Blowin' into Georgetown

Well, here we are in Georgetown! 

We ran down from Freeport, taking advantage of the northern component to the wind.  We were one night in Great Stirrup... a Norwegian Cruise Lines fantasy island... one night at Hoffmans (after landing a 44 inch Mahi Mahi!)...and then coasted into Nassau.  

Determined to avoid getting mugged (see The Keys in the Cays - April 2010) we stayed on the boat at the Cloisters and left at 7:00 am.   By mid afternoon we were at our anchorage at Shroud Cay.  Friends have raved about Shroud Cay... the northernmost part of the Exumas Land and Sea Park.  The island is mostly acres of mangroves threaded by creeks.  We set out for the "Washing Machine" - a swift running current from one of the creeks with a back eddy so you don't get swept out to sea - next stop Africa!  A couple of couples - retired Bahamian teachers - taught us the fundamentals - and in we went!  We'll post a you-tube video once we get decent Internet.

We left Shroud after a two-day respite and headed to Staniel Cay.  We were determined to hang around Staniel and enjoy the swimming and snorkeling.  Pam is in the middle of some really cool projects and she is anxious to spend some time on them.   She had cut out some pattern material for dingy chaps at Shroud and she has started on a sun-screen enclosure so Glen won't have to squint into the setting sun while enjoying gin & tonics.  However, the weather forecast was for a couple of days of good weather and then some nasty so we changed plans and decided to use our good travel days while we had them.

We coasted down to Little Farmers and dropped off school books and then went another 10 miles or so to anchor off Rudder Cay - just south of Musha Cay.  If you haven't already, google Musha Cay.  It is fabulous!

The forecast was for light winds behind us so we were quite surprised to get 25 knots all the way down.  It was quite a sleigh ride!  We did the 36 miles In just over 5 hours. 

So now we are lolly gagging around - getting ready to leave the boat with Blair and Sharon over the holidays.  Our connectivity is very limited and is severely compounded with some computer power supply issues.  Hopefully that will get fixed during our time at home.  We will hold a gathering/wake for Glen's dad and spend as much time as we can with our kids and our friends.  Really excited about playing with our grandson, Jack.

We are struggling with Internet but we found a stray signal tonight and watched a short video of Jen's about Jackson's first year.  Pam used up all the bandwidth and was blubbering for half an hour.  

Ghost ship from "Pirates" anchored in Lucaya

The mother of all mahis

Some other fish - a jack?  We ate it.

Shaggy Glen

Glen at the spa

Shroud looking out to Africa (or Cat Island)

The mangrove creeks of Shroud Cay

Unloading school books at Farmers Cay

Sasha the ray - at Chat and Chill beach near the conch bar

The wind is really blowing - hope it dies down soon

Using a fid to splice a loop in a line

Showin' em how it's done!