Suliere's Blog

Today, in calmer winds we ventured into town at Blackpoint hoping to buy all the veg we needed. We’d seen the mail and supply boat arrive at Blackpoint dock on Friday night so we felt pretty sure that we’d  be in luck, especially as so many boats had left and nobody had been able to get ashore over the weekend with the high winds.

Noisy Black headed gulls deck the docks

Alas we were disappointed and somewhat surprised to find there was not a single new vegetable in the shop!  Not one item was new not a green bean in sight but the shop keeper advised us that there would be another boat coming in on Wednesday  to bring more, sadly not for our chiller as we will be gone by then.   And thats how it is with island life, not point a’worrying so with a shrug of the shoulders and a very light bag we headed off to find the Driftwood Garden we’ve been told about.

In many of the islands of the Caribbean you often see shoes hanging from the electricity cables and we spotted some along the way.  We have ben told that these of the shoes of people recently deceased.

Men at work!

We walked a short distance along the road passing the busy workmen building the new bar, or NOT building as you might see,   in search of an unusual garden that other cruisers had told us about,  ‘Willie’s Garden of Eden’.  We find this unusual rock based garden with all manner of driftwood creatively placed into convoluted statues and arrangements representing people and animals of all shapes and sizes.  Much to be left to the imagination and creative mind of the beholder but unusual and thought provoking.   This is Willie’s private garden but it seems all are  welcome to walk around and enjoy his artistic creations.

In Willie’s Garden of Eden I see a man sitting what do you see?

Garden of Eden is one of the local gardens where Willie has gathered all manner of driftwood and creatively constructed statues. What do you see?

Then it was back to the boat for truth to tell as there is little else to do in this town. The people are friendly and it was one such friendly person we met at a jetty on our way back to the boat. Young David Ward, a friendly lad who introduced himself as the ‘shell man’ and asked us to look at his shells, this wasn’t a hard sell approach, and money was never mentioned so to please him we took a peak explaining that we have no place for so many shells.  He was a mild mannered lad who just wanted to engage with us and with his gentle ways and happy smile why wouldn’t we!  He asked us to write down our names and boat name on a scrap of paper which we did but the request to draw our boat was  a little beyond both of us. After we’d taken a photograph at his request, we gave him a small contribution towards his shell collecting efforts but left the shells for some other  ardent shell seekers.

David Ward the Shell Man with paul

A trip around the bay on our kayaks gave us some exercise for the day in near perfect conditions, sunny with a gentle breeze. The area we thought had looked like a long sandy beach which we had planned to walk but on approach we found it to be a steep hard sand coloured slope .  We also saw that there were no coral heads to snorkel  so after investigating a small wrecked motor yacht partly submerged we paddled back a little earlier than expected.

We take the Kayaks around the Bay

Back on the boat Phyllis and Bill joined us for a drink as they’d arrived at Blackpoint earlier in the day.   We had a pleasant couple of hours chatting before retiring for the night. Not a stretching sort of day but pleasant enough and lovely to catch up with our cruising pals.

Ok, the GRIB files can be something of an underestimation for example; this morning we woke to 18 knots from the West coming right into the bay giving more rock and roll for those few remaining monohulls that lingered, yet the GRIB was showing just 10 knots!  The water in the bay has been churned up and  disturbed as though its been through a blender, the whole bay looks like a giant peppermint milkshake.

Waves wash over the sugar scoops and keep Slurpy dancing out back

Whilst we just gently bounce up and down on the waves dear Slurpy is frolicking about a bit out back, man can she dance!  One of the unforeseen issues with having a fixed console and a davit system thats quite rigid  is that in these waves we cannot lift her out of the water without the risk of the davits smashing into the console and engine.  So poor Slurpy rides it out on a long painter  frisking about doing a lot of Slurping and we spend a lazy Sunday onboard catching up with the blog.

Slurpy Frolicks in the Waves

If we had our time again we would not have bought Slurpy as she is. The engine at 30hp is too heavy and frankly after having learnt it takes 4 hours to replace the impeller in the Honda Outboard we would never have one again.  For servicing and utility a 15 to 20 HP Yamaha would have been fine. Lighter, easier to service around the islands and an easy impeller change.

