January 2018

In which we make our way down the Out Islands and sit out some unseasonable weather.

We started 2018 anchored of the gorgeous beach stretching west from Orange Creek, at the northern end of Cat Island, Bahamas.

Checking the anchor cable.

Motoring through the calm.

We had motored back to here after a disappointing trip to Arthurs Town on New Years Eve in the expectation of having a good sailing wind the following day. This did not materialise, so we had to motor 15 miles down the coast, past Alligator point. We anchored off Pigeon Creek, dinghied ashore to a small beach and walked the mile or so to the next settlement down, passing a closed food store. We had hoped to find a water tap, but didn't. The following morning, we went ashore again and stocked up a little on provisions, but didn't find any fresh fruit or vegetables as they arrive by boat on Thursdays so we picked up anchor and continued down the coast to New Bight. Again, the forecast wind failed to materialise, but we drifted slowly for a few hours before giving up and motoring the rest of the way. The plan was to stay here a couple of days but the forecast wind changed from Northerly to Westerly with gusts up to 30 knots and we would not get any protection on this coast so, instead, we picked up on the morning of the 3rd and beat down to the South East tip of the island in a SWly F3 then reached back along the Southern coast passing through a small gap in a coral reef to anchor at Reef Harbour. The wind steadily increased and veered. The coast gave us good protection from the wind waves but, unfortunately, the swell from the West came over the reef causing us to roll more than was comfortable. We were, however, safe and stayed here for nearly 2 days, leaving on the morning of the 5^th to sail, once again into a fickle wind, back to New Bight. Strong winds were again forecast, this time from the East, and I was keen to provision while we could so, after an early lunch, we dinghied ashore only to discover the the Westerly winds had prevented the supply boat from coming. We walked the mile or so up to the food store anyway and got enough to tide us over. We also discovered a water tap and did a couple of runs to top up the aft (washing water) tank. Ashore again in the morning, this time to walk up to the top of Mount Alvernia, the highest point in the Bahamas at all of 206 feet. Here there is a 3/4 scale hermitage, built by Father Jerome, who seemed to have got about a bit, as we have found refences to him on other islands.

Hermitage

Thence back to the food store in time for the late arrival of the weeks fresh supplies. It was a walk of over a mile back to the dinghy, so we hung out a thumb and were immediately picked up by a passing local. Sunday was damp and dismal, so we stayed on board doing the occasional little job to keep us entertained and tried to work out a strategy for the coming week as the wind was, once again, forecast to box the compass with cloud and rain for much of the time. At least it was going to be warmer than the high teens we had been experiencing for the past few days.

