Atlantis

I have wanted to go to Atlantis every since it opened. I was somewhat put off by the price, but, I was determined not to pass it up. I was not disappointed! Since the marina provides entrance passes to the Atlantis facilities for everyone on the vessel, it turns out to be a good deal if you want to see Atlantis.

The marina was great, and although we were assigned a slip well to the outside, that cut down on a lot of the foot traffic. We were one of the smallest vessels there. There were a lot of spectacular yachts. We checked in fairly quickly, and immediately headed to the aquarium and waterpark. The marina gives you a plastic credit card looking card to carry, which gains you access to all of their facilities. It also allows you to make purchases in their waterpark without carrying your wallet.

The variety of fish in the aquariums is spectacular! Their aquariums are flushed by the adjacent waters of the Tongue of the Ocean, and have some huge fish. The whole complex is built around the theme of the lost city of Atlantis. The surrounding casino and hotel facilities have a Vegas sort of feel. There are a lot of quaint little boutiques and shops and restaurants. The waterpark allows you to float around the premises and is intermingled with the aquariums and pens.

After a day of ridings tubes and slides, we returned to the boat long enough to clean up for supper. Allen treated me to a grand buffet dinner. It was a great day!

In the morning, we returned to the aquariums to see some areas that we had missed the day before. We timed our morning to meet the 11 o'clock check-out.

Diving the blue hole and Rose Island

We departed from Highborne Cay in the morning, across the bank towards Nassau.

We stopped to dive at one of my favorite little blue holes. The hole iis in sand, and drops from about 30 feet to several hundred, straight down. It is like diving in an aquarium, as all the fish swim in circles around the walls of the hole, and of course, we do too!

After the dive, we went on to anchor off of Rose Island. The week-end warriors from Nassau were still there in the late afternoon, and many didn't leave until almost dark.

Highborne Cay

When we departed Shroud Cay, we went out Wax Cut and into Exuma Sound, running along the wall.

The wall off Long Cay and Highborne is spectacular. There are grooves running perpendicular to shore in the vicinity of the cuts, and you can follow these grooves to where the wall drops off. We made a couple of dives along this wall, in a couple of my favorite spots! (I've spent a lot of time diving here in the past)

In the late afternoon we went in to eh cove on the north end of Highborne Cay to anchor up for the evening.

We snorkeled in the cove for awhile, and went and played with Mercy on the beach. There was a stingray that kept coming up to where we were sitting in the sand in the shallow water. I have so many favorite places!

Wardwick Wells and Shroud Cay

The next morning we ran the outside through the cut north of Bell Rock, and into Wardwick Wells.

We worked our way through the narrow channel to close to the office and grabbed a mooring. Then we took the Whaler in to pay the mooring for the previous night, as well as for a night on a mooring at Shroud Cay. If you aren't on a mooring at Shroud, there isn't a fee, but I chose to take a mooring to support the Land and Sea Park.

We went back to the MERCY and ran the inside to Shroud Cay, where we grabbed a mooring for the night. We took the Whaler through the creek, all the way to the other side. I'd spent days here before, but now, the only creek you are allowed in with a motorized vessel is the northern creek. The other creeks would be great fun with a kayak, but I have found that I just don't have room for all the toys.

We did, however, enjoy the windsurfer as we zipped up and down by Shroud Cay.

Cambridge Cay

In the morning, we headed north along the western edge of the keys, until we turned to the east towards Compass Cay.

We puttered a good bit, looking around before enterring Exumas Land and Sea Park and taking a mooring at Cambridge Cay.

I realized that I didn't have the correct cash to pay for the mooring in the honor box, so I wrote an IOU, saying I'd be into Wardwick Wells to settle the account.

Allen snorkeled to check the mooring, and found a nice black braided line (that matched our lines) that someone had evidently lost trying to grab a mooring.

We took the Whaler over to Rocky Dundas to snorkel the caves there that are every bit as good as Thunderball, with less people! We were the only ones there! I was wondering if my memory would help me find the entrance, but the Land and Sea Park has put moorings outside the entrances, so they are easy to find now! Once again, the caves are hidden at high tide, but at low tide, have a few inch opening above the waterline.

