The Three Sailors - Rosa does Bahamas

We picked up my mom in Nassau on March 9th. She arrived fairly late in the day, and it was already dark by the time we got back to the dinghy. She was so excited, as she knew that we were anchoring out and had to take the dinghy to get to the boat. She was still pretty fit, even after the long trip from Switzerland to Nassau. I think she fell in love with the boat as soon as she saw her. She couldn't believe how roomy the inside is, and all the beautiful wood. We were of course excited to show her Betula, and also were looking forward to our trip and showing her the Bahamas. 
We spent the first day exploring Nassau, and she got a gook work out: Down the ladder into the dinghy, out of the dinghy onto the dock, back into the dinghy, up the ladder into the boat, well, you get the idea, lots of in and out. And sometimes with a lot of waves rocking both the boat and the dinghy. We went out for dinner that night, and came back to the boat in the dark again. It was a fun day.

Next day, our trip was really to start. We planned on leaving early, to go across the Yellow Bank to Allen's Cay in the Exumas. This was her first experience at watching us lift anchor and taking off. Well, it didn't go so smoothly. For some reason, the anchor did not want to come up. We had been at that spot before, with no problems, but now, the chain would not budge. I was looking down to see if I could figure out what was going on, and as it was really calm, I was able to see, that there was an upside down sunken boat (NOT on the charts!!!) and that our chain was wrapped around the bow and stuck! What to do??? Well, luckily Warren knew a dive shop not too far away, so he hopped into the dinghy, and zoomed across the harbour in search of dive gear. Sure enough, not to long after, he got back with rented dive gear, suited up and dove down to go check on the situation below. Yep, the chain was definitely wrapped and stuck. He managed to get it all loose, and with a bit of extra luck, was able to get us free. We were sooooo happy! After returning all the gear to the shop, we managed to still leave for the Exumas, and had a wonderful day. 

For the last three weeks, we have been showing her our favourite spots in the Exumas. Sometimes we had lots of wind and had to stay put to wait for calmer weather, and sometimes we had no wind and had to motor. We even had several perfect days when we were able to actually sail! 
Right now we are in Bimini at a marina, with the wind howling, and we are waiting for a weather window to return back to Florida. It looks like tomorrow is going to be that day, but if the wind doesn't calm, we will stay another day in Paradise!

Downtown Nassau, Husband Day Care! But we really need our captain, so I guess we'll keep him a bit longer...

Conch Salad, a signature Bahamian dish, freshly prepared for us, and was it ever good. 

Warren, all suited up to go dive down and inspect the anchor and anchor chain. Never a dull moment when on a sailing adventure ...

Down he goes...

Rosa's first day of "sailing" on Betula. Not a breath of wind, so we motored, but we were treated to a most spectacular day. 

Shroud Cay. We drove up this mangrove river at low tide. Almost got stuck a couple of times, but were able to complete our journey. You can see the roots of the mangroves sticking out...low tide.

Still Shroud Cay. We walked up this little hill, and had a great view of the Atlantic.

On to Warderick Wells. Another of our favourite spots. It's really hard not to like it here...

We even sometimes just relax.... Rosa in the Hammock.

We sailed all the way back to George Town with her. I think the next two pictures explain why.... it's simply beautiful.

 Staniel Cay Marina - the Nurse Sharks. There were many more, I couldn't get them all into one picture.

Dinner in the cockpit...

Underway, on a calm day, with lot's of sunshine. We had to put up towels to give us some shade. Warren is fishing, but we had no luck that day....

A big event was when we came upon a large pod of pilot whales. There were at least 100 of them, split up into smaller groups like the one in the picture below. They were right beside our boat ... 

And later that day, another beautiful sunset...

Now we are in Bimini, waiting for weather to cross the Gulf Stream to go back to Florida. Not a bad spot to wait...

Killing time waiting in Bimini. Happy hour.... We are probably going to kill some more time tonight!

This is a conch mountain! Conch is well loved in the Bahamas, and it shows. How many salads do you think this pile of conch shells would have made??? Many, many...

Good bye from the Three Sailors!!!

