Day 247, Monday, February 24

Day 247, Monday, February 24

The day starts with a run for Dawson, joined by Guiomme, and French studies for Julie.  Today Slow Waltz is continuing south so we will bid them a final good-bye.  First they are interested in going for a snorkel so by 8:45 we are snorkelling on a nearby reef.  There are fish to see and some coral but it is nothing like the snorkelling we have done in the Exumas.  A storm of some sort must have come through and damaged the coral.  We try later at another site and it is even worse.   This is unfortunate as Conception Island is supposed to have excellent snorkelling.  They do have lots of accessible reefs but they all seem somewhat dead.  We bid our good-byes, which is very sad, in part because we will not see Gwen and Guiomme for a long time but also because it represents that we are “turn arounders”.  This affirms that we are not going any further or else we would have gone with them.  It is a landmark recognition of an unspoken decision.  We know we had decided to go back to work, and talked about where to put the boat in storage, but this cements the decision to head north.

Slow Waltz leaving us for the last time

We have the rest of the afternoon ahead of us with no plans so Julie sets up the hammock chair and reads for a couple hours  We then spend the rest of the afternoon looking for another spot to snorkel, going for a bit of a hike and then pop over to visit Harmonium.  Harmonium is an ABYC boat which is Ashbridges Yacht club which is the club we had joined as associate members while in Toronto.  We are welcomed aboard and have lots to chat about.  They lived in Leslieville which is a couple miles from the Beaches where we lived.  After about a 30 minute visit Julie asks Christi if she had taken the Extended cruising course through Power Squadron and it turns out her and Phil and us were in the same class for 10 Tuesday nights the spring of 2012.  We thought they looked familiar.  Again what a small world.  While at Harmonium, Haven (Al and Brenda) called and suggested we come over for a sundowner, so after a quick shower on our boat we head over with drinks in hand and an appetizer.  Another couple from Milleexcursions also joined in and brought some cervichi made from the fresh Mahi Mahi they had caught on their crossing.  We can only stay for an hour as we have social plans for the evening on Serena with Barry and Wilma.  Of course we are longer and get back to our boat 20 minutes before we are to get to the next social.  Quickly we fry up the sausages planned for dinner last night, and head out with another snack and something to drink.  Typical to boating you bring what you want as we are a long way from any supplies and it is understood you don’t want to drain others of their inventory.  We are not sure where their boat is and it is dark.  We know the general direction in the anchorage so it is quite funny as we go boat to boat calling out Serena.  Barry hears us and hails us over.

We have a lovely evening of euchre and Mexican train which is dominoes.  Our heads start bobbing at 10:00 as we have had lots of sun today.

Cheers

Julie and Dawson

Day 246, Sunday, February 23

Day 246, Sunday, February 23

Mangroves

The morning starts with exercise.  A run for Dawson and a walk along the beach for Julie.  We have decided to head up to the Mangrove swamp by towing the kayaks behind the dinghy.  We want to get there for high tide as the entranceway is shallow.  We are about 2 hours early but there is sufficient water.  We get into the salt water estuary without touching bottom or getting caught in a breaker.  Just the trip to get here was interesting as it was about 2.5 miles and we had to go slow due to towing the dinghies.  Once we rounded the point we were also in the swells of the Atlantic which were about 3-4 feet on the nose, so we got wet also.  The wet part did not matter as we were in swimsuits and it was warm, but we did not want to swamp the kayaks.  As a safety measure we of course had the handheld radio and had told Serena where we were going.  (did not think to take the spot connect with us)

Turtle in the water

After a quick picnic lunch, we head to the right with the wind on the nose for paddling but the current was pushing us so it was not too bad.  We saw lots of turtles and 2 small sharks, and a healthy conch population.  The turtles swam fast, and were from dinner size plate size to about 2.5 feet across.  When we went to the left of the entranceway there was what looked like a shallow blue hole which was very pretty with its varying water colour.  As we were on this branch of the estuary we see Barry and Wilma from Serena.  We ask them if they told anyone where they were going and they said no.  We laughed as they were our safety if we got lost, so now we are together and no one knows where we have gone.  (it is not dangerous or anything so not a worry at all, just thought it was funny).

