Staniel Cay, for a few more days

Yes, plans are subject to change! As always, the weather dictates, and thus we've been keeping tabs on Hurricane Tomas to the south. Looking at the National Hurricane Center forecasts, predictions were for Tomas to turn and cross over the Turks and Caicos by week's end. Since we really didn't want to be running south, only to be in Tomas's path, we opted to stay put at Staniel for a few days and see what the weather brings. Not exactly a hardship, we realize!

So, Sunday being bright and sunny, we did a lot of different things, from snorkeling a couple of times in Thunderball Cave to cruising in Eclipse around Big Majors, to walking about on Staniel Cay and lunching at the SCYC. As I said earlier, it's quiet here....nary a boat at the Yacht Club, and the anchorage at Big Major's was utterly empty of boats as well. It was lovely and very isolated, so much so that when we cruised up to Pig Beach, only one lone swimming pig came out to see us!! 

The lone pig on Pig Beach, barreling down across the sand to the water

She was swimming her heart out, but no food for her efforts

We had a lovely walk around Staniel Cay later in the mid-morning sunshine. It seems like many places have been spruced up for the coming season, and it was a beautiful day for a walk. We just went over to Happy People, passing the old library and down to the public dock, didn't even walk up to the Blue Store or the Pink Store. 

Ron in front of the Happy People Restaurant & Bar

Sign for the entrance to the old library

The Library on the hill

From there, it was lunch at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club and watching a few football games. (The Ravens had a bye week, so no cardiac football for us this Sunday....that will have to wait until Thursday!) After lunch on the way back to the boat, we saw the familiar nurse sharks hanging about the docks at the Yacht Club, as well as a pair of rays swimming in the shallows. More snorkeling and swimming at Thunderball in the late afternoon (the currents at the cave can be challenging but also a lot of fun!) before a bit of camaraderie at the SYCY bar with a few folks costumed and ready to celebrate Halloween! We also saw the AquaCat, the live-aboard dive boat that cruises through the Exumas, pull in for the night to  take a berth at the SYCY. (We've actually cruised aboard her back in 2002 when Ally was first certified at the age of 10. She was their youngest diver to date at that point!) So...while it wasn't a late night, it was fun!

  

Onward: Highborne Cay to Staniel Cay, Exumas

Our dolphin escort on the way to Highborne Cay

We had two easy days of cruising from Eleuthera, first to Highborne Cay, where we were the only ones at the anchorage there. We are definitely ahead of the snowbird crowd -- most folks don’t seem to be heading south until November and with the waning hurricane season. But, here we are, and we had a glorious day! We arrived at Highborne Cay just after lunch (mahi-mahi reubens, yum!) where we tucked in nicely, with the anchor set and secure, ready for the coming cold front that was forecast to sweep through the Bahamas later in the night. We then spent the afternoon enjoying the light breeze and good weather by snorkeling from Eclipse and and looking for lobster holes. I saw lots of gorgeous reef fish from banded butterflyfish to blueheaded wrasses to small, shy grouper but no lobster. Oh well! We were on the inside edges of Highborne Cay on the Bank; the tide was ebbing and we didn’t feel like having to fight that along the outside, where we would have had better luck, I’m sure. We had a gloriously calm evening, with dinner and a DVD on the aft deck before bedtime. 

Saturday morning we cruised to Staniel Cay, still ahead of the cold front that is forecast to arrive. When it did come through, you almost couldn't tell, as the winds really didn't pick up much at all. We toyed with the idea of anchoring near Samson or Compass Cay, but opted to keep heading south. Once at Staniel, we anchored just east of the famous Thunderball Cave, although it took a bit of seeking to find a good spot to drop anchor, as some areas of the bottom are mostly rock and coral scree where the current has swept the sand away. But, we set the anchor in a good, thick stretch of sand, and are holding well in the lee of the small cays, with little current in this area. Our lovely weather of the last few days has continued, so we snorkeled and swam about, to check the anchor and to check out the grotto at Thunderball Cave. We startled the daylights out of a group of French-speaking snorkelers when we entered the grotto from the opposite side --- they weren't expecting anybody to  emerge from the depths of the east side! 

