Salty Podcast: Sailing

Salty Podcast #43: 🎙️Returns💔Honoring Salty Scotty | 3-Month Bahamas Provisioning Plan

• Captain Tinsley | Hayden & Radeen | SV Island Spirit • Season 1 • Episode 43

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Join me as we commemorate the legacy of my beloved late husband, Scott Myrick, fondly known as Salty Scotty, in a heartfelt return to the Salty Podcast. With the encouragement of my spiritual mentor, Mary, we embark on this journey with esteemed guests Hayden and Raydeen from Sailing Vessel Island Spirit, whom Scott admired greatly. They generously share their wisdom on provisioning for a three-month stay in the Bahamas, guiding us through the essential preparations before setting sail from Miami. Their comforting presence provides invaluable insights into strategic anchorage spots and essential resources, ensuring a well-prepared and enjoyable sailing journey.

Discover the vibrant sailing community of Miami through the eyes of seasoned locals, including our friends Bill and Bill, who offer expert advice on the best spots to anchor and explore. We delve into the heart of Coconut Grove, where shopping tips and long walks to Milam's grocery store reveal the charm of this area. Renting a car to visit Costco and Publix becomes a strategic move, especially when stocking up on essentials like favorite snacks and dietary items. Navigating the trade winds in Biscayne Bay adds an extra layer of excitement to our sailing experience, blending the urban allure of Miami with the thrill of the open sea.

Our exploration leads us to the secluded beauty of the Exumas in the Bahamas, where we navigate the unique challenges and opportunities for provisioning on these charming islands. From Wardrick Wells to Staniel Key, we share practical advice on managing propane supplies and maximizing storage space with limited freezer capacity. Embrace the community spirit of Black Point, where local charm and vibrant events offer a glimpse into the warmth of Bahamian culture. As we plan our upcoming voyage to Antigua, we look forward to collaborating with a professional podcast team, ensuring high-quality episodes for our listeners.

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SALTY ABANDON: Cap'n Tinsley, Orange Beach, AL:
Oct 2020 to Present - 1998 Island Packet 320;
Nov 2015-Oct 2020; 1988 Island Packet 27
Feb-Oct 2015 - 1982 Catalina 25

SALTY PODCAST is LIVE every Wed at 6pm Central and is all about the love of sailing!
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Capn Tinsley:

tonight is a return to the salty podcast. I begin by honoring a very special person my husband, best friend and first mate, scott myrick, who recently passed away, 16 days ago, unexpectedly. Many of you know him as salty scotty. I have proclaimed him salty scotty after he made his first gulf crossing with me. We both loved how the name caught on social media, even with people around town where we lived in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.

Capn Tinsley:

Scott and I met in 1996, became a couple in 1999, and married in 2000. We spent 25 years building a life together, including creating a home life in Gulf Shores, a successful real estate team with Remax of Orange Beach, traveling to many exotic places and sailing and much more. He was my biggest supporter in everything I did, including when I dove into sailing. He encouraged me through every step, from research to taking sailing lessons to buying my first sailboat. While he didn't always join me on the water, he was always there behind the scenes cheering me on, constantly checking on me, tracking me and holding down the fort here with our four babies, our cats. When coming into a dock in windy or crazy conditions, I wanted Scott, either on the boat or at the dock, to greet me. He could always keep the boat off the dock while I tied up. Restarting the podcast after such a loss felt very uncertain, but I was encouraged by my spiritual mentor and friend, mary to go forward, especially since the podcast was another thing Scott proudly supported me in.

Capn Tinsley:

Tonight's guests are incredibly fitting for this moment. Scott admired Hayden and Raydeen of Sailing Vessel Island Spirit and when any issue came up, his advice was often ask. Hayden and Raydeen Having them here tonight is a great comfort to me. They were already scheduled to discuss their three month provisioning plan for the Bahamas, which worked out perfectly. Let's welcome them now, hayden and Raydeen. Hello, good evening, good evening.

Hayden:

We love that. Salty Scotty, Our heart breaks for you. We're here for you, buddy.

Radeen:

And we're honored to be tonight's your return to the Salty podcast. We're honored, Thank you.

Capn Tinsley:

Thank you're honored.

Radeen:

Thank you, thank you yeah.

Capn Tinsley:

Thank you, it's comforting.

Radeen:

Thank you guys for doing this special man.

Hayden:

We love them yes.

Capn Tinsley:

Thank you. He thought a lot of you guys. He followed you. I think he commented on your social media. Yeah, um post more than I did.

Hayden:

I love watching him fly the drone. Always he was so good at the drone. He was a drone based.

Capn Tinsley:

So tonight we're going to talk about ratings. I think we're going to do most of the talking. We're going to talk about your provisioning skills and for the Bahamas. And so you said last time that provisioning for the Caribbean not so much an ordeal, but for the Bahamas you really need to have what you need for the three months if you're planning on spending three months.

Radeen:

That's absolutely correct. The grocery stores there have limited supplies, and so you need to bring with you what you want to bring.

Capn Tinsley:

Okay, all right, so try not to cough. What is the first picture you want up the?

Hayden:

map named number one yeah, Number one picture there just shows the overview. Again, I'll talk about the charts, where you'll talk about the provisioning, the concept of you're going to go down to the Bahamas Pinsley and I both have the same call and you're going to go down from Miami down to the Exumas. So this is what the big picture looks like and what we want to talk about is, when you leave Miami Biscayne Bay, my happy place and you head out to the Bahamas, the Exuma chain does not have many places to provision or buy groceries. So what we're going to do is talk about how you provision up in Miami and then where down the Exuma chain you can provision up, such as Staniel Key and then Black Point and then the Georgetown. So we're going to look at those individual places.

Radeen:

So before you click off of this map, I'd like to say that number one shows West Palm Beach, which has a great anchorage and the Lake Worth Inlet. There's a free dinghy dock and there's a free trolley that takes you to a public supermarket. So if you're going to the Abacos, it's super easy to provision in West Palm.

Hayden:

Yeah, west Palm is fabulous, we love it.

Radeen:

So number two we prefer provisioning down in Miami and sailing in Biscayne Bay while we wait for weather.

Hayden:

Yeah, Biscayne Bay is my number two happy place on the whole East Coast. I love it. Number one is Block Island Town, but Miami is one happy place. If you jump to the next slide now, we're going to zoom into the Biscayne Bay area and talk about where you would place your boat to do any of this provisioning work.

Capn Tinsley:

Okay.

Hayden:

Let's talk about the charts first. Then we can take over. The Xs are where you would anchor. There's basically two primary anchorages over on Key Biscayne. To the east there's two anchorages, one at no Name Harbor and one at Nixon Harbor. And then over to the west there's two X's that are off of Coconut Grove. You could be in at the docks at Coconut Grove, dinner Key, or you could be out on the mooring field where the outer X is, and we've used both of these and we love them both. So, and then you see the two areas. So, radine.

Radeen:

I'd like to talk about this map a little bit. If you start in a clockwise motion, on the top right-hand side it says fuel and water. That marks the very best place to get fuel and water in the entire Biscayne Bay. It's called Crandon Park. It is a state park and the fuel dock is easy to approach and they have free water and a pump out. And so that is our goat. It may seem far across the water from.

Radeen:

Coconut Grove. It's not far and it's worth the trip for the convenience you find at Crandon Park State Park.

Hayden:

Yeah, I have to interject here about the state park. The fuel dock is such that it's designed with two 45 degree chamfered edges and you can come in and the wind blows in such a way that these 45 degree chamfered edges are perfect to tie your boat up to, to get onto the dock and to get off of the dock, and the dock attendant there is so helpful. It's Crennan State Park Marina fabulous for fuel.

