Smokey The Bear's Lair | Bush Fires In The Bahamas

Sun setting at Smokey the Bear's Lair anchorage.

“It must be trash burning day,” I said looking at all of the smoke billowing off of Great Abaco Island. “It’s strange how we bury our trash in landfills and people on the islands burn theirs.”

“That’s not trash that’s burning,” Scott said. “When I was at Sid’s Grocery Store on Green Turtle Cay, the owners told me that they’re bush fires which they just let burn. They might of started from a cigarette or something.”

“What a shame. Where’s Smokey the Bear when you need him?” I watched as we got closer to shore and the smoke intensified. “Wait a minute, I just thought of something. Are there even bears in the Bahamas? I hope not. I mean, Smokey the Bear is fine, but remember those bears when we were camping out west and all the damage they did. I don’t want to run into those kind of bears.”

Scott raised his eyebrows. “Now, you’re worried about bears? Don’t you have enough to worry about with all of the sharks and barracudas in the water when you’re snorkeling?”

I think he saw the fear in my eyes. “Don’t worry. There aren’t any bears, but even if there were, it’s not like they can swim out to our boat and bother us.”

“Ever heard of polar bears?” I asked, perhaps with a bit of a sarcastic tone.

“What you should be worried about is exactly where we’re going to anchor to hide out from this weather.” He pointed to a spot near some rocks. “How about over there?”

I got out the binoculars and had a closer look. “Okay, looks fine. I don’t see any bears.”

****

Smoke from the bush fires burning on Great Abaco Island.

After over a week cruising in the Bahamas, we finally made our way to Green Turtle Cay to clear in. Scott went onshore to the Customs & Immigration office (only the captain is allowed to clear everyone in, the crew has to remain on the boat). He had waited until 1:00 PM thinking that they’d be open after the lunch hour. Nope, they were closed until 2:15 PM, which really meant 2:30 PM.

Besides clearing us in, Scott had one other major task while on shore which was to get us some more milk and eggs. Since he had time to kill, he headed off to Sid’s Grocery Store. We had been there on our last trip to the Bahamas. They have a decent selection of provisions and the owners are friendly. They invited Scott to have a seat and take a load off while he waited.

As he chatted with them, they mentioned that there was some weather coming in and that there had been a steady stream of boats coming into the White Sound anchorage to seek protection from the forecast winds.

If you live on a boat, there’s one thing that you always pay attention to and that’s the weather. When it’s great, life is good and when it’s bad, life is…hmmm…let’s go with interesting. That sounds like a much more positive spin on things then how I sometimes feel when the weather is dicey.

Scott went back to Customs & Immigration when they opened up, cleared us in lickety-splitly and hightailed it back to our boat. He dropped off the eggs and milk and we headed over to White Sound in our dinghy to the Green Turtle Club Marina to “borrow” their WiFI and check out the weather forecast. Winds were due to be 10-20 knots from a southerly direction so we decided to head across the Sea of Abaco and anchor off of Great Abaco Island.

{White Sound was way too crowded for our liking. The boats that weren’t on mooring balls were on very short anchors. I’d hate to be there if anyone dragged.}

There aren’t any handy anchor signs on the charts telling you where a good place to drop the hook is over there, so we had to scope out the area ourselves. At first we got excited because our Garmin chartplotter showed a sweet little spot tucked behind some rocks. It would offered great protection from the wind.

Turns out our chartplotter lied. It’s not the first time and I’m sure it won’t be the last. That’s why you never rely on just one navigation aid, but use multiple sources where you can, along with your own eyeballs.

When we checked our trusty Explorer charts, we saw that the area behind the rocks dries out at low tide. Not really desirable in an anchorage, unless you like having your boat tip over on it’s side. There were also smaller rock formations around that weren’t charted.

Rocks we anchored near at Smokey the Bear's Lair.

So we anchored further out in waters a bit deeper than we would like, but that’s the way it goes some days. What we did get was a great view of the bush fires which made everything look spooky, especially as the sun was setting.

Spooky and smoky in the anchorage.

 
Now here’s the cool thing about anchoring someplace that isn’t on the charts as an “official anchorage” – you get to name it yourself. We decided to call it Smokey the Bear’s Lair because of all of the bush fires. For those of you who have Explorer charts, you’ll want to pencil that in so you know the official name.

Cruising Log – Tuesday, 4 April 2017 – Wednesday, 5 April 2017

4 APRIL

Anchor up 9:45 AM at Cave Cay. Tense moments coming through some skinny waters. Nothing worse than seeing your depth sounder flash 4.5’ when you have a 5’ draft. Didn’t ground {phew!}. Had the headsail up, happily sailing away when one of the sheets parted. Got it back on. Dolphins! Plan was to head to Allan’s-Pensacola Cay for the night. Jam packed in there, so headed over to Crab Cay instead. Anchor down 5:15 PM. Everyone seemed to be anchored on the lee shore. Not sure why. Maybe it’s because that’s where the anchor symbol is on the chart. We found our own spot further away. Nautical Miles = 38. Engine = 4 hrs 0 mins. Spending = Nil.

5 APRIL

Very gusty overnight. The crew monitored the situation closely while the skipper slept very soundly. And by crew, I mean me. Anchor up at 8:30 AM. Motored to Green Turtle Cay – the wind was not cooperating. Anchor down 12:15 PM. Had lunch while waited for Customs & Immigration to open. Got to watch a ketch ground in the channel to White Sound. It took them a while to get off. Everyone else had to wait to enter and exit until they did. Scott cleared us in and picked up some provisions. Headed to one of the marinas to use their WiFI and check on the weather that was due to come in. Headed across the way to Great Abaco Island to look for a place to anchor. Anchor down 5:15 PM. Very, very spooky and smoky. Nautical Miles = 23. Engine = 4 hrs 15 mins. Spending = $160.16 (clearing in to Bahamas – $150; 1 dozen eggs and 1/2 gallon milk – $10.16).

Have you ever seen a forest or bush fire burning? What's your favorite kind of bear - stuffed, real or imaginary? 

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