Weather Forecasting

In the US, numerous weather resources are readily available. For the mariner, it is as easy as tuning the VHF radio to the nearest NOAA weather station. NOAA continuously broadcasts marine and other weather products. Once you leave the US, it is a whole different story. Our primary means of obtaining accurate, reliable weather information is our SSB radio. Chris Parker provides weather and routing information each morning (except Sundays) for the Bahamas and the entire Caribbean. Chris is a sailor and broadcasts from his Morgan 34 'Bel Ami' in Florida. Equally important to us are our GRIB (Gridded Binary Data) files, which we download daily for our geographic area. These are data files from forecasting models. We use the GFS (Global Forecasting System), which is NOAA's forecasting model. There are other models we sometimes use, such as WW3, which forecasts ocean wave dynamics. We view this data with GRIB Explorer from OCENS. A GRIB file contains a lot of data, and presentation is important for the analysis. We download barometric pressure, wind, wave, and precipitation at 6-hour intervals for the next few days, usually five. There are longer forecast time frames, but the accuracy deteriorates significantly. With Chris Parker's forecast, particularly his synoptic forecast, and the GRIB files, we usually have a high confidence level in the forecast for the next 2 - 3 days. One of the nice benefits of weather forecasting is that you can evaluate forecast accuracy fairly quickly.


The screen print of a recent GRIB file shows the Abacos, outlined in white. Our position is the red cross. Wind barbs show the wind direction and speed at 2:00 pm. The solid lines are barometric pressure, and the dashed lines are wave height.

Visiting Eleuthera

We returned to Warderick Wells, moving about 28 miles south of Normans Cay after saying farewell to Warren and Karen. With the forecasted wind direction, we wanted to improve our wind angle for the crossing to Eleuthera. The move paid off big time. We turned the engine off as soon as we cleared the cut and had a wonderful sail all the way over until we were on the bank at Eleuthera. Every place we visit is unique. Eleuthera receives far fewer visiting cruisers and, therefore, cruisers are not really part of its economy, as is the case with many of the islands. We made three overnight stops on Eleuthera. Our plan was to stop at Spanish Wells, just north of Eleuthera, but with a forecast of approaching high winds, we did not want to get pinned down. Near Spanish Wells is Royal Island with a great anchorage, but the island is private. There really are no good anchorages in the crowded harbor at Spanish Wells. Not wanting to spend a week on the boat waiting on the weather at Royal Island, we pushed on, and at that, we were cutting it close. The winds were forecast to build in the afternoon and to be almost directly on our nose. We left early and pushed hard, and the winds came in exactly as predicted, but we arrived at Little Harbour at our planned time, which was near high tide. The passage into Little Harbour can be challenging, and for us, the waves were breaking about halfway across the cut, but we had no difficulty. We wanted high tide so we could enter the protected harbour just inside the cut. We saw a low reading of 5'7", which isn't too bad for us. We will have to leave on a high tide as well. It is great to come back to familiar territory. Pete's Pub is at Little Harbour and is one of our favorites. This is a great place to wait for fairer winds.

McDuffs on Normans Cay  (Warren)

Norm made friends with this little guy on his arm.

Not everyone wanted to be so close.

As it turned out, he didn't want to visit with anyone else anyway

(at Pirates Lair, Warderick Wells)

Every town of any size in the Bahamas has a BaTelCo tower for communications. Rock Sound, Eleuthera

Methodist Church - Rock Sound, Eleuthera 

very friendly

Last Days In Exumas

Picking up plastic - the ocean side of all the cays is awash in plastic - this is on Shroud Cay in the Exuma Land and Sea Park

Trash accumulated for park rangers to haul away.

The entire center of Shroud Cay is mangroves with some channels accessible by dinghy during high tide - Karen stepping over mangrove roots while returning to the dinghy

Plane wreck at Normans Cay

Starting The Return Trip

We are working our way back up the Exuma chain. Our plan is to cross to Eleuthera, explore there, and then head north to the Abacos to revisit the places we spent time at last season. We stopped one more time at Black Point Settlement, our favorite destination in the Exumas. On Saturday, the primary school held a fundraising fair, with food, music, and games. Karen from Sand Castle and Norm partnered up in the egg-throwing contest and did quite well, but were no match for the Bahamians. Sunday morning, we attended church services at a Baptist church. While the congregation was small, you would never know it from the beautiful sound they generate. We felt so welcomed there. Absolutely everyone made a point to greet us with either a handshake or a hug.

