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Bahamas 2005

6/05 Rum Cay, including the Billfish Blast!

Rum Cay Marina    Rum Cay - Cottages and Restaurant next to the marina    The puppy, Taco Bell, who everyone wanted to adopt!

A dockful of fishing boats from Georgia, competing in their annual Savannah Billfish Blast!    Telling the day's fish stories! These guys have their shanties all set up with freezers, cookers, fryers, etc.    The official board... this is a yearly event!

The winner, named Very Pushy!    The 80 pound Wahoo    Ready to be served up....the kitty is waiting for his sushi!

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6/05 Some pictures from our return trip to George Town, Great Exuma. I'm glad we went back!! These are pictures from Stocking Island, just north of George Town; a lovely spot above Monument Beach.

View of Monument Beach from George Town...enlarge to see Monument atop the hill    Starting up the trail from Monument Beach to the Monument.    The view of the anchorages at Stocking Island. Quite a sight!    The girls and I made it to the top with friends, Sam and Tori. A short hike compared to some of the others we've done. 

View from the ocean side of the Monument.     View from Monument Beach, across the channel to Kidds' Cove anchorage at George Town

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5/05 Pictures from Long Island, but not the New York version. This is the Bahamian version!

This is the 200 year old Spanish church in Long Island.     The back view...    A beautiful alcove with altar    See, we really do read about, and seek out the history of the places we visit!   

O.K., that's enoough history... time for some conch salad! Here's the only sign for the famous Max's Conch Bar & Grill     And here it is! Max's Famous Conch Bar!    Jillian, Marcie, and friend, Alison, enjoying the hammock at Max's    Tori and Rachel are more subdued after playing miniature golf!  

The ferry boat from George Town, loaded with people coming to watch, or race in the Long Island Regatta.    Long Island's Regatta Park food stands    Jillian, getting a first-hand lesson on cleaning conchs!

Long Island had its own regatta, a little more laid back than George Town's.    Coming around the mark...    Our friend, Sam, crewing on a race boat (he's in the orange shirt).    Sam is on the closest race boat, and Jeff is riding nearby in the dinghy, with the owner of the race boat   

Walking on water in Deadman's Cay. It's low tide, and the sand bar is just emerging.    Sam in the dinghy, trying to bounce Jeff out of the raft    Airborne!   

Jeff, setting up the compressor to go diving    Rachel trying out the dive gear    Blue/green tinged clouds, a beautiful sight in person

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5/05 Some other pictures from George Town:

The straw market by the harbor. This is THE place to buy your Regatta T-shirts, or any straw or crocheted bags, hats, jewelry, etc for your family and friends    Mom's Bakery is a huge favorite with the cruisers. Mom gives out hugs and love to everyone, and "all around the world, if you say Mom made it, everyone knows it's the best!"    The National Bahamian Band arrived for the official Grand Parade kicking off the Family Island Regatta   

One of several conch stands... obviously newly "shucked" conch just off the truck!    Conch salad a favorite with the locals AND the cruisers    They make a big bowl of conch salad all at once, and it doesn't take long for it to sell!

 Kidds Cove Anchorage in George Town    Here's the little bridge you dinghy under to get to the dinghy dock.    Here's the dinghy dock, where you "park" to go into town. Packed full during the regatta.    The whole crew heading into town

Jillian, with her new friend, Sara (and Rachel)    Sara's brother, Justin, with his self-made model boat, which sailed beautifully!    Sara waves goodbye, as they leave the harbor!    The girls with friends, Jennifer, Tori and Alison at the straw market in George Town

Rachel and Marcie swimming off the back of the boat, with their new friends    Synchronized floating!    Tori, waiting for a push??    Alison, climbing up the anchor line

Better get back to the boat, before the tide carries us away!    Alison, Rachel, Tori and Marcie - getting set to take another jump off the bow!    What do I do when I have an itch??    Sunset over George Town

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5/05 For sailing buffs, here are some pictures of the Bahamian racing boats during the Family Island Regatta in George Town in Great Exuma. It was spectacular to watch!

This is how the sailing boats arrive.... on the freighter!    The Bahamians take their sailing very seriously, as shown by some serious boat names.    Unloading the racing boats from the freighter    And it's off to the race, with a full crew!

 The Bahamians take great pride in this event. It is their Superbowl!    At the starting line...    Sails going up!    They're off!

 Stocking Island in the background, just north of George Town.    From the docks in George Town    Racing for the finish line    A winner!

 We sometimes would take our dinghy out to the race line, and watch the boats sweep by    View from our dinghy, facing Regatta Park in George Town.    Class A boats have a two sails, and a dozen or so crew (for ballast)    When the girls got tired of the racing, they looked for crabs

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 4/05 Pictures from Staniel Cay and Thunderball Grotto.

A few of the cottages on shore for visitors   We anchored out by these three rocks. the farthest away is Thunderball Grotto.    Off to snorkel at the grotto!

Thunderball Grotto Entrance    Thunderball Grotto (Overhead)    A bad picture of fish inside the grotto   

Famous swimming pigs. We renamed them the infamous wading pigs!    Who would have thought this would be a tourist attraction!     This guy was smaller and cuter. The big one grunted at us loudly when the food was all gone!   

