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

Rock Sound Harbour

Hi all,
We're now in Rock Sound Harbor towards the south end of Eleuthera. We spent a couple of days anchored by "Glass Window". I'll post some pictures from there once I have a better WiFi connection. It was really nice. There were about 8 boats that made the same trip with us. The wind was favorable so we were able to sail most of the way, at least until we went through Current Cut. Current Cut is a narrow cut between two islands that has a fair bit of, wait for it... Current. We were the fifth boat through and had no trouble.

We did a little exploring by dinghy and then made some new friends by accident. By Phillip's accident, not ours. Before leaving Spanish Wells Phillip waved to another boat (Cookie) and got his hand into his wind generator. Barbara, on Cookie, is a nurse and after looking at Phillip's hand decided it needed stitches. So we meet Phillip and Teresa from Sea Ya as Susan sewed up Phillip's hand, about 20 stitches worth.

Wednesday we sailed almost 50 miles to Rock Sound. Other than being a bit chilly, it was a great day for sailing. Ben on Loon sailed with us. We were some of the first boats in Rock Sound but with the coming bad weather we weren't alone long. Now we're sitting on the boat in the rain. There is a good chance of squalls with wind up to 60 kts this afternoon and evening so everyone is just waiting on the weather now that all the preparations have been made.

Decent weather isn't supposed to return until Monday so we'll be here until then. Our plan for Monday is to head to the Exumas and find a place to wait out the next storm on Thursday or Friday.

That's all for now.
Take care.
Brian

Hope Town, Crossing and Spanish Wells Pictures

The weather Jim and Pam Wilson had for half of their visit to Hope Town.

Good Morning Vietnam on the crossing to Eleuthera.

Passing Loon at 8:59

Z-Raye flying past at 9:05.

 Just as many golf carts as cars in the grocery store parking lot in Spanish Wells.

The small watermelons are only $5.95, the big one under the sign is $23.95.

Beach at Spanish Wells.

 The soft sand on the beach of Spanish Wells.

The beach fixes everything.

Beach "hut".

Nothing more need be said.

We rode our bikes over to Russell Island and had a drink and a snack at Sandbar Bar and Grille.

 The view from our table at Sandbar B&G.

The view from our table at Sandbar B&G, This does not suck.

Hammocks at Sandbar B&G.

Nap time.

NASA has been lying to us all these years!

Spanish Wells

Hi All,
We've been in Spanish Wells several days now and have enjoyed our time at the marina. We've spent more time with Ben on Loon and Andrew and Sharon on Z-Raye as well as met several new people. The weather hasn't been great but not all the much rain so it didn't really slow us down much other than delaying our departure to explore more of Eleuthera.

Yesterday, Saturday, was a gorgeous day and we took a long bike ride as well as a good long walk on the beach. Last night we had a (snack) pot luck on the dock and met and socialized with several of the people here at the marina. A good time was had by all. I guess I can't guarantee everyone had a good time but it sure seemed like it and there was a lot of laughing. Always a good sign.

If the weather forecast holds, tomorrow we'll move south along Eleuthera for a few days before jumping over to the Exumas where we can start exploring the Land and Sea park we've heard so much about.

I'll post a bunch of pictures in a separate post.

Take care.
Brian