When its calm its surreal 

Blackpoint and Little Bay

Thursday 23rd January 2020

By mid afternoon after the blow passed we decided to head over to our next stunning beach, Blackpoint, it had turned into a beautiful still afternoon so it was an easy motor around the point only 10 minutes around the corner.

Arriving late in the afternoon we went ashore and had a walk around the even smaller (than Staniel Cay) village and stopped at Lorraine's Restaurant for dinner.  Originally we were meant to meet a group of friends here for Christmas Lunch, so we are a bit late, the other friends didn't make it in time either. 

Along with the crews from Yellowbird, Seamlessly and Doriana we sat down for delicious  

Bahamian meals some of us had Conch a local delicacy that tastes like calamari, burgers and ribs were also on the menu. Lorraine's mother makes coconut bread that we had heard so much about, so we all placed an order for pick up the next morning.

Loraine and I, so very welcoming and delicious food 

As we had ordered the coconut bread we had to go ashore and word had it that the laundromat at Blackpoint is the best one in the Bahamas, with a dingy dock for extremely easy access.  While the washing was on we wandered down the road and picked up the eagerly anticipated coconut bread. I think Lorraine owns the laundry too, she has built quite an empire for her community.

Everyone loved their coconut bread it is a sweet bread with a swirl of freshly grated coconut and sugar through the middle, Lorraine also told Craig to try it as French toast.

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The coconut bread made into French toast was delicious 

Craig cooked up a beautiful conch meal for everyone 

As we were waiting on our laundry, there was a local cleaning his latest catch of Conch, the shells are absolutely stunning with a deep pink centre, but the ugly snail like mollusk is gross.











We were able to buy some for $3 a piece, each couple bought a couple, we then went searching the local food shop for the ingredients for Conch salad - conch, green pepper, cucumber, tomato, chilli, lime and lemon juice with a dash of orange juice added at the end.  The lime and lemon juice are used to tenderise the conch, that night Craig made a big bowl of Conch salad and a conch and ginger stir fry for everyone onboard Adriana.

Such a nice way to end the day 

Blackpoint harbour was a bit busy so the next day we moved around the corner to Little Bay it turned out to be a beautiful still day and we swam off the boat then headed to the beach while the others went for a snorkel to try and catch something for dinner, I had a practice snorkel in the shallows then went for an explorational walk.  The Exuma Sound side with its rugged ocean beaches was only a short walk but I was a bit hesitant walking on my own through the scrub, keeping an eye out for spiders, lizards and scorpions.  The guys snorkelling saw lots of little colourful fish but nothing big enough to spear for dinner.

I'm getting braver, I hold on just incase there is a strong current 

Our fishing line got wrapped around our propeller OOPS

The water is so clear you can see the anchor, that's about 5 feet down 

As it was so lovely here in this crescent shaped bay, we all decided that we were not ready to join the bustle of Georgetown, we had heard there could be up to 200 boats anchored there. So we decided to just hang around for a couple of more days,  there is another weather front coming and Little Bay was as good a place as any to ride it out.

Little Bay, Exumas 

The Sand Castle Only one of 2 properties on the horizon

The next day we decided to walk the supposedly half hour path back into Blackpoint, Jack and Kyra joined Craig and I, we got slightly lost and ended up taking the long way around

walking around the airport, passing through some very interesting landscapes, we actually walked through an abandoned marina site it looked like the project had been started in the 80's then maybe it went broke Craig's theory was that it had something to do with the drug runners and once they were arrested the project had to stop, anyway there was a lot of road and canal infrastructure in place and so many diggers and excavators and trucks left to just rust away it was really sad.

Its just scrubby bushland 

The storm was building on the horizon

We passed so many of these waterholes, we didn't try to find out if they were fresh or salt water

Along the way we had fun raiding the coconut trees, sending Jack up the trees but at one point Craig had Kyra standing on his shoulders so she could reach the coconuts and knock them to the ground, we collected 8 coconuts to drink with our new found favourite tipple Gin and Coconut water. We stashed the coconuts along the trail to be collected on our return.

Our walk brought us out to the Emerald Point Bar so of course we had to stop for refreshments, we tried calling Seamlessly to come and join us and maybe pick us up in their dingy but with no luck, as it turned out we were only a short walk to Lorraine's then we knew where we were, the walk back was only half as long and much much easier. When we did get back to the beach a few other boats had arrived and everyone was on the beach chatting with a nice fire burning to keep away the mosquitos and no see ums.

