Friday, December 18, 2009

Off the beaten path in the Southern Bahamas – dan

We worked our way north from the southernmost island in Bahamas, Great Inagua and it was one beautiful island after another from there until Georgetown. The islands got more beautiful as we traveled along, with each new island grander and more dazzling then the last.

After the desolate beauty of Great Inagua we next came to Acklins Island were we anchored just off a stunning beach that stretched on for what seemed like forever. I tried out my digital underwater camera and was pleased with its ease of use and the preliminary results.

I did a little bit of snorkeling and then worked on cleaning the Luperon barnacles off of Gypsy until a 3’ barracuda became much too interested me. A little later we swam ashore and walked that beach for miles. The beach has a long, setback ridge of incredibly old coral heads and ancient conch shells washed up from countless storms. The next day I tried to get back to work on the barnacles but old mister barracuda wouldn’t stand it. Discretion being the better part of valor I retreated to the deck willing to save the task for another day and better company. No other boat came in sight until the afternoon of our second day there when a luxurious motor yacht towing a large fishing boat anchored near by. There went the neighborhood.

We left Acklins in the predawn hours to assure us an afternoon landing at our next island, Long Island. I was hoping that conditions would allow us to enter the small and secure harbor apply called Little Harbor and wanted the best light available for our entrance through the reefs if it did. When we got there conditions seemed right and we surfed into the harbor on the backs of near breaking waves that did break on the reefs to the left and right of us as we made our entrance. There was the wreck of a sailboat high upon the rocks at the harbor entrance that serves a stern warning to all who enter.

Once inside with no one else in sight, the place was so beautiful and calm that it seemed enchanted.

We anchored Gypsy in pure sand in 10’ of water and swam ashore to explore.

There was the wreck of what appeared to be a charter fishing boat tucked way up into the bay. We followed a dirt track inland and saw innumerable hermit crabs, cacti and what appeared to be dwarf palm trees. Then headed back to the boat for dinner.

The next day we raised anchor at just before sunrise and made our way out through the light surf at the harbor entrance just as the sun was coming up. What a glorious start to another beautiful day. We enjoyed a delightful sail in 12 to 15 nmp of wind, broad reaching all the way to our next destination.

It was late in the afternoon when we arrived at the next archipelago, which turned out to be so achingly beautiful that I’m reluctant to name it. It’s one of the smaller island groups in the region and completely uninhabited. A place of such raw and undeveloped beauty that, so incredibly stunning, that it’s hard to comprehend. We pulled up the lee of the largest island and anchored Gypsy in 15’ of water with a pure white sand bottom, right in the middle of a large open bay. Incredibly there no other boats in sight, we had this whole amazing place to ourselves, at least that what I thought. I soon found out differently when I jumped in to dive the anchor and ran into the biggest, rudest barracuda I’ve ever met. To make matters work he had no concept about personal space. What is it with these fish?

That bastard of a barracuda was still lurking under Gypsy the next morning when we launched the dink. When this fish swam under the dink it was almost as long as the dink was wide. We motored to the beach for a walk and then took off in the dink in search for a channel into the large shallow bay in the center of the island.

What an incredible find that was. We saw a couple of manta rays gliding by in the shallow water, two young turtles about 2’ long, and then way in we came across a sand shark in 3’ of water.

We continued to explore the main island and were greatly rewarded with its pristine and wild beauty.




Next we explored so some of the smaller islands and continued to be amazed by the splendor of this place.


The next day we left our enchanted archipelago early for Elizabeth Harbor, Georgetown, Great Exuma Island. We raised the main sail and then the anchor, all without starting the engine. We were underway by 6:30am an hour before sunrise. The wind was light at 8 nmp out of the east. We raised our spinnaker for the first time and instantly jumped from 4-6 knots of boat speed. We had a delightful sail all through the day and arrived at the southern most entrance of the harbor at 3:00 pm.

From there it we enjoyed a most pleasant sail down wind, wing-on-wing the entire length of the harbor. We noticed lots of boats lining the harbor as we sailed by. Quite a contrast from our days of being the only boat around. As beautiful as our immersion into the natural world had been we were both ready for more human contact. It had been a week since we had spoken to anyone besides each other.

We had the most wonderful light wind sail, ghosting along at 4 knots through this great harbor, finally arriving off the last anchorage, Monument Beach, at 4:00 pm. We dropped our anchor in 11’ feet of water into a mix of white sand and light grass. Just as we made fast our anchor a fellow cruiser pulled up in his dink and introduced himself as Greg of Lucky Dancer the boat next to ours. Greg had noticed that we were out of Mystic Connecticut, he was out of Noank himself, the next town over and where Gypsy had spent last winter. We chatted briefly and then he floored us by asking if we knew Tom Kintz. Oh yes, we said in unison, Tom had brokered the sail of Gypsy and my previous two boats. Turns out that Tom had brokered his boat deal as well. We both agreed that Tom “was the best” and I smiled inwardly as I thought about just how small this big world can be. Once Greg left we tested our anchor with full reverse and dove it to make sure. We then celebrated our arrival and good fortune with good D.R. rum. A beautiful sunset, complete with a celebratory kiss, made things complete.