Time travelled: 5 hours, give or take
Nautical miles: 30.7
Docked at: Compass Cay Marina
No connections are available.
That’s the message. You know there is absolutely no sense in
wasting time with the Troubleshoot
because is just is not going to help!
Been there and wasted the time trying. It is just an exercise in
frustration.
While in Bimini we did get cell phones and a data package.
We made a few phone calls on Christmas Day from Highbourne Cay but once we left
there the signal has been non-existent.
As a matter of fact we have never been able to get the data working –
not just us but everyone else too. No connections are available!!
Christmas day was lovely. It started aboard Quest with the
Moore family tradition of egg nog and brandy. Del would have been a bit
disappointed that we chose to buy it pre mixed and without nutmeg but hey we
did the best we could. In hindsight our only error was the fact that we only
bought one bottle. Judy made the Querrey
family traditional breakfast of “strada”.
It is a delicious layered combination of bread, egg, cheese and sausage.
It was very tasty by itself but Dan and Garth added Vermont maple syrup just to
top it up. A winner recipe I will have to get.
After breakfast we all jumped into Con – Quest and went
exploring. We went all the way up to Allan’s
Cay and as we approached one the beaches all of these iguanas started coming
towards the shore. They are looking for handouts.
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| Allan Cay Iguanas |
We did not venture onto land
and moved along our merry way. We came across a dive/bar outpost. There were
two dogs and a few people but basically it was deserted and looked to be a
place where day trips out of Nassau would stop.
The scenery was magnificent, the water so clear that you can see the
bottom and pretty shallow at times! We stopped back over towards Highbourne and
walked the beach, gathering a few shells. Zeke had a blast as usual.
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| If she can't see my right ear then she can't put the medicine on it! |
Speaking of Zeke, he is currently in sick bay. He has
something going on just under his right ear – looks like a dog bite – we took
him to a dog park a few days before we left Stuart so it could have happened
there or he got stung by something in the water in Bimini. So, we started him on amoxicillin and are
doing our best to keep it clean and dressed. Hopefully the salt water is
helping as it does appear to be getting better. I tell ya he is a high maintenance
dawg!
Once back on land we all got ready for Christmas Dinner at
the marina restaurant, it was served buffet style and it was tasty but the
scenery, the sunset, and the company where better than the food. All in all it was a simply wonderful day.
December 26th
Boxing Day
Up at the crack of dawn and in the car to hit the malls and
stores for the after Christmas bargains.
Fur coats, leather coats, sweaters, shoes, everything is on sale at a
fraction of the before Christmas price. If
nothing else you would always come home with a ton of Christmas wrapping paper
ready to go for next year. Well, at
Highbourne Cay there was nothing happening, when there is only one store there
really is not much sense in having a sale. We tried and tried to get an
internet connection but no luck. Around eleven we went up to pay our bill, and
took our computers to see if we could get a signal closer to the tower. Low and
behold we were connected – not for long but we did get a connection just long
enough to see if anyone had sent us Christmas greetings or bills.
We departed Highbourne Cay around noon and slowly made our
way south. We traveled eighteen nautical miles to a mooring ball at Hawksbill
Cay. We had arrived in the Exuma Land
and Sea Park. The Bahamian government set aside 176 square miles as a land and
marine protected area. It is a “no take zone" so we can look at the shells and
the lobster but the spear and the shell bag can’t come out. Zeke is allowed on
the beach area but not on the paths. That’s cool , it is not his territory and
it is probably safer that way for all creatures, including his majesty.
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| Our first mooring ball! |
This is our first ever experience of being connected to a
mooring ball. We have read about them and seen them but never actually had the
opportunity to use one. Before we left Stuart Judy and I went to West Marine
and I bought a super extension boat pole just for this occasion. Before we left
Highbourne Marina Dan came over and went through the process of setting up lines and
what to do.....so we were prepared! Garth gingerly brought Algonquin up to the
port side of the ball while I reached over with the boat pole and grabbed the
float. Then hand over hand I hauled up the line looking for an eye. Humm
...nobody told me just how heavy this line was going to be, nobody mentioned
the years of growth and slime on the line and nobody told me that there would
be creatures living on the line!!! AHHHHH, a huge crab jumped from the line and
sea life was everywhere. The other thing was that the line I had decided to use
for attaching to the ball did not fit the cleat so I used our usual docking
line which was too long and too heavy. So, I got the line up and decided half
way through the process to switch lines – Garth came out once he saw I had the mooring line and helped. It was not the most
graceful or well executed landing but nobody was videotaping it for a “how to”
show. We will get lots more practice
down the road! By the way the big crab that landed on the deck when the sea
scrum encrusted line came up ....Garth got his miniature Maple Leafs hockey
stick and with a gentle wrist shot he hurled him off the boat and back into the
ocean.
