Monday 16 February

Still in Nassau taking in the sights. There is a hotel complex on an island that forms the barrier for Nassau Harbor called Paradise Island. The island is far different than the main city of Nassau in a socio-economic sense. The hotel complex looks like something off the Disney drawing boards. There are pools with tube rides, pools with turtles, pools with sharks (some enormous hammerheads) and massive aquariums with underwater viewing stations. In one of the aquariums (the one called the predator pool) a glass tunnel goes right through the middle of the water so the fish are all around you. There are barracudas, sharks, rays, sawfish and a host of other fishes to numerous to name even if I knew their names. Some pictures are shown on the right. It is truly very Disneyesque.

It’s off tomorrow for Allen’s Cay, the home of the iguanas.

Tuesday 17 February

A bouncy sail from Nassau to Allens Cay but Abraxas took it in stride. The more I sail then boat the greater my respect for her abilities. She is a fast seakindly vessel with very comfortable liveability below decks. We get to Allens late so we stay on board for the night with treacherous a looking shore off our stern.

Wednesday 17 February

Got to shore this morning but the weather was somewhat chilly so the iguanas we largely in hiding. A few brave souls came forth to get our handouts of scraps from making salad last night. They were particularly fond of the carrot peels and the romaine lettuce. Terri was a little weirded out by the critters, they are quite bold and clearly not afraid of humans. She was glad that the bulk of them were not present to rush us on the beach.

After visiting the critters we hauled anchor and went about 12 miles to Normans Cay for better protection from the impending south easterly winds. Normans has the dubious distinction of formerly being the domain of an infamous drug lord. With its airstrip he would fly in drugs then put them on boats for the states. In the harbor there is the remnants of crashed airplane said too be a DC3. We anchored off the beach on the west side of the island with a couple of other boats and were promptly invited to a happy hour on the beach schedule for 5:00. Meanwhile we went to shore to do some exploring. Looked over the harbor with the possibility of moving there tomorrow morning when the wind is to shift around to the west, making our present anchorage uncomfortable. Good news is there appears to be room. We get back for happy hour and meet some fine folks. One Canadian couple is on a 40foot Admiral Catamaran, which they had constructed in Capetown South Africa and sailed it back to here. Sounded like a great trip.

Thursday 18 February

Up anchor and around to the harbor in Normans Cay. From here we can see the remains of the wrecked plane. Neal goes off diving on the reef with Bob of our buddy boat and the Canadian from the Catamaran. The reef is alive with small colorful fish and loads of different kinds of coral. I do wish I had an underwater camera to record this. I also come face to face with a 3 foot barracuda looking mighty mean and wondering just what the F I’m doing on HIS reef. I have been told that to scare said creatures off you just swim at them, so I take a deep breath and charge. Well I’m here to tell you that is works, this time at least. Now I don’t want you to think that it scurried off in a hurry, no it just sort of ambled (if a fish can amble) off whilst giving me the evil eye. I continued my explore of the reef, but always looking over my shoulder for you know who.

After our dive it is off to McDuffs, a beachfront bar/restaurant, for their happy hour ($3 beers and mixed drinks). It is the only facility on the island and is situated along the airstrip. They have a couple of rental cabins and likely cater to amateur pilots who fly in for a weekend retreat. I think you can also get a “commercial” flight in.

After happy hour we are off to a pot-luck supper on board the Canadian 40 foot Admiral cat along with the folks from two other boats in the harbor that moved around from yesterdays anchorage. Talk about the lap of luxury, this thing is huge with a galley that is about the size of our kitchen at home and a head that is nearly as big as out bathroom in TP. It has a washer an dryer to boot. You too can have this for a mere 300K if you go pick it up at the factory and her for 500K.

