We deliberated about which route to take to the Bahamas. It all looked impossibly shallow. It was time to leave Puerto Plata which Olly insisted on calling “Porta Potty.” When another yachtsman had seen Jon mending Bernard’s sail, he asked if his mainsail could be re-stitched. He was happy to oblige.
Turks and Caicos
Settling on West Caicos as our first destination, we had a perfect sail with enough wind to keep up an average speed of 6 knots. The reefed mainsail, mizzen and staysail carried us on a broad reach steering 330 degrees magnetic. During the day we could look over the transom at the high land mass of Haiti. We saw a flotilla of warships. As night fell and I tucked the boys in their bunks, the stars came out and we continued on course. What a wonderful feeling that was after our previous experience.
Soon after dawn Bernard radioed, “I’ve just seen a whale . I thought at first it was a rock!”
The boys had fruit and cereal for breakfast in the cockpit, then came up to the aft seat where I buckled Olly into the car seat. By 9.30 Jethro was the first to spot land. Pointing dead ahead he shouted “Land Ho!” which was a phrase he knew from Treasure Island.
At lunchtime we dropped anchor off East Caicos. We all went for a swim, Jon and I using scratchy pan scrubbers to clean the waterline. Jethro dived down to check the anchor in 20 feet of water. We could see it was holding well in sand but he was pleased to be given the task.
Kundalini’s autopilot had failed. Camelot’s log cable had snapped so no accurate recordings of distance covered were possible thereafter, other than with dividers on the charts. Next day was flat calm. Under motor we headed to Mayaguana to anchor off Start Bay overnight.
Farewell Kundalini
Passages of 60 miles a day seemed normal by then. We lost two Houchi lures and snapped fishing lines due to fish too big for the breaking strain. After anchoring at 3pm we had a lovely afternoon exploring our first Bahamian beach. The boys picked up a huge selection of seashells including two star fish. We came across sand dollars for the first time. There was only one other yacht at anchor.
Bernard had gone on ahead to sail overnight to Great Exuma. We never saw him again.
Day sailing up the Bahamas Out Islands
The beauty of these ‘ out islands ‘ of the Bahamas took our breath away. We were so far off the beaten track it was like stepping back in time. This must have been what these islands looked like when Christopher Columbus stepped ashore.
Most of the tourist trade only extended as far south as the Exumas. The islands we visited had only tiny settlements. The colour of the water was wonderful. Even on overcast days the water was peacock blue to turquoise getting paler as it shelved. The colour was green over a grassy bottom, orange or brown over coral and yellow when shallower than three feet over the immense sandbanks.
We spent one night in Atwood Harbour on Acklins Island, the next just south of Bird Rock Lighthouse on Crooked Island. Navigation into these anchorages was by eye with one of us standing on the main boom or the belaying pin racks pointing out with hand signals the safe route. We could see every fish, shell or sea urchin on the seabed.
On Long Island we spent two nights in Clarence Town Harbour where we filled up with diesel and water again. I went ashore to get some fresh food and came across a delightful little church. I went inside to pay my respects . Moments later a dozen or so locals came in for choir practice. I sat enthralled for over half an hour.
By the Northern tip of Long Island the next day we anchored at Cape Santa Maria and the following day Saturday 4th June we sailed at almost 8 knots with a current under us the 60 miles to Georgetown on Great Exuma.
Navigating these flat coral atolls was a whole new experience after the high volcanic islands of the Caribbean. Apart from the shallowness of the water, the land was so flat. Therefore it was impossible to see landfall from any great distance. We knew the compass bearing for each destination, but learned to look out for clouds which formed above the islands in the late afternoon. Then through binoculars we would identify the distinctive casuarina trees on the shoreline. We had been cruising in the Bahamas for a week and this was the first place we could clear in!
The Exumas
By midday that Saturday we closed on the Stocking Island beacon to enter Elizabeth Harbour for 5 miles of compass pilotage. We had to avoid rocks and shallow spots. By 3 pm we were safely anchored. The Immigration office was closed until Monday morning so we lowered the dinghy and took the boys exploring. There was a blue hole which I remembered seeing in a Jacques Cousteau diving programme. I was not tempted to dive that alone.
There were lots of yachts anchored in this busy place, some we already knew. Again the demand for sail work was pouring in. There was no sailmaker for many miles. We thought it best to wait until we were legally in this territory before Jon took on any work.
Camelot was not the only cruising yacht offering a service to fellow sailors. There was a Canadian Dentist who had retired from his practice in Nova Scotia but had all his tools and a drill on board to fix peoples’ teeth!
Jethro fell in love that weekend. He met Kirsten, a nearly 7 year old American girl who could row faster and dive deeper than him. He rowed over to her her dad’s catamaran on Sunday morning with Oliver harnessed into the bow seat in his life jacket. She jumped down into her own rowing dinghy and they both raced to the beach just 30 yards from where we were anchored. We could see them all playing happily on the beach and hear their chatter. Jon was doing engine checks and I was writing letters in the cockpit. Jethro brought this girl on board for lunch.
“What is your favourite food, Kirsten?” I asked as I served up cheese and pickle sandwiches.
Without hesitation, she replied “Turtle burger.”
A young woman from Ohio gave Oliver and myself a lift ashore in the afternoon in her rib. Olly was delighted to be splashed with spray as we planed across to the town. Yvonne had been trying unsuccessfully to phone her sister for five weeks since leaving Puerto Rico. After dumping our sacks of garbage in a skip, we walked a mile through dirt roads to the telephone station on top of a hill. The sound of gospel music drifted from Sunday school in the church. Outside in the sun the temperature was in the top 80’s. Inside the air conditioning was a welcome chilly 70 degrees Celsius.
