Cruising Memories #2

 Celebrity's stay at Spanish Cay, Bahamas...

After a great 6 week introductory cruise through the Abacos, we were making our way back through the islands towards West End, racing the arrival of several cold fronts. We decided to duck into the cove at the north end of Spanish Cay. In 1986 Spanish Cay was owned by Clint Murchison, also owner of the Dallas Cowboys football team. Although our cruising guides called the island hostile, we were desperate to find a safe anchorage from the anticipated weather. As we were trying to anchor our 28 foot sailboat in very loamy bottom with lots of upside down jellyfish making for poor holding, a man with a doberman was waving to us from a nearby dock. Our first thought was that he was waving us away, but then we realized that he was waving us over to him. We hopped in the dinghy and went to see what he wanted, thinking that he would make us leave. That was the furthest from the truth. The man ended up being the caretaker for the island and he must have been lonely. He told us that we might as well bring our sailboat to the dock because with the approaching storm and the poor anchor holding, we were going to end up there anyway. How could we resist an offer like that, especially after what we had just read in the guides? 

Robert helped us dock and then took us for a tour of the island in his open air jeep, with the friendliest doberman we have ever met (he was actually a wimp, except when it came to ridding the island of rats). We heard all about the island’s history, especially the drug smugglers landing on the airstrip. Evidence was still there with a plane half in the water that went off the runway. 

Although very little drug smuggling was going on at the time and that was part of the caretaker’s job to keep them away, he told us to lay low and don’t come out of the boat if we hear a plane at night. Meanwhile, we were invited to dinner and hot showers at the caretaker’s house. After 6 weeks of cold or tepid ‘sun showers’ in the cockpit and eating lots of canned food, this sure was a treat! The next day we had more tours and were told about all the flotsam that had been found on the gorgeous beaches, including a couple of messages in bottles, bails of marijuana, and turtle eggs and hatchlings. Then it was time to pay our dues for this experience of a lifetime. One of the hobbies that Robert had was to take the sea turtle hatchlings he found and keep them in pens until they are big enough to survive being released back into the wild. However, without the flow-through of the water in the cove, algae began to grow on the turtles backs. They have to be grabbed out of the water and with toothbrush in hand, carefully cleaned. What a price to pay and a job that we stepped right up and volunteered for.

The caretaker’s job was shared with Robert’s father who came from Miami and relieved him for a few weeks. Dad also invited us to dinner at his house and loaded us up with all sorts of magazines to read. More cold fronts were on the horizon, so we knew we had to leave and press onward. The channel going in and out of the cove was unmarked, very shallow, and narrow, causing us to go aground at mid-tide. He kept an eye on us until we got in the deep spot and out in the Sea of Abaco and waved us good-bye. As we were motoring westward I remembered the gift that had been given to us before Robert left to fly back to Miami, that I had not opened but put down below in Celebrity. It’s a good thing I remembered it, because when I unwrapped the package it was filled with pot! After having a good laugh, we needed to find a way to dispose of it since we did not want to be caught enroute by the Bahamas Defense Force or U.S. Coast Guard. The only thing we could think to do with it was to sink it. Dave found one of his conch shells he was going to turn into a conch horn, so we stuffed it and dropped it into the sea. Another memory to add to this unforgettable trip. Plus, the moral of the story is don’t believe everything you read!