Northern Phoenix Blog

Lobster Hotel and Ribs ?

March 11, 2014

We left Nassau this morning bright and early to head up to Spanish Wells. A neat place, but we are only planning on a one night anchor and leaving again early the next day. We are taking advantage of some good weather to get to the Abacoes early for the arrival of Haas clan next week.

We had a very pleasent day sailing in the ocean. 7-12 knot winds...sometimes at least. Sometimes only 4 or 5. We stayed along the drop off. Where the water depth goes from 125 feet to 1,250 feet very fast hoping to catch some Mahi-Mahi (aka Dolphin fish). We struck out on the Mahi but did catch a Baracuda. Not a big one, but with scary teeth none the less.

We anchored near some coral, not expecting much. Devon, Tara, and I went for a swim to see what we could find. Devon found a few Lion fish (funny coincidence: Devon was reading Harry Potter, book 1, and it talks about Powdered lion fish for a potion), we speared one, and we happened upon the Lobster Hotel. The water was just a bit to deep for Devon, so I took the shots. 4 lobsters later, I could still see at least 2 more lobsters in the hole that I was shooting. Then the odd shot. I was happy with 4 lobsters, none on the big side, just average to small, so perfect for the 4 of us.

But there was a big Lion fish hanging out, so I though I would take a shot. I grazed it, but the spear started dancing around...as the fish swam away. Hummmm....... pulled the spear out of the rocks to find a very strange creature on the end of the spear. A Spanish lobster. Looks like something out of a bad sci-fi movie with alien creatures. They blend in so well I did not even see it.

We had cooked a great meal of ribs in the solar oven as well that had been taunting us all day with great smells. We finished the day with a great dinner. Lobster and ribs. yum.

Posted by Bryan. Posted In : Bahamas

The Short Straw

March 11, 2014

March 10th

In a two day trip we have gone from Staniel Cay to Wardrick wells, then all the way back up to Nassau. Coolest part, we saw 5 Whitby 42’s in one day!!! A white Brewer, a Blue Brewer (didn’t see names), Duchess, Tribute, and Wind Song. If we had stayed one more day we could have had an impromptu rendezvous.

Last night our arrival into Nassau with a great firework display right in the harbour. Right over our boat!!! It started around 10:30 with a boom that was felt before it was heard. Our boat was covered with the debris from the explosions. It was quite a show. Devon, who is now officially the worlds heaviest sleeper, didn’t wake up. Didn’t even believe us until he went and looked at all the bits all over the boat in the morning. These were so close you could feel them shake the boat!

We went on a short drive to North Cay Island (part of Sandals Resort)on the North East coast of New Providence. On the way to the island, just a simple hour trip along the coast we had to cut in through some coral. The ocean was very calm, the winds less than 5 knots, the water like glass. But there were some old swells coming in from further out that were very far apart and gentle. That is until the got to the coral reef we wanted to go through!!! On the charts the part we wanted to cut through looked very big, but as we got closer the size of the waves as they rose up upon hitting shallow water made the cut look very small. Lots of water around, but one cut through the coral reef. The waves went from 3 foot swells 8 feet+ (according to Sahara who though we were all doomed). We had to cut at an angle to get through the cut, with breaking waves coming towards us on the left, and crashing away from us on the right. A bit tense, but we safely made it through.

Right off the beach of the Sandles Resortl where we connected with 2 great friends (who of all our friends, drew the short straw and had to come visit), Linda and Andrew, who were taking time off of Shoveling Snow back home to visit the Bahamas. We dingied into the resort in our oh so classy dingy (haha) and picked them up off the beach.

They are awesome!! They brought pizza from the resort and drinks. But better than that, they brought some great gifts from Canada. M&M’s, Swiss Chalet dipping sauce (if you are not Canadian, you don’t understand the significance of that one), maple syrup, ketchup chips, and something special to pass on to the Morrisons the next time we cross paths with them.

Can you tell which canadian has been stuck in great snowy winter weather

We did our best to give them a little taste of the cruising life by first having something break down that needed fixing. Something clogged the generator intake (which we were trying to run to make Pina Colada’s!!. Not sure if it was some old caulk from the hole itself, or something we picked up, but a quick swim and a quick hose clean out and it was all working again. Then we went a short distance for a snorkel. It was sad to say goodbye, it would have been nice if we had more time to spend with them. We can’t wait to see them again.

