KWANESUM - the name

Kwanesum: kwah'-neh-suhm

Many people have asked about the name of our boat. And how it was chosen. I have yet to enter that on this blog. I shall remedy that right now.

When you name a boat it’s as if you are naming one of your children. You want to make sure it is an appropriate name as it will be with you forever. Or at the very least, as long as you own the boat; and sometimes beyond that. When we purchased our boat it was brand new…sort of. It was actually a 2004 model we purchased in 2006. It was used by Island Packet at boat shows, and now they were ready to sell it. As yet, it remained unnamed. We threw names back and forth at each other. Our last boat was MoonGlade, the name for the shadow a full moon makes on the water. Perhaps something along those lines…MoonShine, (umm…maybe not)….MoonGlow,….MoonDancer, MoonShadow… I immediately got online to be sure we didn’t pick a name that had already been used. I wanted us to be unique. A zillion Moons have been used. OK…let’s go another direction. Perhaps something with Packet in it…since we’re an Island Packet. Packet Inn! Been used…a few times. Packet Up! Used. Ugh.

Let’s try something else. How about Intrepid? That’s what we are…intrepid. Intrepid…used many times. Darn. I get out the Thesaurus to find other words meaning intrepid. None sound good. Arrghhh!

It’s amazing how many boats have the same name: Intrepid, Serenity, Indigo, Liberty …. And when you’re cruising, as we are, you are remembered mostly by your boat name. So you don’t want to be confused with another boat…with the same name.

The thinking process continues. “How about Popcorn!” (Randy LOVES popcorn and our boat is a similar color.) “Then we can name the dinghy Kernel!” I thought I was so clever. I actually really liked it! But we decided it was too cutesy. We aren’t cutesy people. You also need to consider how it sounds when you use it on the VHF and SSB radios. “Ocean World Marina, Ocean World Marina, this is the sailing vessel Popcorn.” “Yes, Popcorn, go ahead.” Nah…too cutesy.

Still thinking. Some people name their boats after a wife, girlfriend, or daughter. Always the woman, as boats are considered feminine. Maybe the daughter would be ok, but the wife or girlfriend might not stick around. The Lacey Jane (our daughter) sounds good, but you see mostly tugs or fishing boats with women’s names like that. And I didn’t want to slight our two sons.

Keep thinking. We set our thinking beyond the obvious. For many years Randy has been an avid fan of Lewis & Clark the great explorers and cartographers that Thomas Jefferson commissioned to explore and map the new frontier. “How about a name associated with Lewis & Clark,” Randy said. Great idea! OK…now…what name could we glean from that? Brain storming begins.

We get serious. We want a name that is both unusual and representative of our feelings about sailing. By choosing the Lewis & Clark thought process we’ve included our heritage, i.e. living and being raised in both California and the Pacific Northwest. With Randy’s interest in the Lewis & Clark expeditions, the Corps of Discovery, and specifically the winter they spent trading with the Chinook Indians, we decide to explore their language. The Chinooks created a ‘trade’ language that was universally used by the native groups and European settlers. It ended up being used by nearly all who traveled and worked there, thus bringing together many different cultures by a common language. This is what we’re doing in our own way…exploring and bringing together different cultures. Our common language...sailing.

Quote from National Geographic: The Chinook tribe had been trading with the British and American traders who came to the Oregon coast for decades. Their languages were mixed into "Chinook jargon," which the expedition members picked up. It became the lingua franca from Washington State to California.

MERIWETHER LEWIS January 4, 1806 "These people the Chinnooks [sic]...have been very friendly to us; they appear to be a mild inoffensive people. ..."

That would be us! Mild and inoffensive. =).

Now to explore their language for an appropriate word that might be used for a name. I jump on the internet. Skookum…I like skookum. I like how it sounds and it means strong and durable. But in researching further, there’s already a line of boats called Skookum. Shoot. We keep looking. I’m finding old documents that have the Chinook jargon in dictionary form. Interesting.

I happen on a word. I think this might be it: Kwanesum, kwahnesum - always, forever.

I explore it further. From one of the Chinook jargon books: Kwah'-ne-sum, -or Kw'an-e-sum, adv. (C). (Chinook,-Kwanisum; Yakima,- Kwalisim.) Always; forever; eternal; continual; everlasting; perpetual; unceasing. Example: Okoke steamer yaka kwanesum klatawa, that steamer is always going. Kahkwa kwanesum, as usual. Kwanesum mitlite, permanent; to keep.

I think it’s fitting. We like it. Our boat will always keep us safe, we will always be together…forever. Taa daahh!

We shall call our boat Kwanesum.

Welcome to the Hotel Rum Cay....May 12-26

OK…back to the blog. I took liberty with a long hiatus from writing but am feeling very guilty about it. I thought guilt from not keeping on task stopped when you retired! Apparently not. So…on with the story. We last left Randy and Ellen at anchor in Rum Cay…a bit breezy.

Rum Cay was to be just a brief stopover on our way south. It ended up being quite a bit more. More weather…more excitement….more new friends…more socializing…more learning…more patience.

