Christmas at Sampson Cay

A belated Merry Christmas to all listeners. We spent the past week in one place, although we did move the boat to re-anchor twice, once to get in closer to shore and a second time to allow a fuel ship to make its turn in 30 knots of wind. We did not plan on being in Sampson Cay for the week but a combination of a strong cold front early in the week bringing strong winds for 5 days and very strong winds for two days as well as our desire to be in a place with a Christmas celebration all conspired to keep us in one place. And not a bad place at all. Sampson is a private cay with a resort and marina. They had the attendant bar, beaches, walking trails and many many sharks hanging out around the fish cleaning station. The resort also put on a nice Christmas buffet that was well attended.

With the winds dying down we have moved a few miles to the Pipe Creek area for some exploring and snorkeling among a patch work of small cays.

A couple of miscellaneous stories. Isabelle decided this week she wanted to try her mask and snorkel while we were at the beach. So we put it on and she was walking around in the water sticking her head in the water. Jake decided to provide a snorkeling lesson and while coaching her through the process put his hand on the back of her head and held her under. Isabelle did not seem to mind. Low and behold as we explored various coral reefs around Sampson Cay, Isabelle got in the water with her mask and snorkel and took off. Must have been the teacher.

On a separate and unrelated note. On Christmas Eve, Warderick Wells arranged to have Santa call on the VHF radio. We signed Jake and Isabelle up. So at 8:00 pm Santa calls them on the radio. Jake almost came out of his skin with excitement, racing up into the cockpit to try to see him. Santa asked where he was at and if he left his anchor light on. Jake answered his questions at a million miles an hour. Great fun.

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Exumas Part 4

After leaving Staniel Cay we moved back north to Warderick Wells where we met up with our friends on Free@Last. We moved around to the southern anchorage at Warderick Wells, which was a former pirate lair, a great sheltered and hidden little cove with small beaches and good snorkeling. After a couple of days we moved south a few miles to Belle Island. During the trip down we had three dolphins playing in our bow wake, racing the boat, jumping out of the water and generally frolicking along as we sailed on a close reach at 7 knots, great fun. Rae Ann noted that even though it was a bit rough nobody noticed because we watched the dolphins for nearly the entire trip.

At Belle Island we anchored off the west coast and used it as a base to explore the many snorkeling sites. The best being the Sea Aquarium off the north coast of O'Briens Cay, which had all kinds of fish, from sleeping nurse sharks, cow fish, lion fish and great coral. Everyone from both boats was able to get in the water, as current was negligible and winds were light.

We anchored about 500 yards apart in Belle Island. Isabelle decided that she wanted to swim to Jack's boat (Jack is a three year old boy on Free@Last). So we got in the water, and with a helpful current, Isabelle swam unaided all the way to Jack's boat and was very proud of herself.

Jake is now snorkeling very well and likes it tremendously. It is now our only way of getting through to him - e.g. misbehave he looses snorkeling privileges for the day. Jake went our with myself and the crew from Solange IV for a spear fishing expedition. We went to some rocks that were pretty exposed so swell, wind and current and were in the water for about 45 minutes. Jake stayed in for about 30 minutes of it, swam around staying close - and in his words spotting the fish we should spear - including a fairly large barracuda. Needless to say I did not follow his advice.

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Exumas Part 3

We spent a total of 7 days in Warderick Wells, going to the beach, swimming and snorkeling every day. We then departed for Staniel Cay, about a 20 nm run to the SE. We will go back up to the north to check out some other spots, but for the moment the need to acquire some fresh provisions and propane took precedence. We have anchored just west of Big Majors Spot, not far off of Pig Beach. You ask, "why is it called Pig Beach?". Well the answer is that they have pigs on the beach. Not really sure how they got there, other than they were originally domestically kept and later were turned wild. As you dinghy up to the beach they come scampering out of the shrubs down the beach and right into the water. Obviously, very use to being fed. The look quite piggish. We were debating with another boat in the anchorage about the right and wrongs of spear fishing pig.

Enough of that. Near our anchorage is Thunderball Grotto, made famous by the James Bond movie. We went over to there at low slack tide and the four of us snorkeled into the grotto, with basically a heads room of clearance. The roof has several holes which sunlight streams through illuminating the varied coral and fish. The kids enjoyed all but the very aggressive fish, again used to being fed, come right up to you in schools, brushing you and nibbling at finger tips.

We took our late afternoon drink and food at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club, which carries much history and has great charm and atmosphere.

Now that we are out of the Exuma Park, I will begin my spear fishing efforts with due seriousness. That is if I can get the dinghy to stop leaking air.....

