We arrived in Wardrick Wells tired from our rocky night. Luckily, we found and tied to our mooring quickly, and were able to get off the boat and on to the beach in a short time. We had planned to hike the ragged hills to get to the park headquarters, but were sad to read that Zander was not welcome to travel past the beach at Wardrick Wells because of the protected wildlife (this will be very relevant later in the story). So we took poor Zander back to the boat before embarking on our trek.
Our hike became what is now known on our boat as a "Pam death march" (PDM). The PDM is a regular occurrence in our cruising lives, referring to a "walk"- usually in hot or rainy weather- that is supposed to be short and lead to a restaurant, grocery store or somewhere rewarding, and ends- sometimes unfinished- after 1-100 miles with our tongues dragging and Cyrus ( and sometimes Tyler) having a cow.
This particular PDM resulted in a spectacular hike through ironshore and poisonwood trees, past 2 beaches, with views of both the eastern and western shores- but no park HQ. We ended up taking a wet dinghy ride to park HQ- but we were rewarded with $2 movie rentals....hooray!
The real stories from Wardrick Wells involve Cyrus and Zander, however.
While visiting park HQ on our second day in the park (dinghy ride- no death march), Cyrus and I saw children playing on the beach. Cyrus flew down to greet them, seemingly a bit tired of his mother. While I was finishing my business at park HQ, I recognized one of the faces of the other cruisers- but could not place from where. She recognized me as well, and we eventually realized that we had met, not on boats, but at the airport in Ft. Lauderdale, when Cyrus returned to Florida from Denver. Cyrus had flown as an unaccompanied minor and met a family from Alaska flying to Florida to refit their boat and sail to the Bahamas. At the time, Wendy (the mom) had been traveling for 24 hours with 3 children and a plethora of flight/airline issues. She was so frazzled that we were not able to exchange contact information, and I thought we would never see them again. The cruising world is small, however, and there was Wendy, her 3 children (and husband) aboard Whistling Cay once more. Needless to say, we spent the better part of the next 3 days onboard Whistling Cay, or playing with Lily, Eli and Jedo. Cyrus had such a wonderful time that he stopped talking to me on the day we left.
While visiting Wardrick Wells, we also met Jennifer and Royce on Cerca Trova- also first time cruisers learning things the hard way (although their boat is a beautiful catamaran with a refrigerator, water maker and oven among other lovely amenities). We would follow Cerca Trova to Staniel Cay and then to Blackpoint Settlement and hope to see them again soon.
On our final night in Wardrick Wells, Zander was allowed to go off-leash on the beach during a cruiser cookout/ birthday celebration for the park manager. All was well until Cyrus came to me and asked, "What happens when you touch a rodent?" I answered (typical mom), " Well... a rodent is like a mouse or a rat..." Cyrus: " I know that...just answer me," Me: "Well nothing usually." Cyrus: "Good- because Zander has one in his mouth."
The Bahamian hutia- https://www.google.bs/search?biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&q=bahamian+hutia&revid=280812034 - sorry no pictures- my connection is too slow
Yes- our little Zander had found the protected hutia-either chased and killed it, or (I believe) just found a dead hutia and dragged it out to the beach...in front of all the park management...and guests....good thing it was dark. The park workers encouraged me to allow Zander to keep chasing the hutia- apparently they are over-running the island and impacting the plant life. We had no idea he was anything more than a lap-dog. More on that in the Staniel Cay post....
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Hawksbill Cay
After leaving Norman's Cay, we did a little provisioning and headed toward the Exuma Land and Sea Park- a 25+ mile stretch of protected cays. No fishing, shell collecting or hunting allowed- the stretch of islands are a beautiful example of the natural Bahamas.
Our primary destination was the park headquarters on Wardrick Wells, with its protected moorings- we knew that a pretty nasty northern wind was headed our way in the evening and wanted to be tucked away safely for it. Unfortunately, as we headed south, having to motor because of strong headwinds, our engine began to have trouble. At first, the engine was losing rpm slowly, and then, randomly, the rpm would dive- never quite fully quitting, and then rev back up to our original speed. Reluctantly, we made the decision to take our chances on a mooring outside of Hawksbill Cay- still within the park, but not as protected as we had hoped.
The water was rough and it took 3 tries to hook the mooring ball: Tyler yelling at me from the bow and while I tried my best to steer a 10,000 lb. tub slowly toward a ball that I could not see. Tension? Yes.
After recovering from grabbing the mooring, we decided to enjoy the weather and the island before the evening winds came in.
We licked our wounds, made a bunch of coffee, and headed toward Wardrick Wells.
Our primary destination was the park headquarters on Wardrick Wells, with its protected moorings- we knew that a pretty nasty northern wind was headed our way in the evening and wanted to be tucked away safely for it. Unfortunately, as we headed south, having to motor because of strong headwinds, our engine began to have trouble. At first, the engine was losing rpm slowly, and then, randomly, the rpm would dive- never quite fully quitting, and then rev back up to our original speed. Reluctantly, we made the decision to take our chances on a mooring outside of Hawksbill Cay- still within the park, but not as protected as we had hoped.
The water was rough and it took 3 tries to hook the mooring ball: Tyler yelling at me from the bow and while I tried my best to steer a 10,000 lb. tub slowly toward a ball that I could not see. Tension? Yes.
