4/5/19

If you’ve checked our SPOT you’ll see that we’ve moved north and are now in the Abacos; the northern island chain in the Bahamas.

We sailed from Hog Cay in the Jumentos to Georgetown to Black Point in the Exumas where we stopped for a quick visit with our friends Doug and Jean who live in the sandcastle.  Yes, you’ve seen pictures in the past.  It looks just like a sandcastle!  We brought Jean some potatoes from Georgetown and she gave us a bag of goodies from her garden – peppers and cherry tomatoes.  Yum!

We had a slow sail from the Exumas to Eleuthera.  Little wind and we didn’t want to start the motor.  Took us forever to go about 40 miles.  But what a way to end the day – coming in to Rock Sound with clear water and a full moon and music blaring.

The moon just coming up over the settlement of Rock Sound.

The moon is up…..the sails are up.

Here is a link to a movie looking at the bottom through the clear turquoise water coming into Rock Sound…..  https://youtu.be/xHX7AcD5n1s

And another link for a movie sailing into Rock Sound, Eleuthera with the full moon….. https://youtu.be/dHD2m2zyXv8

 

The next leg heading north was a great day for sailing with easterly winds all the way to Spanish Wells 60 miles away.  No motor needed for a fast sail.  Spanish Wells is a pretty settlement – all the houses are neatly kept.  No trash on the sides of the road.  And lots of colorful flowers.  Loyalists settled this area and continue to be a hard working community with pride in  their accomplishments.  This has always been a fishing village – though the tourist trade is luring some of the fishermen to new endeavors.

An example of a home at Spanish Wells.

Donna and Jerry rented a golf cart and we spent the day on an island tour.  Actually 3 islands make up the area connected by a bridge.  The island group is about 4 miles long and ½ mile wide.  Easy ground to cover in the golf cart.

A  view from a park on the north side of the island.

A view of Persephone and Bluejacket at anchor from a stop on our golf cart tour.

The students are gathered outside at picnic tables in the morning at the school on Spanish Wells.

A stop at the block factory.  No blocks being made today – chance of rain would ruin fresh made blocks.

 A Haitian settlement outside of town.  Many of the Bahama islands have Haitians who escaped their homelands in search of a better life.  Here in the Bahamas they find a way to make a living working jobs the Bahamians choose not to do.

We stopped at a place in town called Buddhas for lunch.  They have 2 African gray parrots that we all took turns trying to coax into saying something.  An occasionl squawk or whistle is what we got.

And Buddhas had signs all over the place with words of “wisdom”.  Our waitress had hand painted 106 signs a week ago.

And one more stop on the golf cart tour – a place called Tight Spot.  Donna and Jerry know the people who built the place and they’re now selling.  They’re off sailing the South Pacific islands in the sailboat the guy built.

Tight Spot (I included the real estate sign just in case you’re interested).

The view from Tight Spot looking south.

 

 

Pinders Grocery Store in the background with our dinghy and my Klondike bar.  Yes!  I had ice cream!  And it was only 9:30 in the morning.  We can't keep ice cream on the boat but it's nice to have a treat when we have the opportunity!

When the wind warranted, we hauled anchor and moved to a small island called Meeks Patch.  The locals may tell you that that’s where to go if you want to swim with pigs.  For a fee.  We would tell you Meeks Patch is the place to get coconuts!  After discovering the place last year we were anxious to go back for more.  Part of the island (away from the pigs) is loaded with coconut trees and coconuts on the ground.  We spent the morning gathering and processing coconuts.

It takes a lot of work (it was windy and rainy that day) to shuck the husk off the coconut and get the nut inside.  Here are a few of our coconut nuts ready to be cracked open and grated.

Jerry cooked some of the grated coconut on the stove for hours with water and sugar in order to make coconut bread.  Here it is all ready to be rolled up….

Rolled up and ready to put in the pan.

Coconut bread fresh from the oven!

So now we are in the Abacos walking the beaches and thinking of continuing our journey north in the next couple weeks.  The 19^th of April has a full moon – great for a passage to North Carolina.  We hope the weather cooperates somewhere around that time.  We love to sail with a full moon!

3/14/19

Our neighbor on Arcadia took a picture of Persephone here at Hog Cay from the top of his mast.

Tomorrow we're planning on heading north from Hog Cay through the Jumentos to Georgetown and points north.  So, a few more pictures from Hog Cay......

Some of the boat name plates cruisers have left at the "Hog Cay Yacht Club".

Many of the fishing floats found on the beach have been used for boat name plates.

More boat name plates with Arcadia in the background.

It's a small name plate...but it's a name plate made from sea glass.

A view to the west of Arcadia and Persephone from the Hog Cay Yacht Club.

Sea Ya!

My new career - some of the baskets I've created onboard or at the Hog Cay Yacht Club.

Our friend Bernie planted 3 coconut palm trees while he spent the winter here in the Jumentos.  They have been caged in to keep the goats out!

And...a few more fish and lobster pictures!

Lobster and Hog Fish....again!

More lobster!

We've had a wonderful time here at Hog Cay and the Jumentos hiking the trails, beach combing, visiting with the other boaters each night at the Hog Cay Yacht Club for sunset viewing, snorkeling, hunting......  Thanks to Maxine in Duncantown who runs a small (very small!) store (even after the devastation of the hurricanes last year).  It's a 4 mile dinghy ride to Duncantown from Hog Cay.  For those at anchor here - it is wonderful to have Maxine buy extra provisions - just in case the cruiser's need something. 
Keep an eye on our SPOT (upper right hand corner) if you want to track us as we sail off tomorrow!

