The weather that had been threatening for the last three days finally arrived Thursday. The only problem is is that we now need to get to Treasure Cay. Oh well. We waited for a window in the rain and the headed out at around 1800. We didn't get far before the window closed and the rain came in, along with some gusty winds up to 35 kts. It let up enough for us to get into Treasure Cay outer harbour and grab a mooring ball for the night.
The next morning we docked at the Treasure Cay marina but the rain stayed with us on Friday so it was not much of a beach day for the girls. However, we did have a nice lunch at the beachside tiki bar and at least got to walk on the beach
Saturday, June 30, 2007
After picking up the rental car the night before I drove Jane, Elizabeth and Christy to the airport. They just made the flight as you have to be there 30 minutes prior. We were there 32 minutes prior….
However lucky they were then they were not lucky later. They missed their connecting flight in Nassau and actually had to stay overnight and take the flight the next evening. Oh well, two years in a row with bad flights. At least it was the flight home. Overall though their time on the boat was excellent. We had several “This could be as could as it gets,” moments. A movie line we fortunately get to say fairly often it seems…
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Man-O-War Cay
We need fuel and water really bad. And we need to do laundry. So we motored across the tiny channel to Man-O-War Cay Marina and fueled and watered up. They found a slip for us to stay in. Even though the weather is beautiful we’re trying to take a down day. We’ve been busy and in the sun a lot.
Before we can go into our slip though we need to empty our holding tanks. We can’t do that in the harbour so we have to go outside. I ran aground in the channel. It is almost low tide. I can’t get off of the bar. Luckily two men in a Boston Whaler went by and with not a little work got us off of the bar.
I got out of the channel, made the dump and got back in. It was dead low tide by this time and we bumped the bottom right in the middle of the channel at 5.2 feet. I guess the chart is right, 5 feet at MLW (Mean Low Water).
Once we got tied up in our slip I rented a golf cart, there a no cars on Man-O-War Cay, and Jane and I drove around town, ate lunch at the only restaurant (which was very good and reasonable) and then drove down the Queen’s Highway sand golf cart road.
Absolutely stunning summer places like out of a fairy tale. One beautiful entry path surrounded by flowers and tree’s after another. Jane took pictures. She has enough material for 100 paintings…
Later Jane did laundry. I explored the town more, which is not very big but they have an excellent little grocery store and a hardware store worthy of a small city, not a little settlement on an out-island.
Later, after dinner on-board, we tried to get in a
game of Mau but only made it through two hands and then we crashed for the night.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Eventually we are supposed to get bad weather but it never seems to arrive. I have been checking the weather forecast everyday and they kept calling for 100% chance of rain. It never came so I guess it was not really a 100% chance of rain. We pondered leaving MOW Cay but it is just too nice here. We decided to stay.
One of the fellows that was on the boat the helped us off of the MOW channel bar is on his sailboat in back of us. I lent him a SCUBA tank and BCD and he fixed his missing zinc on his prop shaft. He told me about a great place to hunt for sand dollars.
The girls and I hopped in the dinghy and motored out there. It was the mother load of sand dollars, or a sand dollar grave yard. We picked up a dozen or more. Elizabeth found all of the hard to find stuff as usual. We motored back.
The weather appears to be holding off. We can still get in a snorkel on the nearby Fowl Cay marine sanctuary. I can rent a boat to get there. Do you want to girls? After a moment, Yes.
I went to see Fanny in the Marina Office to see if she could get me a boat. She called one place but they didn’t answer. She called another. He did not have a boat but he said that he would take us out on his, very inexpensively, as a matter of fact less expensively than even renting on our own and we get a guide out of it.
We were on for 1200. Elizabeth, Christy and I wolfed down some lunch. Jane decided to stay home for this trip. Dave picked us up at the dock and we headed out of the harbour. It was a little choppy but not too bad. He went through a very narrow opening in the inner reef and then headed for two mooring balls.
