Suliere's Blog

Thursday 25th April 2013

The guidebooks advised us that there was some good snorkeling without strong currents at Emerald Rock so we headed off and picked up a dinghy mooring by the small reefs.  Here we found really excellent snorkelling and encountered much larger fish and in bigger shoals too

Joining us on the reef was a small dinghy with a lady leaning over the side using a glass bottom bucket to gaze into the water whilst her beloved gently rowed her around the reef.  Lesley could remember all too well how it felt like to have too much fear to get into the water.  It had been during 2006 when we’d chartered a boat in BVI that she overcame this fear with determination and a great desire to explore the wonderful sea creatures she would otherwise be excluded from.  Just 6 years later she was happy to snorkel 3 miles without any flotation aid making vast progress, even having a dabble with scuba by attending a familiarization day.  With all this in mind Lesley commented on how much she wished she could help this lady find the same joy as she had from overcoming her fears of water.  Also note to self, must get waterproof camera!

Later we hiked ashore to Butterfly beach before heading back to the Boo Boo trail to go back up to the blow holes.  Who should we encounter in Banshee Creek  but the couple from the small dinghy we had seen earlier in the day. Phyllis and Bill we were to find are a delightful couple from South Carolina off ‘Oh My’  and we all chatted for some time about our cruising plans discovering we had similar ideas in mind and  guessed that our paths would cross again.   In the warm evening sunshine we heading up to the blow holes which we find yet again to be only blowing hot air

Butterfly Beach

Time for a Paddle

Wednesday 24th April 2013

A beautiful sunny day we set off to explore ashore.  We can now get up close and personal with a giant normally out of our reach because on the beach they have reconstructed the skeleton of a 52 foot Sperm Whale.  Nothing prepares you for the size of these huge boney structures until you get hands on and investigate.

53 ft Sperm Whale Skeleton Ashore

The bone tissue is breaking down a little where the tough outer surface has been weathered off somewhat, exposing the inner bone tissue that has the same texture and density of pumice stone.  The sad story behind the whales demise is once again the carelessness of mankind, this poor animal consumed plastic garbage which killed it.

We set of along the Boo Boo Trail to Boo Boo Hill the lore of which claims that one wild and stormy night a luckless schooner sank off Warderick Wells and all souls were lost. Locals say that if you climb to the crest of the hill at the bloom of the full moon you can hear the voices of the lost souls singing hymns. Looking though the hatch we see that the full moon will be tomorrow night but you wont find us on Boo Hoo hill!

We hit the Trails for a Hike

Before walking the short distance up the hill, we walk out across the rocks in search of the blowhole.  As it was low tide there was nothing obvious happening.  As Lesley made her way forward there was a deep blowing noise like a Whale exhaling.  We knelt down and felt the force of the warm air coming up through the hole making this deep reverberating exhale.  We wondered if on a moonlit night out on the hill these noises could be mistaken for the hymns of the lost souls?

So we walk up the trail and what do you think we find on top of Boo Boo Hill?  It’s the new Camp Driftwood  and sailors are invited to leave their mark.  What don’t we have with us? Yes you guessed our painted driftwood which is  of course back at Suliere.  Oh well another good reason to come back and witness the blowholes at high tide tomorrow and explore a little further along the trail.

Another Camp Driftwood!

We get back in time for slack water and snorkel in the bay  spotting some new fish that we haven’t seen before and Paul gets some more footage of the Larry the Lobster then its back on board for a relaxing evening and Pillars of the Earth on DVD

Tuesday 23^rd April 2013

From about 10.30 we we’re dressed and ready to go snorkeling determined not to miss slack water as there’s a very swift current that runs through the bay.  We sit and wait as a squall comes through making the water dull and decide to wait for the sunshine but this also means less time in the water before the current returns.  With all our togs on we sit and wait…. and wait…. and wait…..

Suliere in Warderick’s Northern Mooring Field

We sometimes envy those cruisers that just step into their dink, motor to a snorkel spot, leap into the water, back out and home.  Oh no not us we like to dress of the occasion and plan ahead.  This means that we have to organize fins, fin shoes, snorkels, snorkel wash, floatation jackets, ropes to climb back into Slurpy, map, and all manor of digital camera paraphernalia.

