S/V White Wings pulled up their hook and headed South. It was time for us to head to the fuel dock
at Staniel Cay. There was a long line
so we decided it could wait until the next morning as our friends Chris and
Eden on S/V Rag Doll were anchored over on that side. We decided to plop the hook down near them
and spend a little time with them before moving on. Also the mail boat came in that morning. The mail boat brings not only mail but food,
fresh food, and we were sorely lacking in the vegetable and fruit areas. Have done pretty well with our food supply. Have to say that we have not really wanted
for anything and have had very little spoilage overall. We have a small freezer but it has proved
adequate to hold stores of chicken, pork and burger. The weather has not only turned calmer, it
has gotten hotter! Today it was mid 80’s
with little or no breeze. Apparently the
wind is feast or famine here this year.
We met Eden at the Yacht Club for a beer and she went to the
Isles General Store which was a longer walk but we went to the Pink Pearl and
the Blue Store. They had everything we
needed and stocked up on asparagus, milk, tomatoes, celery, carrots, squash,
apples and zucchini. Headed back to Free
Bird with our goodies and invited Chris, Eden and another couple on S/V Pelican
from Minneapolis over for happy hour.
They went to dinner at the yacht club but we passed since we had just
eaten lunch there the day before.
Tonight was time to jump the clocks forward an hour so early to bed it
was for this crew.
The next morning we planned to be at the fuel dock at 8AM
when they opened. When you don’t wake up
until 7:55 that doesn’t work out too well.
By the time we got our act together and headed for the dock, another
boat slipped in ahead of us. Usually no
big deal , right? They go in and are out
of there pretty quickly. NOT at Staniel
Cay Yacht Club. Wow, it is an
ordeal. Before you even get to the dock,
there is a ton of current. John had to
maneuver Free Bird in a narrow channel full of current for like 20 minutes and
maintain not only helm control but our position in line. And then the docks are like 15 feet tall. You pull up and there is only one guy there
and it takes a while to just get you tied up.
Then he sends down the fuel and once that is done he then sends down the
water hose. Taking on water takes the
longest. Then once the attendant
repositions your boat so you have access to the ladder. A member of the crew (me, in this case) has
to climb up maybe 5 or 6 rungs of said ladder so you can go walk up to
pay. Each boat takes about 20 to 30
minutes to complete the process. Oh
yeah, and they were out of gas for Marley so we didn’t even get any of
that. There were 3 boats in line behind
us when we pushed off the dock. Diesel
was $3.90/gallon, water was .40/gallon and ice was $6/bag.
Had a great time but it was time to get out of here. Every time we move to new place, we have to
decide first where we are going to go.
Doesn’t sound like too much of a problem but we want to stop at every
island and we can’t. We have to weigh
what we’ve read and what advice other cruisers have given us and make a
decision. We don’t always agree on where
our next stop will be so sometimes we take turns picking the next destination. This day we were going to go Pipe Creek but
we ended up back in the Exuma Land and Sea Park at Cambridge Cay. Almost didn’t choose this particular spot as
the navigation coming in was pretty tricky. John threaded our way in there and believe me
we were going pretty sllllooow and watching the water intently. Picked up a mooring ball there.
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| For those who don't know what a mooring ball is...you pick up the end and tie on, no anchor required! |
Nicely protected and very scenic. Not long after tying up a dinghy approached
us and it was the host couple for the park, it was kind of like camping. They took our $30 mooring fee, gave us a map,
answered any questions and told us which boat was theirs. It was going to be another HOT day so packed
up sunscreen, waters and cameras and headed out to hike past Bell Rock and up
on the hill. Landing on the beach we
found a lovely conch lined path.
Looked
like something out of a magazine. Once
across the island, it opened up to a beautiful beach and Bell Rock. We climbed the hillside and took in the view
both looking out to the ocean and back into the bank. The multitude of blue shades and hues was
incredible. This is my personal favorite
hike to date. And to think we almost
skipped this one!
