Exuma Bound

January 22nd – January25th

We didn’t head out quite as early on Friday the 22^nd as originally planned.  During the evening I woke several times thinking about our outboard motor on the dinghy.  It was working ‘ok’ but not ‘great’. It would start fine, but after warming up for a minute or two I still needed to keep the manual choke slightly open for the motor not to stall.  Although I had cleaned the carburetor prior to leaving, I couldn’t solve this ‘choke’ issue and since the engine is only 6 Hp (about the size of a lawn motor engine) it still ultimately was never going to be very powerful.

I’ve never really been one to need to have very powerful motors in my vehicles (we drove mini-vans for over 20 years, and my Harley is one of the smallest bikes they make), yet I couldn’t help but think a bigger engine on our dinghy would be very handy. As we’ve mentioned before, our dinghy is our ‘car’ once we get into an anchorage. We need to use it to go ashore, or to go exploring all those great lobster holes my dad and brother-in-law have been telling me that are all over the place down here. Not only is the motor on the smaller size our dinghy can handle, but to make the situation even worse, it’s heavy.  It weighs in at just over 60 lbs.  But since it’s a 4-stroke motor, it is pretty fuel efficient, and runs much cleaner than a 2-stroke engine (the kind of motor that you have to mix the gas and oil – think chain saw motor or an old Lawn Boy lawn mower). 2 stroke motors are not illegal in the US, but they are no longer sold in the US due to emissions standards.

It just so happens that in the Bahamas you can still buy new 2 stroke engines. They are less expensive than the 4 stroke models in the US and weigh significantly less.  An 8 HP engine only weighs 30 lbs and the 15 HP engine only weighs 40 lbs.  Weighs less AND is more powerful.  So not only would we be able to travel faster (and explore further), it would make raising and lowering the engine much easier. 

I delayed our departure on Friday morning so I could check with the local dealer to see if they in fact had any in stock and if they did, could they deliver one to us near our anchorage.  They did have some in stock, but delivery was going to be a challenge. They wanted us to come into the store … and technically if we visited Nassau it meant we were really supposed to have another Covid test since Nassau is one of the Bahamas only ‘hot spots’.

Ultimately, we elected to pass on getting a new motor and figured we could pick one up for our next trip before we left the Bahamas if we really weren’t satisfied with our little heavy motor after using it here for a season.

So, we finally pulled up the anchor around 10:00 and headed south to towards the Exumas.  It was just over 40 some miles from West Bay, New Providence to our initial destination, Highborne Cay.  This would take us between 6 and 7 hours and since we wanted to arrive before sunset, we really couldn’t leave much later than we did.

It was a beautiful day to be on the water, warm, sunny, but once again not to breezy so we mainly motored sailed.  Our course to Highborne had us traveling over the Bahamas Bank.  The Banks lie on the western side of Exumas and are basically an open body of water that is typically only 12 to 16’ deep.  That’s pretty shallow for a body of water that is over 50 miles wide and a hundred or so miles long.  Coral heads or formations that can be only several feet below the surface are found throughout the Banks.  Fortunately, many of these are marked on our charts, and are visible from a distance in good daylight conditions. So, we kept a sharp eye out in front of us, making sure to steer well clear of those that were marked on our charts, and proceeded south.

The Exuma chain of islands is one of the more popular winter cruising destinations in the Bahamas. They are further south than the Abacos and Berrys so consequently warmer. They are also less populated with only one or two larger cities throughout the chain. Additionally, they are home to the Exuma Land and Sea Park. The Park is over 176 square miles (approximately 22 miles long and 8 miles wide) and is a ‘no take’ area where fishing, conching, shelling, and lobstering are strictly prohibited.  Consequently, the area is full of aquatic life and is home to some of the best diving and snorkeling in this part of the world.

We were excited to explore the park and spend a few weeks in the area before heading even further south or possibly east to some of the ‘out islands’.

Since we were going to be getting in a little closer to sunset than we’d typically prefer when reaching a new harbor, we had elected to spend our first evening in Exumas in Highborn Cay and anchor in the wide open and deep harbor with all the mega yachts.  That way we didn’t have to be too concerned with navigating any narrow cuts (entrances) or watch out for coral heads.

Our plan worked and we were able to make a stress-free approach and anchor before sunset.  We were finally in the Exumas!

