2012-02-14/17 - in Black Point

We left Lee stocking in the company of Whistling Cay. They were still 'threatening' to leave, but we were glad they stuck around for another day. It was a brief 3 hours on the outside. No fish caught, a little bumpy, but we all had a nice time on the outside anyway. When we pulled in, we were delighted to see the family on Allego. We had met them several times at Emerald Bay and Connor really liked the company of their two boys Tristan and Samuel. They are a French speaking family from Quebec, but do really well with their English! Connor had thought he had said goodbye to them a couple of weeks ago, but that's how it is with cruising. You never really say goodbye...only see you later. Another great surprise was Isla Bonita. They were also in the anchorage beside us. We had left them a month ago (or so) near Little Farmers Cay. They have 2 children, and when we left, Connor was again a little saddened. So, as it goes....never say 'goodbye'! We were all back together again. We headed straight for the settlement. I really like this place. It's small but you can instantly feel the community togetherness. There are a couple of very small grocery stores, a couple of family restaurants, a government clinic, an all ages school, etc. We found ourselves hitting the happy hour at a little bar called Scorpios. A lot of the cruisers gather and take advantage of the free wifi.. I had mentioned iphone issues in the past, but I thought I would also check here if there was anyone who could help me out with repairing the phone. I asked Lorraine, the owner of Lorraines cafe. She boldly stated, 'David would fix it. He was just here.'. She promptly found him in town and I gave him my sickly phone. So, we headed back to the dinghy dock and, coming up the way, was Germal....the fellow we met who works at compass cay marina. He immediately recognized us and gave the boys a great welcome. I mentioned my phone is with David and he said, "David, yes, he is great. I give all of my phone problems to him". The next few days we went to town, said hello to those we have met and gathered with other cruisers for happy hour....aka wifi with beer. My phone was, sadly, broken bit David hooked us up with the phone guy at Batelco (who was also at happy hour), and he ran through some options for us. He is now another recognizable face in the settlement. I could get used to this place. Wifi, free water at the town spigot, laundry, and the company of great people, and a fabulous blow hole that is within a short hike from town. But, we are moving on, I think. We are heading to Staniel Cay, and up the Exuma chain to the Abacos. More pics will be posted when I get my computer working. The battery is completely gone......I love technology! Oh, whistling cay finally said there good-byes. We will miss them as they make their way back to Alaska!

2012-02-13 - to Twin Beaches, Lee Stocking lsland

marking our trail along the way

Dylan's new beach 'ride'

Dylan checks out a small low-tide cave......

It's still blowing here.  We ended up moving over closer to shore to the 'twin beach' area.  It was a very nice spot with better protection.  We did our regular school morning and then headed over to anchor there.  There was only one other boat anchored but, by the end, there were 8-10 boats anchored.  Connor and I hiked to the other side of the island by ourselves.  This is the Exuma Sound side which is very exposed and rough.  There were rock faces to climb up and paths that were very close to the crashing waves.   They sad thing about these beaches is there are lots of floating debris such as bottles, shoes, and various other light plastics that end up there.  We searched again for sea beans.  We found only two in the beach where we landed and thought, for sure, there would be some on the rough side.  The only thing we found were roll-on balls (another strange thing beach combers collect) and a Christmas ornament. One thing that we figured out is Dylan loves the tube on the beach.  This is great for walking with him as we do beach walks.  He was very comfortable.  We checked out some low-tide caves a well - he loved that!

2012-02-12 - in Lee Stocking Island

The wind had clocked around and was now coming from the north making the anchorage more calm. It was welcome as a few days on a rocking boat can get a little 'old'. We quickly caught up on school work this morning and ended up being done before the rest of the other boats. Connor and I tried paddle boarding for the first time. Kerry jumped in the dingy after a while and pulled Connor and then both Connor and Hoku from Makana on the paddle board. Then Nathan, from Whistling Cay, joined in and then dragged Hoku, Connor and Lily on the paddle board. They were having a blast trying to stand up, all together, on the board - falling off, pushing each other off....just being goofy. Even Dylan got a chance on the paddle board. He loved it until we got a splash over the front of the board. It turned out to be a great water sport day and all kids were exhausted at the end.

2012-02-11 - in Lee Stocking Island

Well, as it turned out Whistling Cay decided to hang out at Lee Stocking to wait out the cold front and accompanying winds. This was great news and Connor was thrilled. Despite the fact that the anchorage was very windy and wavy, Kerry and Connor went with Whistling Cay and Makana to go snorkeling in the morning. They saw many Queen Trigger fish (my personal favourite) and Parrot fish. In the evening everyone headed to Makana for a get together.