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After a good sleep I woke up a little hung over and neither of us moved very
fast that morning. The wind shifted to the ENE and increased to 15 Kt during the
morning. I made ready to take a slip at the marina. When I went to pull up the
anchor it was stuck on a large rock. Jill powered ahead several times until it
finally came loose. After the struggle I was weak and hung over. We motored in
and asked for a slip. You dock between pilings with the bow to the dock. It
looked tricky and we finally came in between 2 other sailboats. The dockmaster
and the crew of ‘Sassy Blue’ helped us tie up. Several boats were waiting to
clear customs and the official finally arrived around 2 PM. All the phones were
new Batelco phones with LCD displays, lots of keys with pictograms and a slot
for smart cards. The area around the phone was littered with discarded smart
cards. I could not even get an operator on the phone. Someone came by and said
there was an ATT phone on the other side of the harbor so I walked around and
found it along with a second bathroom and washing machines. In a standard phone
booth and ordinary push button phone was hay wired in. You dial and 800 number
to get the ATT operator and it is just like making a long distance phone call
from the USA. I tried to phone home but only got answering machines. After
clearing customs we walked around to the phone and got thru. We walked around
the resort and out to the beach along the harbor Then we walked up a ridge to
the ocean on the S side of the island. The house at the top was boarded up. The
view was spectacular as the waves broke on the rocks below the house. We
followed a path among the Australian pines to the light at the harbor entrance.
After the pines, the trail crossed a broad stretch of coral rock. The light
looked rusty and the guy wires were slack and some appeared to be attached only
to small rocks. We did not stay close to it for long. Today there were 6 boats
anchored in the harbor and though they were sheltered somewhat from the winds
there was a swell coming around the point. The boat furthest S was rolling quite
a bit. We also walked E several miles looking at the houses and resorts but most
of the island is still natural and everything had a slow lazy feel to it..
About noon: We are at Chub Cay Marina. Rich has filled out all of the required papers and is off to the Customs Office. We are next to Joan and Paunch on a sailboat. Looks like the sailboat on the other side has been docked for a while. Joan says there is a restaurant here that requires long pants! and has great cracked conch. :) I washed Rich's deck shoes in salt water and Joy. It seems to work! Oh, yes, Rich will call his folks too. I am now the boat restricted (quarantined) crew. :)
2PM: Rich cleared us with customs. I had not signed my passport. :} We read a while and then wend exploring - (after Rich took down the quarantine flag and hung the Bahamian :) ). We walked the coral path out to the harbor light. Boy was it weathered. The view is spectacular! I picked up little shells and Rich found me a tiny conch shell. We then walked past the church and about a mile or so toward the airport. It's a dirt road, but well graded. every building here looks new or freshly painted. The facilities look nice. Rich is off now testing the showers :). We are having Chinese food for supper. We bought a few post cards and checked out the store prices - High. Spam is like $2.50 a can. Mayonnaise we paid $.99 for is $2.30 - American $.
In the morning I went looking for the dockmaster because I had not officially
checked in yesterday. While I was there he got a call from one of the boats
anchored in the harbor that 4 of them wanted slips for the coming bad weather.
They said it was too bumpy in the harbor. We walked around the area W of the
harbor where the generator and fuel storage tanks are. We found a small beach on
the inlet W of the cay. Several more boats came in during the day and the docks
started filling fast. In the afternoon I went for ice which is $3 for a large 10
lb. bag. Later we saw one of our neighbors cleaning conch and heard that there
was a boat at the gas dock selling fresh conch. We hurried over and found a
Bahamian fishing boat piled high, front and back with conch. They were knocking
holes in the shells and stringing them together in bundles. They had 10000 they
said and got $1 each at Nassau. We bought 5 and they removed them from the shell
and cleaned them while Jill went back to the boat for a baggy to put them in.
Our neighbor told us how to pound them and cook them. We did not have a mallet
or hammer but used the jaw of a monkey wrench to pound them inside a baggy. Jill
fried them up and with beans and rice it was a great meal.