Sundowner gathering on the beach

Calling card of previous owners of Jazzebelle

We dinghy back to the mother ship and see Slow Waltz and another 23 new boats have anchored in the bay. 30 boats in total, and we were alone yesterday for an hour.  There is an organized happy hour on the beach that we attend and say hello to our fellow yachties.  Some of them we have met before, but not many.  When we get back to the boat there is a large fish hanging around under our boat.  It is about 3 feet long and just sitting there.  We cannot fish here as it is a protected area.

Slow waltz hosts us for dinner which is fabulous of course.  During our visit Gwen tells us they spotted a "Jazzebelle" calling card at the laundromat.  Although this is our first trip to the Bahamas our boat has been here before.  Glenn and Solange are the wonderful people we have bought the boat from and they would have posted this card on the wall about 13 years ago, so we had quite a hoot over Gwen and Guiomme finding it.

Cheers

Julie and Dawson

Day 245, Saturday, February 22 - a great sail but a bad fishing day

Day 245, Saturday, February 22

Today we move from Calabash bay, Long island to Conception Island.  It is a fabulous sail.  Our heading is about 50 degrees and we are able to sail a straight line to get there.  We have a reef in the main as the winds are gusting up to 20 knots and it is a close haul (wind coming across the port bow with sail pulled in tight) sail most of the time.  This point of sail causes the boat to heel/lean quite a bit so we spill some of the wind from the main so it is a more comfortable ride.  We keep a good speed the whole way.  About midway through the sail the fishing rod starts to scream and we are thrilled to have a fish on the line.  Unfortunately we spend too much time getting to the rod and the line runs to the end and the knot comes undone and no more fish, lure, or line!  We feel like idiots.  A real rookie mistake.  Darn! Oh well, back to sailing.

When we arrive we are the only boat in the anchorage/bay.  The anchorage is gorgeous, clear blue water with a white sand beach in the background.  Makes us wonder if perhaps it was not an appropriate time to be anchored here i.e. because of weather and safety.  We were no longer anchored for an hour when we did see another sail on the horizon so we had about an hour and a half to have the anchorage all to ourselves.  What to do. ...

Julie talking to our 1st neighbour

By the time the new neighbour is anchored, there are another 5 boats on the horizon.  We end up being 8 boats anchored overnight.  We all keep to ourselves and we don’t know any of the other boats.  The anchorage is beautiful.  We head over for a hike across to the north side of the island.  Winds are typically from the east so we mostly hide on the west coasts for anchorages.  The north east sides are usually quite wild as the waves have been crashing the coastline for ages. 

Julie signing the hanging book

On the way we find a plastic bag hanging from a tree with a booklet in it.  We head over to read it, Dawson getting a few sand spurs, picky burrs, in his feet on the way, it was almost like a trap, with you being bare foot and focused on the bag and then to spread some sand spurs below the bag.  Inside there is a brief story about a similar book in the Netherlands that was left 72 years ago for all those who find it to sign it and leave a note behind.  The persons who started this book had been to Conception island in 1972 and had just returned this February.  It had only been signed by about 10 boaters so we added our boat and a comment to the pages.  It will be interesting to come back in 10 years and see if it is still here.

After our hike we head back to the boat for sundowners.  There are clouds on the horizon so no chance of seeing the green flash.  The green flash appears just as the sun departs the horizon if there are no clouds or land.  As we are sitting in the cockpit there is a splash beside the boat.  We lean over to investigate and there are thousands of 3 inch fish swimming madly about and jumping out of the water.  We figure something is chasing them and for the next hour we are entertained by about 20, 8 inch fish chasing about 5000 of these minnow sized fish around the boat.  It was cool to watch and hear.  

There is no cell towers or internet on this island.  It is literally an uninhabited island, so we use our satellite phone to call family.  We finally reach Dan (Julie’s brother) to wish him a happy birthday and get updated on Olympics, life and Ross’s (our son) provincial races.  Good to hear Ross has gotten gold in the 1500m at OUA’s.  Next is the Canadian University competition in Edmonton in 2 weeks.  Way to go Ross!  Wish we were there! (Well except for the snow....)

