Author: Chris McLean

Nassau Harbor Club Marina, Providence Island, Bahamas (anchored)

March 31, 2022

Some days are more difficult than others. It’s mostly inconveniences and delays that have been getting in our way today.

Two of the four washers here are out of order.  The attached hotel also uses these washers but the staff is very wonderful about making sure that guests can also access the machines.

The electrician came today.  He took our old alternator to see if it can be rebuilt.  If we have to order a new one, it will probably need to be shipped from the United States.  There are a few marine supply stores that we can check, just in case. The replacement John installed was getting hot – one of the leads going to it was broken off.

The electrician also recommended replacing our batteries because they’re not holding their charge well.  These are golf cart batteries and we can get some here. Of course, we don’t know if they will be the same dimensions as the ones we have.  We also need to figure out a way to lower them (each is over 6o lbs) into the compartment under our bed.

Since we’re here John decided to tackle the rusted ladder supports that are attached to the stern of Lailia.  The supports were cracked so they needed to be removed and taken to be welded.

This required him to stand in the lowered dinghy in really wavy water with a screwdriver while I laid on my stomach on our bed with a socket wrench to remove the nuts. 

John walked to the welding shop and got the supports fixed.  We’ll mount them tomorrow – the water should be calmer.

Our windlass also needs some repairs.  One of the tabs that holds the plug-in brushes broke.  Tomorrow John will go prospecting to see if he can find someone who can fashion something.  Without a windlass, John has to haul our 55lb anchor and chain that weighs more than a pound a foot.  If there’s mud on the anchor, it can weigh more than that. 

John did successfully change the joker valve in the forward head. That’s one thing off our list!

We had hoped to leave tomorrow to go to the Exumas.  That’s not going to happen.  If we are lucky we may get everything repaired in the next day or two.  While it’s really inconvenient to have to do these repairs we are in a location in which there are electricians, repair shops, and battery stores. 

Nassau Harbor Club Marina, Nassau, Providence Island, Bahamas (docked)

March 30, 2022

It was a creaky, squeaky, and thumpy night here in our slip.  There’s a good deal of roll in the water and our lines were moving up and down the pilings.  One would catch on some indentations and then THUMP when it moved up or down from it.  Other lines were so tight they squeaked and creaked.  These noises seem to hit their crescendos around 3:30 each morning. John went out a few times to adjust stuff but inevitably Lailia would find a way to talk to us.

Marina showers are always an adventure.  This one has some privacy (no clear shower curtains) but the water pressure was not so awesome.  It also had a collection of shower poofs hanging on hooks.  I have a lot of questions about these things…I wonder how long they’ve been here and if they’re currently being used.  I wonder how long they get to remain before they’re thrown away (or do they disintegrate from disuse?)

It was good to have a shower in a larger space than what we have on Lailia, though.

After breakfast we walked to Starbucks.  I know that I could make iced passion fruit tea on the boat (assuming we have ice) but I don’t ever think of it.  I enjoyed a little bit of pre-cruising life for an hour.  We haven’t gone out for a morning beverage and pastry for months so this was a welcome treat.

We went to the pharmacy to get sunscreen and Gravol (the British name for Dramamine).  John got a referral for someone to look at our alternator/electric issues.  We were unclear when he was coming so I stayed at the boat while John did some exploration of local marine supply stores and replaced the joker valve on our forward head.

We learned late in the afternoon that the electrician will be here tomorrow morning. Hopefully we’ll be able to easily fix our power issues.

After dinner we walked to Fort Montagu on the east end of the harbor.  The wind was kicking there! 

Good timing for us: we were able to grab mango drinks just as the folks in the conch salad shack were packing up for the night

Hopefully we’ll have a quieter night (or we’ll be tired enough to sleep through the sounds). The winds are high and the gusts are predicted to be around 30mph tonight and tomorrow, so we’ll be rocked to sleep.

Hoffman’s Cay to Nassau, Bahamas (docked)

March 29, 2022

We really liked this anchorage – it was just beautiful at all times.  We’d stay longer but we want to see if we can get the electrical stuff figured out and Nassau is the best shot as far as having people and materials we might need.  It will about 6 hours to get there from Hoffman’s Cay.

We like to eat breakfast in our cockpit and this morning we saw a visitor as we were eating.

This was the fifth or sixth sea turtle we saw in this anchorage.  They kind of float to the surface and then pop their heads up and take a quick look around before diving.

