It’s Tuesday afternoon and a beautiful day here in the Bahamas. Brenda and I met up with our good friends Loreen and Miles aboard Ariel yesterday and did some catching up over dinner. We have been connecting with them for several years now and have seen them at Block Island, in Maine, at our home in CT and here in the Bahamas. They live aboard most of the year and travel between Maine and the Bahamas.
Their boat Ariel is larger and a lot more lux than Pandora. I have to say that I do lust after their boat and it’s the only other sailboat that I have seen that I’d give up Pandora for. Too bad they are worth so much more than Pandora. Ariel is an Aerodyne 47 of which only four have been made. A great looking performance ocean sailing boat. I can always wish.
Today we headed out at low tide to do some shelling and had fun finding some really nice shells. At low tide there are a number of sand flats to explore in the area and there are often a large number of great shells to pick up. I have to say that shelling is a pastime that I find endlessly interesting. Happily, Brenda enjoys it too so it’s a great thing for us to do together. Walking along a beach for hours is just so relaxing.
Yesterday Brenda and I visited a spot on the north end of Compass Cay called the “bubble bath”. This is a very unique place where the ocean rollers run into a small cove and slosh up over some rocks so that the foam pours over into a small pool on the other side of the rocks. The “bubbles” are created by the wave action and to watch the “foam” pour over the rocks every few seconds is really a sight.
We didn’t realize that we could swim there so weren’t prepared with our swimsuits. When we head back there in April with Rob and Kandice, we’ll be sure to bring suits along. I’d say that this really qualifies as a sort of “natural wonder” here in the Bahamas.
Compass Cay is a private island and you have to either take a slip at the small marina on the island or pay a “landing fee” of $10 per person to go ashore. I can’t say that I am crazy about the idea of a fee to tie up my dink and go ashore. However, the island is very nice and $20 is a small price to pay to enjoy a walk on a beautiful beach for the day.
One of the highlights of the island is the large family of “tame” nurse sharks that hang around the docks. As the fisherman clean their catch, the sharks show up from all around for handouts. Nurse sharks are quite harmless and don’t have sharp teeth like other sharks. They actually encourage you to jump in and swim with the sharks. Not sure I have the nerve to do that. The largest of the sharks were about 8′ long. That’s a lot of shark.
It was hard to believe how many showed up all of a sudden when snacks were being handed out. Perhaps I’ll swim with them when Rob visits in April. Hmm…
I wish that I could include more photos but this post had to be sent to Christopher via the SSB radio so he can publish it for me. Unfortunately, we still don’t have the iPad so we are very limited in our ability to connect with e-mail and work with our blogs. Soon, hopefully soon, we should be back in business with all this. The new iPad we ordered should be here later in the week.
As I have mentioned in other posts, every week or so a cold front comes through the area and with it bring very strong winds from an unfavorable direction. As the front gets closer everyone finds a place to “hide” from the winds. And, as there are so few spots in the Exumas that offer protection from the west, the anchorages that are not exposed to the west fill up. Just yesterday Brenda and I were anchored here in Compass Cay all alone and now that a front is on it’s way and due to arrive tomorrow, the place is filling up. There are now 4 of us and others will surely arrive soon.
The winds are supposed to pick up tomorrow, Wednesday and won’t settle down again until some time on Friday afternoon. That’s pretty good timing as I expect that our packages being flown in from the US will be delivered to Staniel Cay, which isn’t far away from here, by that point.
After that we hope to catch the next weather window to make the run south to Georgetown, our next major destination. Our provisions are getting a bit sparse and there aren’t really any good stores here in the Exumas. Georgetown is the next best spot to shop outside of Nassau.
After a month out with no real provisions available things are getting a bit sparse in the food department. Good thing we have a freezer aboard that’s full of meat. However, some fresh veggies would sure be nice.