The fuel tank for Slurpy is in the forward compartment but as fuel is used and the weight forward reduced it becomes harder and harder to avoid nose up motoring. I have now added our spare diving lead weight belts as ballast in front of the fuel tank and it seems to have improved things.

Our next and last stop in the Exumas will be  at Little Farmer Cay before heading off for a two day journey to the Jumentos. Its a 71 mile trip to Flamenco Cay but we need good light behind us for that route hence the plan is to spend the night in the open on a sand bank some 1 mile south of Great Exuma then leave early the next day so we arrive on the next 30 mile leg with the Sun behind us and high.

The afternoon stretches out  into a lazy, hazy blur of semiconscious drowsiness and in such a state of mind as this,  its curious how a giant man with a long bent nose  quickly becomes a savage dog,  all barred teeth, ears pulled back and terrifying,  then in a swirl of updraft his nature changes as his body melds into a big fluffy sheep…… You might think that Lesley has developed cabin fever but no, its just an afternoon of lying back on the tramps cloud watching and letting her imagination run with it.

As the wind shifts to the North calm descends on the bay once more

Saturday 4^th May

The GRIB files we download are the main basis for our weather forecasts and they had been showing a shift of the wind to the West at some 10 knots.  We usually find the wind is underestimated by up to 5 knots and the westerly wind forecast was to come straight into the bay here at some 14 knots.  This made it uncomfortable for many monohull boats that we watched hobby horsing and rocking and reeling around the bay before  leaving promptly at first light.

Rock and Roll My Friends. The anchorage clears out.

Suliere sat comfortable in the waves and swell but dear Slurpy was getting a little frisky at times snatching at her painter so we cast her some extra length and she settled nicely in the waves.  We watched one couple spend some 30 minutes trying to get back on board their power boat from an identical dinghy eventually taking a risky leap of faith onto the transom.  After seeing this we decided to spend the day on board and delay our shopping trip until Monday.   The mail boat had arrived with all the shop supplies on Friday evening so we wanted to get some fresh vegetables before they all got snapped up.

Friday 3^rd may

‘Come to the point stick to the Point’ and ‘Welcome to Blackpoint’  the welcome messages emblazoned in large letters along the shore line

Anchored close into the town dock it only takes us a lively minute in Slurpy  to get to the dinghy dock and take our first walk into town.

Great Dinghy Dock at Blackpoint

Seems a pleasant enough place and not too ‘touristy’, just enough to have a couple of restaurants an bars and an internet cafe. With a population of some 150 on the whole island everyone knows each other.  So when we watched a teenager jump out of his flip flops and run up the road abandoning them to join his mate we could only assume that anybody passing them   know to whose feet they belonged. We left them be supposing that he would return some time later to pick them up, and this just seemed to be an expression of the small knit community where he could do such a thing.

Abandoned Flip-flops!

We had lunch in a Lorraine’s café and as the only diners there we were surprised  to wait nearly 30 minutes for a rum punch and over an hour for a grim burger and fish sandwich both simple meals without faff or flourish.  Not great food, bland to say the least and way too expensive at that.

Inside Lorraine’s Cafe

We stepped to the house next door to meet ‘Ma’ the mother of the cafe family who is known for her tasty sweet breads so we treated ourselves to a coconut loaf and head back to Suliere where we cut off thick slices  and spread with  butter whilst still warm from the oven.  Fragrant and delicious!

Basket Weaving at Blackpoint

Sign reads “do not stand on bench”!

A shady place to sit and stare

No Standing on the bench- we told you!!

The Green and only grocery store at Blackpoint.

In need of TLC

Holiday Lets

Schools Out. Boys tease the girls and the girls taunt the boys world over.

Hail ye back to Blackpoint. other slogans- ‘ Come to the Point Stick to the Point’

It had been a simple but pleasing day.

Thursday 2^nd May 2013

We topped up with fuel at Staniel Cay Marina today having consumed some 50 gallons since leaving Spanish Wells as we would like to be full for our trip  down the Jumnetos Isles past Ragged Cay to the ‘big island’ we hoped to discover south of that cay.

Then we motored with the wind dead on our nose some ten miles to Black Point on Big Guana Cay and anchored in chart datum 2 metres just off the public Quay.