Long Island and sad farewell to George Town

Like I mentioned in my last post, George Town really was as far as we though we would venture, but because we had plenty of time we decided on one more destination, Long Island. LI is a one day sail from George Town and is still very laid back, much fewer cruisers go there. It also lies below the Tropic of Cancer, and we are a lot closer to Cuba than Nassau. 
We knew that our new friends Bill and Claire already were there, and we said we would rent a car together for a day and "do the island". When we arrived in Thompson Bay, we called them on the VHF to let them know we had arrived, and were told that the Monday-Night-Cruisers-Sundowners on the beach-Appetizer-Make merry party was happening that evening. So we wasted (of course) no time, dropped the hook, got our happy hour bag together (YES- there is such a thing), lowered the dinghy, and zoomed off towards the beach. We were lucky, as there were some musicians present, and we had wonderful entertainment. These cruiser gatherings are always nice, you get to talk to other people and exchange information and learn new things. 

Long Island received it's name because it's a really long Island (about 90 miles) and generally pretty skinny. We started our day at 8:30 in the morning, we wanted to see all of it in one day. First we started out going south (Thompson Bay is in the middle of the island), as we had booked a guided private tour through the Hamilton caves. But before we got there, we made a quick stop along the road, as we spotted a Wooden Bahamian Skiff being built, right along the road. Bill and Warren were of course terribly interested in the technical aspects of this, I just liked smelling the wood and wood chips. Before long, we noticed an older gentlemen coming over to see us, turns out, he once was one of the few very skilled wooden boat builders on Long Island. Now his son is carrying on the traditions. It takes approx. 5 months to build one of these boat. Well, the very nice gentlemen wanted to talk, and talk, and talk, but we had to move along, as the guide for the caves was expecting us.

Hamilton caves were very nice, our guide showed us around for almost two hours. We learned about different bat species, and all kinds of other interesting tidbits.

Next on the program was  the famous "Dean's Blue Hole". This is where the worlds free dive championships are being held. The hole is 663' deep. It looks gorgeous, the colours are spectacular. We clambered up the hill to get a real good picture. It was worth it :)

We also wanted to visit the Columbus Monument, located at the very northern tip of Long Island. Long Island only has one road going up and down it, so when we passed through Thompson Bay on the way north, we quickly stopped and peeked across the bay to make sure our boats were still bobbing peacefully up and down at anchor. Yep, there they are, on we go. 
Columbus Monument itself is not that spectacular, but the view you get from up there, wow.
To end the day, we went to a lovely beach-front restaurant at a resort, except that we did not see any other guest, we were the only people there! The food was freshly prepared for us, so you need a bit of patience, no fast food here. It was so tasty.

We stayed in Thompson Bay for one week, and then went back to George Town. From there we waited for weather again to make our way back to Nassau, to pick up Rosi (my mom). She will arrive in two days. The adventures we will have with her, more about that in my next post.

On the way to Long Island from George Town, the colour of the water, out of this world. 

Cruisers beach party, complete with music, drinks, apps, and good company....

Cruisers parking lot...

Valentine's Dinner. We invited Bill and Claire over, and I cooked Bahamian Cracked Conch and BBQ-lobster, Claire brought the salads and sides, plus a  couple of bottles of wine later, we had a great evening. Good company and good food...

Bahamian Wooden Skiff, not quite finished yet, but taking shape.

Hamilton Caves ...

Here our guide started to chuckle, I will leave this for your own interpretation...

Dean's Blue Hole. You can see the dive platform they use to free dive...

Columbus Monument...

At the resort where we had supper, nobody around, it's paradise...

Back in George Town: This is what cruisers do in the afternoon, play Dominos!!! We had so much fun. this is on a Trawler, not a sailboat. There is definitely more room on a trawler.

George Town Regatta Cruisers Talent Show: The conch horn blowing contest, always a favourite...

Last day at Chat N'Chills, on the beach...

While sailing back to Nassau, I caught two fish: A Mahi Mahi, and a Skipjack tuna. We first thought it was a Mackerel, but found out it was a tuna!!!

NOT A MACKEREL!!!

Back in Nassau, waiting for my mom to arrive...

Thanks, and see you next post.