Big Majors - Sampson 4-1 to 4-3, 2009
As we left you last time, we had an almost-clean bottom, fresh propane
for the stove, lots of teak salvage, fully caught-up Internet chores,
and happy swimming pigs. Our time in Big Majors had allowed us to
catch up on lots of little chores, but we were anxious to move on.
So, a little after noon, we sailed off our anchor for Sampson Cay.
Because of the nature of the water on the West Side of all the Exuma
chain, we had to make a considerable detour west to avoid the
extensive sand and coral. The wind was in such a quarter that we
sailed on a wing-and-wing for the first part, in very settled water
and only about 10 knots of wind. Fortunately, for our sailing jollies,
when we turned back in on our waypoint for Sampson, it was a beam
reach. A short time later, we were in the channel to the marina,
sailing in front of a major power yacht arriving at about the same
time. As we were making slightly more way than they, they crossed
behind us, and as we dropped the sails, they passed in front of us,
headed for the dock.
We pulled up next to some friends we'd met in Big Majors, preparing
(and actually had, already) to drop the hook, but the marina warned us
off as we might have impeded traffic of the sometimes-very large
cruisers coming in. So, we rolled it back in and moved between them
and a large power boat. The depth there was more than I like, about
10-12', but we had good bottom and lots of chain. I did my usual
anchoring routine of letting the anchor hit the bottom, adding just
enough chain to allow it to straighten out, hooking initially, before
letting out more. The water here was just as crystal-clear as in the
other recent anchorages, so I could see it all, including the initial
set. With a piping wind, I let out another 25' as we swung around
nearly abeam the wind. The anchor hooked harder, and I repeated that
another three times, each time being rewarded with a satisfying jerk
as the bow came back into the wind. Just as was the case in Block
Island, chain doesn't do you any good in the locker, so we put out 100'
in about 10' of water. The last chain-lowering had the snubber
attached, and I had Lydia back down firmly. A rewarding jerk, snubber
stretch, and curtsey confirmed our security, and we prepared to finish
up our arrival with our making shipshape of all the gear we'd had out.
However, as the winds were shifting, we took a look at our neighbors,
the friends from Big Majors, and asked how much they had out. As their
scope was only 60', we'd have swung onto their bow if the winds were
just right. Accordingly, we shortened chain to only 75', still ample
for the conditions, and finished up.
Because it was late in the day, Lydia's mom offered to take us to
dinner at the club. Accordingly, I rang them up and made reservations
for about an hour later. Just as I finished with them, we had a hail
from our neighbors, inviting us for over for a glass of wine. While
aboard, looking over our boat to the power boat from our hosts'
cockpit, it looked as though we might be uncomfortably close. As they'd
been there first, I dinghied over to offer to move.
Fortunately, the perspective had been deceiving, and chatting up the
owners revealed that they had the same scope out as we. My eyeball
calculations had it close but manageable, but I still offered to move
if they wanted. They turned out to be new at the game, and expressed
great admiration of our anchoring by comparison to others' they'd
watched recently, along with the total confidence in my perception of
safety. That was flattering, but I reiterated my offer, to their
continued demurral. Satisfied, I returned to our hosts' boat, and, as
it turned out, all was well with our time at that anchorage.
However, time was marching along, and we were late for our dinner
reservation. By the time we actually made it to shore, it was after
7:30. Fortunately, despite the kitchen not having been informed that
we were coming (the club and restaurant don't share radios, and
whomever we called dropped the ball in relaying the message), we were
able to order our dinner shortly before they closed at 8.
Enormous steaks, succulent huge carrots (probably 2" diameter) and
broccoli, roast potatoes, and green salads were wonderful. Having not
asked, the $38 price tag was a bit of a surprise when the bill
arrived, but not out of order with the rest of the islands' pricing we've
found. Staggering back to the boat under the weight of all that,
desserts and the combined pre-dinner and at-dinner 3 glasses of wine,
considering the low tide and the dinghy 15 feet down the ladder was
interesting, but of no event. We piled into bed happy and stuffed.
April 2nd was exploration and laundry day. While the wash was going,
we wandered around the marina environs, marveling at the (presumed)
wealth needed for all the very large motor yachts docked there. Like
every island in the Bahamas, getting fuel and food and any other
supplies is quite an exercise, so we have an appreciation for why it
is that everything (other than fuel, a pleasant surprise) is just
about double in price from our Stateside experiences.
While we were waiting for the laundry, we had rum punches,
surprisingly only $4 each. We thought perhaps a mistake had been made,
but they were delicious, much better than others we've had in our time
in the tropics. The marina has cottages as well as slips, and runs a
daily ferry trip to Staniel Cay, for airport pickups or other
excursions, only $50 one way during scheduled trips, or $100 for
off-schedule! We saw lots of presumed vacationers, notable for their
lack of tans (most cruisers have well-developed tans!), with children,
in some cases, in tow. Given the much higher speeds of motor yachts,
however, it may have been just that what we were seeing were folks who
came over in one of the large boats in the marina, soon to return to
"real" life (we consider this to be real life, with the stuff ashore
excruciating!).
