Home Again

Cliff and Navigator arrived back in Maryland waters last week after their cruise south and back.

Official Cliff Posting from the U.S.

Hello everyone.  I  am well and safe.  I know it has been a long time since I sent an update so I will begin by saying I am back in the US.  I did the crossing from the Abacos to Fort Pierce, Florida on April 25th.  Although a relatively rough crossing, with seas range from 3 to 5 feet, with the occasional 6 foot wave, there were no mishaps and the captain and NAVIGATOR came through fine.

So…what have I been doing all this time.  Well, I liked the Exumas well enough that I stayed there for a couple of months, mostly in the Georgetown, Exuma area.  The weather over the winter was quite good.  For much of the time I was anchored in the lee of the easterly trade winds off the west side of Stocking Island, which is across Elizabeth Harbor from Georgetown, making the anchorage much quieter.  I did a lot of exploring of Stocking Island as it had numerous hiking trails that crisscrossed the island, plus miles of sandy beaches to walk and swim off, both on the ocean side and the harbor side.  I found a couple of great Tiki Bars on the island as well, Big D’s and Chat & Chill.  It was fun to dinghy ashore for a unique rum punch from each place.  Once a week Bid D’s had an evening bonfire on the beach, so groups would get together and drink and have dinner ashore by the fire.

Big D's Tiki Bar & Grill

Stocking Island

But, eventually it came time to leave the Georgetown area and begin to head north.  In early March I started the journey back to the Abacos.  I spent time at Stocking Cay (as opposed to Stocking Island), which was formerly a research center that had been closed for a couple of years.  Did lots of hiking and beach walking for nearly a week as the weather was not particularly suitable for transit in the ocean.  The water was still clean and clear, and all shades of blue.  Hopefully the center will find funding to continue its work before all the facilities become too run down to be usable.  From Stocking Cay, I went to Little Farmer’s Cay and spent a couple of days.  This was a small cay with a small settlement, and an airstrip.  The people were wonderful and  friendly, the drinks cheap, and the food good, with lots of fresh fish.  I then went to Black Point settlement for a few days on Guana Cay, Exuma.  Among other things, I did laundry there, one of those things that need doing even in paradise.  Then it was on to Staniel Cay, known for having a grotto on a small cay just off its shore where the James Bond movies were filmed, to pick up water and diesel fuel.   As I continued north, up the Exuma chain, I arrived at the Exuma Land and Sea Park, and spent time on several of the cays in the park,  including Cambridge, Warderwick Wells, and Hawksbill Cays.  Did swimming and snorkeling at Cambridge and Hawksbill cays, and spent 5 days at Warderwick Wells walking trails, sunbathing on deserted beaches, and snorkeling.  A period of good weather was imminent, so I continued north to Highbourne Cay and prepared for a crossing to Eleuthera (bought fuel and water).

Land & Sea Park

A little after the middle of March, I did the crossing from Highbourne Cay, Exuma across Exuma  Sound to Rock Sound, Eleuthera in a day.  A couple of days were spent walking the settlement of Rock Sound, meeting the people, searching out bars/restaurants, and seeing the sights.  Then I took NAVIGATOR to Hatchet Bay, which is surrounded by Alice Town, Eleuthera.  Spent another few days here learning about the people  and enjoying the bars and restaurants.  There are only a few hundred inhabitants in the settlement of Alice Town, but all seemed very friendly and helpful to cruisers, like most everywhere in Eleuthera and the Exumas.