On Monday, 8^th, We decided that we were bored of sitting in one place and started a series of hops. We had an earlyish start, initially downwind, under just the genoa, to hawks nest point then, with 2 reefs in the main and variable headsail, it was a beat to windward for 30 miles to Conception Island. Had we moved back to our anchorage at Reef Harbour on Sunday, we would have shortened the distance considerably and also had a better angle on the wind. The anchorage is not particularly difficult to enter but I wanted to do it in good daylight and we ended up motoring the last couple of miles into wind. Conception Island had been one of our favourite places earlier in the year and, once again, we had it entirely to ourselves. Without the sun, however, it wasn't quite the same and we were happy to move on the following morning. The wind was forecast to be South Easterly and, in a straight line, we only had about 35 miles to go so it shouldn't have been any problem. Foolishly, however, I decided to save a mile by going North initially round a 4 mile reef rather than South. This changed our angle on the wind such that we were, once again, hard on it all day, rather than having a pleasant reach. At times, as the wind veered then backed, it seemed that we would miss our destination altogether and have another motor into wind to finish the day but, with a bit of good fortune and a lot of hard work, we finished up off Cockburn Town, San Salvador at 15:00 and anchored just south of the town. Unlike most of the Bahamian islands, San Salvador has no deeply indented bays to shelter in so we were relying on its sheer bulk to protect us from the Atlantic swell. The wind was as good as it could be for this - just South of East – but it was still far from comfortable. We dinghied ashore in the morning, initially into the government harbour but, finding no-where to safely leave the dinghy, we retreated and landed on the beach instead. It was Independence Day and very quiet but we had a good walk, sheltering from a couple of rainstorms and then getting thoroughly soaked on the trip back by a third. Thursday started bright and we enjoyed a swim before the rain returned. It got progressively heavier and we gave up the idea of having another trip ashore. Elsie decided to have another go at collecting rainwater, this time by rigging a bed sheet from the spray hood and back to the binnacle. The first hour provided a few litres and we wondered whether it was worth the effort. Later, however, the heavens really opened in true tropical fashion and, over the space of an hour or so, we collected about 50 litres, enough to top-up our ‘washing water’ tank. It was surprisingly cloudy so we didn’t add any to the drinking water tank. Although Friday still gave us South Easterly winds, a swell was building and setting us rolling. Seizing a gap in the weather, we heaved up and headed South West, initially heading for the South of Conception Island. The wind was fluctuating between 10 and 25 knots, hindering progress and I didn’t think we could make it back to Conception before nightfall so instead headed for an anchorage on the North side of Rum Cay. We made the entrance to this by 15:30 but the overcast conditions meant that we couldn’t ‘read the water’ and, as it is an infrequent anchorage and not properly surveyed, I was not willing to risk running into an uncharted rock. So, back to plan ‘a’ and head for Conception. This was now 10 miles directly downwind so we just put the sails away and motored, arriving at twilight but I knew my way in here and we anchored safely at 18:10. Saturday dawned fair and the only other yacht in the anchorage left at first light so we, once again, had the island to ourselves and had a very pleasant walk ashore. The tide was lower than we had seen it before and, at the Southern end of the beach we found an old wreck. There was the remains of a windlass with anchor chains still threaded through hawse pipes and nearby what can only be described as ‘mashed ship’ - tortured metal beaten together and welded into pieces of rock. An awesome reminder of the power of the sea. Soon after we returned to Ruby, a large motor yacht appeared and moored for a few hours but the rain had returned and the guests obviously didn’t wish to linger in an area with no shops or restaurants. While we lunched another two sailing yachts anchored so we no longer had the island to ourselves.

The wind changed to South-Easterly and we moved to the Southern end of the bay and then, the following day, back to the North end as the wind, and swell, changed again. More yachts arrived that evening and, as it was time to stock up on provisions, we moved on the following morning, heading to Rum Cay. The wind was just East of North, giving us a good close reach, marred only by occasional showers. We anchored close to where we had in April and dinghied ashore. A walk to the Eastern end showed us that the entrance channel to the Marina had been dredged and the sand spoil from this was being made to good use in repairing the government jetty in the bay. The marina itself was still in a bad way, with bad silting up of the, still un-repaired, docks. The little grocery was as we remembered – as long as we were not too picky, there was food enough to keep us going for a few days. On Tuesday, we went for a longer walk round the settlement, finding the school and chatting with a few locals, including a resident American. We topped up a little on food and swapped a few books with the library at the store.

Obligatory sunset picture.

We had resolved to give a little back on our travels this year and had brought some stationery items for the school. Having discovered that, with a total island population of 60, there were only 5 pupils, we chose a selection and presented ourselves on Wednesday morning and were made very welcome. After a chat with the teacher, we were invited to take the reading lesson with the year 6’s allowing her to concentrate on the year 3’s. Farewells at mid-day, and a continuation of the walk to a small-holding run by the marina owners for another nice chat and some hen-fresh eggs. Despite the wind being North of East, the anchorage was rolly with a southerly swell and other yachts arrived that afternoon to disturb our isolation so, on Thursday we heaved up and headed West to Long Island. It was close hauled up to the tip and then broad reach 8 miles down the other side before gybing and heading for the inside passage. On my Navionics charts, the logical route appeared to be outside of a sandbank. We would be almost directly downwind, so we put away the main and continued under jib alone. My chart showed that we should have 8-9 metres of water all the way but it soon decreased to less than 6. A concerned dolphin came to look at us, as Elsie has written. 4 metres and I started the engine. I now saw breaking water, where no shallows were shown and made a rapid 180, furling the sail as we went round. As we motored back North, I calculated that we would now not reach our destination before sunset so planned on our fall-back, the lee of a small island. The cruising guide gave basic directions and these tied in with my chart so a route was planned though, as I expected less than 0.5 metre of clearance in places, we proceeded at low speed. The strong Northerly wind had stirred and clouded the water making things even more tricky. We touched and then held fast. The tide was rising, so we put out the anchor and waited in hope. I contacted a local marina who put us in touch with someone with a power boat to give us a tow if all else failed but, after a nail-biting hour, we floated free and proceeded to our chosen anchorage. Not totally smooth, but safe. I dug out other charts overnight and found where we should have gone. In the morning, we proceeded, initially under engine until we were confident in the new chart then under genoa alone with a following wind down to Thomson bay, arriving at 11:00. An early lunch, then ashore for a walk and a little light shopping. The local bar advertised a happy hour at 16:00 and we felt we needed a little relaxation so, after stowing away the groceries, we went ashore again and socialise for an hour or two.

