A lengthy “Starfishy” update

A lengthy “Starfishy” update

Well guess what folks? We are not where we said we were going to be… surprise surprise!! I feel like we are an episode of “Where in the world is Carmen San Diego” (I guess that only makes sense to those of you who were kids in the 1990s, moving on)…

We headed for Nassau on Thursday (4/14) and we were planning to head to Georgetown from there. We enjoyed Nassau, walking downtown and being in a city again! I had some Starbucks coffee and internet which is always a nice thing and we went to a real US style grocery store, a rare thing in the Bahamas.

After being in Nassau for a few days we decided in order to go to the Regatta we would have to pretty much hustle past most of the Exumas to get to Georgetown by the following Tuesday for the Regatta so we decided to go to Eleuthera, Spanish Wells, then up to the Abacos instead.

We got to Royal Island, just west of Spanish Wells on Sunday (4/17), Dexter’s birthday. We got to Spanish Wells the next day and stayed there until Friday morning. We really enjoyed the town, it was so cute and there was a nice grocery store but with the wind blowing like it was there was no chance of us getting to the Abacos for at least a week, so we decided instead of waiting in Spanish Wells we would explore the rest of Eleuthera Island.

We anchored Good Friday (4/22) at Meek’s Patch, a small island 2 miles from Spanish Wells and the next day (4/23) we sailed/motored to The Glass Window. The sail to Current Cut was great, the motoring past current cut was surprisingly rough considering how close we were to the “lee shore” (less than 10 miles but more on that later!) but it had been blowing 20 knots for about 5 days now.

Saturday (4/23) we anchored at The Glass Window, a truly amazing place. It is the thinnest part of Eleuthera Island, only connected by a small bridge which has been washed away a number of times now. On one side is the pounding Atlantic Ocean with the next stop looking east being the Canary Islands and the other side is the tranquil Bight of Eleuthera.

There is an amazing “swimming pool” at the top of the several hundred foot high cliff overlooking the pounding, angry ocean below… What an amazing and beautiful spot. We decided to stay another day and night (which later ended up being a major mistake but more on that in a minute). The next day, Easter Sunday, we snorkeling twice on the back side of Glass Window and it was great snorkeling. The highlight was probably the green moray eel but the fish and coral where spectacular.  

Sunday night (4/24) was a bit rough in the anchorage, not a huge deal but when we woke up Monday (4/25) things started to get really rough. You see, Eleuthera Island is not really a lee shore in strong easterly winds. The island juts out in such a way that their was about 20-30 miles of fetch that was then wrapping itself around the cliff we were anchored near and hitting our boat from that side. The wind was coming from a different direction so we were unfortunately in a very blender-esque situation. We decided the best solution was to motor the 8 measly miles down to Hatchet Bay, a protected anchorage, and wait out the rest of this easterly front that had now been blowing for about 8 days.

We had three soon to be four problems at this point though.

Problem 1: we only had about 13 gallons of fresh water aboard that wasn’t contaminated. We are not sure what happened to the water in our newer water tanks but they seemed to be contaminated with something that was giving them a sulfurous smell. They tasted alright (Nicole was the lucky one who drew the “taste tester” straw!) and the water wasn’t making us sick but we were not exactly excited about drinking the sulfur water.

Problem 2: the people of the Bahamas take Easter VERRRRYY seriously. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, was closed from Good Friday until the Tuesday after Easter. We were not able to get weather information all that time because of it and we were a bit in the dark about the weather.

Problem 3: Our anchorage was rapidly becoming more and more uncomfortable. It was safe for the boat but the crew (meaning Nicole) was miserable and sick.

We decided to pull anchor and motor down to Hatchet Bay in the seas which is where problem 4 developed. We could not motor into the seas. We were taking water over the bow and going about 1 knot. We were just barely maintaining steerage way. The Captain decided we had to turn around, there was nothing we could do except go back and try again the next day. We had one of the worst nights ever aboard Starfish. I cried all night and got about an hour’s sleep, not good!

Tuesday (4/26) we got up early and tried to make for Hatchet Bay again & had the same problem, there was just no way. We motored back to anchor in Glass Window (which at this point was pretty much hell to me) and decided to try and anchor in a slightly different spot which was marginally better. We decided at this point to dinghy ashore and took our bikes, laptops, and the dogs and rode the 4 miles into Gregory Town. We finally were able to get some weather info and we finally (FINALLY!) got some good news on the persistently easterlies and they were going to let up at last. We decided that we were going to motor/sail back to Current Cut, go back to Spanish Wells, get our water situation figured out, and then just wait it out in peace and calm around Spanish Wells, no more of this adventuring off to the “lee shore”. We had had enough of the “lee shore”.

