Unexcused Absences

Quite possibly the social event of the season happened in early May on Staniel Cay. Our friends, who manage a private island, got married and invited the entire island of Staniel Cay, plus us, to a multi-day event. The wedding itself was on Saturday, and a big pig roast was the following day at the community pavilion. Since there’s not much to narrate, I’ll just post some photos.

Gathering at the church

Berkie declares the proceedings a success

The bride and groom

The aftermath

The toast

The dance

The getaway

The party

The late-night Junkanoo

Our first order of business after settling into the central Exumas was to re-acquaint ourselves with our favorite spots and activities. We also had the pleasure of meeting a bunch of new faces.

Yves and Marta are a Belgian/South African couple who were the prior managers of the Fowl Cay Resort, and who were passing through the area on their sailboat. We met them through the current managers. They have a fondness for conch, so with a couple large specimens we had found, plus one more we found snorkeling together, Marta demonstrated her excellent conch-cleaning technique, and we made up a big bowl of conch salad and some fritters using Heather’s time-tested recipe.

Marta cleaning the conch

Preparing the conch salad

Heather’s conch fritters

Moored at Gaulin Cay next to Marta and Yves

Another new couple was Dave and Thryn, who are captain and cook on a private yacht that frequents the area. We met them through a mutual friend and spent several evenings together, both on the happy hour beach at Big Majors and at [redacted] Cay.

On our aft deck with Thryn, David, and our friends from [redacted] Cay

We also got re-acquainted with Greg and Deb, a homebuilder and interior designer who are finishing up a major homebuilding project on South Staniel Cay for a property owner there. Greg somehow stretched the celebration of his 60th birthday to a full week, so there were evenings at the Yacht Club, plus daytime adventure excursions, plus a BBQ on a private island. Remind me to have him schedule my 60th birthday activities.

Birthday cruise for Greg (left)

We also met the new managers of yet another private island in the area, who were having a party on the cay to celebrate his 40th birthday. This party involved some wacky games, including running with snorkel mask and flippers, maneuvering a stand-up paddle-board blindfolded, and a three-legged race. Good fun, and fortunately there was drinking involved.

The “mask and flippers” race at “yet another private island”

The fishing season, too, started out with promise. We were able to catch a number of Mahi, practically every time we went offshore to fish. This gave us many opportunities to have friends over to the Miss Adventure, or to cater fresh fish to various social events. Who doesn’t love freshly caught gamefish, after all. It does my Scottish heart good to pull “free” food from the sea. Of course that “free” food was caught with hundreds of dollars of offshore trolling reels, rods, and lures, but still…

“Miss A” with her fishing arsenal deployed

Success – a nice 11 pound Mahi

The Staniel Cay Yacht Club

After a few weeks, our friends Richard and Laurie, of Forever Young, arrived at Big Major Spot in their motor yacht for their annual 3-month visit. Naturally there was a big dinner party onboard, and we met many fun folks (from the boats Sandpiper, Mint Julep, and Family Business), and Heather was excited to re-start her morning beach workouts with Laurie and whoever else they could shanghai from the anchorage.

Morning yoga and workout, Pirates Beach, Big Major Spot

I have to pause in my narrative now because we did a bunch of fun stuff on various private islands, but because they are private, the requirement for discretion is orthogonal to the desire to publish stories and photos. So let’s just say we did a bunch of fun stuff on various private islands and leave it at that. At this point we had a visitor, a longtime vacation buddy, Mike, who was on the way from California. He arrived at Staniel Cay for 5 quick days of cruising. We took him on a quick tour of the central Exumas and visited Pipe Cay, Pasture Cay (near Bell Island), and Thomas Cay. For the last night he took us to Fowl Cay Resort for dinner, which was quite a treat.

Mike with us at Fowl Cay Resort

We did actually take a trip through the northern part of the southern Exumas, but without all the parties and socializing and projects it was just some nice time to be alone on the boat together – not much to write about. Coming up next is the social event of the season, the wedding of our friend who manages “Large General’s Bits” (not the island’s real name), to be covered in my next post.

Bahamas 2017 Cruise – Exumas Part 1

Home-made pizza at [redacted]

Sunset in the Exumas

Faithful dinghy at Big Farmer’s

The amazing waters of Pipe Creek near Smidgeon Cay

Lunch stop at O’Brien’s Cay

Our beach umbrella

Miss Adventure at Big Farmer’s Cay

Mid March to late March, 2017. After our terrific (if short) ski season at Vail, we paused in DC just long enough to help dad shovel his driveway from a late season snowstorm, then flew to Freeport, Grand Bahama to get re-acquainted with our old trawler, Miss Adventure.

