Andante's Sailing Blog

April 2013

Blog Table of Contents

Wonderful sail today. Cloud cover over Long Island and clear skies elsewhere and nice breeze.  Up the west side of Long Island was a broad reach.  Coming up on and rounding Cape santa Maria the point of sail went to beam reach, close reach and then close hauled. Before reaching Calabash Bay some in the fleet expressed some reservation about the clouds south and east of us.  As we sailed on the clouds moved more south and east and the decision was made to carry on to Conception Island.  The fleet of Andante, Indian Summer, Meltemi and Spartina was all in by 1600 - 1730 hours.  Cocktails on Spartina and discussion of activities for tomorrow.

In the AM we hiked the island, visiting the 'rope hill' then continuing on to the next beach south on the Atlantic side. The two images below are from 12 years ago.  The island freighter is now gone, carried away by the storms.  As you can see in the pictures below these two, all the sand on the 'rope hill' has been eroded.

  This combination of old rope and rock struck me as worth taking a picture. To me it looks like a snapping turtle coming out of her lair. In the pair below I am looking out north and south from one of the high spots overlooking the Atlantic. We snorkeled some of the coral heads below the 'rope hill' Almost all of them were dead and covered with algae, but the fish remain.  We also snorkeled at the end of the day at the north end of the anchorage where we agian found most of the coral dead and covered with algae, but again plenty of fish.  When we came back to the boats the folks on a catamaran told us that they has seen a hammerhead cruising the anchorage; glad he didn't see us.

The white bird in this photo was fishing in the mangrove swamp on the interior of the island.  Although you can't see it in the picture his beak is quite long. Any identification?

A little beach sculpture.

Conception Island is roughly speaking round. Below is a photo that doesn't begin to do justice the scenery. You can see the mangrove roots coming up out of the water then the green behind them. Now imagine that scene stretching for miles with a ridge running around the circumference of the island.  Below right are some conch that Brian fished out of the grassy bed in one of the creeks.

Below is an interior view of the conch.  We did not keep these conch although we were sorely tempted by the ample evidence that others have helped themselves.  The island is supposed to be a part of the Park and is therefore a no-take zone

Going up the path on the hill to the Hermitage Father Jerome created the stations of the cross. Some examples follow:

The next two photos give some idea of the scale of the Hermitage.  Father Jerome must have been small in stature.  On the left Corinne is about to enter the chapel, and she will have to bend to avoid bumping her head.   On the right Teddy Sue is standing right next to the bell tower, although a tall woman she would be dwarfed by the Campanilla in Venice, yet here she is nearly 25% as tall as the tower.

Father Jerome had to be concerned about the time of day and a water source. On the left is his cistern with the remnants of a hand pump on the top right corner of it.  His sundial still marks the correct time.

The photo below shows the whole complex of buildings that make up the Hermitage.

His bedroom follows; again in miniature.  I would find it very small to be in there even after living on my sailboat for 10 months.

Below is Fr Jerome's kicthen.

No monastery is complete without a colonnaded walk. Below is the inscription that Fr Jerome included on the interior of his.

Two views of Fr Jerome's Chapel follow.

This last picture is of another fireplace and cooking facility.  On the left end of the building is what appears to be a pizza oven!   Well, OK, maybe it is a bread oven.

While waiting for Lula to cook our lunch at her place on the beach I wandered up the road to the last church built by Father Jerome.  By the way, all his churches are full sized. The first photo is of the Father Jerome resource center. I have no idea what it houses and there was no one around to ask.

This Catholic Church is typical of the Jerome style. Note the buttresses and the unshuttered windows that are distinctively different from one another.

Below is the rectory or convent attached to the church.   It is fast becoming a ruin. The white building seems unoccupied, but at least it has a roof, windows and door. The building on the right with the stonework pointing picked out in red has no roof.  The front part of the building has a room all across it with three smaller rooms behind it and what appears to have been lavatory and kitchen facilities behind.

On my way over to Lula's I came across this man feeding his goats. They are in a lot behind the town gas station because of brush fires up in the hills where he normally keeps them.  Check out the length of the beard on the billy goat.

Even in Cat Island they need apartment buildings.   There is a matching building behind it that is being restored. I am sure they will get to this one.  Again, note the buttresses consistent with the style of Father Jerome.

It turned out that our lunch was also a birthday party for Phil, celebrating being one year short of two thirds of a century old.  Ooops, guess I shouldn't have let out that sensitive bit of information. From left to right: Lula, me, Jeff and Susan Mahall (Meltemi), Sarah and Phil Sayre (Spartina), Brian and Teddy Sue White (Indian Summer).

After lunch we launched the dinghies into the surf rolling in to the beach.  Everyone got wet to a greater or lesser degree.  The surf was produced by the S wind running 18-20 knots. With the threat of sever weather during the night we all moved our boats and anchored east of the sandbar and coral area that hangs off Bonefish Point.  It is alleged that there will be some protection from the W and N winds.

