We are now back in Nassau and planning our return trip to Florida. We knew when we arrived here that we would be here for at least a week as the long range forecast called for 5 days of strong winds and high seas. We could have stayed in the Exumas to ride it out but knew that we would be stuck in an anchorage with very little to do whereas being stuck in Nassau offered much more in the form of entertainment. On the Southbound trip, we stopped in Nassau but only for 2 nights and really did not get much time to see the sights and explore the area.

My last blog had us leaving the Exuma land and Sea Park and heading towards Staniel Cay where we would meet up with Brad and Anita Taylor for a few days. We decided to stop in Sampson Cay as we needed to do some laundry, get fuel and fill up the water. It was a great spot to stop as the anchorage was close to the marina, the island was beautiful and it had a great restaurant. One on the hardest things for me on this trip is finding a place to get the laundry done. Most islands do not have any facilities unless you stay in an expensive marina and then you still have to pay for the laundry. Staniel Cay does not even have laundry so that was not even an option. Some islands have laundromats but they are few and far between. It was great to be able to do the laundry at Sampson Marina as most marinas will not let you use the laundry or even walk around the island if you are not a guest at the marina. Not only could I get the laundry done, but I could have lunch out at the same time which was an added bonus. We enjoyed it so much we booked dinner reservations as well. What a great day! This was also the first time we would see nurse sharks close to shore as well as Stingrays. When we returned for dinner, some fishermen were cleaning their fish and throwing the guts and heads into the water. This attracted close to 15 nurse sharks! (pictures to follow)

Staniel Cay was our next stop and we got there only one day ahead of Brad and Anita. It was great to have some company on the boat especially since they stuck to our 5 day maximum stay rule! The weather was of course windy the day they arrived and it didn't take us too long to realize that getting them and all their gear back to the boat was not going to be pretty! Brad took control and before we knew it, he had commandeered a bigger boat to take them to our anchorage for $20.00. What a deal as he guaranteed that all of their gear would be dry when they got there! It was like having Christmas all over again as they managed to bring us treats, steaks, pork tenderloins as well as vitamins and batteries that were hard to find down here. They certainly went home with a lot less stuff than when they came! We ate, drank and had fun for 4 days. We won't mention the Euchre tournaments that Anita and I let the guys win! The highlight, for us anyway, was snorkeling the Thunder ball Grotto, a spectacular sky lit underwater cave featured in several Hollywood films. This was one of the best places we had ever snorkeled and we managed to go twice with Brad and Anita and Bruce and I went again on our return trip. I think being on the boat for a few days also gave our company some insight into the life of live aboard cruisers and dispelled the myths that life on board is all sugar and spice!

The weather improved as the week wore on and the day that Brad and Anita left was probably the nicest day we had since they came, of course! We managed to get all the gear in our dinghy and because the weather was calmer, everything arrived on shore dry. Another weak cold front was supposed to move in the next day so we decided to stay one more day at Staniel and then head straight to Georgetown as we only had a short window after that to get there as you have to go out to the Exuma Sound a deeper more exposed side of the Exumas. In order to get out to the sound side, you have to go through a cut. Many of these cuts are narrow and treacherous with lots of current running through them. They can also be quite rough if you try to go out with the tide against the current. Ideally the weather should be calm and you should try passing through them at slack tide. We decided to go out Big Rock Cut just North of Staniel Cay and take the Sound side all the way to Georgetown in one day as our weather window was short and if we missed it, we would have to forget about going to Georgetown as it would be just too rough for the next week.

