To our surprise, the channel into Morgan's Bluff was clearly marked with functional floating buoys, something we seldom see in the Bahamas. We got our anchor to set on the first try and knew we would be comfortable for the night.
Morgan's Bluff was named after the 17th century pirate, Jack Sparrow. No, just joking, I really mean Sir Henry Morgan who was said to have left buried treasure somewhere in the area. Now the real treasure is fresh water, found in short supply in most of the Bahamas. Water tankers from Nassau make daily trips to Morgan's Bluff (thus, the marked channel) to take away 6 million gallons of water for use on the Bahamas most densely populated, and best known, island. That's why we're not there!
Morgan's Bluff
WE NEED A SPACE
We pulled up the anchor at 0630 on Saturday, April 14 in hopes of getting into the Fresh Creek settlement area early in the day and increasing our chances of being able to get a dock space at Lighthouse Yacht Club and Marina. We knew that other cruisers would be trying to head to safety too in anticipation of the impending frontal system.Seas were only 2-4' off our port bow, but wave periods were short, making for a bumpy ride. Poor Visitor vomited (that should get him to lose some weight), and Eddie had to strap on his electronic relief band. We kept trying to hail LYCM on the VHF but couldn't get a response. Finally, Sugar Bear came to our aid informing us that he was not an employee, but on his boat at the dock and would let the dockmaster know that we wanted a space for the next couple of nights. He radioed back that there was room for us, and we were relieved to know that we had some place safe to go. We were put on the face dock, easy to get up next to on the slack tide, but could be very difficult to get away from if the tide is ripping by up Fresh Creek or out to the Tongue of the Ocean.
FLUKE at Fresh Creek
We needed to clear customs and immigration, and the dock master sent word to the airport requesting that a customs officer come to the dock to check us in. These officials have never worked for a fire department where speed is a virtue, and judging by the pace at which they all seem to move, probably were trained in the Vermont maple syrup forests. 3 hours passed, and the officer showed up. He reviewed all our boat papers, which were in proper order, but questioned why we had faxes for the animal import permits. I remarked that we had paid extra to get the forms faxed in the first place and had not ever received mailed copies before we departed. Then he informed us that it was not in his authority to act as the immigration officer and give us the 60 day permit that we wanted, but he would give us a 30 day permit. That means we will have to find an immigration officer within the next 30 days who will give us a 30 day extension. Sounds like crossing the Rio Grande is a lot easier!
Lighthouse Yacht Club and Marina is located in Fresh Creek, the administrative center for central Andros. The facility is small and really reminiscent of what the out island facilities were like in years gone by which suits our tastes just fine.
Marina Defense
Right now there are no mega or luxury yachts, and I'm not sure many ever do come in here. This is in stark contrast to the newer facilities we see being built on some of the other islands. The pace is slow in the whole area, made of the two towns of Andros Town and Coakley Town, connected by a single lane bridge. When we went for a walk across the bridge we had to stand parallel to the bridge railing while cars passed. Like a lot of the out island homes we see, tropical paint colors like pink, green, yellow, and purple are the rage. Some yards have big trees like mango, avocado, or fig to provide some much-needed shade. The roads are in disrepair and trash is littered everywhere.
Three Crabs
Like when Eddie was a kid
The main headquarters for Androisa Batik Factory is within walking distance of the marina. They call it a factory, but we wouldn't back in the states; it is more like a cottage industry. The building looks dilapidated and abandoned from the outside. The clothes are all handmade and dyed of beautiful tropical island colors. They make you feel cool just to look at them.
Androsia batik factory
The big event on Sunday was the arrival of the ferry from Nassau, carrying passengers, autos, and freight. The ferry dock was packed with everyone trying to get themselves and their belongings off at the same time and loaded into personal vehicles. All this is accomplished without any law enforcement to direct people or vehicular traffic; I figure in the States there would be at least two murders during each ferry event.
Ferry arrival
RESOLUTE, a Krogen 42 from Solomons Maryland, captained by Phil Chapman, was in a slip across from us. His wife had gone home to spend time with their kids, so we invited Phil over for dinner. He had enough stories of his fascinating boating life to last 3.5 hours!
I worked diligently to get this section of the blog completed with the hopes that we could make a posting before leaving the dock since there is WiFi here. However, the Batelco (the ATT of the Bahamas) service has been on the fritz since our arrival. That is typical for these parts. Hey mon, we're in the Bahamas! No telling when this will get posted now.
GETTING A GOOD BIGHT
Having started to get restless dock syndrome, we were relieved to find that the winds had subsided enough for us to leave LHYCM at 0900 on April 17. Our destination was to be South Bight, Mangrove Cay area. We set the anchor at 1330 off the Point Cays for what was to be a two night stay. Shortly thereafter a laughing gull landed on the bow railing to welcome our arrival.
We spent a morning "touring" Lisbon Town and taking a dinghy ride quite a ways up into Lisbon Creek. The town is really not much: a government building, 1 small store, a few private homes, and the fish camp belonging to Leroy Bannister.
Lisbon Creek two part sign
Lisbon Creek government building and public landing
Leroy came out to speak with us, as I'm sure he likes to do with all strangers. He will be 90 in June and is well-traveled, proud of his heritage, and accomplishments. On Andros he is renowned for his boat building skills, fishing prowess, and business hospitality. He told us his place was the first one to have running water and electricity. It is always interesting talking to the locals and hearing their point of views.
Carol and Eddie dinghied out to the barrier reef to try to do some bottom fishing. The water was full of billions of thimble jellyfish; some groups made the water densely brown. To minimize loosing our tackle by the fish pulling the lines under rocks, we used a looking bucket to peer over the dinghy into the water and watch the fish bite the hook. As soon as they took the bait we could see it and would yank up the fish before it could run under a rock. That technique also prevented us from hooking anything we didn't want to have to remove, like the huge stingray that was heading right for the bait. We get them any way we can!
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