Heading north

Just because your own anchor is firmly buried in the sand, doesn’t mean that your neighbours’ anchors are situated likewise! We discovered this on the morning of the arrival of the next cold front in George Town. A boat which had come in to anchor fairly close beside us began rapidly edging closer to our starboard side in the blustery, 20 knot gusts. All the inhabitants of the boat must have been sleeping off the previous night’s Regatta Wrap-Up Party, as there was no sign of life on board. So, after much tugging, and straining of the windlass, Bill managed to pull our anchor up, and we left to go……where? That was the question.
Some boats had moved across the harbour to seek some sort of shelter from the strong north-westerly blow. There was no other shelter available, and the alternative was to re-anchor somewhere and ride out the storm. But then we had a bright idea! The much- lauded ‘Marina at Emerald Bay’ – a former ‘Four Seasons’ property – was only seven miles north, and many cruisers had praised the beautiful clubhouse and showers, free laundry and relatively cheap rates. We made an instant decision to head there ahead of the storm – particularly as weather guru, Chris Parker, had forecast that the front would not arrive fully until around 3 p.m.
Well, we made it, but only just! The front actually arrived at 11 a.m., and we managed to get ourselves tied up at Emerald Bay at 10:45 a.m. Phew! En route we were treated to a smorgasbord of VHF radio activity which told of 42 foot boats breaking their mooring lines and heading for the rocks, and boats rapidly sliding closer together in some of the already tightly packed anchorages. There was also an ominous weather warning telling of the ‘heaviest rainstorm in living memory’ that had just hit Staniel Cay to our north, and was rapidly bearing down on us!
Emerald Bay Marina has only just re-opened. ‘Four Seasons’ recently sold the marina and the nearby resort to ‘Sandals’. It was closed last winter, but re-opened in November 2009. A short walk from the marina is a lovely, crescent shaped beach where we swam each day before moving on to the pool bar at the ‘Grand Isle Resort’ nearby! It’s a great place for sailors to clean up (yes, literally) after the rigours of being at anchor!!
After a few days we had to drag ourselves away from all this comfort to head north to spend a night at anchor at Lee Stocking Island. This island is the home of the ‘Caribbean Marine Research Centre’. We were lucky enough to pick the day of the tour of the centre, so off we went with Sue and Bruce from Andiamo to learn about the research projects taking place there.
The next day we took advantage of the comparatively calm seas in the Exuma Sound to move north and re-visit ‘Little Farmers Cay’. It can be tricky entering or leaving the ‘cuts’ between the ‘Sound’ (Atlantic side) and the Banks (shallow waters which surround most of the Bahamian islands). However we managed to get through Little Farmers’ Cut at slack tide, and all went smoothly. As we came closer to our destination we could hear Ernestine from ‘Ocean Cabin’ advertising ‘Happy Hour’ with free conch fritters. Conch is a shellfish used in many Bahamian recipes. So, as soon as we had picked up our mooring ball, we dinghied over to join the throng of happy sailors, and say hello once again to Terry and Ernestine at Ocean Cabin. Terry had composed a song for a couple celebrating their anniversary and we serenaded them raucously!
The next morning we went to the ‘Yacht Club’ – which is not really a yacht club, but a restaurant and bar – and Roosevelt Nixon, the owner, cooked us a delicious breakfast. From here we braved the coral-strewn waters north of the Cay and moved further north to anchor at the settlement of Black Point. We had heard a lot about Black Point. This little town is particularly renowned for its laundry! Many sailors, whether north or southbound, are getting desperate at this point for some clean clothes. The laundry has its own dinghy dock and has ‘Lorraine’s Restaurant’ right next door. So the routine is to move from one to the other while the suds are doing their work. Luckily we didn’t need to use this service as we’d laundered everything in sight at Emerald Bay! That afternoon we tried to go ashore but had to give up as it was too rough to tie up the dinghy safely. By morning the seas had settled down and we toured the little town, bought some groceries at the small store, and some coconut bread at Lorraine’s.
By midday we had to up anchor and move on as we had booked a mooring at Exuma Land and Sea Park – Warderick Wells. We were anxious to get there as we were meeting up with Gail and Michael Dixon on their 42 foot Catalina, ‘Southern Spirit’. Gail and Michael are from Toronto and are RCYC members. We often meet up with them during our summer wanderings around Lake Ontario - we on ‘Vectis’, and they on ‘Winged Spirit’.
The prize moorings at Warderick Wells are in the north mooring field, but neither ‘Southern Spirit’ nor ‘Southern Vectis’ were lucky enough to be allotted one of these for our first night, and we were both in the Emerald Rock mooring area. However, when we arrived, we were welcomed by Gail and Michael and their friends, Suzy and Gary on ‘Happy Sails’, who actually dinghied out and handed us our mooring line!
The next morning we had to wait to hear if we would be given a north mooring. We were quite anxious as yet another cold front with strong north-westerlies is coming in on Monday, and the Emerald mooring field is very exposed! We were in luck, and so were Gail and Michael, but not so Gary and Suzy, who were given the south mooring area.
The wind and waves really got up that morning as we made our way to the north mooring area. We had almost made it when Michael called us on the VHF to say that someone (a Quebec boat) had just taken our mooring ball (#14). Luckily Darcy, the Park Ranger and organizer of the moorings, sorted this out – and a little later we were able to come in from circling in the raging 27 knot winds and tie up in paradise! (Thank you, Michael, Gail and Darcy!) We needed a strong rum and coke, and an ‘All Day Breakfast’ of bacon and eggs with all the trimmings, to recover from this!
It is truly beautiful here – the water is an amazing pale turquoise and totally clear. We will stay here through the next front and for a few days!