Anyway, after the Rocky Dundas, we cruised on down to Sampson Cay for a day or two. We didn't do much there. There was a nice little marina (that we, of course, didn't use), and some decent coral around. There was ice cream at the shop at the marina. That was nice. But we pretty quickly headed over to Staniel Cay to check out Thunderball Grotto and the small township on the island.

What can I say? Thunderball Grotto is awesome. It's the northernmost of the rocks located just east of the marker on the Staniel Cay map link above. Underwater photography with a little digital camera doesn't do it justice. But it's posted here anyway. It's really cool. They filmed scenes for the Bond movie 'Thunderball' there. I'll assume they named the cave after the movie, and not vice-versa. The town on Staniel Cay is small and simple. There's a couple of poorly stocked stores to get food, and a dump to dispose of garbage. That was nice. But for the most part, we didn't spend much time in town.

I managed to spear a small gray snapper, and I used him for bait to catch a couple of decent-sized snapper. Finally! I could enjoy some fish. There was some decent shallow reef to snorkel around, and I caught a slipper lobster. It was the first time I'd ever seen a slipper lobster in real life. And he was tasty.

With a cold front coming in, we decided to hide out back up by Sampson Cay, because the harbor was well protected, and because we could steal internet. (That's why I managed to post pictures up through Sampson Cay, but am only now getting around to writing about it and everything that follows.) We spent several days at Sampson Cay before heading further on to Black Point settlement, on Great Guana Cay.

So, the first day at Compass Cay, I did a circumnavigation of the island in my dinghy. A solo circumnavigation! On the ocean side, the waves were pretty big. I stopped by at a beach there where there was an abandoned house. Getting off of the beach proved to be a challenge. I had to wade out in the water, pushing my dinghy through the breaking waves, until I was far enough out to start the engine and get away without being shoved back onto the beach. Note to self, consider the egress more carefully when beaching.

On the northern end of the island, near where we were anchored, was a 'bubble bath' made by the ocean swell breaking over a line of rocks. The pool on the other side was inundated with bubbles from the water coming through. That was pretty cool.

But nothing could compare to the Rocky Dundas. There were two caves in these small islands. You anchor off of this 20 or 30 foot rock face, jump in to the water, and snorkel under a ledge to get into the caves inside the island. At low tide, when we did it, you don't have to go underwater completely to get inside. The caves were lit by holes in the ceilings, and the walls were lined with stalagmites and stalactites and whatnot. It was very cool.

Of course, there are pictures. See the photoblog entries for Compass Cay and The Rocky Dundas.

We didn't see much on Hawksbill. Some nice views, but that's about it. They were clearing some of the non-native pine trees from the island. Good for them. I saw a few curly-tailed lizards scampering about, and I saw a pair of white-tailed tropic birds. I'm itching for some snorkeling, but there hasn't been that much to see for a while.

We didn't stay long before moving on to Warderick Wells Cay (here), home of the main office for the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. This island was pretty cool. It's named for the natural 'wells' all around the island. There was a pretty impressive blow hole up on a cliff. There were hutias (big rats), but they were smaller than the banana rats (also called hutias) in Cuba.

I feel like I'm just listing a bunch of stuff, with no real connection or story line. But that's kind of how it's been happening. It's just lots and lots of interesting things that I see briefly and then it's time to move on, and I don't really know much in the way of details. So it doesn't make a very entertaining read, I would think.

Anyway, from Warderick Wells we went south to Compass Cay, which was outside of the park boundaries, so we could fish again if we wanted to. But we weren't entirely done seeing things in the park, as you'll find out in the next installment.

I failed to take many pictures here. Which is too bad, because there was some pretty cool stuff. There's a partially submerged small airplane, a small road to walk and stretch the legs, an old dump with wrecks of various flying machines, and a beautiful lake in the northern part of the island. Technically, the lake is part of the ocean, not freshwater, so it's more like a very protected bay, I would think.

We caught up with Richard and Debbie aboard Orca here, as well. I had met them my last day or two in Nassau. I went to look for them after I got an e-mail from my mom. She met a young man applying for a position at her work, and they had somehow got to talking about his parents were currently cruising aboard their catamaran, and were in Nassau. Small world, eh? So I scoured the harbor and found their boat to introduce myself.

After a couple of days at Norman's Cay (and maybe we should have stayed a day or two longer, but there's so much to see and so little time), we decided to head on south into the Exumas Land and Sea Park. Stay tuned!

I went snorkeling the first day there, looking to spearfish a little bit. Hello, shark. He was about 5 or 6 feet long. That was the end of my snorkeling for the day. I'm not too good at my shark identification - besides, who wants to get a good hard look at the thing, anyway - but I think it was a reef shark. I know it wasn't a nurse. The next day, when I went snorkeling in the same spot, I saw a lionfish. Why didn't I take my camera with me?

The second day, we had a walk around Allen's Cay. There was a northwest wind, and it was making huge waves crash into the ironshore on the western side of the cay. I saw a two foot long brown snake. I don't know what it was. There was a termite mound. There were dozens of dead birds lying around, perfectly laid out. I don't know what that was about; it was pretty strange. Check out the photoblog entry for pictures of iggies, dead birds, and pounding waves.

The next day, we headed on to Highborn Cay. But not before I ran aground hard. I had to have a passing stranger help tow me off with their dinghy. I overstressed my engine trying to get off, and it turns out that that was the last time it would run for quite a while. More on that in the future.

