2012-02-10 - catch up



'catchin' the big one!'



Smile for the camera....and then, on you go!

lovely Wendy from Scooter.....

Daniel from Dream Weaver and Connor make a dollar on their carnival set-up using coconuts for bowling balls and beer bottles for pins!  Daniel was pumped!!

Without internet it has been a bit difficult to keep up on pics etc.  Here a few more to complete our GT experience.

2012-02-10 - to Lee Stocking Island, Exumas

last day of fun at Emerald.  The kids played for so long in the pool that their hands 'pruned'!  great day

Well, we are finally at a turn around and are officially heading home.  We arrived in George Town at the beginning of January.  We had Roxy and Robert visit which was great.  Then, a week later, Kevin and Pat came for nice visit.  We left George Town a few times, once to Conception Island and Long Island but never really far and always returning to George Town.  To keep things interesting in George Town (so we feel like we were moving around), we moved to different anchorages to have a different view, different perspective.  Connor enjoyed the company of other children and we met new friends and reaqainted ourselves with friends we met along the way.  It was also nice to have a regular school schedule and catch up on necessary lessons.  But, now we face north as most boaters here must do at this time in the season.  There are several boats that we have travelled with that also have children that we hope to meet up with soon.  I am looking forward to having new experiences again.  We intend to go up the Exuma chain again hitting some of the sites we missed and revisiting some that we loved.   I also am look forward to getting home and seeing family again! 

So, here we are at Emerald Bay Marina....getting the last of the laundry done, checking email and making a few calls that will be difficult to do in the next few weeks.  Our trusted phone that was bringing in email on the water, sadly is not working....but has been replaced with a phone that send and receive calls -a little bit of a trade-off!   Kerry was also busy this morning looking at marinas in Florida that Hi-5 will call home for the rest of the season.  We are considering several locations from the Keys to Stuart. 

Home....here we come!

.......I will update again once we have internet.....stay tuned :)

...later in the day.....We finally left Emerald Bay for Lee stocking Island in company with Whistling Cay. Makana and another boat Cookie Monster were following closely behind. At Lee Stocking Island there is a marine research station but we are not sure who they are and what they are doing. We later learned that there is a woman who is the caretaker of the facility while there is no research being conducted, but she is 'off-island' right now. As we entered the cut to Lee Stocking we ended up catching a fish, finally. We identified it as an Almaco Jack and we were thankful to have a bit of fresh food on board. We ended up taking all of the kids (ours and Whistling Cay) in our dinghy to a small beach just south of the anchorage. It was beautiful and we found a very large sea cucumber that we could touch. Connor, however, didn't take us up on that experience and declined the offer to touch it. Later, we went to Whistling Cay in the evening. The kids watched a movie and we said our good-byes. They are soon heading back to Florida so that they can store their boat and head back to Alaska for the salmon fishing season.

Dylan checks out the sea cucumber!

Connor decideds to pass on touching the sea cucumber this time....

2012-02-05 - in George Town

We went over to beach church this morning  Dylan loves the singing and I was meeting Wendy from Scooter to hand over some Canadian money to her.  She and her husband Peter are heading to Cuba and were in the market for some Canadian money as American isn't as 'welcome'. Dylan was especially vocal today and I had to walk him away several times.  Hunter, the speaker for the day, assured us that Dylan's lovely chatter was so welcome.  Several other members came over after the service and said that they were glad to hear a childs voice.  Once grey haired gentleman stated that he loves the voices of children....it makes him smile!  So, sing away Dylan...sing! 

We later headed to the boat to do a quick tidy and Connor stayed behind to play with the local boy, Delino.  When we returned, we did a bit more weaving on the beach and tried to get into the George Town way of life (It's ok but, I really can't imagine a whole season of this).  Everyday seems to be the same.  You either like it or you don't!  We, need to move on!

