friday february 01, 2008 (bimini, bahamas)

 

We were up pretty early today, about 7AM but still felt like we missed a memo or something. The marina was like a ghost town. At least 20 boats must have cleared out of here before dawn so it looks like we’re in charge around here now. It will be a short term in office though, we had decided yesterday that we would get out of the marina today too. We just didn’t know that there was a mass exodus planned.

After taking what will probably be our last land showers for a while, we devoured a nice breakfast and cleared out. Even though the marina cost less than half the average Floridian marina we would have still preferred anchoring out, and probably would have if it wasn’t for customs and immigration. It turned out to be a good thing everyone had left, my ‘maneuvering in tight quarters’ skills were a tad rusty for some reason. Slapdash only has one engine so it doesn’t handle like the bigger cats, which usually have an engine in each hull. We didn’t hit anything, but were glad there was nobody watching because we looked pretty clumsy.

We exited the harbor with a whole lot more confidence now that we had already done it once. The breakers and sandy beach didn’t look quite as menacing as they did when we arrived. Our destination today was Honeymoon Harbor on Gun Cay. It’s a little harbor on an uninhabited Cay, and wouldn’t you know it, there’s a big wreck on the way there. We saw on the way in and wanted to check out, how convenient. I did a little research on it while we were in Bimini and it’s had a really colorful past. Here’s what I found out:

The S.S. Sapona is a 287 foot concrete hulled cargo steamer that was built in North Carolina and launched in 1920. In 1924 it was sold to some crazy Rum runner who used her as a floating warehouse to store his contraband during the prohibition. That didn’t last too long though, only a couple of years later he ran it aground during a hurricane. He lost the ship and all its cargo and died penniless. Then during World War II the Air Force and Navy started using it as target practice. They stopped the bombing shortly after the legendary “lost squadron of Flight 19” disappeared somewhere in the Bermuda triangle after a practice bombing mission on the Sapona. Maybe its cursed or something.

We dropped our anchor a hundred yards or so from the wreck and after a ham sandwich (Bimini Bread is damn good) and a beer we launched the dink. The wreck is sitting in less than 20 feet of water so we just took along our snorkels, masks and fins opting to save our tanks for a real dive. We snorkeled all around the wreck, and were able to get inside. There were tons of fish and the water was super clear. It was as good if not better than a lot of dives we’ve been on.  My only complaint is the lack of lobster. I was hoping to bring one or two home for dinner.

While we were there two more catamarans pulled up. Turns out one of them had been following the slapdash website and recognized our boat. He called us up on the VHF to say hi and congratulate us on finding our anchor. It was a little out of the ordinary to be recognized in the middle of nowhere like that, but we were glad that they did. Not only were they really great people but they had caught a Dorado on the way over the Gulf Stream and were nice enough to share some of their catch with us. Later that night they invited us over to their boat for beers and pizza. Needless to say the Some Days are Diamonds crew are total aces in our books. When we showed up, the couple from the other cat were there too. They are our age and have just set off on a circumnavigation too, so we were pretty pleased about the whole day and hope to see more of these folks along the way.

 

saturday february 02, 2008 (gun cay, bahamas)

 

We are really looking forward to getting down to the Exumas, so decided that it was time to move along. Today we would cross the Great Bahama bank. The trip will be twice as long as the Gulf Stream crossing, which means our first over night sail. There is a bail out point between here and Nassau though so if we need to we can divert and anchor for a while.

It was really calm this morning and what little wind we had was right on the nose again. I’m not sure what’s going on but it seems like whatever direction we point this boat determines where the wind will come from that day. Motoring in the calm seas gave us a chance to catch up on some boat chores though. We locked our course into the autopilot and started scraping, scrubbing, wiping and polishing everything we could find. Within a few hours slapdash was sparkling clean again and looking pretty sharp if I do say so myself.

It’s been a pretty relaxed passage. We’ve only seen a couple of boats which is a big contrast to the commercial traffic in the Gulf Stream. Towards the afternoon the wind picked up though and things got a little choppy. The mood is still pretty mellow though; I’m writing a log, Jaime is reading a book and we both had time to work on our tans. Every so often we scan the horizon, check the course and heading, and then go back to our diversions. It’s a much better trip than on the ICW because then someone had to be at the helm steering at all times. There’s nothing but beautiful blue water as far as we can see for 360 degrees around us. The view won’t change until tomorrow afternoon sometime. We are looking forward to our first night underway, unless you count that night in Florida when we motored around in circles trying to fix our steering. We’re hoping for a little less excitement this time.