We have met quite a few other sailors - coming in from the rolling seas. Most on their way to Nassau or on the way home from few weeks sail. A guy named Larry from the "Cabaret" showed us how to dress out and cook some conch that we bought from Bahamians. These guys had caught 4500 conch. We paid $1.00 a piece for cleaned conch. We beat it soundly with Rich's wrench and it cooked up super! We had it with beans and rice for super. I finished reading "The Whole Shebang" - Good! I'll pass it on to Cassandra :). Those guys with the conch take 10,000 to Nassau and get $10,000! I took a sunset picture - So orange here. Breeze has calmed this eve. We bought ice today and walked around the 'Generator' portion of the island. The temp is about 78°F but the sea breeze is cool. We met a fellow on "Holligan" out of Ft. Lauderdale - Tropical Point.
Our neighbors in Sassy Blue decided to head to Nassau this morning although the wind was blowing hard from the SE. We helped them undock and watched them leave. About an hour later they were back, it was too rough out there. I had seen a bunch of bikes near the office and now one of our neighbors said that they rented bikes here for $10 a day. Around 10 AM we walked over there and rented a pair. The skipper of Sassy Blue walked over with us to resign for his slip. The bikes were a little rusty and one had a flat tire but 2 seemed in good shape. We returned to the boat to adjust the seats and with a few provisions, set out to explore the island. We started on a small road past the workers quarters and the Hill Top Bar which appears to be closed. We wound around thru scrub and past dumps and abandoned cars and wound up at the water tower which also had a couple of very large (50’ square) flexible tanks near it. A power cable was strung just 6’ above the ground and other power or water cables were buried and sometimes exposed in the center of the road. We took a small trail E from the water tower until it intersected with the airport road. We took the Southern road along the coast. The last house was Point Nirvana, a spectacular looking house with a great view of the ocean. After that the road got smaller and more overgrown. The front wheel bearing of my bike was not working properly and would make a lot of noise at times. We passed mangrove swamps on the N side and eventually came to the end where we could see the ocean thru the trees. We walked along the beach and picked up shells. The beach ended at an spectacular inlet that lead to the interior swamps. What a great place if it could be dredged. There were piles of conch around and signs previous parties here. On the way back the front wheel of my bike started rubbing on the frame but eventually is started working reasonably well and we returned to the office where they got me a replacement bike. Around 1 PM we started on the second, longer leg of our bicycle odyssey. With the new bike and following the main road we quickly returned to the airport road and the airport was only a short distance further. We stopped at the bar there and had a few beers. 2 other boaters were there with their bicycles. The bar is new and is right on the beach overlooking the banks N of the island. One room is the bar with 2 tables and a TV and the other room is empty with loud music playing from speakers in the ceiling. There is a short pier going out over the water and a conch crawl just beyond the end. This is a 5’ circle of rocks in which conch are put until meal time. The owner is plastering the walls with dollar bills like at Cabbage Key so we wrote one up for him. After the rest we started down the road again. It paralleled the runway and the wind was blowing directly against us. There was no cover and the peddling was very hard against the wind which was 25 Kt. We peddled and walked and peddled some more. We passed a few places where borrow pits had been dug for road fill. The vegetation finally started getting higher and giving us some shelter from the wind. Then we heard the drone of a large engine and a few minutes later a turn in the road revealed ‘Shipwreck’, a new resort in the process of getting started. Even the final name for the place is not firm. The owner opened the gift store for us and we bought a can of beans and a candle holder. 2 other bikers/boaters came in a few minutes later. The owner showed us the restaurant and game room with a pool table. There appeared to be several guest cottages behind fences and everything was sparkling new. We rode to the little harbor that he had dug on the SE side of the island. Several pieces of heavy equipment were there. The wind was blowing directly on shore and it was quite wild with spray everywhere. One Bahamian fishing boat was in the harbor which was only big enough for one. The place seemed deserted except for the owner and one worker.
We continued up the road to the end of the island and came to a few houses
and the Hog Cay Club which had a dock with one sailboat and one fishing boat.
