Will the Wind Never Stop Blowing? We last updated the blog from the north mooring field at Warderick Wells on Friday, April 17th. We had planned to leave the north mooring field the next day and join the rest of the group at the south mooring field, but the wind was blowing so hard that we decided to sit tight another day. The Admiral works on our previous blog update from the Exumas Land & Sea Park Headquarters. What a beautiful "office" to work out of! Loved this boat name! Seems the grandma was the one who was supposed to come up with a name for the boat but every time she came up with a name her son said "That's nice but...." Thus the name "Nice Butt!" The Bahamian "Coast Guard," called the Bahamas Defense Force. Todd dinghied over to Park Headquarters early Saturday morning to work on e-mail and came back later that same morning with Captain Bruce from "Bahama Star" and his friend Mark in tow. Bruce owns a charter sailboat company based in South Carolina and spends several months a year sailing in the Bahamas. We met Bruce last year when we were at the south mooring field and just missed him this past summer when we were at the Maritime Center in Charleston, SC. At any rate, we had Bloody Mary's and freshly baked banana bread and shared boat stories for a few hours before Todd ran Bruce and Mark back to Park Headquarters where the first mate was picking them up to take them back to "Bahama Star" which was on a mooring at Emerald Rock. Chances are good that we will cross paths with Captain Bruce again before we head back to the States in June. Captain Bruce with the L2S crew. About mid-afternoon "Rickshaw" came in to the north mooring field and Todd got in his dinghy to guide them to their assigned mooring ball. Rick & Lynnie chose to stay at the Normans Cay anchorage when the rest of the group went south a few days prior but had decided to brave the wind and seas to join us at Warderick Wells. At 5:30 that afternoon we all gathered on the beach for the Park-sponsored boaters' social, a weekly Saturday afternoon event. The Park supplies a cooler of ice and the boaters all bring their drinks and an appetizer to share with the group. We had a fun time meeting and chatting with other boaters from a variety of countries and even ran across at least one couple that we met at the social last year. Sunday morning Todd dinghied over to "Rickshaw" to discuss charts and then we left for the south mooring field about 11:00 a.m. Even though the south mooring field is only a few miles away via the Sound, it took us a over an hour to get there via the Bank. We poked our bow part-way out in the Sound when we left the north mooring field and quickly decided it was far too rough to attempt. The rest of the gang had gone to Emerald Beach for the day so it was quiet in the south mooring field. We had planned to join them at the beach but didn't want to fight the waves in the dinghy to get there. Todd ended up doing a little snorkeling and then we went to Escape Beach for an abbreviated happy hour - it was too windy for the umbrella and the sun was too intense to stay on the beach without shade. It was pretty breezy in the south mooring field so we decided to leave late Monday morning and found a protected anchorage a few miles south at Little Halls Pond. Todd did some more snorkeling and then we went to a very nice nearby beach for a few hours before retiring to the boat for the evening. Lionfish, don't touch or you will know it. Triggerfish. Goldfish?? ;-) Reef Snappers. Sometime overnight the wind clocked more to the south and the anchorage got much rougher in the early morning hours, so we were up at 7:00 and on the move by 7:45 heading for an anchorage at Bell Island, near the Cambridge moorings. By noon "September Song," "Tide Hiker" and "Rickshaw" were on moorings at Cambridge. "Gypsies in the Palace" had put Colleen on board with "September Song" and went to the north mooring field at Warderick Wells to take care of some personal business. Must be nice to have your own float-plane that you can land at any cay you want! We actually had to throttle back to allow the plane to take off right in front of us. After we got anchored I did some bucket laundry on the bow and then Todd left to go snorkeling with the others. He returned about 3:30 and we went to the beach for a few hours before going over to "September Song" for a wonderful dinner featuring the Yellowfin tuna Todd caught on the way to Nassau. We had a great time feeding sharks off the back of "September Song" (which the mooring host scolded Bob for the next day) and playing Catch Phrase until after midnight. The gang snorkeling at the Sea Aquarium. A very large lobster hiding in his cave. A Nassau Grouper with all sorts of Sergeant Majors around it. Fans of purple coral. Some kind of electric blue fish?? Angelfish. We were up before 7:00 a.m. Wednesday to go to Staniel Cay to pick up Colleen's husband, John, who was flying in that morning on Watermakers Air. Bob taxied Colleen over to "Life's2Short" and we headed out into the Sound, which was actually very calm, and began trolling a line as soon as we were outside the Park boundary. We didn't have any luck fishing, but John was waiting on the dock for us when we arrived and was happy to be reunited with his wife. We spent a few hours on Staniel Cay making a few phone calls, doing some shopping, checking on mail for "September Song" and "Gypsies" and having a wonderful burger at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. By the time we were ready to leave, the wind had picked up considerably but the Captain still decided to go back