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The World Cruise of Veleda IV |
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| Message from Aubrey | |
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Eleuthera to the Exumas - February 1999  [Click to enlarge] Eleuthera is a long island stretching in a southeasterly direction and separated from the Exumas chain to the west by the shallow (15 feet) Bight of Eleuthera at the north end, opening out into the Exuma Sound, a deep (5000 feet) stretch of ocean water that extends into the Bahamas. Our plan was to cross the sound from Cape Eleuthera, where we were at the marina, to Allan's Cay, 30 miles away in the Exuma chain. We had a beautiful fast sail on a wing- on-wing run with 15 knot winds. However, as we approached the banks off Allan's Cay, good old Murphy's Law came into effect. The approach would have been easy in calmer conditions with good visibility (in the shallow water) to be able to weave around the coral heads and make a dog-leg entrance into the anchorage between the cays. But, by the time we dropped our sails and tried to make the approach across the banks, we had 20 to 25 knot winds and six to eight foot swells. It was difficult to read the water, and with six foot swells going over ten foot deep banks, coral heads sticking up to within five feet of the surface, and an erratic depth sounder, I turned about and headed back out to deeper water to select an alternate anchorage. None of the anchorages or marinas have an easy direct entrance from the sound side of the Exumas. Any entrance from the sound side involves going through some narrow cuts, often complicated with tidal currents and off-lying coral heads. There were no entrances north of our position, which would have been downwind, so we had to pound into six and eight foot swells to go south and over to the north tip of Highborne Cay. There was a wider opening there, but we still had to be very careful as we could not see the coral heads clearly and had to rely on our GPS and our eyes to feel our way around the northern point into a sheltered lee anchorage. It is always a relief when going from heavy seas into the calm lee of a headland. Sailing is maybe like the person who enjoys banging his head against a wall because it is so nice when it stops. By noon hour we anchored comfortably in about ten feet of water, the only boat on that shoreline of Highborne Cay. We could see several boats at anchor in Allan's Cay about a mile and a half north of us, and a mast behind the hill to the south at Highborne Cay Marina. This marina puts out a weather forecast at 0730 each day and also gives the current conditions from their location. Such broadcasts are of value as weather stations cannot be picked up on VHF in the Bahamas, and without a single side band receiver, we have no other access to weather information. Similar reports are put out at Nassau and at Staniel Cay. After the weather has been read, all the boats listening call back with "Thank you from ---" This also provides a knowledge of who are in the receiving area of the broadcast so that we may contact other boats we have met along the way. In the afternoon, we dinghied over to Allan's Cay Harbour to see the iguanas on S.W. Allan's Cay and on Leaf Cay. Both locations had lovely fine sand beaches. When we landed we saw a half dozen of these large lizards, and then even more slithered out of the bushes to come look at us. We could easily count up to 30 of these interesting creatures on the beach. We had to watch where we were stepping so as not to step on them or to be surprised by their sudden scurrying away. They were from one to three feet in length, with dry scaly bodies and sagging iridescent gold, silver, and green jowls We were advised not to feed them as their eyesight might not be able to discriminate between the food and the hand holding the food. They are a protected species. We could approach them within two or three feet before they would scurry a few feet out of reach. A few times we were startled by iguanas that would suddenly scurry rapidly directly for us, causing us to be the ones to back off. I hope the close-up pictures I took turn out well. The texture and iridescent character of their scales was intriguing, especially the little pearls under the jowls below the jaw line of some of the older ones. It was a fascinating experience to encounter these primeval creatures in their native habitat.  The anchorage was crowded with over ten boats in the fairly restricted channels between Leaf and Allan's Cays. This is the reason why Bahamian moorings are used when anchoring, to minimize the swing with the tidal currents and the narrow channels. We have developed the technique of Bahamian mooring by going upstream or upwind to lower our first anchor. We then drift down letting out twice as much rode as we plan to use, then snubbing it to set the anchor firmly. We then lower the second anchor and motor up towards the first until in a middle position at which time we snub it and continue to use the motor to set that anchor firmly. Then we take up the slack on the first anchor, watch the swing of the boat for a while and then turn off the engine. We have to be careful in motoring up to a middle position not to foul the first anchor rode. I usually like to relax with a drink after we have completed an anchoring or an alongside to sit and watch the play of our lines. Then if any adjustments are necessary, we can make them. We left for Nassau the next day, February 18, as Linda had a plane to catch on the 19th. This time we had to go northwest across the shallow (10 to 20 feet) banks and over the Yellow Bank shoals. For this we needed good conditions in order to see the coral heads. We used waypoints on our GPS to indicate the beginning and the end of these shoals, and had Judy up on the foredeck to help identify them. The bottom was a uniform light green sandy bottom and the coral heads could be seen at about 50 to 100 yards ahead as a dark patch of water. We would manoeuver around them as we came up to them. I continue to be frightened by the intermittent fault in our depth sounder which occasionally cycles down to six feet for a few seconds then cycles back to the appropriate depth. When going along in eight to twelve feet of water along these banks, a sudden six foot depth could be the beginning of a shoal and a grounding. We have touched bottom when the depth sounder was showing six feet, even though we draw only four and a half feet. It has to be replaced! We made it over in good time with no problems and arrived at East Bay Yacht Basin in Nassau by 1445. Again it was nice to be retracing steps and know the waters to get under the two bridges, around the end of Potter's Cay and back under the new bridge to the marina. Linda left the next day and Judy then went into town to pick up our self steering control box which had the transistors replaced. Then came the task of re-installing it. Judy fits into the cockpit lockers easier than I, and so she had the "privilege" of contorting her body into the locker and under the cockpit deck to hook up the control box and to connect the chain drive to the steering pedestal. After 90 minutes of cramped quarters and some very unlady-like words from her, it was reconnected. We checked the control box out before hooking it up to the chain drive. It was O.K. When all was connected we checked out the whole system It still didn't work! It would adjust to starboard, but not adjust to port, the same problem we had before replacing the transistors. This meant hauling out the entire system and shipping it back to California to be checked out and if reasonable, repaired. After quite a few more unlady-like words from Judy, we started to take out the system. That meant everything including the fluxgate compass, the control unit, the power unit, hand controls, and all the associated wiring! We finally got it packaged up and shipped it FedEx to California. In order to avoid the customs charges that would be applied if this were thought to be a new unit, we labelled it as used parts for repair, value $1.00 which statement did not invalidate the automatic insurance covered by FedEx. We asked California to put a similar statement on when returning it, which they did, and we paid no duty on it either going or coming. After we sent it off and sent out some E-mail, we left the marina and anchored out off the BASRA headquarters for a few days while touring Nassau for a bit. We took a guided walking tour and were the only ones with the guide. It gave us a good chance to talk with this local guide about life in Nassau. We found the Pompey Museum on slavery in the Bahamas of interest, especially the measures taken after slavery was outlawed in the 1830's to assist former slaves to integrate into the community at large. We enjoyed a small Bahamian restaurant, then took a jitney to a Wynn Dixie in a shopping mall to re-provision for our trip back down to the Exumas. Incidentally, the BASRA dock permits dinghies to tie up there free of charge. Prudent sailors still lock their dinghies, even there. Our next log will take us down to our most favoured area so far in the Bahamas, the Exumas. |
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Links:
Bahamas Net
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