Sailing VATA: January 2018

Before we left the Bahamas, we visited Chat 'n Chill Beach, where there is a tall signpost. Someone had already posted a sign from Lake Huron's North Channel!

Karen looking at the Chat 'n Chill Beach sign post.

We left Sand Dollar Beach in George Town's Elizabeth Harbour on Saturday, January 13th to begin our passage to Jamaica. The trip would take us northeast around the northern tip of Long Island (Cape Santa Maria, named after Christopher Columbus' main ship on his first expedition to the Americas), and we would turn south -southeasterly by-passing the rest of the Bahamian islands toward the Windward passage between Haiti and Cuba. We passed the Tropic of Cancer, 23 degrees, 30.00' N at 6 p.m.. As we neared the Windward Passage the number of commercial ships increased significantly. We rounded Cuba's Punta Maisi (southeastern tip) at 6 p.m. on Monday January 15th.

Sunset over southeastern Cuba

The southeast trade winds were blowing day and night, and we were making good time, however, it meant if we maintained our speed and direction, we would make landfall in Port Antonio, Jamaica in the middle of the night. We reduced sails to a little patch of jib, and the third reef in our main sail, and we still sailed at 4.5 knots. Dawn on Wednesday morning, presented the emerging Blue Mountains of Eastern Jamaica! We arrived at Port Antonio's Errol Flynn Marina to clear customs at 10.

Jamaica's Blue Mountains behind Port Antonio!!

We're cleared into Jamaica after piles of paperwork!

The marina was very conveniently located close to downtown, so off we went to check out the town! It is a small town, but had much more to offer than most of the Bahamas (except for perhaps Marsh Harbour). The vegetation was lush and green - it was obvious we were in the tropics! We stopped at Piggy's (World famous jerk chicken) and had some delicious jerk.

The park beside the Errol Flynn Marina

We had to stop at Piggy's world famous Jerk Chicken!

A surprising number of very small vendors line the streets of Port Antonio

A side street in Port Antonio in need of maintenance.

Abundance of fresh produce was available along streets or at the "market".

We met several other sailors at the marina, some who left George Town on the same day as us, and others who came over from other distant shores. It was like a UN meeting! While we planned to move west across the north coast of Jamaica, we also started making arrangements for transiting the Panama Canal in the near future. There was lots of advice from experienced boaters, that we could not pass up.

The sailors out one night in Port Antonio (US, Germany, Poland, Australia, and Canada).

It's a blurry picture, but everyone was better the next day...

We Left Port Antonio, and sailed to Orcabessa Bay, once home to Ian Flemming who wrote the James Bond books. It is now part of a very expensive resort. Next we visited Discovery Bay, where Christopher Columbus visited Jamaica in 1490, and now we are anchored close to the Montego Bay Yacht Club.

The Orcabessa Bay fishing fleet. A beautiful, calm bay.

Montego Bay was under a Security Alert to quell some unrest caused by gangs, but by the time we arrived things were more or less under control. We anchored off the Montego Bay Yacht club, and paid to use club facilities. Clean and safe. We saw the odd police check on a roadside, but never felt at risk. Shopping in Montego Bay was excellent, but still a bit expensive, even to Canadian standards, but availability was very good.

The city of Montego Bay - a portion seen from the harbour.

Next, we plan to sail around the corner to Negril. From Negril, we plan to sail directly to Panama, avioding several shallow banks and a number of small Columbian islands.

Thank you Jamaica! Out of many, one people... and the people are wonderful!

We'll keep you posted!

We crossed the Exuma Sound and made it to an anchorage outside of Highbourne Cay. This was our first taste of the Exumas, and there was a marked difference from Bahamas’ other island groups. First, it was very shallow turquoise water and white sand and dry little limestone islands that don’t support a lot of vegetation. Secondly, and because of the beauty and close proximity to Florida, they are also very popular, and the most obvious difference was the higher number of boats visiting the area. It was actually crowded. The Highbourne Cay Marina was a very nice, well maintained place, although their store was expensive. The cheap prices of the Maxwell in Marsh Harbour were now far behind us.

The main highway and church near the government dock at Staniel Cay, Exumas

Bar clock in Staniel Cay Yacht Club. No more needs to be said.

We hopped down the Exumas, staying in one beautiful anchorage after the other, careful to heed the strong tidal currents in the passes between the shallow Exuma Bank and the Deep Exuma Sound! These islands, their white sand beaches, and clear turquoise waters are perfect calendar page material, and we loved it! It was here that I started hunting for fresh coconuts, and accessing their sweet milk and meat with my machete.

Anchored near the northern tip of Lee Stocking Island in crystal clear water!

Sand bars visible in 15' of water at Lee Stocking Island

We heard that Georgetown, on Great Exuma Island is a good town for supplies, has a nice harbour, and therefore supports a huge fleet of “snowbirds” from around the world. These boaters come back here year after year, and there is a great cruiser’s net to get help, and increase awareness of new arrivals, departures, activities, etc run by "Bill" on his ketch "Karisma". And it is here, in Georgetown’s Elizabeth Harbour, that we work on the boat, go exploring in town and on nearby islands, buy groceries, and wait for a weather window to sail to Jamaica.