So what are we doing for fun?

At Little Bay, Bruce taught us to clean the conch that Rich plucked from the sea so the next time we find 'em, we can clean 'em. We got caught in a furious downpour and by the time we all got back to our boats (from the conch cleaning lesson ashore) we were soaked and thoroughly desalinated! Marilyn makes wonderful conch fritters, and we gathered on Reflection one night to eat some - along with Madcap's Peas'n'Rice and New Horizon's decadent brownies.

When we got to Big Major's Spot on Monday, we spotted Moon River with a big Nova Scotia flag flying from the mizzen mast in our honour, and Gratton blew his conch horn. These two know how to mark arrivals and departures. When we left Iroquois Marine in Ontario in June, 2007, it was to the accompaniment of Gratton's harmonica. We had a wonderful catch-up conversation later in the evening and though we regret that in all the commotion of the "Troubles", we didn't see them again before they left, we'll meet them in the Abacos.

We hitchhiked from Big Major's Spot over to Staniel Cay aboard Katmandu! We were enjoying a visit with Stephen and Nathalie and the kids before heading around the corner to the yacht club when they suggested that we make the trip on the catamaran. Chris (Star of the Sea) was travelling over with them too, so we tied our dinghy to the stern, (both ours and Katmandu's looking like garbage scows) sipped coffee and stayed dry as Nathalie skillfully handled the helm. How civilized!

Jim and I enjoyed our last Yacht Club lunch of the season - a whopping big club sandwich and fries (split between us!) We picked up a few supplies from the store and took our last look at the nurse sharks snoozing beneath the docks.

We left Big Major's Spot on Saturday and went to Bell Island where we anchored on the west side of the island. It is privately owned and a fellow came out immediately from the luxurious looking shoreside facilities to tell us that we were not allowed ashore. When we saw him approach Katmandu, we figured he was telling them we weren't allowed to anchor there and Jim was marshaling all his arguments about why we were not going to go elsewhere. He was a chatty guy and had many questions about where we were from and where we were going. Was he checking us out? Or was he just making conversation? We don't know who owns the island (should have asked - does anyone else know?), but it is pretty spiffy! Nathalie and Stephen (Katmandu) came over to Madcap for a Spaghetti dinner - not exactly spiffy, but enjoyable anyway. We wouldn't bother stopping here again - much better to go on into the Cambridge anchorage.

Weather reports have been so confusing lately that we didn't know whether to move in there on Sunday morning, or keep on going northward. In the end, we opted to go on to Shroud Cay, and it was a sound decision.

We managed to sail part of the way, using the dratted "Iron Genny" for the rest of it. A few boats were anchored at Shroud and several came in after we did and took moorings. We dinghied ashore to put our $15 in the drop box and then cruised up and down the shoreline a bit, stopping to say hello to fellow Canadians, Rick and Doreen (Breathless).

After we cleaned ourselves up, we joined Rick and Doreen (Breathless) and Nathalie and Stephen (Katmandu) on Star of the Sea where Chris and Peaches were hosting a fine happy hour. I guess we need to clean up more often because we got some ribbing from Stephen about our appearance! It's amazing what a difference shaving, combing our hair and trading raggedy T- shirts for dressier ones can make!