Little Farmers Cay pictures

Blackpoint-Little Farmer's Cay

I know it’s been awhile since our last posting, but as we get farther down the Exuma chain, things we take for granted on land such as internet access (and ATM’s!) become less available. That being said, we have been able to keep in close contact with parents and children because we bought a Bahamian SIM card and have purchased (a small fortune’s worth) of pre-paid cards along the way. Every Cay we’ve visited, and some we didn’t, seem to have a Batelco tower (Bahamian cell service) on them. Other cruisers are utilizing a program called Skype when they have good internet access. With a microphone and speakers (or a headset in public places), they call land and mobile lines for pennies per minute. We will be looking into that shortly, but as noted, it’s only of use when good internet access is available.

We left Stanley Cay (and the swimming pigs) on March 14^th and had a great sail day to Blackpoint, arriving in the late afternoon. While the land is not high, the beach was in a natural harbor with a clean sand bottom. As we are getting more comfortable with the boat and the shallow waters of the Bahamas, we decided to sail in past the other 30 boats in the harbor and dropped the anchor just off the beach. We could have walked to shore! Instead, we took the dinghy and Nyla into shore to walk around. It had been our intention to stay for a few days, do laundry, boat chores and sample the local cuisine. However, we soon discovered the Blackpoint merchants accept only cash. In as much as we had not seen an ATM since Nassau and spent the last of our cash on Stanley Cay, we quickly decided Blackpoint would be only an overnighter and hoped to have better luck on Little Farmer’s Cay, our next stop before Georgetown. The next morning, Morgan was apparently recalling his days as a live-aboard sailor on boats without engines (he sailed in and out of his slip in California). If the closest boat had been just a little farther away, he would have been able to successfully weigh anchor with just sails and no engines. However, due to the proximity of the next boat, we did use the engines to motor up to the anchor, but turned around and left the harbor under sails alone. This was my first experience with that and I was duly impressed!

We had another great sail day and actually anchored under sail alone very close to shore at Little Farmer’s Cay. It's quite an experience to be headed straight into the shore doing 7 knots with no engines to turn off and come to a stop! (For our non-boating readers, 7 knots is extremely fast for us; we generally do 4-5 knots under engine power alone, so 7 under sail is really good!) Morgan handled it without a hitch and then radioed the yacht club and discovered they took plastic, so we were happy cruisers! (By the way, it has occurred to us that the term “yacht club” may conjure an inaccurate image in the mind. 95% of the “yacht clubs” down island are little more than a small bar, sometimes with food and beverage sales and many have side walls that are able to be “open air.” Patrons are not wearing yachting hats and docksiders. Most have ball caps or windblown hair and are wearing shorts and Crocs or are barefoot.)

Little Farmer's Cay is only 1 1/4 miles long and not even a mile wide and full time residents number far less than 100. The first night after anchoring (on the beach next to the very short airstrip), we visited the Little Farmer's Yacht Club where we met the owner, Roosevelt Nixon and Mrs. Nixon. They are life long residents of the Cay and are preparing to renew the vows for their 50th anniversary at the same church in Nassau where they were married. That night we had lobsters for dinner that were probably swimming that morning. To die for!

The next day I did chores on the boat while Morgan went in to do the laundry so that we would both have the afternoon free to walk around and see the sights. Mr. and Mrs. Nixon were quite surprised to see Morgan (instead of me) doing the laundry. Miss Shirley, a long time employee, told Morgan he was "a good boy!" He assured me his manhood was not threatened!

Later in the afternoon, we tried to go to the post office to purchase stamps and mail some letters. Though it was early in the afternoon, the post office was closed. As we were walking away, Little Jeff (THE contact for fresh fish and lobster) came out of his house next to the post office and said it was closed but might be open tomorrow. Turns out the post mistress is his wife and was right inside! We asked about stamps, but both the post mistress and the post office were out. So, we walked a little further to a restaurant we had read about, Ocean Cabin. We met Terry Bain, the owner, and spent the better part of an hour with him. Morgan and Terry discussed everything from Alaska, to the military, to the fact that Terry is, in his own words, an "anti-monarch." Terry and his family have been on the Cay for generations and is interested in absolutely everything. He is extremely informed on a variety of subjects and writes an editorial for The Exuma Breeze, a weekly newspaper. Ironically, Morgan (while doing laundry like a "good boy" according to Miss Shirley) had just read Terry's latest editorial, which had made quite an impression on him. The subject had to do with fact that wealthy land purchasers who have purchased land within the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park are allowed to develop as they see fit, yet the Bahamians and cruisers are outright banned from certain areas and are not permitted to fish or remove anything from the park. (I believe I may have covered that part in our Shroud Cay blog.) He actively promotes STEP - Save The Exuma Park (from development on land and sea.) We could have talked with Terry for hours; he was definitely one of the most interesting people we've met during our travels. He gave us some fliers with information on the Exumas and Little Farmer's. While it would take a separate posting to do it justice, one interesting item was that Little Farmer's was settled by freed slaves from Exuma. (This next passage is verbatim from Terry's Second Edition of "The Flag of Farmer's Cay.) "One woman named Chrisanna with her young childred - James Michael Nixon and Adam and Eve Brown. They boaght all of the Cay and willed it to their descendants; to be undivided as tenants in common. Today approximately seventy permanent residents are their descendants - although most descendants are not living on Farmers Cay." After reading that, we are assuming that Roosevelt Nixon is also one of her descendants. Fascinating man, Terry Bain.

