And no, that title is not because we just farewelled a couple of felines. It's because the Catamaran is king in these waters and yet we don't see any.

But first the felines. Cuz Sara and her mate Julie were a delight to have on board. They can mix cocktails, are tantalizing conversationalists and are just generally great people on have around. My Cuz and I will I'm sure catch up again on this voyage.....somewhere in the Pacific I guess (with Jeff). Julie inspired Oli and Mark to paint......and me....too busy for such frivolous pursuits, read and played with Ooroo. So to all those knockers out there, I can keep busy on a boat....without painting.

The other boats around here are amazing super yachts, fishing boats or sailing monos. Yet we have had an amazing amount of sailing on the shallow banks of sometimes less than two meters of water. Its nice to cut a corners while the big boats head out deeper while burning huge amounts of fuel. One sailers way of bragging about how good his boat was, said he burnt 1000 gallons of fuel between The US and Eleuthera. "Your not a very green boat" said Sara...."we burnt 44 gallons since Northern Florida" said I. Without asking any questions of my eclectic crew he told us of his Ferrari, business dealings, who he knows, that he doesnt take his boat out on windy days, how he sent his wife packing so he could play with the boys and generally what a really really amazing guy he was.

While the monos just wait for high tide....we sail, while the fishing boats wait for first light , we sail and while the big boats talk shit in Marina bars we talk it everywhere. OK so I'm bias. I see all the benefits of all these great boats and sailers....but when you only have under 2 meters of water....it's a Cats domain.

We had a blow that took most by surprise. Oli and I were on shore as distant lightening and onerous clouds grew somewhat closer. We had a northern wind and so a cold front (warm as it appeared) was on us. We headed back as it became clear that is random storm cell would hit us. We had heard about them. Wet with salt water from the dingy ride in choppy seas we soon became wet with fresh water as the surge opened up on us. The rain was stinging our faces. Oli and Mark rain danced on the bow while I stated the engines as a precaution to slipping anchor or to avoid other vessels that may become missiles in the wind. During the worst of it we could see a luxury yacht do an about turn into the surge and head seaward. Fishing vessels tied up on the dock wildly bucked against the short intense onslaught. Our nose was into it and stayed that way. We had the better ride of anyone in the immediate area. The escaping yacht latter confirmed the wind at 65 knots. That's an 12 out of 12 on the Beauford Scale. Basically a mini hurricane that started as quickly as it ended. The anchor was hard to lift the next day.....thankfully, like us it dug in.

And then all we were seeing the girls being whisked off in a water taxi to fly back to colder climes. What to do now but sail? We left the very fabulous and friendly Harbour Island. A place were the main transportation a golf carts. Walking too the beach with the eski a cart would pull over and say jump on. Heading back to the boat with supplies...the same thing happens. After one bar session a cart whisked by....Oli jumped on board and with the parting word "spontaneity" was off to who knows where. But it was expensive is USA terms. Normal in Oz terms. Still when you are use to $4 margaritas and then they triple it's a shock.

So only 6 hrs ago the water taxi left, we motor sailed back via Devils Backbone and for the last 5 hrs have been averaging a nice 6 knots...no fuel is being burnt. The Northern Exhumers a only two hrs away....but with fading light and time on our hands we will anchor behind Findley Cay for a spot of diving and fishing.

Tomorrow we put away our Far Bahamas charts and pull out the Exhumers ones. We have two weeks before Charlotte and Dakota arrive.....I wish it was sooner so we can explore Cat country together.

Easter Sunday ends with us sailing onto an anchor in the middle of nowhere. One low Cay a mile off and then nothing.

Monday 9th and General repairs continue. I remounted the SSB antenna and stated with determination to learn it true power. Only to be frustrated by the fact that it doesn't know that we installed the expensive antennas and even more expensive tuner. The radio only picks up one out of a zillion channels. Mark and I are slowly retracing the wiring to see what the deal is. We have time.

We are doing watches today for an hour on and off so that we can avoid the minefield of coral heads littering the shallows. The sun is side on and the clouds sparse. What is not on the GPS is clearly visible for a few hundred meters. Cruising at a light 3-4 knots makes for no stress sailing.

We anchored for the night (still only about 3pm) at Ship Chanel Cay next to Little Ships Cay.....confusing for a navigator....or dyslexic. There were two other vessels in sight. but they were far enough away that a skinny dip and clean up was in order.

Oli and Mark went spearing while I walked the Cay. Surprised I was..., after exploring an old ruin then rounded the corner of a coral path to find reggae music and 50 odd tourists swimming with sharks. Three Lemon Sharks and the odd sting ray patrolled the water. Jet boats had delivered the tourists from Nassau for the day. Within 30 minutes they were gone leaving me to have a peaceful swim with the sharks.

Oli and Mark picked me up shortly after that sporting only one fish. Lion Fish are beautiful and dangerous with poison dorsal fins. They are also a pest having found there way here from the pacific. So we are encouraged to eat them. So right now we have Lion Fish ceviche marinating in the fridge.

It's April 10 now and we are heading into the heart of the Bahamas. I'm starting to feel like this blog may become boring.....Mark speared a large something that is now a red curry, we land on in a beach at Leaf Cay, to be invaded by iguanas....50 of them thinking we are tourist there to feed them, we sailed onto anchorages with no diesel being used, we steal some Internet from an exclusive island resort.....we send our message to the world....but only because this Cat can get close enough to the beach to access the world. I love my Cat.