As we motor-sailed in to Rum Cay, the weather was changing; bigger seas, bigger winds…still beautiful sunshine, but big everywhere else. We had huge waves coming in, breaking over the bow and onto the dodger; aqua blue, clear water but big waves over the bow. Waves don't often make it all the way to the dodger. We carefully picked our way into the anchorage. There are a lot of coral reefs around this island. Our technique in coral areas is to enter with the sun high and behind us and Randy standing on the bow of the boat, watching for the reefs, signaling which way to go to avoid them. As I left you in my last post, I noted there was only one other sailboat anchored at the time.

We dropped and checked our anchor, and we added an anchor bridle. It was suggested to add a bridle in the Rum Cay anchorage to keep from rocking/rolling so much. I inserted a picture to show this procedure. Add the bigger winds to rocking/rolling and it becomes even more uncomfortable. The bridle should help. We were moving around pretty good out there…adjusting our bridle to find the most comfortable position. The see-saw motion offered by the bridle is more comfortable at anchor than the cradle, sideways motion.

In the meantime we are joined in the anchorage …throughout the day…by 5 or 6 other boats. From listening to their conversations on the radio, some are going north and some are going south, like us. One boat, Sans Clés, a Passport 43, anchored in the late afternoon near us. I heard them on the radio asking the marina about coming in for dinner as they had a birthday to celebrate. I got on the radio and wished them a happy birthday and welcomed them to the ‘neighborhood.’ The day continued to be very windy and a little choppy. We decided not to put the dinghy down and go in to see the island. Perhaps it will be calmer tomorrow. All is well with the anchor so we relax and enjoy the evening.

Wind continues. Days are pretty, water is sparkling and clear, but it’s still windy and very choppy. We decide not to go in to explore the island yet. We are now on day two. We notice San Clés pulling up anchor. Shoot! I was looking forward to getting to know them. Ahhhh…it looks like they’re headed for the marina. Guess they decided to go in there for the duration. In checking with our weather guru…there’s no weather window opening to leave, so we’re still stuck here. Our trip from Rum Cay will get us eventually to the Dominican Republic, which is our destination for hurricane season. We plan to go to Mayaguana, then the Turks & Caicos on our way down.

Relaxing, reading our books in the cockpit on a lazy afternoon…rocking and rolling…boom! Hmmm….? Boom, again! OK…what was that? "!#$%^*! ...we're on a reef!" "Quick, El, start the engine. I’m going forward to the anchor." I look down and sure as shootin’ we drug onto a coral reef. Holy moly. This is precisely what you do NOT want to happen! OK. I started the engine and manned the helm. Randy cut the bridle loose and went forward, trying to see if the anchor will pull itself off. Try, try, try…. not to be. It’s pretty damn stuck on the coral. Crap. I decide to hail the other boats on the VHF radio to let them know our situation. My fear was if we kept banging against the coral we would eventually put a hole in the boat. Now THAT wouldn’t be good.

Within minutes I had other boats and the folks in the marina responding on the radio with concern. Zoom…over come 2 dinghies from nearby boats. It was amazing the help we got so quickly. The dinghies were pushing against Kwanesum to try to keep her off the reef while Randy struggled with the anchor. I’m trying to turn the boat to clear the reef, but the anchor held too tightly. Randy had to cut the anchor, and 250 feet of chain, loose. Heck sake…that’s an expensive bunch of equipment!!! Mind you, all this time, the seas that got us on there in the 1st place were still wreaking havoc. The dinghies were dancing around in the choppy water trying to hold us clear. With the anchor gone, I was able to back away from the reef to clear water. With my heart pounding I hailed the marina and told them we were coming in. We needed to assess the damage. Going in to this marina is not an easy task in itself. Lots of coral around that you need to avoid and the entrance is shallow in many places. A boat was sent out to help guide me in and the marina was on the VHF telling me what to avoid and where to go. And the water is still its old choppy self. Beautiful water, always beautiful… but big and choppy.

I follow the advice, and the buoys, head around to the marina entrance and slink my way in. There are still big winds that push us as I try to dock. I got her in at the first immediate spot. We decide we need to stay in so they directed us to a berth farther inside the marina. Problem is…the wind and current are strong against us. I make Randy take it from here. I have a lot of confidence steering our boat but thought he could better maneuver her in the tight spots. I need to trust my skills more. I could have done it. With lots of help, and some missteps, we are in our spot. Actually we are in an adjacent spot, but it will do. We had an experience ala my Southport docking, jockeying foray. Missed the first spot and blown into the second spot. This will do, thank you very much. Soon-to-be new friends were all there with their hands out ready to take a line and help us get in our berth. We are glad to be in here. Randy takes the box of wine (yes…box) up to the dock and offers one and all free happy hour for their help. The cruising way.