Friday 19 February

After a late night of revelry we are off to Cambridge Cay hoping to pick of a mooring. We are taking the Exuma Sound route, which takes us out into the deep water on the east side of the Exuma Chain rather than the inside bank route. I am amazed at the clarity of the water here. At present there is little wind and you can see right to the bottom in FIFTY, that is 50, feet of water. As we move farther out into the sound we encounter water that is in excess of 2000 feet. We are luck to get mooring for us and our buddy boat in the snug little harbor that is sheltered from all directions. We also meet the volunteer caretakers of this facility on a boat named Rachael. They are friends of Bob and Carol our buddyboat owners, so it’s hor’deovers and music on Time enough II

Saturday 20 February

After a morning walk across Cambridge Cay to the Exuma Sound side we are off to a more civilized island, Staniel Cay. On the way out of the southern route out of Cambridge Cay there is a narrow shallow spot that according to the charts is plenty deep for Abraxas, especially at the current tidal state. Wrong. On the way through we glance off a coral head with the keel likely scraping off some paint and probably gouging the fiberglass. When we get to Georgetown I will evaluate the damage with a dive. Other than that we have a great sail down the inside on the bank. After not doing any sailing going down the ICW, it is refreshing to get some much sailing time in. I am starting to get the feeling and sense of this boat and I am liking it more and more with each day.

We arrive in Staniel Cay early enough for lunch at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. It’s a Conch burger and a Kalick (Bahamian beer) for me, then we’re off to the grocery store rumor has it that there can be found some fresh romaine lettuce for our salad. Now when I say grocery store you shouldn’t think of a whole foods, Giant, Shopper food warehouse or Shoprite. You need to think, someone’s garage with shelves in it and paying twice as much as you would for the same thing in the states. That is if they have it.

Later we are off for happy hour at the Thunderball Club for $3 beers and mixed drinks. Staniel Cay claim to fame is that the underwater and cave scenes of the 007 movie Thunderball starring Sean Connery were filmed here back I think in the seventies. The Thunderball Club overlooks the Thunderball Grotto. One can snorkel in this at slack tide but for us this will have to wait for another visit.

Sunday 21 February

We are currently anchored to the west of Lee Stocking Island. We had a little trouble anchoring because just about when I was going to let the anchor go tw0 very large sharks appeared in the water just at the bow so I held off dropping 44 lbs of steel on their heads. This carried us into the shallows so we had to move. The second time we dropped the anchor we ended up over an uncharted wreck, so it was move again. The third time was lucky as the old Foghat song goes. Lee Stocking Island is the location of the Carribbean Research Center and we were told we could get WIFI there, but we we unable to make a connection, so it was another bust to check email and get out on the net. A quiet night was spent with the folks from Time Enough II eating homemade pizza and a movie on Abraxas. Tomorrow it is off to Georgetown and summer camp for cruisers.

Monday 22 February

Well we got here, but what a lumpy ride. First off when we ran the inlet out to the Exuma sound the chop was fierce, but it did not improve greatly. I made the mistake of not putting up the mainsail thinking I would put it up once outside, but it was entirely too rough out there to be crawling around out of the cockpit on the back of a bucking bronco. I did get a good upper body workout holding her to course. On the way down I made a troubling discovery. The brace that holds the dingy davits from collapsing appeared to be pulling out of the deck as we bounced up and down on the waves. I ended up lashing it in with lines leading from the spinnaker winch and main sheet winch. If the brace had pulled out it would have dumped one end of the dingy in the drink, not a good outcome whilst bouncing around out in the sound in 20 kts of wind and seas.

Once we got into Georgetown I was able to evaluate the damage. It seems that when the braces were installed no backing plates were used, nor did they even install any washers. So the hex nuts were pulling through the fiberglass. It is a good thing that I caught it in time. Definition of Cruising: “Fixing your boat in exotic places”:

When we got into Georgetown Harbor we beheld a sea of masts anchored in the lee of the barrier island that protects Georgetown. There has to be 400 boats here from all over. We hit the beach for a Kalick and G&T, life is good.