Coming into Staniel Cay, heading to our anchorage behind
Thunderball Cave. 

Staniel Cay is very quiet -- not only are there few boats, but it turns out that most of the Staniel Cay folks (Jake from the Dive Shop, Dave from the Yacht Club) are all Stateside at the Lauderdale boat show! Ok, so our timing isn't the best for seeing familiar faces, but we're just following the weather! Tomorrow, after having checked and re-checked the current weather forecasts (keeping a wary eye on Hurricane Tomas, currently well below Cuba) we've decided to keep heading south, this time heading out on Exuma Sound, making for Long Island and the anchorage at Calabash Bay. We'll have some outs along the Sound should we need them, but Ron is chomping at the bit to do some fishing! Hopefully the wind and waves in Exuma Sound will cooperate to make it a lovely crossing!

Crossing the Northwest Providence Channel

Well, we’d been debating it all evening long last night, as the OPC (Ocean Prediction Center) forecasts for today were looking somewhat more favorable for a crossing down to Egg Island. When I awoke, Ron was working out and when he realized  I was up, he came scrambling down from the flybridge to say the seas were the calmest we’d seen all week. We checked the weather yet again, and yes, seas were more favorable today: 4-6’ east of the Bahamas, 2-3 seas west of the Bahamas. Thus, we decided we would go for it: prepare and batten everything down, and take a look out the channel. If things looked ugly, we wouldn’t have to go out, but simply return to re-anchor in another snug spot.

So...in between the raindrops of a passing squall, we made ready: we pulled up Eclipse on deck, stowed the bike trainer and folding bike, tied down the table, chairs and extra cooler on the aft deck, pulled in the sun shades, tied down the salon furniture, stowed every, any and all items that could move, did engine rooms checks and then double-checked our efforts. It took us a good two hours to batten everything down, but finally satisfied with everything, we hauled anchor. We actually timed our departure rather well, as we went through Little Harbor Channel on the waning end of the incoming tide so waves, winds and tides were in concert, and happily exited without concern. 

The easterly swell on the Northeast Providence Channel 

The first four hours we rode a beam sea with waves of 4-6’, with an easterly 2’ swell. Winds were east at 15-20 knots. Comfortable, really, and Equinox loped along, making good time at 8.5 knots. The skies cleared nicely too, so that it was sunny and bright. About halfway through, in the middle of the Northeast Providence Channel, the winds shifted slightly becoming more northerly, so that we were getting more of a quartering sea on the aft port side. This made for a loopier ride, but again, not bad at all! It's always reassuring when the boat is handling the conditions so easily, with things aboard all snug and ship-shape, stowed safely and securely. It was also nice to know it's only a 6-hour passage and not an all-night crossing; we arrived at the western end of Egg Island in by mid-afternoon and had the hook down on the western side of The Current, Eleuthera by 5:00 pm. 

Another perfect evening on anchor!

After a glorious sunset to the west, we are now preparing dinner and relaxing for the evening. I for one, am delighted that we are farther south and tucked in on anchor....nothing better than this!!

Flame Conchs and Rain Squalls

It's been a busy couple of days here at Lynyrd (Skynyrd) Cay! Since it's the tail end of hurricane season, it's really quiet this time of year...yesterday we went into Little Harbor, thinking we'd eat lunch at Pete's Pub, but...no, they are renovating and building new decks, so nothing was open, not even the sculpture foundry. The water was rocking and rolling into the small harbor entrance there, so it was not a dinghy ride for the timid, either...but hey, we had time on our hands and we used it! We walked about the stretches of inside beaches on Lynyard Cay, realizing how remote it is...nothing on the southern end but a small, tidy fish camp and acres of brush and scrub trees. We explored a bit farther north as well along the water, and went lobstering closer to North Bar Channel in the late afternoon on Tuesday. I opted to be dinghy girl, piloting the boat while Ron checked the underwater layout, looking for lobster lairs amid the ledges and rocks...soon enough, Ron found a pair of tasty tails for dinner! I now stand corrected that the Sea of Abaco has no lobster....but am taking the stand that we were very close to the channel cut, so...the open Atlantic wasn't too far away! In any event, an impromtu Asian stir fry with lobster was a delightful dinner for us on the aft deck Tuesday night.

