Compass Cay

This afternoon we arrived in Compass Cay. It is one of many Cays that make up the Exuma Land and Sea Park, which is the Bahamian National Park.
After tying up to the dock, we began to enjoy the sea life in these beautiful protected waters. Sergeant majors were plentiful below our hull, and as we were checking in, the nurse sharks were being fed. Shortly after that, a boat of tourists arrived and many jumped in to swim with the sharks! There are about 10 of them that hang around the dock, all are named and basically treated as pets.
Soon after we arrived, Dan and Judy arrived on their motor yacht "Quest". They invited us to join them for a snorkeling trip to one of their favourite spots in the area. We agreed to meet at 1:30, at which time we all hopped in their tender and sped away to "the aquarium". After securing to the mooring there, we all jumped in and were treated to the most beautiful sights I have ever seen underwater. The reef was beautiful, and the variety of fish was incredible. We saw parrot fish, blue tang, angelfish, squirrelfish, lobster, grouper, flounder, jacks and more I don't know the names of. There was a large stingray settled in a sandy patch on the bottom keeping an eye on us, and a 5' nurse shark swam by and checked us out. All this was with a backdrop of a rainbow of coral, sea fans, and a sea cucumber.
On our way back, we stopped at a small beach and walked up the river, which flows from the ocean side.
It was a most enjoyable afternoon, and we would like to moor closer to this area to see more of it.
Upon our return to the marina, we had hoped to catch a potluck dinner with other cruisers. However the caliber of boats here is far different from ours, and I don't think the chefs (or guests) on the other boats were the potluck sort of people!! So, we ended up having a great shared dinner with Dan and Judy on their boat. It is quite spectacular itself, a 60' Hatteras with far more amenities than we are used to. We were definitely spoiled!
To top off our evening, we enjoyed a few fireworks set off from the beach, and then called into a New Year's Eve party at home.

The party on the dock carries on, but it is way past cruisers' bedtime so we are turning in for the night.

Happy New Year everyone!!

Next Mail Call

Our next port of call where we can accept mail will be George Town. We will be there from mid-January to mid-February.
The address to use is:

(Jessica/Madeline) LeBreton
c/o Cee Jem
Exuma Markets
George Town, Exuma
Bahamas

"hold for arrival"

Finally, An Update!

We are safe and sound at Black Point in the Exumas.
We have had a busy couple of weeks, hard to believe it is New Year's Eve tomorrow!

We spent only one night in Nassau. Having arrived around 4:30, we needed to get to the grocery and hardware stores, and also popped in to the Radio Shack at the mall across from the marina. We returned to the boat and had a quick dinner. Just as we were finishing, the Christmas Parade of Boats passed by with all manner of floating structures all decorated with lights. They got to the end of the harbour, set off a few fireworks and then turned around and 'paraded' back to the start. It was a quick show, and we didn't have the best view, but it was as close to a Santa Claus Parade as we were going to get this year.

We left Nassau early on December 18. We headed across the bank to the top of the Exumas. We were originally headed for Allen's Cay (here, pronounced "key") which is home to a collection of prehistoric iguanas. However, partway through our sail we decided that for better protection from the north wind we would be best to go a bit further and we tucked into Highborne Cay. Courtney from s/v Dharma and I went into the marina there to check out the little marina shop. We had been forewarned that prices in the out islands were considerably higher than elsewhere, but even with that in mind, we were still unprepared for the prices. I was looking for a few little things - small apples: $2 each; tortilla shells: $8.50 for 6; jell-o pudding mix: $4.50. I decided my purchases could wait. Courtney had heard that they had a freezer with meat in it. Her husband is a big fan of steak, so she considered getting a few to treat before Christmas, but decided against when she discovered that a small ribeye was $29.50. Happily, we have found that once you get away from a marina, and into a village or settlement, the prices aren't quite so steep!

On December 19, we left Highborne just before 10 and set anchor again at Norman Cay at noon. What a great way to travel, when you are only a 2 or 3 hour trip between stops! It is certainly a welcome change from our long travel days.
At Norman we were treated to a great beach, some small coral heads to snorkel and explore, and a cute little beach bar. We went for dinner one night, and it is the kind of place you would only expect to see in the movies. There was a great wood deck, lots of wicker furniture and beautiful tiki lights. We enjoyed a great fish dinner, and then headed to the beach for a bonfire before turning in for the night.
We continued to enjoy the slower pace of life, swimming, hanging out at the beach and snorkeling for a few days. We also managed to trim a few limbs of a southern pine tree to put in a container as a makeshift Christmas "tree" for the boat.

