Nassau town, close to the cruise ship docks. This policeman was very obliging.
The cruise ship terminal was overflowing with tourists. There were 5 ships in that day so it was a pretty crazy place.
I think they only sold the one brand, Kelick. This picture was taken at Potter's Cay, there must have been a dozen little bars and eateries there serving the locals and the more adventurist tourists.
An Iguana on Leaf Cay, Part of the Allen Key group of islands, our 1st stop in the Exuma chain.
Happy hour and 'sundowners" on Warderick Wells Cay. This area is part of the Exuma National Sea Park. Note it must have been a relatively cool evening. George on the left captains "Southern Grace" and Morgan on the right is captain of "Shinola"
Boaters leave a momento on top of Boo Boo hill, with their boat name and date they were at Warderick Wells Cay.
There were a network of hiking trails in the Exuma Sea Park. We used them both days we were there.
On Cambridge Cay, again part of the Exuma Sea Park. Deb enjoys looking at all the different shells and rock formations along the shore.
Gerry relaxing in a hammock chair, made out of old plastic fishing nets that have drifted ashore. There is a lot of plastic garbage that washes up on all the beaches of the world, even in pristine places like this.
Little Halls Pond Cay, or "Johny Depp" Island. There was some kind of an event happening that week with tents set up and Mega Yachts moored off the island.
Little Farmers Cay. A very tidy clean little Island that the inhabitants took pride in. We anchored off the west side of the island one night.
What more can you say? Island time rules in the Bahamas.
Tied up at Cave Cay Marina waiting for some windy weather to calm down. "Fronts" seem to come through every 2 or 3 days the last couple of weeks and its pretty uncomfortable to be traveling if the wind is over 25 mph.
The Exuma Sound side of Cave Cay. Seas were running 8-10 feet high out there.
Musha Cay is a private island. A lot of they Islands (Cays) in this particular area are private and unwelcoming to cruisers, with no-trespassing signs, surveylance cameras and even armed guards patrolling on atv's. Johny Depp, David Copperfield, Tim McGraw and Saudi Princes are reportedly owners of some of these islands.
The "looky bucket" for those who don't like the water. It's a bucket with a plexi-glass bottom.
M/V "Southern Grace", a beautifully restored wooden Mississippi Shrimp boat. George and Cher are from Elsborro Island, Maine.
S/V "Shinola" is a well maintained 1974 Columbia 36. Her captain is 35 year old retired police officer, Morgan Drum from Portsmouth, Virginia
Early morning, boats leaving anchorages around Rudder Key. Now that the winds have laid down, a mass exodus heading for Georgetown. There were as many behind us as in front of us. I counted over 30 boats that morning.
It's reported that there are 275 cruising boats in Georgetown today. This is Georgetown harbour, Monday February 9, 2015
Because we got together with friends and did a lot of walking and exploring, Nassau was actually enjoyable. There is a great deal of diversity, from the carnival atmosphere of the cruising ship docks to the ‘shantys’ under the harbour bridges but , like all cities, it gets a bit expensive. We met a large group of cruisers for sun downers at a marina just down the street from ours. Our 'buddy boats'were tied up there and the next evening they joined us for dinner at The “Poop Deck”- at our marina.
The Exuma Island chain, which starts about 30 miles SE of Nassau, is made up of hundreds of really small to some large Cays or Islands. The chain runs south about 100 miles to Great Exuma and Little Exuma Islands. They separate the Great Bahama Bank on the west side from the deep Exuma Sound on the east side. Another “crossing” (The Yellow Banks) accomplished on Thursday, Jan 29th for us and S/V Shinola. S/V Scout wasn’t so lucky, as they had to turn back due to a problem with their centerboard. S/V Sail Away headed out to Shroud Cay. S/V Moxie was anchored at Allen’s Cay early enough in the day to enjoy an dingy excursion to Leaf Cay to see the iguanas and to socialize with new friends whom Morgan met in Nassua, George and Cher, they are travelling from Maine on a restored wooden Mississippi schrimper, M/V Southern Grace. The next day we had the advantage of Morgan’s knowledge of the area when we picked up a ‘reserved’ mooring at The Exuma Sea Park (Warderick Wells Cay). S/V Sail Away was there too, and Ken and Jean shared some their knowledge with us. This was a delightful place with lots of socializing, we made the Sat night ‘cocktail’ party on the beach and joined the Super Bowl party at the home of one of the staff at the park. S/V Scout and crew were able to catch up with us there. We hiked up BooBoo Hill and left our boat’s name on a piece of driftwood in one of the piles. We saw the one Gil and Sharleen (S/V First Love) left, top notch!
We wanted to stay in this area, so the next day we lagged behind to have a beach day, anchored beside Bell’s Island, dingied over to The Sea Park’s dingy mooring, and then to a beach where we walked to Bell Rock. We met our neighbors , Joyce and Mike on an Irwin 38 ( S/V Elida Jo). Close by, Johny Depp’s Island was getting ready for a gathering-we got some pics of the tents put up the day before and noticed all the boats bringing in provisions and guests. The next day we motor sailed to Black Point, walked up to the village and got jugs of water, dropped off garbage and bought some BBQ meat ,fried fish, and fresh bread at Lorraine’s restaurant. Next day we sailed to Farmer’s Cay, a thriving and quite picturesque town. We visited the well known Ocean Cabin Restaurant and Bar for some beers and tried unsuccessfully to get some more data and minutes added to our phone card.
