Spanish Wells on Eleuthera

We are hopping across these island groups getting further North every day. Our only stop on Eleuthera was in Spanish Wells at Yacht Haven. We decided to fuel up and then get a dock space for the night...yep, we actually were connected to land for a night. It was early afternoon when we arrived so we decided to join our friends, Craig and Debbie for a golf cart ride around the island. There were many pink, blue, green, and yellow homes that were kept up very nicely...quite the change from what we were used to seeing. We went directly to the grocery store before they closed and really stocked up...it was almost like Safeway at home...but much more expensive. Then we toured the island, stopped in a few gift stores, and found a place for dinner. Craig had turtle...the waitress told us how on April 1st it was going to be illegal to fish for turtle so this was a delicacy soon to be done away with. They don't allow liquor here in Spanish Wells, not even at the restaurants. We had stopped at a "shell shop" that was located in the garage of some very friendly locals. John purchased his "Conch horn" here. That night at dinner we had decided to leave from the North of the Island as we had come in the South side and it would save us over two hours by going North. It is recommended that you hire a "pilot" to show you the way out through the reef system so we called "Ole Pot" who showed up at 7am and took us through all the shallow water and then said "You're On Your Own" but we were already through the reef...no problem man.

The Mangrove Swamps at Shroud Cay

One of our next stops was Shroud Cay. We had heard many good stories about going through the mangrove swamps here, so we just had to try. It was like being in the swamps of Florida. It didn't help that we went at low tide and took the canoe route. We went with our boating buddies, "Charmed" and we had met another Island Packeteer, "Lena B" who joined us. As you can see from the photos, we were hitting bottom so the guys had to get out and pull. Then we got to deeper water and ended at the Atlantic Ocean...Beautiful! What a fun day.

Dead Calm

Per our insurance we had gone as far south as allowed so now we have started heading North. We stopped at Buena Vista Cay and Flamingo Cay again and then headed "the back way" to Rocky Point. This was a couple of small islands in the middle of nowhere and the sea was "DEAD CALM" as you can see from the photo we took of "Charmed" as we headed across. It was a really beautiful day and then we had dinner with Debbie and Craig and watched Nicole Kidman's first movie...Dead Calm. Kind of eerie.

The Ragged Islands...As Close to Cuba as you can get

A typical home in Duncantown, termite nests, drying conch, trail markers (people pick up trash off the beach to mark a trail), the salt pond, DC-3 house ...wouldn't this be fun to live in

We decided to head South from the Exuma Islands to the Ragged Islands. These islands are much more remote with no facilities available to the cruiser so you had better stock up and plan ahead.

First stop was Flamingo Cay. This was another beautiful spot and a good snorkeling place although the current was a bit rough. John had purchased his Hawaiian "sling" and was anxious to try his luck at spear fishing.

Next stop down the chain was Buena Vista. This happened to be on Valentines Day so John and Craig decided to fix the women a Valentines Day dinner with all the fixings. John had caught some fish that he made into Fish Fingers and we had a local fisherman stop by the boat to purchase 8 lobster tails for $20...what a deal. The dinner was delicious and the guys even did dishes! My most vivid memory was of the huge starfish everywhere under the boats so doing your "Bahama Bath" off the back of the boat was a pleasure and the water was refreshing!

Yes, we went all the way South to Duncantown...only 60 miles from Cuba...tempting but not worth the fines the government imposes for trespassers. This town has only about 100 occupants and was another run down town. A little depressing and a culture shock but always fun to mingle with the locals. (Notice the termite nests on the house in the picture). Lots of goats, dogs and roosters running wild...Obie was having a hey day! The local grocery store owner, Maxine, had just come back from Conch fishing and had her conch on the line to dry. There was also a wreck of a small boat that had come from Haiti with 156 persons on board...unbelievable. They had the small school house for all ages but in the Bahamas, once you reach about 14 you must go live in Nassau to finish school if you are lucky and wealthy enough. And someone had made use of an old DC-3...why not?

We had a welcome to Duncantown party with some fellow cruisers, "Charmed", and "It's About Time" who told us about another awesome beach for beach combing. So off we went and after a long, hard dinghy ride, we ended up following them to the trail head. Along the way we had to walk through a Salt Pond...it reminded me of snow in Colorado but a little different texture. It was an awesome beach, found lots of Heart Beans (these are bean pods that float across the ocean usually from Africa), a few Hamburger Beans, and many other shells. We actually found sooooo many beans that we left quite a few for others to find.

What do Swimming Pigs and James Bond have in Common?

The answer is location. First is Big Majors where you dinghy up to the beach and are greeted by a momma pig and her piglets. They are just adorable but they are wild so you stay in the dinghy...but they swim.

OK. Onto James Bond. Yes, just around the corner from the pigs is Thunderball Grotto. This is a cave where you can swim or snorkel into. The James Bond movie Thunderball was filmed here. After a day of snorkeling you can go to Club Thunderball for "Chicken and Ribs" and to enjoy the company of many other yachties or the locals.

