Sailing in Paradise at last

Arrived Staniel Cay, which is about midway down the Exumas) late in the afternoon and anchored behind Thunderball rock, where the dive grotto (underwater cave) made famous in the James Bond movie Thunderball, is located. The current was very strong at tide changes in this area - we took a mooring ball for a night but didn't feel comfortable in the current and with the tackle itself - not sure if these balls are maintained. When I re-anchored the next day and explained why to Wind Warrior, Ron dove on his ball and found that it was down to 2 strands where it chafed on the slot in the ball (yikes! - the grotto area has rocks all around if it let loose)...he McGyvered a line of his own on the ball and stayed another night, more relaxed except for the 5 knot current at tide change plus the 20 knot winds. Our anchorage (only 100 feet away on the sand bar) was better as we were out of the current at least, so just had the winds - it was a rocky few nights

I dove in the grotto at slack low tide and it is as fantastic as they say...you are surrounded by schools of fish in an underground cave only accessible to snorkelers at low tide. Brenda dislikes caves so passed.

We toured the rustic Bahamian town (Google Staniel Cay to see pictures of it) the next day and later when the wind clocked around we moved over to Big Major spot anchorages where Breathless was anchored.   Our boat buddies sailed on ahead to Black Point Settlement but we stayed another day to explore and feed the famous wild pigs that swim out to your boat.  We went for a great dingy ride up to see Sampson Cay (very beautiful) and Pipe Creek anchorages.  Exploring by dingy is a good way to scope out anchorages for future trips. We will be back here for sure!  There are several out island resorts in these Cays that are pretty nice, some are still being developed, slowly.

On Sunday we sailed the whole way (about nine miles) to Blackpoint settlement and anchored with our friends from 5 other boats at the bay past the settlement itself – there is another perfect beach, a castle and a half built mansion and an undeveloped resort here– we met the owners Peg & Frank O’Brien and we had sundowners on the beach and a bonfire with our friends. Peg & Frank moved here several years ago, after sailing down here and falling in love with the place.  They bought the first lot from the developer and have optimism that it will eventually develop as planned into a 72 home resort and marina.  Meantime they have sole use of this beautiful beach with sugar white fine sand and fantastic sunsets.

Yesterday we came back to the Blackpoint settlement which is a laid back genuine Bahamian town with about 250 residents.  They are very proud of their town & it shows.  There is a Laundromat with showers and marine/hardware supplies, 2 restaurants and a restaurant/bar, all offering Wi-Fi.

 I counted 36 visiting yachts in the harbour so add another 80 or so visitors.  We lugged free water (many places charge 40 -50 cents per gallon) from the town spigot into our jerry jugs, into the dingy, onto Tango and poured it into our tanks to replenish. We shopped in the local stores and went Scorpios for the Valentines evening.  This restaurant and bar is another cool spot filled with locals and visiting cruisers.  Today (Wed Feb 15^th) we used the showers and plan to spend some time at the beach.  We get the weather report daily on the vhf, currently broadcast from Staniel Cay Yacht Club, and also check on windfinder.com to get the forecast.  Weather is critical to safe and pleasant sailing down here.  Cold fronts come through and are accompanied by higher winds 20+ knots which make for uncomfortable travelling, and if not anchored in the right place, rough nights.  We are getting adept at picking our weather for the best passages, estimating the tides, and picking anchoring spots accordingly.  Things look good for the next several days until another front will pass through on Monday, so our plan is to sail down to Little Farmers Cay tomorrow and then on to Emerald Bay marina then Georgetown by the weekend.   We are taking lots of pictures but the internet connections are not strong enough to post them at this time…so meantime you can Google some of our locations mentioned to get an idea of what we are seeing and we will post our personal pictures when we can. CIAO, Chris & Brenda aboard S/V Tango