Provisioning at Staniel Cay

January 24, 2013

 

At the end of last week, other than some minor purchases in Highbourne and Black Point, it had been six weeks since our last provisioning in Miami.  We had very little fresh produce or dairy products left, and we were starting to crave things like fresh milk.  We also had spent over two weeks in the Exuma Park, where there are no restaurants, so we had hit our provisions and cooking propane hard.  We decided that a stop at Staniel Cay would be good: it appeared to be one of the only places where we could buy propane, before reaching Georgetown,  and there were three stores in town.  

 

We knew that Staniel is very popular with cruisers, and that most of the anchorages were quite a ways from the settlement.  The ones that are closeby can only accommodate a few boats.  With our small, slow dinghy (think Yugo of dinghies), we did not look forward to having to go a mile to the store.  We were not very optimistic as we approached Staniel, but we decided to be bold and see how close we could get to the stores.  We couldn’t believe when there were only two boats in the small anchorage closest to the settlement.  We would fit perfectly between the two!  Soon after we arrived (on Sunday), the freight boat 'Captain C' came to the government dock.  We weren’t sure, but thought that this might be the supply boat: it was, what perfect timing!

 

The next morning, we took our propane tank and our canvas grocery bags to Iles General Store.  At the door was a sign saying that the store would be closed until Tuesday, probably because they were low on all the essential items.  But, since the supply boat had arrived the day before, they had made arrangements for someone to fill in and open the store on Monday.  Anyone ‘in the know’ in Staniel stayed away because they knew the store would be closed until the next day, so we were able to shop with no competition.  When Tom asked about propane, he was told that they hadn’t had propane for a long time, and there was a backlog of tanks to be filled from the supply they just received.  When they learned that we were only going to be there a day or two, they agreed to fill our tank, if we paid in advance, and we could pick it up the next morning.  

 

After taking groceries back to the boat, we made a list of items that we still wanted but were unable to find at Iles.  We went ashore for lunch and then walked around the settlement until we found Burke Smith’s Blue Store.  This store was deceptive, in that it was really only two small rooms, but it had everything on the list that we wanted.  I did have to ask if they had many of the items, but I was never disappointed!  It even had ice cream bars, and Tom had wanted some ice cream for the past few weeks.  We asked Burke’s daughter if it would be OK if we ate our ice cream out front of the store, and she told us to go to their family’s patio and sit there out of the sun.  When Burke heard us, he came out of the house to talk and told us of some of his adventures as a fishing guide.  He also mentioned that he was in one of the first regattas in the 1954.  Overall, a very pleasant experience.

 

By the end of the day, we had all the provisions we needed, with the exception of the propane.  We started to wonder if our ‘luck’ would run out and our propane tank would come back empty.  After all, we had left the tank there and paid for the propane, but we had no receipt for the tank nor for the payment.  We expected that at best we would have to pay a second time, since we knew the woman who had helped us was only filling in.  But, we were thrilled to go back to the store, on Tuesday morning, and pick up a full tank, no payment due.  And, according to the sign, the store should still be closed.  We left Staniel feeling that we had really scored!

 

Our shopping philosophy as evolved this year.  In Highbourne, we would buy something if it wasn’t too expensive.  Now, we don’t ask the price if we need something, since we never know when we’ll be able to find the item again.  Of course, Highbourne is a marina resort and prices are about 50% higher than in the settlements.  Overall, the prices in the settlements have been reasonable, considering the cost and difficulty of getting the items to the out islands.  Also, some of the items are not like what you find in the States.  For example, we bought margarine, but after using it, we are sure that it is not heart healthy.  And, milk, is sometimes frozen or ultra-pasteurized for long life; we usually buy fresh skim in the States.  We brought some ultra-pasteurized (Parmalat) skim milk with us, but we had used all of our fresh milk and more than half of the Parmalat.  We were able to buy two half gallons of 2% milk (no fresh skim in a third-world country), some whole milk and skim Parmalat.  But, at least we had milk again for drinking or cereal, and we can always mix the Parmalat with the whole milk for a less creamy blend.

 

All in all, we’re a long ways from Wegman’s in Dewitt, mon.