Once again, the water was very calm and winds negligible. Not great for sailing but very comfortable for me! 

We were in very deep water – in some places thousands of feet.  This area is also known as “The Tongue of the Ocean” because of its depth in the relatively shallow area of the Bahamas Bank.

Usually deep waters can be really rough – there’s a lot of energy that can build up. We definitely experienced that when we travelled over the Gulf Stream. 

The water was silky and really smooth.  It was another gorgeous day out on the ocean!  The water was a gorgeous deep blue. We watched flying fish leap – we thought they would just kind of jump out and right back in.  They actually look like hummingbirds and can change direction mid flight.  They fly about three inches above the surface and go about 100 yards.

Since we were over deep water we thought we would see if we could catch anything by trolling.  I had hoped to catch a mahi or even something cool like a marlin (I can dream).  I didn’t catch anything but I agree with my dear friend Rebecca who says, “A bad day fishing beats a good day at  work.”

We made it to New Providence which is the island on which Nassau is located. Boaters have to request permission from Harbor Control to enter because there is so much traffic (so many cruise ships but also mail boats, pleasure craft, and small ferries taking folks to Paradise Island on the other side of the harbor).

We had to go under two bridges – our first bridges in about five weeks- to get to our dock. We’re here with some boating buddies we met in Bimini and hung out with in the Bay of Five Pirates.

We were able to go to a real grocery store and get fresh fruit and veggies (and a bunch of salty snacks). We also restocked cheese and some canned goods. So much has to be imported here so prices are somewhat shocking ($20 watermelons for example). I am thrilled to get salad greens, though!

There’s actually a small shopping center across the street from us. We’re going to Starbucks tomorrow – neither John not I went all that often back in Charleston but we both miss going out for a beverage. There’s also a Dairy Queen – I do miss soft serve!

We’ll work on some boat tasks tomorrow and get ready to head out in a few days. It’s nice to plug in every now and then.

Bay of Five Pirates to Hoffman’s Cay, Berry Islands, Bahamas (anchored)

March 28 & 29, 2022

We have had a bit of low bandwidth for a few days.

We spent time on the 28th getting ready to get out of Bay of Five Pirates: putting things away so they wouldn’t go flying when we’re in the open water.  Everything that can possibly be put inside a cabinet, even temporarily, gets stashed.

Our plan is to go around the north part of the Berry Islands so we can get into deeper water on the east side (ocean side).  The west side is across a huge, shallow shoal. We’re going to go to Hoffman’s Cay to see the blue hole that’s in the middle of the island.  It’s supposed to be very cool!

The water on the west side of the Berry Islands is so shallow in places that random things are sticking out, like tractors. There are also a few sunken planes visible in the shallows.

The water on the ocean side was my idea of perfect – smooth as glass.  It’s not great for sailing but there’s no chance of me getting sick.  We raised the sails for a while but it didn’t do much.

Hoffman’s Cay is an area surrounded by lots of small cays.  We had to wind our way through them to be in the center of the basin. 

We quickly took our dinghy over to the beach where we thought the trail to the blue hole was.  We tied our line to a rock and took the narrow path through the brush.

Hoffman’s Cay is deserted.  There are no large mammals on the island, either.  This means that the curly-tailed lizards are pretty unafraid of people. 

The blue hole was… Not very blue.  We could have jumped in but it wasn’t really clear exactly how we could get out since it was about 25 feet down from the rim.

We headed back to explore the beaches around us. 

We were lucky enough to meet up with some boat buddies from Five Pirates.  Jayme went spearfishing and caught a trigger fish and a hog fish.  He and his wife, Morgan, shared them with us.  Nothing tastes as amazing as fish that was swimming about an hour before it was eaten.

We watched the sun set behind Fowl Cay and we’re awed by all the stars we saw when it was dark.  There was no light pollution in this anchorage and the moon wasn’t out yet. 

We’re going to head to Nassau in the morning.  We don’t necessarily want to explore the hustle of that island, but we’ll be able to reprovision and possibly get someone to look at our electrical system/alternator.  At least we’ll be able to go to a hardware store.

There’s also a forecast for a lot of wind in the next few days.  It’s a good time to be at a dock and not trying to get into an anchorage on the lee side of the wind.

Bay of Five Pirates, Berry Islands, Bahamas (anchored)

March 25 & 26, 2022

Yesterday was mostly cloudy with squalls of rain.  I woke up a few times with nasty intestinal cramps that led to me feeling pretty yucky all day. I also did our taxes which didn’t help me feel better.

