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1-15 March 2010

Dunmore Town Eleuthera to Spanish Wells

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Date Location Log and Pictures
1 March 2010 Dunmore Town, Eleutheras, Bahamas Good weather prediction held so we were off this morning at 6:45 am for Dunmore Town, Eleuthera in company with Wayne and Francine on their boat My Way.  An hour after underway we finally got around the point and were looking at Boat Harbour Marina, a place we could walk to from the marina we just left, Harbour View, in 15 minutes.  90 minutes later we were in the Atlantic Ocean.  It was flat and a beautiful run at 10 knots for 50 miles to Eleuthera; a total trip of 72 nautical miles.  For five hours we looked at ocean and more ocean, and were thankful that the ocean was relatively flat.  The northern edge of Eleuthera is full of coral reefs and called the Devil's Backbone, a treacherous place to travel.  We hired a pilot that is standard practice in this area.  You see him below in his 17 foot open boat leading us thru the reefs, very close to the beach at times.  We did this at a speed of 11-13 knots.  My Way stayed close behind Apolonia as we raced thru the reefs.  You just turn off the fathometer, cross your fingers and follow the pilot.  Once in Dunmore we needed the drink readily available at the Valentine Marina bar.  They started happy hour with the wait staff playing music on various cooking instruments.  Later in the evening we walked to Rock House, a 5 star restaurant that looked like it could be from some Mediterranean Coastal town.  Fantastic food and a view of the sunset that we all enjoyed.  Carey and I split our meals.  She had lobster and I had steak au poivre.   Dunmore Town is not a common stop for boaters, probably due to Devil's Backbone.  Tomorrow we'll see what the place is all about.  
   

   

   

   

2 March 2010 Dunmore Town, Eleuthera We're in Eleuthera, at Dunmore Town, Harbour Island.  It is known for its pink beaches and wild horses racing on the beach, quaint homes, and fabulous restaurants, with a price to match. Not a place many boaters visit but known for the rich and famous traveling here to enjoy the area.  It is a fantastic place to visit by boat.  We showed yesterday the need for a pilot to get here through the coral reefs.  The area is considered part of the far-bahamas and considered an argument as the first stop of Christopher Columbus in the 1600s.  Wherever Chris stopped, the area today is beautiful and the beaches are in fact pink as the coral has been broken off and meshed with the sand to make it so.  The "wild horses" are all ridden by people of the area so they may not be so wild anymore, but nonetheless are a beautiful part of the culture in the area.  We are enjoying the area and will probably stay for two more days to let the cold front pass thru the area.  Tonight we're expecting 35 knot winds; we're tied up with over 10 lines to various pilings to keep us safe throughout the night.  Wayne, Francine, Carey and I have enjoyed visiting the island by golf cart and walking the beaches.  Tonight we ate at another fantastic restaurant.  Maybe tomorrow we'll eat aboard and forego the steep prices of the local restaurants.    
   

   

   

3 March 2010 Dunmore Town, Eleuthera, Bahamas The storm came as predicted, 35 knot winds and 3 foot waves in the marina.  Hard to show in pictures and I can't figure out how to upload the video we took that showed all the boats rocking and rolling all day.  Needless to say it was a rough last evening and today, with winds finally calming this evening.  We'll stay another day to let everything settle down.  We're enjoying Dunmore Town but the winds are not to our liking.  Wayne, Francine, Carey and I did find time to enjoy the local marina bar this afternoon and are finally on board with settling winds and a no longer rocking and rolling boat. 

   

4-5 March 2010 Highborne Cay, Exumas, Bahamas On the 4th we enjoyed Dunmore one more day as the wind was still blowing hard.  On the 5th we had a good weather day so we hired "Old Pot," the pilot pictured below to take us from Dunmore Town to Spanish Wells.  He is 70+ years old and first piloted boats thru this area in 1956.  I enjoyed learning from him.  We did not get pictures of the 6 foot beam seas we traveled thru on the devils back bone, but did get one of the close passing to the beach, but Carey was not a happy camper as furniture moved and the freezer door opened and dumped its contents.  Wayne and Francine on My Way, following us said they were amazed at how much Apolonia was rocking in the beam seas, near 25 degrees thru one section.  Carey thought that Old Pot was hot dogging it at 15 knots, but in fact he was pushing the boat thru near rage seas as we traveled between the Ocean (8-10 foot seas) and the reefs. He did a great job keeping Apolonia on track in a very narrow channel.  We dropped him off at Spanish Wells and headed south to the Eleutheras.  We traveled thru Current Cut with its 4 knots current and navigated sandy shoals for several miles without going aground, then headed to the Exumas driving around the coral reefs (large black spots in the "yellow bank" of the Exumas).  We finally arrived at Highborne Cay Marina at 4 pm after a 60 nm passage, enjoying the large boats moored there and the beautiful beach were we had our first cocktail of the evening.  We're now on board relaxing and enjoying a great dinner fixed by Chef Carey.   
   

   

   

   

6 March 2010 Warderick Wells, Exumas Traveled 29 NM today to Warderick Wells, home of the Exumas National Park.  We took mooring balls, a first for My Way and difficult for all of us in 15+ knot winds.  I used the dinghy to help get a line around the buoy for May Way.  We were tired after a 3 hour ride in 2-3 foot seas so we all stayed on our  boats and relaxed, enjoying a beautiful sunset. 
   

