Black Point Settlement Day 4

We went in town today for lunch again...This time at DeShamon's. She makes a very good pizza!
 The children all go home from school to eat lunch, the girls are dressed in skirts with wide belts and the boys are in dress shirt and pants, some with ties. They were all in green. The girls all had the same green socks and black shoes. Very prim and proper!!
 We were going to get some groceries at Alderley market but he was low on his fresh vegetables.  He politely told  us that what he had was 2 weeks old and that the boat will be in tomorrow with fresh. That was very nice of him cause I was going to buy some celery and oranges! Now I will wait and go back tomorrow.
  Took the dogs to the beach. ..I think they will both sleep well tonight.
It was a very relaxing and wonderful day...I think I like it here!

They are platting palm frons

Yea I like it here!

She likes the beach better this way!

Roxy at the beach

Phil praying this never happens to him!

Black Point Settlement Day 3 - Watermaker mishap! and A Little History Lesson

Went to see our fellow Defever boaters last night on the Salty Turtle.   Picked their brains for a couple of hours. They have been doing this for 6 to 7 years...last 2 on the Salty Turtle.  They had a wealth of knowledge for us newbies!

We noticed yesterday the fridge and freezer wasn't cooling like it should. .had to take some stuff out of that freezer and put in upstairs freezer. Phil had to get back behind the system to adjust the temp...

Also my hiding place if the pirates come!

  About 4 am Phil woke up thinking he was hearing a small boat going by but when he went outside to see there was nothing. He was still hearing this humming so he went down to the engine room and noticed the water pump was on....come to find out a hose on one of the valves of the watermaker came off!  We were pumping our fresh water into the bilge. .. 167 gallons to be exact!  Thank God Phil woke up and heard that noise...We will be making water today...at 20 gallons an hour we did 4 hours this morning and 4 this evening. Nothing we can't catch up with. Just VERY THANKFUL it didn't run us dry. We hold about 350 gallons.
   So Phil just called in an order of peas and rice and a loaf of coconut bread to
Lorraines over the VHF radio channel 16. Be ready in 35 minutes.  Small towns amaze me the laundromat is also a marine store, barber shop, internet cafe, gift store, grocery store, and you can get conch fritters there! All in the same building! She also has a couple of cottages she rents out.

The large white building is the laundromat

Lorraine Rolle's Cafe

A littie history lesson....
In the late  1700's The British tried to start plantations in the Exumas. A man named John Rolle owned twice as many slaves than anyone else.  The plantations didn't work out and in 1834 over 10,000 slaves were emancipated.  Lord Rolle's estate was deeded to the freed slaves and their descendants as "generation land." These freed slaves became farmers and fisherman with half of the people of the Exumas still bearing the surname Rolle. Lorraine is one of those descendants.

Caribbean peas and rice

Mama's coconut bread- more like dessert!

Black Point Settlement Day 2

Took the Dink back to Staniel Cay for gas...longer and rougher ride then we thought! Betcha Phil won't make that mistake again. On our way there we hugged the coast line and came across this beach on Bitter Ghana Cay. It was full of iguanas! They came out to greet us just like the pigs.

Needless to say we didn't get on this beach!

Went to town to eat lunch at Lorraines. ..great food.  While we were waiting for our lunch these 2 small children walked in and went to the table that was just finishing their lunch.  They started asking what stuff was and if they could have it.  It was so cute..they kept looking towards the kitchen door. When Lorraine came out with our food she looked over and saw the kids and asked, "What are they doing?" I told her eating lunch! She laughed and shooed them outside... people here are so friendly.  We are starting to really enjoy ourselves. ..1st two weeks were a little daunting!  You can't ask for anything better! Our surroundings are incredible and the people here are incredible!

They were really very well mannered children

Kind of reminded me of the Anna Maria city jail!

Ya gotta love small towns

Everywhere there is a view!

