Shroud Cay to Big Major and a Real Time Update

 I was awoken on March 11th at about 5 am by some rocking in the boat. The winds had picked up out of the Southwest as forecast. We had no protection from that direction and it did not take long to make the anchorage very uncomfortable. We got up and got the boat ready to go. I put up the mainsail while on the mooring. It was not long, and we were moving south at a good clip. We had between 12 to 17 knots of breeze out of a good direction.

At 9 am, Warderick Wells Ranger office does a radio call on channel 9. The first thing they do is call for departures. Nobody spoke up. With these winds, nobody wanted to leave the very protected mooring field.  We were on the list for available balls, but once you have a ball at WW, you can stay as long as you keep paying the nightly fee. So, no ball for us.

I had been looking at alternatives that would give us some protection, but there are not many places that have protection in a SW wind. The best looked like Bell island, that was 25nm south. We were sailing fast enough that we covered that distance in just a few hours. 

This is a shot from the helm seat on SHIFT. We had strong wind, but it was pretty close to the nose, so we had to sail very close hauled. The seas were a bit choppy making it a rough ride. 

We motored into the channel to Bell Island and found a spot to anchor in the lee of the island. About 20 other boats were already there, but there was plenty of space for us. We ended up having a very good night is almost no wind chop. 

Our good anchorage at Bell Island.

On March 12th, we had a very calm forecast. Bell Island is a private island, so we could not go ashore there, so we decided to move on to a very famous place in the Exumas, Staniel Cay. We made the 10nm trip in about 2 hours. The first order of business was to get water at the Staniel Bay yacht club. We had made it 3 weeks on our 90 gallon tank, but that was now empty. When we got to the fuel dock, we were 5th in line. They could only do one boat at a time and island time is slow, so patience is required. We went over to one side of the channel and put the anchor down and waited. Everyone waited their turn and after more than an hour wait, it was our turn. It cost $198 for 9 gallons of Diesel and 105 gallons of water. Still cheaper than a water maker. 

As we were waiting, we discussed our options. We had a very strong weather system coming in 2 days and I was wanting to find some protection. Kim wanted to take advantage of the nice day and do a couple of things in this area. I am so glad she convinced me to do it her way. 

We went around the corner and anchored at a place called Big Major. This is the place with the famous Pig Beach. We got the dinghy down and headed out.

This is the famous and original Pig Beach. Tour boats come here to feed the pigs. Not my kind of thing, so we just did a quick drive by. The baby pigs were pretty cute. 

After that, it was off to another tourist attraction called Thunderball Grotto. This is a cave in the limestone. Thunderball Grotto was used and named for the James bond film "Thunderball". You have to go there at low tide to get into the cave without an underwater swim. The current is very strong, so swim fins are required. We got there and got advice from one of the tour boat operators how to anchor the dinghy.  I went first to check it out and I was blown away. I went back to get Kim. She got in and impressed me with her ability to make the swim in the current. We went in, and the cave was awesome. The fish underwater also were abundant. I shot some GoPro of the outing, so I will insert that here:

Click here to see a video I made of our sim in Thunderball Grotto: Thunderball Grotto

After Thunderball Grotto, we went on a ride in the dinghy to check out the local beaches and rock formations. 

The limestone shores have many interesting formations.

We saw a cool beach and went in to take a look. Another dinghy pulled in just in front of us and went up to the tables that had been set up on shore. We were told that this is the famous "Cruisers Beach". There are many signs from other boats that have passed through. We stayed there for a couple of hours and enjoyed making some new friends. This is one of those time that I really enjoy being part of this lifestyle. Sadly, I did not take any pictures. 

We finished this very good day with a nice sunset. That huge boat on the left is a toyhauler. The back end lifts up and they pull out a ski boat and jet skis.  

The wind picked up the following day. In the Bahamas, when a northern is approaching, the wind starts from the West, then clocks to the north. We did not have good protection from the west so it was very rough for a day, then it clocked around when the front arrived. It blew hard at close to 40 knots. Those were the strongest winds we saw in the Bahamas while on anchor. We held fine and so did all of the boats around us. We heard of winds close to 60 knots further south that caused some boats to drag anchor and run into each other, but we were fine. 

Lots of boats came in for the big blow. 

Surrounded by boats at anchor in Big Major

Life in the Bahamas on a boat has been a challenge. The weather totally controls your plans. It can be exhausting and frustrating. You really have to make up for the days on the boat with awesome days when the weather is nice. I don't know what I would have done without my Starlink. I had fast internet the entire time. I am still amazed by that. I couldn't get a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread, but I had fast internet. 

In my next entry we will make one more move south. Black Point has been on my places I wanted to go and it was only about 10 miles away. I will tell you now, I loved Black Point!

Real Time Update: I will interrupt this blog to give you a real time update. As I write this on April 5th, we are safely anchored in West Palm Beach, Florida. I just wanted my family and friends know that we have returned safely to civilization. How did we get here? Well that is a pretty good story that I will write about in the next few entries.