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My Birthday!
LEAVING THE ABACOS FOR HARBOR ISLAND
It was a weird feeling as all the boats at the surrounding anchorages headed out this morning as we lingered behind and watched them. They all headed towards the southern cut, pretty much at the same time, following each other in single file. It was strange to see them weaving left and right in what simply looked like flat innocent water but obviously they were winding their way through the shallow waters avoiding shoaled areas and who knows maybe coral heads. There are lots of hidden obstacles to weave around below the waters. They finally made their way out through the cut, past the breaking reef, into the Atlantic, one by one. We went the opposite direction, which was about 3 miles longer overall, heading back north the way we came yesterday. We again are by ourselves. We had plenty of depth below us the whole way so it was less stressful. The anchorage was not a pleasant place to be yesterday and last night as the weather was windy and overcast and the shoreline behind us was rocky. We watched the waves breaking against the lonely weather damaged docks. There were two boarded up weather beaten houses on this lonely Cay and I wondered if the owners were planning to return to them as they looked somewhat abandoned. When the sky clouds up the bright cheerful colors of the Bahamas turn grey and depressing. There’s almost comfort though when you know you are alone here. We had company, and company is always good even if they are a ¼ mile away. Some of the boats were here weathering it like us, waiting to leave the Abacos in the morning, to take advantage of the predicted good weather conditions. Otheres were just snuggled in, weathering it out, waiting for the finally predicted calm and a promised glorious day to go snorkeling or beach combing. Most of us were in the recommended (by the cruising guides) anchorages but we could see a few boats were nestled in areas behind Bridges Cay that looked very pleasantly calm. They weren’t listed as anchorage but you could see they were much more comfortable than the rest of us following the guide. They maybe are locals who know better or have been here long enough to really scope the depths out to find a good place. Who knows? We were only a short dinghy ride from Little Harbor and Pete’s Pub. We visited them both a few weeks ago by car. Normally in good weather it would be a short pleasant dinghy ride across crystal blue waters into little harbor for lunch and drinks but not today. There is also supposed to be some very nice snorkeling areas with permanent moorings to tie up to nearby and nice sand beaches to walk and look for shells. But again, not during our stay as the winds blew and the dark Front came through making that all impossible. All of us just sat in our boats.
MORNING IS CLEAR All is washed clean and outlook is bright in the morning. We are up early, innocently awakened by Wayfinder, and the sun is just peeking up on our starboard side as we head up to the north cut to the Atlantic. We head out making a turn to our starboard, heading toward the “northern cut” with the bright sun directly in our face. We are beginning to feel the swells from the Atlantic as we get closer to the opening. I think this is going to be a great day to head out. The seas are calm and barely any wind. We head out into the morning sun and into the cut. Off to our left we see the waves breaking on Channel Rock and to our right the wind swept Atlantic side of Lynard Cay which was our neighboring rocky shore of land last night. It’s a long and narrow cay. Who would have thought that just a hop skip and jump on the other side of its narrow back bone was the Atlantic last night but you’d never know it from the comforting protection it gave.
MMMMM, I LOVE THAT DEEP, DEEP WATER It felt so good to get out in the Atlantic again and have deep waters below us. We made our turn and now the glaring morning sun was on our portside. The weather was behaving exactly as predicted. We have gentle following seas and winds to keep us company today. The swells were small and the period long. It couldn’t be better.
ZIGGY IS MELLOW YELLOW We tried something different this morning and that was to give Ziggy half of a tranquilizer pill that our vet in Santa Barbara gave us for his airplane trip. We got the idea from DiveAdx. That’s what Michelle does with Thor, their golden lab. It was amazing how relaxed Ziggy was today. Usually he gives us this worried look when we get out to sea. Today he was sleepy and relaxed and such a nice disposition. We didn’t know why we didn’t think of doing this before. It could have saved him a lot of grief the past two years. Next time we have a trip like this we’ll try a ¼ pill as I think he was a bit too mellow. He was nice all day, with none of his usual grouchiness and histericalness when the seas are rough. He was so happy, well until night fall and then he was back to normal self, pushing and maneuvering to get most of the bed again.
DEVIL’S BACKBONE It was a pleasant 6 hour trip. Larry had called Woody, the pilot that was going to lead us through Devil’s Backbone into the town of Dunmore, on Harbor Island, a few days ago to make arrangements to meet him. Larry told Woody we’d arrive at the entrance to Devil’s Backbone at 2:00 PM but would call him about an hour out to give him a heads up on the arrival time. About an hour before our rendezvous point we could see on the horizon just the ghostly image of some low lying trees. There are no big hills or buildings to use for visual landmarks, just flat expanses that don’t show up until you are practically to your destination unlike a lot of other cruising areas we have done. It had been a quiet voyage today, one where you felt like taking naps and reading a novel. We watched the other boaters on the radar screen most of the morning as they steered a more westerly course heading to an anchorage off Royal Island. It’s just off the NW corner of the group of islands we were headed to. The Nordhavns said they were headed to Current which meant they were going beyond Royal Island and further south. They would be headed through a narrow cut through the long leg of the island called “Current Cut”.
