Spanish Fly

At the northern tip of Eluthera is Spanish Wells settlement and Harbour Island. As we progress north the Bahama islands become more and more developed. Here there are starting to appear more cars, hotels and buildings. Unfortunately less and less virgin beaches and spear fishing opportunities. Interestingly the Spanish Wells area produces 80% of all the lobster and fish from the Bahamas.


We toured both Spanish Wells and Harbour Town by golf cart. Golf cart is the choice mode of transportation here used by both locals and visitors. The locals have their carts all personalized and souped up. Some pretty sweet rides!


As this will likely be one of our last opportunities for snorkeling and spear fishing we took advantage. In a deep hole under a rock I spotted what I thought was a large grouper. After stalking it for a few minutes and a few dives I finally had a clear shot and took it. To my shock and surprise when I speared it it instantly blew up to the size of a basketball. Blowfish!! If I had known it was a blowfish I would not have speared it and I know I should solemnly thank the creatures spirit for giving it self up but to be honest it was just the funniest thing! Just the look of it had me laughing really hard under water. It hardly fit in the 10quart bucket we carry in the dinghy. When I pulled my spear out I heard the hiss of deflation. Half an hour later it was completely deflated. While edible and even considered a delicacy some parts of the blowfish are extremely poisonous and require a highly skilled chef to prepare it properly. We erred on the side of caution and didn't attempt to eat it.


We met an nice young couple, Jordan & Erica on Nami from New Jersey anchored next to us. They had a visitor Lauren and we invited them all over for drinks and a very enjoyable evening.


Next stop, 150nm and 32 hours to Freeport Grand Bahama.

Forget Greenwich Meant Time

Not yet Cassy, soon but not yet....

Come on folks!

Lone tree

Peeing on this tree was just unsatisfying

Cooling off

Coppertone ad

Haunted house

Puffy friend

Quilt Queens... new reality show after Real Housewives

Somethings under there... dinner?

Poof!

Torture volleyball

Deflated. Sorry buddy case of mistaken identity.

Visitation Rights

This week we had the great pleasure of visitors from home! Paul surprised Marcy with a secret vacation destination, well deserved by both of them after a grueling exam period. Even up to the flight boarding gate Marcy did not know their ultimate destination, a fact the US boarder patrol officer did not find amusing. Once arrived and settled into their Georgetown villa Paul suggested they explore the town, specifically Regatta Park where festivities were being held for the Bahamas National Family Regatta. You should have seen Marcy's face when she saw Cassy and Dexter in the park. Priceless.
Well done Paul (CSIS / CIA anyone?)


The Bahamas National Island Family Regatta is the biggest of the year. “Work boats” from all the islands compete hard for bragging rights. These are beautiful vessels, with massive mainsails (booms extending well past the transoms) and relatively miniscule jibs. Crews hike out hard on trapezes. After the races the boats slide right through the cruisers anchorage, a sight to behold.


Paul & Marcy also brought us much needed supplies, a long and growing list I provided to Paul over the previous weeks. Paul, a sailor himself, is a huge DIY kind of guy (rewiring his entire boat, making his own davits and most recently raising his home's roof by eight feet) so I knew finding me exactly what I wanted was well entrusted. Paul did not let us down (and somehow hid it all from Marcy!). Most importantly Paul brought us much needed parts for our head. We'd been having major head issues for the past two weeks, which I've spared you the details of dear reader and which I will not go into now. Suffice to say that I've been down to Dante's fifth circle... at least. Paul also helped me with our generator, actually did it all himself while I was down in the inferno.


Paul & Marcy hope to go cruising themselves one day so I think it was a small preview for them. We toured the beaches, went swimming, hiking, dinghy tours, beach bars and spear fishing. At the same time we got a taste of land life again, staying in their villa for two nights (big unmoving bed, TV, dishwasher, laundry, oh my!)


Thanks for a great visit Paul & Marcy!!


Now we're off up north to Eluthera! See you soon!

Cuddle Buddies

4000 nautical miles

Regatta City

Let go of the winter jacket people!! If you look closely he's got a ski ticket on!

White girl and whiter girl

Bros

School marching band, poor tuba guy

Security and back-up

Police Band

Little drummer boy... in leopard skin

First in the phonebook

Dexter is a huge race fan

Monument beach

Shipping the race boats home

Dr. Marcy I presume

Our neighbourhood

Monumental friendship

Guys it's so hot!

I'm going to take a little lie down here in the path

Making friends

The party team!

Homecooking

Fixing boats in exotic places

Where's Dexter?

Fish fry shack

Our catch: hors d'oeuvres really

Overwhelming need to sniff any animals butt