Sampson Cay to Little Pipe Cay 5/30-5/31/10

We left you as we were getting under way from Dead Man's Cay to
Sampson Cay. It was a short trip, with only a couple of
directional changes, in calm water and a light breeze. Our
friends with whom we're buddy-boating left before us, and as we
attempted to raise Sampson Cay Yacht Club, they hailed us
immediately.

Apparently the US Memorial Day, unusually falling on a weekend,
allowing for the actual celebrations in the US honoring fallen
military personnel to occur during the 3-day national holiday
(don't get me started on the dilution of our national holidays
corrupted by 3-day weekends!), is also some national holiday
(May 30) in the Bahamas.

Because of that, the dock at Sampson Cay was closed early, to
open again the following morning. However, the significant
reason for stopping here, rather than at, for example, Staniel
Cay, was to top up on diesel fuel and take on some water.

We're in no danger whatever of running out of diesel, but,
contrary to expectations, last year, when we fueled and watered
here, the metered water line we had was obviously defective, as
we were charged for only 11 gallons, when we're confident we
took on close to 200. Whether that was an accommodation for our
having bought fuel or just a circumstantial error (the checkout
lady didn't bat an eye at 11 gallons of water, so I presume it
was expected), we don't know, but we hoped to have the same
advantage this time.

The norm in the Bahamas is to have to pay for water, at anywhere
from free, albeit jugged (take in jugs, fill, dinghy back to the
boat, rinse, repeat) at the Exuma Markets dinghy dock in George
Town, to, in Marsh Harbour, 20 cents a gallon, to, more
commonly, 50 cents per gallon, as was the nominal price at
Sampson Cay. We used more than had been our norm in our first,
larger tank, and so, erring on the side of caution, lest we run
out in the boonies, thought to fill that tank here, not knowing
how long it would take before we were back in Marsh Harbour.

However, our friends informed us that Sampson was totally out of
diesel, and, as circumstances would have it, the fuel dock
filled with a couple of very large boats between the time we
arrived and when we went to bed. That would preclude our going
to the dock, even if it were just for water, so we resolved to
look elsewhere up the chain.

We'll be moseying up the Exuma Chain in what looks like the
return to the trade winds - a steady E-SE breeze - which should
be kicking in at this time of year. First, however, water or
not, we needed to replenish our eggs, down to a 4-day supply,
and wanted to revisit the walk we took last year, to the south
end of the beach, passing the SCYC's cottages, and exploring the
nature walks offshooting the main road.

WiFi in the area has changed as well. As was the case in our
most recent logs, usually we can find an open site, but the
Exumas have been very well populated with hotspots - paid
internet access points - under ExumaWiFi, now, and SCYC has gone
to that mode of distribution, rather than the free, open, site
they used to maintain. It's a satellite based system, so, as
was the case last year in Lorraine's Café in Black Point, the
speeds are similar to the old ISDN network. Very much faster
than dialup, but orders of magnitude slower than broadband, and,
depending on how valuable it is to you, expensive, or just a
cost of cruising to access.

In Warderick Wells, last year, there was a site which I THINK
(could be mistaken) was related somehow to the national park
there. Exuma WiFi, like that site, is not only time-based, but
bandwidth-based. However, EWF has more than double the allowed
megabytes of usage (use it or lose it in the days allowed;
exceed your limit in the time allowed, and you're cut off) at
Warderick Wells.

So far, we've not had to use them, but that may well change as
we move into unpopulated areas. Certainly, as I type this,
anchored off SCYC, there's no usable site other than EWF. Costs
are fairly tyical - $10 a day, with slight reductions as you
move up in numbers of days, along with slight increases in daily
bandwidth, as well. If you sign up for a multiple-days (1, 3,
7, 30, e.g.) contract, the same rules apply. Once you log on,
the clock starts running, along with the bandwidth meter, and
once either limit is reached, you're off.

