Hiking on Warderick Wells

Beach combing looking for sea beans

Jenn loves her cacti

Pirates Lair on southern tip of Warderick Wells

Brown snake eating a gecko

A friendly gecko...

Jenn at the helm

Feeding pigs at Big Majors Cay

Mmmmmm.....celery

Staniel Cay restaurant

A nurse shark

Pilot, Solomon is taking us to George Town

Jenn & Andy departing

View from the airplane

After a few relatively calm days, the wind returned.  We were strategically placed at Warderick Wells to do some hiking  ashore.  We hiked the southern tip of the island down to Pirate's Lair. beach.  Then we spent an afternoon on the beach with the geckoes.  On our hike back, Jenn spotted a snake that just captured a gecko.  We left Warderick Wells on Thursday and had a great sail with Jenn at the helm south to Big Majors Cay where the kids had a chance to feed the friendly pigs.  We moved over to Staniel Cay on Friday.  On Saturday, we went ashore and did some grocery shopping, had lunch at Staniel Cay Yacht Club and then met our pilot, Solomon at the airport.  He flew us to George Town where we dropped off the kids so they could fly home.  Walt & I returned with the pilot to Staniel Cay.  We sailed over to Black Point Settlement where we are waiting for our friend, Frank to join us on Thursday.

The Fab Four are reunited

Wannabe iguana

Chasers

Clear waters at Bitter Guana Cay

Iguana chewed  sunglasses?

Wahoo!!!

Miss Canada

Cracking coconuts for pina coladas

"Barely a cuda?"

The full monty!

Preparing to go snorkelling

Jenn snorkelling

Look who is  under our boat!

Drying towels on the lifelines

Sunset "happy hour"

Enjoying the moment with our kids aboard

Our son and daughter joined us for a week in the Exumas.  Each of us will write a short account of our time together starting with our son, Andrew.

Once again we are together on my parents' boat.  Last time I was on the boat I was in between jobs.  I enjoyed approximately two weeks in the Chesapeake Bay.  On this trip in the Bahamas we have done lots of snorkelling.  We have seen many varieties of coral and fish.  I have also had good luck fishing.  My first fish in the Bahamas was a barracuda.  Well, it was half a barracuda.  As I was reeling it in a bigger fish, possibly a shark, had a snack on my catch before it was in my hands.  However, the next day I had just cast out my line about a quarter of my reel, and I got another hit.  This was another barracuda.  This was followed by another barracuda.  I hope to have a chance to catch another variety of fish that we can eat!

Jenn's next:

Wow!  This is much better than the Ottawa winter, and so much better than working.  My favourites of this trip so far:

-Discovering that flying fish look just like budgies when flying above the water

-Swimming ashore at Bitter Guana Cay to be greeted by iguanas.  While Andy and I tossed a Frisbee on the beach, the iguanas waddled over to snap at the disc as it flew overhead!  They're just like little dogs.

-Cracking a coconut with a screwdriver and butter knife, then devouring it with Mom

-Snorkeling with little black and yellow fish at the Sea Aquarium reef.  These fishies were so curious that they'd swim right up to my mask.

-Having Mom accuse me of messing up the order of the cupboards every time I try to put dishes away!

Walter:

-Constantly sweeping up hair of various lengths and colours from every hiding place on board!

We have been blessed with a total spectrum of Bahamian winter weather which allows our kids to appreciate the many weather related contrasts which continuously govern our daily activities, from calm, gentle waters ideal for snorkelling and dinghy explorations to howling cold fronts which dictate visits ashore to experience the fury of wind and waves on the exposed ocean side Here,on uninhabited beaches, one can spend hours sifting through myriads of natural and man-made flotsam. Heavy weather makes us appreciate the sanctuary our good boat, Windspell, provides us.  A feeling of coziness pervades when we are safely tucked behind the lee of an island. Having our kids with us has been the highlight of our wanderings both in anticipation of their arrival and sharing precious days as a family, as we have done in the past with equal fortune. We are truly blessed!

Donna has the last word...

It has been wonderful to share these activities with Jenn and Andrew, creating new memories for our family.  Although I will be sad when they depart, the memories are ingrained in my heart.  We have learned that our good friend, Frank Brouse, will be joining us shortly after our kids depart.

We have headed north again away from the relative bustle of Georgtown to enjoy the serenity and pristine waters of the southern Exumas. Also, we want to explore more possibilities to show our kids when they arrive in two days. We caught our first lobster two days ago at Windsock Cay and had a candlelight dinner in the cockpit that evening of BBQ lobster and Mahimahi. So it can be said that we are "acclimatizing". Our days consist of snorkeling,hiking,sailing,reading,eating,sleeping,socializing and occasional maintenance of Windspell. We do a lot of navigation in preparation for the next sailing foray and we pay attention to the weather. We get a forecast on our single side band radio every morning at 0630 when we don't have access to the internet.We continue to explore coral heads with our inflatable dinghy which we then snorkel  on to see many varieties of marine life. Twice now we have had to get out of the water when the guys in grey suits start snooping around.We enjoy hot showers in the cock pit with a plastic solar heated bag that we keep on deck.It's a great way to get the salt off and warm up after being in the water for several hours. We truly enjoy our refrigeration system which allows us to enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables as well as meat and dairy products, not to mention cold beer and chilled wine. Going ashore to visit the local population has been a pleasure as everyone is very welcoming, polite and friendly.

