Life on Lailia

Big Majors, Exumas, Bahamas (anchored)

May 1, 2022

We have been in the Bahamas since February 27 and haven’t had a rainy day. Rain showers come and go but we haven’t had days just wash out.

Of course, when it does rain, we hurry through Lailia to close hatches and portlights. The rain always seems to stop just when we get everything buttoned up!

The light at sunrise was really beautiful this morning. Lailia’s bow faces east over Big Majors so we don’t see the sun come up over the horizon.

We actually had showers come from both the southeast and the northeast today, but they were brief. I enjoy watching them edge toward us – the way the view blurs and the water turns from turquoise to aquamarine.

Continuing the tradition of John repairing stuff, our alternator is not charging Lailia’s batteries when we run her engine. We had the alternator repaired in Nassau but it’s not working now. A boat buddy had a spare alternator that came with his boat and offered it to us. John had to do some adjustments to make it fit. It’s frustrating to spend hours on a repair that didn’t work! Turns out the spare alternator was also bad,

We have ordered a new alternator to be delivered to a freight handler in Florida. Once it arrives there, they will add it to their daily freight flight to Staniel Cay which is a quick dinghy ride away for us. Some boat buddies have had to use this service and have told us it’s an easy process.

While the best-case scenario is not needing an alternator repair at all, we’re in a beautiful, protected anchorage with easy access to fairly well-stocked (for the Exumas) stores. We can charge our batteries (and electronic devices) with our solar panels, wind and gas generators – and we have easy access to more gasoline, if we need it. We’ve also been able to get a sim card for the other internet provider and can download episodes of Ozark and Better Call Saul, so we have entertainment options – and I have a few pounds of butter plus flour, sugar, and yeast so we can have fresh-baked goodies.

We’re hopeful we’ll be on our way by next weekend. We need to start heading towards making the crossing back to the United States in early June to avoid being here during hurricane season.

Big Majors, Exumas, Bahamas (anchored)

April 30, 2022

The general store had propane today so we took our two empty tanks to Staniel. We knew we could get more gasoline for our dinghy and generator at the yacht club, so we decided to fill up our gas container while we were there. Since we were heading to town, we also took a bag of trash with us.

The wind shifted to a more southernly direction which meant our ride was pretty bumpy. We are in for some higher winds – it’s a blessing and a curse, since more wind gives us more consistent power via our wind generator but it also means the water can get more choppy. Our anchorage is pretty protected from really strong easterly winds but there’s some open water between us and Staniel that can make a dinghy ride over kind of uncomfortable

The dump is about a twelve minute walk, but when you’re not sure where you’re going, it can seem longer. I stopped to see if I could find the dump on one of our navigation apps just as a police car was coming our way.

Sgt. Stewart gave us a ride to the dump and then back to the dinghy dock. We learned that the police rotate duty through many of the islands here. This was Sgt. Stewart’s first week and he was orienting himself to the island

At the yacht club dinghy beach we ran into boat buddies from Great Harbour. A conch boat came in as we were eating our lunch outside. They had already removed the meat from the shells; they were chopping and cleaning the meat. Lots of locals were there – some with bags to get meat and a few grabbing conch “pistols” and eating them right then and there.

Soooo…there’s a lot of innuendo regarding the magic properties of the conch pistols but Google says different. They’re pretty salty and had a texture like shrimp. I googled it when I got back to the table and found out that they’re probably not all that magical. I loved that folks offered me some of what they were enjoying.

We had our dinghy anchor so we headed to snorkel the Grotto. I didn’t feel confident enough to swim against the current through the rocky passage to get inside. When John came out we snorkeled a bit around the outside and saw lots of really beautiful fish.

Our afternoon has been full of simple pleasures: showers before a steak dinner as we watched the sun set.

Some days feel really challenging: the weather makes travel difficult or supplies are sparse. We have had to deal with a variety of mechanical problems made even more challenging by a lack of replacement parts. Days like today remind us that there’s a lot of fun, too.

Big Majors, Exumas, Bahamas (anchored)

April 28, 2022

Lailia’s stove is propane powered; we have two, small, six pound tanks. One tank ran out before we arrived in Nassau. We couldn’t get propane there before we left. Today our other tank ran out, just after I made breakfast.

Isle’s General Store in Staniel Cay does provide propane, when they have it. After two months in the Bahamas we have finally learned we need to ask about supply schedules. They’re hoping propane will be delivered tomorrow. Or maybe Saturday.

