Morgan's Bluff, Andros to West Bay, New Providence

Thursday, May 16, 2013

The mailboat came into Morgan's Bluff this morning, and the pier was a bustle of activity. I went in with the Whaler, anchoring the stern out, and tying the bow off ashore, and wandered over to see the biggest event in town.

The almost non-event in the community is the smoky fire that has been burning to the south, visible to me yesterday and today. The brush fire is substantial enough that it would be making the news if were in the States. I've been in Andros before when fires were burning, and nobody seems to pay them much attention.




I asked directions to Nichols Town, and more specifically, the Batelco office. The man told me, "Its too far to walk." I had walked less than half of the 2-3 miles when the second vehicle passing by offered me a ride. I did even better coming back. 

If you are walking, the road makes a loop to the port, and you can choose which ever side you are closest to. From the mailboat, walk against the one way traffic until the road merges back into two-way traffic, and bear right. Go to the 4-way stop, and look to your left. You will see the Batelco tower, and the sales building is right there as well.

I got a new SIM card for my Bahamian phone, along with a new phone number. This enables me to communicate with my friends in the Bahamas, as well as receive emergency calls from the States. My ATT phone has all its calls forwarded to a dead-end number, so they never hit my voicemail, to avoid the $200/month I was charged last year from calls that had gone to my voicemail, even though I'd not answered the phone. ATT told me this way, I can still use my domestic text plan for incoming texts, and outgoing texts are charged against the international plan. I can still make outgoing calls with the ATT phone.

This useless info to my friends at home is for the benefit of the boaters following the blog. They don't care about a lot of the other stuff I do, so, maybe I can alienate all my readers. By the way, if you are a boater reading this, be sure and post a comment sometime. It won't be posted if you don't want it to be, but at least I can read it, and I'd like a better idea of who is reading the blog.

I crossed over to West Bay, New Providence, and entered from the south. I couldn't believe all the changes since I was here last. There is a hotel (I guess) clearly visible, though inshore, from the bay. There has been some new building along the edge of the bay, and a lot of the Australian pine trees in the southern side are gone. I don't know if they were removed as exotics, or if a storm took them out.

I used to anchor here a lot with the other boat, since the diving is spectacular on the walls to the SE and to the NE, pick which ever is in the lee. Stuart Cove has sunk a lot of different wrecks in the vicinity, the water is clear, the fish are abundant, and I LOVE diving walls!

I have a lot of fond memories of West Bay, and reacquainted myself with the cut to the north with the Whaler. Since I've never been in here with this boat, I wanted to confirm the depths.

One big change since I was here last is wi-fi! With my wi-fi amplifier, there are several unlocked signals, allowing me to check my email, and post this blog.

The only thing that could make tonight any better is if it rained hard enough to wash the salt off the boat! 

Distance travelled today: 30nm.

Berry Island Club to Morgan's Bluff

May 15, 2013

Today the winds were forecast 17-22kts out of the ENE, swinging more to the east tomorrow. I decided to follow my two sailboat friends into Morgan's Bluff, and the quiet anchorage there, which is a nice spot to be, except when the wind has a northerly component.

The following seas aft of my port quarter made for an easy ride, and by 1100 we were safely anchored in the SE corner of the bay, in good holding sand. I saw some grass on the bottom, but just dodged those spots. The wind picked up considerably during the afternoon, before it swung more to the east, putting a slow swell into the bay. The timing of our trip was great.

I defrosted my refrigerator, hoping it will cool a little better, and then set about exploring.

While the wind was blowing, Mercy-dog and I took the Whaler to the beach in the far SE corner. Walking up the bank to the east reveals a gravel road, turn 100 feet to the right, and it meets a paved road. Turn left 100 yards on the paved road, and you see a sign marking Henry Morgan's Cave. The cave is to the right. There are several little sinks, which puts daylight in the top of the cave in a few places. Legend has it that the pirate Henry Morgan hid his treasure here. Nobody confesses to knowing what happened to it.




If you continue on the paved road past the cave, you come to the closed up water plant facility. Until a couple of years ago, Nassau sent water tankers to Andros for fresh water to support its population. When they island of New Providence went to desalination facilities, the waterage facility was retired.







It was a little bit of a sad walk for me, to see the thriving water facility shut down, the buildings boarded up, and a couple of sunken boats alongside the pier.







My uncle had been instrumental in the development and operation of that facility years ago. He had told me stories of the wonderful times he'd had at Morgan's Bluff.  I wish I had asked him more about it before his death..

From the end of the paved road at the water facility, you can loop back along the pier and the bay front along the gravel road, and when you intersect where you joined it from the beach, your loop is completed. It is a nice walk.




