St Augustine, Florida and Georgia

We spent one week in St Augustine and although we spent most of our time confined to the boat, we did take our bikes and explore the downtown area (where we saw next to nobody around). St. Augustine was founded in 1565 by Spanish admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilésand and is the oldest city in the U.S. The city is known for its Spanish colonial architecture.

Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilésand standing guard in front of City Hall.

We visited (the outside of) the Castillo de San Marcos which is a 17th-century Spanish stone fortress. It was built between 1672 and 1695 and replaced a series of wooden forts.

The fort is made of a stone called coquina (Spanish for ‘small shells’), which consists of ancient shells that have bonded together to form a sedimentary rock similar to limestone. When they built the fort, they didn’t know if it would withstand attack. However, the fort was attacked twice: first in 1702 and again in 1740 (when it was bombarded for 27 days!). The cannon balls would just bounce off the walls or sink in a few inches.

Here is the fort as viewed from the water.

St Augustine is home to the oldest public place in the US – Plaza de la Constitucion.

The plaza was laid out by Spanish Royal Ordinance in 1573. The Ordinances specified that the plaza was to be laid out to the compass points.

We wandered the historic district which includes, by our estimates, about 100 unique shops – which were all closed.

Very few people out and about – others like us getting their exercise by walking or biking.

Our budget is remaining intact – with nothing open we are only purchasing fuel and groceries.

In addition to the shops, there were some interesting buildings.

The oldest wooden school house in the US. The exact date of construction is unknown but is believed to be in the early 1700s.

Also the oldest house in St Augustine.

A few other scenes from St Augustine.

Believe it or not, this is a car wash. They do things on a grandiose scale in St Augustine. This was located just a short walk from Rivers Edge Marina, our home for a week.

Little restaurant/pub with very scenic outdoor seating.

After one week, we decided to start moving again.

You can see the unique style of architecture in St Augustine extends even to their bridges. This is the Bridge of Lions opening for us.

We are still on the lookout for crab pots. Here is a crab fisherman pulling in his catch.

We are starting to see shrimp boats.

We crossed into Georgia on April 2.

This is Jekyll Creek – we thought it had similarities to the Petitcodiac River in Moncton (it is brown and has muddy banks).

For awhile we had some company.

Two dolphins were having fun playing in our stern wake.

This is a Navy submarine base.

The Intracoastal Waterway passes right by here. If you happened to wander off course you would have been escorted away by armed security.

Cruising by Cumberland Island.

If we had been lucky, we would have seen the wild horses that inhabit the island. It is believed the horses arrived on the island sometime in the 16th century with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors.

We anchored for one night at Cumberland Island.

We stopped at Brunswick Landing Marina in Brunswick, Georgia for one night. The boat below was our neighbour.

1935 85 foot boat – beautiful woodwork immaculately maintained. This had a young crew on board – owners were nowhere to be seen.

Shortly after leaving Brunswick Landing Marina, we came across this scene.

This ship ran aground over a year ago – apparently the cargo was brand new cars. It takes a long time for the clean up operation.

As on Lake Okeechobee in Florida, we had birds following our boat for a good portion of our day.

Some Georgia scenes.

For my MacKay relatives, here we are on the MacKay River in the low country of Georgia.

We anchored on the Wahoo River.

We passed by this marina and I thought the name was quite appropriate for the times we are currently in.

We are continuing north and plan to anchor out for much of it, heading into marinas for fuel, water and supplies as required.

Northern Florida

As the world continues to deal with the coronavirus, we are staying ‘boat bound.’ To keep busy and sane, we are working on some boat projects. In the picture below is an anode that Jacques put on the boat just before we hit salt water back in November. Anodes are meant to be sacrificial – they save the other steel parts on your boat – like the engine! As you can see, it was definitely time to change it – it is pretty worn away.

When newly installed, it looked more like the colour of this wrench.

I am in spring cleaning mode (even though it feels like summer most days).

Getting the sundeck tarps and windows cleaned.

We stayed at Vero Beach for a week. One day the noise of a chainsaw interrupted the quiet. There was a crew working in the community that surrounds the marina; they were trimming the palm trees.

We didn’t realize it took so much work to have such pretty trees!

We departed Vero Beach on Monday, March 23 and continued north. We anchored our first night where we could see the NASA Space Complex in the distance. The anchorage is supposed to be the perfect spot to see rocket launches (sadly, none were scheduled while we were there).

