Catching Up on Blog; in Exumas Land and Sea Park, Bahamas

I posted five days here to catch up after no Internet for a while. Will have it until this time tomorrow night, then won't be able to sign on for a few days or more.

Friday, Feb. 26:


We woke up at 6 a.m. with the anchor dragging again because the current was greater than the wind. The boat circled the anchor. We reanchored and had breakfast. Wayne swung by on the dinghy to let us know we were leaving around 9 a.m. We had a short, but beautiful day on the water. There was a problem with some of our radio transmissions, so we used the hand-held until we straighten it out.

We arrived at Exuma Land and Sea Park in Warderick Wells Cay and are on a mooring ball for a few nights. We’re open to the Exuma Banks and hoping to move closer to the park tomorrow. We’re on the waiting list.

We’re contemplating going to Georgetown. Wayne doesn’t want to go there, but Chuck doesn’t want to come all this way and not make it there. So, we’ll see.

We did a little exploring on two of the beaches near our mooring. Dogs are allowed on the beaches, but not the trails, so tomorrow we’ll take Jazzy to shore for some exercise and leave her on the boat while we explore.

Tonight, Patti cooked shrimp and spaghetti with a salad. Delicious! We rented Close Encounters and took it over and watched it during dinner. They had never seen it and we got into a conversation a few weeks ago in Bimini with George on Passages about climbing Devil’s Tower in his college days.

Internet here is $10 a day, so I’ll probably not have it for the rest of the week. Don’t worry about us. We’re fine!

Thursday, Feb. 25:

Last night was a bad night. Winds were 25-30 knots all night long. Chuck went to bed at 7:30 p.m. and I settled in with a Danielle Steel novel to keep me awake. Chuck got up at 10:30 p.m. when the winds started to kick up and shifted us around 180 degrees. Other boaters were having trouble too. You could see people scrambling on their decks. It was pouring rain and bad thunder and lightning, so Chuck wanted me to stay below deck. I tried to finish my book, but gave up at 1:30 a.m.

I only lasted 30 minutes in bed. The boat was rocking so much from the winds that I was getting seasick! I took a Dramamine and laid down in the salon. Those cushions are so damn hard! At 6:30 a.m. I awoke to Chuck hollering for me to come up and start the motor. I put it in reverse as he pulled up the anchor line that had gone under us. He had unwrapped the line from the keel by walking around the boat and gathering it up. We were afraid he was going to have to cut it, but luckily he was able to get it.

By 9 a.m. the sun was up, but winds were still whipping at 22-25 knots. We got two or more gallons of water from the overnight rain, so we called Wayne to come get it in his dinghy. We stayed on the boat all day because of the high winds. I read a novel. Chuck fooled with the lines.

I cooked a flank steak that I marinated Wednesday with roasted rosemary potatoes and grilled zucchini and called Wayne to pick up dinner. Since the winds were still kicking up, he didn’t want to leave the boat.

Chuck went to bed early and I was on anchor watch until midnight, when he got up. I’m usually ready for bed by 9 p.m. when we’re anchored out, so it’s all I can do to stay awake. I don’t know how Chuck does it.

Wednesday, Feb. 24

The anchor dragged during the night. I had anchor watch until 1:30 a.m. I read a book. Chuck woke up around 1 a.m. and was up until 5:30 a.m. It got up briefly when I heard him holler for me, but there was nothing I could do, so I went back to bed in case I could help later. The current and tide change spun us around and pulled the anchor.

I woke up at 7:30 a.m. and it appeared that we were dragging again, but the second anchor caught us. We turned on the generator at 8 a.m., I made breakfast and charged the computer, boat batteries and video camera battery. There was a storm front coming in 12 hours then another in 36 hours, so we were staying put. We put three anchors out in preparation for the winds, two Fortress Danforth anchors and a plow.

Chuck reset the anchors and we rode in the dinghy to check and make sure they were digging in. It was really neat to be able to see them so clearly. Jazzy slept in the salon and didn’t miss us.

I spent most of the day reading another novel. I read four novels in four days. Not a lot to do when it’s windy and you’re anchored.

We tried the rain catcher that Jay gave us and it worked beautifully. We got six gallons of water in about 45 minutes after a heavy downpour. We bottled it up for showers and washing dishes. Wayne called to say they weren’t coming over for dinner because of the high winds. We didn’t blame him! So we just ate hot dogs and beans.

Tuesday, Feb. 23

We left Highbourne Cay Marina at 10:30 a.m., traveling with Blown Away (Norm and Barbara) and Bum’s Rest. We arrived at Norman’s Cay anchorage at 1:10 p.m. It was beautiful! The water was crystal clear and we could see our anchor in more than 6 feet of water. It was sandy and grassy. There were 3 catamarans and 15 sailboats in the anchorage.

We took the dinghy to a little island with a single palm tree and walked on the beach. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of baby conch in the water. We took Jazzy back to the boat after a little walk on the beach and went over to the sunken airplane by dinghy. It was Carlos Leder’s plane that helped fly drugs to the U.S. We expected to see a little plane. It was huge! We could touch one of the wings with an oar from the dinghy. It was only two feet under water. Part of the aircraft was sticking out of the water.

We saw two starfish that were about a foot in diameter. We rode over toward the ocean where it got really deep and rough, so we turned back.

Monday, Feb. 22:

It was a day of light showers off and on. After breakfast, I went up and checked out the little store at Highbourne Cay Marina. They had some frozen meats, fresh produce, marine supplies and Bahamas souvenirs. I took Jazzy for a short walk. Then we left her on Sheet Music and Chuck and I took a dinghy ride in the ocean to Leaf Cay. Patti and Wayne didn’t want to go because it was raining and it would be a rough, wet ride in the dinghy.

We went to Iguana Beach on Leaf Cay. It was pretty neat walking all around the beach and up through the vegetation. We saw eight or nine iguanas of various sizes. One was bigger than Sailor, not as big as Jazzy, but much longer with its tail.

I loved walking around and seeing them in their natural habitat. There was a small beach where we anchored the dinghy. We walk up the hill through a small trail and over to the beach on the other side of the island.

The ride was a very wet one. We had to stop and pump out the dinghy four times because so much water was splashing in. At one point, we were in three foot swells! It was exhilarating. I’m sure people thought we were crazy! We saw six sailboats and a little powerboat in the anchorage there and a few big boats anchored out near our marina. Winds were supposed to kick up, so when we got back, lots of boats that were anchored out moved into the marina for coverage.

We took some photos, but I had to keep putting the camera away because it was raining off and on. We had a boat hook to check for depth. The water is so clear here that it is deceiving. When we weren’t sure, we would extend the boat hook and stick it in the water to see if it would touch. At one point, we were in three feet of water over a reef, so we turned around and headed for deeper water.

We laughed out loud as we were bouncing in the waves. We came back soaked and took quick showers on the boat. We’re trying to conserve water at 50 cents a gallon, but we were full of salt.

It was my turn to cook dinner and the chicken I defrosted the other day went bad, so I made a Caesar salad, linguine with fresh shrimp and canned chicken in a garlic butter sauce and biscuits. We had chocolate layer cake for dessert that I bought for Wayne’s birthday the other day.