We managed to get some groceries at the store with an eye towards using our propane grill on the deck. Food prices are odd here: we got strip steaks for $7 while a can of peanuts can cost $9. I am happy to get Romaine lettuce and some hamburgers.

Peanut M&Ms have been a constant in every Bahamian store so far. I haven’t seen a Twix or 3 Musketeers in months, though.

This store actually had fuel line but it wasn’t the size we need.

Last week we had winds that ranged into the upper 20s with higher gusts. Right now the winds are about 10 mph. This makes for a peaceful anchorage but it also means that our wind generator isn’t running. We are also using our solar panels and have spent time today turning on the inverter to charge our phones and flashlights then turning off the inverter when the power gets too low. Once the solar panels charge it up, we turn the inverter back on again.

John ran the engine and generator this evening to charge us up enough that we won’t hear the alarm tonight

We took a quick post-dinner ride to Cruisers Beach but tonight headed back to Lailia before midnight. The sunset tonight was even better than usual.

When we navigate we focus on the specific islands we’re visiting. Zooming out to a macro level is interesting – this island chain is so small.

We’re going to (hopefully) get propane and a sim card for the *other* internet provider tomorrow. We also plan to do some snorkeling in Thunderball Grotto.

Big Majors, Exumas, Bahamas (anchored)

April 27, 2022

(socialized too late to write at night)

Thanks, sister Tish, for reminding us that necessity is the mother of invention.  John did a quick course on carburetor repair via “YouTube University” before using that teeny bag of supplies.  One thing that he needed was a very thin, but somewhat rigid piece of wire to clean the jets and ports of the carburetor.

We searched Lailia for possible items: needles and pins from our sewing box; a variety of earrings with wires in them; and ballpoint pen springs that could be straighten out.

The winning tool?  The ballpoint pen spring!

John fixed our carburetor and we are able to use the dinghy.  He also made a killswitch from a foil wrapped pen which is a decent workaround for now.

Having a dinghy is like having a car.  We’re able to quickly go places that had been fairly inaccessible with Lailia’s draft.

On our way to Staniel Cay, with its yacht club and small grocery stores, we stopped by Piggy Beach.  The feral pigs there are so used to being fed by tourists that they will swim out to boats.  Some of these pigs are huge!  We consider ourselves visitors  rather than tourists (we’re here much longer than a tourist on a quick tour) and did not feed the pigs. 

The yacht club restaurant was well-stocked and I had my first unsweet ice tea in months.  We don’t even feel badly about the ham and bacon on our club sandwich!

There’s a school of large nurse sharks at the Staniel Cay Marina.  They hang out by the fish cleaning station which is also near some concrete steps.  Their mouths are closer to that of rays; they don’t have scary teeth (instead of serrated teeth, they have teeth to crush their food) and they have two sensors to help them feel for food on the seabed.  This means they are very pet-able. 

So, I did not even try to pet the pigs but was all about petting sharks

They have the coolest skin color and texture.  Sharks in general have skin reminiscent of sandpaper, but this species has almost iridescent scales I think it’s beautiful.

We are lucky enough to have multiple boat buddies at this anchorage – some of whom we met back at the Bay of Five Pirates.  We met to watch the sunset at Cruisers Beach. 

Some of our friends came back to Lailia to continue our conversations and we stayed up way past midnight.  Our friends, Andy and Casey, are heading north in the morning because they have to meet folks in Nassau soon.  We’ve been hanging with them for several weeks and will be missing them a lot.

Big Majors, Exumas, Bahamas (anchored)

April 26, 2022

We are very close to both the “pig beach” and Thunderball Grotto.  We can actually see the pigs if we use our binoculars.  Thunderball Grotto is where the underwater scenes in the James Bond movie Thunderball we’re filmed.  That’s a short dinghy ride from here.

However…our dinghy motor is not working.  It seems as if it’s a carburetor issue.  No dinghy = either rowing, staying on Lailia, finding a marina slip, or getting rides from friends.

John remembered that we have a carburetor repair kit onboard.  I am hoping that the little screws, piece of wire, and plastic thingy can make the carburetor work.  If it’s possible,. John will make it happen; I am glad he had the forethought to have the kit (it’s a very small bag) onboard.

We are working to have a carburetor shipped to us through a freight broker as plan B (or maybe Plan C). We’re near Staniel Cay where the broker has an airstrip for delivery.

