Monday
June 30th
Travel -
Compass to Warderick
arrival at Exuma Park
Exuma Land and
Sea Park
Exuma Mooring Balls
|
Travel - Compass Cay
to Warderick Wells
..
.. at near high Tide we watched SEA BEAR
pull out of the Marina .. after taking on 71
gallons of water we checked out of the
Marina and gave Tucker another photo that I
took yesterday when all but one of the Boats
were in for the night .. we were able to
contact Warderick Wells on the Marine Radio
at about 09:00 am .. Tom said that our two
Mooring Balls were waiting for us .. after
we took a group photo of both of our Crews
in front of the Sign that we put together
last night we headed out of the Marina (
10:00 am ) .. we had a deelightful cruise to
the Exuma Park with the WINDS at our Aft for
the most part .. by 11:30 am both Boats were
secured to our Mooring Balls ( number 16 and
17 ) .. we wanted to get Mooring Balls
number 14 and 15 because they are right in
front of the Park Office but Tom said that a
Charter Boat had first dibs on them .. Ryan launched their Dinghy and came
over and helped me splash Lil Dee ..
.. after lunch we took the Dinghies into the
Exuma Park Office and when we checked in we
talked to Tom who heads up the Park .. his
wife Judy took her mother back to the US to
have some medical stuff checked out so Tom
was solo in the Office .. he said that he
could not wait for Jim and Kim to return
from Fort Myers to help him out ..
.. in the afternoon we took both Dinghies
and explored the area .. the Root Beet Float
did some snorkeling and checked out a sunken
ship that is located in the Mooring Field
and the Crew of Dee Light visited a group of
eleven Boats that were on Park Mooring Balls
just Southeast of our Mooring Field .. a
number of the Gals were out on the Decks
getting a little sun topless .. I bet that
they will need a lot of lotion rubbed in
tonight ..
.. we had a great dinner aboard Root Beer
Float including two to die for deserts ..
just before we were ready to call it a day a
'blow' came thru the area .. we had winds
over 35 knots, lightning, thunder and just a
little rain .. we were all glad that we were
on good solid Mooring Balls .. with the
WINDS out of the Eastsoutheast we ROCKED and
ROLLED all night ..
|
Tuesday
July 1st
Location- Warderick
Wells
Boo Boo Hill - Exuma Park
snorkeling in the rain
view of Beach from MB 15
|
Mooring Ball -
Warderick Wells - Exuma Cay Land and Sea
Park ..
.. it was a long night for Autumn as we
had WINDS, lightning and thunder all
night but almost no badly needed rain ..
we did not even get the SALT off our
Boats .. just when I was taking Autumn
to Shore for her morning trip and when
we were half way to shore a gust of wind
and rain came thru but not enough to get
much of the salt off the Boats .. when
we thought that the weather had blown
thru we took our Dinghies to the Park
Office .. Root Beer Float will be able
to move to Mooring Ball number 12 but
the only alternate Mooring Ball for Dee
Light is number 15 and that has been
taken by another Boat .. after checking
in at the Park Office we headed up to
Boo Boo Hill .. all the time that we
were on Boo Boo Hill it was
Thunder, Lighting and there was much
Lighting in the area .. our Board from
Bahamas 2007 (
see photos
) is still in VERY good shape .. Front
Page ( Gene and Kathy ) attached their
sign to our Post .. John had made a
small Ice Cream / Dee Light sign that we
attached to Front Pages sign (
see photos
) .. the winds and spits of rain moved
in so we head down to the Park Office ..
the Bahamas Defence Force had moved in
when we were on the Hill .. they took
over the Dinghy Dock and the Staff part
of the Exuma Office .. they watched 'R'
rated movies as we waited in the rain
for the weather to move thru .. right
after lunch Root Beer Float moved to
their new Mooring Ball .. later Betty
joined Ryan and Mary Kay for some Park
snorkeling but they gave up their
snorkeling when the rains returned .. ie
they were getting wet .. ?? ..
