Compass Cay Marina
Latitude: 24.26083 Longitude: -76.51279
BD420 (Friday, 3/01/13) – BD426 (Thursday, 3/7/13) – On Friday, the wind died down as the day went on. Around 6 p.m. we got on the tender for Sea Clef, along with 8 others and headed to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. Janine’s friend, Chloe, arrived this morning and when Barry and Janine went to pick her up, they ran into a couple of other friends, spending a long weekend on Staniel Cay, who returned to spend the day here at Compass. So there were 6 people from Sea Clef, Rick & I, and Loan and Trevon Rolle. Eight of us had dinner together as the other couple had made previous plans. We all had a nice dinner and a good boat ride back arriving about 10:30 p.m.
Saturday was our daughter-in-law, Kellie’s, birthday. She sent us a thank you e-note for the present we left there for her when we were home in December. It was a crèche for a nativity set that she has been collecting over the last several years. It was the last piece that she needed to finish the set and she said that she was very excited to get it. A cold front is moving through and it rained off and on all day with winds between 25 and 30 mph and dropping temperatures. We had planned to have a pot luck dinner tonight, but gave up on that idea shortly after noon. I finished reading the book Water for Elephants. I enjoyed the book. I first heard of it when the Bradenton Yacht Club’s Book Club selected it. Their meetings were held at the same time as another meeting we normally attended, so I did not participate. For some reason, I thought the name was metaphoric and really had no idea that it had anything to do with the circus. I read the author’s notes at the end and it said that she made a number of trips to Sarasota doing research. If you haven’t read it, I recommend it.
The sun came out the next morning long enough for all of us to have some of Dave’s “Sunday” waffles. The temperature hovered just below 70 degrees but with cloud cover and some rain expected along with predicted gusts of 35 mph, we decided to postpone the pot luck supper until Monday. Rick went out fishing in the afternoon with Barry, Rich and Gail. They came back with a tuna and a mahi mahi. Both fish will be used for the pot luck dinner. Because of the weather, we have about 15 boats staying in this 18-boat marina today.
Monday morning was sunny, breezy and cool. Several boats left the marina and one large sail boat with a French-speaking family came in for the night. We had a great pot luck supper on the docks, even though it was still cool. There was too much food to describe it all, but the meat dishes included fried mahi mahi, grilled tuna, and grilled chicken (teriyaki and barbecued). In addition to those there was lobster macaroni and cheese, and lobster macaroni salad. I made a crock pot full of 15-bean soup which also included kielbasa. There were multiple salads, vegetables, and deserts. And, before all that, there were appetizers, as well. After dinner, I settled into our nice warm boat (the heater has been running in the pilot house for the last several days) and Rick announced that he was going for a walk because he ate too much!
The sunshine on Tuesday made all right with the world. We received an e-mail from Tillie and Jimmy. They have ordered a water maker for the S/V Mimi and are looking forward to getting it installed and leaving Andros, headed our way, on May 6. They will “hang out” at Big Majors for a while and then we will set off with them to Georgetown. They plan to be back on Andros around the first of June. Depending on when they leave Georgetown, we may try to fly from there to spend a day or two with the Bradenton Yacht Club’s Power Fleet on their Bahamas Cruise Away. That’s still very “iffy”, but a nice thought. Rick went out fishing this afternoon.
On Wednesday, Rick had planned to go out 40 miles to fish with Loan, Barry & Rich. We all got up early to see them off, but the plans changed and they didn’t go. Despite that fact, we have fresh mahi mahi, tuna and wahoo on the boat. The wind is out of the west again and by the end of the day the marina was full.
By Thursday morning the wind had shifted to the north so several of the boats left and some more came in. The air conditioner in the pilot house is reverse cycle. That means that we set the temperature we prefer and it either puts out cool air or warm air to make it that temperature. So, with the cool weather we’ve been having, and the pilot house being mostly glass, the heat comes on when it is sometimes not necessary. Therefore, we have been turning off the air in the pilot house and opening up the boat to the cool breeze. This also lends itself to having conversations with everyone that walks down the south dock towards the marina office. We took Tucker’s Boston Whaler down to Staniel Cay this afternoon to pick up some groceries for him. Gail went along with us. Everything went smoothly. We got most of what Tucker wanted and got some groceries for us as well. We stopped at Sampson Cay Marina’s store on the way down and that was the first time that Gail had been there.
