On March 17th we arrived at Lee Stocking Island and anchored in front of an abandoned research center that was at one time supported by several universities. At first glance we thought the island was occupied, however, when we hiked the island we found the research center to be completely abandoned. If you ever saw the series “Lost” on TV, then you have a picture of what this research center looked like. When walking through the compound, the movie “Jurassic Park” also came to mind. It was sort of eerie. During our stay we hiked to what is known as the highest point in the Exumas. The view was breath taking. Later in the day we snorkeled on beautiful coral heads off of the west side of another island called Normans Pond.

The next day we sailed to Black Point to stage for our sail Rock Sound on Eleuthera Island. During our stay at Rock Sound we rented a car and visited many of the small towns that make up this 90 mile long island. One of the beautiful sites we saw was "The Glass Window" (See photo gallery for pictures). While anchored in one of the bays, called Hatchett Bay, we hitchhiked to a really big dark cave that is a mile and a half long. We did not go into every little tunnel, but we did explore most of it. It actually had three levels. We went down two ladders to the deepest level, but most of the exploring was on the second level. Luckily we did not run into any bats.

On March 26th we sailed further north and anchored in the bay at Royal Island where we spent the night. The next morning we sailed 55 miles to Little Harbor and anchored off Lynyard Cay, our first stop in the Abacos Islands. During the day Ron was experiencing some pain in his abdomen, which got progressively worse during the next couple of days. So on Monday morning, we made contact with a person named Gordie from Cigatoo. Gordie is a cruiser who makes daily weather reports on the cruisers net. I asked him if he knew how we could get medical help. He immediately said he would help us. Another cruising friend, Paul on S/V 2 Outrageous came over to our boat by dinghy and helped us move the sailboat to another anchorage which was just outside of Little Harbor. When we got there, Gordie was waiting for us. He then drove us 40 minutes to a physician’s office. To our surprise, another cruising friend Bob from S/V Quest was at the clinic waiting for us as well. This is just one example of how the cruising community watches out for one another. So, after some ingestion of pain killers and antibiotics Ron is on the road to recovery.

We are leaving today to our next destination, Tilloo Cay.