The coconuts turned out to be really messy to open on the boat 

Seamlessly pulled out all the toys 

We had enjoyed our stop at Emerald Point bar and Leanne and Kevin felt they had missed out so we decided to take the dinghies and motor back there. After a refreshing ale we walked into the village and ordered more coconut bread (it was that good). 

The winds were due to pick up late in the afternoon and overnight so we scurried home to shelter.  

The next day the sea state was really choppy and it felt almost life threatening getting in and out of the dingy but we had ordered coconut bread so we had to walk into the village to pick it up. It was so rough that Jack stayed onboard Yellowbird as he was worried her anchor would move and we had our hand held radios he could contact us if Adriana or Seamlessly got into trouble.  But it was calm onshore and we enjoyed stretching our legs walking back into town the easy way this time.

Getting from the beach to Adriana we had to punch through the surf that was breaking onshore then risk life and limb jumping back onboard, the seas were so choppy. The bad weather had descended.

There was good Wi-Fi reception so we hunkered down, we had a rocky night and all the next day, once it had passed we were ready to move on to Georgetown. The meeting place for cruisers in The Bahamas.

Shroud Cay

Thursday 16th January

It was only an hour sail to reach Shroud Cay, just 6 miles, really just around the corner but we managed to sail the whole way, once we were settled we jumped in our dingy and joined the others who were sharing Seamlessly's dingy and we were off to explore.  

Adriana arriving at Shroud Cay, Craig is up front getting the anchor ready, you can also see the entrance to the mangroves waterway that we dinghied through

The guide books say "Camp Driftwood, not to be missed" and OMG the trip through the mangroves was so stunningly beautiful I don't think I will ever forget it.  I think the fact that it was so much more than "Not to be missed" that it was such a complete surprise.

Worried that water was too shallow and that the dingy propeller would scrape on rocks we approached the entrance slowly Leanne using the dingy paddle to periodically test the depths, there were shallow parts but nothing that stopped us getting through, Leanne had done her research and we were visiting Camp Driftwood at high tide, we had 2 hours for slack tide before low tide.

Spectacular is the only way to describe our day 

Testing the depth

Leanne in front, Kevin on the engine, Jack and Kyra 

Motoring along we marvelled at the crystal clear water, looking down on the sandy bottom, we saw a few fish but not many, and we kept an eye out for conch. For about half an hour we wound our way through the mangroves then diverted over to the left hand side into what looked like a giant salt lake, there was a deeper passage that allowed us to continue, winding through, we came across a family of turtles there was a chorus of ooohs and ahhhs as they popped their little heads out of the water to take a breath. 

It was easy to spot the fish in the clear water, there were not many to be seen 

Ooohh 

Then we rounded a bend to be dazzled by a plethora of blues, all the shades of turquoise as the water level changed and especially the royal blue of the deeper water of the Exuma Sound,  We tied up the dinghies to rocks or dropped the small anchor in the sand and walked over the whitest sand to the crashing waves, there were a couple of other families enjoying a swim.  I cant even begin to describe how stunningly beautiful the vista was.  

The opening to Exuma Sound 

It is a national park, no fishing here

Its good to have another person taking photos it gives a different perspective 

It was a short steep climb up to the lookout where we were treated to the most amazing views.

Not a long climb but steep in the heat

It hurt your eyes it was so beautiful 

What a background 

Camp Driftwood used to be a  spot where people left mementos eg boat names etched onto driftwood or rocks, shells, even caps and clothing but now there is a sign saying anything left behind will be removed.

Our dingy ride back to Adriana was just as beautiful but with a different perspective viewed from the other direction.  There were more people around so we did not see the turtles again, I think we were very lucky to have seen them when we did.

We have been binge watching a series called Below Deck its about the crew on one of those huge mega yachts that we are seeing everywhere in Miami and The Bahamas its a good reality tv show worth a watch, anyway as we were leaving the beach after our walk up the hill to Camp Driftwood a crowd of jet skis and motor boats rocked up, obviously from a mega yacht as there were a gang of staff in matching red t-shirts driving the tenders, tying up jet skis, filming with a drone, handing out beers and generally looking after their guests.  

We pass these huge boats all the time some with waterslides coming off the side and multiple jet skis tied off the back one even had a good size helicopter secured on its roof, someone pointed out that their tenders are worth $500,000 and each jet ski would be at least $10,000.  It would be a great holiday if you could afford it.

Some are just stunning 

Some not so pretty but very well equipped

When we were anchored in West Palm Beach we were opposite a Mega Yacht Marina, the one where Steve Job's 100 million $$ mega yacht "Venus" is kept. 

