Paradise and Peanuts

Day 78 - 81 - (Sat,  Jan 28 – Tues, Jan 31 , 2012): Paradise! It is so beautiful here. I have been in the water every day. Perfect little shallow dives. My favorite. I could stay here forever but know there are many more adventures out there and beautiful places.

Sat evening we went to Happy Hour. Woo Hoo, was that fun. Every Sat evening the park hosts a BYOB happy hour. Ice provided by the park staff. We met a bunch of very cool people and two guys from the Bahamian Defense force.  Several folks came back to the boat with us and we continued the party. “Captain Ron” was the top side movie choice for the evening. A couple of folks had not seen the “cruiser’s classic” yet. We had popcorn and peanuts, wine and rum. A special night and one I will remember for a long time. Now for cleanup…I am still, several days later, sweeping up peanut shells and dribbles of popcorn. Wayne, David and Mary are a blast. Here’s to living life to the fullest! Bert and Maria Elena were here too. Just simply a great time all around.

Sun and Monday were spent primarily doing some cleanup and snorkeling. We have been able to power our water making entirely with solar and wind. We have almost filled an entire water tank with “fresh squozen” ocean. Diving with Maria was quite fun. We went out solo on Sunday. No boys… we were out on the town/ocean alone. Quite enjoyable but Monday, and Patrick as chauffer, was great too. Monday he took us to a deeper dive/snorkel site. Absolutely amazing fish. There were so many they formed a moving carpet below us. When I jumped in initially to see if it was a good place, there was a “human size” grouper just tooling along the reef. Unbelievable! As we finished up the dive, I saw my first puffer. He was quite friendly but the water was a little deep for the snorkel setting I had on my new camera. I am still learning the details of the equipment but it is quite a nice setup. Also ran across a small shark taking a nap just as we came in.

Mon evening we went to KAOS for cocktails. Another great evening. We were with Susie, Allen, Bert and Maria plus the folks from Alberta Crewed. Awesome conversation… boats, planetary orbits, moon bases, groceries in the Exumas, food and stories of the adventures had in previous sessions. Yea… my tummy is almost completely better. My head and anxiousness are well on their way to being mended too.

Very windy Mon night. We will stay here until the weather calmes down. Should be heading out tomorrow, Wed. This is a very good place to ride out the storm. Very secure mornings. Good protection… and it is close to perfection with the snorkeling and water. Will definitely go down in the archives as a favorite. I will have to pry Patrick away. I think he wants to stay here permanently. Tomorrow on to Cambridge and then to Sampson.

 

No words for this

Day 78 (Sat., Jan 28) Simply no words!

Our first official "play day"

Day 77 (Fri,  Jan 27 - , 2012): Warderick Wells Park bound. We left Norman’s Cay about 9am. I finished cleaning  and reorganizing. The V Berth looks much better now. I had stewed about how best to get the two anchors up all night. As it turns out my planning was for naught. Seems it was best to let out more of the rocna (our main anchor) chain to get over to the secondary anchor. I pulled it up by hand. Don’t ask… remember again, Freshmen. But “Shera” perseveres. Then, we pulled up the Rocna and we were off to our next stop.

We had plenty of wind today but directly on our nose. We ploughed through to get to Warderick. I do want to go back to Shroud Cay some day. It looks very interesting, but not this pass. We pulled into the park. Patrick pulled right up to the mooring. Gaia behaved perfectly. I snagged the line and we were set to play. Tomorrow would be officially our first play day. We have been so wrapped up in boat repairs or “getting here” that we have had little time to relax. So much to do… test out underwater camera, see stromatolites (only place on the planet other than Australia where they are found… life form over 3.5 billion years old)  put hammock in place and test thoroughly, and the list goes on. And did I mention the water. It is so incredibly beautiful.

Once again... it is really a small world

Day 75-76 (Wed - Thurs,  Jan 25 - 26, 2012): The previous evening we met a gentleman from Philly, actually Chads Ford. He had a thoroughbred farm. We chatted for a bit. He had sailed the Bahamas for over 50 years. He started as a boy with his parents. Great stories. He suggested that we head up to Norman’s Cay to tuck in a nice anchorage prior to some weather we were supposed to get. We took his advice and headed out after breakfast. It was short hop to Norman’s. Now for the tricky part. It was a pretty tight entrance, quite a bit of current and we used two anchors for the first time. Remember freshman… We got the Rocna set without any issue. Then put out the CQR and our chain/rode line. Patrick took the dinghy out and dropped the 2^nd anchor over. I pulled it tight. All looked good but we would tell once the current and tide shifted. We then went exploring. Lots to see but I especially loved the little island with the single palm tree. There was a bench dedicated to a couple that loved the islands. Very touching. Oh, and I did dive on the anchors but wow the current was strong.

That evening, we met Bert and Maria Elena. And boy is it a small world… Burt worked for Al at the Dalrin Navy base. Great people. She is from Venezuela. They met about 6 years ago when Bert was cruising and ended up in Venezuela.

Day 2 at Norman’s saw quite a few more boats arrive. We explored the wrecked plane and had a very nice lunch at the restaurant. Burt and Mary Elaina joined us. We also were joined by the two folks we met at Highborne on KAOS (kids aboard “0” Sex). Susie and her hubby. Will have to fill in names as I am sure we will run into Susie again. We had so much fun talking. 3 engineers at the table. Conversation was everything from sailing, boats, airplanes, rockets, the planet, politics and our US news media. Wow!!! On the walk back I found a small gold dolphin charm on the runway (oh, yea… you have to walk across the runway to get to the restaurant. Be sure to look both ways). Someone must have lost it from an ankle bracelet.

At sunset we had drinks and munchies with Burt and Mary Elaina. She is quite a chef. Bert’s boat is a 38 ft Pearson - he has really done some amazing things with the space. They have a washing machine, tons of room, exquisitely organized.

I slept a bit better but still worried about the current and the 2 anchors. All was fine but still worried.