We had another couple of days with activities defined by the wind, which meant more walks than snorkels. We did find the elusive “orchid trail” only we didn’t know it until afterwards. The trail was mostly underwater so we spent the whole time looking at our feet and didn’t see a single orchid. Oops. I don’t think there are snakes in the Bahamas but coming from Florida I get a little nervous wading through swampy water. The protected bay was cool though, made it look deceptively calm.
The weather did get the better of us though and we got antsy to go exploring and diving, that and we were getting hungry for some seafood, so we headed out in the dinghy a day earlier than we probably should have. The cuts were still too rough to get through so we edged as close as we could. In the Manjack cut Keith dove in while I stayed in the dinghy trying to keep it pointed into the waves. We were inside of most of the breaking waves but one set got me pretty good. The first wave grabbed me and surfed me in towards shore. It wasn’t the fun kind of surfing! I thought I was going to end up on the shore. I got the boat turned around in time to have the next two waves break over the bow. Abort! Abort! I screamed like a girl and Keith jumped in the dinghy. We retreated into the calmer waters at the mouth of the creek. Keith still brought home a cero, a grouper, and a couple conchs so we could reciprocate a dinner with Pushkar who had fed us a yummy coconut Thai soup the night before.
^^you can’t tell in the photo, but the trail is underwater.
^^we were not the only ones out fishing. Sweet mutton snapper!
Later in the week, King Neptune finally turned off the seatbelt sign and we were free to move about the islands. We made the tiny little offshore jump around Whale Cay with no problems and tucked into Marsh Harbor. Marsh Harbor is the second largest city in the Bahamas, I’m not a fan of cities but we hadn’t seen a store in quite a while. My remaining perishables consisted of an onion, half a garlic, 2 tablespoons of butter, and a carrot. Grocery store? Yes, please!
Keith has a “thing” for Bahama Mac-n-Cheese. Somehow we came home with 9×13 pan of fresh-out-of-the-oven macaroni and cheese. Wasn’t exactly on the shopping list I’d be embarrassed to write how much we have left! I was going to take a picture of it, but then you would know. 😉 We crammed all our errands and shopping into one day and after getting all loaded up with propane, diesel, gasoline, and fresh fruits and veggies we headed south to Lynyard Cay, the last stop in the Abacos.
We’ve been to Lynyard Cay once before but the rest of the area we’ve never explored, so we are excited for new territory. Another front moved right in and “grey” seems to be the word of the day again. From here we have a 60+ mile (all day long) offshore jump to Eleuthra. We walked the path across the island to check out the ocean today. It looked, to borrow a word from our weatherman, “sporty” even though that was not what the forecast was calling for. So, even though we are looking forward to moving south, I think we are going be quite content poking around in this corner of the Abacos for a few more days. There is conch here, so at least we won’t go hungry.
^^those two big “furry” looking rocks are conch.
^^the insides are just as ugly as the outsides. But they taste sooooo good!
We don’t leave our empty shells on the beach or in the water. I hate to see opened shells when walking on a beach and I really don’t want to see one fouling my (or my neighbors) anchor 😦 We toss ours deep into the brush.
^^I know he is contemplating surfing those.
^^yeah, I’m glad we didn’t head out into that his morning! Maybe it will be calmer in a few days.
Wright Away Sails Away 