We are stuck at the moment in a beautiful and remote location, north of George Town, anchored off the beach of the wonderful Exuma Beach Inn. Tracy & I joined Simon & Jerry in Nassau two weeks ago today. From there we sailed Aria (Jerry's 31 foot Corsair trimaran) first to Allan's Cay - one of the first cay's in the Exuma chain. We were met there by nothing at all but beautiful white sandy beach, and rambunctious native iguanas - they run up and down the beach looking like mini alligators, love to eat any fruit you can throw at them.
The next few days were beautiful sails down the coast south along the cays - we would stop for the night, convinced that there would be something to buy to eat, but disappointed.. We ended up firing up the BBQ and roasting Max's chicken - Max is Jerry's large dog along for the trip, eating all the peanut butter aboard,etc, Max had to make do with his freeze dried dog food... luckily we had enough water to drink and enjoyed the sites so much that it was no hardship to skip a few meals...
Staniel Cay was the first stop after 3 days of sailing where we could buy a cold brew and enjoy some conch fritters...
the yacht club there is a friendly place with live music and good food. We had a snorkel and swim around "Thunderball Grotto" - called this after filming of the James Bond movie.... you swim into the grotto at low tide, and once inside, the light is filtered through the rocks and into the water where wonderful fish flit around, it is really a magical thing to see. From Staniel we walked to the tiny local grocery store - someone's little blue house - and could buy a couple to tomatoes, some more chicken for poor Max, and a bottle of rum or two.
We arrived in George Town last week where Jerry & Tracy found the Exuma Beach Inn - the owners, Tina & Jeff, are so welcoming and friendly, they have offered us the use of their internet, swimming pool, hobie cat, kayaks, and best of all great coffee, and the use of the toilet! The two mascots of the hotel - Springer spaniels Lucy & Riley loll around, waiting for a friendly scratch and a throw of the tennis ball. Simon & I shipped Aria's damaged sails back to Nassau yesterday to the only sail maker in this remote part of the world, and will wait here until around next Tuesday for their return (keeping our fingers crossed). Then we plan to head over to Long Island and then up through Eleuthra to meet Tracy & Jerry by May 15th somewhere in the Abacos.
In the meantime we happen to have arrived for Bahama Regatta Week - the biggest sailing event of the year in the Bahamas. Traditionally built boats, made by hand by each owner, are raced all week long. Boats are shipped from all over the islands and the competition is fierce. There are three classes - A,B,&C - starting at different times during each day of the event. The town is crowded and filled with partying Bahamians - it is amazing how loud and raucous the arguments over who's going to beat the hell out of who are... the shouting gets very intense. The rivalries go back to 1955 when the races were started to help keep the traditional Bahamian working boats alive. One of the favorites - Tida Wave - which has won many times over the past years - was out yesterday, and we followed it around the bay on one of the photographer's boats. I'll try and get some photos from him and send them out...(I've already dropped our camera in the water... hope it will dry out and work again... )
Needless to say we're having a fantastic time... the water is indescribably beautiful, the colors and the range of blues, greens, turquoise, the clarity are unlike anything I've ever seen.
A big Happy Birthday to you, Cog! did you know your birthday is on St. George's Day?
Hugs and kisses - we miss you all, and wish you could be with us ....
the yacht club there is a friendly place with live music and good food. We had a snorkel and swim around "Thunderball Grotto" - called this after filming of the James Bond movie.... you swim into the grotto at low tide, and once inside, the light is filtered through the rocks and into the water where wonderful fish flit around, it is really a magical thing to see. From Staniel we walked to the tiny local grocery store - someone's little blue house - and could buy a couple to tomatoes, some more chicken for poor Max, and a bottle of rum or two.
We where trying to get to Staniel Cay but as we where beating upwind it was taking us longer than we anticipated - trimarrans don't go upwind to well, so we decided to anchor overnight as Hawksbill Cay.
This beach was completely empty except for a huge private luxury yacht that had set up a sunset dinner for thier guests - they didn't invite us over, maybe 'cause we hadn't had a shower for 4 days!
We anchored right on the beach for the first time with a stern anchor to stop us swinging when the tide would change overnight.