BD427 (Friday, 3/08/13) – BD433 (Thursday, 3/14/13) –
Friday, March 8th 2013, would have been my mother’s 84th birthday. Pancreatic cancer took her from us on May 2, 2003. Of course, as time passes, you think more about the good times than those few bad weeks before the end. In past years, my family (my father, both of my brothers and my husband) have raced motorcycles – mostly in off-road, “through the woods”, endurance races. My father’s racing led to his and Mom’s becoming members of the Daytona Dirt Riders Association. One of the events that they “help out with” is the Alligator Enduro which is held in the Daytona Beach area in conjunction with the International Race Week and major motorcycle races at the Daytona International Speedway. This event often fell on my mother’s birthday and she would be out in the woods with my father and many of their friends working a “check point.” I sent an e-mail to my Dad today and asked about his participation in this year’s Alligator, which is March 14th. His response was, “I am working this year, and then retiring. This is a special year because our checkpoint will have 5 Cambre’s on it and it includes 4 generations of us for the first time. Me, Bllly, Rick, Missy, AND Michael.” Well, Dad still thinks of me as having the last name Cambre and I’ve been married 40 years! Anyway, he is very proud to have both of his sons, his granddaughter, Melissa Frantz (my brother Rick’s daughter) and her son, Michael Frantz (14 ½ years old), working with him this year. I wish I could be there as well.
Saturday was very nice, sunny with a cool breeze. After talking with JP and Kellie on Thursday, I e-mailed Rick’s Mother and my Dad and am very excited that we will all be getting together in Ormond Beach for Easter. There will be Rick’s mother and brother, Rick & I and my Dad, and JP, our son, his wife Kellie and their daughter, Vanessa. The bunch on the dock have planned another pot luck supper for tonight. Tokkie of the ATA Marie ( a Nordhavn 56MS), with his mate, Gail, went for a hike up to Rachel’s Bubble Bath and later in the evening, he gave me a very nice walking stick to use on my hikes around the islands. Also of note (to me anyway) Rick got the outboard engine repaired today and the dinghy is back in the water!
A lot of us gathered around the picnic tables for Dave’s “Sunday waffles”. We started a little bit later than usual because today was the start of Daylight Savings Time. There were so many of us that we ate in shifts. Around sunset, we celebrated Janine’s birthday with a cake that I had baked in the afternoon. I had candles but no decorations, so I improvised. I had added some fresh lemon juice to the yellow cake mix, so I put yellow (lemon) gum drops on the cake. Everyone enjoyed the cake. I told Janine that we put one candle on the cake because it was the first birthday that she had spent with us. She really appreciated it, especially after I told her that it was really daunting baking a cake for a chef! Barry had a dozen red roses flown in for her on Saturday. And, as their 9th wedding anniversary is this coming Thursday, they are celebrating both by going to dinner at Fowl Cay Resort on Wednesday night.
On Monday, Rick and Barry went fishing with Jamaal and Loan Rolle. He sent out multiple spot location notices during the day to let me and Janine know where there were. The first one came in just after 10:30 am. They were on the east side of the Tongue of the Ocean off of Kemps Bay on Andros and Kemps Bay on Great Guana Cay, just south of Black Point. Trevon told me that they said they were going to Green Cay. The link to the Google Map was: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=24.03853,-77.18707&ll=24.03853,-77.18707&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
After the first SPOT message went out, I got an e-mail from Aunt Tillie, on Andros, asking if someone stole the SPOT! I replied that Rick was fishing and wanted to let me know where he was and that he was OK. Their second spot location check-in listed the following link:
That location is shown in the picture below.
We had fish for supper!
