|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We had a quiet night except when the wind scoop came loose. I reattached the
dowel which rides on the lugs used to dog the hatch but it blew off again so I
had to go up and adjust the halyard but the breeze is worth all the effort. A
large motor yacht came in to the dock and then all the motorboats left the dock
so there was plenty of room. We went in and filled up on water. We filled the
sun shower, all 4 water jugs and even the drink container. We are ready for the
next leg. We bought 3 bags of ice and some more TP just to be sure and another
bottle of booze just to be sure. We got an extra gallon of gas for the dingy.
There were 3 other sailboats at the dock and one was looking for some rice, the
store only sold large bags so Jill gave them 2 cups from our supply. We left the
dock around 11 and headed N. I tried calling the park HQ several times and then
heard another boat call several times. They finally answered the other boat and
I called after he finished and got a mooring assignment, #4. The wind was from
the S to SE at 10-15 Kt and we had a nice downwind passage doing 3 Kt. We passed
one catamaran going S and a small freighter passed us gone N. At 4 we arrived at
the park. The tide was rising and we had quite a current to fight until we got
past the cut and turned into the anchorage. There were several other large motor
yachts, a large catamaran and another sailboat already in the anchorage. We
picked up the mooring without much trouble and then relaxed for the rest of the
afternoon. There were several impressive cumulus clouds around and we could hear
occasional thunder but we did not see any rain and nothing got close to us. We
had happy hour and split 2 games of RummyCub. Around 7 we heard fish jumping and
saw bunches of little fish jumping clear out of the water. Then we saw a group
of 6" fish under the water chasing them. They went around the boat a few times
and we could hear them splashing for 5 minutes. As a special treat for getting
to the park, Jill made pizza for dinner, it was delicious. A few mosquitoes
buzzed around at sunset and Jill lit a Pic and we did not have any more
problems.
The date ... lets see it's July 8th. We sailed all day - arrived here at Exuma Land and Sea Park about 4:30 PM. Its just beautiful. Islands and sandy banks - a deep channel brings you into the anchorage and there are moorings here. I took a picture as we approached. We are on mooring #4. The Ranger Station is at the head of the anchorage. We had saved our pizza to celebrate being here. :) It was great. Cool breeze - I lit a 'pick' to ward off a few mosquitoes. We slept comfortably. Played RummyCub - I win! he won. :)
We had a very quiet night. One mosquito buzzed around early in the morning
but did not seem to bite. We listened to the weather at 8 and then ran the
engine and prepared the backpack for our excursion. There is a band of clouds
running N to S over the island and some of it looks like rain. We dingied over
to the beach by the park headquarters building. They have a whale skeleton
arranged just above the beach. A sign says it is a sperm whale that died
recently from ingesting plastic. We walked up to the park office and looked at
their books, T-shirts and postcards. We joined their support fleet which gives
us 2 days at the mooring and a newsletter. We picked up a map and headed out to
explore the island. We started from the beach and crossed to the creek that runs
thru the center of the island. On this trail you have to ford the creek so I
took off my shoes and waded across. Jill had flip flops. On the other side it
took a while to pick up the trail again but it lead up Bu Bu Hill where
cruisers have left boards with their names on nailed in big heaps. We meet
another couple from Ft. Lauderdale there. They are on a motor yacht and spending
a couple weeks in the Exumas. We walked N along the ridge and stopped at the
blow holes but the sea was so calm they did not work very well. We explored a
little more and then headed S past Bu Bu hill. A few rain showers go over us,
it cools us off and feels good. The E side of the island is generally rocky but
we come to one nice beach. Inland is a small pond which we walk around. The path
is not well marked here and we stumbled around for a while before coming across
the sign for Marks Trail which lead back to the park HQ building. This time we
crossed the creek on a causeway made of piles of rocks with a central bridge
bade of a 2x6. We passed many deep ‘banana holes’ in the rock, some 20’ deep.
