Friday 06 February – Staniel Cay – Compass Cay, 15 miles.

Forecast for Saturday Sunday is for SW- NW at 25-30 kts – not a good time to be in an unprotected anchorage. It started to fill in early Friday morning and it made for an exiting undocking maneuver at Staniel with 20 kts on the beam blowing us on to the dock. Jason the dock hand did an amazing job guiding us of the dock.

We headed north in 20-25 kts SW – fast but rolly poly ride. Destination Compass Cay which has an incredibly protected marina and lots of nice hiking trails on the Cay.

The entrance to compass is pretty intricate with the last 3-4 miles zig zagging between shallow sand bars. No coral reefs – thank Buddha.

Got in some time after luck and celebrated with a Kalik and one of Tucker Rolle’s Cheeseburgers. Literally and Cheeseburger in Paradise…

Jorgen feeding the sharks...........



Sunset at Compass Cay



Cresent Beach Compass Cay



View from the hilltop



Trail Markers



Main intersection Compass Cay

Tuesday 02 – Thursday 04 February – Black Point – Staniel Cay . 10 miles.

Headed back up to Staniel Cay to re-provision and attempt to refill our propane tank.
No luck with the propane since the mail boat came in a bit late and we had to leave early Friday morning to find shelter for the next front. Did get some pretty nice strip steak for a fraction of the cost at Sampson.

Q at SCYC

Monday 01 February–Warderick Wells - Black Point. 18 miles.

Back to Black Point for Tim and Diane’s departure Tuesday morning. We weren’t sure when the plane was going to arrive but had an idea it was somewhere around 08.45ish –so we headed to the airport with a trusty rental golf cart and did some donuts on the runway while waiting for the airbus to arrive. We knew things were stirring up when the Flamingo Air rep arrive in her pick up truck to check out Tim and Di’s ticket…… security is really tight here(sure)

Thanks for coming to visit us Tim & Diane- see you soon again we hope

Departures lounge - Black Point Airport




Ciao from Blackpoint



Waderick Wells from the air

Saturday 30 – Sunday 31 January – Big Majors Spot – Warderick Wells. 18 miles.

Headed north again to Warderick Wells, one of our favorite spots here in the Exumas. We arrived in time for the Saturday night bonfire beach get together and had a minor singsong and great fun by the time we got back to the boat it was too late to cook dinner, so the guests where fed some crackers before turning in for the night.
The next day Tim & Diane circumnavigated the island by foot, luckily Jorgen and I had decided to stay behind and babysit the cockpit as we had to carry out a rescue mission when Tim blew out a flip flop a couple hours into the hike. But Tim and Di are courageous fit folks and decided to have back up footwear delivered to the nearest beach and continue with their mission. Meanwhile the Kaliks were cold in the cockpit so we picked the hikers up a few hours later, fair play to them.

Thinking they had enough of physical exercise the gang decided to snorkel at the coral garden that afternoon – what energetic guests we have, (better cook dinner tonight).

The circumnavigators...



Our addition to Boo Boo Hill



Castaway on Waderick Sandbar..........



Di and Q Crew at Exuma Park HQ

Friday 29 January – Black Point– Big Majors Spot. Exumas Bahamas 10 miles.

Tim and Di were due to arrive Friday morning after missing the last flight on Thursday, we borrowed Lorraine’s (of the famous Lorraine’s café) Golf cart and with Lorraine’s mum riding shot gun navigated our way to Black Point International Aero Puerta (BPIA).

Tim & Diane arrived with our wish list goodies, spare toilet pump assembley and 5000 AA batteries along with lots of other drinkable goodies. Not thinking about what we had asked our friends to carry on the flight the TSA folks were definitely concerned about the contents of Tims luggage. The spare toilet pump assembly was a very suspicious looking apparatus and why would anyone need so many AA batteries?Thankfully it was determined that Tim and Di were not the "toilet bombers" and Mr pump assembly was allowed onboard- thank you Tim and Diane.


We loaded our guests and luggage onto Querencia and sailed up to Sampson Cay to get some water, diesel, gasoline and very expensive New York Strips (Tim & Di, you’re worth it).

Back from Sampson down to Big Majors where we anchored of Piggy Beach. Dinghy Op into Piggy Beach to feed the pigs. Tim bravely hopped in the water to feed the pig some food scraps, the pig got pretty excited at the sight of 6’2” and 220 lbs of food and swam in Tim’s direction at a speed of about 7 knots. The approaching hungry piggy got Timmy moving thru the water more like a Navy SEAL then a Navy Pilot… watch out for Timmy on youtube!

Tim & Diane arrives at BPIA...



Lorraine's trans...

Tuesday 26 - Thursday 28 January–Little Farmers Cay – Black Point Exumas Bahamas. 14 miles.

Our good friends Tim and Diane Leighton from Hampton VA are due to fly in for a quick visit on Thursday 28 Jan. Black Point is one of three places in the Exumas to which one can fly in on a small plane. Black Point is the most central airport and the dinghy ride back to the boat is the shortest one so we advised Tim and Di to fly in here.

