Month: March 2018

Shark Creek is a tidal flow running through the mangroves south of Great Harbour Cay. As it connects the ocean to the banks it attracts quite an assortment of fish and wildlife. We joined Steven, the manager of the marina, and his wife for a kayak run from the ocean side to the banks and then back to the marina. Steve was nice enough to load our kayaks in his truck and transport us all to the launch point.

 

Shark Creek lives up to its name as we saw dozens of small sharks, as well as rays and turtle. Some here to breed, others to eat. One can navigate the creek in a dinghy at high tide but would loose the chance to view all the wildlife up close and personal. We often rode directly over the top of sleeping rays just inches below our kayaks before they bolted.

At the narrowest sections the overhanging mangroves close over the top of you and can sort of restrict travel. Going with the tide helps.

The next day we took the dinghy to some of the cays south of Great Harbour. Again, this was a “mid-tide rising only” route. Unfortunately we left a little too early and had to drag the dinghy quite a ways. But the wildlife was interesting and the views east towards Soldier and Hoffman Cays was spectacular. I relaxed while Lisa collected sand dollars. Based on her haul, we are now rich.

Along the way we disturbed a few of the local creatures for a photo shoot.

  Photo contest! Name this fish. About 8″ long. In a foot of water.

Lots of starfish around. This one was much larger than the others.

Lisa wanted the shell but it was spoken  for.

This view is from a small cay adjacent to Fanny Cay looking towards Soldier and Hoffman Cays. We rested here waiting for the tide to come up.

Reference: Bahamas, Krogen, cruising, trawler, Great Harbour Cay,

While February weather was pleasant, 28 straight days of trade winds, March has presented a challenge for us. When winds change by 180 degrees we need to move our anchorage to find protection from some land mass on the opposite shore, if one exists. In most of the Bahamas there are plenty of protected anchorages when the winds are from the east, not so many when winds shift to the west. Lots of boats cram into the few decent protected spots.

Take a look at this weather pattern for the next few days. Some time on Monday, if we were at anchor, we would need to move. So would every other boat near by. For some reason, these breaks between fronts rarely occur during daylight.

For us, these anchorages end up to be too crowded for our comfort. We swing differently than the sailboats around us and, considering our displacement and wind drag,  we dare not short scope our anchor in response to the crowding.  When we do anchor in one of these spots, some late arrival is bound to anchor too close to us. Maybe OK if they were anchoring next to another sailboat, but not next to us. The worst combination of conflicting swing behavior is between trawlers like us and catamarans.

So here is what we do. If we need a spot to weather a westerly wind we find an area that does not have an Active Captain green sticker over it. Spots like this are often slightly less protected than the 5 star locations that are so popular. We look for protection from fetch and disregard the wind. A good spot for us may be behind a large sand bar, for example. As long as we are not getting bounced around by wind driven chop, I have confidence that our tackle will handle most anything and we will sleep comfortably.

Our other option is to go find a protected marina. Unfortunately, not all marinas in the Bahamas are protected from west winds and seas. Nothing worse than paying top dollar to hide in a marina, only to be rocked all night by the swell.

Given the March weather pattern, we have spent a good portion of the month in one marina or another. As I look at the forecast for the next few days I contemplate where we will hold our evening happy hour. May be too windy for the fly bridge. The cockpit will do nicely.

Its a tough life.

 

We are in Great Harbour Cay Marina. A nice, friendly place and totally protected. Weather drove us in last week. But as we got here my sinus headache took a turn for the worse. For the last few days I have been inhaling antihistamines and swallowing pain pills, but without a lot of relief. Today was better so we took a bicycle ride around the island. The beaches are spectacular.

We also got a visit from the marina’s local manatee. Apparently he is looking for love because he spent quite a bit of time in amorous embrace of our dinghy.