Black Point Settlement Day 1

Goodbye Staniel Cay hello Black Point Settlement...
We got here around 3 PM. Phil wanted to change the oil in the generator before we left.
We put the Dink in and headed for the dingy dock.  Phil had read we could get gas for the Dink here ( at least he said he read it somewhere)..... come to find out the closest place to get gas is...Staniel Cay of course!  So we will go back by way of Dink to Staniel Cay tomorrow to get gas.
   We came in to the anchorage and saw another Defever.. The Salty Turtle.  We will try to reach him tomorrow to say hi. There are no mega yachts here!! They can't into this small anchorage also there is really nothing here but a local community.  Nothing for them to really see. I love it!!!!
   As we walked around the little town, with Chewdog of course,  all these children came running up to us wanting to pet Chewy and hold her leash.  She was the island celebrity! Some gentleman told us it's because they don't have dogs on the island. They were very cautious but yet wanted to pet her and Chewdog of course was eating it up! Stupidly we forgot the camera so no pictures.  :(
   So many children here! I love it!

Staniel Cay Day 4

Well it has been a month since we have been self sufficient and this is our usage so far......
5 rolls of toilet paper
3 12 packs of diet coke...tells ya how much              rum Phil's been drinking!
7 boxes of milk - 1 quart each
5 rolls of paper towels
3 bricks of coffee
3 boxes of wine - 3 liters each
12 to 13 hundred gallons of water!! Thanks                   to the watermaker
350 gallons of fuel
The only thing we have bought in the Bahamas is oranges, lemons, lettuce, bread, and potatoes. .oh yeah and 1 tomato.
So far we have been eating very well. We had blackened grouper tonight thanks to Phil!
Had an afternoon thunderstorm but spent most of the day in the Dink snorkeling on coral heads...I still can't believe how clear the water is here!
We had some visitors when Phil started to clean the fish. There was also a barracuda and big stingrays!

We will be leaving in the morning...It was a nice stay. Saving the Thunderball Grotto for the next time. All is good!

Not a bad view for grilling

Staniel Cay Day 3

Went in town to get groceries and to eat lunch.  Found our groceries at the Pink Pearl. It was pretty well stocked.  Went to eat at Big Dog Cafe but they were out of food already......It was 12:30! So we ended up at Staniel Cay Marina. A storm was coming fast so we just got our cracked conch to go. Made it back to the Elizabeth Pearl right as it hit!
    After the storm we decided it was time to feed the pigs at Pig Beach.... what an experience. They swam right out to the boat...we thought one was gonna climb in!  Phil was holding the food and he got bombarded. ...so funny. He was starting to panic! There are babies  too!
   We still have the grotto to check out....then off to the next adventure! Thinking Black Point Settlement. If the winds behave...no west winds there...bad anchorage in a west wind.

Our grocery store

Greeting us

Believe it or not this pig almost sunk the Dink!

Phil trying to make an escape!

A face only a mother could love!

Poor Chewdog she couldn't go with us

Staniel Cay Day 2

Put the Dink in the water and checked out Staniel Cay.  It's a very small town but it does have a General Store...we were there at 12:30 but they are only open 9:00 to noon and then reopen 2 to 4. So we will go back tomorrow!  Didn't feed pigs today just spent the day exploring the town and took our trash into the town dump to burn! Everybody has to burn their own trash in the Exumas. Either in a town dump or if island is deserted you dig a hole on the beach and burn it there.
   Weather is beautiful and looks like it will stay that way for a while. All is good!

Playing with his camera mask

Found a treasure on the shorline!

Our neighbors. Yacht Mi Sueno...GOOGLE that!!!

Staniel Cay Day 1

There was a bad current at the Fowl Cay anchorage and it was playing havic  with the anchor. We were going to stay and clean the boat some but decided to leave. We got here around 12:30 by way of Exuma Sound. There were a few tense minutes getting to our place of anchorage. ..had to go over a shallow bank. It got about 8 ft.!
  We have anchored by Big Major Spot, the island were the pigs come out in the water to meet you when you dingy to the beach. ...we will be doing that tomorrow!  Can't take the Chewdog on that dingy ride. :(
   Phil worked on the Dink all today trying to get the Bimini top on so we won't be putting it in the water till tomorrow. Also plan on checking out the town.
All is good and finally the wind has stop chasing us...for now that is!