Now we worry. Worry about damage to the hull and worry about retrieving our anchor. But we are damn glad to be in the marina, safe and, what we hope is, sound. One of the dinghies, off the s/v Wanderlust, that came to our aid out in the anchorage, motored in to check on us and let us know they dove on our anchor after we left to make sure where it was. Fortunately the water wasn’t too deep out there. They put out a buoy to mark it. They attempted to pull it up, but it was in there pretty tight. One thing that is a given in the cruising community is that all are there to help. This is a perfect example of going above and beyond to help fellow cruisers. Wanderlust certainly did not have to spot our anchor or try to pull it up, but that’s the mettle that runs through the cruising backbone…always there to help. We were grateful to Bruce and Nick off Wanderlust for marking our anchor so we could try to recover it. Grateful, too, are we, for their quick response, along with s/v Indigo, to fend us off the reef. We’ll figure the anchor retrieval out in a day or two. Right now, we want to make sure the bottom of our boat is ok…doesn’t seem to be any leaks so far, but what does it look like?!

Here’s the dilemma we'll face….sharks. Normally Randy would put on his snorkel, mask and fins and dive the boat to check it out. But we’ve been warned. Sharks in them thar waters in the marina: lemon sharks, nurse sharks and bull sharks. Bull sharks are the 3rd most aggressive of the species. Oh yay! This marina sees a lot of big fishing boats…hence fish that are cleaned…hence sharks. And they’re smart, too. They make a little drive-by once or twice daily to see if any new fishing boats are in. Niiiiccee. Some big barracuda in there, too. Makes getting on and off the boat a little more deliberate. =)

So, again...as this exciting day ended and the evening progressed, we popped that beer, brought up that boxed wine to share with all who helped and joined others up at the ‘Nut House’ on the dock for conversation, analyzing the day, and how we should proceed. Nice to be in the marina.

A new day. Wind still blows so being tucked in the marina is comforting. As luck would have it, there was a boat at Rum Cay we knew from Nassau. Not a sail boat, but a funky, power, work boat that is based off of an old converted coast guard ship permanently anchored in Rum Cay. Their purpose…to keep Rum Cay full of fuel at the marina. The converted coast guard ship was originally here to house employees working on major construction on the island. It has been converted to a fuel storage vessel. The work boat had been in Nassau a few days at the marina where we stayed, and in usual Randy fashion, he got to know the guys. The next morning in Rum Cay, as we are trying to decide how we can retrieve our anchor and check the bottom of Kwanesum, the work boat pulls into the marina. Randy took his coffee up to the ‘Nut House’, again for good conversation. Before I know it, a very tall young man is standing at the dock near our boat, in his swim trunks with diving gear on. He’s going in. He’s going to check the bottom of Kwanesum. You’re kidding me?! Nope…he’s not afraid. He had his sidekick there…watching for sharks. It’s still early in the morning and the sharks don’t usually make their rounds ‘til late. O…K…… This should be interesting. In he went and very quickly made the rounds around the boat. And out he came with his side kick pointing to the marina entrance…."Shark headed this way." Those damn sharks must hear every time there’s a splash in the water! Looked like a nurse shark, which aren’t known to be dangerous, but who wants to test that one!?! Out just in time. "Kwanesum looks ok," he said. "Just some surface, cosmetic scratches." Whew! Dodged that bullet! High Fives all around. Such relief. …As the shark swam slowly by.

One of the worries down. Now…will we get our anchor back? We actually thought it was a goner. However, there were two very ambitious young men on a sailboat in the marina who thought they might be able to get it. Again, the cruising community rises to the occasion. Neil and Nick off of s/v Conch Pearl said they’d try to dive on the anchor and retrieve it. Fan-tas-tic! Off they go in their dinghy. Back they come. They found it but couldn’t get it up. "But we’ll keep trying!" Fortunately it’s not too deep, but the water is still pretty choppy and the anchor is stuck in there really tight…not to mention the 250 feet of heavy chain attached to it. At least we know where it is and we have help. Excellent.

Next morning…we see Neil and Nick go out again in their dinghy. We gave them our 'look bucket' to help spot the anchor and it was well marked by the guys on Wanderlust, so finding it again won’t be a problem. Bringing it up off the bottom, however, remains the problem. I notice the workboat parked next to us go out. Noisy, old workboat. Rasta-Man and his sidekick, Billy. Yes…he looks the part. A perfect specimen of the Rastafarian style. Out they go…back they come… with smiles on their faces and our anchor in the back of their boat!! Holy Cow! You've gotta be kidding me?!! They got our anchor! Chain and all. Oh my gosh! They didn’t even tell us they were going to try. With Rasta-man at the helm, the always-smiling Billy dove in and got it. Somehow they were able to dislodge it and pull it all up. Not sure if Neil and Nick were there to help but Randy and I are beside ourselves with glee! How unbelievably lucky are we!?! We are now whole. There will be no glitches in going forward as we now have an anchor again. This is so excellent. Randy gives the R-Man and Billy a large token of our appreciation. Later, Neil told us he and Nick renamed Rasta-man and Billy the Sneaky-Rastas. Neil and Nick were trying to find a way to carefully take the anchor and chain off the reef so as not to harm it. Rasta-man and Billy just man-handled it off when the Conch Pearl duo weren’t looking. Well…not to harm the environment is on all cruisers’ agenda, but apparently not the locals’. Either way…we were ecstatic to have the anchor and chain back on the boat in working condition.

