Bitter Guana Cay

Here we are again, Bitter Guana Cay.  The Exumas Iguana is an endangered species but this is one small island that has quite a population.  They are not shy. We suspect that people are feeding them although posted signs ask people not to.  Bitter Guana is uninhabited (by humans) and in addition to the iguanas has a nice beach and amazing sandstone formations.

Jim & Nettie in George Town

Jim & Nettie arrive!  Good friends from our Leaf Rapids days, now live not too far from us in Chatsworth, ON.  We are thrilled they could make the time to visit us in the Exumas! 

Cheers!

Back to George Town

We leave Long Island and fish our way back in Exuma Sound; lucky to land a nice little Blackfin Tuna. Yummy!  We stayed in George Town for about a week.  Hooked up with Bill & Ruth on Nordhaven 'Tautaug'. Sure glad we got to see you again before you headed north!

Ray and Bonnie from Crackerjack joins us in George Town. We hang out for a few days before our respective guests arrive. Some wind but we are holding fine off of Sand Dollar Beach.

Adderly Plantation Ruins

Another fascinating shore excursion on Long Island.  The Adderly Plantation was started in the late 1700's by loyalists from the Carolinas.  It had a few years of prosperity until the slavery was abolished  in 1834.  Following this there were years of turmoil, tragedy and change until the plantation was severely damaged by the hurricane of 1926 and abandoned.  Amazing the amount of energy that went into the building of this plantation, cotton and livestock, sheep, goats, horses were all raised here.

Hamilton Caves

Long Island, great place!  If you come over put Thompson's Bay on your list.  Stop in at Long Island Breezes, Mike will take good care of you. It's a great place with WiFi, dingy dock, laundry, showers and best of all great hosts and great food!  Mike will give you good advice on the many things to do and see on this Island.  On the first day we take the rental car and head south from Salt Pond stopping at the Museum and for Lunch in Clarence town.  On the way back "home" we have arranged for a tour of the Hamilton Caves.  Leonard Cartwright is our host and tour guide.  This, folks, is not to be missed!  The caves are spectacular and Leonard will give you a good history lesson on the caves and the people that have used them over the past 1,000 years or so.  Contact Leonard Cartwright to arrange for a tour of this "must do" excursion.

'dem Bones

I'm on my knees on a mangrove flat, tide has started to turn, in very skinny water with their tail & dorsal fins out of the water,  bones!  A short cast, 30 feet.  Looks like it should be easy, the line in the air must have spooked them, they bolt before the fly hits the water.  I spend the next two hours "stalking" them.  Finally connect, way into the backing, nice bone, maybe 3-4 lbs.  After releasing the fish there is a big commotion off to my left in shallow water around a clump of mangroves.  Cudas?  I go to investigate, a group of 8-10 bones are on a feeding frenzy!  Must have ganged up on a large crab.  I saw lots of crabs here, both in the water and land crabs scampering on the bank.

Bahamas Update

Hi all, been away from WiFi so we are a bit behind.  Left the Exumas Land & Sea Park, headed south, stopped at Black Point for a few days while the wind blew 15-20.  Did manage a morning fishing just before the wind picked up, mahi & mackerel, enough for a few meals.  Once the winds started to drop we headed south hoping to go direct to Long Island but the seas were still a bit lumpy and on the nose as well we were not making great time so we would arrive after dark, not really what we wanted to do so southward we go to Georgetown.  Talked to Sea Fox, Dennis & Julie were northbound, heading back to Stuart.  We get to the floating "city" off Stocking Island and have a wonderful visit from Bill & Ruth on Tautaug.  Good to see you again!  Hope to get back before you leave Georgetown but it is going to blow again this week.  After a brief stop we go over to Long Island.

Krogens in the Exumas

We have run across a few other Krogens on our way south, Grand Adventure now in Rum Cay heading to T & C, 'Puffin' now in Georgetown, beginning to travel north, 'Muddy Waters' and 'Sea Fox' in Georgetown I believe. We saw them in Nassau a few weeks back.  We also spoke to Manatee 'Second Star', a very handsome restoration, last seen at Shroud Cay.  We saw a pair of 42's, 'Broulee' and 'Big Run', at Norman's Cay, north bound.  We also know 'Bodacious' has headed south and 'Cocoon II' is in the area but we have not seen or met them yet.  We are slowly moving south, really slowly, so anyone on their way over should easily catch us before Georgetown.  Ray & Bonnie on 'Crackerjack' are on their way this week; more Krogens & kayaks, bring 'em on!  It really is "Better in the Bahamas".

Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park

We have been at Warderick Wells in the North Mooring Field the last few days.  Great place! It's wonderful to see this area protected. Great snorkeling, (huge grouper swimming alongside us, cautious but also curious).  We saw snapper, grunts, parrot fish, angel fish, monstrous spiny obsters and more.  In the mooring field, which is really a narrow "cut", we have large jacks (horse eye?) and a 4' nurse shark under the boat just holding in the current.  The beaches arre beautiful. There are numerous hiking trails, blow holes (very cool). We're meeting people and having fun!  Plan to stop here for a few days if you are coming this way.

Maxwell Windlass Part II

We got an e-mail from Tom at Kadey Krogen, seems there was some confusion (likely on my part).  Even though Maxwell doesn't cover the R & R of the windlass Krogen says on a new boat they would have taken care of this. Maybe we just needed to be more proactive. These guys continue to impress us, the support from Krogen is real and ongoing. Kudos.  Once again we are happy we bought a boat from these people (we owned another boat previously that had all kinds of issues and neither the dealer nor manufacturer wanted to hear from us).

On to the windlass, OK, suffice it to say getting it apart was not too difficult except for the circlip inside the housing that must be removed so that you can pull the shaft to get the same housing off.  Confused??  Maxwell gives very specific instructions on maintenance but does not make routine maintenance an easy task. You have to go through this routine even if you just want to check the gear oil level!  I did talk to Maxwell and found out that my negligence may have contributed to the oil leak.  The clutches were starting to "stick" due to the grease drying up (my fault) and this causes a torque on the bolts that came loose.  Solution, clean and grease the clutches at least every 2-3 months and maybe every month.  Tear down the complete windlass once a year (requires the removal of the very awkward circlip), clean, grease and apply corrosion protection as per the Maxwell manual.  We used Lanacote, T-9 and CRC.  Lots of it. 

Good luck!