7 March 2010 Staniel Cay, Exumas Mid morning we (Phil, Carey, Wayne, and Francine) took our dinghy into the Exumas national park and walked a few of the trails.  The views from the the top of the park were stunning, looking at the Ocean and the inner bay where boats were safely tied to mooring balls.  At the top of the park we experienced the strong winds across the Ocean and tried to see what curly tail lizards did.  At noon we returned to our boats and headed to Staniel Cay, just 19 NM south.  After mooring we noticed the nerf sharks swimming under the boats.  Tonight we'll join a crowd of boaters at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club for their dinner seating; they have one per night.  It was a great 19 mile passage today and the rum drinks at the bar this afternoon were fantastic.  This is a lively place and we'll stay a day or two.
   

   

   

8 March 2010 Staniel Cay, Exumas Last night we went to dinner at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club with Wayne and Francine, enjoying a laugh about something or the other before dinner on the porch of the club.  Dinner included a single setting of about 70 people.  We had a great time.  Early the next morning I went in to the Yacht Club and had them nail the Westmoreland Yacht Club burgee to the ceiling of the club among the other 150 burgees already on display.  Wayne and Francine left this morning for Nassau to get ready for a visit by some of their children.  We stayed today and walked the town, seeing some of the sights of the village, a great place.  
   

   

   

   

9 March 2010 Black Point, Exuma Great weather today.  We took our time and finally got underway at 1030 for Black Point, Exuma, a 10 mile trip.  We looked back on Staniel Cay as we left, a pretty place we really enjoyed.  We're planning to get back to the states by the end of March and have adjusted our schedule to conform with the weather to get us there.  We've traveled 500 miles since leaving Florida but are just 250 miles from Florida as the crow flies..  After arrival at Black Point we took the dinghy into town and enjoyed the 250 person village, including the government clinic, a hot dog stand, a cafe, the police station, and a beautiful water view of the harbor.  Front yards of most of the homes had chairs or places to sit and enjoy the weather.  On our walk home we came across a gentlemen building a Class C sloop.  He said he could build one in 3 weeks and he was about 1/2 done with the one he was working on.    After enjoying the local rum drink at a local bar we went back to the anchored Apolonia for a great home cooked salmon dinner.  Tomorrow we'll start our trip back to the states. 
   

   

   

   

10 March 2010 Big Majors, Exuma We left Black Point and moved 9 miles north to Big Majors.  We're waiting for a cold front to pass this weekend and must be in a good position to handle the expected 30 knot winds.  The anchorage at Big Majors has a great beach with large pink spotted pigs that jump in the water and swim to small boats for food.  The last picture in the group is of the pigs, although our camera is not good enough to get a good shot of them.  The other pictures are of some of the various boats at anchor.  All told, there were 15 boats at anchor in the area, from 20 foot to 120 foot.  Four of them had wifi I could receive but they were password protected so we did not get our email this night.  The winds were 15 to 20 from the east and we were in the lee of the cay, a nice night.  .  
   

   

11 March 2010 Highborne Cay, Exumas Traveled 42 miles today to Highbourn Cay, Exuma.  The winds are expected to increase to 30 knots tonight and tomorrow in advance of the cold front so we decided to seek marina safe mooring at Highbourn Cay.  We'll probably be here several days as the front pushes through and then head across the Ocean to the Great Abacos and then on to Florida. 
12-13 March 2010 Highborne Cay, Exuma Friday the 12th we relaxed and did a few chores as the front, with high winds, started to come thru the area.  Saturday, we walked the beach and considered relaxing in the many hammocks along the beach and watched the amphibious plane land discharging its passengers, the only way on and off the cay (island) except by boat.  The marina was filling up as the front started pushing thru.  Some really large boats came in as well as a beautiful 78 foot Burger from Fort Lauderdale, FL.  Late this evening the marina held a cookout which we and everyone enjoyed that concluded with dancing to Bahamian music.  The winds have shifted from the south to the north throughout the day and still at 20 to 25 knots.  The winds are predicted to diminish to 15 tomorrow morning.  If so, we're off to Spanish Wells in the Eleutheras. 
   

   

   

14 March 2010 Spanish Wells, Eleuthera Last evening at the cookout we saw Bill and Jean Wright.  Bill was a  Commanding Officer of a FFG in Mayport, FL when I served as Executive Officer on another FFG.  It was like old home week.  Bill and Jean travel 9 months a year on their Seline trawler named Chapter III, pictured at right. 

Weather was questionable this morning but we decided to try the trip to Spanish Wells.  It was a sloppy day with 20 knot winds and 3-4 foot seas, most on the quarter that made us wallow for the 8 hour 55 mile trip.  We even considered stopping off at some old ruins we noted on an abandoned cay to relax.  We moved slow to keep the ride at least partly comfortable, but still the furniture moved around the saloon.  We left at 10:30 am and arrived at 6:30 pm.  But we're here and will enjoy the town until the weather allows us to move across the ocean, a 50 mile trip, to the Grand Bahamas.  We poured a stiff drink when we arrived, Carey fixed a good dinner, and we stayed aboard for the evening. 

   

15 March 2010 Spanish Wells, Eleuthera Up at a normal hour to see the town of Spanish Wells.  We rented a golf cart and toured the relatively large community (maybe 5,000 people).  90% of the homes were neat and well maintained.  There is a bustle to the town that feels good.  From the town shores you look over shallow sands (dry at low tide) to the Ocean.  Outside the town their is construction ongoing for communities of homes, some with canals from the ocean.  Interestingly, we toured "Old Pot" road apparently named for a relative of the pilot that took us through the Devil's Backbone to Harbour Island last week.  Harbour Island and Dunmore Town is a short distance from here.   The weather prediction is for a good Ocean crossing day on Wednesday to Grand Abaco Island.  Tomorrow we'll do some chores and tour a bit more and hopefully cross to Abaco on Wednesday.  
   

   

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