Rain rain, go away, come again another day.
We have been battling storms, squalls, rain and lightening for the past week and a half. After our trip up from Staniel Cay, we hunkered down at Norman's again and took advantage of spending time with friends.

Our trip to Shroud Cay and Warderick Wells was peaceful. We got a great anchorage away from the weather and winds at Warderick. The Bahamas Land and Sea Park headquarters are housed on Warderick Wells. There are also hiking trails that wind all around the rocky island. The island is made of porous limestone, making the hiking treacherous and sharp if you don't have the appropriate footwear. We took a trip to headquarters, a small building perched atop a small hill overlooking the protected anchorage. There they had a library of books about the Bahamas, novels, reference and non-fiction. Dave picked up a copy of "Winds from the Carolinas", which is a Michener style novel about the first settlers that came down from Charleston to Eleuthera. I'm looking forward to reading it as well. We took a hike around the island and climbed into caves, larger limestone formations in the ground. On top of Boo Boo Hill, which is said to be haunted by the shipwrecked souls that crashed on the rocky shore one dark night, is a collection of boat names painted or carved into driftwood. If you find your perfect piece of driftwood, you are to paint your boat name and date you were there. We saw quite a few boats we knew perched on top of Boo Boo Hill.

The next day we trekked up to Shroud Cay. Shroud is a wet island, mainly mangroves, with cuts throughout the island. Last time Dave was there, they went at night, with a full moon and took their dinghy to drift with the tide through the cuts. I felt like we were back in Florida, exploring the estuaries, but the main difference, not a person or boat or house were anywhere in sight. It is still part of the Land and Sea Park, so it is protected and natural. We took a cut for as long as it would go, all the way through the island to the ocean side. It started pouring down rain so we motored back to our boat in the rain, soaking ourselves. It continued to rain for most of the evening. So we put on our comfys and cooked up some hot toddy's and enjoyed the cozy day.

I cant believe the difference in the islands, from Warderick, the rocky, scrubby island with patches of lush palms, to Shroud, all mangroves, to Norman's with it's wispy casurina trees. Each island, although only a few miles separating each one, are all completely different. Warderick is home to these larger lizards with curly tails that will let you pick them up if you want, Norman's has these tiny lizards that scurry away if you are get closer than a few yards away. Allen's Cay to the north is home to the iguanas.


The next morning we motored the short way up to Norman's. The skies were beautiful, until we got underway and we noticed a black cloud looming in the distance. It was on us just as we were navigating the cut into Norman's Southeast anchorage. Again, we were drenched. When we got to the anchorage, we asked our friends Jeff and Tracy on Amelie if they thought we were hardy or crazy for getting stuck in that squall. I think a little of both.

We spent the next week catching up with everyone on Norman's. Stefan and Beth, Josh and Roxanne, John and Molly and all of the other island regulars. We had a great going away part on Friday night. Dave went crab hunting for land crabs with Bruce and caught a good dozen of them. You chase them at night with a flashlight and scoop them up (without getting pinched). Bruce had set up a pen for the crabs he caught and it is brimming with crab. Apparently you are supposed to flush their systems before you eat them, feed them rice to get them to taste better, we ate ours the next night and were surprised to find their insides a poopy brown color. Good meat in the legs and claws though. All the regulars were there on Friday night. A fun, mellow crowd. Jason played guitar for us and we all sang along. Then Molly and Roxanne picked out some European dance music for us to dance to late night. The boys did crab races and Josh's crab creamed the competition. Dave successfully taught his crab to open a beer bottle (all captured on film). It was sad to say goodbye.

Pegasus and Amelie left Sunday morning for Nassau. We both need to get going back to the states so we decided to buddy cruise together up to the Abacos. We had quite the crossing. If you maybe remember from our January crossing to the Exumas, we have to cross the Yellow Bank, a section of 10 ft water with coral heads scattered about. You definitely don't want to hit one of those coral heads. We had several minor rain showers come over us as we were making our way across to Nassau, but just as we were about to the Yellow Bank, the biggest squall I've seen yet decided to grace us with it's presence. We could see the menacing clouds from a distance, so we decided to divert and try to get out of it's path. Cruising at 5 ½ knots didn't get us where we wanted to in time. It hit us suddenly, with gusting winds that forced us to take all the sails down and turn into the wind, south, the exact opposite direction we wanted to go. Then the rains came, pouring torrents of rain that blinded us with its pelting large drops. It only lasted about 30 minutes, but it was enough to drench us through our foul weather gear. At last we could turn and head the right direction, into the Yellow Bank. The winds had churned up the water and the glare of the passing storm made it impossible to see the coral heads. Our best bet was to follow the previous path we had taken on the GPS. We made it through, unscathed, and the sailing was decent after that. Just as we were getting to Nassau, we watched another black cloud hang over the island for 2 hours as we slowly motored closer. It finally decided to let go and drop buckets of rain just as we were coming into the harbor. We were exhausted after the long day so Jeff and Tracy had us over for pizza and a game of Catch Phrase, which helped to calm the nerves.

