The Rest of the Exumas

I’m writing literally in the middle of the North Atlantic 152 nm east of Savanah and 142 nm south of Cape Fear.  Currently Top Shelf is underway from West End Bahamas to Beaufort NC.  This is a 54 hour, 505 nm passage that is currently on schedule to arrive in Beaufort tomorrow morning at 1 pm.

Back to the Exumas… Jim Driscoll and I spend 2 nights in Clarence Town after dropping off Tom

Coconut Bread French Toast

Buckley.  The weather we were waiting on caused problems with Tom’s flight out of the Bahamas.  It took him 36 hours to get back to Boston.

Once the weather cleared, Jim and I traveled to the much anticipated Georgetown in the Exumas.  This is the most southern harbor in the Exumas and has gained the name “Chicken Harbor” as most folks won’t venture any further east because of the constant 20 knot trade winds and the associated 6-10 ft seas.

Pig Roast at Chat & Chill

Because of this, Georgetown hosts over 400 yachts in the huge harbor every season.  Retiree’s from all over the world congregate here from mid-December to mid-April.  The Bahamians have created an interesting economy to support these travelers.  Beach Volleyball, Pig Roasts, Water Aerobics and 50 more activities are broadcast every morning on VHF channel 68 at 8 am.  In addition to all of the activities there are numerous Tiki Hut bars that have sprung up on every beach.

Jim and I arrived a day early to meet Mark Hughley, Miniter’s head of sales, who would arrive the next evening.  We anchored away from the crowd in Red Shanks, but moved the next day as the current was playing games with our ground tackle (anchor).

Georgetown Tiki Bar

Mark arrived Saturday night and we had to take a 3 mile wet ride in the tender from the dock to our new anchorage in 25 knot winds.  The next morning, I cooked Mark my now semi-famous Coconut Bread French Toast, then we were off to explore the Georgetown activities.

Sunday was Pig Roast day at Chat & Chill.  We headed over there just after noontime and hung at the Tiki Bar and engaged some of the local boaters.  Many were from Canada and Europe.  Some living on a shoe string budget, and others enjoying the season at Georgetown.

Georgetown Beach

We had lots of conversations about spear fishing.  Folks that cruise on yachts all attempt to spearfish.  Most have had no training and are actually a danger to themselves.  Since Ryan trained me with safety first, I feel obligated to explain the dangers in their techniques.
 
We over-ate at the pig roast, then moved to the Saint Francis Resort Marina Bar.  This place was up on a hill so we had a good view of the 250 plus boats anchored in the harbor.  The couple next to us engaged Mark as soon as he sat down.  They were well on their way for a Sunday afternoon and we had a great time talking with these folks. 

Bill was from Cape Cod and lived in the big house next to Brax Landing in Harwich.  Vanita lived

Arriving at Oven Rock

full time on her sailboat "Island Lady".  As we talked with them, we concluded that she had no idea what end of a wrench to use to fix her vessel, but she was cute and had many “maintenance” men ready and willing to visit her in Georgetown to fix things.  Bill was one of the folks.  It takes all types to make up the unique culture of Georgetown.

The next morning, the seas had calmed down enough for us to head northeast up Exuma Sound.  We cruised about 35 nm to enter the Exuma Bank, west of the Cays, via Cave Cut Channel.  Wind was blowing about 20 knots and we had 6-8 ft seas as we entered the cut.  Wind against current made the waves up to 8 feet and we were all a little anxious entering the skinny 15 foot deep channel.  Once inside, the Exuma Bank is on the west side of the island chain and the seas are dead calm in the prevailing east winds.  We anchored at Oven Rock to do some exploring ashore.

Great Guanna Cay Cave

Mark and I hiked to a cave on the windward side of Great Guanna Cay.  It was a big cave that was spooking to enter.  I brought a flashlight, so we were able to explore down to the waterline.  There were stalagmites and stalactites and bats.  I can’t tell you the difference in the first two, but I know what a bat is.  Mark decided to throw a big rock and the echo sounded like the place was coming down, and the bats were attacking.  We took some pictures and headed for the lighted opening.

Mark in the Cave

The next morning, I called Exuma Park headquarters at 9 am.  Lucie, the park manager, remembered me and my donation to the park last November, so we were able to get on of the prime mooring balls in the Warderwick Wells mooring area.

We first stopped at Big Majors Spot Key to view the swimming pigs.  This time I knew better not to get out of the tender.  There were 25 folks feeding them on the beach, I told Jim and Mark that we were here to see them swim.  So we baited them with some stale Triscuts and soon we had a half dozen pigs 50 yards off shore looking for treats.
 

Cave Entrance

Mark had to join a conference call, so Jim and I took the tender over to Staniel Cay for Lunch.  Jim bought lunch (as he always did…much appreciated) and we left the marina just as an armada of tour boats with dozens of tourists unloaded.

Due to time, we didn’t dive the Thunderball Grotto.  We hoisted anchor and cruised to get to Warderwick Wells before 5 pm.

Pigs Like Stale Triscuts

We got on the mooring ball with no issues around 5 pm and we sat down in the cockpit to have a beer.  Next thing we know, a young girl swims out to the boat and asks us to join the party on the beach.  We all looked at each other as nothing like that has happened to any of us in 30 years!  Mark and I jumped in the tender and when ashore.  Jim stayed aboard.

Selfie with the Aussie

We got ashore and found that the girl was the daughter of Brian, an Australian sailor.  He had sent her out to get us.  He ended up hanging out with us for the rest of the night.  There were also folks there from Denver and an Olympic bicyclist from Ashville NC.  All sailing different yachts.  Brian gave us cozies for our beer.  On them was his boat named “Aussies” and the slogan “Misbehave or Walk the Plank”.  After it got dark on the beach, Brian joined us on the back of Top Shelf until about 10 pm.  The cozie describes the night perfectly.  If the Gilpin’s go to Australia for Christmas break next winter, we will be staying with Brian the “Crazy Aussie”.

Mark on the Reef

The next morning it was time to go diving.  The plan was that Mark would SCUBA while I free dove.  Mark hadn’t dove in 20 years, but he was more nervous about the sharks.  Before arriving, Mark bought both he and I “Shark Bands”.  These were magnetic devices that was supposed to keep sharks away.  Check Out the Video on the Facebook Group Page.

Mark Under at Warderwick Wells

We did three dives before time ran out and we had to leave the mooring for the next guest.  We saw 2 sharks and lots of other sea critters, I’m here to report that Mark is still alive.

Mark Diving the Wreck

That afternoon, we cruised up to Highbourne Cay, where we would ride out the cold front that was arriving that night.  I was dealing with the generator’s battery which obviously was not being charged by the generator’s alternator.  I’ve always questioned why a generator has an alternator to charge the battery.  Well, here I was in that situation.  The temporary fix was to take my battery charger, that I plugged into the generator to charge the generator battery so that it would keep running!

Great Dinner at Highbourne Cay

We docked at Highbourne, had a great dinner, and rode out the cold front that night.  The next morning we departed in 30 knot winds for our 33 nm very wet run to Nassau, where both Jim and Mark would leave me.

I have to take a moment to thank Jim Driscoll for his dedication in bringing Top Shelf over 1,000 nautical miles from the east coast of Puerto Rico to Nassau.  As Jim, Julianne, Mark, Rob, Greg, Ryan and Sam can tell you, I’m not the easiest going person on Top Shelf. 

Thanks Jim

Not only did Jim pick up every tab along the way, he sat the tough mid-night watches during our many night passages, and most importantly, put up with my quirky-ness on board.  Thanks Jim.