Rewind: The Exuma Cays - Staniel to Little Farmer's

By Kathy

Actual Date: March 13th – 17th

The water in the Bahamas is always amazing!! 

This is flashback post from our trip down the Exumas. We stopped at Staniel Cay, Black Point and Little Farmer’s Cay.

Staniel Cay

We arrived in the afternoon at Staniel Cay and we were greeted by about 20 mega yachts!! They were huge. A lot of them had big inflatable slides from the top with lots of water toys attached like boats and wave runners. We anchored just off of Big Majors (aka pig beach) so we saw our little curly tailed friends right away. People come from all around the world to see these pigs.

The pigs were huge and some has polka dots!

What??? Swimming pigs??

Dan and Emma are not getting too close!

Sam decides to take a chance with one of the smaller pigs. 

They are cool but the best thing about Staniel Cay was the Thunderball Grotto. It was a cave you could swim into and it was beautiful. Lots of fish and also very popular with the tour boats so we ran into lots of people. You want to time the tide so you are going in and out at slack tide so there is less current when you are enjoying the grotto. We loved the grotto so much we made sure snorkeled the grotto two days in a row.

There were a few ways to get into the grotto. We chose to go through an underwater hole. 

Jack going into the grotto! 

We had a tough time capturing a good picture of the grotto. It was so beautiful. 

Lots of fish in the grotto!

Sam surrounded by fish when he fed them some Vienna sausages!

We chose another hole to exit the grotto! 

Emma swimming out of the grotto.

Photo op outside of the grotto. 

We had pretty high hopes for Staniel Cay but it turned out a little different than we expected. The only thing to visit on the island was the yacht club and that was pretty busy with tour boats and not really our speed. There was also a lot of boat traffic from the water toys from the mega yachts so we only stayed two nights in Staniel Cay.

Black Point

Wow! What a difference in islands. We moved just south of Staniel Cay to the neighboring island of Black Point and we immediately loved the island. It was a true Bahamian out island. There were three restaurants, a laundromat, and a couple of very small grocery stores. When I say small I mean smaller than the convenience stores in the states. When we arrived the mail boat was a few days late so it was slim pickings in the stores and the restaurants had very limited menus.

We have arrived in Black Point! 

Awaiting our first meal at Lorraine's.

Love these handmade baskets. We now have two on our boat. 

This is the small grocery store!

The one thing we had read about Black Point from other cruisers was that you have to go see Mama. She has the best Bahamian bread in the islands. She is quite famous among the locals and cruisers. We figured out that she is Lorraine’s mama and to get the bread you visit her house which is located behind Lorraine’s Restaurant. When we went to buy bread we were greeted by Mama on her front porch and invited into her home. She has all of her bread lined up on her kitchen counter. We wanted to make some French toast with her bread but remember when I mentioned the mail boat being a few days late….well that meant that there were no eggs to be found in the stores and it has been about 3 weeks since our last visit to a grocery store so our supplies were limited. But Mama was kind enough to give us some of her fresh eggs for breakfast in the morning. We are happy to report that the bread lived up to its promise. It really is the best coconut bread in the Bahamas!!

We made it to Mama's house for some bread.

Peermon Rolle (aka Mama) and her wonderful bread. 

Black Point is very cruiser friendly. Since there were only three restaurants you learn where to go for happy hour pretty quickly. We found all of the cruisers and the locals returning from work on Staniel at Scorpios for some pretty strong rum punch. We talked to a lot of cruisers and the kids went to the playground and played with the local kids. Sam traded time with his matchbox car for a chance to ride a bike down the street.

Here is the local school. 

The next day was laundry day and this was laundry with a view! After carting all of our laundry from the boat, into the dinghy, out of the dinghy and up the hill we were able to get started. It was a mommy and daughter laundry day and Emma and I read our books, did some homework and ate some conch fritters while we waited. The view of the harbor was amazing.

Approaching the laundromat from the dinghy dock.