Big Majors Spot, Staniel Cay, and Thunderball Cave

We had such a great time at Black Point that it was difficult to leave. But, the summer was flying away, and we still had a lot of ground to cover before getting Allen home in time for school.

Allen windsurfed for the rest of the morning, and around 1pm we left the cove. We went out around Harvey Cay and headed in towards Staniel Cay, and then turned to anchor off Big Majors Spot, a place that I had been before. We anchored amidst a bunch of huge yachts, and I wondered how many of those folks had ever had the opportunity to experience the great things that we did in our out of the way places.

We went in close to Big Majors Spot to look at the pigs that swim out to the boat for snacks. We watched some others feeding them, but, they left us as quickly as they realized we hadn't brought food to share.

From there we went around the end of the island, to Thunderball Cave. This small island has an interesting domed shaped grotto with a cavern whose rim is underwater at high tide. It isn't dark on the inside, due to the sun coming through a hole in the roof. This site was used in the filming of James Bond 007's Thunderball, and the thousands of tropicals have grown accustomed to tourists feeding them. The sergeant majors approach in droves. It is fun snorkeling under the rim and coming up in the cavern, and then going from section to section. There were a lot of folks that came while we were there, but the current and high tide inhibited some of the folks who weren't used to snorkeling.

When we left the cave, we idled around the side of Staniel Cay, which has grown up a lot since I was there last, and circumnavigated Big Majors Spot before returning to the boat.

Allen windsurfed around again that evening.

Black Point, Exumas

From our anchorage off of Oven Rock, we proceeded to the north along the inside of Great Guana Key. We saw the Next Gig, peacefully anchored along the way, and we talked on the vhf for a little catching up since we'd last seen them in Hatchet Bay.

We found a great holding spot in good sand in the cove off Black Point, and merrily hooked into an open wi-fi signal, that failed along with the rest of the Batelco internet in a storm over the week-end.

We had three remoras under the boat at Black Point

Did I mention storm?! It rained and blew, and then blew and rained. We swung facing the east and southeast, then the west (at which time this little cove gets rough!) before it ever came back to its ESE prevail. But, I'm skipping Saturday ...

We went into Black Point and did laundry at a nice laundry, the Rockside Laundermat. This large white building has a dinghy dock so you don't have to tote bags of laundry through town! While the laundry was in, I went to speak or Lorraine's (from Lorraine's Cafe) mom, the local bread baker. I bought a loaf of cinnamon bread, and a loaf of coconut bread. Allen and I are having trouble deciding which we like better!

I got directions to the church for Sunday and realized it wasn't too far from the local town dock.

Sunday was the day of the squally weather. I'd gotten up and changed the oil in the gen-set and took a shower before church. Allen looked at the weather and decided he didn't want to go to church in the rain. I thought I had time...

A little football keep-away

About the time I got to the town dock, the bottom fell out, and by the time I got to the church, I was soaked. I decided I'd go stand in the back or something, and kept going. When I got to the church, it was padlocked shut, with no one anywhere around. Good things for Americans to know before going out in the rain to attend church in the Family Islands: They don't have church when it rains! As was explained to me by a parishioner on Monday, since everyone mostly walks, if it rains, they don't have church. Now I know.

Monday morning we went in to the dock and walked to see the local blow hole. When the waves crash into the rocks on the Sound side, the water goes into a little cave, and then up, and out a blowhole in a geyser-like fashion.

We walked back into town to the local grocery store, run by Mrs. Adderly, whom I'd met on Saturday. She has two of her grandsons, cousins, 14-yr old Eric, and 13-yr old Warren, visiting her for a couple of weeks from Nassau. Allen and I took them, and a 7-yr old Elton from Black Point to Bitter Guana Cay to see the Exuma Iguanas. We looked at Iguanas for awhile, walked the beach, and the teen-agers played with the nerf football in the water while Elton and I explored up the beach aways. We all had a fun morning.

