It's relatively early in the morning, or at least it's early for me to start working on the blog since nothing has happened yet, so I thought that I'd take the time to set down some thoughts about our first trip impressions of the Bahamas for those of you who might be thinking of a similar trip in the future.

First and foremost the beauty of the palm lined beaches, the reefs and the coral seas are everything that you could imagine them to be and more. We don't have the Caribbean Islands further south as a point of comparison but for now and for us that isn't necessary. Although the locals are complaining about how cold everything is, the weather for us is great - T shirts and shorts every day unless the wind is howling in which case we will put on a wind breaker jacket. Best of all, there is nothing to shovel - hurrah!

Second, I'm sure that everyone has heard about how expensive everything is in the Bahamas and for some things that's true, but you have to put it in perspective. In comparison to the $2.70/gal fuel prices that you get in the US the $5/gal here does seem high, but the fuel is all shipped in to a captive audience and for we Canadians, it is about what we pay at home. If you absolutely must have your American junk snack foods or breakfast cereals then you are going to get some sticker shock. A box of Rice Crispies, for example, can cost upwards of $8! On the other hand if you change your eating and buying habits slightly and buy stuff that is shipped in from Europe or one of the Commonwealth countries you are going to get a very pleasant surprise - Irish butter, British cookies, New Zealand lamb are all at a fraction of what we would pay for it at home.

The really huge thing here is that there are no taxes added, absolutely none. The Bahamian government has taken the attitude that their services will be paid for by imports which is why there is duty on many things that are brought in. It is also why they have a very convoluted tax system that is imposed on anyone who is non-Bahamian buying property here, but the lack of taxes at the cashier makes a big difference when you come to open your wallet.

Fourth, get uses to shallow water. You are either over the abyss with no bottom below your keel or you are in one of the seas and you have to plan your trip very carefully to be moving at high tide if you draw more than 5'. Certainly there are deeper water routes but even those are barely more than 6 or 7 feet and every once in a while you come to a shallow bit where you will need at least a half tide to get through. Our trip from Man-o-War to Hope Town or Little Harbour is a great example. The short route is also the shallow route and even Troubadour with its 4.5' draft needed to be careful and go through some parts only if Barry was "Feeling lucky!" as he put it and you have to time your arrival to many of the harbours as the entrances are defiantly high tide only - Hope Town, Little Harbour, Green Turtle as examples.

Finally, not all Bahamians are black, in fact, according to the guide books 15% are the white descendants of Loyalists that settled here after the American Revolution and the Abacos is where most of them live. They still had a very strong sense of loyalty even after nearly 300 years from the revolution for when the Bahamas sought their independence we have been told that the Abascos wanted to remain under direct British rule. The other thing is that not all the folks you meet will speak much English. There is a very large immigrant working population of Haitians whose mother tongue is a form of French called Creole. They did understand my Quebec version of French but I had trouble with following them when they were speaking to each other. Regardless of race we have found that all Bahamians, with the possible exception of the one fellow I ran into yesterday, are friendly, polite and very pleasant folk to get along with. Some parts of the country are fairly prosperous and thriving and others are quite poor bordering on third world level. The lesser areas are those in which the hopes of the local people have been raised and dashed numerous times by foreign investors with big ideas that didn't pan out. As Barry says, "The history of the Bahamas is a history of failed dreams."

Anyway, before I get on with the rest of the day's blog, let me sum up by saying that it is a wonderful place to visit and cruise and we will definitely be making many more visits here ourselves.

We tried again to get in the water for a snorkel and sand dollar hunt at low tide but there must be a conspiracy for there was just too much residual swell to snorkel without always getting water down the tube. That plus the small breakers along the shore in the shallow water where we would be looking for the sand dollars was stirring up the sand and reducing visibility to zero. So we decided to scrub the attempt and let the sea lie down a little more over night and try again tomorrow at half tide at around 10h30.

I am still trying to figure out where I can mount the fresh water jacket overflow tank on the engine. It came with a simple vent to the bilge and I am getting tired of constantly putting coolant in the heat exchanger. My problem is that things are a tight fit and I need to leave space so that I can still get at the oil extraction pump for when I change the oil. I think that I have an idea and that I will set it up so that it can be removed and set out of the way during oil changes. We'll see what works.

Barry and Marcia's visitor did arrive yesterday. That must be a relief for them and they are planning a big par-tay at Tradewinds for Sunday night. Jim and Patty Jean are over in Marsh Harbour for his brother to arrive late this afternoon. He plans to scoot back over tomorrow morning to get back on his mooring for the big blow that will be coming through tomorrow afternoon and night. The weather gods are calling for gale force winds which could be anything from 27 - 42 kts. We have all the lines doubled and, in some cases, tripled on Nelleke in readiness. Needless to say we will not be leaving here until it is all over, but it will be interesting to see what conditions are like in the harbour on Sunday to go over to Tradewinds for the party.