Georgetown is a place most cruisers love or hate. We weren't sure what to expect as we had heard so many conflicting opinions. We happened to arrive in Georgetown at the beginning of March Cruising Regatta This is 10 days of various events in which 300 to 400 boats participate! It is all organized by the cruisers and if you wish to get involved is tons of fun. Each morning at 0800 there is an organized cruisers net on Channel 68 on your VHF giving you news, weather and announcements on all the upcoming events. Since it was Regatta week, there were more events than usual. The anchorage is long and narrow and has numerous areas where these events take place. Since it was our first time visiting, it was a bit confusing as to where each event would be. The weather was terrible, winds over 25 knots each day which made getting in and out of the dinghy difficult, and each trip in the dinghy very very wet! Di spite the awful conditions, we managed to get involved in a few activities and had lots of fun. Many of our friends were there which made it even more enjoyable. We were busy from morning til night and decided that it was even more exhausting than having company! The Regatta started out with a boat parade, which was quite comical as 4 boats actually grounded during the parade and had to be towed off. There was a day of registration where you could team up with other crew members and register for things such as dinghy scavenger hunts, dinghy coconut harvest, tennis, golf, beach volleyball, Texas holdim tournament, bridge and trivial pursuit tournaments as well as baseball with the cruisers against the locals. This was a great way of meeting other cruisers and have fun at the same time! We registered for some activities, had fun watching some others (especially the baseball game) and Bruce even came in first in the Golf turnament and won himself a bottle of rum and a regatta burgie. We decided we really liked Georgetown as long as we didn't stay too long as it could become very exhausting!

We left Georgetown before the end of Regatta and before we were totally burnt out and started to head North again after many months of heading South! It turned out to be a good thing as we have been sailing instead of motoring ever since! The cold fronts have been getting fewer and further apart and the days have been getting warmer and longer. We decided as we headed North to stop in some spots that we missed when we made a beeline for Georgetown. Our first stop was Little Farmers Cay. We had heard from other Cruisers that there was a great restaurant there that you should not miss. The entrance is really shallow and as we approached the island, we started to wonder if we were crazy as we were sometimes in less than 6 feet of water and we need 5 feet. We managed to squeak in after hitting only one speed bump! We had radioed the restaurant earlier in the day to make a reservation and at that time had to pick our meal without seeing a menu! Bruce chose the Grouper and I the Lobster and both of us did have the best meal we have had since coming to the Exumas. (in a restaurant that is as we always have great meals on board!)

We also really enjoyed the Land and Sea Park so decided to stop at another Island in the Park and stay for a couple of days. We chose Cambridge Cay as we heard that the snorkeling was good with many different areas to explore by dinghy. We were now travelling with our friends from New Zealand on Sequel 2 and other friends from Burlington, Ontario on Muskoka Moon. There are mooring balls here also and when Sequel went to pick one up, the line got caught in their bow thruster. Bruce grabbed his snorkel equipment and went over to help. As with most problems on the water, other boaters are always ready to assist in any way they can so this problem attracted many other dinghies ready to help. One person on their dinghy recognized Bruce from Nettles Island where we had stayed last year for 6 weeks. It was Mike and Karen from the boat
Exodus. It was great to see them and get caught up with what was happening in their life. Once again, it is a small world! The snorkeling was again wonderful but a bit further from the anchorage and with our 2.5 horsepower engine, it tends to take us a while to get anywhere. We may be looking for a bigger engine and dinghy next year!

We were running out of time with our friends from New Zealand so decided to leave for Norman's Cay as they had a restaurant where we could all go to for a farewell dinner with them before they left to sail back to Florida and then fly back to New Zealand. What we didn't know until we got there was that they were closed on Mondays and guess what day it was! We are boaters however and that means that we have to be flexible as every plan is subject to change. We spent our last night on Sequel and watched them leave the anchorage the next day at 0700. We will miss them but are sure that our paths will cross again in the near future.

We had one last stop before Nassau that we wanted to make so after exploring Norman's Cay and Norman's Pond with Muskoka Moon, we headed to Highbourne Cay. Highbourne is a private island with only one marina on it and only guests staying at the marina are allowed to walk around the island or use any of the facilities of the marina. We anchored off a beautiful beach and dropped the dingy to do some snorkeling and lobster hunting. To find out how successful we were, you will have to look at the pictures to follow! As we were heading in from our snorkel trip, a very large (over 100 ft.) yacht by the name of "Bad Girl" was motoring into the anchorage right behind us. The next thing we knew their dinghies were landing on the beach setting up tents, lawn chairs, lights and barbecues for a beach party they were planning that night for their "guests" on board. We also had "guests" on board for dinner that night as it was going to be our last evening with "Muskoka Moon" before we would head back to Nassau and they would head back to the Exuma Land and Sea Park again. After we had eaten and were sitting in the cockpit, fireworks started going off on the beach for about 15 minutes! What a great show and very unexpected on a deserted beach in the Exumas! We later radioed the Skipper thanking him for the light show and after talking to him and telling him we were the Canadian boat in front of him, he informed us that his "guests" were also from Canada, of course he failed to mention their names. I informed our guests not to expect fireworks each time they came for dinner or a visit!

