Endangered Species

We finally left the Eleuthera chain of islands and headed to the Exumas. We have been looking forward to this, lots of uninhabited islands, crystal clear water, white sand beaches and even some endangered species. Yes, our first stop was Allen's Cay. This grouping of cays and rocks is generally reffered to as Allens Cay after its largest island. These islands are uninhabited......by humans but home to the endangered Bahamas iguana.

Signs on the beaches tell the story.









A nice, well protected anchorage.




We got the anchor down and headed to the sandy beach on Leaf Cay.


Look at the welcoming committee





Look at the distinctive tracks they make on the beach.




What a handsome dude!




Wow, they are everywhere.








We even saw a turf war.








This area is a quick day trip from Nassau so ther is a lot of boat traffic. Lots of power boats and their wake. We enjoyed our time here but it is time to move on.

A Port in the Storm

The settlement of Spanish Wells is off the northwest tip of the island of Eleuthera. The settlement is on St Georges Cay and is surrounded by Russell Island and Charles Island. The fishing fleet of Spanish Wells supplies over half the Bahamas crop of lobster. It is a great little town full of friendly people and it is a well protected port in a storm. We have been watching the possible formation of a tropical low/storm. Predictions had the time and place of the low and the accompanying squalls in varying places/time/severity. We found a great group of cruisers and decided to hang out in this protected spot for a while to wait out the weathef.

Spanish Wells




Here is Freedom on her mooring with a group of our friends




A great happy hour at the Shipyard




Wow, what a sunset!




We got a larger group together to take the 2 mile dinghy ride to the Sand Bar on Russell Island, SW of Spanish Wells proper.




Our dinghies on the beach in front of the Sand Bar.




One of the moored boats is a "kid boat". Three of the cutest kids! Well behaved and industrious.





We had a great time. We had two pot lucks including a Cinco de Mayo celebration. Luckily the low formed well northwest of the Bahamas. We got a ton of rain and one day of strong winds but nothing really out of the ordinary. We are glad we made the decision to stay. We made great friends and had a lot of fun. Most of the boats are headed north. We're marching to our own drummer and heading south.

On to Eleuthera

From Little Harbour to the Eleuthera chain of islands is the Northeast Providence Channel. We headed out early in the morning guessing that we would be motoring or at best motor sailing. It was flat calm with no wind for us as we went out the cut. We knew there were going to be some squalls possible in the area. As we got into the NE Providence Channel the wind picked up and we could track on radar a squall coming up behind us.


Squall approaching





We skirted the squall but took advantage of the accompanying winds and sailed on a broad reach, downwind. We later discussed the day with a couple that left an hour after we did. They got totally drenched in a downpour where we only experienced a few sprinkles. The wind clocked around and we where sailing on a beam reach. As we approached Egg and Royal Islands the wind died again. We anchored in a beautiful, protected harbor at Royal Island.



Royal Island approach




There is a former 1950's estate in ruins on the island. You cannot see much from the water but we landed the dinghy and took stone stairs to explore.

Little Harbour, Abacos

Little Harbour is famous, it is home to Petes Pub and the Johnson gallery. We did a blog post about the gallery and it's history the last time we were here. If you are interested...look back at the archives, winter of 2013. The harbor is very well protected from wind and ocean surge and there are not many well protected anchorages in the area. We must go into the harbor at high tide because the entrance channel is only 4 ' at low tide.


We anchored off Blackpoint Cay the night before to wait for high tide to go into Little Harbour.


Rain squalls stayed north of us while anchored by Blackpoint




We even got a nice rainbow



And another great Bahamas sunset




The famous Petes Pub. It has a roof, no walls, sand floor and is run 100% from solar power. They collect rain water, exclusively. A true beach bar.




Here is Freedom on her mooring. Looking out from Petes.




The posts holding the roof and the sides of the bar are covered in graffiti. We added ours.




Next stop..Eleuthra Island...new grounds for us.

Eye Candy

Here's some of the sites of Hopetown.



The Abaco Rage is a popular Bahamian sail craft



Anchored out in the Sea of Abaco after a squall passed us.



And of course...



Another beautiful calm night.

Taking Care of Business

Marsh Harbour is a great place to take care of business. They have all sorts of shops, including Maxwells. It is a very large grocery store that would rival a Publix, Giant or Kroger food store. We picked up some fresh veggies and plantains along with other odds and ends. This is also a great place to get BTC (Betelco) sim cards for our Droid phone. We now have very limited phone and data capabilities. We also found a shop to buy a new battery for Eds hard working phone. When we popped it open to put the sim card in we found it in pretty bad shape.

Here is Freedom, anchored in Marsh Harbour



We had to stop at Maxwells to pick up a few items.




