5/1/12
We left St. Thomas to begin our journey back home. We have
been kinda excited about returning to the Bahamas and doing some serious
exploring there, but as we analyze the charts, calendar, and weather our plans
of grandeur quickly look more and more like a delivery to Nassau so that Laura
can make a flight home for brother Tim’s graduation.
The
last few days in St. Thomas were somewhat nice. We did some final shopping,
which I hate doing as it involves spending lots of money and expensive cab
rides. St. Thomas was having its carnival which got wildly varying reviews from
locals. Some cabbies and locals recommended that we stay far away because
people “always gets dead,” and yet other locals said it’s great fun. On our
great shopping day it was the powerboat races portion of carnival. That meant
that all kinds of police and USCG boats were out restricting water access and
generally just being a nuisance. Fortunately, we didn’t get harassed as we skirted
the race course with a dinghy load of groceries; the authorities were all tied
up stopping other people for no reason. After getting all stocked up we treated
ourselves to a little water front sushi bar that had been recommended. The
sushi was as expected, sucky, but the dessert was awesome, a deep fried donut
with coffee ice cream in the middle. We also treated ourselves to a free movie
on the beach at Water Island. This was really cool. The locals strung up a
white tarp between some palm trees and set up a projector with some speakers out
of a golf cart and everyone just chilled on the beach for the latest Mission
Impossible.
We
departed for a nice day sail to Culebra where we got last minute provisions and
watched the weather for a departure. Culebra felt weird compared to the month
prior when we were there, the cruising boats were mostly gone leaving only the
local boats and a few stragglers. The swarms of young pale tourists around the
ferry docks and vans taking them to Flamenco beach were all gone, and it seemed
like there were many more locals. The staff at several local businesses had
changed, and were now much ruder than we recalled. Anyhow, it was clear that
their season had ended and it was tourists time to go away.
We
departed Culebra in the evening, and just after we cleared the reef we ran into
a Dutch couple we had met in the DR. It
was a shame we only saw each other in passing because they were great company
and we wanted to share some more beers with them. Anyhow, we were committed to
leaving and on we went. The weather forecast, Gribs, NOAA weather charts,
showed 15-25 from NE-SE for the next few days. But one thing I cannot see from
the Gribs and NOAA WX charts is cloud cover and rain. This is where a more
experienced weather router comes in handy. He would have been able to say that
there is some sort of weather system in the area causing lots of upper level
clouds and squally conditions. Whatever the case, we had a somewhat swift,
uneventful and fairly nice sail to the Turks and Caicos. We arrived in the
Turks with overcast skies and rain showers all around. The approach to the
Caicos bank is a sure way to get ones heart beat going after several days at
sea. The bottom rises from thousands of ft deep to only 15ft in about a boat
length, and it’s scary when approaching at 7kn without a sure idea that the
bottom is not just going to come all the way up.
We
dropped the hook in Sapodilla Bay, showered and went to sleep. When we woke up
in the morning we made use of the awesome internet we were getting at anchor.
In doing so I Googled the clearance procedures for T&C. We had been warned
by a guy we met that it cost him $100 for clearing, but our Explorer chart
guide said we should expect to pay $15. Well after thoroughly researching the
intraweb I concluded that it would cost us at least $50 to clear in and at
least $50 to clear out. We decided that was far too much money just to feel
some soft sand on a beach full of houses, and after a few more hours on the
internet we pulled anchor for West Caicos where we would stage our early
morning departure to the Bahamas.
A note
on weather in this area, it seems it always is somewhat dreary and crummy. My
childhood memory of the area recalls overcast skies and tons of wind, and
that’s what it is now too. On our way south as soon as we hit Clarence Town, Long
Island we had overcast dreary and windy weather for nearly 8 days until we got
down near Haiti. I’m starting to wonder if the upper level cloud ever leaves
the southern Bahamas. It’s looking the same now on our way back north, and it
makes me feel depressed and unmotivated looking at the gray sky, listening to
the wind howl through rigging and hiding from the rain showers.
While
we were at West Caicos we took the liberty of enjoying a snorkel around the
dive boat mooring we had picked up. The western shoreline of West Caicos is a
lee shore wall with dive moorings all along it. We were next to 2 big live
aboard dive boats. The mooring is positioned so that the stern of the boat
hangs right over the wall. Our depth sounder read about 55ft, but when I jumped
in you could clearly see the cliff where it dropped off into the dark blue
abyss. Visibility vertically was at least 110’, and probably the best I have
ever experienced. We could see bottom in 100’ of water from the deck of the
boat with little to no sunlight. Being in the water with such good vis was
actually eerie. Things that normally would be out of sight now appeared far off
very small. Unfortunately we couldn’t experience the real awesome coral as
everything was featured on the wall 60’ below us. I tried to pull myself down
the mooring line, but probably only made it ½-2/3 the way down. If I was a real
scuba diver the Turks and Caicos is where I’d book my dive vacation, or better
yet find a livaboard dive charter that will take one to Little Ingua and Hogsty
reef, I think that would be an amazing once in a lifetime diving experience. I
truly want to take our boat there, but the lack of settled weather makes
anchoring and navigating around those locations a miserable experience on our
rolly slow sailboat. Hopefully one day when I can go there on a super self
sufficient catamaran that doesn’t roll when anchored in less than ideal
situations.