On the 21st, we headed out of the anchorage at 9:30, headed for the Exumas Land and Sea Park headquarters at Warderick Wells. By shortly after 10 the wind and seas had built considerably, and we decided that now that we are "here", we really don't have to go anywhere on a day like this. So, back we went, and the 4 of us spent an afternoon re-grouping, reading, and even learning a new card game. Remind us once we're home to teach you how to play "cucumber".

As expected, by the next morning the weather had settled down a bit, and so we set out again, this time for Sampson Cay. We were getting to be in need of fuel, and the marinas are becoming sparser. We filled all our tanks to the brim, and then anchored just beside a stunning rock wall. Just before midnight, we were awakened by bright white lights shining in our cabin window, the faint glow of flashing red lights and yelling. We jumped out of bed, and Greg said to me, "I think we're going to be boarded". He went up to the deck and I could faintly hear the conversation between him and BASRA (Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association), basically their Coast
Guard. Apparently they felt that we were anchored too close to the marina channel, making passage difficult. The end result was that all parties agreed it would be unlikely that anyone would be entering the marina through the night, so we could stay there, and would move in the morning.

Needless to say, we were up and going early on the morning of the 23rd. We headed for Staniel Cay, which is where we had planned with a few other boats to meet for Christmas time. Again, the beauty of the Exumas, is that beautiful places aren't far apart. So, by 10 we were anchored just off the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. We in fact were anchored very close to the Thunderball Grotto, of James Bond fame. According to the pictures in the yacht club, there were also scenes from "Splash" filmed there. The best time to dive in this cave is a low, slack tide. Meaning that the tide is low, allowing maximum headroom in the cave, and the current is slack, so you're not fighting the current as you swim around. Luckily, this most opportune time was around noon, which put the sun directly overhead the opening in top, illuminating the reef. WOW! The variety of fish was amazing, and every time I passed a blue tang, I couldn't help but wonder if any of them had the same personality as Dory from Finding Nemo.

On the 24th, we swam in the morning, and then headed to the Children's Christmas Party, hosted by the Yacht Club with the help of many generous (American) locals. The kids all gathered at noon, and enjoyed making crafts and playing some outdoor games. At 1, they served pizza, cupcakes and ice cream for lunch. As 2 o'clock neared, you could feel the anticipation building ... there was a very special visitor on his way! Sure enough, shouts of "he's coming", "he's on his way!" were heard and we all filed out to the dock to watch Santa approach on the bow of a boat. He came, joined the party, and had a stocking and gift for every child. The girls returned to the boat, ecstatic with their new snorkel and mask, as well as a variety of chocolates, candies, skipping rope and craft items. It was an amazing afternoon, and all involved are to be commended for their ability to include both local and visiting children in a great day at a very special time of year.

And then then big day came ...
We wondered and worried what Christmas on a boat would bring. Would Santa find us? (Yes) Would we miss home? (Certainly.) Would we enjoy our day? (Absolutely!)
Indeed, there were presents under the tree in the morning, new cameras for the girls to capture memories of this trip, new games, and handmade gifts for everyone, from everyone on board. Thus, hopefully beginning a new tradition for us, that not everything must be purchased.
Despite invitations from kids on other boats to play or watch a movie, we were true to our tradition of spending Christmas just the four of us.
We went swimming again in the afternoon, took a hike into town and saw some locals enjoying new bikes, balls and other gifts.
We spent the evening at a cruisers dinner, again, put on by the yacht club. At 7, they seated everyone at beautifully decorated tables and served soup, salad and then beef tenderloin and lobster tails. For dessert there was a choice of sweet potato cake or bananas foster pie. It was delicious. By 9:30 the crew of Cee Jem were dinghying back across the harbour, heading home.
What a great day!

On the 26th, we moved in the morning, back north a few miles to Big Major Spot. Again, a beautiful beach, well protected from the prevailing east winds. The reported highlight of Big Major is the swimming pigs. There are indeed a few pigs on the north beach that swim out to meet your boat in hopes that you have brought them something to eat. We approached with our dinghy, but then quickly backed off to watch from a distance, as we have heard that their hooves will cut through the inflatable pontoons, resulting in a lengthy repair job.
We were in the company of many large mega-yachts. One even had an inflatable water slide that was suspended from the third deck! It looked pretty fun.
We really enjoyed snorkeling here. We saw huge sea stars (about the size of a dinner plate), gigantic rays that probably had the same armspan as me, and also saw a few nurse sharks swimming by.

Yesterday we motored south to the settlement of Black Point on Great Guana Cay. This cute little town is inhabited by the friendliest, most hospitable people we have met in the Bahamas. There is a great laundry (you with washing machines and dryers, oh! and WATER in your house, might not appreciate that as much as we do), a cute little cafe with great fried conch and an Internet cafe (hence, this update). Unfortunately all the local children have headed to Nassau to spend the holidays with family, so we are missing that part of the experience here.