Posted by Bryan. Posted In : Bahamas

Stocking Lee Island (and some other places)

March 8, 2014

WARNING: This is one of those blog posts with a lot of pictures...

After leaving Emerald Bay, we headed up to Lee Stocking Island, an uneventful, 3 hour voyage. However we did see a huge turtle, and we did get a bite on one of our fishing lines- which didn't go too well, as we quickly lost whatever it was- so that was exciting.

While there, we met up with the Morrison’s again (because we are heading north, and they are still going south, sadly). The first day we tried to find a suitable reef to go snorkeling, spearfishing, or lobstering. We didn't do so well on the latter. We did find a grouper, however it swam into a hole and was never seen again. (However, Dad will tell you a story involving a huge ray, a grouper, which he didn't manage to spear). Getting desperate, we headed out through the cut, where the swells were taller than the dinghy, and you could get some impressive air. Alas, still no luck, so we went over to the beach and kept the iguanas company.

The next day we tried a land excursion, in the hopes that we would find something interesting. The island used to house a marine research center, but now its abandoned and the buildings aren't doing so well. We, of course, had to go through said buildings and see if they had anything of interest in them. While interesting to go through, almost everything in them was gone, so it wasn't a very fruitful adventure.

We continued down some path to the airport, complete with a hanger, a Home Depot- according to the sign on the side of the shed-like structure- and a long, beaten up runway. IF you tried to land a plane there now, most likely the plane would crash.

We walked over to the beach, which was quite impressive as beaches in the Bahamas go. Of course, we thought this would be a great place for the dreaded, but apparently necessary, family photos. Maybe it’s so you know this isn't an imposter writing these posts, and the real Haas family isn't on an island somewhere… Which it’s not, so don’t worry.

After that, we tried to walk up a trail, but the end destination was very far away,, so we gave up and headed back to the boats. WE then tried a more successful trip of spearfishing, where Devon caught a Bigeye, a Grunt (honestly, who is naming these poor fish?? I would not appreciate being called Grunt, or Bigeye, or any other of these disrespectful names) and mom caught a Triggerfish, whose skin is almost impossible to saw through. Talking from experience.

However, the Morrison’s caught a lobster, which they then gave it to us. Still not completely sure of the reasons behind this, besides being like the nicest family in existence, but we greatly accepted. Needless to say, however I’m saying it anyway just in case you didn't get it, we had a pretty awesome fish diner. That night we said goodbye to them, for what might be the last time on the trip- as they have to be back in Canada in May- and it was very tearful, involving lots of crying, hugging, and chocolate chips. Actually, maybe only the last bit. But it sounds better with the other junk, you know? Because that’s usually what normal family’s do when saying goodbye, it think.
Warning. The pictures below have no relevance to the text above in any way, i just had to stick in pictures.

We are currently back between the Majors. For those who don’t know, that’s back up in Staniel Cay. There was, and still is, a large front coming through, with strong west winds. There isn’t much protection from the west in the Bahamas, as you can’t just go over to the east side of the island as its in the 100 foot range, and I don’t think anyone’s anchor chain is that long. While here we went snorkeling, where the water was very clear, and the waves slightly larger than normal (but what is normal?) We also got a great lunch at the Yacht Club, involving huge sandwiches, and amazing drinks.

We are leaving today however, to start heading up toward Nassau, where we are meeting up with friends for a couple days.

Posted by Sahara. Posted In : Exumas

Georgetown

March 8, 2014

So, apparently it is my duty to tell everyone what we did in Georgetown. Pretty much nothing in the 4 days we were there. WE did chores, such a stocking up a 3 week food supply (we are measuring on the scale of a normal family, and seeing as this scale is totally inadequate, it will probably last 3 weeks, but the last week or so will consist mainly of spaghetti and other boring/disgusting food that we find in the hidden depth of the cabin). We also fixed our dinghy spark plug, which was impending our ability to trust our dinghy (basically it wouldn't kick into higher gears, and we couldn't trust it to always start, or to continue running).

