Hello, again - Marilyn here ...

We've been disconnected for the last two days, while we hung out at Hawksbill Cay - it felt strange but liberating! Though I have been anxious to get back to this blog.

Hawksbill is a completely empty little island - the only sign of life we saw on it was a small curly-tailed lizard (pic below). He smiled for the camera, and then scurried away. This was during a crazy climb that Jeff and I undertook up a small but treacherous mountain. It was treacherous because, like all of the land on these cays, it seems to be formed by old coral heads with jagged, sharp edges that would cut like razor-blades if you lost your footing. So why are we climbing them? Because they're there, of course. Besides, what else is there to do, except lie on powdery beaches and admire the gorgeous scenery? The last pic below is the view from our boat as I write.

Actually it's not always that relaxing (yeah, sure, you're thinking ...). During the night the wind came up, and we rocked like a bucking bronco - and continued to experience that motion all the way to the next Cay (Staniel), where we're now anchored in a very protected harbour, sitting out a cold front that's supposed to come in tonight. As the waves crashed over the bow of the boat today and all the way back to the cockpit, we wondered who of our friends would be willing to do this with us! But don't worry, if you decide to join us down here at any point, we'll make sure we sail in calmer places.

Only two more short sails to our destination, and then home to the February cold ... hopefully the memories of this trip will keep us warm!

Marilyn in heaven here ....

We spent a delicious day hanging out at anchor on beautiful Allen's Cay. The day started with a swim off the back of the boat, French toast made on the bar-b-que for breakfast (Jeff now finally has the stove working again at 6:00 p.m.), and a dinghy ride and hike on a near-by beach. The craggy rock (which we think may be old coral heads), combined with drifted-ashore conch shells, made for challenging walking, but the hike was worth it. The view from the top, with Exuma Sound on one side, and Allen's Cay on the other was spectacular, and we were treated to three jumps by a dolphin on the sound side!

The afternoon was spent with Jeff napping and me painting (pic below) - and now we're about to cook dinner on our newly-functioning stove. It doesn't get any better than this!

Rush Hour in the Exumas

Rush Hour in the Exumas

So now picture this …

We’re surrounded 360 degrees with the most crystal-clear turquoise blue water I’ve ever seen. In front of us are the 6 boats we paraded into this little cove with and the 4 more that followed us in (“rush hour in the Exumas”). To my left as I write from the boat’s cockpit is our own private little beach populated only by large, ugly iguanas, that apparently bite. A moment ago, someone from a near-by boat yelled – “there’s a six-foot shark under your boat”. And Jeff just came into the cockpit after a swim – fortunately, intact! I don’t think these sharks are eating people – there’s lots of other stuff to nourish them.

We’re finally floating at anchor in the place we’ve been heading towards for the last month - the gorgeous Exuma Cays – this is beyond paradise! A 5-hour sail on crystalline water at 6 knots on a close reach (aided by the motor at times) brought us here, on a beautiful blue-sky day. Now we will wend our way down the Bahama Bank to the hurricane hole where we’ll leave Sea Change for a month ‘til we return in March. Then we’ll really explore this area – right now we’re still just getting the boat to its southern home. But this finally feels like vacation time … it’s been a fair amount of work to this point (poor us!).

The day ended with an invitation to a “sundowner” on the beach with the iguanas and about 20 other people, almost all Canadians, from the other boats in the harbor. Everyone brought their own drinks and snacks to share – a sort of tradition here at sunset.

Here are some pics of our last day and evening in Nassau (on anchor overnight), and a few of our first day here in Allens Cay in the Exumas.

Hi, All - it's Marilyn here ...

A beautiful day at Nassau Club Marina - we finally feel like we're really in the South. It was lovely to wake up this morning and look around at all the cruisers sipping their morning coffee in their cockpits. It really feels like we're part of a community of boaters - people are easy to talk with, everyone has good advice and ideas, and is generally in a great frame of mind, as are we.

We're hanging out in Nassau today, shopping, exploring, and preparing to sail to the Exumas early tomorrow morning. A 6 hour sail should take us to Highbourne Cay, and then we'll head south from there to George Town. Since we'll be mainly at anchor now, I'm not sure how good the internet connection will be from here on in, so I'll post when I can - but probably not as regularly. Sorry, no pics today ... haven't had a chance to take any yet! See you in a few weeks :).

Marilyn writing - after a frustrating two days trying to get into this site here in Nassau. I finally did it through Jeff's computer - hooray!

Well - they say sailing in this area is not for novices, and after the sail from Chub Cay to Nassau, we would agree! Fortunately, we're not exactly novices ...

We started out at 7:45 am with our buddy boat, Dame Des Mers, in what looked like calm seas, with little wind. By the time we motored through the gap into the open ocean, we were on 6-8 foot rollers that got larger as we proceeded - with the wind on our nose, yet again! The waves were so large at times, our buddy boat's hull disappeared, and all we could see was the mast and small mainsail they had raised for stability (see pic below).

But eventually, the sun came out, the seas calmed, and we motored into Nassau by 3:00 pm - happy as clams to be there. Today we spent provisioning, doing yet more laundry (everything was caked with salt from the spray), and fixing various boat parts - the propane stove still has us perplexed. Unfortunately, today turned out to be a national holiday called "Majority Rules", so no stores were open for part replacements. Ah well, manana is ok, too - we'll plan to leave on Sunday morning for the Exumas - another 6-hour trip (hopefully a sail instead of a motor this time). We'll see ...

Marilyn again ...

Raining off and on all day - a little depressing, given that this would be a beautiful place to enjoy the sun. But we're doing lots of walking in the rain, and tomorrow we leave for Nassau, as the cold front seems to be passing. It's a 7 hour sail - so we'll leave at 7:00 am, to arrive in bright daylight.

Nassau should be a good place to reprovision and it is our jump-off point to the Exumas, where we'll have about 80 miles to go before we reach our destination, George Town. Time is marching on, so we need to keep moving, but the journey is the thing here.

Scenes from a rainy day walk around Chub Cay ... and my rendition of one of the Island's beautiful creatures ...

Marilyn in paradise ... even in the rain, it's better in the Bahamas :)

On this little deserted Cay, we realized today that we're finally in the kind of place we'd hoped to be - sort of a Bahamian version of Stanley, New Brunswick. There's hardly a soul around - I think I spotted two vehicles on the packed-sand "road" - oh, and one peacock strutting its way into the bush!

This stormy day was perfect for doing laundry, etc., and Jeff spent two hours working on helping 6 Africans prepare to attend our CODI program in February. But we also managed to fit in some fun activities - we strolled along the gorgeous deserted beach, had a picnic lunch in the rain under a palm frond beach hut, bought fresh fish from a local fisherman, and cooked it for dinner tonight, and chatted with many locals and a few other boaters from the US and Canada.

Nothing works here ... yet everything seems to work. The showers are cold, the only store has about three things on its shelves and can't make change for the clothes dryers - which doesn't matter, because they don't work in any case. But the people are lovely - helpful, generous and totally accommodating - so somehow,  everything gets done, and always with a smile. I love it here - is it evident? Maybe the sun will shine tomorrow and we can go for a snorkel for the first time this trip.