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JUNE 16, 2018

LEAVING GEORGETOWN AND HEADED NORTH
When we last posted along our journey through the Bahamas, we had been comfortably anchored in Elizabeth Harbor off Georgetown, Exumas for some 10 days or more. Up to this point in the trip, we had been graced with mostly cooperative weather. We were about two months into exploring the Bahamas and had made the difficult decision to return to the states. We would begin a slow meander back through the central Bahamas instead of continuing on towards the Caribbean. As I looked at the charts, we started getting excited to see some of the places and islands we had missed on our way south. Celia and I began saying our goodbyes to the many amazing cruising friends we met along the way (this is the time when most cruisers are heading to wherever they will spend the summer hurricane season, or store their boats, or go back to jobs) and getting ready to slowly head back in the general direction of Florida. Glasses had been raised and hugs given. The boat was tidied and loose items stowed away for passage.

I have discovered there is always a feeling of great anticipation mixed with nervous energy, and a sort of pre-nostalgia for the place you are leaving when you have been anchored in one location for more than a few days. The boat truly does sometimes feel like a living organism in that you feel that it senses and feeds off the energy of the crew. S/V Eileen seemed to bob in the water just a little more eagerly and smartly once she felt her lines and sails and anchor being organized and prepped to move again. We started studying the weather in earnest again to find the next good day to sail. It looked like rain for a day or two and we decided to wait out the wet weather.

And then…It NEVER…STOPPED…RAINING. Day after day the weather forecasts would say it should clear out soon. But it didn’t. We tried to wait it out for almost another week after we were ready to go. We were getting stir-crazy. Bored. Antsy. We played lots of card and dice games, and read lots of books in between occasionally getting on each other’s nerves being cooped up as we were. Watching the weather started feeling like Groundhog Day, as the experts eventually conceded that we were in some kind of strange weather pattern with a stationary low pressure trough feeding us scattered rain and squalls for the foreseeable future. After that weather system moved on, Tropical system Alberto started kicking up precipitation throughout the region and did not look to be changing anytime soon. (Overall, the last month of our trip in the Bahamas had very few sunny days.) We were going to have to adjust, adapt, and go with it. We were very sick of being on the boat and wanted to both get moving and stretch our legs.

EMERALD BAY MARINA AND MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
About a 3 hour sail north from Georgetown is the Emerald Bay Marina. There we could plug into shore power and try to get the boat a little dried out with all our fans and clean up the boat and ourselves a bit after almost three weeks at anchor. We also needed to plan out the trip back to the east coast in a little more detail since we had no marina or housing or boat yard lined up. Nearby to Emerald Bay Marina were a couple of nice resorts where maybe we would treat ourselves to a nice dinner and enjoy some shoreside amenities. Emerald Bay is a huge modern marina development complete with floating docks (a rarity in the Bahamas) which was built probably 10-15 years ago. It was a massive project built in tandem with a very large high-end beach resort by one of the big hotel/hospitatlity companies. Somewhere along the line the entire property was bought out by Sandals, the all inclusive adults-only resort chain. They do not really run or operate marinas and the whole marina side of the property and business seems to be somewhat of an afterthought. It is slowly being let slide into disrepair and neglect, even while the resort proper seems to be thriving just next door. We were told by the marina staff that we were not allowed on the resort property unless you bought a day pass. However the resort next door which shares its beach with Sandals welcomes marina guests to its bar, restaurant, and beach. However, we had been told by our cruiser friends Mike and Jen (may or may not be their actual names) that it was possible to walk from the first resort along the beach and into the Sandals property…

DISCLAIMER:
The Hitchins family does not condone taking advantage of lapses in security protocol of multi-billion dollar corporations. The following story is for entertainment purposes only. More of a “What if?” kind of story. Look at it much like the OJ Simpson book, “If I did It”. This may or may not have actually happened…

So in case you don’t know, Sandals Resorts are ALL inclusive. The price range for rooms is $600-1800/night. There are no kids allowed. You can go to all of their many bars and restaurants located all over the property at any time of the day or night and get whatever you want, whenever you want. There is no payment, signing for anything, or tipping necessary. You can walk up to the pool bar and order 6 mojitos if you want. All day. Its all included. If you go into one of the restaurants, the hostess may ask for your name and room number to write down, but thats about it. After talking to our friends who had been in Georgetown most of the summer, we were intrigued. They claimed to have visited the resort four times when they had stayed at the marina. They said noone ever bothered or questioned them (so it must have been OK). They insisted it oculd be done. Others we spoke to had not shared these kinds of results. It was Mission Impossible time! Lets see if Celia and I had what it takes to slip into this high end party undetected and unmolested. Just like in the movies. Be real suave and act like you own everything in sight.