I must say, there are some very interesting foods available In Georgetown, if you feel the need to widen your preferences. Although I highly doubt you would prefer some of these food over a nice steak or chicken, but perhaps that’s just me. They had chickens feet- lots of those in supply!!- and,if feet proved too much for you, you could get some sheep’s tongue instead, which is much more tender than feet. As you can see by my expression, I did not think too highly of these new food items.

One of the days we were there we explored the paths on Stocking island, which is the island across from Georgetown. We walked up to the seemingly pointless monument, then down the Intrepid trail- consisting of many cliff paths, and a huge termite mound- to the beach. There we met some true boat kids, who had been living on boats on and off most of their lives.

That night we went to the party for the end of the Cruisers Regatta, which was on the beach. On the beach they had stingrays, which were being fed conch so they would stay around. You could stand in the water with them, and feed them, however we didn’t feel up to that.

At the party, the parents danced and drank and talked while the kids played very dangerous game of tag in the dark, where you tripped over dinghy anchor lines that are stretched out on the beach, or the mast laying on the beach. You got a choice. At night, the 300 or so boats anchor lights looked like stars… which were way too close to earth and way too small, but it still looked impressive.

The next day we were complete lazy butts whose day’s events are not even worth mentioning. And the next day we headed up to Emerald Bay marina, where the ocean swells were a calm 6-8 feet tall, and 15 feet wide. It was actually a really nice day, and practically no wind. The swells were very gradual, and were not threatening at all.

(we had to drive down to the store to pick up fuel. They drive on the left side here, IT was an interesting experience)

Posted by sahara. Posted In : Exumas

George Town

March 1, 2014

February 27th, we made it to George Town.

A 50 knotical mile trip, and used 3 gallons of fuel. A great wind for the day. We woke up in a very rough anchorage, that had no protection from west winds. however, after going through the cut to the other side, we had super calm water with 12-15 knot winds coming from the west. We were sheltered by the island chain and were cruising at 6-7 knots. We did not put up the mizzen sail, as the speed was suppose to be the right speed for trolling for Mahi-Mahi. No fish, one lost lure from a hit though. So we saved enough on fuel that we could go buy some fish.

We are now anchored in the George town area with hundred of other boats. We have restocked our food supplies today and checked out the town a bit.

Enjoy your weather, we are!!! It was -23 C at our home today. So happy to be here.

Posted by Bryan. Posted In : Exumas

Black Point

March 1, 2014

February 21-27

After finally leaving Staniel’s 6 days ago, we headed down to Whitepoint, which is a point- obviously- on Great Guana Cay. We stayed there for two nights, swimming and exploring the small beach there- we even found an osprey nest, osprey included. Then we headed down to Blackpoint, which everyone says has great laundry service. Blackpoint community is much larger than Staniel’s, and much livelier as well. It has at least 3 restaurants, a laundry service- which has about 20 washers and half that many dryers- a grocery store, and lots of very nice people.
when we came back, we went snorkeling off the back of the boat. Discovered this lovely specimen of fish, called the ramora, stuck to the keel. Ramora's are the fish you see sucked onto sharks and rays. And, apparently, boats.

At the end of the day we visited the sand flat, which is almost completely dry at low tide. Since in wasn’t quite that, there was still half a foot of water in most places. We had brought a football, and learned that its hard to throw when wet. Had a brief moment of panic when we saw a shark heading for us, but after getting its picture taken, it didn’t want to bother us.

The second day we were there we went to a fundraiser event on Regatta Point, which had a great lunch, loud music, and lots of people, boaters and locals alike. There was an empty boating dock on the point, and the local kids and Jesus- not actually Jesus, but certainly the hair style- were doing crazy jumps off of it. They would do backflips, flips, dives, swirls, and many other actions that I could not even hope to accomplish. Oh, and they would try to land as close to each other as possible without actually landing on them.

These are bananas, as you probably know. Bahamian bananas, obviously. Fresh off that tree way down there
on the nice sandy beach...