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Exumas Part 2 - Warderick Wells

We sailed south about 20 miles from Highborne to Warderick Wells, which is the headquarters for the Exumas Land and Sea Park. The Park was established in 1958, the first of its kind. It is a no take zone so fishing, conching, shelling etc are out. The park is absolutely beautiful with great snorkeling, sand beaches, hiking, kayaking and just scenery to wear the eyes out. Jake has been working hard on his snorkeling and is progressing much faster than we expected, given his aversion to getting his face wet. He is now floating with his mask in and breathing through the snorkel. He gets very excited about the fish he sees so he comes up talking and sucks in water, then begins to sputter. He is very proud though of his new skill and goes about it whenever he can. He took anchor watch of our dinghy anchor at the beach yesterday, in all of 6 inches of water, he floated there making sure the anchor stayed put for about 15 minutes.

We have had a fair amount of wind, which is good (keeps the batteries charged via the wind generator) but also keeps us a little pinned down. Though admittedly we would not have moved anyway. There are no services (groceries, stores, laundry or even garbage collection) in the park. So we are very much "cruising" and loving it.

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Exumas Part 1

Foreshadowing a long stay in the beautiful Exumas, this is part 1. We left Nassau on Wednesday, with much less than perfect weather - high winds and fairly bumpy seas, but coming from the NE and we were traveling SE, so ultimately everyone hung on and we had a fast 4 hour sail. The principal issue on this route is crossing the Yellow Banks, which have many coral heads, some of which are shallow enough (6 feet or less at low water) to cause problems. We timed our route so that we hit the Yellow Banks at high tide, we also diverted to the west of the banks to hopefully see less coral heads. The plan worked out very well, we never saw less than 14 feet of water, while Rae Ann took bow watch and directed us around the three coral heads that we came across. They are very easy to see as they stand out black against the brilliant white sand bottom.

Our hasty departure from Nassau was two fold, one the weather was going to be the same for the next few days and we did not want to be stuck so to speak. The second issue is that we had heard that Nassau was a bit dangerous, well frankly other than not having any sidewalks to duck the traffic we did not see this, mostly just friendly people going about their business. However, on Monday as the wind was howling through the marina I was helping others to dock their boats along with one other gentleman. He told me his story. Had left his boat at the marina for a trip back to London. Upon his return, everything was stolen - food, clothes everything. He said that he also caught people trying to break into another boat just a couple days ago. He said "you do lock yourself in at night?"

Well this is a bit difficult for us because we cannot lock our companionway from the inside. Anyway I was unnerved enough to lock everything down on the boat, then lock the companionway, then crawl through a hatch into the boat. By the way I am certain this is why Nassau gets such a bad rap, I relay the same story that everybody else does from the same person, and suddenly there is a rumor of 10 plus thefts......

We arrived at Highborne Cay, anchoring off the west coast. We spent 4 days snorkeling (Jake is starting to get the hang of it but tends not to breath through his snorkel quote "it is just like when I jump in, daddy, I freeze my whole body up") and beach playing. I tried out my new spear, successfully, definitely more to my style than fishing which has always been to passive for me. The thrill of floating over the fish until it ignores you, making a quick quiet decent and the letting go with the spear is quite fun. Of course you quickly look for sharks chasing the blood trail. We also went over to Allans Cay to see the iguanas, which came out in droves once we came close to the beach, obviously used to being fed.

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Atlantis

We left the Berry Islands on Saturday morning, running ahead of a cold front. While this meant 10-15 knot head winds, the seas had not yet picked up in the Tongue of the Ocean, so the crossing while involving more motoring than desirable, was pleasant enough and we arrived in Nassau mid afternoon.

The Berry Islands are very remote with small populations. They form a backwards L with the interior of the L all shallow sand, quite a large area actually as they run 60 miles top to bottom, with a 12 mile lower leg. Access is very difficult, we were using high tides to get in and out of anchorages. We found some nice snorkeling and a great beach area for shells, conch and starfish. The kids had a great time picking up the conch and starfish to move them below the low tide line. The only disappointment was that we checked in at Chub Cay, finding out that the landing fee was $100 not the $25 noted in the guide book. Explains why so many people had skipped the Berry's and went straight to Nassau to check in.

We decided to splurge and stay at Atlantis Marina. The upside is that you get full access to all the facilities. The downside is that everything at the resort is very expensive - for example $3 for a 12 oz coke, not to mention of course the morrage costs. Though in my assessment it was well worth it. We did not exhaust all of the activities. The many aquariums where outstanding with all kinds of different fish, sharks, rays... (note that you cannot access these any longer without staying at the Atlantis Marina, which is different than we had been advised, but it was clear that one had to present ID that your were staying in the resort to get into the rec areas, same as for water park areas). We also spent alot of time in the water park, which includes water slides, several pools, and river rides. The kids had a great time as did us adults.

We will now wait in Nassau until we get a little better weather to head down to the Exumas.