Radeen:

Right, so going in a clockwise motion down, the next X shows an anchorage called Nixon Harbor. You can't go ashore there and it's not really a harbor, but it's a great anchorage to watch people doing water sports on the weekends and then around five o'clock everybody goes home and it's a nice quiet place to be.

Hayden:

Yeah, great place, great anchorage.

Radeen:

The next X going south is outside no Name Harbor. You can anchor comfortably out there in most conditions, or you can go inside and anchor. There's a small fee for using their dinghy dock and then the red arrow heading north shows that you can walk to a grocery store and laundry and restaurants. It's a little bit of a walk but it is doable and if you need a lot of provisions you would certainly get an Uber. So go ahead.

Hayden:

Yeah, there's a Winn-Dixie up there at the top of that Red X. You come into no Name Harbor and you walk up to Winn-Dixie and then they have a free shuttle. They have a free electric shuttle that runs up and down Key Biscayne and you'll go up to Winn-Dixie, buy all your provisions and then the shuttle will come and pick you up and they'll drive you right back to the harbor and then you just dingy out to your boat, which is on anchor and we had never used this area before because we used to use Miami beach, which is now kind of off limits and then we mainly use dinner key, it's off limits.

Hayden:

Well, they, they. They've written some laws that prevent us from coming ashore now, and there's not any place you can anchor anymore up in Miami Beach. So these are your two primary places down here in Key Biscayne Island and then over on Dinner Key Right.

Radeen:

Okay, so no Name Harbor is part of a big state park. It's a beautiful facility. There's a lighthouse that you can walk to and climb up and have a view of the ocean, so it's really a very pretty place and there's a nice restaurant and it's all good. So no Name Harbor highly recommend it. But you can also anchor outside safely if it's too crowded and you can still dingy in.

Hayden:

Yeah, it gets very crowded in no Name Harbor. We usually anchor outside. Last year, prepping up going to the Caribbean, we spent about a week inside of no Name.

Radeen:

Harbor. Didn't we Waiting for weather?

Hayden:

final laundry run we rented a car from there and then took a car to go see a friend.

Radeen:

Oh, that's right. It was easy to get a car.

Hayden:

Yeah, you can get a car.

Capn Tinsley:

So it's convenient, a great place. What are these anchor conditions like?

Hayden:

Well, it's current driven. You have the current running north and south there, flushing in and out, so you're going to lay with your bow into the current is what happens in any current situation until the wind gets maybe 20, 25 knots. So it's nice, because I like it outside out here, because you can lay out a lot of chain and you have a lot of swinging room. When you're in that little tiny harbor it's very tight and people drag and they don't put out enough scope because it's not enough room to lay out 150 feet of scope. But you go outside you see it's 12 feet deep there. Put out 100, 120 feet of chain and you're good out there. So we've anchored out there more than we've anchored in the harbor.

Capn Tinsley:

Okay, and I just want to say thank you to Florida Buckeyes for your comment. Oh, I didn't see that.

Radeen:

I just put it up. I appreciate that. Yeah, thank you. So for departures then it's easy to leave in pre-dawn light from outside. If you're inside the harbor it's a little harder to get out. But if you're heading for the Bahamas we leave right from where your pointer is right now and round that corner and head towards Right through here.

Hayden:

You go right down around Cape Florida lighthouse. That's the lighthouse. That's the last lighthouse you'll see in USA when you head East. And then next next destination is 50 miles East, over to Bimini or out to the Berry Islands or down into the Exumas, but that's what you round to go and see, so that's convenient.

Capn Tinsley:

So it's hard to you say at night it's hard, or in the early morning it's hard to get out of. No name harbor, is that what you were saying?

Radeen:

just because it's so crowded, there's so many boats anchored and they might be laying in different directions and without much light. It's it's. It is a state park, so there's not a lot of light. They they try to keep it dark on purpose, so I don't think I'd want to exit in the dark.

Hayden:

Yeah, there's no need to if you're going to the Bahamas, because it's only 50 miles across to Bimini, which is a six-hour run, and then you're up in the Bahama Banks and you run the Bahama Banks all night long. So you leave here at daybreak or 7, 8, 9 o'clock in the morning is fine.

Radeen:

So, in case I didn't say it, the name of the park is Bill Baggs State Park and the harbor is no name. Harbor, yeah, okay. So if you zoom back a little bit, we'll continue our clockwise motion. All right, there's places south of here that are also state parks Elliott Key and Boca Chita, great places to anchor and go ashore. And on the west side is Key Biscayne National Park headquarters, which you would need a car to get to, but it's worth seeing if you have the time. And proceeding around to Coconut Grove. Coconut Grove is a distinct neighborhood that's part of Miami. There's two X's. The first X shows the location of the mooring field and the one farther out shows the end of the mooring field where you can anchor and still dingy in the main channel. Coconut Grove has free public transportation. It connects to railway stations that go to the airport, so it's a great location if you've got crew coming in or family coming in, and there's all kinds of boutiques and shopping and restaurants and grocery stores.

Hayden:

There's Bella Marie giving some condolences. These people here are Miami experts. They live in Miami. They have a 420. They are the best people. They know this area better than we do because they live here. This is their sailing area. These are great people to connect with in Miami. So look for these people when you're in Miami.

Capn Tinsley:

Bill and Bill. I might look them up.

Radeen:

Sure, when you go there. They met us last year in no Name. Harbor Treated us to dinner on their boat.

Hayden:

We had a wonderful time.

Radeen:

Moving on the arrow that heads inland in a northeasterly direction is pointing to all the shopping. It's a far walk to get to a grocery store called Milam's. There's also a West Marine. It's a far walk to get to a grocery store called Milam's, and there's also a West Marine, so it's quite a walk, and some of the neighborhoods are a little sketchy, so you might want to think twice before you go walking.

Hayden:

Hold on, I'm going to interrupt you. We carried a 55-pound rock net anchor for one of my buddies back at 380. We walked up to the West Marine, picked up a 55-pound Rokna anchor, put it on my hand truck, which I had, a hand truck, a folding luggage hand truck and I walked it back to the marina for him. So all of this is walkable.

Capn Tinsley:

So this is like blocks right.

Radeen:

It's residential neighborhoods.

Hayden:

It's beautiful, coconut Grove is a really nice area, but yeah, all the shopping's up there at the main drag. So you walk up there, you shop and then you get an Uber back. Okay, sorry, go ahead.

Radeen:

That's okay and if you decide you want to go to a Costco, it's about 20 miles away, but we like the provision at Costco because we like some of the things that they have and also the good prices. So we would usually rent a car for a day and hit a liquor store and they hit the Costco. And there's also a Publix farther out. Publix is a chain of grocery stores in.

Capn Tinsley:

Florida that we really like a lot. So now I'm going to talk about Go ahead. I just want to acknowledge Roger McClure's comment.

Hayden:

Oh yeah, no name is South Basin, a great anchorage to the left just as you enter the channel. Oh yeah, there's tons of anchorages along there, because if you zoom back Tinsley, you'll see the blue arrows, which are the trade winds. The trade winds are blowing across Biscayne Bay from the east until a front comes in, so you have Key Biscayne here. You just go up along the shore of Key Biscayne and you anchor along all these places we actually like, all the way up at the top, virginia Key, where the word Biscayne Bay is right up at the top. There's a beach right up there. We anchor right up there. So there's tons of places up here to anchor.

