By Kevin
Pizza Night!
Monthly Archives: January 2013
Arrival in Highbourn Cay
By Kevin
The several nights we spent anchored at Allens Cay were our first experience with the beauty of The Exumas island chain. We wanted more.
On January 5th, we set sail for Highbourn Cay locaed only a few miles south. After verifying the weather forecast, we raised the anchor and headed southwest for 4 miles and then southeast for 3 miles. Yes, that comes to about 7 miles. Sailboats rarely travel in a straight line.
Highbourn Cay is a private island with over 20 private cottages spread out along its coast. They also have a very nice and well-protected marina. Since the forecast was calling for 25+ knot winds over the coming days, we decided to pull into a slip and have some down time until the weather settled.
The first night in Highbourn we went to the cliffside restaurant for dinner. It would be our first restaurant meal since leaving Atlantis over a week prior. Xuma Restaurant is what you would expect in a high-end resort in The Bahamas. Cozy, with sturdy wicker furniture, a view looking out over a rock cliff to the clear blue water below. Satellite TV at the bar. Wonderful seafood dishes on the menu.
It was a delicious meal. Unfortunately, several hours later Zach’s chicken nuggest and french fries didn’t agree with him and he had a very rough night. That was our last visit to the restaurant for dinner but we did head back up to the bar to watch some NFL playoffs over island cocktails (and shirley temples for the kids).
Allens Cay
By Kevin
Allens Cay Lobstering
By Kevin
Patrick and Gilles are two French Canadians we met in Allens Cay. Patrick is also on a one year sailing trip with his wife and two children. Gilles is retired and has made numerous trips down from Quebec to The Bahamas and he is an experienced lobster hunter.
Fortunately, they took me under their wings and showed me how to find and catch the plentiful Bahamian lobsters. They hide in rocky areas, usually within little cutouts or holes in the rocks, ten or twenty feet deep. Or, even much deeper but that is about the limit of what you can dive down to in snorkel gear.
Allens Cay Hermit Crab
By Kevin
Queen Conch
By Kevin
The queen conch must be the national dish of The Bahamas. (The name rhymes with honk.) The locals eat conch a multitude of different ways but the most popular seem to be conch salad (similar to ceviche), scorch conch, cracked conch, conch chowder, and conch fritters.
Conch are simple animals who produce, and live in, beautiful shells. They are peaceful little critters who live on the ocean bottom, eating vegetation. But, many people think they taste awefully good, proven by the mighty piles of conch shells laying around any Bahamian settlement–some piles are more than 5 feet high.
Allens Cay, the Land that Time Forgot
By Kevin
Bound for the Exumas
By Kevin
On January 2nd, 2013 at 8 am in the morning we raised our anchor at Rose Island and set a southeast course for the Exumas island chain 30 miles away.
Our pattern for doing sea legs has become: listen to the Chris Parker weather from 6:30-7:00 am; make a final go/no-go decision for the day; tidy up both down-below and on-deck; raise the dinghy onto the stern davits; pack food and water bottles appropriate for the leg; raise anchor (with me working the windlass and Jennifer on the helm; and, head out.
Typically the kids are both asleep when we leave. We lay out their life jackets and harnesses on the salon seatee and when they wake up they peak their heads up into the cockpit to see where we are. Occassionally, though, the motion is so smooth that they don’t realize we are sailing. This trip was one of those days.
We had a 30 mile sail ahead of us on the Bahama Banks, which averages only 20 feet of water. It was so glassy calm that we could see individual fish, coral, and marine life at the bottom even while traveling along at 5 knots.
About halfway in-between Nassau and the Exumas is the Yellow and White Banks. These are areas strewn with coral heads. Some are massive and lay just under the surface of the water awaiting the keels of unaware boats. Since our course took us over the southern end of the Yellow Bank, we stationed Madeline and Zach, one on each side of the bow, as lookouts for the 90 minute sail through this dangerous area.
They were on the lookout for what appears to be an oil slick. Black, splotchy water. This is the tell-tale sign of a coral reef sitting under the surface. Usually they are harmless, sitting 10 or more feet deep. But, there are a few that will get you, such as this one that we passed over just a little too closely.
We avoided the coral heads and made good time with the diesel engine and mainsail. We spotted Allens Cay–Land Ho–at 2 pm and were anchored in the nicely protected cove by 3 pm with 8-10 other boats nearby.
Sundown at Rose Island
By Kevin
Atlantis
By Kevin
Before leaving Nassau on December 31st, we were able to arrange a few nights at the immense and sprawling Atlantis resort that takes up about a third of Paradise Island. We tried to get our boat into the Atltantis marina where we would have had full access to the resort while sleeping aboard our boat–for only $160 a night–which is less than half the cost of one of their most budget-friendly rooms. As it were, the marina was full so we had to book ourselves into a room.
To give you some perspective, the room below that we stayed in has more square footage than our entire boat. So, it was quite a luxury.
What can I say about Atlantis that you haven’t already heard. It has an aquarium that is as sprawling as the rest of the complex. You can swim with the sharks, swim with the dolphins, or as a last resort, swim with other humans. There is a Leap of Faith ride that drops you a hundred feet nearly straight down (and Zach lived to tell the tale). There are restaurants and luxury goods shopping plazas.
Sounds wonderful. And it was in many ways. But, there was always this feeling of being in La La Land. Each day right on schedule was a staged Junkanoo parade with 10-12 locals marching around the grounds, singing, dancing, and playing their instruments. But if you looked closely the instruments were so shiny and new–unlike the rusty instruments that we saw in the real Junkanoo parade. And the dancers were not sweating from the effort of their dancing like the dancers in the real Junkanoo parade.
But it is so easy to lay in a lounge chair and enjoy the spectacle. And be none the wiser.
Madeline and Zach spent a few nights attending the Club Rush tween club. They played video games, met potential pen pals, and danced until their legs ached. And then complained about aching legs the next day.
Meanwhile, Jennifer and I were able to take in the Jokers Wild comedy club and even throw some dice in the casino. Yes, La La Land is fun, especially with complementary rum punch.
S/V Real Life 