Spent the next couple of nights at the marina at Cave Cay with buddy boats, as there was a windy spell to wait out and we needed to get cleaned up and get off the boat for a bit. The wi-fi was not that good- so we will have to wait till we get to Georgetown to get this blog posted and do other internet chores. Was able to clean the inflatable dingy well there at the dock. We spent the next 2 nights at a small lagoon tucked into Rudder Key. We got ot to see the underwater Mermaid and Piano statue (off Rudder Cay) with our "lookie "bucket- which is a pail with a plexy- glass bottom. Will sail the 30 odd miles to Georgetown tomorrow, which will be a milestone for us. There should be well stocked stores, banks and a place to buy more phone time.
Moxie's Log
Jan 27-28/15 Nassau Yacht Haven, Nassau, Bahamas
Jan 29/15 Anchorage, Allen’s Cay, The Exumas
Jan 30-Feb 1/15 Various Moorings, Warderick Wells Cay, (Exumas Sea Park)
Feb 2/15 Anchorage, Bell Island, The Exumas
Feb 3/15 Anchorage, Black Point, The Exumas
Feb 4/15 Anchorage, Little Farmer’s Cay, The Exumas
Feb 5/15 Safe Harbour Marine, Cave Cay, The Exumas
Feb 7/15 Anchorage, Rudder Cay, The Exumas
Feb 9/15 Anchorage at Red Shanks, Elizabeth Harbour,
Great Exuma Island. (Georgetown)
The Exuma Island chain, which starts about 30 miles SE of Nassau, is made up of hundreds of really small to some large Cays or Islands. The chain runs south about 100 miles to Great Exuma and Little Exuma Islands. They separate the Great Bahama Bank on the west side from the deep Exuma Sound on the east side. Another “crossing” (The Yellow Banks) accomplished on Thursday, Jan 29th for us and S/V Shinola. S/V Scout wasn’t so lucky, as they had to turn back due to a problem with their centerboard. S/V Sail Away headed out to Shroud Cay. S/V Moxie was anchored at Allen’s Cay early enough in the day to enjoy an dingy excursion to Leaf Cay to see the iguanas and to socialize with new friends whom Morgan met in Nassua, George and Cher, they are travelling from Maine on a restored wooden Mississippi schrimper, M/V Southern Grace. The next day we had the advantage of Morgan’s knowledge of the area when we picked up a ‘reserved’ mooring at The Exuma Sea Park (Warderick Wells Cay). S/V Sail Away was there too, and Ken and Jean shared some their knowledge with us. This was a delightful place with lots of socializing, we made the Sat night ‘cocktail’ party on the beach and joined the Super Bowl party at the home of one of the staff at the park. S/V Scout and crew were able to catch up with us there. We hiked up BooBoo Hill and left our boat’s name on a piece of driftwood in one of the piles. We saw the one Gil and Sharleen (S/V First Love) left, top notch!
We wanted to stay in this area, so the next day we lagged behind to have a beach day, anchored beside Bell’s Island, dingied over to The Sea Park’s dingy mooring, and then to a beach where we walked to Bell Rock. We met our neighbors , Joyce and Mike on an Irwin 38 ( S/V Elida Jo). Close by, Johny Depp’s Island was getting ready for a gathering-we got some pics of the tents put up the day before and noticed all the boats bringing in provisions and guests. The next day we motor sailed to Black Point, walked up to the village and got jugs of water, dropped off garbage and bought some BBQ meat ,fried fish, and fresh bread at Lorraine’s restaurant. Next day we sailed to Farmer’s Cay, a thriving and quite picturesque town. We visited the well known Ocean Cabin Restaurant and Bar for some beers and tried unsuccessfully to get some more data and minutes added to our phone card.
Spent the next couple of nights at the marina at Cave Cay with buddy boats, as there was a windy spell to wait out and we needed to get cleaned up and get off the boat for a bit. The wi-fi was not that good- so we will have to wait till we get to Georgetown to get this blog posted and do other internet chores. Was able to clean the inflatable dingy well there at the dock. We spent the next 2 nights at a small lagoon tucked into Rudder Key. We got ot to see the underwater Mermaid and Piano statue (off Rudder Cay) with our "lookie "bucket- which is a pail with a plexy- glass bottom. Will sail the 30 odd miles to Georgetown tomorrow, which will be a milestone for us. There should be well stocked stores, banks and a place to buy more phone time.
Moxie's Log
Jan 27-28/15 Nassau Yacht Haven, Nassau, Bahamas
Jan 29/15 Anchorage, Allen’s Cay, The Exumas
Jan 30-Feb 1/15 Various Moorings, Warderick Wells Cay, (Exumas Sea Park)
Feb 2/15 Anchorage, Bell Island, The Exumas
Feb 3/15 Anchorage, Black Point, The Exumas
Feb 4/15 Anchorage, Little Farmer’s Cay, The Exumas
Feb 5/15 Safe Harbour Marine, Cave Cay, The Exumas
Feb 7/15 Anchorage, Rudder Cay, The Exumas
Feb 9/15 Anchorage at Red Shanks, Elizabeth Harbour,
Great Exuma Island. (Georgetown)
RSS Feed
