Playing in George Town

Persephone is laying at anchor in George Town, Exumas having a great time just hanging out. All systems on the boat are up and working, (a rarity) so there is only routine maintenance to do (which never ends in a water + salt environment).

Trudie flew out yesterday afternoon, back to the cold, white north. She is visiting her daughter and grandson for the next 10 days and will return a week from Sunday. So, it is pretty quite aboard this morning. Gonna get to my projects here, and then head into town for a haircut. The woman who runs the place promises to "handsome me right up". We shall see.

Still cannot upload pictures, as I am using ham radio to post this blog. When T gets back, I promise to use her laptop to upload some of the pictures we have been taking while in George Town.

Singlehanding Dave

Where in the World is Persephone ??

This is just a short post to say "hi" to all. As we mentioned, we plan on staying here in George Town for the next several weeks. Essentially, we are "on vacation" from our voyage south. Trudie is traveling to Connecticut this coming Thursday for a 10 day visit; it is her grandson's first year birthday, and she is very excited about seeing him and having some extended time with her daughter. Plus, she gets to bring back a ton of boat parts/spares which are difficult (impossible ?) for us to get in the islands.

Several of you have been wondering....where the heck is George Town, Exuma ?? Well George Town is nearly at the bottom of Great Exuma Island, in the south-central Bahamas. To give you an idea, we are only 130 miles from Cuba, 250 miles from Haiti, and 599 miles northwest of San Juan, PR. Finally, we are 1,150 miles south (as the bird flies) from Westbrook, CT, our homeport.

We are still working on the "internet" thing....we want to post pictures you may enjoy. We can't do that via ham radio do to bandwith issues. It's another beautiful day in paradise, (sunny, low 80s) we have had only a 3 minute sprinkle of rain since Christmas, literally. (The boat is just caked in salt) But, who's complaining ??!! Gotta get back to planning the day...we wanna hike some of the trails on Stocking Island, and of course, go to the beach...

THE CREW

"Chicken Harbor"

We safely maneuvered Persephone around and through the outlaying reefs and into George Town Harbor. George Town is the largest community in the Exuma Island chain of the Bahamas. Simply, we are back in civilization....sort of. George Town actually has cars, (We have only seen the very occasional car since Nassau) banks (24hr ATM), a real grocery store, liquor stores (replenished the beer supply) marine parts, pay phones, FedEX and WATER. All of the basic necessities cruisers need are available here. This is why many cruisers make George Town their winter home; staying from November through April.

There is an amazing infrastructure set up by the cruising community. The day starts with a radio net at 8am with news, announcements, list of daily activities, items for sale (such as spare or hard to find boat parts) and basic weather. The daily activities include all types of lessons; yoga on the beach, pilate, dominoes, art classes, ham radio licensing classes, poker lessons, volleyball on the beach (daily), bible study (including "Beach Church" on Sunday AM) and community service activities (a seminar is planned to help save the Ecuadorian rain forest). It is sort of like being on a cruise ship without the ship. Every evening there seems to be a pot-luck dinner on one of the beaches, or a get together here or there (tomorrow is a an oldies rock and roll dance). It could be very easy to get wrapped up in the social whirl. It is the opposite of why most of us are cruising.....to get away from organized communal activities.

George Town has earned the moniker "Chicken Harbor". This is the terminus of the snowbirds who migrate here each winter and then head back north in the spring. It is also where crews must decide whether to continue south down the "thorny-path" into the Caribbean or return north. Many boaters plan on heading south into the Carib, but find an excuse here at Chicken Harbor to return north saying "we'll surely go south next year". We will blog in the future about the challenges of heading south of Chicken Harbor and the "thorny-path" to the Caribbean.

Yesterday, Mike from Dancing Dolphins and I went "bug hunting" (read: lobstering). This involves snorkeling around the rocks and reefs looking in holes where lobsters hang out. The lobsters are speared and hauled to the surface and into the waiting dinghy. Yesterday, Mike got a nice size 3 pounder, and we had enough for heavy appetizers for the crews of both boats. We had a great time toasting the successful hunt. We have every intent of supplementing our grocery shopping with regular hunts for lobster and fish. (If we had to rely on me, so far we would starve!)

