We’ve had a great week exploring Hope Town on Elbow Cay, as well as nearby Man-O-War Cay in the Abacos. Here is the photo album. The Elbow Cay Lighthouse, one of three lights in the Bahamas that still runs on kerosene, is an often photographed landmark marking the entrance to Hopetown.
We had the opportunity last night to visit Franklin, the lighthouse keeper for Elbow Cay for 40 years now. He allowed us to accompany him to the top of the light at sunset and watch him ignite it. The kids even got to turn the crank which lifts a weight that keeps the light spinning - a mechanism much like the weight on a grandfather clock. It must be rewound every two hours throughout the night.
The islands of the Abacos have a very different “feel” compared to the Exumas... in part because they are more developed (being closer to the US makes them a bit easier to reach for vacationers and many charter boat companies do business here) and in part because they have retained much of the culture of their British Loyalist founders.
Man-O-War Cay in particular - being very small and its residents very closely related - has a very distinct dialect and a long tradition of family boat building. The settlement of Hopetown is much larger and is definitely a tourist destination spot. It has a busy harbor, lots of vacation rental properties, restaurants and other amenities that are not unlike many coastal communities in the US.
The Loyalist Museum here in Hopetown was today’s social studies field trip... that means “reports from the field” will be coming soon. For PE, we took a long walk along the beach and then stopped by the Hopetown Harbor Club’s pool bar for a lovely afternoon swim!
Jubilee’s Field Reporters have decided to share with you some of their knowledge as experienced cruisers. Here are their tips on radio communication and anchoring...
VHF Radio, by Emily
Today you will learn how to use a VHF radio. At the top right hand corner is a nob. If you turn it left the radio will turn on. On the left hand corner is a intina. Below all of that is a speacker that you can talk through. Below that is a screen. It shows the number 16. 16 is the haling channel. You can hale any boat you want.
Here you go! “Kwitcherbitchen, Kwitcherbitchen, this is Jubilee.” Then you wait for a seacond. “Jubilee this is Kwitcherbitchen.” Then you say “up one” and go the channel up because you can’t talk on 16 because it is the haling channel. If 17 is ocupid you go to 18 or 68 or another channel. Then when you are done talking you say “Jubilee back to one-six” and you go to 16. Well, I hope that explanded enough.
Anchoring, by Drew
If you are going cruising and don’t know about anchoring, you should read this.
The first rule you should know is sand is better holding than grass. Also, different anchors set better than others depending on the holding. You should not anchor on coral because it kills it and you could get your anchor stuck.
You might ask around for how much scope people have out and put as much as them if you are in a crowded anchorage. The rule is put out your chain in a 5-7 to 1 ratio. If the current is strong you might set two anchors.
Last rule... don’t anchor on top of someone’s line. And always use a snubber to relieve tension on your windless. A windless helps you pick up your anchor.
If you don’t now where to anchor, look on your chart. The symbol will look like a small anchor.
Anchoring Tips, by Jake
If you plan to anchor you should know that different anchors set better in different areas. We use a C-Q-R which is 45 pounds! In places that have a lot of current set two anchors. If you drag set 3! (just kidding)
Don’t anchor near rocks because you might drag, run aground, or get your anchor stuck around it and never get it up. The best place to anchor is sand, times your deapth by 7 then put that much scope.
Marinas are better than anchoring because you can’t drag, but marinas make you spend every nickle and dime. Also, you might crash into a super yacht!When they aren't crewing, the kids enjoy making stop-action "movies" with the camera and their Legos. Here's a quick sample of their work... it's called "The Dive."
Before leaving Nassau for the Abacos, we decided to revisit Atlantis with our friends from Kwitcherbitchen. As a "party of 9" at the marina, it was an extra great deal! Plus, it was a fun way to end our time together since we are now moving North while they enjoy another month or so in the Exumas before returning to Cape Cod.
Goodbyes are definitely a hard part of cruising, but we're grateful to have made so many great new friends. Speaking of which, we had an unexpected reunion with Patience as well as Le Nicholas IV on our last day in Nassau. It was great timing... Christopher from Patience and Pat got to celebrate their birthdays together!
