Shroud Cay

Shroud Cay
12/30/11
24 33.30 N 76 48.44 W

There is a narrow channel through the mangroves which cuts through from the Exuma Bank to the Exuma Sound (Atlantic Ocean) where the current runs swiftly, we motored our dinghy through the cut with the idea of swimming back through with the current - unfortunately a few jet-skis had a similar idea and made it too dangerous to swim - they were going too fast to prevent a nasty accident.  The beach at the Sound end was absolutely beautiful, pristine and uninhabited (until the jet-skis arrived - each adorned with a "bikini beauty" on the back).   From our anchorage at Normans Cay we could see boats anchored in the distance and presumed that was the anchorage for the "swim through" - much to our embarrassment we motored out passed the sand bank from Normans Cay and back in to the anchorage latitude and longitude only to end up just on the other side of where we were originally anchored - it would have been much quicker to go via dinghy !!!

Phil and Sandy on trawler "Stroller" told us of their favourite spots in this area - their advice was spot on and we were very grateful to them.  Warderick Wells was the next stop - it is a marine park that supposedly has amazing snorkeling - we arrived just before sunset which was a bit late to try to get through the narrow and shallow mooring field with our 7 foot draft – they wouldn't allow us to use one of the park mooring balls at the beginning of the channel so turned tail and found an easier anchorage just outside the park as the sun set.

Norman's Cay

Norman's Cay
12/29/11
24 35.10 N 76 48.91 W

DC3 plane wreck

Once the winds eased and the seas calmed down we headed further down the Exumas to Norman's Cay - only a few hours away.  Initially the sailing was great but a front came through (not mentioned in the weather forecast) and torrential rain and wind stayed with us until our arrival.  Visibility was down to 100 yards around our boat, Don and I both kept a constant vigil looking out at a grey rain streaked plastic window trying to spot any other vessels before we collided.  The storm showed as a large black blob on our radar and blocked out any vessels close by - a few large motor yachts cut across our bows at 20knots, I wonder if they even knew we were there - we had slowed down to a crawl.  A tense hour or so until the rain cleared enough for us to see where we were heading.  We anchored outside the protected anchorage of Norman's Cay, the visibility being too poor to "eyeball" our way in.  Finally we are not pitching nor rolling - so nice to be still.  We are hearing reports on the radio of other boats that dragged anchor or spent a worrisome night, another that ended up on a sand spit (no damage), I am glad we had decided to stay where we were.

Sunrise

We have found the nice part of the Bahamas - beautiful sandy beaches and very clear waters - it is certainly a millionaires playground - so many huge  motor yachts whose tenders are bigger than our boat.  All food is double to triple the cost of similar in USA and what look like shacks that carry the title of "Cafe” or “Restaurant" charge dearly for their fare - often in a foam take-a-way container with plastic knives and forks !

The local radio station always manages to put a smile on our faces - the very short news is followed by community service announcements which on a daily basis means funeral notices.  These are not your normal funeral notices - they state the name of the deceased then go onto introduce them then continue with their surviving families names - these include wife/husband, children, grandchildren and great grandchildren - next comes the aunts & uncles, cousins and their progeny - all names are in full - including middle name - the last one we counted listed 35 children, cousins etc - it takes up a lot of air time each morning.  The other amusing section is the Church advertising part - each Pastor (or whatever) has their turn to convince you to attend their particular Church - apparently whether the carpark is secure is a big point, people to meet and greet and ensure safety or assisting the frail, what the sermon will be about and the way it affects you in your life - the promises they make are quite extraordinary - all this comes with volume, enthusiasm and a good gift of the gab.  The Ministers were quiet entertaining and certainly convinced me to visit their place of worship.

