02/15/2009 Nassau to Staniel Cay

02/14/2009 I spent the last couple of days provisioning the boat with fresh foods, water and fuel. I had also ordered up a replacement part for one of my outboard motors. I was happy to see that the part made it to Nassau and I was able to fix the motor.

I then left the marina and headed for an anchorage in the harbor and waiting for the weather to change. The weather has definitely changed from the last two weeks. I went from constant 20-25 knot winds to flat. The next front is suppose to come through Sunday afternoon.

As I was leaving the marina this sailboat came by me. This is a Bahamas racing boat. For you that have visited with me and were in Nassau, this was one of the boats in the parking lot down the street from the marina. It appears they use a crew of 4 to sail this and have boards that slide out from the top of the hulls that the men sit on to hike out. These boats need plenty of hiking due to the large main sails on them. I was able to take the dinghy and watch a start. It is different than anything I have ever seen. The boats started with their sails down and the boats anchored at the start line. There is no countdown. At the sound of the gun, the foredeck hand raised the anchor and then the main sail went up. It reminded me of a horse race. The boats are beautiful, as any sailboat under sail, as they raced for the windward mark. I was stopped by the harbor patrol while in my dinghy. They wanted to know what I was doing. I told them that I was watching the race. They told me not to go any closer or they would confiscate my dinghy for a day. I suspect that they take their racing serious around here and did not want any outside interference.

As I was reading, I heard an explosion. On the north side of the harbor, there was a fireworks display that I was able to catch this picture.

02/15/2009 I decided that one night in Nassau Harbor was enough. There is an island about five miles east of Nassau call Rose Island. I was planning on anchoring there the evening my parents and I ended up stuck anchoring on the banks on our way into Nassau. There is very little wind today and it would be a good place for me to stage to head back to the Exumas.

After anchored there, Phil in the boat next to me asked if I wanted to go fishing. He was going spear fishing. I indicated that I did not have the gear or had never done it, but I would tag along as an observer. We took the dinghy out of the cove and found a couple of reefs to swim around and look for fish. On our second dive I pointed out a grouper that Phil went after and he had dinner for the night. Phil is traveling with his wife Rosalee and their two young boys of 3 and 5 from Montreal. After he cleaned the fish, he left me with a couple of steaks. When I made it over to the beach to meet his wife and boys later, she said that all he talked about was getting that fish. It turns out to be his best catch since he has been in the Bahamas.

02/16/2009 It turns out I wasn’t the only boat staging for the Exumas out of Rose Island. A train of five monohulls left in front of me. We had good west winds to make it to the islands. It is a 40 mile sail and I headed to Shroud Cay. The racer in me kicked in. There were five boats ahead of me and two smaller boats catching me from behind. With 13 knots of wind, I raised the spinnaker and took off. It took me about 4 hours to catch the lead boat in the train and I was alos pulling away from the smaller boats that were catching me earlier. We have a front coming in and the wind died as the clouds started to build in the afternoon. The monohulls all dropped their sails and motored. It did not look like a comfortable ride as I was watching their masts swing back and forth. I was able to carry my sails all the way into the anchorage and arrived just as they did.

With time to myself, I played with a gift I received from my parents a couple of years ago, a sextant. With the little booklet that came with the sextant, I did my best at getting a noon sighting using the sun. It took 20 sightings with three minute intervals my first time out. In the future it should take less as I now have a better idea of true noon for the area I am in. After playing with the calculations, I was off by only twenty miles to the southeast. That is probably not too good if you are in a tight area, which this form of navigation probably would not work anyway, but in a passage, that is a pretty good ball park. I will keep working at it and see how accurate I can get.

02/17/2009 What a great day it has turned into after the lumpy night I had. I went to Shroud Cay to stop and see a cay I haven’t been to and also hoping to meet a group of cruisers that I had passed on the way down. The wind was expected to clock around towards the NNE and I was hoping for some protection from the rocks where I tied up to on a mooring. I did get some protection from the wind, but the wave chop was heavy. I don’t think I had been in that bouncy in an anchorage since my parents and I stayed on the banks the night before getting into Nassau.