We plan of spending a couple of weeks here in George Town. We still don't have internet on the boat, but there are internet cafe's in town. So, we are still relying on ham radio for basic email communication. Will keep you updated on our activities as we enjoy a vacation from the trek south.

THE CREW

CRISIS ABOARD: DAY 3

This morning marks the beginning of the 3rd day of THE CRISIS aboard Persephone: NO BEER and NO CASH. Of course, the sun rose this morning to a perfectly clear sky, making it one of the warmest mornings we have experienced while cruising. You can just tell it is going to be one of those hot, steamy, tropical days. And, we have to cook in the heat without our favorite cold refreshment!

We feel that it is important to share the reaction of other cruisers and friends to our predicament (These are the actual quotes from emails we received):

Peter and Jane on "Kinvara" offered their help:

"It sounds like you need the mother ship close by!!!! You must be having serious withdrawals not been able to buy beer. I think you should alter course and meet up with mother ship in Nassau on Wednesday or Thursday."

Bob on "Pride" chastised me as follows:

"As for running out of beer, rum and cash, well that's just pathetic! I thought I taught you better. Your mother would have been heartbroken. Wasn't I the one who told you to fill the v-berth with beer and sleep in the cockpit until you drank it dry? Fortunately, Georgetown is just a day away where you will be able to replenish it all there."

(I wish Bob was right....Georgetown is actually a couple of days away for us)

Our part-time crew Mike offered the follow suggestion:

"I can't believe what I read! No Beer!!! That is an issue that no sailor should ever experience,unless your on the Bismark. Tell Trudie to give out a hog call and they will respond and deliver what ever she needs. Hey it's worth a try."

Trevor and Tory on "Osprey" loaned us a book entitled: "The Cruiser's Handbook of Fishing" (Guess they figure we could learn to fish and earn some money....maybe they were trying to give us a Biblical lesson....give someone a fish and he eats for a day, teach him to fish and he can feed himself forever....) We could have used a coldie instead !!

(They also loaned us $20 to pay for the mooring...for which we are very much indebted)

Ian on "Brenna" didn't respond at all. Clearly, he is so disgusted with our self-created situation he won't even speak to us. I really can't blame him.

So, THE CRISIS continues on Persephone.....Will let you know if we survive the day.

THIRSTY IN PARADISE

SAD DAYS ON PERSEPHONE

We are at Little Farmer's Cay on a mooring. This is a very remote island with 55 residents. This is too remote for any real tourism ..although there are a couple of rooms to rent over the restaurant; mostly for fishing enthusiasts. What the village (couple of buildings) lacks in size is more than made up by the beauty of the surrounding turquoise water and white, soft sandy beaches. This is the kind of place you would expect on a post card; and Persephone is set in the middle!!

We arrived just after noon yesterday, and put the outboard on the dinghy and set off for shore to buy some gas for the outboard; as we were down to about 1 gallon. (The pumps at Staniel were broken, and Black Point has no fuel of any kind) Well, we soon learned that a fuel barge crashed into the docks at the Farmer's Cay Yacht Club, and took out a BIG section of the docks, fuel pumps and associated pipes and wires. "Should be fixed in a couple of weeks, mon..." (Isand time, read months and months) So, no gas.....but as luck would have it, we ran into a local fisherman who said he would sell us a couple of gallons of gas ($5/gal)...I asked if he had any fresh grouper..."yes, mon....just caught, you want me to fillet it for ya". GREAT !! We sealed the deal for $20.00....our LAST bit of cash.

We went to shore to the restaurant (Ocean Cabins) who also runs the moorings. We wanted to get a cold one and pay the rental fee for the mooring. The owner bluntly stated he doesn't take plastic because "Cash is King". What do we do now....we have NO CASH, and the closest bank is 40 miles away....??

