Late Tuesday morning, January 3rd, we left Bimini
headed for West Bay on New Providence Island.
OUR DIAMOND and SEA JULES left at the same time; it was nice to have
buddy boats. We checked in with each
other every hour through the night. This
was reassuring and much healthier than my usual habit of rewarding myself with
a piece of candy every hour. I find it easier to stay awake if there is anticipation
of some sort of treat within the next 60 minutes.
I am starting to
enjoy overnight sails. This one was very pleasant. The sunset was spectacular
and we were able to see Venus and Mars in a line below the moon. The view of the stars was amazing with no
light pollution. There were so many
stars visible it was hard to see the constellations.
We spent Wednesday anchored at West Bay. We did not go ashore as most of the area is
privately owned, and we were tired so most of the day involved naps. Thursday morning we had planned to leave
around 7:30 to head for Norman’s Cay, but a squall blew through so we had a
second cup of coffee and waited until the weather cleared around 9:00. We sailed for a few hours until the wind
died. While we were motoring along Bill
caught a fish. We rarely fish, and are rarely successful when we do put a line
in the water, so this was an exciting experience for us. I hope that even if we become successful
fishermen the excitement does not wear off. Once again we realized how lucky we
are when we watched another gorgeous sunset over beautiful water while eating a
delicious fish that we had caught.
Friday morning was flat calm. The water is so clear it looks like the boat
is sitting on glass. We could see the anchor very clearly buried in the
sand. It is much easier to check the
anchor here than at home!
Luckily the Exuma Land and Sea Park had a mooring available
in the North Mooring Field at Warderick Wells. The wind is supposed to be
around 30 knots on Sunday so we will wait out the cold front on a mooring.
Warderick Wells is one of our favorite places. The water is clear, the
snorkeling is great, and there are nice hikes on the island.
Friday afternoon, after 102 days of traveling, we finally went
snorkeling for the first time this trip.
We drifted with the dinghy over coral heads and saw stingrays, Southern
rays, a turtle, a mahogany grouper, and a variety of other decorative
fish.
Saturday we hiked up to Boo Boo Hill in the morning. Over
the years hundreds, if not thousands, of cruisers have left bits of wood with
their boat names written on them in a pile at the top of the hill. A section of hill has holes eroded in it down
to the sea. The sound of wind blowing through the holes sounds like the moaning
of ghosts from the crew of a ship that was shipwrecked here a couple of hundred
years ago. On stormy days the holes shoot water into the air.
It was too windy to
snorkel comfortably so we relaxed in the afternoon then went to the potluck on
shore in the evening. All of the moorings were full because the wind will be
very strong for the next several days so there was a big turnout for the party
on the beach with plenty of food.
Late Saturday night we had a good view of a dramatic
thunderstorm in the distance before the expected cold front hit early Sunday
morning. The winds were 25-30 knots with higher gusts all of Sunday. Monday the winds were still in the 20-25 knot
range with gusts over 30. The crew from
the boat next to us tried to go ashore in their dinghy. Their dinghy motor
failed next to the small island in the anchorage. Luckily they were able to
wash ashore and stay there safely until the park rangers could get to them and
tow them back to their boat.
Tuesday the winds were still over 20 knots all day. We thought about trying to get ashore but
realized the dinghy ride would be like going through a car wash in a
convertible so we spent another day on the boat working on miscellaneous small
boat chores. Bill practiced splicing and
learned how to tie new knots while I was knitting. Although it is frustrating to be stuck on the
boat in a place with such great hiking and snorkeling it is comforting to have
the security of being tied to a mooring.
Sitting in a protected harbor looking at the beautiful water and seeing waves
on the windward side of the island splash 20 feet in the air is not a bad way
to sit out bad weather.
Rainbows were the high point of Wednesday morning. The wind was still 20-30 knots all day. The rain squalls in the morning were intense
with the rain blowing sideways. After
each squall we saw fantastic rainbows, so it was worth the bad weather. In the afternoon we moved to a mooring that
was more protected, and closer to shore, so we were able to dinghy in and go
for a hike. The waves crashing on the
windward side of the island were sending salt spray hundreds of feet
inland. We could barely see through the
salt on our glasses by the time we were done with the hike.
As usual this week the wind was over 20 knots on
Thursday. We went for a short hike in
the morning. In order to keep out of the spray we had hoped to hike on the
leeward side of the island, however, connecting the trails requires walking on
the beach at low tide and it was high tide.
We are starting to get used to the wind, which is not
supposed to stop for several more days, so we decided to go to the Staniel Cay
area. We have plenty of food, but the
meal choices are somewhat limited and slightly weird, so the lure of a grocery
store was enough to convince me to untie from a mooring. When you start
discussing whether a meal of corned beef hash and spaghetti would be edible it
is time to go shopping!
The sail to Staniel Cay was great. We were doing 6.5 to 7
knots with only a reefed jib. We ended
up anchoring at Big Majors Spot next to “pig beach”. The locals have let pigs loose on the island
and it has become a strangely popular tourist attraction. The pigs have figured out that the cruisers
will feed them and hang out on the beach hoping for handouts.
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