WOODY THE PILOT ARRIVES IN “LITTLE WOODY” It was about 1:00 PM now and we’ve had radio contact with Woody. Sometimes his wife helps with the radio transmission if Woody is out of range. We tell Woody we are going to be about 30 minutes ahead of schedule. I suppose we gained some speed due to the following winds and accommodating seas. We’ve made good time today. We only saw one other boat all day and that was a freighter who crossed our path coming from Nassau heading out to the Atlantic. We wonder what his destination is. We slowed down a bit so he could cross ahead of us and that made us 5 minutes short of our estimated meeting time with Woody. Soon we could see a little pilot boat with a small bimini on top bobbing up and down in the waters just off shore. We watched it through the binoculars wondering if that was Woody. It must be. He is patiently waiting for us. When we were in closer range he raced out to meet us. I didn’t know whether he’d be a black Bahamian or a white guy. There are so many whites living in the Bahamas, direct descendents of generations of loyalists. It always surprises me to see so many. His accent on the radio could be any of the above. It wasn’t an accent that was familiar to us. As he got closer we could see he looked like a young looking white guy. He had a big smile, baseball cap, white t-shirt with sports fishing images on it, shorts, flip flops and the latest wrap around reflective sun glasses. He looked like and could for anyone from Fort Lauderdale the way he dressed. I stayed up in the pilot house to keep an eye on things while Larry went to the back of the boat to help Woody come aboard and tie off his pilot boat behind us. He trailed his boat about 20-30 feet behind. It was a small boat and on each side of its bow it read “Little Woody”. He said with a smile, he’s Woody and his boat is “Little Woody”.
Woody comes right aboard, politely leaving his shoes on his boat and first makes sure his boat is tied securely. He comes immediately inside and you like him right away as he has a great smile and a very relaxed atmosphere presence about him. I show him up to the pilot house and point to the two pilot seats. I’m thinking he will be sitting beside Larry as we did coming through the Panama Canal with the pilot, you know, Larry driving and the pilot there beside him to offer help and assistance. Instead Woody sits right down in the captain’s chair and Larry says “Uhhh, are you going to be taking her through?” Woody answers with a smile and a twinkle in his eye, “Sure, that’s how I do it”. Before you know it, he’s taken over as captain and he pushes the lever forward and off we go. He asks a few simple questions like “Is this a twin?” and Larry said “No, a single”. Woody says, “OK”. He heads the bow straight for the shore. I’m getting nervous wondering “Where the heck is going?” I don’t see any opening or cut in the land. Is he going to turn or what? Where could he possibly be heading? Have we taken on some crazy guy that doesn’t know what he’s doing and let him get right in the driver’s seat? We’re putting our boat and all our trust in this guy who came from who knows where in his little boat. We don’t know him from Adam and we’re letting him drive the boat straight into the shore! I just can’t believe it! All this is running through my
mind as Woody is calmly talking to us the whole time too, just chit chatting and
smiling. He’s so relaxed as we head, as far as I can tell, straight into the
rocky shore where the waves are breaking. He continues straight ahead and just
as we were about 50 yards or less from shore and the breaking waves, he made a
portside 45% turn and followed the shoreline, still all the while barely looking
ahead and more small talk. Waves were breaking just off our starboard side
now. I just couldn’t believe it. I think Larry was nervous too or just stunned
as he sat slumped down into the chair beside the new captain. What could we
do?
We traveled along the shore just outside the waves for quite awhile and then the coast became rocky ledges again, no soft sand to shipwreck into. It was so scary. To think that this friendly personable stranger, who we had only met a couple minutes ago, was driving our boat in what I must say could be the most dangerous waters we’ve been in yet. I hadn’t bothered to check ahead of time that day to see where we were going with him. I finally thought to go across the pilot house and check the charts to see what he was doing. Once I checked I suddenly understood everything. He took us into a cut in the reef just off shore and we were heading down a narrow, and I mean narrow, space between the reef and the shore. We passed the rocky shore now and again followed closely to a nice white sandy beach, but still incredibly and uncomfortably close. The sea begins to become calmer as the further we go, the more protection we have from the reef.