So around noon the sun graces us with her presence and lights up the bay so we make all haste and set off to the Coral Gardens.  We’re not disappointed though on a sharp look out as the first things Lesley sees would happen to be two very large Barracuda.  The corals were beautiful, some we hadn’t seen before and in really good condition.  Plenty of fish life on a much larger scale than in Allan’s Cay, in fact we swim around one large igloo shaped coral head and spotted the largest lobster we’ve ever seen tucked away in the security of his lobster cave.  We were told that with his tentacles stretched out this creature would be at least five feet long.  Beautiful as he was we couldn’t help imagining him under the grill.

Exuma Land And Sea Park HQ

The current soon began to build so we headed back to Slurpy and managed to get onboard reasonably easily rather than gracefully using a rope loop that we practiced with in Allen’s Cay.  It worked and we were soon setting off back to Suliere- alas the engine started but quickly stopped.  Lesley pointed out that it was just as well as the rope was still in the water…….. the light comes on as we realize the problem will be the rope around the props.  Our rusty practices on this common theme  meant that Paul had to get back in the water and release the rope  which luckily came away easily.  Note to selves – remove ropes from water before starting engines and turning props!

Sandbanks for Entertainment!

As we headed off we spotted a beautiful sunfish side ways flying through the water.  What amazing fish they are, if only we had met him in the water. We then watch a motor yacht come into the mooring field and park himself on the sandbank. Luckily he was able to reverse of but unfortunately reversed into another.  They seem to escape red-faced but unscathed.    So we relax in the afternoon sun before Paul sets about making an anchor container to go in Slurpy- the West marine bucket will do very well with a few modifications. A job a day keeps idle hands busy.

Its Complicated!

So far we are most impressed with all that we‘ve seen in the Exuma Land and Marine Park.  No fishing of any kind means that there is more marine life in general.  Excellent mooring organization and placement make it easy to be secure in fast changing tidal currents.

Monday 22 April 2013

Today was to be a light wind day with some 10 knots and even though it would be on our nose,  we expected a tranquil motor for the ten miles down to Warderick Wells our next port of call and the centre of the Exuma Marine Park.  Our expectations  such tranquillity were shattered  by an unusually lumpy sea combined with pelting rain in a large local system  producing 25 knots right on our nose ….. we motored at 5 knots right into it …… windscreen wiper on.  Our first rain!

We had been advised that there is a waiting list system in place for moorings at Warderick and we should expect to wait a couple of days to get into Northern Mooring field as a preference so we had a backup plan in mind.    Strangely enough the best two months to cruise the Exumas are April and May yet for some reason are also off season and we have so far found very few boats indeed.

We were in no rush to get there as the Park Office was closed for lunch until 1pm so we planned to arrive just after that to be allocated our reserved mooring.  Also it was clear that the weather was a local system which should have moved on by the time we reached Warderick Wells ……. We could then pick up the buoy in the dry and with little wind. That was the plan.  (Hmmmmm! Says Lesley….. all the best laid plans….)

We managed to secure to mooring number 19 in the Northern mooring field a really excellent position for all things Warderick. But plan as we did the heavens had an alternate notion making sure that as we motored into the narrow channels of the moorings weaving our way between buoys, boats and shoals that we could hardly see ahead.

The rain was pelting so hard that Lesley on the tramps struggled to open her eyes to see much at all….. but not to worry because on arrival at the buoy with our newly worked out procedure Paul was to turn up with the remote control to help keep Suliere on track for Lesley to pick up the buoy and secure it.  The only problem with this plan was that for the first time ever the remote refused to turn on!  Zero, zilch, zippo, nada and we mean nothing!   It was to turn out that it was as dead as the parrot in the Monty Python sketch but at the time we weren’t laughing.  The remote now lays in the electronics cemetery along with the drowned cameras!  In some consolation we have since had news that this shouldn’t have happened, the remote was faulty and will be replaced with a new one free of charge when we get back to Fort Lauderdale.

