Our Crew:
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| (Rob, Nadine, Virginia and Curtis) |
T-minus One Day:
January 10, 2013
Arrival in Eleuthera
Curtis and I arrived at Rock Sound, Eleuthera at 4:30 on Weds
the 10th. Nadine picked
us up from the airport, along with several other people headed to the Island
School. The first lesson I
learned is that in the Bahamas you can’t ride shotgun on the right side of the
vehicle, because that’s where the steering wheel is.
The drive to The Island School took us about 30 minutes, and
with Curtis and me riding up front, Nadine gave us a tour of Eleuthera from the
vantage of the only road on the mile-wide island. The Queens Highway appears on all the islands, equating to
Main Street. Eleuthera has
two intersections, and we were headed for the southernmost fork in the road,
where we headed east to Cape Eleuthera, former home of a resort, and now the
biggest sustainability project in the Bahamas. Operating under a Net Zero philosophy, the school recycles
or reuses all waste produced, including bodily waste. The school is virtually off the grid, with all energy
consumed coming from the multitude of solar panels that line the rooftops and
form parking bays. Water is
also heated by solar.
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| The Island School (notice the solar panels) |
Curtis and had our first glimpse of our new home that first
night under a new moon curtain of gleaming stars. The Fishers Hornpipe is a 40-ft ferro cement, full-hulled
cutter sloop, 55 ft if you count the front and back. The interior hosts three cabins sleeping 6, a workshop
area for maintenance and repairs, and a beautiful main galley with a horse-shoe
bench built into the stern, overlooking an open kitchen. The interior is worked over with
beautiful wood accents, shelving and inlays. Windows and skylights provide light and breezes. The engine runs on diesel and
charges the two 12 vt batteries, as does a small solar panel on deck. The heavy hull stabilizes the
boat as it cuts through the waves.
DAY 1: January 11,
2013
The Island School on Cape
Eleuthera to Governor’s Harbor in west-central Eleuthera:
We set sail from the Island School on Cape Eleuthera around
10am, only an hour behind schedule.
We had aimed to leave at 9 during the high tide when we could get over
some shallow areas, and leaving when we did meant the prevailing winds and the
current were not in our favor.
With the addition of a years worth of algae, barnacles, oysters, and
goodness knows what else growing on the hull, we made only 1.2 knots for much
of the time. There was a
significant amount of navigation to get through some shallow areas, so we opted
to motor for the first few hours before hoisting the sails when we turned north
into the deep water and bee-lined it for Governors Harbor.
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| Sailing for Governors Harbor, Eleuthera |
The sailing was easy and quiet, with a steady easterly
breeze of 15 knots. The sun
was out, and we listened to reggae and chit chatted. Curtis and I explored the boat and enjoyed dipping our feet
in the surf on the leeward port side. We all took turns at the helm, and Curtis and I
practiced steering toward points on the horizon while using the GPS to keep on
target. Later in the
afternoon, Nadine and I got out our paints. I made a painting of clouds in the west as the sun set
from the stern.
We dropped sail as we angled in to Governors Harbor, with
Nadine steering, and Rob showing Curtis and I how to bundle the sails. We found a mooring, and Rob and
Curtis dove into the water to wrap the anchor there. Nadine and I also took a quick dip, reminding ourselves that
the somewhat chilly water was much, much warmer than any water in Lander, WY,
or Canada. Music was emanating
from shore, where a BBQ was commencing. It was Friday night, and the sounds of Bahamian “rake
and scrape” were spun by a local DJ. Our deflated canvas dingy known as “Dingy Bob” hung
lifeless off the stern, where a fresh layer of caulking dried along his
seams. With no way to get to
shore dry, we opted to remain on the FHP and make our own dinner and play
dominos as the DJ spun island sounds. As we fell asleep in our bunks, the DJ
opted for the timeless sound of Michael Jackson to lull us to sleep, and played
on well into the night.