Tuesday 23 February

We are being held captive by the wind and menace of squalls with 30 kt winds so we are here on the boat reading, but life is still good. We hope to find WIFI somewhere but in the fringe anchorage where we are currently located we are too far away for reception even with our super duper antennae. Tomorrow we will move to a more central location and hope.

Wednesday 24 February -Friday 26 February

We move to a location off of what is called volley ball beach, which is where all the action is happening. Socializing with the folks from the other boats here, happy hours on the beach watching the sundown. On Thursday I made a conch horn to blow at sundown. Listen to music on the beach, there are a ton of musicians here so there are jam sessions most every day. Worked on fixing the support for the davits. Had to run around Georgetown looking for some metal bar stock. Finally found some and made those backing plates for the davit braces. It feels solid now.

Saturday 28 February

Today was the practice for the around Stocking island race. I decided to enter Abraxas to see how she would do. I wrangled a crew, Bob of “Time Enough II” and Chris of “Never Bored” to grind the winches. We were given a PHRF rating of 160, which means we are given 160 seconds a mile as a handicap, and started in the first group of boats. Out of the boats in the group we were third off over the line but at that point we took off and pasted the two in front within the first 3 miles. Did I say the Tartan was a fast boat? The leg was a beam reach, meaning the wind was coming from the side of the boat. This is the fastest point of sail for the Tartan. At the end of this leg we turned up into the wind on a close reach and negotiated the cut out into the ocean. Once out we tacked and headed south along the island heading for the south entrance cut. Here we were at disadvantage, first because the T37 does not go real fast and high to weather and secondly we had a little too much sail up for the wind/wave conditions, but we tough it out though we were clearly losing ground we had gained on the boats behind. By the time we reached the south cut we had been passed by the two multihulls in the race but we were still the lead monohull. At this point we turned back north with the wind at our back and another 3 miles to the finish. One boat was breathing down our necks but in about a mile we were to make a turn that would put the wind more on the beam, the fast point of sail for the Tartan. If we could hold them off…. Hold them off we did and we manage to cross the line as the first monohull. Boy I love this boat. She’s fast and fun to sail. Later that day the race results were announced at a dingy drift. First let me explain a dinghy drift. This is an excuse to drink and socialize with other cruisers by going out into the middle of the harbor in your dinghy, tying up to the others present and drifting in the wind. So there we were tied up to maybe 50 other dinghies passing around snacks and having cocktails watching the sundown. So back to the race results. As it turned out we came in second in our class on corrected time, but also on actual time. It seems that they don’t do a traditional start, but start your time when you cross the line. The monohull that beat us took 147 seconds less time to go the 18 miles around the island and had a PHRF rating of 167,which gave them 7 seconds a mile advantage over us. This meant we had to go 7 seconds a mile faster than they did, so as a result they beat us by about 5 minutes in corrected time. This 35 footer also crushed the bigger boats (on both corrected and actual time) to take the overall. This is one fast boat and I think they got the PHRF rating wrong. All in all it was a great time. I was lucky to have a good crew with one type A personality doing sail trim. He was constantly adjusting the sail to maximum. Next week is the actual race and we will enter again and hope to do as well.

Sunday 1 March

The weather report for the early hours of Monday morning say a nasty front is due to pass through, so we are have moved to a more secure location away from the crowded anchorage we are currently in. They are expecting the possibility of squalls with 40 knt winds so I want to be in a place where I can put out 150 feet of anchor rode with no worry that I might swing into someone.

Monday 2 March

Well the front came through in the pre-dawn hours and the squalls with 40 knt winds did not materialize. As the day when on however, the wind built to 25 kts from the northwest, which is the direction that the harbor goes, and the long fetch caused the chop to build up. We sat most of the day bouncing around waiting for the promised easing of the wind. Well finally we got sick of it and when the wind went around to more out of the north we move to protection of the barrier island.