 

monday february 04, 2008 (new providence, bahamas)

We made it! Things got kind of rough shortly after I finished that last log. Once the seas kicked up it was tough for either of us to do anything but stay in the cockpit and steer the boat. The wind was stronger than forecast, and as usual right on our nose. It was a long night but by mid morning on Sunday things were either calming down or we were just getting used to it. Either way, aside from the lack of sleep life was pretty good. We took turns taking cat naps on the couch, and during one of my watches I put a line out just to pass the time. It seemed like I was just catching sea grass every 5 minutes though, so I started thinking it might be more trouble than it was worth and considered packing it in.

Our progress was slow. We only managed about 4 knots the whole time so the passage took longer than expected. I fixed up a gourmet lunch of franks and beans and by the time we finished it Nassau was finally in site. About three minutes later the rod I had forgotten about jumped to life. It bent over and started playing out line with that “bzzzzzz” sound that every fisherman hopes to hear. For a second Jaime and I just looked at each other so I’m not sure who was more surprised; her, me or the fish. I grabbed the rod and set the hook. After a minute of reeling, a beautiful Mahi Mahi leaped into the air, their shimmering blue and green colors are unmistakable. He shot into the air a couple more times during the fight and things on deck started to look a bit like a like a Mexican fire drill. I really didn’t expect to catch anything, setting the rod out was more of a diversion to pass the time so nothing was ready. Jaime was running around gathering things like gloves, gaff, and vodka (we read somewhere that a capful will stun a fish instantly and make it easy to land). Once he was in gaffing range I passed the rod to Jaime and only after the third sloppy attempt did I finally have a good hold on him. She passed me the vodka and I poured him a welcome aboard shot. It seemed to have no effect other than to really piss him off.  Apparently Mahi Mahi’s are angry drunks. I’ll spare you the gruesome detail of what happened next but I was finally able to dispatch the fish and hang him from the davits. Our methods were far from text book but not bad for a couple of recently reformed city slickers, after all the fish was on the boat now. Jaime brought out another book we’ve been saving for the occasion and read the step by step instructions out loud as I went to work preparing our dinner. A few minutes later we had enough filets for at least 6 meals, one of which would be consumed upon our arrival into New Providence.

We kicked the boat into gear and got back on track. We were pleased to see that the whole event only set us back by 30 minutes or so. Land was clearly visible and we started looking for a suitable anchorage. At that moment I happened to look up and saw an instantly familiar teal and blue logo on the tail of a 737 making its final approach just over our heads. It was a WestJet flight, the company where up until a few months ago I had worked for the past 11 years. I wonder if the crew was anyone I knew. Could WestJet’s newest flight attendant Mike Byrom be onboard? By the way, congratulations Mike! See what happens when you pursue your dreams? Anything is possible. You go girl!

I digress. We pulled into our chosen harbor and couldn’t believe our eyes. This is by far the most picturesque anchorage we have seen so far. Clear blue water with colorful colonial homes lining the shore. Complete with a powder white sand beach; this was real postcard material. About 4 seconds after the anchor was down we were both in the water splashing around and enjoying some hard earned R&R. I dove down to check that the anchor was set and couldn’t believe how good the visibility was. The sand beneath the boat was as white and powdery as the sand on the beach.

We toweled off and opened a bottle of wine. I threw some generous slabs of 2 hour fresh Mahi Mahi filets on the BBQ. Then on a wine high with full and satisfied bellies we just sat in awe of our nearly perfect surroundings. Not long after the sun went down we passed out and slept like we were dead. A perfect way to end a tough passage.

 

wednesday february 06, 2008 (new providence, bahamas)

 

We’ve basically just been hanging around and enjoying this amazing anchorage for the past couple days. I’ve been diving like crazy trying to find the lobster. The reef is amazing but I’ve been completely skunked on the sea bug front thus far. I’m pretty sure Tiger must own one of these homes on the beach though because I’ve found a dozen golf balls and we must be 300 yards from shore.