Now we can enjoy Rum Cay. And wait for the weather window. During this hullabaloo we got to know some great new friends. Terri and Lyman off s/v San Clés. They were the boat originally anchored next to us. Mike, Karen and Samantha off s/v Mschiana who have been in the marina waiting for weather for a couple of weeks. Neil and Nick from s/v Conch Pearl, ditto. All great people. Not to mention the people that live on the island.

Not much to do on Rum Cay. Not much at all. It’s a small island, about 10 miles by 6 miles. Buildings mostly sparse and plain. Beautiful beach with interesting shells. I loved walking on this beach. I found some wonderful shells. A great cast of characters occupy the island. The marina area is great. Covered shelters off the docks where we sit to chat often (the 'Nut House')…at sunset usually with a cocktail. We play the 'cruising game', consisting of a ring…on a string…which you swing…up to a hook. If you’re really good…you can even do it backwards. I’m not good. Lyman was the expert, followed by Randy, Mike and Terri. Samantha got pretty good at it, too! There’s a nice restaurant and bar here that is not often open except for happy hour and dinner…if you let them know you’re going to be there. If you’re not there…they’re not open. Still… a great place to gather when we do all show up.

Terri and Lyman rounded us up to take a taxi tour of the island. And why not, since we had so much time on our hands. George’s Taxi…the taxi on the island is George’s Taxi. Not sure why they need a taxi on this island but we were glad to acquire his van and his knowledge for a tour. $40/hour… but if we share it, it’s manageable.

I’m going to digress right here a moment to say we learned a lesson. Cash on hand. Cash…not credit cards. We have a coffer of cash we keep on the boat. We should have beefed it up before leaving Nassau. You never know when you’re going to get stuck on a remote island for 2 weeks. An island that doesn’t have a bank... and can’t give you a cash advance on your credit card because there’s no expendable cash on the island... and the mail boat comes in only once a week, if it can get in,... and the cash it brings is for payroll. Dammit. Ok…we need to watch our cash. This lesson will creep up several times on our stay at Rum Cay.

But…back to the tour. We’re all now in "Us Against the Weather" mode, as Mike would say, so having a tour of the island is a great way to pass the time.

The land in the Bahamas is rugged and rough. These islands are made from atolls, which don’t offer a lot to foster flora and fauna. However, parts of this island found a way. What does grow is interesting and beautiful and often useful! Many of the plants are used for medicinal purposes. Terri and I had many questions about the plants we saw and George was very forthcoming in telling us about them and if they were useful…or dangerous. We learned of the island’s past…locals are descendants of slaves. Of yesteryear…plantations…cotton. Still a few remnants of cotton plants here and there. More recently…several attempts to make tourism prosper on the island, to no avail for various reasons. The latest attempt left big scars on the island where a huge marina was to be developed. Very sad when you look at the large dredged areas just left there. Expensive equipment sitting, rusting. An airport that doesn’t see much action. But the locals prevail with their wonderful attitudes.

George took us by the local grocery store…The Last Chance…so we could provision before returning home. Again, the money coffer rears its head. We buy just what is necessary.

“Welcome to the Hotel Rum Cay….
You can check-out any time you like,
but you can never leave!”

We wait. We form the Breakfast Club…or Coffee Club. Every morning at 6:30am we gather on Kwanesum for coffee and to listen to our weather guru, Chris Parker, on the single side band radio. (Glad I brought lots of Starbucks French roast.) We need to find a weather window to carry on. For reasons of location in the marina, our boat is able to pick up the broadcast on the SSB better than the other boats. We all need to get moving, but we want to have good weather and the tropical wave that went through is still hanging on with big winds and chop. As a matter of fact, 4 other boats that have been waiting at anchor decide to come into the marina to wait. The anchorage is getting uncomfortable. Now there’s a full house at the Hotel Rum Cay.

We learn a lot while we’re here…waiting. We learn more about weather. Karen on Mschiana is very skilled in the weather department. We learn more about our single side band radio and getting new weather reports using that medium. Lyman is skilled and experienced with that. He’s very tech savvy. Nice. Mike and Karen have many years of experience cruising beneath their belts. They share their knowledge. Terri shows me websites that are useful for my needs on the blog. We all become fast friends and it’s fun. We celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. We watch the big sport fisher boats come in, clean their fish, and ‘play’ with the sharks. Then fill their tanks with fuel and leave again, $7,000 added on their credit card. (We were hoping they paid in cash.)

Randy carves his conch horn. There are many, many, many conch shells on the beach at Rum Cay. Randy chooses one, George (the taxi man of many talents) carves a hole in the end, Randy taps it out and the conch horn is born. Quickly, the conch blowing talents go from sick cow to… it’s 5 0’clock somewhere! Hooray! We have our official happy hour horn.