The weather here has been uncommonly cold. We purposely began our cruise 10 weeks later than last year’s adventure, since last year the temperatures didn’t cooperate until early March. We thought we were being so clever, delaying our voyage until the perfect weather would be in place. But when we landed in Grand Bahama, the local taxi driver was wearing a puffy down coat (the temperature was 74). The whole drive to the boatyard he complained about the “wintery” weather. I had to break it to him gently that where we were 3 weeks previously, in Vail, one day the high temperature was zero. Still, I understand his concern, especially when a typical March day in Grand Bahama is in the low 80’s.

It’s the Bahamas; a random wrecked aircraft in the woods

After a few days of provisioning fresh food and commissioning the four engines (two main diesels, a diesel generator, and a 2-stroke outboard), we left Charlton Knowles’ boatyard and dropped anchor in Port Lucaya for a final restaurant meal (the “last supper,” as it were) before a three-day cruise to the central Exumas. Heather’s dad and step-mom, for Christmas, had given us a gift certificate to the Flying Fish, one of the top restaurants in the entire Caribbean. It was every bit as delicious as last year.

Citrus provisions

Happy hour at Flying Fish

First catch; our tuna

Tuna and rice dinner

The weather cooperated perfectly and we had beautiful, calm seas as we headed due south, where we skirted the west side of the Berry Islands, and arrived 12 hours later at Bird Cay to drop anchor for the night. On the way, just as we crossed from the ~20 foot deep “Banks” into the 3000 foot deep Tongue of the Ocean, we saw a large flock of birds diving into the water. That usually means game fish are chasing a school of smaller fish to the surface, so we quickly deployed a couple fishing lines and motored through the chaos. Nothing bit, so we looped around and passed through again, this time getting hits on both our lines. By the time we got one tuna onboard, the other one had thrown his hook, but at least we had dinner for a couple nights in the form of a 4 pound Skipjack.

Sunset in the southern Berrys

The perfect weather continued the following day, and we were again up before dawn for another 12 hour day, this time passing just west of Nassau and across the shallow Exuma Banks to anchor at Hawksbill Cay in the northern Exumas. With the props and prop shafts recently balanced in Georgia, we can make an extra 3/4 knot, which is about 12% faster that last year when we had the bent port-side running gear. That small difference translated into two days of 24 hours instead of three days to make a 27 hour trip.

Anchored at Hawksbill Cay

At Hawksbill we had time to do a short shore exploration, then pointed south again, aiming to arrive at Sampson Cay in the central Exumas just after lunch. When we arrived, though, the forecast strong winds hadn’t arrived yet so we passed through a narrow cut and into the Exuma Sound to try some fishing. We aimed for where the depth drops from around 60 feet to over 2000 feet just off Overyonder Cay, and proceeded to catch a 21.5 pound bull Mahi. He yielded 8.5 pounds of fillets, which will keep us and our friends in fish for a while.

Our Mahi filled our 42 inch cleaning table

We brought the boat (and our fish) in through the cut between Overyonder and Thomas Cay, and anchored off the old marina at Sampson Cay. It was wonderful to be “home”. We needed to stop just short of Staniel Cay to finish up some client work before diving into the continuous socializing that typically marks our time around Staniel. We didn’t go completely unnoticed, though, because within a couple hours our friend, who manages a nearby private island, [redacted] Cay, had spotted our boat and came by for a beer or three.

Cruising on over the shallow Banks

The following day we moved Miss Adventure to the docks at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club, just in time for their annual James Bond Party which was happening that evening. EVERYBODY was there, and we had a fantastic time catching up with folks we hadn’t seen since we left the central Exumas almost 11 months ago. We even got a “welcome home” (as opposed to welcome back) from our favorite waitress, Rhonda. We were again rocking our “Q-Branch” labcoats as our nod to the theme of the party.

The James Bond party at Staniel Cay Yacht Club (HT in the lab coat)

Our next stop was Big Major Spot, a mile north of Staniel. We had another social engagement, this time dinner with both the current managers and former managers of the Fowl Cay Resort, as well as a large crew of private island managers from the Staniel Cay Greater Metropolitan Area. The Big Majors anchorage was as popular as ever, with probably two dozen boats of all sizes anchored between “Pig Beach” and the narrows at Fowl Cay.

