Bahamas Bound

  Today we hiked up the trail from the visitor center to the infamous Boo-Boo Hill. It is a high point in the Exuma, where many sailors have left a sign indicating the name of their boat. Jessica thought ahead and we brought a magic marker and did a makeshift sign of our own. The terrain and scenery was breathtakingly beautiful. After lunch, we went for a snorkel and enjoyed what we loved doing together, which is looking at the fish and spending time in the water swimming around the coral reefs. We spent the late afternoon on the beach and enjoyed the relaxation of the water. We enjoyed watching the sunset to the west and an approaching rain storm from the east. Again, the nurse shark visited our boat this evening, but by the time we threw our pizza scraps into the water he had swam away.    Our goal is to pet a nurse shark because they are so docile. We feel so blessed to be here in such a beautiful spot.

  Started    the day looking at the tide chart and timing a snorkel near the ocean at Slack Tide. It paid off because we were blessed with an absolutely beautiful snorkel. Hard coral, soft coral, all types of reef fish were abundant at this Exuma‘s Land and Sea Park. We saw a nice beach and explored around and found an exhibit of a whale skeleton that had been killed by a plastic bag, so sad!    We came back to Methuselah and attempted to clean the blood stains off the deck from yesterday‘s fish. I scrubbed with toilet bowl cleaner while Jessica scrubbed with soap and a brush. It took a lot of elbow grease and some bleach, which Jessica will not get near, ha ha ha. We got most of it off, but still have some more work to do in the days to come. Jessica jumped in the water, unannounced, and without a wetsuit, and proceeded to make 10 laps around the boat.    Then Jessica went over to a secluded beach and walked up and down for a few hours and took a nap ...

  Woke up at the Cape Eleuthera Marina and the dockmaster warned us to keep Ali away from the water because 10 foot bull sharks prowl for fish scraps. We sailed across the Exuma sound and the fishing rod went off midway across. The screaming clicker sound on the reel got the hair standing up on the back of my neck. Then we saw the mahi jump out of the water a few times and showed off his bright green, yellow and fluorescent blue colors. The bull mahi even swam straight at the boat once so I thought for sure I had lost him when the tension went slack. Somehow, another after a 30 minute battle, I was able to lean over far enough to gaff they bull mahi. We continued toward the Exuma’s and Jessica and I looked behind Methuselah and saw a wahoo this time striking at the lure. On the third attempt, the wahoo hooked up and again it was a screaming real sound. I put Methuselah in neutral and slowly worked the wahoo to the boat. This time we boated the fish on the bow to prevent the cockpit...

  It was a sad “ See you later” to Jason. He hopped on the plane today, and Jessica and I went grocery shopping. We sailed to Cape Eleuthera and evaluated the Anchorage, which was pretty roly from the ocean swells. Therefore, we decided to get a slip at the marina. The marina is super nice with free bikes and we did some laundry and laid in the hammock for a bit where I pushed with my leg and we felt like we were in absolute paradise when we watched the sun sink under the horizon. Again, we looked for the green flash, but did not see it. We are in a strategic location to do a half day ocean passage to the Exuma‘s tomorrow.

  We made it to Governors Harbor, where Jason and I got some water, propane, and beer.    The three of us walked around town pushing the dog stroller.    Lots of people looked to see if there was a baby in the stroller however, it was just the yello 5 gallon diesel can. The highlight of the day was the fish fry on the beach. A great time was had by all! 

Jason spotted a cliff that looked to be a good Cliff jumping spot. Jason hiked around the rock and I scooped out the water depth. Jessica stayed in the dinghy and got these videos of us jumping. What a blast.    Then we snorkeled around the rocks and were engulfed by 1000s of 2 inch long bait fish. They would swirl around us as if we were the eye of a tornado. Jason spotted some barracuda lurking on the outside that would dart in for a snack. Then we moved to Pelican Cay where we took a nice walk on the beach after exploring the navy base ruins on the beach.    Then we went to a sandbar that was 1 inch underwater. After walking around for an hour it was a large area the size of an acre exposed. As the sun went down, it felt like we were walking on water.    Then we wrote a message and put it in a bottle. We toasted to whoever might find it as we threw it overboard. Jason will be on the lookout an email from the finder for years to come. Then we had a nostal...

  We brought the GoPro camera to a good snorkeling spot here in Eleuthera. The pictures of the coral and the fish did not do it justice but we got a few good shots of the three of us snorkeling. Jessica saw a baby shark, and led Jason over to see a turtle that she saw swimming by the rocks. After a couple hours of snorkeling, Jason and I got out of the water, but Jessica just kept snorkeling for another hour at least. I think she is turning into a mermaid. She absolutely loves snorkeling. I scraped the bottom of the boat, then we made our way south to Rainbow Cay. We had a nice walk on the beach and enjoyed some sliced cheese and wine for our Sundowner while playing 80s trivia on the iPad.    Then we cooked hobo packs for dinner.

We sailed over to the beach that has the queen’s baths.    Jason was mesmerized when he saw the raw effect of mother nature’s waves pounding into the rocks. We had a nice swim in the baths and Jason said he was never going home.    We had a beach fire in the evening and grilled up some hotdogs and ate good ole’ruffles potato chips. A good time was had by all. Jessica and Jason saw a dolphin on the bow for at least five minutes. Truly a moving experience.

Jason made it to Spanish Wells safe and sound. He treated us to an excellent dinner at wreckers. We all got the wahoo and Jason shared frustrating airport stories. It was really nice to catch up with Jason over dinner.    In the morning, Jessica and Jason walked to the grocery store, while I took the dinghy to get diesel and gas. He made a run to get some beer and much-needed Diet Coke. The owner Buddha was born on this island in the house down the street.    He brought us back to the boat in his golf cart. We sailed over to egg reef, and Jason couldn’t stop talking about how pretty the water is as we were sailing.    We snorkeled on egg reef and saw some really pretty fan coral and colorful fish. I was able to find one lobster which we all shared later for an appetizer.    We stumbled across some swings on the sandbar and visited  a beautiful beach.