Ariel at Exuma Land and Sea Park

Feeding Time

Big Majors Spot

A group of pigs lives on a small beach on Big Majors Spot. These are just ordinary domestic farm pigs, but they are accustomed to being fed by the cruisers. As you approach the beach, they come out to see what treats you have. We offered bananas and sweet potatoes. They get a little excited and act like they will climb into the dinghy. Once they know the treats are gone, they return to the beach to lie in the sand and wait for the next feeding.

Diane (staying at a safer distance), 

Staniel Cay

At Staniel Cay is Thunderball Cave, after which the James Bond movie was named. At low water, you can enter the cave without diving under. At high water, it is just a short stretch through the entrance. The fish expect to be fed. The fish pictured were impatient for me to open the ziplock bag to release their food. It only took seconds for them to devour all the food I brought.

Really Busy In George Town

We have had quite a change of pace since returning to George Town. We met Gerald and Diane off Thyme Off from Ottawa, and through them, Marty and Debbie off Bay Pelican from Chicago. The six of us have been almost inseparable, sharing meals and playing dominoes on each other's boats in the evening and participating in activities during the day. We have taken walks ashore, spent time at Volleyball Beach, tried different restaurants for lunch, got engaged in French Day, sponsored by the French Canadians, and learned how to play Bocce Ball. One evening, we had an ABBA night, watching and enjoying an ABBA DVD together. Marty and Deb are heading south to Trinidad this season, so we parted with them. Gerald and Diane need to be in Nassau toward the end of the month to pick up her brother, so we decided to travel back up the Exuma chain with them for a while before returning to George Town for the beginning of the Cruisers Regatta. As of this writing, we are at Black Point Settlement. It was good to see Lorraine again and introduce Gerald and Diane to her. We were her only guests for dinner last night, so she decorated our table for a one-day late Valentine's dinner.

Diane, Marty, Gerald

Willie Rolle

Willie's Garden of Eden

Loraine at Loraine's Cafe

Gerald announces sundown on the conch (being a trumpet player, he is very good)

After gracefully entering the dinghy

French Day Gerald and Diane

Bocce Ball

French Day

Linda, Norm, Debbie, Marty, Diane, Gerald

Yoga on the beach each morning (not shown - guys just hanging out)

Gone Fishing

Until very recently, we did not have fishing gear aboard. Norm wasn't sure what he needed or wanted, so he procrastinated for over a year. The biggest obstacle is that there is no room on the stern to set up a trolling rod and little spare room aboard to store fishing equipment. Shortly after we arrived in George Town, Norm attended a fishing seminar put on by a cruiser who was very knowledgeable on the subject. This really filled some huge knowledge gaps for him and inspired him to get moving. In George Town, the prices on the fishing gear, as with most everything else, were too much. He found the fishing gear prices at a marine supply store on Long Island to be comparable to US prices and 1/3 to 1/2 less than in George Town and Nassau. He had decided, given our cluttered stern situation and otherwise limited space aboard, to go with a Cuban YoYo, which is a hand line. Our first opportunity to use the new gear was on our return from the northern tip of Long Island to George Town. This route crosses very deep water where the fishing is best. We had our line out for about one hour before we got a hit. We were under sail at about 7 1/2 knots, so first we had to slow the boat down. We rolled in the jib and then turned slightly into the wind. The Mahi Mahi on our line was absolutely beautiful, swimming and fighting in the crystal clear water. As soon as a Mahi Mahi is pulled from the water, they lose their beautiful colors.

We were traveling with Demon Du Midi, so we immediately invited them to a fish dinner. They subsequently caught a smaller Mahi Mahi. It was an all-around good day of sailing and fishing, finished with an excellent dinner and good company.

Exploring Long Island

We are exploring Long Island with Remy and Dominique from Demon Du Midi and Brian and Jan from Wind Chaser. We are taking advantage of a long stretch of good weather without west winds, as there really isn't any protection from the southwest in particular. We traveled as far south on the west side of Long Island as reasonably possible with our draft. We have been in Thompson Bay near Salt Pond for several days. It is a beautiful location. We rented a van with Demon Du Midi and Wind Chaser to explore the entire island. Long Island is about 80 miles long and about 4 miles wide. At our current location, we are below the Tropic of Cancer, so we are now in the tropics.

Roadside lunch spot

Cave just off the beach in Salt Pond - yes, they are bats.

Old Spanish Church - thought to have been built by Spanish settlers in the 1700's

St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church - built by Father Jerome after he converted to Catholicism

Brian and  Dominique

Remy and Brian are collecting coconuts

Bahamas Images

Typical hiking trail - very slow going

Near a pirate's lair - a camping area of pirates, as evidenced by non native plants and trees from seeds which fell from their belongings

Police Station at Black Point Settlement

Loraine's Cafe - tending bar

Beach Church

The center of activity here in George Town is on Volleyball Beach. This is a regular community, organized and run by cruisers. We attended Beach Church on our first weekend here, and it immediately became a hit with us. It is an actual, organized non-denominational church. So far, we have not had any actual ministers in the anchorage, but that has not diminished the quality of the message.