Once I got us tied up to the ball we got our gear one. This was one incredible snorkeling spot.
This area is called the Tunnels. I know why. The coral has formed these meandering tunnels that you can dive down and swim through. Many allow you to swim a good length of ways and then come out the other side. Others appears to have light at the end of the tunnel but you have to be careful that you don’t get stuck in a place where you can’t get out and really want to breath. That could be disconcerting!
We snorkeled for a while, took a break on the boat, and then went back at it. We stayed in the water for over an hour. I think we have a hundred pictures and one really cool video of swimming through a tunnel. We motored back and jumped into the marina pool to rinse off.
Then I sat down to right from June 21 to today!
Before we can go into our slip though we need to empty our holding tanks. We can’t do that in the harbour so we have to go outside. I ran aground in the channel. It is almost low tide. I can’t get off of the bar. Luckily two men in a Boston Whaler went by and with not a little work got us off of the bar.
I got out of the channel, made the dump and got back in. It was dead low tide by this time and we bumped the bottom right in the middle of the channel at 5.2 feet. I guess the chart is right, 5 feet at MLW (Mean Low Water).
Once we got tied up in our slip I rented a golf cart, there a no cars on Man-O-War Cay, and Jane and I drove around town, ate lunch at the only restaurant (which was very good and reasonable) and then drove down the Queen’s Highway sand golf cart road.
Absolutely stunning summer places like out of a fairy tale. One beautiful entry path surrounded by flowers and tree’s after another. Jane took pictures. She has enough material for 100 paintings…
Later Jane did laundry. I explored the town more, which is not very big but they have an excellent little grocery store and a hardware store worthy of a small city, not a little settlement on an out-island.
Later, after dinner on-board, we tried to get in a
game of Mau but only made it through two hands and then we crashed for the night.Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Eventually we are supposed to get bad weather but it never seems to arrive. I have been checking the weather forecast everyday and they kept calling for 100% chance of rain. It never came so I guess it was not really a 100% chance of rain. We pondered leaving MOW Cay but it is just too nice here. We decided to stay.
One of the fellows that was on the boat the helped us off of the MOW channel bar is on his sailboat in back of us. I lent him a SCUBA tank and BCD and he fixed his missing zinc on his prop shaft. He told me about a great place to hunt for sand dollars.
The girls and I hopped in the dinghy and motored out there. It was the mother load of sand dollars, or a sand dollar grave yard. We picked up a dozen or more. Elizabeth found all of the hard to find stuff as usual. We motored back.
The weather appears to be holding off. We can still get in a snorkel on the nearby Fowl Cay marine sanctuary. I can rent a boat to get there. Do you want to girls? After a moment, Yes.
I went to see Fanny in the Marina Office to see if she could get me a boat. She called one place but they didn’t answer. She called another. He did not have a boat but he said that he would take us out on his, very inexpensively, as a matter of fact less expensively than even renting on our own and we get a guide out of it.
We were on for 1200. Elizabeth, Christy and I wolfed down some lunch. Jane decided to stay home for this trip. Dave picked us up at the dock and we headed out of the harbour. It was a little choppy but not too bad. He went through a very narrow opening in the inner reef and then headed for two mooring balls.
Once I got us tied up to the ball we got our gear one. This was one incredible snorkeling spot.
This area is called the Tunnels. I know why. The coral has formed these meandering tunnels that you can dive down and swim through. Many allow you to swim a good length of ways and then come out the other side. Others appears to have light at the end of the tunnel but you have to be careful that you don’t get stuck in a place where you can’t get out and really want to breath. That could be disconcerting!We snorkeled for a while, took a break on the boat, and then went back at it. We stayed in the water for over an hour. I think we have a hundred pictures and one really cool video of swimming through a tunnel. We motored back and jumped into the marina pool to rinse off.
Then I sat down to right from June 21 to today!
Monday, June 25, 2007
Hope Town to Man-O-War Cay
The morning sun shone over the Hope Town lighthouse as we had our breakfast. The light is still a working hand wound, kerosene lit lighthouse. There are only three like it in the world that still operate this way. All three are in the Bahamas. 
