Goodbye Exumas!
02 March 2018 | Eleuthera, Bahamas
Ann
We met my sister, Jane, & brother-in-law, Ben, at Staniel Cay where a co-founder of YouTube had just proposed to his girlfriend. It was a loud, partying mood of dripping wealthy, “ beautiful” young people- not a good first impression of our sailing lifestyle, but fun none the less!
The weather gods were super good to us for the four day visit and provided calm seas and mild winds. We sailed to the Exumas Land and Sea Park, visiting Warderick Wells and Cambridge Cay. Snorkeling was awesome- sharks, Eagle rays, turtles, many colorful reef fish, and a 6+ ft barracuda that made us all jump into the dinghy so fast we looked like baby seals popping out onto the rocks on the coast of Maine. This was immediately followed by an Eagle Ray jumping completely out of the water so we saw its entire underbody right in front of us....... super exciting. An almost-full-moon night provided great visibility for feeding fish off the boat on our mooring- who knew bull sharks like corned beef (ie- cat food)?
We met up with our dear buddy-boat family- the Swain’s- and the reunion was wonderful.
It is with mixed emotions that we left the Exumas, sailing across Exuma sound (depths to 8000+feet) under main and spinnaker flying, and landed at Eleuthera Resort & Marina. We’ll be here for at least 4 days as the nor’easter hitting the east coast is providing gusty northerly 30-40kt winds.
We will work our way up to the Abacos by mid-March as Sarah & Blair will be coming for a visit. We’re anxious to show them the beauty that surrounds us everyday.
In the meantime, we’ll rent a car and explore Eleuthera, a nice reentry to civilization we have not had in 3 1/2 months. This is a quiet, low-key island, but that distinction is relative to what we have been experiencing in the Exumas, which is lots of remoteness with just a sprinkling of creature comforts. The bull & nurse sharks are still cruising under our boat in the marina- so no difference there!
(I will post the turtle and dolphin videos to FB since blog followers are also my FB friends- and we have found the elusive WIFI!!!
The picture is our view as we sit poolside- feeling like tourists.
Take heart to our northern friends and family- it’s already March and spring is around the corner!