Emma hard at work!

This is pretty awesome!

Almost done! You can see the clean laundry next to me. 

Air drying at its best! 

We had already been to Lorraine’s and had amazing cracked conch and we had been to Scorpios for some yummy rum punch, now it was time to try the third restaurant on the island Deshamon’s. Deshamon’s is known for their pizza and we were ready for a pizza pie. But the catch was that you had to order the pizza early in the day so they could have the dough made and ready for you at night. We had tried to eat there the night before but because of the mail boat being late they did not have the ingredients (flour) for the pizza. We were so happy that the mail boat finally arrived that afternoon. The pizza was great and they even made Jack a special dairy free pizza with the last of the special mozzarella cheese we had on the boat.

Whooohoo! The mail boat arrived. It takes about 18- 24 hours to unload the mail boat. 

This is Lorraine's Restaurant. You can see Mamas's house behind it. 

Scorpios - home of the cruiser happy hour three days a week. 

Deshamon's Restaurant 

Jack is a happy camper with his special pizza. 

Now time for some decisions. There was some weather coming in so we wanted to make it down to George Town before the next front but Lorriane’s was known for their holiday parties and it happened to be St. Patrick’s Day. Big party planned that night at Lorriane’s. We were torn! But we ended up picking up anchor and starting our trek south to Little Farmer’s Cay which would be our last stop before George Town.

Little Farmer’s Cay

We had a beautiful sail down to Little Farmer's on some very calm water on the Exuma Bank (west side of the islands). Not a wave in sight! Everyone did some reading, school work and prepared leprechaun traps. 

Working on some school work. It is still a little chilly outside  in the wind. 

Leprechaun trap preparation.

The trap has been set! 

Sam getting help with his leprechaun letter. 

This was a very brief overnight stop for us. We were there for less than 24 hours but we accomplished a lot in our short period of time. What did we accomplish?? We were able to buy about 22lbs of Bahamian lobster!! Dan scouted out the local fish guy – Little Jeff and we bought a huge bag of lobster with HUGE tails! We were amazed. Lobster season was ending in a few weeks and we had a lot of company coming into George Town so we wanted to make sure we had plenty of lobster for everyone. To end our time in Little Farmer’s we ate at Ty’s beach restaurant for a St. Patty’s Day dinner of cracked conch.

We didn't get a chance to eat here but we heard it was really good. The sign itself was worth a picture! Read carefully. 

We found Little Jeff!

Dan deep in conversation with Little Jeff. 

Success!! 22 lbs of lobster. Sometimes lobster is easier to find than chicken. 

I really wasn't kidding when I said they were BIG lobsters!

SandStar takes a field trip to Long Island

By Kathy

After two months of hanging out in George Town we decided to go on a field trip over to Long Island for a few days. We have moved around George Town but only to make the very short trek from Sand Dollar Beach to Monument and maybe stopping at the Volleyball Beach in the middle.  It was a good opportunity to check all of our systems and the repairs we had made in George Town – new alternator, sail drives, etc…  We also really needed to get out and move around a little bit ourselves. 

Long Island is just 32nm away from George Town. We were guessing it would take about 5 hours to make it over to Salt Pond. We were right on our time estimate but we were beating directly into the wind so it was bumpy on the way over. Everyone was fine and we are very happy to report nobody got sick. Yeah!! 

A happy Captain Dan!

We finally raise the sails!! We almost forgot what they actually looked like. 