We decided to head in. At the entrance to the channel we ran aground. This time I could not get myself off. I was in the channel but aground. I am sure you can appreciate how frustrating that is. One fellow tried to pull us off with his boat but his engine was too small. Another boat had two bigger engines and once we got the lines setup he pulled us off easily.
I didn’t try the other side of the channel although it did look deeper. We decided to go back out and anchor and dinghy in. Our first stop was the Hope Town lighthouse. Elizabeth had been there before when she was seven so she was looking forward to going again. It is spectacular and the weather and sun that day was perfect for picture taking. Thank God for large memory chips.
After we dinghyed to the hot lunch spot. The girls went exploring while Jane and I had lunch. Then Jane went exploring.
When she came back she had Regatta Time in Abaco tee-shirts. As she showed them to me an old sailor came over from across the bar that I had been meaning to go talk to anyway. He had a beautiful gold sailboat on a chain.
After he asked Jane were she got the shirts and how much she paid I sat down with him as he ate his lunch. He told me that he has been coming to Abaco for over 50 years. His 41 sailboat was on a mooring ball just off of the deck. Evidently he had helped organize the original Regatta Time races.
His daughter had just finished visiting. He said that he spends about 50% of his time on the boat alone. He was 87 and it was fascinating talking with him. Earlier I had though while looking at him that that could be me when I am old. Man, it’ll be a while before I am that old though!
We had a great day in Hope Town and dinghyed back out to the boat. We had our portable depth sounder on the dinghy and checked the left side of the channel. Six feet of water. More than enough to get in. There were also lots of sailboats in the inner harbour so I know it’s possible. Maybe next time.
We got back out to the boat around 1600 and the weather was perfect for sailing west. So we got off of the hook and put up the sails and went west. Great sailing for a couple of hours. Then we had to decide where we were going to get fuel, water and supplies. We could go to Marsh Harbour but that is not that much fun. I decided to head for Man-O-War Cay.
Jane has always wanted to go there and so have I. It has a nice protected harbour and I made it into the narrow entrance without running aground. I still don’t have a tide chart yet. We entered the harbour which is picture perfect and grabbed a mooring ball.
Steaks for dinner on the grill!
We decided to head in. At the entrance to the channel we ran aground. This time I could not get myself off. I was in the channel but aground. I am sure you can appreciate how frustrating that is. One fellow tried to pull us off with his boat but his engine was too small. Another boat had two bigger engines and once we got the lines setup he pulled us off easily.
I didn’t try the other side of the channel although it did look deeper. We decided to go back out and anchor and dinghy in. Our first stop was the Hope Town lighthouse. Elizabeth had been there before when she was seven so she was looking forward to going again. It is spectacular and the weather and sun that day was perfect for picture taking. Thank God for large memory chips.
After we dinghyed to the hot lunch spot. The girls went exploring while Jane and I had lunch. Then Jane went exploring.
When she came back she had Regatta Time in Abaco tee-shirts. As she showed them to me an old sailor came over from across the bar that I had been meaning to go talk to anyway. He had a beautiful gold sailboat on a chain.
After he asked Jane were she got the shirts and how much she paid I sat down with him as he ate his lunch. He told me that he has been coming to Abaco for over 50 years. His 41 sailboat was on a mooring ball just off of the deck. Evidently he had helped organize the original Regatta Time races.
His daughter had just finished visiting. He said that he spends about 50% of his time on the boat alone. He was 87 and it was fascinating talking with him. Earlier I had though while looking at him that that could be me when I am old. Man, it’ll be a while before I am that old though!
We had a great day in Hope Town and dinghyed back out to the boat. We had our portable depth sounder on the dinghy and checked the left side of the channel. Six feet of water. More than enough to get in. There were also lots of sailboats in the inner harbour so I know it’s possible. Maybe next time.