Mrs. Adderly gave me a sapadilly from her tree, trying to convince me that though, if you remember a previous blog where I'd said I'd found a fruit that I didn't like, it was because it was over ripe. Though dubious, I graciously accepted one from her to try in a couple of days when it ripens.

Stratton and Doug are teaching Allen to windsurf

Monday night a fellow on a neighboring sailboat came by on the wind surfer. It was Stratton, a man I'd taken back and forth to Tortugus a few times when he was in his early 20's. What a small world! He plans to teach Allen to windsurf, so we'll stay here another day.

Tuesday, Allen decided he likes windsurfing! Stratton is a great instructor, and in no time at all, Allen was zipping around on a windsurfer. The shallow cove and beach area was a great place to learn, and the wind was just right.

Allen is a pretty quick learner for windsurfing!

Stratton left in the late afternoon, and a short time later sent a text asking if I wanted to use the windsurfer and return it to him in Florida. Wow! What a great offer. I eagerly accepted, and agreed to run north to meet them at Oven Rock with the Whaler in the morning.

In the morning I ran the Whaler to the north to meet Stratton, and pick up the windsurfer and supplies from him.

For the duration of our summer adventure, Allen practiced his windsurfing. He became pretty adept at it.

Norman's Pond, Cave Cay, Oven Rock

From Norman's Pond Cay, we eased north inside to exit into the sound between Bock Cay and Scupper Cay. The tide was meeting the wind, and the cut was rough! We went out into the deep water of the sound to get away from the short swells, and kept running in Exuma Sound. The wind was steadily increasing, and we ducked back into the calm, protected waters through Cave Cay Cut.  The cut would make you pucker, with the short, steep swells.  I love this Nordic Tug!

Psalm 107:23-31 (NIV) is my Psalm for the day!

23Others went out on the sea in ships;

they were merchants on the mighty waters.

24They saw the works of the Lord,
his wonderful deeds in the deep.
25For he spoke and stirred up a tempest
that lifted high the waves.
26They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths;
in their peril their courage melted away.
27They reeled and staggered like drunken men;
they were at their wits’ end.
28Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
and he brought them out of their distress.
29He stilled the storm to a whisper;
the waves of the sea were hushed.
30They were glad when it grew calm,
and he guided them to their desired haven.
31Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men.

I took the Whaler into Cave Cay harbour to look around. The marina area is still being built, with currently serviceable dockage facilities. The floating docks are great, and this is one of the best hurricane holes I've seen for the Exumas.

We continued on the inside, along Cave Cay, between Big Farmers and Little Farmers, and up to anchor off Oven Rock towards the southwest side of Great Guana Cay. The sand holding was excellent, and we stayed there two nights.

 

Mercy loves watching Allen's radio controlled boat.  We would tell the boat "come" and "go" and "good boat" when it minded! 

Lee Stocking and Norman's Pond

We eased into Exuma Sound from Georgetown, with a light SE wind and following seas. It made for an easy ride. We went inside at Soldier Cay, but came back out into the Sound again at Glass Cay, since it was low tide, and we couldn't make it across the bar NW of Glass Cay without a little more water. We came back inside at Lee Stocking Cay.

The Caribbean Marine Research Center is at Lee Stocking. They have 5 or 6 free moorings, and we had our pick, since no one was there! I went to their dock and went ashore, and eventually found someone who told me that they were inbetween research groups, and most of the staff was taking time off. I was told that we were welcome at their moorings, their docks, their trails, etc. Since those facilities aren't always available, it was really nice that no one was around!

I explored to the south with the Whaler and found a gorgeous sandy anchorage with two catamarans in it, and it looked like a dozen or so folks on those two boats. I think they were French Canadian.

In the morning, Allen, Mercy, and I went to the dock, and walked up to the runway, and across to the "Loyalist Trail." This trail goes to the highest point in the Exumas, at about 140 ft, but more importantly, runs along some old walls from the Loyalist Days. The trail ended on a beach to the south, and Mercy hit the water, and then wandered up the beach with Allen while I sat enjoying the shade and a breeze.