Here's a photo album spanning our time in Atlantis, Pat's birthday party, and our recent crossing into the Abacos, where we'll spend the remainder of our time in the Bahamas.
More soon from Man-O-War Cay.
Nassau, its just a bit different. After living in the remoteness of the Exumas for three months, Nassau is a shock to our systems. But, it is nice to grab some groceries and a few other things that we've been missing.
Yesterday we decided to take the kids Geocaching in downtown. If you're not familiar with Geocaching, it is a basically scavenger hunt with GPS. You log on to the Gecaching site and then look up places to search for boxes of stuff that are hidden all over the world. We do this as a pass time in Portland all the time. And, we thought we'd give it a try in Nassau. The kids had a blast and we located a number of caches. As you'll see we collected a couple of geocoins that we'll place in other caches later in our trip. One cache was near the Hilton Hotel and the other at the Governor's Mansion. The trick in an urban area like Nassau it is avoid being detected by muggles. These are people who are not in on the Geocache scene. You don't want someone disturbing a cache if they don't understand the game.
While strolling through Nassau with the Geocahers I decided to take a few pictures of what we saw along the way. My hope was to take the pictures you won't be seeing anytime soon in the brochures at your local travel agency.
As you'll see from the photos, there are a lot of different sides to Nassau. There's a lot of people watching to be done. Heck, we even saw the Prime Minister riding by in his flash Lincoln Continental.
So, click here, hit slide show and enjoy a walk through Nassau.
As you can see from the photo above, the kids recently attended another morning of school at Black Point Settlement.
Now that we've returned to the Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park, they're back at work learning about the animals of the Bahamas. Here's a look at some of their latest research work.
Nassau Grouper, by Drew
The Nassau Grouper is a very distinct fish. It has a big mouth and gills and dark black stripes on its sides. It ranges in size from about 1-4 feet and about a maximum of 30 pounds. Nassau Groupers live in coral reefs and probably don't live in water deeper than 120 feet. They eat lobster, crabs, shrimp and more.
The threats to the Nassau Grouper is mostly man because man is over fishing them. The Bahamas is helping the Nassau Grouper by restricting fishing seasons and the size you can catch. They also make parks, santuaries and reserves where fishing is illegal.
The Rock Iguana, by Jake
Rock Iguanas are brown and grow up to two-three feet, but in Andros they're 5-6 feet. Young iguanas eat plants and insects, then later eat plants, fruits and flowers - this equals herbivores and they don't drink!
Iguanas are like turtles because they lay eggs in the sand. They like dry places that are sandy and they love dark places like caves and holes in limestone where they can get some shade.
On Andros, wild dogs which are called potcakes are a threat to iguanas and so are hurricanes. One way iguanas protect themselves is that if you grab an iguana, its tail will come off then they grow a new one.
The Loggerhead Turtle, by Emily
A Loggerhead Turtle got its name by fisher men. They thought they were floating logs. They have a heart shaped shell and can weigh up to 230 pounds! They are meat eaters - carnivors.
A mommy turtle can lay 100 eggs then she covers them in sand and leves forever. The eggs on top in warm sand turn into girls and the eggs on the botom (cold sand) turn into boys.
Polution, poachers and sharks, crabs and potcakes (dogs) are threats to turtles. In the Bahamas you can't take turtle eggs, but you can still hunts turtles during a season. I think it is rong to hunt turtles and I wish they did not do this.
Hello from Warderick Wells. We’re back for another visit to our favorite spot in the Exuma Islands.
We’re currently on a fast track from Staniel Cay to Nassau. Our friend Eric, Pat’s former college roomate, is sailing with us for a week, and we’re trying to make sure he sees as much of the Exumas - both above and below the water - as we can squeeze into his time with us.
In the last two days, we’ve snorkeled two caves, a plane wreck and several great reefs; seen sharks, turtles, lobsters (now out of season for hunting, darn it), a lionfish, Elkhorn Coral, and much more... not to mention Staniel Cay’s famous swimming pigs!
We will soon have some underwater photos to post, thanks to our friends on Kwitcherbitchen. For now, here’s a photo album of some recent above-sea-level adventures.