Tooth Fairies and Phone Calls
Yvonne gave the bored lady knitting behind a screen a phone number in Ohio whilst I gave her my parents’ number in Stockport. Then we waited for an hour for connections through Nassau. Oliver was running outside to pee on the grass – his latest accomplishment. My call was put through but hers was no reply. It was my parents’ Ruby Wedding. We only spoke for three minutes ,
“Hello, mum, it’s Susan.”
“Hello Susan. What time is it there?”
“It is half past three in the afternoon.”
“Are you all alright?”
“Yes we are all thriving. Oliver is with me now. I called to wish you Happy Wedding Anniversary. Are you in the middle of your party there right now?”
“Yes Julie made us a lovely cake. Hang on I’ll get your dad…”
Then she was gone and I could hear the hubbub of friends and family in the background. Then the pips went and my $15 ran out, but I was pleased to have made the connection on their special day.
We cleared into the Bahamas on Monday morning and Jon did sail repairs for the next three days. Jethro lost the other front tooth. Again the new one had pushed it out. This time the tooth fairy left him two dollar bills under his pillow. On the beach that afternoon he was astonished to see not one but two iguanas!
“That must be why they left me two dollars!” He said gazing at them in surprise,
“and they must be busy because of the dentist boat.”
After an idyllic week in Stocking Island when Jon had fulfilled all available sail repairs, Jethro waved a sad goodbye to Kirsten and we headed north to Staniel Cay. This was our first long sail across shallow sandbanks. Once again we needed a lookout in the rigging to avoid coral heads. Oliver was pointing out “fiss” from his advantage seat on the poop deck. In the Yacht Club at Staniel Cay the boys had banana splits whilst Jon and I sipped rum punch.
With hardly any wind we gently motor sailed across more sandbanks to Hawksbill the following day. Then we rounded Elbow Light and were in deep water again… over twenty feet at times! We dropped anchor off Leaf Cay and took the boys ashore to collect a dozen empty conch shells to add to their interesting collection.
June 18th was Jon’s birthday. To the boys’ immense satisfaction I made a chocolate cake with thirty six candles. Camelot picked her way over the Yellow Bank to New Providence. We could see high rise hotels on Paradise Island.
Nassau
During our week in Nassau we hired a Volkswagen to go exploring. Our dinghy was stolen one day from the beach near the Sheraton British Colonial Hotel. Fortunately it was returned unharmed by sundown. There was so much to see. In a busy indoor market we watched weavers making straw hats. In the main Post Office mail was waiting for us at the General Delivery desk – the first since leaving Tortola six weeks earlier.
On 26th June we left our anchorage off the Nassau Harbour Club and motored under Paradise Island bridge passing the cruise liner terminal to Club Cay. There we had a bug infested uncomfortable night disturbed by the wash from many sports fishers and trawler yachts as well as mosquitos.
Where is Mackay Shoal?
Our next destination was the little archipelago of islands of Bimini, after which our folding cockpit roof was named. The distance from Nassau was 130 miles, and due west from there was Miami some 50 miles across the Gulf Stream.
Crossing the Great Bahama Bank we steered 275 magnetic until we spotted Russell Beacon – much more dilapidated than shown in our cruising guide. Then we steered 298 for the Mackie Shoal marker. This represented a sandbank too shallow for safety but still submerged. We were completely out of sight of land. There were no other vessels in site, so no chance of checking with anyone else on the VHF. WHERE WAS IT? We scanned the horizon in every direction with binoculars. Nothing. The sun was setting.
Jon said, “ We will just have to anchor here. At least we have twenty feet of water under the keel. We’ll look again at first light.”
Anchoring out of sight of land
If our dead reckoning was correct we were still at least 35 miles from Bimini. We let out 60 feet of chain and settled to anchor. How very eery it felt to be at anchor in the middle of nowhere. I went below to rustle up some supper and get the boys ready for bed. Jon stayed on watch and put the anchor cone up on the forestay. We had the anchor light switched on at the top of the main mast. After a supper of spaghetti bolognese the boys cleaned their teeth and climbed into their bunks. I read them some of the ladybird book version of Treasure Island yet again.
As we sipped mugs of tea in the cockpit, Jon jumped to his feet saying, “There is a tug anchoring,” and he reached for the binoculars.
“What’s going on?” I asked as another smaller power boat came alongside the tug.
“Well, it could be something innocent like a pilot going onboard the tug…”
I was alarmed. “Or?”
“…We could be witnessing a drug delivery!”
We gaped at each other. Frightening stories had been heard about the crazy rampant drug smuggling in these waters. If they did not want us to report this sighting they might shoot us! They could riddle the topsides with machine gunfire and sink the boat!
The mystery Tug
“Get the kids up on deck so they can see we are just a family cruising,” ordered Jon.
As I went down the steps to the saloon the VHF came to life. A Texan drawl announced:
“Sailing vessel at anchor off our starboard beam, Sailing vessel off our starboard beam, this is tug Moby Jim.”
Jon reached the microphone out of its holder. “Moby Jim, Moby Jim, this is Camelot.
“Switch to channel zero six.”
Jon turned the dial. “Moby Jim, this is sailing vessel Camelot”.
“ Hi there Camelot. Are you guys okay over there? “
“Yes we are fine. We are anchoring overnight as we couldn’t find the Mackie Shoal mark. We’ll head over to Bimini in the morning. Over. “
“Gee I guess you are anchored right on Mackie Shoal. The Beacon was lost in a tropical storm and ain’t gotten replaced yet! You steer 280 tomorrow you’ll get to North Bimini.”
“Wow. Thank you for that. We will take your advice. Goodnight. Camelot out.”
“Moby Jim out. Standing by sixteen.”