John, as usual, was far more productive: in between rain squalls he took the dinghy to the marina and grabbed a bike so he could get some groceries.

We’ve been having power problems: the anchor light was popping off and the battery bank wasn’t recharging quickly when the engine was on. John decided to change out our alternator.

Since the wiring was a little different between the old and the new, he did some research online.  It took until today to get the new one installed.  The physical maneuvering to get this work done is not easy – John has to reach into the engine room on his hands and knees to do the job, and nothing on the new alternator matched the old one. He had to make a bunch of modifications electrically and mechanically to make it work – but it does.  Our resources are limited here so what he does is magical.

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In addition to getting the new alternator installed, John took the dinghy to the fuel docks to get gas for both the dinghy engine and our generator.

We’re hoping to leave here on Monday (the weather window is looking good) so we also moved Lailia to the fuel dock to fill her with diesel.  This is the first time we have gotten fuel since Manatee Pocket in Florida.

Our windlass (the thingy that pulls the chain to our anchor) is not working.  John had to haul about 80 feet of chain and our 55lb anchor by hand so we could get to the fuel dock.  He’s going to have to investigate and troubleshoot this tomorrow.  It’s another job that requires intensive body contortions to complete.

In hopes that he might get to see some of the Villanova game, we set out to Hammerhead’s.  They don’t have live television – just YouTube on the large screen.  We’re not sure who actually has television on this island – maybe some yacht owners are streaming.

It was still nice to get off the boat and get dinner.  John’s snapper was probably swimming around here this morning.

We are hoping to get everything ready so we can head out on Monday morning.  John will work on the windlass – I am really hoping it’s an easy fix.  If we have time we may walk to the beach one more time.

Bay of Five Pirates, Berry Islands, Bahamas (anchored)

March 24, 2022

Five dinghies left the Bay of Five Pirates this morning on a quest to get to Shark Creek Inlet.

We had to transverse a narrow passage through the mangroves.  Sometimes we had to paddle.

Sometimes folks got out and pulled (we were on a rising tide and the water was pretty low).

Even when we had our motors running, the water was fairly shallow.

We finally made our way to the blue water of the inlet where there were about 15 sea turtles swimming around.  Such a great reward!

We were able to beach our dinghies and enjoy the water in the inlet.  There were two small lemon sharks swimming in the shallows.  They were very skittish about people and would swim off when we waded in.

We managed to make it back to our boats before the rain came which is a bonus.

John saw a bunch of bull sharks when he was in the marina this evening. When fishing folks clean fish the sharks appear to grab their share.

Tomorrow is forecast to be rainy.  We have a few tasks to complete.  I think I also will need to see if I can somehow get a new phone; tonight I dropped this one and it fell into the engine room, right in the tray that’s been collecting drips of transmission fluid.  I can see the fluid creeping up behind the screen.  I don’t even know if this will be possible since this very small island doesn’t have very many shopping options. 

Bay of Five Pirates, Berry Islands, Bahamas (anchored)

March 23, 2022

Walking to the beach was more challenging for me today. 

I struggled to sleep last night unlike Captain John who seemed to fall asleep within seconds (I know this because I listened to him breathe).  Our wind generator is a little noisy and occasionally stops and starts, so I just can’t get used to its sound (but I listened to that all night, too).

There were no slugabeds on Lailia this morning: John jumped up to check the batteries (under the mattress) as soon as I got up to go to the bathroom and then stripped the bed so he could wash the sheets.  The captain’s good night of sleep energized him while I was riding the struggle bus. I was just so tired.

The wind direction changed so the waves were much lower.  There were some pretty cool critters right at the water line today, all of which are in the same phylum (to nerd out a bit)

There are boas in the Bahamas, too.  I have been hoping to see one so hard that I have misidentified a myriad of objects as snakes.  It’s one of the ways I have started entertaining myself as we walk, especially since there’s a lot of discarded stuff along the roads here.  The adrenaline jolt is energizing, too.   So basically I am walking slowly taking pictures of trash and laughing.

I did get to see a brown anole, though.

The highlight of today was a spontaneous gathering of boaters in the marina.  Just talking to other folks who are living aboard is comforting.  We made plans to dinghy through Shark Creek tomorrow – there’s an excellent chance we’ll see some sea turtles as well sand dollars, more starfish, and other things that will make my science nerd heart happy while John will get to talk to someone who’s not constantly taking pictures of trash.  Seems like a win-win.

