Update: Cape Eleuthera, Rock Sound, Hatchet Bay, Current Cut, Royal Island and Spanish Wells.

Prior to leaving Warderick Wells north mooring field we managed to find a piece of driftwood and create a boat shingle for Boo Boo Hill and placed it there with the many others.

You can see “Wind Dust” on the mooring behind the picture of the shingle I took to the top of the hill.

We also attended a cruisers happy hour on the beach Tuesday afternoon. We met many cruisers we had heard on the VHF radio. Great time and great food and as usual Ginny made friends with the locals.

We left the north mooring field at Warderick Wells Wednesday, March 23 at 8:30 am along with our cruising buddies Mike and Barb on “Goose Bumps” headed for Powell Point and Cape Eleuthera Marina.

This leg of our trip took us across Exuma Sound (which can be a rough body of water) to the banks of Eleuthera. We had a beautiful crossing and pulled into the marina around 2:00 pm. The afternoon was filled with chores (laundry, trash, boat cleaning) and a little beer drinking to celebrate the crossing.

Thursday we and our buddies had a car reserved and hit the road to Rock Sound to re-provision the boat. There’s a great grocery store in Rock Sound and we were able to purchase almost everything we needed at reasonable prices. On Eleuthera Island you either have a car or use your thumb. The Island is extremely hitchhiker friendly and is approximately 100 miles long.

We unloaded our provisions back at the boats and hit the road again to see the southern portion of Eleuthera by land. What a rugged and beautiful Island it is. We headed north along the Queen’s Highway to Governors Harbor which is about half way Eleuthera. What a darling little Bahamian Village. Many beautifully painted and landscaped  hillside homes overlooking the harbor. We 

stopped for a couple beers to patronize one of the local restaurants.

We also stopped at a famous “Ocean Hole” in Rock Sound. Ocean holes are inland salt water ponds that are connected to the ocean by underground caves. The ocean holes have lots of sea life and experience the same tidal flux as the nearby ocean and sound. Apparently Jacques Cousteau and a team of his divers tried to find the cave connection to this particular ocean hole however were unsuccessful.

Friday we left Cape Eleuthera Marina headed for Hatchet Bay. Hatchet Bay Harbour is a small anchorage that was created when they blasted a channel through the rock bluffs connecting an inland lake to the ocean.

The opening to Hatchet Bay is only 90 ft wide and from the water seems even narrower with the jagged sides.  The wind on Friday was out of the southwest and the seas were pushed up against the coastal cliffs adjacent to the cut which made for what we call a “Tight Sphincter Approach (TSA)” through this small opening. 

To make things worse there was a small boat in the channel as we approached and it turned out to be a local diving for lobster who pulled the boat out of our way.  We set the hook and relaxed the rest of the afternoon enjoying the calm waters of Hatchet Bay. Note the pictures were taken on our way out the next day and the seas were calm.

Warning - Ginny Says This Section is BORING. I say It's for anyone who will transit the cut in the future for the first time.

Saturday we were off to take on the dreaded Current Cut. Current Cut is a small inlet between Current Island and Eleuthera Island which carries tide water to and from the shallow Great Bahamas Bank and the Northeast Providence Channel. The current can be extremely strong (some say 10 knots during spring tides) and the route through the cut is not at all straight forward for deep draft displacement hull sailboats. To further complicate matters there seems to be a lot of different opinions on how the tides are related to the Nassau Tide Tables. We timed our arrival at Current Cut so we could determine the slack flood tide visually and also run the preferred route through cut in the dink and also sound the route with our hand held depth sounder. Why all the trouble? Well many sailboats have gotten into serious trouble here and we wanted to make sure we got it right. Cruising friends of ours who have made this passage several times before ran aground in the cut just a couple weeks ago and another experienced cruising boat that came in behind us said they ran aground coming through this past November. 

Mike lowered their dinghy and picked me up. We ran the route at approximately 12:20 pm (2 hours before high tide at Nassau) and found the route had plenty of depth ( 8.5 ft in one spot was the shallowest) and that the current was running west to east at about 2.5 knots on the surface. The wind direction was from the south southeast at about 12 to 15 kts which created some steep waves to negotiate on our trip back to the boats. We decided to wait until 2:45 pm before we made our run through the cut. As it turned out we made it through just fine and encountered a 1 to 1.5 kt west to east current. Our little study confirms to me that the current prediction for Current Cut runs approximately 1.5 hours behind the Nassau Tide Tables. The other thing to note is time the passage so you run against the current for maximum control and time it an hour before high slack tide. I have placed the way points for the route we ran for anyone who would like to use them. Our vessel has a draft of 6 ft.

