Saturday, April 25, 2009

My body is back in Raleigh--I still have Bahama Brain

We got home about midnight Thursday. For the last week we did not have internet access. The solar panels were acting up so I could not run the computer to prepare updates. Stand by-- I will be adding more pictures over the next couple of days.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Rum Cay Supplement

We sailed for Rum Cay Monday morning and arrived in the afternoon after catching another nice Mahi. Bill sighted it going for our lure and when he gave the lure a tug, the fish bit. Rum Cay turned out not to be the bright center of the universe the guides had promised, but we were thankful that the marina did have ice. Tuesday Bill and Denny fixed the refridgerator! It turned out that last week a bug had gotten into the fan and knocked the fan blade off causing the compressor to work too hard and draw too much power. They took the fan apart, replaced wires, and then discovered the real problem when they put it back together. We all felt like celebrating so we walked into town for a beer-- but no beer could be found. One of the residents even tried to find his cousin who was reported to have beer—to no avail. The grocery store had none and the only restaurant we found open had 1 bud and 1 something else and no food. So we dejectedly hiked back to the marina and I went snorkeling off the beach. The reef was massive in shallow water with low coral cover. I saw several Nassau groupers and snappers and encountered a large slipper lobster lumbering across the rocks. Too bad I didn’t know that there is no season on slipper lobster. I also saw a couple of big nurse sharks and a VERY large bull shark who luckily ignored me. Unfortunately I did not take my camera this time—I won’t do that again.

So now it is Wednesday and the winds will probably keep us here one more day. Winds are more favorable tomorrow to head back to Conception Island. We hope to check out more of that elkhorn reef. It looks like the only place we will be able to get air will be at Stella Maris at Long Island but snorkeling is great and the water is beautiful.

Conception Island Supplement

Saturday winds were favorable for sailing to Conception Island. This island is uninhabited and is a national park with a beautiful anchorage on the northwest side. Patch reefs are everywhere—some rocky with low to moderate coral coverage and some very shallow large healthy elkhorn coral (coral and seafans were sticking out of the water at low tide). Disaster struck in paradise, though, when we discovered that the refrigerator had failed. We transferred perishables to the ice chest and watched our ice supply quickly shrinking while contemplating where the closest ice machine might be. The sailing guides promised that Rum Cay was a bright center of civilization so we decided to go there Monday. Sunday we made a SCUBA dive on Hampton Reef in crystal clear water. This is a massive reef extending for miles off the northern tip of Conception Island; however we were surprised to find low coral cover and few fish. We spotted our first lionfish here.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Conception Island and Rum Cay

We arrived Monday at the marina at Rum Cay and will probably stay another day. We had 2 beautiful days at Conception Island and snorkeled. On Sunday we made a SCUBA dive where we had crystal clear water. Internet is not good here. I will try to post pictures.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Calabash Bay, Long Island

Yesterday Denny and Bill made a mostly successfull attempt to patch the leak in the Dinghy. The weather continues to be good and we will leave for Rum Cay this morning. I did some snorkeling --there is mostly sand and seagrass with a few small hardbottom areas. The water is beautiful!!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Long Island here we are.

We left Georgetown this morning and arrived at Calabash Bay on the northern end of Long Island. On the way Denny caught a Mahi. So dinner tonight is Mahi with fruit salsa and caribbean rice. Bill and I got our gills wet and saw a black angelfish and a large porcupine fish. We had beautiful weather however it looks like we will not get to Conception Island until Saturday because the wind is coming up. Will try to get some pictures on but the connection here is not real good.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

We are headed out tomorrow.

The weather has calmed down, the dingy motor is fixed (for the moment), we stocked up on food and gasoline. So we will leave the marina this evening and head for Long Island tomorrow morning. We had great conch fritters for lunch and tonight we will have ribs at vollyball beach.
Posts may be scarce because I dont know what the internet access will be in Long Island.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

We are Here!!!


Had a good flight. Wind is out of NW at about 15 -20 but it is 88 degrees. LOVE IT. We will spend the night at the docks, grocery shop in the morning then anchor out until we can cross to Long Island.

Monday, April 6, 2009

We're Packed and Ready to Go.

None too early--temperature in Raleigh is supposed to be in the 30s on Wednesday. We leave bright and early tomorrow morning and get there arround 3:30pm. Enjoy your last bit of winter--I won't miss it.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Denny and Faye made it!

I received a SPOT yesterday showing them at Georgetown. We will be joining them Tuesday afternoon!

Friday, April 3, 2009

Last year we were able to take our boat, Spiraserpula, on a 6 week cruise to the Bahamas. This year we did not have as much time so we will spend 2 weeks with Denny and Faye on Incommunigato.