We sailed over to Highborn Cay (anchoring at 24° 42.33' N 76° 49.21' W), only a few miles south, and had a pleasant, but uneventful, day or two there. The island is private, but you're allowed to land on the beaches. I never even did that. Next stop, Norman's Cay, another 10 miles or so south. It should be interesting.

So, the trip to the Exumas had an eventful beginning. We planned to leave Friday, the 27th, and set up just outside of Nassau so we could make the trip to Allen's Cay all in the daylight. It didn't work out. I set off to get fuel, but my engine started acting up. There was a massive current that I was fighting, and it was too much for the engine. It finally gave up under the second bridge in Nassau harbor. I scraped up and bent the stainless steel frame at the front of my boat (called a pulpit) as I drifted into the bridge support.

Don't worry, the bridge didn't suffer any damage.

I put up my genoa and sailed back to the anchorage, in the crowded harbor. I worked on my engine for the rest of the day, and we decided to leave first thing Saturday morning. I got up early, went to the fuel dock (that took a while, it was busy), and then we were off for the Exumas. Unfortunately, we were behind schedule, and we didn't make it to the Exumas until well after dark. We pulled up just behind Southwest Allen's Cay (24° 44.65' N, 76° 50.52' W) and anchored off for the night. It was 12:10 am. Happy Birthday, me.

I got in Sunday afternoon. Monday afternoon? Sunday afternoon? I don't know. I anchored at 25°4'39"N, 77°19'39"W, and have been there ever since. I've restocked on groceries; I've got to get water and gas before I leave.

Nassau isn't my kind of place. It's busy, it's touristy (and where it isn't touristy, it's a little dangerous, apparently). But you can find what you need, for the most part. I got some mint and cilantro plants today at a farmer's market. Hopefully those will thrive, and provide me with cilantro for ceviche and mint for mojitos for a good long while.

There's a separate island on the north side of Nassau called Paradise Island. There are huge hotels, luxury shops, a casino (lost $40), and condominiums. The architecture and landscaping are reminiscent of Disney World.

I'm sure there's a great night life here, or great snorkel trips, or swimming with the dolphins, or something like that that tourists would love. So I don't want people to get the idea that Nassau is a terrible place. It's just not for me.

Last night, there were fireworks. Surprised the heck out of me. I was in bed, and at 10pm, all of the sudden there's this huge bang. I'm thinking - gunshot? But no, there's another, and another. And flashes of light. The barge lighting the fireworks off was about 150 feet from my boat. So that was something. I watched them from the deck of my boat, and got an eyeful of grit. When I got down into my boat, there was actually a piece of a firework in my boat. Despite all of that, it was incredible. I got a few good pictures, check out the photoblog.

This post feels like it's nothing but whining, but I'm not in a bad mood. I'm ready to get moving to where I can jump in the water without worrying about what chemicals are in it, where I can snorkel around, and spearfish, and just relax. Soon. Very soon.

Day two, Thursday, started great - wind on the beam, smooth sailing - but by mid-morning the breeze had died. There was no catching a break on this trip. Nursing sails the whole way, we made a total of about 15 miles for the day. I can say I took it all in stride, but I think the pace was a bit frustrating to my companions. At least the sea was calm when we anchored for the night. The ship rolled less than it did back in Key West. 55 more miles to Chub Cay.

Day three, Friday, was a day almost completely devoid of wind. Waking up, the sea was a mirror in all directions. Imagine that, miles and miles of flat sea - not even cat's paws on the surface. Or better yet, don't imagine it. Go to my photoblog posting. Anyway, the day didn't get much better. We nursed ourselves along in freshening winds (by which I mean the gusts got up to maybe 7 knots), and made a good strong day of 30 miles. 25 more to Chub Cay. Did I mention this is supposed to be a one-day crossing?

Saturday. Again, very little wind. We made the 25 miles to Chub Cay, but only because we motored the last 10 of it. I know that in two days I'll be wishing we had less wind, but at the moment, I really can't help but whistle. I got into the Chub Cay anchorage just minutes before sunset, and we made our plans to leave for Nassau early in the morning. 3am anchors up kind of early. But hey, it's only a 40 mile blue water crossing, who needs their wits about them for that? Oh, I anchored right here, to let you know where Chub Cay is.

2:00. Alarm goes off. 2:04. Alarm goes off. 2:08. Alarm goes off. 2:12. Okay, I'll get up. A little brekkie and then it's off into the great wide ocean. There's wind! My whistling must have paid off. Oh, no. Wait. Just after sunrise, the wind died. And we were making such good time. After nursing the boat along for hours, we finally crank up the engines so that we'll enter Nassau and get anchored before sunset. About 2 miles out, I hooked a dolphin. Not 'dolphin' as in Cetacean, not 'dolphin' as in aid to navigation. Mahi mahi. He was about 2 and a half feet long. You'll have to take my word for it, since there are no pictures, and he got free before I got him in the boat. But man, those are pretty fish. As you're pulling them in, it's like there's some kind of silvery green orb glowing beneath the surface. The glow isn't even fish-shaped. Then you get them up close, and they're vibrant greens and blues. Just amazingly beautiful. I'm sure I'll snag another one some time to show you pictures - if you're too lazy to just Google it.

So. Back on topic, we made it into Nassau and anchored up in the late afternoon, finally done with our 'easy sail' that turned out to be more - or less? -than we bargained for. Stay tuned for the next posting, when I'll talk about how my granfather and me roamed around Nassau, drinking to the wee hours, fighting, and other debauchery involving the cook and my grits. Oh, wait. My boat's not called the John B. But it is a sloop.