After all that bluster a week ago, the last two days the wind has gone to "light and variable" and the surface of the harbor is so free of waves or even ripples that the bottom can be clearly seen. We moved from Kidd Cove over to Monument Beach for the beach BBQ Saturday evening, stayed Sunday to partake of the Pig Roast at the Chat 'n' Chill, snorkeled a blue hole in Hole 3 of Stocking Island, and checked out the Peace 'n' Plenty Beach Club ($10 for one pina colada. It was an OK pina, but honestly...!)

The blue hole was good: Hole 3 is a non-liveaboard mooring field, but despite the no-discharge zone, the water is still rather cloudy. It's "dive center" name is Angel Blue Hole, just as Hole 3's chart name is "Cleaning Hole." There is also an entrance to a vast underwater cave complex that runs beneath Stocking Island and the surrounding seabed there, it's dubbed "Mystery Cave" -- but there are other entrances to the same complex. not really our issue, since we were snorkeling. We could see the blue hole about 25 feet below us, a sinkhole with one wall collapsed, leading down at an angle, with cooler water coming up from it. There were flying formations of spotted eagle rays, three at a time and each about 3' across, large formations of spadefish (dinner-plate sized and looking a bit like striped angelfish, they are said to be quite tasty!), and other large fish, popping in from the ocean for a little rest and relaxation in Hole 3.

It was eerily still on Sunday. Our dinghy hung suspended in liquid blue off the stern:


And the Sunday evening sunset was calm enough to be on some inland lake:


This morning (Monday) is election day in the Bahamas. PLP and FNM and even a few DNA party flags are fluttering from cars all over the street, people are wearing the colored tee shirt of their party (or just a clothing accent of the appropriate color: red for the incumbent "conservative" FNM, yellow for the PLP -- the biggest challengers -- and green for the Democratic National Alliance, the latest third party). Places that sell liquor are closed until after 6 pm (after the polls close), but the Driftwood Cafe (run by an Uruguayan lady) was open. We put the wash in at the Corner Laundry and headed for the cafe for a tasty sandwich before the dryer was done. Their cafe is cool and comfortable and plays classical music, and they have many delicious things to eat. I had organic roast beef grilled panini with mushrooms and cheese, Derek had a salame sub -- both very good! We brought spanakopita (spinach pies with fillo crust) back to the boat for Grant. We also brought groceries, many gallons of water (in our collapsible water jugs: Exuma Markets provides R/O water at the dinghy dock as a courtesy for cruisers), 10 gallons of diesel and 5 gallons of gasoline for the dinghy motor.

The reason for the stocking up on fuel and water is that we are heading over to Long Island (no, the one in the Bahamas) tomorrow for a couple of days. We will start in the north, at Calabash Sound, and then the next day head south towards the Stella Maris Marina.