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| Hawksbill Cay Mooring Field |
We dinked to the beach, went for a walk then had cocktails
and burgers aboard Algonquin. All in all just another beautiful day in
paradise.
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| And you wonder why we have to vacuum every day! |
December 27th, 2012-
We woke up to a blowing wind and very dark clouds on the
horizon. You could see where the rain was and where it was heading. It was like
a snow day ...hunker down, sit by the fire, and enjoy a good book or a
movie. Well, on a boat, it is the same
thing, hunker down, grab a good book and watch the weather move around
you. Only difference is the
degrees. By 11 o’clock the bad weather
had moved on and the sun was shining.
Idyllic begins to
describe this little bit of paradise. There are only four mooring balls here
and a huge beach. We went over to the beach and walked the length of it, had
lunch, played in the water and read our books.
That was the extent of our day. We went over to Quest for cocktails then
back to Algonquin for a BBQ dinner. Our evening was spent watching an old James
Bond movie – Die Another Day ( I think) Just your average day in paradise!!
December 28th 2012-
Hawksbill Cay 911
Garth called Quest first thing this morning to see what the
plan was as we had kind of thought we would like to spend another day here. Dan
and Judy were on the same wave length. As
we were starting to cook breakfast Dan called over to say that they had had an
exciting half hour – Judy was cooking breakfast and smelled wires burning. Dan
ran down, confirmed the smell and then ran back up to the pilot house and
turned everything off. After looking and smelling throughout the galley and
generator room it turned out to be the thermostat for the air conditioning unit
in the crew quarters! Scary, it’s a boat and it is just one more thing added to the list of
things to do. Garth cooked a big
breakfast of bacon and eggs and we headed for the beach. When we arrived Dan and Judy were snorkeling over on the reef so we set up our chairs. Shortly after Dan and Judy came back
to the beach we were all sitting there and noticed the couple from one of the
sailboats paddling their way around the corner. The wind was against them and
they are our age so paddling like that for a long time probably was not the
morning exercise they had planned. Dan and Garth jumped into Con and sped off
to see if they needed help or were indeed trying to get some exercise. Turned
out they needed help and Con towed them back to their boat. The day wasn't even half over and already a
fire had been adverted and a rescue at sea had occurred!
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| Towing the dingy past Algonquin |
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| Just another rescue! |
Around four o’clock Judy called to say that they were
getting a signal with their phones.
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| The lengths we go to just to stay connected! |
Garth quickly plugged in our Bahamas phone and charged it enough to make
a birthday call to Brumer ...you all know Brumer...she lives in Tucson, loves
cinnamon buns but can’t get them there so we send her pictures every chance we
get.
Dan and Judy came over and we indulged in the last dozen of
our Bimini lobster tails. Yummy sums up the feast.
December 29th
24 nautical miles
Moored at:
Cambridge Cay AKA Little Bell Island
Ha, well
getting off a mooring ball is certainly a piece of cake – you untie one line,
let it go and pull back on the side attached to the cleat then move over to the
other side and repeat! Does not get any easier!!
As we pulled
away from Hawksbill we passed the two big yachts that were anchored near us.
The first one was Mucho Mas, not too shabby, and the big boy was Pegasus
– the 75th largest yacht in the world. Note the blow up slide coming
down from the second level! Different snack bracket I’d say.
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| Pegasus,our neighbors for the night! |
We only
travelled a short distance but had to go through a cut and it was a little
rough on his majesty. We arrived at Cambridge Cay just before noon and got onto
the mooring ball with no problem. There was very little growth on the upper
part so it was not as heavy. I picked up the eye first time and had the lines
all red ready and set up. Piece of cake!
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| Sunset at Cambridge |
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| Mustang Sally - our neighbors! |
Shortly after we arrived at the mooring Garth,
Dan and Judy went snorkelling. Zeke's ear is getting a little better but it is
still weepy and wet. The salt water seems to sting it a bit so we decided to
try and keep him out of the water altogether for a few days. Tomorrow we will
go to a marina for New Years and hopefully by the time we leave he will be
healed up. I on the other hand have broken out in a rash and think it is from
the sun so am staying under cover for a few days. Zeke and I will hold down the
fort while Garth the only healthy one takes off and explores this little piece
of paradise.
December 30th
6.5 nautical miles today
The wind picked up around 6:30 am and we decided to leave and make our way out of the cut and towards Compass Cay - it was literally just around the corner. We waited longer in the bay for boats to leave than it took us to get here. It is a very small marina but a very popular place. The docks are packed. We are paying for wifi by the meagabyte so I will hold off posting pictures until later. Right now I am off to do a load of laundry!
Posted a few pics as it does not seem to eat up many megs??
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