Hayden:

Biscayne Bay is one of the gems of the entire East Coast that people tend to miss because they think it's big bad Miami. Well, miami's a dream town, we love it. There's big bad Miami. Well, miami's a dream town, it's, it's, we love it. There's so much to do there. And then you add in Miami Beach, it's even better so, but the sailing here is some of the best sailing on on the east coast. There's mail and our buddy down in store.

Radeen:

Wait one second before we move on. I'd like to go back to what Rob Roger had to say. Please, zoom. Please zoom in to the right, to that X below where your pointer is. Right there, zoom in there, and the place that Roger's pointing out is below the bottom of the X, so you would come in. There is a channel there where the big red? Flash is, and you'd come in and turn left and tuck up in there.

Hayden:

We have never anchored there, but we've taken the dinghy in there and seen it and it is a great place.

Radeen:

Yes, exactly Right where that anchoring mark is Thank you to Roger for pointing that out.

Hayden:

Yeah, that looks like a great spot. We've not gone in there because we always thought it was looked a little tight and scary, but we like more open areas where we lay out a lot of chain. That's sort of the way we go what's what's mail and spark plug down here in Stewart.

Radeen:

Florida. We had the pleasure of spending time with Hayden Ray Dean two years ago in Miami and ended up following them to the Exumas Our heads are still spinning.

Capn Tinsley:

We had quite a lot. I'm going to do it. I had talked to Scott about doing it, but I'm going to do it.

Hayden:

Yeah, this, this is where you start at, and if you just made Biscayne Bay your destination, you'd be completely happy as anybody, because this is as good as it gets in my opinion over here. I mean, yes, we've been through all the Exumas and the Caribbean, but this is still one of my happy places because the sailing is so great. You have tons of anchoring and white sandy beaches. And then you have Miami and you got Coconut Grove and you got no name, I don't know it's, would you agree? It's pretty sweet. Oh, it's wonderful.

Capn Tinsley:

I stayed at Dinner Key in here.

Radeen:

Oh, okay. Well, that's right underneath the two X's, above the words coconut grove. That is Dinner Key Marina.

Hayden:

Here's Jess Shoemaker making a comment. Sorry for your loss. Nice to see you back in the podcast. Hopefully forecast and sailing brings you some peace through difficult times, of course. Great to hear helpful information, Thank you. Thank you, Jessie.

Radeen:

So before we move on. I'd like to comment on the most important things to buy while you're here in Miami. To go shopping for, Okay, Paper products. Whatever your favorite paper products are, squish them, squeeze them, pack them in as much as you can Toilet paper, paper towels, tissues, wipes, whatever kinds of things you you like to have. Make sure you buy them while you're still here.

Capn Tinsley:

And then why is that?

Radeen:

Or they just don't have, it's just real expensive, or it's really expensive, they don't have a lot to choose from and it's not the quality that we're accustomed to but we all have our favorite brands of things, and you will not find those favorite brands in the behind.

Capn Tinsley:

I remember that, that there's. There's like maybe one type of toothpaste or one type of shampoo, right, exactly, if you have your favorite brands, no you take everything you need and then you buy a few fresh things.

Hayden:

when you're over there You'll see the pictures of the stores. The stores are very interesting.

Capn Tinsley:

Thank you. Sailing, wander, yeah, wander look at that.

Hayden:

We're on passage now headed to Puerto Rico. Oh, another happy spot, south Shore of Puerto Rico. Make sure you run the whole South Shore, it's fabulous.

Capn Tinsley:

Yes, we talked about in the last podcast, Hi Ray Dean. Thank you for your comment. Moonlight Cat, Don't forget the six. Cs I guess you know what that means. I'm drawing a blank at the moment. Maybe they'll tell us what that is.

Radeen:

Okay, I hope they have a chance to. That's a secret code.

Hayden:

I'm not sure what the six Cs. I should know, but I don't know.

Capn Tinsley:

Sail and wander Heading there now from.

Hayden:

Aruba. Oh, that's great, All right, Wonderful.

Capn Tinsley:

So if you just zoom back to all of Biscayne Bay, you see the whole paradise here and then we'll move on to the yeah so this right here, and I love how you say that, like you said that in the last um, the last couple of uh information about the Caribbean and the Bahamas that you said, a lot of these along the way are just the perfect destination if that's as far as you want to go. And then you're saying Biscayne Bay and I remember rating had said that you can even practice your sailing, making sure that everything works and going through here and it's good sailing like you said right there so good to know.

Hayden:

You just work out all your systems and you go sailing and you anchor out, you check your systems and you make sure everything's working, because you're not going to get a shot to go to the Bahamas for every. It's every seven to 10 days the weather window opens up. So you got a week to hang out. You might as well hang out here and just enjoy this space.

Radeen:

And if you have too long, then you can reprovision, because you will have been eating your favorite things.

Hayden:

That's the beauty You're consuming your provisions that you're taking to the Bahamas. You need to restock that because maybe on two days from now you're going to take off.

Radeen:

So the other thing I'd like to comment about is the other thing that you need to bring with you. What you want is the snacks like chips and nuts and cookies and crackers and pretzels and cereal and granola and dips and sauces and condiments and candy and so on, because it's very likely you won't find exactly what you prefer to have. So when we provision, we try to estimate ahead of time how much of these things we would use in a two to three month period and we try to buy as much as we possibly can because you don't want to not have your favorite thing. Then you start to feel sad and deprived.

Hayden:

Right, but my sailing doctor friend, dr Mike Parsons, has me focused on the carnivore diet. So now things have changed, because now all I have to buy is meat, eggs and cheese, according to Mike, and then if I just do that, my blood sugar will come down and I'll be healthier and I'll lose weight. So we're trying to do kind of a blended thing with carnivore diet Less sugar and less carbs yeah, less sugar, no carbs.

Hayden:

I used to make bread and scones and homemade breads. All the time my buddy, dr Mike, says no, no, no, that's not what you need to do.

Capn Tinsley:

So we have this other diet that we're working on as well. So here's the six C's which it sounds like you're not going to do now.

Hayden:

Crackers, chips, cheese, cookies and chocolates.

Capn Tinsley:

Oh, yeah, that's it.

Hayden:

I can have one of those cheese. That sounds good.

Capn Tinsley:

Thank, you, Dr. Mike.

Hayden:

Oh, that's.

Capn Tinsley:

Dr Mike Okay.

Hayden:

No, this is not Dr Mike. I'm saying no, no, no, no.

Radeen:

Okay this is Lynn and Jim on cat.

Hayden:

I'm only allowed to eat cheese, so that's good.

Radeen:

Out of all those six, c's Okay.

Hayden:

That's very clever.

Radeen:

That's a nice way to remember the list. I actually did forget to say chocolate.

Hayden:

Those are important things to pick. Yeah, cause you give away a lot of chocolate in the Bahamas.

Radeen:

We take it to the black point. Okay, so where are you moving to now? Well, I'd like to explain that for our circumstances.

Radeen:

We have a very large refrigerator and a very small freezer, so we'd like to buy things from Costco. We load up on cheeses and packaged meats prepared, already cooked meats that are shrink, wrapped and they're good for like six weeks. You can buy meatballs that way that don't need to be frozen, and we stack them in the very bottom of the refrigerator in reverse order that we need to use them, so that the things that are going to last are on the bottom and then so on, and the things that need to be used the most quickly are on the top, so that you don't have to evacuate everything out of the big refrigerator.

Radeen:

Let's see. The other thing is, what do we put in our freezer, since it's so small? Mainly chicken breasts. Purdue makes chicken breasts that are individually wrapped five in a package and so we buy them gradually. You can't buy a whole bunch of them and put them in at once, because the freezer won't freeze them, because if they all go in unfrozen, so Publix grocery store will freeze meat and chicken for you ahead of time. You go in, you buy it, you ask them to freeze it and you pick it up the next day so that's a really good tip Wow.