Its a glorious sunny afternoon spent lazing about and taking in the new scenery.  During the evening a storm circles around with some thunder and lightening with  lots of rain.  Suliere gently rock us to sleep as the swell comes in.

Weds 1^th May

Do we say white rabbits or not we ask ourselves, today being the first of May.  So far we are pretty much on our loose plan and on looking back have already done so many wonderful things in April.

Today we headed back into town in company with Phyllis and Bill to try and purchase the $24 local mobile phone.  We need this to be able to activate our data cards for the IPad as we head down island.  It took three trips to the BTC office to actually get the phone but get it we did and can now activate the data cards we purchased in Nassau as and when we need to.

Heading Ashore with Bill and Phyllis

Whilst hanging around waiting for the phone shop to open, we head down to the yacht club for a drink and chat with Bill and Phyl about our cruising plans.  On wandering down to the yacht club  pontoons we’re amazed to find about 20 large nurse sharks basking and circling in the below.  Whilst exploring the area and looking for shade we found a likely spot under a shelter.  It was here that the fishy smell and chopping blocks answered our questions.  It became clear that the fishermen stand and clean their fish here and the sharks wait for the  scraps.  We were advised that these sharks are not tame unlike the pampered nurse sharks of Compass Cay who are regularly visited by tour boats of people eager to swim with them.

Spot The Dark Patches – they are all Sideable Nurse Sharks. We Counted 19 in the Harbour

We head back to Suliere with our new phone and some more grapefruit so irresistibly juicy and sweet we have been breakfasting on them all week.  Back onboard we begin preparations for leaving in the morning.   We have loved out time at Staniel Cay and will no doubt return one day.

Tuesday 30^th April 2013

Today was a lazy laid back day of reading and blog writing before going for a late evening snorkel with Phyl and Bill.  We had made comments about it being the witching hour of shark feeding but undeterred we headed off and had a lovely time.

We got back to Suliere and had hot showers and as Lesley hung out the towels she spotted a large nurse shark cruising around the boat.  Maybe next time we’ll snorkel a little earlier in the day!  Although one isn’t supposed to fear the benign nature of the nurse shark we have also read in a book called “Dangerous Marine Animals” that nurse sharks are known to sometimes make unprovoked attacks so caution is always the better part of valour we thinks!

Monday 29^th April 2013

Phyllis and Bill were going ashore shopping in the morning so we decided to go along in hope of finding some fresh provisions.  We find that there are just three grocery stores ashore white, pink and blue and depending on what you needed you could go to one or other of these independent stores.  In the first or White store we managed to find a great supply of ginger beer and bought two crates not knowing when we might see any more, dark and stormy being our drink of preference at sundown!  Also stocked up on juices, four dozen eggs and a few veg  picking out the best as some were already well on their way.  Sat down outside and wrote ‘swimming piggy’ postcards to send home.

The White Shop

We then took the dinghies round to the dinghy dock and walked to the Pink store where we found skimmed long life milk then up the next pathway  a very short distance to the blue store to find lovely ripe tomatoes and grapefruit.  Finally to the BTC phone store to initiate another SIM card before we head back to the dinks.  We found all the people to be helpful and extremely friendly, nothing too much trouble.

The Pink Shop

The Blue Shop

Our trip had been something of a magical mystery tour highlighting for us the huge difference between island life shopping and shopping at home.  We tend to take our full to bulging shopping carts for granted and bemoan the price and quality without realising how lucky we truly are.

Sunday 28th April 2013

Bill recounts to us that he has been trying to teach Phyllis to snorkel for the past 15 years with zero success.  All she was happy to do would be to put on a mask and place her face in the water from the dinghy.  So over drinks one evening we discussed the possibility of Lesley spending some time familiarizing Phyllis with her own techniques.  So a plan was hatched that we meet on a quiet secluded beach for Phyllis to have a play around.

Stage two and shes doing good

Bill and Paul disappeared to fetch something from the boat and returned 15 minutes later finding to their amazement that Phyllis was happily snorkelling around the bay.

Yay! Phyllis is snorkelling!

We were all overjoyed and decided to really push the boundaries by visiting the Thunderball Grotto, it was now low tide and with all haste we made our way over to this popular snorkelling spot.  We tied up to the mooring and waited fro Phyllis who on seeing the entrance got cold feet.  Once inside the opening with a little encouragement she soon became entranced by the sights on offer inside the Grotto and snorkeled her way around happily.