There’s a big marina nearby which clearly caters to the mega yacht crowd. So it’s a little below our normal high standards but we decided to visit anyway. We pulled into the fuel dock and were met by a super friendly dock hand by the name of Vaughn. They are obviously more accustomed to selling thousands of gallons of diesel at a time, but he didn’t even bat an eye at our request for just 50. Same thing when we filled up our water tanks. It took about 50 gallons to top us off which was such a trivial amount to them that they didn’t even charge us for it. We also wanted to make a run to the nearby grocery store while we were there, but were informed that they charge 40 dollars per hour to stay at the dock. That was for the first 3 hours, after that you would be billed for the full day rate which was somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 dollars a foot. There was no way we could afford that just to go pick up a bag of groceries, but Vaughn had no intention of sticking to the policy. He whispered to me that they couldn’t charge us anything as long as we were still fuelling, so I should take my time. Then he handed Jaime the keys to his golf cart to speed up the trip and gave her directions to the grocery store. Jaime was back before I finished with the fuel and water, but Vaughn wasn’t finished with us yet. When the time came to pay up he asked me to hop in with him for a ride back to the office. On the way he gave me a tour and pointed out the Nicholas Cage and Sean Connery homes (like I said, a little below our usual standard). We took our time on the way back which gave Jaime plenty of time to put the groceries away, get the boat all sorted out, and even send a few emails. We were about to cast off when a 200 foot mega yacht came around the corner. This thing was huge, their fenders were about the same size as our hull. Our bill was probably less than one percent of the average and here we were being treated like royalty. Needless to say Vaughn got a great tip, and the boat was ready for another crossing.

We decided to make a trip across the island to visit Nassau and its famous Atlantis hotel, resort and casino. After asking a few locals we found the bus stop and to our shock it arrived right on time. We soon found out why. The guy drove like a desperate criminal. After 20 harrowing minutes of watching the countryside blur past us we were deposited in the center of downtown Nassau. Happy to be alive we got on with checking out the city. To our dismay this wasn’t much of a city. The neighborhood along the waterfront was more of a kitschy facade of all the usual shops and restaurants that cater to the sunburnt fanny pack wearing contents of the nearby cruise ships, and there were thousands. What an ugly sight. Tense and claustrophobic we fought our way through the masses towards the bridge that led to Atlantis. We’ve had some experience with these crowds and knew that their range only extends about a kilometer from the boat. If we could get outside the perimeter we would be safe. Sure enough just outside the fake storefronts the real city came into view, a sight that scares most of the cruise ship crowd back into the safe confines of their carefully fabricated dollar dissolving matrix. They have no doubt been warned about the extreme dangers of wandering too far from the waterfront. The only real danger of course is that that they might actually spend their money somewhere that feeds the local economy instead of the big cruise ship companies.

We crossed the bridge to Atlantis and were relieved that we didn’t decide to anchor in Nassau harbor. We had a good view of the whole harbor from the bridge and between the cruise ships, the commercial traffic, the garbage, wakes and ripping current it looked like a horrible place to be. We spent the next few hours wandering around Atlantis. Big even by Vegas standards the whole resort is pretty impressive and the aquarium, which was the main attraction for us, was incredible.

We couldn’t resist a visit to the casino floor. Red felt like a good color today and with one spin of the roulette wheel I managed to pay off Jaime’s slot machine debt and pretty much cover all of our expenses for the day.

On our way back through town the cruise ship had obviously left. The town was deserted, there were steel sliding doors covering up all the cutesy shops and the only people sharing the streets with us now were a few drunks and druggies. We didn’t recognize the place; and you would have to see the transformation yourself to believe it. It went from Disneyland to South Central in just a few hours.

Unfortunately the bus schedule was outdated and had stopped running, which was hard to believe because it was only about 8PM. We had to hire a cab and it cost us the rest of our winnings to get back to the boat. A pretty good day, but what a contrast. We were happy to be back on the paradise side of the island, the side that nobody from a cruise ship will ever see.

 

thursday february 07, 2008 (new providence, bahamas)

 

We were up at 0’dark hundred again getting ready to begin the next leg of our journey. Today we would work our way south and east out of New Providence and cross the Yellow Bank on our way to Allan’s Cay in the Exuma chain. The day before we took a few bearings off nearby markers which enabled us to navigate our way through the reef in the dark. You could hear the surf crashing nearby and we knew from seeing the channel in the daylight that we were only a few yards from the reef line. It probably wasn’t much of a thing, but we seem to be gaining a cautious competence.