Anchored at Big Major Spot

Surprisingly, though, there were no boats we knew. Our friends on Z-Raye, Drew and Sharon, were already well past the Bahamas and cruising in the Lesser Antilles, and Brian and Susan, of Good Morning Vietnam, have their boat for sale (what are they thinking?!?) in Deltaville, Virginia. And Richard and Laurie, of Forever Young, aren’t due to arrive for another few weeks.

After the big dinner party we headed a couple miles north to anchor at Twin Cay, a pair of tiny cays that were beautiful, pristine islands but are now under development in some hair-brained scheme to open either a restaurant or bungalows or a private residence. You never quite know in the Bahamas.

So that’s where things stand; Miss Adventure is working well, all our local friends are still around, a number of changes are in the works around the area, and we’re very excited to be back cruising the turquoise waters of the Exumas.

Bahamas 2017 Cruise – Grand Bahama to the Exumas

In fact, it’s so good in the Bahamas that this year we actually took two trips to our second-favorite* tropical island, one back in May, and one just before Thanksgiving. Both visits were outstanding, and neither one was shortened due to a rogue hurricane (unlike our 2012 trip). And as alert readers will notice, we built the current website for the resort where we stay, so we’re tight with the owners.

Entrance to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club

The Staniel Cay Yacht Club was founded by the Hocker family; Joe and Ann created the place in the late 1950’s/early 1960’s as an outpost of civilization in a remote chain of out-islands in the Bahamas. After Joe’s death a few years ago, their son David came back to the island where he grew up and took over the operation of the resort. The island has a settlement of maybe 80 local residents, a few dozen vacation homes, and a 3000 foot airstrip. The Yacht Club includes a modern marina, dive shop, and 12 (soon to be 14) bungalows clustered around the bar/restaurant, which these days is on the short list of great places to visit for cruising boats on their way to or from the Caribbean. The whole thing adds up to a fun mix of locals, the second-home crowd, people staying in the bungalows (us), and folks passing through on their boats. And because the surrounding water is so shallow (much of the Exuma Banks are less than 8 feet deep), cruise ships can’t get anywhere near this place. Heaven!

The restaurant and bar

For our fall trip we treated ourselves to one of the newer hillside bungalows which, in addition to the usual three-meals-a-day and water toys included in every package stay, also gives us access to the bigger, more powerful 17-foot runabout for our daily boating excursions. We took full advantage, traveling much farther afield than normal. To the north we made it as far as Warderick Wells, the headquarters for the Exuma Land and Sea Park. To the south we visited Little Farmer’s Cay, a small settlement halfway to Great Exuma, for the first time.

The new hillside bungalows

View from Boo-Boo Hill, Warderick Wells

The original waterfront cottages

Our main mission, other than starting each day with a delicious, bacon-intensive hot breakfast, was to actively seek out new snorkel spots. This was our sixth trip to the SCYC, so we had a pretty good handle on where to find good snorkeling, but there were still numerous reefs not yet explored. We of course visited the old standby places – the Aquarium, Rocky Dundas, and the drift snorkel in the cut between Sampson Cay and Little Major’s Spot – and cataloged some new ones – the southern tip of each of the “Mice” just west of Thomas Cay, and the rocks to the north of Fowl Cay Resort, plus two underwater plane wrecks (more on these in a minute).

Clear water at the “Aquarium”

Another prime draw of the Staniel Cay Yacht Club are the seafood dinners. They serve a respectable cracked conch, a very good grilled mahi fillet (best with the beans-and-rice side dish), a spiny lobster tail that, when it’s on, it’s really on, and a baked grouper (crusted in coconut and served with parsley potatoes) that is, well, you’ll just have to come and see for yourself. All this is paired with a surprisingly good wine list, considering how far Staniel Cay is from anywhere.

Nick, our pilot with Watermakers Air

The easiest way to get to SCYC is via Watermakers Air, a charter airplane that runs from Ft Lauderdale over to the airstrip at Staniel. The charter company is run by David, owner of the Yacht Club (convenient!), so they have a vested interest in getting you to and from the resort on time. Whenever we see our pilot, Nick, we always ask, “have you had a chance to stay at the resort yet?” And up until this trip, he always replied, “sadly, no.” But this time, he lit up and said that yes, his sister would be visiting in a few days and they’d be spending a day and night on Staniel.