We were looking forward to eating at a few of the restaurants we had heard about from other cruisers. The first one we were going to try was Tiny’s Hurricane Hole. It is a small thatched roof beach bar that is part of a two cottage resort. It was destroyed in Hurricane Joaquin so it had been completely remodeled by the new owner Michelle (aka Tiny). It is located right on the water in the Salt Pond area so as soon as we got cell coverage again we looked up the menu. It is really common in the island restaurants to make reservations for dinner. But the reservation is not necessarily for a table because it is so crowded but for the kitchen to know that you are coming so they can stay open and make sure they have the supplies needed for your dinner. I am happy we looked it up because low and behold they had pizza on the menu BUT you had to call ahead so they could make the dough by scratch! We are always on the hunt for good pizza which is hard to come by in the islands. We anchored in the bay right at sunset and immediately jumped in the dinghy to head over to Tiny’s. We arrive to the restaurant in the dark, anchored the dinghy, and made the short walk to shore. But as we are walking through the water I got stung by a jellyfish. OUCH!!! I have never been stung before. It was shocking and it hurt! There wasn’t much I could do at that moment except order one of Tiny’s island special rum drinks made with local sour oranges. That helped a lot! Tiny was a pleasure to talk to and the pizza and homemade key lime pie was exceptional!! It was a great first meal in Long Island! 

A good rum drink always makes a jellyfish sting feel better. 

Looking forward to some good pizza at Tiny's

As you can imagine from the name, Long Island is a very long skinny island. The best way to see it is with a car so the next morning we called the rental car company. There is really only one rental company to call near Salt Pond. The company is owned by a couple and they run the business out of their home right by the dinghy dock. By 10am we had wheels for the day! Long Island might be small but there are some big things to see on the island. We had been reading the Bahamas Cruising guide as we made our way through the islands and on the very front page of the Exuma section was a beautiful picture of the Hamilton Caves so that was very high on the list to see. We also wanted to see Dean’s Blue Hole so that was also on the list. There is really only one road going north and south so you can’t get lost. We headed south first and then turned around after lunch and headed north. 

Ready to explore Long Island. 

We found the dinghy dock and we are ready to tie up and travel by car for the day. 

Here are the highlights: 

Dean’s Blue Hole

This is a beautiful picture of Dean's Blue Hole taken by our friends Brooke & Barrett on SV Soulstice. They were on Long Island a few days after us. Hoping to see them again in Grenada!

Dean’s Blue Hole is just stunning! It is a swimming hole that is 600 feet deep. It is known worldwide as a spot for free diving competitions. There is a pretty cliff area surrounding one side of the hole that makes it a nice cliff jumping spot. Dan and Sam decided to see how high it really was up at the top. 

You can see where the water goes from about a foot deep to very deep very quickly. 

Here is a video of Dan and Sam jumping off of the cliff!

 

Everyone stuck in the middle of the hole! We are not 100% sure what that platform is for but some locals told us they thought it was for the free divers.

Hamilton Caves 

This was a spot I have been excited to see for many months.  We didn’t realize until we arrived that the caves are owned by the Cartwright family and in order to see them you have to visit Leonard Cartwright and he will take you on a tour of the caves. You had to know what settlement to look for the sign to Leonard’s office and make sure you do not miss it. There was not a flashy billboard or big advertising. It is just something you learned by asking. This is very different from attractions in the states. We had to come back a few times to his office until he returned. Once we found him we followed him to the start of the caves, drowned ourselves in bug spray, got our flashlights ready and we were set to go. We were very lucky to have the tour all to ourselves. You can tell from the beginning of the tour that Leonard loves these caves and is very proud of them. He makes sure that anybody that visits does not disturb the beauty of the caves and he takes great care of the them. During the tour he had many stories about playing hide and go seek in the caves with his cousins and what a challenge that game can be in a cave system. We saw a few different kinds of bats and some land crabs. Leonard also explained that before hurricane shelters were built on the island the caves were used as a shelter for the people in the settlement during a storm. Most of the cave system was dark so the only places our pictures turned out was where there were holes in the ceiling created by the ocean. 

Here is the sign for the caves. If  you blink you might miss it. 

Leonard gives us our flashlights at the entrance of the caves. We are ready!

Hiking through the caves. The holes above were created by the ocean years ago when the water was above the caves and would swirl in certain places. 

There were some places we had to duck very low. 

The cave system was so cool!