We cook a traditional Bahamian meal of Mahi Mahi (that we caught a couple weeks ago).  This method consists of putting everything in a tinfoil bowl so we put chunks of potato, yam, onion, garlic and the fish and then added a garbanzo bean broth we had kept, add some salt, pepper, oregano, and carefully put it on the BBQ.  It was delicious.

Cheers

Julie and Dawson

Day 244, Friday, February 21st

Day 244, Friday, February 21^st

We have a sad start to the day to hear that Cassie has passed away.  Sad news makes it hard to be far away.  We did not realize our good-bye to her last August would be the last time we would get to give her a hug.  We are very fortunate that Alicia and Alex were able to welcome Cassie into their home for our year away and took such good care of her especially when she was sick.  We try to reach both boys on the satellite phone but no luck. 

We head to shore and Dawson goes for his run and Julie goes for a speed walk.  It is very hot out already so our speeds are low.  The resort here is beautiful, probably also a time share if anyone is interested.  Santa Maria Resort is the name of it.

It is 11:30 by the time we get back to the boat so we only have an hour until we have arranged to go snorkelling with the neighbours.  It is never a problem to fill the hour as getting everything together for expeditions and putting stuff away is an ongoing battle.

Dawson in Kevin's long sleeve wet suit to stay warmer

We head out in 2 dinghies as a safety measure as it is very windy and the reef has some waves on it.  It is about ½ a mile away and both dinghies get anchored okay in about 20 feet of water.  The reef is quite large and mainly about 10 feet deep with a shelf on its outer perimeter that is most likely housing some lobsters.  Dawson heads off with his spear and Rick goes in another direction, Nancy is staying with the boat and Julie just explores near the dinghy.  Julie only lasts about 10 minutes as she is nervous snorkelling by herself.  Dawson and Rick are in the water for about an hour getting exercise but not spearing much.  Rick does sight a slipper lobster which he says is large, but does not manage to spear.  This is a different breed of lobster than we have been seeing.  Normally it is spiny lobster we have been eating.  We are back on the boat by 3:30 and relax awaiting our guests for sundowners.

Nancy and Rick from Angel Eyes

The sunset is gorgeous tonight although no green flash.  We have been hoping to see the green flash here as there is no land on the horizon with the sunset in this bay, however there have been clouds adn we have been told the green flash does not happen if there are clouds.

Rick regales us with many stories.  Rick and Nancy from St. Catherines have built their Reliant 44 over 11 years and it is a beauty.

Dinner is cancelled due to too many snacks at sundowner time so the rest of the evening we blog, try to watch Ross’s provincial race which is livestreamed and read.  We do manage to watch the medal ceremony and glad to see Ross receive the gold in the 4X800 which is a different race for him than normal.  It would be a fun race.  Normally he runs the 1500 and 3000m indoor.  1500m is being run tomorrow but the 3000m he took a pass on as his team had sufficient runners in that event.  He will run it at the all Canadians we assume.

Overall it has been a wistful day as our memories of Cassie have been with us constantly.  Life is truly a gift.

Cheers

Julie and Dawson

Day 243, Thursday, February 20th

Day 243, Thursday, February 20th

We awake to another beautiful day.  Today we have declared a relax day, i.e. we will not be moving.  Around 9 Dawson heads out for a run and Julie stays onboard to clean the boat and do her French lesson.

Dawson’s run takes him out the main road, the Queen’s Highway, and then along the road for about 2 kms.  En route he passes Pratt’s Convenience Store which may have some milk for us.  He is back to the boat for 10 and finds the boat looking nice and tidied.

Dinghy ride up the creek

We decide to head into the convenience store to try our luck, but instead of walking we take the salt water creek up to the Queen’s Highway leaving us with only a 1 km hike.  The trip up the creek we figure will be interesting.  Our thoughts are right and we enjoy the ride, spotting a number of Eagle Rays and a large barracuda.   We park the dinghy at a small dock and head in for the 1 km walk.  The store is there but shelves are quite bare.  The owner is planning on doing a new order at the end of the month, there is no fresh milk but we do buy a jar of mixed nuts.

