Cape Lookout Bight is a wonderful, natural harbor formed by Cape Lookout’s curve of land. This superb anchorage, one of the most popular in North Carolina, The channel between Harkers Island and Cape Lookout Lighthouse has been widened to 100 feet with depths ranging from 7 to 9 feet. This is good news for cruisers wishing to anchor in Cape Lookout Bight southeast of Beaufort.
Our sincerest thanks to Greg and Barbara Allard for once again sharing their thoughts and beautiful photography from their Bahamas cruises. These photos and descriptions will have you aching to follow in Meander‘s wake! For more of this excellent photography, type Allard in our Homepage search window for letters from previous cruises.
Hello everyone – After our 2022 cruise to the Bahamas, we decided to downsize a bit; a smaller boat would make it easier to find transient space in marinas as we cruise, and a newer, smaller boat would also lessen some of the maintenance. Our existing boat was a 34 year old 65’ Tollycraft, one of the best boats we have ever owned. She sold very quickly, and then our search began. We did not find a replacement until early summer of 2023, so we missed the opportunity to visit the Bahamas last year. We have a number of new readers who have just joined us in receiving this letter, so we hope that those of you who have been regulars will understand that we will cover some of the basics.
This is the new Meander: she is a 47’ Grand Banks. For those familiar with boats who recognize the Grand Banks name, the company has built thousands of boats over the years; for a long time their boats were displacement boats, meaning that they cruised at about 7-9 knots, or approximately 10 mph. Grand Banks then hired the noted naval architectural firm of Sparkman and Stephens to redesign the hull, allowing it to achieve higher speeds – and to plane – which means instead of pushing through waster, the boat would rise up and ride on top of the the water.
The Grand Banks we found is a 2009 model, with twin 500HP Cummins diesel engines. She has bow and stern thrusters, a fly-bridge, stabilizers, a generator, and a watermaker – for making drinkable fresh water from salt water – important in the Bahamas. During sea trials, she topped out at 24 knots, or a bit over 27 mph. She will also cruise comfortably at 9 knots, at significant savings in fuel costs. We’ll mostly cruise at a slower speed, especially with diesel fuel in the Bahamas over $6.00 a gallon.
The new Meander – a 47’ Grand Banks Heritage EU.
We departed for Bahama this year from the east coast of Florida, around the N.Palm Beach area. The crossing to our first stop in the Bahamas (Port Lucaya) is around 78 nautical miles. It takes the better part of a day to make this open ocean passage, and if you don’t watch the weather carefully, it can be a nasty, rough passage. This year there were weather fronts continually, bringing high winds, so we had to wait about 2 weeks for a decent weather-window. We made the first two thirds of the crossing at a leisurely 8-9 knots, but for the last portion we “opened her up” and ran at 16-17 knots, as shown above. Quite an exhilarating run, especially since at this speed the engines drank 40 gallons per hour. Since we had a
second day of calm weather, we departed Port Lucaya the next morning to make a second long crossing to the Berry Islands.
A view off the stern of our boat, on the trip from Lucaya. During such an open water ocean crossing, you have to continually contend with huge ships; avoiding them is important. This one was headed right towards us, but then changed course to pass to our stern, He was correctly following the international rule for such situations, since we were crossing in front of him from his starboard (right) side. Regardless of the “rules” we always keep out of their way. Some of the largest such ships can take several
miles to even stop.
The beauty of the Bahamas is unmatched – waters which we have often described as “gin clear”, and spectacular beaches with magical colors. Our regular readers know that what we most love about the Bahamas is the people; they are warm, friendly, of great humor and just delightful. They operate at a different pace and newcomers take a while to adjust. Very little is urgent in the Bahamas.
Our first layover is in the Berry islands, one of favorite places in all the Bahamas. This is the Beach Club, on the north shore of Great Harbour Cay, overlooking one of the best beaches anywhere. We’ve spent many an afternoon at this place, having a wonderful lunch of cracked conch and some cold Bahamian brewed Kalik beer.
This is Clinique, with her magnificent smile, who has been our waitress at the Beach Club over many years. She proudly showed us a picture of her lovely daughter Chastinique. Such beautiful names.