Don's friends Richard and Tuula live in Perth in Western Australia.  The family arrive in Georgetown on 7th January - they came here just to visit us which makes us feel so special.  Georgetown is at the southern end of the Exumas and we are moving each day to arrive in time.  Unfortunately the resort they chose does not have an anchorage nearby, they do have a marina but it will be far too expensive for us - the marinas here tend to run at $2-3 per foot and then they have the cheek to charge for power @ $40 - 100 per day ( to put that into perspective, White Rose used $13 in 6 weeks of metered power whilst at Tidewater Marina in Portsmouth) and the marinas here also charge for water @ 50c per gallon which is understandable because they have no natural lakes or water collection areas so most of their water is produced by reverse osmosis which is expensive to make.

We planned our trip to Georgetown including the places we wanted to visit along the way - the timing worked out perfectly and the weather was kind.

We had a lovely few days at Normans Cay - Don snorkelled over a plane wreck that was in a few metres of water, we took a very long dinghy ride to visit new friends anchored close by and just swam and relaxed on the beach - this is what we had been waiting for !!

Highborne Cay

Highborne Cay
12/24/11
24 43.07 N 76 50.00 W

Our anchor chain crossing debris in Nassau Harbour

As soon as the weather allowed we weighed anchor and headed out for a quieter anchorage. There are two bridges which cross the channel to Paradise Island. The chart shows a clearance of 69 feet – our mast height is about 67 feet, unfortunately we had to go through at high tide to get through the reefs and shallows in daylight – we calculated we may only have 1 foot clearance (cutting it a bit fine !) so we held our breath and crossed our fingers and approached as slow as we could considering the current running – obviously we made it or you would have heard on the news about the sail boat stuck under the bridge in Nassau on Christmas Eve !

Our first choice was Allen's Cay in the Exuma island chain - it has a narrow channel that leads to an internal anchorage - very protected.  We reached Allen's Cay late afternoon only to find a couple of boats anchored inside but blocking the path for deep draft boats (like us) to manoeuvre past them to anchor - we tried to anchor twice but each time ended up too close to other boats or the rocks so pulled anchor and headed down the path to the next anchorage.   It is absolutely necessary to enter an anchorage with the sun behind our backs (ie after midday) so visibility is at its best - the waters here are very shallow and dotted with coral heads and reefs.  I used to panic when I saw the depth sounder indicating there was only 5 metres of water under our keel - this was when we were anchoring - now we are sailing along with only 2.5 under our keel - it is scary.  We are anchoring in 1 metre and keeping a sharp lookout for coral heads and rocks just under the surface.  We reached Highborne Cay just as the sun was setting and laid anchor as soon as possible.

The next morning we took the dinghy for a run to the private beach - what a cheek to make a beach private - in Australia all water lines are public - you may not be able to walk on private land to get down to the tide mark but once there is it public land.  We swam in the refreshing water and basked in the sun.

The following 2 days were terrible, a Norther came through and White Rose bucked and rocked but the anchor held, I was a little concerned when the other 3 boats left before the storm arrived.  We thought it best to stay where we knew our anchor was well dug in and secure.   All we could do was read or watch dvd's, walking around required more hands than we possess and cooking was difficult so we had to put our Christmas Turkey on hold.  The front bought cold weather with it and we had to dig out our winter clothing that I thought we had finished with. At least it was cool enough to enjoy our hot turkey dinner after the wind and seas settled down.

Nassau, Bahamas

Nassau, Bahamas
12/21/11
25 04.72 N 77 19.82 W

Our first few nights were spent in Nassau on the island of New Providence.  Checking into this country is straight forward - the interest is mainly on the payment of $300 for our cruising permit.

The anchorage at Nassau is between the main island and the elongated Paradise Island just to the north creating a narrow channel which is well protected and very close to all facilities, also very popular as marina fees are extremely high in the Bahamas.