We got back out to the boat around 1600 and the weather was perfect for sailing west. So we got off of the hook and put up the sails and went west. Great sailing for a couple of hours. Then we had to decide where we were going to get fuel, water and supplies. We could go to Marsh Harbour but that is not that much fun. I decided to head for Man-O-War Cay.
Jane has always wanted to go there and so have I. It has a nice protected harbour and I made it into the narrow entrance without running aground. I still don’t have a tide chart yet. We entered the harbour which is picture perfect and grabbed a mooring ball.
Steaks for dinner on the grill!
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Little Harbour to Hope Town
We stayed in Little Harbour on the mooring ball for the night and in the morning I setup and expedition to find one of the caves that I had read about of the Internet. It said to go down this road and look for a ribbon and the walk up a path and then to climb into a hole in the ground. We couldn’t find it. Oh, well. We went to look at the big cave in the harbour, which was okay, but I was disappointed that I could not find the other cave.
We left Little Harbour around 1200 and made our way to Sandy Cay which was one of the tips from the couple at Pete’s Pub. As we got there we could see that just about all of the day use mooring balls were taken. However, we found one that we could get on. A thunderstorm was moving in so we just hung out for a while and had lunch. As it passed through everyone left. When it was gone in 20 minutes we were the only one’s there and the sea was flat glass calm. Perfect conditions for us to dive in.
We rigged our gear and splashed. Very beautiful site with lots of colorful fish and coral. It was only a 25’ dive but it was worth it to dive. We went into the current at the base and came back on the top. Back on the boat Christy had a bit of a headache so we got here some aspirin and she rested. After a while she felt better. We rinsed and packed away our gear and headed out for Hope Town.
Once we made it to Hope Town it was almost sunset and Jane and the girls felt better about anchoring outside the harbour as it has the same type of shallow entrance as Little Harbour did. So that’s what we did.
That night we played our evening game of Mau. It’s a lot of fun on the boat, although it can be quite frustrating. Check it out at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mau_Mau_(game)
We left Little Harbour around 1200 and made our way to Sandy Cay which was one of the tips from the couple at Pete’s Pub. As we got there we could see that just about all of the day use mooring balls were taken. However, we found one that we could get on. A thunderstorm was moving in so we just hung out for a while and had lunch. As it passed through everyone left. When it was gone in 20 minutes we were the only one’s there and the sea was flat glass calm. Perfect conditions for us to dive in.
We rigged our gear and splashed. Very beautiful site with lots of colorful fish and coral. It was only a 25’ dive but it was worth it to dive. We went into the current at the base and came back on the top. Back on the boat Christy had a bit of a headache so we got here some aspirin and she rested. After a while she felt better. We rinsed and packed away our gear and headed out for Hope Town.
Once we made it to Hope Town it was almost sunset and Jane and the girls felt better about anchoring outside the harbour as it has the same type of shallow entrance as Little Harbour did. So that’s what we did.
That night we played our evening game of Mau. It’s a lot of fun on the boat, although it can be quite frustrating. Check it out at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mau_Mau_(game)
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Little Harbour Abacos
Jane got the 2400 to 0200 shift. She said that a thunderstorm was behind us the whole way and that she watched the lightning flash across the sky. Elizabeth and Christy had the 0200 to 0400 shift. They got a clear sky with stars and the moon. Every once in a while I checked on both of the shifts.I got the 0400 to 0600 shift as that was the landfall shift. We approached Little Harbour channel right on time at 0630, just at the sun was fully coming up. I ran aground on the inner harbour entrance after Jane and I had a little misunderstanding over which bouy I was asking her the color of. The outer marker appeared to be a lobster pot and she was looking beyond that at another marker.
After a few minutes of finagling I managed to get the boat off of the beach and back into the channel. It was very shallow and most likely low tide. I did not have a tide chart. We picked up a mooring ball and crashed out for a few hours.
