Visiting the North (Windward) side from Rock Sound

Oops, I hit enter right after writing the title and thus posted the title only. ...here's the rest-

We had heard that it was a long walk to the north side (or more accurately the windward side) but that it was worthwhile, both for the beach there and for the small family style restaurant run by Rose. We four (joined by John & Betty) headed into the rickety dinghy dock at 9:30 with snorkel gear in tow. We reached the dock just as another dinghy arrived and immediately made friends with Joe and Ann Morton, on an Island Packet, Short Walk, from Rock Hall, MD. They were also planning to walk across to the beach.

The windward beach was just gorgeous and we enjoyed both walking and snorkeling.

We had been walking about half an hour when Rose happened to pass us as she headed into town. She asked if we were heading over to North Beach and were we thinking of having lunch. We answered yes to both. She said she'd be back by 12:30 and continued into town. About 10 minutes later she showed up heading our way (in a different car) and offered to drive us the rest of the way. We protested that we couldn't all fit and didn't want to abandon the other half of our group which was several 100 feet ahead of us. She insisted and said she'd come back for them too! ....This really is a friendly island! We spent almost two hours walking the beach and snorkeling on several small heads inside the outer reef before enjoying a lovely lunch.

Rose had too many errands in town and had enlisted a good friend to drive out and finish making and serving our meal. She also couldn't have been nicer and gave db, Natasha and I a ride back to town. She was late for work so couldn't offer to go back for the rest, but as the kids wanted to get a chance to use the kayaks we took the free ride. On the way to town we noticed she had two packages of fresh rolls in the car. I asked where she had gotten them and she said from the bread truck and please take one of the packages! They were delicious and quite fresh.

Four of us hit the water on North Beach and the quiet west wind made snorkeling very pleasant. No where near as many fish as down in the Exumas, but still lots to see.

db and Natasha spent almost two hours exploring the harbor on the kayaks and were back in time to help organize a light hors d'oeuvres gathering with Pekabu III and Andiamo. Our lunch of jerk chicken, mac and cheese, peas and rice and plantains was definitely the large meal of the day, so we were fine with just snacking our way through the cocktail hour. We have an early departure tomorrow as db and Natasha have to be at the airport at 7:00 am. We can get there by dinghy in about 15 minutes, so we'll be leaving the boat just at sunrise. ~~~_/)~~~M&D, db&N

Rock Sound, Eleuthera

CCYC South anchored off the ruined fuel dock in Rock Sound. Fourth boat is a live-aboard couple from Oriental, NC who gave us lots of tips about Eleuthera.

Very lazy morning, we all slept in a bit and it was after nine before we even sat down to breakfast. We decided it would be a good day to adventure ashore. We all took dinghies to the "new" dinghy dock at the south end of the anchorage. The "new" dinghy dock is the ruins of the old fuel dock and with the onshore breeze the 10 foot high dock was quite a challenge! Dan decided to tow Andiamo's dinghy back out to the boat and only leave two dinghies bouncing around at the dock. We walked inland to the Blue Hole and took a few pictures, but no one was interested in swimming in this Bahamian phenomenon.

The rest of the sign mentioned that Jacques Cousteau tried to find the connection with the ocean for this blue hole but was unsuccessful. We did see some fish-lower right, but the water was not all that crystal clear.

We had heard (and read) great reviews about Sammy's Restaurant, so we walked through the southern part of town headed for Sammy's for lunch. We were pleasantly surprised by the friendliness of everyone we passed. Every car honked, waved, and wished us a good day or even stopped and offered information and advice about Rock Sound, and everyone on foot was equally as friendly. We found Sammy's and enjoyed a very pleasant Bahamian lunch. Prices were much more reasonable than any we have encountered.

