Lynyard Cay to Spanish Wells then onto Hatchet Bay, Eleuthera

TRIP FACTS AS OF:   January 25, 2011

Days gone from Virginia:      99     

Days in Bahamas:               38     

Miles travelled:               1,406

Things overboard:  Technically: none, although Peg fell out of the dinghy-see Lynyard Cay

Toilet Saga:  Victory for David…no more problems

TRIP “FIRSTS”:  this is a new section since we’re doing some things for the first time;

ü  First hair trim while in Treasure Cay

ü  Fresh water made at Royal Island

ü  Fresh bread baked while at anchor

ü  First fish caught on crossing from Abacos to Eleuthera

ü  First “conching” trip successful while at Spanish Wells

ü  First laundry done – while watching dolphins play in mooring field in Spanish Wells

ü  First (and only time) dinghy floated away (while concentrating on cleaning the conch) – see section on conch

January 15, 2011:  Underway to Lynyard Cay, Abaco to get ready for crossing to Eleuthera: We anchored off Lynyard Cay for the evening to get ready for our early morning crossing to Eleuthera on the 16^th.  We saw the anchorage when we took Stephanie to Pete’s Pub at Christmas and thought it would be a great spot to walk over to the Atlantic side to go look for sea glass.

The sea glass trip was successful but also a little depressing when we saw how much garbage was on the shore.  For sailors – that’s called flotsam & jetsum … garbage.  There were no less than a dozen plastic bottles in a small 10’ x 10” area and old fishing lines and mooring lines were all over the place.  You can understand the mooring lines because of the Atlantic storms and the wreck on the beach but the rest of it is just trash.  So, please, make sure you take care of plastic bottles….  Here is a picture of the waves crashing on the beach and the garbage.  If you love the water it really does make you feel sick to see this stuff. 

Lynyard Cay - Atlantic breakers on beach



Mooring lines entangled in the coral





Part of a wreck up on beach along with other garbage.....



Enough of my soap box.  I will also be honest and tell you when we dinghy’d over to the beach I was getting out of the dink, planted my foot on the sand and promptly, and unceremoniously, fell into the water. Nice.  I thought the sand was solid but it was very soft and my foot just sank down.  If falling in wasn’t bad enough, I did it in front of people I KNEW we would never see again.  Here’s a picture of the nice, calm, sandy beach for you all to get a good laugh out of…….(more on the people who where there later.)





Really rough getting out of the dinghy...

January 16, 2011:  Underway at 7:30AM to make our crossing from Lynyard Cay, out into the Atlantic Ocean headed to the Northeast Providence Channel (open ocean).  One of the things you learn sailing is waiting for the right wind direction(weather window), which can be one day or three days, so you just keep checking to see what the forecast is.  We had the right winds and headed out with another boat, LAST DANCE with Mike and Susan Murray from Fernandina Beach.  They have a Lagoon catamaran so we both sailed about the same speed.  It is a 7 hour trip to make it across to Royal Island, Eleuthera and luckily, the sea state wasn’t bad.  David put out 2 fishing poles and one “Cuban YoYo.”  What’s a Cuban YoYo?   It’s handheld spool with fishing line, a small weight and a lure that you throw out. It skims the top of the water and is capable of catching nice fish.  



Cuban Yo-Yo

The trip across was pretty uneventful until we were about a hour away from making the turn to get into Royal Island and David got a fish on which meant we had to slow down, pull in the yoyo and other pole.  He got the fish onboard but we weren’t sure what it was so we put it in the cooler filled with water and got back on track.  Once we anchored we figured out it was a small barracuda and let him go.

In the anchorage, we met a nice couple on CLOVERLEAF .. he’s 80 years old and she’s 76!!  They have sailed in one form or another most of their lives and they invited us over to their boat along with another couple from BAREFOOT’N for sundowners.   As we were heading over I noticed the dinghy from BAREFOOT’N and was SHOCKED.  It was the couple from the beach where I went in the drink.  We all had a good laugh about it when we introduced ourselves but that just shows you how often you run into people cruising around this area.

We stayed anchored another day at Royal Island and made our first batch of fresh water!!!  It’s amazing how excited you get thinking about taking a HOT shower with water that doesn’t drain your tank.  Now that we know we can make good water it’s made life much more comfortable and yes, it tastes fine and we drink it straight from the tap. 