Later in the morning I awoke to find a very small harbour ringed by a beach and a large iron shore area with a big cave. I decided to get the windsurfer out and dinghyed it over to the beach where I set it up and sailed for a while. I think I am getting the hang of this.
I saw that the girls swam to shore so I sailed back in and left them with the windsurfer and headed over to Pete’s Pub. The only place in Little Harbour. It was around noon on a Saturday and the place was hopping. I grabbed and chair and watched the crowd. Everyone was ordering lunch so I did too. I felt guilty that Jane was not with me but I knew she would make her way in eventually. She did. We talked with the couple next to us for a few hours and they gave us some tips on places to visit.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Harbour Island - Departure
Harbour Island Marina was nice enough to let us stay on the dock for the day. We normally would have had to get off and go on the hook by 1000. We planned to get off the dock by 1600.
The wind has clocked completely around to the west making today an excellent beach day. We still have the golf cart so once we got work that we could stay on the dock we had some lunch and then packed up a day bag to go to the famous pink sand beach.
I can see why it’s famous. Of course the day was perfect for beaching but this is one of the nicest beaches I have ever been on. Not a spec of trash or tar and the water was so crystal clear you could through the waves, just like you would read about in a book or possibly see in a movie. We took some pics and then went swimming.
Just up the beach from us a couple was taking some pictures. She got in unusual poses and he took pictures. I swam that way, much to Jane’s chagrin.
There was just enough of a swell to create nice soft rolling waves that broke far enough away from the beach to make for perfect body surfing. I did that until it felt like my face was frying from the sun and then we all grabbed a drink from the cooler. Jane took a nice long walk on the beach but I cannot as my left foot has been aching since we were in Nassau. I am not sure what it is but it really hurts to walk.
We finally met back at the golf cart after Jane and I walked through the Coral Sands Hotel that sits right on the beach. There is another hotel next door that looks even fancier called the Pink Sands.
Back on the boat it was the usual frantic work to get everything put away and locked down. We had decided to do a night passage to get to our next location, Little Harbour in the Abacos, as this would be cooler and would also save a day of day light.
After we got a little fuel, the marina was out of fuel but we eked 8 gallons so that we had enough of a reserve for the crossing to Little Harbour. Little Harbour is an island that stretches from north to south and the beach faces east. There is an inlet on the southern end that we planned to use to leave for the passage. We had originally come to Harbour Island from the North via Devil’s Backbone passage with Old Pot.
Now we had to leave via this southern inlet because the tide was high and part of the channel is too shallow for us at low tide. The only problem was that we did not want to begin our passage to Little Harbour until 2000 (8 pm) as we needed to arrive in daylight so that we could see the channel entrance. The passage was planned to take about 10 hours.
Our solution was easy based on the way the wind was blowing. Anchor off of the pink sand beach. We headed out of the inlet and went north to the area where we were swimming. We were in about 30 feet of water and the bottom was all coral. As we were going along I spotted a huge tall sponge coral and decided to anchor there and check it out.
We needed to use the grapple anchor which is an anchor with metal hooks like fish hooks that are spread out in a circular fashion so that any one of the hooks can grab onto something. We also used a chain so that it would not rub and chafe on the coral. After we dropped the anchor and the boat was secure I free dove down with my mask and fins and adjusted the anchor rode so that the rope was not rubbing on any coral.
We stayed anchored there for several hours and cooked burgers on the grill and watched the sunset. There was a little bit of swell (slow smooth waves) coming in from the southwest so that the boat was rocking a bit, but not too bad. There was a nice breeze.
Eventually our time to leave rolled around and I again free dove down to the anchor and swam back up with it. Elizabeth pulled up the rode while Jane drove the boat. Getting back on board I was pretty stoked…
Empty bottle of rum
As we motor sailed north along the beach we made a message in a bottle. On a piece of paper we used a Sharpie to record our Latitude and Longitude, names, boat name, address and email address. We all signed it. We put that, one of our business cards and a Bahamian dollar bill into the bottle. We planned to drop it into the sea at midnight but at 0130 I realized we hadn’t done it yet so that’s when it went in.