Still waiting….things happen: >>a cruiser falls in the water, missing his steps as he tries to get off his boat onto the dock. Not an easy task, that...getting off onto the dock. Not a young man, and sharks are about. He quickly scurries out of the water. Whew! >>A boat slams into the pier. And it wasn’t one of us! The fuel boat…reverse didn’t engage…wham! Another exciting moment. >>Nick catches a mahi mahi and fries it up as hors d’oeuvres for the evening happy hour…excellent. >>The South Africans, both boats of which were the dinghies that helped us when we were caught on the reef, come by to check on us. To see if we’re ok. Such delightful people. The guys off the S African catamaran Indigo come aboard for drinks and tell us great stories while enjoying wine. The delightfulness of times like these is hard to explain. What a rich life we lead. Even while stuck on a remote island…waiting for weather.

Hang on to your hat folks; I think we have a window of opportunity. The Morning Coffee Group…or whatever we decided we were…has spotted a weather window…of more than one day. And it’s been consistently forecasted for a couple of days, which is a good sign. If the weather states the same forecast for at least two or three days, it’s a good indication that it might be stable. So we set the date to leave…finally. Since we’ve been here so long Randy and I decide to forego the Turks and Caicos and head straight for the Dominican Republic where we will stay for hurricane season. San Clés is going to do the same, but they will then go on to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands after stopping in the DR. Mschiana and Conch Pearl will head to the Turks. Mschiana will leave their boat there for the season. Conch Pearl will continue on but want to see the Turks first. But we’ll all leave together. The other boats are leaving, too, but are heading North. Their weather window hasn’t been any better that direction either. They leave before we do. We wave goodbye to our fellow cruisers and wish them fair winds.

The plan is to leave first thing in the morning. The plan fails. We wait another day. The plan works. We’re all up early, getting ready to go…to peel off the docks one by one. We are being eaten alive by mosquitoes and noseeums…ugh. But we’re excited. The morning is calm, the water very still. This will make it easier to get out of the not-so-easy-to-get-into marina. Conch Pearl in the lead, then Kwanesum, Mschiana, and San Clés. Our next journey has begun.

The Hotel Rum Cay has let us go.

Nassau to Rum Cay: May 2 - 12, 2009

The answer is: It’s an adventure. We’re testing our mettle. It’s been our dream. It’s so fun, so beautiful, so many great people. We’re exploring a part of the planet from the sea point of view.

What is: And I’m doing this … why?

There are days…

• When you want to take a bath and there’s no bath…and you have to save water so you can barely rinse off.
  
• When you’ve worn the same clothes so many times you have to ‘hose’ off with Febreeze!
  
• When you haul your laundry to the little shack (when you can find one), there are 2 washers and only one dryer works…and it costs you $30.
  
• When you’re trying to sleep and the boat is rocking and rolling so badly that you move into the aft berth where it doesn’t rock quite so much and you can’t hear the anchor shifting around.
  
• When you want TV…or something on the radio besides Cuban music, which really isn’t too bad, but doesn’t come in very well.
  
• When you want a piece of toast so you do it in the oven and hope you’re not using too much propane.
  
• When you want a tortilla and there are none to be found. =)
  
• When you just want to be on the internet…for awhile…and you don’t want to use the inverter and use power…and you can’t find a good signal anyway.
  
• When you’re sure you won a million dollars and you can’t get your voice messages. OK…maybe not this one.
  
• When you want to phone home…and there’s no coverage and the internet is too low for Skype.

Trade offs… for a pretty darned fun, adventurous, interesting, back-to-basics, great-people-meeting life. It’s a hoot! Living la vida loca, baybee!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

So on we go…South.

We left Nassau…finally! After saying farewells to all that helped us there…Peter, Dudley…all the guys at the dock that were so kind…we pulled out of the marina and made a right turn. Excellent. Now we’ll work our way down the Exuma islands heading toward the Dominican Republic. We had a great weather window. It feels so good to be moving again!

To Highborne Cay: We motor-sailed on. A 7 hour tour. It was beautiful…a beautiful day. I love it! The seas are gorgeous, the day is bright and sunny …the wind is in my hair…I’m on the bowsprit singing with my arms spread wide…..NOooo! Bad analogy! But you get the picture. The direction we’re going is the wrong way. That’s what Randy says. “Ellen, we’re going the wrong way.” We’re always heading into the wind. And it’s usually directly on our nose! Hence the reason we leave the engine on > > to make progress. We put up the sails, as it does speed us up and help balance the boat. But if we turned off the engine we’d have to tack off course to pick up enough wind to make speed and then it would be a longer distance. We toodle along as is. So… we’re actually going the right way… but the wrong direction in this wind.

