From Bahamas

We've been having a nice time in the Exumas and have gotten into more of a cruising mode now. Moving from anchorage to anchorage, snorkeling & spearfishing the reefs, walking on beaches looking for shells, or pigs as the case may be here at Staniel, thinking of different ways to cook lobster since we haven't gotten any fish yet, doing the usual fix-it projects for the endless breaking equipment and hanging out with other sailboats doing the same thing. The weather has been really beautiful and the water so many shades of crazy blue. I try to take pictures but what good does it do when I have no internet to post them? Hopefully soon.
From Bahamas

Jon was wondering if he'd be rusty at spearfishing but as soon as we got out on the reef at Allan's Cay he was bringing lobster back to the dinghy. We saw a few good fish but decided we didn't want to be gluttons and figured we'd just go fishing the following day. Well, the following day there were no spearable fish to be seen! We learned our lesson- get 'em while you can. But he got 5 lobsters that day including 2 really big ones so we've had plenty. We've gotten a couple here as well. I learned how to make delicious lobster salad from a friend Rosie on our last cruise and the secret ingredient to me is fresh ginger.
We met a great couple on a boat similar to ours- Jen & Maxwell and they taught us how to clean lionfish and panfried them for an appetizer the other night. They were delicious- a nice texture, white meat. We haven't gone back out to spear any yet but we do plan to, especially if we don't come across any grouper or snapper. I really don't like seeing lionfish here, they are known to be bullies on the reef, crowding out the native fish and I think they are way too showy for the Atlantic- seriously, they don't fit in with the rest of the fish. I think it's great that they are good to eat, it's just the cleaning of them without getting stung by their spines that makes me nervous but at least we know how to do it now.

For as much as the Exumas are as naturally beautiful and relatively unchanged since we sailed these waters 14 years ago, we're pleasantly surprised to find walking trails on several of the Cays we've visited. They've all been uninhabited except where we are now at Staniel, but there are nearby islands with mini-resorts on them and people do visit these little neighboring islands in skiffs so someone made little trails. We walked on one to some Loyalist ruins, others to windward side beaches and one here at Staniel that follows a ridge with gorgeous views both east & west. I went back to this trail again today to run it. From Bahamas


Traveling from cay to cay here reminds us of sailing behind the barrier reef in Belize- all the wind but small waves- totally unrealistic sailing but fun! We arrived at Staniel Cay area a couple of days ago but the main anchorage where there are some 40 boats is right around the corner in the lee of Big Majors. It's a gorgeous anchorage and the number of boats here is a testament to that. For me, the ferel pigs that live on Big Majors are the highlight. At some point years ago, someone left a couple of pigs here I guess. Well now, there are at least 4 full size pigs and many piglets and they live on the beach. As soon as you approach in your dinghy, they come swimming out, all excited that you've probably brought your produce scraps. Then you go ashore and pat them like a dog; they love to be rubbed, they hold their mouths open for whatever you've got to share. Today I fed one of them a cut up apple and she was so happy with that apple I could see her smiling. They really make ME smile. Yesterday we rubbed one, he closed his eyes, we rubbed some more and he just fell over on his side in the sand like he was dead, enjoying it and then stayed there looking like he was asleep for a few minutes afterward. They've got a great place to live and there is a STEADY stream of boats coming over to marvel at the swimming pigs!

We finally met up with Frank & Debbie again here and we hope to go diving together tomorrow. Today Jon & I dove the Thunderball caves where they filmed Splash & a James Bond movie. We've done these caves before and they're really fun to swim through but today we timed the current wrong and it was roaring through them so briskly we didn't stay very long. Too bad since I wanted to get some pictures. We went ashore after that so I could take a run and Jon scoped out the produce situation. We ended up with a head of iceberg, a head of cauliflower and 4 oranges for $10.50- well, we are not in the US anymore!

We also tried trolling in the dinghy this afternoon, just offshore. Nothing. Bummer! We'd just watched a Bahamian cleaning this nice sized tuna on the dock of the yacht club with at least 50 nurse sharks circling nearby waiting for the entrails. I've actually never seen that many nurse sharks piled up before- very interesting. Our mouths are watering for tuna but so far we've never gotten one. I keep thinking it has to be our turn and what with all this swanky new fishing gear we've got, you'd think it would be a shoe-in!

Tomorrow we're headed over to Black Point to explore the town, dive and do laundry. Supposedly they have a laundromat that's as good as the States! We also need to get some internet. We spent 2 hours this morning trying to troubleshoot the new wind generator. It keeps braking itself & going into self-regulation mode when there is no reason to. It makes this clunking sound when it does it, seems to be getting worse & we can't see anything wrong with the wiring or fuse. Of course it's new, we primed & painted it in Maine, we just splurged on the super quiet blades shipped from Portugal so we've got plenty of money into this thing, got a few good weeks out of it and now... well, we're not in the US anymore so can't just ship it out for repair and we sure do want it to work for this cruise but.... this is way too familiar. This is exactly why this past summer's roadtrip was so easy. Stuff just worked and when it didn't, you stopped at a store and got what you needed to fix it, no hassles. Anyway, maybe we can find some help on the internet.

Well that is the news with us. If anyone reading this knows a lot about wind generators and wants to email us, go right ahead! The address is tashiba40_evergreen@hotmail.com. We have an Air X.