When Allen returned, he had an open coconut in his hand, and offered me coconut water. My hero! He had found a low coconut tree, got some green coconuts down, and opened them on the rocks. I had to go see his operation! Allen and I each drank two, and gave Mercy one. You just haven't lived until you've sat on a palm frond, in the shade, on a deserted tropical beach, drinking fresh coconut water!

One note about the palm fronds: We'd each cut a frond towards the beginning of the trail to fan the spider webs out of the way as we walked. On the beach, we used them for seats when we sat, and shades as we walked. Allen ended up making a hat out of his for the trip back (since we'd cleaned the trail of spider webs on the way in) and I used mine as a parasol.

We returned to the boat hot, and ready to snorkel. We slipped the mooring and went to anchor on the NW tip of Norman's Pond Cay. Allen went in to check the anchor, and returned with a conch. Pretty soon, and after a little time being pulled by the Whaler, we had our limit of conch, and one gorgeous helmet shell.

We explored a blue hole/cavern just inside the rocky shore on the NW corner of the cay, but the tide was low, and I think it would have been better with higher water. It is amazing seeing this stuff.

We had a conch opening fiasco/party on the beach, and returned to the boat with conch we'd eventually gotten out of the shell, but still needed cleaning/tenderizing. Not then, however! We pulled hamburgers out of the freezer, and were eating within 30 minutes. In our defense, we were trying to get the conch out of the shell, while still leaving enough to make conch horns. We managed to get one good horn!

Georgetown, Exumas

We spent a few days anchored in the Georgetown area. We went into town, bought a few groceries, namely fresh produce and homemade coconut bread. Let me tell you that homemade coconut bread makes about the worlds BEST french toast!

The town's largest grocery store has a dinghy dock that you can tie up to for anything you want to do in town, so we had a great place to put the boat while we wandered around.

On Sunday we attended Clear Water A/G church, which is located about 3.5 miles to the north of town. I contacted the pastor through facebook, and he made arrangements for someone to pick us up, saving us a rather long walk! Oh, the wonders of technology! Since we had the offer of a ride, it was easy to talk another boater into going to church with us. ("You have to go to a Bahamian church to see what the Bahamians are really like...")

The service was GREAT! This church had the friendliest folks I've met in the Bahamas, some of which we saw in town the next day. The music was great, and it was interesting singing many of the songs I know with a Caribbean beat! The pastor, Duerre Thomas is an anointed young man and a great preacher. They only had a morning service, none in the evening.

I explored much of the area with the Whaler, and found a few great anchorages, far better than the place we'd dropped the hook. South of Crab Cay there are some anchorages in sand bottom that have protection from every wind angle; and whose depths are not marked well on most charts. I suspect this would be a great area in the winter when many anchorages are crowded.

I found several blue holes, some good areas to snorkel, and enjoyed puttering around a bit.

I imagine this area is much different during "season" when hundreds of sailors and cruisers spend the winter here. There were more boats here than we'd seen since the Abacos, but still not very many. We've been off the beaten path pretty much since Abacos to here.

Georgetown hosts the Bahamas Family Islands Regatta the last week of April, and that sounds like it would be a lot of fun. The boats must be designed, built, owned, and for the most part crewed by Bahamians. The race begins from an anchored position at a gun shot start. The sailors must pick up anchor, hoist sails, and navigate the course. Must be exciting to see!

On Monday night, we had a thunderstorm that passed through with winds 40-50 kts switching to the west, and we our anchor wrapped and drug, necessitating re-anchoring. I had mentioned to Allen the anchorage we were in was not good holding, but we had stayed anyhow to access wi-fi. In the morning, the storm was the talk of town. A couple of unattended boats had broken loose and were high and dry on various sandbars. We managed to top off our fresh water tank to within 5-10 gallons. Nothing like a good rain when you need the water!

Tuesday morning we departed to the north, continuing our exploration in the Exumas.