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4/05 Exuma Park at Warderick Wells.

View of Serendipity from Boo Boo Hill    Momentos left behind at Boo Boo Hill    Our contribution to Boo Boo Hill    Blow Holes. These vents are strong enough to blow your hat off!

Sand bars aren't just to run aground on...    One of our Mermaids! Marcie on her birthday.    Buddy howls if he isn't included    Jillian likes to use the kayak, too!

These bones are from a whale that was killed by ingesting plastic waste.    The water bike was a fun diversion    Rolling it back up the beach was less fun!    The dock was voted even better than the water bike!

A lovely spot at the south end of the island, which has no buildings, just the anchorage, the hammock, the trails, and the Pirate's Lair!.    Indiana Jeff at the Pirate's Lair trail!    Click on this one, to read about the Pirate's Lair    This the actuall lair! The hole in the rear is the fresh water well!

There are 4 mooring on the Southern end also!    Part of a 4 hour walk    View from the trail    Explorers Extraordinaire!

One of numerous holes along the trails, some hard to navigate around!    A lone star fish on the beach, nothing else in sight!    Marcie, cooling her feet after a long hike

Back on the trail, again. Stopping to investigate a find!     Isn't he cute?    A Gargantuan Hermit Crab!

Crossing the rock bridge to the other island     Sunshine Causeway of the Exumas!    One of the many fish that hung out by our boat    Sunset at Warderick Wells

                                                                                                                                                                              

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4/05 A few pictures of Norman's Cay anchorage and sandbar to the south.

Looking from the sand bar to the anchorage        Sand bar at low tide. You could walk across the the cay just west of it.    Same sand bar at high tide...mostly under water. Storm approaching!    Buddy loves to romp on the beach now!

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4/05 After Nassau, we sailed to Allen's Cay, a beautiful spot, with a colony of iguanas. There are three islands here; Allen's, Leaf Cay and SW Allen's, and we explored each one.

Allen's Cay Anchorage     Serendipity...peaceful and serene   The girls and Jeff, with lettuce and broccoli for the iguanas    Iguanas everywhere. They run down the beach to greet you.       

Buddy wasn't allowed on the beach here, for obvious reasons    This one was happy to pose for us    Marcie and Jillian checking out the little fish at the beach    Rachel, sketching the iguanas, and making science journal notes

Exploring the ocean-side of SW Allen's, where they found all the starfish.    Found dozens of these starfish under the rocks by the shore of SW Allen's Cay nearby    This tiny crab fit on the tip of a finger    A helmet conch shell, but the conch inside is hiding.

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4/05 Pictures from Atlantis Hotel and Aquarium on Paradise Island

The girls and I are standing above the waterfall. Beautiful grounds!    Atlantis's famous "Rose", a manta ray with 12 ft span    Enlarge to see her eyes. She'll get twice this size and have to be moved elsewhere!    Moray eel...Glad we saw it in the aquarium and not while snorkeling!

Enalrge to see the actual conch hanging out of the shell. Yuck!    Sea horse    The girls at one of the casino terraces, overlooking the beach area    All the girls, hamming it up in one of the tunnels

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3/05 Well, we finally made it to Nassau.  Here we are anchored off the BASRA (Bahamas Air and Sea Rescue) office, just West of the bridges to Paradise Island.  You can see the Atlantis Hotel on Paradise Island in the background.

We Arrive in Nassau (Atlantis Resort in background)    We were this close to all the cruise ships docked next to the anchorage.

Ok, that place didn't quite work out.  The restaurant Friday's decided to have a party until 3 in the morning "3 beers for $10" was announced over the loud music every 5 minutes.  New location is Bayshore Marina.  All we have to do is get under these two bridges.  They are listed as having 70' clearance at high tide.  We head for them with our 68' (approx) high mast at low tide...

Seventy foot clearance, yea right!!

Well...  We made it, but the clearance wasn't what we expected.  The first bridge wasn't so bad, a few feet above the antennas. The second bridge was much closer.  It looked like we only had about 1 foot clearance.  Luckily no more bridges to worry about until we get back to Florida. 

Here we are at Bayshore... We stayed here with the local fisherman (nice guys) for a few days while we stocked up and made a few minor repairs.  We then headed across to Hurricane Hole Marina on Paradise Island for the pool, access to Atlantis Resort,  showers, water and internet access.   Jeff

At Bayshore Marina in Nassau

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3/05 Our first stop after crossing the Gulf Stream was North Bimini, where the girls couldn't wait to see the first stamp in their passports.

This is the Customs Building on North Bimini, right off the dock.     The straw market on North Bimini     The mail/grocery freighter, which docked right behind us, comes once a week...that's the day to get your fresh fruit and veggies!     Yes, the girls got the famous Bahamian hair braids while in Bimini

enlarge this to see how low the water is on this sand bar. Hundreds of conch shells here!     One of many beautiful sunsets. This one from Chub Cay, our stop over between Bimini and Nassau.     Just kickin' back in the hammock....everyone wants a turn!!  

Copyright © 2007 Jeff Lucia. All Rights Reserved.