We can also get replacement fuel line at the same time; John has been troubleshooting the air in the fuel line issue for a while now (including today).  While we have a fuel tank on the starboard side, too, that has no issues, it seems safer to have both sides working.

Good news; because we are outside of the US, we can access episodes of Better Call Saul as they are released via Netflix.   Streaming these on the wifi on the Exumas is an impossible feat, but I can download episodes to play later.  John sent the old phone we use for a router aloft using our spinnaker halyard to get a decent signal.  We were able to download this week’s episode in about two hours.  It will give us something to watch when we get tired of looking at the shore.

While John is fixing stuff, I am meal planning.  We have limited access to many food items so I get to be creative.  Today’s creation was homemade English muffins, something that I had never attempted.  I am still working out how the humidity and being at sea level impacts yeast dough, but I am proud of how they came out. We used some as a basis for tuna/artichoke melts tonight.

Here’s hoping that the carburetor kit will work tomorrow so we can do some exploring. Send whatever good vibes you can spare, especially to the saints of boating and fixing stuff.

Black Point Settlement to Big Majors: Cruisers Beach, Exumas, Bahamas (anchored)

April 24 and 25, 2022

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(We didn’t post last night because we got in really, really late)

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April 24 – Black Point

We spent part of the day trying to troubleshoot the fuel line issue including tightening the valve and checking the connections at the port side tank.  This has not solved the problem.  The fuel line runs under Lailia’s sole so we can’t easily see it. 

The mechanics of replacing the line are probably not too difficult but the logistics of getting the line are more complex.  It’s possible that an automotive store in Georgetown might have what we need.  That’s a full-day ride from here that requires us to go from the protected Exuma Banks side through a cut to the Exuma Sound side. 

Those cuts push a lot of water, depending on what the tide is doing and the way the wind is blowing.  Right now the wind is coming from that direction and even the big, heavy mailboats aren’t doing it.

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April 25 – Moving north

Black Point has been very welcoming to us but after two weeks there we were more than ready to move on. 

John did a last load of laundry (at the laundromat with the best views ever) while I prepped the boat for moving by stashing all of the loose kitchen items.

Our dinghy wanted to add to our boat repair list.  The killswitch came off and went overboard into the very brisk current.  I was alerted to the situation by the very loud explosion of f-bombs.  We’ll figure this out, too.

We made the short hop north to Big Majors.  We used our headsail for a while and turned off our motor.  Our average speed was over 6.5 knots which is pretty awesome!

Our boat friends are in the anchorage right next to us and offered to pick us up in their dinghy to take us to Cruisers Beach.   This spot had tables  and a collection of decorations left by cruisers.  The collective group of boaters is friendly and talkative – several families had kids playing together on this beach. 

We went back to our friends’ boat and stayed out way too late.  The best thing is that we don’t have a schedule so we don’t really have to worry about when we go to sleep or wake up, though.

Other boat buddies should arrive here in the next day or so.  We’ll work on overriding the missing killswitch for our dinghy.  Big Majors has a few caves to explore, plus a beach with pigs that will come up to the boat… something that wasn’t on our bucket list but since we’re here, we need to do.

Black Point Settlement, Exumas, Bahamas (anchored) (still)

April 21, 22 and 23

The wind is still blowing although it has died down a few miles per hour (from 25+ to 20+/mph).  It’s really just a constant, relentless force that we can always hear and feel.  It does keep the temps really comfortable and there’s an abundance of sunshine, but sometimes it just feels like it’s wearing me down.

Years ago a friend who lived outside Miami described his day as “another shitty day in paradise” and I laughed.  Now I get it – the water is blue and the scenery is outstanding, but some days it’s still flat out boring.  We’ve been in this anchorage for two weeks; we didn’t move during a good weather window because I was working.  

We have some boat buddies here – in fact, one couple left and came back.  There are a few small cafes and even smaller grocery stores. 

The wind has kept the mailboat from bringing supplies this week which means there’s not a lot of fresh stuff in the grocery store and the cafe is out of a few items on its menu.

In many ways cruising in the Bahamas is complicated.  Everything takes some extra effort and nothing is very spontaneous.  It could be an adventure – trying to make meals from canned food, for example – but there’s always a few extra steps (like having to light the propane stove as well as having limited availability of canned food in stores). 