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| Bell Rock |
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| The "Sound" |
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| Look at the colors...never have seen blues like this! |
Back to the boat for a break and to check on Molly. I worry about her in this heat. The temp was like 87 inside the boat but she
was doing just fine. S/V Willow Wind who
we had met up in Allan’s Cay the week before took the mooring next to us. Noticed they did not have a dinghy so went
over to talk to them and see what was up.
Their dinghy was older and it scraped against some coral and blew
out. Clifford said it was not fixable
and they had it all bunched and tied up on their front deck. We told them we would come and pick them up
in the morning to take them in hiking.
We were on our way to go snorkeling at Rocky Dundas. We had to wait until low tide, not only to
get to the cave, but to avoid the strong current that flows through Conch Cut. Pulled up to dinghy mooring, donned our gear
and jumped in. There was a big cave that
boasted an open cathedral ceiling and stalactites. There was also one of the biggest coral heads
I have ever seen. Very nice. We got back in the dinghy and scooted across the
cut to Tom’s Elkhorn Reef. There was
huge Elkhorn coral there. Great
snorkeling but took a lot out of me. One
of my challenges is getting back into the dinghy with my bad back. Took a few kicks of my flippers but I was
able to do it! Once back on the boat,
the mooring host, Kerm, came over to invite us to a sunset dinghy raft up. We grabbed a drink and headed out. There were 4 boats who joined us and the
hosts picked up Clifford and Adrian since they were dinghy-less. We just sat in our boats out on a sand bar
and chatted watching for the green flash.
(No, we didn’t see it!) Saw some
folks we had met back at Blue Waters Marina in Bimini on S/V Twelfth Night and met
another gal from Switzerland. Thought it
was great the hosts organized something, it was truly starting to feel like a
campground! The next morning we picked
up Clifford and Adrian as promised and dropped them off so they could hike Bell
Rock.
We had already done that so we
went to Honeymoon Beach to hike a different trail. Found some unique flora and fauna along the way...
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| Another idyllic beach |
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| Cool creature, what is it? |
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| Even cooler creature, haven't had time to look it up??? |
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| Somebody's hiding! |
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| Purple sea fan, we see these when we are snorkeling waving in the water...really cool! |
Went back to pick them up and they weren’t
there. Went back to the boat to have
lunch and wait for them since we could see the spot where we dropped them off from the boat. After 2-1/2 hours and no sign of them we
started to get concerned. They knew we
wanted to leave today and it was hot. We
just assumed that they would be back by now.
Went to talk to Chris and Kerm, (anchor hosts) and let them know we were
worried and Chris got in their dinghy and came in with us to look for
them. Across the island we go and as
soon as we get to the other side there they were. They had been having a big time, Clifford
even swam over to Bell Rock and climbed it!
Dropped them back at their boat and off we go.
Moved up just a bit to anchor near a couple
of other snorkeling spots we wanted to check out later. It was again some interesting navigation but
John was having fun just finding a deep path to get where we wanted to go. Again we waited for low (slack) tide and the
water beneath the boat turned so clear we hardly needed to snorkel. We went to Airplane Reef and John snorkeled
the remains of a light plane that crashed here in the 1980’s. I could see it very clearly too just from the
dinghy. Then we went over to the Sea
Aquarium – all I can say is OH MY GOD!
From the second we entered the water, the fish were all around us. It was just amazing. They were obviously used to getting fed and
we didn’t bring anything to feed them but they didn’t seem to care. It was just magical. I mean even when you scuba dive fish don’t
come that close to you. And we saw such
a variety of fish; some we had not seen on this trip so far like a French
Queen Angelfish and a sea turtle. There
was a barracuda there too and John was keeping a close eye on him. We stayed in until our skin started to
shrivel up, we didn’t want to leave! I
don’t think we will ever top that experience but we are sure willing to try! What wonderous waters these Bahamas have to
offer. Don’t think we will ever see
water as clear or as blue. Wish we could show you pictures of that. We do have an underwater camera but can't develop until we get home. Honestly, I can’t imagine ever having another snorkeling
experience like the one we had here. Molly was very taken with the clarity of the water too! Check out our anchor chain laying on the bottom.
We will head north tomorrow, supposed to be another HOT day with little or no wind!
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