There is supposed to be a winter storm blowing through early next week, so we are developing our plan for that. The trouble with the Exumas is that all the islands run north/south, so you have to choose your spot carefully when a front is going to pass through and the wind will clock right around the compass. Looks like we will be heading north again and try to tuck in a little spot at Compass or Cambridge Cay.

We will try to be better about updating our blog and keeping everyone up to date...I guess we have all been on Christmas holidays!!

Happy New Year to you all!

Day Two of the Exumas

The weather has certainly closed in on the Bahamas. Winds over twenty knots make sailing exhilarating to say the least. Fortunately, the western side of the Exumas is protected and we can move fairly easily south on the archipelago.
We spent a bouncy night off Highbourne Cay and moved out this morning for Norman Cay for an anchorage with better protection.
The reefs are beautiful and the entire region makes one think that we are sailing in one enormous aquarium. Mind you a rather windy one.
Unfortunately our WIFI is sketchy here to say the least. We are working off a roaming plan with AT&T that we have for weather information and email. It means blog pictures will have to wait until we find some open WIFI sites.
Until then, everything is better in the Exumas.

We are Safe and Sound in Nassau

Just a quick update to let you know that we pulled into Nassau last night. We spent Friday crossing the Bahamas Bank, then yesterday across the tongue of the ocean, arriving in Nassau late afternoon.
How amazing to sail into Nassau on your own boat?!?

We are departing shortly, headed for the Exumas.
Our wifi access has become much more scarce. As we begin to spend more time in quiet anchorages, we will be able to post short text updates, and you can always check our progress by looking at our position updates under 'Where in the world are we?'.

Update: We are safe and sound in the Exumas, anchored behind Highborne Cay. The weather window for sailing passages is closed behind us and the wind is blowing!

Departure Day

As I write this, Greg is busy preparing the boat for our departure. After looking at the forecast, it appears as though we have a great weather window to get across the Bahamas Bank. We expect that window will close by Sunday night.
So, we have a new plan:
Depart Bimini today, head toward the North West Channel and anchor overnight on the banks somewhere west of Chub Cay.
Tomorrow we will get up early (my friend Courtney calls it "o'dark thirty") and head for Nassau, hoping to arrive around 7pm. We will overnight in Nassau, then leave early Sunday morning for Allan's Cay in the north end of the Exuma Island chain.
Once we arrive in the Exuma's the weather will matter less for further passages, so we will be able to slow down a bit!
Keep watching our position to see our progress.

The engine has now started .... I guess we're on our way!

One Message in a Bottle Found

Looks like the bottles might have been riding too high in the water and they have been blown on shore with the very strong east wind.

Here is the email we received.

"your message was found at 8:43AM in Patrick Air Force area beach which is part of Cocoa Beach, Florida. Read the message Madeline wrote
and yes, people do find these every so often. Some are found years after they are written and in Madeline's case only days.
Best wishes for the New Year and by the way, I have a lovely doublewide mobile home for sale and if you know of any one who wants
to live in Florida part time and wants a beautiful home have them email me or phone 321-473-3949. AVALON"

My Toes are addicted to sand, I belong on the beach

We are finally in the Bahamas still in Bimini. I am having fun playing with friends, going to the pool and my favourite, the beaches. We are not reedy for Christmas yet. We are waiting for a wether window, in the mean time we are having fun .Yesterday we went to a shark lab it was very cool. Yesterday we cought 5 fish they were Jacks. We are going up with George and the fish Docter when they go up to clean the fish to see the sharks, fish and birds to see them eat the scraps.
By for now, Jessica.

Every days a beach day

Hey blog readers ,
Right now we are in Bimini.
Yesterday we went to the shark lab, at the shark lab our tour Gide's name was Linzie , she was the one that took us too the baby shark cage,at the shark cage we got to touch lemon sharks , they feel like sand paper and they can change colour. For example if they lived near the mangroves they would be a darker colour of yellow.
On the 11th of December we went to a beach and daddy found a field of live conch, their feet are slimy .
From : Madeline

Waiting for Another Weather Window

We are still in Bimini, waiting for some calmer winds.
The next leg of our journey is an eighty-mile trip. It involves leaving Bimini through the channel, rounding North Rock, traveling east across the Great Bahama Bank to the Northwest Channel, then southeast to the Berry Islands. We need to cover the beginning and end in daylight, as much of the navigation here involves visual calculation of depths rather than relying on charts alone. The charts are not always terribly accurate. With tides, currents and tropical storms, the sand can move around quite considerably, so we are often navigating by looking at the colour of the water to tell us how deep it is.

Since 80 miles is outside our range for one day, we have a couple of options:
1. We could leave here at first light, navigate the channel and get on the bank and then stop to anchor overnight near the Northwest channel, get up in the morning, navigate the channel with light and continue to the Berry's.
2. We could leave here mid-afternoon so we could navigate the channel here before dark, sail across the bank overnight, then navigate the Northwest Channel at first light, and arrive in the Berry's the next morning.

