchor Ray, Dawn, and I hiked up to the Hermitage while George stayed behind and ran the water maker. On the way back to Breeze On we stopped at Hidden Treasures and made reservations for dinner. We all had lobster (which had to be shipped in by plane) and it was delicious.  Yesterday mornin

We stopped for a night at Hog Cay then sailed to Cat Island yesterday. We sailed at 5-6 knots in east winds of 10-12 knots. It was a lovely day of sailing. Since we had heard great things about Old Bight, and especially the Rollezz Resort, we decided to make that our first stop. Carl and Yvonne Rolle have built a lovely beach resort and they are very welcoming to cruisers. Since we had skipped lunch we were hungry when we dinghied ashore in the mid-afternoon and they agreed to prepare a delicious lunch of fish, fries and salad for us. The sun was just setting when we returned to Breeze On and the full moon was rising.  George, Bev, Ray and Dawn at Rollezz Resort The view from the dining room Breeze On with the setting sun Full Moon rising over Rollezz Resort

We finished up our errands, rented a car and picked up our friends, Dawn and Ray, at the Deadman’s Cay airport in Long Island. On the way back to Thompson Bay we stopped at Seaside Village for some of Kenny’s delicious conch salad. After discussing the numerous options we decided to leave Thompson Bay and make our way to Cat Island. Dawn and Ray can stay just five days and will be leaving out of George Town so we wanted to make the most of our time. We are motoring north in light winds today with a plan to anchor at either Hog Cay or Calabash Bay then on to Cat Island tomorrow.  Kenny preparing the conch salad while George, Ray and Dawn watch the bone fish. George, Bev, Dawn and Ray. 

Happy Valentine’s Day. This morning, as we dinghied to shore to start our errands, we got word that Penny, who runs the cruisers net, was having a Valentine’s Day brunch at her house and wanted us to come.  So we went back to the boat, cleaned ourselves up and went to the brunch. It was lovely. Penny and John’s house sits high on the hill overlooking the harbor. It is a beautiful house with amazing gardens. Everyone brought food and we saw several cruisers we knew from Long Island and also met a few more. As we were walking in Jeannie, from What Next, and I saw that we were wearing the same dress! We had a lot of laughs over that. What are the odds?  It is the first time I have worn a dress since I left home in November.  We enjoyed ourselves and had time to run more errands later in the afternoon. 

Water Cay is an interesting island. We might have liked to spend more time there if it didn’t have so much surge that makes it such a rolly anchorage. There are numerous coral heads which we have read are good for snorkeling. We heard lots of birds singing and saw an osprey fishing for its breakfast. It has some high bluffs and two areas where the land is eroded away, leaving a block of land standing in the middle. The land on either side of the block is very low, barely higher than the water. If we had been willing to stay in the rolly anchorage we might have explored Water Cay. When we anchored yesterday there was one fishing boat and a catamaran anchored at the northern end, where we chose to anchor. Later on, about six boats came in to anchor at the southern end. We timed our departure this morning so that we would be in the shallowest parts of the Comer Channel on a rising tide, about an hour after low tide. Before we were ready to go, the boats from the southern end were headed o

This morning, as we were leaving the Buenavista Cay anchorage, we were joined by two dolphins. They played briefly at our bow then swam off. Next, we saw a rainbow. What more could we ask for? We had good wind for a very fast sail, 7-8 knots on a beam reach. I was a bit nervous about crossing 20 miles between the Nurse Cay Channel and the Man of War Channel. We have had a steady 20 knots of wind from the east over the last few days, allowing for large waves to build up in the open water and hit us on the beam as we crossed the channels. The waves were indeed large but Breeze On was riding them well. To balance out the dolphins and rainbow we went through a few squalls while crossing the channels. We weren't concerned about getting wet (we were happy to have the salt washed off the boat) but we were concerned about the wind increasing during the squall. They wind did not increase much, though, so we didn't have to drop the sails. Once we turned to the northeast at Flamingo Cay w

We are headed north and off the grid again. After running the water maker and seeing a pretty rainbow this morning we raised the anchor and left Hog Cay. We are anchored at Buenavista Cay and far enough away from the Ragged Island cell tower to be off the grid. I am sending this blog post through the Iridium Go satellite phone. Several other boats left Hog Cay ahead of us this morning. We did not go the the tiki hut gathering last evening so did not have a chance to discuss other cruisers' plans, but it appeared most of them went to either Double Breasted Cay or Raccoon Cay. Cruisers who have been coming here for years know the best places to go to catch lobsters and conch as well as where to go to hide from changing wind directions. We are expecting southerly winds later this week. We had a very brisk sail today, going 7 knots with just a reefed main in 20 knots of wind. We are hoping the wind calms down a little by tomorrow, before we cross the Nurse Cay Channel.