 

 

 

In late February Chris Parker, our weather source, forecast that the first few weeks in March would be plagued by a series of cold fronts with South/West/North components. In general, it gets hard to find comfortable anchorages in the Bahamas with this sort of forecast. And so when we hear, “…with wind from the west…” we look for a marina.
In part because of the forecast we chose to head north via Eleuthera, as it offered a more interesting set of marinas than the northern Exumas (Highborn and Nassau). Our first hidey-hole in Eleuthera was Cape Eleuthera Marina, which I mentioned in a prior post. As it turned out, we might have been as comfortable in Rock Sound, which is protected from the west. Friends who weathered the same front we did, said Rock Sound was OK.
When we left Cape Eleuthera we had 48 hours to find protection before the next front, again with strong westerly winds. We decided to head up to Spanish Wells with a stop at an anchorage half way there. Alabaster cove was quite nice. Calm night so setting the anchor wasn’t critical. It did set, but only half buried in sand before catching in underlying hard pack. Apparently this is typical of many Eleuthera anchoring spots. Anyway, some dolphins came by to wish us well so we took it as a good omen.
The next day we passed through Current Cut (more on this later) and came into Spanish Wells and Yacht Haven Marina. Very well protected and a nice marina, albeit a bit expensive at $2.50/foot. At that time, we figured a 3-5 day stay until the weather pattern improved. I must have forgotten Chris’s forecast for a series of fronts through mid-March. Well, we have been here 5 days and will likely be here 3-5 days more. As I write this we are just emerging from a series of thunderstorms passing over. Still raining pretty steadily. Not much wind but that is coming. So far, the fronts have been rolling over us every 48 hours or so, and are predicted to continue through Thursday. And that is about how far the forecasts go. Here is a picture of the next one:

With each of these fronts the winds clock from SE > S > SW > W > NW etc. The winds are strong enough from each direction, 20 knots or so, that, if at anchor, one has to move with the wind shifts to find protection. And of course the wind shifts usually occur just after midnight. Hence our choice of protected marinas vs anchoring during these weather patterns. But it is getting old.
We hope to leave soon and either explore the Berry Islands or the Abacos, depending on what sort of weather and sea states emerge once this pattern of cold fronts subsides. Meanwhile, we are enjoying Spanish Wells. Now, back to Current Cut.
This cut is the most direct route to Spanish Wells from the South. It can carry upwards of 8 knots at max flow. And lots of private and commercial shipping passes through here. Slack current is preferable, but not so easy to compute as it is affected by winds and tide levels. Also better at high tide as there are some shallows as one approaches from the East.
Our best estimate for slack current that day was 1pm. We got there 10 minutes prior and the current had already reversed and was ebbing outbound at 2 knots. No big deal but I am not sure when slack tide did occur. For our cruising readers, slack tide at the cut is estimated to be 1:30 to 2 hrs after Nassau tide. In our case, my best estimate is that slack current occurred at 1:40 after Nassau high tide. Based on discussions with other boats passing through with us, slack lasts about 5-10 minutes.

There are a few turns in the cut, and with any current at all, the eddies can push you around quite a bit. Plenty of room to fishtail as long as you have the cut to yourself. In our case, we met a cargo ship just at the narrowest portion of the cut. He generously gave us more than our fair share of the channel. Thank you captain, whoever you are.

The first week of March is living up to the saying, “In like a lion”. When the forecast is for winds with a “W” in them, meaning with a west component, we usually find a protected place to go hide in. Currently NNW 18-25Kn/gusting 32. Our weather here is being driven by the bomb cyclone that is currently blasting the US east coast. As it pulls away the trailing winds are touching us. We are getting off easy, but still a bit uncomfortable.
This says, “marina” to us so a few days ago we crossed over from the Exumas to Eleuthera and Cape Eleuthera Marina. That crossing, from Staniel Cay, was quite pleasant. Winds under 10 knots and calm seas, perfect for fishing, except we didn’t catch anything. Frustrating as all the other boats following us in had Mahi aboard. Hamburgers tonight I guess.

This is a very nice marina, although the entrance is open to the west. Since there is some westerly component to the current winds, we are getting some slop in here. We are not moving much but the sailboats next to us are bouncing around a bit. I would guess that if the winds were directly out of the west, and above 15 knots or so, this place would be uncomfortable for small boats. Luckily, strong west winds are quite unusual,…except for this week and next.
The winds are predicted to lay down tomorrow and Tuesday, before again blowing from the west. Since the forecast is for 20 knots or more directly from the west on Wednesday, we will bail out of here and head up to Spanish Wells. We had planned to cruise the leeward coast of Eleuthera as we wandered north, but I don’t like the options for anchoring around here with 25 knots out of the west predicted; Rock sound is crowded now and Hatchet Bay has more underwater hazards to anchoring than I care for.
So we are headed to a marina in Spanish Wells for a few days. The town is supposed to be attractive, with some nice restaurants. We will play land vacation for a while, rent a car and see the sights. When the weather improves we will head over to the Berry Islands.

