03/30/2009, Staniel Cay, Exuma Cays, Bahamas
On Sunday, we were able to attend the little Baptist Church on Staniel Cay (think it's called the Mt. Olive Baptist Church). Berkie Rolle is the pastor (also the man who fueled up our golf cart for us at the marina). Berkie (with one prosthetic arm) is also the church organist. The church is very welcoming and feels somewhat like taking a step back in time. We enjoyed visiting.
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03/28/2009, Big Major Spot, Exuma Cays, Bahamas
After filling our gasoline jugs (powers dingy and generator) we headed off for our baths, on a secluded section of beach. Fresh water is in short supply, so when we can, we bath in seawater..preferably in shallow water..and preferably without ton of people around.
The kids and I got inspired and went and got some chicken out of the freezer and began to thaw; while building bonfires on the beach. We barbequed the chicken while enjoying building fires into the night and roasting s'mores and marshmallows. We came home dirty and smelling like wood-smoke. I think it was a highlight for the kids..they want to do it again.'
Tomorrow, if weather is still okay, we are planning to sail south towards Little Farmers Cay..hopeful we'll get our propane tank filled there..they're still out here and we're coming up on a week of eating cold food.
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03/26/2009, Big Major Spot, Exuma Cays, Bahamas
The water here is SO clear! I can stand on the deck and watch (clearly) my anchor hit the bottom and begin to dig into the sand 12'-15' beneath the surface. I rather dislike swimming in water I can't see through. Here, we can snorkel and the sunlight is reflecting brightly off the white-sand bottom..we can see a long way in every direction under the boat..we can dive down, swim under our keel.seeing everything clearly..yahoo.
We've begun taking baths in the ocean either off the beach, or off the back of the boat at anchor. Joy dishwashing liquid lathers in salt-water..so we dive over with a bottle of Joy and wash-up..sometimes rinsing with a little fresh water back aboard. This saves fresh water..hard to find and expensive in most places. We have a water-maker..a reverse osmosis system...making fresh water from salt, but it's output is small and take precious power.
At Big Major Spot, bathing off the back of the boat, we got to see good-sized stingrays swimming under us and even about a six-foot nurse shark. They are very cool to see that close-up.
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03/25/2009, Staniel Cay, Exuma Cays, Bahamas
Staniel Cay has few cars, mostly the roads are frequented by golf carts. The island is small, so a car almost seems ridiculous on this little place (though we found smaller islands with lots more cars). We rented a golf cart for a half a day. We ran up and down every paved road, gravel road, track, trail and goat path on the island more than once..I'm still amazed how well a loaded golf cart will hill-climb.
This turned out to be the highlight of the trip so-far for Sue.
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03/24/2009, Big Major Spot, Exuma Cays, Bahamas
This was really the first place we found other families on boats. Four or five sailing families arranged to meet one afternoon at a beach on Big Major Spot. The kids spent the afternoon wakeboarding, being towed in tubes, playing in the water and on the beach. It was fun...our kids really enjoyed having other kids to hang-out with.
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03/24/2009, Staniel Cay, Exuma Cays, Bahamas
Staniel Cay is one of the spots featured in the James Bond movie "Thunderball". There is a large rock, with an underwater cave extending all the way through it from one side to the other. During low tide, there is a good sized gap over the water at the entrances so it's easy to snorkel in one side and out the other. There is an opening in the roof, to allow sunlight in & the cave is filled with colourful tropical fish. We saw many colourful fish; Sergeant Majors, Parrot Fish, Nassau Grouper and many others I couldn't identify. A very cool place to snorkel with the kids. We tied our dingy to a mooring ball on the west side and snorkelled back and forth through the cave, diving to the bottom and exploring some of the little side passages. Looking forward to going back again another time.
Ice cream! One thing about voyaging on a sailing boat; ice cream is a rather scarce commodity. Freezer space is extremely limited so ice cream is virtually non-existent..also hard to find in the out-islands. We were able to buy a tiny little bit of ice cream on Staniel Cay..and even, a little later, able to find a place that sells ice cream cones..what a treat!
Of all the things we did find on Staniel Cay, the one thing we did NOT find was propane. They do sell propane here, but we were informed that the tank hadn't come from Nassau by mailboat. Apparently they'd sold-out the previous Friday & were waiting for re-supply. It seems that running out of common commodities is common to life in the out-islands.
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