I grilled pork chops, potatoes, and onions, and, as I listen to Mercy-dog snoring away, think I'll call it an early night.

Andros, the eastern coast­­

 

 

Andros is the largest island in the Bahamas, with a sparse, friendly population, and not a lot of tourists.  The third largest barrier reef in the world runs along her eastern coast, and then the depths drop off rapidly into the Tongue of the Ocean.  The depths can rise to the surface from 35 feet in a boat length.  The diving is spectacular.  I am, however, dismayed at the death of many of the corals there in the past 20 years.  If you like vertical relief, Andros is a great place to dive.

 

Twenty years ago, I marveled how the largest elkhorn coral formations I had ever seen had been knocked over in a large storm, and lay sprawled across the bottom like a petrified forest. 

 

I tried to survey a small quadrant each year for the biodiversity of corals in an area just north of middle bight.  If you are into different types of coral, this is a great place to dive.

 

The island is a remarkable karst system dotted with an abundance of blue holes, many of which are tidal.  The spring (blowing out) is often fresh water, cold, and clear.  Where the salt water and the fresh water meet, it makes for a murky meld called a halocline.  When the tide turns, and these holes siphon (current going into the hole) it can be with such a velocity that it creates a whirlpool.  Be careful around these holes.  These holes can be dangerous, even to trained cave divers, who may not be familiar with the types of changing currents encountered there.  I used to come to Andros for blue hole exploration, but at this point in my life, I can satisfy my adventurous spirit in other areas, without having to go where no man has gone before…  I do, however, enjoy treks back into a couple of my favorite passageways.

 

Andros is a great place for folks who like to explore, and anchor.  There is some farming on the northern end of the island, which is a nice place to get some fresh veggies.

 

The entrance to Morgan’s Bluff is clearly marked, and that is where I cleared Customs and Immigration last year.  Fresh water is readily available.  Until recent years, a water tanker ship used to come into Morgan’s Bluff, and transport water to Nassau.

 

Fresh Creek had a marina that I used to visit every year.  The current does not change there at the same time as the tide, which always messed with my brain there more than other places.  I never used shore power with the old boat, and water was free.  Never count on fuel availability.

 

As I mentioned earlier, I used to clear Customs and Immigration by docking at the government dock at Driggs Hill, and getting the officials from Congo Town.  I haven’t been into Driggs Hill in ten years. 

 

This past year, I spent my time cruising to some islands I hadn’t visited before, and sort of ran out of time, needing to get my cousin back to school.  I hope to visit some of my favorite anchorages off Andros later this year.

Andros from the west

I had a reader ask me if I've been to Andros, and why more boaters don't seem to go there. Since I haven't been blogging about home repairs, numerous medical trips to Miami, landscaping, and other mundane tasks that don't really fit into a boating blog, and as I'm making preparations for my next trip, I decided I'd devote the next couple of days to talking about Andros.

I have spent a few months diving and exploring around Andros, which is a place I love! With my previous boat, which only drew about 2.5 feet, I used to head from the Keys to Cay Sal Bank, where I would anchor for my first stop. The next leg was continuing on across the Santaren Channel, and the Bahamas Bank; anchoring a few miles offshore of the western end of South Bight. I would go through South Bight with the tide, and dock at Driggs Hill to clear Customs and Immigration.  Once this involved walking the few miles to Congo Town to find an agent at the airport, since all the phones in Driggs Hill were out.  I miss being able to take the shortcut through South Bight on this vessel, which draws a little too much water to get through the way I used to. I have yet to explore to see if I can get through Middle Bight with this boat.

The western shore of Andros is uninhabited, except for the very northern tip. Coming in from the bank, the bottom is deep sand over limestone.

The journey through South Bight is NOT for the faint of heart, and involves some pretty involved water-reading on the western coast, especially. The water is not necessarily clear in the Bight, especially the western end. The waters snake through a low salt scrub terrain, growing on limestone. The vegetation and the elevation get higher as you work your way to the east. The sand bottom shifts around on the limestone base, and can change some with hurricanes. There are numerous blue holes, though most of the ones that I've explored are closer to the eastern side.

There are humongous biting flies, similar to what we called "green heads" in Louisiana, and what the locals of Andros call "doctor flies." They are relentless coming through the western ends of the Bights. These huge horse flies cut you as they land rather than land and then bite. I used to pass fly swatters to my cruising partners and challenge them to see who could kill 100 first in the open air cockpit of the old boat. We even modified the game to see how many times in a row you could kill two in a single swat before a miss, and how many could you kill in ten swats. Every so often I would just make a swoop with Raid Flying Insect killer.  I would wash the corpses off with the salt water wash down hose.