We were up before dawn on Wednesday (4/27) because the anchorage had again turned into a blender. I didn’t care at that point, I was done! We had a rough but productive sail back to Current Cut and then came the nail biting portion of the day. Current Cut is a channel about 100 feet wide surrounded by rocks that you have to go through to get from Spanish Wells to mainland Eleuthera. The current can be running as much as 6-9 knots through the cut. For a reference point on a good day under sail we make around 7 knots. With our engine barely on we were going 10 knots through the cut but finally made it to the other side to calm waters!

Wednesday (4/27) we stayed at the Spanish Wells Yacht Haven. We ran our water tanks through with bleach water. Emptied them and re-ran clean water through and I am happy to report they no longer smell of sulfur. We still have no idea what contaminated them but suspect it had something to do with us not rotating what water tank we were using and the water sat for too long. We also took hot showers and did about 30 loads of laundry (not really 30 but it felt like it!). We caught up on email, weather, news, and finally got a good night’s rest!

Thursday (4/28) we went to anchor at Royal Island which is a super protected anchorage about 5 miles from Spanish Wells. The weather forecast had us thinking we were going to be in the area for about a week waiting to cross to Abaco so we figured we would get comfortable!

Friday (4/29) we had a quiet day and checked out the old ruins on Royal Island. The Island used to be a plantation of some sort and when it failed they just left everything where it was and walked away (I guess that is a common occurrence around here with failed ventures). The island is now privately owned but we sort of snuck ashore to check it out. It was spooky and cool at the same time.

Saturday (4/30) we decided to dinghy to Spanish Wells for weather info and a few necessities. On the way we stopped to talk to a boat anchored near us, Ralph and Mary on SV Merlin. Ralph had access to weather information that we did not have which was saying that the next day, Sunday, might actually be a good day to go to the Abacos. We went to Spanish Wells and further confirmed this and decided it was now or never, let’s go! We decided to buddy boat with Merlin because it’s always nice to travel in company!

Sunday (5/1), May Day (is that a bad sign??), we left very early by our standards, anchor up at 7am! The first 2/3^rds of the day were pretty decent. Huge ocean rollers and we were healed over more than I usually like but it was a fairly good motion for the most part. Out of nowhere though, this second really choppy swell started coming from another direction and we were suddenly in just about the worst seas possible. 10-12 foot seas with the occasional 13-15 footer. It was hell, absolute hell. We were closer to Abaco at this point then we were to Spanish Wells so we soldiered on but it sucked, big time.

We finally made it to the entrance channel to enter the Abacos and we almost got broached! Stupid me, saw the wave but didn’t realize just how gigantic it was until it was “oh shit, hold on!” time. (Broaching is when a wave hits you from the side and can actual cause your boat to roll over like a turtle depending on how bad it is; fortunately Brian was able to keep that from happening!).

Finally we made it to the Abacos! We anchored behind Lynyard Cay and pretty much just went to bed, we were wiped out. Monday (5/2) we pulled anchor and went over to Little Harbour, this really interesting place that pretty much just has a bar and an art gallery for this bronze sculptor who pretty much founded the town of Little Harbour back in the 1950’s. We liked it so much we hung out there Tuesday too.

Tuesday we went snorkeling on the reef just off of Little Harbour and I saw one of the coolest sights I have ever seen in the water. Two enormous, gorgeous spotted eagle rays glided underneath me, circled me, and swam away. They must have had a 6-7 foot wing span, they were amazing. I also saw the biggest lobster I have ever seen my life, it’s a shame lobster season is closed until the end of July L that would have made a fantastic meal! Later that day we were invited over to the sailboat “Merlin” for drinks and chit chat. We had a great time; Ralph and Mary have traveled extensively on their beautiful Island Packet 38 (boat envy!!!) and have many interesting stories about the places they have gone.

Today we sailed over to Marsh Harbour which is a little like being in a city again. We walked to the grocery store which was the size and had the variety of a US style Wal-Mart (an uncommon thing in the Bahamas). I was having severe sensory overload!! We plan (you know how well those “plans” go on sailboats, right Beth??) to stay here until probably Friday or Saturday when this weak north front blows through and then we will  continue on and check out Elbow Cay, Great Guana, and Man-O-War Cay before continuing up further north!

I will try to update the blog more often for those of you who actually care what we are up to!! Enjoy the pictures!!

XO Nicole, Brian, Dexter, and Shrimpy