We reach Highborne Cay. Let’s anchor. I am the one that takes us in to the anchorage, finding the best place to ‘park.’ OK…I’ve spotted where we’re headed. I slow the boat down and make my way there. We’re about to have a Safeway-Parking-Lot experience. I’ve almost got us to my scoped-out spot when I hear on the radio, “Love Affair, can you slow it down a bit in the anchorage.” I look around and to my right a large power yacht is making its way too quickly through the anchorage and, yep, headed right to the spot I had picked out. Hmmmm….not sure if he’s going on through, or going to anchor there. I continue on course and Randy says, “El…you might want to stop. It doesn’t look like he’s going to!” I put the boat in reverse and wait for him to pass. But sure enough…he speeds in, slams on his breaks, (that’s putting it in reverse in boat talk) and starts lowering his anchor. “Ummm Love Affair, Love Affair, this is the sailing yacht Kwanesum just to your port. Just letting you know we had been heading this direction for quite some time and I find it rather discourteous that you speeded in the anchor with no awareness of other boats approaching this spot.” No response. Another boater gets on, “I guess there’s no love for Love Affair!” “Roger that, roger that,” I say. Then, “This is Love Affair, was someone trying to hail us?” “Roger, Love Affair, let’s go to 18.” We dial up on the VHF from the main channel 16 which you constantly monitor. Now Randy’s on the horn… "Uh, Love Affair, this is the sailing vessel Kwanesum just to your port. Not sure how long you’ve been sailing but you usually don’t speed through an anchorage and stop right in front of someone making way to an anchor. Over.” “Uh, this is Love Affair. I’ve been boating since 1940! I’m 83 years old and have been doin’ this for years!” Silence. Whoa...83…OK. He probably didn’t even see us! I think we’ll turn around and anchor a little farther away. Bless his heart…83 and still handling a big boat, but goodness!

We found another great spot in the anchorage. Back …and away from Love Affair. It was just plain weird having a Safeway-Parking-Lot encounter on the water. Not to deter us, by golly! Randy put on his swim trunks and snorkel gear and dove on the anchor to be sure it was set. I jumped in and just swam…around the boat. Felt so good! Lots of big boats here. Highborne is a stopping point for cruisers going north or going south. Just to the north of our anchorage was Allans Cay. Allans is famous for the iguanas. This area is the primary home of the remaining iguanas that live only here and on some of the remote Out Islands.

We’re up early the next morning and jump in our dinghy to go see the iguanas. It’s a beautiful area…Allans Cay. Very peaceful. There are a few boats anchored there but it’s not a large anchorage area. At first we’re not sure where to find them. As we look around the beaches I spot Indigo, a Hinckley 49, at anchor. We had met Gary and Mike off Indigo, 2 nights before, at the Poop Deck bar in Nassau. They were headed the same way and by golly there they were! We pulled up to their boat and knocked. They welcomed us aboard and showed us around their boat. We told them we were looking for the iguanas and they pointed to the beach where we’d find them. We head out for the beach with an invitation to come back for bloody marys when we’re done! All righty! We shall do that.

Off we go and the iguanas are fascinating. I, however, do NOT get out of the dinghy. Those puppies scurry pretty quickly and they head right for you... expecting food I suppose. They are NOT attractive. They have very long claws. Randy being the macho, hero type immediately got out and started taking pictures with his new little camera. Thank you…I’ll stay right where I am. I can get my own pictures from the safety of the dinghy. There are a bunch of them. We finish our pictures and off we go back to Indigo for one of the best bloody marys I’ve ever had. Always interesting conversations with other cruisers. As we’re sipping on our drinks we see a big commercial cigarette-type speed boat piled with people headed for the iguanas. I’m so glad we got to see them in the peaceful quiet morning.

Back to the boat, another swim around…some gin and tonics…life is good. The sun sets and we hear a sound. Someone is blowing through a conch shell. Then another boat responds. Then another. How cool! Apparently in these Out Islands that is a tradition. A perfect ending to the day. Now off the next morning to Normans Cay.

To Normans Cay: Hang on to your hats folks, we are sailing! The winds are at the right angle. We’re doing 5.5 knots, which is not bad. This is great! A beautiful day and just the peaceful quiet of the sails. By the way, I must tell you that my proactive puking management (hereafter known as PPM) has been working well. Either that or I’m getting used to the motion. I have NOT been sick since our trip across to Lucaya. :::knock on wood::: Loving that sports fans! This is the kind of travel we have dreamed of. Sailing…sails without the engine…with bright sunshine and crystal blue seas and doing a respectable speed to our destination. We pull in; I find a spot; no speeding power boats coming out of nowhere…nice. It was a sweet 3 hour tour, or so. It’s only 10:00am and here we are!

You will remember in my earlier posts I mentioned a captain on a sport fishing boat, Rob, who was next to us in Harbor Club Marina in Nassau for a brief time. He works his boss’s boat, American Beauty, out of Wax Cay. Wax Cay is a small private island next to Normans. Rob told us to give him a holler when we got to Normans and he’d give us a tour. So that’s what we did. We hailed Rob on 16 and we arranged to meet him over there via dinghy about noon. We were expecting some good ole boys’ area and maybe a couple of buildings for the fishing fanatics. Not so! It was quite a place.

Wax Cay is owned by 2 guys that I think live in Nassau. Rob’s American Beauty, is owned by a gentleman from New York. Rob’s boss somehow negotiated with the 2 owners to use Wax Cay during the season for fishing. Nice move on his part.