The next day we needed to go to shore to burn some personal papers that we never got around to shredding. We decided to make a pit in the lee of a rusting shipwreck on a neighboring Cay. While approaching the beach, we thought we saw Robinson Crusoe hailing us. Turns out he was working crew on a monohull anchored north, he walked 2 hours to try to get to Little Farmers and was basically trying to hitchhike a dinghy ride to avoid swimming across the channel in a strong current. We never pick up hitchhikers in the States, but down here it just seemed like another day in the Bahamas! After having a few beers together while we finished our task, we gave Bretton a ride back to his boat. They were also headed to Georgetown, and wished each other fair winds.

The next day we decided to go "outside" to the Exuma Sound hoping we could sail a full day and arrive in Georgetown by dark. The wind was blowing 20 knots, which would have been terrific if it were coming from the north. However, as per the norm, it was coming from the southeast. I think we tacked more miles than we made forward progress. After a long day of pounding into the seas and waiting to see which of the four of us would lose our stomach first, we cut in near Rat Cay and made our way to the tip of Great Exuma, Barretare. There we anchored in quite shallow water off Little Hog Cay (don't you love some of these names?) and relaxed for the evening. We got an early start the next morning and finally arrived in Georgetown in the afternoon on the 19th, which will require a separate blog . . . .

Swimming Pigs and Oil (not "in" oil)

Because we were waiting on an email, we decided to save the trip to Blackpoint till Saturday, so we decided to try to see the swimming pigs at Big Major's Spot (Koki has been doing a pretty good imitation of a sleeping pig since all she does is eat and sleep) and then change the oil in the dinghy outboard lower. Morgan's idea of beaching the dinghy at low tide was effective for allowing enough room to work, but the sand was a challenge. Gotta have a new plan for next time!

We'd been told that the swimming pigs did not always show up, so we took Nyla with us in the dinghy. We figured if they didn't show, we could at least give her a good run on the beach. They DID show. What a hoot! There was another family already on the beach and their little girl would run up to the pigs and when they turned to her expecting to be fed, she would scream, turn around and run, with pigs in tow. We stayed in the dinghy because of Nyla, but finally convinced a couple of them to swim toward us.

We'd read about these pigs in the guides and how they swim out to meet the dinghies, but to actually see it was something incredible. One of them ate some type of fruit that turned his snout all green; it was washing away as he swam toward us.

Now I'm totally convinced that all animals (land and sea) are indeed hand fed in the Bahamas.

(ps-I finally figured out that you can click on the pictures to see them regular size. I know, I'm slow)

Staniel Cay

We are currently in Staniel Cay where Sean Connery filmed part of "Thunderball." The Staniel Cay Yacht Club displays numerous photos and other memorabilia from the movie. When we pulled into the anchorage we saw our French friends from Shroud Cay. As we later passed their boat in the dinghy, my back was to the boat but Morgan was facing it. Apparently one of them stood up and offered Morgan a visual he would sooner forget!

This is a beautiful island with the friendliest people. The stores are not well stocked, but (as some of you have seen) I brought more than enough to feed a small army for a long time. We normally just stock up on beer, bread, eggs, etc. Carl, at the Yacht Club, directed us to a phone card vendor - third left (one main road through village), look for the yellow house that has a sign (handpainted) advertising bread. We found it and spent nearly the last of our cash (no ATMs here) on the phone cards. The homemade bread was $5 and we only had $4 on us. The sweet lady said that would work, just tell our friends to come see her. We then went to the "Pink Store," one of three little groceries on the island. Morgan noticed they had Guiness. The store owner, Miss Flo Smith said, "I can see you like Guiness. It makes you strong!" Miss Flo said she didn't take credit cards, but spent about 20 minutes with us chatting about Alaska, fishing and her 11 children. She called Morgan a pretty boy and informed me I should give him a baby. When I told her I thought I was getting a little old for that to happen, she told me that was nonsense and that she'd given birth to her youngest at 50!

The Yacht Club is open for breakfast and lunch, but dinner is by reservations only. When you make the reservations you also place your order. They ring the dinner bell promptly at 7:30 and seat you at designated tables. Dinner is a four course meal, with your choice of entree and side. We had conch chowder, then a type of coleslaw. Morgan had rack of lamb with a baked potato and I had steak. We were all served apple pie for dessert. The dinner was phenomenal and reasonably priced considering the courses and where we are. Not too many livestock around these parts!

