January In The Exumas

Georgetown, Bahamas

After the Wilson’s leave we have nearly two weeks until our next guest so we return northwards taking in some more of the sights of Exuma Park and the northern Exumas.  We spend the time with some combination of Chandelle, Merlin, Bella and Bleu Marie so there is no shortage of social time, making the new years resolutions of less drinking hard to stick to!

We manage to bag a good few lobster when not in the park, filling the freezer to eat them while in the park, and it is good to alternate between hunting and photography modes underwater.  We continue to get a few cold fronts with grey weather and strong winds so quite a bit of time is spent at Cambridge Cay, a lovely anchorage, well protected and with great walking along the island cliffs.

Mid month Tim’s cousin Kate arrived for a holiday, our last holiday together we were probably about 6 years old so who knew what to expect! 

We had a great time, catching up and reminiscing plus visiting Staniel Cay, Leaf Cay and Georgetown.

 

Kate qualified as a diver last year and I got to take her for her first ocean dive during the trip. 

She took everything in her stride, normally you get off the back of a nice big comfortable dive boat for your dive but not on Matsu - it’s the contortionist exercise of getting kitted up in a 10’ RIB before a back  roll into the sea and waiting while your dive buddy goes through the same exercise!

We waved Kate farewell at Emerald Bay marina, our first visit there and the first time since clearing customs that we had been anywhere near a dock, Charlie was very excited at getting a night to play ashore, while we were over the moon with a free laundry and WIFI!

We are now anchored in Georgetown along with 200 other boats and will work out our plans from here.

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December In The Exumas

The Exumas

So a month in the Bahamas has passed already, and it has been superb to be back in the land of sun, sand and lobsters.

We picked up Josette in Nassau and she spent two weeks with us.  A week of which we spent tucked up at Allan’s Cay at the north end of the Exumas. 

With unseasonal westerly winds we had a great opportunity to hunt on the reefs on the east side of the islands and quickly got back into snorkeling  mode.  We bagged a dozen lobster over a few days, eating like Kings and putting a few in the freezer to cover the leaner days ahead.

The rest of her trip was spent in the Exuma Cays National Park, snorkeling, walking on the beaches and enjoying the sunshine and sand.

After Josette left we had 2 weeks to ourselves, a lot of which was spent holes up at Cambridge Cay as a succession of cold fronts swept down from the USA.  Although we weren’t shoveling snow, we were getting cold and very windy weather, so spent a lot of time catching up on reading and sheltering from the howling wind.

With perfect timing the weather cleared up in time for a lovely Christmas Day party on the beach. 

We were joined by 5 other boats that we know from different parts of our travels in the Bahamas and Caribbean over the past few years

Despite being a long way from our families we still managed to eat and drink far too much in the traditional Christmas way, but it was sad not to be able to get to a phone to say a proper hello.

After Christmas the weather stayed perfect for Kate, Roger and the kids visit for New Year.  We had a great little “holiday”; snorkeling in Thunderball cave, feeding the swimming pigs of Big Majors and a few games of beach cricket which is rapidly catching on in the Bahamas cruising community – maybe the Ozzies can unearth a batsmen here?

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We waved them sadly goodbye and move into 2011 with few definite plans.  Current favourite is to explore the Bahamas until May then return to the USA for summer, with a side trip on a airplane to the UK to visit the relatives.