Despite the 25 knots of wind and pelting rain Lesley managed to hook the mooring first time as usual Paul managed to keep Suliere dead on target, creeping ever so slowly forward giving her time to get a line on. With the boat secure Paul could now come forward and help thread the other end of the bridle under the bowsprit and the job was done.   It was then with some satisfaction that we watched the next boat coming in behind us where it took three men and three failed attempts to finally secure on their forth circumnavigation of their pesky mooring ball.  It never pays to say too much or get too smug, sailing teaches you a certain humility of knowing that next time it may well be us chasing around the ball!

Within the hour we we’d had a warm shower, relaxed and enjoyed a crispy bacon and egg sandwich. The rain had stopped and we started to unwind after our bumpy trip.  Yet once again the powers that be had another plan in mind.  We overheard on the radio that the park office closed at 4 and if  that if we wanted to join the park to get a deal on mooring fees and pay for all essential internet access we needed to go ashore and book in immediately as it was 3.20.

Now the Park office  stood only some 300 meters away across the bay a mere 3 minute ride in Slurpy who we quickly launched and headed out.   Yes you guessed- the heavens opened and once again we got soaked!  We apologized red faced for the puddles around our feet at the reception desk unable to touch a piece of paper for fear of wet hands flooding it… the nice lady at the park office kept her humour, smiled acceptingly and kindly filled in the form for us.

We had arrived at the very heart of the Exuma Marine Park and looked forward to a few days of choosing when we’d get wet- this time with the reward of some great snorkeling.  Too wet for photos today folks!

Sunday April 21^th 2013

What a great day!  In the morning we christened our two new kayaks ‘Splish and Splash’ Paul’s bright orange or Port side kayak being ‘Splish’ and Lesley’s bright green or Starboard kayak being ‘Splash’. We decided to stick to the ‘water sounds beginning with S’ theme for our growing fleet. The others being ‘Slurpy’ and ‘Sloppy’.

Time to Stand and Stare

This was their first real Kayak ‘expedition’ as we headed up the creek just north of the mooring field in Fresh Wells Bay, Shroud Cay.  The creeks wind themselves through mangroves but unlike other mangrove areas we’ve seen, the water is crystal clear making it easy to see the wealth of fish in their watery nurseries. They seem unperturbed by our presence in the kayaks as we quietly glide into their homesteads.

Kayaking Into the mango Creeks

We’d guesstimated the creek to be about a mile but with all its convoluted twists and turns it seemed quite a bit further. We had timed this trip at low tide so although shallow we had water all the way.

About two thirds of the way in our journey Lesley spotted a small skinny shark, yellowish brown in colour and about two feet long, probably a small lemon shark swimming in the water ahead of her kayak and moving very slowly. Anytime the kayak grew close he steeled his body streaked ahead at lightening speed, just amazing to see how fast he could move!

As we arrived at the end of the creek we had to drag the kayaks through a real moonscape scene of hillocks and water pools where we  spotted a small stingray. He was probably just leisurely sunning himself in one of the little pools left behind and we disturbed him with all our splishin’ and a’splashin’.   As Paul got closer with his pole-cam the fish decided to make a last minute, unexpected dash for it sliding past Paul’s feet initiating frantic movement on Paul’s part as he tried to get out of its way.  Luckily in all the commotion neither party got hurt – the sting ray was not stepped upon and Paul’s feelings were not hurt as Lesley bends double in laughter at his new dance!

Pauls Close Encounter

We tied the kayaks to the mangroves and walked through a small cluster of trees to find a beautiful wild, windswept beach of white sands and crashing waves.  We’d enjoyed the peaceful solitude of our excursion and wandered along the beach picking up a little Flotsam.  This being a beach on the eastern shore of the Cay on the Exuma sound side it is exposed and prone to accumulating ‘stuff’

As we walked along the beach we were taken aback by the large glaring pile of flotsam that had accumulated there, sadly an unfortunate footprint of mankind’s contribution to Mother Nature’s landscape.

Sad to See Mankind’s Contribution to Mother Nature’s Landscape.

When we had finished or moochings we started making our way back up the creek and again found the small shark we had seen earlier now in very shallow water and clearly disturbed by us.  Little did we know that towards the end of our journey down the creek we would meet his much larger mother as she passed our kayaks at some speed.  Our trip had taken a little longer than we intended but had been a truly memorable experience for us .