“If I did It”, I would start by shaving and trimming up my beloved boat beard (which was getting a bit scraggly at this point), along with a long hot shower (with soap and shampoo and everything!) followed by Celia buzzing up my hair and neckline with our cordless trimmers. Celia would make me take off my little New Zealand greenstone fishermen’s hook pendant I had taken to wearing for a nautical good luck charm. We would dress in our fanciest beach attire and Celia would carry a nice clean and classy beach/tote bag (no dry-bag back packs and the like…that would be a dead giveaway that we were scummy cruisers from the marina!). Bust out the good leather wedding flip-flops and simply take a stroll into the resort next door where the public is welcome. Buy a drink. Then, once down on the beach shared with Sandals, slowly and casually start walking down at the water’s edge holding hands and cooing in each other’s ears. As you got near to the “boundary” nuetral zone part of the beach between the two resorts, you would see the first of two security guards looking out for riff-raff and non-guests. At this moment, Celia might beam a big smile and wave an exagerated wave at our good friends just down the beach a little further, except we don’t really know them. It would make us look like we belong and had just been walking the length of the beach for fun and were eager to reunite with our friends and fellow guests. We would stride purposefully towards them and pause to greet them, eliciting an awkward and confused response. We would make our way down to the little swings and hammocks over the water and act all romantic there for a minute. Then, we would head up towards the beach entrance to the resort where we might see another security guard. We might have two choices there…try to skirt the edge of the entrance area farthest from him; or we could look him in the eye, smile and greet him in a familiar way that says you’ve been there for days and seen him several times, use the foot rinsing station right next to him and generally act like you own the place. Tom Cruise would do the latter, so we would too.

From there straight to the giant pool bar to order a Pina Colada and a Dark and Stormy. Perhaps a little time by the pool to read a book and cool off. Another round at the bar, why not?! Then we would make our way up to the lobby bathrooms (avoiding the people we had met at the marina who were attending a wedding at the resort and knew we were just marina guests). Once there, we would empty the contents of our classy tote bag-big purse thing and retreat to the fancy restrooms for a stealthy wardrobe change. In minutes, we would emerge in a beautiful dress and fresh makeup for Celia, a nice pair of ironed khaki shorts and a nice collar shirt for Toddo. For staff that may have noticed us earlier, it would seem as though we had briefly retired to our villa for a quick shower and a change of clothes. We would pick a restaurant and have a little dinner. Perhaps a big dinner. When the hostess asked for the name and room number, we would reply with an alias and give a four-digit number which we had been assured matched the room number scheme of the resort. It would be like Han Solo hoping the old imperial code would work to get the stolen shuttle through the Imperial defense shield. Once seated we would order up meals and drinks and chat up and laugh with the staff and bartender like we were old friends. Afterwards, we would stroll the property and eventually make our way back down the beach, through the neighboring resort and back to our marina and humble vessel. Yep, that’s how we would have done it!

MERMAIDS AT RUDDER CUT CAY

After a few days of pampering oursleves and doing our laundry and cleaning the boat up, we topped off water and fuel to start heading north again. We left on yet another drizzly, overcast day and made our way to the next anchorage we wanted to visit. Rumor had it that the area of Rudder Cut Cay had some great snorkeling and caves to explore, as well as a nice protected and secure anchorage. This area also contains many private islands, one of which is Musha Cay. Musha Cay is owned by magician David Copperfield. He has apparently placed several underwater sculptures in the nearby waters. One of these is of a mermaid seated at a grand piano. This we had to see! Once anchored up, it started raining again. The next morning, we had a brief moment of sunshine and hopped into the dinghy to see if we could find this alledged mermaid and explore some nearby caves. One of the coolest geologic features we have enjoyed in the Exumas was all of the caves! Big, small, and everything in between. Some you could swim in and out of, some you could drive a small boat into, and some you could jump down into from holes in the tops of the islands! Some are touristy and marked on the charts, and some you really have to go look for, or be told where they are or you would never even know they existed.