We have heard that the tour of the Kennedy Space Center is absolutely fantastic; we will have to put that on our list of things to do in the future!

We picked up a stowaway on our way to Daytona – this beautiful little black bird. He entertained us with some very charming songs and sang so much we thought there were two birds but alas there was just the one.

He stayed perched on our antenna for about 15 minutes.

One of the things we look for when cruising the ICW is the height of bridges. While this information is posted in our guidebooks, we always check these ‘minimum clearance’ signs before proceeding under the bridge. We need 19 feet of clearance with our antennas down; 23 feet is lots of room!

The cruise from Vero Beach to St Augustine took three days. It was nice to be out and about again after keeping ourselves pretty well confined to our boat except for bike rides to the grocery store. While we are on the water we are totally self isolated!

We still see lots of American Pelicans. This one was especially pretty out of about 20 that were sitting alongside the bridge.

I have probably mentioned crab pots before which is something that we try hard to avoid. There are a lot along this section of the ICW.

This crab fisherman was checking his pots. Note the red marker on the left – that is what we see in abundance. Sometimes, when the water is super calm, there are so many of these markers, it looks like we are on a runway with lights running down the sides. Hitting these with your props will cause all sorts of problems – hence our inclination to avoid!

Some of the sites we saw on our voyage from Vero Beach to St Augustine.

Mosquito Lagoon (where there were no mosquitoes!).

A trip to the boat yard was our first destination in St Augustine. It was time for some ‘out of the water’ maintenance so we got hauled out on Thursday, March 26 at 8:00 a.m.

Gyp C is getting a much needed bath – lots of green stuff on the bottom (at night we could hear the shrimp tinkling on the hull as they were feeding).

The work that needed done included fixing the packings on the rudders. The access to this is located under our bed, but the boat needs to be out of the water in order to secure the rudders.

Jacques did all of this himself – although it was a bigger job than he anticipated. The access to the packings was in an awkward location – my part was to pass tools as needed. He needed a beer, a shower and a massage at the end of the day.

We had been having issues with our generator for a few weeks and Jacques had done a lot of trouble-shooting but hadn’t yet figured out the cause. While the boat was out of the water, he took the opportunity to see what was going on. Well, he discovered there was a part that was totally missing – the intake scoop – which prevents airlocks from forming (which was our problem). So, now there is a new bronze intake scoop installed.

I am lucky to have such an accomplished husband!

On Friday, March 27, we moved to Rivers Edge Marina – a journey of less than a mile. Rivers Edge is practicing social distancing; while they will help you with your lines when docking as they can keep a good distance apart, the office is closed to outside visitors. To make payment is by phone. We plan to stay here for a few days and then start heading north again.

A shout out to everyone to stay safe and healthy!

Fort Pierce and Vero Beach, Florida

Things sure have changed since we left the Bahamas on Thursday, March 12. The Prime Minister’s urging for all Canadians to return home immediately ‘while you still can’ had us somewhat concerned so I called the Canadian Embassy in Miami and they assured me that we were okay to stay on the boat and return at our expected homecoming date of sometime in June. Then we checked with our health care insurance and were also reassured that we would be covered. Whew! The Snowbirds have all been told to return ASAP so we were hoping that would not apply to us as we are not exactly Snowbirds.

We left the Lake Worth/Palm Beach anchorage at first light on Saturday, March 14. The corona-virus had caused the cancellation of the Palm Beach Boat Show, but had not caused the cancellation of a fishing tournament.

All kinds of boats heading out for a fishing tournament.

We had done most of this route before in December when we were headed south so I didn’t get many pictures. It was an uneventful cruise – about 6 1/2 hours. After checking into Fort Pierce Municipal Marina, Jacques took his bike to run an errand and discovered one of the inhabitants.

Apparently there is a whole family of pheasants that live in the downtown area.

Fort Pierce is home to a huge boater’s liquidation warehouse, so naturally we had to check it out.

Jacques is searching for a specific anchor – we decided we needed a heavier one.

Jacques did indeed find an anchor and did not waste anytime getting ready to install it. We now have a 66 pound anchor versus our old 44 pound anchor.

We had several visitors to our dock in Fort Pierce.

These American Pelicans were hanging out on our dock the whole time we were at Fort Pierce Municipal Marina.

On Monday, March 16, on the advice of our friends Beeb and Frank, who we met at the week long Looper conference we attended in Norfolk, Virginia last May, we headed to the Loggerhead Marina in Vero Beach. It was not a long cruise – only two hours but very scenic.