On Tuesday, shortly before 9:00, the ATM Marie pulled out of the marina headed to Highbourne and eventually up to Annapolis, by May, to have some work done. Rick said we would probably see them again for New Year’s Eve when Tokkie has planned to have his family here for the holidays. The wind is blowing a steady 15mph from the ENE and will be getting stronger every day. I pretty much operate on “island time” so I am rarely out of bed by 9, but I made an effort and was able to wave goodbye to Gail while they were still in the basin.
Several boats left this morning, but by 2:00 the marina was full again with more boats calling on the radio asking for space. Tucker says that they have rafted boats before and they may have to do it again. One of the unexpected boats that pulled in this afternoon was Zeus. The captain of Zeus is Trevor Rolle, one of Tucker’s sons and Trevon’s father. Loan was going to try to find a place for them to stay overnight, but the owner decided to go on somewhere else. They have been here several times before.
There is a secondary entrance (not very deep) to the south of the marina and the main entrance to the west. This causes the water to swirl inside the basin with the incoming and outgoing tides. This “swirl” especially when combined with wind can make docking a challenge. The configuration of the marina here is a little different from most. It is basically a large Y ( I have attempted to draw a diagram which is definitely not to scale).
There are three finger docks that come off of the south dock, at the south end, creating slips; then there is a center dock (which is really a little off-center) and a north dock. At any rate, the configuration gives them the most flexibility for enabling most any size boat to be accommodated. On Wednesday morning, a 65’ catamaran, while trying to dock just across from us, got caught by the current and ran in to the anchor of the boat in a slip, pushing it against the boat docked next to it, Living Large, then hitting the piling on the end of the pier pretty hard, all while trying not to careen into the 125’ yacht, Caprice, on the center dock. Naturally everyone watched the accident and at least 15 men and women tried to help. Rick took a fender and jumped on the unattended boat, to wedge between the anchor and the sailboat. Finally, Barry, the captain of the 85’ yacht, Sea Clef, jumped into a dinghy and pushed the nose of the catamaran around to where it needed to be. I said that everyone saw it, but the family on the boat that got hit was across the island at the beach and didn’t find out about it until they returned. They said there was no significant damage to their boat, and Dave, on Living Large said the same thing, so the only boat that was damaged was the catamaran from Tahiti. All of the men in the marina agreed that the long scrape down the side of the catamaran’s pontoon, made by the anchor, should be able to be buffed out. After they got settled in, a trawler that is traveling with them came in and rafted off to them.
Compass Cay Marina is billed as an 18-slip marina, but at the end of the day there were 24 boats in the marina ranging in size from 125’ to 35’, with only a couple under 50’. One boat, that has been left here in storage by the owner, is now rafted to our boat. Rich and Karen, New Horizon, came back and their boat is rafted to Sea Clef. The website, www.windfinder.com says the waves at Staniel Cay, just a few miles south of here, will be over 6 feet in height tomorrow with wind gusting to 38 mph in the morning, the waves will go down to 5 on Friday, and 4 on Saturday.
We have been growing some herbs and a tomato. Today, we harvested our first tomato and ate it on a sandwich it was delicious.
The clouds moved in around 5 with rain beginning at 6 – no sundown to see tonight and a heavy downpour around 9 pm.
Thursday was sunny and breezy. Rick and I walked over the ridge to the beach and then down to Hester’s Ruins. We met Dave there and asked if the place had been painted. He said yes, he brought the paint and asked Tucker to have staff paint the walls and the deck. This had all been done yesterday. The exterior wall was a pale yellow and the interior walls were beige. The deck was blue. It looked great.
Several boats left the marina today, and only one came in, so we have a little breathing room.
BD434 (Friday, 3/15/13) through BD439 (Wednesday, 3/20/13) –
On Friday more boats left, including some of the big boats that were tied to the north dock. The two boats that were placed at the storage dock have been moved over to the north dock and McBoat has been unleashed from us and moved back to the storage dock. It is still windy, coming from the north), but apparently not a problem for moving from one island to another. Caprice (125’) left this morning and an 85’ boat is expected to come in and take its place. We got an e-mail from JP. He said that his cousin, Melissa, posted to Facebook how much she and her son enjoyed the Alligator Enduro yesterday and that now, Michael wants a motorcycle. JP told her that they could have his Dad’s (early 1970’s) Yamaha 175 IT. It needs a little work, but should run. Now, they are trying to figure out how to get it over to the Daytona area. He is thinking that they may be able to bring it with them when they come to his grandmother’s for Easter.