After moseying around the anchorage we found a spot with enough swinging room for us and settled in nicely.  The catamaran "Tortortuga" (it was in Portsmouth for a few weeks) anchored close to us and our fears were correct - in the middle of the night when the tide changed and the wind against tide caused all the boats to swing in different directions  (those with deeper keels swing differently to cats and trawlers with shallow keels - a bit like an orchestrated waltz) Tortortuga came very close to us and on the other swing (minutes apart) they almost hit another sail boat - we all spent many hours fending each other off in the dark hours.  At one stage Don and I were laughing because Tortortuga and the other sail boat each had their boat hooks pushing against the other's boat keeping them away, it appeared they were sword fighting.  Much to our relief Tortortuga moved the following morning - that afternoon another boat anchored in a similar spot - once again we were up at 2am when the tide changed and the boat began to swing dangerously close to us - they were horrified and pulled anchor and spent the rest of the night anchored just outside the anchorage - the following night yet another boat anchored in the favourite spot - I yelled at them at 3am - they were only 4 feet away from our boat so they woke easily - they got such a fright at being too close to us they pulled anchor and moved straight away - I felt guilty - I was trying to tell them that this will go on for a few hours then boats will settle back down with the current - I was asking them to help fend off - I think they were French speaking and didn't understand me.  Now just so you get the general idea of our state of mind - 6 nights at sea with less than 3 hrs sleep at a time and now 3 nights up for many hours in the middle of the night and I am beginning to feel a tad tired.

Leaving Portsmouth

Leaving Portsmouth, VA
12/13/11

We hope to leave for Bermuda any day - most likely in 3 days as there is a low pressure weather system out there that we do not want to get up close and personal with - we are members of 2 radio skeds/nets where professional forecasters advise  the best time to leave and which route to take - Chris Parker will advise us along the way if another system pops up and steer us away from it - tis difficult to make this passage between hurricanes finishing for the year and the winter storms coming from north.

We have been so busy - I am exhausted - farewell parties, private farewells and presents - so much food - we moved the boat into one of two basins in the centre of town and are getting more visitors - Cliff (Fran's husband) arrived with a hot baked apple pie for us - I was amazed at his generosity and of course with the amazing apple pie - we ate it for days - wonderful  - I might just stay.   Fran gave both Don and I two very special presents, Fran is an artist and makes jewellery.  Her gifts to us touched my heart - Don received a pin depicting a tiny sail boat - Fran had made the entire piece herself - the tiny keel and sails - it is amazing, I received a beautiful heart on a chain - gifts we will treasure for the rest of our lives.

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls
12/01/11
43 05.00 N 79 04.00 W

Don and I invited ourselves to Dick's apartment for breakfast, Fran cooks an amazing breakfast that only the Americans can do justice to and we enjoyed every mouthful ...  our hire car is a little embarrassing - it resembles a black jelly bean with its head cut off - I didn't know they made such small cars.  It is a two door vehicle and does have a back seat but we need to push the front seats back against the back seat in order to get our legs inside the cavity therefore the back seat is useless!!!  It looks a little ridiculous when next to a typical big American pick up truck. The tiny Fiat 500 drives very well and hugs the slippery freeway at 70mph surprisingly easily, of course for fuel economy and parking it makes the gas guzzling pickups look a bit ridiculous ! We both became quite attached to the little black bug - it would fit nicely on the back of our boat!!

We left Portsmouth in the rain which gradually became heavier and heavier for our first stop - the historical Church of St Lukes.  It is the oldest existing church of English foundation in America and the nation's only surviving Gothic building   "Old Brick Church" is dated to 1632.  Whilst I had visited St Lukes previously, I wanted Don to experience the peacefulness and serenity of the Church and its graveyards - unfortunately the Church was undergoing restoration and the colourful tarps, scaffolding, muddy men yelling and machinery noise did not support my claims of a little peace of heaven.  Don (still being allergic to rain) hid under the trees whilst I yelled and pointed encouraging him to see and feel the beauty surrounding us.



