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| A dolphin visited our boat and swam with us all day long! So magical! |
We have sailed the Mediterranean, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and explored all over the Caribbean from Barbados to the Bahamas. We have seen more marine life and stunning water colors since arriving to these lovely islands a few weeks ago. We keep saying, "Wow"!
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| Nature's swimming pool! |
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| Family time! |
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| Steve and Tina captured this lovely pic of our dolphin friend. To see more of Steve's amazing photography skills, check out his website: www.stevezmak.com |
Tree swing at Chat-N-Chill beach.
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| We swam all day with our dolphin friend! |
We met up with Jared's parents in Georgetown, Exumas who flew in for a week. It was so good to see some family after almost 2 years away. Our friends Steve and Tina also came out and stayed aboard with us for the week. We explored the town of Georgetown, swam with a dolphin right at our boat for a day (it stayed until nightfall, but what an amazing experience), and moseyed on over to Chat-N-Chill beach for a day. That place is tons of fun! Volleyball courts, little beach shack, swings, swimming with the stingrays, treehouse, slacklines, and all sorts of things for kids (and adults) to do. We met all sorts of people and made new friends. We can see why people get stuck here for awhile.
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| Family volleyball match. |
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| Exploring Georgetown. |
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| Roundabout at sunset, Great Inagua Island. |
After sailing around Great Exuma island with the grandparents, it was time for them to return to California. We said our 'see-you-laters' and set off for White Cay with our friends to see the pigs. We sailed north for a couple of hours and anchored off of white cay. The pigs are a bit shy at first, but friendly. After seeing we had some goodies for them, they slowly entered the water near the dinghy. They sat like little puppy dogs, mouths wide open, awaiting the treats. We fed them lettuce, carrots, and apples. Zach brought some cheese pizza and a chocolate chip cookie along for his snack, but they fell out of his bag on accident and the piggies gobbled them up! I hope their tummies were ok after that rich food! When they saw we were out of food, they slowly wandered back to the beach.
The following morning, we dropped Steve and Tina off at a little restaurant on the beach across the bay. Turns out, this was the same restaurant featured in the Fyre Festival documentary. We had a couple of cold drinks while they waited for their taxi.
We were surprised by lemon sharks feeding close to shore, so of course, that distracted us for awhile. They are so swift and graceful in their movements!
Just after sunrise, we exited the cut and out into the ocean for a sail north to Rudder Cut Cay. It is all about the tides and current, here in the Bahamas!
We heard there was an underwater statue that needed to be discovered. Turns out, this is one of David Copperfield's islands. He also owns Musha Cay and a handful of others in the area. If you have a spare $42k, you can rent Musha Cay resort for a day.
We dropped the hook of Rudder Cut Cay and dinghied over to explore the sea caves and the mermaid/piano statues. It's pretty easy to free dive down to the statue. Word on the street is that the original one was stolen a few years ago, so this one they affixed to a concrete block. Another cruiser mentioned seeing a 6' nurse shark in the area, but we didn't see it. As we sailed by Musha Cay, a gentleman came out of one of the remote houses and waved at us. Could it have been the famous magician himself? We couldn't tell from so far away. If so, hello Mr. Copperfield! =)
From there, we moved on to Great Inagua. We anchored off one of the beaches and fed the iguanas lettuce. They are quite a beautiful mixture of pink and green skin, and very friendly.
We made a pit stop at Blackpoint for some of Lorraine's mom's special coconut bread, as well as her coconut raisin cinnamon bread. These made amazing french toast!
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| Meeting Lorraine's mama and buying some fresh coconut bread! |
We spent the night anchored off another beach on Great Inagua. They all seem to have iguanas roaming around, so you can't miss out on seeing them.
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| They come up to you as soon as you land on the beach. |
Thunderball Grotto was our next stop along the island chain. We spent one night anchored off of the Grotto and then moved around the corner to Big Majors Cay to wait out a blow coming through. The pigs here are famous and know it. They are a bit more aggressive than the shy White Cay piggies, but simply hold up your hands and they will go find someone else that has some tasty morsels for them. We saw lots of little piglets here as well.
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| Cruisers' beach, Big Majors Cay |
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| Crystal clear water! |
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| Hermes at the edge of the gorgeous water (cruiser's beach) |
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| Pigs of all shapes and sizes! The little ones were so cute! |
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| Nurse sharks at Staniel Cay. |
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| Fun tree at Chat-N-Chill beach. |
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| Petting the friendly stingrays. |
We sailed about 5-6 hours and dropped the hook in greenish tinged water off Poison Point. The kids built a little campfire and we cooked dinner and made s'mores. We invited the other boats in the anchorage and made some new friends. The next morning was Monday, so we dinghied over to The Island School for a tour. Zach heard about this amazing marine science school and wanted to check it out. Stef ended up with a job offer at the end of the tour (no, she didn't take it,but perhaps a summer position in the future). Zach decided to apply to attend their Sophomore year. If you are in the area, please go see all the projects their students are working on. Simply hands-on project based learning at its finest!
The next couple of days were spent adventuring around Rock Sound with our new friends. One of them had a daughter Cadence's age, so she was happy to finally have another sailor girl to hang with.
We saw two of the big Ocean Holes inland, cliff dove, and crawled through Cathedral Cave, winding around the spider webs, bats, and all!
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| Planning on where to jump off at the Ocean Hole (closest one to Rock Sound) |
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| Cathedral Cave with the bats |
At first light, we sailed back over to the Exumas and anchored off Norman Cay. This is also one of the islands featured in the Fyre Festival documentary. The current here can be wicked, so be sure to set out a 2nd anchor (aka bahamian style anchoring), otherwise you risk the anchor chain messing up your bottom paint when the current is one direction and the wind another.
From Norman Cay, we spent another night at Rudder Cut Cay, and then moved on to Georgetown, as we hopped our way south. We rode out another weather system here for a few days and went to play at Chat-N-Chill beach every day. So. Much. Fun!
Mid-afternoon, after getting some last minute provisions, we set off for Hog Cut Cay. We ended up not liking how it looked, even with high tide (take your dinghy in ahead if you are uncertain of the depth. A portable depth sounder is VERY handy for situations like these).
Sunny on Castle Island.
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| Shipwreck treasures on Hogsty Reef Atoll (Sand spit) |
We anchored off for the night and at first light, went around the long way, around Long Island. It definitely has the correct name. We spent the night off of Castle Island (this beach is really cool and the old abandoned lighthouse deserves a look as well--don't go inside though, its falling apart). Snorkel the reefs there, as you'll see lots of pretty fish and colorful coral.
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| Anchored off Hogsty Reef Atoll. |
Next morning at daylight, we sailed on to Matthew-town, Great Inagua. We cleared out, got some provisions, dinghy fuel, and then set off on our 5-day passage to Panama! Jungle, here we come!
Next up: we arrive in Panama, haul out, explore the jungle, and prep for the canal transit.
