Great Guana Cay

The adventure continues! As we cruise these tiny, northern cays, we look for ones that have some settlement on them so we can walk on paths and paved/bare limestone roads. Frequently, we'll anchor off the leeward side, row in and find a walk to the Altantic ocean side. The first picture shows the Atlantic beach, the latter shots depict the much less windy inside beaches. These shots were taken on a very calm day so I could get a clear shot of the bottom. My dingy was riding over two feet of clear water. Can you make out the Hawksbill Turtle in the last shot? Hawksbills are from the family Chelonidae; Green Turtle. Cool, huh? Don't forget, you can click on the photos for a blow-up.

So the days are blissfully getting longer. I tell you, when the sun went down at five o'clock in December, it got pretty depressing! We found out that cruisers have not much else to do than turn in shortly after nightfall and catch up on some sleep. Finding something to do, other than reading, can get to be tedious in the evenings, but with a little increase in daylight hours, it gets easier.

Cruisers have a developed habit of getting together for cocktails, not dinner until you get to know the other better. A few days ago, we sailed up to Allan's Cay, a popular stop for boats just arriving in the Bahamas, and came across 12 other sailboats and 3 trawler-yachts in the roomy harbour area. So when we saw a get-together on the beach at 5 o'clockish, we rowed in for a hello, where are you from, where are you headed? You meet the nicest people! We discovered another wooden boat, a wee schooner, home-built and quite pretty. Met a couple with a 4 month old baby. Most of them have been coming here for years. Decades, even. So it's nice to get info for good stopping spots from the vets, and share the wonder with the newbies.

The US Department of Defence (NASA?) had a radar tracking thingy on Allan's. It is now abandoned, but they left all their roads (bare limestone with some remaining ashphalt) for us to use. Some creative sailors made a "signing tree"; whatever beach-combings you find, you carve your ship's name in it and hang it up on this weathered, old tree. There were old sandals, bikinis, wood scraps (one made into a two-seater swing!) dive-floats and old rope. These days, the junk that washes up on the shore is more plastic than anything: buckets, milk-crates, bread racks, 4" docklines from huge freighters, and, maddeningly, plastic water bottles. Lots and lots of those. Even on what should be the most deserted of shores, (Allan's is unpopulated) there are reminders of "civilization".

We're planning on cruising the Southern Abacoes next, see Hopetown, then start heading back for our crossing to get back to Ontario. We'll be seeing a part of the US that we missed by coming here off-shore: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Savannah and Charleston. Not looking forward to the tight canals of the Intra-Coastal Waterway, so we're getting advice from other sailors that know the inlets so we can travel outside the ICW when possible, on the open Atlantic, for 24-36 hour short hops up the coast.

Jim's brother is getting married on the May long Weekend in Kingston, so we hope to get the boat to where we can leave it safely for a few days (Annapolis?) while we rent a car, attend the Do, then get back to the boat. We might make it back to begin our much-anticipated Ontario cruise. I'm telling you, I'm looking forward to cruising familiar waters and not holding down a full time job. I'll actually have time to enjoy more of my former back-yard, which is lovely in the summer.