Dylan like the musicians that gathered and jammed on the beach, though.... :)

2012-02-04 - in George Town

We made a date with the girls from Cee Jem on the beach for this morning.  We haven't seen a lot of them since we crossed over to the Bahamas back in December.  Connor had a great time with them running through the palm forest behind the beach and climbing the steep hills.  I, unfortunately, had two long trips across the harbour to get our phone figured out.  We had such a good spot at Sand Dollar beach that I didn't want to move the boat over to the town side to avoid the waves in the harbour.  First, Dylan went with me.  It was't bad going over...but, on the way back he was laughing the whole way.  I was pounding trough the waves, making him bounce repeatedly in his chair.  Doi-boyz was trying to fix the phone, but needed more time. I had to brave the harbour once more....waiting until the sun was low in the sky.  I had to leave it one more time as he couldn't get it to work. 

2012-02-03 - in George Town

This morning I had promised Connor that we would do only basket art for school today.  We haven't set aside time during regular school for art so he was so looking forward to it.  He has started several baskets but has yet to finish one.  This morning, he worked on a small one to hold his ipod.  It looks great and he seemed really proud of his work.  School has been going really well since we have stopped and had time to catch up.  It's great that the other boats are also keen at doing school in the morning which keeps the focus on the work and not the kids playing outside on the beach.  The one thing that I love about teaching is 'tricking' them into school.  When Connor complains about doing school in the morning, I love saying, 'Hey do you want to play this game with me, instead?"...He turns into a receptive little boy not knowing that we are secretly learning math concepts...or pulling out a coral book and talking about all the types of coral we have seen.  What are Zooxanthellae and how Cigueterrra poisoning (the one you get from eating barracouda) works? After all that Connor will say, "we didn't do a lot of school today!" and finishes his statement off with a, "Yeah!"  I smile quitely and say, 'Yes, too bad.  Tomorrow we will catch up!' ;)

2012-02-02 - in George Town, Exuma

We needed to head into town today.  I was having trouble with our iphone that brings us the internet and, should we need it...the ability to send and recieve calls.  There is a shop in town that looked like it might do the job...called Doi-Boyz.  We took the big boat over to town as we would have gotten soaked again crossing the harbour (which, as you might imagine, is getting a big 'old'). We popped over to Whistling Cay to let them know what we were doing.  Connor admitted to the kids on the boat, that he preferred to hang out with them instead of going to town with us.  We launched the kayak and he paddled his way between the big boats.  We anchored by town. Kerry drove Dylan and I to town and he continued on to do a garbage run and fill our water tanks.  There is only one dumpster in town that we are able to deposit trash into - you have to go to the government dock area and carry trash to it. I headed over to Doi-boyz to see if they could help out.  I soon found out that the guy who actually does the phone work doesn't get in until 5 or 6, which isn't great when your car is a dingy and you need to make your way through the dark.  So, we will check again tomorrow to see if he is available.  fingers crossed!

Today is Nathan's birthday (on Whistling Cay).  He made a cake with the kids and invited us all over for cake.  We also invited the kids from Dream Weaver (Daniel and Pace).  They all had a great time with each other.  Tomorrow, Wendy (the mom from Whistling Cay) comes home which, I am sure, Nathan is looking forward to to give him a break.

2012-02-01 - in George Town, Great Exuma

Last night we took a mooring ball next to Chat 'n Chill to get away from the waves in the harbour.  It was a great break to not being bounced around.  We heard on the 'net' this morning of other boaters intending on going to Cuba.  They were gathering on one of the boats in the morning to have a look at charts and discuss each others plans.  The other boat "Scooter" had decided to go that route as well on their way to the Mediterranean.  After the discussion Kerry made a captains decision and decided not to go to Cuba.  Apparently, you can't stay on your boat in the marina because it is too buggy forcing you to rent a car, drive and stay elsewhere.  You can't leave your boat also at anchor or leave your dinghy in the water.  Well, this is what some have been saying, so it isn't looking like it would be a good choice for us.  Scooter wanted charts, etc, and we had a full set, so we forwarded all we had (charts, guide book, courtesy flag) to them.  They were thrilled as it would have been difficult to obtain all those items from the Bahamas.  Anyway, I am glad that we have finally decided on Cuba.  We can now plan our route home.

