James Bond and Big Mama Karma

After 2 nights having Compass Cay almost to ourselves, we arrived at the tourist mecca of Staniel Cay.  Since we are having some problems with both the head (toilet) and the refrigerator, we decided to treat ourselves and stay on the dock at the yacht club instead of anchoring out.

The rather intimidating view over the stern of the boat.

Our first stop was Thunderball grotto where some really silly scenes from the James Bond movie by the same name were filmed in 1964.  Seriously, if you haven't watched the film don't bother.  Unless you are in the mood for a slapstick comedy.

Thunderball battle scene

I snorkeled around the cave with the kids (again, no photos because we don't have a decent underwater camera) but I chose to stay at the boat when they went back a second time to do this:

The next day we set off by dingy to see something I've been looking forward to since we first started planning - the wild pigs! On an uninhabited island near Staniel Cay live a drove of wild pigs.  No one really knows how the pigs got there since they are not native to the area - the most popular theory is that they swam there from a wrecked ship.  The pigs spend their days eating food the tourists bring, lying in the sand, and swimming.

I had planned on getting up close to the pigs but it turned out I was a little intimidated by their size. 

  

This woman was much braver than me

I didn't know pigs could smile

The piglets sleeping in piles were my favourite

The rest of our time at Staniel was filled by exploring the town and hanging out at the bar in the yacht club.  We were particularly enchanted with the laundromat that is also a liquor store and bar.

We were very happy to be able to watch the Women's World Curling Championships

Tiny Binary on the end of a dock full of giant yachts

Compass Cay

After we left Darwin and headed south as they headed north, we spent two nights at Compass Cay.  We didn't know much about the Cay which I think in some ways is better as everything comes as a surprise.

We anchored near the red blob on the map above. 

Binary at anchor

It was low tide when we arrived so Sam suggested we give Binary a much needed clean along the waterline.

Even boat chores are fun in the Bahamas

Sam then headed out with another cruiser anchored near us to try and catch some fish on the ocean side of the cay.  Unfortunately they didn't come home with dinner.

The next morning we (well, all of us except Riley because he sleeps until noon!) got up early to check out Rachel's Bubble Bath (yellow on the map).  The reason for the early start is the Bubble Bath needs to be visited at high tide for full effect.  

To the right of Sam in this picture is a cut in the rock open
to the ocean. When the swell approaches the cut...

... waves crash through and create foamy bubbles
in the lagoon on the other side

If we had been here on the day we went into Nassau with the giant swells coming in from Bermuda it would have been an impressive sight indeed.

Later in the day we headed west in the dingy to explore some caves (the orange on the map) at Rocky Dundas.  There are 2 small moorings to tie your dingy to and then the caves are accessed by swimming in.  I don't have any pictures of the caves because we don't have a decent waterproof camera so I stole this from the interwebs (let's face it, this is way better than I would have taken anyway):

Sunset over Rocky Dundas

Big Reunion at the Exuma Land and Sea Park

I'm sitting typing this anchored at Compass Cay after spending an amazing 3 days at Warderick Wells in the Exumas Land and Sea Park.  In order to post an update we have had to haul my cell phone up the mast and use it as a hotspot as the nearest tower is about 10 miles away on Staniel Cay.

The Exumas Land and Sea Park is a 22 mile stretch of cays and the water around them that have been protected from development and all fishing since 1958. It is a very popular place for cruisers to anchor or pick up a mooring ball.

We were looking forward to it in particular because we got to meet up with our cruising buddies on Darwin who we haven't seen since New Year's in Marathon.  They were able to go to the Bahamas 6 weeks ahead of us and are now heading back stateside just as we are getting here.  

Mooring at Warderick Wells gives plenty of opportunity for activity.  Reg and Sam go some snorkeling in, Sam and Riley tried their hand at windsurfing, we went for hikes, and the cruisers all gather at about 5pm for drinks and socializing on the beach.

I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

Our first glimpse of Darwin was their AIS signal on our chartplotter

Here they are!

Look at that pristine mooring field.  We are near the far left on this shot.

The park has lots of hiking trails which had us scrambling over the rocks in the hot sun

My only encounter with wildlife.  A little north at Allen Cay you can see giant iguanas.  We elected not to stop there!

Boys exploring

Monkey see...

....monkey do.  Sam was determined to do at least as many pull-ups as Ed (6)

Coral growing in the neck of an old bottle.  I find it had to wrap my head around the fact that coral is an animal.

The monument on Boo boo hill.  People leave signs made out of driftwood here with their boat names on them.  An offering to King Neptune to secure safe travels.  Right before this picture was taken Sam received word that he had been accepted to the University of Waterloo for Mechanical Engineering. Boo boo hill will always be special to me for that memory.

Our small offering to Neptune.  Some boats come with fancy plaques pre-made but we had to make do with what we could scrounge. 

