This past week, we went back to the "Coral Garden" underwater park off Sandy Cay across from the Pelican Cays. This is that beautiful area we mentioned in previous posts that has fabulous elk horn coral, brain coral, many large purple sea fans and lots of fish. This time we saw a large school of Blue Tangs, Small Mouth Grunts, a 10" French Angelfish and at least three two-foot long Parrot fish! At one point, Greg popped his head up and yelled at Sharon "Barracuda coming your way". Sharon looked down and sure enough, a 30" Barracuda was headed in her direction. It is a fabulous place to snorkel. We have even figured out how to get back in the dingy after a snorkel. It is not pretty, but with our fins giving us good leverage, we can both do it without each other's help.
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| The view above the water at Sandy Cay |
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| Casuarina Trees on Sandy Cay |
We returned to an anchorage we had tried before at the north end of Tilloo Cay. It was a quiet night and by morning, we had floated up over our anchor. Since you can see the bottom here, it was funny to see the chain and anchor off our port side. We know this has happened to us on very quiet days in Newport Harbor, but you can't see bottom there, so you guess.
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| This photo was taken amidships on the port side |
Greg needed to be where there were good connections for some business calls, so we headed off to Hopetown on Elbow Cay. This is a sweet little town with a protected harbor. It was settled by a widow from South Carolina and has pretty cottages of all colors and styles, beautiful beaches with massive coral reefs 30-50 feet offshore, fun restaurants and one of the last two remaining manned lighthouses in the world - this one illuminated by a kerosene torch!
We enjoyed a walk around the town, dinner at Hopetown Lodge and a quiet night on a mooring. The next day, we received an invitation from Hayden and Radeen on "Island Spirit" to an impromptu happy hour with other Island Packet owners. It was great to meet Eric and Pat on "Cutter Loose" from Sewickley, PA, Jess and Robin on "Robinsong" from Niceville, FL, Art and Brenda on "Zippity Doo Dah" from Anchorage, AK and Bill and crew on "Jalon, Jalon" from Toronto. So fun to hear of their travels and all the news. And of course, great to catch up with Hayden and Radeen whom we have known for years.
We have had many discussions about cultural differences in the world. Bahamians, we have found, are mostly friendly, welcoming and happy. Last week, we dined at "Wally's" in Marsh Harbour. Our server, "Niana" hailed from Freeport and was effusive about her hometown and said we definitely had to visit. When we had to ask her name a second time, she put here hand on her hip and said "Just think of Lady Di and make it an "N" instead of a "D"." Cracked us up. Then, she told us of an older couple she has been caring for. They are millionaires, but she said, money isn't everything. She has Alzheimer's and he has Cancer. So - her advice is you have to LIVE! Live your life!
The weather will remain a bit unsettled over the next 4-5 days with a couple cold fronts running through the area. This means that winds will clock around from West, through North, East, back to South and then will do it all over again a couple days later. So - our plan is to pretty much stay in a harbor. We are at Marsh right now, and will head to Treasure Cay tomorrow, abou tten miles north of here. We hope that "Sanderling" and "Neverland" (who are there right now) will stick around to say hi. Everyone is starting to prepare for the trip back to the States. Some have left, some are waiting for the right weather window, others are making their way to points west so they are ready when the window comes.
We will let you know as our plans gel regarding that trip. Until then - LIVE!
NOTE: remember you can click on the photos to enlarge them
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