One extra large hole was 10’ across and 25’ deep leading to a large cavern. A
rickety ladder built of driftwood lead down. Jill climbed part way down but it
looked too fragile for me to try. We took drinks with us but now we were getting
hungry so we returned to the dingy and the boat and had lunch. Two sailboats
came in and took moorings on the outside. These are usually for larger boats and
are not as protected so I do not know why they went there. Later a large yacht
took the third outside mooring and a little later 3 sailboats came in and took
moorings near us. The place is really filling up, 12 boats altogether and there
are 22 moorings. We had happy hour and split 2 games of spite and malice. A
small bird landed on the lifelines. About 3" long, white underneath with a
yellow breast and black with white stripes on top. It seemed to expect to be
feed. Jill had been feeding leftover pizza to the curly tail lizards and birds
as we walked so she put a small piece on the cabin top and the bird hopped down
and took a few bites. We had read about ‘bannanaquites’ which are partial to
sugar so we put out a spoon with a little sugar and it really pigged out. It was
not interested in another spoon with water. We got a good picture but before we
would get out the video camera it flew away
There are schools of little fish
swimming around the boat and in the late afternoon they would be attacked by
groups of larger 6" fish. The small fish would jump in a group out of the water
and then the larger fish would splash on the surface. We could watch them
jumping all around the boat for about 10 minutes and then things would quiet
down. As the sun went down the moon came up, bright and orange on the horizon. A
few mosquitoes came around and Jill lit a Pic. They started bothering me outside
so I sprayed Off and it seems to work. In the middle of the night the large
catamaran motored by and out into the sound. With the full moon it was not too
hard to see the entrance buoys and the channel to the sound is wide.
No big problem during the night. We are going to the ranger station and land. We joined as 'a park friend'. The trails here are wonderful to explore. We walked up to the high spot where many visitors left driftwood and markers with their name on it. We have a map of the island trails - we walked a long ways - passed many "banana holes". AI climbed a ladder down into a 20 ft hole. They are caves into the coral. The trails wind through palm trees and thick shrubs, butterflies, lots of birds, including baby birds... many curly tail lizards. We fed the lizards crumbs of pizza. They love the stuff! A lovely day. This place is just too beautiful. We spoke with the Park Warden (young one - born Cooper City). They rent videos and sell books and post cards. They have a pretty good library of trade books.
We slept late and did not hear the weather. Around 11 we packed the snorkel
gear in the dingy and headed for Berl’s beach about a mile S of the anchorage.
We pulled the boat up on the beach and I found an overhanging rock to sit on and
wash the sand from my feet before putting on walking shoes. We started walking
on the trail that goes E across the island to the sound side. This path follows
a wall about 3’ hi built of piled up stones, quite a monumental construction.
The path went up steeply to the ridge and another trail goes N to some ruins but
we continued E because we forgot the camera and would take the N trail later.
When we reached the end of the trail on the sound side we found the 2 large dogs
belonging to the ranger. They were out exploring on their own and decided to be
our guides for the rest of the day. We meet them yesterday with the rangers son
on the beach at the headquarters building. Yesterday they barked at any strange
people who came around but today they accepted us as friends. The shore on the
sound side was rocky. There was one red plastic chair set on the beach and we
took turns resting in it. When walked back across the trail the dogs preceded us
and when we got back to Berl’s beach they jumped in the water and splashed
around. We got the camera and a soda and started on the trail which goes S to
the next beach. Again the dogs preceded us and showed us the way. The trail is
marked with yellow paint dabs and occasional cairns of rocks. The path started
out over sand and thru small palms and then thru a rocky valley. There were lots
of banana holes in the rocks, some quite large and deep. The path then went over
a ridge and down to the beach. The dogs jumped right into the water and we
joined them. We walked along the beach and cooled off in the water. Three dingys
went by, from the 3 Ft. Lauderdale sailboats that came in yesterday. The dogs
barked and ran after them along the beach for a ways. We returned again to
Berl’s beach following the dogs again and then up the wall trail and then on the
N trail to the ruins. We found the remains of 3 buildings. The walls were stones
piled up and then plastered. Only a few feet of wall remained. This trail
eventually leads back to the park headquarters and at first the dogs appeared to
be reluctant to let us return to Berl’s beach but eventually they accompanied us
there. They splashed in the water and we soon joined them. We put on our snorkel
gear and pulled the dingy to the W point where some coral heads were. The dogs
followed in the water and swam out to the coral heads also. They became somewhat
of a pest as they tried to climb up on us as we swam. There were some nice coral
and lots of fish to see. The dogs finally remained on the edge of the shore and
watched us swimming around the heads. We returned to the dingy and tried to make
the dogs go back to the beach but they swam after us for a while as we headed
back N. We lost sight of them and anchored near Emerald Rock and swam around a
couple of nice coral heads. When we got back in the dingy we saw the dogs
running on a beach E of us so they had not continued swimming after us. It had
been quite a long day so we headed back to the boat. The 3 sailboats that came
in together yesterday had already left. After another swim and shower we relaxed
and had happy hour and played RummyCub.
