January 10- 14, 2022 - Exuma Land & Sea Park

January 10, 2022

Up at 5:30am to do stretching. It is interesting how each morning when I wake up, I look out and never know what direction the boat is facing. It changes with the wind and tides. I can hear different bird sounds coming from the land which I never heard of before. 

7:00am- Anchor is up and off to the Exuma Land and Sea Park at Warderick Wells Cay.  

7:05am-  Sun Spirit called us on the radio to say they couldn’t get their anchor up. We couldn’t turn around since there were other boats on each side of the channel. We told them we would wait outside the channel. 

Things are not going as planned so Gunter  picked Steve up  on his dinghy while I circled out in the bay with the boat and sang: “Will it Go Round in Circles “

8:00am-  Steve and Gunter managed to bring up their anchor up by hand. They will work on it when we get to our destination since we will be on a mooring ball. 

We have approximately 30 miles to cover. 

8:15- The sail is up and the seas are calm. 

Sue called me on the VHF to asked whether I had enough blog material from them. You surely have to have a sense of humour afterwards. 

Interesting information about where we will be 

 The 176 square mile Exuma Cays Land and Sea National Park, created in 1958, was the first land and sea park in the world and is one of the most successful marine parks. It is the first to take reserve (all fishing is prohibited) in the wider Caribbean

 8:45am- Steve shut the motor and we are finally peacefully sailing   We are going 5 knots.  

10:15pm-  We are moving up to Northern Boundary of the Exuma Cay Land and Sea park. It is a conservation and you are not allowed to fish or take anything. Huge fine if you get caught. There is no consistent cell to access either so I may not be able to update my blog regularly. 

January 11,, 2022

6:45am- I couldn’t believe it. Steve got up this morning to see the sunrise with coffee already made. Bread making and  exploring day today. 

It will be nice to go for a walk since we usually walk 8 km a day at home. That would be a lot of lapse around the boat.

9:30am- Went for a long walk up the Boo boo hill and found out I could actually access wifi. What a sight. You can see all the boats on the mooring from that point. Then we walked down the Hutias trail, Causeway trail to Barefoot beach. Good thing they mark the trails with yellow paint because you can get lost. 

10:30am-  Came back to the boat to relax and knead my bread. 

11:15- Went to the office to pay for another night. 

We came back to take out our snorkel gear and realized our lazerat needed major cleaning. So out everything came out while we were also making water. So fun time will have to wait. 

1:00pm- Had lunch and finished making water.  

1:30pm- We went out in the dinghy to go snorkelling. It was windy but there was no current.  Steve went in and saw 16 stingrays and a reef shark swimming in a formation  right under him. He was so excited. Wish I had my go pro. Next time.    I better make sure the batteries are charged. 

2:15pm Bread is in the oven. Steve read while I just took in the scenery. 

The stingrays are huge. Almost 5 ft across. This one was swimming under our boat. 

Steve found a small buoy which I painted. I climbed back up to Boo boo hill and placed it with other peoples boat signs. 

3:45pm - I  kayaked and then climbed Boo Hoo hill also to get wifi.  I called Steve on VHF radio to see if he could see me. He said he could see me waving. 

Went back down  the hill after checking my mail. 

When I was coming back on my kayak and ready to get onto GaYa, a shark was under my kayak and took me by surprise. 

Dinner tonight will be pasta followed by a movie. We are staying here another night

January 12, 2022

1:45am- Holy Toledo!  We were wakened up by a squall and we figure it must of been blowing 60 mph winds along with thunder and lightning along with torrential rain. So glad we were on a mooring. Steve usually puts my kayak on top of our dinghy during the night but it got blown over and was tipped upside down. Good thing it was tied to the boat. He put it back upright.  We stayed up for about an hour. Things were surely rolling.  I didn’t get much sleep but figure I am able to sleep during the day if needed. 

7:15am- This morning winds have dropped down gusting to 25-30 knots. My kayak was tipped over once again.  Sue waved to me from their boat to put our VHF radio on a channel where we communicate and exchanged experiences. Because we don’t have wifi that is the only way we can communicate while we are here unless I go up Boo-Boo hill.  

At Boo-Boo Hill, the tradition is for cruisers to leave an offering to appease King Neptune and be blessed with good winds and smooth seas. I left the painted buoy there yesterday with our name on it. I would hate to see what kind of winds he would have left if I didn’t. 

8:00am-  Enjoyed our cup of coffee while we were running the motor and GaYa was rocking. We figure we might as well make hot water. 

8:00am-  Pancakes are for breakfast since we ran out of fruit and yogurt. There is no store here. You can only buy ice. 

9:30am-  Steve had me go out on the bow where we could see water shooting out through the spectacular blowhole from our boat.   We will go on land later to look at it. We can expect to get wet when we do. It is still gusting at 25mph. 

10:00am- While Steve read, I practised my ukulele until Sue called us on VHF around 11am to say someone ran aground trying to grab a mooring. Steve went off to see if they needed assistance. 