Conception Island, tropicbirds, diving

Cat to Conception.Island

Today is The Bahamian Independence Day, July 10th.

We crossed from Cat Island to Conception Island. The water is over 7000' deep, and gorgeous blue. There was scattered sargassum weedlines, though I didn't see any fish under any.

We arrived at Conception Island around noon, and spent the rest of the day, and all day Wednesday exploring and enjoying the beautiful area.

Conception Island is part of the Bahamian National Trust. Everything here is protected. Aside from its spectacular diving, the area is known for its abundance of green turtles and its nesting tropic birds. It has beaches, bluffs, mangrove creeks, crystal clear water, and is uninhabited. What more could one want?

I think everyone who has ever been on the MERCY would have loved Conception Island.

Rich, I talked to three different sport fishing boats that had hooked up blue marlin that day.

Lila, there are tropic birds doing their acrobatic flying in groups of 3-5 (noticed it was always an odd number) I saw a couple of noddy terns on the way over. Uh, you would not have liked the trip over! If you could have been deposited onboard at the gorgeous anchorage, you'd have loved it.

Rudy, you would have been rethinking the whole diving past the second atmosphere thing! The walls were spectacular!  There are a number of dive moorings along the southwest side of the island.

We romped the beaches seeking treasure among the flotsam, and found a number of sea beans. (Be prepared Fred and Nancy, Allen found more than sea beans that I reluctantly agreed to transport.)

We took the Whaler to the beach on the east side of the island, and explored across from Boobie Cay.  I didn't see any of the infamous red footed boobies.

When I heard the weather on Thursday morning, due to increase to 25 or so for the week-end, I decided we'd best pull up the hook on Conception and we headed towards Long Key.

I was almost in tears, since I have always wanted to go to Rum Cay, and was within 15 miles.... I did not, however, want to be forced into a marina for the week-end, and there are only good anchorages for prevailing winds, and I think it is going into the SW on Friday evening.

So, I reluctantly turned to Long Cay, and then when under its shelter, ended up continuing on to Exumas, where Allen said he wanted to go. We were in a couple of squalls over 40 knots. I love this boat! She is a great, sea worthy vessel. The temperature dropped to the mid 70's, and I ended up turning the air conditioner on to defog the windows.

I've been told where there is free wi-fi, and I actually got in long enough to collect my mail, but not send any. At daylight, I'll slide over closer, and hope they have it on!

So our adventure continues in the Exumas...

More on Cat Island and Hawk's Nest

On Monday morning, we went in to the grocery store at New Bight for potatoes and fresh homemade bread.

About 1030 we got underway for the "boot" of Cat Island. The forecast 10-15 kt SE wind was about 18-20 out of the NE, and though we anchored north of the bar for a little bit, we decided to go into Hawk's Nest Marina for the night. This marina and its accompying airstrip were busted for being an integral part to Noriega's drug smuggling operation years ago, and the General's house here was torn apart.

This area is now more famous for its big game fishing, and Tartar Banks that comes up to 45' from thousands of feet. The wall along the southern coast of Cat has a great deal of current, and evidentally the fishing is spectacular.

We explored up Hawk's Nest Creek a little ways by skiff, but had decided not to anchor there due to the narrowness of the creek, and the current from the tidal flow running both directions. Oh yeah, and I could envision closing the doors on the no-see-ums and cranking up the air conditioner.

Satellite internet service cost me $15, and though we received email, couldn't send any. I don't know if the blog posted or not. I did manage to download the weather.

BTW, for friends who follow, almost every day I can pick up SSB weather from Chris Parker, a metereorologist who makes his living forecasting specifically for boaters cruising the Bahamas/Caribbean/ and east coast US. Before my next trip over here, I'll subscribe to his service, which will enable me to ask him about weather where am at and want to go. There is usually someone who is asking about the general areas we are cruising in. The USCG also broadcasts multiple times daily. I sure like this SSB.

The Hermitage, above New Bight, Cat Island

Today, Sunday, I could find no church in walking distance, aside from a Catholic church. Maybe I didn't walk far enough.

