We have spent the last few days realizing our time here in paradise is limited and we need to start thinking about working our way back to the US coast by early April. There is still so much to see south and east of Georgetown, but a visit to the far southeast Bahamas will have to wait for another time.
Chris Parker (remember, the weatherman on SSB radio that has Tim waking most mornings at 6:30 ) called for a significant blow in the coming three days and we were at Little Farmers Cay which is not well protected from the N winds that were predicted. Tim spent the morning jogging around the island and interviewing local island characters to produce a show for Portsmouth Community Radio, while I made lobster salad from last nights grilled tails and enjoyed an hour of yoga on the bow. As usual the day was slipping by and the winds were building as were the seas. We decided to pull the anchor and head south to Lee Stocking Island, a favorite spot to resupply our coconut stash. We had 3 hours to sunset and 18 miles to travel. Luckily the winds were favorable at 20-25 with following seas at 6-8 feet as we scoot down the coast to Adderly Cut. As is our protocol, we plan for the worse and hope for the best and once again the "Kuivato Effect" provided for a fabulous sail into the harbor as the sun was setting with one of the abandoned Caribbean Marine Research Center moorings waiting for us. Last time we were here we heard from the island caretaker that the island had been bought by French investors. During this visit "No Trespassing" signs were now posted on the dock; it's likely in the near future the island will not be accessible to the public, unfortunately like so many other Exumas islands which are being bought by the world's richest and becoming off limits to the public.
As we consider how we want to spend our last month cruising and how far south to go, we need to seriously consider having favorable winds and weather windows for our journey north back to the US mid-Atlantic coast where we will most likely leave the boat for a month before completing the trip north in warmer weather.
After collecting a bag of coconuts we left Lee Stocking through Adderly Cut and encountered our first significant "rage" in the cut, where the wind blowing in against an opposing outgoing tide creates steep square waves. At times we wonder if our little 30HP diesel engine and two-bladed propellor would be enough to propel Kuivato through the cut, but as usual we make it through, though a lot wetter than we anticipated. We turned southeast for George Town and had another rip roaring sail and this time anchored off of Volleyball Beach where all the action happens. We reprovisioned in George Town and met up with friends Judith and Phil aboard Civitas for a dinner of conch ceviche and lobster salad.
The next morning we heard about a talk given by a couple who compete in and teach free diving. Ashley and Ren have their company, Evolve Free Diving and Ashley is a three time World Record holder for freediving with no fins. We participated in their day long course which was 2-3 hours of didactic that was safety and technical oriented with a good balance. We then went into waste deep water and practiced our breathing techniques where Tim amazingly was able to breath hold underwater for 4 minutes; I was happy with my 2:15 minutes. Later in the afternoon we went to one of the Stocking Island mooring holes where Ashley and Ren had set up a series of lines for us to dive down. I was a bit nervous about the procedure but Ren was amazingly patient and Tim was close by as my safety. The experience was exhilerating and we practiced breath holding, diving and blackout safety techniques for nearly 3 hours until the sun set.
Freediving lecture at Volleyball Beach on Stocking Island, Georgetown, Exumas.
Ashley and Ren spend much of the year in Long Island some 25 miles SE from George Town where the Deans Blue Hole is located. Deans is the deepest blue hole in the world at 660 feet and it holds many of the worlds biggest freediving competitions and where many of the world records are set. Of course we decided to go to freediving Mecca and see what this mysterious blue hole was all about. The sail over to Long Island from George Town at sunrise was glorious and fast averaging 7 knots. We anchored at Salt Pond in Thompson Bay by the Long Island Breeze resort which caters to cruisers. The next morning we set out hitch hiking for Deans Blue Hole, 20 miles south along this 80 mile long island. We have met some interesting locals hitch hiking over the past few months and love hearing their stories of the family islands.
We arrived at Deans mid morning after three rides to find William Tunbridge and his wife on the diving platform in the middle of the hole doing practice dives and working out. He is a world record holder and she is a master yoga teacher and they live and train here at Deans. We silently hiked around the hole taking in the unique beauty of the location. We watched in awe as William dove and his wife attained the most amazing yoga poses.
William and his wife training in the blue hole.
Deans Blue Hole
Deans Blue Hole from the air.
Diane in knee deep water, 660 feet to the bottom of the blue hole to left!
At the lip of the blue hole.
Preparing for a free dive.