I have an idea !!! I bought a Tilly Hat (big, floppy brim thing...think Henry Fonda, On Golden Pond) to keep the sun off me....the instruction say, "put a $20 bill in the little pocket inside the hat so you always have $ available in an emergency". We raced back to the boat, tore open the screens, bounded down the stairs, grabbed THE HAT....Yes, there is CASH...two FIVE DOLLAR bills. ONLY TEN BUCKS !!! This cheap Irishman only put in $10 bucks instead of the suggested $20 ...How cheap can you get.....jerk (Alpha Hotel). T scrapes up a couple of dollars, we raid the laundry change and come up with about $20 bucks, which includes 2 of the gold dollar coins (they otta go over REAL big in the Bahamas !!) So, we may be bartering for the mooring, or borrowing some $ from our friends on Osprey. (The owner is still laughing when I suggested paying by check.)

Being otta cash raises the next MAJOR issue onboard: We are OUT OF BEER and WE CAN'T BUY BEER as we are otta cash...THE BOAT IS DRY !!!! Trudie can't stop weeping. May be the saddest day (week/month) in her adult life. This is worse than Haiti !! She just keeps shaking her head....with her tongue hanging out; mumbling about the good ole days, once being cute, having money and beer. She is in real rough shape, hope it's not terminal.

Due to the front rolling through this weekend, we can't leave until Monday; and it will be at least a couple of days after that until we get to George Town; where there are banks, ATMs, and BEER.

I'm sorry, I can't go on with this posting any further, I'm just too emotional over the state of affairs on Persephone, and frankly just too damn thirsty. Cough !!!

Staniel Cay Pix

After a two anxious hours, the tsunami warnings were lifted.  What do you think THE CREW was doing when the earthquake hit ??  What else, but having "sundowners" in the cockpit....we didn't feel a thing !  I turned on Sirius to listen to some tunes, and the radio was set to CNN from the morning when we listen to news.....that's when we heard what happened only 240 miles away......  On a happier note, thought you would enjoy some sights from Staniel Cay:

Here are the pastel colored cottages along the waterfront:

T and I approach the beach at Big Majors Spot which is the adjacent island (Cay) to  Staniel.   Just off the beach, note the PIG entering the water to come out and greet us:

Here are two pigs actually swimming out to the dinghy.  Note how far they are from the beach !!!

                They are here !!!  Handsome girls aren't they.....

   The sign over the door reads:  "Hugh Smith  Pink Pearl Super Market"

That's it from Staniel Cay.  We are leaving for Black Point this morning after taking on some more water and dinghy gas.  (I burned up a bunch of gas chasing pigs)  Black Point is the second largest community in the Exumas; so we will be able to get fresh produce (we hope).  Fresh produce arrives here in Staniel once a week on the mailboat.  So, if you aren't right at the "supermarket" on the day the mailboat arrives, you are otta luck.    All for now......dodging  tsunamis, is a "tuff" job on Persephone !!  YOUR FEARLESS CREW

Tsunami

Hey all

We are only 240 miles north of Haiti.  We are under a tsunami warning, but CNN (via Sirius radio) and ham radio is reporting that the type of earthquake is not the type that causes a tsunami.  However, the warning continues due to potential aftershocks.  Just wanted to let you know, we are fine, but monitoring the situation. Not to worry.  Trudie wants to know what will happen to her next !!!   THE CREW

Swimming Pigs !!

Cold enough for you ??

Well we'll try and send some "warm stuff' up from the sunny Bahamas.....well sunny until yesterday.

We are presently anchored about 150 yards east of Thunderball Cave at Staniel Cay.  This is where the James Bond movie Thunderball  and Splash was filmed.   We have yet to snorkel the cave, but intend to do so before we leave. 

We went for a dinghy tour the day before yesterday to Big Majors Cay which is an adjacent island.   Trudie wanted some beach time, and Big Majors has some beautiful beaches.  So, we packed up the cooler and set off  to find the perfect beach.  We rounded the south end of Big Majors and right if front of us was a terrific beach....lets go !!   As we approached the beach there was a herd of six (what is the correct term for a bunch of pigs ??   I'm not going there !!)  wild pigs on the beach.  As we approached in the dinghy, they hoofed it into the water and started to swim out to the dinghy looking for hand outs.....they seemed pretty aggressive, so I shifted into reverse and remained about 100 feet off the beach; which seemed to be further out than the pigs wanted to swim unless they were guaranteed a hand-out.  We didn't have any food, and we didn't want to share any of our beers.  (All we could remember was the beer drinking pig on St. Croix....."Buster" who died of cirrhosis  of the liver)   We didn't want that to happen to these pigs !!  We hung off the beach for a few minutes, watched two pig fights, and dinghyed on......  Unfortunately, we didn't bring a camera......if the wx impoves we may go back for photos.

