My brain was totally fogged in! What had I done? It’s coming back to me very slowly … something about rum. It would take awhile but the fog finally lifted and it soon would be time to go ashore.

As my eyes adjusted to the bright sunshine I noticed we had LOTS of neighbors. The Moorings charter fleet had invaded! We had never encountered charterers before. We soon learned to avoid them as much as possible. More about this later.

Goliath needed some shore duty and we headed in for a walk. A few observations from that day: Life in the Bahamas is very different from that back in the U.S. of A. We’re used to so much overview in our lives. Nobody better cheat us out of anything or we’ll sue or call the police or expect some action from someone. Not so in the Bahamas. Its pretty much, “What’s the problem, mon!” Recall we earlier anchored over submersed cables. In the States if there were no signs to warn us, someone, not us, would be liable if we snagged them and injured ourselves. No signs here, mon. A vendor in Guana advised us that he would have lots of fresh local produce by late in the afternoon. We passed him later as he peeled off Chiquita Banana stickers off his fresh bananas. We bought fresh bread at a local store, cinnamon raisin. Well, there was no cinnamon and only six raisins. Live and learn, there is no return policy in the Bahamas and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Tonight was “rake and scrape” at Grabbers and we had planned to meet some cruisers there. We had already had our share of rum from the day before but a little “hair of the dog” couldn’t hurt.

Most bars have electronic rake and scrape, music mixed electronically with some live scraping and some singing. Brown Tip was performing and he performs this style. When Brown Tip isn’t performing he is cleaning boat bottoms in Marsh Harbor. The band was quite good and one member was a phenomenal dancer. The crowd was very enthusiastic and joined in.

We left to a beautiful sunset. We would be moving on tomorrow.

As we arrived at the boat we realized that with all the fun on the beach, the charterers had never left their boats. What’s up with that?

To get to the “other” side of Abaco you have to cross the “Whale”. This is the Whale Cay Passage and can be pretty treacherous. From Great Guana to Green Turtle Cay you have to go this way which takes you out into the open ocean. If the winds are from the north and/or their are large ocean swells it kind be very rough and may be difficult to stay in some of the narrow channels. The Whale was fine today and we crossed easily. Our destination was Manjack Cay. Pretty much uninhabited we liked the remoteness and anchored in the lee of Crab Cay. As we were readying the dinghy for some shore time, a chartered cat pulled alongside and in front of another boat. He casually brought the boat to a stop, politely asked the bikini clad young ladies up front to move, dropped anchor and a ton of chain, watched it a bit and then turned off the engines. I guess he thought he was anchored. We saw the boat behind him a little while later and they were horrified. When we got back the cat was gone.

Our explorations took us across some flats that were pretty shallow. I got out and dragged the dinghy in places. Soon we anchored off a deserted beach and searched for “stuff”. We discovered the beach wasn’t as deserted as we thought because it had an internet cafe.

Mary found her first sea bean and Goliath discovered the fine art of gecko hunting.

We returned to the dinghy and discovered the tide had dropped way more than I thought it would and it was still falling. We were trapped. We found a nice shady spot on the beach and waited patiently for the water to return. As we waited we searched for conch and shells and watched a hungry barracuda chase jacks around the bay. Three hours later we were able to return to the boat.

The next day we moved on to Allans / Pensacola Cays. Even more remote than Manjack we were excited about the possibilities. The approach and anchorage is shallow but we had room and anchored with a few inches under the keel. Squalls were coming so we put off explorations until the next day. The ocean side in the lee of the island was dead calm and beautiful.

We walked and were surprised by the lack of shells and the bounty of junk! Being on the ocean side means the beach collects a lot of junk that washes up. Cruisers collect the junk and try to keep it in orderly piles. On this beach they also used it to mark their visit. We did our part with a hard hat we found.

Our plan had been to explore another day, sail to Great Sale Cay and then cross the Gulf Stream to Fort Pierce. The weather had other ideas. If we didn’t leave first thing in the morning we may have to stay a week or more. We left right away and sailed for almost 28 hours through the night. We arrived at Vero Beach shortly before noon the next day. We were back.