 

Joyce

Black Point, Exuma

 

          

 

US Coast Guard

January 20, 2013

We are currently anchored near Staniel Cay. We left Black Point on Thursday January 17th to return north to Cambridge Cay for some more snorkeling and to weather a small cold front. On Sunday January 20 we traveled south again to Staniel Cay to hopefully pick up a few supplies and provisions.

On thing that was notable around Cambridge was a significant US Coast Guard presence. We have seen two Coast Guard helicopters over the last few days, the last of which altered course to fly over us in our dinghy at a fairly low altitude. We had been told to expect some Coast Guard presence in the Bahamas, but it still seems a bit weird to see them in another country. Apparently the Coast Guard conducts joint operations with the Bahamian Defence Force.

We also heard an 'interrogation' of a vessel by the Coast Guard on the VHF radio. It was fairly routine: origin, destination, number persons on board , etc..

Probably the strangest, however, is Coast Guard only by speculation. Twice we have seen two light planes flying in a loose formation VERY close to the ground and curving around islands in classical radar evading maneuvers. The first time we saw them we were in the Cambridge Cay mooring field. We saw one coming across Bell Cut and behind Cambridge Cay, while another came around Bell Island. We thought for a second that they were going to collide, and our first thought was that it was a pilot error. They were white and had no special markings.

Today we saw them again while traveling down the Bank to Staniel Cay when Joyce spotted a plane she thought was landing. I looked and saw the second plane close behind. They were not landing, but rather flying very low, looping around the the various cays.

Either they are drug runing planes trying to fly below the radar or they are some sort of interdiction operation doing the same thing to try to sneek up on the 'bad guys'. Either way, very interesting to watch; you just don't want to get 'tangled up' in anything!

Tom
Staniel Cay, Exuma
Via Satellite
Map

Black Point People

January 14, 2013


We have been anchored at Black Point on Great Guana Cay for over a week.  A large Atlantic high has produced strong east to southeast trade winds from which we have been well protected in the harbour here.

Black Point, with about 250 permanent residents, is the second largest settlement in the Exumas. Although it has somewhat of a mixed reputation, we have thoroughly enjoyed our time here.  Although certainly not prosperous, from an American perspective, the houses are nicer and better kept than in several of the other non-tourist settlements we have visited.

The thing we personally like when we travel is to meet people from different cultures and heritages.  While we enjoy meeting other cruisers, for the most part their backgrounds and heritages are not different than ours.  The Bahamians, on the other hand, are fascinating to get to know. Bahamians are 90% of African slave heritage with the remaining dominant culture British loyalists.  In many places there is a lot of mixing of the two.  In Bimini, for example, many of the residents are quite dark, but speak frequently about their Scottish heritage.  At the Anglican church in Bimini one of the lay priests engaged Joyce about her facial features and asked if she was Scotch - she is English and Welsh, but close enough.  He had quite African features, but talked about his Scottish heritage and joked that his daughter was whiter than Joyce.  In Black Point, many of the residents have the last name of Rolle, which is the name of the British Loyalist that was granted land in this area.  It was common, both before and after emancipation for slaves to adopt their master's name.

But back to Black Point.  In general the people have been very friendly and in particular we have gotten to know the extended family of Paymon Rolle.  Paymon is a delightful and fascinating Bahamian woman.  We have been very impressed, that in spite of relatively limited economic opportunity, they work incredibly hard to make a living, but also one gets a sense that it is not just about the money, but that they are sincerely interested in helping people.  The other striking thing is their strong sense of family.

Paymon is the matriarch of the family.  She has had 10 children, most of whom now live off island.  She is a master baker and bakes almost every day supplying bread to visiting cruisers.  Her speciality is Bahamian coconut bread which contains an inner layer of cooked and sweetened coconut.  We pretty much assumed that the coconut came from a can, but as we talked to her more we found that she starts with whole coconuts, from which she extracts the meat, combines it with sugar and some seasoning, and then cooks and cools it before using it in the baking process.  She also does laundry, although she is cutting back on that these days. 

