3-26 While sailing there is one thing that rules your life, weather. This is the first cold front we’ve had blow into the Bahamas since we’ve been here, that’s 33 days. We were looking for places to anchor and hideout and ended up last night between Big Majors and Little Majors Islands. It was very protected but the currents and surges from the tides made the anchorage interesting, kinda like being on a spinning carnival ride. Luckily Karen put our name in at the Exuma Land and Sea Park and we got the call via scratchy VHF radio this morning. A British couple on SV Spindrift notified us that the Park was calling us. Spindrift has a mast that is about 15 feet higher than Mango and they heard the park calling us when our radio was not picking up the transmission. We thank them very much. We sailed all the way up to the park under jib and whisker pole only at 5 to 7 knots in 17 to 22 knots of wind. We snaked through the narrow channel and picked up our mooring like we knew what we were doing. One try and Karen got the mooring pennant and got us connected. We are now protected by reefs and shallows from just about any major waves and winds. We plan to hangout here and explore the area over the next couple of days. We understand that there’s great snorkeling here and lots of fish and wildlife due to everything being protected. Unfortunately there is no phone service and limited internet that really only works for messaging and retrieving mail, no pics or videos.
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| Sperm Whale Skeleton |
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| Good Selfie |
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| Beautiful fish and Coral |
The good news is that the sailing has been great only needing to use the motor to get in and out of anchorages. The bad news is that the autopilot appears to be not working at all. I contacted Garmin support and they are sent me some technical documents that look at ohms of resistance at the rudder sensor. It appears to indicate the rudder sensor is bad. This is very unfortunate considering it has not been used very much and it means that we have to hand steer back to the states. Oh well I guess it could be worse.
Karen and I are looking forward to a squall or two to help wash away the salt. Salt is something I remember from my times sailing trips up and down the East coast. I don’t remember it being this bad. The salt crusts on everything, my shorts, swim suit, hatches and ports of Mango and even my skin. The other day when we were out walking around Georgetown I looked down at the back of my knees and they were white with salt where I was sweating. I do shower!
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| Blow hole when seas get rough and tide is high |
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| Nassau Grouper |
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| Last Mango from the top of Boo Boo Hill |
3/27 Early this morning (3:30AM) the blow came through with 35 knot winds where we are moored, luckily we were sheltered from some of the wind and the bulk of the waves. We learned later today that a 150 luxury yacht was blown off their anchor and onto the shore just south of us. Boats more exposed to the winds recorded winds of 54 knots. We’re just glad we didn’t have to deal with that. By the way, one side of Mango got a good wash down with the squall that passed through.
Karen and I got to meet many of the boaters here at the park and it once again reaffirms our faith that people are overall good and generous. We watched as cruisers gave away anything they had to assist others in need. Just about anything can be an issue here as there are no services what so ever here, not even water. If you don’t bring it, you don’t have it.
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| Karen not snorkeling with Rays or Sharks |
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| Our Sign for the top of Boo Boo |
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| Rays swimming all over the place. |
3/28 Today Karen and I and some other cruisers went hiking around the island, since the front came through it’s a little chilly to snorkel (76 degrees and very windy). We hiked up to Boo Boo Hill for a good view of the surrounding area and anchorage. It’s considered a desert island because it gets very little rain but it is beautiful with low scrub bushes and cacti. Small lizards, singing birds and Hutia (look like rats) inhabit the island. The Hutia seem to come out in the evening as we witnessed at the Friday evening cocktails. Unfortunately people were feeding them popcorn which is a park violation but nobody seemed to care.
Karen and I brought the blender out to make margaritas for cocktail hour and everyone enjoyed watching it in action (Thanks again Black shift). I’m now known as blender man. Afterwards we went back to Mango to listen to the Notre Dame Kentucky game and off to sleep. We slept great until 5 AM when the dinghy starting banging against the side of Mango. The only thing to do was load it on the davits as the wind and current were causing the dinghy and Mango collide. After that we slept quietly until 8:30. I can’t figure it out but somehow I got a cold and I’m loading up with meds trying to keep my ears from getting any worse as Karen will kill me if I have to ask her to speak even louder.
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| Cliffs without hand rails |
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| Low Tide |
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| Story about Boo Boo Hill |
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| Even this fish is bigger than Grants. I thought I had weeds. |
3-29 Today we ate breakfast and went for a hike around the island, I wanted to retrieve some driftwood for our sign on top Boo Boo Hill and see the blow holes going off as the waves roll in. I did find driftwood but the tide was not high enough to have the blow holes active. Hopefully we’ll see them active tomorrow.
When returning to the dinghy landing we found several cruisers enjoying Bloody Mary's and snacks. We thank Laura and John on SV Sea Breeze for the shrimp and snacks. Laura was working like a bartender keeping everyones glasses full. Laura gave Karen a box of Town House crackers she had so we wouldn’t have to eat cheese alone. Thanks again Sea Breeze.
3-30 Today the yacht Spindrift moored next to us and I stopped over to thank them again for their radio relay and find out how they faired the big blow that came through the other night. They said it wasn’t bad at all and the area between the Big and Little Major Islands was great protection. I really admired their Malo after I mistakenly thought it was a Hallberg Rassy. Turns out that the captain is Nigel Calder’s brother. For those of you that don’t know, Nigel Calder is somewhat of an icon in the sailing world. Near our mooring we also had Steven Spielberg yacht and the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars. From what we were told Steven Spielberg’s daughter was on the yacht with friends.
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| Our sign atop BooBoo Hill |
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| Overlooking BooBoo |
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| Sunset |
We had a good day as we prepped Mango for the trip to Eleuthera tomorrow. We were still able to get out and do a few things. Karen was able to fall out of the dinghy (wish I had it on film), she thought the water was much shallower when she was jumping off and then just fell in. She took it in stride. I went snorkeling again thinking that the pictures would come out better because of the 100% sunshine. Unfortunately there were no Rays and there seemed to be less fish. I’m not sure if it’s because it was a busy day or what. However there were sharks at the reef, they were only 4 feet of so but I departed shortly afterwards. We went back to Mango, Karen wanted to start dinner and I wanted a shower and strap the dinghy on Mango. While Karen was making dinner we had sharks swimming around the boat. We’re not sure if they smelled the cans of tuna Karen was draining overboard or something else in the mooring field. These appeared bigger and there was no more John in the water for the day.
After dinner we received an invite from our boat neighbors, Lee and Sherry on SV Alesto. We played Rummy Cube with them and their friends until 10 or so and went fast to sleep shortly thereafter.
4-1 Nice calm breeze from the Northeast woke us this morning and of coarse that’s where we’re going. We had 2 other boats accompany us along the way. Ed and Linda on SV Surprise and another Island Packet Traveln Light. We knew Surprise would be with us but Traveln Light called and asked if anyone was heading their way. The trip was uneventful except for the fact that I got a Mahi Mahi on the line, not sure how big but it took an additional 300 feet of line before the reel stopped screaming. About 4 minutes afterwards it jumped out of the water and my line went slack. No fish for dinner tonight. Karen was behind the helm while I was doing something when she yelled “What’s that”. She was able to watch a whale about 70 feet in front of us come straight out of the water and make a big splash. I only got to see it peak and then splash. We think it was probably a Pilot Whale but we can’t be sure. After that nothing but water until the call of “Land Ho”. We motored into Eleuthera tied up at the Cape Eleuthera Marina, registered and took showers.
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| Shark under Last Mango |
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