A boat buddy and I were comparing this life to being settlers – we buy our groceries in general stores that get weekly deliveries (if they can).  We  walk everywhere.  We have to think about fresh water and power usage daily, because neither is unlimited.  We have limited refrigeration and no freezers.

In short, some days are just shitty days in paradise.

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Today was less shitty because we decided to explore a bit.  We walked over to the Exuma Sound side of the island (we are anchored on the Exuma Bank side).  The bank side is relatively shallow (we’re anchored in water that’s between 8.5 and 12 feet of water).  The sound side is deep and open to the winds from the east.  It’s really rocky with some dramatic cliffs. The ocean was really pounding this side today.

There’s a really cool blowhole there plus a cave that’s on the beach but above the waterline.  Our boat buddies, Casey and Andy (with Frank, their greyhound) met us on the beach.

We had dinner at Lorraine’s Cafe and got fresh coconut bread from her mom.

A shark was waiting just under the ladder where we tied our dinghy.  I am pretty sure this was just a coincidence.

We’re hoping the wind dies down a lot as is forecasted for Monday and Tuesday so we can get out of this anchorage.  Many of our boat buddies are beginning to head north since we want to be closer to the United States by early June, which is the beginning of hurricane season. 

Black Point Settlement, Exumas, Bahamas (anchored)

April 20, 2022

Today was the last day of my virtual school visit which means we won’t have to go to shore if we don’t feel like it. I will miss a few of my office mates.

The ride back to Lailia was a little bumpier than in the past few days. The water here is shallow, though, so the waves weren’t terrible. A local on his boat came by to see if John would give him a ride from a mooring to the government dock. It’s pretty cool to be able to help someone out.

This same man agreed to take our gas can to Staniel Cay (about 4 miles from here) tomorrow when he goes to work. We’ll have more gas for the dinghy and generator tomorrow afternoon. Although there are less than 275 people on this island, some folks have cars. There’s no gas stations on this island.

We watched rain circle around us much of the late afternoon and evening. The clouds would intermittently block the sun enough that it seemed rain was certain but we didn’t get anything.

Right now the winds are really picking up. Lailia is moving and creaking a little as she moves around. It’s not too rolly but it’s a little nerve-wracking to hear the wind and feel the vibration of the boat. I have an anchor alarm on and a boat tracker. This will let me know if we somehow drag our anchor, which is very unlikely to happen (but I need reassurance just in case).

The winds should start decreasing in the next 18 hours.

John has made sure our dinghy is secured with three separate lines. He will sleep soundly tonight. I will try but I am pretty sure I will be checking the tracker a lot. I guess I can catch up tomorrow when the wind dies down a bit

Black Point Settlement, Exumas, Bahamas (anchored)

April 19, 2022

Today was a very liquidy day. 

Because it rained last night we had to bail rainwater from the dinghy this morning before I had to head to land.

John also checked the oil, the transmission fluid, and the coolant fluid today.  All of these were good, including the very slow transmission leak.  John was even able to buy more transmission fluid – at the laundromat, of course.  I don’t know why the laundromat sells transmission fluid but I do know they have been out of ice for several days.

John also filled our water tanks.

Lorraine’s Cafe opens sometime between 9:00 and 10:30 every morning.  Those of us who need wifi start to gather on the front patio long before that.  We all acknowledge the terrible internet on our boats here and share information about anchorages with good wifi.  Then we put on our headphone so we can tune out the roosters and gulls before logging into our virtual meetings.

This morning I was able to talk to a woman who sailed here from France.  She, her husband, and her five year old son had several ocean crossings that were over a week long. 

The island briefly lost power twice today.  It’s an odd moment when all manmade sounds – air conditioners and music from the restaurants – just stop.  It’s even more noticeable because when the power goes out, so does the wifi router at Lorraine’s…both times while I was talking in a virtual meeting

After all the extroverting I did I needed quiet time to recharge.  John needed his extrovert time so he headed to happy hour after bringing me back to our boat. 

We have been trying to catch sight of the elusive green flash, a quick optical phenomenon that can happen just as the sun goes down.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature isn’t cooperating.  We’ve had low clouds on the horizon for days.  It pretty though, so we’re not complaining

It seems as if we are in for another big blow in the next few days.  Winds will be up to about 22 knots tomorrow (1.1 miles are in a knot, so 24.2 miles an hour).  The dinghy ride will be bumpy tomorrow.