Saturday, 3/16/13, was Trevon Rolle’s 18th birthday, so we had a pot luck supper in his honor. In the morning, Trillium, a 75’ motor yacht which had been squeezed in front of us, left along with some of the other boats. I made cupcakes and Janine made a yogurt cake because there were so many people. Karen, of New Horizons also made her really yummy Coconut Rum Brownies. She says she simply replaces the two tablespoons of water which is called for in her recipe with two tablespoons of coconut rum. They have a nice coconut flavor. Before they left, we got some amazing photos from the captain of Marie Helene, the big catamaran across the dock from us. He had gone up his mast the day that the marina was full and taken lots of pictures. The one below was looking straight down his mast. We are on the right side of the picture with our nose pointing down (south) and the SeaRay (McBoat) rafted off of us pointing north.
Sunday started off as usual with Dave’s “Sunday Waffles.” The winds have died down, but the temperature is hovering around 70 degrees. It is great when the sun is shining, but is still a little cool when it goes in and out of the clouds as it is today. It is St. Patrick’s Day, so we are both wearing a bit o’ the green – just to ward off any possibility of being pinched. We are going to have corned beef for supper, but, alas, no green beer. I sent a few e-cards out to family letting them know we are thinking of them. I especially hope to hear back from my niece, Shay. This will be her first St. Patty’s Day in the city of Chicago and I imagine she may have a story or two to tell when this day is done. I hope she is enjoying herself.
On Monday, Rick and I both worked on getting together information we need for our Federal Income Tax return which we will submit when we are in the States in April. We received an e-mail from Shay. She confirmed that they do dye the river green in Chicago for St. Patrick’s Day and said that our card really brightened up her day. We also received a card with an “Ode to Beer” from Eileen and Bill. They also gave us an update on their “goings on” out in Utah. Bill says he feels better than he has in months. They are planning on opening the gallery by the end of the month so there is much to do. If you haven’t seen his absolutely gorgeous scenic photos, be sure to visit his website at www.endsoftheearthphoto.com We also heard from Steve and Joy Fredrick. He says that they left Trinidad on February 27th. Their first night was to be their roughest passage and he was very happy that there were no seas over 10 or 12 feet. They have already visited Grenada, Carriacou, Bequia and St. Lucia. Now they are spending some time exploring Martinique. He says that the island has 10 rum distilleries and they have only visited two so far! Martinique is one of the islands down that way that we have not been to – yet. Reading his description sure makes me want to see it someday. He says that the whole island is very clean and since the volcano eruption, about 20 years ago, some of the rebuilt facilities are modern. It was also interesting to hear about the cars he has seen on the island. Steve said, “We rented a small Nissan 4 door, 5 speed coupe for our touring. Quite unlike anything in the USA. It was the most fun driving I have experienced in many years. Very powerful, tight handling, and a good ride as well. We’ve seen modern Citroens, Peugeots, Renaults, and a few brands we’ve never seen before but only one Chevy, and it was surely out of place. Winding up and down the mountains in that car was a treat. Fuel is almost $7 a gallon here vs the $ .84 in Trinidad.” It was good to get news from Chicago, Utah, and Martinique. What a small world we live in.
Tuesday morning, Rick looked over the bow of the boat and saw a shark resting in the coral, so he decided to take a picture of it.
Wikipedia says, “The nurse shark is a common inshore bottom-dwelling shark, found in tropical and subtropical waters. Nurse sharks are nocturnal animals, spending the day in large inactive groups of up to 40 individuals. Their diet consists primarily of crustaceans, mollusks, tunicates, sea snakes, and other fish, particularly stingrays. Although their small mouths limit the size of prey, the sharks have large throat cavities which are used as a sort of bellows valve. In this way nurse sharks are able to suck in their prey. It has been reported in some unprovoked attacks on humans but is not generally perceived as a threat. Divers have often provoked the shark, however, by grabbing a motionless specimen by the tail.”