After a rough wavey start, things settled down and we were able to motor sail most of the afternoon. Keeping the speed up enabled us to arrive before sunset. This was obviously the first acceptable weather window in a while because there was a glut of sailboats making the passage. At one point we counted 18 masts on the horizon. Unfortunately we were probably all heading for the same place so we knew that it would be a crowded anchorage.  

We made our way through the channel to Allan’s Cay at about 5PM and as expected the place was packed. We considered just going on to the next Cay but it was close to sunset and we didn’t really want to chance an arrival in the dark. We decided to just feel our way into the anchorage and check things out. To our complete surprise the South end was thick with boats (about 20 all clumped together) but further into the natural harbor there was a section that Jaime found on the chart that was completely unoccupied. We thought there must be something wrong with the spot but dropped our hook in six feet of water anyway. It set really well and we just stared over at the big crowd in disbelief. Boats were still coming in and people were actually starting to raft up because there was no more room and here we were with this whole pocket all to ourselves. We thought maybe people had been reading the website and were scared to anchor anywhere near us, but whatever the reason we felt like rock stars with our own private spot while everyone else was packed in like sardines.

 

friday february 08, 2008 (allens cay, bahamas)

 

Allan’s Cay looked something like we imagined the Galapagos Islands to look. Maybe it was the rocky islets, maybe it was the scrubby brush, but probably it was all the lizards. This place is infested with Iguanas. We have no idea why but when you land your dinghy on the beach several dozen will come to greet you. They are looking for a handout of course, and we were happy to oblige.

After dinner we were spoiled on Wild Ride with a movie night. It was as close to the silver screen as you can get on a boat. This wasn’t roughing it. Our cinematic experience was complete with surround sound, twizzler’s, popcorn and all the latest flicks. For a while there we almost forgot that we were at anchor somewhere in the Caribbean.

 

monday february 11, 2008 (normans cay, bahamas)

 

We all made the passage into Normans Pond without incident. We’ve been exploring old ruins, caves, and seem to be surrounded by incredible beaches. We’ve heard about a small airstrip on the other side of the island and a place right beside it that will sell you beer and burgers. There’s also the remains of an old wrecked DC3 in the bay over there, so two more reasons than we needed to hop in a dinghy with Charles and Giselle to go exploring.

We passed Tom and Carol on the way there. They had made it most of the way but turned back because the tide was on its way out and they were concerned about being stranded on the other side. The water was also pretty rough since the front is now in full swing and winds are holding steady at 25 knots. The draw of burgers and beer proved too strong for our party though, and we decided to push on. We had no trouble getting through the shallows and found a good beach to land the dinghy. On the way past we spotted the plane wreckage and decided to visit it on the way back, once our bellies were full of beers and burgers.

The beach we landed on was right beside a whole bunch of ruins for us to explore. It was pretty creepy. There were all kinds of houses, overgrown roads, shops, machinery and many more signs of former habitation just laying around. Everything looked like it was just abandoned a few decades ago and left to rot. As we made our way further across the island we had lots of opportunities to check out different ruins and speculate about their demise. It was more than a little creepy and hard not to think that we were trapped inside an episode of Lost or something. The plague, civil war, top secret government tests, ritual cult suicide, and a mass alien abduction were all theories we constructed, but as is often the case here, the facts turned out to be just as colorful as any fiction we could dream up. Turns out that before the hay day of the narcotics trade, this island was developed as a dive resort. It did reasonably well and people started building homes here. They put in an airstrip and built cabins for the divers. Both sides of the island were developed with paved roads throughout. Then one day a drug lord named Lehder and his crew moved in. They literally took over the place. People would come home only to find a bunch of guys sitting there with big guns and even bigger bags of coke all over the place. The island was so remote that there wasn’t anything anyone could do but leave or be killed. People abandoned their homes and the island fell into a state of disrepair. The guy who runs the only restaurant here now is the nephew of one of the old developers and they are trying to get things spooled up again.

We would have to settle for his account of the history of the island as our only reward for trekking all the way over and finding the place though, they were closed! No amount of begging and pleading could convince him to sell us a burger because they had some private function going on. A bunch of guys in private planes had flown in and were using the place to have a meeting. Hmmm, now what kind of guys fly private aircraft to an abandoned island in the middle of nowhere with a history of drug smuggling to have a closed meeting?