But as we visited Paymon, we kept meeting different young people at her house.  There was her young great granddaughter that she babysits almost every day.  But there was also Joshua, her 3 year old grandson (more on him later); 'LG' her 10 year old grandson who is living with her, so he can go to primary school here, rather than Nassau where his mother works and lives; Princeton, her youngest son visiting from Nassau and helping her with her bread sales; and several other young people that we have not quite figured out their relationship, but seem to be quite at home at her house or her daughter Lorraine's cafe.

Paymon is a deaconess at the Gethsemane Baptist Church which we attended this last Sunday.  She handles a lot of the 'administration' of the church, led the service this Sunday, and frequently preaches.  We enjoyed the lively service and are getting better about the extended 'meet and greet' in Bahamian churches where it seems you MUST greet and hug EVERY other person in attendance.

Paymon's daughter, Lorraine along with her husband Uriah run Lorraine's Cafe - a restaurant, internet cafe, and local hangout.  The food is great, but what is unique is the way they strive to make everyone feel at home. From the serve-yourself beverages, to the internet access available with only a suggested donation, and the home cooked food,  it is a place where you can almost forget to pay, because it feels so comfortable. Uriah tends to be mostly 'behind the scenes', but we got to talk to him on Sunday after church as he 'held down the fort' until Lorraine returned from church.  He talked about how they will not deny people food or internet access if they cannot pay.  They ask them to send them payment when they can. While in no way am I suggesting that they don't make a decent living with the restaurant (by island standards), I really do believe that it goes beyond money - that they do it to be of service.

Joshua is Lorraine and Uriah's 3 year old son.  He is outgoing and smart as a whip.  I cannot believe his computer/electronic device skills at 3 years old.  He was using the mousepad on my laptop like a pro.  He is drawn to any computer, phone or electronic device like a magnet. He took the following picture of his mother and grandmother with Joyce's phone. 

I could go on about several other members of the family, but I hope you get the picture.


As we have walked around the north end of Great Guana, we have been surprised how hilly and rugged it is.  We expected all Bahamian islands to be flat, but that clearly is not true.

On one walk down the the 'King's Highway', we saw several corn fields shoe-horned into a relatively fertile pieces of land. The Bahamas have limited opportunity for agriculture, but the people use the land as best they can.

We will probably stay here until Wednesday or Thursday of this week, when we will head north a bit - back to Cambridge Cay and then Staniel Cay.

Tom
Black Point, Exuma
Map

Black Point

January 9, 2013

 

On Monday, the 7^th, we made the trip from Cambridge Cay to Black Point, about 20 nautical miles.  The winds and seas were a bit more than predicted, but the trip was good.  As we went through the sound and rounded the cay toward the anchorage, it was actually quite calm.  Black Point is described as ‘an excellent example of a real out-island “non-touristy” settlement’, so you can imagine our surprise when we saw 40+ boats already anchored off the government dock in the community.  This was not in my definition of “non-touristy”.  But, most of the other boats were here for the same reason that we are: the predicted high winds from the east and south for the next week.  We are here for more than the protection provided; we love to meet the people in these settlements, and we need to do some chores, like laundry (almost three weeks since the last laundry), disposing of garbage (two weeks worth since the Exuma Park has no garbage disposal available), and some provisioning (a month since our last provisioning in Miami). 

 

Yesterday morning, we took our two duffels of dirty clothes to the Laundromat, which is either self-service or a full-service laundry.  We have found that it only costs a few dollars more to use the full-service than it would be for the washers and dryers in a Bahamas’ Laundromat, where it’s normally $3.50 to $4.00 per load for the washer and the same for the dryer.  So, I’ve been converted to the full-service model.  After we arrived at the Laundromat, we found that the woman that normally does the wash was off until ‘tomorrow afternoon’, and that tokens are needed for the self-service washers and dryers.  They were available at the grocery store; however, the grocery store was closed for the day.  Fortunately, we remembered that you could also drop off laundry at Lorraine’s café, the local cruiser hangout with great food, internet, and a small shop.  Lorraine’s mom, Paymon Rolle, kindly agreed to do our wash, and we later discovered that although she used to do full-service laundry, she now only does it for friends.  We felt honored that she would help us.  Paymon is a master baker of Bahamian bread, and we can attest to the fact that her coconut bread is de-lish.