As we turned the corner to Wax Cay I thought we had the wrong spot…there were so many buildings! We saw Rob waiting for us and he guided us into the little harbor that had been made. What a magnificent place! We went up to the main building that had a restaurant style bar and kitchen and a lovely eating area. Opened Kaliks right away and toasted. What a view! Rob explained that all the main buildings on the island were purchased in Vietnam, parts numbered, disassembled, shipped to Wax Cay, reassembled and finished off. Very chic…shabby/beach chic. Done very tastefully. We toured the game room and one of the cottages and then jumped in a golf cart and toured the whole island.

The spa…they have a building they call the spa. Apparently the wife of one of the owners wanted to have an open building where she could get massages. Of course it has a magnificent view…all open sides.

There are maybe 6 or 8 cottages on the island, some little, some bigger, and are all fitted out for visitors. Most have their own beach. There may be a time, Rob said, when the owners will lease out this side of the island and they will put their own private buildings on the other side. How fun to be able to see this!

After our tour, Rob poured me some wine and got more Kaliks for Randy and him and made us an early dinner of mahi mahi. How can you beat that? I felt like I was on The Rich and Famous program. It included a perfect weather day. Rob found a conch shell on the property and gave it to us for our sunset calling. We’re going to try it!

We said our goodbyes to Rob and scooted back to the boat in the dinghy. The tide was in …good… we can cut a corner to get back to the boat. Woops! A little too close there! Poor Bob! Ran into a little reef! Boom! We climb out and push Bob off the reef hoping we didn’t put a hole in him. One of the dumb decisions we made when fitting out our boat was to get an inflatable bottom dinghy. These are good dinghys, and they fold up for stowing on long passages, but not very practical for where we are. Going over coral reefs? Not so good. And the hard bottom dinghys ride better, too, it seems. And I think our outboard engine doesn’t like Bob. It’s always cavitating when we want to go fast. And most of the time you want to go fast. We tried to remedy the problem but so far it really hasn’t worked well. Yahama 9.9 + Avon inflatable bottom = not a good combo. But our Bob did handle the little reef like a perfect dinghy. No holes. A few dents in the propeller but that ads character. Off we go back to the boat. Our next dinghy will be a hard bottom. And in my opinion…the sooner the better. No offense, Bob. Anyone want to buy a 10ft inflatable bottom dinghy? Meet us in the DR.
Back on the boat…put on some Gordon Lightfoot…again, a couple of gin and tonics… nice. Again, a conch shell announces sunset as we watch from our waterfront property….life is good. Randy gets our conch shell out. Blows…sounds like one of the cows from the dairy. Don’t think that’s the one Ran! We’ll keep looking.

To Staniel Cay: Up and off to Staniel Cay the next morning. Still cruising the Exumas…headin’ south. A 6 hour trip. Another beautiful island with water different shades of blue and so crystal clear! It is one of earth’s great splendors. Two days at Staniel. We swam around the boat…Randy checked on the anchor and a barracuda was following him. Hmmm…. I swam a little and was going to go in later in the afternoon when I thought I saw a ray! And another fish. The ray turned out to be a nurse shark. I think not…..on the swimming. Nurse sharks, they say, don’t harm you. But don’t think I’ll test that one. And I think the other fish was a barracuda, too. He was shading himself under our boat.

We need to go check out the Staniel Cay Yacht Club we’ve heard about. Plus...we’re hungry. It’s another great funky place. Good conch burger, good cheeseburger, got online briefly, and toasted to Cinco de Mayo! Happy Birthday, Nancy and Deb! Happy Hour munchies and specials on Coronas. Can’t beat that. They were having a big to-do, but we passed on that. It was starting later and it would have been dark when over. I didn’t want to dinghy in this new area after dark. But, too, sometimes we can just be wimps. So back to the boat.

The next day we dinghy’d to Thunderball Cave. Thunderball Cave was made famous by the James Bond movie. You can dive there but there are strong currents so you need to be there at slack tide. Supposed to be wonderful diving, which would have been great. Our timing wasn’t at slack tide and we still haven’t made a good method to help get back in the dinghy from the water. Not an easy task…unless you’re buffed or under 40. Although if you get a good kick with your fins...you should be able to get in. Should is the key word. And one of us would have needed to stay with the dinghy. I want Randy with me when I snorkel something like that. Sounds like a bunch of excuses to me! =) So we just dinghy’d out to look and then back to SCYC for a beer. Nothing wrong with that! They were cleaning fish in front of the SCYC and the wild animals appeared! Cool.

Ahhh…and the pigs. We were actually anchored off the island of Big Majors which is next to Staniel Cay. And Big Majors has pigs. Not sure why, but there are pigs on that island. So I needed to find the pigs. We dinghy’d over to the beach and walked around and did see little pig footprints. But no pigs. I called them…but no pigs. So we went back to the boat. Sitting outside I noticed a boat from one of the big yachts going over to the beach. “Randy…they found the pigs! We must go see the pigs!” So back we went. I guess we’re too cheap to feed these wild critters so they didn’t put on a show for us. This boat brought food. Shoulda known. They didn’t impress me anyway. No food for you! =)

To George Town: Up early and off at 0600. George Town is on the Great Exuma Island, a destination we’d been trying to get to for quite some time! I was originally going to have my cousin Deb meet us there. But one thing I’ve learned about what we’re doing is to have patience. And be ready to wait. And sometimes that’s not easy. But I think we’re getting closer to accepting it. We arrive in George Town at 1630. Not a bad trip. We anchor off of Monument Beach on Stocking Island, which is just across Elizabeth Harbour. Plenty of room.