We are now anchored right across from Atlantis and in front on a restaurant called the "Green Parrot". The anchorage has been great except that they have live music every Friday night and it goes on until the wee hours of the morning which is not so great but hopefully we will be gone before next Friday night, In the meantime, we have been busy playing tourist and visiting again with Heather, her husband Mark and their family. We have walked all around Paradise Island and the beautiful Atlantis Resort, eaten at numerous restaurants and plan to explore the downtown area where all he Cruise Ships dock. Everyday there are at least 2 cruise ships in and many times as many as 4 or 5. Nassau has been quite the change from the relatively quiet, uninhabited Exuma Island Chain! Heather and Mark have been great hosts and have opened their home to us to do such dreaded chores as laundry. They are here if we need anything at all and more than happy to chauffeur us around so we can get the things we need that are too hard to do without a car. We are still planning on leaving on Friday or Saturday. Each day has been very windy so may have to wait for the seas to calm down a bit. There are many people hear waiting to do the same trip as us so we should have lots of "buddy boats"!

We are now in Cat Cay waiting to cross the Gulf stream to Miami. I never did get to post this blog before we left Nassau as the Internet was down the last couple of days at the Green Parrot. A bit disappointing but that is just how it is in the islands. On our last day in Nassau, I went to Bruce's cousin Heather's house to have lunch with a few of her friends, get a pedicure, do some laundry and get a few groceries. We had a great day and then we were to meet up with Mark and Bruce for dinner later. Heather brought me back to the boat with the groceries and we were sitting having a drink and deciding where we were going to go for dinner. Mark was too busy to join us as he had a work proposal to finish before Friday and it was not yet finished. We usually like to be on the boat around 4 to 5 p.m. as the current changes about then and the boats all seem to swing differently and sometimes get very close together. We had been anchored in the same spot for a week and felt fairly secure that we would not move as we felt the anchor had been well set with all the high winds that we had all week. This was not in fact the case as this time we seemed to be getting quite close to the boat behind us. This had never happened before so we were paying close attention to it. At first we thought it had to be the other boat that was coming towards us. Before we knew it, we were fending the boat off and trying to put fenders between us. There was no one on the other boat so we were not too sure what to do. As we were contemplating our choices, a man showed up to let us know that the people on the boat were not in town and that he was watching the boat for them. We realized that it was in fact our boat that had drifted towards them and not the other way around. Thank goodness we were on the boat at the time and not out for dinner! We raised the anchor with some help from another boat who had dinghed over and moved to the other side of the channel for the night. Heather had a little bit more excitement then she bargained for, we decided that it would now be impossible to leave the boat to go for dinner so Heather and I went and got Sushi to bring back to the boat. What a mixed up night!

Our crossing of the Tongue of the Ocean was not great. The winds were, of course, higher than forecasted and the waves were over 6 feet with every 5th or 6th wave 10 to 12 feet. We again anchored on the Banks, something we said we would never do again, and once again had a very uncomfortable night! Never say never! As uncomfortable as the Banks are to overnight, we have had two of our best sails crossing them and had a lovely sail to Cat Cay in 15 to 20 knot winds right on the beam. Today is a down day here as the winds are still high and are expected to be lighter tomorrow so will cross then. Today, hopefully I can get this blog posted at the Marina. This is the prettiest island yet but it is all private so cannot walk around or go to the beach. We can however take the dinghy into the Marina, eat at the restaurant and use their Internet (hopefully it is working) . Hopefully this time tomorrow. we will be back in the States!