3/14/19 - Aldebaran

Christoph and Gosia - Here are the photos of you sailing in to Hog Cay on 3/13/19.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/cMRZTjeYLC2vGDzC8

3/7/19

Kitten update:  The kitten has a home!   A woman in Exuma adopted the kitten and sent us pictures and video of "Leo" in his new home.  Thanks to all who sent donations to the Humane Society of Exuma (for info - scroll down to the last post).

When we returned to Hog Cay after the kitten transport "Southern Cross" with friends Don and D aboard sailed south the same day.  We met up with them and Bluejacket at Buena Vista Cay before heading south to Hog Cay where we got together for a week of dinners, games, visiting and hiking.  Then we all left the Hog Cay anchorage: Southern Cross to return to Georgetown.  Persephone and Bluejacket headed north to Raccoon Cay and Buena Vista Cay to snorkel and hunt while the winds were predicted to be lighter.  You can see a sample below of what Jerry and Jerry spear.  We both have lots of fish and lobster in the fridge/freezer!

The anchorage at Hog Cay

Persephone at left, Southern Cross behind, Bluejacket on the right.

A yellow-crowned night heron we spot on the trail across Hog Cay.

Nassau Grouper on left, Hog Fish, Spiny Lobster

More fish!  More lobster!

Every fishing trip requires a considerable amount of time to filet the catch and vacuum pack it for storage.  Here Jerry has three hogfish to filet.

Here I am with bottles to break to make into seaglass on the east side of Hog Cay.

Looking for sea glass on the beach.

Our nightly activity: watching the sunset from the Hog Cay Yacht Club.

Green flash!

We are now back at Hog Cay as the forecast was for strong northerly winds.  Good time to sail south.  And the forecast was right!  Yesterday we left Buena Vista with light winds.  We have the spinnaker aboard and decided to use it.  No sense in just carrying it around.

Heading to Hog Cay from Buena Vista.

Just as we rounded the tip of Margaret Shoal and took the spinnaker down the wind piped up.  20+ knots as we sailed in and anchored - Jerry is proud to report that we have not used the motor.  We sail off anchor and come in to anchor under sail.  Diesel tanks are full!

We will be here at Hog Cay for a bit longer before heading north. 
Hope all is well with you and look forward to hearing what's going on in your lives.

2/20/19 Kitten Boat Lift Hog Cay to Georgetown

The kitten from the previous post became our responsibility when Bluejacket and Persephone were the only two boats left at Hog Cay.  We were going in to feed the kitten 3 or 4 times each day.   Our friend D on Southern Cross back in Georgetown was advertising the kitten on the cruiser's net each day but no definite takers.  I finally talked to Ellen at Humane Society of Exuma who said she may have someone to take the kitten.  So, within 15 minutes of that call we had the kitten aboard, the dinghy on the foredeck, the sails up and we were on our 100 or so mile trip back to Georgetown non-stop.  Although frightened at first we learned how easily adapted kittens are.  It ate every three hours - ham, cheese, raw mahi, water, and used the box of sand we had set up in the head while napping in between.  20 hours or so and we landed in Georgetown and sadly met with Ellen.  We knew we couldn't keep the kitten but we both were in tears as it was put into a cat carrier and carted away.

If you would like to donate to a good cause check out the donate button on Friends of Humane Society Exuma on facebook.  Or you can donate directly via Paypal to friendsofhumanesocietyexuma@gmail.com or by snail mail:  Friends of Humane Society Exuma, Inc., 3840 Ironwood Lane, Apt. 206, Bradenton, FL  34209.

Donna and Karen weaving baskets from silver palm fronds.

The kitten is eager to help.

Fast asleep on Donna's lap.

Kitten is as happy as can be.  Donna too.

Table nap

Table kitten

Let me see that camera!

See!  No stress as we motor sail up to Georgetown. 

Relaxed!

Ragged Island kitten laying on the Ragged Island chart.

After leaving off the kitten Friday and getting some supplies we returned to the Jumentoes on Saturday/Sunday.  In order to buy a little diesel for our tanks Jerry ended up spending a couple of hours at the only gas station on the island fixing the pump.  The professional they had flown in from Nassau sure was happy Jerry came to lend a hand!  As were the oodles of cruisers waiting with jugs in hand.
We will be here at Hog Cay or thereabouts for a couple more weeks.

2/8/19

So much to do down here at Hog Cay in the Jumentos! 

We've been snorkeling, walking, doing chores and so much more.  Everyone meets at the beach around 4 pm for a happy hour and we sit around chatting until sunset waiting to see if there will be a green flash. 

After bringing home made bread to the potluck last Saturday we had a request for a bread making lesson.  Karen from Sojourn and Leslie from Now and Zen came over to Persephone - you can see the lesson on Karen's page mccrawsails.blogspot.com. 
Last night's happy hour included music. 

I brought my guitar, John from Sam the Skull brought his, and Chris from Magnolia ran back to get his guitar.  You can see video of that on YouTube. 
Here are the links:  https://youtu.be/qNV3tvb6mhE
https://youtu.be/6cNpf_oVRoM
And today I went to Rita and Will's boat Magic for a lesson on weaving palm fronds to make coasters, trivets, baskets or whatever you want!  Here we are hard at work with Rita teaching.

And sadly, someone from the Duncantown must have figured the beach with all of the cruisers was a good place to leave a kitten.  We are taking turns making sure it has water and something to eat.