Pete's Pub --- closed for a bit of sprucing up during the offseason

Today, we met Charlie, an older, bearded Conky Joe Bahamian who set up the little fish camp ashore here at Lynyard Cay. When I woke up today, he and a friend were busily raking the sand along his little section of beach tucked into the limestone crags, making things neat and tidy. Charlie came by in his skiff, inviting us to walk along the beach on the Atlantic side of the Cay, explaining there was a trail across island from his campsite. Who were we to refuse? It was wild beauty over there...nothing but the breaking waves on the ragged limestone shores with gorgeous stretches of sand in between. What startled us though, was the amount of plastic flotsam garbage and jetsam trash that obviously washes up there on a daily basis. Here I was, looking for "sea glass", yet I had to pick my way through more "sea plastic" than I could ever imagine. Sad, beyond sad. Plastic water bottles were the major culprit, along with mounds of fishermen's netting, buoys, flip-flops, plastic containers of all shapes and sizes, and remnants thereof. While I found some delightful pieces of sea glass nonetheless, trapped in the ragged limestone shoreline, the ubiquitous plastic trash was a disturbing presence in an otherwise pristine place. 

Charlie's buoy and flotsam collection at his camp

Watching the waves crash along the shore

When we returned to the inland shore and took the dinghy back to Equinox,  we met Charlie yet again, who pulled up alongside in his boat to give us a gorgeous driftwood and shell lamp/sculpture. The main feature is a magnificent striped Flame Conch of some size that is really breathtaking. I kept asking what we could give him in return/exhange for such a piece, but he demurred at every suggestion...it was almost awkward! (Unfortunately, I couldn't understand his Abaconian accent all that well  -- although between the undercurrent of engine noise and the shish of wind, but I tried!) Thus, we ended up with an amazing piece of true Bahamian art for the boat. Charlie then began working on a new-to-him Bayliner Ciera that needed some TLC and repair, which he had anchored in front of his beach. Ron offered to help him with it, again to no avail, and later, Charlie towed it away with his little skiff.

After lunch, we thought we'd do some lobstering. First, however, we went to get some fuel for Eclipse. We decided we'd go to the closest place -- nearly an hour north! -- and headed to White Sound, since Sea Spray Marina had fuel. We tried to stay in the lee of the small islands on the way north, and it was a delightful ride with the wind at our backs, galloping over the rolling swells! We could have gone to Marsh Harbor, but it was farther to reach, and since we didn't have a jerry can to fill (just the gas tank aboard) we thought we'd go to the closest place. It was fun; we had bit of grilled conch (yummy) while we were there at Sea Spray Resort and during our meal, chatted with a father and son who were on island, visiting from the States. 

Ron relaxing at Sea Spray Resort and Marina before lunch

Unfortunately, our happy repast was quickly ended when we looked over our shoulders and realized we had a squall line marching down on us. There was no out: we were going to be wet on our return trip to the Equinox. We quickly dropped off our trash, fueled up and headed back south into the stinging rain that greeted us as we got out into the Sea of Abaco. Oddly, even while fighting not only the rain but also the oncoming waves, it seemed to take us less time to get back! (Maybe because Ron was flying us over the wave tops in a devil-may-care-we're-already-wet attitude? :) Hard to tell, between the rain and the spray!) It didn't matter, as we were thoroughly and completely soaked by the time we reached the safety of Equinox. But dry inside? Not quite!