One sailboat was anchored out. There was not much protection from the next
island to the E so the waves were high and breaking. The sailboat at the dock
was pitching and rolling quite a bit and it would have been very uncomfortable
on board. The 2 story club house looked very new but we did not see anybody
around. A little further on we saw a ridge and a cut thru it. We were pretty
tired by now and hoped the road did not go up that high but it did. They had
carved the road about 6’ deep in the ridge of solid coral. At the top there was
a small trail up a pile of rocks and from there we could see most of the island
and the waters around it. A great view and what a place to build a house. The
road continues along the beach on the SE side of the island and there was
another sailboat anchored there. It looked like the same black hulled sailboat
which was anchored furthest S in the harbor 2 days before. The road got lower
and swampier before finally ending at the last house on the island. There we
meet a man there who rode his bike back with us for a while. He was a handyman
who worked on many of the houses in the island. He repaired lots of them after
hurricane Andrew. He said the road used to go further to the actual point of the
island where they did a lot of conching but was washed out by Andrew and never
reopened. The ride back with the wind was easier but we were still very tired.
We stopped again at the Flats Bar at the airport for rum and cokes to get us the
rest of the way home. The bar was filled with workers and a few sport fishermen.
We returned the bikes and after showers we went the restaurant at Chub Cay. We were the first diners there and only a few other people came in while we were there but it was a first class place and the prices agree. Jill had broiled grouper and I had the lobster thermador. The food was excellent and we carried each other back to the boat and slept soundly. Except for once during the night when I had to get up and close the ports for a small rain shower.
We rented bikes from the office and rode for about 11 - 12 miles over some rough rocky (coral) but is was wide. First we rode to the end straight past the church and past the turn to the left and the airport. We eventually came to a cove - trees were washed up and there were "sand" stone ledges going off shore. The cove beyond is beautiful. Shallow with a few deep holes. Too bad it's too cold to swim. We found lots of old and new cracked conch shells. Some beautiful. I got some pretty clam shells - purple and a small perfect dead conch shell rich found for me. - We then rode all he way back to town where Rich got another bike because his front bearing was bad. We dropped of the shells and restored our drinks and we were off again. We found "Flats Shack", a young Bahamian's bar by the airport. It is in the water! Rich and I left a dollar that we autographed: "Rich + Jill Phoenix 3/6/98 Any ol' beer in a storm". We rode on with a strong wind in our faces - A couple miles later we found a store and restaurant and bar and about 10 cabins. New. Rich bought us a candle holder. That is Hog Cay. Further on towards the tip of the Island we saw "Hog Heaven" homestead and then Frazier's Marina. The wind was really strong and the few boats there were bouncing about. We saw a couple other spots where work was being done to dig out or establish a marina / anchorage. We saw a blue sailboat that had been around on Chub Cay side, anchored quite near us when we were anchored out Thursday night. The further we went the more hilly - (mountainous!) it became. The road was actually cut through an especially high spot. That was fun to ride down - (tight reign) :). We went all the way to the end of the road. A fellow we met said it used to go further (road) but Hurricane Andrew closed it 5 years ago. We rode back - by the airport bar - came home and showered and went to dinner at the Chub Cay Club $ restaurant! Great food. We both slept sooo well last night!
We were in fairly good shape in the morning but slept late just to be sure.
The green ketch on our dock had left during the early morning. They were from
Riverside Park, small world. After morning coffee and chocolate we dressed in
our best cloths and went to the 11 AM Church service. Another cruising couple
were already there and the service was conducted by a couple who work on the
island. We sang and they read from the Bible. It was not exactly like the
Apostle but a very good service. After lunch Jill took a load of laundry to the
wash room and I cleaned and worked on the log.
At 11 AM we went to the little church. "Rose Marie", the local store proprietor and here husband led the service, evangelized and we snag. They took up a little collection. She is not the "Preacher". He has a service at 7 PM. Four were at our service and five were at his service. (Rich and I walked by later). I did part of the washing - more tomorrow. It is beautiful and relaxing here. Rich is listening to the weather reports daily - Lots of boats have ducked in here because it is rough out there. Winds keep coming from the north. We heard that Florida is getting plenty of rain and tornadoes there have killed 40+ people in the past month. Nothing too bad around our house Jim says. Rich called his folks right after we arrived here.
Another day waiting for the weather. Some of the lines were drooping in the water and sliding down the poles so I tried to lift them up. In the process I dropped the boat pole in the water and after floating handle up for a few seconds, sank to the bottom. Ponce in Sassy Blue tried to snag it with his net but soon the bottom was stirred up and we could not see it anymore.