We stopped at a few stores on the way back to the boat and found them relatively well stocked. The strong west winds were still stirring up the harbor when we returned to the dinghies, so the ride out to the boats was wild, wooly and wet. db and Natasha decided to stay ashore and take a walk the mile and a half to the airport. They confirmed their Saturday flight to Nassau and Dan went to pick them up around 4:00. It was their turn to cook and they created a marvelous pasta dish which included some special local tomato sauce db had found at the food store. We entertained the cooks with Harry Belafonte as the guest on the Muppet Show. Winds calmed down and dinner in the cockpit was very pleasant. ~~~_/)~~~M&D, db&N

The walk around town showed that Eleuthera is a lot more prosperous than the Exumas and certainly better cared for than many areas around Nassau. More real houses, fewer shacks and in general everything was a lot cleaner. We did spy a few cotton plants (remnants of the post American Revolution attempts to cultivate the land by the displaced Tories)

It may not have been a green flash sunset, but it was still spectacular and db captured it nicely.

Nassau to Highborne to Rock Sound, Eleuthera

Who would have thought that db and Natasha would be TOO EARLY for something! Anyways, they left the boat at 8:45 AM to get in a few more exciting water adventure experiences before we set sail for Highborne Cay only to find out that the slides etc didn't open until 10 AM! They did get a few rides before we had to set sail by 11 AM. We slid out of Atlantis behind two mega yachts, one 180 ft and the other 200 - - - we definitely were among the smallest "yachts" there! We had a very pleasant sail (winds out of the NE to Highborne Cay (28 nm) at the top of the Exumas. We were glad that we would be able to let them experience the pristine waters of the Exumas before we headed to Eleuthera. We arrived around 4 and were immediately greeted by a SHARK. It did discourage our customary evening swim! The "kids" went ashore for an hour or so and enjoyed exploring the beach. Quiet dinner aboard, including (finally!) the GREEN FLASH AND KEY LIME PIE and early to bed.

I hope your color monitor is as flexible as the human eye, because we really did see the green flash tonight. I took a movie of it, but db's digital SLR with burst mode seems to have caught the best image of it.

db's camera captured our fleet as we headed across the Exuma Bank on the way to Highborne.

Wednesday saw us heading through the Highborne Cut around 9 AM on our way across Exuma Sound on our way to Eleuthera . The wind was very light and from the SE for most of the day, so we motored until lunchtime when the wind clocked a little more to the S so we could put up the main and roll out the jib. We realized that we weren't the only ones heading for Eleuthera as we joined the parade that rounded Powell Point and followed the Explorer Chart Waypoints into Rock Sound at the southern end of Eleuthera. The 8-9 foot depths throughout the entire Sound were devoid of coral heads, but there is just a little bit of turbidity or something - - - the water just isn't as pristine as it is in the Exumas. We anchored just off a church at the southern end of the anchorage and enjoyed another "heavy hors d'oeuvres " aboard Andiamo before settling down for a quiet evening. Dan set up the fishing line that Patrick had set up and had high hopes as we crossed the ledge leaving Highborne and also as we crossed over another ledge just before Powell Point, but without Patrick's "fish sense" it just didn't work! Ah well ~~~_?)~~~M&D, db&N

We also found the best use for one of my solar LED lights. A wine stopper!

One more good use for my defunct LED solar light, db tried to write "Bahamas" -backwards with no luck so stuck with a good newlywed work of art!

Atlantis water adventures

It was after 4 when db and Natasha arrived, but we rushed them into bathing suits and headed for the Adventure Park area of Atlantis. The controlling height for all the slides etc is 48", so we didn't even attempt to find it when Ben was here. The first thing we did was the 1 mile "river" adventure-----

which included a few "elevator" rides to the top of some amazing tunnel slides (no way to get a picture inside the pitch black tunnels!) and eventually we returned to our starting point where the rest of CCYC south was waiting. They said we shouldn't miss the slide from the top of the Mayan temple that takes you through the shark tank - this time through a clear tunnel.

Natasha and Dan and Martha took the tube slied while db came down the 60' drop chute you do on your bottom. Betty had our camera at the bottom and caught these pictures. Natasha and db went back for a second ride, this time in a double tube.

We walked through the "Digs" (the premise is you have found Atlantis and are walking through the lost city underwater - - looking at all the fish in the aquarium. The water was a bit cloudier than two weeks ago, but the seahorses had just released hundreds of tiny babies and they were scurrying all over their small tank.