Our new home for the next couple of days!

Fowl Cay

Couldn't get service for a couple of days so I will play catch up.  We left Allens Cay on Monday and went to Fowl Cay aka Chicken(no chickens there!) Cay.  We anchored behind a private island just outside of the Exumas Land and Sea Park.  It was a beautiful anchorage and yesterday was one of the best dink days we have had since getting here....no wind!!!!  We tried to find some conch but failed.  We did find this small grotto called Rocky Dundas. It was incredible to snorkel up into it!  It must be a miniature version of the one at Staniel Cay's Thunderball grotto.
   The winds are finally starting to settle down thank goodness.

Phil snorkeling into the grotto

Inside

It was incredible!

Layers of old conch shells

Allens Cay

We are just north of Highbourne Cay. We pulled anchor this morning cause it was getting to rough where we were! We found a little Cove guarding us from the north winds.
  We saw this 70 ft sport fishing boat hanging around us with a guy pounding away on the anchor.  Next thing we know a young kid jumped off their boat and swam to ours...they needed an anchor shackle, they had a broken one and couldn't anchor. Luckily for them Phil just happen to have one.   Saved them a trip all the back to Nassau and got me a good bottle of Pinot Noir....A galvanized shackle for a good bottle of wine.  I'd say that was a good trade!!
Heading towards Spaniel Cay in the morning. It's about a 5 hour run.
It is getting difficult to download pictures but I will keep trying!

  Happy Easter!!  All is good!!

Highborne Cay Day 3

Winds were blowing at 25+ out of the SE.
6 more boats have come into this small anchorage trying to find a calm place. It was hard to really do anything in the Dink today. Phil spent the day trying to go to the BTC website (phone co.) to add more minutes to our prepaid card. Seems it was a little more per minute then what we were told in Bimini! We went thru the $100 pretty quick...need to be more careful with our calls.  Cheapest rate is 7pm - 6:59 am week days and that is still 62 cents a minute. We were told 15 cents a minute, but that is just calling local.  When you call the states they tack on another 47 cents.
   The water is at least 100 ft visibility!!  And no need for A/C the wind keeps it cool.
   We will stay here tomorrow. .maybe go in to the marina to see if they are doing anything there for Easter.  Hopefully leave heading south (again!) on Monday. At least that's the plan as of now...who knows! With boating all plans are subject to change.



                 

Highborne Cay Day 2

Gotta give an Atta Boy to the Highborne Marina! They came through with the welding! And God love Phil!! He worked his but off today...all fixed! We hope. The engine sounds good!  Phil's new motto
                "Everything is fixable"
Thinking we will stay here for a few days to relax and unwind!
A first for the Shield's....Phil speared 2 lion fish and we ate them!!! Very good white meat like grouper!

Wishing everyone a wonderful Easter weekend at Sumer and Hagan's.

Back to Highborne Cay!

We have service again! Since I last posted we went from Highborne Cay to Skip Jack Point.  That was to get protected from the last cold front. We moved from there to Hawksbill Cay which is in the Exumas Land and Sea Park. Very pretty there..saw grouper, lobster, and a big Lion Fish!  You can't get anything here cause it's all protected.  We were planning on staying there a while but......another cold front is coming. The winds will be out of the west. Not good for being in the Exumas. So off we went towards Spaniel Cay which has a lot of protected anchorages. As we headed out this morning the engine alarm went off port side.... (which happens to be the same engine the stabilizers are on). The alternator pivot bracket broke! Phil got on the radio and found a guy in Highborne Cay that can weld it for us. Thank goodness cause we would of had to go all the way back to Nassau!!!  We limped back to Highborne Cay on 1  engine!!!  Phil will take the bracket to him by way of the Dink tomorrow morning. Praying all goes well and he can fix it. Also hoping our anchorage here will do ok in the west winds coming.
   Getting tired of these darn cold fronts!  I can imagine they are also causing problems up north!!!!  I mean it's almost May for goodness sakes!

