FAREWELL EXUMAS

 We have had beautiful weather this year! We said our good-byes to Cyndi and Sheldon on C-Shel but we will meet again in Canada. 

Our last few days here in the Exumas were spent on the ocean side (Exuma Sound). This is an extremely rare opportunity to enjoy places we don't anchor. One such place is Ship Channel Cay. This Cay is full of sea creatures from sharks, rays, fish and turtles. The bonus is there are many reefs to snorkel on.  The drone came out and captured the beauty here on the ocean side. 

That is a giant reef under the water behind our boat.

Where are we now? I am doing this post from Bimini. Our journey here from Rose Island and West Bay (Nassau area) was filled with lightning and thunder. I am appreciating the air conditioning as we are at a marina plugged in at this moment. It is Memorial Day weekend in the US and a holiday in the Bahamas this Monday. There are boats, boats and more boats here than I have ever seen, including two cruise ships. 

We begin our journey to the Exumas in Bimini and we end here. Now we wait for the Gulf Stream to settle down for us to travel across back to the United States. 

SOUTH THEN NORTH

 We travelled south to Lee Stocking Island then on our way back anchored at Musha Cay (David Copperfield's expensive Airbnb Island). We love the beaches, sand bars, blue waters and the shore caves. 

A remora (shark sucker fish) was hanging around off the back of the boat. I did get some video. We waited until he carried on before jumping into the water. 

A new beach find for us.  

When we visit Staniel Cay Yacht Club, we grocery shop, eat lunch and check out the tame nurse sharks always hanging around waiting for a bit of left over cut fish.

When we head into Staniel Cay, this is what the "parking lot" looks like. Our dinghy is the big one on the left tied up to the huge boulders. I need to be flexible to climb out the tender onto the boulders, while looking awesome at the same time. All the people in the dining room look out at their dinghies and the mega yachts on the docks lol. 

Hawksbill Cay anchorage. We love exploring with our dinghy at lowish tide and see the sandbars and different shades of blues. 

We are now even further north up at Ship Channel Cay, next stop on Saturday should be Nassau area at Rose Island. We are on our way back to Florida. We are missing our family. Be sure to check out our Time Line 2023 for more up date news on our travels. I post photos there also. Today, Paul caught a Remora fish off the back of the boat. I may post it on the Time Line.

ROUGH AND WAVY

We anchor our boat in as calm waters as we can. So when the winds and waves are coming from the east, we want to be behind a big land mass (and vice versa). We are anchored at Lee Stocking Island in a little cay called William's Cay. There is a beautiful look out here that is very popular. This place is so popular that tour boats come in every day with 5-20 people on board to walk up there and get their lovely photos. We went up and captured some awesome scenic photos and video. They are special if the waves are high and crashing. 

Time Out down in the anchorage and

our little dinghy just anchored near the beach

A MAHI MAHI KIND OF DAY

 Paul's birthday was awesome as we could go out in the deep blue waters and fish. It was flat and calm out there. We caught two female mahi and stopped fishing after that. Once we were in Prime Cay we cleaned the two mahi and gave some away to Sheldon on C-Shel. 

This above photo is not showing clouds and rain, it is showing the horizon and the flat calm waters. Very still. Unfortunately, those little sh@# noseeums came on board like to bite me.

Calm flat in the anchorage.

Cool sunset because who doesn't need another photo of a sunset? lol

We could not swim off the boat for hours as Barney the Barracuda was visiting Time Out. 

Paul and Sheldon enjoying red wine for the birthday meal of grilled pizza and a salad. Next night was Mahi Mahi. It was a fun filled night of Josh wine and good friends.