It’d been a longer than planned stay in the populated Exumas but full of adventure, fun, and good friends that left us with no regrets of the time spent there.
Our friends on S/V Jasaru had finally gotten the right part and were back to being fully operational. Their charter was over and now were making plans for their passage to Puerto Rico, going the opposite way of us. The first stop was the same so we buddy boated over to Calabash bay, Long Island with them. A spot we’d been before but never gets old, the classic Bahamian anchorage with White sand beach and the crystal blue water that seems special made for this part of the world. It also serves as the northern most anchorage on the very Long Island and makes a good staging spot to wrap around the island to the more remote out islands. Which is exactly where we were headed!
As a bonus, we met up with our friends Olivier and Isabel, the French couple on S/V Mars. Always good company, Olivier likes being in the water as much as myself and nights spent on Mars are always a fun time. Olivier and Isa practice there English and we practice drinking their French liqueurs and fine cooking, and usually at least one French word. Many a Bon Nuit! (Good night). We had planned to meet up with S/V Mars as we were heading the same way so happy to find them here.
With all four boats together (Rob on S/V Aspiration was the fourth in the quartet) for the last time we spent a night eating good food, making future plans, and saying goodbyes. It’s a funny world this cruising community, you make close friends fast and then before you know it, your headed off in different directions. It alwys feels more like see you later than goodbye though, in this vagabond way of life it seems like running into a friend is right around the corner at the next anchorage. Never know which way the winds will blow and definitely hope to see these friends again somewhere in the world!
In company with Mars, we left around 11:00 am as we just had a 6 hour – 30 mile hop to Rum Cay. The light east winds only got lighter so it turned into a motor sail but a nice day to be out and about pulling into the now familiar anchorage just before sundown. Rum Cay was just a staging spot though, so we dropped anchor and got ready for an early morning departure to the Crooked Islands!! 70 Nautical Miles to the south and truly back into the out islands.
It was a 4 am wakeup call and with half closed eyes we fumbled through cranking up the anchor, navigating the reef, and raising sail. But by the time the warmth of sun was hitting Heritage’s tanbark sails we had 5 miles under our keel and a light 10 kt breeze gently pushing us along. In truth, it was slow going, Heritage being a rather heavy set girl (Don’t tell her that) takes a bit more than 10 knots to raise any sort of fuss.
We had planned our early departure to compensate for this and we’re awaiting the forecasted afternoon winds. So we plodded without worry, I broke out my new drone toy for a daring underway launch and landing. Somehow ended successfully and the results were way worth it! What a view!!
The view only got better though as a few minutes after landing the drone we saw something we’d been waiting our whole trip for… WHALE HO!!! Woohoo, so cool… The pod of Beaked whales popped up alongside and stayed with us paying no heed to the sailboat as they meandered on their way. No attention was paid to miles to go or boat speed, we just enjoyed the company and snapped as many photos as we could! I had the drone charging for another flight but as it was finally ready, the wind picked up and the whales dove down out of sight. The twenty minutes passed like a whole day…
After not sighting the whales for a while we turned the page back to the task at hand. With a steady 15-20kts of wind it looked like we might actually make it to our destination before sunset! It’d be a close run but we were nicely making way at 6-7 knots through the blue water.
The big orange ball in the sky was making it’s way down to the horizon as Crooked Island rolled into view. Olivier and Isa had been to Crooked Island many years ago, around 14 or so. They had told us about the deserted beaches, beautiful bluffs, and meandering mangrove streams but somehow had left out the most iconic feature of the island. On this remote island, far enough away to feel like the edge of the world, we found a most beautiful lighthouse. Our earthly timing couldn’t have been any better to have arrived at this moment, as the golden hour light of the sunset shone on this 19th century beacon, a full moon rose on the opposite side.
Alyssa took over steering in the in the flat water on the lee side of the island. She had to as I was mesmerized by the view and snapping away like mad with my camera! Knew I wanted to get a closer at this architectural masterpiece in the middle of nowhere so put the camera away finally and made plans for the next day. Our anchorage was another 5 miles and dropped anchor as the last of the light gave way to night. Had the camera handy so snapped a couple pics of the beautiful night scene as well.
