Saturday, March 12, 2016

Cambridge Cay GoPro

...Yes, the water is gin clear...
We count Cambridge Cay as the heart of the Exumas Land and Sea Park with coral gardens, sea aquariums, caves, beaches and more beaches. Most people count Warderick Wells as the heart of the park and that too is spectacular, but we really enjoy Cambridge Cay. Tomorrow we may move up to Warderick Wells. We may go out into the Exuma Sound and sail north or we will go inside on the Banks and navigate the shifting sand bores. The water is so clear and so beautiful, it will be interesting no matter which way we go.

Heading out to snorkel 


We are working hard on water conservation as we push our 90 gallon water tank to about 11-18 days. This includes taking showers every day using our solar shower, staying hydrated, washing dishes, cleaning the boat and rinsing after swimming. Thanks to our Multi-Pure filter, we drink our boat water. We can get our water usage down to 5 to 8 gallons perday total, so that allows us to go 11 to 18 days at best. After that, we run out of water! No water means we need to exit the park area and go to Staniel Cay Yacht Club, dock, and take on water at fifty cents per gallon. So our 90 gallon water tank costs $45 to fill it up, not bad when you look where we are!

Spectra Ventura 200
For 15 years we have learned how to cruise on 90 gallons of water. From the Bahamas to Block Island, we have often jugged water. We carry water in 5 gallon jugs from land into the dinghy and then lift them up to the deck and pour into the water tank. This will be the last year for this activity, no more. We are installing the Spectra Venture 200 Watermaker which will make 8-10 gallons of water an hour and it only takes 8-10 amps of power. We have the power and we will be able to run it off solar or wind. We chose this model at the St. Petersburg Boat Show in December. Water is a real challenge here in the Exumas and all over the Bahamas so a watermaker will solve our water needs.

Speaking of water, take a look at our GoPro water photos from today......love this area!


Radeen ready to go swim with the fishes

Radeen loves the water more than anyone I know, Pisces, of course.

FISH FISH FISH
Scientific name: Abudefduf saxatilis
I love looking up to the surface, notice the needle nose fish

These Sergeant Major fish are so tame because they are used to being fed

Fun Fun Fun, fish fish fish Sergeant Major

This one wanted a selfie

Off to the sand bar and then the ocean beach 

Anchor the dinghy and walk into the beach, tides are 4 feet

Hey look, a shady spot with  fish net hammocks

Hammock selfie, why not :-)

The beach all to ourselves

Walking home to the "car" (our dinghy) for a fast ride back to the boat
The winds are still blowing 20 knots nearly every day, the current is running 3+ knots, so we have not our new diving gear as of yet. We hope we find a good spot soon. For now, it is simply fun to be swimming, beach combing, snorkeling and taking in the beautiful views. Thank you for sailing along.

6 comments:

Sherry kravitz said...

So beautiul, I can almost smell the water and air from here. Great pictures. Thanks Hayden and Radeen for sharing your travels.

Sherry kravitz said...

So beautiul, I can almost smell the water and air from here. Great pictures. Thanks Hayden and Radeen for sharing your travels.

GregK said...

There is nothing like that water anywhere else in the world.

too bad you can't drink it.

A wise sailing friend of mine once told me that the single biggest thing that you can do to a cruising boat to greatly improve life aboard is to install a watermaker. I think once you do it you will agree.

Party on.

Unknown said...

Looks like you are enjoying Exuma life! Have fun!!

Kimberly said...

These photos are fantastic! Good choice on the watermaker. Best decision we ever made!

Jay and Barb said...

You'll be installing the same watermaker we have. It is a life changer. We are glad we got the computerized unit as well and set it to do a fresh water flush every five days. We run it while we are underway, but have used it in full sun at low latitudes, powered by our panels alone. I remember that you have slightly more wattage than we have so you'll be fine. I'd recommend drawing down your present "dock water" out of your tanks the first time until you have 5-10 gallons remaining and then re-fill the tank with watermaker water only from now on. Even after six months of storage on the hard in the heat, the tank water has no taste, it is so pure.