Blackpoint, Guana Cay, Bahamas

Saturday, January 8
Distance Traveled:  22 nm
Total Distance:  2356.88 nm

taking hook out of Barracuda

This morning we woke, listened to the weather and kept to our original plans of leaving Warderwick Wells and going to Blackpoint, a town/village on Guana Cay.  Since the winds were NNW 16-20 knots, we decided to go on the Exuma Sound as we were next to a wide cut and would be going in Cothum Cut, which is also a wide cut (but you could fool me) and hope that we could sail.  We started out in the Exuma Park which is a no fishing zone so waited until we were past Cambridge Cay before we put out the fishing line on our cuban reel.  We kept the motor running the first hour to charge the batteries, and then were able to sail most of the rest of the way.  After a couple hours, I went down a took a short nap.  Shortly after I woke, I noticed that the fishing line was out of the clamp and we pulled in a small barracuda, which aren't good eating and also may have this poison from eating the fish in coral reefs.  Too bad!! 
We did put out the fishing line again hoping we'd catch something else as we went through Cothrum Cut, but didn't work.  By 1pm we were anchored and had started to send out Spot GPS message.

Cothum Cut on GPS

Cothum Cut 

We weren't the only ones who thought it was a good day to come to Blackpoint.  Camelot II, whom we had met in Nassau, also came along S/V Pepe II, S/V Hera, that we met later in Lorraine's Cafe.

Lorraine's Cafe Boat cards wall

Diane, her husband from S/V Hera, Suzanne

Phil, S/V Pepp II and Gord

The anchorage was very rocky - 2-3' waves and Lorraine couldn't wait to get off the boat as she was getting seasick so Phil put the dinghy as quickly as he could and in we went.  The winds were to clock to the North and decrease more from the 10-13kts they currently were.  We hoped that by the time we got some water, checked out the laudromat and visited Lorraine's Cafe, that the anchorage would improve. We had a nice cheese burger and french fries for lunch and visited while the others waited for their food to be cooked.  We went back to the boat to get ready to go to Camelott II to play cards (Canasta) with Gord and Suzanne.  The waves had not calmed down, so Lorraine took a Marezine and shortly went to play cards.  We had a great time and by the end of the evening, the guys won one match and the ladies one the other.  We got back to the boat about 930pm and Lorraine fixed a fried egg sandwich and then popcorn.  We got to bed about 1030pm.


Sunday, January 9
Blackpoint, Bahamas

Last night was the best sleep I've had in a while.  We woke about 630am and I jumped up thinking that I was going to miss Chris Parker's weather, but then Phil reminded me that he wasn't on as it's Sunday.  The anchorage was glassy this morning, which was great from the waves we had yesterday.    We started off the day heating up water to wash up.  I washed up while Phil went for a swim to wash the bottom and then he also washed up.  We had breakfast of cereal and then we decided to tackle the job of bedding the stern rail on the port side.  I emptied the quarter berth and then we did the most forward deck flange first using Dolphinite to bed the flange to the deck.

Stern rail connections we bedded with Dolfinite

Phil is the position to reach arm inside

Then we took a look at the flanges on the stern and finding them loose we also worked on bedding those too.  Two hours later we were done.  Phil made sandwiches using the bread that we bought ($5/loaf) from Grandma (Lorraine's Mom).  She sells coconut bread, white bread and whole wheat bread (which wasn't available yesterday).  It was very good and I'm sure that we'll get another loaf before we leave.

In the middle of the above project, s/V Last Tango came into the anchorage from Staniel Cay and swam over to say Hi.  We haven't seen them since we met them in Annapolis.  We had a nice chat and hope to see them later at Lorraine's Cafe today.

I got out my Sailrite sewing machine to start working on making a vinyl cube to store my clothes in on the port shelf.  That was involved as we attached the binder attachment and then I put on the bendable LED light.  This machine really doesn't like the lightweight sewing thread and the double fold binding tape was too narrow even with the needle in the right position.  Looks like I'll have to use the Viking sewing machine, but I was too aggravated so put the machine away for another day.

