Thunderball Groto

We met back up with Z-Raye at Big Major Cay and then snorkeled Thunderball Groto with them. This is where some scenes from James Bond's Thunderball was filmed. You can snorkel into the cave at low tide. At other times you would have to dive down and swim underwater to get into the cave.

The fish were trying to eat the peas and carrots through the ziploc bag.

Drew (Z-Raye) feeding the fish.

Sgt Major

Can you see the turtle? He looks small in this picture but he was about 12" wide.

The turtle swimming away.

Looking out the hole in the ceiling of the cave. I hear James Bond shot down a helicopter through that hole.

From underwater, the sunlight coming through the ceiling of the cave.

Brain Coral

Underwater exit from cave.

Going back out the entrance to the cave.

Pipe Cay

At the suggestion of Kent and Heather on Miss Adventure we joined them at Pipe Cay. Could be some of the prettiest water we've seen, unbelievably clear.

View from where we anchored.

A sandbar just 100 feet from us

Trying to show the color of the water

A storm off in the distance

Miss Adventure and a gorgeous sunset

Exuma Land and Sea Park

The Land and Sea Park is THE destination in the Exumas.

The beach from Good Morning Vietnam

Miss Adventure

Good Morning Vietnam and Miss Adventure from the beach.

Curly Tail that came to check us out while we had a picnic lunch on the beach Actually there were several and no problem until one ran up my leg.

Good Morning Vietnam and Miss Adventure in the South Mooring Field.

The Causeway Path to Boo Boo Hill. This bridge is named "Sunshine Causeway". It is almost identical to the Sunshine Skyway in St Petersburg, Florida.

Wading along the Causeway Path. Kent (Miss Adventure) is in the lead followed by Susan, next is Heather (Miss Adventure) and then David (Cookie). I stayed back to get a picture when someone went swimming, but no such luck. Barbara (Cookie) hung back with me to get a video when someone got wet but it didn't happen.

Boo Boo Beach

View from Boo Boo Beach

View from Boo Boo Beach

View from Boo Boo Beach

View from Boo Boo Hill

View from Boo Boo Hill

View from Boo Boo Hill

View of North Mooring Field from Boo Boo Hill

Western shore of Warderick Wells.

Leaf Cay

From Eleuthera we sailed over to Leaf Cay in the Exumas. Leaf Cay is known for the iguana colony that lives there.

One of many iguanas on Leaf Cay. Several will greet you on the beach when you pull up in your dinghy.

A bunch of small conch in about a foot of water, right off the beach.

A conch, but too small to eat. We did get one of legal size at Pipe Cay. Yum!

Pictures from Eleuthera

Hi all,
We finally have some decent wifi (thank you Grand Isle Resort!) so I'll post some of the pictures we've taken lately. This group will be from Eleuthera.

A hitchhiker on our sail from Spanish Wells to the Glass Window.

Our friend Ben on Loon, under sail on the way to Glass Window.

The Glass Window. Someday Eleuthera will be two islands. That is water from the Atlantic trickling in from the other side.

The Atlantic side of the Glass Window.

Good Morning Vietnam and Loon anchored at the Glass Window.

The Queens Bath, the pool at the left. About half a mile from Glass Window.

The Queens Bath being filled.

The beach across the island from Queens Bath where we landed the dinghy.

From the Glass Window and Queens Bath we went to Rock Sound Harbour. Here is a picture of the anchorage from the beach.

That's it for the pictures of Eleuthera!


Brian

Exumas

Hi All,
We haven't had any wifi to be able to post updates for several days and there isn't much here so I'll do a quick recap.

On Monday, January 25th we motorsailed from Rock Sound, Eleuthera to Allens Cay in the Exumas. Allens Cay and Leaf Cay, right next to it are famous for the wild iguanas that live on the island and come to greet you when you land your dinghy on the beach.

Tuesday, January 26th we moved to the mooring field at Hog Cay which is just inside the Exuma Land and Sea Park. It was gorgeous.We snorkeled and did some hiking as well as had our choice of two different beaches to meet friends and have a sundowner at each evening.

Saturday, January 30th we sailed to Pipe Cay, just outside the Land and Sea Park. On that sail, Cookie, who were moored next to us in the park, had sailed farther out in order to get outside the boundary of the park in order to fish. David called Miss Adventure, another boat that was moored next to us and who we've done quite a bit with the last week or so, to let them know " The Mahi store is open." We made an immediate tack and got outside the park and began trolling. Long story short, just as we passed through a weed line, we hooked two Mahi Mahi.  Miss Adventure, seeing us slow and turn into the wind did a circle through the same weed line and caught one as well. Yum! They sure have been good.

Today, Monday, Susan and I went exploring in the dinghy and got a good sized Conch. Kent on Miss Adventure helped me extract it from the shell and we mixed it with some frozen conch Kent and Heather had on Miss Adventure and the four of us had a nice Conch Salad for lunch.

Our plan for tomorrow is to head to Staniel Cay Yacht Club where we have some parts to pick up.

We're doing fine, sorry it's been so long since our last update. I've got a ton of pictures that I haven't been able to post. As soon as I get some decently fast free wifi I'll upload them.

That's it for now.
Take care.

Brian

Trip So Far

Hi all,
The thunderstorms have passed and we are left with partly cloudy skies and wind gusting to 30 kts. The high is supposed to be around 75 today. This is what a cold front looks like in the Bahamas. All things considered, not bad.

Not being able to get off the boat has given me some time to enter trip data into a spreadsheet. So here is a recap.

In 194 days since leaving Kemah on July 11, we have gone approximately 1820 miles, made four overnight passages, the longest which was 190 miles and 32 hours. The next longest passage was 125 miles and 20 hours when we crossed the Gulf Steam from Marathon to Bimini.

It has been a blast and we're looking forward to the next piece of the adventure. On to the Exumas in the next day or two!

Take care.
Brian