The question becomes, which is the lesser of two evils? Anchoring overnight with no protection from wind or the local boats that ply the waters without lights or keeping a watch; OR sailing overnight on the banks without the ability to see the depth, and trying to stay awake?

Much of our answer will be determined by what time frame we have with calm(er) winds, and what the other boats who are left here decide to do. Several boats that we crossed from Miami with have moved on, but we hear their passages were not terribly comfortable. Having the girls on board makes us happy to wait for friendlier seas.

Meanwhile, we have been enjoying the slower Bahamian pace of life. We have joined a bonfire on the beach, walked around North Bimini, sampled local fare (including great daily-baked Bimini bread, conch fritters and mango ice cream), chatted with knowledgeable fisherman and watched them feed the tarpon and sharks with their scraps. That's a 7' bull shark in the last picture.

This afternoon we took the water taxi to South Bimini and visited the shark lab there. We were given a tour by Lindsay, the assistant manager, who shared some great information about Lemon Sharks, and their habitats. Once we had toured the lab, we waded out to a small holding pen they have in the sand and saw a "little lemon" and even got to touch it. Very cool!

Pictures of our crossing day.

Here are some picture of yesterday when we crossed the Gulf Stream. What a fun day.

Bahamas here we are!

Hi friends,
Right now we are in Bluewater Marina in Bimini. Yesterday when we were crossing my favourite part was when I threw my message in a bottle overboard. 2 days ago we were at No Name Harbour. Our friend Cole on his boat Dharma came to pick us up on his yellow kayak. Once we paddled to his boat (we had our bathing suits on) we hopped on his paddle board, paddled out a little ways in the harbour, and then we jumped in the water to cool off. Then when we got back to their boat from paddle boarding we attached the paddle board to the boat and swung from the davits (the thing that hangs off the side of the boat and lifts the dinghy up). We had a lot of fun. Yesterday when we were at the beach we went snorkeling by the rocks. We saw lots of conch shells, two barracuda, a few stingrays (we could get about 20 cm away from them). I also found a very pretty shell that I think is a Zebra nerite . Another pretty shell that I found was a Florida Fighting Conch. I liked snorkeling because the water was so clear and there were so many things to see. From your friend Madeline

We are in the Bahamas :)

We are in the Bahamas, we got here yesterday. We went to the beach yesterday and found conch shells that were cracked, then we dove for perfect ones. We swam by some fish, sea urchins and skates (skates are like stingrays only they do not have barbs which sting you and they give birth to their babies not in mermaids purses). Ben our friend Cole's older brother went out snorkeling and saw a shark. we are in blue water marina now and yesterday we could easily see the bottom because it was clear, today we can see the bottom but it is not so clear.
I will keep sharing stories with you.
Jessica

We made it!

We are across the Gulf Stream and safely into Bimini, Bahamas. A relatively flat crossing that reminded us more of sailing the Great Lakes then ocean water. The trickiest part of the whole trip was getting into the harbour in Bimini. Not well marked and you need to watch both your chart plotter as well as your water colour. We watched another Canadian boat merrily sail aground after clearly not consulting any charts what so ever.
We cleared into customs and immigration easily and were on the beach to enjoy the amazing colour of the water, great sand, and snorkeling.
A front has just blown in losing the weather window that we sailed through. Kinda windy here now. Glad I'm not out on the banks.
Pictures to come when it's morning and the rest of the crew is up.

Off We Go ....

The forecast looks good, the gulf stream is predicted to be only 2 knots, down from the usual 3 1/2, there is no wind right now. Looks like a great day to go to The Bahamas!

A Weather Window! Tomorrow!

Looks like the day to cross the gulf stream will be tomorrow. Winds are to die down and the waves are to be a bit less scary. We will finally get our chance to reach The Bahamas. We have found two other boats to cross with and as a tiny armada we will scamper to safety as quickly as sails and engines will take us.
This is the most scary, exhilarating, and looked forward to part of the whole trip.
Let's hope the forecasters are correct and Mother Nature is in one of her better moods!
Departure time: 4:00 am Wednesday December 7
ETA: Noon, same day.

Stay tuned!

Provisioning Trip

This morning Julie from Hi-5 and I went on our final provisioning trip.
I only went for a "few things", and came back with enough to fill the dinghy. We are trying to stock up on things like canned goods, boxed milk, pancake mix, oh...and beer. We have been told that we will find a decent variety of foods on the various islands that we will visit, but the selection isn't always great, and the prices are generally up to 50% higher than in the US.
The rest of the afternoon was spent finding space to stash it all. I was remarkably successful, so will head into town again tomorrow for a few more things.....