Back in Harbour Island at Valentine’s Dive shop the owner’s daughter had found a message in a bottle that had been floating for six years! There was a picture with her and the note that was in the bottle.
The wind has clocked completely around to the west making today an excellent beach day. We still have the golf cart so once we got work that we could stay on the dock we had some lunch and then packed up a day bag to go to the famous pink sand beach.
I can see why it’s famous. Of course the day was perfect for beaching but this is one of the nicest beaches I have ever been on. Not a spec of trash or tar and the water was so crystal clear you could through the waves, just like you would read about in a book or possibly see in a movie. We took some pics and then went swimming.
Just up the beach from us a couple was taking some pictures. She got in unusual poses and he took pictures. I swam that way, much to Jane’s chagrin.
There was just enough of a swell to create nice soft rolling waves that broke far enough away from the beach to make for perfect body surfing. I did that until it felt like my face was frying from the sun and then we all grabbed a drink from the cooler. Jane took a nice long walk on the beach but I cannot as my left foot has been aching since we were in Nassau. I am not sure what it is but it really hurts to walk.
We finally met back at the golf cart after Jane and I walked through the Coral Sands Hotel that sits right on the beach. There is another hotel next door that looks even fancier called the Pink Sands.
Back on the boat it was the usual frantic work to get everything put away and locked down. We had decided to do a night passage to get to our next location, Little Harbour in the Abacos, as this would be cooler and would also save a day of day light.
After we got a little fuel, the marina was out of fuel but we eked 8 gallons so that we had enough of a reserve for the crossing to Little Harbour. Little Harbour is an island that stretches from north to south and the beach faces east. There is an inlet on the southern end that we planned to use to leave for the passage. We had originally come to Harbour Island from the North via Devil’s Backbone passage with Old Pot.
Now we had to leave via this southern inlet because the tide was high and part of the channel is too shallow for us at low tide. The only problem was that we did not want to begin our passage to Little Harbour until 2000 (8 pm) as we needed to arrive in daylight so that we could see the channel entrance. The passage was planned to take about 10 hours.
Our solution was easy based on the way the wind was blowing. Anchor off of the pink sand beach. We headed out of the inlet and went north to the area where we were swimming. We were in about 30 feet of water and the bottom was all coral. As we were going along I spotted a huge tall sponge coral and decided to anchor there and check it out.
We needed to use the grapple anchor which is an anchor with metal hooks like fish hooks that are spread out in a circular fashion so that any one of the hooks can grab onto something. We also used a chain so that it would not rub and chafe on the coral. After we dropped the anchor and the boat was secure I free dove down with my mask and fins and adjusted the anchor rode so that the rope was not rubbing on any coral.
We stayed anchored there for several hours and cooked burgers on the grill and watched the sunset. There was a little bit of swell (slow smooth waves) coming in from the southwest so that the boat was rocking a bit, but not too bad. There was a nice breeze.
Eventually our time to leave rolled around and I again free dove down to the anchor and swam back up with it. Elizabeth pulled up the rode while Jane drove the boat. Getting back on board I was pretty stoked…
Empty bottle of rum
As we motor sailed north along the beach we made a message in a bottle. On a piece of paper we used a Sharpie to record our Latitude and Longitude, names, boat name, address and email address. We all signed it. We put that, one of our business cards and a Bahamian dollar bill into the bottle. We planned to drop it into the sea at midnight but at 0130 I realized we hadn’t done it yet so that’s when it went in.
Back in Harbour Island at Valentine’s Dive shop the owner’s daughter had found a message in a bottle that had been floating for six years! There was a picture with her and the note that was in the bottle.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Harbour Island - Diving
Wednesday June 20, 2007
Awoke at sunrise (0600) and immediately started getting ready to go over to the Harbour Island Marina. We were picking up a golf cart there at 0830 so that we could drive us and all of our gear to Valentine’s Dive Center.
