2024 Bahamas: Staniel Cay to Black Point

 12 March 2024
Depart: Staniel Cay anchorage 10:30
Depart: Fuel Dock Staniel Cay 12:30
Arrive: Blackpoint anchorage 2:30
Distance: 12 nm
Conditions: Sunny with Cool Breezy

 The distance from Staniel Cay to Black Point is not very far, so Clark decided to run the generator before we left this morning to give the batteries a charge. We finally pulled up anchor and were on our way by 10:30. I was surprised since I thought we had planned an early departure.

On the way to the fuel dock, I spied a 5-masted sailing vessel anchored in the Atlantic Ocean. When I pointed it out to Clark, he altered his course so we could get a closer look and some pictures.

The boat’s name was given as “Club Med 2” with a length of 614’, width / beam of 66’, and 17.7’ draft.

We passed some interesting terrain / coral on our way to the fuel dock.

When we arrived at the fuel dock, we did not get good new. A catamaran was getting fuel / water at the dock, and two other boats were in queue waiting their turn.

It took forever for the CAT to leave. Even though he was not the cause of the pile up, the vessel (Stayin Afloat), behind the CAT,  apologized to the boat behind him (Jolly Roger) . JR’s response, “No worries. It’s a sunny day in the Bahamas with calm seas!” 

Part of the problem with time delays was due to the procedure for paying. The dock staff gave the boat owner a receipt for items purchased. Then someone from the boat had to walk the long dock to the dock master's office to pay there then trot back and get underway. 

“Stayin Afloat” and “Jolly Roger” got their provisions as quickly as possible and got out of there. Then finally, just before noon, we got our turn to get fuel / water. We took on 164 gallons of fuel @ $5.75 per gallon and 142 gallons of water @ $0.40 per gallon. Even though we tried to be efficient, that took some time to complete. The sailboat behind us had to wait about 30 minutes for us to skedaddle.

We left the fuel dock and were actually enroute to our next destination at 12:30 – a full two hours after we pulled up our anchor. Clark had no need to run the generator this morning as by the time we got our fuel, the batteries were almost fully charged.

As we pulled away from the fuel dock, a boat behind us radioed Clark that our swim ladder was down in the water. Clark said I should station keep while he went back to the swim platform to address the situation. He said, “Just don’t make any sudden moves!” and took off.

No sooner did he leave the helm than the fuel dock attendant started yelling at us that we were heading into a reef. Clark came flying back up to point me in the right direction. When he “dumped the boat in my lap and took off downstairs”, he gave me no transitional information on where we were on the chart, what direction the current was flowing, wind direction, whatever. All he said was, “Station Keep” and ran! I had about a nanosecond to figure things out, and in that amount of time I almost put us on a “Rocky Shoal”.

He was back in a flash from pulling in the swim ladder. I gladly gave the helm over to him while giving him an earful about not giving any transitional information before leaving me in a less-than-stellar location!

I have mentioned in my Bahamas’ posts how strange I find it that, although we can see to the bottom quite frequently, we have seen no sea life in the water. Today, partway between Staniel Cay and Black Point, we were shocked to see numerous dolphins swim past our boat. As they swam near and around us I could hear them making chirping sounds as they “talked” to each other. I wondered what they were saying about us. Clark tried for a picture but captured nothing but black silhouettes under water -- none of which were worth including in this update.

We arrived at our waypoint for Black Point at 1:50. 

As expected, the anchorage was crowded.

Hunting for a spot to drop anchor

On our way to look for a spot to accommodate us, we passed the Black Point Yacht Club (BPYC), the Hightide Café, and a sign for Lorraine’s Café.

High Tide Cafe (yellow)
BPYC (blue bldg)

As we wove our way through the anchorage, we spied two young children playing in the water with masks and snorkels. We wanted to be sure they did not get in our path as we went past that area. The kids seemed oblivious to our existence. An adult stood on their boat watching the kids. Not once did he alert them to our presence or call them to come in closer for safety. He decided we were no danger and left the kids to themselves. He sure was a lot braver or careless than I would have been with my children or grandchildren.

I noticed that 98% of the boats in the anchorage are sailing vessels – Cats and monohulls. We found a corner by Dothan Point where a couple of other motor vessels were anchored and joined them. This spot is pretty far from the cell tower, and the ability to have WiFi is poor to nonexistent. I wrote up the blog entry but could not post it.

Even though Clark said the sunset would disappoint tonight due to lack of cloud cover, I decided to take a picture anyway. I took it before the sun was all the way down. After it disappeared below the horizon, the view was blah.