The rest of the day was spent doing massive loads of laundry- 3 washer’s worth- and stocking up on enough food to make it to Georgetown. The next day we headed over to the beach on the north-east side of the island, where there wasn’t very good waves, but it was a nice beach. Had lots of seaglass that had to be collected, and a giant sand pile that had to be climbed. Simply because then you could do crazy jumps off it that were quite fun if you didn’t hit any rocks at the bottom. After that we went back to the boat, where we cooked up a slab of steak, rolls, and potatoes. All in all, a very good day.

On one of those days we spent on Blackpoint, we met up with the Morrisons.We attempted to go lobstering-another one of those made up verb type words- with them, however even though the coral looked perfect, we found none.(But, we did find a shark trying to get the illegally caught grouper in a fish cage) So we had to buy some off the fishing guys.. along with the mahi, it was a great diner.

Posted by Sahara. Posted In : Exumas

Lion fish hunt

February 27, 2014

February 20th

The other day when I went swimming with the spear gun, and I saw some lionfish. I knew that lion fish were bad to the reef and you are supposed to kill any lionfish you see. So I had started shooting it, this had been the first time I used it so I wasn’t too good at it. After a while I had this score- [hits- 5] [misses- a very large number]. I hit it twice in the body, twice in the head, and once on the fin, and it was still swimming! The first time I hit it I held it out of the water and it stayed at the top of the pole for a bit, but then it wriggled and it fell down the pole and landed and my hand. I freaked out so much (because they have venomous spines, but none got me)that I screamed and dropped the pole, and everyone started laughing. I got extremely annoyed by the stupid fish because it was not moving and when I shot at the lionfish it darted to one side really fast and I missed. Eventually I gave up because it swam into a hole in some coral with some other fish. After that I decided out that my new arch-enemy is the lion fish, I will hunt them forever.

As I reported in my other blog, Lionfish are an invasive species, and the Bahamas Park and Rec management actually ask people to kill every lionfish they see. The lionfish destroy the reef.

Some other things we saw that day

Posted by Devon. Posted In : Exumas

Arggg engine ooops

February 27, 2014

We knew the day would come when something would go wrong and cause us to stop. It was unrealistic to think it would never happen. One of the definitions of "Cruising" is " Going to exotic places and fixing your boat."

It all started with an innocent fuel transfer. We have 4 different fuel tanks. Which is a great thing!!. Each fuel tank has enough fuel to run the boat for over 24 hours non stop. We only pull fuel out of the starboard tank, which when full, can run the boat for 48 hours non stop (About 65 gallons). Although we rarely run for more than 10 hours a day, so that is 4 days of non stop travel, which at a low estimate of 6 knots, is a long way.

Anyhow, we only pull out of one tank to the engine, so when we move fuel from any of the other three tanks into our "Use" tank, it goes through a fuel filter and water separator. Dirty fuel and water in your fuel are probably responsible for 90% of all desiel engine problems. So our fuel gets multiple filter runs before it ever gets to the engine.

So we were transferring fuel from the port to the starboard tank. When we were done, the Chief Engineer forgot to switch the valve back to the "Use" tank. So we motored off using the little bits that were left in the port tank. we made it to our anchorage, which was only an hour away. That night the Generator stopped working. At the time, we didn't realize it was out of fuel. They usually don't run when there was no fuel. It did flash a fault code, that when looked up said"Shut down reason Unknown". Thanks for that.

So the next morning we were motoring a short distance to get out of some strong winds that were building and coming from a bad direction for the current anchorage. We got the anchor up and 5 minutes later the main engine shut down.

This is when the adrenaline kicks in and everything seems to happen in slow motion. Drop anchor or put up sail??? I decided anchor, could always sail later if need be.

I checked out the engine and quickly realized it was out of fuel, so I tried to bead the engine (get air bubbles out of the fuel lines). The engines don't like that. I was thinking that maybe the transferring process had gotten air into the lines.

But nothing was happening. No fuel was getting through. So I followed fuel lines to look for a break and then found my switch in the wrong place. Easy fix!!!! A relief. Switch the valve, bleed out the air, and presto, back in business.