Oh well, let’s make the best of it. I put the dinghy in the water and did a little hike on-shore to find any paths. The vegetation on these islands is incredibly thick. There is a path with a sign that points to a water well. I did find the well and the cruising indicates that the water is very good for drinking. As I was exploring around I came across this cactus. I find this strange being in the middle of an ocean, but the vegetation does make it look to be an arid area.

After I made it back to the boat, I had about 15 knots of wind out of the NE. I put in a reef in the main sail, released the boat from the mooring and took off. Once I cleared the protection of the rocks, the wind picked up and I put in a second reef in the main sail. Being a lake racer most of my sailing career, I have not reefed much. With cruising I have learned that the boat does like reefing and it really shows up in the steering. When the boat is over-powered by the main sail, it likes to turn up into the wind, which in turn puts more pressure on the auto-pilot. With the doubled reef main and jib I was still sailing along at 8 knots and surfing to 10 knots on the small waves.

I decided to head down to Staniel Cay to sit out the next few days of weather as it is. There are a couple of nice anchorages that are well protected and a cut that I can use once I make the jump back to George Town. After only four hours of easy sailing and 31 miles, I made it into Big Major Spot. It is an island just west of Staniel Cay that provides protection from the north and east. This is good as the winds will shift the east and southeast for the next couple of days. I am waiting for the next cold front that will bring north winds to take me down to George Town.

I worked on my noon sighting again using my sextant. I was able to get the longitude correctly today, but I was still off on my latitude by 16 miles. After playing with the formula I believe I am starting to see where my error is coming into. I will keep working with it while I am sitting on anchor and do my best to dial in the sextant and my abilities.

It is so calm here after last night. As I sat here and watched the sunset with my gin and tonic it was a surreal sunset. I do not believe I have seen a more beautiful sunset on my trip. The mixture of the clouds and the red in the sun was incredible. Please enjoy the photo. I wish you who are reading the blog could be here to enjoy these moments.

02/19/2009 What a small world it is, especially this sailing community. I decided go for a snorkel off of the back of the boat today. I was swimming on a real small reef when I saw another man doing some spear fishing. No luck for him here as all of the fish were less than 6” in length. I started to talk with him and he told me his boat name and where he was from. He was from Maryland and the name of the town sounded familiar. As I probed a little bit, I remembered meeting him when I was in Annapolis. We both were taking our Ham license exams at the same Ham club. His name is Robert and his wife’s name is Trish. They are sailing on Bristol Rose. You can find out about their adventure at BristolRose.blogspot.com. It amazes me here I am on this little reef no larger than a hundred square feet and run into another sailor I met 6 months ago and 1500 miles later. I do expect to cross paths with them many times as we both have our sites set on Grenada or Trinidad before hurricane season.

I also had some fruit that was spoiling. No need to throw it away today. I was able to feed the pigs that roam the local beach. There are about 6 pigs living on this beach. I went in the other day to see them and they rushed out in the water towards my dinghy. I would assume they are use to being fed from boaters. They really are calm and I saw people walking the beach around the pigs and they did not bother anyone, unless they are being fed.

The other reason I stayed here was I felt the need to enjoy Happy Hour at Club Thunderball. When you are in the central Exumas, you here a call everyday on the VHF radio for Happy Hour. I went to the club for $3.00 beers and a burger. On Tuesday nights they have all you can eat pasta and pizza, including a movie for $15.00. I met another solo sailor there named Jay from Lunatic Fringe. We had fun for the couple of hours sharing our travels. He has come in from Maine. Both Jay and Bob both left the East Coast a lot later than I did. They had extensive use of their on board heating systems.

Here is one more picture of the sunsets I have to deal with here. Well I should be off to George Town today. The weather is looking good for a sail back down there.