After leaving St Lukes we drove east toward the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah Valley (remember Take Me Home Country Roads – John Denver !). Unfortunately were a couple weeks too late to see the spectacular fall (autumn) leaves – they were all pretty much lying on the ground now. However the views along the ridge top Skyline Drive were spectacular looking across to the Chesapeake on one side and down into the Shenandoah Valley on the other. There are many historic locations along this route from the Civil War and it was a shame to pass by all this history without stopping to do it justice.

Up early the following morning with 9 hrs of driving ahead of us we stoked up on free strong black coffee and we were off.   We headed northeast through West Virginia and then into Pennsylvania. After a few hours we found a McDonalds for breakfast - I can almost hear the sighs of disgust but their yogurt parfait and oatmeal are not too bad - anyway Americans are the most friendly people on this earth (or so I have found) and a local felt he needed to offer advice to the travelers and explained in great detail the route to Niagara Falls - apparently there had been an accident involving a black bear on a highway junction, the bear being injured but not killed, the highway patrol were out hunting for the bear and roads closed.

The weather continued to deteriorate as we drove into the higher elevations  of the Appalachian Mountains hail then sleet then snow.  I was checking out the buttons on the console of the car and pushed a button to see what would happen - a short time later my bottom became warm and continued to heat up until I could barely sit on the seat, I wondered if I had had some unmentionable accident and whether I should mention it to Don or not. I had discovered electrically heated seats ! - Ohh was it wonderful - from that time onwards my little button was continually pushed.  What an amazing invention - we definitely need this in Tasmania!!  I wonder if they have seat coolers for the hotter climates.

 As we drove then drove it became very clear which States put road maintenance high on the priority list and which think it is unnecessary - one road was a mere bumpy goat track.  Hail, snow and sleet accompanied us for the next four hours, but it was beautiful from the comfort of a heated car.

We arrived in Niagara Falls to a chilly 31 degrees Fahrenheit - for those who do not know how to convert just know it means freezing (literally)!!
We entered our room, put all the clothes we brought with us (not nearly enough – we had neglected to check on what temperatures to expect) on our backs and ventured out to find the falls in the dark.  We were not disappointed - they are magnificent and were lit up with colored lights - not my idea of beautifying a natural wonder but I am sure most people think it is pretty.  Apparently during the night and tourist “off season" up to 50% of the water is diverted to make electricity so what we were seeing was probably a fraction of the normal fall.  It was definitely “off season” we were the only ones wandering around by the falls at night and our 5 floor hotel only had 1 floor operational at this time of year.

We walked until we could no long feel our toes and fingers then stopped for dinner at TGI Fridays (an iconic USA chain restaurant). Waitresses in USA are generally unbelievably polite and friendly - sometimes to the extent that you feel like offering them a higher tip if they leave you alone to eat - this one was bubbly, friendly and helpful - such a thoughtful girl.  We were escorted to a booth which had sides taller than our standing height and seating for at least 8 people - I thought that was a little strange as there were many tables vacant which sat 2 or 4 people.  Her first comment to me was to give very detailed instructions to the ladies restroom - by now I was insulted.  After assuring her I did not need to use these facilities she left - I asked Don if my nose was on backwards or if I had hair like an electrified duster and he assured me in complete truth and honesty that I looked wonderful, pretty, attractive etc - I swear I will never allow him to get glasses.  Anyway the food was ordinary and the tip very small.

We spent the following day walking around the falls - they are amazing and I am so glad we made the effort to see them.  The sun peaked out for a while and the snow stopped - a perfect day.

Our trip home included Annapolis - a beautiful quaint port town on the Chesapeake where you could explore for days.  The US Naval Academy is housed in Annapolis down by the river - we spent many hours walking through their grounds and visiting the buildings - their museum alone would take days to do it justice. Once again is was enlightening to have such free and easy access to such an institution.

We stopped at historic Williamsburg during the return trip - Williamsburg is a tourist "must", an historic town with working stores, period costumes, horses and carriages etc - a wonderful place.