Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Northwest Providence Channel, Bahamas

CROSSING OVER

We finally left Lake Worth, North Palm Beach, Florida at five pm, Tuesday, February 20^th. We cheered and pinched ourselves as we exited the Lake Worth Inlet, filled with pent up energy and excitement for our overnight passage to the Bahamas. As the sun set over calm seas and a light south east wind, we headed south along the Florida coast for about twenty miles before turning east to cross the mysterious Gulf Stream.

The shrinking lights from the Florida coast lent us some temporary night vision from behind, but it was a strange and awesome feeling to sail away from the U. S. coast without a short term plan to return for the first time since our maiden voyage ten months ago.

After a simple chicken dinner and a bedtime story from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Steve and Daniel took the first night watch at nine pm while Rachel, Emily and I crawled into our beds.

I reported for duty at 1:30 am and was greeted by Emily sitting at the navigation station, replacing Daniel as Steve’s assistant. She stayed for a while, keeping me company while Steve slept.

Around 2 am, shortly after I began my watch, I felt Tantara’s rhythm change. I knew even before looking at the chart or GPS that we had begun to cross the Gulf Stream. The boat’s pace slackened and the GPS confirmed my suspicions by showing a slight northward slant to our otherwise easterly progress.

The Gulf Stream runs north up the Florida Strait at about three knots. Unless fighting against an opposing wind, it isn’t a raging river, but it is significant enough to present a challenge to vessels trying to cross its relentless path. This is one reason we waited two weeks in Palm Beach for a good weather window: south winds going with the current. North winds can build up high waves and a very rough ride. It was worth the wait; we had a beautiful crossing.

Rachel joined me for her watch at 4:00 am. Just before Steve woke up for his second watch at 5:30, Tantara’s rhythm changed again and I knew we had crossed over the strongest part of the Gulf Stream.

I kept an eye on the radar and the horizon as half a dozen cruise ships passed us like enormous white ladies waltzing through the night.

ONWARD TO NASSAU

Today we considered stopping in Port Lucaya on the Grand Bahama Island after lunch. We talked about going through customs and checking into a marina to spend the night. But the casino town did not attract us, our energy levels are still good and the light winds have shifted more to the west, and are predicted to turn to the north giving us a good opportunity to make another overnight passage to Nassau.

From Nassau it will be a day sail south to the Exumas, a chain of islands popular for their many anchorages and short passages. Near the end of this chain is Georgetown, where the Annual Cruisers Regatta will be held this year from February 28-March 10. The kids have looked forward to attending this event for many months for all our cruising friends have told us it is not to be missed. Hundreds of cruisers, especially cruising families with kids show up for the organized events. Meeting other cruising kids rates high on the priority list of Tantara’s younger crewmembers. So we press on to the Exumas and Georgetown.

Relaxing is an activity (or inactivity) on the captain and first mate’s list of priorities. We have been working very hard in preparation for our island passage. Steve has been the hardest at work and may have even forgotten how to relax. He may need some gentle prodding and remedial lessons in the art of “letting go”.

I’m writing this log during our passage to Nassau. The water has turned a vivid electric blue and flying fish skim over the water’s surface like tiny white birds. I marvel at the similarity of colors, shapes and life between sky and water.

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Warderick Wells Cay, Exumas

ISLAND TIME IN NASSAU

We arrived in Nassau Harbor by 9:00 am, Thursday February 22 after our second night underway. We tied up to the dock at Yacht Haven Marina to wait for the customs and immigration officials to visit our boat. We were not allowed to go anywhere until these duties were completed. The immigration official showed up before lunch and quickly performed his job, stamping and signing papers. We waited all day sitting on the boat, taking cat naps, until finally the customs official showed up at 4:30 pm. He was tired and hassled at the end of a busy day. Our passports were quickly stamped and we were just in time to get diesel at the fuel dock before the 5:00 pm closing. We barely had time to set our anchor at the east end of the harbor before sunset. Exhausted, we fell into our beds not long after dinner. Our first day in the Bahamas we were introduced to “island time” where things don’t get done in a hurry, apparently even in Nassau, the capitol.

We had beautiful sailing weather yesterday, Friday, as we blew south to the Exuma Islands. We dropped our anchor near Allan’s Cay where we went ashore to explore the island. Pink iguanas, no bigger than a miniature dachshund greeted us warmly on the beach. After reading a sign warning us not to feed the critters, we understood why they were following us. They are a unique type of iguana, reportedly only found on the Allan’s Cays. They had a reddish crest running along their backs and the older specimens had fat reddish jowls under the neck. We picked our way along the volcanic rocky shore, inspecting shells and trying to avoid stepping on iguanas. We felt a bit like the scientific team of explorers led by Stephen Machurin from Master and Commander.