We did get a little video with some bats! 

 Columbus Monument

In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue and landed in……THE BAHAMAS! 

I guess this is something I didn’t realize but going back and reading the Columbus poem we all learned in school it says it right there! Long Island was said to be the third island he discovered and it is said he thought it was the most beautiful island. The people of Long Island built a monument to commemorate Columbus’ discovery on the highest point on the island with an amazing view from the top. To get there you have to first find the small sign that says “Columbus Monument”. Again there is no fanfare in island attractions. Then you take the treacherous three mile drive to the base of the hill where the monument sits. At times during the three mile drive we really didn’t think our little rental car would make it but we made it and we were so happy we didn’t turn around! The monument is located at the tip of Long island so after climbing to the top of the hill to the monument we were treated to a spectacular view of the island and ocean. 

Sam is enjoying the ride through Long Island to the Columbus Monument.

The hike up to the monument. 

The Columbus Monument!

A view from the top!

The beautiful area surrounding the monument. 

Erna’s Natural Pool 

Erma's Natural Pool

After making the drive back from the monument we realized our day with the rental car was coming to an end but we wanted to fit one more stop in before sunset. Our friends on SV SAVA had told us about a really cool natural pool at the Stella Maris Yacht Club. We made our way to the ocean side resort and it was like taking a step back in time with older bungalows spread out on the property. With the help of some German guests we found the boardwalk that lead to Erna’s Natural Pool. Erna’s Pool is ocean fed pool that is carved out of the rock. The kids were amazed by the rock pool. We had a few minutes to enjoy the pool before heading back towards the boat before sunset. 

Having fun in the pool!

A view from the top!

We loved our time in Long Island and so happy we made the trip over. On the way back to George Town we were actually going with the wind and we were able to sail most of the way back without the engines. It was peaceful and really relaxing. 

Whoohooo! We are sailing!

Emma is catching up on some shut eye!

I am catching up on a good book!

Now back to George Town to get the boat ready for the trip to Grenada!! 

Quick Update and Future Plans

By Kathy 

We are still in George Town, Bahamas. Today is the official 2 month anniversary since our arrival in George Town so we wanted to give everyone an update. We are having a blast here in George Town. We have made many friends and have had a few rounds of visitors over the last few months. I will do a separate post on each in the near future. We are now itching to go south BUT the weather has a different plan so we are still here awaiting a window. Originally we were planning to head south to the Dominican Republic via Turks and Caicos.  From the Dominican Republic the kids and I would fly to Grenada and Dan and crew would take the boat to Grenada. Why would we not go with them?? Well it would be a beat into the wind going south. Don’t worry we will not miss anything. The trip north from Grenada up the Caribbean islands is a lot more enjoyable and we plan to take our time with that trip after hurricane season.  So now we sit in George Town (still having fun and getting a lot of boat projects done) and keep hoping for our weather window. As hurricane season gets closer we are looking at other options to get to Grenada such as a crew meeting us here and taking the boat from George Town straight to Grenada. 

The weather has not been cooperating!!! 

Blog Updates: We created a few new pages for the blog. The “Our Boat” page has been updated with pictures of our floating home along with all of our amenities. Dan has also created an “Our Refit” page that goes into some pretty technical details about what we replaced and upgraded on SandStar. 

Our friends on Cool Runnings have also written a very nice post about our meet up in George Town. They are a family from the St. Pete area that has spent the last two years circumnavigating and are now heading back to The Burg. We were very lucky to finally meet them in person and spend a couple of days playing and chatting. 

Click here to check it out: SV Cool Runnings 

The Dark Side

by Dan 

We often write about the sunny days on the beach and the fun adventure that we experience but there is also a more challenging side to this boat life - boat maintenance and repairs.  I wanted to share our most recent challenges and it is bit mechanically minded so if this isn’t your cup of tea I totally understand.