Last night a forecasted cold front called a "Norther" passed over us bringing high winds, near gale force.  We are tucked up behind an island, but we are still feeling the effects of the wind and choppy water.   We didn't sleep real well because the boat was really rocking and rolling, and we wanted to periodically check the anchor to make sure we were holding tight.  All went fine, but we need to hold on this morning as we "walk" around the boat due to the motion.  This is supposed to last through Monday.  Due to a significant chop on the water, we may be "boat bound" for today and perhaps tomorrow.  The prelude to these northers reminds me of an approaching nor'easter in New England.  The market (about 1/4 the size of a gas station mini-market) has cruisers buying thier supplies.  Get-togethers always turn to the subject of  "how hard do ya think its gonna blow ??" (instead of how much snow ya think we're gonna get)  "What kind of anchor you got.....how much chain"  etc.....  all with the same stare I remember  in New England with the approach of a snowstorm. . 

So, we are gonna hang out, get some boat projects started and wait for the wind to blow itself out..... (the largest boat project scheduled for today  is Trudie's task of  re-filling the refrig with coldies)   THE CREW

Boo-Boo Hill Revisited

We did what we promised.  We made up our "offering" and climbed Boo-Boo Hill this afternoon.  This was after the crew of  Dancing Dolphin and THE CREW hiked Warderick Wells for 41/2 hours !!  Yes, up and down some very rough terrain a big chunk of  the day which ended at "the hill". 

Here are boats in the anchorage, Persephone is in the middle of the photo:
(Note the water color, the darker colored water is deep and the light colored "greenish" water is very shallow...perhaps a foot or two.)




                                        v

Here are the "offerings" atop Boo-Boo Hill.  You can see Persephone's offering in the upper left of the photo, and Persephone herself just over the "N" on the sign:

Here is an enlargement of our "offering":

As soon as we placed our offering in my backpack, the sky cleared, the sun appeared, and the temps rose to the low 70s....just a terrific day like you would have in late June in Connecticut.  We are 90% there, as the winds are still howling at over 30kts in the gusts.  The crew of  Dancing Dolphins invited us to their boat for dinner, but we had to decline due to the high winds and choppy water in the anchorage.....we would have gotten soaked.  So, it's a quiet nite aboard Persephone......anyone have any Ben-Gay ??

Boo-Boo Hill

Many years ago, on a dark and stormy night, (No, this is not about the Bermuda rum drink, Dark and Stormy or rum fronts passing....I'm talking wind and rain) a schooner with missionaries aboard foundered and sank off Warderick Wells. None of the bodies of the souls aboard was recovered and afforded a "Christian" burial. So, it is the lore of Warderick Wells, that on moonless nights you can hear the missionaries singing hymns and their ghosts saying boo-boo on the highest hill on the inland. Boaters for years have left an "offering" on Boo-Boo Hill consisting of a plaque with their boat name on it to appease the ghosts and to insure safe passage. So, today's project will be to make up a sign with Persephone etched on it, climb Boo-Boo Hill and leave our offering for Warderick's ghosts hoping we are granted safe passage.

We may have already offended the souls of Warderick by not leaving our offering sooner....We climbed Boo-Boo Hill on Sunday afternoon WITHOUT our offering and the wx here has been awful since !! Soon after our climb, the wind started to howl, and the temp tanked. Yesterday, was overcast, temps in the low-mid 60s, windy, and with occasional drizzle....just delightful...NOT ! We left Persephone for about 10 minutes to register at the office, and then returned to plan our next hop and do some minor boat projects. In reality, I just goofed off all day !! So the ghosts of Warderick have Persephone trapped in the anchorage until the weather abates.

Gotta get to work on our "offering" and climb Boo-Boo Hill TODAY. Will take the camera along to document the event.