No need to stay in Marsh Harbour long. One night and we headed to a great anchorage near Tahitti Beach. We met up with friends Melissa and Anne on Moondance. We had a great lunch at Cracker P's.


No hurry, Mon. You're in the Bahamas. Cracker P's



We did have to head back to our boats. We had a bit of weather on the horizon.



Now we are in Hopetown. Time to get some laundry done.

The view from the porch outside the laundry room.


Not sure what is next on the agenda. I'm sure we will visit the town of Hopetown. From there? We'll see.

Bahamas 2015

We headed to Great Guana Cay from Treasure Cay, home of Nippers. Nippers is a restaurant and bar with spectacular Atlantic Ocean beach views and two swimming pools. Last time we were here for the Barefoot Man concert and the place was packed. This year it was more sedate. We enjoyed a nice lunch and rum drink and took a nice long walk on the beach.

One of the two pools




The ocean view at Nippers



Perfect beach to walk off lunch




We stayed anchored in Fishers Bay off Guana Cay for a few days, including a great rain day. The decks on Freedom have gotten salty from some spirited sailing and the rain was a much needed wash down for us.

Time to move on so we sailed towards Marsh Harbour on Great Abaco. There have been brush fires near Marsh Harbour that we could see and smell. Marsh is THE place for shopping. We'll get our Batelco chip for Eds phone giving us a data card for internet access. We have been able to pick up open wifi hotspots here and there but the card will give us access almost anywhere...at least that is the plan.


Sailing to Marsh Harbour towards the brush fires

Ahhhhh !!!!

Yes! We are on the move again, doing what our boat was meant to do.....sail (and motor). We stayed at a new for us anchorage in Florida at Peck Lake to get a taste of beach walking to come.

Peck Lake beach




From there we headed to Lake Worth in Palm Beach to make one last provisioning run and to fuel and water up. We headed out at in the dark through the wide, well lit Lake Worth Inlet. There was a gorgeous full moon behind us and we saw the partial eclipse after sunrise! We motor sailed in light winds. The Atlantic Ocean in that area is over 2,500 feet in some areas...deep. You know when you get to the Little Bahama Bank, the depth shoots up from 800 to 50 feet in less than a quarter mile. We began to see the bottom in 50 feet. Most af the bank is about 12 feet. We motor sailed to Great Sale Cay in the dark with a full moon escort. It was an outstanding, sparkly night.


Checked in with customs at Green Turtle Cay




One of our favorite stops is Treasure Cay, it is truly the most beautiful beach. Miles of white sand and crystal clear water.




No pictures but we have been sailing! We had a spirited up wind beat fromTreasure Cay to Great Guana Cay yesterday. We are getting pretty good at this sailing thing. It wasn't a race but we did sail faster than all the boats around us!

We are heading to the Exhumas but are taking some time to do some research for an article that Ed is Writing on the top 10 beach bars in the Abacos. It's a tough life!












Normally you can follow us on spot tracker, there is a link on the top right of this blog. It seems to have bit the dust after 3 1/2 years of cruising. We'll decide if we want to replace it when we get back to the states. Let us know what you think. Do you miss it? Please let us know.

I need to make water Miss Daisy

The boat came with a desalination unit, AKA watermaker. We never used it and the previous owners hadn't used it for several years either. So it needed a complete rebuild. It was capable of making 6 gallons per hour but had the ability to make double that with a second membrane. Since it would use the same amount of electricity, why not!

It took a while but was finally installed Monday and we tested it yesterday. Took a bit of fiddling to bleed out all the air but we did get it to run at 12 GPH. This will be a great luxury in the Bahamas where water is scarce and you usually have to buy it. Of course we'll need gas for the generator so it's not 'free' water. Some refer to it as turning gasoline into water!




That's our last, final project. We've left Stuart and are staging for a crossing to the Bahamas. Yea!

The total list of projects completed while in Stuart:

Rebuilt watermaker
Regalvanized anchor chain
2 100 watt solar panels and charge controller
Rebuilt forward electric head
Replumbed forward head discharge
New SSB tuner
New backstay with SSB insulator and new chainplate
New stereo with cockpit remote
New wiring to all 4 speakers
New cockpit storage cubbies
Relocated secondary VHF antenna
New windows in bimini roof
Rebuilt dinghy outboard carburetor
New dinghy davit blocks
Removed lectrasan and painted bilge area
Relabeled power panel
Shorthauled boat; powerwash, new zincs, lubed all thru hulls, coated prop for barnacle protection
Installed Winchrite electric winch handle
Oil and filter change

The to-do list is now down to a short story from an epic novel.

And, since departing Annapolis for Stuart, I've edited 28 videos we shot there. Plus I shot 7 more in S Fl.

Time for the crystal clear Bahamian water, empty beaches, snorkeling, fishing and some drone photography!!