There were more than one – they were building their nest.

Also saw some egrets.

We had to slow down for the manatees; we didn’t see any though.

The rowing clubs were out practicing.

So great to see Beeb and Frank again after almost a year!

The marina at Vero Beach is located in a remote, quiet area and is also part of a gated community so we have made the decision to stay here until at least March 22. The grocery store is located a short ten minute bike ride away.

While the grocery store is very well stocked, there are some noticeable exceptions. These are the pasta shelves; the paper shelves were likewise empty.

From the bow of our boat, this is the view – Beeb and Frank’s boat is second from the left (with the blue tarps).

We have been using our bikes every day. Great biking trails and an easy ride to the grocery store.

Since we are going to be here for a few more days, and staying somewhat isolated at the marina, we (meaning I) decided it was time to get some maintenance done.

Luckily Jacques was agreeable and he got to work on some sanding. I feel right at home – there is some sawdust on the boat!

The day right after we left the Fort Pierce Municipal Marina, we learned that they were not taking any new reservations and were cancelling reservations already made. We are also hearing about marina closures further up the coast. We may be staying here longer than planned!

Back in the USA!

We have arrived back in Florida after a very nice cruise from Port Lucaya/Freeport. But before that, we continued our visit with Colin and Marlene, especially enjoying our beach time located right in front of their condo. As you can see, we mostly had the beach to ourselves; a few joggers and walkers throughout the day but definitely not a lot of people.

Enjoying our time at the condo’s beach; very seldom did we have to share it with anyone.

The beach, aptly called Coral Beach, has a coral reef just off-shore where we were able to check out all the underwater life.

Note the dark areas in the water behind Jacques; that is the coral reef. Being able to walk right into the ocean and start snorkeling was a special treat!

The direction of the wind played a big part in how calm or rough the water at the beach was. A north wind ensured very calm water. A south or east wind not so much.

The condo also has a tennis court.

One of the local attractions is a bar called the $2 Bar. It is about a ten minute bike ride from the marina. It has its own character and ambiance. While the drinks were not $2, they were reasonably priced, as was the food which was very good. Cracked conch was a special favourite of mine. When served, it looks exactly like deep fried clams. Taste is a little different though!

We visited Port Lucaya Marketplace on several occasions; there are a lot of vendors and restaurants. Marlene and I discovered an art gallery featuring the Van Gogh of the Bahamas: Leo Brown. Mr. Brown was extremely friendly and outgoing. We spent quite a bit of time in the gallery and we both came away with purchases. A hard choice as you can see by the paintings on the wall.

Not all days were sunny and warm. One cool day, Jacques went into the galley and cooked up a batch of hamburger soup – the best comfort food! After all was said and done, there were a dozen jars for future consumption!

After our visitors departed, we started checking the weather with great interest – looking for that window where we could have a good crossing back to the US. After several days of high winds, there was finally a break and we decided on a March 12 departure.

The evening before, on March 11, there was a farewell party for all the boaters who had decided to leave.

We got a pretty early start – on the water by 7:30.

Here we are leaving the marina – look how calm it is!

It was an 8 1/2 hour cruise to Lake Worth/Palm Beach in Florida. And the day was just glorious. For once, conditions were actually better than predicted and we enjoyed a very relaxing, calm trip.

We cleared customs right from our boat using the boater’s Customs and Border Patrol app. A very simple process which included a short video conference with a customs agent. We are back in North America!

We are anchored for a couple of days at the Lake Worth anchorage. Next step is to start heading north on the Intracoastal Waterway.

Grand Bahama Island

We have been at Ocean Reef Marina/Resort in Lucuya on Grand Bahama Island for two weeks. It is a small resort but perfect for us. We have been enjoying some rest and relaxation – hanging out at the pool, partaking of some of the resort activities and meeting lots of great people. The bonus of being at a resort/marina is that we get to meet both boaters and vacationers. We enjoyed some great times with Cathy and Lynn from northern Ontario who have already headed back to the cold winter after their two week visit to the resort; and we are still enjoying the company of Rip and Marybeth from Wisconsin who arrived just after us and are staying at the resort but who are boaters on Lake Michigan. There are a lot of Canadian boaters here – it feels like we are at a Canadian marina – there are so many Canadian flags flying proudly!