Just north of our peaceful anchorage off Lynyard Cay is Sandy Cay. Nothing more than a rock out cropping with some magnificent reefs. After anchoring the boat and taking Goliath ashore for some shore duty we headed over to the mooring balls with the dinghy. Over the side we went and we were very surprised at the size and complexity of this reef. We’ve snorkeled a lot and many of our favorite spots have been nothing more than small patches with lots of fish and/or very pretty fans and coral. This had it all. The reef was deep and filled with fans, corals and many reef fish. There were holes and overhangs everywhere and you could just imagine what was lurking down there. We aren’t very good at extended free dives so we see most of the stuff from the surface. We paddled around until the current started to get too strong. We wanted to stay but the weather was going to change so we headed for Snake Cay. It offered some shelter as well as some back water areas for exploration.

Snake Cay was a bust. The chart said “ruins”, we saw a dump! It was starting to rain so we decided to head for Marsh Harbor. As we left a huge squall passed just south of us. That afternoon we pulled into Harborview Marina in Marsh Harbor. We wanted to thoroughly clean the boat and this place was cheaper than a marina in the states. We spent five nights there, re-provisioning, exploring the town and making new friends and visiting with old ones. I discovered Jamaican meat pies (very good) and we visited the first well stocked grocery store since Georgetown. We stocked up on rum and beer. You can’t pass up rum at less than $8 per liter and I needed one last case of Kalik to go and it was time to go.

Islands are now just a short hop away. Man O War Cay was our next stop. We anchored a short ways away from the north entry into the harbor. Had we been paying closer attention to the charts we would not have been surprised when we saw that the anchor chain passed over underwater cables. Oh well. we weren’t staying long and the weather was settled.

Man O War is the prettiest of the “civilized” cays that we have experienced. Narrow little streets (mostly golf carts), a nice little harbor, well kept businesses and homes and lots of flowers and lush vegetation.

Business in the out islands is slow. That is slow in volume and slow in pace. We stopped at a little ice cream shop. “Closed” said the sign. Hours were from 2 to 4 and on weekends a little longer. We waited. It was worth it. We love our ice cream. The bank on the other hand we could not wait for. It was Thursday.

After a peaceful night at anchor, only disturbed once by a “freighter” that passed between us and the shore, we casually sailed over to Great Guana Cay to see first hand what all this talk about “nippers and grabbers” was all about.

Great Guana Cay (Guana for short) is not quite as pretty as Man O War. The house are spread out and most everything revolves around a not quite so nice harbor. We strolled along the harbors edge and followed the signs to Nippers. The sandy path led us through a canopy of palms and then as we ascended to the crest of the hill a burst of color met our eyes. This must be the place.

It was hot and our first “Nipper” was received with great anticipation. It’s a frozen concoction of fruit juices and rums and is potent. We have found that it goes by many names and here it is the Nipper.

They say that one is good and two is even better but any more than that and the establishment is not liable for your actions. We quit at two a piece and moseyed down the road to see what other trouble we could get into.

Grabbers is located on Sunset Beach overlooking Fishers Bay where we anchored. We were hungry and thirsty (again) so we stopped. I had a pizza (very good) and Mary had shrimp pasta and of course we had several more Nip … errr Grabbers! Feeling no pain by now we stayed and socialized with whomever strolled by. We became best friends for the day with this nice couple we had met at Nippers earlier.

As the sun set we felt it was best to find the boat while there was still some light so we stumbled down the pier and into the dinghy.

We drifted closer and closer to the bright blue water that defined the sandy bottom from the dark green weedy bottom. The sounder still showed enough water to keep going. We were searching for good holding in Governor’s Harbour in central Eleuthra. The harbor is not noted for good holding and we wanted some of that sandy bottom. The bow cleared the edge and we still showed over 7′ of water so we pushed in a little closer and finally dropped the anchor and backed into the deeper water. The anchor was set well. No need to worry as the winds were light and variable. At this time of year, no wind also translates to HOT!