Once we passed current cut we headed for Royal Island for the evening. Royal Island has a well protected anchorage and was planned to be the home of a major resort and marina which Roger Staubach is a partner. Apparently the the plan is on hold for now. There were at least 15 vessels anchored in the harbor as this is a favorite anchorage to stage the crossing to the Abacos. The wind picked up and shifted to the south during the night and one vessel slipped anchor. Ginny and I took turns at anchor watch from around 1 am till dawn and our anchor held.

Our original plan was to head for Little Harbor in the Abacos the next day as the weather looked like it would be good for a crossing. As it turned out however everyone was ready for a little rest so we decided to head for Spanish Wells Yacht Haven. We waited for a few hours after low tide before shoving off so we would have a little more water depth on the rising tide.  Like a lot of places in the Bahamas the charts show just enough water for a 6 foot draft vessel to make it in at mean low tide however with any wave action the boat could bounce off the bottom. The short trip was uneventful and we pulled into the marina around 11:00 am. Ginny and I rented a golf cart and explored the island. 

This is a special and beautiful place. Spanish Wells is the home of the Bahamas Fishing Fleet and the Lobster Capitol of The Bahamas. The island is very clean and much pride is taken in the multicolored homes with their beautiful gardens and landscaping. The working waterfront is also well maintained and melds well with the homes and business. We will have more on

Norma's home of the Confused Sub - It's Awesome.

Warderick Wells Cay Land and Sea Park, Exuma

Can't stay away from the place. 

Update: Sampson Cay and Black Point (March, 6 – March 12)

We left Warderick Wells Emerald Rock mooring field this morning after 4 nights swinging on the ball and chain. The wind was kicking pretty good everyday and we were glad to be on the heavy duty mooring protected from the NE & E wind by the island. 

Every afternoon we gathered with other cruisers on one of the local beaches and shot the (xxxx) along with a few beers.  The park has a good Wifi Network and it’s a luxury to have internet so we can check the weather and gather other information about the cays.

We pulled into Sampson Cay around 1:00 pm and set the hook. Our friends on Goose Bumps gave us a ride into the marina and we had a beer at the bar. We ate a late lunch at the restaurant and admired the beauty of the island. This place is simply gorgeous.

6 ft to 8 ft nurse sharks hang out around the marina and they are pretty darn big. The water is so clear and with the white sand bottom these dark guys really stand out.

We also saw a seaplane pull into the marina and drop off some guest coming to the resort. As we understand it there are two flights from Fort Lauderdale to Staniel Cay every day. Staniel Cay is just around the corner from Sampson Cay.

After a good night on the hook we went into Sampson Cay Marina for diesel fuel and water then headed out for Black Point on the north end of Great Guana Cay. Black Point is an authentic Bahamian village and is very charming. The residents are extremely nice and inviting. Rockside laundry and store is awesome. 

Black Point Starbucks

After a few nights in Black Point we decided to head back to Sampson Cay and stay at the marina and wait out the cold front forecast to come through on Friday. We love this place (Sampson Cay Club). The Harbor is well protected and the views are what I call “slap yourself silly – it’s real”! and the staff is awesome. 

Here are some photo’s of the Club.

 The harbor at Sampson Cay Club.

Wind Dust at the dock.

Ginny's Palm Tree

The grounds at Sampson Cay Club are awesome.

Wind Dust likes the dock at Sampson Cay Club.

The water clarity is "slap yourself silly" beautiful.

Update: Nassau to the Exuma Cays

We spent 3 nights in Nassau charging our boat batteries and human batteries so to speak. We really enjoyed our stay. Everyone we met was extremely nice and went out of their way to make us feel welcome. Not what we had expected from some reports.

While we were there we visited Paradise Island and downtown Nassau. If you like to gamble, then the casino at Atlantis on Paradise Island is the place for you. We walked the beautiful grounds of Atlantis and the surrounding shops and restaurants. We rode the bus from downtown back to the Marina and again all the locals on the bus were very nice. We bought some provisions at the local grocery store which was very well stocked and very clean.

We met a local named Jackie who turned us onto fishermen coming in with fresh caught lobster, grouper and snapper. We bought 2 large lobster for $30 – each tail weighed about 2 to 2.5 lbs. Needless to say we ate lobster that night and had one tail left over.