Bay of Five Pirates, Berry Islands, Bahamas. (anchored)

March 22, 2022

We had a later start today.  John, unsurprisingly, was the handyman again.  We have some solar panels and a wind generator and really don’t use much electricity.  Last night the battery alarm went off because our batteries were getting low.  John spent some time investigating – the batteries themselves are showing a higher charge than the panel shows.

We also were invited to a sundowner on another boat – basically a happy hour – and wanted to get back in board in time for that.

We had heard that there was a shortcut to the beach via the former golf club.  This was its own adventure.  If anyone is writing a murder mystery, let me know.  I have a good setting for it. Actually there were several good scenes for those of us with active imaginations: a deserted building, crumbling wrecked cars, and a path through the interior of the island where no one was present.

The clubhouse was apparently never finished – the investors pulled out.  It’s a huge structure that’s not been maintained and it’s wide open to the elements. There’s actually not very much graffiti inside.

After the initial entryway it’s actually pretty inviting.  It’s a sandy road with basic island vegetation.  There’s no traffic which is cool with me – in the Bahamas they drive on the other side of the road than they do in the United States and they drive FAST!  Generally the drivers give lots of room and will give a quick tooting their horns and wave when they go by (and not a middle finger wave). 

It’s just that the further we travelled the more wrecked cars we passed.  They were bashed up, some were rusted, a few looked as if they were being reclaimed by nature.  They’re just there, off a sandy road in the middle of the island.

During our walk we also came to the outer edge of the airport.  John climbed up the berm to see how close we were to the ocean.  He was pretty close to the runway.

I may be able to get John to reenact the scene from Die Hard. 

We finally made it to the Beach Club (their tagline is perfect) but had to take our Goombay Smashes with us so we could pick up our (delivered) bread before the marina store closed.  This is the first hike I’ve ever done with a tropical drink in hand.  I hope it’s not my last.

We made it back just before the marina office closed to find out that no one actually knew when the bread was going to come.  Someone had been sent out to get it but was not answering his phone.  No one was actually sure exactly when the order was sent to Ms. CoolieMae for her to bake it.  We’ll probably all get our bread tomorrow. 

John has a plan to address the battery issue tomorrow.  Hopefully we’ll have some toast at some point then as well.  I have faith in the former but am not so sure of the latter.

Bay of Five Pirates, Berry Island chain (anchored)

March 21, 2022

The anchorage side of the island is made up of layers of limestone. There’s no beach on this side – the water comes to the rock.

On the other side of the island there are gorgeous sandy beaches. We decided to walk over to check it out. It was gorgeous with fine sand and it was absolutely deserted.

There was a lot of wind pushing waves. There are tiny cays visible from the beach with waves slamming up on them. It’s good to be at anchor in the bay and not getting bounced and blown around.

On the way back to the marina we got a ride and a mini-tour from a local. There’s other beaches to explore while we are here waiting for the next window.

The marina close to us has a few connections to local services. We were able to order bread which will be delivered tomorrow and we can order fresh eggs, too. They also had a sign for a dinner in the marina which sounded great – chicken or ribs or shrimp kebabs.

Time is really different here. Although we boaters were all in place at 6:30, it took a while for our food to come out… and then each order came out on its own. The couple we were sitting with got their food about 10 minutes after we did. It tasted amazing but we didn’t get to eat until almost 8:00. We’re learning that Bahama time is what it is and not to rush

Bay of Five Pirates, Berry Islands chain, Bahamas, (anchored)

March 20, 2022

Rain was forecast for today.  We had to balance out desire to go to the beach with the knowledge that if it began raining while we were away from Lailia, we would get wet.  There’s not a quick way to get shelter.

For most of today we stayed on board.  John fixed the gimball lock on our range.  During our Bimini to Berry crossing the wooden range cover was flung off. 

It was warm and sunny.  We’re protected from a lot of wind here which means it was also really still and the most humid I can remember.

For longer than I have known him, John has watched March Madness matches.  He would take vacation time if good matches were being televised.  Today was a Villanova game that he really wanted to see, so he set out on a journey.

I fished for a little while.  Good thing we had leftover pizza for dinner.

John was unlucky in his search.  I did not catch any fish.  Neither of us got soaked, so it’s not a terrible day.

Eventually it did rain – we had a peal of thunder, too.  It was a short and intense deluge with slightly cooler weather behind it.