2012-01-30 - back to George Town, Great Exuma

We made our way back to George Town today.  Nathan, on Whistling Cay, caught an African Pompano on the way into the harbour.  It was an amazing and very large fish. He was kind enough to share his catch.  We brought everything else and had a great time on their boat this evening.

2012-01-29 - in Emerald Bay

2012-01-28 - in Emerald Bay Marina

2012-01-25 - to Emerald Bay Marina, Great Exuma

We headed up to Emerald Bay again to recharge our batteries, do wash, catch up on Internet, etc.  It's such a great stop-over.  It was great for Kevin and Pat to get all their wash done, before heading home as well.  We ended up spending 4 nights here.  It's surprising, however, how busy we were while we where there.  It seemed I was running off in the direction of the washers or being with the kids in the TV room, while we I caught up on emails.  We needed he last day just to 'relax' - at least a bit. 

There were lots of kids as well in the age range of Connor which was fantastic.  At times, we had all of the children on our boat playing - a little chaotic, but it looked as if they were having a great time.  Girls and boys teamed up together and apart - playing something that we couldn't quite figure out, but it involved lots of giggles and screams.  Great fun!

We have joined up with another boat called Whistling Cay.  The mom, Wendy, had to head back to the USA for a family event, leaving the father in charge of 3 kids ages 3 to 8 and one very cute Labrador retriever, Rocky.  We ended up paying admission to a local pool in the condominiums next to us.  They played for hours in the fresh water and reluctantly finished their play when the sun had set. 

We are leaving for George Town tomorrow to plan the next leg of our trip.  We are also considering Cuba and have all necessary charts and flags for it.  We will see.

2012-01-24 - back to George Town, Exumas

This was a sizable 'couda that we let loose!  love those big teeth!

A lovely spot in between two cays that goes dry at low tide.  Next to it, Hog Cay, is where they shot some of the Pirates
of the Carribean.

Pat performs Tina Turner - couldn't resist posting this one Pat!

....waiting quietly for the iguanas to come back....look at their 'tell-tale' tail trails!

2012-01-23 - to Salt Pond, Long Island

2012-01-22 - to Harvey's Bay, Long Island

It was a short ride today to Harvery's Bay.  Makana had told us about the bay and that most don't realize that it is a nice spot.  We thought we would check it out.  There was a lovely beach bar that was quite underutilized.  It was hard to see from the water and, because lots of businesses may not be open, we thought that it may be closed.  But, it wasn't.  The owner was from Port Dover, Ontario originally - and was very quick to ask us to tell all boaters we meet about his spot.  We patronized him with the purchase of a few rum punches and kalik. 

2012-01-21 - to Calabash Bay, Long Island

Saying good-bye to Bennie



"What do you think of my new duds!" 

We were leaving Conception and heading towards Long Island today.  Before we could do that we had to return our pet Hermit crab, Bennie, to shore.  Last night Connor had brought him back from the mangrove trip and wanted to keep him overnight to observe.  The most interesting thing with this little guy was we offerred him some other shell options. He was in the traditional elongated land snail shell that most smaller hermit crabs 'wear'.  We offerred a few other stylish options and he examined each one very carefully.  As we quietly observed, we watched him stick his whole front of his body into the shell to 'try it out'.  When he had decided on his new duds he lifted himself out of his old shell and put his very muscular back end into the new shell.  The new shell he chose was a bit big and a bit more clumsy, but he soon got comfortable in it and struted about the bucket.  But, we had to return him to shore, so we did that - said goodbye to Bennie - and lifted anchor for Long Island