.. just after 03:00 pm we swapped
Mooring Balls with the other Boat ..
thanks to Denise .. now we feel like we
are at home again as this is the Ball
that we have been on before and the SUN
came back out .. we will be able to rest
WELL tonight .. after a very short
cruise the Bahamas Defence Force ( P 43
) returned to the Dinghy Dock for the
night ..
.. just as we were getting ready for a
deelightful fish dinner aboard Dee Light
a floating ''hotel' ( Let It Be )
floated by us on its way to Mooring Ball
number 19 (
see photos
) .. after our dinner we took the
Dinghies for a nice cruise South of the
Mooring Fields .. the winds were down
and it was a great evening on the water
..
|
Wednesday
July
2nd
Location- Warderick
Wells
Parks South Mooring Field
VaJoLiRoJa
Owner Johnny Depp
Parks South Mooring Field
|
Mooring Ball -
Warderick Wells - Exuma Cay Land and Sea
Park ..
.. we woke up to a mild breeze for the
first time in many days .. as it has
been VERY windy for days .. we are
keeping a close eye on the Tropical
stuff that appears to be developing well
East of us at this time ..
..
before the Park Office opened up for the
day we took our Dinghies to the Dingy
Dock at the Office and met with Tom ..
he reviewed with us the 'not to miss'
stuff in the area and in short order we
were on our way .. our day started out
very overcast but by mid afternoon the
sun came out and it was a great day ..
we took the Dinghies to
-
the
Davis Plantation Ruins 1780 on Warderick
Wells Cay (
see photos
) .. we beached the Dinghies and walked
the stone trail to the stone Ruins ..
-
the
Parks South Mooring Field where we
walked the trail to the Pirate's Lair ..
do to the lack of rain the fresh water
Pool was dry (
see photos
) ..
-
Little
Halls Pond Cay where we saw a 150 foot
Turkish Boat (
VaJoLiRoJa
- Owner Johnny Depp ) .. it is truly a
work of art (
see photos
) ..
-
the Sea
Aquarium where we crossed paths again
with a family on their Sailboat from New
Orleans .. we snorkeled and had lunch
aboard our Dinghies (
see photos
) ..
-
the
Submerged Airplane where Ryan dove and
took underwater photos ..
-
Sandy
Cay .. the winds had picked up and the
Tidal Current was ripping so it was too
rough for us to do anything ..
-
back to
the Parks South Mooring Field where we
found that two large Mega Boats had
moved in .. we walked a couple of the
small Beaches (
see photos
) ..
.. when we got back the Park Office was
closed as Tom was off assisting a 50
foot Boat that ended up on a Reef at
Conch Cut just South of the Park .. Tom
was trying to keep it afloat until the
Salvage Boat could get to it .. UUFFFDDA
!! ..
|
Thursday
July 3rd
Travel- Warderick to
Staniel
Tropical Depression Two
last trip to Boo Boo Hill
dinner at Staniel Cay
|
Travel- Warderick to
Staniel Cay - 23 nautical miles
..
.. gotta keep an eye on the
weather Tropical Depression
Number TWO has just developed
off the Coast of Africa .. at
this time it looks like it will
be heading well East of the
Bahamas ..
HEADLINES - According to
a report by ESPN.com .. 'Brett
Favre again could be having
second thoughts about
retirement' .. or is it just a
rumor ..
.. after making one last trip to
Boo Boo Hill (
see photos
) and checking out at the Park
Office we floated away from our
Mooring Balls and headed out for
Staniel Cay .. we had a great
cruise with 2 to 3 footers on
our Bow for most all of the trip
.. we had both Boats tied off at
the Marina by Noon .. our
Generators really like the Shore
Power .. Ryan had RBF's Dinghy
splashed before the lines were
even tied off .. Ryan ended up
snorkeling Thunderball again ..
after a quick lunch we checked
in and started to unload our
garbage from the last few days
..