On Saturday morning, ashore again to visit a farmers’ market only to discover that at 09:30, we had missed all the fresh fruit and veg so back to the store for a bit more of a stock up from them. In the afternoon, we took the dinghy in the other direction for a walk on a, not terribly attractive, beach. Sunday was wet, so we stayed on board. Monday was brighter, so we decided to explore a little. Ashore earlyish and down to the tourist office to pick up a little information, then out with the thumbs and hitched, in 4 goes, down to Clarence Town, the island capital. We passed several stores, schools and government buildings on the way down but in Clarence town, very little. There was a twin towered Catholic church, built by Father Jerome who also built the hermitage on Cat Island but it was unfortunately locked. There was a twin towered Anglican church, also locked and a marina, geared to sport fishing boats. There was also the ‘Slave Canal’ a narrow cut from the harbour through to what is now a mangrove swamp but had been a shallow pond used as a salt pan. Cut by hand, it allowed sea water to flow in and was then dammed to allow evaporation and salt collection. We then hitched back north. The sight-seeing wasn’t spectacular but we had some great conversations with the drivers, including the primary school principle, learning of the effects of hurricane Joaquin, 2 ½ years earlier, and the recovery from it.

 Fr Jerome's church

Slave canal

Tuesday was another lazy day, with just a dinghy trip ashore in the afternoon for a little social gathering with other cruisers. Wednesday was busier: there was weather heading our way and we had a couple of things to do before it hit. First we went for a top-up of fuel and, more importantly, water. The previous fuel dock had been destroyed by Joachim and there was conflicting information as to depths available, so we made sure to approach on a rising tide. It transpired that there was plenty of depth until very close. We were disappointed with the water, however: although it was R.O. (reverse osmosis) and chargeable, it was mixed in a tank with rain water and a bit cloudy, so we elected to only fill the aft ‘washing’; tank and not the forward ‘drinking’ tank. We still have about 60 litres of bottled water from our crossing and are loath to contaminate the forward tank. Back to our anchorage and then dinghy to a bar with laundry attached. We lunched while a month’s worth of washing was done. Seafood pizza was available at $45, but we elected for a sharing platter of conch fritters at $8. The last job of the day was erecting the cockpit tent. We hadn’t used it in over 2 years but we could see waves of foul weather heading our way and, if we were going to be trapped on board for a week, a 10 ft square sun room sounded like a useful extension. On Thursday, we stocked up on provisions and battened down the hatches for a gale, which blew for more than 48 hours. Books, music and board games kept us entertained.

Tent

Our electricity generation was working well: we have the 2 solar panels and the wind generator and the batteries had their longest ever period of being fully charged with a steady voltage of 13+ volts. On Sunday, the wind gennie suddenly started making a different noise from what we had heard before and, a few hours later, seized solid. Monday, the wind was too strong to deal with it but on Tuesday, a gap in the weather allowed us to take it down and start an on-line conversation with the manufacturer. Subsequent dismantling showed that a carbon brush had jammed in its holder, causing it to lose contact with a slip ring and the result was an over-heated and destroyed generator. It was still under warranty but several thousand miles from a service centre. We had a little provisioning trip ashore later before the next weather hit us on Wednesday. So, the latter half of January was spent in one anchorage, with little entertainment. It was our decision to slow down this winter, but the unseasonable weather has meant that we have not enjoyed it as much as hoped. Never mind – looking ahead, the weather looks set to be more to our liking and we are planning on moving on and seeing some new islands.

Monthly distances:

Logged          354 miles
Over ground  301 miles