As you can see from our latest position update, we are currently anchored in Georgetown, Exumas. We have been here just over 1 week and I must confess that I was pleasantly surprised by how nice the community and surrounding area are. We had heard mixed reviews of Georgetown from various people who had travelled here before us so we were not quite sure what to expect. As it turns out, we have found Georgetown to be a great stop as we prepare to head south out of the Bahamas and on to the Turks and Caicos and the Dominican Republic.
There are currently about 150 cruising boats in the harbor at Georgetown and as a result there is an entire infrastructure set up to address any cruising boat needs. We have found it easy to reprovision here with multiple well stocked grocery stores, hardware and marine supply stores. There are several waterfront restaurants that are very dog friendly which makes Patton a happy guy as he gets to travel with us when we elect to have a meal ashore. One of our favorite spots is the Chat and Chill beachfront restaurant located on Volleyball Beach. Every day at about 2pm, the cruising kids and their parents gather at the beach for loosely organized games of volleyball or to swing on the rope swings or just to relax.
In addition there are a group of large stingrays that appear to almost be domesticated. They show no fear of human contact and in fact will come right up to you and eat conch out of your hands.
With all of the activities, it is no surprise that Ryan and Ronan have pronounced Georgetown as their “new favorite place.” It has been fun to watch the boys process this trip as they have consistently reported to us that each new stop is just a little more special than the last.
As for our immediate itinerary, it appears that we will be in Georgetown for about another week as we wait for a series of cold fronts and their associated strong winds to work their way through our location. The current forecasts show a potential window of settled weather around the 15th of January so we will be ready to get underway. Should the weather be suitable, we will head south and east for Clarence Town, Long Island. After that, we will proceed via Acklins island and Mayaguana before stopping over in our next country, the Turks and Caicos. We will update you next from there.
We are currently in a spot with wifi and have added pictures and video to our last post. We are traveling south out of Staniel Cay on our way to Georgetown for Christmas. Before we get to Georgetown, we have made a couple of stops along our route to sample the small Bahamian settlement experience. We spent a few days anchored in a beautiful bay off of Black Point Settlement, the second largest settlement in the Exumas after Georgetown. Black Point Settlement is a Bahamian fishing village where locals earn their living bringing in lobster and conch. When we arrived, the Bahamian schools had already gone on Christmas break but that did not stop the boys from playing a few pickup basketball games at the local school with a bunch of Bahamian kids. It was great to see how readily the boys made friends with their counterparts from a different culture and country.
Pick up basket ball game
After a pleasant few days in Black Point, we continued south to Farmers Cay. There is a small marina at Farmers Cay known as the Farmers Cay Yacht Club. The name could be a little misleading if you are familiar with the typical American yacht club. This club is very small with only room for a couple of large boats or perhaps 4 smaller vessels. As with a lot of things, first impressions are not always indicative of the experience that awaits. The Farmers Cay Yacht Club is the pride and joy of a wonderful Bahamian man by the name of Roosevelt Nixon. Mr. Nixon, who maintains a great sense of humor about his name (as he said to me, “it would be a pleasure to allow a man of your stature to dine with two dead presidents at one time”). Mr. Nixon and his wife do all of the cooking, cleaning, bartending and management. They gladly share their day and their culture with their guests making this a truly local Bahamian experience.
Randy & Mr. Roosevelt Nixon at Famers Cay Yacht Club
The location is something lifted off of a Bahamian marketing post card. Deep blue and green waters with multiple small coves and beautiful white sand beaches are the norm. The island of Farmers Cay is one with an interesting history. It was originally settled by a couple of freed slaves and the ownership of the land is restricted to direct descendants of the original settlers. The entire island has a population of 55.
Tomorrow, we will continue south to be in Georgetown, Exumas for the Christmas holiday. Although we will miss the opportunity to share the holidays at home with our families, we nonetheless are all in the Bahamian Christmas spirit. To all of our friends and family, Merry Christmas. We will post again from Georgetown.
