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Published: March 13th 2011
The camera is straight
No, we weren’t holding the camera on an angle – this was on our trip to Staniel CayWe left the Emerald Rock mooring field at the Exuma Land & Sea Park on March 5th in some strong winds. Winds were 18-22 knots with gust up to 27 knots. We got up to a hull speed of 7.2 knots a few times but averaged 5-6 knots. We made a quick stop at Sampson Cay to pick up diesel as we had heard it was a marina with easy access. It worked out well and we were even able to find some carrots and green pepper at the shop for a reasonable price. As we know fresh produce will be the hardest to find as we travel farther from Nassau we took advantage of buying them when we see them. We left the marina headed for an anchorage at Big Major near Staniel Cay about 2:30PM. Everything was fine until we looked south and saw lots of dark clouds ahead. The wind was picking up so we were moving ahead with a 15-20 degree heel. We hoped to get to the anchorage before the skies opened up but no such luck. We look typically look forward to rain as it is great for giving a fresh water rinse to wash
Staniel Cay Yacht Club
The dining area at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club has numerous burgees from over the years. There is also a photo of Walter Cronkite on the wall from the early 1970’s. This clubhouse was built in the mid ‘60s off the salt on the boat, but this time we would have preferred if it waited until we were anchored. It opened up and came down fast and hard so we both were looking like drowned rats. Our glasses were covered with spots so we could hardly see. Luckily Bob doesn’t need his to anchor, but Janice sure needs her to see much of anything and she was at the helm. We use headsets to talk to each other when anchoring so the instructions to Bob this time were to provide detailed navigational instructions as if he was talking to a blind person as that is how Janice felt! We safely anchored and then of course the obvious happened as shortly after that the rain stopped and the sun came out again.
We planned to stay at this anchorage a couple of days but it turned into a week as we had a problem with our refrigeration (started on Sunday) and had to order parts to get it fixed. We were very lucky in that Staniel Cay has an airport with 2 flights a day directly from Ft. Lauderdale. (note: this would be a great place to vacation if
The Yacht Club
The Staniel Cay Yacht Club was a place we spent quite a bit of time waiting for our package to arrive. you’d like to get away for an island break – check it out if interested as Flamingo Air & Watermaker Air fly in) We had to wait until Monday to order the part. We had hoped that we would get it on Wednesday but instead it appeared on the 9:30AM Thursday flight. Still not bad. We made the most of the wait time by exploring the island. The native population of Staniel Cay is roughly 100 people, but there are numerous non-natives living here as well (if not year round for at least a large part of the year). We took a nice hike to the other side of the island along the ridge. This side is very rugged complete with crashing waves from the Exuma Sound. We are currently traveling on the western side of the islands on the shallow banks – soon we will need to make the transition to the Exuma Sound in order to sail down to Georgetown. We were very glad we were not doing it the day of our hike as the sea was very rough. There is also a great yacht club at Staniel Cay with very helpful people and a great restaurant
Staniel School
The school sign states “ success via discipline, work and play” During the week we could tell school was in session when the bikes lined the walkway to the school. and bar. One of the airlines that flies into Staniel is owned by Watermaker Inc. which also is involved with the yacht club and the company that makes the RO water for the island. Luckily for us the yacht club handled the importing and picking up of our part at the airport. Needless to say Thursday was busy with Bob installing the evaporator into the freezer. Luckily for us a friend of ours on another boat (thanks Jeff) had room in his freezer for our frozen food during this process so we didn’t lose any of our food. The compressor also had to be charged and there was a person on a neighboring island that was trained in refrigeration repair and worked at the Sandals resort on Fowl Island. Bob picked him up by dinghy and he charged the compressor for a very reasonable price. As we kept saying to ourselves, if a problem had to arise, this was the perfect place for it to happen. Other explorations took us to all 3 grocery stores (the pink store, the blue store and the general store). Believe it or not they really are named by the color of the building. Luckily
The General Store
This is the largest of the 3 grocery stores. Vivian the owner runs the general store as well as the rooms that she rents out on the 2nd floor. the owners house color matches the store so if they are not in the shop you know what house to check at for the shopkeeper. Even the task of buying postage stamps at the post office (the green buildings) was an experience. We had bought a post card for Janice’s mother at the general store (the farthest away on our walk) so stopped at the post office on our way back. It was locked up tight even though the sign gave its hours as being opened. We continued to check the neighborhood and found someone outside – when we asked about the post office and the hours they are open the lady just laughed and said the sign didn’t mean anything and that we should buy stamps from the general store as she is a relative of the postmaster. It was late in the day so decided to follow up on that suggestion the next day. The big day for the island is Wednesday when the mailboat comes in. They call it the mailboat but it is really the supply boat that leaves Nassau and travels down the chain of islands making deliveries. We were having lunch and the waitress
Another view at Staniel Cay