Radeen:

That's a good tip.

Hayden:

For a small freezer like we have. We get the shoebox freezer, the Adler Barber cold machine. It works fine.

Radeen:

But you just have to know how to manage it and you can't put in a whole lot of unfrozen things at once, they won't freeze.

Hayden:

Yeah, we provision for three months and hardly buy anything once we take off. I mean it really does work well. All right, let's move on to where are we going next now? So from Biscayne Bay, now the next slide.

Radeen:

It's going to be number three Number two is what's number two slide?

Hayden:

This was number two, this is number three. Well, this just shows how, as you go down the Exuma chain, now you've reached the Exumas up at Hawksbill or Shroud Key and you're coming down through Wardrick Wells and all these key, there is no shopping here and you may spend a week or two weeks here. So you've left Florida. You could be here within. Technically, if you're fast, you could be here in three days, but most people get here in a week. And now they start coming down through here. And now what?

Radeen:

If you zoom back just a little bit, the top of the map shows the beginning of the Exuma Land and Sea Park.

Hayden:

Yeah, we have that. Oh sorry. Yeah, we are zoomed back.

Radeen:

Oh sorry, I thought we weren't zoomed back.

Hayden:

Thank you, wardrick Wells, right there, yep.

Radeen:

Right here. So the Exuma's Land and Sea Park encompasses 112,000 acres of islands and water from Shroud Key in the north to Compass Key in the south, and in that area there is no trash disposal, there's no grocery store, there's no restaurant. There are no bars, you're not allowed to fish, you're not allowed to take shells, you're not allowed to take anything at all. This is paradise. It's spectacularly beautiful.

Hayden:

Wardrick Wells Key right there is number one in the Bahamas.

Capn Tinsley:

This is my sister from North Georgia watching.

Radeen:

How fun.

Capn Tinsley:

How sweet I told her to watch it. She's got a comment. Thank you, Tina. How nice I think we to watch it. She's got a comment.

Hayden:

Thank you, tina, how nice.

Radeen:

I think we did miss noticing that Jim and Lynn on Cat Tales had chimed in. They have an island pack at 38 named Cat Tales, their username is Moonlight Cat.

Capn Tinsley:

They made several comments. They said so sorry for your loss, Good to see you back. Good to see you back, Hayden and Radine. Don't forget the six Cs. And then they told us what the six.

Radeen:

Cs were oh, okay, all right. Lynn's going to give me a hard time when she says that Lynn and Jim, mr MIT there, okay.

Capn Tinsley:

I should know the six.

Hayden:

Cs Right.

Capn Tinsley:

I love that you know everybody's resume. That's always good information. I love the backstories. We love the backstories.

Hayden:

So, coming down all through here, there's no shopping, there's no stores, it's just paradise, because it's isolated, private park keys and national park and until you get to Staniel Key, where you're going next.

Radeen:

Well, don't click the map yet. I'd like to talk a little bit more about Wardrick Wells.

Radeen:

So if you scroll back north again, please. The park office is at Wardrick Wells and that's where there are mooring balls in two different locations, and once a week they do have a get together on the beach for cruisers to get to know each other. The Bahamas National Defense Force offices are there. They're the Marine police and so it is a little bit of civilization, but they are very, very isolated. One time the supply ship that brings their supplies from Nassau couldn't come due to bad weather and they all collectively started running out of food the park office and the National Defense Force and they were embarrassed to do so, but they got on the radio and asked if any cruisers would please share a few cans and things until their ship could come in.

Radeen:

And as you can imagine the cruising community did more than a can or two.

Hayden:

I baked some bread, I'd bake some scones, I made all kinds of things for people made casseroles and took in.

Radeen:

whatever people could share and spare, they were happy to do. And then the staff was so grateful and, of course, we were happy, happy to help.

Hayden:

That's a destination Wardrick Wells. If you just say I'm going to the Exumas, I Welles. If you just say I'm going to the Exumas, I'm going to Wardrick Welles, that would be one of those destinations to make. And then the next one is there's so many here, but the next big stop.

Radeen:

Yes, if you scroll down a little bit, we'll see Staniel.

Hayden:

Key. If you go to, the next slide you'll see the details of Staniel Key now.

Radeen:

So Staniel Key is your first big destination outside of the Land and Sea Park there's stores. As you can see, there's a blue store and a pink store. There's fuel and water out there.

Capn Tinsley:

Wow, there's so much, there is.

Hayden:

Well, once you've come out of the national parks and there's nothing, this is New York City, right here.

Capn Tinsley:

And there's pigs there too, right.

Hayden:

There's pigs here on the beach, so you've got it all.

Radeen:

You got it all the fuel and water, dock is kind of treacherous because the current is very strong through there, but it's doable. And then right where your pointer is, this is Daniel Key Yacht Club, which is not a yacht club, it is a restaurant.

Capn Tinsley:

And we covered that in the last video, so you guys want to go back and watch that yep, yeah, thanks for that.

Radeen:

And then the main dinghy dock is right there at the yacht club you beach it up on the beach and walk in and then the blue store and the pink store are right next to each other. We'll show pictures of those in a minute and further south is a general store that you can walk to or dinghy to. They sell propane there. You need a few days to leave your tank and get it filled.

Hayden:

It might take a week to get your propane tank filled here, but it is possible, they'll eventually fill it from another tank, as I've watched them how they do it. They pour another tank into your tank. It's really sketchy, but you can get propane. It's best to have two propane tanks. It's best to have two propane tanks coming down through here and when you get the Georgetown you get them filled easily.

Radeen:

So I see a question from Belle Marie how do we keep eggs preserved? We buy our eggs in the States and we keep them refrigerated. We keep them in containers called lock and lock containers that snap closed so that if they tip over the eggs don't fall out, and we usually take six to eight dozen eggs at a time because we eat a lot of eggs.

Hayden:

We eat six eggs every morning, so we eat a lot of eggs. We eat six eggs every morning, so we eat a lot of eggs.

Radeen:

Now in the stores here in the blue store and the pink store you will find flats of eggs that are not refrigerated. That's because they haven't been washed and so they're perfectly safe. They're shelf stable, as they say, for weeks at a time not refrigerated. But it's tricky to keep a flat of eggs not in the refrigerator. So when we have empty containers we move the eggs that we buy in the Bahamas and put them in our existing containers.

Capn Tinsley:

And you put them in the fridge.

Radeen:

Yes, we do put them in the fridge.

Capn Tinsley:

Tell me about this. If it's unwashed, you don't have to Tell me about that, that's absolutely correct.

Radeen:

In the Caribbean and the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, you'll find eggs unrefrigerated all over the place and because they've never been washed, they have a membrane or something Just washed, like someone puts it underwater.

Hayden:

They're dirty. They're dirty also.

Radeen:

Yeah, the eggs will be dirty. And but once they're washed, then they are. They become more permeable, and so they're more likely to spoil, and that's why they need to be refrigerated.

Capn Tinsley:

Wow, that's actually. You heard it here on the salty podcast.

Radeen:

So the shells don't start to leak, obviously, but they are permeable to the air and that's what causes them to spoil once they're washed there must be some sort of coating on them or something yeah, it's a way of preserving them yeah and I say once we wash it. So years and years ago, america had a chance to decide if they wanted to standardize and make everyone wash their eggs or keep them unwashed, and they made a decision to mandate that we have to wash our eggs. So that's the story on eggs.