While we'd locked up the boat while we were gone, unfortunately, we'd left 4 hatches open for ventilation in the blazing sunshine of the earlier day...thus we had quite a bit of water to mop up beneath them on our return! Our bedding (happily) took the brunt of rain that came in the forward open hatches, and the carpeting in the pilot house soaked up the rain that came in the smaller hatches there. Thankfully, the down comforter in our cabin was easily pulled off the bed and dried, with nothing beneath nor beyond it getting wet that a towel couldn't handle! The carpet piece in the pilot house was pulled up (thank goodness for the rubber carpet mat beneath!) and dried as well. Still...our fault for not realizing the potential for rain while we were gone, and closing the hatches anyway! (What were we thinking?) We know better, certainly....and on a boat, somehow, you feel closer to Mother Nature and should thus be more aware! 

So, after a late afternoon of domestic chores of wiping down and laundering wet items,  we had another delicious dinner on the aft deck. It felt deserved after our full day! As a reward, tonight we are on anchor yet again, enjoying the beauty of the clear, starry night. As the full moon wanes, it's hard to comprehend the sheer numbers of all the stars above us -- the Milky Way is completely visible here, as there aren't any lights from horizon to horizon. As I look about the boat in a 360 degree scan, all I see is darkness...literally, not a light anywhere, as we are on the edge of the Atlantic with only a spit of land between us, the sea and the sky. Serenity, in its most elemental form. How cool is that??

Free Bird!

We moved Equinox today, leaving our fun little anchorage off Great Guana Cay to head south past Marsh Harbor to remote Lynyard Cay --- or as I call it, Lynyrd Skynyrd Cay. I probably am dating myself...but, it just jumped into my head! It definitely works though...no one here but us and the free birds! (Remember to listen to the bass line the next time you hear that song. LOVE it!)

Looking out at North Bar Channel...breaking rollers across

SO...we cruised for almost 4 hours, playing with the engine rpms and charting fuel burn, as we made our way south. Once south of North Bar Channel, we found a beautiful little protected lee cove off Lynyard Cay, just north of  Little Harbor. Thus, we are perched on the edge of the Abacos, awaiting some better weather...but...no rush! As we look out, the Little Harbor cut is appears a tad rough at the moment, with “elephants” marching along its mouth. The forecast is for seas to be 5'-7’ on the Atlantic; while we know the boat could handle it, we aren’t going anywhere for the moment. We have no desire to be bounced about and beaten up, lurching along in beam seas. 

Equinox tucked into a lee alongside Lynyard Cay.

After the anchor was down and set, we enjoyed a leisurely lunch on the aft deck and then put Eclipse in the water. We went to the beach along Lynyard Skynyrd Cay, where Ron snorkeled a bit looking for lobster holes, and I beach-combed for sea glass. It’s a rather  remote cay, and there were some interesting tiny bits of old sea glass, their colors softened by the sand. I even found a few flamingo tongue shells -- my favorite! The shells are rather small, and since flamingo tongue populations tend to be very localized, their shells aren't that easy to find, even while diving, I've discovered. They tend to be found on reefs with a lot of sea rods and sea fans; I’ve heard some marine biologists refer to them as “goats of the sea”, since they like to forage and munch on the sea fans. So, it was kind of neat to see their shells on the beach here. Too bad the seas are too rough for diving!

Our lee anchorage, looking calm and protected

The Atlantic from the opposite shore of Lynyard Cay -
definitely a lot rougher! 

We also cruised around the shoreline in Eclipse, looking for lobster holes and ledges, but, as is the norm here on the Sea of Abaco, there were no lobster here. Lobsters are usually found on the outer reefs, not on the inside...but, hey, we were out in the dinghy and enjoying ourselves! We returned to Equinox to have a relaxing, cozy and full-moon-beautiful night aboard, grilling some amazing filet mignons, with sides of  roasted onions and Brussel sprouts, and big baked potatoes. Judging from the amount of left overs we now have, we should have split everything in half! And...so, what will tomorrow bring?