Amazingly everything came together. We got the boat docked. Power connected. The Golf Cart and all of our gear loaded onto the golf cart delivery guys cart and made it to Valentine’s by 0855. We checked in and then waited 30 minutes while they put fuel on the boat. Oh, well. We didn’t need to rush so much…
When we finally got out the conditions were pretty good with the sea just a couple of feet at the most as the wind was out of the south. Dave, the dive master from South Africa, and Luther the local boat skipper were our guides.
Eric, Jane and Elizabeth did a two tank dive with the first dive the deepest at 115’ on The Arch, a really cool formation that is, get this, an arch. The shallower reef in that area was very nice as well. The dive lasted about 38 minutes. We all finished with just around 1000 psi, which is pretty good for a dive that deep.
Christy had to wait on the boat as this dive was too deep for her to dive on her Open Water Referral check-out. On the second dive, which was just 40’, she was able to dive and did great. The second dive was just outside the inlet entrance and called Sea Gardens.
After the dives we were all exhausted from diving and also spending the entire day the day before on the beach at Man Island. Dave, however, was very convincing that Christy should dive her second dive that day so that she would be able to dive with us tomorrow on the deep dive. She sucked it up and did her second check out dive, which was mostly skills, taking your mask off, turning, emergency ascent, etc…Jane, Elizabeth and I headed back to the boat and slept for the rest of the afternoon (it seemed like 10 minutes) and then picked up Christy at 1600.
Did we eat? I can’t remember. No, we watched Casino Royal by putting the saloon table down into a bed. I guess we ate popcorn for dinner. I don’t remember going to bed but I must have!
Thursday June 21, 2007
Today we dove with Valentines again. The first deep dive was on The Plateau. An area near the Glass Wall on Eluethera that has a very tall iron shore, stone like wall with no beach. The Glass Wall is a small inlet in the wall that connects the ocean to the inner bay. There is not other inlet for many miles but this one is dry sometimes and not navigable.
The Plateau has very deeply grooved coral formations that we swam down to about 70’ The one groove that was directly under the boat was very cool as it had a swim through at the bottom. Elizabeth took a picture looking through the swim trough. This was a very nice dive with lots of tiny colorful fish.
For our second dive Luther drove the dive boat right up to the edge of the iron shore. We were only about 200 yards from the tall stone cliffs. We motored slowly past the Glass Window and could see inside caves and see blow-holes, places where the ocean waves are forced back out at high pressure.
Eventually we stopped at our dive site, geared up and jumped it. It was only about 35’ deep and we headed directly for the iron shore. Conditions were perfect. No surge or big waves that could bang you into the stone and rocks. On the bottom very large rounded stones held tiny coral populations and fish. We could swim almost completely under them.
As we got closer to the cave the light dimmed but visibility was still very good. I turned my dive light on. Dave pointed out a small turtle right in the middle of the cavern, which was around 60 wide. We were completely under the cavern canopy. To the right of the turtle was a tumble of stones pilled up on each other with on massive stone leaning against the iron shore.
I wondered what it would be like if one of those stones moved and trapped me under water. At the very end of the cavern I peered around and down the massive stone. There was a small cave. Turning upside down in the water I slide down inside the entrance to the cave and shined my light in. I could have easily fit inside the cave with my gear on.
However, I am not a cave diver and I didn’t have a buddy close by. I went back to get Elizabeth and show her the cave. We both got upside down and went into the cave entrance. Jane said that all she could see of us was the very tips of our fins.
We could see light at the other end of the cave but it was obvious that there was only one entrance and exit. I still did not go in but it was not because I was afraid. The dive group we consisted of had a brand new diver so I did not want to cause any trouble.
Later we all got to go through a small stone swim through but it was not as enchanting as the cave….
After we got back on the dive boat we all exclaimed that that was one of the best dives we had ever done…
Awoke at sunrise (0600) and immediately started getting ready to go over to the Harbour Island Marina. We were picking up a golf cart there at 0830 so that we could drive us and all of our gear to Valentine’s Dive Center.