Governor’s Harbour has the distinction of being the first European settlement in the new world. Because of this influence and early settlement as a hub of commerce it has architecture unlike what you find elsewhere in the Bahamas. The hills are dotted with beautiful Victorian structures.

This newly refurbished structure is Rose Manor, a unique gift shop with lots of local art. Say hello to Gabby and get a unique historical view of the people of the Bahamas.

Pina Cafe saved our day by serving up huge bowls of ice cream at $3 a bowl. It was hot and it sure cooled us off.

The Haynes Library, built originally in 1897, is a beautiful structure recently refurbished after a hurricane in 1999.

We toured the town and adjoining Cupid’s Cay as much as the heat would allow. After picking up some groceries and snacks we headed back to the boat for tasty fish tacos made from fresh mahi. Yummy

Taking advantage of this calm weather now to travel to the Abacos, we head north on a very leisurely pace. It is a motoring day as there is NO wind. It is also very HOT! We are headed for Current Cut and as you may guess, there can be lots of current through the cut if you don’t time it right.

Local knowledge says hit the cut 2 hours or so after the switch in Nassau which looked pretty close to the west coast Eleuthra station’s prediction of a switch in tides at 1700 or so. Locals say the slack lasts for maybe 30 minutes or less. We putter along at less than 5 knots. Nothing to see, nothing to do but sweat. Its time for a distraction.

I choose one of my swimming plugs trolled on my 20# rig. How many barracuda can I catch in the next couple of hours? Ziiiinng goes the drag. Got one. Reeling becomes too easy. I get a half barracuda, chopped of by another one. A little while later I get a whole one. Then it’s a sand diver, about the ugliest fish I’ve caught. It too is hit by a barracuda but I guess they taste so bad that the barracuda doesn’t even cut him off. How insulting for the sand diver. We’re approaching the cut so its time to get serious.

It’s 1645. We’re a little early as we approach the side channel to slip into the cut. There is a big fishing boat anchored off the channel and as we watch it turns from stern to us to bow to. That’s a good sign. We pick up a little speed as expected since we’re guessing the current has switched. We’ll ride the ebb through the cut. Halfway through we slow considerably. More power is needed to maintain speed. The north half of the cut is still in flood. Weird stuff but easily we’re through and proceed east to anchor along the shore. Tomorrow we cross New Providence Channel and open ocean to Little Harbor, Abaco.

The crossing is going to be a long one so we’re out early. We run along the drop and fish as we stage to cross. Nothing is biting. After making the turn we head for deep water and I mean DEEP! Quickly it is 2000′ feet or more, than 10,000′ and finally in the middle it is almost 14,000′ deep. In this deep of water we don’t generally worry about barracuda but you guessed it we got one. I’ve been having trouble with my Penn 309’s this year and one had broken a spring earlier that locks the handle. Well, this ‘cuda broke the rest of it and while free spooling the handle hit the rail and exploded. I finally got him in and released him and then retired that reel. I pulled out the Penn 209 I usually reserve for lighter duty. I rigged a red Hurricane skirt on it and let out the line and settled back into my seat. I was kind of dozing when I looked over and the rod tip was twitching like the lure had picked up some weeds. I got up and looked back. There was a fish back there and just not any fish but it had a bill. Then it jumped! A very large sailfish (my best guess) had taken the lure and rushed the stern. After it’s jumped it snagged my other line and now feeling line and lure it decided to exit the scene. It broke off quickly and then gave me one more dazzling leap to show me what might have been. I was in awe. Unbelievable that I actually hooked a billfish but fortunate as I’m not sure I knew exactly what to do to get it to the boat. That was the last fish of the day but well worth it.

[I have been informed by sportfisherman here in Marsh Harbor that I have inadvertently been inducted into the marlin club. They believe, from my description, that I hooked a rather large white marlin. The rod twitching was probably the result of the fish flailing the bait with its bill and then it rushed it to eat it. They say that simply hooking it is as close as I needed for membership. Very cool.]