We finally got up. :) Loaded the dingy (after eating breakfast) with our walking and snorkeling gear and took off to a distant beach. We walked one trail from a beach that went across the island to the ocean side. A lone plastic chair sits on the beach. We met those 2 park dogs on that trail. They are real friendly. They stayed with us all day - walking and snorkeling. We walked the Wall Trail and the Ruins Trail. Then we snorkeled - with the dogs! Too Funny. They swam right out to the coral heads with us and knocked a few pieces of coral loose! When we finally dingied off further into the ocean they started swimming after us. They swam a long way out. later we were relieved to see them running on a beach. :) We returned to swim around the boat and sun shower and have happy 10th of July Hour! We then played RummyCub. I lost x2! Left holding my 1 and 2 chips ... Next time :). Now it's read and relax...
Around 4 AM it looked like it might start to rain, the wind increased and I
took down the wind scoop to get ready to close the hatches but it never rained
here. We slept late after the strenuous day we had yesterday. The wind blew from
the SW fairly strong all day. We rested, read and listened to the radio until 4
and then got the energy up to find a piece of drift wood and add our name to the
pile on top of Bu Bu Hill. We started at the beach N of us where the map said a
path lead to another beach on the sound side where we might find a nice piece of
driftwood. We dingied over to the beach and meet another couple there who were
searching for the path also. We could not find it and the center of the island
was a swamp with a large lake in the middle so it did not look very hopeful. We
decided to go back to the beach just S of our boat where there was a picnic
table and a trail up to Bu Bu Hill and walk to the beach beyond it
although this was a long walk. The first problem we had was that it was low tide
and a long mud flat stretched from deep water to the picnic table. We pulled the
boat onto the mud and found a large rock to put on the anchor to keep it in
place when the tide came back in. The mud was fairly firm and we did not have
much problem getting to shore. We walked up the hill and found a piece of wood
with no markings on it near the pile. Jill used a pen to write ‘Phoenix’, our
names and the year and then used the silver paint we brought to paint over
‘Phoenix’. As we were doing this a rain shower approached from the S but here
was no lightning so we finished and took pictures and then headed back to the
dingy. We were all wet by the time we got back but it was all good fresh water.
We had happy hour and played RummyCub. The wind blew strong from the SW and we
could see rain and lightning to the N. After the sun set the wind died down to 5
Kt and we can see lightning to the E but nothing threatening near us.
Windy and cloudy with some sprinkles ... We read and rested. Quite a few boats coming and going. In the afternoon we had a scavenger hunt for a piece of drift wood that we could make a sign to leave up on the BOO-BOO Hill of the Park. We dingied to one beach and then walked across the sand / mud flat near the picnic table. I got wet in one of those crab holes. ha ha. We actually laid claim to an old faded piece of board that was on the existing pile and just before a strong rain hit, we painted: PHOENIX / Rich + Jill '98 in silver paint. We took 2 pictures. :) We got back to the boat about 6:30. This time I WON a game of RummyCub. The wind was really blowing! We had supper and read and computed late into the night.
Around 5 AM a little rain shower went thru. After listening to the weather
report we decided to take Sunday off. There is a cold front N of us and a high
ridge S of us and the wind blew strong from the SW all day. The large yacht left
sometime before we got up and a trawler and another sailboat left in the morning
and headed to the sound. Another sailboat came in with its main up and sailed up
and down the harbor before taking a mooring. We slept late, listened to a
variety of radio shows and read all day until happy hour. Jill threw our soursop
fruit out since it was badly spoiled. A large fish swam out from the boat to
look at it. A minute later it swam out again and it was a good sized dolphin.
Really a shame it is not yet dark enough to try catching it. We had rum drinks,
popcorn and played the dice game 10000. About this time the clouds began
building to the N and the wind shifted further to the W. A brief rain shower
came thru but was over by supper and we ate in the cockpit again. The wind
should keep the mosquitoes down. There are still a lot of clouds around and as
the sun goes down we can see lightning to the N and E.