While we have been off the resort a few times, we are quite content to stay put. In comparison with larger resorts, this one has only one restaurant on site but it has good food. We are able to walk or bike to the beach and we have also rented a car on a couple of occasions for groceries and some sight seeing.

Lucayan National Park incorporates one of the largest underwater cave systems in the world. It is named after the indigenous people of the Bahamas – the Lucayans. While hiking the trail we saw two of the caves: Ben’s Cave and Burial Mound Cave.

Ben’s Cave, Lucayan National Park. You are able to descend into the cave by use of stairs.

The clear upper portion of the water within Ben’s Cave is fresh. It floats on top of the lower salt water.

View from inside Burial Mound Cave at Lucayan National Park. The remains of four Lucayans were found in this cave and archaeological teams have found artifacts in other areas of the park – evidence of pre-Columbian settlement of Grand Bahama.

Gold Rock Beach is located at Lucayan National Park. It is a great place to go snorkeling but was too rough to do so the day we visited. Lucayan National Park is located 24 kilometres east of Freeport.

As you all know, Grand Bahama Island was one of the areas devastated by Hurricane Dorian. Quoting Wikipedia, ‘it was an extremely powerful and devastating Category 5 Atlantic hurricane, that became the most intense tropical cyclone on record to strike the Bahamas, and is regarded as the worst natural disaster in the country’s history. It stalled just north of Grand Bahama with unrelenting winds for at least 24 hours. The resultant damage to these islands was catastrophic’.

One of the effects of Hurricane Dorian is that tap water is not drinkable. There are emergency supplies of water located at various locations on the island including at Ocean Reef.

Where we get our drinking water while staying at Ocean Reef Resort.

The Bahamian people are very resilient. They are so welcoming of tourists and visitors to their country and are appreciative of all who are contributing to their tourism economy.

One of the reasons for our visit to Lucaya was to meet up with my brother and his wife. They travelled from Vancouver Island, British Columbia and landed (after four flights) at Freeport International Airport on February 24. We are so excited to have some company and rented a car to pick them up at the airport. The airport was completely destroyed during the hurricane and only opened again for international travellers in mid-November although aid relief was able to get in before then.

The waiting area at Freeport International Airport is located outside in front of the former terminal and is under a large tented structure.

Luggage is delivered to you by pickup truck.

None the worse for wear after a red-eye flight, here we are on Gyp C’s sundeck with Marlene and Colin.

Colin and Marlene rented a condo located fairly close to us on Coral Beach. Although we arrived here well before they did, there was always the concern that weather conditions wouldn’t have allowed us to get here on time, and having a guaranteed place to stay was a good idea. We have been dividing our time between Gyp C and their condo.

View from the balcony of Colin and Marlene’s condo.

Enjoying Ocean Reef Resort; note map of Bahamas made out of driftwood.

Our visitors are with us until March 4 – we are enjoying their company very much!

Nassau and The Berry Islands

We spent a total of one week on New Providence Island starting with two days at Palm Cay Marina. The marina is located on the southeastern part of the island. We took advantage of the courtesy car and went to a grocery store for provisions. This grocery store looked like one you would see in Canada – very modern and with tons of amenities – very different from the out island grocery stores.

Note the driver’s seat is on the right side of the car. While the gas and brake pedals are located in the same place as North American cars, the signal lights are not. Jacques kept turning on the windshield wipers instead of the signal lights (and it wasn’t even raining!). He also found it somewhat challenging to remember to drive on the left side of the road. Luckily, he had a great navigator!

We then moved to the Nassau Harbour Club Marina which is located closer to the downtown offering up more opportunities for exploring.

Fort Montague (built in 1742) was located just a short walk from our marina.

View of Nassau Harbour from Fort Fincastle. Not the same view as would have been seen in 1793 when the fort was constructed – note the cruise ships in the harbour.

To get around Nassau we used the jitney buses – for a grand total of $1.25 each we practically had a tour of the whole island. We were able to see parts of Nassau that we wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. All the jitneys had very loud music playing. The first one we took had hymns and spiritual music playing. The second and third jitneys had more Bahamian flavoured music – and on the third jitney we had to ask the driver to turn down the music – it was unbelievably loud.

We took the number 11 jitney on more than one occasion.

The Queen’s Staircase was built out of solid limestone and coral rock by 600 slaves over a period of years in the late 1700’s. These steps were later named in honour of Queen Victoria.

Queen’s Staircase: this is an absolutely beautiful spot. It was sobering to realize that it was built by 600 slaves using nothing more than simple hand tools. The staircase and the long pathway that you can see in the picture were both carved out by the slaves.