Arriving At George Town

Elizabeth Harbor has to be approached from the east side. Since the winds are generally from the east, we timed our arrival in George Town according to the wind and sea forecast. We moved to Little Farmers Cay to stage for going out the cut the next day, and on down to George Town. There were two other boats at Little Farmers Cay, Nikita from Seattle and Free@Last from Sidney, Australia. Both boats had young children on board and had been traveling together since Annapolis. We all departed together at 7:00 am in perfect sailing conditions. It was a fast trip, and we were generally running 7.5 - 8 knots. Free@Last caught a Mahi Mahi and invited and Nikita and us to share the catch. It was a wonderful evening, and it was fun to watch the kids, two three-year-olds and a five-year-old, keep themselves busy in the cabin while we enjoyed good conversation in the cockpit. Hamish grilled the fish on the Bar B, and it was excellent. Shortly after we anchored, Ann from Borrowed Horse brought three pounds of shark over to us. Neither of us has knowingly eaten shark (we are guessing it is probably in fish sticks and similar things), but we were willing to give it a try. We grilled about a third of it a couple of days later, and while it was a good mild fish, neither of us cared for the texture. We gave our remaining shark to Brian on Wind Chaser, as he likes shark meat very much.

Our New Winter Home

Wind Chaser left Exuma Park a day before us. They spent last winter in the Exumas, so they wanted to see some new and different places and maybe go to George Town at a faster pace than we planned. We will catch up with them later. We had some nice gatherings on the beach for cocktails. The park built a fire for us on Saturday night. After leaving Warderick Wells, we went to Black Point Settlement to do laundry. The laundromat, Rockside Inn, came highly recommended. After some bad and expensive experiences last year in the Abacos, we are very cautious. This turned out to be the very best, not only for the Bahamas, but for the US as well. A little more expensive than in the US, but not bad for the Bahamas. The equipment worked very well, and the place was spotless. We like Black Point Settlement so much that we have decided it will be our home base, the place we keep coming back to after exploring. We met Lorraine, who runs Lorraine's Cafe. We are so comfortable at Lorraine's. She has great, reasonably priced meals, free WiFi, a book exchange, and a television. The bar is self-serve. You just make up your drink or find one in the cooler and note your drinks on a pad to be settled later. Lorraine's mom makes breads, and we started with an initial order for two coconut breads. It makes the best French toast. We bought two lobsters from local fishermen who stopped by in their boat. The catch was fresh, and we didn't take long to get them in a pot of boiling water. This was our first spiny lobster, and they were very good.

Now In The Exumas

From Nassau, we left with a flotilla, as everyone waited for the same favorable wind conditions. Our first stop in the Exumas was at Allens Cay. On the way across to Allens Cay, we went through an area of coral heads and began honing our skills at reading the water (color). For about an hour, Norm stood on the bow and directed Linda with hand signals to avoid any potential coral heads. As we approached Allens Cay, all navigation was by sight, using the color of the water to determine deep water and to avoid sandbars. Allens Cay is known for its iguanas. These are friendly, and just about as soon as you land on the beach, they are around, hoping to be fed. We did not feed them, as none of the wildlife should be fed, but we noted that commercial boats bring tourists to Allens Cay, and some provided food for their guests to feed the iguanas.

After spending a couple of nights at Allens Cay, we were off to Normans Cay. Normans Cay was once held by Colombian drug lord Carlos Lehder. The remaining part now is the air strip, which is active. There is a beach club and a few vacation villas. We let our dinghy drift over a plane wreck. It is perfectly preserved and intact below the surface. The fuselage and tail, which were above the surface, corroded away. Normans Cay is just outside the Exumas Park, where all plants and wildlife are protected. We found the conch plentiful at Normans Cay.

We spent New Year's Eve at Normans Cay and celebrated with pizza on Wind Chaser, but we were back aboard Ariel by 7:30 pm.

On New Year's Day, we continued on to Warderick Wells in the heart of Exumas Cays Land and Sea Park. This park covers an area of 176 square miles. The entire area is a no-take zone. Nothing can be removed, living or dead. This area has great snorkeling, and the island has some very interesting walking trails. We were assigned a mooring in the north mooring field, near the park office.

We have been traveling with the same group of boats more or less since Nassau, so we are getting to know many of our frequent neighbors.

On mooring