Hayden:

I want to talk about this fuel dock on Staniel Key and then we'll move on here. This fuel dock I've taken our boat to one time in nine years.

Hayden:

And all the other times I've brought my dinghy in to the dinghy beach there and you walk around the harbor just a short bit and you take your diesel jugs and you fill them up.

Hayden:

You fill your five gallon diesel jugs up and you take them back to your boat. The problem here is the current is running in and out of that channel very fast and the tide is about I don't know six feet, maybe five feet. So if you can get on that fuel dock at high tide slack when everybody wants to get on it it's very easy to fuel up. But the one time I went in at low tide and my wind turbine blades on the side I was docking on started tagging the dock where the dock the fuel attendant was standing and my wind turbine was hitting the dock at his feet because I was so far down oh my gosh, my 12 foot wind pole was hitting his dock. So I don't go to this fuel dock, I only do it by dinghy and I just jug fuel. It's much easier. You're going to have jug fuel in Georgetown also. There's no real good fuel docks going down through the Exumas.

Radeen:

So that's an interesting side to provisioning. So I know that Tinsley's very interested in seeing where the pigs are.

Hayden:

Well, they're not on this truck, I know, but I'm going to show you where they would be.

Radeen:

So if you zoom out as much as you can, in the top left-hand corner.

Hayden:

I don't have it on this chart. I know you don't.

Radeen:

But if you would head around the corner above the letter M in moorings, then it's to the northeast. It's right off the edge of this map.

Hayden:

We don't anchor in this area because the current is so strong, we anchor right on. We drop the anchor on the pig's heads. It's really close and convenient and we're right, it's a great beach and it's fabulous 10, 15 feet deep, and we anchor right up against the pig beach and then we dingy around to here. It's very convenient, way better.

Hayden:

Yeah, I did a reel of you saying anchor up to the pigs, yeah anchor up, go right into the pigs. Everybody miles out because they don't want to get close. I don't know why. Just go until you get to the beach and anchor Until you see the pigs. When you see the pigs, drop the anchor. That's the rule.

Capn Tinsley:

Yeah, and you said that you didn't have to play with the pigs. But no, I don't play.

Hayden:

No, I've seen the pigs bite too many people. I've seen people medevac out of the pigs. It's not a wise idea to lay on the beach and try to get a selfie in a bikini with the pig, because the pig's going to bite you and it's not going to be pretty. I've seen that happen multiple times.

Capn Tinsley:

You heard it here, yeah.

Radeen:

All right what do we got next Renee From here we go down to Blackboard. No, I didn't finish here. In a minute we'll see pictures of inside the blue store and the pink store. They are often open at different times, so that's something to keep in mind and why are they called this?

Hayden:

Well, I want to bring up some of the pictures, the photographs I sent you. You'll see pink stores and blue stores. If you go forward there, you go. Okay, there's a blue store with our buddy boat, nina, years ago. If you back up one screen, you'll see what a typical Exuma's well-stocked store looks like. That's it. That's great provisions right there. You got plantains, onions, bananas, what else?

Capn Tinsley:

do you see there Potatoes?

Hayden:

That's a very, very well-stocked store. That's what you're looking at when you go down here. So don't come down here and expect the provision, okay. And if you go for a couple more, go for a couple more pictures there's.

Capn Tinsley:

If you go forward, a couple more, there's a picture, so the blue store is called Burke's Convenience.

Hayden:

Store? Yeah, burke's Convenience Store.

Radeen:

But everybody just calls it the blue store because the walls are painted blue.

Hayden:

Yeah, they painted it bright blue, so everybody knows go to the blue store. This is the bigger one and that's what it looks like, walking up past their house and the store's up there in the corner, and that's the blue store you walk up to.

Radeen:

Yep, right, there's the store, the door's open so you know they're open.

Hayden:

And then, if you go forward another slide, yeah, that's the door Right. There's the entry door. That's small entrance doors. It's small. This is the store, the blue store, that's the shelves, and there's some potatoes and there's two onions and there's your canned goods that you can buy.

Radeen:

Right, so you've got some water.

Hayden:

You've got some drink. You're not coming down here to provision.

Capn Tinsley:

I mean you're going to buy I bet it's expensive too, isn't it Sure?

Hayden:

Sure, because everything's coming in on mail boat from Florida.

Radeen:

And so right now, in this picture, the shelves are pretty well stocked.

Hayden:

Yeah, that's a good stock.

Radeen:

The day before the mail boat comes, there'll be a lot less.

Hayden:

Yeah, that'll be wiped out, and I think I got another picture of the pink store. Is this like?

Capn Tinsley:

Boondock or whatever wine.

Hayden:

No. Or the pink store. Is this like Boondock or whatever wine? No, who knows what it is.

Capn Tinsley:

I think it might be.

Radeen:

Mogan David wine.

Hayden:

Yeah, probably.

Capn Tinsley:

Yeah, they do have a liquor store here you can buy liquor. That's some water there.

Hayden:

Yeah. That's a lot of water, that's pretty typical Bahamas provisioning right there, exuma's provisioning. Okay, yeah, if you go, a couple more slides. I think I got a couple other pictures.

Radeen:

Oh, wow, that's my anchor off Pig Beach. That is Pig Beach.

Hayden:

That's Pig Beach, right past my anchor there off the bow, and that's my shadow in 10 feet of water. This is what you go there for. If you go to the next slide, there's even another picture of that. There we are. There's the shadow. That's Pig Beach, behind my stern, there, and nobody's here. Everybody's a mile out off ashore here. Why, I don't know, they don't go close to the pigs. I don't know why they don't come in closer. It's 10 feet deep.

Capn Tinsley:

No, pig is coming up to you there, though they're not going to climb on your boat.

Radeen:

No, they don't come out here, they don't swim out past 10 feet.

Hayden:

So I just see malin has a comment, don't?

Radeen:

miss the rattlers. Oh, the rattlers are a type of um?

Hayden:

well, they're made by click beer. Click beer makes a drink and they come in different flavors they make uh grapefruit flavor mango and mango.

Radeen:

And mango flavor.

Hayden:

And pink grapefruit.

Radeen:

Yeah, you said that yeah, I can't remember what the other flavor is, yeah, the Radler's.

Hayden:

It's a refreshing sugary drink.

Radeen:

With a little bit of alcohol.

Hayden:

Yeah, 5% alcohol. People love them.

Radeen:

They're very popular and it's sold in a bottle, like a beer bottle with the same kind of cap. So you buy them at bars or you buy them by six packs and have them on your boat, and we've been known to buy more than six we bought two cases because one case was supposed to go to a friend and then we never linked up with them.

Hayden:

And then I don't drink that sugary stuff, Thanks to Dr Mike. I try not to. So we ended up giving them all away. We even have some we brought home here from the Bahamas a couple of years ago.

Hayden:

I don't drink them so, but they're very sweet and they're good. But if you go to another slide, I think I got a couple more pictures of the pink store in here somewhere. Yeah, okay, that is the pink store, which is the other competing store to the blue store, and again, that is a very well-stocked grocery store and that's the only shelf you have. You have that is a very well stocked grocery store and that's the only shelf you have. That's the center shelf. You walk around that center shelf.

Radeen:

The center aisle Center aisle, and that's it.

Hayden:

So again, you're not coming down here to buy things.

Capn Tinsley:

No.

Hayden:

You're coming down here to go swimming and snorkeling and the beaches and the pigs, and it's just remote, it's very remote. It's not a French Isle. If it was a French Isle, that would be really well stocked.

Capn Tinsley:

Right.

Hayden:

Yeah, all right. So let's go back to Chris Head. Good one, baylen loved the.

Capn Tinsley:

Rattlers.