I dove one day in Miller's Creek, while waiting on the tide, to check out a cave entrance to a blue hole, which, BTW, I never explored, choosing to spend my time on the clearer water blue holes on the east side of Andros instead. Anyhow, I dove the hole, and when I surfaced, the fellow who was traveling with me, who had been exploring by skiff was about 2 minutes shy of being bonkers from the flies, and threatening mutiny. Fortunately, the tide was up enough that we pressed on.

Don't get me wrong, I love exploring the Bights! You just either need to be moving quickly in a small boat, or tucked safely behind screens, or in long sleeves and pants, Everglades style.

The flies are less numerous along the eastern side of Andros, and even in the Bights they are only a daylight phenomenon. I don't know if they sleep at night, or have to hide somewhere to keep from being sucked dry by the mosquitoes. Did I mention the mosquitoes?

Don't worry, I'll write something more positive tomorrow.

Underway for the Bahamas

Today I finally got underway, heading for the Bahamas! Pastor Carey and Doug Grace dropped by on the way to Miami at 0530 to pray for God's blessings on the trip.

I hauled the furntiture in off the proch, and put the last couple of shutters up, got gas for the compressor, and did about 500 other things this morning. My good friend Rudy, came over and helped me with some last minute stuff, and getting the tow on the Whaler rigged. I was underway with the tide at 0935.

The weather this morning has kind of rainy, and the winds are probably 12-13 out of the east. I'm running up Hawks channel until the Keys turn more northerly, and then I'll either jump across the Stream, or anchor for the night further up the Keys, depending upon the weather. If I don't repost today, you know I crossed the Stream.

All equipment is functioning well, and though not calm, the seas are manageable, and the forecast looks about the same for tomorrow. Tonight I'll tuck in behind Riding Rocks to anchor and sleep for a couple of hours until good daylight to cross the bank I love crossing the shallow bank in a slow boat (good thing!) to enjoy looking at the diversity of stuff!

All equipment is functioning well, and though not calm, the seas are manageable, and the forecast looks about the same for tomorrow. Tonight I'll tuck in behind Riding Rocks to anchor and sleep for a couple of hours until good daylight to cross the bank I love crossing the shallow bank in a slow boat (good thing!) to enjoy looking at the diversity of stuff!

All equipment is functioning well, and though not calm, the seas are manageable, and the forecast looks about the same for tomorrow. Tonight I'll tuck in behind Riding Rocks to anchor and sleep for a couple of hours until good daylight to cross the bank I love crossing the shallow bank in a slow boat (good thing!) to enjoy looking at the diversity of stuff!


Update: All is well, and I'm crossing the stream this evening. Can't beleive I've got coverage this far out!

For people who like to be on the water, a Gulf Stream crossing is always interesting, if you like to look at fish, birds, seaweed, and beautiful blue water.  I’ve always figured if you are bored, it is because you aren’t paying attention!  At one point during the night crossing, the phosphorous was everywhere in the water, sparkling its brilliant green glow lights as our wake moved the phytoplankton.

Anybody remember the old video game Frogger?  The point of the game was to get your frog across the stream/highway/etc without getting smashed by a truck, ate by an alligator, etc.  I was never any good at it.  I think about that and laugh now, as I’m crossing the stream, dodging ships, and not letting the current wipe me off the page.

As much as I enjoy being on the water, by the time I got to Riding Rocks, after pulling an all-nighter, I was ready to be there!  There was too much swell to comfortably anchor, and I wanted to see Riding Rocks up close, so I waited until daylight, snapped a photo or two, and continued on a little ways across the Bahamas Bank for an hour or so before I anchored for a few hours of sleep.

At some point during the transit, the pressure switch (I determined later) stuck, and when the fresh water pump exceeded the pressure allowed by one connection, it blew the hose off, and pumped all my fresh water into the bilge.  It was at that point that I decided to head to Morgan’s Bluff, Andros, where water is free, and I could clear customs without paying a marina to do it.

So after a few hours  of sleep on the bank, I continued onwards to Morgan’s Bluff.  Darkness caught me once again, but rather than sleep in the open, on the bank, I continued in to Morgan’s Bluff, with its well-marked (by Bahamian standards) channel, and anchored just west of Joanne Point @ 25 10.659N 078 02.443W about 2200.

In the morning, I took the Whaler into the commercial dock to find out where I could tie up to clear Customs and Immigration, and went back to fetch the Mercy.  I docked at the commercial dock @0900, and filled my water tank while I waited for the Dockmaster to arrive.  She called Customs for me, and by 1045 had cleared Customs.  I spent another bit of time  pulling the water pump apart, cleaning the pressure switch, assembling it back, and readjusting the pressure.