Even Paradise has its flaws. Unfortunately for the several hundred people who live on this small, remote island, they have been enduring “road torture” for over a year. Based on numerous trips to this island, we have seen that the roads are always filled with potholes which can break car axles and throw bikers to the ground. Over a year ago, the government undertook a major program to repave all of the roads on Great Harbour Cay. A contractor arrived, and stripped the asphalt from almost all of the roads, leaving an ever worse condition than they started with. In the above photo part of the road has been stripped (the light color at the top of the photo), and you can see the huge pothole in the foreground, in the
yet unstripped road. While you can’t see it in this photo, there are even more potholes in the stripped roads, and they are much more difficult to see as you approach them. The local people are incredibly frustrated. Several reasons have been given for the incredible delay, but it is accepted as a normal expectation for the workings of the Bahamian government, with its lack of concern for the well-being of the Bahamian small “out islands”. There are just not enough votes on this island.
This is Freddy, one of the dockhands at the Great Harbour Cay marina. He’s excellent at assisting boats to dock, in tying up the lines and deploying fenders. He is a genuinely good person, warm and friendly, but he does have the odd habit of talking to himself most of the time. That doesn’t interfere,
however, with his excellent work. In defense of Freddy, with increasing frequency I find that I talk to myself too. And none of it makes much sense. Thanks for joining us on this first leg of our cruise. Warmest regards to you all. Greg and Barbara Copyright Greg Allard, 2024
Cruisers Net publishes Loose Cannon articles with Captain Swanson’s permission in hopes mariners with salt water in their veins will subscribe.. $7 a month or $56 for the year and you may cancel at anytime.
De Gallant was built of steel at a Dutch shipyard in 1916. She had been carrying freight for the Blue Schooner Company since 2017.
Our sincerest thanks to Greg and Barbara Allard for once again sharing their thoughts and beautiful photography from their Bahamas cruises. These photos and descriptions will have you aching to follow in Meander‘s wake! For more of this excellent photography, type Allard in our Homepage search window for letters from previous cruises.
BAHAMAS 2024-#2 MAY 8, 2024
Live passionately, even if it kills you, because something is going to kill you anyway. -Webb Chiles ——————————————————————————— Hello everyone. We left Great Harbour Cay in the Berry islands about a week ago, and after another bumpy, windy, salty 78 mile open-ocean crossing, we arrived at Spanish Wells off the northern end of Eleuthera, in the Far Bahamas. Before we visit Spanish Wells with you, there are still several people from Great Harbour whom we would like you to meet.
This six-year-old Bahamian boy, Jamal, was fascinated with our electric bikes, as Barbara explained the various controls. It was clear that he was sharp: he understood them all right away.
Jamal, and his beautiful proud mother Joelle. All kids, everywhere, love to mug for the camera.
One of our favorite adventures – a dingy expedition to a remote beach. This one is on Cistern Cay, and this place has some history. In the 1970s & 80s, the Bahamas was a major location for the importation of drugs into the U.S. One of the most notorious traffickers was Carlos Lehder, co-founder of the Medellín Cartel. With the assistance of corrupt Bahamian officials, the Bahamas was positioned perfectly to serve as a drug transfer point; it was close to the U.S., and its huge, often remote, coasts. Cistern Cay was one of the islands where Lehder’s operation was based; he built a paved runway on the island. There are the remnants of several small planes which crashed into the shallow waters around the cay. Bad pilots, bad planes…. or overloaded? Even today you can explore his once beautiful but now gutted home, just a short distance from our dinghies. Why gutted? All of the sheet rock walls in the house have been torn open by frustrated treasure seekers who thought that those inner walls would hold large quantities of cash and drugs. Were they really “frustrated”? Which of them will ever admit that they found anything? Today, the U.S. government works closely with the Bahamian officials to continually address the trafficking issues. These days it is not unusual to see a US Coast Guard helicopter pass overhead.
Our long time readers may recognized this gentleman. He is Tramico “Mico” Evans, who lives on Great Harbour and works at the marina. We have known him for years. His personality is as bright as his smile. But on this trip, we realized that we did not know much about him. So we asked him. Mico is 37 years old, the youngest of ten children. Born in Nassau, he was raised on the remote island of Andros. His father cheated on his mother, so to get away from him she took her children, for the summers, to Great Harbor where she had been raised. He has multiple relatives on Great Harbour because of his mother’s connection with the cay. His oldest brother was a police officer in Nassau; when he died, he left his pension to his mother. One of his brothers had a somewhat yellow complexion, which Mico said was “like a ripe mango”; his brother was forever called the “Yellow Man.” Only five of his mother’s ten children (by two different men she never married) are still living.
This is Sand Dollar beach at Shark Creek. At low tide you can walk out far from shore, and with a sharp eye, you can collect dozens of sand dollars – which are a species of flat, burrowing sea urchin. We don’t collect the live ones, which are a darkish color, but we do prize the skeleton of the dead ones, which are mostly about three inches across, have turned white, and have a fascinating pattern in their shell.