Hey, ghosts of Warderick....lighten up on the weather !! PLEASE !! We are sorry about Sunday, and we are bringing our offering this morning !! THE CREW

Pictures

Well after a week of not having internet, we are at the Exuma Land-Sea Park at Warderick Wells.  ELSP was the first land-sea park in the world.  It is composed of several islands the central of which is Warderick; which houses the Park's HQs.  This place looks like a postcard of  the Bahamas at its best.   There is VERY limited connectivity here, so we are going to try and upload some photos....We plan on spending a few days here, hiking the trails, snorkeling the reefs and doing some minor maintenance to Persephone.  Today is overcast and chilly (high 60s) and we have had some sprinkles so not a good day for photography.  

Speaking of sprinkles, we have not been able to get fresh water since leaving Nassau; 8 days ago.  There is no fresh water available in the Park, so our next opportunity is a day's sail south.  We have been hoping for some rain to refill our water supply, but the wx isn't cooperating.  (Yes, we are down to collecting rain water !!  Little House on the Prairie stuff !!)  So, we will remain here until the water supply is critical; we have appx 50 gallon left onboard.....and haven't missed a daily shower, yet....)  We are also running low on Propane for cooking....so we really need some civilization to get some supplies.  On the other hand, the diesel fuel  tank in nearly full, and the the freezer well stocked.....maybe we can barter chicken for water ?

Above is Persephone exactly one year ago ! !  And here she is last week with our dinghy in the foreground and Persephone in the background :  (Ian took the pix)

Meet Trudie's new friend "IGGY"  (Photo by Ian)

And here is a picture of THE CREW on Iguana Beach with Persephone in the background......(Photo by Ian)  T and I just finished snorkeling.....Persephone doesn't like snorkeling......

And finally, here is a picture of Ian departing Norman's Cay.....he almost looks happy to be returning to civilization or getting off Persephone ??  NOT !!!

We will post some more pix from Warderick Wells.....as soon as we take some !! 

Still at Norman's Cay

Happy New Year to all........

We are still at Norman's Cay to start the new year. As the new year starts, we still have no communication with the states; other than ham radio. There is internet available at the restaurant on the island, but it is so slow it can take an hour to download emails and there are usually several people trying to hook up their laptops, further slowing down internet access. So, we hope these are being posted to our blog; which we haven't seen in a week.

Ian left yesterday aboard a small twin engine charter plan from the runway (if you can call it that) here at Norman's. The runway was constructed years ago by drug-runners who occupied Norman's as a distribution hub. In fact, there are the remains of a good sized plane in the anchorage about 150 yards in front of us.....word is the pilot missed the runway and wound up in the water. We had a great time during Ian's visit, and it is always a downer when a friend has to return to "reality".

Shortly after Ian's departure, a wx front descended upon us as predicted. The wind piped up to a brisk breeze (25+kts) and the seas outside the reef were forecast at 15 feet. Due to tidal currents and wind direction opposing each other, Persephone was rolling heavily at about 15 degrees to each side. It was the most uncomfortable conditions we have experienced during our entire trip....Trudie was unable to use the galley to cook, so we had cheese, crackers and apps for dinner. I had to kneel in the shower so as not to get tossed around....the shampoo bottle (plastic) was bouncing around the shower stall. Felt like I had fallen into a washing machine. The wave/surf were very loud breaking on the reef surrounding the island. The wind has switched to the north and has aligned with the current so we have stopped the heavy rolling....but the wind is still pretty stiff, at 20-25 kts. Hope the wind drops before the tide/current changes or we will be back to the incessant rolling.

Don't have much planned today....a couple of easy boat projects (taking down the Christmas lites), some beach time, and planning our next stop which will be the Exumas Land and Sea Park, at Warderick Wells. This is billed as the first land-sea nature preserve/park in the world. We have to put our name on the list to request a mooring. The Park does not permit anchoring in close as anchors can kill the coral. So, we will make the request today, and the Park will let us know tomorrow morning via radio if a mooring is available. So, we may or may not get underway tomorrow.....Norman's is beautiful so it matters little when we leave.....We can stay as long as our fresh water lasts....more on that later.

THE CREW