MARCH IN EXUMA PARK WITH DEB & BOB

March 21st - EXUMA PARK, BAHAMAS

The last two weeks of March were spent with Ron’s sister Debbie and her husband Bob who flew in to Staniel Cay on Flamingo Air from Nassau. Their famous motto…… "We strive to stay in the air longer than our competetors".

Man, you just can’t get past the excitement when new faces arrive. Here, Deb practically ran off the plane. OK Deb, you’re not a movie star…. Just my sister.



After everyone got off the fully loaded plane it was soon discovered that there was absolutely NO luggage in the hold. Wait, what’s this? A second little tiny plane landed about ten minutes later containing all the luggage and no passengers. Now, that was a first for us.

OK, we have our bags, so everyone’s happy. Deb’s looking for Walmart to shop…. NOT !!

This is the Blue Store, and it’s as close as you’re going to get.

 

 

Day one was just spent just hanging around the pool and slowing down to Island time. Later in the afternoon we snorkeled Thunderball Grotto. It was loaded with fish this day and it was fantastic.

 

 

Tomorrow we head down to Black Point Settlement.

Our trip was a Lonnnnngggggggg…… two hour run around Harvey Cay and on down to Black Point.

Hey you guys are looking more relaxed all the time !!

 

Once there Deb wanted to try her hand at scuba diving, so we put all the gear in the tender and ran in to the beach where it wasn’t too deep. She caught on very quickly so we put the rest of her gear on and headed out a little deeper.
 

 

Come on now Deb….. You’re suppose to swim, NOT SIT !
 

 

Deb was doing very well at SCUBA until she ran head long into the seven foot nurse shark but soon realized that it only wanted to swim and not eat her. So, back we went to the beach and everyone was happy with the great day we just had.

 

The following day it was off to Warderick Wells where you just never know who’s going to arrive next. We were all on our moorings when this big fellow arrived and hooked onto mooring #1.

March 24th at 2:30am began the "Night From Hell". We were unable to secure a mooring in Cambridge Cay and unsuccessful at getting the hook to set in the hard bottom on the west east side of Belle Island so we decided to anchor below Johnnie Depps house at Little Halls Pond. We’d been anchored there before in deep sand and good holding although a fairly strong current, but tonight would be OK to shelter us from the forecast northwest winds. We were all settled into bed when Ron heard the wind increasing and it had started to rain lightly. When jan got up, the sky was full of lightening and the black clouds indicated that something very terrible was coming quickly. As a precaution the engine was started and all hands were awaken. All of a sudden a huge storm cell hit us with 50 knots of wind from the unprotected north with heavy rain that was horizontal. Wind Warrior was knocked over about 30 degrees and she swung wildly on her anchor. This violent action continued for well over an hour and ended with our boat aground on a nearby sand bar, although not enough that we couldn’t power her off. However, it was still very dark and difficult to orientate ones self. The rest of the night was spent in the cockpit monitoring the conditions and our situation. Dawn came and with the rising sun ended our night from hell.


What to do next……..

We headed back south to Big Majors Cay so that we could have fun with the swimming pigs.
As we made our way into the anchorage things were abuzz and quickly we saw why. Pig beach was now partially obscured by a huge 120 foot mega yacht that had broken free of their anchorage in the same storm and dragged up onto the beach.

Somebody has an owner that is certainly not going to be very pleased.

Damage appeared to be limited to total destruction of both props and rudders, and bent shafts and struts. The hull was not compromised and she was not taking on water.

After a long day of filling air bags to help re-float her and two small tugs working hard to pull her off, there was finally some movement and she floated free. Even the pigs were out to watch this action.

OK. Enough of this, so once again we headed south around Harvey Cay and over to the north end of Great Iguana Cay where we had reports of wild iguanas in a very natural habitat.

At first they appeared very intimidating but soon we were allowed to get closer without being too cautious. We did have to remember that this was their habitat and it was not to be disturbed.

 

The huge white cliffs above the beach made for interesting climbing and picturesque views over the well protected anchorage.

On March 31st Bob & Deb’s vacation came to an end. We headed back to Staniel Cay Yacht Club for the last time this year. As usual, it was full of mega yachts and we couldn’t get a dock so we anchored in the channel just west of Thunderball Grotto and used our water taxi (dinghy) to motor in.

On our last evening Jan & I were treated to a wonderful dinner by my sister and our brother-in-law. We all had a great and exciting trip together. They experienced the "real" Bahamas from a vantage point that few ever get to see.
 

 

Tomorrow Wind Warrior heads north back to the Abacos for a month of crew relaxation.