Long: 23° 30.41 Lat: 75° 45.78
While in Staniel Cay, Ted, Bob and Bobbie (Callisto crew) had snorkelled the Thunderball Cave. This cave is where James Bond movie was filmed. According to Ted “After diving Thunderball Cave, even if we don’t go any further south, it just made the trip worth while.” See for yourself as you scroll below for some pictures.
We met part of the Burke family, who race a traditional Bahamian Sloop, Tida Wave. This is the Bahamian “A” fleet (28 ft. on deck, full keel, wooden hull with a mainsail that is to big for the Bluenose and a hankie for a jib). They carry four or five 2 X 12 planks and stick them under the lee Gunwhale, and the whole crew hangs out on the end as far as they dare. There was a few class 3 boats practicing on the weekend. These are only 16 feet, their mast is 40 ft tall and 25 foot boom. This is boat for boat racing with no handicaps. The George Town Family Island Regatta, 23rd of April, is like Metro Area Race Week with 20 to 30 islands participating. Apparently, the odds for Tida Wave to win are 7 to 1. If I were a beating person…I’d say The Burke family would be a good investment. This is not because it’s the fastest boat. These boats are all the same length and beam and are allowed as much sail as they want. It’s a matter of who will dare to carry more sail, for the conditions or the crew that is more crazy and chance capsizing to win at all cost.
A few days later, we ventured further south to a small island with a community of 55 people, Little Farmers Cay. These family members all originated from a lady name Christiana and her two sons, who settled there after being freed by slavery. Family names there are Smith, Rolle and Bain. Little Farmers, was by far an extremely hospitable island. They took us in, as if we were family.
On the west side of the island where we anchored, was a Haitian sailboat which had entered at night and hit hard aground. It was said that there were 165 illegal Haitian’s on board, who were picked up by immigration and sent home. It’s believed that a few may have drowned. Scroll down to see photo below.
Galliott Cut, entrance from the Exuma Sound to the Atlantic Ocean, had a very strong current. Callisto had gone through, during a following tide (the tide was coming back in). Their motor could handle the strength of the current, although they said they’d never want to do that again. Our engine would not have had enough power to go through. So we anchored for the night to cross at morning slack tide. Cuts should be crossed with a slack tide or low tide. Therefore, Callisto went on ahead of us, but not without difficulty. Unfortunately, they got as far as Adderly Cut and had to go in and anchor as they caught a fishing net wrapped around their prop.
We departed Galliott Cut at the wee hours of 0600 the following morning (slack tide) and about 0930 we received a call on the VHF from Callisto about their location and situation. We were only one half hour away, from Adderly Cut, to assist (although none was required). There’s a Research Centre on this island and we had teased that they must be researching as to “where did all this water come from?”. We found ourselves in thirty feet plus of water…trust me that is very unusual for the Bahama’s. Ninety-nine percent of the time, we are lucky to find six feet of water max.
George Town, seems to be the town like Marsh Harbour, Abacos. A number of cruisers come down and don’t venture on. They spend anywhere from six weeks to six months here. We expect to be here for at least a week to catch up on some maintenance. Stocking Island, just across the harbour has a number of paths to explore. The view from the top is breath taking.