 

This morning, we went for a walk around the settlement, and found a house whose yard is full of driftwood art, and has earned the name Garden of Eden.  We saw the owner (Willie Rolle) on his porch and commented that we thought his art was wonderful.  He kindly offered to take us through his masterpiece and helped us interpret the different works of art.  He described them as being similar to clouds, and you need to use your imagination to see the animal that is represented.  Willie also grows fruits and vegetables on land that most people would give up as totally unproductive, since it’s almost entirely rock.  But, Willie has planted in any hole that’s available in the rock.  It’s truly amazing.

 

So far, we have accomplished a couple tasks, the laundry and we now know how to dispose of our garbage.  Provisioning hasn’t been as successful, since it’s been a week since the mail boat has been in Black Point.  Since we have very little fresh produce left, we resorted to a third-world diet of beans and rice tonight, along with a papaya which Willie had given us.  But, we can’t be pitied since we had lunch at Lorraine’s consisting of conch and fish snacks, which are actually small dinners.  Lorraine came out and asked if we had time to spare, since the fish was currently being cleaned.  Of course, we said ‘yes’ when we heard that we would be having fresh grouper.   The mail boat came this afternoon, from Nassau, so we’ll see what provisions we can buy tomorrow.  We know we can’t go with a grocery list; instead, we need to have a wish list and see how it matches with what’s available.

 

We’re looking forward to our continuing stay at Black Point and the other friendly people that we will meet.

 

Joyce

Anchored at Black Point

Exuma, Bahamas      

 

Cambridge Cay

January 7, 2013

 

On Saturday January 5th we departed the north mooring field at Warderick Wells and traveled out Warderick Cut into the Exuma Sound.  To the west of the Exuma chain are the shallow waters of the Bahamas Bank.  Water depths here range from mere feet to 30’+ and sandbanks, coral heads and rocky bars abound.  The Bank is generally protected from the prevailing easterlies, but you must pick your courses carefully.  The Explorer charts are, however, excellent and give information, waypoints, and suggested courses – they are indispensable resources for cruising the Exumas.   On the east side of the islands lies the Exuma Sound which is basically ocean loosely bounded by some of the outer Bahamian islands.  Here you can generally set straight courses between cuts (channels where you can cross from the Sound to the Bank), but you do not have any protection from the  easterly winds and waves. 

 

The Sound this day had moderate (15 knot) winds as we traveled SE to Cambridge Cay, but they were pretty much on our nose requiring another motor-sail.  True sails are rare as you make your way east and southeast through the Bahamas because of the prevailing east to southeasterly winds.

 

We navigated the Bell Island Cut just north of Cambridge Cay without difficulty, but as we headed into the Cambridge Cay mooring field the sun was ahead of us making it difficult to ‘read the water’ (estimate its depth by the color).  But the entry directions from our Pavlidis cruising guide were very complete and we slipped into the field without incident.  Pavlidis guides give a tremendous amount of information, but we often find that is not that well organized which sometimes makes it difficult to find what you want.  But he gives very complete directions on entering many cuts and anchorages and is another indispensable resource here.

 

Cambridge Cay has been our favorite place so far in the Exuma Park.  It is well protected in almost all directions and has some great snorkeling nearby.  We snorkeled the ‘Sea Aquarium’ at the northern tip of Obrien’s Cay.  It is a relatively small rock surrounded by coral and tons of colorful fish.  I am pretty sure they are fed regularly by visitors because they get right in your face.  We did not get to some of the sites on the south end of Cambridge because of relatively high winds on that shore, but they are reported to be pretty spectacular.  So far the snorkeling has been good, but not comparable to some of the sites in the Virgin Islands that we have visited before on bareboat charters.

 

On the Sound side of the Cay is Bell Rock, a distinctive bell-shaped rock.  This high headland near this rock reminded us of the Virgin Islands which are formed by volcano activity and are higher and steeper than the typical Bahamian islands.

 

Bell Rock from the mooring field

 

 

Bell Rock from beach

 

Bell Rock from Bell Cut Headland

 

 

On top of the headland, someone had built a stone memorial to their brother – very touching.