Once the laundry was in the dryer, we headed out for a walk down the
island. There are "nature trails" - just some paths hacked out of the
jungle growth, over the limestone - which provided some variety, but
not much else. However, the road ended at a wonderful beach, which was
a pleasure to walk. Also there was a gazebo for sitting and
contemplating the wonders of the Bahamas, with its multi-colored
water, rocks and sand. The beaches in the Bahamas are, we presume, not
"real" sand, but instead pulverized limestone, as, just as are the
beaches in Cancun, because, despite how hot it might be and the how
brightly the sun might be blazing, the sand is always cool to walk on.
It also makes marvelous litter for Portia, who, while trained to go in
the potty, still needs to have her sand there in an aluminum
throw-away pan under the seat.
Round trip, the walk was a mile, and on the way back, we met our
friends Bill and Christy whom we've encountered in places all the way
from Sandy Hook, NJ, where we first met in our boats, seemingly
everywhere else, including Marathon, our first encounter, Georgetown,
and places in between. When we returned from our walk, we saw that the
dinner special that night was Italian - Pizza, or Pasta, along with
some appetizers. After the surprise of the previous night, we inquired
as to the pricing of that night's fare. It turned out to be $25 for
18" cheese and tomato pizza, plus $3 for each other topping, and $20
spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread. Given the size of the
pizza, we elected to take one of each and come back for dinner after
returning the laundry to the boat. On our return, we found that our
next round of rum punches were, more as expected, $6 each, making an
average of (only) $5 for our day's consumption :{)) Still high by US
standards, but par for Bahamas pricing, they were delicious. Dinner
was staggering - we couldn't finish it - and delicious, and we made an
early night of it.
While we were there, Sampson Cay Club and Marina being the source of
all the Internet we'd had since before Big Majors, we had a very much
better connection than earlier. So, we took advantage of that to make
Vonage (VoIP service with my local telephone number, the same I've had
for over 30 years) calls to family and friends. Of course, we also
shared our connection with our neighbors, the power boat I'd visited
during the concern for anchoring, and our sundowner hosts, both from
the night before.
Once we'd finished our calls, as another blow was forecast and we
wanted to move our way up the chain to another protected anchorage, we
made ready to leave. We'd originally expected to go to Compass Cay,
but our conversations with Bill and Christy suggested Cambridge Cay,
instead. There were many sites there to explore, and Compass Cay
required a lengthy and tricky entrance, with very limited anchoring
available, so we elected for Cambridge.
While we were there, as we'd run out of water in our main tank, and
gasoline for the Honda a few days before, we took advantage of the
availability of diesel, gasoline and water at the marina. Water would
be pretty expensive at $0.50 a gallon, but this might represent the
last opportunity before our landing in the US, so we bit the bullet
and called to go into the dock.
Getting off the anchor was of no event, given that we'd be motoring up
to the dock and had the engine running, but as we approached, another
boat had come in before us. We backed off and idled into the wind,
docking a few minutes later. We'd only run the engine 34 hours since
we left Nassau, so the fueling there was pretty minor, a little over
33 gallons. Likewise, even with topping off the dinghy fuel and
filling our Honda can was only 10 gallons.
As we have never metered water into our tanks before, we took this
opportunity, expected to be costly, to measure how much the forward,
larger tank, actually held. However, there must have been a problem
with their meter, as it showed we only took 11 gallons! Even if it
were off by a scale of 10, a possibility based on my reading of how
the meter was set up, knowledge I'd picked up in a prior life when I
was supplying water to a subdivision from a well the Corporation I
owned had there, there was no way we'd only taken on a little over 100
gallons. However, it worked out, though, we were very pleased to have
a water bill of only $5.50!
So, we'll leave you there, fully fueled and watered, until next time.
Stay tuned!
L8R
Skip and crew
--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog
and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog
"And then again, when you sit at the helm of your little ship on a
clear
night, and gaze at the countless stars overhead, and realize that you
are
quite alone on a wide, wide sea, it is apt to occur to you that in the
general scheme of things you are merely an insignificant speck on the
surface of the ocean; and are not nearly so important or as
self-sufficient
as you thought you were. Which is an exceedingly wholesome thought,
and one
that may effect a permanent change in your deportment that will be
greatly
appreciated by your friends."- James S. Pitkin
_______________________________________________
Liveaboard mailing list
[email protected]
To adjust your membership settings over the web
http://www.liveaboardnow.org/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard
To subscribe send an email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]
The archives are at http://www.liveaboardnow.org/pipermail/liveaboard/
To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
The Mailman Users Guide can be found here
http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