via the Sound so they could fish. As luck would have it, the fish were hitting now that the water was getting rough so I had the pleasure of piloting "Life's2Short" while John, Colleen and Todd wrestled two nice Mahi-mahi, virtually back-to-back, into the boat. Todd waits while Colleen reels in her Mahi-mahi. L2S's swim deck is not an easy place to land these guys! The Captain sits on the cooler while the Mahi-mahi thrash about. Notice the two tails sticking out of the cooler. When we returned to Cambridge, we picked up a mooring ball and joined the rest of the group in the mooring field. Todd then got busy cleaning the catches of the day on the bow of "Life's2Short" while the rest of us "supervised" his efforts. That evening Norm & Vicki graciously hosted the entire group of twelve for dinner aboard "Tide Hiker," providing grilled pork loin while everyone else contributed a side dish. Another excellent meal! Yeah baby! And now the work begins.... We had planned to have another group dinner Thursday evening aboard "September Song" with the Mahi-mahi we had caught on the way back from Staniel Cay; however, the decision was made to postpone the gathering until Friday evening to give everyone a little break so we left the mooring field early Thursday afternoon and moved to an anchorage off Pipe Cay, near Compass Cay Marina. The trip was short and uneventful except for the incredibly rough open water at Conch Cut! Fortunately, the cut is only about a mile wide so we were through it relatively quickly and back into calmer water. Once we got anchored, Todd radioed "Rickshaw" to get their e-mail address so he could send them a couple of photos he had taken and learned that Lynnie had lacerated her finger while they were tying to the mooring ball we had just vacated (because it was in calmer water) and that she was at Compass Cay Marina being attended to by a retired physician whose was staying at the marina aboard his boat, "Snow Crab." Since we were so close to the marina, we dinghied over to check on Rick & Lynnie and offer our support. Cleaning out the cut on "Snow Crab." A worried husband looks on as his wife is attended to by the good doctor. While there we learned that they had boated to the marina in their tender and had gotten soaked going across Conch Cut. Knowing how rough it was crossing the cut in "Life's2Short," I can't even imagine how rough it must have been in a tender! Once Lynnie was fixed up we invited them to follow us back to "Life's2Short" where we loaded our dinghy, tied Rick's to the back of our boat, hauled anchor and took them back to Cambridge so they wouldn't have to endure as rough a ride going back. After what they had been through, neither of them needed to deal with that! Thankfully, Lynnie's finger wasn't severed or broken and with care and patience, it should heal nicely. When we got to Cambridge, we decided to drop anchor just long enough to get Rick & Lynnie back in their tender and then we were going to go back to our anchorage at Pipe Cay. Unfortunately, Todd forgot about the tow rope on the tender when he went to back down on the anchor and it quickly wrapped itself around the prop! After a brief dip in the water Todd was able to cut the rope off the prop and shaft. Rick & Lynnie got into their tender, and Doug (from "Gypsies") was there to make sure Rick & Lynnie got back on board "Rickshaw" without incident. How's that for teamwork! When we got back to Pipe Cay we found that a catamaran had taken our spot, so we chose another one closer to the marina and settled in for the evening. It was still windy, windy, windy so we moved again Friday morning to a nice shallow bay with a wonderful beach, called Janet's Beach, off Compass Cay. Todd did some snorkeling between the beach and the boat looking for sand dollars and then we spent a nice couple of hours on the beach. That evening we enjoyed fresh grilled Mahi-mahi for dinner, as did the rest of the group at the Cambridge mooring field, hosted by "September Song." Late Saturday morning we dinghied over to the beach and followed the "goat path" inland from Janet's Beach. Along the way we came across the foundation of a house that once belonged to Tucker's family (Tucker owns Compass Cay Marina) and an old well that is now filled with dirt. The goat path came out in the back of the next bay to the north, which we believe is the same bay where we found all the big red starfish last year, so we walked the beach back around to the dinghy. Later that afternoon we went back to the beach for another pleasantly tranquil happy hour. We left our anchorage at Compass Cay Sunday morning, stopped at Sampson Cay Marina to fill up with water and were anchored at Big Majors Spot by noon. The water really wasn't all that rough considering how windy it has been, but we had structured our route so that we would have as much protection as possible from shallow sand bores and islands along the way. And given the wind speed and direction, the anchorage at Big Majors is as nicely protected as any we've been in since we got to the Exumas. After we got anchored, we noticed that the boat next to us was a Defever named "Silver Boots." Todd radioed Stephanie aboard "September Song" and learned that they had attended the Defever rendezvous a few months ago and are acquainted with the rest of our group. Todd later waved them over as they were passing by in their dinghy and we introduced ourselves to Jim & Pam who we will likely see again this summer somewhere on the Tennessee River. We then went to a nearby beach with a wonderful shade tree and spent a couple of hours reading and enjoying some