Two weeks ago, the day before my parents came to visit, we moved the boat about a mile to a mooring ball thinking it would be a bit calmer and easier to get in and out of the dinghy. 

Here is where we started and where we were going:

All was going well as we approached the entrance, which was only about 50 foot wide giving us about 10’ on either side of the boat, with Kathy up front guiding us between the reefs.  

I noticed however that as we got closer our port motor was not responding to shifting into reverse so we needed to quickly use our starboard motor to keep us on track. After tying up to the mooring ball and wiping the nervous sweat from the brow I dove on the propeller to check for possible fishing line or fouling – no such luck.  

We now had a transmission problem to deal with before leaving the mooring ball.

We knew in Tampa that our particular transmissions, called a Yanmar Saildrive or SD50 for short, had issues with their cone clutches slipping so we had them completely pulled out and serviced thinking this would be a bear of a job in the islands.  

Unfortunately, we must have worn down the clutch over the last 200 hours on the trip down from Florida - Really ?!? 

Let the repair research begin!  Through a bit of online searching we determined that there is a kit available that was built by a fellow cruiser to address this exact problem.  To my amazement after a couple emails this one came across from Gideon who built the kit.  

He was anchored about a half mile away and could come over and install it for us:

Can we get any luckier?  He is right around the corner...

Talk about good fortune – so a few days later Gideon and Brett came by to install the kit on both transmissions and tune up our sail drives.

Operation Sail Drive Repair!

Transmission Kit Install - Gideon had all the parts we needed

These guys really knew their stuff and after about 8 hours both drives were running perfectly.  

It was a huge relief to be able to have forward and reverse in full operation on both motors.  We got to know Gideon and Brett a bit more over the next couple weeks and they are really interesting people.  They used to own a game preserve in South Africa and have been sailing for years on a beautiful Voyage 50.

So now with the saildrives fixed we were on to the next couple items for the boat project list.  We are headed to the Dominican Republic in a few weeks via the Turks and Caicos islands. This is going to be a pretty long trip for us at about 400+NM with much of it possibly straight into the wind. 

We needed to get exact measurements of fuel consumption and speed now that everything is in perfect working order. On a Saturday morning we decided to motor up and down the five mile harbor here to get some data for our trip planning. 

All is going well as Kathy works the throttles and I check the transmissions, motors and speed.  As we pull into the anchorage and drop the hook I noticed smoke coming from our Starboard motor bay – oh no – not the other motor #$%^&

With the fire extinguisher in hand I jumped down into the bay to see what can be done.  After a few tense moments it is clear we burned up the alternator.  

With the testing at different speeds we ran the alternator too hot and the rectifier bridge and diodes were fried.  It took about 30 minutes to pull it out and this is what we were faced with:

This is not how it is suppose to look, or smell... 

The back side of our Balmar alternator was toast and we needed to repair it before moving on.  

Let the repair research begin again! After a bit of consultation from a fellow cruiser (thank you MV Jenny) it was clear this needed to go back to the factory. Although we had a spare rebuild kit for the Balmar onboard,  the expertise to solder and refit was likely beyond the local auto shop capabilities here in George Town.  

On Sunday, I emailed Dale English at Balmar to let him know about our issue and ask for his help.  First thing on Monday morning I get this mail back from Dale:

I was blown away!  Dale wanted to get us a new alternator asap, this is the kind of customer service you just don’t see anymore.  Yeah BALMAR!!!  

After a bit more research we found a way to get the replacement flown down from Ft Lauderdale to Staniel Cay and placed behind the bar at the local yacht club which is about 40NM north of us.  Yep you read this right – the company that will fly it over actually owns a bar in Staniel and will keep it there for us to pick up.

From there we were able to get a local tour company to pick it up on their next trip and bring it back with their guests a couple days later – welcome to the Bahamas supply chain!

Next week we are going to replace the alternator and finish up the remaining boat projects for our trip south – wish us luck and I hope nothing other than the boat heads south over the coming weeks….