Great Day Surfing and hanging with Tim and Kids

We all had a blast on the Ocean side of Stocking Island - the swell was up and the waves were great in the morning and fell off as the day went on.  Good to get an overhead session in, it's been a while since I have had the adrenaline surge juicy waves provide!  Tyler was out with Matt from Sea Chelle and I and he did a great job in a place with super steep take offs right in front of very shallow rock.  The spot is a bit intimidating at first, but we all had a blast.

I'm considering racing Zusammen  in the Georgetown Cruisers Regatta next Thursday and looking to pull together a completely unfair team ;-)...  I'll keep you posted.

Family pics

Georgetown / Hoopers Bay / Palm Bay

We've been back at Stocking Island for the past six days, having a blast! My parents arrived on the 8th, and we've visited them in their wonderful first rental, "The Treehouse", and now their very grand large house "Coral Sands Villa". They are loving the Bahamas, and we are loving having them here. Tim, Thibault, and Margot, arrive tomorrow, and we are very excited to see them and have some adventures. Gina and Steve arrived on the 14th, and we've been with them every day, going snorkeling, hiking, boating, and having a few cocktails at Chat n Chill or Splash. Gina especially liked meeting all the cruising people, and changed her name from Gina Barry to Gina from Palm Bay, as all the boaters use their boat names in their introductions. We've had so much fun being with them and are so glad they came here to see us.

We're awaiting the arrival of our good friends, Sam, Betsy, Nat, Ben, and Win Davenport on their sailboat, Chere. The last we heard they were cruising down the Exuma chain, so we hope to see them soon. They are close friends of ours from home, and it will be great to be together again.

Cambridge Cay, Staniel, Great Guana, etc...

Some pictures and shots from the southern Portion of Exuma Park - Cambridge Cay.  A particular dive site is highlighted here, called "The Aquarium".  We also visited caves (I'll put up some more video and pictures) and saw sharks (a few Bulls!), spotted eagle rays, fish of all shapes and sizes there.  An amazing place - the water is indescribable.  The first day we were there, it was quite hot and there was no wind.  Lex and I left the kids playing with their pals on Dharma and we took a ride looking for some SCUBA sites.  On the way back to Zusammen, with the sun behind us, the dinghy appeared to be floating in the air.  It was incredible.  The water was so still and so clear, that the surface was not distinguishable from the bottom.  It was the most amazing dinghy ride ever.  We flew along over coral, fish and one large spotted eagle ray at 20 plus kts, feeling like the dinghy was flying.

A bit out of chronological order, a quick clip of us sailing North up to the park in a gentle breeze.

Our run back south today to Black Point from Cambridge Cay was fantastic - 20 knts of wind on the stern and we were making over 8 knts at times and sailing with just the genoa!  The cold front that generated this wind, brought some serious cold, however.  We haven't had any temperatures like these since we arrived in the Bahamas, even up north in Grand Bahama.  I dug out a jacket from Forrest that hasn't seen daylight in months...

We don't think much about temperature on a day to day, or have any concern for sun, clouds or rain.  It never rains and the clouds are usually a welcome break from the sun.  We wish it would rain so we could wash the boat and collect rainwater for drinking and showers.  (Water costs $0.40 a gallon here) We haven't seen a real rain since one squall in mid January.  This cloud cover isn't great for us either, as we power the boat's electrical system with two 135 watt solar panels (mounted over the dinghy davits).  We haven't had to run the engine to make power to charge the batteries since we left Padanaram.  That may change in the next couple of days.  The thermometer on the boat says 75, it feels much colder in the wind.  I am sure we won't be getting much sympathy from our pals up north... Not to worry, the cold fronts push through and the temperature will come back up, the wind will settle back to it's 10-15 easterly pattern and all will be well!

Penny and Robert have arrived already and we're hoping we can make the 46 mile run back to Georgetown tomorrow so we can see them - I think we will poke our nose outside Dotham cut, see what the sea state looks like and if the swell is under 8-10 feet, we'll run south.  If it is too sloppy, we may have to run inside to Farmers and wait for a better sea state.  The Barry's arrive on Tuesday evening, we're excited to have everyone coming to visit!  The kids can't wait to see their cousins and grandparents!

Five Fs - Farmers Cay

We spent 2 nights in Farmer's Cay for the 5 Fs Festival, which is a fundraiser to help preserve the park in the Exumas. We had a great time with friends, but unfortunately the festival didn't really happen. We did take part in a few contests, hermit crab racing and others...and the rum punch at Ocean Cabin was great! The kids had fun seeing the Dharma and Osprey kids again.

Kids picking their crabs

Ready, Set, Go!

We lost, but it was a good laugh, and the kids loved it.

Leaf Cay

Lee Stocking Island and Leaf Cay

Had a great time at Lee Stocking Island and Leaf Cay with our pals from Good Trade and made some new pals on Sea Chelle.  Both boats have kids aboard.  The kids all had a great time swimming around looking for fish and conch as well as playing in the surf on the East Side.  There are pink Iguanas we discovered before anyone else arrived and we had a good time introducing them to our friends.  I pulled a quick video together last night - loading slowly into YouTube now.

We are now at Little Farmers Yacht Club awaiting the "5 Fs" (Farmers First Friday of February Festival).  I got myself volunteered to sell raffle tickets to support "Save the Exuma Park".  The kids helped me raise $50 last night and we'll shoot for doubling that today.

No Mahi caught on the trip from Adderly Cut to Farmers.  I need a mojo change...Hope we do better on the way to Dotham Cut on Saturday or Sunday.  Go Pats!