Awoke the next morning and Olivier and Isabel were just as keen to explore the lighthouse so we loaded up in their dingy. We found out the lighthouse was built by the French in 1876 and like the rest of the island, had suffered greatly in the last hurricane. Still a beautiful sight and a photographers dream so I snapped away! Enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments! You can click on any photo to see it larger
After exploring the lighthouse we split ways in the afternoon, Alyssa and I had another spot on our itinerary for the remote Bahamian island. Patrick, (The mayor of Joe’s sound whose moonshine saw us through a nasty westerly storm,) had told us about the iconic book of the old Bahamas. It’s the true life story of an Indiana science school teacher who had never left the state. At middle age he up and decided it was time to start a new life and set out for the Bahamas.
The autobiography details his trials and tribulations and his change in career as “Sometime in the late 1940s the Bahamian government made Evans Cottman an “unqualified practitioner” of medicine since medical doctors were so scarce in the Out Islands.” He tells his story with great humor and gives you an unrivaled insight into the ways of the Old Bahamas. A way that is still alive when you get out as far as we were!
Alyssa and I both fell under the books spell and so with great eagerness we set out that afternoon to find the good doctors old home built on Gun Bluff, Crooked Island. We ventured by dingy, dodging the same coral heads he once did until we arrived at the same bluff he described so well in the book. Cool to see the history come to life, we planned to return by land to get a closeup look at his house but never got the chance. But knowing how hard and far he had to adventure to get to this same spot, we felt a sense of accomplishment on making it to the hallowed grounds.
Before the sun went down we moved the big boat further down the island. Staging for the next morning when we would make the tricky entrance into French Wells. This was the part of the island that Olivier and Isabel had raved about, a protected anchorage (rare in the out islands) with a perfect white sand beach (not as rare) and an old well built by french pirates back in piracy’s hey day. We were looking forward to using the well in particular. We’d stacked up quite the laundry pile and we were planning to use the ample water from the well to get some hand washing done while bbq’ing on the beach.
The next day once the light was high enough, we started navigating the entrance, just one sandbar to sidestep and we were in, not too difficult after all. But the scenery had us questioning if we’d taken a wrong turn somewhere. It was still somewhat beautiful but not the idyllic paradise Mars had described. Mangroves bordered the islands, the beach was just a small area to walk and many of the mangroves weren’t looking too healthy. The hurricanes obviously had done some serious damage here. Olivier and Isabel had a harder time believing the scenery, having seen it at its best before, they could only look around in disbelief. Olivier and I headed to shore to look for the well but it was nowhere to be seen. A well that had been around since the 1700’s had been wiped out in the past two years from the massive hurricanes. The whole landscape was unrecognizable to previous photos, amazing the power of these storms.
There was still a mangrove creek that winded up into the heart of island and exploring up the tributary made for a perfect afternoon. spotting small barracudas, turtles and stingrays. The next day with laundry put on the shelf, we set out on a new mission, we heard rumors of Flamingos on the island to the south so Alyssa and I set off on a dingy adventure. We sped down the cay, running through shallow waters called the Bight of Acklins. Its a very shallow bay that is formed inside the barrier islands of Crooked to the north and the Acklins to the east and south. We had no real idea where we were headed, just ready to explore as we cruised along Long Cay which fringed the western side of the bight. I picked out some likely spots where the flamingos might be and we checked them all, nothing doing. We’d been out for a couple hours and I was ready to call it quits as a wind was springing up, meaning a nasty ride back home. Alyssa was determined though and begged for 5 more minutes. Couldn’t say no even with the sky threatening rain so on we sped. 5 minutes turned into 5 minutes more before I was eyeing a u turn, it was going to be a really rough ride back into the wind.
“Alright, I think that’s enough babe, they’re not here.”
“I see Pink, I see Pink!!” Alyssa says
“Where?!” she points of to the horizon, “haha, holy hell babe, you found us some flamingos!!” I reply.
“I can’t believe they’re actually that color,” She exclaims as we sneak up closer.
About 200 yards away, I cut the engine. The wind is blowing us right towards the flamboyance (Flock), I use the paddle to steer us as Alyssa clicks away with the camera. Our stealth approach works as “love me tender” (The dingy’s name) gently touches the beach a 100 ft from the Flamingos. They are well aware of us by now and when I make a move to get out of the boat they take to the air. I’d like to say it was a graceful, beautiful sight but anyone that has seen a gangly flamingo take flight would know thats a lie. They do make it into the air though and once airborne they shine, Alyssa is right there to capture it all with the camera. The sight made the rough ride back seem like a walk in the park, amazing what happens when you go that extra mile!
Join us next time when we venture to the southern tip of Long Island, then onto the untouched Jumentos and Ragged Island chains. We navigate shallows, deal with shark encounters, and meet the characters of these remote islands before eventually leaving the Bahamas behind for our next country!!
