Bahamas Bound

  Airplane  Today we snorkeled two spots. Well, the first snorkel was not really a snorkel, it was Jessica leaning over the side of the dinghy with her mask on to see the crashed airplane from the drug smuggler that did not make it to the cay runway. The second snorkel spot was quite a treat. It was called the aquarium. Before we jumped off the dinghy with our snorkel gear, Jessica asked, why is it called the aquarium? I said, “I don’t know, but we are about to find out”. The three of us jumped in, and our eyes lit up through the mask with beautiful coral and fish swarming around us like we were in the eye of a hurricane.    The limestone vertical wall at the back of the coral indeed gave the appearance of an aquarium.    Then we snorkeled over to a sandbar that was 2 feet underwater, and talked for at least two hours. It was so beautifu that we just could not bring ourselves to get out of the water. We ended the day with a trip to the beach and this time t...

  Woke up this morning and did one of my favorite navigation tasks.    I evaluated the wind forecast, cruising app, destination, spots, tide forecast, and the morale of the crew (just kidding).    It with all these considerations I picked a new destination for today. Today is at the southern edge of the Exumer land in Sea Park at Cambridge Qay. We picked up a morning ball and launched the dinghy for a snorkel excursion. We found a really nice coral garden just outside the park in hopes of finding some conch. However, we only saw a beautiful fish and bright colored coral heads, coral fans, lots of other species of coral I can’t identify. Then we found a sandbar that had baby conch that had come up on the sandbar. Instead of simply snorkeling around for bigger conch, we covered more territory by towing Jessica and Noelle with an anchor line from the bow of the dinghy while I went in reverse to keep them well away from the motor.    The ladies found our s...

  Noelle, Jessica, and I sailed south today and ended at Wardwick Wells cay. We hiked up to look for the blow holes, but the tide was not quite right. However, we had an excellent view on top of boo-boo Hill. We spent some time under the gazebo and talked to three couples who had rented a bareback boat out of Nassau. They commented that everything was broken on the boat except for the engine. Ha ha. Jessica got her steps in on the Long Beach and Ali had a good time chilling under the Shimbuni.    Noelle found some live conch, however, we are still in the land and sea park so no harvesting today. We watched the sun go down and looked for the green flash, however, not today.    We ended the day with a great hobo pack dinner with sausage, sauerkraut, potatoes, corn.

  Bubbles shadow / prisim  Jessica, Noelle, and I went to the washing machine. We did not do laundry but instead we found a Tidal Creek that emptied into the ocean that would spin the current around with Eddy‘s that was an absolute blast. The wind laid down so with no ripples on the water it was crystal clear and absolutely beautiful. We are in the Exuma’s Land and Sea Park and feel like we are in heaven. After lunch, we went to a sand spit where the warm water was coming out of the mangroves so no wetsuit was needed. We are still contemplating the water temperature, but it was at least in the low 90s.

  Today, Jessica‘s sister Noelle finally made it to Methuselah at 10 AM.    Very, very friendly Bohemians connected her with a tour boat that was taking customers out to see iguanas, sharks, pigs, etc.    The tour boat took her right to Staniel Cay Yacht Club which was a simple 10 minute dinghy ride for us. We gave Noelle some much-needed food and then went for a beach trip. After lunch, we snorkeled two different sites. The second site was absolutely spectacular with the Thunderball Grotto Cave (007 movie was filmed), and beautiful fish along with one sea turtle. The three of us are watching the sun go down from Methuselah and so excited that Noelle is here.

  Today was day three of the longest weather blow    that we have ever had in the Bahamas. We thought for sure the rain and wind had stopped mid afternoon. Indeed, the wind finally laid down, but an occasional squall of rain persisted throughout the late afternoon. Jessica and I were eager to get off the boat so we got some water, diesel, gasoline, groceries at Staniel Cay.    Due to the weather blow, Jessica’s sister Noelle was not able to get to us today from GeorgeTown.    We are looking forward to seeing her tomorrow. We took a late afternoon trip to the beach to stretch our legs. Of course, another rain squall came our way, and Jessica was a trooper and hunched down with me under the mangroves until the rain stopped.

  Filling propane bottles for cooking. Conch salad. Today was day number two of the cold front blow. It is super windy but temperatures still in the low 70s. We are hunkered down behind a cay, so we are doing just fine with the small waves, and there is good anchor holding here so no worries about dragging (but I still have an anchor alarm turned on!).    We made conch salad for lunch from our recent conch gathering snorkel.    After being cooped up on the boat without being able to do any snorkeling today, Jessica and I donned our foul weather gear and walked the beach for an hour to stretch our legs. We cleaned out the refrigerator and cleaned around in the cabin in preparation for Jessica’s sister Noelle coming tomorrow.

  View of this popular anchorage. We put on our fowl weather gear (it was sprinkling) and rode in the dinghy to wash our clothes at the the laundry mat / liquor store….it was called the “LiquorMat”!    There were two restaurants that we were contemplating eating lunch.    We went to the first one, and the guy said that the workers didn’t feel like coming to work today in the rain so they were closed. So we went to the flying pig instead and had “chicken in da bag”, which is fried chicken and french fries along with some conch fritters.    We were the only customers, and after our waitress washed our dishes by hand, she asked us to give a good Google review in exchange for a free mixed drink called a Goom Bay smash.    The one thing that we really wish we had was simple hair conditioner because our hair is growing long and with daily doses of salt water, our hair has been a tangled mess.    So we went to the hardware store, because t...