12:00pm- When Steve got back he said the boat in distress had wrapped the mooring around his prop. Poor owner had to dive in the water to release the line from his prop. Before that they had to run numerous lines from the boat to the mooring painter to release the pressure and to pull up the boat to the mooring with the assistance of 3 dinghies pushing the boat against the wind and the current to try to hold the position. The boat’s name was Mallie. 

In the end, it was a success and no one got hurt. I am so proud of my Captain. 

Actually, two years ago when we were here, Steve helped Freeplay out of a situation. In fact, every time we come here, he comes to someone’s aid. Interesting. 

This is the first time we have been here since we have experienced so much wind. There is always current due to the tides. 

1:15pm- Went to shore  to pay for a couple more nights at the office and then walked up to the Blue holes and Boo Boo hill to access internet. 

We stayed up the hill as long as it took to pay bills and update my blog. 

2:45pm-  It started to pour so we rushed to the dinghy to get back to our boat. The nice thing is that it is warm so you don’t mind getting wet. 

3:00-  Had a cup of tea and I practiced my guitar while Steve read. 

We saw a beautiful rainbow near the blowholes from our boat. 

 4:30pm - Rain rain and more rain. Just a lazy day afternoon. 

  5:15pm - For dinner tonight is left over Buffalo chicken, broccoli and cheese casserole. 

6:30pm- Watch a movie and since it was only 8:30pm, we played several games of checkers. Funny how it is only 9pm but feels like it is 11.  The wind is picking up again but we don’t expect any reoccurrence like last night. Guess we will a good night sleep. 

January 13, 2022

6:30am-  Starting to rain. It was a calm night.  Enjoyed a cup of coffee with oatmeal, raisins and walnuts. 

So nice to have calmness and not constant wind howling sounds.  We noticed a turtle popping his head up and down to say good morning along with a stingray in the shallows. 

10:00am-  After doing some cleaning up, we went snorkelling with Sue and Gunter. We swam over a Nurse shark and a variety of fish. Steve found one of the biggest lobster under a rock however in this area you can’t touch them. He was looking at Steve laughing. 

11:00am-  Took a nice long hot shower when we got back. Hung all are towels and clothes to dry and behold….rain just as they were almost dried. We will have to wait for the sun to come back out. At least they are getting double rinsed. 

Steve and I downloaded the footage from our GoPro. We got some good videos of the shark and the lobster. 

12:30pm- Had lunch. 

1:30pm -Never thought we would hang our clothes on a line. We had the clothes drying on the Lifeline and just as they were almost dry it gets rained on. So we moved the line under the Bimini. If they dry under really gusty winds, the clothes would get salty. It is amazing how much the wind carries sea salt.  Looking forward to the sun to shine again. 

1:45pm- Had our afternoon cup of tea. 

3:00pm- Went for a walk and discovered several new beaches. 

Ended up at Barefoot Beach

4:00pm- Went for drinks and snacks on Sun Spirit until 5:00pm. 

Back to boat to heat up leftover pizza. 

Relaxed and watch the sunset. The moon is waxing and very bright. 

We didn’t have any videos since we do not have any wifi. I didn’t go up Boo Boo hill today. A lot of Catamarans arrived today with so many people and Were all visiting the hill. Maybe tomorrow. 

Watch a movie after dinner and then read a bit before bed. We can hear parties on the catamaran beside us. 

January 14,  2022 

6:30am- Woke up to westerly winds gusting 18-25.  Muifhr as well sit and enjoy a coffee while the boat rocks. 

Today, I am experimenting with making raisin bread. I am going to make raisin bread with some coconut flour rather than all bread flour. Can’t wait to try it out in 6 hours. I am also experimenting with my salt shaker. On the boat, in this humidity, The salt clumps together and gets moist and won’t come out of my shaker. I even used rice but that doesn’t work. So I cleaned out the salt shaker yesterday and dried it really good. This morning, I put coarse salt in the shaker then placed it in a  well sealed bag with a moist absorber pack. Who know of this will work. It is worth a try. 

7:30am- Did my weights and chi Qing exercises this morning. 

8:39am-  Steve fried up potatoes while I fries eggs and toast. Yummy breakfast.  Seeing that we could get off the board this morning do to the wind and waves, I made tuna salad and practiced my ukulele while Steve read. 

11:30- I took my kayak to shore through current and waves just to climb Boo Boo hill to get wifi. Coming back was a challenge. I didn’t have far to go but I was fighting the wind and waves. I had to change my strategy since I was going backwards. I took it on an angle and paddle like crazy. 

1:15pm- Steve picked up Sue with the dinghy to go to the office to pay for one more night. They just wore their bathing suits since they know they are going to get wet. 

I practised my ukulele. 

3:00pm- Fresh coconut raisin bread came out of the oven. 

5:30pm-  Brought up my dinghy and secured it along with the dinghy sauce we will be leaving in the morning.

6:15-  Hamburger and tuna salad for dinner tonight. Relaxed afterwards with satellite music. 

Watched a series and the to bed.