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The World Cruise of Veleda IV |
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Exumas - Hawksbill Cay to Little Bell Island, March 5 - 9, 1999 Hawksbill Cay was our next stop, only 6 miles down the Exuma chain from Shroud Cay, but via the shallows on the banks side. We anchored safely off a sandy beach ringed by heavy bush and hills on both sides. These beaches are luxurious shallow fringes which often cause us to anchor Sprite in 6 inches of water, but still 50 feet from the shoreline. We also have to be aware of whether the tide is rising or falling. If falling, we could have to drag the dinghy 50 yards or more to get it back to the water after an hour's beachcombing. We don't mind wading through the warm shallows to shore after leaving Sprite at anchor in a half foot of water. Here we climbed the hill to some ruins left by Loyalists who originally settled here after the American War of Independence. There were a few low rock walls, the walls of primitive one room houses, and a cairn at the top of one hill. The area was heavily overgrown, and dry, suggesting the difficulties these people must have faced in living here. There were several types of small lizards scurrying around the rocks and dry paths. I was able to get some good close-up pictures of some curly-tailed and blue-tailed lizards. While at anchor, we called the Park Office at Warderick Wells to request a mooring buoy for the next day. Such requests have to be made a day in advance, and availability is announced via VHF at 0900 each morning. We left at noon hour the next day for the 10 mile journey to this popular area. The moorings are numbered and start at number 1 at the entrance to a long narrow (70 feet) channel that winds alongside the island of Warderick Wells. The instructions are to stay in the dark blue water for sufficient depth once inside the red and green entrance buoys. However we had to negotiate around a 45 foot ketch that was aground at buoy number 4 and heeled over at a 25 to 30 degree angle. We found our mooring ball number 11 and put a line through the mooring strop without difficulty. We put a line on one bow cleat to starboard, through the strop and cleated down on the port cleat. However we later found out this was not the preferred method as in heavy seas considerable motion can fray the lines. Instead they recommend a sheet bend tied to the eye of the strop and the line secured on deck to avoid wear on the lines. All boaters in the anchorage were invited to a "Happy Hour at the park office at 1600, at which we encountered several people we had met at earlier anchorages and several new acquaintances, including the couple in the boat aground at the entrance, Stan and Beverley on Summer Wind. We indicated our willingness to help them get off at high tide that evening. They had been befriended by Kurt and Elfie Kreuz, from Austria, who hosted them on their boat Huahine, a 46 foot catamaran. Ray Darville, the Park Warden, gave a short talk on the ecological importance of this Land and Sea Park, and the value of any assistance and donations given by boaters. This was the same person whom we met at Norman's Cay a few days earlier at the sale of the goods salvaged from the grounded Haitian boat. We were impressed by the mission of this park. That evening we went over to Huahine abou 2100, suggesting that if Summer Wind had grounded two hours after high tide, they should be able to get off two hours before the next high tide. We went over in our dinghies and started work. The boat was still solidly aground. We put a line onto the mooring buoy and started hauling in from the bow, by hand since his anchor windlass would not work. I was afraid I would throw my back out as I did a few weeks before we left Toronto last July, so I took the less strenuous job of cleating down the line after every few inches gained. We worked for over one and a half hours. Near high tide it was still not off, and we were afraid if we didn't get it off soon that it would still be stranded when the tide started to fall. Of course Murphy's Law was in effect, and both the wind and the tidal current were pushing the boat onto the edge of the bank. For extra advantage, I had them attach a line to their main halyard which I attached to Sprite's transom, and pulled out abeam trying to heel the boat and lever the full keel off the bottom. I would go out abeam at full throttle while those aboard hauled on the bow line. Then the current would wash me astern, and I would have to throttle down, ease off on the tension of the line, work my way forward, and power out again. After about ten rounds of this, the boat finally eased itself loose, and was warped over to the mooring buoy. Stan and Beverley greatly appreciated the help and had us and Kurt and Elfie over the next evening. By coincidence, we were all Seven Seas Cruising Association members. The next day Judy and I helped out at the park office. We worked on a couple of fund raising letters, to local business people and to boaters, for the fund raiser for St. Luke's Clinic on Staniel Cay. Half the patients at this clinic are boaters. We made donations to it and to the park. Then Judy took over operation of the office for a few hours, answering questions, selling souvenirs, and responding to VHF requests for moorings the next day. I helped Stan, who was also volunteering his help, to do some carpentry in making mouldings for a couple of office doors. It was an enjoyable way to help out and to learn more about the park operations. The third day, we walked around the trails of the island, including up to Boo Boo Hill, another flotsam accumulation placed by boaters, similar to Camp Driftwood at Shroud Cay. From this hill there was a beautiful view of the mooring channel sheltered from the strong easterly winds and of the open sound with the ocean breakers pounding spray into the air and across the hills. It was an interesting contrast, the smooth waters on one side and the rough ocean breakers on the other. When we returned to Veleda, we found 20 to 25 knot winds blowing across the moorings. No heavy waves, but strong winds. We don't mind strong winds in a sheltered anchorage, as they keep our wind generator charging up our batteries quite nicely. However, we saw the trouble one boat had trying to pick up a mooring. It made three unsuccessful passes, and was having difficulty maneuvering in the restricted channel. We got into Sprite and went over to help by tying their line to the mooring pennant. A half hour later another boat came in and also had trouble hooking on. This time we had them give us a line which we tied on the pennant with a sheet bend and then took back to them. Those were our good deeds for the day. We struck up a good relationship with Huahine, and arranged to rendezvous with them the next day down at Cambridge Cay, also known as Little Bell Island. Next Log |
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Links:
Bahamas Net
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