Ambition had a delightful sail from Abaco to Royal Island in Eleuthera in a following wind of 20 knots and 5 to 10 foot seas - a fantastic downwind sail where we touched speeds of just over 9 knots as we surfed down the waves.
We took a high speed ferry from Spanish Wells to Harbour Island to avoid taking Ambition through a sea of coral heads and visit the famous pink beach of Dunsmore Town. From there we sailed south through Current Cut and on to Hatchet Bay. It is very evident that each of the Bahama's major islands is very different from each other.
Eleuthera, with the exception of Spanish Wells is barely making ends meet. Hatchet Bay is a man made harbour that was part of a failed attempt at raising Angus Beef on the island - we did not even get off the boat here. We moved on down to Rock Sound Harbour - a huge and beautiful bay but here again the settlement is 50% abandoned and what remains, is desperate for more visitors and business.
Our next stop was Cape Eleuthera Yacht Club and Resort where we needed to fill up on fuel and water before a 35 mile ride to the Exumas. There were just two boats in the Yacht Club including us, the condominiums were all empty but it was a beautiful and new facility. Unfortunately the charges went along with the newness - $2 a foot for the overnight, $0.50 for a gallon of water, $25 for an electrical hook-up!
Our first landfall in teh Exumas was at Highborne Cay where we anchored for a few hours until we were able to get in contact with Roxanne and Josh on L'Attitude. We met them at Norman's Cay and celebrated (one day late) Josh's birthday and our reunion - we had not seen them since Jan 3rd! Norman's Cay has a very interesting history, in the late 70's and early 80's the island was partially purchased by a Columbian drug cartel. They liked the fact that the island already had an airport and infrastructure to support their trans-shipment business into the US. We met the one family that were not chased off the island - they feel that they were permitted to stay as they were medical professionals - you never know when Carlos Ludhur the drug lord may need medical attention!
Today the Cay has a delightful beach club with a few villas and Rox and Josh have become good friends with the owners and when they dont have charters, spend their time here. We had the opportunity to go deep sea fishing with them last Monday and we must have picked the right day - we landed 20 mahi mahi in three hours the largest being almost 40 lbs. It was a fantastic experience - at times all five rods had fish on and we needed to queue them up to land them! The two coolers were full and we had run out of bait so we headed back in to clean the catch - now that is a messy and hard job!
After spending a week or so at Norman's Cay we headed to Nassau for reprovissioning as the hamper, beer cooler and wine chest are all a little empty, not to mention the water tanks! Arriving in Nassau was a dramtic change to the laid back style of the out islands. In Nassau Yacht Haven falling asleep to the sound of traffic, sirens and the booze cruise party boats was something we have not heard since leaving the US in December.
For the last 6 days the winds have been blowing 15 to 25 knots and we left Nassau the same way we arrived - reefed sails and boat speeds averaging 6+ knots for 30 mile runs! This is so different from lake sailing - -I really do not miss the short choppy waves of Lake Champlain - here in 25 knot winds we just plow along with no crashing into waves.
Cindy and I are this morning moored in Wardrick Wells inside the Exumas Park which is a 176 square mile protected marine and land park. Apparently the fish and lobsters are well aware that this is a no fishing and no hunting park as the very large ones just kind of wave a fin or wag an antenna knowing perfectly well that they are safe! So far my spear for getting lobster and fish has no "kill" notches on it!
From here we will head a little further south to Staniel Cay before we turn around and head back to Abaco before making a jump somewhere around the 3rd week of April to get Ambition back to the US and ultimately back to Lake Champlain. Of course this is but a plan and as with all plans, they are likely to change!
Cheers from the beautiful Bahamas
Cindy and Merrill
s/v Ambition
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