Hayden:

Chris Head loves the Rattlers, everybody loves them. Well, the real trick on a Rattler that people do is you put the Rattler on ice and then you add your Mount Gay rum to it, make it as strong as you want it to be, because it's a real mango-flavored sweet drink. So you can tame that down with like half of a glass of rum and then it's not so sweet anymore, maybe.

Capn Tinsley:

I don't know. Thank you, Chris. Thank you for everybody that's commenting. Please keep them coming.

Hayden:

There's your pink store. That's what the pink store front door looks like. You walk in, it's one shelf, yep.

Radeen:

Pink Peace. I think it's Pearl.

Hayden:

Pink Pearl.

Radeen:

Supermarket.

Hayden:

Pink Pearl yeah.

Capn Tinsley:

It says Hugh Smith, I guess that's the name of the owner.

Hayden:

I don't know, Yep, so that's your next best store right there. Okay, how about that? So now we'll go back to the charts, and our next area is wear rating.

Radeen:

Well, I'd just like to mention one thing that you should do before you leave the States is try out different flavors of boxed milk.

Radeen:

Yeah, because you can't find fresh milk in all of these places. You're going to run out of fresh milk, and so everybody has their favorite. Some people like Parmalat, some people like Borden's. So everybody has their favorite. Some people like Parmalat, some people like Borden's. The Dollar General store actually sells a very good generic brand of milk that we bought last year in Stewart before we left Stewart, so you need to find the kind of boxed milk that works for you. So it's also called shelf stable milk. It's in the grocery store near the canned milk and it's a one quart box size and it's shelf stable for like six months. But once you open it it does have to be refrigerated.

Hayden:

Yeah, we just keep it in the fridge and get it cold and it's good. I mean, we use it in our coffee.

Capn Tinsley:

Yeah, okay, I drink it black so.

Hayden:

Oh good, you don't need that, you don't need to find me some milk.

Radeen:

Good for you, that's actually better for you. That's smarter All right.

Hayden:

So this is the next island down, which is called the Great Guana Island, but it's also the village of Black Point and this is a paradise place that everybody stops at after Staniel Key. This is only five miles south of Staniel Key, right, and the X is where we anchor. Most people will anchor out there where the words dinghy dock are, but we anchor up in the cove up here because the dinghy dock is right there, very close, and then you'll see these.

Capn Tinsley:

Why would most people go there?

Hayden:

Because they want to be down near Lorraine's where the laundry is, and they'd like to go in and get their laundry done. So if you so if you scroll down a little bit, you'll see the words Lorraine's Cafe, yacht Club, pub, laundry, barber, and then Sunset, emerald Bay, sunset Grill, great place. So there's all these little pubs and restaurants along here, but talk about the provisioning of food here as well.

Radeen:

Lorraine's mom lives next door to Lorraine's restaurant and she's quite elderly but she still bakes every day. So she makes regular bread and she makes coconut bread and she sells out every day. So if you want to make sure you get some of her bread, go in a day early and order it for the next day and she'll save it for you $10 a loaf of coconut bread best bread you will ever eat Coconut bread.

Capn Tinsley:

That sounds so good.

Radeen:

It's not particularly sweet and it has a swirl of fresh grated coconut that's been roasted Paradise, swirled through the bread with a little bit of sugar and cinnamon on it. Oh, it is so good and it makes fantastic bread you just put some butter on it and ham. Yeah, or make it into French toast.

Capn Tinsley:

It's fantastic.

Hayden:

You just put some butter on it, oh yeah.

Radeen:

It's really really good, oh my gosh, it's the best. So the laundry is the best laundry in the entire Exuma chain, even better than Georgetown. So everybody stays to do their laundry there. One trick is to go in the day before you want to do laundry and buy your tokens ahead of time. You need a special token to go in the slots for the machines because you might come in in the morning and the laundry room might be open. But if the attendant isn't there you can't buy tokens to get started. So buy your tokens.

Capn Tinsley:

These are great tips. These are absolutely great.

Radeen:

And the person that runs the laundry also does a haircut on the porch on the backside of the laundry. So you need to make a meeting with her to get your haircut, if you choose to do so, and they do a good job. Oh yeah, reasonably good, yes.

Hayden:

Yeah.

Capn Tinsley:

I've got a haircut.

Radeen:

I mean what about from?

Capn Tinsley:

women, just men, oh yeah.

Radeen:

They do women too, and most people are pretty happy.

Hayden:

Yep, it's a great place. Wow, okay, everybody stops here.

Capn Tinsley:

Yeah, and it's a good destination too, right?

Hayden:

That's what you always say, and next to Lorraine's Cafe they built a yacht club, the Black Point Yacht Club. Now they just built another building out on the water. You bring your dinghy in there and it's become another popular conch fritters and seafood restaurant and a little pub. There's all these little pubs along the water, along here.

Radeen:

And this is probably the first Blackwoods, the first settlement that you'll come to that truly feels like an out island of the Bahamas, a Bahamian village. On Sunday mornings the families dress up and they walk to one or the other of the several churches and some things are closed on Sundays and it's just a really quiet atmosphere. Everyone is very polite and you feel very safe and welcome and it's a lot of fun.

Hayden:

We waited here nine or 12 days last year until the high wind stopped so we could go out the inlet and make our run for the Caribbean. This is where we left for our long run to go to Crooked Island and Crooked Island we made Turks and Caicos and Turks and Caicos of Dominican Republic. But we sat here at that X for probably nine or ten days.

Hayden:

I think it was nine days and the wind was blowing east 20, 30 miles an hour and when the front came in, it goes typical it goes south, then it goes southwest and then it goes west. Look where we are with the west wind. This is really dangerous. You're on a lee shore but the the wind goes west. It starts blowing like crazy in here, but then it goes northwest and you've got that northern shore to protect you. So as soon as it went northwest, we up anchored and drove out along that north shore, hung a u-turn and went out the inlet and we were out to sea with a 25 knot northwest wind to sail southwest with. So it worked out. It worked out really well. But, yeah you, this is a great anchorage. It's just not protected when the fronts come in, because the fronts clock around from east to south, to west to north and and you're getting this clocking wind and.

Radeen:

But it's a nice, secure, solid anchorage to lay out a lot of chain and be secure and they have these little stores in so if you see the words black point settlement and you look to the right, you see a body of water yeah, that is a a uh inlet and um, the waves come crashing in there and lots of times you get water spouts shooting up. It's really fun to to walk over.

Hayden:

It's not an inlet.

Radeen:

Yeah, it's a cove right but the water comes roaring in with the big waves of big winds and it's fun to go watch the spouts and um. On the bottom of the screen is the sunset bar. I agree, we forgot the name emerald. It's actually called emerald sunset and that's a great place.

Hayden:

To me that's the best place in Black Point. I mean, lorraine's is fabulous but most people don't walk down here to the end of the point for some reason and it's not as popular. But I think it's the better place on Black Point. We go there all the time.

Radeen:

If you're lucky, you'll be here on a day when there's a fundraiser going on for one of the churches or one of the schools and all the moms will get together and cook and sell tickets to, to the ribs and chicken and and the macaroni and cheese. The macaroni and cheese in the bahamas is the best on the planet. It's unlike any mac and cheese you've had anywhere else. It is baked, it is dense, it has hot pepper sauce in it. The top layer is crunchy, the rest of it is solid. It doesn't separate. They cut it with a knife and a fork and a spatula and serve it in cubes. So it's not the wet kind of macaroni and cheese that we're accustomed to.

Capn Tinsley:

You don't scoop it out with a spoon, exactly Cut it like a cake. Right.