We toured some of the historical district including Government House, where the Governor General has his offices.

And the Parliament Buildings.

Are you noticing a pink theme here? Many buildings in the Bahamas are painted pastel colours.

We did a lot of walking as well and as chance would have it met some fellow Canadians: we enjoyed a nice stroll with Andrea from Regina and Katherine from Ottawa – who are not boaters but were visiting one of the resorts. We also met Louis and Joanne, New Brunswick sailors from Shediac Bridge, who were out walking as well, and we struck up a conversation that evolved into a friendship. We had fun doing things together in Nassau.

We visited the John Watlings Distillery which makes a rum called Spirit of the Bahamas.

Jacques and Joanne purchasing a flight of rum at John Watling Distillery. However, it did not pass our foursome’s discriminating tastes and therefore no bottles were purchased.

There was a Bahamian festival taking place on grounds of the John Watling Distillery the day we visited and there were several activities taking place.

We discovered St Francis Xavier Church which was built in 1885.

While our marina was home to boats more or less a similar size to ours, there was one huge exception.

This boat beside Gyp C is the tender for a much larger yacht. Gyp C is 43 feet long. This tender is 42 feet long. For comparison, our tender (or dinghy) is 10 feet long and fits on the top of our boat.

The tender belongs to the super yacht below which arrived a few days after us.

At 184 feet long, it is massive. Its name, funnily enough, is Baba’s. Google says the yacht cost $41 million – just slightly more than we paid for Gyp C. We counted at least five uniformed crew.

We departed Nassau on Tuesday, February 11 shortly after first light.

We were fortunate to meet Dick and Valerie on Last Tango – they were our buddy boat. While the winds had calmed significantly, the seas were not what we would call calm.

Following Last Tango, we cruised for 5 1/2 hours to Soldier Cay in The Berry Islands where we anchored for one night. It was one of the roughest nights on anchor we have ever experienced so the next day we decided to head to Great Harbour Cay Marina, also in The Berry Islands.

On our way to Great Harbour Cay Marina, we passed by this island owned by Norwegian Cruise Lines where they have added a few activities for their passengers.

We found Great Harbour Cay Marina to be a great stop – it is a very sheltered marina and it was nice not to be rocked around all night. Believe it or not, here we had the best pizza on our trip so far. We ordered ‘Hector’s Special’ and it was absolutely delicious and the price was right too!

The marina staff were very friendly. Here Jacques is chatting with Trameco.

Directly behind our boat at Great Harbour Cay Marina, Jacques has an early morning discussion with Trameco on basket making. He learned that the Tach Berry Palm is used to make these baskets and it takes about a day and a half to make one. While Jacques found this immensely interesting, he has indicated basket making is not in his future plans.

While we did not need provisions since we had provisioned in Nassau, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to visit another out island grocery store. Transportation was provided by the marina.

Great Harbour Cay grocery store and the truck used to transport us there.

We rode in the back of the truck to the grocery store. We have seen many locals travelling this way throughout the out islands of the Bahamas. Even when travelling to school.

On Valentine’s Day, we left Great Harbour Cay and headed to Lucaya on Grand Bahama Island – a journey of 8 1/2 hours. All weather forecasters indicated it would be the calmest day for cruising for awhile.

View from the fly-bridge – travelling to Lucaya on Grand Bahama Island.

Ocean Reef Marina in Lucaya will be our home until about mid-March as we have planned an extended stay. It is a combination resort/marina and we have already taken advantage of the pool – a great cooling off after our day long cruise.

Staniel Cay, The Exumas

We stayed for six days in Staniel Cay – it is a great little spot and we had fun exploring. One of the first things we did was check out the grocery stores. Grocery stores in the out islands are not quite like at home. For one thing, they only get restocked about once a week when the mail boat comes in. For another, they are quite small – about the size of a small convenience store. In Staniel Cay there are two grocery stores and they are located quite close to each other.

Burke’s Convenience Store, otherwise known as the Blue Store

The Pink Pearl Grocery Store, otherwise known as the Pink Store. This one was closed the first time we visited as she had run out of stock.

Another interesting spot was the combination laundromat/liquor store.

We found Staniel Cay to be quite picturesque – the grounds at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club were especially pretty.

We would dinghy over at least once a day – they provided a convenient spot to dock your dinghy.