We have missed the party. During the cruising season, which is November through June (Hurricane Season is June through November) there can be up to 300 – 400 boats anchored around George Town. It’s a favorite destination of cruisers going south, like we are, and for those who just want to get there and stay for the season. Tons of things going on. Like Spring Break for the cruising crowd. Boats start leaving in May and now there may be 50 anchored there. Part of me is glad we missed the crowd…and part of me is sad. But there’s still fun stuff to do. There’s a fish fry Friday night on Stocking Island right where we’re anchored. We dinghy in and have conch and ribs. No fresh fish I guess. And Bahamian music. Very nice…but only about 20 people. We have good visits with all and enjoy the music.

The next day we dinghy into town to get an internet card. That way we can pick it up from the boat. The damn dinghy is giving us trouble. Come onnnn, Bob!! Knock it off. The motor starts fine, but then it will just quit! Well THAT’S not good! We had this problem before but not so frequently. The float sticks in the carburetor. That’s as much as I know. Randy takes off the cowling (can you believe I even know these words?) and bleeds it a little and taps on it and all is well. But it’s a pain in the neck. So the day didn’t start the best. We find our way in to George Town proper and start the hike to the Car Wash/Pet Store where we will buy our internet card. Quite the place. And it was a bit of a hike to get there. We get there and realize we only have $100 bill with us. Duhhh…they’re not going to have change for that! (Brains aren't working.) So back we trek to the bank we spotted near the dinghy dock. Or back RANDY treks. I wait for him in the shade. Not enough pets to keep me interested in the Car Wash/Pet Store. And not any car wash customers. Kind of a useless endeavor with all the dusty, sandy roads…but whatever works! Back Randy comes and we pay our $15. Now we’re hot and thirsty and I’ll be damned if we can’t find a bar with a beer! Hold on…I thought this was the happening town! Just because we missed the party, they must have beer some place! We settle on water from the store and dinghy back.
We find the place. The Chat 'N Chill on Stocking Island. I KNEW there had to be some rockin’ joint on this island. Loved it. Again…a funky bar.

Volleyball courts off to the side. Quite a few people anchored in here. And dinghys pulled up on the beach. A great bartender…Kendell. I feel better. It’s the simple things that please me…like finding the nearest funky beach bar.

Next day…it’s Mothers Day and my birthday! We head to the Chat 'N Chill where they’re having a pig BBQ and my favorite…Bahamian Macaroni and Cheese. And I always love the coleslaw in the Bahamas…and their peas and rice. Great food. My birthday, so I’m going to have fun drinks. Started with a blue something…it was ok…went to a pina colada…it was great…then a goombay smash. Excellent. Again, good conversations with people. We wrote our boat name on the bar. Good day…this birthday. Now back to the boat to call our favorite kids and our favorite mom up in Oregon. Yayy! Miss them so much!

In the meantime, during the day while we’re there…Randy goes back and forth in the dinghy, into town, to get fuel and water. Two or three times. To make sure we’re topped off. Again and again going through the steps to unstick the float in the carburetor. Come onnnn, Bob!! Knock it off. Anyone want an outboard engine to go with that dinghy that’s for sale??!!! What a pain in the inflatable.

To Rum Cay…make that …Conception Island: Gotta keep going so we’re up and at ‘em and on the way to our next stop. The weather is starting to turn. The seas are bigger…a lot bigger. And the winds, of course, are on our nose. The day is beautiful, but the ride is not. But …the PPM is keeping me puke-less. To make me happy, because the seas are trying, Randy stops at Conception. A beautiful anchorage. Nice to have these little islands where you can stop. This tiny island is known for wonderful coral reefs to snorkel. Unfortunately we had the dinghy put away and we were worn out from the ride over. And we wanted to get on to Rum Cay before the weather turned worse. I hate missing stuff but it just wasn’t practical. Always gorgeous sunsets to enjoy. “Randy! We need to find our own conch shell and make it into a horn.”

Now…to Rum Cay: Not far. About a 5 hour trip. The weather is starting to become a factor. The skies are still beautiful, but the waves are big and the winds are strong…from the wrong direction. We have a bouncing trip into Rum Cay. PPM still on full attack mode. =) Found the anchorage…one boat there. Hmmm…not sure that’s a good sign. We anchor and set a bridle on our anchor. The purpose of the bridle is to keep you into the swell so you’re rocking like a rocking horse instead of rolling side to side. A much better motion. Otherwise your boat is just at the whim of the wind.

I’m going to leave this post here…with us just anchored in Rum Cay. We have been here more than a week. And adventures we’ve had.

Stay tuned!