We’d only been aboard Suliere for a quick half hour break before it was time to head off again, this time towards the northern most creek.  We had planned this trip at high tide because we wanted to use Slurpy our dinghy to explore and needed enough water to float our boat!  We timed our trip to be 2 hours before and up to two hours after high tide which was at 5 pm

Our primary aim here was to visit Camp Driftwood, a place of homage apparently on a small hill on the eastern shore at the end of the creek that we would have to hunt around to find.   A special place know by Yachties since the 1960’s where people would take a piece of driftwood from the beach, write their yachts name on it then place it amongst the hundreds of others at Camp Driftwood.  We had also heard the beach was very beautiful and worth a visit.

Lesley’s Camp Driftwood Offering

We traveled up the creek under engine power, this being the only creek where you are allowed to do this and soon reached a wonderful beach on the eastern shore where there were two or three other dinghies pulled up on the sand.  We left Slurpy to dance amongst   them in the shallows as we headed ashore to find Camp Driftwood.

Was there ever such a a let down-  Camp Driftwood was gone, absolutely gone, not a stick nor sign of it just a large empty clearing atop the hill.  The park rangers had placed a sign there to say that nothing should be left behind as it would be removed for disposal.  So we placed our ‘Suliere Driftwood’ and took a somewhat meaningless photo before retrieving it thinking that we would make our own Camp Driftwood elsewhere  then headed down to the beach. Luckily the view had been worth the effort.

Camp Driftwood is Gone

View from Camp Driftwood

The beach was of stunning white sands and crashing, foaming waves so while Paul chatted to some other cruisers Lesley not able to resist the pristine waters headed in for a swim, the perfect end to a busy day of explorations. Soon Paul decided to take a splash too, and what a splash he made running for shore when he realized he still had his camera in his pocket!  Was this to be another destined for the camera cemetery?  (We later found that yes it was!)  Well the water was just too good  so as soon as he regained his humour Paul had a swim too We basked in the mellow afternoon sunlight, the warm water soothing on our skin, heavenly!

Lesley Gets in for a Swim

Friday April 19^th 2013

The solar panels were simply not contributing what they should – it turned out one bank of them on the port side was contributing zilch. Hours of work proved futile and it seems one of the 6 solar regulators has died for good reducing our solar power by about 40%…….that repair will have to wait until July.

Paul gets hands on with the Solar controller

Otherwise it’s a windy day that helped us decide to spend the day aboard pottering about.   All around us we can hear the peeping, clicking sound of the Tropic birds  and witness their increased activity throughout the morning, wheeling acrobatics overhead performing an airborne ballet in their mating frenzy, their beautiful white tails streaming behind them.

Tropic Birds Flirt Overhead

It seems that ever where Lesley goes, be it standing looking out at the new horizon or sitting quietly watching the world go by or lying down to stare at fluffy clouds, this poem comes to her mind.

Leisure

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs,

And stare as long as sheep or cows,

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night,

No time to turn at beauty’s glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait until her mouth can,

Enrich that smile here eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

By William Henry Davies

Thursday 18^th April

Headed for Normans cay but not to keen on the anchorage location on arrival which seemed rather bland and as we knew there was a bit of a blow coming in we wanted somewhere a little more entertaining.  Decided to head off to Shroud Cay the first island we have come to within the Exumas Land And Sea Park so had to tie up all black water outlets as per park rules.

Took a mooring in an otherwise empty mooring field using the remote control to keep Suliere on target for picking up the mooring buoy. With the bowsprit extended it’s ropes get in the way somewhat so we are trying to revise our methods. The remote control managed well in winds to 15 knots.  It simply turns each engine on or off into forward or reverse. We had set a reasonable engine speed on the potentiometers inside the main controller and think this would be ok up to 20 knots.

In doing this it is much easier for Paul to see all the activity up front now being able to see the pickup buoy and maintain Suliere’s position also Lesley is no longer alone up there at the bow if the going gets tough.  We should have started to use this technique much earlier as we’ve been using it for some time for bringing up the anchor. The remote control has the ability to control engines, anchor, windless and bow thrusters, about the size of a TV remote and hangs on a neck lanyard.  We think it makes life much easier and there’s nothing wrong with that!

