New Adventures

I found the one negative about living aboard 'Interim' in Hopetown. There are two restaurants that are at the edge of town facing the harbor and tonight there is Bahamian music blasting towards us from one of them. I think they stop at midnight but for all of the boaters 9 PM is usually past our bedtimes.I just found out that last night was Mardi Gras so I hope this was a one time event.

We have just returned from a 7 day cruise to several different Cays where we were in blissful environments.

The first one we traveled to was Great Guana Cay. We anchored in Settlement Harbor, Fisher's Bay and Baker's Bay - all peaceful, calm and lovely. We walked up to Nipper's - spectacular view of the ocean - a colorful spot where you can eat, walk the beach, snorkel and even swim in their pool all for the price of a drink (I accidentally erased these photos but I'm sure we will go there again). At our first anchorage we were visited by a nurse shark! On our second day there we anchored in Fisher's Bay with many other boats since that night was a pot luck dinner at Grabbers. There were about 150 of us and the variety of food was wonderful and tasty. The evening of glorious and to top it off a large group of Canadians brought instruments and we had a song fest. We were also visited by spotted eagle ray and dolphins. We then went to Bakers' Bay where we took the dinghy to Shell Beach. What an incredible place. It seems that shells and beach glass are very particular about where they land up. Some beaches on the ocean have glorious sea glass and shells at particular spots and the rest of the beach never sees any glass or shells. So when we went to shell beach it was fabulous and Bill, Simon and I went to town. I will go back for more since like sea glass it is addictive.

We spent a night in Hopetown to catch a performance of Shere Kahn, a group of acapella singers from Princeton University in Princeton, N.J. They were delightful and were brought here to perform for about 1 hour as part of a fundraiser for the local elementary school. The group is self sponsored, no faculty advisor, and is one of 15 groups on the campus. The quality, poise, and talent was exceptional.

After Guana Cay we went to Tilloo Bank. Anchored just off the bank and went searching for Conch and Sand Dollars. We were lucky and got a few sand dollars but Conch has been very illusive. We have met so many people who have found live Conch and gorgeous shells - alas we haven't been lucky at all. We look with our lookit bucket but no luck so far. I did spot one and it even moved but it was too small and illegal to catch.

We then traveled to Lynyard Cay and Little Harbor. Here we experienced the Bahamas that I imagined. Lynyard Cay is a strip of land with calm waters on one side and the ocean on the other. No stores, a few homes, quiet and at night all the stars you ever wanted to see. Of course we went to the best beach for sea glass and at times I thought Bill was going to be swept out to sea with the crashing waves. In Little Harbor (yes it was very, very little with not much room for boats) we went to Pete's Pub and Gallery. Pete's parents, while living in a cave, founded an art colony here and was an internationally known artist renowned for his lost wax casting in bronze. His son, Pete has followed in his footsteps but also runs an open air bar/grill on the beach. The place was amazing and at times Pete will be working in the shop so visitors can see the process.

While anchored at Lanyard Cay we, along with another boat, went snorkeling in Sandy Cay - a national sea park. The water was quite rough but we moored out dinghy's and jumped in ( it did take me a little time to make the leap). We saw all kinds of fish, schools of the most beautifully colored fish, corals and fans. Fortunately we didn't see sharks, barracudas, and rays but they do spend time at the reef and we may get lucky the next time we go there. We had a little gathering on the beach last night and returned to Hopetown today. Tomorrow Bill will be racing again if the winds are not to strong (they won't race above 20 kts.) and we will stay here for a little while to catch our breath and wait for friends we met at Vero Beach (a very, very, long time ago) to arrive here in the next day or so.

It seems that this year there has been a dramatic increase in Canadian boats. Many Canadians are leaving their boats either in one of the southern states or in the Bahamas - anything to get away from the cold. They do tend to band together and are not always inclusive but we have made a few Canadian friends. The social scene is quite unique. The ships radio is used just like a telephone and all day you hear boat names calling other boat names on channel 68. Then you switch to another channel which can be heard by anyone using the radio. So, in fact, you can hear social engagements being made all day. This had been a little difficult for us since many relationship began in years past and many boats came to the Bahamas with companion boats. However, we have been fortunate and made a few new friends and traveled with a Canadian couple these last 7 days.

I won't feel rejected if you haven't gotten this far but so much has happened these past few weeks primarily because the weather has been glorious, warm and very conducive to anchoring in calm winds and flat seas. No cold front to keep us hunkered down and it seems like it will continue, at least, til the end of the week. No complaints here.