The reason we had anchored off New Bight, however, was to go see the Hermitage, which was built on the highest mountain in the Bahamas, at 206 feet of elevation. I told Allen that he could write on his "what did I do this summer?" that he climbed the highest mountain in the country, and visited an old monastary!

John Hawes, aka Father Jerome, 1876-1956 was born in England and schooled as an architect, before studying theology. He became a missionary, and went through the Bahamas rebuilding storm ravaged churches, replacing the wooden structures with stone ones. I may be shortening history to the point of inaccuracy, but, he then went to Australia as a bush missionary, before returning to the Bahamas.

At some point after a heart attack, at age 62, he retired to Cat Island and built The Hermitage. I have read several differing reports about it being a scaled down monastary, but I believe it was his place, built after the architecture of some famous monastary I'd never heard of. Most importantly, it was built by one man, out of hand hewn rock. You can see it as you enter the coast.

Visiting the place today was a GREAT experience for me. I was impressed on several levels.

Firstly, as you climb the mountainside, Father Jerome had built the Stations of the Cross. Not coming from the Catholic faith, I can not explain the symbolism of each, but, being a Christian, I pondered each station. The stations were hand carved in stone, and every visitor to the place finds reason to pause at each. (You are climbing up the side of a steep hill, and ready to pause for any reason!) At the station where Christ fell, you are standing at the bottom of steep steps, already a little weary, and looking upward to the cross before you. It touched my spirit.

Secondly, as you arrive at his "Hermitage", I marvel at the thoughtfulness of the practicality of the architecture. The buildings consist of a place to sleep, a place to eat, a place to bathe, a place to worship and pray, and I think, a place to work. The roofs on the structures were all designed to deflect rain water to a circular drainage, hewn in the rock, and a routed to a cistern.

The ventilation through the small buildings was fantastic, so that I believe a breeze from any direction, (and you would normally have one at this highest point) flowed through the buildings.

The buildings consisted of a bell tower, a chapel, small living quarters, a separate kitchen/bread oven.

The chapel and bell tower are prominent from offshore, as well as a cross I suspect used to be, before the hurricane last year broke off the huge wooden cross at its cemented into the rock base.

From the vantage point of the chapel, I believe the man must have prayed for the town below, and now, long after his death, everyone who looks in that direction should be reminded of one man's love for the people, and God's magnificant love for them.

If you are ever in Cat Island, take the trip to see the structures, and the stations of the cross. But, plan on spending enough time there for meditation as you ponder God's love, and pray for the people of this area that Father Jerome loved.

BTW, bow as you enter the chapel... I know, its not a Protestant thing, but you'll about knock yourself out in the doorway if you don't. I have a huge lump in the top of my head, and the blow brought me to my knees. The stone arch is worm with other folks making the same mistake.

The West Coast of Cat Island

We took the Whaler along the coast to the north, all the way up to Orange Creek. Didn't see anything I'd cruise that direction for. That is pathetic to say when we are in crystal clear water, and gorgeous coral reefs!

We came back to the boat, and proceded with the MERCY to the south, around Alligator Point, to eventually anchor in New Bight, towards the southern end of Cat Island. There were a few caves along the coast that we HAD to anchor the MERCY and go explore by Whaler.

We had to go into Culbert's Creek Harbour, and into Fernandez Bay, just to check them out. The boat we were travelling with ran over the tow line to his dinghy, and wrapped the line in his wheel enough it killed the engine. Allen and I swung by, picked up the drifting inflatable, and dove the line out of his wheel. Allen and I are getting our teamwork down pretty good! We did a mighty professional looking job!

We anchored for the night off a gorgeous sandy beach, after idling the coast looking for unlocked wifi. We managed to download emails, which we have been unable to answer, as we have not been able to connect for more than a few seconds. By the time this blog posts, we may be in Exumas! (unless we stumble across wifi somewhere)

Surprises, Half Moon Cay to Alligator Pt Cat Island

Mercy, the dog, uses a "litter box" that consists of a black plastic cement mixing pan with holes drilled in it, with a layer of round river rocks lining the bottom. I remove solids immediately after use, and rinse the rock with a bucket or two of sea water. When I am done rinsing, I leave a bucket of water sitting there for the next use, particularly at night, to keep me from opening the transom door and walking out on the swim platform.