Last year, we were horrified to learn that our first day's (out
of 3) allotment (at that time; it's double that, and better in a
3-day, in EWF) of 100MB had been totally consumed by Lydia's 3
hour session in Facebook. Thus my feeling of anathema toward
any web-based activity, as the entirety, including, sometimes,
large files sent to us by friends, of my email-based activity
would have used perhaps 2-3MB, not to mention the greater speed.
It's that type of situation, along with, occasionally, marginal
signals wherever we may be, which makes web-based stuff the bane
of my on-line existence :{/) It also explains why those not on
this log list directly (through the Yahoogroups link in the
signature line) usually don't see some of my posts until some
time after the fact.

Under way, at sea, and in totally unpopulated areas, such as the
Jumentos were recently, I can use my Ham radio email service,
winlink, to (if you thought dialup was slow, wait until you try
HF radio!) laboriously mail the file to my son, who then posts
it to the log for me. The other places it appears have to wait
until I'm back in internet range. If you're not on the log list
directly, and you don't see this until some time in the future
compared to the dates, that's what's happened...

Monday May 31 dawned, but we luxuriated for another hour before
staggering out of bed at 7:30, past our preferred arising of 6
or so, in order that we get to hear Chris Parker's forecast,
which starts at 6:30. I'm about worthless until I've had some
coffee and a slug of OJ in me, so, by the time I'd hand-ground
the coffee, boiled the half-gallon of water, and pried my
eyelids into a more functional position, it was after 8AM.

Thus having my morning started badly, I started copying some
DVDs our friends had loaned us. I managed 5 before we decided
to go in for a walk and a grocery reconnoiter. Sampson Cay
Yacht Club, despite being entirely out of fuel for another week
or so, is still home to some very large power boats, and so
maintains full restaurant service, and, by Bahamian standards, a
pretty well stocked grocery store.

So, at about 11, after I finish the 5th DVD copy, off we go to
SCYC, providing taxi service to our friends after returning the
copied disks. It's a very short jaunt, and we're soon ashore.
A nice walk to the south end of the island provided the expected
marvelous view, a great breeze and a gazebo with shade and
chairs for conversation.

That same walk back brought us to the store where we replenished
our eggs and bread, along with some onions and garlic,
essentials for most of what Lydia cooks, and splurged on an ice
cream sandwich. My ice cream fetish is unfulfilled most of the
time, so whenever we have the chance, I grab one :{)) I did,
however, resist the $9.50 package of Oreos, at slightly more
than $.25 per cookie, and, at that, only 80% the size of the
typical $2-3 packages found in the US!

We walked up as a power boat was leaving. They'd trapped our
dinghy under the dock, but it would be of no event when they
left. I assisted them maneuver off as they were sandwiched
between two other very large motor yachts, helping them avoid
putting their outboards into one of them by swinging their bow
as they backed. Once they were out of the way, it was an easy
matter to retrieve our dinghy, and deposit our passengers on
their boat before we returned to Flying Pig to stow the
groceries.

A quick lunch of our usual Zone Bars and we were prepared to
make ready for departure. We sailed off our anchor under genoa
only in a light breeze at 2PM, heading 343*T in a blazing 5
apparent knots of wind coming at 150* to our port stern.
Unfortunately, as we left the lee of the island, which had
deflected our wind direction a bit, we had to turn downwind
somewhat to keep the sail full, so we were soon at only 261*T as
we made our way out to our first waypoint. That generated an
exhilarating 3.1-4.0 knots, but as we turned north and started
to sheet in (tighten the sail) the genoa at 2:25, we found
ourselves eventually reaching a beam reach position with the
wind at 90* on our starboard.

Rewarded, we saw the wind climb just a bit, to 8-10 knots
apparent, and we were soon making 5.0-6.0 knots. We'd have put
up the main if it were a longer trip, but, as it was, we very
quickly reached our turn-in point. That put the wind exactly on
our nose, and, to boot, it was a twisty run up the channel to
our expected anchorage off Pipe Cay. Accordingly, we reluctantly
engaged the services of the "Iron Genny" - Perky, our faithful
Perkins 4-154, with his muscular 62HP pushing our 40,000 pound
home, and twisted our way up the cut.