May 1st
we arrived at Mayaguana after a very
cloudy rainy sail. We navigated the reef strewn Abraham Bay with minimal sun
light. We dropped the hook with 2’ under the keel and a solid 2’ wind chop over
1’ rollers cranking across the reef. Combined with the howling wind this is a
much less than ideal anchorage. After a very feisty dinghy launching with all
the wind and chop I took a ride to town to clear customs. After dealing with
bureaucrats in the DR, PR, USVIs, and BVIs, the Bahamas seems like paradise.
After signing some papers and showing that we already paid for our cruising
permit in January we were legally in. While there I met a couple who was
cruising on their Outremer 55 catamaran that we saw in Provodenciales. They had
left mid morning the day before, and said they had a great sail at 10-11 knots
and got here for dinner. To put that in perspective we had to break the trip in
2 parts and leave at 4am because we travel at half their speed… it would be
nice. On the way back to the dingy a local (Biggie) stopped and asked if I
needed diesel, “no”, “well can you spare me some gasoline mon?” I asked why he
needed gas, and was told that the mailboat is late and probably won’t be around
for a few more weeks and they aint got no gas on da island. Hmmm this is
dilemma as we have a lil extra gas but where could I replenish. As I was
explaining that I needed my gas to get around the reefs for fish he said gimmie
2 gallons and I take you fishin in da mornin, deal done.
Evening
time brought some colder air and we had to break out our sweaters and jeans
again. The interior thermometer read 80 with all windows closed, so it was
easily 75 outside with 25knots of wind
to further chill things. After leaving St. Thomas where the heat index hit as
high as 105 this feels cold. In fact it feels exactly like it was when we left
the Bahamas in January. The chilly air, heavy dew which makes everything
soaking wet, cranking wind and large chop makes it feel like we are constantly
at sea. Anyhow at 8 am my reef guide had arrived with his brother Billy, and we
set off to kill some swimming creatures. Within 2 hours we had enough as Biggie
and his sling had loaded us up with 2 very large lobsters and 3 small ones,
some yellowtails, and a couple dozen conch. Me and my pole spear only
contributed a few conch (note: pole spears are very poor tools for quick small
reef fish and lobsters). We discussed their days of drug running, Biggie just
got home from doing 5 in the states and 5 more in a Nassau prison. These guys
had some wild stories of running go fasts from Haiti, and claimed to have been
from Mayaguana to every Bahamian island and Miami via a 17ft Whaler. We loaned
them a light for their spliff and took them up on the invite for lunch at their
house. When we showed up for lunch we found what seemed like all the towns men
gathering in the living room for rum and cokes. Biggie was busy cooking up the
entire catch and soon it was served. The cracked conch we ate will not be
forgotten, delicious, and all the men were ecstatic about Laura’s homemade corn
bread. It was election day and all the guys were gathering to have drinks
before hearing the results, although they claimed to gather and eat like this
daily, we headed out before things got rowdy.
May 3rd
we sailed just under 60 miles to Atwood Harbor, Acklins Island. Sailing was
peaceful with speeds averaging near 7kn, just how I like it. We passed close to
West Plana Cay, and considered dropping the hook there for the night, but after
some debate I made the executive decision that it was too unprotected and that
we needed a real nights sleep after bouncing around at Mayaguana. Atwood Harbor is proof that I cannot look at
a chart and depict what the location will look like. I figured we would tuck up
behind the barrier reef that was shown on the chart, but upon arrival the
barrier reef was well submerged and offered no protection. Fortunately the wind
is plenty east and the actual bay is calm.
Got driving tour and lunch for $75, hiked to blue hole,
beautiful beach with sand like turks and caicos.
5-5 sailed to Landrail Pt.: Friendly locals, bought some
veggies, no water, out of fuel, houses all well maintained/ odd.
5-6 motored to French Wells and anchored offshore just outside the bight. There was 0 wind while there which allowed for amazing views of the bottom. We dinghied around the area travelling almost all the way to the Fish Cays which were a few miles away. Several attempts to find dinner in the crystal clear waters yielded sharks and many cudas which seemed to chase me as I towed behind the dinghy.
A trip in to Albert Town a few miles up the Bight was quite the contrast to the rest of the Bahamas. The sign at their small boat dock indicated that we were at the "Home of Prosperity", however once we made it to town it was evident that this was the last frontier of the Bahamas, there was nothing!
The next couple of weeks took us through Little Harbour Long Isl, Rum Cay, Conception and back to George Town for provisions.
