Still at Staniel

The days are starting to run together but sometime during our first week here...

Day 4 or there about:  We took the dinghies south stopping at the first of two sunken airplanes here at Staniel Cay.  We continued on after a quick dip to the islands south that we felt were too far last time without a motor on the dinghy.  We only managed one Nassau Grouper and NO conchs.  I used the hand held depth sounder to check the depth of a trench between the islands and we are now able to go  below 25 feet.

Day 5 or was it 6 at Staniel Cay:  The strong easterly winds broke for the day and we chose to capitalize on the situation.  We took a dinghy ride around the island to snorkel on the coral heads on the windward side.  Too bad the GoPro has had charging issues lately and was DOA at the first dive site.  Today we saw a 6-7 foot nurse shark on the first place we all got into the water.  Not far from it there was a good sized turtle napping on the bottom.

Later as we hopped from coral head to coral head we managed to shoot 5 fish with the pole spears.  Two speckled hinds and 3 small groupers filled the stringer.  To our amazement we didn't see a single lobster even see a tiny langastino sized one.  We also saw NO conchs!

We finally had the crew from s/v Liberty over for dinner.  We have used enough supplies over the last four months that there is finally enough room for guests.  Blackened Grouper Alfredo Ayrton's favorite was on the menu.

Day 7 will get it's own post following this one.

Day 8 was Fryday! (Thursday)  We were on our way to the SCYC for an order of fries and soda, actually we were sitting inside when Ben decided it was better to buy a bag of fries after our 3 hours here last time.  So off we went to Isles and found them closed for lunch.  Off to the blue store and a small bag of fries.  Off to the pink store for cheese.  But the pink store didn't have cheese but did have a big bag of fries for only $7.  Back to the Blue store to trade the small bag of fries for cheese.  Back to the Pink store to buy the big bag of fries.  What would a day cruising be without making such a simple thing as an order of fries and a soda an adventure.  After we had the key ingredients we went back for jalapenos from Gemini Dreams.  Once on board Liberty we had fries, chili fries, desert fries eating the whole 4 or 5 pound bag except a hand full!

Day 9, yes day 9, we know because we arrived the day before the supply boat and today was a day after the supply boat day number two.  We are still getting pounded by the wintertime winds of 15-20 PLUS.  Two years ago we were already into the summertime 10-15 zone when we arrived here.  We were a little cabin crazy today and needed to go snorkeling somewhere.  The most logical place was just behind the boat and the small rock islands near the airplane.  But that was not for us.  We chose to go to the islands east of Staniel.  All was good taking Boo Boo Tin Tin down wind to the islands.  The first two spots really didn't live up to expectations but as we ventured farther out where most cruisers don't go we started to see more life on the coral heads.  This was now the time a very weak squall line passed over dropping a few rain drops, changing the wind 60 degrees to the minus and increasing the wind speed to over 20 knots.

We could turn around and run for it making our way to Gemini Dreams or we could go on to the next rocky island and anchor behind it and continue to snorkel.  We went with plan B giving Ayrton a shot at a lobster.  We now had half of dinner.  He was hyped and wanted to call Liberty on the radio and “rub it in”.  We were on the last island before Harvey Cay and Ayrton with his lobster had retired to the dinghy and was now rowing as I drifted down the side of the island.  It was along the side of this island that I saw the largest Nassau Grouper of our adventures.  I was not able to get a shot at him but surfaced and told Ayrton as I handed him the only conch I had found in days.  It didn't take long for him to dive in and try to find the grouper.  I saw the grouper one more time but still had no shot before he disappeared into the depths of the fallen rocks.  I settled for a Yellow Snapper.  We now had conch and lobster for an appetizer and fish for dinner.

Day 10 is the annual benefit at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club raising funds for the Annual Native Sloop Regatta on New Years Eve.

Casino Royale at SCYC

Thunderball and Staniel Cay 3-20/25-2014

We motor sailed the mile from Big Majors to our anchorage here in Staniel Cay.  This is due to finding out when we used more than just above idle speed we were still slipping the prop.  Oh well looks like we need to find a washer to tighten things up.

We also had a failure of the depth sounder again this morning.  It quit working on the way to the keys due to a little growth on the bottom in the perfect spot to give it an air pocket.  The a few days back it quit working on the way to Hawksbill but unplugging the sender and replugging it made all good.  Today that quick fix didn't work.  Digging under the two bikes, flopper stoppers, spare lines, and a kayak the sounder looked alright.  It was when I touched the sender that the problem became obvious.  The epoxy had failed.  Pressing the unit against the hull would not register any reading so I pulled enough slack in the line and tossed it out the front hatch and into the water.  Voila! We had a reading.  Now to epoxy it once again.

With the trouble shooting for two jobs done (we hope) we took the rest of the day off.  Heading out to the Purple restaurant we found them closed between lunch and dinner (closed from 1-6!).  Remembering they were cheaper than the Staniel Cay Yacht Club (SCYC) we reluctently walked back to SCYC after giving Ben and Darren the quick tour of the Blue Store (Burkes), Pink Store (Pink Pearl), and the New Store (Isles).  Tomorrow is boat day so we waited to make any purchases other than ice cream and soda.



We made it back to SCYC a little after 2 pm and secured a menu.  Twelve dollars for a hamburger and fries and eight dollars for wings wasn't as bad as we remembered.  If we skipped the cheese and sodas we could keep it to $20 plus a tip.  They also had a pool table (In serious need of repair) so that Ayrton and I could kill some time.  Little did we know how much time!  Island time at SCYC must be the definition of Island Time. We finally got our checks around 5:30!