Then the fun really began. As I started to bleed out the system, I turned a nut and had that supper sinking feeling as I turned the nut that it was not right. It didn't turn right as I loosened it. The threads were stripped. Now I wouldn't be able to tighten it back on, so the engine was now down for the count, unless I could get the stripped part fixed. It was a compression fitting for a copper line that ran from the secondary fuel filter (yes, filtering fuel is important) to the high pressure pump. I did NOT have another compression fitting that fit this line. Not the adrenaline really was kicking in. Mind going 100 miles per hour. Do I give up and sail to a safe harbor and look for a mechanic? We are in a part of the world were there are no hardware stores, not parts stores, etc... I couldn't use the copper wire that was there, so I removed that and looked for a replacement hose. I had spare fuel hose and lots of adapters, I was able to connect one end of the hose for the copper, but the end of the pipe that fit into the high pressure fuel pump is a unique thread of some kind that I did not have. However, the hose fit over the threads of the old compression fitting that was stripped, and with an O clamp, is tight as can be, and does not leak!!! engine fixed. Just had to hope there was enough juice in the battery to bead out the engine and start it up. All is now good.

I went to bed early that night and slept really well. Felt like I had just completed final exams and played in a championship game of some sort. Totally exhausted.

In the left picture, the arrow on the right shows where the "O" clamp is on the compression threaded barb, and the left arrow shows the new fuel line. The two orange round things are the secondary fuel filters.

Picture on the right is how it use to look, with the curly copper pipe. It curls around because the in and out for the pipe do not line up nicely and you can't do tight bends in the copper pipe.

Generator also fired right up as well.

P.S. The chief engineer has been fired. The position is now available.

Posted by Bryan. Posted In : Repairs

Staniel Cay Pigs

February 18, 2014

Feb. 17

So, we’ve finally got around to visiting the pigs. And now that I’ve seen them, I have no idea why they were trying to save the pig in Charlotte’s Web. They were big, hairy, smelly (I don’t know this for sure, but judging by their appearances that is what I conclude) and made very loud grunting noises that I have no idea how anyone gets “oink” out of. However, giving credit where credit is due, I must admit it was slightly entertaining to throw carrots at them.

So, to give a play by play telling of the pig journey. We kayaked over to the beach. Luckily, the big pigs were somewhere terrorizing other tourists farther down the beach. We were set upon by hordes of piglets. We threw carrots at said piglets in the hopes to appease them. Apparently not, as they proceeded to climb and chew on the kayaks. Mom tried to stop piglet from biting her foot. Piglet then went and sat in her kayak. By this time, big pigs had noticed commotion and came swimming/waddling over. Pigs are very very big and very very heavy. Also, have big teeth. Threw carrots at big pigs. Ran out of carrots. Pigs got bored and walked off into trees. Tried to follow pigs to no avail. Kayaked back to boat. There, I hoped you enjoyed that brief moment of primitive grammar.

When back at the boat, after having some difficulties getting off the kayaks, Mom and Devon went spearfishing. Someone thought it was a great idea to get a big, sling-powered sharpened metal stick. Like wooden sticks weren't bad enough. Anyway, they were practicing on a sand filled plastic bottle. Apparently it went well, but seeing as I did not particularly want to go near Devon in possession of a sharpened weapon, I stayed far away.

Posted by Sahara. Posted In : Exumas

thunder ball

February 18, 2014

February 16

Thunder ball grotto, named after the cave that was in James bond thunder ball, is a large cave that is at water level. It was very fun on the trip on the way over because Makai and C-Spirit got into the same small dinghy except for mom and dad.

At first when I got in I thought it was just going to be a slit in the sandy rock, but it was huge. You have to go in this narrow opening that is close to the water at first but then it opens up into a huge chamber. I thought the cave was very cool because I thought it was going to be smaller and different.

You could only go there if you get there at low tide or else the cave entrances would be too deep at high tide. You could even see when you were inside the cave because there were chimney like holes in the top that could provide you light, so you could see a good portion of the cave. Even though the cave was huge, it was still crowded when we and our friends were over (and their dog topaz). There are also a lot of sergeant majors and squirrel fish in the area swarming and nibbling everyone. You should bring your snorkel gear because the ground is littered with colorful coral and fish. We also saw two stingrays that were the same type but one was smaller than the other. We all had a very fun time and I hope to go there again.