Some sand dollars collected a week ago. The five large holes are used to ingest food, and they also allow the urchin to propel itself across the bottom. When they no longer living and look like these, they are quite fragile.
In the next Newsletter we will show you Spanish Wells, north of Eleuthera, where we are right now. We will also be doing one more profile from an individual from Great Harbour, a famous, legendary Bahamian, with an international reputation. Warmest regards to you all. Barbara and Greg Copyright Greg Allard, 2024
Our sincerest thanks to Greg and Barbara Allard for once again sharing their thoughts and beautiful photography from their Bahamas cruises. These photos and descriptions will have you aching to follow in Meander‘s wake! For more of this excellent photography, type Allard in our Homepage search window for letters from previous cruises.
Bahamas – 2024 – #3 May 21, 2024
“I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.” –
Ecclesiastes 9:11
This is Percy Darville, the legendary bone fishing guide who lives on Great Harbour Cay. We have known him for over a decade. He has an international reputation as one of the most respected and successful bonefishing guides anywhere.
A bonefish is a relatively small fish, and adults reach maturity usually around 17” and generally grow to no more than 30” in length. It is a fierce fighter, inhabits very shallow coastal waters and is considered one of the most sought-after game fish which are caught with fly or light fishing tackle. It is a catch-and-release fish, which means they are generally not eaten…likely because the flesh is…. boney.
Percy has said: “I’ve fish Presidents, Movie stars, Writers, Golfers and many many others.”
Jack Nicklaus used to be a regular visitor to Great Harbour, arriving on his large Westport yacht, named Bear, which carried four small shoal (shallow) draft bonefishing boats – named Cub 1, Cub 2, Cub 3 and Cub 4 on its upper deck. Percy was Jack’s regular trusted guide.
Percy on the bonefishing flats, with what is likely a trophy sized fish. This photo is from Percy’s website
Ten years ago at Great Harbour, while I was talking with Percy, he asked if we would like some fresh conch (already removed from the shell – a tedious process.) I said yes, and the next day he showed up at our boat with a bagful. I intended to pay for them, and asked him what he wanted. He said “nothing.” I said: “Percy – this is your business and I want to pay for them.” He said “No, I won’t take any money” and walked away.
Spanish Wells’ north shore. To give you an idea of the scale of this beach, look for the three people farther down on the beach.
Spanish Wells is a separate cay on the north of Eleuthera, a number of miles from Harbour Island. It is one-half mile wide and two miles long, with about 1,800 people living there year-round.
Spanish Wells and Man-O-War cay in the Abacos are the two main cays where the population is largely of white Bahamians. The locals speak with a curious lilting British accent overlaid with Bahamian elements. The majority of people on Spanish Wells earn their living from fishing for crawfish, the spiney Caribbean lobsters – the ones without the big claws of the New England lobster. The photo below is of sunset at Spanish Wells.
You can see two of the big lobster boats in the distance. Those boats are currently in port, being refitted and made-ready for when the lobster season opens on August 1 st . Cruising recreational boats in this harbour (such as ours) represent a clear minority.
That’s why we like Spanish Wells – it’s an authentic Bahamian place.
The other target of the fishing industry on Spanish Wells is the conch. These conch (above) are being held temporarily in a sunken boat and a makeshift pen. The tide is now out, so they are uncovered, but they will be covered with seawater again as the tide returns. This way they are kept fresh for market. They have a beautiful shell with prized meat inside. After the meat is removed, it is tenderized by pounding with a mallet, then breaded and deep fried. Similar to fried calamari, but the flavor is far superior. Yummy.
We took a small ferry over to Eleuthera, rented a car with our friends Jim and Ellen, and toured the island as far south as Governor’s Harbour. We stopped in Gregory Town at our favorite shop, which specializes in baskets made on the remote island of Andros –whose residents are famous for creating the highest quality and most beautiful examples of Bahamian basketmaking.
While at the little shop, we met these two delightful local women (above). The one on the right is Amanda, who works in the shop. The woman on the left is Shurlunda, who proudly described herself as the “Postmistress” of the tiny post office next door.
Some of you surely will remember Kathy; years ago her husband became fatally ill, and wanted her to have a way to earn a living after he passed. He set her up in a small home with a bakery. We hadn’t been to her shop in five years (since we were last in Spanish Wells), so we were thrilled to see her again. One of her specialties is “Johnny cakes”, which Americans would recognize as similar to an English muffin, however it is a bit denser and more flavorful. Bahamians put jam on it, or a slice of cheese.
WAVE SAFE Collection Links
Be the first to comment!