STANIEL CAY: THUNDERBALL GROTTO AND SWIMMING PIGS

Next was a little more ambitious sail up to Staniel Cay. This is one of the more popular and touristy islands in the Exumas. Celia and I had skipped it on the way south as we were being a little snobby about trying to stay off the beaten path and had heard it was expensive and crowded. Most people visit Staniel Cay for two main attractions; this is where the famous swimming pigs are located on the nearby island of Big Major Cay; and secondly, this is where the famous Thunderball Grotto is located. Thunderball Grotto is one of the most beautiful cave structures in the Bahamas. It offers swim through snorkeling and an amazing healthy coral wall on the back side of the island. It was made famous in its namesake James Bond movie, Thunderball. It was where they hid the stolen nukes and had the underwater fight scene.

We anchored off of Pig Beach on Big Major to spend a couple days exploring the area. An added bonus was that our dear long-time Key West friend Andy Moore would be there at the same time! He was working aboard an amazing high-tech carbon fiber catamaran named “Crux”, helping the new owners learn and sail the new boat. One of the owners, Seth, also had a Key West history and even briefly worked for Sebago at the same time as me around 2001! Small world! They graciously invited us over for a gourmet steak dinner and drinks. This boat was amazing and beautiful. Check out Andy’s Facebook if you know him for some pics of the boat. We got a full tour of the boat and were amazed to learn that it can regularly sail at over 25 kts! That is ridiculous fast for a cruising sailboat…again, we plan our passages for only 5 kts. It was great to see some familiar faces and make new friends Seth and Linda.

The next day’s adventure took us to the infamous Thunderball Grotto for some snorkeling. It lived up to the hype! Our pictures are not that great since we were still in the throes of never-ending rain and clouds, so the lighting was not ideal. However, we braved the wind and rain to catch the afternoon slack low tide (the best time to visit) one day and did about an hour of snorkeling with an awesome cruising family we had met along our travels. J.R., Laura, and their two awesome kids aboard S/V Aisling were always up for an adventure! The caves were stunning and you could swim in and out of 3 giant areas underneath the island. On the back side of this island was some of the most beautiful and healthy coral I had seen to date all along the rock wall down to about 25 feet. I wish the light had been better for pictures!

On the actual island of Staniel Cay is the famous Staniel Cay Yacht Club and Marina. There is a cool little beach for landing dinghies over to the side. There are not a lot of slips at the marina, so most yachts and boats anchor off Big Major Island about 1/4 mile away. Big Major is also where the famous “swimming pigs” reside. Overall, Staniel Cay is a great facility and island. They have a couple dozen rental villas overlooking the water and marina that looked fun. The famous bar and restaurant was a great hangout spot; very casual, and full of cruisers, resort guests, yachties, and locals alike. The island itself can be walked in about an hour and a half. Staniel Cay is one of the cleanest, friendliest, and well maintained islands we visited. There seems to occasionally be a little culturally rooted apathy on many of the islands as far as maintenance, cleanliness, and customer service are concerned. We experienced none of that here. There are two really cute “grocery stores” on the island for provisioning. One is the aptly named “Blue Store” and the other is the “Pink Store”. They are both tiny buildings to the side of the proprietor’s residential houses, but both were fully stocked with a good selection of vegetables and fruit and other staples. The older woman who owned and ran the one I shopped at was one of the sweetest people I met in the Bahamas! She gave me a free banana (since I told her I don’t bring them on the boat) and we chatted while I enjoyed her A/C and ate my banana. We had a fun day exploring the island a bit, talking with the locals, and spending a couple hours at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club Bar. I must say that most of the negative comments (fuel and laundry and provisions were a little pricey) from other cruisers were mostly unfounded and we enjoyed hanging out here for a few days.

The next day, we paid our obligatory visit to the famous Pig Beach. These “wild pigs” were intoduced here some time ago and are now tagged and protected. Hundreds of people come to see the pigs every day it seems, and they will readily swim out to dinghies before you even get to the beach looking for handouts from the tourists. There are stories of pigs popping dingies with their sharp hooves. They also can get aggresive on the beach if you are feeding them and/or holding food in your hands. Our cruiser friend Eli from S/V Selah almost got his thumb bitten off! He had to go to the local hospital and get powerful antibiotics and was bandaged up and out of commision for weeks! It bit him clear down to the bone…gross! With that fresh in our minds, we went late in the afternoon when the piggies seemed to be a little more sleepy and had been fed by the other tourists all day. We also brought no food. My overall feeling about the famous swimming pigs is that they are cute and friendly pigs, and it is funny to see them swim around and chase unwitting cruise ship passengers on a day trip, but I must say it was not too exciting. The beach has lots of pig poop everywhere, so we took a few pics and made our way back to the mothership.