January 18 through January 24, 2011:  Underway to Spanish Wells.  We headed for Spanish Wells and grabbed a mooring ball at the end of the channel leading out of town.  We rented a golf cart for an hour, toured the village, which is by far, the cleanest and friendliest town we’ve been in, and found the grocery store.  Spanish Wells has one of the prettiest beaches we’ve seen so far, especially at low tide.  We noticed how clean and well maintained all the fishing boats are and according to Jock Morgan, owner of our mooring ball and lifetime resident, the boats are all a cooperative, the boat is owned by the crew, not the skipper or some corporation.  His son is the cook on SEA GEM and each one of the crew members takes pride in the condition of their boat.    When I tell you this is a friendly place I mean it.  Jock’s wife, Carolyn, baked fresh bread one morning and Jock brought us a loaf early in the morning. David says it’s the best French toast he’s had in a long time.

Since we were going to be here a few days we decided to take the BO HENGHY II, the fast ferry, over to Harbor Island, and let them take us through DEVIL’S BACKBONE.  It’s called that for a reason – narrow, shallow, coral heads and sand bars all over the place.  Most people hire a guide, like Jock, and get led through the Backbone to make sure they get through it without incident.  The first wrecks on the Backbone date back to 1865 and now total 5 major sites you can dive on. 

 A little history: Back in the 1800’s some of the first settlers to Eleuthera wrecked here in a storm, thus the name, and made it ashore to a place called Preacher’s Cave where they built an alter in the cave. 

Also, if you remember the BAREFOOT BANDIT from last year – the 19 year old kid who stole  planes and boat across the US – was captured here by the Bahamian Defence Force in a small bay, sound asleep, in a boat he stole from the Abacos. Apparently the police offered him flip flops which he refused.   This guy is either really, really stupid or someone the police need to hire as a consultant.  Not sure which.  After sailing from the Abacos to here in our boat and the ferry ride through the Backbone it’s hard to imagine this kid making it to this spot alive.

Back to the ferry:  The ferry has to navigate a narrow channel through Spanish Wells at the right tide conditions to head for Devil’s Backbone and Harbour Island. Once we got to Harbour Island we rented a golf cart for the day and drove around town.  We weren’t impressed with all the hype about HI.  It was dirty, lots of construction was started and not finished with all the supplies just laying around.  There were chickens all over the place but their claim to fame is the PINK SAND beach on the ocean side.  It’s not really pink but was impressive.  We eat lunch at the Blue Bar at the Pink Sands Hotel on the Atlantic side… nice view…..

The next day we took our dinghy out to go “conching.”   There was a sailboat next to us and the owner told us he had gone out at low tide and walked through the grass and found some conch so we thought we’d take a shot at it.  We didn’t find any in the grass so moved over to some small rocks and started to walk the tide zone.  We found some conch with what we thought were hermit crabs in them.  NOT – it was conch.  We took gathered 7 of the right size and took them back to boat for cleaning. 

Look at the top picture and you'll see the conch leg come out as he tries to escape.  He tasted really good in the salad we had the next day.  Since I already did my “silly thing” it was David’s turn.  I was cleaning the shells out on the trampoline and I hear “Peg our boats leaving!”  Sure enough, when I tied the dinghy up to the boat I didn’t make sure it was secure and we see the dinghy floating away.  David dove in and brought it back but it was sure a sight seeing it peacefully floating about 10 feet down the channel.

Laundry is always a fun thing to do but here in the Bahamas you get a few extras..like beautiful colored water and dolphins……..don’t need to say anymore than this –



Still need clean clothes....but look below

There were 3 dolphins just playing in the mooring field......what a life!

January 24, 2011:  Underway at 8:45 AM to Hatchet Bay.  To get to the other side of Eleuthrea and the towns we want to visit you have to go through CURRENT CUT.  For any of you sailors:  you'll appreciate the pictures and the fact that the boat's engine was turning 4 knots, the current through the cut was 5.5 knots so we were moving through at 9.5 knots.  The cut is 200' wide, 56' deep and only about a quarter mile long......



Somewhere out there is the Current Cut

 

After we got through The Cut the wind kicked up to gusting in the high 20's and steep 4' waves with an occassionaly 6'.....lovely trip NOT.  We finally found the opening for Hatchet Bay which is 90' wide and got into the harbor.  We grabbed a mooring ball, fixed dinner and then I (Peggy the sailor) went to bed at 7:30PM.  It's now about noon on Jan. 25, I woke up around 8AM ready for the next day.  We're headed into Alicetown, which is the town around the bay.    We have a few things to look for...steel wool, M&M's and sour cream.  Fresh veggies will always be sought but not always found. 

That's it for now.  Sorry this is so long but with sketchy internet we take advantage of a good connection when we get it.  Until later...everyone take care.  More later   Dave/Peg