Breezy But Beautiful!

Another sunny but breezy day in the Abacos...how lucky we are to be here! Ron and I had a great day, beginning with working out on the bike trainer in the early hours. The view across the water was fabulous, from the birds sailing around, to the flying fish popping out of the water (fleeing from what, I wondered?) to the Bahamian cargo boat that made its way south on the Sea of Abaco...just lovely serene views that definitely made the time fly by!

Getting ready to ride

After a bite of breakfast, we did a few small boat projects through the late morning before we went ashore, docking at Grabber’s again. We took an hour’s walk about the island, along the main road harbor on the west side before going over to the beach on the east side to see how the ocean was behaving. It looked a tad rough...!

Walking along the main road near the harbor

East side of Guana Cay

Heading to Grabbers with game colors on!

We spent the afternoon at Grabber’s watching football...Ravens-Bills, of course! Guana Cay locals and visitors alike congregate there to watch sports on Sundays, and while Steelers fans outnumbered us, we were able to watch both games with mutual respect! (Steelers barely eked it out over Miami, and Baltimore managed the same over Buffalo. We were all grateful to win!) It was a great time...although, just for once, can’t the Ravens win a game without it going down to the wire?? It seems every week we have to cheer and suffer at the same time...and this week was no exception, as it went into overtime, again! Thank goodness Baltimore managed to win, but please: we are tired of the stress of cardiac football!


After the game, we returned to the boat and pulled Eclipse into her chocks on deck, getting her secured and stowed for moving on tomorrow. We're watching the weather, and while we love it here, we think it's time to move on so that we are farther south. Perhaps stay near Marsh Harbor or points beyond, ready to take advantage of any calmer conditions for our crossing to the Exumas when we have the chance.

Fisher's Bay, Great Guana Cay

Relaxation time is calling! Hanging out at Grabber's

We moved the boat earlier today, just a few miles south along the coast of Great Guana Cay, down to Fisher’s Bay. The anchorage here is a bit more protected from the easterlies which are piping along at 20 knots or so, and the water is deeper closer to shore as well, providing a more protected lee. So, once the anchor was down on Equinox, we had a leisurely day. 

After all the intense focus and push to accomplish and complete the to-do lists before casting off the dock lines, it feels utterly decadent to do...not much of anything! We each kicked back, read, did crosswords, checked e-mail and then dropped Eclipse into the water so we could dinghy over to Grabber’s for a bit of lunch. It was really a rather lazy day, with nothing much going on except for the frisky winds. 

Grabber's Bed, Bar & Grill as seen from Fisher's Bay

We’ve decided to enjoy the journey and take our time exploring; while we've been to Great Guana Cay before, we've not seen much of the island beyond the main harbor area on the west side, and Nipper's on the east beach. (I'm not counting all our dives and explorations of the reefs offshore Great Guana in July!) So, since the wind is picking up a bit, cruising and crossing from the Abacos farther south will have to wait a few days. This time of year there are few other visitors, as most families are locked into school-year schedules and routines, so it's a delightfully quiet time to be here. 

Ron and I made it down the quaint and crooked dinghy dock (no level or plumb-line ever touched this pier!) for a delicious lunch pool-side at Grabber's, a beautiful little resort/bar & grill on Fisher's Bay. As the first "resort" on Great Guana Cay  -- actually, just a few rooms, a bar and a dock -- it was originally known as the Guana Harbor Club. It's also famous as the home of the "Guana Grabber", their signature rum drink! As their resort website says, it was "created here and honored the world over by those that have had a few. In fact, few sailors travel through the Abacos with stopping in for a taste". Of course, Ron and I had to indulge in one with our meals...!

The dinghy dock at Grabber's, with plenty of ladders for all

After a leisurely lunch, we returned to the boat for siestas, more reading and relaxing. A rather slow day aboard, but one definitely appreciated!