Inside the cave we found a stunning setting with iridescent corals and large numbers of inquisitive fish eagerly taking the bread crumbs from our hands  and we’d come well prepared.  This is where the James Bond film Thunderball was made where Sean Connery hung out after escaping the Barracuda in the script.

Not to be out done Paul decided to make a film of his own here and swam out of the cave exit into the deeper water channel alone.  It was here that Paul was to meet with a little more excitement than he’d bargained for -his first underwater encounter with a shark.  Armed with   video camera he spotted through the view finder the afore mentioned shark swimming directly towards him only turning away with casual disinterest a few feet feet away from him. It was about 9 feet long. Paul recognized it as a mild mannered nurse shark so was never in any danger, none the less there are a few seconds when you’ve identified the shape swimming towards you is a shark but not yet recognized the species!

Lesley has noticed that Paul tends to get bitten by pesky mosquitoes far more frequently than she especially when Paul is around and they declare that Paul appears to be her sacrificial mozzie anode, she now wonders if the same will be true with sharks?

Paul and Lesley flushed and tired after our busy snorkel day.

Friday 26th April 2013

Our destination today was Staniel Cay and for the very first time since leaving Florida the NE wind was on our beam.  We already had the main up  and realized his left us with no excuse….  Now that we’d revamped our screecher with a non torsion rope in the leech and cockpit furling going to the new electric winches for the sheets,  this meant for this short 12 mile trip we had no excuse but to baptize our new screecher system.

Initially the wind was blowing between 8 and 15 knots at about 260 degrees to us so with great trepidation and expecting something to go wrong (after 3 years of multifarious issues you become a little nervous!),  Paul manually unfurled the screecher whilst Lesley used the new electric winch to take up the load on the sheet.  Lo and behold to our amazement we had a perfectly flying screecher and with that came the additional speed as we screeched along at 8 or 9 knots.  The apparent wind  shifted to 60 degrees off our port bow, the very limit for this sail.  The wind stubbornly remained  at 60 degrees for most of the trip but gradually increased in strength. As we neared our waypoint on approach to Staniel Cay the bearing of the following waypoint precluded the use of the screecher and as the wind strength was 20 knots we had no choice but to take it in.  This time Paul used the electric winch at the helm to furl whilst Lesley manually controlled the sheet on the new winch.   For future use we’ve decided that we should shield the screeched a bit more with them main before taking it down.

For the remaining 4 miles we used the Genoa and main and because of the gradual increase in wind velocity, achieved speeds of up to 10 knots. Paul filmed the screecher sailing and its reefing.

We’d had a great sail and arrived at the busy anchorage of Big Major Spot just a short dinghy ride to Staniel Cay. We anchored in just over chart depth 2meters of water in good holding and the Rocna set herself as well as ever.  It had been a great but all too short sail the baptism of the screecher had gone smoothly.

As we settled in and planned our evening meal, along came Phyllis and Bill from ‘Oh My’ that we had met several time sin Warderick Wells so we all decided to go ashore and have dinner together.  So we all set off in  Slurpy to Staniel Cay to explore the culinary delights on offer.

Phyllis and Bill Our Cruising Buddies

We arrived at the dinghy dock outside the yacht club where Phyllis and Bill disembarked and I held the line while Paul organized the security cable.  Whilst chatting to Phylilis Lesley heard a loud  ‘Spladoosh’ and on turning around to see the cause saw the top of Paul’s head disappearing under the water.  We all gasped in amazement and then saw that Paul bob back up clutching his new torch.  It would seem that a stretch to far to save his beloved new flash light had cost him a dunking!

Taste and Sea Cafe, Food on Bahamian Time.

So after returning to Suliere for dry clothing we head back to the restaurant to join Bill and Phyllis, Paul having gone the extra to increase his appetite.  On entering the bar we should have taken heed of the sign which read  “One Line, One Cook, Good Food Take Time’ we placed out order and chatted while we waited….. and waited….. and  waited.   Some 2 hours later we were happy to each receive a good plate of food.

It had been a day of memorable moments…… ‘Spladoosh’