Staniel Cay Yacht Club dinghy dock. You bring your dinghy right up on the beach (and be sure to secure it as there are tides!).

The most thrilling thing we did at Staniel Cay was to visit the Thunderball Grotto. The grotto was so named because of the 1965 James Bond movie ‘Thunderball’ that was filmed there.

In fact, the Thunderball crew figure prominently on the menu at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club.

Our own version of visiting the Staniel Cay Yacht Club with Bernard and Sylvie from Panabe and Paul and Julie from Nograstomow.

Thunderball Grotto is an underwater cave system that is simply fantastic for snorkeling. To enter the cave, you must pass through a small entrance that is only visible at low tide.

This is the outside of Thunderball Grotto.

View of the entrance from inside the cave.

We have never seen such an immense amount of exotic marine life and the colours inside were brilliant! The fish were numerous and beautiful – it was just like being inside an aquarium!

Checking out the amazing amount of fish – the picture does not do justice to the actual colours we saw.

There are holes in the top of the cave that let the sunlight shine right in. Such an amazing sight!

We stayed on anchor for the whole time we were at Staniel Cay. In preparation for some upcoming weather (wind), we moved to a more sheltered anchorage. About 50 to 60 other boats also moved to the anchorage.

Jacques checking the anchor. Winds were expected to be 30 km/h with gusts possibly reaching 55 km/h. We learned later that some gusts got to 70 km/h. We were on anchor watch from 3:00 a.m. onwards. It was a long night and we had to reset the anchor once.

We started heading north and due to winds (again!) we elected to stop at Hawksbill Cay which seemed to be the most sheltered of the possible stops. We did some more snorkeling but alas, it was not as spectacular as Thunderball Grotto. We also went for a hike.

We met up with Kent and Heather from Heartbeat, fellow Loopers that we met in Fort Meyers, Florida.

Cocktails on the beach at sundown with Heartbeat and others.

The view of Hawksbill Cay anchorage from the beach.

Hawksbill Cay was our last stop in the Exumas. After two weeks in this very scenic part of the Bahamas, we decided to head to New Providence Island as the weather was favourable for cruising.

Next up: exploring Nassau.

The Northern Exumas

The Exumas are an archipelago of 365 cays and islands. They were settled by the British Loyalists with their slaves following the Amercan Revolution.

The Exumas are considered to be in the southern cruising grounds of the Bahamas. We have decided to focus our time here on the Northern Exumas and have already reached our most southern destination of Staniel Cay.

Here is a summary of our travels in the last week.

Highbourne Cay – on the Exuma Sound side. We were safely secured at the marina and were not cruising this day.

We found this highly reliable weather station while out exploring.

Highbourne Cay Marina – supply ship is in!

The Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park is located in the Northern Exumas. This 176-square-mile National Park, created in 1958, was the first land and sea park in the world and is one of the most successful marine parks. It is the first “no-take reserve” (all fishing is prohibited) in the wider Caribbean. This stretch of pristine water, land and beaches is an ecological preserve and wildlife refuge famous for its breath-taking marine environment.

Our first stop in the park was Shroud Cay.

We took the dinghy and explored a mangrove creek.

Cloudy morning but we could see the reflection very clearly in the calm waters of the mangrove.

We could hear many birds in the mangrove but this was the only one we saw. I have been unable to identify it.

This was the tallest tree in the mangrove. We did see some turtles and one shark in the mangrove.

Exploring the beach; this conch shell is still alive. In the park you are not allowed to collect shells.

Jacques did some snorkeling at Shroud Cay. I did too and tried out my new full face mask which I absolutely love!

Warderick Cay was our next stop in the park – the north mooring field. We didn’t need to use our anchor here – just hook up a line to the mooring buoy.

Note the colour of the water. The turquoise water is deep enough for the boats; the brown coloured water is too shallow for boats. You really did not want to get out of the channel here.

We hiked the Causeway Trail on Warderick Cay.

This is the remains of a 52 foot sperm whale that was found on Warderick Cay in 1995. It was huge!

Although I do not believe this is a chickle bush, I believe these berries are fairly similar to the berries of the chickle bush. In conversation with a local, she explained that the berry of the chickle bush was used to make chicklet gum.

This is a mosquito bush. They grow on rocky shorelines, sand dunes, open saline areas and inland on sunny but damp sites. On windy coasts it usually doesn’t get much taller than about a meter. The tiny flowers can be pink or white. It is said that the smoke from a smoldering fire of this plant will repel mosquitoes. It is also used in bush medicine to treat colds, stomachache and to induce passing of kidney stones.