Aside from fishing we had other excitement. Mid channel is a busy place for ship traffic. We installed AIS last year which is a radio device that picks up signals from AIS equipped ships (they are required to have it) and displays the information on our chartplotter.

The red triangles are ships headed towards open ocean. We are the black triangle. At one point there were six ships on the screen. The red mark near us is on an intersecting course based on speed and course. At this point he is about two miles away.

Here I have zoomed in and he is much closer. I have slowed to 1.2 knots so he will be able to pass ahead of me. I probably could have crossed in front and been clear but I felt it was safer if he could see me at all times. This is a photo taken moments after I took the screen shot.

Once we passed the “channel” we saw no more ships and very few other boats. Late that afternoon we slipped easily into the Sea of Abaco through Little Harbor Cut and anchored for the evening off Lynyard Cay.

After settling in nicely with two other boats in the anchorage we prepared a few medicinal rum drinks and relaxed after our long day. The town lay several hundred yards to the east. It’s the most civilization we’ve seen since Georgetown.

We caught another mahi on the way over from Cat but frankly, we’ve been eating way too much fish lately so I prepared the one other dish that’s plentiful and cheap; eggs!

I like to think I make a pretty mean omelet and agrees so it’s becoming a staple of our diet.

Three eggs, ham, onion, jalapenos topped with cheddar and jack cheese and then slathered with salsa. YUM!

The main source of info and gathering spot is Dingle Motors right in the heart of town. They have fuel, food, hardware and most importantly, Internet!!!

We bought a few things and also picked up our 24 hour pass for their wireless which we can get at the boat. It’s $10 per day, which sounds expensive but when you’re technically deprived it’s a bargain. I’ve been able to update the blog which I hadn’t done since Georgetown.

As we wandered and try to decide what to do next, a car pulled up to us. It was a cruiser couple in a rental. Did we want a ride to the market? You bet! We hopped in and soon we were at the market which was bigger than the one in Georgetown. It was next to the bank so while Mary shopped, Goliath and I went to get some cash. They don’t take checks or credit cards so we go through a lot of cash. After shopping someone from the store drove us back to our dinghy. Nice!

Meals out can get pretty expensive and we hadn’t dipped into our meals out budget this month so we decided to have lunch out. A short dinghy ride later and we were tied up to the dock at Four Points Restaurant and Bar. It was what you would expect from a waterfront bar; sand, tiki hut, conch shells and palm trees.

We had noticed that a buffet had been set out and inquired about it. Turns out a bus load of people from a nearby cruise ship stops here every Monday as part of their itinerary. They get a taste of Bahamian cooking and customs. They were treated to a conch salad demonstration and then there was mini junkanoo.

Mary and I joined in the dancing. It was a lot of fun and I bet a treat for all the visitors. When the bus arrived a couple sat at our table. Turns out they had lived in Madison while going to school there in the late 60’s. Small world, part 213. We had a great time visiting with them and hope the rest of their cruise is a good one.

After lunch we walked over to the Ocean Hole Park just south of town. It’s a real nice park featuring a large salt water hole in the limestone.

We were surprised once again to see so many sea turtles and this time I got pictures to prove it.

Tuesday was “get ready to move day” and so we fueled up and straightened up a bit. We did have a chance to do some beach combing. We leave in the morning for Governor’s Harbor.

We left New Bight under sail and I mean “under sail”. It is not every day that we have conditions that allow us to really “sail”, but today was one of those days. We sailed off the anchor and slowly headed out with the wind off our stern. As we gathered speed and unfurled the headsail. Soon we were zipping along at 6 knots or better. Following the coastline as we headed north we marveled at the desolation. Maybe a small settlement or resort cottages would come into view but mostly it was just Cat Island. Even the Explorer Charts we use are sometimes vague in this area. The notation “widely scattered coral heads in this area” is not the precision I like but we sailed through dodging a few that got close. At one point we sailed right over a head that brought the water depth up to 10′ rather suddenly. We draw 5′ but it had been 30′ only moments before.

After rounding the reef off of Alligator Point we headed for our anchorage between Pigeon Cay and Bennets Harbor. We pressed close to shore and dropped anchor near some isolated beaches we plan to explore the next day.