Sunset off Eleuthera

Another weather window was opening for the crossing to the Abacos, so it was time to leave Hatchet Bay and head to Royal Island Sound, Royal Island being off the northwest shore of Eleuthera.  Only one night was spent at Royal Island Sound, which was not bad as there is really nothing to do on Royal Island since the resort closed, before heading for the Abacos.  The next morning fleet of 6 sailboats left Royal Island Sound at about 5:00 AM in route Little Harbour, Abacos, with NAVIGATOR in the lead.  We made good time so I bypassed Little Harbour inlet and took NAVIGATOR into the Sea of Abaco through North Bar Channel, which is a much better inlet than Little Harbour.  As I had made good time, I continued on to Marsh Harbour, Abaco for its protection as the wind was expected to become stronger the next day (which it did).  It is now the end of March, and I have nearly a month to spend in the Abacos before returning to the States.  I did some sailing to the outlying cays, including Great Guana, Elbow Cay, Talloo, and Linyard Cays.  Did a lot of healthy walking around Marsh Harbour and the beaches of the cays.  Went out to dinner several times to a couple of good restaurants, including Firefly’s on Elbow Cay and The Jib Room in Marsh Harbour.  Also did the pig roast at Nipper’s on Great Guana Cay as well.  But all good things must end, it seems, so I had to begin my plan to cross the Gulf Stream back to the US.  The problem was the weather did not want to cooperate.  The wind started to blow, and the seas built, some days to as much as 8-10 feet.  So the plan became to go out into the ocean for a short passage round Whale Cay on the first day the seas dropped to 3-4 feet, then spent time at Powell Cay waiting for the seas in the Gulf Stream to die down to 3-5 feet.  Powell Cay provided me access to the internet through my cell phone card so I could keep an eye on the weather.  I needed to plan three days in advance of a crossing as it takes two days to get to the Gulf Stream from Powell Cay.  When I saw a window approaching, I headed out to Great Sale Cay, and spent the first night there.  The next morning I made a short run to Mangrove Cay and spent the afternoon and evening there trying to get a little sleep, then took off for the edge of the Little Bahama Bank at 10:00 PM at night to begin the crossing.  I had estimated 6 hours to the edge of the Bank, but it only took 5, so I reached the edge of the Gulf Stream shortly after 3:00 AM on Thursday, April 25th and the crossing began, in the dark with 3-4 foot seas.  As the morning wore on, the seas built to 3-5 feet, before subsiding to 2-3 feet about 2 hours out from Fort Pierce inlet in Florida. 

Marsh Harbour

I made the inlet by noon, and Harbor Town Marina by 1:00 PM.  Spent the afternoon checking in with Customs and Immigration with the help of friends from Satellite Beach, Rick and Clayton, driving me to the airport to meet with Immigration.  We had dinner at the marina before Rick headed home to Satellite Beach.  Clayton stayed on board helping me bring NAVIGATOR up the Waterway to Satellite Beach, with a one night stop at Vero Beach. 

We got into the Banana River at Satellite Beach around 2:00 PM and anchored, then took the dinghy ashore to their house on a canal in Satellite Beach.  I have been enjoying their hospitality for nearly a week now, but I will head out tomorrow (Friday, May 3) on the journey north up the Intracoastal Waterway.

I hope everyone had as enjoyable a winter as I did.  I will let you know when I get into Chesapeake Bay.

Cliff Baker
S/V NAVIGATOR

Back in the U.S. of A.

Cliff arrived back in U.S. waters this week.  Clayton and I drove down to Ft Pierce, Florida when he arrived.  Then Clayton sailed up to our home in Satellite Beach, FL with Cliff.  Cliff has some great photos of his winter in the Bahamas, and will be posting them here soon (we hope).

Rick

Motoring up the Intracoastal Waterway in Florida

Cliff at the Helm

Back in Marsh Harbour

I am in Marsh Harbour, Abaco at the current time.  I plan to cross back from the Bahamas to Florida in about 10 to 14 days, then start heading up the Intracoastal Waterway.

Cliff

Eleuthera to the Abacos

I left the Exumas a couple of days ago for Eleuthera.  Spent a day in Rock Sound, Eleuthera.  Then went to Hatchet Bay Harbour at Alice Town for a couple of days.

I will head to Royal Island tomorrow, then on to the Abacos on Saturday, weather permitting.

January/ February 2013 Update

Hello everyone, I know it has been a long time since I sent any information on my whereabouts, but I have been having trouble getting decent internet access, and e-mail access in particular.  So, I will try and update you on what I  have been doing.  I will assume you got the e-mail on my arrival in the Abacos, but not the one about my arrival in the Exumas, so I will start with leaving the Abacos.

On December 17 I left Linyard Cay, Abaco for Eleuthera.  After the better part of the day sailing and motoring, I arrived at Royal Sound, Eleuthera, where I spent the night.  Then It was off to Governor’s Harbour, Eleuthera for several days.  Governor’s Harbour is the government seat in Eleuthera.  The town is quite clean, and has all the necessities except a place to get fuel and water.  I spent several days there enjoying walking around the town, meeting the people, and enjoying the library.  Also went out to dinner one evening.  I then headed down to Rock Sound, at the southern end of Eleuthera, and spent several days in the protection of the harbor as a cold front went through.  Rock Sound was a smaller town than Governor’s Harbour, but still enjoyable.  I found an inexpensive Bahamian restaurant one evening, and the food was quite good in the home cooking style.  But one does have to the pace of Bahamian service!