The day before they arrived was filled with boat chores, empty all the stuff out of the v-berth, find new places to store it all (aft shower full of beer…). Maria wanted to do another mega wash so we filled up the dinghy with dirty laundry and headed ashore. Unloaded it all at the laundromat dinghy dock and attempted to reverse the dingy of the dock. Word of advice – do not attempt to reverse a 10’ dinghy into 2 foot seas, you will get swamped and very wet… With my wet tail firmly in between my legs I very cautiously drove the dinghy back to government dock and proceeded to bail it out with the manual bilge pump. One soaking wet Swedish dude walked thru the settlement of Black Point back to the Laundromat with a soggy arse and very grumpy…

Saturday 16 - Monday 25 January–Little Farmers Cay , Exumas Bahamas. 0 miles.

A time to rest and recharge the batteries. We have now been underway for nearly 3 months and moved almost every day. Both of us felt the need to slow down and smell the Kaliks a wee bit. Turns out we found the perfect spot for it.

Little Farmers Cay is the smallest settlement in the Exuma chain with only 61 (at last count) inhabitants. It features several anchorages and small mooring fields with all around protection; crystal clear (of course) turquiose waters and natural small harbor with dinghy dock and free R/O water.

The people are incredibly friendly and none more so than the proprietors of Ocean Cabin, Terry and Ernestine Bain.
Ocean Cabin is a small bar and restaurant with happy hours whenever Terry thinks it is a good idea and the best lobster in the world!

I am normally not the fond of lobster but Ernestine broils it a special way with just the right amount of hot sauce, garlic and other goodies and serves it with brown rice and Bahamian coleslaw. Paired with a chilled Chardonnay it was mind blowingly good.

Hermit crab races –Ocean Cabin
Fantastic experience, Bahamian equivalent to the Kentucky Derby and Aintree Grand National. Jorgen cleaned out the bookies and was the talk of the town, having picked the winner of both races, one of which was the Querencia Cup, sponsored no less by s/v Querencia.


Flag & Song – Little Farmers Cay
It is the only Island in the Bahamas to have its own flag which is hanging below our Bahamian Courtesy flag. They also have there own anthem which we are forced to sing after each dinner at Ocean Cabin, we know the words by heart now, great song lads.

Headin' into town...



Stressfull day at Farmers Cay...



Supporting the local fauna...

Friday 15 January–Black Point – Little Farmers Cay , Exumas Bahamas. 14 miles.

We listen to Chris Parker, the weather guru, every morning at 06:30 and the forecast is for a new cold front with westerly components to arrive sometime during the weekend. The Black Point anchorage is protected for N-NE-E-SE but totally open to the west.
Time to move on and find some protection.
We pointed the bow south with the intention of anchoring inside Musha Cay some 15-20 miles south. Half way into the south leg we changed our mind and called Ocean Cabin at Little Farmers and requested a mooring. Little Farmers sounded really cool in the guide books, the only draw back being that the entrance was a bit tricky with shallow sand bars and coral reefs. It looked like we might be in for some nail biting visual piloting to get in there. It looked worse than what is was, with Maria on the bow looking out for dark spots and the Garmin handheld with explorer charts firmly in my left hand I managed to steer the good ship Querencia to a safe landing at a mooring ball in a superbly protected anchorage.

As a side note, for those of you with Raymarine Chartplotters and Navionics charts, these charts are nearly useless for the Bahamas, trust them and you shall run aground! We purchased a little Garmin handheld plotter (Oregon 400C) with US east coast and Bahamas for about $400 – proved to be a well worth investment.

Maria recieved her Dinghy Learners Permit...



Crew of Dana .. Jim and Bonnie... Exiting Iguana Cave....

Wednesday 13 – Thursday 14 January–Big Majors Spot – Black Point, Exumas Bahamas. 7 miles.

We headed down to Black Point, the largest settlement in the Exuma chain with approximately 200 inhabitants, located on Great Iguana Cay.

It was nice to experience a real Bahamian settlement. The people of Black Point are very hospitable and friendly. Everyone waves hello and is genuinely happy to see you. The chislers head to school in green and yellow uniforms and always greet you with a smile.

Black Point also has a great Laundromat so Maria, the Laundry Queen, was ecstatic and used about 9 of the 12 available machines – monster wash

We had lunch at Lorraine’s, rented a golf cart from Adderley’s Friendly Supermarket and drove around the island as far as our golf cart could go. The roads are well maintained in the CBD but as soon as the houses thin out the condition and terrain changes dramatically. We didn’t want to wreck our wheels on the harsh terrain which otherwise required a serious ATV.

Bailin' Lindqvist from the klink...



Off roadin' , Dude...



Black Point anchorage...



Downtown Black Point...

Tuesday 12 January– Sampson’s Cay – Big Majors Spot , Exumas Bahamas. 7 miles.

The cold front blew over and in beautiful weather we set off, Tuesday Morning, to make our way down to Big Major’s Spot and anchored outside Piggy Beach. Hopped in the dinghy and rode over to the Thunderball Grotto where we met up with the crew from Rambunctious. Thunderball Grotto is a famous underwater cave that has featured in many movies and lent it’s name to the Jimmy Bond classic “Thunderball”.
The Thunderball dive should only be attempted at slack tide since the current that runs thru it is fierce. We tied the dinghy to a mooring ball, donned our fins and masks and graciously plopped in the water. The grotto was fantastic with a myriad of fish of different shapes and colors. As it turned out we mistimed the slack tide by an hour or so and we were catapulted through the grotto at about 3 knots. Just managed to miss the coral walls by executing a perfect hand brake turn at speed as we exited the cave. Phew!

Contemporary Bahamian Arhcitecture...and 12 pounder...



Mad Moira the Beach Bum...



Internet Outhouse...



Leaving Sampson...