As the tide was rising the next day we loaded up the dinghy and went exploring. Goliath loved the beaches. We found lots of shells and some more sand dollars. These beaches showed no signs of anyone being there in quite some time.

Next we headed into Pigeon Creek. We have fallen in love with these creeks. The isolation and beauty is hard to capture in pictures.

Again we saw many sea turtles and still haven’t figured out what the attraction is. We think they like the scenery too.

After dropping Mary and Goliath back at the boat I went back and fished awhile. We had seen lots of mangrove snapper and some bar jacks. The tide was falling fast and I wasn’t able to get to one spot. The other spot showed some promise until a 4′ lemon shark showed up. I found one other spot under a rock ledge. The big snappers were backed into holes and I couldn’t coax them out. I caught a few small ones which I released.

On the trip back I checked out a couple of patch reefs. One looked promising so I picked up Mary and our snorkel gear and went back. It was small but interesting and as the weather has gotten rather hot, it was refreshing. The water temperature is about 81 degrees.

We left the next morning for Eleuthra Island to the northwest. This was not a sailing day so we motor sailed the whole way to Rock Sound. It was a long 60 miles. We went west to Little San Salvador, turned north to the tip of Eleuthra then northeast, and then east. The trip took us through scattered coral, a very rough Exuma Sound and then shallow shifting sand, Great fun!

We anchored after 1700 in front of the Rock Sound Settlement.

As usual things always look better while docked. We ventured out through the narrow channel and soon we were being buffeted by large waves. Forget fishing. On the plus side we only had to endure this for several miles. We made the turn back onto the banks and headed back to New Bight.

An hour and a half later we were safely anchored off the little community once again. We stayed three nights here and while there is not much available here we found the community very friendly and accommodating. Two highlights were Olive’s Bakery and The Hermitage.

The bakery is right across the street from the beach where we let Goliath run. In the morning you could hear Olive’s daughter singing from the house. The aroma that came out of that house was very enticing and we couldn’t resist. The first day we bought wheat bread, some chocolate cake and a coconut treat made from hand grated coconut. Olive mentioned she would be baking tomorrow so we waited patiently. We were rewarded with three breads to choose from, all hot from the oven. We chose coconut bread and the cinnamon swirl. They were so good.

The Hermitage is the retirement home of Father Jerome, the famous Anglican priest and architect. Father Jerome was sent to the Bahamas to restore the devastated churches after the hurricane in 1908. He chose Comer Hill, the highest spot (206′) in the Bahamas for his home. He renamed it Mount Alvernia. It is a spectacular structure in its detailing and design.

Designed to take advantage of the environment and to be resistant to storm damage, Father Jerome made extensive use of rock, plaster and barrel vaulted roofs. In the picture above the larger gable is over a window while the smaller one shields a small “vent” to allow circulation to his chapel where he probably burned candles.

He must have been a small man as his rooms were very cozy and the passageways very narrow.

The bedroom “wing” and inside, his bedroom and writing table.

Even the structure where he burned his trash is in keeping with the rest of his work.

A path lead to the east and of course we followed it. It lead to a rather large cave which upon me entering first (who else) a bat flew out which meant Mary waited outside.

A vent through the roof of the cave.

The views from the Hermitage were incredible. To the east was the Atlantic and to the west, Exuma Sound and the banks. To the north and south were the vast desolation of Cat Island.

We were so impressed with this area we stayed another day. We dinghied to a remote beach to the north and looked for shells and sand dollars. We were surprised to see a man deeply embedded in a small palm, vigorously yanking on something. I asked him what he was doing. Turns out he was harvesting the new leaves from the heart of the palm to use in weaving. He was born and raised on the island but left when he was 19. He spent his life in the United States and just recently returned some 45 years later. He was pleased to see that while some things had changed, much had stayed the same.

We continued our exploration and we were happy to find a liquor store where we were able to restore our supply of medicinal rum.

Now properly provisioned we headed north to explore more of Cat Island.