We have planned to take a couple of trips up the creeks into the mangroves tomorrow if the wind eases. The northern most creek will be possible in Slurpy where we are told to beach her and take a walk along the beautiful long beach on the Exuma Sound side, also to collect a piece of driftwood to take to ‘Camp Driftwood’.  We will attempt the other creek by Kayak where no engines are permitted in order to preserve the wildlife. The mangroves offer shelter to all manner of creatures and make particularly good nurseries for young fish.

We are expecting heavier wind tonight (Thurs)  20 to 25 knots maybe from the SE but we are protected here n the lee of Shroud Cay.

Rock Opera

The sun gently slides down the peach tinted sky to the horizon an especially mellow time to sit and enjoy the beauty of the scenery that surrounds us.  Alongside Suliere there is a small opening between two of the cays where the surface of a reef dries out at low water. As the waves begin to play across the coral heads they create and erratic stipple of splashes like a tune rippling over piano keys playing some previously unheard rock opera.  The wind plays its tune in the rigging and whisks its way across the water surface and the birds fly back to roost. The end of another peaceful day aboard Suliere.

The Sun Goes Down on Another Peaceful Day

Wednesday 17^th April 2013

We awoke to clear blue skies and a gentle breeze on our second day at Allen’s Cay. Paul took on the unenviable task of cleaning the barnacles off Slurpy’s fouled bottom which had accumulates as a  result of being left a wee tad too long in the murky but nutrient rich waters of the Lauderdale Marine Centre dock.  Scraping, rubbing, brushing and spraying begins in earnest and rapidly showed improvement of Slurpy whilst Paul turned into Barnacle Bill wearing a thick covering of the detached aforesaid mollusks.

Not wanting to be in the way (!) and meet with the same gruesome overcoat, Lesley heads out on her as yet unnamed Kayak for a quick paddle around the bay.  Birds don’t seem to fear ones peaceful approach and remain close by on the shore.  The iguanas languish lazily in the sunshine only turning their heads as the kayak gets within feet if only there had been a camera on hand.  Resting the paddle in the sand to anchor its hard to work out who’s watching who, watching them watching us watching them.  As the kayak glides into the shore more iguanas come forward.  Lesley wonders if her bright green kayak might resemble an appealing giant broccoli stalk approaching hence their speedy activity!

As the afternoon progresses Paul continues his rubbing and a’scrubbin’ and Slurpy has one clean cheek.  A bright, shiny, good as new starboard side whilst her port side can wait for another day!  Lesley makes a chicken Jalfrazi curry for dinner and then the plan is to go for a swim and cool off after the days exertions.

As an exercise we decided to take Slurpy with her new flying anchor into the bay nearby and have a play around with anchoring her.  Also to have some fun practicing getting in and out of Slurpy in deep water for when we go snorkeling on reefs.   I am sure this would have been most entertaining for our lizard friend onlookers as we made a total spectacle of ourselves sploshing around in the most inelegant fashion.  I hope we improve!

This was a great anchorage and we chose to stay a second night before heading off for Normans Cay.

Tuesday April 16^th 2013

After our most peaceful night yet, we begin to remember the joys of being at anchor, of finding places of tranquility and solitude, to truly escape.  We prepare to leave at a leisurely pace and find the biggest Barracuda we have ever seen under the boat.  Bertie must have been at least 6 foot with dark striking colorations and a persistent nature.  Even as we struck up the engines he tried to remain with us under the hulls but alas poor Bertie got left behind as we picked up speed heading for Allen’s Cay.

Our target anchorage was hopefully to be the bay in Little Allen’s Cay and we’re both surprised and delighted to find no boats there at all.  We had the whole stunning bay all to ourselves.   We soon realised that by the time we’d anchored getting as far in as we could, there was little room for any other boat.