 It was a brisk sail and we saw 11 knots a few times throughout the day.  As we pulled into the bay lots of other boats were calling this home as well.  We saw the boat Makana.  I had met the mom, Katie, in the George town computer store a few weeks ago and chatted with her for a while.  She has a daughter, Hoku, who is 8 and said that if we were to meet again, Connor and Hoku could be buddies.  So, Connor was excited to quickly jump in the dinghy to introduce himself and see if Hoku was interested in playing.   A couple of the other boats were venturing inside the island in a 'high tide-only' mangrove that apparently went by a small town.  Sounds great.  Connor jumped in the dinghy with the Makana crew and a lady from a boat called Cookie Monster.  We all ventured up the very shallow river but we were hitting bottom a few times with the dinghy full of 4 adults and Dylan.  We pulled into a boat launch area where a local man was cleaning fish from his outing to a reef.  There were at least 10 lobster and 1 very large Snapper laying out there.  Lots of flies joined him as he cleaned his fish, throwing scraps into the water for the smaller fish that seemed to know it was feeding time.  We all turned around and headed back to the anchorage.  This bay has a very small resort call Cape Santa Maria Club.  It seemed very nice and quiet and a great spot to unwind.  We walked the beach and ventured into the main building to inquire about the services.  We also wanted to inquire about the rental of a Hobie cat or the small sail boat that sat out on the beach.  Connor has been dying to do a bit of sailing on a small sail boat.  Unfortunately, it was only available to rent for the guests of the hotel.  Seeing that know one was there, I would think that they would appreciate a bit of business and accept the hourly fee.  They stuck to the rules and Connor did not get his sail.  He did, however, have a great time with his new friend Hoku and they ran and played on the beach for a couple of hours. The sun was setting and we all had to retreat back to the boat.  Makana would be leaving in the morning as they have guests joining them in Staniel Cay, but I am sure we will meet each other again. 

2012-01-20 - In Conception Island

Happy Birthday Dad! I woke up to notice that we didn't get Internet way out here in the Out Islands.  Nothing - not a phone signal.  Very stressful.  After thinking of all the ways I could possibly call home to wish him happy birthday, I had to give up and just send good vibes.....  :)

Kevin, Pat, Connor and Kerry jumped in the dinghy to do a bit of dinghy exploration and would take me back to the best one they saw. There are a lot of reefs that encircle the island so they were hopeful that they would find something good. 

Unfortunately (or I suppose fortunately), one of the other boaters came over, as they were in the water, to inform them that they had just noticed a large shark in the area. Yikes.   Later, we learned that he thought it was a bull shark - double yikes.  They quickly ditched their plans for finding the perfect snorkeling ground and headed back to the boat - snorkeling would have to wait another day.  We had another adventure planned anyway.  On the island there are mangroves that you can access from the outside by dinghy at high tide.  We had heard that there were lots of turtles and sea birds to find.  There were another few boats that were wanting to do the same thing.  As we approached the entrance two of the dads from the other boats were in their dinghy just outside to do a bit of spear fishing before going through the mangroves (this was later found to be against the sea park law...but, at the time they didn't know). 

Kerry quickly talked me into their boat so that I could do a bit of snorkeling with them, while they spear fished (as I didn't have a chance today).  Reluctantly, I jumped in.  Now, I was still a bit nervous about the previous shark siting so I stuck near the anchored dinghy, snorkeling out to the reef and back while they hunted for dinner.  I was also keeping in mind that when a fish is caught the fish needs to come straight out of the water or we could quickly be in the company of sharks.  So, he caught the fish, spear went straight out of the water, I swam 'briskly' and all was well. We joined up with the other boats but they had changed their minds about doing the mangroves.  We knew that we would be leaving in the morning so we ventured out on our own.  The mangroves have meandering paths of water in between the trees - very pretty.  We ventured off of the main path and all of a sudden shadows streaked in the water below, zipping in and out.  What were they?  Turtles!  It was so cool.  These are Green Sea Turtles and they go unbelievably fast.  Connor and I jumped in with them and we managed to capture a few on 'film'.  We had never seen turtles like this.  I was quite the experience. 

