Nippers

You have to be very careful or you can get really nipped at Nippers.

This bar is definitely fun.

There is a great reef just 200 feet off the shore. They offer a free fresh water rinse-off shower and a fresh water pool.

Of course, you are expected to buy a drink. They are not cheap ($7 plus tip) but if you drink more than one, you WILL get nipped. These are the frozen slushies that are about 50% rum!

The tractor is on the “jungle walk” on the way across the island as you go in. Rodney Stewart - eat your heat out!!

The painting of the bar is very fancifull.


The beach is absolutely beautiful.

And of course, the bar is a great place to meet friends.


Just don’t stay too long!

Marsh Harbour

Marsh, we did the usual (grocery shopping, propane fill-up, banking etc). Zingaro, Mskoki and ChrisDeke also joined us. Marsh is a great place to sit-out nasty weather. It is very well protected and there are some things to do. The Saturday streak dinner at the Jib Room Bar is a good example as is the evening where cruisers provide the appetizers and drink discounted drinks at the same bar. Grocery prices proved to be less than I had expected – provided that you are willing to adjust your tastes a little. For example, pork bacon was expensive yet turkey bacon was about 1/3 of the cost of pork. To me they taste the same and the turkey is probably better for you. It cost $22.50 to fill a 20 lb tank of propane – a bit more than at home, yet it only cost $30.00 to fill a 30 lb tank. The harbour is dirty. You cannot see the bottom clearly even where it is only 6 feet deep. I would not want to swim here.

In Once the weather cleared, we all headed for Fishers Bay again. This lead to “the great conch hunt”!

We all headed to Spoils Island near Whale Cay. There is a very deep channel into the Sea of Abaco that was originally dredged so that ocean liners could drop off passengers at a resort. Unfortunately, the passage could be so rough that it was unpassable even for them. As a result, the ocean liners stopped using this passage and the resort was left to go to seed. The island built from the spoils is a great place for conching.

Our take for the day is laid out on our dingy. Deke then showed us how to disassemble the conchs. The muscle (the only part you eat) is quite rubbery, but if marinated for long enough in lime juice, it can be very tasty.

The shells can also be turned into horns. These are traditionally blown at sun down. Now that we have a number of these shells, I will have to convert one of them. At last my high school trumpet playing days may prove to be of some use.

Sea of Abaco

Before we did this trip, I was not intimately familiar with the Sea of Abaco or the waterways leading into it. Courtesy of SkipperBob, I have attached some maps of the area. I hope that by clicking on them, you may be able to blow them up a little.

The upper map contains the areas through which we travelled on our way to the Sea of Abacos (the lower map). It is the area covered by the lower map that is the real playground.

Our first port of call was Fisher’s Bay near Nippers Bar, half way down Great Guana Cay.

We were also fortunate enough to arrive on pot luck dinner night, an event at Grabbers Bar shared by boaters and cottagers alike. This proved to be our introduction to Bahamian slushies. These things are just like the kids version except that they are about 50% rum. Watch out!! They are so cold that frost, not condensation, forms on the outside of the cup.

Our friends Marion and Greg from Muskoka Moon joined us at Guana Cay. As you can see, they looked somewhat depressed - NOT!!!

After the briefest of stays, we moved on. The next day, we moved to Marsh Harbour as we were expecting the winds to swing around from the north and the anchorage would become untennable.

These photos show our group at the pot luck dinner at Grabbers as well as the beach from Nippers.

As you can see, the sunsets continued to be beautiful. We were getting into real cruising mode, and seldom saw the sunrises any more.

Bahamas – West End to Green Turtle Cay

Our voyage from West End to Green Turtle as well as our stay there was our true introduction to the cruiser’s life in the Bahamas – and from there it would get better.

On January 13, we carefully set out from West End through a shallow and winding break in the barrier reef known to some cruisers as “Pucker Passage”. Thanks to our Steve Dodge cruising guide, we had excellent GPS waypoints to follow.

Once safely on the Bahamas Bank, the water depth was seldom more than 20 feet deep and never less than about 12 feet. We started out motoring, but as the winds filled in, hoisted the spinnaker and main, doing about 7 to 8 knots under sail power alone. Unfortunately, after an hour or so, the winds began to drop, forcing us to start the engine as we needed to keep our speed up in order to arrive at our destination, Great Sale Cay, before dark.

We followed Calypso, a Manta 42 catamaran, who we had previously met on the intercoastal into the anchorage on the West side of the island, well into the bay. We were then protected from all directions except the South West. Although the wind was in fact in that direction when we dropped the hook, it was forecast to rise and to clock around slowly to the North East.

Our new friends in Zingaro, ChrisDeke and Mskoki elected to take the long way around to the East side of the island. I thought they were nuts because it meant that they would arrive in the dark and also, as the wind came around, they would be left exposed to waves.

The photo to the right, taken at Great Sale, shows our first sunset at a deserted semi-tropical island.

We took January 14th off, electing to sit around the anchorage. We had been pretty well continuously on the move since leaving home and needed it.