We spent quite a bit of time in the park this season. A few days in the North field horse shoe, a few at Emerald Rock and nearly a month at the Cambridge Cay mooring field. We volunteered as mooring field hosts for the month. In return for a free mooring we represent the park in the field. Our primary duties include providing information about the park in general and Cambridge Cay in particular. Most importantly, we collect the mooring fees from the boats. We have no way of knowing how many of the visiting boats would pay voluntarily if we were not there, but I suspect we more than paid for our presence with the extra income we were able to provide to the park.
The park has a new administrator, Joe Ierna who, along with his wife Nicola will provide re-energized management to the park. We were able to spend some time with Joe and Nicola and the park wardens and learned lots about the park and their plans for upgrades. New buildings, new generators, etc. And most important to cruisers, new mooring ball systems. In the past, the park moorings had a great reputation for quality and maintenance. Over the last year or so, maintenance had lapsed and moorings were failing. We witnessed a large trawler break free from its mooring at Emerald Rock in a not so strong breeze. And when we moved to Cambridge I dove on the moorings in the field and found one so frayed it was ready to break. Good news is, while we were there the park wardens dove all the moorings and repaired or replaced the bad ones. I dont know the schedule for the new moorings but it shouldn’t be too long.
One good thing about the moorings in the park is that the water is so clear it is easy to dive and inspect the entire mooring system. I think most of the risk of a mooring failure is at the top of the mooring, where boats can damage the pennant. But the shackle can wear as well. This is a shot of me inspecting the mooring we sat on for a month at Cambridge. It was in about 25 feet, which is about my free diving limit. Everything looked good down there.
Most of the moorings are designed for cruising boats, 65′ or less. A few are for large yachts, up to 150′. The park collects as much as $150 per night for the use of these moorings so it brings in much needed revenue.

The big boat mooring is next to ours, so the boats need to pass fairly closely. Once they are attached, there is plenty of swing room. One yacht had their guests depart via sea plane. Quite the shock to see it land next to us.

The take off was even more exciting!

Sea plane departs Cambridge
One of the great pleasures of spending a month with the park was getting to meet some of the Bahamians that work there. One day Jay, one of the wardens, and Geo, a Defense Force soldier, came by in their boat en route to Staniel Cay and invited us along. Since Staniel Cay is the only resupply town in the area, and we had no other way to get there, we jumped at the opportunity. After shopping, we all stopped at the yacht club for lunch. A fine time was had by all.

After a January spent mostly hiding from cold fronts, February was perfect Bahamas winter weather. Winds from the ENE-E-ESE all month. Mostly 10-15 knots with a few days of 20-25. Nothing with a W in it. This makes for comfortable cruising on the Exumas bank and provides plenty of anchorages.
This weather makes kayaking, hiking and snorkeling, our usual pastimes, fun and easy. We bought two kayaks at West Marine before we left the states. They have turned out to be excellent. Comfortable, good tracking and decently made for mid-priced boats. We kayak most every day that we can.
Hiking on the islands is Lisa’s favorite activity. I join her for the easy trails. This photo was taken by her taken from atop Cambridge Cay.
We try and snorkel whenever we can, and I continue to try my hand at under water photography. I am terrible at it. My excuse is that my eyesight without my glasses is so bad that i can’t see the view finder.So I dive and guess at what I am seeing. Sometimes I catch a fish in the lens by accident. When Evan and Grayson were with us they chased a lobster for an hour or so before spearing him. Made for a nice appetizer.

A run on the sound side of the Exumas is always an opportunity to catch something. Our first fish off Privateer. This one was about 25 pounds. For the fishermen, we caught it at 9 am in about 400 feet just outside the cut north of George Town. Trolling a rubber ballyhoo with a blue streamer about 200 feet behind the boat at 7.5 knots.
We got at least ten dinners for two from this fish. delicious.