Radeen:

Yes, into squares, you're right. So we had some of our best sailing ever in Black Point with Malin and Linda Stout.

Hayden:

Oh yeah, we were on their island packet and the other packets that were with us.

Radeen:

We had a raucous sail coming in there one day Fabulous sail packets that were with us.

Hayden:

We had a raucous sale coming in there one day, one of the best, best days ever, lots of fun. The sailing down here is so good because it's always East trade winds blowing across these islands and you're behind the islands. You're running North and South. The only problem you have in the Exumas is seven to 10 days a front's going to come and it's going to clock the South, the South winds. To 10 days a front's going to come and it's going to clock the South, the South winds, west, north. You're going to have that scenario and you're going to do a 360 and you're going to be facing into the West wind on a lee shore. So you better have a big anchor and a lot of chain and know how to set it and you'll be okay. But that's going to happen every seven to 10 days and that's why everybody loves Georgetown. They get the Georgetown. There's protection on the West. There's an island to the West and an island to the East.

Capn Tinsley:

So no other-. So let me ask you, can I ask you a question? Okay, so isn't there? It goes counterclockwise and then counterclockwise and counterclockwise, depending if it's a high pressure or a low pressure.

Hayden:

It's always clockwise. It's always a low pressure coming through and the wind will always go clockwise. So you got your east trade winds and when the wind goes south, that's your indication it's going to go southwest, west, northwest and north. It's in the clocking and it clocks as the low pressure comes across from Chicago down to Philly, philly up to New England. These low pressures come out of Canada all winter long and they're dragging a cold front with the blue V's that you see in a weather map, and that V is a cold wedge of cold air coming through, wedge of cold air coming through. And when that cold wedge comes through, that's what diverts the trade winds up and it spins the trade winds around in a clocking manner.

Capn Tinsley:

So when you get the West wind, the wind comes from the West and you're in this anchorage right here. How long is it?

Hayden:

Well, we rode out West winds there all night long and into the morning and in the morning.

Capn Tinsley:

I mean, it's less than a day, yeah, less than a day.

Hayden:

But imagine the west winds were such that the waves came up in this X where we are, that my anchor bow sprit is diving under the waves, oh, and then the boat goes down and it pulls on its anchor chain and it it, it's like a, it's like a wild horse. And then it goes up and it goes down and the bow sprit goes into the wave and comes up again. It's doing that all night long so you don't sleep and then it's rolling left and right.

Hayden:

So you get no sleep and you just want the wind to carry on north and get up.

Capn Tinsley:

So when it gets northwest, then you've got this little bit of blockage here.

Hayden:

A little bit.

Capn Tinsley:

Is it better?

Hayden:

North is best, but northwest North is best, yeah. Yeah, north, you want north.

Capn Tinsley:

Once it goes north, you're good. So the wind from when it goes north and then all the way to south. How long is that period A?

Hayden:

frontal passage is usually a good 24 hours of clocking wind. It's about a full day where the wind will clock around, but sometimes the beginning of it's slower.

Radeen:

The south can last longer the southeast can last or southwest can last. Once it goes to west and northwest, it's pretty fast.

Hayden:

When you look at predict wind, it's completely predictable. On. You look where the low is and you go day by day by day and you look at how fast is the low moving across the country? And a fast moving low. It's shorter and it's the lows that come out and park themselves over Cape Hatteras and sit there and spin in a nor'easter and the northeast of USA is getting a blizzard, which is what you want down south, because then you get good winds to sail. But when a nor'easter is blowing up north it can be strong down in the Bahamas, all the way through Florida and it can reach almost the Turks and Caicos About. Once you get to the Turks and Caicos you get out of the fronts, which is why a lot of people in the Bahamas run past Georgetown and get to what are called the Ragged Islands. The Ragged Islands gets you below the fronts and that's just all calm trade winds.

Radeen:

It's very nice. So one thing I'd like to throw out with this discussion of weather is one of the best places to avoid the West and Northwest and North winds is up at big, big, big, major spot, pig Beach. There's good protection there. Our chart didn't show it, but there's good protection there. Our chart didn't show it, but there's great protection there.

Capn Tinsley:

We showed that in the last video.

Hayden:

Because Pig Beach has this long, about one mile long set of islands that goes west. So you get in there to Pig Beach and you have this row of islands north of you that go west, and so when the wind does clock, as soon as it goes anything north of west, that row of islands protects you.

Radeen:

Protects you from the waves you still get the wind. It's great. Pig Beach is great. It's a great location for weather.

Capn Tinsley:

And then, if you're in Georgetown, inside the yeah, let's go down there.

Hayden:

That's the next slide. So from that point, most people will go down one more island to like Little Farmers or Galleon Cut, and then they'll head out to sea and they'll go for here. This is Georgetown. Now, what I captured here is just the town side of Georgetown. Georgetown is a big harbor, one mile wide, and to the top of the screen will be another set of islands that will be protecting you from north and east winds. But what I did is I just zoomed in on just the town. So now Radine, explain this setup here.

Radeen:

Well, when we want to do fuel and water and diesel and any provisioning we might need to do, we up anchor from one mile away and anchor where the X is and where the anchoring symbol is, and then it's a short dinghy ride into town. That area is called kids code and there's a bridge that goes from one point of land across to the other and you can take your dinghy through there and once you're inside Lake Victoria it's easy to tie up.

Capn Tinsley:

Is this right here?

Hayden:

Yeah, you go through there, that's right there, that little bridge is called Dinghy Passage, yeah, and you go under a little tight bridge and the dinghy dock is right there to the left.

Capn Tinsley:

Okay.

Hayden:

Got it Right there, so you tie up there.

Radeen:

And at that dinghy dock there is a free reverse osmosis water tap so people bring their jugs in to fill up.

Hayden:

And that's why everybody's in Georgetown free water.

Capn Tinsley:

Free water?

Hayden:

I didn't know it's a big deal.

Capn Tinsley:

It is, yes, it is, it's a big deal.

Radeen:

The town pays for it to attract cruisers and on the right hand side as you're entering Lake Victoria, is the fuel dock and the dinghy dock for that, so you can get your diesel jugs filled and your dinghy gas jugs filled.

Hayden:

I've jugged tons and tons of fuel out of that dinghy. Dock there Five gallon jugs. Put them in the dinghy, take them out to the boat, pour them in. So you refuel your boat here by jugging fuel out to your boat. You're getting a good workout. Yeah, it's a workout, but you get used to it.

Radeen:

And everybody else is doing it too.

Hayden:

It's easy.

Radeen:

You meet people doing their chores as well.

Hayden:

We have five five-gallon jugs for cruising, for traveling. We hold 50 gallons in the boat and then we have 25 gallons on deck when we're making a long run. That gives us about five to 600-mile range is what we can run if we would motor all of that Right. But the five-gallon jugs are the answer.

Capn Tinsley:

They're convenient, they really are, yeah, those are the easiest to handle, for me too. Right exactly you can lift them Right.

Hayden:

So you've got the grocery store there, yeah.

Radeen:

And there's a bank We've never used it, but there is one and a liquor store and several restaurants and the grocery store is surprisingly well equipped Lots of frozen food, lots of fresh produce. Everything's expensive and it does vary with the arrival of the mail boat.

Hayden:

I should have a picture of that store. I don't, but the store in Georgetown is like a small Acme, I mean it has maybe five aisles and they're pretty long, probably 40 feet long or whatever but it's a really well-stocked grocery store. And then the mail boat comes in every week and reprovisions the store, and that's when everybody runs over with their dinghies and buys everything up.