While we have high speed Internet here in Rock Sound, Eluethra I have posted a bunch of new posts. Scroll down from the top. There are at least four new posts with more coming later today and tonight.

The trip from Conception to Cat Island was not what we expected.

A breeze of 15 knots was blowing from the southeast as we left Conception. Waves were negligible. Out went the fishing lines and we unfurled the jib for a push as we were on a run. The seas began and continued to build as we got to the halfway point. This is pretty much open ocean and the swells were four to six feet on average with many topping out at about eight feet. The wind was now blowing about 20 knots and causing many of the larger waves to break. At one point one broke near the stern and the splash got Goliath wet. He was already upset and this certainly didn’t brighten his mood.

Sport fishing boats were out in abundance along the southern shore of Cat. We heard their calls on the vhf. “How ya doing there, Mark?” “Just missed a blue (marlin) but catching lots of them damn dolphin!” “Ya, we’re trying to catch wahoo and those damn dolphin keep taking the baits.” This was almost more than I could take. We’re catching NO fish, the only one we caught was a “damn dolphin” and it got away. It’s not fair.

After rounding the point at Hawks Nest Creek we headed for New Bight where we anchored for the night. Tomorrow we planned to go ashore and visit The Hermitage, the retirement home of Father Jerome, Anglican priest, architect and designer of many churches on Long Island. That’s it at the “top” of the hill.

As it has become all too common this year, our plans changed, but we did make it back (post coming in the future) and the Hermitage is spectacular.

At about 0400 the wind shifted slightly setting up an uncomfortable surge. At 0630 I tuned in Chris Parker on my little SSB receiver and through the loud crackle and static I heard only one thing, for the central Bahamas, tonight-strong squalls with winds to 40 knots. The knots were already forming in my gut. We were in a very exposed area and we were not expecting the weather to go bad.

We had two choices. Smith Bay, seven miles to the north is mostly protected but is very small and is used by the mail boats and small freighters. The other choice was to backtrack 12 miles and go to Hawks Nest Marina, a sport-fishing marina with a narrow and shallow entry. Mary made the call and we were on the way to Hawks Nest.

The waves and wind built for the next two hours. As we neared the point it was blowing 20 plus and the waves were crashing and splashing over the bow. What fun we have.

With less than two hours to low tide we entered the creek channel. The second set of markers (thank God there were markers) was very close together and the green was on top of the slightly submerged rocks. As each swell would reach us it would try to turn the boat sideways. There wasn’t room for a sideways boat.

We made it through seeing no less than seven feet of depth and moments later eased into our slip. It was now a beautiful day. The wind was fading and the skies cleared. Weather radar showed all sorts of nasty stuff heading out of Florida but was it going to miss us?

Hawks Nest Resort and Marina is very pretty. The marina is rather rustic but what the heck. Here we sit at the dock with all our high dollar neighbors.

As you can see in the second picture the weather is arriving and in now time it was blowing 30 knots with gusts to 35. Rain has been coming down for several hours.

Before it started to rain real hard I have had the opportunity to get to know my neighbors. I am having a great time telling stories and getting lots of great fishing tips. I even traded a Kalik for a mahi and he cleaned it to boot. These guys know their fishing and are better equipped than we are. That’s why I guess they catch fish and we don’t.

They also have some strange ideas of fun. After cleaning an unbelievable number of fish they discard all the carcasses and waste into the creek and the waiting mouths of the sharks. I didn’t know sharks won’t eat dolphin but they don’t. I guess they like it fresher. They go nuts over tuna though and they do like wahoo. Well my new friends like catching the sharks, sort of. They tie a rope to a tuna carcass and toss it to the sharks. The sharks take it and run and the guys hang on to the rope (it is tied to a piling, too, they’re not STUPID, geez).

Well the rain is coming down hard and there is thunder and lightning. I guess the fun is over. Maybe tomorrow we can go fishing with the boys.

Weather for today is forecast to be from the west to northwest then back to the southwest. OK, it’s from the south. We stay put. The wind speed is forecast to get steadily higher through the day. All the big boats but two stay in and try to amuse themselves. That means they wash the boat again. I guess the rainwater was dirty.

