No silly that is NOT a shark, but you have to love an anchorage with a dolphin. Actually this was a family of 3 and the little tike was cute as a speckled pup on Christmas morning! .

This is the entrance into Lake Victoria in George Town. The passage is so tiny only one dinghy can pass at a time. Inside though lies a medium size lake. When the wind is up, entering gets pretty exciting. Inside it becomes calm instantly.

Between Magnolia, our friends on EleanorQ and Mandela we get together to eat quite often. On the way to Mandela this picture just needed to be taken!

L-R MaryMarie (Eleanor Q), Nancy (Mandela) and Magnolia’s Admiral, Annette.

L-R (Add) Ron (Mandela) and Frank (Eleanor Q)

In spite of the previous evening’s festivities, the crowd takes off to hike from Sand Dollar Beach to Chit-Chat for lunch. (Here’s a secret some know already – you can’t hike there or its REALLY hard!)

Along the way Frank decides to test the local OSHA regulations.

The hike does afford a lovely beach walk.

We finally dinghy over to the famous Chat&Chill where the Rays have come in for lunch. We are told they prefer Conch, out of the shell. Who wouldn’t?

The Chat&Chill area is also known as Volleyball Beach or more aptly, “Adult Day Care.” Everything from Sunday morning non-denomination church services, to basket weaving, to yoga classes, boat technical discussions and even administration of the HAM Radio licenses happens here. Some cruisers come to George Town for the winter an travel no where else.

Of course there is dance night where a DJ spins all kinds of Classic Rock till well into the night. (I think they stack the records at 9pmish) Here the gang warms up on the sand before hitting the main deck.

Tomorrow, Magnolia is going to take us a couple miles down to a quiet anchorage at Red Shanks.

After spend a wonderful few days at Warderick Wells we were eager to make it to Georgetown but made not before making a couple of stops. While Mandalay stopped for some additional snorkeling Magnolia and Eleanor Q stopped in Staniel Cay. 

After a brief visit to town the main attraction was the swimming pigs. Yup, swimming pigs! It was a little overcast and the air cool so I am not thinking this guy was that enthusiastic.

When his blond buddy showed up he was thinking I am off the swimming gig today. Then there must have been a toss of the coin and….

brown piggy lost the toss. So….

Yea, see I am swam now I am getting the heck out of this water have a great day tourists!!!

Out next stop was Black Point where our arrival coincided with the Church Fund Raiser Barbeque. One my favorite things over the years and many visit to the Bahamas was to find the Barbeque…they are always going on and some of the best food served in the islands!

Somehow these two are always color coordinated!

As we were departing Black Point Mandala passed heading out the cut at Black Point. They wanted to do some fishing on the way to Farmers Cay.

We all met up a few miles down the Exuma island chain at Little Farmer’s Cay. We spent a couple days here and I REALLY liked the vibe here. I am truthfully not sure why but it just felt comfortable and we had a couple of really good local meals during our visit.

(L-R Magnolia, Mandala, Eleanor Q) 

(Magnolia at rest)

While we were relaxing the Seamless Sailor was preparing and article I think on Lee-Cloths. When underway at sea we can make the setees up as beds and the Lee-Cloths hold you in place and provide a more restful sleep.

(L-R Magnolia – Mandala)

(ditto)

After a couple of days, it was time to move on. Next stop, Georgetown, Bahamas.

As you can see Nancy on S/V Mandala is the best picture taker of all of us! She took most of these too! Annette and Ron prepare to snorkel onto one of the MANY reefs.

After snorkeling Annette and I got cleaned up and put on our formal Magnolia uniforms for dinner aboard Mandala

We actually hung around a couple extra days because a cold front was expected to pass through the area. When it passed through plenty of wind accompanied it! Magnolia’s rigging screams when there is that much wind coming through. Vessel and crew came through just fine! Now off too Staniel Cay

Yes, this is finally Warderick Wells. Have you seen the Corona commercials where the water and sand all come together in a beautiful turquoise lagoon. This is about as close as you are likely to come to it! This is also HQ for the Exuma Land & Sea Park.

Magnolia is just to the right of the glass float.

Eleanor Q lies on the eastern side of the cove

Park HQ

A little better light next day to enjoy the colors

A

Eleanor Q and Magnolia set off for the top of Boo Hill

The cove side from the top of Boo Hill

Exuma Sound from the top of Boo Hill

I know, I promised Warderick Wells but I am catching up on posts since we have been out in the hinterland for the last week. Annette and I broke away from the pack and headed a little out of the way to a place called Hawksbil Cay. We assumed it would be a little quiet being off the beaten path but we had as far as the eye could see to ourselves till sunset! Out view of the cay.