EXUMA CAYS LAND AND SEA PARK

After a windy night, waking up several times to the anchor alarm, we decided to move on to a more protected anchorage this morning. We found Warderick Wells Cay and the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park to be our exploration wonderland. This is a really special place, the first land and sea park in the world, established in 1958 and covering 176 square miles. It is a no-take zone by both land and sea. The golden rule is to take only photos and memories, leave only footprints and bubbles.

We took a mooring in a protected anchorage near the park headquarters and drove our dinghy to the office. We found a tree house like structure where very friendly park rangers gave us information and welcomed us to the island. On the veranda, we found petite yellow-breasted birds called bananaquits flying close by. A park volunteer poured a little bit of sugar in our hands and we watched in delight as the cute birds landed on our fingers, licking the sugar with their tiny tongues.

With map in hand, we hiked one of the many trails on the island up to Boo Boo Hill. We were rewarded at the top of the hill with a panoramic view of Exuma Sound. The blue hues of the water took my breath away. This blue water is such a thing of beauty, it must be hard for my brain to catch up and register what I am seeing with my eyes. I wonder if this is a sneak peak of what Heaven will be like – beauty so perfect that our puny brains cannot encompass it.

On the top of Boo Boo Hill there is a mound of drift wood signs painted with the boat names of other cruisers who have traveled to this spot before us. After reading the many signs, we found our friend’s sign from the catamaran “Spoony”. We made plans to add our own sign to the pile. Further along the hill were large blow holes where wind and water from the rocky coast below spewed through the holes, like a powerful sneeze from giant nostrils. It was a windy day and we had to hold onto our hats.

This evening we enjoyed a bonfire party on the beach with other cruisers from the anchorage, park rangers and crew-members from a large yacht. It was fun to meet other people and learn about how they got here and where they are going next.

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Warderick Wells Cays, Exumas

Today, after we had a time of family worship on the boat, we packed our lunch and hiked around the island on the trail system. This was not easy hiking because of the volcanic rock, filled with pits and holes and jagged edges. We hiked over to the windward side of the island and along the rocky coast, enjoying the panoramic views of water and waves crashing on the rocks.

We stopped at Beryl’s Beach to eat our lunch. After swimming in the water to cool off, I reached down to pick up my backpack and was startled by a lizard (about 6 inches long) that had climbed inside apparently searching for a snack. We found many of these lizards around the island, along with other interesting flora and fauna. We learned to identify and avoid the Poisonwood tree with sap that produces an itchy and painful rash. We hiked around the Loyalist ruins dating from 1780 made from limestone rock and conch shell mortar. We saw large termite mounds and evidence of a rabbit sized rodent called a hutia. We found hutia droppings everywhere, smelled its skunky odor and found tracks all over the beach. But we wondered why we never saw any hutia. Emily guessed that it was because they are nocturnal. Later, a park ranger confirmed this for us.

After hiking all afternoon about six miles total, Steve and I were tuckered out. But the kids still had energy to try out the Aqua Cycle and the kayaks on Powerful Beach, next to park head quarters.

Monday, February 26, 2007

Hog Cay, Exumas

This morning we were on a mission to make our mark on Boo Boo Hill. During our hike yesterday, we had found a nice log from a palm tree that had washed up on a beach. With markers we wrote “TANTARA” in large letters, along with our own signatures, the date and the reference for I Thessalonians 4:16-18. We made the trek up to the top of Boo Boo Hill (we don’t know why it bears this name) and proudly mounted our plaque, following the tradition of hundreds before us.

After lunch we moved Tantara to a south anchorage between Warderick Wells Cay and Hog Cay, still part of the park. We snorkeled all afternoon off Escape Beach, exploring a tunnel formed by water where the waves flow through dramatically every few minutes. We hiked up on top of the tunnel to discover pools of water where chitons dwell. We found some awesome coral reefs with many colorful fish and coral. This morning, we bought a guidebook from the park office for identifying fish and coral in this area, and the kids have had fun putting names to the fish and coral that they saw today. We anchored our dinghy on Capture Beach where Edward Teach (alias Black Beard) and other infamous pirates established their lair, a place to hide out and catch a snooze. The place where they laid their woven mats is still evident today because non-indigenous grasses from far away places grow there, apparently from seeds that fell from their mats.

Snorkeling was a lot of fun today. It was the first “real” snorkeling the kids had ever done and it was first rate. Steve and I noticed how worn out we felt by the end of the day. But the kids were full of fish stories during dinner.