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Although it is a little hard to read in this picture (you can click on it to make it larger), Tucker has posted these signs near the “Shark” dock. The bottom sign says “Do not pull tail or fins.” The “Shark” dock is a special little dock just across from the marina office door that is several steps down. Several times every day, it is under water (6 to 12 inches). This is the place that most of the sharks gather and the area where they are used to being fed. When the tour boats come, their guests get in and swim with the sharks all around this dock.
The website www.enchantedlearning.com says, “No one is sure how they got their name; it might be because they make a sucking sound that is a little like the sound of a nursing baby.”
The fuel barge came into the marina today. They have to dock on the south side of the north dock. This meant that all of the boats on the north dock (the longest dock) and Sea Clef (85 feet), on the north side of the center dock had to leave while the fuel barge was in. The largest boat in the marina today is about 150 feet long. The fuel barge was here for a couple of hours. They don’t sell gas or diesel fuel here, but they need it to keep their generators and other equipment running.
Dave has been cleaning up around Hester’s Ruins since he got here in January. He was waiting for a west wind to host a bonfire at the site. Tonight was the night. Tucker has had Mano helping to move the scrap wood into a pile at the edge of the small cliff that the remains of the house sit on. It started out small, but quickly became a roaring fire which we all enjoyed.
Rick contacted Enterprise on Wednesday and made arrangements for our rental car to be picked up in Ft. Lauderdale on March 30. What a beautiful day this was. The breeze was slight and the seas were calm. Rick and I took one of the Compass Cay Whalers to Staniel Cay for lunch and then a walk to the blue store. We bought groceries for four different boats at the marina and then took our time coming back. Just after we arrived Zacouska, an 87 foot yacht, squeezed into the last available dock space in the marina. There wasn’t a spare foot in front or in back of it.
BD440 (Thursday, 3/21/13) through BD (Wednesday, 3/27/13) –
On Thursday, we had wifi, so we talked to JP via SKYPE and took care of e-mailing information needed for me to go back on the County’s insurance program. We enjoyed “sundowners” on the dock.
We decided to have a pot luck supper Friday because Rich & Karen on New Horizons and Ed & Karen on Sea Clef, as well as their crew, Barry, Janine & Sarah will all be leaving Compass Cay tomorrow. It was a nice supper, as usual, but a little later than normal because Barry, Rick & Loan went out diving and didn’t return until after 6:30. As you can see in the picture below, they brought back some conch and some lobster which were enjoyed by all that evening.
Saturday morning we said goodbye to New Horizons and Sea Clef. In the afternoon, we took the dinghy up the creek to the proposed bridge and started out on the Jungle Trail. As you approach the area you can see the first ruins.
According to the sign, this used to be a marine store.
There was another building next to it which seems to have been a home.
Rick brought the machete with him to help clear the way for us to walk.
After a short walk, we saw the sign that led to a well. There were lots of bromeliad plants growing all around this rocky hole in the ground. They were not blooming, so they look a lot like a pineapple plant.
- Dry Well with Bromeliads
Wikipedia says, “Bromeliads are native mainly to the tropical Americas, with a few species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa. The family includes both epiphytes, such as Spanish moss, and terrestrial species, such as the pineapple. Many bromeliads are able to store water in a structure formed by their tightly-overlapping leaf bases and this species includes a large number of desert-dwelling succulents.
The largest bromeliad reaches 3–4 meters tall in vegetative growth with a flower spike 9–10 meters tall, and the smallest is Spanish moss.”
Eventually, we came to “Crabby Flats” and another dry well that is supposedly guarded by “Willie the Water Boa”.