We have been traveling within the 176sqr mile Exuma Land & Sea Park where there is nothing but beach, birds and fish! Lots of each! There is a $20.00 mooring fee to help maintain the place, we consider it a bargain. Annette is up dropping our money in a box on the sign. Completely honor system.

Magnolia lies at anchor off shore.

Not only does she drive Magnolia sometimes I get chauffeured on Blossom as well. (Blossom is out dinghy of course – 15hp Yamaha sitting atop a 9ft Caribe RIB)

When I am really lucky she drags us up a creek too. Actually the real reason we came to Hawksbil was to explore this creek. Annette was disappointed to find the water shallow to motor but wanted to press on.

In the end we were treated to our own personal aquarium around this Mangrove. It was filled with fish and even a 2 foot sand shark.

Like I said we have the place to ourselves till just before sunset when a 136 MegaYacht came in and anchored. Not even an invitation for sundowners!

Note: The pictures above the line are from our time on Shroud Cay and were taken by our friends on SV Mandala. Eleanor Q had met Mandala in Maine and introduced us in Bimini. The 3 boats have been traveling together on and off since. I thought we would share them here. The chart we had showed this river would go all the way across the cay and open up to the Exuma Sound on the other side. It also showed minimal depths so we were not optimistic of success.

Feeling rather like Louis & Clark Ron (SV Mandala) and I take a stroll along the “newly found” beach.

We departed on Nassau excited that would FINALLY be in the Exuma Islands.  We topped up on fuel and water before departing. Though plentiful in the Exumas, they are both expensive.  Oh yes, I perhaps did not mention water costs between 30-50 cents a gallon down here. Yea, someone is making coin…..

You can see one of the bridges to Paradise Island which is where the famous Atlantis Resort is located.

Upon arriving Highborne Cay we dropped the anchor in a sandy bottom wide open anchorag. We let 100 ft of scope, just cause we could and the more chain we have out, the better I sleep. MaryMarie of EleanorQ insisted on making dinner for us since it was birthday night. Magnolia is at anchor behind us.

Out friend Neil Brown who runs the Fuller Center in Central NJ had given us a bottle of Newmans Cabernet saying, “this is good, you are gonna like it.” We have been saving it for a special occasion. With my Fuller Center shirt, our Neil Brown bottle of wine we celebrated my #52 upon our arrival  in the Exumas! (It was a dang good bottle of wine!)

Annette made some icing topped brownies decorated with M & Ms (peanut). We washed that down with the last of our Barboursville Port. 

After a brief overnight we moved down to the Shroud Key. The winds were forecast east at 15-17, reality was south-east 22-27! Yea, that what we said. We were able to sail all but that last 3 1/3 miles to the south east! Yea, that was a slow slog.

After a fun of exploring in the dinghy, a little snorkel for boat bottom cleaning there was one last chore of working tightening things up on the swim platform. There always is, one more!

I hear the definition of cruising is working on your boat in exotic locations…I can do that. Look at that water!

Annette and I are heading over to Hawksbill Cay tomorrow. It’s a little off the beaten path which makes it perfect for us!

Magnolia had a lovely visit to Bimini in part we were able to meet  number of people whom we previously only knew by their boat. In addition we met what we refer to as the “Royal Canadian Navy” which consisted of nearly a dozen power and sailboats all proudly flying their Canadian flags!  Oh yes, sorry about the poor picture quality, after 6 months I finally figured I had better clean my lenses!!!!

Before departing Bimini we needed rent a golf cart; , that’s what you do in the Bahamas. We made our way to the northern most reaches of the island where there is a brand new swanky Casino. As you can see Annette is dolled up in her finest cruise where and we were off.  Winnie, thanks for the shiny stuff!

We were not inclined for lunch at the Casino but how could we pass up a conch salad joint on the side of the road which has never faced a health inspection and most certainly would have never passed one if it had! The salad though was to die for and some of the coldest beer on the island.

As “sometimes” happens, Frank and I started discussing the merits of ice cream on this particular day.

“Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard: Alright, listen up, people. Our fugitive (ice-cream)  has been on the run for ninety minutes. Average foot speed over uneven ground barring injuries is 4 miles-per-hour. That gives us a radius of six miles. What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area. Checkpoints go up at fifteen miles. Your fugitive’s name is Chocolate Ice Cream. Dr. Richard Kimble. Go get him it.”

We searched and came up empty handed. As we were returning the golf cart we related out search to the proprietor.  He sent us to the boat and said he would be there in a few, “be back in a few min.”

Low and behold than man came through. I mean he scored and as you can see we scored too! It was like a seen out of spy movie with a clandestine ice cream hand off!

MaryMarie  (of Eleanor Q) particularly enjoyed taking this picture. Her caption was “Thank you, Lord, for this divine ice cream for which we searched so hard. Amen.” She really is a mind reader!

