H is for Happy in The Exumas

Happy is being in The Exumas instead of Nassau.

Pipe Creek is a favourite place for us.

H is for Happy in the Exumas We are so happy to be in The Exumas instead of Nassau. We have spent the last couple of days at Warderick Wells snorkelling and paddling. We finally feel like we are cruising. There are usually a lot of boats around the park; however there were only 8 boats in the main north anchorage and none on the moorings at Emerald Rock where we anchored. We paddled over to what is called the Ranger's Garden and drifted with our kayaks in tow. The last time we had seen 8 eagle rays flying in formation. This time I counted 14 huge rays flying under us as we drifted in the current. It was a sight we will never forget. You can only drift dive there at slack tide or the current gets too strong. The tide becomes slack about an hour before and after it changes so you have to time your dives carefully. The next day we moved Celebrian out to Malabar Cays to snorkel the reef there. We did find a lobster and a nurse shark but no turtle on this dive. The weather was so calm and settled that we stayed out at Malabar over night. What a wonderful couple of days we have had. Chris Parker was talking about a strong cold front reaching us on the weekend so we hoisted anchor and moved down to Pipe Creek. Pipe is one of our favourite stops along the Exuma chain. There is lots to do here....paddle, shell, walk and even find a few pieces of sea glass if you are lucky. The only down side of Pipe is that you have a fierce current here and you have to time your paddling and swimming carefully. The current rules here and sometimes the wind is blowing from one direction and the boat is lying to the current. The tell tale sign is the flag blowing toward the boat instead of away. The other concern we have is with Big Bruce and how he is doing with Celebrian`s pirouhettes. Sometimes an anchor can trip itself with the chain so today I snorkelled out to see what Big Bruce looked like. Gratefully he was dug in well and our chain was stretched out and doing fine. We are expecting very high winds tonight and tomorrow so we need to feel confident that the anchor will hold. My snorkel was like swimming in a wave pool. I would not have wanted to try doing it without my fins. Last night we had high winds and wild current changes in the night. The anchor chain thumps and clangs when we are tacking back and forth in the current. Needless to say it makes for a night of awakenings; however once again Big Bruce was our hero and continues to be so today as we are still getting winds in the 25 knot range. We are hopeful that tonight won't be as crazy as last. We have been doing some boat jobs as well as reading out books. Yesterday I made a raisin cinammon loaf from a recipe that my friend Jane, a sailing neighbour at the condo gave me. It definitely is a keeper and will become one of the staples on Celebrian. Today is Sunday February 12th and we will be here until tomorrow when we hope to sail down to Black Point. We will do our laundry and go out for conch pizza at Deshomon's Restaurant where I will get a wifi signal to do some internet. From Black Point we hope to go to Georgetown, the fourth largest settlement in The Bahamas...population 1,000. We haven't been to Georgetown since the first year that we sailed to The Bahamas so it will be interesting to see if there are many changes. Georgetown has a huge protected harbour and during the cruising regatta in March there can be several hundred boats there. This murex had a tenant so we took his picture and let him go. Those of you who have received sand dollars will be happy to know that we have managed to collect a few more for next season.

The rising moon is beautiful.