Amazingly everything came together. We got the boat docked. Power connected. The Golf Cart and all of our gear loaded onto the golf cart delivery guys cart and made it to Valentine’s by 0855. We checked in and then waited 30 minutes while they put fuel on the boat. Oh, well. We didn’t need to rush so much…
When we finally got out the conditions were pretty good with the sea just a couple of feet at the most as the wind was out of the south. Dave, the dive master from South Africa, and Luther the local boat skipper were our guides.
Eric, Jane and Elizabeth did a two tank dive with the first dive the deepest at 115’ on The Arch, a really cool formation that is, get this, an arch. The shallower reef in that area was very nice as well. The dive lasted about 38 minutes. We all finished with just around 1000 psi, which is pretty good for a dive that deep.
Christy had to wait on the boat as this dive was too deep for her to dive on her Open Water Referral check-out. On the second dive, which was just 40’, she was able to dive and did great. The second dive was just outside the inlet entrance and called Sea Gardens.
After the dives we were all exhausted from diving and also spending the entire day the day before on the beach at Man Island. Dave, however, was very convincing that Christy should dive her second dive that day so that she would be able to dive with us tomorrow on the deep dive. She sucked it up and did her second check out dive, which was mostly skills, taking your mask off, turning, emergency ascent, etc…Jane, Elizabeth and I headed back to the boat and slept for the rest of the afternoon (it seemed like 10 minutes) and then picked up Christy at 1600.
Did we eat? I can’t remember. No, we watched Casino Royal by putting the saloon table down into a bed. I guess we ate popcorn for dinner. I don’t remember going to bed but I must have!
Thursday June 21, 2007
Today we dove with Valentines again. The first deep dive was on The Plateau. An area near the Glass Wall on Eluethera that has a very tall iron shore, stone like wall with no beach. The Glass Wall is a small inlet in the wall that connects the ocean to the inner bay. There is not other inlet for many miles but this one is dry sometimes and not navigable.
The Plateau has very deeply grooved coral formations that we swam down to about 70’ The one groove that was directly under the boat was very cool as it had a swim through at the bottom. Elizabeth took a picture looking through the swim trough. This was a very nice dive with lots of tiny colorful fish.
For our second dive Luther drove the dive boat right up to the edge of the iron shore. We were only about 200 yards from the tall stone cliffs. We motored slowly past the Glass Window and could see inside caves and see blow-holes, places where the ocean waves are forced back out at high pressure.
Eventually we stopped at our dive site, geared up and jumped it. It was only about 35’ deep and we headed directly for the iron shore. Conditions were perfect. No surge or big waves that could bang you into the stone and rocks. On the bottom very large rounded stones held tiny coral populations and fish. We could swim almost completely under them.
As we got closer to the cave the light dimmed but visibility was still very good. I turned my dive light on. Dave pointed out a small turtle right in the middle of the cavern, which was around 60 wide. We were completely under the cavern canopy. To the right of the turtle was a tumble of stones pilled up on each other with on massive stone leaning against the iron shore.
I wondered what it would be like if one of those stones moved and trapped me under water. At the very end of the cavern I peered around and down the massive stone. There was a small cave. Turning upside down in the water I slide down inside the entrance to the cave and shined my light in. I could have easily fit inside the cave with my gear on.
However, I am not a cave diver and I didn’t have a buddy close by. I went back to get Elizabeth and show her the cave. We both got upside down and went into the cave entrance. Jane said that all she could see of us was the very tips of our fins.
We could see light at the other end of the cave but it was obvious that there was only one entrance and exit. I still did not go in but it was not because I was afraid. The dive group we consisted of had a brand new diver so I did not want to cause any trouble.
Later we all got to go through a small stone swim through but it was not as enchanting as the cave….
After we got back on the dive boat we all exclaimed that that was one of the best dives we had ever done…
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