Around 1 PM we decided to get moving and run a few errands. The weather was threatening with a distinct squall line coming in from the E. We went to the dockmaster and got ice and then to the office to get change for the ice and coins for the laundry. On the way back it looked ominous but we decided we had time to stop at the ‘Island Shop’ for a few items. We got a bottle of Mango Rum and one of Coconut rum, a loaf of bread and 2 types of canned meat. We could not find this type of canned meat in the states and we wanted to try it before buying more at Marsh Harbor. We had never heard of Mango Rum before. Someone told us it was too sweet but we tried it with fruit juice and it was very good. They had one boat pole for $37.50 which I could buy if I can’t retrieve mine. A few drops fell as we ran from the shop to the boat which we had left open but the real rain did not start for another 30 minutes. It rained off and on till 4 PM, sometimes fairly hard. One of our neighbors collects water from the deck drains and he said he got 20 gallons.
Lots of nice boaters here. Some have given us their cards. hard rain this morning. Windy too. One docked boater has a T - drain from his deck to jugs inside and collected 20 gallons of water. Rich dropped his pole in the morning. The guy 'Ponce' next to us tried to fish it out with his extension net but failed. After all the rain it was murky from run off and you couldn't see the bottom at all. We are in about 8 - 0 ft water. It's real fine sand her and a job to keep it off the floor. We sweep 4 times a day. Also the few cars - like the '85 bit old silver car of the customs official passes in a cloud of dust! :).
During the night the wind switched to the NW 20 Kt. Most of the boats at our pier left this morning and we helped some of them. They were going to Nassau and had a following wind. A 50’ British sailboat ‘Defiance’ pulled in next to us later in the morning. We walked over the hill to the S to see the departing boats but they were already almost out of sight. While I was out walking around, Jill noticed that the water which had turned white from the rain runoff was clearing and she could see the pole I dropped yesterday. She attached a line to our ‘Vienna’ anchor shaped cork screw and fished for the pole. The anchor grabbed the hook end of the pole and she pulled it up, slimy but still functional after a day at the bottom of the harbor. Very resourceful. As a reward I took Jill out to dinner at the Harbor House again. Jill had the seafood platter with lobster, conch and fish while I had the chef’s special which is coconut grilled fish, all very good. The drinks were as strong as last time.
As I was looking down trying to see Rich's sunken pole, I at first thought I was seeing rope reflections on the water. I was thinking of getting one of these native swimmers to dive for it. Then I decided to get my "fish line" and put some kind of a hook on it to grab the pole. In the silverware drawer was an anchor. I thought it was a bottle opener (shaped like a fisherman anchor). Later I found out that it was a cork screw that could have come apart! I tied it onto the string and after a few tries I connected with the business end of the pole and slowly pulled it up. Boy, was Richard glad and surprised! We went out to eat to celebrate. Earlier we had seen such a pole (only 1) for $3750 in the little store here. It is amazing how "casually" they put in water lines and how low the electric and phone lines are. I guess they figure that they'll blow away in a hurricane anyway :). There are a couple of resorts on the south side. Very nice and new looking.
The English boat and a couple others left this morning. The English boat apparently started to leave with their bicycle and water hose still on the dock. Their boat has a bow thruster and they had no trouble backing out.
After reading and relaxing for a while we packed a lunch and at 11 AM took
off for a walk as we had talked about the previous night. We started along the
road on the S side of the island and saw a very large motor yacht anchored off
shore. We walked E until we found an apparently deserted road leading to the
beach. The road had been recently hacked thru the underbrush and had stubs of
palm trees sticking up. We came to a clearing along the beach where the scrub
had been removed and only lots of palm trees remained. on the E end of the
clearing was an open structure with a collapsed roof and a bicycle. To the W was
the large yacht which had set up chairs and canopy on the beach. We walked E
along the beach looking for shells and flotsam. We walked to the next
house/resort and then found a fallen tree to sit on and had our lunch. Several
people from the yacht walked past while we were having lunch. We retraced our
steps and returned to the road and continued E again. Just before the next
resort we took another side road to the beach past the wreck of a house, only
the beams of one wall were still standing. We had walked up the beach just short
of this point before turning back. We continued walking across the island to the
airport and walked along the shore on that side. I had forgotten my wallet so we
could not stop of beers at the Flat Shack Bar but we had juice drinks while
sitting on their dock. We walked back along the center road which goes past the
water tower. We tried several side paths but did not see anything but scrub. We
returned to the boat at 2:30 and collapsed for a while. After a shower we had
rum drinks and cheese and crackers. The N wind got cold as the sun started to
set so we retired inside.
