We stayed at Normans Cay for 1 more day and then on Friday we started making our way down the Exuma islands. We had two great days sailing with the spinnaker up - really great runs - making it to Big Majors Spot (with the swimming pigs) the first day and then on to our favourite anchorage in 'Ray Bay' at Lee Stocking Island. Although it was a really great sail to Lee Stocking, the weather was really rainy and miserable! No complaints though - we're in the Bahamas!! We arrived in Georgetown on Sunday Nov. 25th - trolling all the way but unfortunately no fish were to be found! Not even a barracuda. The next 3 days were spent getting ourselves organized ready to carry on to the Jumento Cays. We did washing, bought fresh vegetables, got gas for the engines and also made arrangements with the St. Francis Resort to leave Windrush there on a mooring while we go home for Christmas. Bob at Cavelli House (where we left Windrush last year) wasn't available, so in order to have definite arrangements made we decided on St. Francis who charged the same price.
Finally on the afternoon of Tuesday the 27th we set off from Georgetown to head for the Jumentos. The plan was to get through the Hog Cay cut and anchor on a nice spot on the other side and then get an early start the next morning. The wind and weather was so good though and it was a lovely full moon, so we decided just to keep on sailing through the night. It really was a beautiful night for sailing. The moon was so bright and the Christmas lights in the cockpit kept us company too. When they suddenly turned themselves off at 11pm I wasn't quite sure what had happened. We did 2 hour shifts through the night, taking it in turns to go below into the salon to sleep. I found myself singing songs from Oliver Twist, Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music to myself to try and stay awake! I had them in my head for days afterwards!! We arrived at Double Breasted Cay at about 06:30 the following morning and tried to sneak up on John and Barbara of Sam the Skull who were anchored there, but John was already awake and spotted us. They came over and joined us for morning coffee (bringing a jug of coffee with them) and caught up on news since were last in touch off the coast of Bimini. Incredibly, despite us sailing all night Bruce and John were so eager to go fishing that they got themselves ready after coffee and off they went returning a couple of hours or so later, supper in hand. We then upped the anchors and headed for Hog Cay to settle into a more comfortable anchorage as the winds had changed. It was lovely to be back in the Jumentos. Not many boats there at this time, only two others that we were aware of. Every couple of days we changed anchorages - Hog Cay to Raccoon to Buenavista. Bruce and John went fishing most days and we soon had a good supply of fish, crawfish and conch. Obviously not going to starve! Barbara and I went walking on the beaches and did a bit if swimming. The mosquitoes this year are absolutely terrible!! It must be from the very rainy weather the Bahamas has had. We would start off into the bush and get chased back into the water from all the nasty little biting bugs!! One day we walked for miles on Buenavista Cay. No mosquitoes for a change, the weather was beautiful and sunny and we had a lovely walk. We could hear goats bleating all over the place and even saw a wild chicken or two! We were on Buenavista Cay visiting with a man called Edwin who was the only resident on the island. An interesting man (in his 70's but looking younger) with a very checkered past whose father and grandfather before him had been granted a lease to live on the island. Now Edwin is trying to develop some of the land on the island in the hopes of also being granted a lease. Apart from having chickens, pheasants and goats etc.,he was planting coconut palms, growing sweet potatoes, breadfruit and many other items. What a lot of hard labour! He was also very excited because he believed he had discovered the hiding place of pirate treasure! Apparently in days gone by when pirates buried their treasure they marked the spot with a broken bottle on top of the treasure and then covered it all with earth and then a pile of stones. Well Edwin had come across a pile of stones while developing the land, dug down and found the broken bottle and also a rusty cutlass! He had quite a hole dug there and was very excited to show us his findings so far. When we return after Christmas it will be interesting to find out if he has discovered anything else!
A couple of days before we left the Jumentos to start making our way back to Georgetown I actually went spearfishing with Bruce, and although initially I was a bit nervous swimming from the dinghy to the coral head, after that I really wasn't scared much at all. In fact I really enjoyed myself. I did try to spear a hogfish but my spear just bounced off it so I showed Bruce where it was and he got it instead! We fished on 3 heads, but no luck after the hogfish. It was great though and I am looking forward to more spearfishing after the holidays.
We left the Jumentos on November 9th accompanied by Sam the Skull and arrived back in Georgetown the same day anchoring off monument beach. We spent the next couple of days doing boat chores in preparation for leaving her for the holidays. Barbara and I also found time though to go swimming and have a girls day in Georgetown to do some Christmas shopping and go for lunch. On the 11th we moved the boat to our allotted mooring at St. Francis. What should have been a routine job actually was a bit more exciting than planned. We pulled up to the mooring and Bruce grabbed the buoy and attached the mooring line......the boat just kept on drifting towards the rocks! The mooring had come free of the seafloor! Thank goodness we didn't just tie it up and then leave the boat! We soon moved over to a mooring at Cavelli House and Bruce sorted it out with Bob who was now back from the States and very happy to have our business! John and Barbara took Basil, Tom and Cherry to look after them while we are home for Christmas, which is very kind of them. Well, tomorrow we leave for Nova Scotia and our family!!