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| SEA STAR |
Boxing Day
(12/26) found Quest and Algonquin making the 18 NM trek to the mooring field
off Hawksbill Cay, part of the Exuma Cay Land and Sea Park that was designated
as a protected area by the Bahamian Parliament in 1958. The park encompasses 15 large cays and scads
of small ones. It is a NO
TAKE ZONE meaning that there is no fishing, conching, loberstering, or
shelling within its boundaries. You are
welcomed to swim, explore the islands on designated trails, grab a mooring ball
for a modest fee or anchor outside the mooring field.
for a modest fee or anchor outside the mooring field.
We opted to take
advantage of their mooring balls.
Algonquin was a mooring virgin but managed to grab the slime encrusted
leader and run their ropes through the loop like champs. They did, somehow, manage to bring aboard a
large crab along with the mooring line.
These mooring balls are all designed to accommodate a minimum of 65’
vessels with a 6’ draft and those marked with a 150 MAX provide a safe mooring
for vessels up to 150”. While we love
anchoring here in the peaceful waters of the islands, the reassurance that you
will not drift while moored helps to provide a full night’s sleep and those
monies collected help to sustain the park.
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| LOOKING AT THE MOORING BALL AND ROPES FROM THE ANCHOR PULPIT |
The first night’s
sunset proved to be just too spectacular for words. After the sun dropped, its light continued to
illuminate the clouds and turn the evening’s sky various shades of pink. Lucky us!
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JUST SIMPLY SPECTACULAR |
Dan is still
toying with the faulty battery system.
He has taken two of the original batteries out of the system and is
pretty sure the other two from that bank are not functioning properly. We do have the four additional ones we got in
Puerto Rico but they are not as large and powerful as the original ones. Thankfully we bought the little Honda
generator in Wilmington, NC. We can run
that baby on 1 gallon of gas for about 7 hours while it charges up the
batteries and maintains our refrigerators.
Friday found a
little excitement aboard Quest. While
cooking breakfast I began to smell traces of an odd odor. As it intensified I recognized it as that
acrid smell of sizzling electrical wires. “Dan!!!!! Now!!!!”
Things went flying as Dan began to shut down systems and open all
possible sources. No problems in the
engine room, ditto for the mechanic room under the galley, the cook top showed
no signs of a failure either. Once,
however, he made it into the “V” berth he quickly discovered that the
thermostat had fried itself. Not a
pretty sight!
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| THE BURNED OUT THERMOSTAT ABOVE AND ITS "V" BERTH HOME BELOW |
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I did my first
snorkeling today and thoroughly enjoyed paddling around. I saw yellowtail snappers, parrotfish, blue
hamlet, fairy basslets and wrasse. From
the beach we spotted a ray several times but weren’t able to sight him while
swimming.
Garth and Dan got
to make another daring rescue. This
time the folks from S/V Barefoot had dinked off to a small
beach around the corner and were unable to restart the motor to return. There they were, rounding the corner and paddling
against the current, about pooped by now.
They sure were happy to grab the offered tow when the boys reached
them. I don’t know what the root of the
problem was but soon I saw them tooting
around (staying real close to their boat) and testing out the “fix”.
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| AGAIN, THE CON- TO THE RESCUE |
Holy cow! At times it appeared to be a mega-yacht
freeway out in the bank waters. The big boys are definitely here. After sending her tender into the mooring
field’s little bay to explore, the 252’ Pegasus V dropped anchor about
four miles out. They even had a slide
from the top deck. How much fun would
that be?? Muchos Mar, though smaller,
also kept to the deeper waters.
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| PEGASUS V, COMPLETE WITH SLIDE |
After thoroughly
enjoying the beach and waters of Hawksbill, Quest and Algonquin decided to move
on another 18 NM south to again moor in the park at Cambridge Cay. We dropped our mooring ball by 8:30, took
Wide Open Cut to the sound side then slipped back in at Bell Cut. Pulling into the Cambridge Cay Mooring we
found 130’ Mustang Sally. We spent last
New Year’s Eve docked at Compass Cay with that week’s charter group.
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| MUSTANG SALLY AND ALGONQUIN AT THE CAMBRIDGE MOORING FIELD |
Garth, Dan and I
took the tender over to the Aquarium snorkel site, leaving Kathy to tend to
Zeke and avoid the sun after the last two days basking. We think she may have
developed a little sun poising rash. The
sea life and water clarity is amazing.
Today I saw Yellowtail damselfish, Blue chromes, Angelfish, Triggerfish,
Butterflyfish, a Nassau grouper and a gazillion of those fearless and
persistent Sargent majors. Perfectly
delightful!
Boating is always
an adventure. Upon returning to Quest
after our little outing, Dan smelled gasoline and found that one of the gas
cans up top had sprung a leak. Clean-up
time. With only a minimal loss, he
salvaged the rest, refilled the generator and tender, washed down the top and
sides of Quest then fell back in exhaustion with a beer. A little nap was soon to follow.
Saturday morning
broke with the predicted gloom. Garth
had heard chatter on the radio yesterday that the expected winds might come
early, around 6:00 AM, but at 7:00 it was still calm. Dan had hardly uttered “So much for the early
wind” when the gusts began with a whoosh.
Since we were going out on the Sound for a short distance to get to
Compass Cay, we moved our departure up from 10:00 to 9:00 in hopes of catching
the favorable wind from the north that would push us further south. As the storm progressed the wind will shift
from the east and this would make for a terribly rock ride.
Arriving at Compass Cay we found ourselves
in a bloody queue just to get in. Mind
you, this is quiet little Compass Cay! Two
boats went in, one came out, Quest was directed in, another exited, large
Muchos Mas came in then Algonquin was finally directed to dock in the
boonies. Good for Zeke but a crummy
place for Garth and Kathy. This normally
placid and peaceful marina is a zoo right now.
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| LIKE A NYC PARKING LOT |
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| OUR COMPASS CAY SIGN WE MADE ON OUR FIRST VISIT |
Dan and I strolled
over the island to walk the big beach.
With the wind blowing so strong, the waves came crashing to the shore
making swimming not so inviting. The
extreme north end of the beach, just below the burned out Hester’s House, was
protected enough to provide a calm pool for a quick dip. We combed the beach for treasures. I found this lovely piece of drift wood while
Dan took the prize for his efforts.
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| MY FIND WAS A BEAUTIFUL PIECE OF DRIFTWOOD BUT DAN--------------------- |
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| DAN FOUND A WETSUIT AND FLIP FLOPS THAT EVEN FIT HIS XL FEET |
New Year’s Eve
day again found a hive of activity at the marina with boats leaving and just
changing docks in order to make room for the large arriving vessels. Thankfully, Algonquin was given a reprieve
from their sentencing to the remote service dock and moved one space from Quest
on the “real” dock.
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| ALGONQUIN'S NEW HOME, RIGHT IN THE MIDST OF IT ALL |
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| NEW YEAR'S EVE ON COMPASS CAY |
