Animals
Our first stop in the Exumas was at Allen’s Cay, home of the Pink Iguanas. Unlike pink sand beaches, these guys actually had pink to them. The island was just rotten with these things, but they were pretty cool. We chatted briefly with another family boat and Fira spent 30 minutes or so playing with a girl. This was the first time since…maybe Key West?
The anchorage was in a tidal current cut, which was our first, so all of the boats point into the current, rather than the wind. Then, in the middle of the night, every boat swings 180 degrees as the tide shifts. It was strange and was our first dealing with that, but not the last.
Our second stop was near Big Major’s Spot, near Staniel Cay in the Middle Exumas. This is the famed “Pig Beach”, home of the swimming pigs. We were able to see them from our boat at anchor and could tell they were big, but when we got ashore, boy howdy were some of them big. There was also a sow with about ten piglets suckling away. I tried to take a picture but, to quote Murtaugh, “I’m too old for this”. So, like the respectable old person I am I was apprently toggling video on and off rather than actually taking pictures. I figured it out right before we left so I was able to at least get a couple of pictures of the pigs, but no suckling piglets.
The wind was mostly south and southwest while we were at Staniel Cay, which made the anchorage very, very rough. The dinghy rides to shore, as a result, were a bit wet and boisterous. Even still, we went to Staniel Cay to walk around and explore the beautiful beaches. Grete got in a decent long run and I have been slowly increasing my runs as I continue my hip recovery. The choppy anchorage seemed to attract the nurse sharks to our boat and 3 of them hung out right off our stern all day on day. They were really cool to watch.
Sights
The beaches and water in the Exumas is unmatched. The turquoise water is turquoisier. We visited several on a couple of long walks and short dinghy rides.
We also swam inside the famous Thunderball Groto, the film location for the fight scene in James Bond - Thunderball. The entrance to the grotto is underwater most of the time, and only shows itself right near low tide. The currents there are pretty swift as well, so you need to go within an hour either side of low tide. We went right after Grete’s long run which put us near the end of the time window. Turned out to be perfect. All of the tour boats were done for the day and as a result, we were literally the only ones there. The lighting and colors were cool, and like most things Bahamas, do not end up in photos the same way.
“Bumper Boats”
Our last stop was in Elizabeth Harbor near George Town. This is kind of a cruiser’s haven with around 400 boats anchored in the harbor. We met families and the kids played with kids…it was pretty great and our first look into the social aspects of cruising.
There was a bit of windy weather while we were there. The first night had a rain squall which rinsed off the boat really well. The second day, the wind was ramping up all day. The boat anchored just upwind from us was swinging very strangely on their anchor, kind of fish-tailing right in front of us. They did that during the squall too, so although we didn’t like the look of it, we didn’t act. That turned out to be a bad idea.
I took my evening shower (about 1-2 gallons of cold water, as usual) and went topside to hang the towel to dry. I saw that the boat was now so close that a collision seemed imminent. I shouted down to Grete that we were about to get hit and ran to the bow to get the attention of the other boaters. I whistled and shouted and they got topside a couple of minutes later. Their boat was making first contact with ours. For the next 30 minutes (felt like 2.5 days), things were crazy. Their boat spun completely around and both boats were thrashing up and down in the 2-3 foot chop that was blowing hard downwind (apparently about 45 knots or 50 mph). Their propeller was fouled on our anchor chain with boat of our boats now being fully dependent on our anchor.
Grete brought up some fenders to put between the boats to help minimize damage. They also had two fenders in the mix. In hysterical fashion, the woman on the other boat was trying to use a seat cushion (like trying to use a piece of dental floss instead of a seat belt). She also put her arm between the boats a couple of times and I shouted at her to remove it so that it didn’t get removed by ~50,000 pounds of boats slamming together.
Out of nowhere, a guy named Ethan (we learned his name after the fact) came buzzing up in his dinghy, clad in his fowlies and asked what he could do to help. I asked him to go tell the boats behind us that we need to pay out more anchor chain and for them to try to stay clear if possible. So he zipped off and notified the three boats in the general arc behind us. When he returned, I was shouting at the other boat to start pulling in their anchor in hopes of changing the angles to free their boat from our chain. We also payed out almost our entire chain (we carry 300 feet of chain and had about 75 feet in before this). It was very clear to all of us, including Ethan that the other couple were beyond simply new, but that they didn’t know how to operate their boat effectively. As such, he jumped aboard, declared that he is a licensed captain and took over the vessel.
He took the wheel, ordered the guy to the bow to pull in their anchor, and within a few minutes got them off of us and out into water well away from other boats. He set their anchor with lots of extra chain and then returned to let us know they were OK.
We reached out to the offending vessel several times over the next couple of days to give them an opportunity to ask about our damage and see what they could do to make it right. They didn’t take that opportunity. They also ghosted us after the first brief conversation in what was a clear attempt to not accept responsibility. Our bow pulpit, which we just had fabricated right before we left Pensacola had been bent and scratched. We lost a fender and their propeller cut a mooring line in the event. We priced out the fender and line as well as polishing tools for the scratches. About $400.
So, since they never responded on the radio, Grete and I drove around in the dinghy and found their boat. I asked for their email address so that I could contact them with details. They were friendly and gave me a boat card with contact info. Then they asked why we wanted to contact them and I said just with damage estimates. At that point, the husband and wife both started yelling at us about how it was all our fault and that their boat got damaged even more than ours etc. It was very tense. After a few tense minutes, they realized we weren’t trying to sue them or anything and that we just wanted a very modest bit of compensation. Within two minutes of that realization, he said, how about $500 because you guys have been great about all of this. He handed me $500 cash and then we talked for a few more minutes rather amicably. It was surreal, and our bent pulpit is still never going to be what it was, but we felt like we had achieved closure.
The next day we had tons of room around us in a perfect anchoring spot and a boat pulled up right in front of us and dropped their anchor. They immediately dinghied ashore and their boat started doing the same swinging that the other boat had done. Although we liked where we were, we pulled up anchor and moved away. Fool me once…
Pictures below. Clicking them opens the pictures up as a gallery and the captions should be visible.