Day two was a trip to Thunderball!  We took a little cat food this time to bait the fish in for better photos.  We went at high tide which didn't bother us because diving under the entry is not as intimidating once you have been here.  Besides there is a secret side entry you can use at high tide.  The problem was we missed the guess of high tide by enough that within minutes the gently flowing tide became a ripping river.  This made for some interesting “artistic photos” but very few good ones.

Day three was catching up on Boatschool, spending the day on the internet catching up the blog.

Internet connections

We don't know when we will be able to update again.  We have more to share especially photos but what was posted yesterday along with Ayrton playing a few games cost us $10.  But we are in paradise!  Setting up the iPad or a smart phone is getting to be a better option while here.

Until we have internet again,
Enjoy life!

Wes

Hawksbill Cay 3-14-2014

It was a short sail to Hawksbill compared to the crossings and passages we have made since leaving Marathon.  We arrived midday and took the tour of the ruins and a couple of caves.

Pigs Three Different Ones 3-19-2014

Our camera died while at Big Majors (just batteries) so we do not have all 3 pigs for the post

But as a back up...

The day started out with hoping all that was wrong with the motor was a shear pin.  Not that we have any for the Honda on the boat.  How did we miss that?  Oh we were too occupied with the fuel connection issues.  The prop was spinning independent of the motor.  Removing the prop was straight forward and treasure was to be found.  A perfect shear pin.  Now what was the problem?  Once again this came straight forward.  Someone had not tightened the nut enough before putting in the cotter pin.  (Later it proves to be a missing thrust washer or similar as the prop spins once again.) While we had the prop off we chose to put on the one Ben had given us in Marathon since the blades were in better shape.

Next I repaired the front railing I damaged in Bimini when we couldn't slow the boat down due to current.  After this I retired all the dock line in neat little hanks.  Coiled all the sheets.  Scrubbed the cockpit.   I think I was about to start some other project when we saw Liberty motoring toward the previously agreed anchorage.  We hailed them on 72 and told them we had detoured once again and were at Big Majors.

Ayrton even cleaned the bottom of the boat due to the depth sounder issues and the little green hairs growing that always seem to plague us after the keys.

One of the several small caves at Big Majors

We spent the afternoon with the pigs, caves and a waitress on island time.

Fried chicken wings at SCYC

The Sky Is Falling 3-18-2014

We missed St Patricks day (3-17) and green beer! Oh wait we don't drink beer.  We missed Irish coffee!  Oh wait we don't drink coffee.  I guess we are waiting on Cinco de Mayo.  I drink tequila!

Two hundred yards after pulling the anchor up to leave ELASP Gemini Dreams was attacking the on coming waves to leave the anchorage when she lifted the outboard out of the water.  As it entered the prop spun!  No drive!  Stop on fix it here in the heavy chop as it beats me terribly senseless or just sail to Staniel?  Sail onward!  We beat into the wind close hauled for 6 hours tacking a half dozen times.  During this adventure our solar bimini broke it's mounting bolts and was dangling by one support rod and the safety line we had as backup just in case something like this happened.  Beating into the wind at 4 knts in 4+ foot bank waves while trying to secure a loose bimini with two 130 watt solar panels just adds to the adventure.  Secured as best we could with our dock lines we continued on.  Without the motor we could not get into the anchorage we wanted to so we dropped the hook at Big Majors for the day.  Taking a couple hours to recuperate we later worked on the bimini replacing the broken bolts and putting in two new supports.   The motor can wait until tomorrow.

Exuma Land and Can't Spear a Damn Thing Park

L

Exuma land and sea park.  What can we say about this oasis in the middle of the Bahamas?  You can't get dinner here!  We didn't even get in the water because of this.  We did take a trip back up to Boo Boo hill but was unable to find our marker from two years ago.  We also attended the Saturday pot luck.  And one more thing we didn't do last time due to rowing the dinghy was go to the ruins.

Normans Cay and The Case of the Missing Conch

We arrived at Normans with great expectations of cracked conch and sweet pepper sauce.  However the reality soon cam in the afternoon.  Ayrton wanted to look for helmet conch shells around the island so the conch hunt just had to wait.  Off we went to a known hunting ground of ours with Ayrton having Helmet Conch on the brain.  So much so that even when I pointed  a location of a speckled hind he kept on going for helmets.  What?  He passed up a chance to spear something?   Over the side of the dinghy I went with spear in hand to where I saw the hind enter a hole.  To my surprise I found myself face to face with a red grouper.  He made his way to the dinghy riding on my pole spear.  I could never find the hind but on the second dive I found a small moray eel in the same hole the grouper was in.  

A couple hundred yards south I found a huge helmet conch and teased Ayrton that is was mine, all mine!

After chasing a couple of Nassau Grouper around the areas without success we went to check on Liberty.  With Ayrton pretending he found the helmet conch due to his challenge with Daren we finally offered it to them as a souvenir.  They turned it down due to the chips on its lip.  After dropping it down under the hull to return it to the sea a dark mass appeared under the dinghy.  Using the glass bottom bucket we could see it was a huge eagle ray checking out the conch.  We watched as first the eagle ray turned the conch over a couple times then fit the huge conch completely in it's mouth and swam away.  Could this be the reason we didn't find any queen conch in  our previous spot that filled our limits several times over?

On day two we took a journey to Normans Pond.  Normans Pond is an understatement for it is larger than Boot Key Harbor.  We went in near low tide with only 3.3 feet at the entrance.  If you use this for a hurricane hole expect it to be rough and hope that the entrance does not close up.

Day three was camping on the boat as it danced in the current and the NW winds approaching 27 knts.