Radeen:

And if the mail boat's late, then it's the topic of discussion on the radio.

Hayden:

In Georgetown, you're just wondering when's the mail boat coming? It's fun. 300 boats will be living here in the wintertime.

Capn Tinsley:

They will race through all of it. You know, what we'll have to do is another video talking about all the costs.

Hayden:

Yeah, we got a lot of costs. Yeah, we know what it costs.

Capn Tinsley:

Three months in the Bahamas and the way you guys do it, and never use a marina.

Hayden:

Right.

Radeen:

And get your food in advance.

Capn Tinsley:

It would be interesting for me actually to see how much all this costs.

Hayden:

Yeah, we don't dock anywhere for six months. Usually when we're cruising we're on anchor for six months.

Radeen:

I can't think of Well, we did anchor at Chub Key to check in One or two nights. Last year you stayed there two nights, yeah, two nights, and then Crooked Island.

Hayden:

Crooked Island. Yeah, we docked one night in Crooked Island and that was it for six months last year.

Radeen:

I think you're right.

Hayden:

Yeah, and you just save a ton of money doing that it gets once we get the boat out of the marina and launched and out on anchor. It gets cheaper. Yeah, In the marina and paying the boatyard storage fees. And, yeah, it gets expensive until you get the boat on anchor Right.

Radeen:

Right. Something else I'd like to say about Georgetown is that there is an airport here, so this would be the first international airport since leaving Nassau. So if you need to have again family friends come and visit or you have crew coming, georgetown is the place to do it. Flights from Miami to Georgetown. And there was one more thing I wanted to say. Hmm, I just lost my train of thought, sorry.

Capn Tinsley:

Sorry, I put up those comments sir.

Hayden:

Yes, Roger McClure.

Radeen:

Should you confer to Bahamian? Oh, the Bahamas has their own money, but it's one for one with the US dollar, and the US dollars are accepted everywhere.

Hayden:

Take a lot of $20 bills, take cash, stash it on your boat, hide it in different places and then also make sure you have two or three credit cards. In case one credit card gets compromised, then you have a backup credit card because credit cards do get compromised. We've had that happen multiple times in the Bahamas, but they just don't work anymore.

Hayden:

Well no, people steal the number. Then the credit card company recognized fraud and they shut down the card. And the credit card company says oh, we shut down your card, we're going to send you another one to your house and they mail you another credit. Well, you can't get it, so that card's done. Now, that one's over, so you need to have another.

Capn Tinsley:

How about did they take American Express or do?

Radeen:

you use it most of the time Not very often in the Bahamas.

Hayden:

What we learned last year or a couple of years ago. We learned about virtual credit cards, all of your credit card companies. You'll go onto the website for your credit card company and you will look for the topic of virtual credit card and you can make yourself a virtual number that's tied to your credit card and then you can set the parameters of that virtual number, like maybe only a thousand dollars, or it can only be used one time on this date. Whatever the parameters are, you set it. Then when you go and use it someplace, it's very safe and secure because it's not your real card. It's a virtual number tied to your real card.

Capn Tinsley:

So how do you use that?

Hayden:

Well, if you buy something online whenever, I go to buy something online and I click the pipe in my credit card number. It pops up you want to use your virtual number and then it populates my virtual number automatically, but you want to get virtual credit card numbers also. That's a very secure thing to do when you're what about gpay or apple pay? Yeah, they use that. They use some places use that. Uh, not as popular as the states, obviously, but right.

Radeen:

Something else to know is don't book a credit card using a I mean a rental car using a virtual credit card number, because when you show up to rent a rental car, they want to see a copy of the real card. Well then, your card doesn't match the number you booked it with and it's a big problem, so just don't use it for a rental car booking.

Hayden:

Yeah, okay, only cash. In the Bahamas we use credit card everywhere we can, one card everywhere we can, and then we pay cash when we can't, and then when your car gets compromised, then you kind of decide what you want to do next.

Capn Tinsley:

What about tipping?

Hayden:

The Bahamas Grady.

Radeen:

The standard in the Bahamas is to tip less than you would customarily tip in the United States. 10% is pretty much the standard.

Hayden:

Yeah.

Radeen:

That's a good question.

Capn Tinsley:

Yeah.

Radeen:

Okay.

Hayden:

When you get fuel. No, you don't tip when you get fuel. No, okay, no, you just pay the fuel. Whatever the you're going to carry a diesel jug up to the fuel station, they're going to give you the hose to fill it and then they, whatever comes up on the fuel gauge, you pay that. So, no, I never tip for fuel because you're carrying and jugging your own fuel and pumping your own fuel.

Capn Tinsley:

Okay.

Hayden:

I think if you look a couple more slides I don't know, I don't think we have any more slides past Georgetown, I think they're just pictures. That's the stores that we saw the blue store, there's the blue store and then there's the uh shelves of the blue store. That's anchored out and that's kind of there it is. That's a wonderfully stocked grocery store there and that's it oh, we we sure do enjoy it.

Capn Tinsley:

It's a lot of fun so does anybody else have any questions? They just threw some great knowledge at us here, I hope so I hope it helped.

Hayden:

I hope that helped.

Capn Tinsley:

Well, we're going to definitely want to have you guys back. There's just like so many questions, so many topics we could cover.

Hayden:

Yeah, we could talk about the Caribbean next when we get back down to Antigua. Yeah, like about provisioning or no, we'll talk about the places to go in the Caribbean.

Capn Tinsley:

Okay.

Hayden:

The Caribbean, all the great anchorages.

Capn Tinsley:

That would be great. Yeah, we were talking before Now. I lost my train of thought. Oh, Tim says Tim, Lyons says Lynn says thanks.

Hayden:

Tim Lynn thanks a lot. Thank you, tim. You're welcome. It was a good time. Appreciate it. Tinsley, you're great at this. I really appreciate all the technology you've gone through to figure out how to set this all up. That's what I was going to say through to figure out how to set this all up.

Capn Tinsley:

That's what I was going to say. You guys, if anybody watching notices, they have a real professional-looking microphone in front of them.

Hayden:

Tinsley made us get this little fancy shore microphone now. So we got the real rig now.

Capn Tinsley:

They're going to be taking it to their boat. When are you going? To be going to your boat.

Hayden:

Oh yeah, December 1, we fly down to Antigua. And we launch the boat on December 3. And then we'll rig it up Nice to see you, chris, good to see you, chris.

Capn Tinsley:

We're going to be doing some podcasts with them in the Bahamas and they'll have their professional podcast equipment with their ring light and their microphone and boom arm. Oh, my professional podcast equipment with their ring light and their microphone and boom arm. I'm so glad you did it. I mean, it's such a quality sound. You guys are you guys sound great, you look great Good.

Hayden:

Thanks so much, really appreciate your work.

Radeen:

As I said before you make this, fun?

Hayden:

Yeah, you make it fun, you really. And the technology behind all this? I don't know how to set all this up, I'm just talking into the mic. You told me to get Appreciate it.

Capn Tinsley:

Well, this is you guys. I do post these on the audio podcast sites, which is above Hayden's head there. That's just a few of them. We got Apple, we got Spotify there. We got Amazon there, we got Amazon Music, we got iHeart. There's really about 20 of them that I'll be posting to, that I post to, and your episodes do get a lot of downloads on the audio side. Thank, you Wonderful Thank you.

Hayden:

That's wonderful, thank you.

Capn Tinsley:

Anyway, thanks for making this so easy for me this time.

Hayden:

You're welcome. I'm going to start coughing. We're here for you.

Capn Tinsley:

Thank you. We're going to do this again and with that we'll say Salty, Abandon Out. Thank you.

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