In the morning, at daylight, I noticed a lot of dirt in the bucket, which upon closer examination was moving. Remember this is crystal clear, gorgeous water! Allen and I pulled a couple of the critters out for examination under a magnifying glass, and there were what we think are larvae lobster! There were also a couple of tiny crabs in there, and a worm that Allen has named, "Will." I guess the drifting larvae were attracted by the cabin lights. During the course of the day, Allen has been refreshing the water from the wash down pump. We put a tiny piece of tuna fish in the bucket, and the creatures have been eating that. We're hoping to take them to Lee Stocking in Exumas to the marine lab, and find out just what we have! It must be my imagination, but I think they've gotten bigger! They have large eyes (proportionate), legs, and tails. We sure could use a microscope!

No cruise ship was coming in, but we departed and left for Cat Island, where we anchored up close to the beach just north of Alligator Point. The coast here has gorgeous small sandy beaches between huge rocks. The dogs played on the beach and in the water while we snorkeled the low ledge just off the rocks.

We took the Whaler into the interior of the island via the mangrove creeks, and had fun exploring. We went ashore near the point and wandered some more.

I drug Allen on the dive plane, looking for conch, but all we found were too small. He did, however get a spider crab with the largest claws I have ever seen on a spider crab! Tom boiled them, and Allen gloated as he ate them!

We watched a movie with Tom on a large screen tv with surround sound. (Pirates of the Caribbean, of course!) When they fire the cannons, you can feel it through the couch!

Little San Salvador aka Half Moon Cay

There truly is world class diving off the southern coast of Eleuthera.

We departed Davis Hsarbor Marina and eased along the coral lined wall. I had to stop and make a dive before continuing eastward. The coral was spectacular, and there were lots of grouper.

A look at the navigation chart shows topographic lines on either sie of a shallow ridge running east and west between Eleuthera and Little San Salvador. This area is known as the Bridge. The north south current as the water upwells over that bar creates cooler, clear water with an abundance of fish. Sportfishermen frequent this area for big game fish.

We left the Bridge for a straighter shot into Little San Salvador. Ready for all the name confusioon? Cat Island was known a lot of years ago as San Salvador. Now there is an island SE of here that is called by that name. Anyhow, that is why this island was Little San Salvador. That is, until a cruise ship company bought the island, and created a cruise ship day anchorage, re-naming the island Half Moon Cay.

There are only a few people living on the island, maintaining the facilities and operations. The rest of the workers arrive on the mornings before the cruise ships come in, and they come from Davis Harbour, where we left from this morning, via a crewboat that looks to be 100-ft-ish. This boatload of workers man tourist shops, water toy rentals, para-sails, sailboats, beaches, playgrounds, and horses for beach riding, just that we could see.

When we arrived, a cruise ship was stopped for the day, and the beaches were full of people. We anchored in the NW corner of the bay and watched the operations. What a gorgeous place this is! The anchorage would be unmanageable in a west wind, but it was perfect with the SE wind the day we were there.

I went diving on some heads that went from 80-ish to 45' dotted along the top of the wall. This may be the most pristine, healthiest looking ecosystem I have seen in the last few decades. There was a vast variety of fish of all sizes (I saw one lionfish, which I anihilated. There were lots of soft corals, black corals, and sponges. The current was ripping, but the heads were easy to dive because of the topography, undercuts, and lees along the backsides. The water was clear and a little cool. What a spectacular dive.

When the cruise ship departed in early evening, the workers rolled up the sidewalks so to speak, and went home, and we moved into the SE corner, just off the beach, to get rid of the swell that had rocked us where we were.

