THE GREAT ESCAPE

            After Weeks of waiting we finally got the weather window we needed to escape the “hustle and bustle” of Bimini and sail eastward.  I use “sail” figuratively, the light wind was too close and we motored all day. 

 We left Bimini in dense fog, we could only see a couple of hundred feet ahead and we couldn’t see the channel markers until we were right on them.  Thank goodness for GPS breadcrumbs! 

 We caught a couple of nice jacks on the Bank but didn’t feel like cooking them for supper after we anchored. 

We got up at 3 AM and headed for the Northwest Channel, the Tongue of the Ocean and West Bay on New Providence Island.  By sun-up the wind freshened and we unrolled the jib and made good time.  We anchored at West Bay early and relaxed over a good dinner of jack meunière. 

 E-mail from Irene and Perry (s/v Tekla Bramble) informed us that they were headed for Normans Cay the next day.

            Shortly after leaving the anchorage, we hooked something huge!  At least it felt huge.  Please be a mackerel!  Alas, it was a three foot barracuda with a mouthful of ugly teeth.  Shortly after that, Otto died!  Without an autopilot, we would have to hand steer for the rest of the trip.

            We joined Irene and Perry at Normans and headed for Shroud Cay.  Shroud is one of the most beautiful cays in the chain.  There are several nice beaches but the real attraction is the creeks. 

Shroud is cut by many creeks that meander through huge flats surrounded by low hills.  Motoring up the creeks is reminiscent of scenes from “The African Queen.  Floating along, one feels that he is discovering virgin territory.

            After leaving Shroud, we headed for Warderick Wells, headquarters for the Exuma Land and Sea Park.  The park is well maintained park and has  a beautiful mooring field. 

 There are several trails, hacked out of the low scrub that covers most of the Exuma Cays.  Hiking these trails is very strenuous.  

 Some are quite steep and often pass over sections of weathered bedrock.  Wind and water erosion has pockmarked the surface with holes and razor sharp edges making walking very difficult.  We had planned to hike down to the Loyalist ruins.  These are the remains of houses built by Loyalists who left the newly formed USA after the Revolution.  When you see the pitiful structures and look at the hostile, bleak surroundings, you have to ask yourself, “What were these people thinking?”  At any rate, after hours of walking, we still hadn’t reached the ruins and decided to turn back.  Kathleen said she couldn't go back and sent me for the dinghy while she waited on a beautiful beach.  I walked back, taking as many shortcuts as possible and hoping that I wouldn’t end up being found sprawled on a lonely path, an emaciated corpse! While at the park, we received an e-mail from Al expressing an interest in joining us for a few days.  Certainly as long as he is accompanied by an autopilot!

            Our next landfall was Big Majors Spot at Staniel Cay.  This is a very popular anchorage, mainly because of its proximity to the “Thunderball Grotto,” the underwater grotto where scenes from the James Bond movie, “Thunderball” were filmed.  It is also famous for the wild pigs that swim out to your dinghy in search of scraps of food.  Kathleen and I have both seen plenty of pigs and plenty of photos of the pigs at Big Majors so we had no interest in taking the dinghy to their beach.

            We did need a few groceries and gasoline for the dinghy.  Staniel is the only place for miles where you can buy fuel.  I took the 2 ½ mile dinghy ride into Staniel where I bought a few atrociously expensive groceries.  I bought a bottle of rum for which we paid $9 on Bimini and $24 on Staniel.  After burning most of our remaining gas on the trip in, I learned that Staniel was out of gas!  I have always had a bad taste in my mouth about Staniel and this visit did nothing to change my mind.  We resolved that we would not stop there again.  By this time, it became clear that Al was not going to be able to join us.  However, he did take care of getting us a new auto-pilot.  He put it on a plane from FtLauderdale to Staniel.  They brought it over to us at Blackpoint.  Within two hours we became acquainted with Homer, Homer the helmsman.  He steered for us all the way down to Emerald Bay on Great Exuma where we waited for a window to cross over to Cat Island.