I is for Impressive

We anchored in Rudder Cut Cay and found ourselves next to two very impressive caves that we could paddle into.

The last blog entry was sent fromn Deshemon's in Black Point where we always order a conch pizza. Today's blog is being posted from a little internet shack in George Town in the southern Exumas.

The people in Black Point make their living by plaiting palm leaves. They send them to Nassau where they are made into purses and other straw goods.

We found a new anchorage on our way south at Jack's Bay with beautiful beaches and stunning cliffs.

I is for Impressive We had a thoroughly enjoyable pre-Valentine's dinner at Deshemons....our usual...conch pizza. I was able to do some internet and call my mom and the captain did the laundry. It is like old home week at Black Point because we know the folks who run the little store, laundromat and restaurant. There are always hugs and lots of smiles to greet us from the very gracious people who live here. Our stop was brief but a very pleasant one. It is Thursday February 16th and We are presently anchored in Rudder Cut Cay, south of Black Point and an area that we have not visted before. The only time you can come through this area is at high tide as the water is very skinny in places. There are a couple of very impressive caves along the coast of this cay. They are actually grottos as they are open to the sky in places. We did some paddling and explored the coast after we anchored. The island is private; however there are no buildings to be seen from this anchorage. We were hoping to keep moving south to Georgetown; however the wind is not at a favourable angle for us and we are still about 40 miles away. It looks like we are here until Sunday. Rob is re-bedding the chain plates on the deck this morning. We had some sea water come into the lockers on the sail down from the Abacos as we were heeled over on the starboard side. Needless to say it makes a mess but since everything is stored in plastic bags or jars things are not ruined and it just requires patience and clean water. We seem to be having our challenges with salt water this season; however I am happy to say that our tank water is tasting fine and we are back to normal operation. The PUC (Private utilites Company) is operating at one hundred per cent. From Rudder Cut Cay we motored eight miles in the ocean to Lee Stocking Island. We are seldom without our sails but the wind was light and on our nose so the sails were not going to help us. We had been to Lee Stocking before with Lynn and Peter; however there are many new spots to anchor and explore. We anchored in William's Bay behind Lee Stocking and William's Cay. We spent a wonderful afternoon paddling in the calm air and exploring the ocean cliffs. It is not often that we get to paddle in calm conditions. The next morning we left while the tide was high so that we could work our way south behind the cays rather than go out in the ocean for a short trip to Rat Cay. Rat Cay is the closest anchorage before you get to George Town for a boat with a deep keel. The catermarans can do a lot of exploring in the areas we have been sneaking through at high tide but since we draw close to five foot six we have to plan our skinny water adventures to coincide with a rising tide. Rat Cay is a good place to kayak, walk beaches and explore. The only consideration is timing of the tidal current which is fierce here. As it happened we were able to paddle with an ebbing current in the late morning, have lunch at the beach, do some exploring and beach combing and paddle back to the boat on the flood current. Our find of the day was an exquisite hawk wing shell. It is the best one we have ever found. Today is Sunday February 19th and we are soon to haul anchor and sail to George Town, third largest settlement in The Bahamas, population about one thousand. We spent some time in George Town the first year that we cruised but not since. We need diesel and some fresh food as well as internet so we are going to the big city?! As it happens Chris Parker, the weather guru is spending the week here doing some weather seminars so we may get a chance to attend one of his seminars and buy his book. He lives in Key West and provides a daily weather update on the single side band radio and we depend on his forecasts to plan our moves. You can sign up for several hundred dollars a year and get personalized forecasts and email, but so far we have found the general forecast information all we have needed.

The anchorage at Lee Stocking Island was another great stop with good paddling and great ocean views.

At times we were very close to sand banks as we made our way through the cays and islands.

Rat Cay was another new anchorage for Celebrian.

We found a real treasure on the ocean beach at Rat Cay. It is the nicest hawkwing shell we have ever found.

Many of you have received sand dollars as gifts from us over our sailing years. Those of you who saw our Christmas tree this year will have seen our tree decorated with them. This is what they look like when they are alive. Notice the little fuzzy legs around the outside of the shell and how brown they are. They don't move at a blistering pace by any means but we watched this one move along the bottom making a little trail. Today we are very busy in down town George Town. We have groceries to pick and diesel for Mr. Yan. This entails three trips back and forth between the boat and the Shell Station. In between trips I am scrambling to post this blog. The weather may let us sail to Long Island this week and then there might be a chance for a passage to Crooked and Acklins. We were to Crooked and Acklins the year that we sailed to the Turks and Caicos and the Dominican Republic.