On January 15th, we raised the anchor and headed East. En Route, we passed Toucan, a Prout Snowgoose 37 Elite, a boat from the same stable as ours, but newer and with a fair bit more room. All that extra room and weight seemed to take its toll. Toucan was significantly slower through the water. We talked by radio, however, and agreed that we would both head for Allans-Pensecola Cay.

Much to our delightful surprise, we discovered that Zingaro, ChrisDeke and Mskoki were also headed for the same anchorage.

The Sunset was beautiful.

That evening, we got together on the beach for a campfire. Beverley grabbed the dingy’s painter to haul us ashore. As you can see from her left hand, she was like a girl scout – always prepared. The young couple from Toucan brought their 3 very well behaved and somewhat shy children. Beverley and I both thought of my Mother when a gut bucket was manufactured by Scott (Zingaro) from materials found on the beach at Great Sale. Deke (ChrisDeke) played a small drum and Brad (Mskoki) played the guitar.

The next morning, they lead us on an expedition across the island to the North and unprotected side. We found several trees where boaters had left their names and the date of their passage hanging in the trees.

On the 17th, we left in convoy for Cooper’s Town or Powell Cay, motoring in a calm. Ten to fifteen knots of wind filled in from the South East, however, making both these anchorages untenable, so we continued on to White Sound in Green Turtle Cay. The entrance to White Sound has one shallow spot.

Zingaro could only pass through at high tide. Luckily, it was pretty close to high tide when we arrived, so we went in first calling out readings as we went. The lowest we saw was about 7.5 feet. Zingaro draws 6.5 feet, so all was well.

We tucked ourselves into a shallow corner of the harbour, where we would stay for several days, until January 23rd. Strong winds were forecast from the North as a couple of fronts were to pass through in very quick succession. Most of the other boats elected to go to the dock. The marina offers a deal at this time of the year. One hundred percent of dockage fees may be applied to restaurant or to bar bills. Unfortunately, the restaurant is upper end and a couple will not get away without spending at least $100. The bar bills could add up very quickly. Anyway you looked at it, it would cost us $60 or $70 per day to stay at the marina – and if we were careful, our bar bills would be much less than that since most socializing was done outside of the bar.



We used the time to visit the town of New Plymouth: once by boat and once by rented golf cart. The town is very quaint and has surprising amenities for a town that size (e.g. 3 grocery stores and 2 hardware stores). The liquor store is also a bar and a restaurant. The owner was honest enough to advise one couple that instead of ordering a couple of glasses of wine, they should buy the whole bottle, drink what they wanted and then take the rest home. The whole bottle was cheaper than two glasses

We had a chance to check out prices. There were some real surprises. Food was significantly more expensive than in Florida. Some things, however, such as Irish cheese was much cheaper. Beer is so expensive, that you would think you were in Canada. A case of cheap rum is less than $80. Wine is generally $5 to $10 per bottle. Outboards and their parts are cheaper here than in the States. Land and housing is astronomical.

These pictures are typical of New Plymouth, showing a giant poinsettia, a graveyard for the original settlers and a few typical street shots. Houses are often painted in pastels.

While anchored in the Bay, we also visited someone who was building a home. The construction was similar to Canada except that there were many threaded rods that went down from the headers on the upper floor to the foundations. This was to anchor the building in place in the event of a hurricane. The individual was doing almost all the work himself. If he accepted help from outsiders, he risked being thrown off the island, never to return. If he needed help, he had to hire local labour.

By the 23rd, winds had calmed down and swung to the West. Also, the waves had calmed down in the passage between the Green Turtle area and the Sea of the Abaco. Another front was scheduled to pass through shortly, so we made a run for it while we could. The other motivating factor was that I was convinced that we were about to run out of propane and we could only get our tanks refilled at Marsh Harbour in the Sea of Abaco.

On the 23rd, we had a leisurely breakfast at the Green Turtle Club with our friends Gerry and Julie from the power boat Again as well as Grant and Marion from the sailing vessel Muskoki Moon. We were joined by Brad and Karen from Mskoki. Damn it – this is not a very solitary lifestyle. Then we set out by motor for Guana Cay in the Sea of Abaco.

As desired, the passage was very smooth although we did encounter slow swells about 3 feet high while negotiating the Whale passage.

We ended up at Fisher's Bay on Great Guana Island and visiting famous places such as Nippers Bar, Grabbers Bar and others... but those will be included in the next posting of this blog.

Crossing the Gulf Stream and checking into the Bahamas

Crossing the Gulf Stream almost proved to be anticlimactic. We were underway in the pitch black at about 5:00 AM. It took an hour or so to work our way from Lake Worth to the inlet out to the open ocean. The forecast was for winds from the South at about 10 knots, rising to 15 in the afternoon.

The sunrise across open ocean was beautiful!!

Our destination, West End, was just South of due East, but we elected to aim a bit further South than that, anticipating that when we hit the Gulf Stream, we would be set North. That is almost exactly the way it worked out. We maintained the same compass heading almost all the way across. That heading also allowed us to motorsail almost close hauled (about 35 degrees off the apparent wind) for the whole trip,.