.. we had an afternoon of
laundry, filling our Water
Tanks, grocery shopping etc ..
.. with all the large Boats on
the Docks the Shore Power is
maxed out .. our power went off
a number of times and we have
been on our Generator more than
the Shore Power ..
.. after eating on the Boats the
last number of days and having
to do all that cooking the gals
( Betty ) decided that we would
have dinner at the Yacht Club (
see photos
) .. the routine at Staniel is
that by 05:00 pm you must let
the Bartender know that you will
having dinner at the Club and
you have to make your dinner
selection off their Menu .. then
just prior to 07:30 pm everyone
gathers around the Bar waiting
for the Dinner Bell that is rung
promptly at 07:30 pm .. each
party is escorted to their
assigned table where you are
served dinner that includes
desert ( not Ice Cream ) .. once
we were back to the Boats we
were able to switch over to
Shore Power and give our
Generators a well deserved break
....
|
Friday
July 4th
Location
- Staniel Cay YC
Dinghy to Black Point
The Garden of Eden
Lorraine's Cafe
Iguanas at Gaulin Cay South
|
In Port -
Staniel Cay Yacht Club (
242-355-2024 ) Chubby - Harbormaster ..
http://www.stanielcay.com
..
.. the
Marina is FILLED to its max .. and with
more large Boats than ever ..
.. the
winds have picked up again but we took
our Dinghies and headed for the Black
Point Settlement just South of Staniel
Cay .. most all of the people that work
on the Islands that we have been at the
last number of days live at Black Point
.. when we pulled up to the Main Pier
the native kids were jumping, diving
into the waters having a great time ..
we walked down the main road where we
enjoyed a whimsical "Garden of Eden"
created by Billy Rolle ( Tucker's
brother ) a local residents .. the
Garden of Eden is a collection of
driftwood, shells and odds and ends to
bring a smile to anyone viewing this
masterpiece .. at Black Point there is a
"blowhole" within walking distance of
the Cottages where Sea Spray whooshes
through on the Tide continue down the
road to a fabulous Ocean Beach .. the
community has many colorful houses,
along with a Clinic, School, three
Churches, Grocery and Restaurants .. we
ended up having lunch at Lorraine's Cafe
.. she is really a neat lady .. at
Lorraine's Cafe
she has a
bulletin board that is one giant Calling
Card...
when we were there we spotted a Business
Card that Gene and Kathy ( Front Page )
had left when they were here a number of
weeks ago .. after a great lunch we
started towards the Dinghies but before
we made it back to the Dinghies Betty
and Mary Kay stopped at at Eunice's home
and bought two Beach Mats from her ..
Betty bought a straw Hat from her last
year ..
..
on our
way back to Staniel we stopped at Gaulin
Cay South where we beached our Dinghies
.. we found a number of Iguanas along
the Beach .. they were quite aggressive
looking for food .. John had a couple of
Rice Crispy Bars that he shared with
them .. Betty and Mary Kay cruised the
Beach and found many additional
treasures including a small Helmet Conch
Shell that she gave to me for my Office
area ..
.. when
we did get back to the Marina the Shore
Power was off again .. must be too many
people using the Hair Dryers again ..
.. the
Staniel Cay Yacht Club set up a Fourth
of July Dinner and Fireworks .. the
Bahamas Independence Day is not until
July 10th but the Islands in this area
depend on the American tourist so MUCH
that they celebrate our holidays with us
.. the dinner was a Pig and Turkey Roast
,, everyone there thought the the Pig
came from Big Major Island where the
Pigs will swim out to the Dinghies for
garbage .. the dinner and deserts was
GREAT .. and the Fireworks went on and
on .. Autumn was not a happy Boater ..
she just put her paws over her ears ..
|
Saturday
July 5th
Location
- Staniel Cay YC
John and Ryan heading to Airport
Swimming Pigs
Big Majors Cay
|
In Port -
Staniel Cay Yacht Club (
242-355-2024 ) Chubby - Harbormaster ..
http://www.stanielcay.com
..