After spending Thanksgiving in Spanish Wells, we headed south to explore the many cays of the Exumas. We initially stopped at Highbourne Cay which has one of the nicest marinas to be found anywhere in the Bahamas. We had been planning on spending just one night in Highbourne but mechanical issues with our generator delayed our departure by an additional day. Our friends, Mike Cleary and Bridgett Finnegan were flying in to meet us at Staniel Cay so we went nonstop from Highbourne to Staniel bypassing a lot of great places in order to meet our friends at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club.
R&R at Big Majors Cay, Exumas, Bahamas
With Mike and Bridgett safely aboard, we headed back north to check out the real estate between Staniel and Highbourne. Our first stop was Big Majors and Thunderball Grotto made famous by the James Bond film of the same name. At Big Majors, we took the dinghy to shore to see the famous and entertaining swimming pigs who are always enthusiastically waiting for any handouts as you approach.
Thunderball Grotto can be summed up with one word, amazing. After entering the cave by snorkeling through the entrance, you are treated to an unbelievable combination of marine life in the unique underwater environment of a cave that has holes in the roof that allows sunlight to cast brilliant hues of yellow, green and blue all over the walls of the underwater paradise.
After a night at anchor at Big Majors, we headed north to Compass Cay where we were treated to an underwater show by a group of sharks. After dinner, we turned on our underwater lights, then threw some scraps of food overboard. In a matter of minutes, we had a dozen sharks of all sizes swimming under our boat.
I had told the boys that we were going to see a lot of sharks on this trip but I really had not anticipated such an awe inspiring display right off the back of the Pilot’s Discretion.
Exuma Land & Sea Park, Bahamas
The next day we headed to the Exuma Land and Sea Park where we snorkeled a couple of reefs and hiked Warderick Wells Cay. Unfortunately, we had to get Mike and Bridget back to New Hampshire, so we reluctantly dropped them off at Staniel Cay and headed back to the Exuma Land and Sea park where we have been for the last four days. There is no anchoring allowed in the park but there are a large number of very well secured mooring balls that you can reserve via radio a day in advance of your arrival. The park has miles of great hiking trails and is surrounded by multiple reefs. It truly is one of the gems of the Bahamas and a must see for any cruiser passing this way.
As I write this, I am within minutes of my 61st birthday. Given that I lost my own dad at 58, I would be less than honest if I did not acknowledge that I feel each additional day to be a bonus. This trip has been amazing, I believe the kids will always know down to their bones that they have been a part of something very special. I wish my dad could be here to share some of this and I hope in some way or fashion he is enjoying this amazing trip of a lifetime. Our family is very, very fortunate to be able to be a part of this journey and we are happy to be able to share some small part of it with you through this blog.
We are now two months into our grand adventure with one month in the Bahamas. The past several weeks we spent an amazing eighteen (18) consecutive days tied to various mooring balls in the southern Abacos. Prior to refitting the boat with a Spectra water-maker and increased battery charge capacity, we could not have stayed untied from the dock for so long. However, with these, and other additions, we had pleasant stays and extended safe harbor.
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Yesterday we took advantage of a brief weather window and exited Little Harbor Cut, off Great Abaco Island, out into the open waters of the North Atlantic. The weather data we reviewed called for six to eight foot (6′-8′) seas with 15-20 knot winds out of the NE, all of which we encountered during our passage. Additionally, we had occasional ten foot (10′) waves splashing over our bow. This gave us, and our wiper blades, vigorous exercise and served as a reminder to respect the powerful energy of the sea.
Everyone on board had firm sea legs beneath them and handled the rough sea conditions well. While Patton did appear a little green at times, and had difficulty finding a spot to lay comfortably, he too mustered up strong sea legs for the journey (all four of them).
Latitude 25° 32.478″ N, Longitude 76° 45.427″ W
We transited 48 nm south in the North Atlantic. The boys got a practical life geography lesson when we crossed one degree further south towards the equator and the chart plotter position rolled over from 26o north to 25o north. The seas calmed when we rounded the point and entered the lee of Royal Island, although the winds were still producing white caps even there. This made for a sporty entry into the narrow channel as we glided into Spanish Wells mid-afternoon.
As I write this, today it is Thanksgiving Day in the USA. While Thanksgiving is not a holiday that is celebrated in the Bahamas, we intend to celebrate it in traditional style, on board with a turkey and all the fixings. After all, we have innumerable blessings to be grateful for, not the least of which are safe passages, good weather and amazing family and friends, including those new friends we have made along the way.