We then donned our wet suits and snorkel gear and carefully explored. We were able to have conversation with William and his wife about the safety of swimming around the hole and learned that there is no current in the hole to be concerned about. They left and we were fortunate enough to have the place to ourselves for a couple of hours. We dove down the line (albeit only 20-40 feet), took videos and simply soaked up the adventure.
Diane diving down the line.
It was a spiritual experience snorkeling and diving in the hole knowing the bottom is over 600 feet below us. Hitch hiking back was a breeze and we met a young woman in her 20's who has been working with William to learn to free dive. She shared some interesting stories about the blue hole and island life. We asked her mother who was driving how she liked living here on the islands and she responded, "We call it 'vacation life', where you work, but can go to the beach everyday, swim in warm waters, fish ......".
Long Island is truly a friendly, laid back, and lovely island with some of the best facilities for provisioning we have seen, actually better than George Town in our opinion. We have also met some colorful sailors and shared good good food here on Long Island.
After three days at Salt Pond we left early afternoon for Calabash Bay or Joes Sound in the north of Long Island to get a head start on our crossing to Conception Island. The winds were E/NE about 15 knots. We were off the settlement of Simms with Diane at the helm when all of a sudden we heard a bang and the jib came sliding down the bow stay. Did the jib halyard snap? Tim ran up to the bow and pulled the jib all the way down to find the nylon strap on the head of our new jib, where the halyard is attached, had chaffed through and parted. We diverted to Simms, anchored along a calm lee shore and up the mast Tim went in the bosuns chair to retrieve the halyard. One good thing is that it provided an opportunity to check the mast and other rigging on the way up. Tim pulled out the sail repair gear and an hour later a temporary strap was sewn on the sail and the jib was hauled back up, ready for the next days sail.
Failed Halyard Strap
Tim up the mast To retrieve the jib halyard.
We had dropped the anchor off the quiet little town center ( a government dock and a couple buildings) when promptly at 8 pm loud Bahamian music came booming across the water from a PA system at the dock basin. Go figure, 20 miles of isolated coast line and we anchor directly off a local "family reunion" fundraiser. Every year the various islands have family reunions when islanders return to their respective family island for a weekend of festivities. This gathering was a fundraiser with food, drink and dance for their reunion this summer. We decided to row in to check it out and everyone was quite friendly plus the men helped to dangle Diane down the 8 foot boat basin wall to the dinghy. The volume of the music made it somewhat difficult to have conversation on the boat and went on until 2 am! Luckily we have earplugs and Diane can sleep through anything!
The next morning we were off to Conception Island with several other sailboats we saw approaching from the south. While we were having a lovely sail, the other boats were all motoring, something we have a hard time understanding; if you have a sailboat, why not sail? It was lovely beat into 15-20 knot winds and we arrived just before sunset to find only a couple powerboats in the large anchorage. For the first time in quite a while we began hearing birds sing. It wasn't until the morning during yoga on the bow that we realized we had been hearing the long tailed tropic birds. They have a beautiful welcoming song which seemed to greet us as we arrived and joined us for our morning exercise. The robins egg blue reflecting off the water on their underside was spectacular! It is difficult to capture the magnificence of the colors here in the Bahamas and here at Conception Island the hues are unlike anywhere we have been. The fine soft sand, water and air all felt like silk on our bodies.
Conception Island with Kuivato in the distance.
Kuivato in the clearest water we have seen.
After doing my routine of laps in these gloriously warm 80 degree crystal clear waters while Tim ran on the beach, we inflated the kayak, loaded iton the dinghy and motored 2 miles to the entrance of a mangrove lined tidal basin. We anchored the dinghy and jumped in the kayak to paddle up the basin a couple of miles. Immediately we saw sea turtles of all sizes scurrying away from the kayak. Apparently they are quite shy, and boy can they scoot fast! Along the trip we saw barracuda, sting rays, tons of conch, and a couple small sharks. We decided to drift snorkel part way back with "Baby K" (as we affectionately call the kayak, to "Little K", the dinghy) thinking we would see swim with the turtles. Unfortunately the turtles are smarter, really shy, or at least have better senses than do, we as we saw nothing but loads of conch of varying sizes. Later that afternoon we watch the sun setting behind Kuivato from the beach. Another day in paradise comes to a close.
Tim scuba diving at Conception Island, Diane free diving to take photos!