We had read that the more popular Leaf Cay was visited several times each day by high speed motorboats arriving with contingents of broccoli brandishing guests from Nassau eager to feed the voracious appetites of the iguanas found there.  We can now bear witness to this, finding that these boats pay no heed to those snoozing peacefully on the tramps at anchor but rather more sped through the channels creating enough wake to give us another half meter under the keels!

We got ready to dive on the anchor for reassurance and found it not so reassuring that with our rusty seamanship we’d set off from Ships Cay with our swim ladder and swim rope hanging down  in the water where it remained after yesterdays first swim.  Needless to say we were glad to find that the rope cutters had dealt with it most effectively but note that Slurpy is now sporting a much shorter painter! .  We now display a somewhat untimely notice on the helm saying  “Rope and swim ladder”  where it will remain until we get back into routine!

We dove and found that our good old Rocna had dug his heels in holding fast in the fine white sand.   We were not alone for long, being joined by a very inquisitive stingray that took a great interest in Lesley.   Great amusement to Paul watching as it followed her every turn but not so amused when it switched attention back to him.  Its ok to observe such sea creatures whilst you remain in control but when the roles are reversed it becomes a little disconcerting.  We’re sure that it was just as curious of us as we were of him.  It was such a shame that we didn’t have the underwater video camera to make the most of this fishy attraction.

So we headed off for s  snorkel around the bay, with the water being gin clear it was a lovely place to get used to being in the water  and amongst such a wonderful variety of sea life around the rocky perimeter.   Swimming through the middle of the bay and closer to the shore found it to be a grassy nursery haven for baby conch, they were simply everywhere delightfully perfect little miniatures romping about in the grassy undergrowth.

This was the perfect bay to try out our new kayaks we’d been itching to launch them but had not had any great opportunity to date.   And so it was that we unceremoniously plopped them overboard trying to think of names but failed at this time Lesley saying that we had not yet ascertained their personality types!

Kayaks proved to be the ideal transport to quietly arrive at the beach without scaring the iguanas.  Lesley had spotted them through binoculars from Suliere and we’d heard their strange whooping calls so we knew they were around even though we couldn’t see any on approach.  Lo and behold as soon as we got close to the beach there was a loud rustle in the undergrowth as several iguanas came lumbering forward to greet us.

We’d read in all the guidebooks that to help maintain the health of the iguanas we should refrain from feeding them so we arrived empty handed but they clearly had expectations.  Paul got happy with his video camera and filmed their greeting and Lesley started snapping away with her camera finding such fascinating subjects irresistible. The iguanas here are a little less used to visitors than the ones on Leaf Cay and so less aggressive.  In fact we found them to be somewhat shy having to balance their natural shyness with their hope for food….. all very interesting and a great start to our cruising proper.

We’d anchored in about 1.5 meters of water but with about a 20 cms of neap tide above that. As we draw 1.5 meters this left us just 20 cms clear at low tide. Paul was able to dive on this low point and observe the clearance. It was a good confirmation of the actual draft of Suliere and validity of the depth meter settings. Much to Lesley’s relief! We set up the anchor alarm on the newly acquired iPad and left less than ten foot of drift allowed back towards the rocks before it would alarm us.  We declared all the area in front of the bow an unsafe zone so that we would be warned of any change in direction of wind. It never left the safe zone all night.

Through the Porthole

The haunting calls of the iguanas echoed across the bay at night fall, a lonely call in the darkness of the night maintaining ones curiosity into the lives of these prehistoric looking creatures.

Arrived at Ship Channel Cay and tucked in anchor hour on the west anchorage.

Only one othe boat anchored a few hundred metres away. We went for our first snorkel in a YEAR!,,, It was great and we retired with a dark & stormy and a  on the tv

Wind on our nose part of the way and at 30 degrees the other half so motor  sailed yet again. The alternators still treat the lithium batteries as if they were AGMs. So we really have to change over to two 250 amp alternators this coming hurricane season.

I filmed this issue and others with a small hand cam – I am trying to add a sense of reality to the cruising by introducing a lot of detail of the decisions made in passage planning, problems on the way and our learning process- in this case trying to learn how to avoid coral heads etc. I will publish some of this soon on both here and the M4US forum to see if its what the sailing audience want….. A sort of reality cruising video.