At this point, we were led by another sign to follow a rock wall up (key word is up!) to a Loyalist House Ruins. I was a little disappointed to find (after my very aerobic workout) that all we could find was the ruins of an old animal pen. After returning to the marina, Tucker told Rick that there were ruins of a house up there. He said that he had not been up there in quite some time and it had become very overgrown, so he could not tell us in what direction to look for it. We may try again to explore the area a little more, after Rick sharpens his machete!
Once I had a chance to catch my breath, we headed back down the trail to the beach on Baby Conch Bay where we went for a swim. Since this bay is shallow, the water temperature was very pleasant.
After we had a chance to cool down in the water, Rick left me there to climb the trail up to Compass Peak, the highest point on the island. He took some great pictures from up there. What a beautiful afternoon we spent together on this deserted part of the island.
Sunday was overcast, windy and warm, but it didn’t keep us from enjoying “Dave’s Sunday Waffles.” Below is a picture of Dave giving the first waffle of the day to Tucker. As usual, they were yummy.
Rick went with Loan to Staniel to pick up some guests in the afternoon and I made an early supper for us. We usually don’t eat lunch on Sunday (because of the waffles.)
When we got up during the night we noticed that the boat was really rocking. The weather site for Staniel Cay said it was blowing about 35 mph at 4 a.m. Just after noon on Monday, it had calmed down to 15 mph (which is not really calm – especially when it is coming from the west.) It was very warm again today with temperatures in the 80’s – feeling more like 90. Rick helped Tucker locate a leak in the water lines in the afternoon while I just stayed out of the wind and heat doing some research for our trip south in May/June/July. Just before sunset, the M/V KelDi boat came in. The owner, Don Johnson, said hello to Rick and Tucker as he walked over to the beach. From Wikipedia, “Don Johnson is an American actor and recording artist perhaps best known for his lead role as James “Sonny” Crockett in the 1980s television series, Miami Vice. He also played the lead role in the 1990s cop series, Nash Bridges.”
On Tuesday, i t rained in the early morning hours and stayed overcast all morning.
Wednesday started out cool with people wearing sweatshirts but, although not warm, the afternoon was very pleasant. Rick and I walked over to the beach to see the restored tiki hut that Mano has been working on this week. Mano put in new foundations and moved the steps from the water side to the island side.
We also saw the new location for the planetarium and the picnic table that Dave restored. Apparently, they had both been damaged by last year’s storms. Dave repainted all of the spheres in the planetarium and put on new lines as well. He made it from items that he found on the beach. The picnic table had been completely destroyed, but he managed to find all of the pieces on the beach and put it back together.
BD447 (Thursday, 3/28/13) through BD450 (Sunday 3/31/13) –
Around 10:00 Thursday morning, four boats left the marina, one right after the other. The last to leave was the M/V Seamantha. In anticipation of a 70’ boat coming in earlier this week, they moved Seamantha up into a corner right in front of the marina office. When it came time for them to leave, they were wedged in between the 70 footer, Drama Queen and Don Johnson’s large boat, the KelDi. First, the sailboat, Cynthia Gale, departed giving them about 8 feet to move Drama Queen back. KelDi’s captain got in his tender and tied on to the back of Seamantha to pull her stern out while they continued to hold the bow line at the dock. Once they got turned and the bow line was released, Seamantha’s Captain used his thrusters to stay off of several boats successfully “shooting the gap” and turning out to the Bahama Bank.
On Friday, both Drama Queen and KelDi left the marina. We spent most of the day getting ready for our trip to Florida.
Saturday was a day of travel for us. We took a boat, golf cart, plane and rental car to get from Compass Cay, Exuma, Bahamas to Ormond Beach, Florida, where Rick’s mother and brother live. JP, Kellie and Vanessa drove over and spent the night so that we could all spend Easter Sunday together.
On Sunday my father joined us for Easter lunch. Kellie and JP gave “Grandma” a lovely tulip plant for Easter and brought a small Easter bag for each of us. When we opened the plastic egg in each bag, there was an announcement that they are expecting a baby on October 18, 2013! We are so excited for them. Let me tell you, we will always remember this Easter.
Our journey has been inspired by Joy and Steve Fredrick. You can see more of their story at