Glorious Visits with family and friends

Wow, where did the month go? We have had a fabulous time with family sharing our favorite spots in the Exumas between George Town and Staniel Cay; Monument Beach on Stocking Island, Rat Cay, the abandoned Carribean Marine Research Center at Lee Stocking Island, Little Farmers Cay and Ty's Sunset Bar; the cave at Oven Rock,  White Point and Blackpoint, all on Great Guana Cay; and the Thunderball Grotto, wild pigs, Staniel Cay Yacht Club, all around Staniel Cay and the Majors. 

Mila and Norm enjoying a meal aboard Kuivato.

 Sharing a meal at Eddies bar and Grill in George Town.

Kelsey and Jackson posing underwater.

 Interesting walk to Ty's Bar on Little Farmers Cay.

Happy happy days!

Diving in the Groto Caves!

Sunset at Ty's Bar where we were the only patrons! Happily, Bryan took a much needed outdoor shower...no photo attached!

We've snorkeled, hiked, swam, ate very well, and shared good drink (well no drinking for Tim who contracted Giardia and was on antibiotics which do not tolerate any alcohol :( . But now he is back to enjoying his daily dose of dark Bahamian rum! ).  

3 strong snorkelers made it to the island while the "hunters and gathers" cracked coconuts!

Hannah preparing for Grotto dive.

We had exciting visits to the Thunderball Grotto and everyone enjoyed the frenzy of feeding the fish.

Another gourmet meal, this time prepared by Hannah.

Hannah relaxing...to the delight of her Dad.

Each and every goodbye was bittersweet as we loved having everyone aboard. 

Hannah leaving Blackpoint for Nassau on Flamingo Airways.

We have determined that most of our home cooked meals are better than any restaurant and were delighted to see how each of our daughters have become quite creative in the kitchen. We have made some fabulous dishes with lobster, conch, and catch of the day! We are disappointed in our hunting and gathering skills and have determined that the Bahamas are getting fished out. This fact has been confirmed by many cruisers that we have met but the locals seem to be in denial even though they have to fish in deeper and deeper water. Obviously local knowledge is key.  Most of the fish, lobster and conch we have been eating has been bought  from local fisherman. It doesn't get much fresher than watching "Turtle", a local Little Farmers Cay fisherman, dive among the stingrays foraging for conch scraps to bring up a string of fresh conch that he had caught earlier in the day. The locals catch the conch, hammer a hole into the shell, string 5 to 10 together so they can't walk away, leave them in the water live until someone happens upon the dock looking for dinner. We've pondered wouldn't it be a hoot if the conch were smarter and a group on a string could get organized ("hey guys, let's all go east") and go in the same direction to escape ;) .

Turtle cleaning the conch with his razor sharp machete.

We had a few fabulous sails flying the spinnaker for the first time of the trip from George Town to Rat Cay and from Lee Stocking to Farmers Cay. Busting 9  knots  on Kuivato is quite a thrill ride. 

The crew became skilled at dropping the spinnaker without letting it drop into the ocean.  After one spinnaker run we were looking for the "Bahama" cell phone and couldn't find it anywhere. The following photo shows Bryan getting the Gold Metal for figuring out that the phone must have gotten folded up in the spinnaker when it was repacked into the sail bag! We pulled the spinnaker out of the bag and the cell phone tumbled onto the cockpit floor; a much better place than the alternative which would have been hearing something bounce off the deck and hit the water during the next spinnaker deployment where we would be asking ourselves "Hey, what just plopped overboard?"

Jackson and Bryan were also a great help to Tim handling sails, the anchor and all the daily boat handling chores.  

Jackson clearly mastered his "Vero Beach" dinghy pose with aplomb.

It's now March 12th and we are back in Little Farmers Cay waiting for a predicted cold front due to come through tonight with 30 knot  winds and squalls to 40 knots.  

While we still have another month before getting back to our jobs, it's time to start thinking about working our way back north.