It was time to get moving again. From here, the plan was to make our way up as far as we could…maybe revisit a spot or two in the Exuma Land and Sea Park. The rain however, persisted. While we made a stop at Shroud Cay (one of our favorite spots on the way south), we really more or less stayed on the boat. Since the weather wasn’t cooperating for outdoor fun, we decided to go to what would be our last stop in the Exumas before heading back across Yellow and White Banks to New Providence Island (Nassau).

Highbourne Cay is another privately owned and developed resort and marina island. They have a nice protected anchorage from prevailing winds and you can access their facilities to get minor provisions or visit their restaurant and bar, etc. It also has a Batelco (Bahamas Telephone Company) tower, so we could access good internet. We caught up on some business and tried to get a handle on where we would end up for the summer. As we also watched the weather, it became evident that Tropical Storm Alberto was starting to move north. We would continue to feel its effects with at least more rain and wind, if not more tropical storm type weather if it moved further east. Crossing the Yellow Bank is challenging in cloudy or windy weather due to the chop that builds up in the wind, and the inability to see the numerous uncharted and shallow coral heads in low-light conditions. Regardless, if we really wanted to be protected from some of the impending and possible weather and keep making progress, we were going to have to make our way back towards New Providence and hide out in a marina or protected anchorage for a few days.

BACK TO NEW PROVIDENCE
Despite the somewhat bad weather, it was only going to get worse so we began the 35-40 mile sail and bid a fond and sad farewell to the wonderful Exumas Islands. As you may recall, we were not using the engine much at this point due to the excessive vibration issues we were having. We had to move under sail power alone whenever possible. There was luck with us this day and we had some decent wind to take advantage of, but not enough to kick up the nasty sharp waves and seas in the Banks. It was ultimately decided that we would ride out whatever weather was coming in a marina. We had originally planned to head back to Nassau and tie up at one of the cheap cruiser marinas there. However, some other friends had told us about a very new marina development on the southeast corner of New Providence that was only slightly more money and had all kinds of nice new facilities including a pool and beach and clean showers and bath houses. They also offered a free courtesy car for guests to use. We were sold! We were on to Palm Cay Marina! Here we would induldge ourselves for the last time with nice shoreside amenities and ride out whatever weather Alberto had to offer.

CURRENT UPDATE AND COMING SOON…
As many of you know, we are back stateside as of this writing. I have two more followup posts coming over the next few days. The first will detail our awesome second visit to New Providence/Nassau. From there we began a grueling 4 day passage back to Florida. This last passage ended up being perhaps the most phyically exhausting and mentally challenging part of the entire trip. I won’t spoil the details, so let me end by simply stating that we made landfall in Key Largo, grabbed a couple hours of sleep on a reef mooring ball and headed to Marathon the next morning. Ironically (and thankfully for my sanity), the 50+ mile sail from Key Largo to Marathon was one of the nicest and fastest sails we had the entire trip! We put Eileen in a marina and flew immediately to Indiana to pick up our truck and cargo trailer from Celia’s dad’s house. A little family time, a stop to see old Key West friends Adam and Rochelle and Jessica in Asheville, and we are just arrived back in the Keys. Next week, we move the boat to Robbie’s in Key West for a haulout and repairs. We will be house/pet sitting, working, and working on the boat through August. At that time we will be either living back aboard in a marina, or storing the boat on land until November when we will try again next season to make it further down the Caribbean. To my Keys friends, I am looking for possible short term rental or house sitting or couch surfing options starting in August if we do not keep the boat in the water. I am also available for fill in or part time work for the next several months and have the same phone number if anyone wants to get in touch!

If you are still with me, I assume you have been following along so stand by for the FINAL TWO POSTS FROM THIS TRIP COMING SOON. The first will be about our second visit back to New Providence Island/Nassau, which was much more fun and interesting than expected. The second will detail the four-day continuous passage from there back to Florida…probably the most challenging moments of the last 6 months in which we have been “off the dock” and out cruising.

I cannot express enough how amazing it has been and how grateful we are that so many of our friends and family have followed along, encouraged, and supported us during this crazy life change and adventure we have embarked on. It means more than I can express here. I look forward to lots of Keys hugs and laughs coming soon! I will be doing some guest-bartending at the Sunset Tiki starting tomorrow (Sunday, June 17).

Much Love from Todd and Celia
Aboard S/V Eileen – Currently berthed at Skipjack Marina in Marathon, FL.