When we started out, we were banging into left-over seas from the day before. When waves hit the underside of the deck between the hulls, it is both noisy and jarring. Fortunately, about the time we hit the Gulf Stream and the wind started to build, about 6 or 7 miles out, the waves seemed to come more from the side. As soon as the waves hit the Stray Cat at 45 degrees or more off the bow, the motion becomes much easier, with one hull rising at a time.

On the trip across, we overtook a number of monohulls, including 3 with which we were to establish firm friendships. We were later amazed to learn that although we had been travelling in waves exactly as forecast (2 and occasionally 3 feet high), and although they were a very short distance away (we arrived at West End right in the middle of their little fleet), they had done the same crossing at the same time in waves significantly larger. It is amazing how nature works!!

The help and service we received at West End was absolutely amazingly good. We radioed ahead for a dock. Someone was waiting for us. They even had all the required customs forms. We filled them out as best we could and proceeded to the customs building. There were three officials who seemed to be interested in different aspects of our arrival, sort of like our Revenue Canada and Immigration departments. They were extremely helpful with the parts of the forms that I either did not understand or had missed. They were also very, very quick. They made us feel absolutely welcome in their country, in sharp contrast with the experiences of other voyagers where Customs and Immigration officials made them feel they were a pain in the ass and a barely tolerable nuisance. The government of the Bahamas has it right. I wrote an e-mail to their Minister of Tourism stating my views. I hope it does some good.

At the time, I thought that the marina fees ($80 minimum) for a 1 night stay was a bit steep. On April 1, this will be increased to $190 until next winter (slack season). Ouch!!! Gasoline, however, was not much more expensive than in the States.

The marina was very well maintained and in the evening, we invited ourselves to a picnic table party. This turned out to be a great move as we meet two Canadian couples (Scott and Mary-Lynn as well as Brad and Karen) and an American couple (Chris and Deke) who were travelling as a group.

This was the start of a great series of friendships.

Getting Ready to Cross the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas

Our return home brought us back to a winter wonderland. Everything looks nice in a fresh snow. These pictures were of our house and around our property on Otter Lake in late December.

You may note that the water on our lake looks very different than it does in Florida. Wait until you see the picgtures of the Bahamas. The water there looks even more inviting.

Our time at home was very hectic. It seemed that we had many more people to visit than we had time. I was not sure our livers would survive. It was almost as bad as living on a boat.

We had decided to drive back to Florida rather than flying. This is because we knew that we would have a great number of things to take back and that a car would make life easier.

Our planned date of departure was January 4, so on Januany 4, we left.

Our drive South was uneventful. We arrived at Stuart, Florida in the mid-afternoon on January 6.

We had hoped to have a bit of time to visit friends in Florida before crossing the Gulf Stream, but recognized that if an opportunity arose, we had better take it as we might otherwise be waiting for a long time. It looked like a really good weather window of opportunity was going to open on the 11, 12 and 13th. We opted to aim for the 12th as that was the earliest we could reasonably be prepared for and to aim for the 13th was risky as the window might close before we reached it.

Provisioning was a mad race. Our friends Gerry and Pam helped out. We bought and stored 480 cans of beer, 60 liters of wine, oh, and coincidentally, about $500 of food. After filling both our water and our gas tanks, the Stray Cat floated about 2” low in its water lines. Oh well, from here on, the boat would only get lighter.

In preparation, I also had to replace the oil seal on the cam shaft of our Yamaha outboard. I had bought a spare prop. I also tried it on to make sure it fit.

On January 11th, we made arrangements to leave the Stray Cat in Indian Town (on the waterway leading to Lake Okeechobee) for the summer and left our Jeep there for the rest of the winter. On the same day, we checked out of Stuart and motored down the intercoastal waterway to Lake Worth, passing houses that we had already seen earlier in our trip.

We hauled the outboard on board, deflated the inflatable and hauled the hard dingy onto the after deck where we lashed it upside down. We were nervous but ready. It was a case of early to bed as we know it would be early to rise the next morning.

Our friends Gerry and Pam gave us this really great flashlight. It is rated at 10 million candlepower. I guess that means that if you gave every man, woman and child in Canada one candle and lit them all at the same time, they would be equally bright as three of these lights. Whoa, whoa, I can hear the ethnic remarks now.

The flashlight has proven to be really great and has many uses.

We have discovered that we can weld thermoplastics at 50 feet. From 20 feet, we can engrave our names in wood.

While on the way South, Beverley was using it on low power to find something in our car. She accidentally hit high power while aiming it at a pudding salesman parked next to us. She melted the Sherrif decal right off the door. Pretty fancy car for selling puddings - roof lights and all.

We are looking forward to using it to instantly boil water in the absence of a microwave on our boat.

At night, we seem to be able to use it to fool all the birds in about a 5 mile radius into thinking it is dawn. That really sets the roosters crowing.

It is also great for night time navigation in our dingy. As soon as it looks like someone is heading for us, we shine it at the bridge. They are instantly and totally blinded. As a result, they have little option but to stop RIGHT NOW!!!. Because they are totally blinded, they cannot find us to run us down until we have had a chance to meld into the other anchored boats.

What a light!

Now if I could only mount it on the roof of the Jeep to deal with drivers who refuse to use their dimmer....