After recovering from grabbing the mooring, we decided to enjoy the weather and the island before the evening winds came in.
 |
| Hard to believe that bad weather was headed our way |
As we explored, we found a lovely trail- marked by cairns (piles of rocks) and winding through ironshore (amazingly hard volcanic rock) and mangrove. While wading through a shallow creek, we spotted a nurse shark- about 2 feet long- that sent Tyler out of the water quickly. Cyrus, on the other hand, was excited to wade more and try to find another shark. The trail led to a beautiful and untouched beach on the eastern side of the island. The entire family played, chased crabs (Zander) and enjoyed amazingly clear water.
As evening approached, we went back to Mirage, watching clouds approach from both the west and north. The wind prediction we had said that the winds would be "clocking around" from south to west to north and the come in strongly from the north by 6pm. The weather we were watching, however, told a different story. During the hour before sunset, we watched 4 boats come in to our same mooring field- escaping the approaching storm. By 6pm, westerly winds and a strong storm were beating down on Mirage. In the waning light, one last boat made an attempt to hook a mooring ball, but the storm and waves were too strong and the light was too dim- they ended up anchoring nearby. Completely unprotected from the west, our mooring was now a roller coaster ride. We were happy-now a relative term- to be tied to a strong mooring, however, the waves and storm made for a sleepless night.
In the morning, the wind and waves had died down somewhat, and we crawled out to the cockpit. Sadly, our dinghy had flipped over in the waves during the night- spilling its contents into the sea. The motor stayed attached, but the flippers and yet another dive mask and Cyrus shoe were lost. We learned our lesson to never leave anything in the dinghy overnight and counted our blessings that we did not lose the outboard.We licked our wounds, made a bunch of coffee, and headed toward Wardrick Wells.
A few snorkeling pics
Between Norman's Cay and Hawksbill Cay, we snorkeled some nice coral heads. I will again post pics entitled, there really are fish in this picture...and they were so bright! I also can't find a pic of the barracuda we found...just sitting...alone...creepy. Enjoy:
Saturday, February 1, 2014
No fair!
No wonder so many people were asking about the blog. I had been using an app called BlogGo to post when wifi was not working well and apparently my posts were not posting!!! The app is now "undergoing complete restructuring" and I lost 4 posts uploaded in January.
Many apologies... I will try to recall and retype our travels to Nassau, Harbour Island and Spanish Wells.
Down the Exumas part 2: Norman's Cay
Our journey down the Exuma Islands part 1
The Exuma island chain is approximately 120 nautical miles long, and some of the most beautiful scenery and diving in the Bahamas. Compared to our earlier travels, the Exumas look more like the Bahamas in the media- stretches of white beaches, brilliant turquoise water that is crystal clear, palm trees and millions of fish.
The first part of our journey took us from Current Settlement in Eleuthera to Ship Channel Cay. Overall, it was a beautiful sail and we were able to practice something called "visual piloting"- an essential skill for the Exumas- which involves watching the water for coral heads, rocks and other hazards not marked on the chart. Tyler stood on the bow and shouted directions to me at the helm, "Starboard, 20 degrees....Port- 10 degrees..," we felt a bit like pirates, however, after about an hour, our nerves were a bit frayed.
At first, we planned to anchor at Allen's Cay, where a group of protected iguanas live and come out to meet visitors on the beach. Our anchoring plans had to change, however, as we found the first large group of sailboats we had seen since arriving in the Bahamas.
Our second choice for an anchorage was secluded and beautiful, and proved to be well protected over night.
Tyler had a fun exercise for us to practice in the morning- we picked up our anchor and left the anchorage entirely under sail (no engine used at all). Because it worked, I can say that it was great and I felt very accomplished afterward...during the exercise, I thought I might pass out....
We sailed south to Highbourne Cay in the morning- never quite making it to Allen's Cay....the iguanas can wait.
The first part of our journey took us from Current Settlement in Eleuthera to Ship Channel Cay. Overall, it was a beautiful sail and we were able to practice something called "visual piloting"- an essential skill for the Exumas- which involves watching the water for coral heads, rocks and other hazards not marked on the chart. Tyler stood on the bow and shouted directions to me at the helm, "Starboard, 20 degrees....Port- 10 degrees..," we felt a bit like pirates, however, after about an hour, our nerves were a bit frayed.
At first, we planned to anchor at Allen's Cay, where a group of protected iguanas live and come out to meet visitors on the beach. Our anchoring plans had to change, however, as we found the first large group of sailboats we had seen since arriving in the Bahamas.
Our second choice for an anchorage was secluded and beautiful, and proved to be well protected over night.
Tyler had a fun exercise for us to practice in the morning- we picked up our anchor and left the anchorage entirely under sail (no engine used at all). Because it worked, I can say that it was great and I felt very accomplished afterward...during the exercise, I thought I might pass out....
We sailed south to Highbourne Cay in the morning- never quite making it to Allen's Cay....the iguanas can wait.
Update 2/1/2014
Our journey so far-December 1 to February 1
Leg 1: crossing from Florida to Bimini: 54 nautical miles
Leg 2: Bimini to the Berry Islands: approximately 60 nm
Leg 3: Chub Cay to Nassau: 40 nm
Leg 4: Nassau to Spanish Wells: 43 nm
Leg 5: Eleuthera (Current Settlement) to the Exuma Islands: 35 nm (Down the Exumas: appx. 120 miles)
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