And sure enough, a few days later the two of them showed up in the bungalow next to ours. We took it upon ourselves to give them the complete Dr. Vacation tour of Staniel and the surrounding cays. I asked him if there was anything in particular he wanted to see, and he said that yes, he was curious to visit the two shallow-water plane wrecks he can see each time he takes off to the south. So we found ourselves in the somewhat ironic position of giving a professional charter pilot a guided snorkel tour of wrecked charter aircraft. Nick and his sister seemed to have a great time, and he took pleasure in pointing out that each of the wrecked planes were piston engine aircraft, whereas the plane he flies for Watermakers Air is a much more reliable turboprop.

One of many plane wrecks in the Exumas

While we’re on the subject of wreckage, for years we’ve noticed on the charts a little note next to Pipe Cay that says “Decca Station (abandoned).” For whatever reason (probably the outstanding beaches and snorkeling on the other side of Pipe Cay), we never stopped to investigate. Upon approaching the spot marked on the chart, we saw a large poured concrete quay (rare in the out-islands) and a pair of medium-sized, rusting metal buildings. The buildings appeared to contain a few offices, a break room, perhaps some living spaces, and a couple of showers. There was a covered picnic table outside, and a rusted barbed wire perimeter fence around the whole complex. We could not, however, tell from the ruins what a “Decca Station” could possibly be – although I imagine that living ocean-side in the Bahamas, and likely with all your travel expenses paid, was probably a pretty good gig.

Bulkhead at the Decca Station

Once back at home, the internet (of course) gave me the answer. The Decca Navigator System, invented just after WWII, was associated with the LORAN network, and anyone older than their mid 30’s will remember LORAN as a navigation system for ships and planes in the days before GPS. A “Decca Station” was a powerful radio transmitter that allowed receiving sets to measure phase difference of radio waves from multiple stations to calculate latitude and longitude. But why “Decca?” Wasn’t there a record company back in the day called Decca? Maybe it stood for something like “Defense Environment Concurrent Calculation Algorithm?” I searched and searched and could not find a breakdown of the acronym. And then, buried in a Wikipedia page, was the answer.

In the late 1930’s an engineer, William O’Brien, had the idea of position fixing by means of phase comparison of continuous wave transmissions. His friend, Harvey Schwarz, was chief engineer at Decca Record Company (I knew it!) in England. One thing let to another, and their navigation system became the system of choice for the British Admiralty. After the war the Decca Navigator Company was formed and their networks were installed throughout the world in areas of British influence; the stations were manned and operational right up to the year 2000. And that is how some lucky souls got to live, expenses paid, in a little slice of paradise on the western side of Pipe Cay.

Islands just to the north of Staniel Cay

Some other highlights of our above-water explorations; we found Johnny Depp’s private beach (he owns Little Hall’s Pond Cay), we visited the wild iguanas on Bitter Guana Cay, had a swim at Rachels Bubble Pool on Compass Cay, and of course brought some food to the now-famous swimming pigs of Big Major Spot. These pigs have become quite the celebrities in the past few years. They’ve been featured on the Today Show, in two new music videos, in books and travelogues, and people the world over now say, “you mean the place with the swimming pigs?” when we tell them about our visit to Staniel Cay.

Heather in Rachel’s Bubble Pool

One of many giant Iguanas

Johnny Depp’s private beach

One final highlight of our trip occurred on our last full day. We had taken the skiff down to Little Farmers Cay and were returning home mid afternoon when we decided to detour through the anchorage at Black Point, the settlement six miles south of Staniel on Great Guana Cay (who comes up with these island’s names?) As we approached one anchored sloop I started to remark, “that sure looks like Double Eagle II,” and when the sun glare shifted we read on the transom the words Double Eagle II. What a random coincidence. We first met the owners of DE2 on new years eve, 2001, at Billy Bones Bar (now called Pirates) on Norman Island, in the BVI. Skeet and Anne couldn’t believe that we remembered them, much less recognized their boat, twelve years later, but then the tropics are my core competency, and I seem to remember anything we’ve ever done or anywhere we’ve ever visited if it involves turquoise water.

All alone, just us and the turquoise water

And then it was time to pack for home, but not before one final rum punch from Carl at the SCYC bar, and one final baked grouper dinner, and one final game of billiards at the Yacht Club, and one final perfect evening gazing at the moonlit water. We will be back, probably sooner than you think.

* Our favorite island is probably St. Barths in the French West Indies, although Staniel Cay is a very close second.