After the front past, I did a day sail across Exuma Sound to the northern cays of the Exumas, spending the first night at a marina on Highbourne Cay where I was able to obtain diesel fuel and water.  The next day  left for The Exuma’s Land and Sea Park headquarters at Warderwick Wells.  I spent eight days in the north anchorage of Wardrick Wells and explored the cay, as it had lots of walking trails to follow, and did several days of snorkel when the wind was not blowing to hard.  It was a good place to sit out another cold front  passage.  The Park Administrator and his girlfriend opened their house to the cruisers that were at Warderwick Wells on Christmas Day for dinner.  They provided a turkey and ham, and the cruisers provided all the sides (NAVIGATOR providing stuffing and brownies).  We also had a beachside get together on New Years eve, though no one stayed up until midnight, at least not on the beach.

After leaving Warderwick Wells, I did a couple of days of snorkeling at Cambridge Cay, also in the park.  The water was so clear, and on the first day I found a place called the Sea Aquarium that had lots and lots of tropical fish to swim with.  It was actually nothing more than a small cay off Cambridge Cay that seemed to attract a t lot of fish.  The next day was not so successful, as I was going to snorkel an area known for its elkhorn coral, only a shark wanted to call the area home that day, so I let him have his way and tried elsewhere.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find anyplace as good as the place I had been the day before.  From Cambridge Cay I headed further south to the Staniel Cay area and anchored behind Big Majors Spot Cay to spend a couple of days.  The first days was pretty windy, so I stayed put on the boat.  The next day I met some other Island Packet owners who were going snorkeling at Thunderball Cave, the cave in which they filmed the underwater scenes for the James Bond movie Thunderball.  Unfortunately, I managed to scrape my leg getting into the dinghy to head out.  By the time I got to the cave, my scrape was bleading, so watched the dinghy while the other two snorkeled the cave.  I didn’t want to go into the water with blood, in case we ran across another shark.  I will snorkel there on my back north.  The next stop on the way south the George Town, Exuma was a settlement called Black Point on Guana Cay.  This settlement appeared to be poorer than the previous ones I had been to, but the people were still very friendly and helpful.  I walked the island, crossing to the ocean side for the view, and walked around town finding a Laundromat, which I used, and grocery store to get fresh vegetables, and three bar and grills, where, naturally, I had to try out the bar.  After 2 days in Black Point, I headed south once again, spending most of the day underway to Cave Cay for the night.  I did not go ashore here as it is a private cay, as are many of the cays in the Exumas.

The next day I headed out for George Town, Exuma.  The initial ride out the cut by Cave Cay was quite rough, with 4-5 foot seas that were very steep, as a result of and outgoing tide and incomeing wind blowing about 20 knots.  But once NAVIGATOR got about half mile off shore, things smoothed out and I had a nice passage to George Town.  The entry into the harbor was fairly straight forward, and I found an nice anchorage off Stocking Island off Monument Beach.  So, I have been in George Town since January 7, 2013, except for a couple of trips about 8 miles north to Emerald Bay Marina for fuel and water and a change of scenery.  George Town is the largest settlement in the Exumas, but no where near as large as Marsh Harbor in the Abacos.  It has been fun to meet new people, both cruisers and native Bahamas.  One of the Bahamians who is quite knowledgable bout computers, has helped me get decent internet access.  I have eaten out a fairly broad selection of restaurants, from beach bars to fine dining (which is very expensive here), though not that often due to the cost.  There are also a lot of activities going on in George Town.  The cruisers put on seminars on travel experience, technical problems, sprots, yoga, you name it, someone will discuss it.  The water is very clear here, both on the harbor and oceans sides.  Water colors are fabulous.  The weather is also better here, the temperature about 10 degrees warmer than Marsh Harbour, and the winds usually 5-10 MPH less when a cold front goes through.  The only real problem is there is not a lot of protection from wind blowing  from the SW to the W to the NW.  Fortunately the easterly trades  winds predominate.

Well, I guess this brings me up to date.  Sorry for not writing more often.  I will try to do better.

Cliff Baker
S/V NAVIGATOR

To the Exumas and Beyond

Made Eleuthera and went on the Exumas.  I have been through the Exumas Land and Sea Park, been to Staniel Cay where the movie Thunderball was filmed, and am now in Blackpoint Settlement on Great Guana Cay, Exumas.

 I may be heading to George Town, Exumas early next week.  Weather has been quite good, and it is warmer here by nearly 10 degrees than in the Abacos.