We have cell data!  We went to shore this morning to take a walk and stopped to talk to a few people at the Tiki hut. In the course of our conversation I mentioned our quest to get the phone to work so we could add cell data. Jerry, from Persephone, said the problem wasn’t distance from the tower, it was the setting on our phone. If we changed the setting from LTE to 2G it would work. We thanked him profusely and he said as payment we could donate some tuna to feed the adorable stray kitten that has been hanging around cruisers beach.  His fix did indeed work and we gladly contributed the tuna. We went back to shore again this evening and enjoyed another sing-along.  View from the walking trail Sing-along at Hog Cay Bernice the kitten Now that Bernice is well fed she has become playful. 

We are running short on cell data. There is a cell tower on Ragged Island and we have a good connection here at Hog Cay. The problem is that we haven't been able to purchase new data. The Bahamas phone company, BTC, has several confusing plan options and they change every year. During our first visit here George purchased a plan that included phone service, text and data for his phone. When we arrive each fall he swaps out his Verizon chip for the BTC chip and activates the plan by calling their automated system. Last year we also purchased chips with data only for my iPad and our Wirie booster. He usually purchases 2 gigabytes at a time for each device. When the data runs out he puts the chip in his phone, calls the number, and adds another 2 gigabytes. In case you are wondering why we don't purchase more than 2 gigabytes at a time, they have a plan with 6 gigabytes but those have to be used within a month or you lose them. We don't usually use that much. All of our device

Yesterday we sailed north nine miles to Hog Cay. It seems as if every region of the Bahamas has its own Hog Cay. This one is just north of Ragged Island. It is the more popular anchorage in this area and we can see why. Hog Cay has beautiful beaches, walking trails, and a very impressive tiki hut built by locals and cruisers. It is so well built that it withstood Hurricane Irma in 2017. Cruisers meet at the hut around 4 pm, usually with their own drinks and sometimes with food to grill over a fire. We did not leave our radio on after we arrived yesterday so did not know what plans were made. We saw people dinghying to the beach so we followed.  There are 15 boats in the anchorage and I think everyone was there.  Hog Cay Tiki hut

We took the dinghy to shore this morning so that we could walk to Duncan Town, the only town in the Ragged Islands. Duncan Town was devastated by Hurricane Irma in 2017 and was declared uninhabitable. I am not sure how many people are living here now but we saw only one person during our walk around town. We saw numerous goats all over the island and we saw and heard evidence of rebuilding. To get to town we had to cross an airstrip. The road stopped at the airstrip, we walked across, then the road picked up again on the other side - no fence, no barrier.  We saw one small plane land yesterday and another one take off today. There is a very large salt pond next to the town and you can see the walls marking off the areas for collecting salt.  After our walk we put our wetsuits on and dinghied over to the southern end of Little Ragged Island. We wanted to snorkel and also to see if the anchorage might be a possibility for us. The snorkeling was fantastic, several large reefs with numerou

The Buenavista Cay anchorage was fairly calm last night and we had a good night’s sleep. George ran the water maker before we left the anchorage at 10:00 am. Since we were heading dead downwind we did a combination of motoring and motor sailing. We had just turned toward Hog Cay and raised the main sail when I saw a large, dark shape swimming by the boat. I called out “shark” before I saw it come up for air and realized it was a dolphin. Soon five other dolphins joined it and they all played in our bow wake for at least 10 minutes. Several times they lined up side-by-side and came up for air together as synchronized swimmers. After the dolphins swam away we noticed that there were just two boats anchored at Hog Cay. Where were all the rest? We looked again at the charts and decided that the Southside Bay anchorage on the south end of Ragged Island might be a better option.  Although not as scenic as Hog Cay, it has the advantages of more protection from northerly wind and wind chop as

After a not very restful night at Flamingo Cay we raised the anchor just after 7 to make our way south as far as Buenavista Cay. George had to close the hatches during a squall last night. At 4 am waves started slapping against the hull and the boat started rocking. We both thought it was due to the wake of a large boat moving very fast. The rocking never stopped, though, so it wasn't caused by a wake. The wind had shifted to the SE and waves were rolling in from the south. After leaving the anchorage we had quite a wild ride sailing for the first hour. The wind was in the mid-teens, we were close hauled and heeled over at 20 degrees. That may not sound like much but when you are sitting on the boat it feels like a lot. After the squalls to our east passed by the wind dropped. We had to change course further into the wind so we dropped our sails and motored the rest of the way. There is a 20 mile stretch north of Nurse Cay that is either completely open to the Atlantic Ocean or pro

We left Children's Bay this morning before sunrise, just as there was enough light in the sky to see. Our plan was to take a shortcut over some shallow sandbars that enabled us to go over the top of Great Exuma Island and down the sout' side of Great Exuma and Little Exuma. This route would save a lot of time and distance on our way to the Jumentos Cays and the Ragged Islands. If we were successful it would also open up possibilities for the future. We had originally planned to leave Children's Bay yesterday but we had agreed if it was too windy and/or squally when the alarm went off in the morning we would postpone a day. It was blowing 20 knots in the morning so we decided to postpone. The first shallow area we were to cross is also very narrow and we didn't want to risk getting blown into the even shallower area of the sandbar and getting stuck. It is not as if we can call Boat US for a tow here in the Bahamas. The squalls did eventually arrive yesterday. When they f