Extreme turquoise

More turquoise

Thunderball Island (left), just north of SCYC

Coral garden

Soft coral

Hard coral

Tube worms

Flame-tongue snail

Anemone

Tube worms

A spotted ray

The elusive Cuttlefish

Grouper and Parrotfish

Unknown type of jellyfish

The “beach bar” on Thomas Cay

Soft coral

Snack time!

Not a sign you see every day

Modern communications at Little Farmer’s Cay

Our very own beach at Bitter Guana Cay

Late afternoon at our cottage (spring trip)

At the helm of the s/v Curie

I first visited Tahiti in 2004. On this recent trip, I noticed the changes that occurred in the nine years between trips. I found some changes unsurprising, but sometimes I found a lack of change even more surprising.

Unsurprisingly, Tahiti’s communication infrastructure improved. On my first trip, I proudly toted around my BlackBerry 8830 World Edition. Approximately 90% of the places we visited did not have voice coverage; we had reception only in anchorages near large towns. Now, mobile phones enjoy near universal coverage. In 2004, we visited internet cafes. Now, an enterprising company broadcasts wifi (expensive) in resorts, popular anchorages and at the airport. And, instead of paying exorbitant roaming rates, I purchased a $20 SIM chip and popped it into my phone. Voilà! I had a local number.

After getting my local phone number, I received a local text. Clearly, news hadn’t spread about the previous owner’s phone number change. I interpreted the half Tahitian half French message as a request to send some sort of phone number, an outpouring of hugs and kisses, and a request for a copy of a recently completed genealogy. Readers?

I began my response with desolè, a typo of désoleé, my written French clearly substandard. I suspected my reply sounded like, Sori, you do not have the just number. I am tourist. The technology may have improved … but communications still weren’t perfect!

The opening of a weather window provided the opportunity for an itinerary change and the chance to visit the island of Maupiti. Tourists rarely visit this remote island with its notoriously treacherous entrance pass from the sea. Typically, no more than a few sailing boats anchor in the lagoon any one time and the island’s accommodations are limited to one or two guest houses. Older travelers say Maupiti resembles Bora Bora 40 years ago. As I strolled through the single, small village square, mentally soaking up the French Polynesia of yesteryear, I spied young girl riding an ancient bicycle, her bright pink iPad case peeking out of the bike’s rusty basket.

Unsurprisingly, animals still run wild. While on Bora Bora, an unusual pair, Pig and Dog, caught my eye one morning. Exiting their yard, they crossed the street to a strip mall, making their way up the stairs to the sporting goods store and admiring the row of shiny new children’s bicycles parked on the terrace. Soon, mischievous Pig began to gnaw on the bicycle tires. Dog encouraged him by barking and wagging his tail. When Pig knocked over a bicycle, the entire row fell like noisy dominos. Pig squealed, Dog yelped and the two naughty animals made their way home before the store keeper could rush outside.

Naughty Pig and Dog make a quick getaway

With the talk of climate change, pollution, and heavy tourist use, I expected the delicate undersea life in my favorite snorkel spot to be devastated. I was wrong! The healthy coral sheltered hundreds of fish and bizarre creatures. The first dive proved a little too amazing when two 5+ foot moray eels swam out of their rocky lairs, passing within a few feet of us! The whole crew of s/v Curie enthusiastically celebrated the continued health of the undersea environment.

The Giant Clam, my favorite Polynesian sea creature

I saw lots of evidence of changes due to world’s continuing recession. During the prior boom, developers constructed thousands of the overwater bungalows popular with tourists. Now, many sit empty, slowly decaying over the sea. I witnessed empty storefronts and stores with sad, dusty, old merchandise. Although these economic challenges are new to this generation of Tahitians, it’s a pattern repeated over and over in tourist locations – boom and construction followed by bust and abandonment.

I’ve changed, too. I can now speak passable French in a casual conversation (although my spelling remains hopeless), and my years of working in real estate have eased my natural shyness. It’s now easy for me to strike up a conversation with locals while I’m shopping or wandering around on shore. That’s definitely a change for the better.

Maupiti

Best of all, the natural beauty of the islands and the genuine warmth of the Polynesian culture remain unchanged. Luminescent turquoise water, so bright it seems lit from below, rings sharp peaks covered with lush vegetation. Communications may be upgraded, but residents of remote Tahitian islands still take the time to say Ia Orana to friends and strangers alike.