DAY 2: January 12,
2012
Governor’s Harbor in
central Eleuthera to the Current Cut on Northern Eleuthera:
We set sail from Governors Harbor around 7am, well before
the party-goers woke from their slumber on shore. We headed west out of the harbor, then north-west
towards “the current cut”, a gap of around 300 ft dividing Eleuthera Island on
the East, and Current Island to the West. Along the way Rob noticed a dolphin swimming along the
starboard side. The curious
creature inspected the boats hull, then swam around the bow to the port side,
surveying our progress, but soon swam away. Didn’t have a chance to snap a photo, but we were all
thrilled.
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FHP approaches the "cut" with Rob at the helm
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| GPS of the FHP sailing through the cut! |
We made it to the cut at 2pm with Rob at the helm. This little novelty came highly
recommended by his father “R Mac”, who had swum the current cut many years
before. We literally sailed
through the cut at a whopping 7 knots, the current speeding us along through
the narrow, deep channel.
The sides were high rock walls promising plentiful aquatic life and
excellent snorkeling. We
anchored to the North-east of the cut, and quickly lunched, eager to get in the
water.
We snorkeled through the cut 3 times. By the third time the current had
switched directions, and it was more like a swimming treadmill than a ride. Nadine found an octopus curled up on
the sea floor about 3ft down.
It was so camouflaged against the white sand and speckled rocks that I
couldn’t even see it until she reached out and poked it gently. Rob is a great spear-fisherman, and is
able to hold his breath for several minutes while diving after fish. He saw some snapper, but ended up
spearing 2 lionfish, an invasive species that happens to be pretty good eating. We saw lots of fish, including a black
grouper, a damsel fish juvenile, a sting ray, butterfly fish, needle fish,
scrawled file fish, blue-heads and some moon jellys, among countless other
species we are not advanced enough to identify. The current along the edge of the channel seemed so gentle
and fun that Curtis and I wondered why the guide book recommended the current
cut to “expert swimmers only”.
We swam back to the boat as the sun approached the horizon,
and Nadine and I were able make a quick painting of sunset and approaching
clouds before it got too dark to see. Rob fixed up a delicious dinner of deep fried lionfish,
with black bean burritos and salsa.
Yum!! We played a
couple rounds of hearts until our eyes were too heavy to read the numbers. It was 9pm. Time for bed after a great day!
DAY 3: January 13,
2013
The Current Cut on
Northern Eleuthera to Royal Island harbor.
We had a slow, easy morning on the Fishers Hornpipe. Rob fixed up a delicious
breakfast of banana pancakes and spicy fried potatoes. (Seems like he’s been doing quite
a bit of cooking!)
Then we headed out for some exercise involving swimming the
cut and jogging back around to swim it again. Rob saw a turtle. The current was
picking up. Nadine, Curtis and I
got swept into the main current in the middle of the 300 ft channel. The current was very powerful,
and it dawned on me we could get swept out to sea! I started to get pretty tired (and a bit scared!) as
we were swimming without flippers.
We were swept past the main pull-out area, but were able to make it to
shore, with lots of encouragement from the team. It was definitely for advanced swimmers! We jogged back to the put in, and
jumped in again, this time swimming close to the bank where the current wasn’t
so strong.
Rob, Nadine and Curtis led me through an intensive “boot
camp” workout. I guess this is an
added benefit that I was not expecting! We swam the current, went for a jog back to the
beginning, swam again, jogged again, added calisthenics, then swam back to the
boat. When they said, “do 40
reps”, I did about 25… These friends are very healthy and strong, and it is an
inspiration!! Good way to
start of the new years resolutions.
In the afternoon, we sailed to Royal Island, which took
about 4 hrs. Royal Island
has a beautiful protected harbor, and there were about 4 other sailboats there,
several were Canadian.
Nadine and I swam to shore and explored some old ruins from a long gone
resort. We walked down a
dirt road about a quarter mile and saw the Atlantic Ocean and a green heron on
the other side.
