Swimming Pigs & Bond Sets

Big Majors Cay, Exumas
24 11.0N 76 27.6W

Well now I've seen it all! The Cay here has four pigs on it and as you approach in the dinghy they swim out to meet you in anticipation of being fed you food scraps, the big brown hog has on occassion swum out 50m plus to meet us, and will try and get in your dinghy if you let him.

We also got to snorkel Thunderball Cave, scene of the famous underwater fight in James Bond - strangely we found a snorkel there, how do you lose one without noticing, other than by being attacked by one of Blofeld's henchmen?

A beautiful place to snorkel, no fishing allowed so lots of big fish, and you swim right into the cave so see deep blue holes everywhere where it opens to the sea, you can snorkel down and swim out popping up in the ocean again and then back in for hours on end, the current got too strong before we got bored, so heading back for a second go today!

The Exumas - Paradise Found

Warderick Wells, Exumas
24 23.0N 76 38.0 W

Happy New Year!

We are currently sheltering from some very strong winds, which is hard for us here as our keel is too deep for all the good anchorages, but we have found a comfortable spot and are catching up on reading as we can't get in the dinghy!

So the last few weeks have basically been paradise, cruising slowly down the Exumas chain, snorkeling, lazing on the beach, swimming in clear water and catching a few lobster to eat - we aren't joking that has been life!

We had one engine problem but found a man with a welder and got that sorted out, so all well.

Allan's Cay just north of here was interesting, it has a large population of iguanas living there that run out to meet you expecting feeding, as well as excellent snorkeling and lobster hunting.

The next few weeks hold more of the same, it is about 100 miles to Georgetown which will for us mark the end of the Bahamas as we will leave from there for our trip to Puerto Rico, island hopping but also making the most of every weather window.

Happy Christmas!

Highbourne Cay, Exumas
24 42.6N 76 49.6W

Happy Christmas to our avid blog followers (anyone reading this on Christmas day is avid) we are eating lobster we caught on the reef, drinking cask wine and missing all our friends and rellies, always a strange time of year for us as we celebrate in exotic locations but far from our loved ones.

Have a wonderful Christmas and we hope to see lots of you all next year
T&L

Cruise Ships, Gucci & Junkanoo

Nassau, Bahamas
25 04.90'N 077 19.80'W

Sadly we had to leave the Berry Islands as the wind went E/SE for a while and because of our draft we couldn't find anywhere protected to anchor, so we waved goodbye to the tranquil calm of an unpopulated island and sailed down to Nassau. Twenty miles off we picked up our first sight of the Atlantis Resort, 2 huge hotels on Paradise Island which forms the northern part of the harbour at Nassau, as we got closer we began to see a never ending stream of cruise ships shuttling in and out of the entrance and realised that sadly we were back in "civilisation" again.

After our customary problem of not having enough water to anchor in we found a spot not in the shipping channel, not too close to shore and with a patch of sand to bury the anchor so we could sleep soundly during the forecast strong winds - only took 2 hours!

Nassau itself is interesting, the few blocks of downtown have old colonial buildings, all brightly painted in pastel shades, the huge cruise ship terminal and for the passengers endless shops selling Gucci, Prada, Breitling etc etc as well as a Burger King for the home sick yanks who have been eating ship food for 36 hours. Luckily it seems most of the passengers can't walk more than 100m, so once clear of the terminal the town is a lot more interesting, with colonial forts, hills to climb with views and the compulsory tour of the Atlantis Resort. It's a huge hotel, very well done actually with a stunning aquarium that fills the whole of one wall of the reception area, filled with sharks, tuna, manta rays and every other sort of marine life you could want - even better than the main pool at Sydney Aquarium but funded by gambling so free to see!

Last night we went to the Junior Junkanoo festival. Junkanoo is the Bahamian equivalent of Carnival, a night f dancing, singing and drums and a huge parade through the main streets. We will miss the main event so we went to the High School version. Amazing, it went on all night, when we left at midnight they had just got to the 11 year olds! Very courful, ll the kids parents in teh stands cheering them on and great dancing and music.

We have also waited out some strong winds and the very distant threat that Tropical Storm Olga would come north (doesn't it know hurricane season is over!) and explored the forts, did some odd jobs and shopping and met a great bunch of cruisers all doing the same thing. We hope to leave on Monday for the trip across the Bahama Bank to the Exumas - supposedly a paradise of sand, sea and coral.