 

 

 

On Monday January 7^th, we plan to again head out into Exuma Sound to travel to Black Point on Great Guana Cay.  This is a real ‘non-touristy’ out island settlement that we are looking forward to visiting.

 

 

Tom

Cambridge Cay

Exuma, Bahamas

 

 

Warderick Wells

January 3, 2013

We arrived here in Warderick Wells on New Year's Day. Warderick Wells is the headquarters of the Exuma Land and Sea Park (a Bahamian 'National' Park). 

The north mooring field here is unusual in that it contains 22 moorings lined up in a natural channel.  You have to tell the park your length and draft so they can assign an appropriate mooring. Outside the channel, the harbor is virtually all a shallow flat, some of which actually dries at low tide. It is very well protected with pretty much 360 degree protection from the wind and seas - something unusual here in the Exumas.  It is THE place to be in northern Exumas to weather a strong cold front.

The configuration does have its disadvantages in that there is frequent traffic passing VERY close to your boat.  We also had the joy of being on a mooring near the wreck of a small sailboat from years ago that is on the snorkel map. So we also had numerous dinghy loads of snorkelers looking for the wreck right near our boat.

All and all it is a very busy place and not our favorite stop so far in the Exumas.
We did, however, see a Bananaquit, a small yellow bird indigeous to the Bahamas. 

 

Tomorrow we will venture out into the Exuma Sound for a 10-12 mile trip to Cambridge Cay, where we have been told there is some extraordinary snorkeling.

Tom
Warderick Wells
Exuma, Bahamas
Map Cruise 2012-13

Hawskbill Cay - Warderick Wells

January 2, 2012

We spent New Year's Eve at Hawksbill Cay.  Traditionally at home we have a nice dinner (shrimp cocktail, good steak. ...), but nothing so rich this year since we are almost three weeks out from a good provisioning - fresh foods are dwindling rapidly.  It was, however, our traditional 'wild and crazy' night with us asleep in bed by 10:30 or so.

We did have some excitement a few days before when a small sail boat anchored nearby sometime in the night.  It was a about a 27' foot shoal draft boat manned by two young men. We were being rocked by the first part of a moderate front before the wind shifted north and we got better protection.  The small sail boat, however, rolled back and forth VERY vigorously and the young men spent most of the day on the beach.  We thought, what an adventure!

We had noticed that the boat had no visible registration numbers - just a 'FL' not followed by usual set of numbers - but did not think much of it. As the wind shifted north we boarded our dinghy to head to the beach to hike a trail and maybe talk to the young adventurers.  As we passed the boat we saw the name was 'Outa Reach' - interesting.  When we landed our dinghy, the men quickly gathered their things, got in their small dinghy and rowed off without so much as a word, wave or even glance. At first I thought how unfriendly.

But then as we both thought about it, we became uncomfortable with the situation. We were the only two boats in the mooring field.  Their boat was apparently unregistered, 'Outa Reach' of what?, and they had practically ran away from any contact.  Well we aborted our planned hike and stayed on the beach for a while, watching them and our boat.  We planned a few extra precautions for the night, like locking our companionway hatch. Luckily, shortly therafter they weighed anchor and sailed away.  We still took our precautions.

It may have been overactive imagination, but I can honestky say that in almost 25 years of cruising, it was the first time I was concerned about our safety from other people.

The next day we did the hike we planned the day before and it was uneventful except for finding the object shown in the following picture. My 'story' is that it is a 'refueling station' for the alien spacecraft that frequent the Bahamas (in the Bermuda triangle). They are located at unique intersections of the earth's geo-magnetic field and can be used to recharge their 'fuel'.  Talk about a wild imagination! :-)

We left Hawksbill on New Year's Day and traveled the short distance to Warderick Wells.  The wind was a bit stronger than forecast, 18 knots gusting to 23, and almost dead on the nose.  Across the shallow Bahama Bank it raised sharp 2-3 foot waves that gave us quite a bumpy, but thankfully, short trip.

We arrived at Warderick Wells without any problems and picked up our assigned mooring.

Tom
Moored at Warderick Wells
Exuma, Bahamas
Map Cruise 2012-13