Throughout the early evening and then again in the morning, we were rocked several times by the passing ‘tenders’ from those large mega yachts anchored all around us.  Sailboats have dinghies to move around a harbor once anchored and most dinghies are between 8 to 10’ long with a 6 to 15 HP motor.  Mega yachts have ‘tenders’ to use while in harbor. These tenders are typically at least 20 to 25 feet long, some even larger, and usually have several large outboards on them. When they move through the harbor, if they are in a hurry or just being obnoxious, they can create a pretty big wake that will rock all the smaller boats anchored nearby.

So, although we had ‘arrived’, it was time to move!

Fortunately, we had already planned to move to an anchorage just a few miles north between two smaller unpopulated cays (Allens Cay and Leaf Cay) and spend a few days snorkeling and observing the widelife.  Allens and the surrounding Cays are inhabited by iguanas and we definitely wanted to check them out.

We found a nice spot to anchor, along with a dozen other sailboats, launched the dinghy, and drifted just off the beach to watch. The beach was covered with several dozen large iguanas. They were out enjoying the warm sun and waiting for boaters or tourist to come ashore to feed them.  They are a protected species and it’s prohibited to touch or feed them. Apparently enough people ignore those rules in this area, and this colony of iguanas would start rushing towards the beach whenever a boat would approach.  We never saw any actually get in the water, but they would come close. 

We were content to just drift along the beach about 25 yards off-shore and just observe.  It was a great way to spend an afternoon.

The following day we took our dinghy with its underpowered and overweight motor out to explore some of the nearby cays and to look hopefully for lobster, and at the very least, some conch. (Conch are those large sea shells that move really slow along the sea bed. The challenge to getting conch is to actually spot them on the bottom as they are typically covered in grass or fuzz that can make them blend in with the seabed. But once you see one, it’s simply a matter of diving down and picking it up. Unlike lobsters and fish that start swimming away from you once they spot you!)

I’d like to report that we got a couple of lobsters, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case on this outing.  We were successful at spotting several conch, five, and managed to put them in our net bag without a fight!

At one point during our adventure motoring between cays, the motor seemed to suddenly lose power. I’d give it gas, but it wouldn’t move very fast, almost like the propellor was just spinning in the water, but not pushing us forward. I’d slow it down and the propellor would seem to kick in, or bite, and we’d start moving again. Great, underpowered, heavy, and now only able to move at slow speed or in reverse!

We pressed on, motoring slowly along, exploring the area, and eventually heading back to the boat with our five conch and zero lobster.

Once on board I decided not to worry about the motor anymore today and concentrate on ‘cracking’ some conch. There’s an art to getting the actual animal out of the shell so that you can move forward  with skinning it, cleaning and ultimately getting the conch meat.

The locals are able to poke a small hole in one end of the shell, insert their knife, and then ‘whallah’ remove the entire animal out in one large piece.  (check out YouTube for ‘cleaning conch’ if you want to see the pro’s do it). I’m still learning the art.  Although it wasn’t pretty, I did manage to eventually get two of the critters out and proceeded to clean them so that we could make our own cracked conch for dinner.

Diane did a much better job preparing the cracked conch (tenderized, lightly battered in egg and flour, and then fried to a golden brown). It was a delicious meal and a great way to finish up our time on Allens.

One thing we knew we would have to deal with, but have really learned over this past two weeks, is how much you need to pay attention to the weather. Specifically, what the direction and force of the wind over a given period of time was going to be.

Since many of the islands here are small and narrow and typically oriented north to south, they only provide protection or shelter from the wind and waves from one direction. If you’re on the west side of an island and a strong wind is blowing from the east you are protected from the wind and the waves. However, if it’s a strong wind coming from the west, you’re in for a rough time at anchor. Not all islands offer equal protection, some are better in a west wind, some in an easterly blow, and others may have a small bay or area that provides more or less all-around protection from wind in any direction.   Consequently, we need to pay attention weatherwise to not only what is currently happening, but what’s going to happen over the next several days so that we can try and be in an anchorage that will provide the best protection for the up coming weather.  If that’s not possible, we just need to let out some more chain, and be prepared for a few nights of rocking and rolling!

 The forecast for later in the week was for one day of pretty nasty weather coming from the West/Northwest and one of the next spots we wanted to visit, Norman’s Cay, had an anchorage that offered excellent protection from winds from the West/Northwest. So we would be heading south to Normans Cay in the morning.

Prior to heading out in the morning we made the decision to go ahead and order a new outboard so we’d have one waiting for us when we arrived in George Town in a few weeks. In the mean time we’d rely on our little heavy, underpowered, and now really slow outboard to get us wherever we needed to go when at anchor.