The next morning we decide to head back to New Bight. Winds are predicted to slack some and we home to get a little fishing in.

Heading again for Calabash, we motored in a very light breeze along the drop (the point where the water gets very deep blue, generally 200’ to 300’ deep). We caught another yellowfin tuna about ten pounds. We also caught a barracuda, which we released.

We anchored in solitude and watched yet another spectacular sunset.

Up early we got underway headed for Conception Island. Our last trip was cut short by squalls so we wanted to visit again.

This was also a fishing trip so we rounded the tip of Long Island and headed along the drop past Newton Cay. As we made the turn towards Conception we landed another yellowfin, a small one, which we released. We headed east across deep water. In over 6000’ of water in an area nicknamed “dolphin alley” our small 20-pound test reel began to scream. Off in the distance a dolphin leaped. Finally we’ve caught a mahi. We were elated. The fish had other plans and it took a lot of effort to get him to the boat. It was a bull and he was BIG! I gaffed him but the placement was poor, right below the dorsal fin. I noticed three things as I pulled him into the boat. One he was very heavy and bigger than I thought, two, the line had twisted around the gaff and three, the gaff was pulling out. In slow motion the fish flailed, the gaff came out and as the massive fished dropped the line snapped. The last I saw him he was headed for the bottom. I was speechless and am still in shock. I measured the distance where his head was down to the water. It was close to five feet. A similar fish caught days later (by someone else) weighed in at 42 pounds.

We arrived at Conception Island mid day and dropped the hook near three other boats. After launching the dinghy we did the beach walks and checked out snorkeling spots.

Conception Island is a part of the Bahamian Land Trust and is a preserved area. There are not very many reef fish and the corals are not all that spectacular although there are some stands of beautiful elkhorn coral. We are hoping that in the future this once beautiful reef can rebound and support abundant sea life once again.

There is an area that has an abundance of life and we visited there the next day. After entering a small and very shallow cut we followed a winding estuary through the mangroves. This is a nursery area for nurse and lemon sharks and there are also countless sea turtles doing sea turtle stuff back in the flats. We saw lots of sharks and many turtles. It was very interesting and when we have a chance will learn more about what goes on back there.

From here we head for Cat Island to the north.

Georgetown is one of those places that provide a lot of services, a lot of your friends are there and you can have a lot of fun. You also spend lots of money being there. It’s good place to hang out.

As regatta draws closer the excitement builds. Boats start to arrive and the shacks go up to sell drink and food. We got into the spirit (pun intended). Crow Bar’s had excellent ribs and the guava duff was excellent. The duff is like a jellyroll with a creamy buttery topping. YUM!

Regatta time can also get pretty annoying. After a week of anchoring off Chat n Chill next to what appeared to be a “vacant” large power cat, enjoying many peaceful nights and great days walking the beaches in search of sand dollars, we were treated to a party on the vacant boat. It started at 6:00 pm and ended at 6:00 am. They weren’t just content with load music, that I could handle as their choice in music was very good, it was the screaming and shouting that got really annoying. After a night of virtually no sleep we weighed anchor and moved to the other side of the harbor. Anchored away from others we slept in peaceful bliss until other boats started to move.

By the start of regatta we had boats all around us, some as close as 40’. But it was regatta time and I guess we should have expected it.

The races are always exciting and we enjoyed them again this year from the dinghy. We raced around from mark to mark cheering for our favorites. The C Class our are favorites.

The Long Island boats were doing very well after the first day of racing. We ran into Mark Knowles who designs and builds a lot of these boats in Long Island. I congratulated him on this fact. Unfortunately a local over heard my remark and took great exception. I was told in no uncertain terms to “shut my #*&%’n mouth”. I was on Exuma Island, a guest of Exuma and if I had not noticed, the people of Exuma were black, the police were black and I was a little to white for his liking.

We decided we had enough of Georgetown and left the following morning. Even Goliath looked like he could use a change of scenery.