Since there were no cruise ships present we could go ashore on Little San Salvador.  This island is owned by Holland-America/Carnival Cruise Line.  The ships put in for a day, disgorge their passengers for fun on the beach, assorted water activities and even hourseback riding if they wish.

A map of the enterprise. The offerings include snorkeling, horseback riding, laying on the beach, food, etc. The next three photos provide a glimpse of the waterfront.  I think the cabanas are meant to be remiscent of the cottages overlooking the harbor at Staniel Cay, not that many of the cruise passengers would know that.  There were signs hanging on the cabanas offering them for sale!? Does that make sense to you?

At meal time the thousands of cruise guests on shore are herded through the lines at this outdoor buffet/kitchen.

The glass bottom boat and the two behind it are used to ferry the cruise ship passengers in to Little San Salvador.

The Bahamian brand of sea gulls have discovered the fountain at the mini-resort.

You can renew your wedding vows in the little chapel on the beach, or make Little San Salvador and your cruise a destination wedding.

Two of the tenders bringing passengers ashore for the day. The tenders are probably more than 60 feet long.

Just liked the cloud formations.  They also say something about the weather.  You can see the mare's tails top center and the anvils in the middle center.  These indicate a high probability of rain. In fact, I did get a brief shower toward the end of the journey up near Abaco. Another great sailing day.  From anchor to anchor I covered about 55 miles in 8 hours.  The confused wind driven chop on top of the Atlantic Ocean swell mandated hand steering for almost the entire day. The good news was that it was essentially a beam reach; everyone's dream point of sail.

Today I met Christine Kling, novelist extra-ordinaire, on Talespinner. She is a Caliber owner and I have read some of her books so this was a pretty neat encounter.

The Hope Town Museum; closed when we were there.

Although this ia a public garden it was built buy and is maintained by Byrle Patterson. She and her husband live across the street in a house/cottage named 'The Steps.'  We got the lowdown on the garden from him.   The next two pix are sculptures in the garden.

The Hope Town light house is an icon on the sea of Abaco.

At lunch at the Hope Town Marina and Inn.  Teddy Sue, Madhi and Brian.

A couple of houses on the cays.  The first, with the castle keep, was built by a successful orthopaedic surgeon and inventor.

This second one looks more like a resort than a private home.

Anyway, Wolfgang made it, just barely.  The reunion with Teddy SUe and Brian was like old-home week.

Indian Summer underway to Man-o-War Cay, and below we have Wolfgang at the helm with Indian Summer in the background.

Man-o-War has its own museum, open four hours per week. Unfortunately we would not be on shore for any of those four hours.

The Man-o-War public library.  It is about the same size as the public library that serves all of Long Island with a population several times larger.

The pair of pictures below are of the public elementary school. The funny composition was so that I didn't have to include the ugly SUV parked in front of the building.  An SUV on an island that is only a couple of miles long and a few hundred yards wide? Go figure.

The national tree of  the Bahamas is the Lignum Vitae and it has very pretty, delicate, purple flowers, but no scent.

After arrival at Green Turtle we went into New Plymouth for a rum punch at the Blue Bee bar and restaurant.  On the souithbound trip I stopped here and the proprietor told us she would have the restaurant up and running by spring after the hurricane damage.  On this visit she says that within just another month or so.

We all had dinner at Pineapples on the beach overlooking the town and harbor of New Plymouth.

Indian Summer and Young at Heart underway.  We first met Brenda and Glenn on Young at Heart while in Thompson Bay, LI.  They are indeed young at heart, doing the cruising thing in their seventies.  They'll be going on to Great Sale with us, but then go on to West End, Grand Bahama and then on to Fort Pierce.

The short weather window has caused us to reconsider how far north we'll get on our offshore trip.  It looks like we'll have wind and weather to get to Fernandina Beach, FL.

Like any number of waterfront towns, Fernandina has laid claim to a piratical heritage.  I think this was spawned by the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movies starring Johnny Depp.

On making landfall we strolled the downtown.  When the rain started to fall and wwe retreated to Florida's oldest bar for music and pool. Brian turned out to be the hustler in the crowd, with the other three of us far behind.

The last photo is another bit of local statuary, although he is not a pirate; perhaps a pirate of cuisine.

Lending new meaning to multi-tasking: On one side of this fountain you can water your horse and on the other side you can get refreshment for yourself.

At breakfast at T-Ray's greasy spoon, located in a building that was once an auto service station, lending new meaning to the concept of a greasy spoon.  Maybe not so new. Back in grad school there was a renowned mexican restaurant on the outskirts of Champaign-Urbana that was located in a former gas station.  The motto in both restaurants was "Eat here and get gas!"

Notice the carousel horses used as decor on the porch of this very pretty Victorian style  house.

A little local color from the car buff commuinity in Fernandina Beach.