Today was a provisioning day, it's been raining and thunder and lightening all afternoon. It's kind of unnerving being on the boat when lightening is cracking overhead, so we decided to come to shore and do some interneting. Tomorrow we are off to Eleuthera and then our longer passage to the Abacos the day after that. I'm looking forward to the Abacos, small towns that are New England style. I'll keep you posted on our next leg when I can! Hope all is well for everyone back at home.

Hi everyone. I know it's been quite a long time since our last adventures, but here we are again to fill you in. By this time we had planned on being in the USVI, but obviously plans changed and we kept the boat in the Bahamas for the winter. It is late in the cruising season, most of the sailboats are headed back to the mainland for the summer hurricane season, which officially starts on June 1st. Now we are seeing more and more powerboats, who are able to outrun an upcoming hurricane if needed. The weather is getting warmer and the water not so cold either. And here we find ourselves, on Staniel Cay in the Exumas.

Dave spent the two and a half months that I was at home in Washington, helping out at the bar at MacDuff's on Norman's Cay. Word is he missed me, but he also developed a great community of friends there. I have seen from the pictures that there was never a dull moment. I returned May 1st with my Dad and aunt Kim and uncle Pat. They were able to experience a bit of Nassau and come over to Norman's Cay with us. We had a nice sail (long sail) to Normans. It was 40 miles but took us 8 ½ hours! The longest it has taken us so far. We were beating into the wind pretty hard, but Pegasus is able to sail close to the wind so we didn't have to tack back and forth. Luckily they were able to take a charter flight off the island, which only takes 22 minutes. Dave's parents flew in on May 4th and spent some time as well. The weather was beautiful and hardly any wind. We spent most of the time lounging on the beach, playing bocce ball and taking the Hobie Cat out. Dave's parents, Karen and Mike went out for a short afternoon sail on Pegasus. The engine overheated and we were forced to weave our way back into the anchorage and drop anchor under sail. The boys went out fishing one day and caught their limit of mahi within a half our. They spent the rest of the morning cruising up to Highborne Cay and around Norman's.

After the family went back home, Dave and I helped out at the restaurant, which was busy busy! Our friends Jeff and Tracy on Amelie came down from Eleuthera. We had met them in Charleston last summer and had plans to buddy cruise down to the Bahamas. Issues came up on both ends, and this is the first time we were able to get together with them. So we decided to take off for a few days and head south a bit with them. We spent the first night two cays south of Normans, on Hawksbill Cay. It is part of the Bahamas Land and Sea Park. Jeff and Tracy's 7 year old daughter, Bailey and I snorkeled in the shallows along the long sandy beach on the calm west side. Dave and I hiked across the island to the Atlantic side, through undersized palm trees. Just a head taller than us. The Atlantic side is rough and wild. The waves crash on the beach and the short scrubby plants are windblown. Strong winds were predicted to come in, so we took off early the next morning to head for Great Major's Cay which is completely protected from the E to SE winds that were predicted. So much to see here! One beach on the deserted Great Majors is home to wild pigs. They swim out to your dinghy and eat your leftovers. Thunderball Grotto, named for the famous Sean Connery James Bond movie, "Thunderball" is on the other side of Great Majors. We dinghy-ed over to it the other day to snorkel. It is probably one of the most amazing places I have been in my life. We tied the dinghy to a floating buoy and dove in. The barren, rocky formation in the middle of the channel shows no sign that there is a colorful forest of coral and fish and living things swirling beneath the surface. I'm not a big fan of caves and small spaces in general, but since Bailey did it the previous day, I figured I better not let her show me up. You barely swim under water for a few seconds and you come up inside a large cavernous area with skylights above, filtering daylight down into the water, casting rays beneath the surface. A large dark blue area under the surface indicates the opposite entrance into the cave. Dave brought some chips to feed the fish, and in a matter of seconds, he was surrounded by hungry fish. You could reach out your hand and touch the fish as they swarmed around. I was literally awestruck by the life below the surface. We brought our underwater camera, so pictures will be on the blog as soon as we find a photo develop place.

Staniel Cay, just around the corner from our anchorage, is a small settlement and home to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. We have heard about the Yacht Club prior to being here. But you can't get the true sense of it unless you're here. The term "yacht club" is used rather loosely in this case. It's more like a couple wood piers and a dive bar. My kind of place! Nurse sharks swim around the marina where people clean their fresh caught mahi. We walked into "town", along the beach walk, passing the clinic, which was once someone's house, and the library, which was also someone's house, to the super market, which is someone's house. You open the refrigerator and see what kinds of produce they have today. Then the large freezer chest has a variety of frozen chicken, hot dogs, lunch meat and unnamed cuts of beef and lamb. We continued around the island and followed a sign for Club Thunderball, which is supposed to be a fun hangout. It was quite a hike along the island to get there. We were greeted by a neighborhood dog that looked exactly like Hops, only Barley's size. The dog was infatuated with Hops, wouldn't leave her side for several miles till we finally took a turn and he continued on down the road. We hiked up a sandy path to a ridgeline overlooking the "ocean" side of the island. The wind was blowing hard and the waves crashed on the shore. The colors were a multitude of dark blues and dark turquoise greens. You could almost feel the power of the mighty Atlantic. The peaceful bay side lay pale green and calm to the West. We hiked along to a rocky headland and watched the waves crash on the rocky cliff.