.. it
was a SAD morning aboard Root Beer
Float .. Ryan did his final packing
for his trip to Eau Claire Wisconsin
.. the Air Port Security and Check
In is at the SCYC Bar .. Ryan's
pilot was having breakfast at the
Bar .. we were also having breakfast
when Ryan checked in and John and
Ryan joined us for a few minutes
before they took their Dinghy to the
South end of the Airport .. its only
about 50 feet from where you can
dock the Dinghy to the Airport ..
the Airplane was a little late as
space was made for a woman that
needs to get to a Hospital ASAP she
got hurt last night in the SCYC Bar
..
..
this morning BERTHA still looks like
it will pass by this area to our
East but I have learned the hard way
to respect these Tropical things ..
..
after Ryan left it was a day to
catch up on 'Boat stuff' but in the
afternoon we did take Lil Dee out
one more time to explore around the
Big Majors Cay Spot .. we went to
the Beach where the Swimming Pigs
hang out to see if any of them
survived the Pig Roast last night ..
Mary Kay had some Pig Food ( food
scraps ) and sure enough there was
one Pig on the Beach with a big
smile .. much like seeing a Turkey
after Thanksgiving Day .. the Pig
swam right out to us and devoured
everything except the celery .. must
have reminded him of stuffing ..
after we ran out of Pig Food we
found a couple of Beaches that the
Gals had to check out for treasures
..
..
when we got back to the Marina we
hoisted Lil Dee up on the Bow of Dee
Light and got the Boats ready to
head out in the morning .. after we
cleaned up we had a great dinner
aboard Root Beer Float .. and yes
Ryan we did have a three dipper
again tonight ..
|
Sunday
July 6th
Travel
- Staniel to Cave Cay
Cave at Cave Cay
the Galliot Bank
Apple Murex
|
Travel
- Staniel Cay to Cave Cay - 26
Nautical Miles ..
.. after a quick check on BERTHA and
after checking our of the Marina at
the Bar we headed out for Cave Cay
at about 09:00 am .. we had 3
footers plus rollers at our Bow most
all of the trip and once we headed
towards the Galliot Cut the waves
back off .. we had a Chinese Fire
Drill trying to dock Dee Light with
the principal issue being a
communication problem .. once we got
some help from the Crew of the only
other Boat ( GENOVEVA 11 ) in the
Marina who hardly speak any English
but know the basic principals of
Boating we got our Spring Line on
the correct Cleat and all went much
better .. all in all by just after
11:00 am we were both in our Slips
and securely tied off .. the Owner
of the Marina
Steve Cone came out to welcome us
back to his Marina .. he is a great
Guy and has sure put his heart and
sole into this development ..
.. it did not take long and we had
the Dinghy splashed and after a
quick lunch we headed out to do some
exploring .. we first went to a
small Beach right outside the
Entrance to the Marina where we
found an unlimited supply of Conch
Shells .. there was also a most
unique 'Cave' for John and I to get
out of the Sun in .. after loading
up the Dinghy we headed West about
two miles to a huge Sand Strip Beach
called the Galliot Bank that is only
exposed at Low Tide where we found
more Sea Treasures than I thought
that the Dinghy could handle .. Mary
Kay found a large Helmet Conch and a
huge Horse Conch that were both
alive so she returned them for
someone else to find .. the WINDS
had picked up so it made a 'salty'
trip back to the Marina Entrance ..
the real highlight for the day was
right back inside the Marina Basin
were Betty found an Apple Murex
almost in the exact same spot where
she found one here last year ..
Betty gave it to Mary as a special
gift .. this is only the second one
that Betty has ever found in all of
her years of shelling ..
.. after cleaning up out salt
encrusted bodies we had a light
dinner and YUP Ice Cream .. Betty
put together a Berry Berry Berry Ice
Cream for John and I .. Mary Kay and
Betty had their diet Jell-O ..
|
Monday
July 7th
Location
- Cave Cay Marina
Little Farmers Cay
Ocean Cabin
the Shellers
|
In Port
- Cave Cay Marina -
http://www.cavecay.com/ ..