Some shallow spots in the creek

We head back to the dinghy and then to the boat.  The plan for the afternoon is just relax, do some reading and small jobs around the boat.   As the sun is getting ready to set we try to hail the only other sailboat in harbour, Angel Eyes, to see if they want to come over for a visit, but they are not monitoring their radio.  So we enjoy our sundowers by ourselves.

Coffee after dinner, a game of Kings Cribbage and off to bed we go.

A very relaxing day.

Cheers

Dawson and Julie

Day 242 Wednesday February 19th another beautiful sail

Day 242 Wednesday February 19^th another beautiful sail

We had decided that it was time for a move yesterday evening so today the plan is to do just that.   Dawson gets up for the 6:30 am Chris Parker show.  Anyone planning to sail down here must get an SSB receiver as a minimum, not only do you get a good weather forecast listening to Chris but you also learn and get an entertaining 1 hour show, with Chris as the host and a cast of bunch of cruisers calling in looking for weather routing.  It is definitely worth getting up for.  (Well Julie does not get up for it)

Skinny water sailing

We are underway by 9:30 with a plan to head up to Calabash Bay at the top of Long Island for the night.  Just prior to us leaving Windward is up and underway heading back to George Town.  They call to say goodbye and to report that their daughter Michele has received a job offer from one of the plant in Sarnia.

The sail is a beautiful one in about 20 knots of winds out of the east.  For the 1^st leg we are on a beam reach with a single reef in the main and the full 110 genoa out.  When we have to harden up we reef the genny as well.  Jazzebelle is having a good time and we are galloping along at over 6 knots.  Somewhere along the sail we re-cross the Tropic of Cancer (back to the North side), not as exciting as crossing the equator but it is something. The water is fairly skinny (shallow) so we are riding the magenta line of the Explorer charts.  For all people coming to the Bahamas the Explorer Charts are a must.  If you go with a Garmin GPS they have the benefits of Garmin’s purchase and use of the explorer charts.  We have found the explorer charts to be very accurate; the Navionics charts on the other hand are way off to the point of being a navigation hazard themselves.  Do not use Navionics in the Bahamas!  Note that Raymarine does not use explorer charts and that is a problem.

 

Panorama forward 

Panorama to the aft

Julie on Calabash Beach

We arrive at Calabash Bay just after 1 pm.  As we drop the sails and pull in we see two sailboats leaving the anchorage, which we take as not a good sign.  We drop the hook in the south of the bay but can definitely feel a swell within the bay from the waves in the Atlantic.  The guide book does warn of this but we find it hard to believe that an eastern swell would wrap around the island like that but it does.  After about 30 minutes we up anchor to see what it is like on the north end of the bay.  It proves to be better in the north, we are still in the wind (you are always anchored in wind in the Bahamas) but the swell is less, and we are also closer to the resort.

After lunch and we are sure Jazzebelle is secure we head into the resort for a walk on the beach.  First we have to launch the dinghy and motor (the new one).  This is normally done easily, but today we have a disaster as when the motor is being lowered from the hoist the attachment breaks.  Luckily we have a second line on the motor, however it happens as Dawson is guiding it so he does have one hand on the harness and although the motor does go in the water he hoists it out within seconds.  Julie grabs the safety line and assists with the weight until we can get the harness back on and it fitted properly.

Monkey face carved into outcrop along Calabash Beach

  Once back on Dawson removes the lid to have a look.  We consult the owner’s manual and it says for full submersion we are to take it immediately to the Yamaha dealer as it starts to corrode immediately.  Well we know that is not going to happen as there is no dealership around here.  Fortunately there seems to be no water inside.  Most likely Dawson got it out of the water so quickly that there was no time for water to get inside.  We are hoping that is the case.  The motor starts up and runs fine so time will tell.  It was not until afterwards that we were so thankful it happened when it did.  (outside of happening to the old engine vs. the 2 week old engine)  We realize that the motor could have been over the dinghy and Dawson’s feet and had it fallen then, Dawson could have been injured and the engine could have gone straight through the dinghy.  Anyways we managed through this crisis and are heading out to try a Sky Juice at the bar.  Tracey from Jalu had told Julie she must try it if and when she makes it to Cape Santa Maria.  The resort is Canadian owned with the few guest we meet being Canadians.  We hear from one group that the Canadian hockey teams are doing well.  We head into the bar for a sundowner and we both have a Sky Juice.  A Sky Juice is Sweetened Milk, Coconut Water and Gin.  The 1^st one is served on ice and Julie asks if she can have hers out of a blender.  The bartender agrees but admits that this will be his first.  Julie gets his first attempt but it is too diluted, the bartender Dwayne, tries again and gets it right on the 2^nd try.  It is quite nice with crushed ice.