We all had a lazy afternoon and caught up for drinks at sunset. The winds are forecast to get up to 25 knots so we decided to just  hang out for a few days, taking it in turns to host sundowners, we even had a games night onboard seamlessly. We started at 4pm and played until about 8pm, that's usually our bedtime, its called cruisers midnight.  We sat and enjoyed the company of Leanne and Kevin's dogs as well as playing card and board games, the winds had died down a bit so not such a stressful ride home in the dark.

Sunday 19th January 2020

The winds had abated and we were happy to be on the move again we are heading for Blackpoint but we have to take an overnight stop.

We stopped in at Pipe Cay for the night, (30 nautical miles) we had departed Shroud Cay around 9am, there was only a light wind coming from the wrong direction and we had to tack and zig zag all over the place to get there, so as a consequence we arrived just as the sun was descending into the horizon but we did manage to sail the whole way.

We anchored next to seamlessly, yellowbird being a much smaller boat, didn't quite make it as far and anchored just around the corner. Seamlessly being a much larger catamaran had motored a lot of the way, as the bigger boat requires more wind to propel them, they had arrived much earlier with plenty of time to have a look around.

Yellowbird - 30ft Steel Hull,  Kyra and Jack are sailing around with no fridge or oven !!!

Jumping in the dingy around 9am the next morning we had a scout around the area, there is an abandoned  Decca navigation station that was abandoned in the 70's and the Compass Cay Marina, the marina is noteworthy for the opportunity to swim with nurse sharks but they are charging $3.00 per foot for the dingy, as well as $10pp to land there, so we gave that a miss, we did see a few turtles, a nesting osprey and again the most beautiful shades of turquoise and blue waters. 

We could hear the baby Osprey calling out but could not capture it on film 

I found the nearby beach interesting, the beach was made up of tiny white shells that had come from the shore not the current marine life,  they are probably million year old fossils, I remember going to White Shell  Beach in Shark Bay Western Australia, that was made up of white cockle shells, not  the same shells but the same effect.

White Shell Beach WA is located next to the Stromatolites and there are Stromatolites here in the Bahamas. 

These white shells were not from creatures living in the water today

After a quick swim it was time to get going, It was a beautiful clear day with not a breath of wind, lucky we were not going far only an hours motor around to Staniel Cay. 
We caught up with Doriana (Joyce and Peter) or should I say they had caught up with us yay it had taken them so long to leave West Palm Beach with problem after problem.

Once we had set the anchor we dropped the dingy to go and check out the PIGS, all the brochures and YouTube channels show people feeding and swimming with the pigs on the beach and we did it too, they are really cool, there were lots of little ones I was surprised at how many people were frightened of them.  We ended the day by having Rum cocktails with Joyce and Peter and James Peters son who is visiting from Australia.

Tuesday 21st January 2020

Staniel Cay

Staniel Cay Yacht Club was on our list of places to visit, so we were a bit excited to have made it this far (again)  the yacht club is famous as a destination for cruisers, due to the ambience of the yacht club and the island also has propane, a laundry and 3 grocery stores.
we needed to refill our propane bottle so it was a good excuse to go for a walk we walked around the village taking in the sights and smells of the place, the houses are all painted cute colours and even though the soil is arid and sandy there were attempts to create pretty gardens although the views to the water are so stunning really there is no need.
We had been warned that things were super expensive and we had done lots of provisioning  so we really didn't need to buy anything except a fresh bag of carrots and a couple of tomatoes.

Staniel Cay settlement

No need for pretty gardens

Accommodation place 

We were gladwe didnt have to walk back carrying the full propane bottle 

The local schoolhouse 

View looking back to the yacht club

Our walk to the propane shop took us past the 3 food shops in town I wouldn't call them supermarkets and we popped our head in to see what was on offer, they were are quite well stocked much more so than I expected.

One of the supermarkets 

Inside the other supermarket 

We had to leave our propane bottle to be taken away and filled so we walked back to the YC and had burgers for lunch just taking in the ambience and people watching.  We were able to take the dingy around to the shop where we dropped off the propane bottle which saved us carrying the full one all the way back.

The next day brought sustained 20-25 knot winds with gusts 28-30 I think 32.5 was the highest recorded by our group o friends, it was too rough to get in the dingy so we had a restful day onboard but it was bouncy and not very comfortable we just watched movies and read and ate.... there is not much boat work we can do in these conditions.
After the blow passed by mid afternoon we decided to head over to our next stop Blackpoint.