Our apologies for not posting pictures- we'll get some up soon. There is very limited cell service, or none at all, along the Exumas which has made it more difficult getting weather data down and pictures up. Small text files like these blog posts don't give the cell system too much indigestion. What little cell service exists is facing additional challenges here at Little Farmer's Cay because the system is being stressed by lots of cruising boats that have come in for the 5F- Farmers First Friday in February Festival. More about the 5F later. First, let me pick up the story of our adventure back at Shroud Cay. If you don't feel like reading this entire, longish blog post- I encourage you to skip to the part about snorkelling at Thunderball Grotto as it is definitely stands out.

(Oh, and our apologies to anyone back in Vermont reading this with -40F wind chills outside their doors. We hope you can stay warm and cozy indoors.)

The past several days have ranged from just plain pleasant to amazing. Our experience in the Bahamas continues to be memorable for all good reasons. Our days feel both filled with activity and lazy at the same time.

Sunday, January 29th started out with a vibrant, end-to-end double rainbow- but no rain. We sat in the cockpit of Pathfinder eating breakfast and going, "ooh, wow, aah" as the rainbow got brighter and brigher and more colors came out. The violets on each rainbow were incredibly crisp. Color would be the day's theme.

After breakfast, we sailed for several hours to Waderick Well Cay which is the center of the Exuma Land and Sea Park. We picked up a park mooring in the Emerald mooring field. We saw several small coral reefs on our final approach to the mooring field and decided we'd go snorkel on one after we had the boat settled. When I say small, I mean small. The reefs were each about the size of Pathfinder or slightly larger. But, wow, do they pack a punch. It was the best snorkeling we have ever done! I could hear Susan yelling "ooh" and "wow" through her snorkel when we would pass by each other. The highlight for me was an absolutely vibrant Queen Triggerfish because of its incredible blue color; accent lines; odd-shaped structure; and size. However, it was hard to pick a highlight as there were so many different species of fish and coral; fish behaviors; and colors. We did not see any coral bleaching or other signs of poor health which surprised us.

Next, we went for a hike that lasted until sunset. We landed our dinghy at a small sand beach and worked along the shoreline to a trail to the top of one of the hills. "Hills" is being generous. I think the high point of the island is 63 feet. We climbed three hills, each of them twice as we worked our way from the center of the west side to the north end of the east side. The ocean and shoreline views were wonderful. Along the way, we passed over the top of Boo Boo Hill which is a tacky cruiser's destination because many boats leave a token of their presence on top of the hill which is now a pile of painted driftwood and other artifacts. We also learned to identify poisonwood which is, and will be, good knowledge to have.

On Monday, January 30th we had a 4 hour upwind sail from Waderick Wells Cay to Staniel Cay (well, almost). We started the morning by going to the park headquarters and paying for our use of the park moorings over the past several days and letting them know about a damaged (broken into) collection box at Shroud Cay and a sport fishing boat that appeared to be illegally fishing inside the park boundaries. We also purchased two books to help us better understand what we were seeing above and below the water's surface. We then had another wonderful sail south towards Staniel Cay. As we approached Staniel Cay, we saw that there was no space to anchor. So we ended up anchored to the west of Big Majors Spot- 1nm shy of where we had hoped to be.

We packed a lot of activity into Tuesday the 31st. We started the day with an early morning snorkel at Thunderball Grotto (look it up on the web for pictures). It is an understatement to say it was amazing. The grotto is a cavern (not really a cave) under an island. It has small holes in the top that allows shafts of light to enter. There are several entrances to the grotto that are submerged at high tide so we timed our arrival just as the entrances were starting to have air in them. Thunderball Groto is a popular tour boat destination and one tour boat arrived just after we did. Thankfully, we were ahead of most of the tour boats.

Snorkelling at Thunderball Groto is like snorkelling at a coral reef on steriods. There are so many different visual sensations packed on top of each other along with the experience of swimming inside of something instead of out in the open. Above the surface of the water is the grotto's ceiling and rays of light coming through the holes. Next, there was a little side chamber with a very low ceiling. Below the surface were all the colorful fish and pieces of coral that appeared to be fluorescing. The sense that the coral was fluorescing was, I think, created by the light entering the grotto from underwater- mostly from the east where there was a larger entrance that was not obstructed by rock outside. Diving down and looking at the surreal light coming in underwater and the things it lit up was... pick a superlative, or 2 or 3!