About 2 pm we went to town first filling our water jerry jugs and then going to Lorraine's Cafe to watch the Baltimore Colts vs the Kansas City Chiefs - Baltimore won to our dismay (remember Art Model took the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore?) and use the internet.  We are planning on having dinner here.  We were the only ones here when we arrived but by 330pm Gord and Suzanne and the folks from M/V Tortola had arrived.   I wouldn't be surprised if more come later.

Tomorrow we plan to wash clothes.  It's $3.50/load to wash and about $4 to dry.  We plan to save some money by hanging out a lot of clothes on the boat and dry the sheets and towel in the dryers.  I'm sure there are plenty who also have that same idea so we hope to beat the rush and get there early.  There is to be a weak cold front coming through, but the winds are to be NE 15-20 knots and we are in a good anchorage for those winds.

fish Ian from S/V Stormy Weather gave us.

Last day in Warderwick Wells, Exuma Park, Bahamas

Thursday, Jan 6
Warderick Wells, Exuma Park

Yesterday morning after our typical start to the day, I was on the computer the rest of the morning checking email, posting on the blog and helping Phil get a new email address of live.com.  Especially while we're out of the states, please use his new email address:  pdolsen17@live.com for future correspondence.  He's been having trouble getting his aol email to load with the low bandwidth that we are finding here in the Bahamas.  We spent so much time on the internet as we wanted to use up the MB's that were allowed us.

After lunch, we decided to take a walk on some of the many trails here on the island.  We hiked to Boo Boo Hill where they have a pile of drift wood with boat's names on it and some have the year that they visited. Some have multiple years with a few having 5-6+ years added on to the original wood.

Lorraine near Boo Boo Hill

Phil at the top of Boo Boo Hill

vegetation grows from the rocks

Anchorage at Waderick Wells

To get to this hill you have to ford this creek.  When we crossed it was close to low tide but our shoes got wet and then sandy anyway.  Wished that we had know so that we could plan our footwear better.  Then we went to the Blow holes, but as the wind was from the west and the tide was going out (almost low tide), there wasn't any activity though the view was very beautiful.  We decided to go the long way around so that we could cross on a wooden bridge.  Along the way we chatted with Larry and Kathy on S/V Nuvo, whom we had met at Happy Hour yesterday. 

It's very beautiful here as there is no development on the island besides the Headquarters office and the staff living quarters.  They also have many sign telling about the vegetation and any specific sights along the way.  Our hike lasted 1hr 45 min and then we went back to the boat, tired and hot a sticky ready for a shower.  We still had some water in the sun shower and Lorraine was first.  The water was at a perfect temperature for her and it was nice to be clean.  At 5pm the winds was SW 10 knots and it was cooling off outside.  I fixed a new Nigerian dish called Beans and Cabbage Stew with rice for supper.  Phil like it and is one that I can make again.


Our evening entertainment was 2 games of Canasta.  Phil won the first game and Lorraine won the 2nd.

The cold front is to come through tonight, so we're both glad that we're on a mooring ball is water that are mostly protected.

Friday, Jan 7, 2011
Warderick Wells, Exuma Park, Bahamas

Well the cold front came through last night at 210am and boy was it something.  We have a squalls with winds up to the upper 40's, heavy rain and lightening and thunder.  The lightening was very close - on top of us it seems as the flash and the thunder was almost immediate.  We were lucky to have the mooring ball and so weathered it just fine.  We were both up until the rain stopped at 245pm and then we gradually went to sleep.  When we wok this morning, the winds were NW 19-25kts with Gusts to 28.   Chris Parker had predicted that the winds would die down quickly and increase tonight and so far he was right on that count.  He had not predicted the severe winds with the squalls.  Some boats in the anchorage had seen wind 47-52 knots depending where they were.  Some boat d/t current pointing them in a different direction than the wind, were hit broadsided and were heeled over for a time; not us thought and I'm glad about that!