land time. "Lucky Stars" was also anchored at Big Majors when we arrived and Dan & Carol stopped by briefly Sunday evening as they were leaving "Silver Boots." That was the first time we had physically seen them since they left Allens Cay, the morning after we crossed from Nassau to the Exumas about two-and-a-half weeks ago. Todd got up early Monday morning to change the oil in the generator and then spent the rest of the morning trying to help "Gypsies in the Palace" make arrangements to get their motor mount back from Staniel Cay. The rest of the group has been waiting at Cambridge with "Gypsies" while the broken motor mount was shuttled to Staniel Cay to be welded, but things don't happen very quickly on island time and it took longer than anticipated. Nonetheless, everything was finally taken care of and the part was delivered to "Gypsies" by mid-day. In the meantime "Rickshaw" and "Tide Hiker" left Cambridge and made their way to Staniel Cay/Big Majors Spot in some pretty rough seas. As windy as it's been for the past few weeks, Monday was probably as windy a day as we've seen. When Todd tried to dinghy over to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club Monday morning to pick up the motor mount for Doug, he got hit by so much wind and rough water when he rounded the southern tip of Big Majors and headed east that he turned around and came back to the boat, saying it wasn't safe to be out there in something as small as our dinghy. Monday afternoon we dinghied back over to our shade tree beach and were later joined by Norm & Vicki from "Tide Hiker." "Rickshaw" had gone in to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club to spend a few days. Lynnie's finger is getting a little better each day, but she isn't able to get it wet so her activities on the boat are limited and she and Rick needed some land time. "September Song" and "Gypsies in the Palace" made it to Big Majors Spot before noon on Tuesday and we all met at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club for a late lunch. We hitched a ride with Bob & Stephanie on their tender, "Half Note," and took the north route, which is longer, but we were hoping for calmer water - WRONG! Todd was literally soaked by the time we got to the Yacht Club and Stephanie got more than her fair share as well. But none of us melted and we had a great time at the Yacht Club. What a great group of folks! Todd hangs a used "Life's2Short" flag at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. Todd with our wonderful server Ruth. It was almost 3:00 p.m. by the time we finished lunch. With the exception of Lynnie & Rick, the group decided to go to Club Thunderball that afternoon/evening for happy hour and all-you-can-eat pizza and pasta. None of us wanted to endure another dinghy ride back to our boats, so we proceeded directly from the Staniel Cay Yacht Club to Club Thunderball where we convinced them to start happy hour a wee bit early. As you can see from the photos, a fun time was had by all! Happy Hour at Club Thunderball. A view of the north end of Staniel Cay from Club Thunderball. Big Boat Bob with the Kalik troll. Our water taxi, "Half Note," compliments of Bob & Stephanie. Wednesday morning Todd & I left Big Majors Spot and headed south to an anchorage off Bitter Guana Cay. While Todd was doing a little snorkeling he met Stanley, a local from Blackpoint, who was out spearing fish. Todd made a new friend and we had fresh Nassau grouper for dinner! Todd went hiking Thursday morning in search of treasures on the east side of the island but didn't find much of interest. That afternoon we went to the beach for a couple of hours and were amazed at how brave (and big) some of the iguanas were! The popular spot for iguanas in the Exumas is Allens Cay, but they've got nothing on the iguanas at Bitter Guana Cay! There may not be quite as many of them on Bitter Guana, and they certainly don't see as many tourists as the ones at Allens, but they are not even remotely afraid of humans. It was kind of creepy being stalked by them! Unfortunately, Todd didn't have his camera so we didn't get any photos. Today is Friday, May 1st, and we have moved south a few more miles to Blackpoint Settlement where we will catch up on laundry and update the blog. Today is also our 10th wedding anniversary and the Captain surprised me first thing this morning with a sparkling new wedding ring! It is an exact replica of the original ring, which I've always loved, only considerably larger and incredibly brilliant! What a wonderfully generous and thoughtful man! What a wonderful lady!!! We believe several of the rest of our group plan to join us at Blackpoint either later today or tomorrow so we will look forward to seeing them again. I should note that John & Colleen, one of the couples aboard "Gypsies in the Palace," decided to cut their trip short and fly back to the States from Staniel Cay yesterday. We enjoyed meeting them and wish them the best. Plans are to stay in touch and possibly spend some time boating together after we return to the States later this year. As I close this post, I should mention that the wind is supposed to finally be calming down a bit over the next several days. We are hoping this has been the last "big" blow of the season but only time will tell! I know everyone we have been boating with is ready for the wind to lighten up and we also have friends who have been trying for weeks to get here from the States, so maybe they will finally be able to make it across. Safe journies to "Freyja," "In Your Dreams" and "WhateDazeIt?" as they make their way to the Exumas!