After happy hour we head back to the boat.  We have a nice curry dish for dinner,  a game of Kings Cribbage, a coffee and then off to bed.

Cheers

Dawson and Julie

Day 241 Tuesday. February 18, a car trip to the north of Long Island

Day 241 Tuesday, February 18^th 

Ocean Energy leaving Salt Pond

Early morning, French done, Chris Parker show listened to and in the dinghy at 7:30 a.m. to get to the rental car for 7:45 and head north on the island.  Dave and Sue are just 2 minutes ahead of us.  The car has rested fine over the night.  Ocean Energy is at the government dock as we tie up to the dinghy dock at Island Breeze.  We had last seen Ocean Energy at Staniel but know her travels as the captain calls in to Chris Parker every morning.  Ocean Energy is a tanker that travels around to all the outports in the Bahamas delivering fuel.

View of Thompson Bay as we head north, Jazzebelle is in the middle

We head north planning on getting to the furthest point and working our way back as we are to return the car by 1:00.  First stop is the Columbus monument at Santa Maria head.  This is where Columbus first landed in the Bahamas and one of his ships went aground, you must guess which one.  The road is bad for the last mile so we park the car and hike.

Start of the hike

Sail boat in the distance off of Cape Santa Maria

Panorama of Cape Santa Maria with Columbus Monument to the left 

Arrival at the monument, Sue, Julie and Dave

Columbus Monument in the distance

View North along Cape Santa Maria

  Sue is again our driver (thanks Sue), and finds a good spot for us to leave the car. 

End of the road - North Long Island

We all enjoy the hike and take lots of pictures.  The monument is at a height of land and we can see a lovely 360 degree vista.  It is windy and there are whitecaps and only 1 sailing vessel in sight.  After the monument we turn left and try to get to the farthest spot possible but the bridge is out so the road just ends.  Oh well, time to turn around.  We have to limit our stops as we have only 3 more car hours and about an hour drive to get back to Salt Pond.

We passed on breakfast before heading out and the granola bar snack is running thin so we decide to stop a Stella Maris resort for an early lunch.  On our drive down to the resort there is a cave sign so we pull over. 

Party Cave c/w bar and tables

The cave is limestone with a few bats, but the resort must host events in it as there is lighting and tables and benches made of rocks and cement along with a bar and barbeque.  Interesting.  To Dawson it is strange to enjoy an evening “underground” vs. overlooking the ocean. 

Another couple miles and we are at the resort.  What makes the stop at Stella Maris is that Dawson had just started a book by Jimmy Buffet, Where is Joe Merchant?, and the Introduction was written in Stella Maris on Julie's birthday in 1992. There is a bar and grill at the waterfront which is on the Atlantic side and although windy affords a beautiful view. 

Julie and Dave at Stella Maris Bar and Grill

After a yummy lunch we wander about and find an ocean pool the resort has carved out of the rock.  Looks very inviting.

Ocean Pool carved out of the limestone

Closer to the car park we find a viewing tower that comes complete with osprey and nest so of course we have to climb up.

Osprey wondering what we are looking at

It is now about 12:15 so time to get the car back to its owner.  The drive back is uneventful.  Sue puts the pedal to the metal slowing down as we pass through the communities. 

The afternoon is spent blogging and napping.  Julie attempts to buy some milk but no luck.  The mail boat comes in with supplies tomorrow which is too bad as we want to get an early start in the morning.  Oh well, we have UHT milk that will have to do.

We head back to the boat but stop at Windward to introduce ourselves to their daughter Michele who is visiting during university break.  She has just had 2 interviews in Sarnia for summer employment so our paths may cross in the spring.

A early night to bed although Julie stays up watching a bad movie on DVD.  Not even worth the dollar we spent to buy it.

Cheers

Julie and Dawson