Our cruise to the Staniel Cay area was beautiful.

Totally calm waters – you could barely see the difference between the water and the sky.

Our first night in Staniel Cay we anchored in the Bay of Pigs.

They come right out to greet you. The story goes that they were brought onto the island as a means of food many years ago. However, the locals will not eat them – they are considered like pets (even though they have the run of the island and are wild).

These next three pictures all show the same sunset taken at slightly different times in the Bay of Pigs.

We are really treated to some great artwork in the sky.

We haven’t finished exploring all there is to see in Staniel Cay and so will stay here for a few more days before we start to meander our way back north.

Gyp C on the move again!

At first light, during one of the few weather windows while we were at Blue Water Marina in Bimini, there was a mass exodus of boats. One boat went a little too far out of the channel and got stuck on a sand bar. Jacques hopped in the dinghy to assist.

The boat on the left is stuck; the boat on the right pulled it free using the line Jacques brought over with the dinghy.

Blue Water Marina, Alice Town, Bimini – our home for almost three weeks. We are almost dead centre in the picture.

Lizards dart around here instead of the chipmunks and squirrels we see at home.

On laundry day, I was sitting outside the laundromat waiting for my load to finish when this little guy popped by for a visit.

We continued to wait for the water pump. We think the wait may have been longer than it should have been, in part, due to the fact that our Bahamas telephone plan did not work for all Bahamas numbers. Every time Customs needed information, they phoned the marina and they would come and get Jacques for the phone call. We couldn’t figure out why they were not calling our phone. It wasn’t until I tried to call a Bahamas number that we learned afterward was not on the Bahamas telephone network that we realized that our phone did not work for all of the Bahamas. So, we had to upgrade our plan so we could call all phones in the Bahamas. Aaarrrgh!

Once the pump was released from Customs, it took only two days for it to reach the marina. It arrived on Friday, January 17!

It arrived at 10:30 a.m. and made Jacques’ day!

Just like Christmas morning!

Jacques wasted no time; it was installed and tested by mid-afternoon.

We were now ready for the next weather window. Luckily for us, we didn’t have to wait too long as there was one on Sunday, January 19 and so after 18 days in Bimini, we were finally on our way.

At first light about a dozen boats left Blue Water Marina for other points in the Bahamas. We were headed to Chub Cay and we had a buddy boat – Panabe, from Quebec, which you see in front of us.

We left before 7:00 a.m. and arrived at Chub Cay shortly after 5:00 p.m. A long day, but a good day. Seas were somewhat wavy for the first part of the journey but settled down by mid-morning. All in all, a very comfortable crossing.

To take advantage of the continuing weather window, we left Chub Cay at 6:30 a.m. on January 20.

Underway with Panabe in the lead and a beautiful sunrise.

And here we are with Chub Cay in the background.

After four hours of calm waters, we reached New Providence Island and cruised through Nassau Harbour.

Nassau Harbour: mail really does travel by mail boat.

Leaving Nassau, we continued on our way to the Exumas. The afternoon part of the cruise had us in absolute awe. The water was totally calm and the most gorgeous colour of turquoise. Just after Nassau, we saw flying fish – and boy, do they ever fly! We estimate that they would go for at least 100 hundred feet before returning to the water (when I Googled fish that fly, the article states they fly at least 50 metres). It was so amazing to see, however I do not have any photographic evidence.

I am trying to get a picture of the calm, turquoise water. It was so beautiful I sat for half an hour on the bow. Not to be outdone, Jacques had a half hour snooze on the bow.

The calm, turquoise water from the bow of the boat. The water is so clear you can see the bottom; we were on the Great Bahama Bank where the depth is about 12 to 18 feet.

We anchored at Allen Cay in the Northern Exumas. The next morning tour boats started arriving.

Allen Cay anchorage in the Northern Exumas. This tour boat arrived from Nassau about mid morning. People jumped off the front of the boat and swam into shore or used the ladder at the back of the boat. They are here to see the iguanas – we haven’t seen them yet as the water was too rough to take the dinghy to shore.

Our next destination was Highbourne Cay Marina as strong winds were forecast. This was just a short one hour cruise – a much easier day than the previous two days.

Highbourne Cay Marina – we are second from right; third from right is Panabe – our buddy boat. We feel small.

A bird just like this one landed on our boat just as we were docking at Highbourne Cay Marina.