"Unfortunately" (not really, of course - they were guiding us
between shoals and reefs, based on their trip here last year),
Bold Endeavour took up essentially all the anchoring room there
was given the wind circumstances. I jumped in the dinghy and,
on our handheld radio, called off the depths with our handheld
depth sounder, hopeful that we could find somewhere nearby to
anchor. Despite having plenty of depth, there wasn't enough
swing room (recall that the more anchor chain you have out, the
more real estate you cover when the wind shifts) for comfort.

We turned back out to our entrance point, following the track
the chartplotter had laid down, and threw out the anchor in
about 9' of water at close to low tide. However, we'd be going
back, with the wind, into water which was several feet deeper,
so I put over 100' of chain into the water.

Each successive length I put out made the boat swing sideways to
the wind, and I was gratified that the chain yanked us back to
straight into the wind, with the chain straightening on each
length, so we were well hooked. Snubber on, we settled in for a
read, as the slack tide had already arrived, making our proposed
snorkeling expedition, should we have gone at that time, shortly
become one with swift current.

As it is, however, the next day's slack water would be well into
the morning, allowing sun at nearly zenith for better
illumination, and plenty of warmth to make us comfortable in the
water. At that, my handheld depth sounder also showed that we
were at nearly 87*F of water, so it would be refreshing, but not
chilling :{)) - and, should we get chilled, the warm air would
soon fix us right up.

We're close to an extensive sand bar where we dropped the hook,
so, despite a great breeze of 10-14 knots, enough to generate
some electricity to keep our very-nearly-full batteries topped
up, the fetch has no legs, so to speak, and there's a small chop
of about 1'- which is closely enough spaced that Flying Pig
barely moves above it. There ARE some benefits to having a
heavy, "slow," boat!

Around us on Pipe Cay we see what we assume is an example of
extreme wealth, with a heliport, complete with wind sock, and a
few houses, with solar panels covering most of the south-facing
sides helped, we presume, by a wind farm we see not far off.
There's also some major construction going on, based on the size
of the crane and other equipment we see nearby, as well, so,
perhaps, this area is being developed. It certainly looks
private, however, and, while we've not yet explored to see,
there appear to be some signs on the beach, expected to inform
potential explorers that they're not welcomed :{))

We'll talked about having PBJs for dinner ashore after some
exploration, saving the effort and fuel for cooking for another
day. We're still working on a tasty rye bread loaf we bought
recently, which makes PBJs very interesting to say the least.
However, sloth overcame us, as we'd have to make those
preparations, get into the dinghy, motor around, hoping to find
something interesting before the sun went down, so we abandoned
that thought.

Instead, Lydia's attacking the new onions and garlic,
accompanied by some of the enormous carrots native to this area
and other veggies from the frig, for a stir-fry. Having just
done a lot of movie transferring into our "movie of the night"
folder in my computer, we'll also splurge with all this wind
power and watch a movie.

So, with the sun going lower, and the breeze going higher, we'll
leave you at this time to enjoy our evening. If you care to see
our twisty-turnies, and the reefs and shoals we maneuvered
around, click on http://tinyurl.com/flyingpigspot and then click
the hybrid view. If you zoom in, the resolution in this area is
quite good, and you'll see where we are :{))

Until next time, Stay Tuned

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
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"You are never given a wish without also being given the power to
make it come true. You may have to work for it however."
(and)
"There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in
its hand. You seek problems because you need their gifts."

(Richard Bach, in Illusions - The Reluctant Messiah)

Hand held depth finder? I had no idea such a thing existed, but I can
see its use for exploring an anchorage by dink.

$.50 / US gal for water? How much do you think you are spending per year
doing this cruising stuff? I mean all running expenses and repairs. I
don't mean payments on the boat itself if if's financed. Seems to me
that every post I read of yours, there is some huge running expense
documented.