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| The Ruins on Royal Island |
Nadine and I got out our painting supplies and made a
painting of the ruins. It
was beautiful, with colorful flowers (bougainvilleas?) The buildings were made of old
limestone with painted tile floors.
Trees grew up the walls, and plants sprouted from the rooftop. Curtis joined us after spending
some time scrubbing sea-life off the keel with Rob. At sunset we
returned to the boat and settled in for the night.
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| VA enjoys a cold beer on Royal Island with FHP in background |
DAY 4: January 14, 2013
Royal Island Harbor
to Leonard “Skinnard” Cay on South-Eastern Abacos.
We decided on a midnight departure for Abacos. We would be working in 3 hr shifts,
beginning with Rob and me, then switching to Nadine and Curtis. The trek was expected to take 14
hrs, but we made it in 11 by “motor sailing”, and kept a speed of about 5 kts. Going at that speed helped even
out the waves and made steering easier. We saw 5 huge cruise ships lit up like
Christmas lights, traveling in row like ducks, and seven shooting stars. I made a rookie mistake, and left
my windows open, so my bed in the boats bow got soaked. Curtis and I enjoyed using the
stars as points of reference to help us navigate. Looking at sky, we felt that we and stars were the
only things standing still, while the waves and water and boat pitched wildly
around like a magic carpet.
The sea was choppy, with rolling waves. The boat pitched forward and
backwards, up and down, then rocked side to side as it slid down waves. Unfortunately Nadine gets
seasick, and this bouncy ride gave her quite a case. After three hours on the rolling water, she was
heaving into a bucket… But
bravely she took the helm, and tried to work through it. She has several techniques for
coping with seasickness. My
favorite is that she will walk around the boat with her eyes closed to avoid
seeing everything moving. This
means she gets bounced back and forth blindly as she gropes for handholds
through the cabin. She is a
brave woman, and although she might have wished to throw herself overboard that
night, she toughs it out for the love of adventure and exploration.
The sun came up at 6:56am. Later in the morning we saw 7 or 8 sailboats in a row,
they all passed us on the right, and must have left from the Abacos that
morning, but not as early as us.
We pulled in at 11:30am to the very first anchor spot available at
Leonard Cay. Dingy Bob was
patched and seemed to be holding air, so we rode him to shore and walked around
on the “Death Rock” picking up sponges.
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| The crew surveys the Atlantic Ocean and "Death Rock" |
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| Nadine collects sea sponges |
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| The FHP harbored at Leonard Cay |
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| The FHP and neighbor at Leonard Cay |
We got to back to the boat in a drizzle, and around
5:15, Nadine wondered, “Is it too early to start dinner?” “No!” we all cried. We were starving and exhausted. Rob made a great meal of egg
fried rice with veges, and we devoured it, and soon hit the sack.
DAY 5: January 15, 2013
Leonard Cay to Marsh Harbor, Abacos:
This morning Nadine and I got up early painted the morning
light. Then we sailed north
between the eastern Cays and Great Abaco Island to the west. Lots of hidden sandbars and
shallow areas made navigation tricky. Nadine did a great job steering through the
switchbacks. We tacked left and
right, and were able to hoist the Genoa jib.
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| The FHP with Main sail, Staysail, and Geonoa Jibs |
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| The FHP heads downwind at full sail |
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| Virginia rides the waves on the bow sprit |
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| Curtis on the bow sprit about the hoist the Genoa sail |
We are here in Marsh Harbor! We are here to restock our food supply, get on the
internet, and pick up two new crewmembers. We are excited to welcome Ted and Shana from Bozeman,
MT!! We will have dinner in
town tonight, and I hope to try my first “cracked conk”, a local
specialty. We don’t have a
plan for tomorrow yet, but I imagine it involves sailing… We are operating on island time, and
are blowing with the wind…
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| Boats harbored in Marsh Harbor, Great Abacos, Bahamas |