At the marina there is a fish cleaning station where sharks and rays gather to be fed. (I'm beginning to think all animals in the Bahamas are hand fed!) While waiting for dinner last night, Morgan talked me into walking down the steps and petting the sharks with him. Like Highborne, these are nurse sharks and (mostly) harmless. We saw an amazing sight when one shark with a remora eel furiously going after one of its eyes, was rolled over by another shark in an attempt to dislodge the sucker fish. Didn't work for long, but was very cool to see. Kind of surprising, but we're getting used to seeing sharks from our dinghy.

We met one of our anchorage neighbors yesterday because they have a border collie on board. Ron and Jocelyn, Canadians, have a 3 year old border collie who loves boating. While we were alongside in our dinghy, Ally (the dog) kept trying to jump in. Finally she jumped in her own dinghy and sat there waiting for a ride. They told us she loves to jump in the water and was chasing a barracuda on Shroud Cay. We don't have to worry about that (yet). Koki may end up getting promoted to Sea Cat 2nd class after all. She now goes to her hiding spot as soon as we pull the anchor, but now also comes out as soon as we set it. That's progress.

We'll be leaving here in the morning and plan to visit Blackpoint on Great Guana Cay and then Little Farmer's Cay before Georgetown, putting us there in a few days. The swimming pigs will have to wait for another trip. Our plans are up in the air after that. The water has been pretty cold thus far and we've not been brave enough to don our wet suits and take the plunge. However, if we're able to stay in the Exumas for awhile, we are anxious to try out our fishing and Hawaiian spear techniques. I'm sure the first few attempts will definitely be blog material! So, stay tuned . . .

Shroud Cay

Shroud Cay is part of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park and taking anything out (dead or alive) is prohibited and some areas are off limits for any motorized vessels. Morgan had read about a hurricane hole (usually a creek or otherwise well-sheltered body of water) at the south end of Shroud Cay, so we decided to try our luck anchoring there. The mouth of the creek was just wide enough for our boat, with shallows on each side. We entered at low tide, Morgan took the main anchor out in the dinghy and stepped out to manually set it in the "sand". Well, when his first step sunk him up to his knees, we realized it wasn't so much sand as sand colored mud! With the tide changes, we did end up aground, with the starboard hull nearly completely out of the water. Since it was soft, there were no problems; we just waited for the tide to come in. Gotta love catamarans! Morgan developed a safety method for Nyla - he clipped the main halyard to her life jacket. Funny!

The guide books highlighted "Camp Driftwood" on the NE side of the island. It apparently was set up by a solo sailor who was a bit of a hermit. He carved steps up the tallest part of the island and built things out of driftwood that floated ashore. As we arrived several hours before sundown, we decided to dinghy to the creek leading to it (it's also the only creek motorized vessels are allowed in). After rounding the SW point, we passed by a large catamaran with several people on the foredeck lounging and one skinny guy in a speedo dancing to beat the band. We don't know if he was practicing a cheer, doing the YMCA or demonstrating the French version of the Macarena, but he was having a ball! That's when we noticed that they were all guys and figured out the situation. If we were in doubt, the return trip view confirmed it (I'll leave it at that!) We didn't make it to the creek that afternoon because we spied another PDQ36 and stopped by to say hello. Phil and Margaret, s/v Sunshine, were headed north, having already done Georgetown. They gave us the tour of their boat, which is a customized earlier version of ours, and we reciprocated. Though they haven't been cruising long, I learned a few things from Margaret regarding storage and Morgan and Phil exchanged info and compared notes on PDQ's. Very nice couple whom we hope to cross paths with again.

The next day we made it to the creek at low tide (French boat was gone). As the entire area is protected, we saw numerous conch of varying sizes and some small rays. It was really shallow at certain spots, requiring us to get out and pull the dinghy over some sand. Of course where we go Nyla goes, so when we got out of the dinghy, she wanted out too. The first couple of times I helped her out, but she eventually developed a less than graceful method to get out, but we have to help her back in. At one point Morgan tied the dock line to her life jacket, told her she was now an Alaska dog and yelled, "mush!" She didn't really move it, but the pics are hilarious. We about wet our pants laughing at her. "Camp Driftwood" was a disappointment in that we could barely make out the steps and there is nothing left of the camp. However, Nyla had a great time running up and down the beach and continuing her environmental efforts of carrying garbage off the beach.

Norman's Cay

Norman's Cay is also a privately owned island (many down here seem to be) with no facilities other than a restaurant open to the public. However, we really enjoyed the anchorage and the beautiful scenery. This Cay is famous (or infamous) for its previous owner, Carlos Lehder. Lehder, a Columbian of German ancestry, purchased much of the island, including the airstrip and resort, and used it as a base for drug smuggling in the 70-80's. According to Wikipedia, the character Diego Delgado in the movie "Blow" was based on Lehder. A surveillance was set up on nearby Shroud Cay and a raid occurred in 1979. Lehder was caught but released that time. He was eventually caught in Columbia and extradited to the US, where he was sentenced to life plus 135 years. Just prior to the raid, a new plane intended to be added to the operation crashed in the shallow water just off the Cay. It's just a rusting hulk now, but sure adds a little spice to the scenery!