The Motion of the Ocean

The Motion of the Ocean
Today is Wednesday January the 20th and we are crossing from Royal Isand, Eleuthera to the northern chain of the Exumas as I write. The captain is to call me if he see dolphins or catches a fish. We made our escape from Marsh Harbour on Monday and had a raucous sail to Lynyard Cay averaging 6-7 knots...not bad for Celebrian considering she is full of 800 pounds of water and all our provisions. Lynyard Cay is often used as a staging area for the trip to Eleuthera. By the time the day was through there were almost a dozen boats anchored along the shore and most of those boats left the next day at the crack of dawn with us; however by the time you have sailed the 60 miles we are often out of sight of most of the other boats. Usually the Atlantic Ocean has a good roll but we had a very calm day and we were not bothered by the motion of the ocean. We were just able to keep our main sail filled which gave us a lift along with Mr. Yan working below decks. Ten hours later we anchored outside of Royal Island for the night. We didn't bother going all the way to the protective harbour because it was forecast to be a calm night so we anchored just after we sailed through the cut. It was a pleasant evening with bright stars and a beautiful crescent moon. Both the admiral and the captain were reading their books with their eyes closed before 9:00pm.
Up again at 6am this morning and off to the Exumas. It is another lovely day and we are in deep ocean water for about 3 hours hoping to catch our first fish of the season....a nice skip jack or a small mahi mahi would be welcome. We heard someone say on the radio yesterday that something had taken their whole line and lure so we are glad that we didn't have that happen. We aren't very good fisher people but we play the part and the captain picks up a new lure each season. We tend to troll only in deep water because the liklihood of catching a barracuda is much greater on the banks. Not that we haven't caught a barracuda in deeper water but they are hard to release and we don't want to kill them needlessly. The larger barracuda have a strong liklihood of carrying a ciguatera toxin in their flesh. The poison is produced by microscopic algae and it is passed up the food chain when carnivorous fish consume reef eating fish. Ciguatera poisoning is very dangerous and there is no antidote so it is important to identify your fish and not eat a msytery catch.
When we leave the deep ocean today we will be crossing what are called the Yellow Banks and we will need to be ever watchful for coral heads. Even Noah (it all), our chart plotter doesn't plot a course over the banks but says that you must use VPR, visual piloting rules and not rely on your instruments. I am sure that there are some boats that would drive right over a coral head if their chart plotter had a line over it!?! Using one's eyes is a very important part of cruising in The Bahamas as the colour of the water tells you everything. The picture of me steering is an example of visual piloting while steering with my foot while the captain was indisposed. Generally one of us is on the cabin top being the look out when we are watching for coral heads.
Our plans for tonight are to anchor in the lee of Highborne Cay with the hopes of hailing First Edition on the VHF radio. We need to be somewhere for protection from the south west Friday so we will have to decide where to go from here and where we will meet up with Lynn and Peter. As it has turned out it will be a little while before we see them as they have gone further south to Georgetown and are accompanying another boat to Long Island. Lynn says that they will be returning to the Exumas to have Christmas with us and enjoy some cruising time together in the not too distant future. In the meantime we will meander our way south in the Exuma chain and perhaps find a spot for Rob to do his varnishing? We may choose to return to Pipe Creek where he had done the varnishing the first year we were south. I need a spot where I can safely get off the boat so that I don't end up with cabin fever while he is merrily varnishing.
Our first evening in the Exumas was equisite. We arrived in time to anchor close to the reef and go snorkelling. It was our first dip in the ocean and it was a balmy 23 degrees celcius (about 76 degrees farenheit) much warmer than the water in the Abacos. We had our first dinner in the cockpit and there was absolutely no wind, not seen very often in the trades. Today we also saw our first dolphins of the season...two swam over for a quick look at us as we sailed through the coral heads. It is good to be back in the Exumas.
Today, January the 21st we motor sailed to Norman's Cay, once under the unfriendly control of drug lord Carlos Lehder. In fact there is a wreck of an airplane in the anchorage from the drug dealing days. Now much of the island is privately owned and there is a tiny fly in resort. We chose to come here because the anchoragw has all around protection and we are expecting some strong south westerlies tomorrow.
The winds were not nearly as strong as predicted and we were able to get off the boat for a snorkel over to the plane wreck. It is becoming quite the reef as corals are growing all over the plane. It is in shallow water just off the channel so it is great for surface snorkellers like myself. The following day we took Goldberry with Mr. Johnston (3 HP outboard) and were able to go out in the ocean and all along the island to the northern anchorage. The northern anchorage is for keel draft boats as the water in places is very skinny(shallow) and even at high tide Celebrian with her 5 foot 4 inch draft would not be able to get through. We explored for a couple of hours and had a great outing.
Rob's birthday was Friday January 22nd and I baked him some raisin oatmeal cookies in lieu of a cake. The picture shows him with his cookie and its little plastic sailboat. The admiral also gave him a nice pair of quick dry blue shorts for when he wears clothes?!?!
Yesterday, Saturday January 23rd we motor sailed about 20 miles in the ocean to Bell Island. We took the opportunity to troll and lost a complete lure to something large that chomped it or broke the line right off. Once in the Exumas Cays Land and Sea Park we were no longer allowed to fish. The park stretches about 22 miles from north to south and approximately 4 miles on either side of the cays. The area is a no take zone, no fishing, conching,shelling, or lobstering; nothing living or dead may be taken from the park. The park seems to be working because we have seen more fish here than anywhere in The Bahamas. I have also seen my only lobster here in the park. Yesterday we went snorkelling off of the boat and found a beautiful coral garden all along the anchorage. There were lots of fish as well as a turtle along the soft corals. We also saw the largest sting ray I have ever seen ...he was at least five feet or more from wing tip to wing tip and maybe more. I am grateful that rays are not aggressive. They certainly are prehistoric looking and just like sharks they haven't evolved much in millions of years.
Speaking of the motion of the ocean, the Bell Island anchorage has not provided us with as much protection from the easterlies as we had hoped. We rocked and rolled all night and unfortunately are continuing to do so this morning. We are hoping that as the wind moves more southerly the roll will settle down. We try to ignore it by keeping busy but needless to say that is not easy to do. Picture moving about your house and having to hang on to a railing everywhere you go because the floor is rocking back and forth. Nonetheless we are safe and that is the important thing. So I am going to brace myself in the galley and make some muffins while the captain is installing some pin rails in my spice lockers. Pin rails are small teak railingss that can keep things from toppling over on a shelf also known as a fiddle. See the next blog entry for more on the motion of the ocean.
Some of the pictures in this blog entry are....ocean sunrise, my fish face to lure the fish onto our line, toe steering through the coral heads, the captain and admiral's first night in the Exumas and Rob's birthday cookie.