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...

Friday 08 - Monday 11 January– Sampson’s Cay, Exumas Bahamas. 15 miles.

Hola Dudes,

It's been a while since last blogging. It appears that we may have a problem with not only time but dates. All the following posts are in non-chronological order.

Plenty of Kaliks and Bahamian WiFi can do that to you...

After nearly three weeks on the hook and mooring balls we were ready for some luxury in a Marina. From time to time we need to fill up water, diesel and gasoline tanks, charge the batteries to 100%, take care of some internet business, eat in restaurants and take long showers.

Chris Parker, the weather Guru whom we listen to on our SSB radio receiver at 06:30 nearly every morning, promised another front with a NW component, front number 5. Very few places in the Exumas offer good protection at anchor from the W or NW. Normally this is not a problem since prevailing winds are NE or E.

Knowing the front was coming we headed down to Sampson’s Cay for a few nights in a Marina.

Saturday we dinghied up to Rachel’s Bubble Bath on Compass Cay and had The Office and Rambunctious over for dinner on Querencia. That night Front 5 starts blowing in – good call to stay at Sampson Marina!!

Sunday chill out and watch movies and catch up on the blogging business.

Sleepy sharks off Q's stern...



In like Flynn...