Back aboard Brunelle we had cocktails before heading the The Point, the restaurant right next to our slip, for dinner (and dancing!) While we were stocking up at the liquor store we found these cans of Cuba Libre - you figure someone was bound to do it, we just had never seen it before. db and Natasha said it wasn't bad. We only got two cans, so we'll have to rely on Dan's bartending skills from now on.

Cuba Libres on Brunelle and walking back to the boat after dinner.

There was a great singer with a "smart" keyboard entertaining at The Point, so we enjoyed eating, listening and dancing until after 9 (way past Dan's bedtime!) We are heading out this morning for Highborne Cay as a stop off on our way to Eleuthera. The winds are in the right direction and have quieted down from yesterday's 20-27 knots. The view of the ocean from the top of the water slide made us glad we were facing man made waves not nature's own. We may not have internet for a few days, so we'll continue the saga when we do. ~~~_/)~~~M&D, db&N

Here we are at The Point, dancing in Mions is tough as they don't slide, but we managed to "cut a mean rug" anyway, the view of "Ben's" pool at night added just a bit more ambiance to a very pleasant evening.

Move to Atlantis

We spent a very quiet Sunday regrouping and re-stocking. We had been watching our dockmates on a Caliber 35 with a hailing port of Rock Hall, MD working diligently for the last three days washing everything is sight but didn't meet them until yesterday. Both were born in Moscow, came to the US in the 70s and 80s and decided to go on a two year adventure! They are just learning and were happy to listen to all our tales about the Exumas.

This morning we made a last minute run to the City Market, Liquor Store and Harbourside Marine before shoving off for Atlantis to await the arrival of db and Natasha. They texted this AM that their flight was delayed and here it is 4:00 and still no sign of them. We hope they get here in time to enjoy some of the water park excitement this afternoon! More later...~~~_/)~~~M&D

Here we are back at Atlantis, waiting for kids again! We are in slip #3 - - slips 1 & 2(where Brunelle and Andiamo were last time) are taken up by a large motor yacht.

Waiting in Nassau

Early morning departure for Patrick and Rose - -Willie the cab driver was here before 7:30 checking out if we were ready. We said our good byes outside the entrance to the marina and sent them off to Miami/ Jacksonville/ St. Augustine to visit with Jay, Pegg and "Tia Peddie".

The rest of Friday was spent washing two weeks of salt off the decks, doing three loads of laundry AND trying to upload a week's worth of pictures for the blog. I easily spent 10-12 hours WAITING while the little blue glow-circle circled and circled and sometimes successfully uploaded a picture or two. Dan also spent a fair amount of time helping John and Betty re-wire their VHS radio as it wasn't transmitting worth a darn. They were so happy with his great electrical work (Steve take note!!) that they decided they needed to take us out to dinner. I must admit, I was a big help - - when they needed to test the radio, they called Brunelle and I had to leave my post at the computer and answer! We followed the dockmaster Peter's advice and went to the local Chinese restaurant. I don't think I've ever been to a Chinese restaurant before where the waiters didn't offer "flied lice" and one of the entrees was conch and bean stew!

We decided to "eat Nassau style" today, so we had breakfast at the Texaco station where they offered a true "Bahamian breakfast". It was an omelette served on Bahamian bread with lettuce and tomato. Really quite good! We then went to the biggest marine store in Nassau (which was having a 20% off the entire store sale today) and got a new gas tank and hose for the dinghy. We had noticed that ours was beginning to show its age. Back aboard we swapped out the old for the new and then joined Andiamo for lunch "a la Irene's". We had heard about this lady that parks her car in the parking lot in front of the marina about a block away from ours each day and serves lunch out of large vats in her trunk. Today she had chicken or turkey souse, pigs feet, conch stew, and johnny cakes, but she was out of peas and rice. We chose to get chicken souse and conch stew and johnny cakes and took it back to Andiamo to eat it. The chicken souse was not unlike a chicken stew but there were lots of bones and skin, so it took some doing to eat it - but very tasty.