2012-01-19 - to Conception Island

We decided late last night that we would head over Conception Island and Long Island. The thinking was two fold: the winds would be more favorable to head east instead of North and we had never seen this part of the Bahamas before.   Either one would have been a good decision, but we made the decision finally and left. We headed towards Conception island, part of the Out Islands in the Bahamas. Conception is considered a sea park and protected under the Bahamian Trust. This was like Warderick Wells in the Northern Exumas, where you can't fish or take anything from the island. On our way there we experienced our first large fish catch - a Mahi Mahi(or Dolphin fish, or Dorado). It was quite spectacular and we were all thrilled to have caught a fish on our first day out. Fishing is new to all of us. Although I really don't enjoy the part of catching a fish, we are trying to live and sustain ourselves by catching our own food. By doing so, I hope that we can all learn about the food we eat.   Kerry and I worked at preparing the fish.  We are learning as we go - and I think we are doing very well!  We landed at Conception Island after about 8 hours in the wavy sea. At the end of the trip we had to use Visual Piloting Rules to watch out for coral heads as we made our way into the anchorage. The island was uninhabited and beautiful. We all dinghied to the beach and walked to the more rougher side of the island. There was another beautiful long beach that ended with a climb up a rope to the top of a white rock!

2012-01-18 - in George Town, Great Exuma

It is Kevin and Pat's first day here. We were expecting to take off this morning for the northern Exumas, but we decided that we needed to hang

around for the Wednesday Propane filling. On the net in the morning, they announced that Clarence would be in the parking lot to fill propane tanks in the downtown George Town area. This happens only (or mostly) on Wednesdays. When 'Clarence' is scheduled to have a truck full of propane, a flock of boaters head over for the 'propane filling party'. Kerry took Kevin and Pat over to Georgetown to get the last bit of shopping done, before we head out tomorrow and to fill up 2 tanks of

propane. I ended up staying behind and
working on my basket weaving with Dylan in the cockpit. Connor stayed behind and had kayaked over to see Christian as their boat was next.  I watched as he paddled his way and then later he returned with  Christian.  They spent their time filling up the kayak completely with water and having a great time.   

In the evening one of the boat couples Rockin' Ron and Kool Karen put on a dance for the boaters at the chat n' chill bar at Volleyball beach.  It was well done and a great time!  Tomorrow we are planning on heading out.  Still unsure of the direction....north or south?  We shall see.

2012-01-16 - in George Town, Great Exuma

 We are still in Georgetown. I like to stop now and again and just relax and enjoy the beautiful surroundings - but I do enjoy heading out and exploring as well. But, Georgetown is a hub, so to speak, for meeting guests, joining in activities and provisioning for points further. Also, Georgetown seems to be a retirement beach camp. Some boaters head here and stay the entire season. Everyday at 8 am there is a cruisers net on the VHF radio. Some boaters take turn being the radio chair, coordinating announcements from various businesses, Boater Community announcements, and boaters general announcements. The boaters general portion, I find particularly interesting or amusing. It is here that boaters can ask for help on various and sometimes obscure electronic equipment on their boat, ask for a paticular washer size that they are looking for, or get rid of or trade items on their boat they no longer require. After the net boaters hail each other and most of the time they get what they have asked for. It's amazing. Boaters can also ask for help with wound care, glasses adjustment, hair cuts, you name it. There is always someone out there to provide assistance. After the morning net, there is yoga on the beach, volleyball in the afternoons, dominoes, cards, and basket weaving. Connor and I finally joined in and learned a bit of basket weaving. It is a great opportunity to learn something that is part of the Bahamian culture. Connor has really taken to it and is doing a great job on a round basket. We ended up staying at the beach learning weaving techniques until the boaters all retreated back to their boats.  In the evening we came back to the beach for a bit with our friends from Ann Bonny.  Connor, Christian (Ann Bonny) and Delmino (the owner of the bars son) were running around having a great time and ended up flying a super kite from shore.