We can’t say enough about the Poop Deck restaurant at Nassau Yacht Haven Marina. Great food and service. These folks want your business and it shows. Hats off to the chef and wait staff.

We left Nassau on Saturday and headed out for Alan’s Cay located at the north end of the Exuma Island chain. The route from Nassau to Alan’s crosses the “Yellow Banks” a shallow bank with scattered coral heads you have to steer around. With our buddy boats we decided to run a course south of the rhumb line and stay in deeper water 10-15’ and avoid the keel busting coral heads. Reading the water with the sun high in the sky is pretty easy although there are times when crossing patches of dark grass that the pucker factor goes up. The coral heads seem to be lone circular patches surrounded by white sand which makes them stand out pretty well in good light.

A good pair of polarized sun glasses are a must when navigating here. A seasoned captain told us never travel at night in the Exuma chain due to uncharted coral heads. He did say the Garmin Blue Charts have a lot of the coral charted and seemed to be the best charts because they are based on the Explorer Charts. 

He did not recommend the Raymarine Charts for this area.

We picked our way across the 30 nm of the banks to Alan’s Cay. 

We pulled a mahi lure across the bank and did’t have a hit until we were almost to Alan’s Cay. I had gone below to look at the charts and wouldn’t you know bam we got a strike. Well by the time I made back to set the hook the fish spit it out. Oh well, it wasn’t a good time anyway as we needed to anchor and get settled. We followed our friends on “Goose Bumps” into the narrow anchorage between Allan’s Cay and Leaf Cay. What a gorgeous place, but with 5 other boats anchored there we decided to exit and anchor on the west is of Alan’s where we would have plenty swing room. We dropped the hook in about 15 ft of water and settled in for a beautiful starlit night. We cooked a couple of thick pork chops on the grill and had a wonderful time sitting out on the aft deck. After dinner I decided to setup a bottom rig using a piece of pork fat as bait. I dropped the line in the water and within 2 minutes the reel was screaming as the fish ripped line off the real. I grabbed the rod and gave a heavy yank to set to hook.

Ginny grabbed a flashlight and started to light up the water as I reeled the fish in. What a fight the guy put up. After getting him close to the boat I gaffed him and brought him on deck. Wow. What an adrenalin rush. A 10 lb fish that I don’t have a clue as to what it is. Ginny pulled out the gin and gave the poor guy a couple shots while I put him out of his misery. I cut two large and 2 small fillets off the fish and tossed the carcass overboard. We pulled out our trusty fish Id book and found we had caught a Horse Eyed Jack. It didn’t say too much about the food quality of the Horse Eyed Jack however it did say some of the 38 species of Jack have been tied to ciguatera poisoning. A sports fisherman told us the locals did not eat the Horse Eyed Jack because of the taste and ciguatera poisoning.  Crap! All that work, plus killing a fish and we can’t eat it. Oh well over the side with the fillets, some sea born creature will eat it. Thought about using it for bait but it’s too much trouble to keep and we will soon be in the Park where fishing is prohibited.

Sunday we weighed anchor and moved to Highbourne Cay. We anchored off the beach on the west side of the Island. Highbourne Cay has a great marina and store but no restaurant or bar. The wind was kicking pretty good so we planned on staying a couple days until things calm down a bit. One afternoon we had beach cocktails with “Goose Bumps”, “TSamaya”, “Ko Olina” , “Stradimarius” and “Isla”.  It’s great meeting and talking with other cruisers over a cold beer or beverage. Tall tales fly around like F-18 Hornets and seem to get bigger and bigger like fishing tales.

Tuesday we weighed anchor and set out for the Shroud Cay mooring field. Shroud Cay is part of the Exuma Land and Sea Park and is a no take area. This is a place we will return to explore but have to leave due to a cold front coming in on Wednesday. We had a good day and evening on the boat and called the Warderick Wells Park to arrange for a mooring for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

With the front approaching quicker than forecast we took off from Shroud Cay around 9:30 after hearing our Warderick Wells mooring assignment. The wind and seas started to kickup and we were glad to be pulling into the Emerald Rock mooring field around 1:30 pm. As it turned out it was low tide and the water a little thin. We bumped bottom once or twice coming in but got to our mooring and settled in. Now this is mother nature’s beauty at it’s best. Would love to spend a month here just hanging out. The Exuma Land and Sea Park covers an area of 176 square miles (22 miles x 8 miles) and is home to some of the most beautiful waters, reefs and beaches in the world.