Sailing; Freedom Thru Simplicity: On Our Way North

Wow, what a great week it has been. Nice and quiet, hanging out in the Bahamas, sunny skies, warm clear water, snorkeling, and just chil-laxin’.

We left Black Point on Monday the 10^th. After doing our laundry in the morning, and sending out messages to everyone that we were going off grid for a few days. We ended up motor sailing the 9 miles up to Staniel Cay. My back was really acting up, and there was no wind to speak of, so it wasn't really worth the effort to try and sail. We anchored just south of Big Majors Cay in 8 feet of water. We could see the town, but we were far enough away from it and all the other boats, that it was like being in our own little world.

The wind was dead the next day, and wasn't expected to pick up until Wed, so we took a play day. We snorkeled through Thunder-ball Grotto one more time and fed crackers to the fish. Afterwards we dinghied into the Yacht Club and sat out on the front porch sipping a couple of beers and watching the world go by. We finally made our way back to the boat, went for a little swim, sans suits, and had cockpit showers before settling in for a quiet afternoon, and a very relaxed evening. A more perfect day does not exist, I am sure of it.

Believe it or not, the fish in the above picture is a 6" long Barracuda, even these monsters of the sea start out cute.

The sharks at Staniel are fun to play with, just don't get in the water when they are feeding. Blood makes them a little stupid. Kind of like beer for a Canadian Polar Bear.

The next day the winds were to fill in from the south-east, which was perfect for a run up to Norman’s Cay, 36 nautical miles away. It was such an incredible sail, relatively flat seas, and a beautiful 15 knot wind. We made the trip, under sail alone, in 6 hours. That is an awesome timing for Vita. We dropped the hook in the channel near the sunken plane wreck to wait out the bad weather on its way, and for fair weather to make the trip to Nassau.

Being stuck in Norman’s for a few days, due to unfavorable winds, we took advantage of the time to enjoy kicking back. We snorkeled most days. Collecting conch for bait, and spearing our first lobster for Valentines dinner. We fed crackers to the fish at the plane wreck, and admired the underwater beauty of the ocean reefs around the island. We spent time relaxing, reading, playing guitar, making wonderful meals, baking, and really just enjoying time together. It really was wonderful, and we are hoping to get more time to do this kind of stuff after we provision in Nassau, and before we make the long journey home.

Serena took video of me spearing my first lobster. Above is a frame from the video, and below is the prize.

And the next picture shows what happens after grilling. Yummy.

We got a little spooked the second day here. We were swimming on a reef, beside the cut heading into Norman’s Cay, on the ocean side. A few hundred yards away the bottom dropped off to over a thousand meters. However, we couldn't see it because the water had gotten a little murky, and the surrounding area went from a gray haze into an eerie black beyond. We spied a nurse shark sitting on the bottom next to the coral, and between him and the heebie-jeebies, we decided to move to another spot. We ended up spending about 3 ½ hours in the water, but couldn't shake that uneasy feeling. Its probably all for good, spear fishing in murky water is probably not the best idea anyway, and we had heard that a large hammerhead shark had been hanging out around the island lately. The following day under similar conditions on the other side of the island, right after jumping into the water from the dinghy, I had a Barracuda come up to me. I imagine he was wondering what all the noise was all about, but he couldn't see that well either. Good thing I wasn't bleeding. Apparently I am too big and menacing to look like food.

The following day our friends on Anthyllide anchored behind us in the cut, and we spent 6 hours on their boat hanging out, catching up, having a few drinks and a wonderful dinner. We were going to spend a day or two hunting on the nearby reefs, but they realized the next morning that they’re propane was getting very low. So they headed off south to Staniel Cay to try and get a fill up. We are headed north, they are headed south, but it’s a small world, and we’ll end up anchored in the same place again sometime.

So that made yesterday a quiet one. Serena defrosted the fridge, and last night we ate our last package of meat, steak. We made it 6 weeks with the meat in our freezer, not too shabby. The last time we bought meat was in Miami. A fill up in Nassau should get us through until we are back in the US, and headed home.

Today we made the 40 mile trip to Nassau. It was a rather spirited sail, averaging close to 6 knots again. We are now anchored in the busy Nassau harbor. The holding here is notoriously poor, and not recommended by the guide books, so I guess it will be a fitful sleep tonight worrying if the anchor will hold and being prepared to move the boat if it doesn't. At least there should be lots of light to help us. Tomorrow we'll discover whatever Nassau has to offer, and then we’ll put that into another blog entry.

And here are a couple of pics to show that we eat well on the boat. All Serena's doing. Lets face it, men would eat beans out of a can and wash it down with warm beer, but this is way better.