(954-803-8330 ) .. Harbormaster -
Cedric ..
.. the only
Internet on the Cay is at the
Owner's Office so updating the
Log and doing E-mail takes longer ..
overnight Tropical Storm BERTHA has
become Hurricane BERTHA ( the
first Hurricane this season )
UUFFDDDA !! .. when we made it to
Cave Cay yesterday it was WINDY and
since then the winds have continued
to increase .. Cave Cay Marina is a
'Safe Harbor' as the Cay is much
like a donut and the Marina is in
the center of the donut ..
.. I took my Laptop up the hill to
the Owners Office and hooked it up
to his Internet System (
see photo
) to updated our Log and check my
E-mail .. his System is a Satellite
System and is quite fast .. Cave Cay
is a 'working' Marina and is
self-sustaining with 'stuff' all
over .. Steve has been developing
the Marina for 14 years .. and has
his new Home on the Ocean Ridge all
but done .. the hospitality here is
second to none .. Steve says to
treat his place like your 'home' ..
.. later in the morning after getting a few
things done around the Boats we took Lil Dee to
Little
Farmers Cay for lunch .. the
trip to Little Farmers Cay was with
the 18 knot winds so we were almost
totally dry when we made it to
Little Farmers Cay but when we
returned we had the Salt Seas ( 5 to
6 footers ) going over the top of
Lil Dee's new Bimini Top and the
four of us got a real SALT BATH !!
.. it was an adventure !!
.. we did have a great lunch at the
Ocean Cabin .. and we managed to
find a few T-Shirts that we just had
to get .. the ceilings are lined
with Burgees from all over the World
and now there is one from the Legacy
Harbour Marina with our Boat Names
on it .. when we made it back to the
Pier where Lil Dee was tied off
there were some locals harvesting
some Conch .. on our return trip the
Gals had to take one more Beach /
Schelling break and of course once
we got back to the Boats they
scraped one layer of salt off and
headed out to explorer another Beach
.. John power sprayed the Boats to
get some of the salt off ..
.. this afternoon BERTHA became
BIG BERTHA .. ie it went from a
Category One to a Three ..
.. when the Shellers were out this
time they had a little excitement ..
the Beach that they were exploring
is 'spoil' from the dredging of the
Marina Basin and Betty started to
sink into the soft Beach .. with
Mary Kay's help she was able to get
out and they kept right on shelling
until almost dark ..
|
Tuesday
July 8th
Location
- Cave Cay Marina
click on image for a printable
BIG BERTHA five day Track
Seas crash against the Coral
inside a Cave at Cave Cay
unique Sea Shell
|
In Port
- Cave Cay Marina -
http://www.cavecay.com/ ..
(954-803-8330 ) .. Harbormaster -
Cedric ..
.. the first thing in the morning I
turned on The Weather Channel ( ie
no Internet on the Docks ) to check
up on BIG BERTHA .. at this time it
looks like BERTHA will track well
East of us and may even track East
of Bermuda ..
.. with Low Tide at about 07:30 am
this morning when I headed to
Steve's Office to get on the
Internet John took Betty and Mary
Kay to the Sand Shoal that is at the
far end of the Marina Basin to do
some shelling .. on the way to the
Beach they stopped at another Beach
within the Marina Basin where John
found a Sea Bean Shell .. when the
Shellers had the Beach picked over I
picked them up in the Dinghy ..
.. when we were at Little Farmers
Cay we saw two Cruisers at the Yacht
Club's rickety Dock .. this morning
one of the Boaters took their Dinghy
to Cave Cay to check out the Marina
for dockage .. they were told by the
Harbormaster that they had to be a
guest of the Owner ( Steve ) to dock
at the Marina .. we have heard
this from others also .. I do not know how
we rank ..