Awoke at 0600 to rain - short hard shower. Continues very windy. Nice place to moor. Yesterday I wrote a few more pages of ABBBC. :)
We have a quiet night but the wind is still strong from the SSW and we decide
to spend another day in this protected anchorage. We relax, read and listen to
the radio in the morning. We saw some large fish under the boat yesterday and
today Jill opened a can of tuna and dropped some in the water. The fish swam out
and gobbled it up, 2 large fish about 2’ long. At first we thought they were
dolphin but they are gray in color with slightly yellow tails and do not have
the dolphin type forehead. After lunch I was reading and resting in the cockpit.
A sport fishing boat came in, went around the harbor and left again. A few
minutes later it started raining and took us completely by surprise. The rain
came from the S but I had been looking N and could see nothing but blue sky and
a few distant clouds. It rained hard for about half an hour and then passed
over. We packed a few things and dingied over the headquarters building. We tied
up to the dock this time and bought a T shirt with the park map on it and a few
postcards as well as pay for the last 2 days at the mooring. The lady tending
the office was from the sailboat D’room from Holland and they have been here
since January as volunteer workers. We dingied around to the beach S of the HQ
building and walked along a few more trails. The Wess trail leads inland and up
a rocky hill. Dick’s trail goes over to the sound side and then Jame’s trail
goes back across the island past a scummy pond and past a low sandy area called
the ‘Pumpkin Patch’ to another beach S of where we left the dingy. From there we
took the Buttonwood trail which runs thru a low area in the middle of the island
where there are a number of large buttonwood trees to another banks side beach.
This beach is just N of the trail past the ruins we took a few days ago so we
have covered this part of the island pretty well
. We were getting tired and
retraced our steps back to the dingy and then swam at the beach for a while
before returning to the boat for more swimming, Prell and sun showers. Jill took
a dive mask and saw several 6" fish under the boat but not the large fish we saw
earlier. Later we had happy hour and played spite and malice. When the sun went
down we could see stars overhead although there were lots of clouds around also
and some lightning to the S and W. The wind decreased and turned more W, perhaps
things will return to normal tomorrow or at least the next day.
The wind blew hard all day yesterday. Light rain during the night. I made brownies yesterday - delicious. Paid at the office and traded for a few more books. I'm reading Texas by Mitchner now. This morning Rich took video of 2 large gray fish that dart out from under the boat for tuna fish. :) They won't touch bread or vegetables. We aren't sure what they are - at 1st we thought they were dolphin - too grey and not skinny enough. This after noon we took the dingy to a beach south of the park Headquarters and followed numerous trails "Wess", "Dicks" and Buttonwood". Lots of climbing and skirting of huge banana holes. Amazing deep coral holes. We saw a very large crab (land) and numerous curly tail lizards - there are many sea birds ( and land) and bird nests. The winds have decreased some - less cloudy - and lightening is far away. The stars are out in force. Cards - RummyCub - I won! I am the champ! :) Windy - rain. Made cornbread - Happy Hour with fudge brownies - sooo good... I'm reading The Shipping News ... So good! Rich is reading Davy. Futuristic. Real windy all day. Rain, clouds, beautiful sky.
Just before dawn the wind increased and a series of rain showers swept over the anchorage. The wind howled for a short time and then it just rained. The weather report was for more showers and thunderstorms and the wind was still strong from the S. We poked our heads up around 10 and spent the rest of the day recovering from the long walk yesterday. A couple of powerboats and one sailboat for Michigan entered in the afternoon and the weather stayed overcast and brisk but never rained again. At dusk there were more dark clouds around but no lightning around.
Up early. :) Back to reading Texas. Thank goodness that my hair is long enough to pin up or braid. It is pretty warm! I could stay here for weeks and never tire of watching boats come and go - the sand dunes, the clouds, the sky - sunrise - that moon. Smile. Today I'm writing more on my letters and post cards. I'm up to "radiation" on my book.
The weather for today was better with winds of 15-20 from the S to SE but the Nassau weather report still said small craft caution so we decided to take another day off. Several boats came in including a sailboat from Michigan. Rested, relaxed and generally goofed off. After dark we sat in the cockpit and watched the stars for a while. There was some light from other boats but the sun had not come up yet. I saw one shooting star.
Very windy all day. Numerous boats in. Finished The Shipping News. Rich is studying the charts for our next anchorage. Writing a page here and there on my numerous letters. Cannot have my hair down - too long and its too hot. I lost both RummyCub games: one day champ - one day hind tit. Such is life. :) I am sometimes playing free-cell on Rich's computer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|