Georgetown, "The Place You Have To Go"

Yes, we finally arrived at the infamous Georgetown. First decision was which beach to choose...Hamburger, Volleyball or Sand Dollar. Well, being the beachcomber I am it just had to be Sand Dollar. And at lowtide, me and a couple of friends went beachcombing in the low water and found several sand dollars, star fish, and misc. other shells worth keeping. Some of the sand dollars and star fish we found were still alive so we put them back in the water.

There are so many things going on in at the beaches, it is hard to choose what to do. You can have lunch at "Chat-n-Chill", or have fresh conch salad made in the Conch Hut. Organizers make it easy to keep busy with bocce ball, volleyball, painting, straw weaving, swimming, and many cruiser-interest seminars to attend. We also attended Beach Church and would find it hard to go back inside a building for church services from here on out.

Sunset is a whole other experience. From the beach...looking at the sign post pointing to places closer to home...you watch the sun dip at the horizon and yes, you can see many a "Green Flash". Not only is sunset visual but they play conch's to your ears delight. John now has a conch shell that he blows almost every sunset.

As for the actual town of Georgetown, I was not too impressed, but the grocery store was to die for after the smaller ones (and I mean SMALL) we had been used to. Very few restaurants were to be found but the people were very friendly and a good place to walk around.

Long Island in the Bahamas (no...not in New York)

We entered an amateur regatta from Georgetown to Long Island in the Bahamas. There were about 40 boats racing across. Due to weather, they started the race a day earlier than scheduled and Jay Sea Dee was anchored in a more protected area planning to move for the race the next day. So we had to start from where we were...not at the starting line. We won the "Most Creative Start" category but came in second to last place with our handicap rating. Oh well, it was a lot of fun. We then had dinner at a local restaurant and the awards ceremony at Island Breeze Resort. Then due to weather we were stuck in this harbor so we rented cars and cruised the island. We visited Ena's Straw shop, the Columbus Monument at Santa Maria where he landed the Santa Maria in 1492, the Blue Hole, a church, etc. We saw many cool beaches and had a good time with our boating buddies, "Charmed" and "Lady".

Still Enjoying The Bahamas

We stopped at Allen Cay in the Exumas which is known for its prehistoric iguana population. They just kept coming out of the brush. We stopped at many more places where we had the whole beach to ourselves...really Paradise! I just had to show you one of the yachts at Atlantis that had its own submarine vessel on board. We are now back in Nassau where we dropped off Jennifer and Jonathon at the airport. Tomorrow we are going back to the Exumas to finish exploring what we haven't seen yet and heading towards Georgetown.

Sailing with Friends!

After Christmas we enjoyed a week with friends, Lillie and Judy in the Bahamas. This is Sandy Cay where we sailed to this day and enjoyed the clear blue waters to snorkel and comb the beach for treasures. What a beautiful place to spend with great people. They spent New Years with us and we had a great dinner at The Bahamian Club and then Fireworks over the marina, followed by the "girls" getting invited onto huge yachts and a free VIP entry into the Aura club (which normally costs $200 per person to get in and over $20,000 for the VIP treatment). This should be a night they will remember.

JUNKANOO is a must!

Well, as you can see, even the Bahamas are excited about Obama. These are photos from the "Junkanoo" parade held both on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas. The Slaves Freedom Day to celebrate the Christmas holiday since they had to spend the real holiday in servitude to their masters) and on New Years Day. The parade begins at 2am and goes for about 12 hours. We only made it a few hours but loved every minute of it. It is related to Carnival and now I hope to experience that someday to compare. The music, the rhythms, the costumes...all AMAZING!

Christmas in the Bahamas

Yes, we made it to the Bahamas. Two wonderful weeks at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island and it lives up to its name!

The first week, we enjoyed our beautiful kids with us and were blessed to have Jacquelyn's boyfriend, Blake with us as well. It was probably one of the best Christmas' EVER.

So much to do here: Aquariums full of interesting and unusual fish, water slides, Nassau, the casino, movies, "Dealers Choice" nights on the boat, etc.

We even took the time to enjoy our holiday tradition of egg nog in our "Moose Mugs" while we watch Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase. We even played with Bubbles and although Jennifer made a huge one, Jacquelyn's travelled the furthest...always competing

Thanksgiving and Beyond

So Obie has figured out he "owns" the "Poop Deck". Actually, for all those sailors with pets and wondering what to do when they have to go, this piece of astro turf is a boat saver!

Here we are in Charleston enjoying our first Thanksgiving on the boat. It is the first time John and I have not hosted Thanksgiving in over 20 years.

We really get a kick out of the dolphins that swim right by the boat every day. We feel they bring us our luck for the day.

We had a great time visiting Greg and Carla Jandzio in Melbourne, FL on our way to Miami. John really enjoyed driving this GTO. Greg has some awesome vehicles.

We made it to Miami, waiting out the weather window to cross to the Bahamas.