.. after a quick snack we took Lil
Dee out to do some shelling and
photos .. we tried to get to a Flats
area just South of the Marina but it
was way too windy and we decided
that it would be better if the Tide
was lower .. so we headed up towards
the North end of Cave Cay where we
found three Beaches to explore ..
each area was more fruitful than the
last one .. at the tip of the Cay we
walked to the Ocean side of the Cay
to watch the Seas crash against the
Coral (
see photos
) .. it was a two Sea Bean day
for John .. at the last Beach there
was a Cave that I crawled back into
to take some photos (
see photos
) .. at that Beach
we filled Lil Dee with Conch .. we
then headed slowly back to the
Marina to unload .. once we got
everything unloaded our original
plan was to head back out to The
Flats just West of Cave Cay .. ie at
low Tied but The Shellers were TOO
TIRED !! .. so we cleaned up and had
a group effort dinner aboard Root
Beer Float ..
.. one of the Sea Shells that we
found today is quite a unique Sea
Shell (
see photos
) .. if you know the name of this
Shell please send me a note (
marvboater@aol.com
) .. we think that it is in
the Murex family ..
.. we heard over The Weather Channel
that BERTHA has lost much of its
steam and is now projected to turn
North much sooner .. YEA !! ..
|
Wednesday
July 9th
Location
- Cave Cay Marina
Galliot Bank Flats
Mary Kay's Sea Treasure
at Cave Cay Marina
'Galley Iguana'
|
In Port
- Cave Cay Marina -
http://www.cavecay.com/ ..
(954-803-8330 ) .. Harbormaster -
Cedric ..
.. according to The Weather Channel
BERTHA is much weaker than at this
time yesterday and should be
Tracking well to the East of us ..
.. the Tide has been LOW in the
mornings so right after I took
Autumn out for a walk and we headed
out in Lil Dee to the Galliot Bank (
Flats ) that is only exposed at Low
Tide .. we first tried to approach
the Banks from the WINDY side and
that did not work at all so we went
around to the back side and dropped
the Shellers off and then tried to
find an area to beach Lil Dee but
with the winds it was rough all over
.. when we were there a Tour Boat
from George Town came by us and
beached their Jet Boat ( Para Sail )
(
see photos
) for a few minutes just down from us
.. John talked to the Captain and
found out that the passengers ( a
couple with their three sons ) were
from Ohio and that with their draft
they are able to take the Inside
Route as it is better protected ..
they also said that the Island just
South of us is owned by David
Copperfield .. he has a Resort type
of complex on the Island .. the trip
to the Flats was all worthwhile when
Mary showed us the Sea Treasure (
see photo
) that
she found .. the Crew was too tired
to do any more shelling so we headed
back to the Marina .. our trip back
to the Marina was right into the
WINDS and did we get our share of
SALT .. I guess that you can only
get so wet .. right after we docked
Lil Dee Steve came by to check up on
us .. he sure makes us feel right at
home ..
.. this afternoon when I was up at
Steve's Office on the Internet and
Betty was doing laundry John and
Mary Kay walked down the Airport
Runway to the Beach at the end of
the Runway .. among other stuff they
found nine more Sea Beans about
eighteen Lucky Beans .. I have been
sharing weather and tropical info
with the Crew on the only other Boat
( GENOVEVA II ) in the Marina (
see photo
) .. today when I brought their
reports to them they invited me to
come aboard which I did .. after
reviewing Routs over their Charts
they gave me a tour of the Boat ..
it is a 64 foot Hatteras that was
extended to 73 foot by the original
owner .. they are from Chili and are
brining the Boat to Chili .. once
there they plan to use it as a
Charter Boat ..
.. when we had dinner aboard Root
Beer Float we were introduced to
their 'Galley Iguana' .. when Ryan
was here they thought the reason
their cupboards are getting bear was
due to Ryan .. wrong .. Mary Kay
discovered that they have a
'Galley Iguana' ..
|
|
|
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- this is
the End of
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..
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