I've been writing a letter to my folks and Rich's and writing post cards. (Letters are $.32 and Post cards $.23). They will fly the mail out of here once or twice a week. I'm still working (some) on the counted cross stitch. I'm going to modify it for Mom. :). Today we took a picnic and went exploring on the South beach. I took a picture of Rich there :). We saw some really neat huge termite nests (3). Rich didn't want a picture of them :). We then walked all the way to the Airport and explored the beach on that side. Everywhere we walked you could still see evidence of Hurricane Andrew. The tall trees along the main road have all been broken off about 1/2 way up. Several places have regrown over large Australian Pines that were uprooted. We were walking and had our picnic for about 4 hrs. Now we are resting and reading and writing.
It got a little cold during the night, the wind moved to the NE. In the morning I walked up to the first house on the S coast but as I got close I could see that the shutters were gone from the windows, the owners must have returned so I walked to the harbor and saw a blue hulled sailboat anchored there. I found an old path up to the ridge overlooking the S side of the island and could see that several sailboats were still anchored near Point Nirvana but the large motor yacht was gone. A nice cool day, we read and wrote letters. In the afternoon I cleaned and filled the water tanks. I tried to get the weather fax and telex software to work but no success yet. I listened to the NWS weather broadcast several times today and tried to understand their rapid fire reports. I am getting better but still miss much. The VHF weather reports are coming in broken.
Just met Barbara and Wayne Townsend from Washington state. Three or four days ago we heard them being rescued by a boater because their rudder and engine broke. They towed their 26' Rain Dance here from Washington by Whidbey Island . They are waiting for a new engine now to be flown from the manufacturer. Rich gave them Dave Zutler's name and number. (for extra back up) They also lost their homemade dingy! Last night I won the RummyCub tournament! (because Rich had a few rums! :) ) Tonight he won 2 of 3 Spite and Malice! (We are using slick new cards).
We slept late and in the morning there was another sailboat across the dock from us. Four or five more came in during the next few hours. We were feeling lonely and the only transient sailboat in the place for the last few days. We straightened up the boat and got 4 bags of ice. We washed down the deck and then went to sign out at the office. We got there just after 12 and the office was closed till 1 PM so we took showers and then had hamburgers at the restaurant. By then the office was open and we signed out and mailed all the cards and letters that we had written in the last few days. We wanted to get another loaf of bread but the shop is closed from 1 to 2:30 so we waited for a while. With all shopping done we backed neatly out of the slip and were on our way. We did not go far, just around the corner to the S side of the island and anchored off the beach that we had walked a few days ago. The wind was light from the N and only a small swell was running from the E so we had a pleasant evening.
I think yesterday was Chris' B.D. I already sent her a card from Dinner Key :). Here the mail is flown out 2 - 3 times a week. We sent letters and post cards galore - We've had time to write. Showered this AM and then enjoyed hamburgers in paradise at the Harbor House. We used 1 Kwatt electricity and 60 gallons of water while here. We are stocked full with ice and ready to anchor out. We washed some of the island sand off the boat this morning and cleaned out the frig. Ready to go. Almost, Rose Marie at the store has lunch from 1 - 2:30 so we have to wait for here to reopen so I can get some bread :). (I gave her a couple of magazines yesterday.) Rich helped a couple of boats tie up this morning - 3 from Cat Cay. - They are also going to Exumas later. We talked with Rich's folks. All is well. They had a few little mail questions. Mom says we can get a 3d tag when we return to give us time to relicense the truck. Beautiful warm day - that wind is still from the north . . . Not so strong now.
2:30 PM We got our bread from Rose Marie and left. Got off the dock and poles with difficulty. In 30 minutes we were anchored outside (see illustration). It is so pretty. We are in 12 - 14' of crystal clear water.
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