The view from Boo-boo hill

Norman's Pond

We had a false start traveling from Nassau to the Exumas.  On the first day the winds and waves weren’t quite as forecast and we found ourselves pounding in to both.  After a couple of hours we decided to turn around and head for Palm Cay on the south east corner of New Providence.  Good thing we did as two of the nights we were there saw huge thunderstorms which would not have been fun at anchor. 

The marina at Palm Cay was a nice place to chill out with swimming pools, a private beach, a beach bar, and most importantly for the kids – wifi. It was also the first place we saw a “sea gate” which turns out to be a chain across the marina entrance.  I have never seen anything so unwelcoming!

Wifi at the pool and beach made for a nice place for Reg to get some work done.

After 3 nights at Palm Cay we set off for the Exumas after fretting over the weather.  The crappy weather was still with us but moving north east and since we were heading south east we decided to chance it.  We were rewarded with a fantastic sail topping out at just over 7 knots and ending in an anchorage called Norman’s pond which is a well-known hurricane hole for boats with a shallow draft like ours.

The kids exploring one of the caves lining Norman’s Pond.

Nassau

We arrived in Nassau with about 4 other sailboats on the first day that it was even possible.  The day before saw big swells coming in from a low off Bermuda which closed the harbor.  Even with the reduced swells we were dealing with 8’ rollers but with 16 seconds between them it was fairly comfortable as the boat just rose up and down as opposed to rocking back and forth. Even though it wasn’t too rocky I was still a little nervous approaching the harbor and being able to chat with the other sailboats on the VHF was very reassuring.  One of them wanted us to go first as we likely had more experience than them (yikes).

The swells crashing on the beach just west of the harbour entrance.

Just inside the channel we passed the Nassau lighthouse sitting on a spit of rock which was completely overcome by waves.  Turns out Binary makes for a pretty good surfboard.

The harbor is full of traffic.  Tour boats, fishing boats, cruisers like us, millionaires on their giant boats who are definitely not cruisers like us, and the giant cruise ships like this one.

We spent our first night at a marina which was close to a few grocery stores so we could stock up on fresh food (who knew lettuce was such a treat).  But nights two and three were the main attraction – Atlantis Resort and Marina.  Atlantis is a giant, gaudy, holiday resort catering to mostly Americans.  It wouldn’t normally be a place we would stop but the marina fees of $225 per night include admission to the waterpark and aquarium as well as a pool and hot tub right beside our boat.  I have to admit that it wasn’t just the kids that had a blast.

The marina is full of giant motor yachts.  Our boat is considered so small that they didn’t believe we actually had 4 people on board so we had to argue to get our 4 resort passes

One pleasant surprise for me was that the casino had 4 installations by Dale Chihuly.  I was a little disappointed that they were so poorly lit but they were still impressive.

I was also enthralled by the jellyfish at the aquarium. I think I could have watched them all day.

                                     

 But of all the sea creatures, this ugly dude was my favourite:

After two days at Atlantis, our credit card was groaning from over work so we went back to the cheaper marina and did a little exploring in Nassau.  The signs of British colonialism are everywhere from the driving on the left to the royal names for hospitals and other facilities.  We went to the Queen’s steps which were hewn out of the rock by slaves to provide a route from downtown to Fort Fincastle in case of attack. They took 16 years to build and then were named decades later after Queen Victoria who didn’t even lift a finger in their construction!

The Queen’s steps.  All those tourists got in the way of my photo!

Showing little respect at Fort Fincastle

Chub Cay

Now, when I’m posting from the Bahamas make sure you read the word Cay as Key.

On my last post I forgot a big detail of our trip from Bimini to the Great Bahama Bank.  About 3 hours into our trip our engine died; but I’m happy to report that no one panicked.  Within 45 minutes we had diagnosed that the fuel pump was the problem, found a loose electrical connection, got out the tools, fixed the connection, put away the tools, posted about it on facebook and were back on our way.  All this with no snipping at each other.  A milestone day aboard Binary.

All boat repairs are awkward and require contortions!

x

We arrived at Chub Cay after our night anchoring out on the Banks. I’m happy to report we got to sail in as our last few longer days have been under power. There is an upscale marina at Chub Cay full of large powerboats but we anchored on the south side with all the other cheap cruisers in sailboats. The spot was lovely and protected from the north wind so we ended up staying 3 nights while we waited for a good day to cross over to Nassau.

We kept ourselves busy by exploring the miles of white beach, snorkeling on a tiny reef and sneaking into the marina on our dinghy via a little channel which is likely used for stormwater overflow!

Our Craziest Anchorage

Yesterday we left Bimini heading east to the Berry Islands. Slow boats like ours can't do the trip in one day and there are no islands to stop at so most anchor out on the Great Bahama Bank in shallow water. Here is a video of our "anchorage":

We were perfectly safe but didn't have a comfortable night as the waves were larger than predicted.