We hiked back to the dinghy and made our way to the old airplane wreck. Apparently this was one of the few legitimate cargo flights made to the island and it wrecked its landing gear on landing. They pulled up and tried to bank around to make another approach but the wreckage had severed some hydraulic lines. The resulting crash killed both pilots on impact. The DC3 was almost totally intact. It was really shallow so we just snorkeled around for a while and were all pretty amazed that, except for the tail, the plane was all in one piece. If it wasn’t for the big crater made from the impact you would have a hard time believing that the pilots didn’t walk (swim) away.

Tired and hungry we were all happy to be headed back. The wind had picked up again and now we were under an almost constant wall of water. Pretty soon we were all wearing our masks and snorkels in the dinghy just to make the ride a little more comfortable. We only had to put up with that for a few minutes though because pretty soon we ran out of water all together! As Tom had predicted the tide had dropped leaving us on the wrong side of a big muddy flat. There was nothing we could do but commence with trying to drag the dinghy across the mud flat. Picture if you can the four of us in mud up to our knees, and sometimes our waist, trying to drag a four hundred pound dinghy several hundred yards while laughing hysterically. It was an absurd situation to say the least, but after a couple hours of hard work we finally made it. By the time we were back at the boats we were all exhausted, half starved and more determined than ever to get a damned burger. Now it’s personal.  

 

wednesday february 13, 2008 (normans cay, bahamas)

 

Sometimes when the tide pulls water from the bank through a narrow cut, it will face a stiff breeze coming from the opposite direction. These conditions create what is known locally as a “Rage”, basically big confused and dangerous waves. All the Bahamian cruising guides warn visiting boaters about these conditions too. For example: “On a day with strong winds but relatively small seas on the bank a Rage can easily overcome the most competent captain and his vessel part way through the channel”.

Today we experienced a Rage first hand. We would climb up the 8-10 foot waves until the bow was sticking up into the sky and then come crashing down the other side into the trough. Then we would begin our slow climb up the side of the next steep wave and do it all over again. We had a lot of fun and Jaime even rode out some of the bigger waves from the deck. We couldn’t have been happier with how Slapdash handled and were glad to gain the experience. Wild Ride passed through ahead of us and took these great shots as we passed through the channel.

After we had returned to claim our much earned beers and burgers yesterday there wasn’t much left for us on Normans Cay so we were all happy to be underway. The next stop was Shroud Cay which turned out to be a terribly exposed anchorage. We rolled, bounced and pitched around all night long. Charles and I mounted a hunting expedition outside of the park to do some hunting which more than made up for the rough anchorage. A couple of hours later we returned with a two huge lobsters and a big Grouper. Once again Tom patiently showed us how to prepare our catch and we made plans for a feast. The grouper was amazing and easily fed all six of us, so we saved the lobster for tomorrow. We were sitting around full to the brim and the conversation still centered on how we should prepare our next meal. We decided on Lobster penne, and with that business settled called it a night.

 

friday february 15, 2008 (warderick wells, bahamas)

 

We had a fantastic sail to Warderick Wells. We haven’t done any exploring yet but this place is supposed to be beautiful. We are on a mooring ball here, its really cheap and worth the money to be inside the sheltered bay. We will probably spend a few days here to explore and catch up on a big list of boat chores that we’ve been neglecting. 

Jaime is going to fill all the gel coat cracks (she counted 21 of them), and our head is leaking so I’ll have the pleasant job of pulling that out to see what I can do. We also need to clean the connections on our VHF because apparently we aren’t transmitting very well. We are overdue for an oil change and the drive leg needs some attention. There are a couple of leaks in the cabin that need to be addressed and maybe I can finally get around to patching the big hole in our dinghy. Oh, Jaime will be making another trip up the mast too. A couple days after she changed the anchor light our running light went out. They have a rare (and expensive) internet connection here so we will finally be able to update the website and post the last couple weeks worth of slaplogs.

So we’ll have our hands full for a while but what a great place to stop and catch up on things. Oh, I should mention as well that our technical difficulties continue to plague us. We lost our last batch of emails, probably 20 of them. The laptop we were using has developed an attitude again and we aren’t able to access our profile. It sets up a temporary profile every time we log in so we have the basic functionality but we can’t get into our outlook account so are afraid that we’ve lost some of your emails. We reply to every email we receive so if you have sent us one and haven’t heard back, that’s why. Sorry about that, we love hearing from you so please try again.