Tom produced a tube that we towed behind the Whaler, and I tried tubing for the first time in my life. Allen makes it look pretty easy, but I didn't stay on nearly as long.... and they weren't trying to sling me off, like we were with Allen!

We cooked steaks on the grill, and I don't think it gets much better!

Rock Sound, Cape Eleuthera, and Davis Harbour Marina

Monday we stayed in Rock Sound. We went to the bank, the store, the beach, and a couple of blue holes. I cruised by one area that had free wifi, and posted the blog with no pictures.

Tuesday, we departed Rock Sound and went into Cape Eleuthera for fuel and gasoline. The harbor there is beautiful, and the fuel and gas were much lower than Marsh Harbour. We went into the marina office, and there were several teen-agers there from the Island School. They were all in there buying snacks. The dockmaster was friendly and accommodating.

We meandered along the wall off Eleuthera, which begins at about 60 feet and drops faster than my fathometer can even find it! My track weaves back and forth as I patrolled the wall. There is 30' of water right up next to the island at some places, though the wall is out a little further.

Our destination for the night was Davis Harbour, and the marina there. We came in, plugged in, turned on the a/c and I started laundry. Allen and Tom made pizza on Tom's boat from scratch. For those of you who have never eaten a conch-pineapple pizza, you don't know what you are missing! They made three pizzas, but only one was their Caribbean special!

A young man named Lynden approached me in the late afternoon wanting to know if I would like the boat washed down. I sort of blew him off, until I realized that I needed to put that young man to work. He had already worked a full day as a diesel mechanic, and was out scouting to pick up extra cash. It isn't often that you see a young man work "as unto the Lord," but this guy put the effort in, and did an outstanding job. He told me that he could return after work on Wednesday with his cousin to wax the superstructure, and I made arrangements with him to do it. The gelcoat is oxidizing badly, and I can see the vessels here in the harbor that he's waxed. It should be good for both of us.

This morning, Wednesday, Mercy and I walked up the road a couple of miles with Tom and Amber the dog. There is a small settlement, Waterford, and there several folks walking, as in looked like heading to work.

Allen, Tom, and I took the Whaler and ran back to the north a few miles to a couple of spectacular shallow dives. We made a dive in about 32 feet of water on some rocks that came up to about 18, and the water was crystal clear. There were lots of tropical fish, lots of squirrel fish, mangrove snapper, and one fair sized lobster.

Then we moved to a second spot (we spotted a mooring!) that had some larger rocks and coral coming up from 48' to 8.' The rock was like a mushroom, with great overhangs, and had a hollow crack in the middle that we swam up from the bottom into about 10 feet of water. There were lots of lionfish on that site.

We worked all afternoon on cleaning up the boat, defrosting the refrigerator, and the Engel, moving everything off the roof and deck so the guys could wax, and cooking dinner. I'm tired!

Tomorrow, Lord willing, we'll head to Little San Salvador for the day/night and on to Cat Island.

The people and church at Rock Sound

We moved the MERCY to find an anchorage towards town with free wi-fi access. I puttered up and down the sound, trying every signal. There were a few commercial sites, and some password protected ones. Finally I found a blue hole and a free wi-fi at the same time! I anchored by the hole, and uploaded Friday's blog, and checked email. It just doesn't get any better than being able to anchor on a blue hole that has free wi-fi!

From yesterday... a tree I had to climb

Almost as soon as I anchored however, I left to attend church in Rock Sound. The people were friendly, and sent greetings to the DeLoaches and the Carey's. There were announcements about the community Independce Day celebration on the 9th, which sounded like fun, but, I think we'll be long gone by then.

The Assembly of God church in Rock Sound

I returned to the boat, and checked out the hole, and moved to anchor in better holding for the night before I uploaded Sat blog. Now we're anchored almost off the dinghy dock, in good holding sand.

Tree roots (see yesterday's log) growing through the cavern roof

In the evening, I returned to church.  Some of the folks said there are a lot of crfuisers here during the winter. I may be one! This is a beautiful little town, and worth returning to. No fuel or gas is available (like Hatchet Bay) without doing it by jerry jug.