We continued on to Club Thunderball and got ourselves a much needed Kalik. The view overlooked the yacht club and Thunderball Grotto. We sat and relaxed our feet and solved the world's problems.

Last night I cooked up a wonderful feast. One of the 200+ foot yachts in the anchorage had too much mahi. So they swung by Jeff and Tracy's boat and gave them a whole one, which they generously shared half of with us. So I pan fried the fish in lime and topped it with a spicy corn, tomato, onion and bell pepper salsa. Sometimes I feel like this is camping, but camping can never be this gourmet!

We are checking the weather and looking at heading back North today. We are stopping back by Norman's once again, to say farewell, and then continuing to head North towards the Abacos. We're hoping to explore a bit, then hop over to Stuart, Florida from there and get the boat hunkered down for the summer.

I'll write again when I can! But for now here are some new pictures of our latest adventures!
Cheers

Dave is back to Norman's Cay. He has been back for about a month. Ive been busy up here in Washington and spending some quality time with my family.
Im bringing my Dad and aunt and uncle Kim & Pat back to the Bahamas when I return. They will stay for about a week. Dave is going to pick us up in Nassau on Pegasus, then we will stay on Norman's Cay. Our flight is scheduled for May 1st. Im looking forward to some warm weather! It has been rather gray and rainy up here in the great state of Washington.
So just a quick little update. I should be updating again after May 1st. Hope all is well with everyone.

We have found ourselves on dry land. An unwelcomed tragedy with my mother's passing. Dave and I are back at home. Our adventure is on hold for the time being. We would like to thank everyone for all of your support during this time. The love of our friends and family has made it bearable.

Got to Norman's Cay almost three weeks ago and have been hanging out ever since. We have been dealing with frontal systems pushing through and cold weather for the majority of the time but it finally cleared up a few days ago and has been beautful and in the 80's. I have had trouble uploading my blog with this server but I think I have it figured out.

We have fallen in love with Norman's Cay. Norman's used to be a high end escape for celebrities back in it's day, but in the late 1970's, early 1980's most of the island was purchased by German-Colombian Carlos Lehder Rivas. The island soon became a major distribution point for drug exportation to the US. Millions of dollars worth of cocaine was flown from Colombia here before being smuggled to America. They say that so much money came through here that the money was weighed, not counted. Eventually the US put pressure on the Bahamian government to clean up the island. We just watched the movie "Blow" and the character Diego represents Carlos Lehder (dont know why they didnt use his name when all the other drug guy's names were used) but there is a scene where he is hanging out at his place on Norman's Cay. Pegasus fits right in as she used to be a drug smuggler herself between the islands and Florida before she was confiscated by the Coast Guard and put up for auction.

There is an old DC-3 parked in the bay where we first anchored. Someone was flying in on a moonbeam back in the late 1970's and missed the landing strip, probably flying high on the cargo he was carrying as well. It is partially submerged and great to snorkel around as the coral has found a little home on it's outside. Today the airstrip is active, mostly private planes and charter flights catering to Normans and the surrounding Cays. There is a small resort with several vacation villas and a great restaurant called MacDuff's - the pulse of the island. We helped them build a new bar, have been making new signs and doing projects around the place.

This island is absolutely beautiful with only about 7 permanent residents, there is a small amount of vacation home owners as well. The majority of the island is natural with very few houses. There is some building going on at the North end of the island for several more vacation homes. I love that it is not developed. There is a beach on the Southwest side of the island that is calm and protected even in the strong North winds that have been ripping through. On the East side of the island is a large land feature that looks like a whales tale, from which it derives it's name. When the wind is blowing out of the North, the Southern beach is protected and calm. Visa versa with Southerly winds. The water is crystal clear and the colors are amazing.

We went flying yesterday with Corky who has been staying here for about a week now. They brought their plane from the states and he loves any excuse to get up flying. Dave helped him paint runway lines the day before so we all had to go up and check it out. The view from above is incredible. There is only so much you can see from land and water. From above is like nothing else. Time to work on our pilot's licenses! I will try to keep the blog updated now since it seems to be working.

Check our our new photos in the Norman's album (hopefully they will upload!)

Hey everyone. Just wanted to give you a quick update. For some reason I havent been able to log on, and even when I do, I cant upload a blog.
We got to Norman's Cay last friday and have been here ever since. I have a whole blog written up on my computer about Norman's shady past, but I will try and get that on later.
We are helping out at the restaurant on the island...MacDuffs. Today is super bowl sunday so Im excited. We are setting up a bloody mary bar and serving chili and conch fritters and all kinds of good stuff. Many of the locals are coming down so it should be a good time!
Thats all for now, just wanted to let you all know we are alive and well! We have lots of great pictures as well but I cant upload them on this server!!!! Boo