Miss Irene said this was her tired smile and I can believe it, she gets up at 3 am to begin cooking for the day. Betty asked what she did when the food was gone and she mimicked - - - sleep!

The afternoon flew by and at six we headed over to Savage Son, a Valiant 40 tied up next to Andiamo, because they had spent lots of time cruising Eleuthera and we are hoping to head there next week. They had lots good tips and we look forward to new territory. Back aboard Brunelle we ate a quick non-Bahamian dinner (spaghetti) and decided to Skype with Katherine and her girls (Ryan is in Florida visiting family.) Katherine had heard that the moon was closer to earth tonight than it has been for over 18 years or something and Zoe requested we get a picture of it, so here are two moon shots - which is the better one? I couldn't decide.

I just put the camera on one of our pilings and snapped, sometimes it took forever and other times it snapped right away. Don't know why, but you can see the difference.

~~~_/)~~~M&D

St. Patrick's Day Nassau style

Rose checked her email when we got to Nassau and a friend recommended going to Ardastra Gardens, so we decided to start our tour of Nassau there and catch the early flamingo marching show. We took a taxi to the western side of town and had plenty of time to view the animals and birds before the 10:30 show. Rose got chosen to be the flamingo imitator and did a fine job. We watched and wandered among the flamingos after the show before going into the aviary to feed the lorry parrots. Only Betty and I were brave enough to have birds crawling all over us, and we enjoyed it immensely and I think we amused the rest of our crowd. John had remained back on the boat to wait for an electronics guy to come fix their radio, so he missed the fun! Pekabu III headed over to Atlantis for the weekend and missed out too.

The flamingo "master" was not the same older guy we had seen two years ago and I didn't think he was quite as good. I asked after the older guy and it was just his day off, he's been doing it for over 50 years! The Lorry parrots were fun to feed.

There were all sorts of flora and fauna to view at the Ardastra Gardens and Zoo. The peacock just wanders around among the visitors strutting his stuff. We learned that the flamingo walks on its tiptoes and the joint we see on the spindly legs is actually the ankle, as witnessed by the one that chose to come down off his toes.

The franklin palm has interesting red berries when ripe. The hybiscus is the national flower of the Bahamas. I didn't get the names of the other two plants.

We left the gardens just before noon and walked over to the fish fry to grab a bite. We tried a different establishment and enjoyed more than just a bite so decided to walk back toward town and find the straw market. The original building that housed the market burned several years ago so they have been working under a large tent since then. It was hot, crowded and prices were not very exciting, but we did get a few things for gifts before completely frustrating the guys. We continued our walk into town and realized we had hit town just in time to see part of the St. Patrick's Day celebration. Their was a band that was somewhere between the Philly Mummers and the Bahamian Junkanoo paraders. We searched in vain for a green shirt for our very own Patrick but had to settle for a six pack of Guiness for cocktail time!

Patrick and Rose pose under the banner at the St. Patrick's Day festival.

What with a misunderstanding about which bus would take us back to the marina, we took an hour bus ride out to Cable Beach and back and got to see all the fancy hotels that dot the northern shore of New Providence island! It turned out to be a rather inexpensive tour on one of the few air conditioned buses we have encountered - and we didn't mind sitting down for a while!

We ended our full day with dinner at the Nassau Yacht Club. We had met the couple on another Catalina (a 34) who had had dinner there (club reciprocity) a few nights ago and invited us all to join them. It was a great setting and the food was reasonable and very good.

I also enjoyed looking at all the old photos on the walls and found several familiar names, but the biggest surprise was spotting a picture of the '56 Sydney Olympics where the Bahamians won their first (bronze) Olympic medal in the Star class. Watching the event were the gold winning US team of Bill Lyons and Larry Low. Larry's daughter, Joan, has been one of my best friends ever since 4th grade. (He always reminded me of Phil Silvers - Sgt. Bilko).

Quite a full day for Rose and Patrick's last day with us. They have to take a taxi at 7:30 tomorrow morning and will be sorely missed!

~~~_/)~~~M&D, P&R