Friday, January 21, 2011

Exumas


We’ve covered a lot of ground since we left Bimini and the water is getting warmer each day. We made a few stops before crossing the Great Bahama Bank and made the crossing on day so calm the water looked like glass. The bank is a pretty consistent 12 to 20 feet deep and we could clearly see big starfish on the sandy bottom as we passed over them.


After the sail across the bank we spent a few nights anchored in various spots around Fraziers Hog Cay. From there we sailed to Rose Island to be close to Nassau, where picked up Eliza for a week long visit. I’ll have to revisit our time in Nassau in a later blog because Eliza got some great shots that have to be in the blog!

We took off from Nassau and went to Allens Cay where iguanas rule the island. They’re not shy, mostly because boatloads of tourists blast over on crowded speedboats from Nassau a few times a day to feed them – in front of the sign that says “please do not feed the iguanas”. Nice. 



We snorkeled here and saw a few rays and barracuda along with tons of conch. At a street market in Nassau we watched a vendor make our conch salad and got a little tutorial on how to get the conch out of it’s shell. She made it look so simple. Cut a hole here… stick the knife in and release it from the shell…. trim off the eyes and the foot (so it can’t see you or run away from you?) and voila…. conch. The one time Skip and I tried to open a conch, we ended up with shards of conch shell and pulverized conch. We’ll have to try again.


Look closely and you'll see his little eyes!
Saralane at Allens Cay
We went on to Normans Cay and swam in clear warm water at the most beautiful beach we’ve seen so far. I have a feeling I’ll be saying that over and over as we visit more of the islands. We moved on to Warderick Wells, the site of Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, and site of more beautiful beaches. We hiked the trails and were rewarded with great views of both sides of the island. 



We climbed Boo Boo Hill where the sound of the waves forcing air up through blow holes in the rocks at high tide will make you run for cover. It’s LOUD. Little bananaquits were everywhere and were always checking to see if we might have anything edible on us. Cute! 





We added Saralane's name to the pile of boat names left by sailors over the years. (See it? It's a small sign on the rock in the lower left corner.)



We're off to Farmer's Cay today and will have a chance to catch up with Skip's long time friends Steve and Cindy who live there. Oh... and there are more beautiful beaches to see too.

6 comments:

Cindy Barnard said...

Now those pictures make me think "THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!" You have made it to warm, tropical-land. Good for you. The colors are gorgeous. We've been seeing a lot of white lately up here in "not warm, tropical-land". A lot of white. Tell Eliza I think she should consider "stowing away" until at least May.
xoxo

Kim said...

The water and surroundings are just gorgeous!!! I hope all three of you had a great week together. I know Liza was happy to get away from all the white stuff that has seemed to envelope our lives forever! It just will not stop snowing!

I'm so glad you've 'arrived' and I wish for you beauty in every day.

Anonymous said...

Now that's the livin'! Thanks for the pictoral mini-vacation from snowy, frozen St. Louis.

Amy said...

Shoveling snow isn't as rewarding as finding a sand dollar on the sand bar! I'm looking forward to following you down the Exumas to the Virgins and beyond....Thanks again for the sail and the banana bread, bread, date lemon cake, lemon cookies - Madeline is baking up a storm on the boat!
Amy

Madeline said...

Hi Amy! It's great to see you here on the blog... though probably not as nice for you as you being in the Bahamas still. It was great meeting you and Tessa at Steve and Cindy's.... you will all be in the next blog post!

Madeline

Penelope said...

Thanks for the little yellow bird ID. Just returned from a week in Aruba (its nice, but not nearly as beautiful as where you are). There were bananaquits everywhere. We even saw one that had a nest in one of those thatch umbrellas on the beach. We enjoyed watching them, they, not so much having us about. I'm really enjoying your photos now that I'm back under about 3 feet of New England snow.