While we were being decadent MaryMarie broke out her stash of Chocolate covered bacon…yea baby, chocolate covered bacon!

After the ice cream incident and heaven forbid the bacon thing leaked out ….well it could  have been pretty wild. On top of that this cold front hitting the east coast could have left us in dire conditions….perhaps into the 60s. It was time to take the show on the road.

As you can see it was a bigger than normal show….what you are seeing is the entire Royal Canadian Navy in hot pursuit of three Yankee boats!

Here is Magnolia making her way out the Bimini Harbor.

Our Comrades on Eleanor Q make her way north along the Bimini Coast

The screen capture above was actually done a little later in the evening that the pictures below but it give you an idea of how we navigate our route and info available. Magnolia in yellow is approaching the Mackie shoal light with Eleanor Q off our starboard quarter (AIS track).  We have a number of AIS tracks plus a bunch of non-AIS vessels we are monitoring. In addition we you can see the wind conditions overlaid as well. All total our trip was about 120 miles over about 22 hours.

This is the North Rock light (NROCK) from above.

As the sun was setting I grabbed the below panorama.

This was the first overnight passage that Annette and I have done on our own. To be completely frank it is a big deal. When you can see nothing but a few lights coming at you or going away from you and no horizon your brain can attach to along with taking turns to sleep and trusting your partner to keep you safe while you do sleep, yup it was/is a big deal. Just before dawn about 20 miles out of Nassau we had a hellacious squall come through. Not much accompanying wind but the rain gave the boat a very thorough wash down. As the sun began to rise it was nice to know we had “done the night” and did it safely. I am very proud of the Admiral, she certainly got’er done!

Annette double checking some Nassau Harbor entrance details.

Land’ Ho

Upon entering the harbor the first thing you come to is the cruse ship docks. In Miami they shut down entire areas of the port but here you have to transit RIGHT past them. It is a little un-nerving in the difference in protocols!

Eleanor Q transiting the cruise ship docks.

We arrived at our planned dock within minutes of these being taken. The crew were tired but proud of our nights success.

After our arrival in Monday morning, the same front that has caused cold winter havoc arrived Nassau about 01:30Am Tuesday morning in Nassau. (We expected it) and it has been blowing into the low 30s at the dock, plenty of rain and cold temperatures..okay tropical cold!  We hope to be on our way to the Exuma’s Thursday. Will check the weather!

Nope we did not even close to busted on this trip, no matter what it appears below. We had a completely benign Gulf Stream Crossing. This was our first so we were big fans of benign! As for the picture below it sure looks to me that Eleanor Q is chasing down that freighter. “We really hate it when they use their sailboat to pick on those freighters!”

“Land Ho!” Welcome to Bimini Bahamas!

The Admiral brings Magnolia into North Bimini Harbor as the “Q” flag flies from the starboard spreader. The “Q” or Quarantine flag indicates we have not been officially granted permission entrance to the Bahamas. The Captain collects the passports of the crew and along with the official vessel documents and reports to the customs and immigration office. (Note: I dressed in my best shipboard cloths). We will later raise the Courtesy Flag.

You immediately have to ask yourself if this is really the same ocean we live on? or is it actually a giant bath tub and the Bahamas got the good side?

From Wikipedia – “Courtesy flag — A courtesy flag (or courtesy ensign) is flown by a ship in foreign waters as a token of respect by a visiting vessel. It is often a small (that is, smaller than the ship’s own national ensign) national maritime flag of the host country, although there are countries (such as Malta) where the national, rather than the maritime flag is correct. The flag is customarily worn at the foremasthead of multi-masted vessels, the dockside yardarm or crosstree of the mast of single-masted vessels, while the house flag would be outboard. It may be flown from the jackstaff of vessels without masts”

In doing research for this post I learned a little something: The Yacht Ensign pictured on the left is the ensign we have flown on Magnolia since we acquired her. The Yacht Ensign was established to indicate the vessel was a private yacht and not subject to Duty Fees. I did not realize the Yacht Ensign is only recognized in US Waters. Hence, we will be hoisting our US Ensign immediately!

If you are looking at the pictures and saying the weather does not look that great…well you are absolutely right. We initially thought about bypassing Bimini and going straight to Nassau arriving there Tuesday afternoon. The expected weather front arrived after than expected and has blown in winds in the 20s and lots of clouds. We are hoping for a change in the next few days.

After completing the customs and immigration paperwork at their respective offices, the “Captains” took the “Admirals” out for some shore leave. Believe me it was short lived because the crew of Magnolia was 50% asleep at 20:00 and 100% asleep by 21:00! 

I grabbed the below image of the “Magnolia Track Map” and yes, we really are in the second slip from the inside!