I wanted to go for another hike to see the blow holes again, but we had to wait a while for the wind to decrease and the wave to decrease also so we didn't get wet in the dinghy.  While we waited, Phil checked the batteries in deep storage under the starboard settee.  While he was in there adding distilled water, he fished out the medications and dehydrated food that I had stored there for us to use in the Bahamas.  Some moisture had gotten into this compartment so a couple boxes of my meds got wet and moldy, but I just threw away the box and washed the canister and I'm sure will be fine for me to use.  When Phill checked the batteries in the quarterberth, he found a loose wire.  Maybe that's why the batteries aren't holding a charge for as long as we expected.  Time will tell.

We dinghied to the beach with a following seas which was good considering there were still whitecaps in the mooring field.  We are hoping after our walk that it will calm down some.  This time the time was high and crossing the creek was a little more involved.  Lorraine had worn sturdy boat sandals as she didn't want to get her tennis shoes wet and sandy again.  Phil wore his typical tennis shoes.  Well the water in the creek was much deeper than it was before.  We walked to another area, but it looked deeper so Phil took off his shoes and socks and rolled up his pants.  Lorraine had worn convertible pants so just unzipped the legs.  The water got to be about 1 foot deep (up to Phil's knees) but it wasn't too much of a problem as lots of sand soft on his feet.

Crossing Banshee Creek at High Tide

  As we approached the blow holes, we didn't see much spray from them.  There was some down by the ocean.  I took to video as there are unique sounds kind of like a base drum of the water coming into the limestone rock cave/formations.  I also found a 15" oval hole that had air blowing out strong enough to make my hat flap.  I took a video just so I could record the sound that it made.  I also took a few video clips on the waves breaking on the rocks.   Once I have a good internet connection, will post online. 

Boo Boo Beach

Harriet's Quilt S/V Moondance

On the way back to the boat, we stopped a few boats to ask them to sign my quilt squares.  We had met them at Happy Hour, but I didn't bring the blank quilt blocks there.  We stopped by S/V Moondance and Skip invited us on board to see the quilt that Harriet had made from fabrics made in the Andros.  It was beautiful and the fabrics look like the ones I had seen at Home Fabrics in Nassau.  Maybe I'll see some more again and can buy some for the back of the quilt.
 H

Francoise and Michel S/V Grandpas I

   I liked how she kept the fabric pieces big and the squares tilted.  A good idea for the back of the quilt I'll be making from all the quilt squares that have been signed.  I may have over 70 squares signed by now - will have to count.  After visiting 2-3 boats, we went back to Changes and I fixed lunch cheese and chicken quesadillas, refried beans and rice with my home made salsa.  It was very good, quick and easy.  Will have to do that again especially as we have more tortillas to use.  I even added drops of Tabasco sauce to the beans!  By 3pm, we back in the dinghy going to some other boats that we didn't have time for before lunch.  It was really great visiting the cruisers again and most times we were chatting for a while or invited on board to see something or be given a drink and to chat.



We weren't done until after 5pm when we decided to get back as the sun was setting, the wind was rising (as predicted) and it was getting cold.  As we passed S/V Whisper, we were invited for one last drink, which of course we couldn't say no to.  Then we came home glad for the great companionship we had.  Phil made cheese and crackers for himself and I started on the computer to use this last day of internet that we had paid for.


Tomorrow the winds are predicted to be NW 12-15 knots so if the weather doesn't change, we are planning on going on the Exuma Sound to Blackpoint, about 22 mile south of here so that we can refill the water tanks and jerry jugs and do laundry.  We'll stay there a couple days and then go to Staniel Cay and then Pipe Creek.  Talking about Pipe Creek reminds me that we almost caught up to S/V Last Tango, Patty and Gary, whom we met in Annapolis, MD.  They got to the Bahamas in November and hopefully we'll get together soon in our travels.  They will be going to Georgetown so will see them there if not sooner.

We don't have cell phone signal here but expect that we'll have better internet access at Lorraine's Cafe, fresh bread, good laundry facilities and free water.  Keep the emails coming.  I have to say that Phil is very envious of all the good ice boating the his friends are getting on Mosquito Lake.  He wishes he was there and is very glad that Colin Mills has been able to experience the best that ice boating can be using his new old boat.