We departed the grotto as more tour boats were arriving and headed over to Staniel Cay for an exploratory walk through town. We landed the dinghy in the tiny dinghy harbor at the "yacht club" and walked through town to the general store where we treated ourselves to icecream. Susan's loves the brightly painted small houses. Along the way we had a pleasant conversation with a man who was just starting to fabricate a new mast for "Tidal Wave" the communities famous A-Class Bahamian racing sloop. There were lots of gentle nurse sharks that come into be fed at the yacht club when we returned to our dinghy. We expect to return to Staniel Cay in about a week to get propane and a SIM card for Susan's phone.

After returning to Pathfinder, we sailed off anchor and enjoyed a short, upwind sail to Blackpoint on Great Guana Cay. We sailed into the harbor and motored the last few minutes and anchored just offshore from Lorraine's Cafe.

We were lucky in regards to timing our arrival at Blackpoint for two reasons. First, we overlapped with our friend Kathleen from DIYC who is taking a break from Vermont's cold winter and staying in a small cottage at Blackpoint. Second, Lorraine's held a party to celebrate the grand opening of their new waterfront restaurant called "High Tide." There was a whole community celebration at High Tide at which Kathleen introduced us to several people including the owner/builders of the "Sand Castle" which is a quasi-famous vacation home due to its unique history and structure. We had a light dinner with Kathleen and our new acquaintances before heading back to Pathfinder. We listened to loud celebratory music until midnight. January 2023 went out with a bang- take that New Years 2023!

We are starting to understand the pace and style of Bahamian life and Wednesday February 1st deepened that understanding even more. The plan was to stay around Blackpoint for the buffet lunch at Lorraine's that starts at 10:45am and then get some Bahamian bread before departing for Little Farmers and the 5F. The buffet finally started at 1:45pm (it was delicious!) and there was no Bahamian bread to be found. We again sailed off anchor and headed to Little Farmers Cay. We sailed into the anchorage at Kemps Bay and set anchor just before sunset.

We stayed on anchor during Thursday and Friday to enjoy several natural features and the 5F festival. We took a short hike to a cave at the south end of Great Guana Cay near Little Farmers Cay. The mouth of the cave was wide (50' plus) and high. And we could just walk down into the cave. I had anticipated (hoped for) that the air temperature would cool down as we entered the cave and we'd have a break from the heat. There was no change in temperature and instead the humidity spiked to 100%. The only way to go deep into the cave is by diving, which we were not equiped to do.

We snorkelled on another small reef on our way back to Pathfinder. This reef was smaller than the one at Waderwick Wells, but was also in good shape with a large population of fish, including another queen triggerfish. There were some new species too.

Late in the afternoon we went to the Little Farmers Yacht Club buffet dinner. The yacht club's facilities make our tent look like the Taj Mahal except that they have a bar and pool table. The hospitality was great despite the modest facilities. We talked with many other boaters- some we had met elsewhere and new people too. We finished the day with a sunset walk around Little Farmers Cay before taking a long dinghy ride back to Pathfinder.

Friday's events were why we came- traditional Bahamian sloop racing. Race start times were consistent with island time. Once underway, the races was fun to watch. We got to see a mid-course mark rounding and finish (same location) for the first race and the start line for the second race. There are three details worth noting. First, the boats have an amazing amount of sail area. The boom is half again as long as the boat or longer. Second, because of all that sail area, the boats use hiking boards and two or three crew members will climb way out from the sides of the boats to level them out and speed them up. Third, race starts are done from anchor with sails down. Each boat has approximately 100 feet of anchor line out. Starting strategies differ, but the quickest boats off the line had extra anchor rode out and started pulling forward towards the start line before the start horn was sounded. Multiple crew members were pulling in earnest once the horn sounded and the sails went up quickly. If a boat didn't have sufficient headway when the sails went up they would end up in irons and could only recover by lowering the sail.

It is now Saturday February 4th and we just sailed back to Blackpoint. Last night a strong cold front entered the northern Bahamas. The winds went from southerly at 15-20 knots to Northwest at 35 knots just after dark at the West End of Grand Bahama. The front is not expected to reach this far but some strong squalls and east winds are a possibility. So we came back a little early which is OK because so many cruisers were down at Little Farmers that they were running out of food and drink. And, as mentioned earlier, we were planning on doubling back a little bit anyways.