Two more sleeps and our kids arrive!!

School children taking a break from basketball at Black Point Settlement

This is "Pappy" popping a wheely  to entertain the school kids .  On his second  pass he stood on the seat!!

Enjoying a cool one with the park warden and his Bahamian Defence Force assistant at  Warderick Wells

The bar at Staniel's Cay where Sean Connery probably had a few  cool ones  while  on location  for the filming of 007 Thunderball

Bahamian C-class racing sailboat out for  repairs

Typical street on Staniel's Cay

Stocking Island Exuma

Stone wall built by the Loyalists who colonized the  Exumas in the mid to late 1700's. This  was taken on Lee Stocking Island

The Loyalist trail on Lee Stocking Island

Atop Perry Hill looking down on the bank side where boats anchor in sheltered coves.

The highest point in the Exumas, 120 feet....

Sailing with a Catalina 40, Bolero I, to Georgetown, Exuma 

Sailing with a Island Packett 40', Navigator, also to Georgetown, Exuma

Safe & snug in Georgetown harbour

After listening to the weather forecast that was predicting wind strengths to increase over the next week (15 knots rising to 30 knots) followed by a strong norther (cold front) coming through, we decided we had better get down to Georgetown in order that we would be there to meet our son and daughter before their arrival on  January 19.  Although the winds were forecast to be 15-20 knots they were going to be "right on the nose".  We sailed from Black Point Settlement on Great Guana island to Cave Island where we staged for going onto the Exuma Sound (ocean side) the next day to get to Georgetown.  We were being joined by  Cliff aboard his boat, Navigator.  Three other boats joined us in the lee of Cave Island that evening and we discussed our departure the next morning.  The difficulty is going between the islands where the outgoing ebb current off of the Exuma Banks is in opposition to the southeast wind.  It sets up huge standing waves.  We departed at 7:30 a.m., but unfortunately,  the current and wind were already in stiff opposition.  It was a "little" hairy going out.  The only thing that kept us going was 3 other boats had made it through safely ahead of us!  Once we were through, it settled down to 5- foot seas that we could motor sail against.  Our five boats motorsailed side-by-side down to Georgetown.  I'm  not sure what our boat looked like, but taking pictures of the two boats on either side of us....it didn't look too reassuring.  As the winds increased later in the afternoon to 20  knots, we turned into the safety of Georgetown harbour and anchored in the lee of Stocking island.  It felt great to put the hook down.
Georgetown has a cruiser's network-it's a boater that comes on the VHF radio every morning  to tell us the weather, welcome new boats to the anchorage and share news, exchange gear, charts, seek help or advice, etc.  Ashore in Georgetown there are hardware stores, restaurants, and internet cafe,  and a supermarket that is well-stocked compared to the out islands.  It's a great spot to meet other cruisers.  We are surprised at the number of boats that Walter & I have met since we began our voyage and are meeting up with again.

Windward side of Warderick Wells island

Leeward side calm anchorage in deep water of tidal flow

Boo Boo Beach on windeard side of  Warderick Wells island

Native hutias-a small  nocturnal mammal

Friendly pigs swim out to greet you (and take food handouts) at Big Major island 

Black Point settlement in Great Guana Cay

 We had New years eve on Warderick Wells Cay.  The anchorage is lovely and there are lovely hiking trails ashore.  On New Years eve the cruisers got together ashore for "Happy Hour" and then later in the evening we watched fireworks that were being let off from nearby Highbourne Cay marina.  We discovered little critters scurrying around in the dark called hutias.  The next day was still blowing hard, so we hiked ashore to watch the easterly winds making huge waves crash ashore on Exuma Sound side.  We departed from there and went to Bell island.  Unfortunately, there was a big complex there with jet skis roaring about.  As we looked at each other deciding whether to move or not, an older chap on a seadoo came by and offered us a bottle of wine to move along.  We happily picked up anchor and moved over to Cambridge island, still part of the Exuma Land & Sea Park.  It was a lovely quiet anchorage and we had our best snorkel yet at the site called, "Sea Aquarium".  The little fish came all around us and below us swam huge schools of jack fish.  It was truly magical.  From there we sailed to Big Major Cay where we dinghied over to the beach to visit the friendly pigs that swim out to your dinghy to accept handouts.  Right around the corner is Staniel Cay island and we explored it the next day.  We snorkeled at the famous "Thunderball grotto" shown in the 007 movie, Thunderball.  You have to swim underwater to get into the grotto, but once inside  a shaft of sunlight illuminates the inside of the grotto.  There were tons of small and large fish just milling around.  Yesterday, we sailed over to Black Point settlement on Great Guana Cay.  It's a lovely clean and tidy community.  It's a day to do laundry, buy some fresh coconut bread and tomatoes.