IN SHOCK I was kind of in shock by now
but settling down as I could see the calmer waters ahead. Woody was doing his
best to distract us I assume by asking us questions about where we are from and
other such chit chat all the while, half the time he wasn’t even looking where
he was going but we somehow just kept going the right way. I could hardly
answer his questions because it was so nerve wracking. Soon he began to calmly,
one handedly, weave this way and that around coral heads I guess. I can only
think that he knows these waters so intensely that he does it like sleep
walking. There are no markers here, just colors in the water but I couldn’t
make heads or tails of the colors. Sometimes he’d go over one color and the
next time as far as I could tell, he’d avoid the same color. We finally got
through this “Devil’s Backbone” and out into a wide open area heading into the
protected waters of the bay, away from the perilous shoreline. It’s truly
amazing how he instinctively knows these waters. The waters become much as they are protected by Man Island and up ahead we begin to see civilization. It’s the settlement of Dunmore on Harbor Island. Woody points out good places to snorkel as we pass by them and tells us to be careful of the currents here and there as they can take a diver right out to sea I presume. He tells us stories of boats that he has brought in and others that have had mishaps that haven’t hired a guide. It’s very hard to understand him at first because he has a very strong accent which is very unfamiliar. I ask him if he is a descendant of the loyalists and he says “No, but I was born here. My family came from the Azores. They left the Azores when the volcano erupted and this is where they landed.” His accent must be a mix of Portuguese from the Azores, the Elizabethan English from the loyalists, and a little Rasta or Bahamian, mixed in together. It’s very unique. We pass some pretty large homes on the island and he points out various celebrity homes. He also tells us a bit about Dunmore, like the restaurants he likes, and ones he thinks we’ll like. He’s such a nice guy, that the more we were with him the more we became comfortable and liked him.
JOHNNY CAKES & BAHAMIAN
BREAD As we neared the marina Woody slowed Knotty dog down to a stop. We gladly paid him his $75 fee and also gave him a well earned hefty tip. We helped him back on his boat but he would leave without giving us some fresh bread and cake that his wife baked. He opened up a compartment on his boat and out comes a loaf of wonderful fresh baked Bahamian bread, a loaf of carrot cake, and a bag of fresh sweet “Johnny Cakes”. Guess we’re going to put on a few more pounds in this place too. (And they were all delicious!) What an interesting experience and well worth the money. We plan to hire Woody again to take us to Spanish Wells where he lives. That means we’ll go back out Devil’s Backbone again but I won’t we nervous the next time. I supposed we could try to make it through ourselves but I think it would be a very foolish thing to do and like Woody says, we are paying him to eliminate our stress. He couldn’t have been more accurate. It’s very tricky cut and very dangerous. He’s such fun to have on the boat that I would not wanted to have missed that experience for anything. He said he brought in a 100 foot trawler this morning and as we went by the government dock he said he was taking out the big 150-200 barge out later in the afternoon. It’s amazing that he can take boats of that size through there.
FIRST GLIMPSE OF DUNMORE Well, we pulled into Valentine’s marina and tied up to their nice docks. The marina is really great. They have a nice restaurant, bar and an open deck over looking the marina. I love the architecture. It is very classy.
We immediately took a short walk after checking in being very anxious to see what the town looked like as it seemed really charming from the water as we came in. We walked a few blocks and saw many interesting historical houses and inns. We headed down to the government dock to see what was happening there and walked past the little street vendors. Golf carts and trucks were coming and going, traveling up and down the little streets. The barge had arrived at the government docks and they were unloading barge and locals were all waiting around picking up goods and delivering them all over the island. People were arriving from the small fast ferry from Nassau and renting carts, or taking taxis, heading off to hotels or rented houses. It was a lot of activity and noise after the quiet peaceful areas we had been. It looks like it’s going to be a fun place though and we’re looking forward to spending some time to explore the whole little island but I think we’re going to need a golf cart to do it justice. We were all tired, including Ziggy who was still a little groggy from his tranquilizer so we headed back to the boat.
BIRTHDAY DINNER AT VALENTINE’S We left Ziggy on the boat that night and had dinner at the lovely restaurant in the marina. I just loved the architecture and décor. It is British West Indies style I guess. The exterior was painted a cheerful yellow with white trim and a white roof. Lovely railings enclosed small little porches at each pair of French doors with the typical Bahamian criss cross design. There are great big French divided light doors and lots of tall bi-fold divided light windows with heavy white casings that all open while dining to the fresh Bahamian breeze.
The walls are wainscoted with beaded paneling and thick rich chair rails, all the windows, doors and paneling are painted a crisp rich white. The ceilings are vaulted with white painted clap boards and suspended from them are multiple dark wood ceiling fans. The walls are painted a lovely pale shade of yellow and the tables have deep blue table cloths. Blue accent lights are scattered throughout projecting the most wonderful atmosphere. There is a large rectangular table in the center dining room below the high vaulted ceiling. A large model of a sailboat perches itself on top as a centerpiece flanked by two pineapple lamps. The kitchen is open to the dining room and but separated by a friendly dining bar and inside you can see the black Bahamian woman chef in a crisp white chefs outfit with a crisp white chefs hat with the plume slightly off to the side. The black waitresses come immediately to take you drink order and we relax and look out over the harbor as the sun goes down in the West. The floors are a deep dark polished wood and the chairs are the same dark wood with a lattice work designed wood back. We order some fresh grilled lobster, shrimp and scallops for dinner and it was a nice quiet ending to our travels that day and a nice birthday dinner. We will sleep deeply tonight looking forward to tomorrow to go explore this beautiful place.
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WHERE THE HECK IS HE GOING?