Highborne Cay Exumas

Pulled anchor at about 7:30 am. The weather was great. Waves 1-2 foot and a little choppy. Not like yesterday which was 5-7 swells and choppy!
We are here among the rich and famous! This is a very popular anchorage cause it is the closest to Nassau.  Our neighbors on both sides are 120-150 foot yachts! I'm sitting here watching their crews of 10 (all wearing matching uniforms) working very hard!   We look sooo small and where is my crew??? Ya know when it all comes down to it we have the same million dollar view they have!
  There are big nurse sharks swimming around the boat. I guess they think we have something for them!  The water is so clear here in the Bahamas you can see the bottom in the moonlight!!!!!!
   All is good in paradise!

They invited us for dinner tonight but we declined!

Happy Campers!

Fins to the left...Fins to the right!

West Bay New Providence Island

Pulled anchor 8:00 am for a short 3 hour ride to West Bay , our last stopping point before the Exumas.  The waves got be 4-6 feet and a couple of thunder storms kept looming over head. Needless to say it was the longest 3 hours since Gilligan's Island!!! Beat the snot out of us!
   The anchorage here is beautiful!  This is a large island with about 200,000 people. Weather man is saying we have a good window tomorrow so we are going for it!
   Not sure what kind of communications we will have in the Exumas...so far it's been pretty good!  We need either WiFi or a cell tower to communicate. :(  So if you don't hear from me for awhile that's why.

That was one heck of a ride!  Waves were not suppose to be that big! Good thing I had the Liquor cabinet hunkered down!  

West Bay.....beautiful

Only 3 hours! Tired Phil

That darn thunder cloud just kept following us!

Chub Cay

For those of you that are following us on the tracker you are probably wandering what we did last night.  We 1st anchored on the east end of North Cat Cay.  At about 6:30 right when I was making dinner Phil decided we should move to the other side of the island.  This was after much studying of the wind direction. It was suppose to increase during the night from the other direction. So we pulled anchor and went to the west side of South Cat Cay.  It was choppy were we were and the wind was less when we moved....but there was a swell there. We have decided we would choose choppy over a swell any night! We were almost rolling off the bed! So much for our "good" 1st anchorage in the Bahamas.
  We pulled anchor at 7 am and bunkered down for the long haul across the Great Bahama Bank. It was a choppy ride but we handled it great. It took 11 hours to get to Chub Cay! Chub Cay reminds me of   Useppa Island. Except for the water!
  Hoping this wind dies down! It's been a pain in the ....
   We will leave for New Providence Island tomorrow taking our baby steps to the Exumas!

Our anchorage

Chub Cay

Cat Cay

Finally! We are on the hook in the Bahamas. We left Bimini at 9:00 am...would of left sooner but we ran into Capt. Bengi. His neighbor was Bonefish Sony. We met him back in the 70's. He said his shack is still there!! Wish we'd known that while the bikes were off the boat..
  The wind is still very strong, 20-25 knots, but coming out of the north north east which is good for this anchorage. It's choppy but comfortable.
  We are anchored by Cat Cay, which is a private island. Gun Cay is right next door and has a neat lighthouse on it. Phil went down and checked the anchor to make sure it is set. Guess you do that with every anchorage!
  We will stay here tonight and tomorrow morning head to Chum Cay which is a little over 70 miles away....long day tomorrow!
Guess I have been using the word Key and in the Bahamas it's Cay.... sorry

Trying to buy cheap Cuban's. .1 out of 5 was good!

Going to check the anchor

Gun Cay

Cat Cay

Bimini Day 5

We got the Dink up , filled the water tanks, and have put the bikes back the boat. Guess that means we are heading out in the morning! Going to South Cat Key and look for a good anchorage. The wind is still 15 to 20 knots coming out of the north northeast. Not suppose to be this way in April! But we can't stay here forever.

Walking to the other side

I think she's having fun!

   Walked  across the island tonight to watch the sunset with the Chewdog.  Swells are still 2 to 3 foot were there is normally none! Beautiful night...we will miss you Bimini, but we have much more to see.