We enjoyed safe arrival cocktails with our new friends Bernard and Sylvie from Panabe.

*This parrot is on the dock at Highbourne Cay* Marina.

These little birds hung out on the dock beside our boat for a good 20 minutes. My research indicates they are called Ruddy Turntone and they were not scared of us at all.

More sharks! These nurse sharks were hanging around the fish cleaning station.

The view from the bow of our boat at Highbourne Cay Marina. Note the whitecaps on the other side of the breakwall – we are happy to be secure at the marina.

We explored Highbourne Cay Island by bike and in the middle of nowhere found this bus stop.

It is sunny and warm but the wind is chilly, hence the long pants and hoodie.

Our plan is to stay another few days to let the winds die down, then we will be on our way again.

Bimini – North and South

I could very well have titled this blog ‘W’ as there are a lot of ‘w’ words that can describe our stay here in Bimini: wonderful, wind, waves, water, weather windows, walking, waiting. Shortly after our arrival, and while doing some routine engine maintenance, Jacques discovered a leak in the water pump. This was an unexpected issue. He quickly ordered a new water pump from American Diesel, the company that supplies parts for Ford Lehman engines and they shipped it right away. However, we are still waiting for the pump. At last notice, it was at customs in Nassau – on another island. We had heard that if you need parts while in the Bahamas it could take some time to receive. We can now confirm that that is true.

So, we have been having a wonderful time exploring both North and South Bimini. On North Bimini there are two ‘highways’ – the Queen’s Highway and the King’s Highway. Both of them are extremely narrow and there are very few sidewalks. You also have to remember that traffic drives on the opposite side of the road than in North America.

Along with cars, there are a lot of golf carts, scooters and bicycles.

There is one gas station on North Bimini. It is located next to our marina and also provides fuel for boats. There is room for just one car to fill up at a time. From time to time, there is a line up waiting to get into the gas station.

Charlie’s Bread is located on the King’s Highway – and boy, does he ever make good bread – specifically coconut bread! Unfortunately, it is not available every day so you have to time your visits right.

We have been checking out some of the local cuisine.

Stuart’s Conch Shack has been serving conch salad for over 30 years.

We tried the conch salad but neither of us was very fond of it. The conch is soaked in lime juice before serving – it is not cooked.

But a lot of people like it as evidenced by all of the conch shells disposed of.

Radio Beach is a short five-minute walk from our marina and we have trekked over several times to walk on the beach and do some shell and sea glass collecting.

White caps as far as you can see – not a good day to be boating.

Somebody was creative and made use of a tree that had fallen over.

We visited Dolphin House and were provided a tour by the owner, builder and artist – Ashley Saunders. He has been building Dolphin House for 27 years – by himself. It is a tribute to the dolphins and he uses recycled materials for both the structure and to create his art. The house is built out of cement to withstand hurricanes and one of the building techniques he uses is to reinforce the corners with conch shells. He also grinds down conch shells to make additional cement. There is so much to see inside that you almost don’t know where to look first. However, Mr. Saunders ensures you don’t miss anything as he guides you through the house.

Dolphin House is a work in progress. The first two floors are completed. The third floor is still under construction (note the scaffolding). Mr. Saunders lives on the first floor and the rest is open to the public.

Sea glass is used in this dolphin picture. He also asks visitors to send him license plates as he uses just about everything to create his art – here are some Canadian ones.

He carved this palm tree from a conch shell.

At the end of the tour he asked us to provide him with one of our boat cards. It will be added to his wall of cards.

Yesterday, we took the water taxi to South Bimini.

This beach is located near the only marina on South Bimini.

The roads were much wider on South Bimini and there was less traffic. We found this sign intriguing.

We visited the Bimini Biological Field Station Shark Lab where there is ongoing research on the sharks. We learned that the Bahamas is a shark protected zone. Some sharks that live in the Bahamas are: bull, lemon, hammerhead, nurse and tiger.

We cannot complain about the sunrises we can see from our boat.

January 6 – taken from the bow of the boat.

January 8 – taken from the end of our dock.

Since everyone is waiting for weather windows before continuing their travels, most people have been here at the marina from one to two weeks. One evening, we had a pizza party on the dock. We have met Canadians, Americans, and one family from Costa Rica (originally from Indiana). It has been so enjoyable getting to know all of them and learning about many different things.

We are hopeful the water pump will arrive in the next few days so we can continue on our journey – the next good weather window is in four days – wish us luck!