Everywhere you look on this trail is spectacular - it is hard to capture it all in a photo pointed out that boat was coming so decided to check it out. It is quite the event as all the supplies for the island come in this way. All the shopkeepers and other business owners came down to the government dock to get their deliveries. We saw everything from boxes full of pringles potato chips to cases of beer to plants for landscaping as well as construction materials being off loaded. The boat arrived around 1:3PM and didn’t leave until 4:45PM. It still had 2 more islands to deliver to before it could head back to Nassau. The main means of transportation on the island is the golf cart (with a few full sized pickup trucks sprinkled into the equation). This meant that shops such as the general store which was the biggest had numerous runs to make with their golf cart to pick up their delivery. While the owners were doing this, numerous women visiting the island were helping by unpacking and sorting the produce in order for the store to open as soon as possible. One of the woman even operated the cash register for the owner so the line of people could get their fresh produce. It
Staniel Airport
The Staniel Cay airport housed numerous private planes as well is where Watermaker Air and Flamingo Air fly into. It makes it an easy place to take a vacation. is obvious that everyone on the island knows when the boat is in as they then head to the stores to be among the first to have their pick of the produce which ranged from pineapples to Dole romaine lettuce and dozens of eggs. Nothing had a price on it but that didn’t matter. Everyone just picked up a hand basket and filled it with fresh produce as you didn’t know when you would get it again. Sounds like it would be good to see if we can find out the schedule of the mailboats further down the chain of islands. By the way, we did get the postage stamp for the post card at the general store but mailed it at the post office (which was still locked up but had a regular rural mailbox attached out back). Not sure if it made it to the mailboat that day so will be interesting to see how long it really takes to get home! Sorry everyone but not sure if we will get many other post cards sent home – hopefully the blog will work for most of you!!
Saturday, March 12th we moved from our anchorage to Black Point.
"Cars" parked at church
Notice the golf carts that brought people to church on Sunday This is a settlement of 300 people and has the distinct reputation for being very friendly to the cruising community. Some of the attractions are the amazingly large and clean laundry mat, an internet café, water pipe for filling water bottles and trash cans. Everywhere you turn you see donation cans instead of a charge for these services. Typically at most islands you pay anywhere from $2.50 to $5 to throw a bag of trash but here there is a large trailer (with a donation box attached) that you throw your bag in to. Same goes for the internet – we have been finding most places charge $10 for a 24 hour period with a limit on bandwidth. Here in Black Point the internet café asks for a donation and suggest $3 for the day. We were fortunate today to find that there was a fundraiser lunch so they can organize the Easter egg hunt and celebration for the island. It was a great place to have lunch and meet other cruisers and locals.
We did the laundry today and some internet business so looking forward to exploring more of the town tomorrow. One thing we notice here in Black
for the Ithaca crowd
The Malabar X sign hangs in the Staniel Cay Yacht Club – this one is for those that know this boat in the Ithaca area Point is the number of children compared to Staniel Cay. There were lots of kids all around town riding bikes, playing hoop, and dancing to music. The one big difference is the lack of cell phone and texting going on!
We had traveled for quite a while with our 2 buddy boats, but have not been together since Warderick Wells. We have been able to stay in contact via VHF radio, but soon that will not be possible as we are heading in different directions. We have been crossing paths with another boat that we had met in Nassau (Jeff from KoOlina) recently. We have had dinner on board each other’s boat and have had a great time discussing everything from woodworking to sailing to renovation project and numerous other topics – it has been great but tomorrow he will be departing as well. We are finding that the name of our boat, Tsamaya, has been very fitting. It is only beginning but we have quickly found that we meet people and become friends only to have to say tsamaya (travel well or so long) .Up to now this seems to be the hardest part of the cruising life.
The Dump
We got a chance to walk to the dump to get rid of our trash on Staniel. As Bob said, the odor of the dump doesn’t change with the country – he could recognize it anywhere! Today however we were reminded of how small this community is as we ran into a couple we had met back in October in the Dismal Swamp and yet another couple we had met back in Stuart FL in December. You never know when our paths will cross again – it reminds us that the same applies to many of you that are following this blog. As a result we want to say “Tsamaya” to you as well.
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Joanne
non-member comment
Reads like you're having a great time. Sorry to hear about the refrigerator part, but you're on your way again. Nice pics too. Jim is up in VA working on Heather. Going to put the centerboard back in on TH, cutless bearing, shaft and stuffing box on the agenda too. Working out the final plan for solar above the bimini...yeah more time at anchor. He spent a week at our rental in Swansboro. Tenant leaving end of month so putting it on the market. Plenty to do to get it ready to present to buyers and will stop on his way home for round 2. I'm volunteering 2 days a week doing taxes and getting the yard in shipshape for spring. Plenty to get organized for our trip back to Heather in early May. Glad to hear you are enjoying the cruising lifestyle. We are looking forward to a bit or relaxation ourselves. Cheers, joanne