Since our last post we have covered quite a bit of ground. We spent five fabulous days moored in Hope Town Harbor on Elbow Cay. As most people familiar with the Abacos already know, Hope Town is a very quaint little town with a well protected harbor that is a strong draw for cruisers as they work their way through the Abacos. The harbor has one of the last kerosene fired lighthouses still in existence, plus numerous shops and eateries that make re provisioning easy and convenient.
While we were in Hope Town, we were all treated to some fantastic views from atop the lighthouse. From the lighthouse you can see the Atlantic on one side and the Sea of Abaco on the other with a commanding view of the Hope Town harbor thrown in for good measure.
In addition to the spectacular daytime views, we got a unique opportunity to climb the lighthouse with the lighthouse keeper and Ryan and Ronan got to light the giant kerosene lantern and hand crank the light house lens.
We could have easily spent another week or more hanging out in Hope Town but believe it or not, we are actually beginning to come under some schedule pressure. We still need to get down to Staniel Cay in the Exumas by December 1 so that we can pick up some friends who are flying down from New Hampshire, therefor it is time for us to move on.
BAHAMAS ROYAL DEFENSE BOARDING
The day we left Hope Town was a beautiful clear day with light winds on the Sea of Abaco, making our transit south to Little Harbor both scenic and comfortable. About half way into our day, we passed a Royal Bahamian Defense Force patrol boat that captured the boys attention when they saw the multiple deck guns and 50 caliber machine guns mounted to the rails. We were all caught by surprise when the patrol boat launched a twin engine RIB (rigid inflatable boat) crewed by 7 heavily armed sailors who pulled alongside the Pilots’ Discretion and advised us that we were about to be boarded.
Bahamas Royal Defense Force
Although I participated in many such boardings as a crew member in the Coast Guard many years ago, I must confess that I felt some apprehension as we had to heave to and allow the armed crew members aboard. The good news is that all of the Bahamian sailors were extremely professional. They conducted a thorough search of the Pilots’ Discretion (we did not learn until after they had completed their search that there had been a boat carrying 100 Haitian refugees in the area and the Bahamian Defence Force was involved in a large scale search for them), after which they wished us a safe journey and were off to their next boarding. An hour after our boarding we were gliding smoothly into Little Harbor where we picked up a mooring ball and settled in for the night.
LITTLE HARBOR
Pilots Discretion position 2014 November, Litle Harbor, Abaco, Bahamas
Little Harbor as the name implies, is a small harbor located on the southeastern coast of Great Abaco Island. There are a few very nice homes, a completely protected harbor teeming with marine life of all descriptions, a great reef for snorkeling and some magnificent beaches. Beyond the natural beauty of this harbor, it is also known as a favorite stop for cruisers because it has one of the Bahamas better known cruiser hangouts known as Pete’s Pub. The pub is named appropriately enough for it’s owner Pete Johnston, a world renowned sculptor. Pete also has a gallery on the island to display his works plus the works of the many artisans who travel to work with Pete on various projects. We were looking forward to visiting the pub and gallery but since they are only open Thursday thru Sunday this time of year and it was Wednesday afternoon when we pulled in, we did not expect to do anything but chill the first night on the mooring. After getting the Pilots’ Discretion secured for the evening, we all took the dinghy to shore to look around.
Pete’s Pub Dock, Little Harbor, Great Abaco, Bahamas
As we were walking down the dock, a big, booming voice called out from the closed pub and said “you guys look like you could use a drink”. It was none other than Pete himself and the next thing we know, we are sitting with Pete and a dozen other folks, both cruisers and locals. Pete proceeded to cook dinner and provide drinks for all and as he said “the restaurant is open tomorrow, you can’t buy a drink on this island tonight.” Ryan and Ronan were eating like they had not been fed for weeks. Ronan was very impressed with the small, freshly cooked “chickens” and he told Pete how good they were. Pete, much to Ronan’s surprise replied ” those aren’t chickens, those are pigeons, I shot them out of that tree over there, this afternoon.” Ronan who at times has been accused of being a finicky eater was pleasantly surprised by Pete’s culinary skills.
pilotsdiscretiondotcom 