From Black Point we headed North for a short distance to stop at Staniel Cay, another favorite settlement. Can you tell we like the Exumas? This is a more robust settlement - a jumping bar and restaurant at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club (read: not your regular yacht club!), diving, fishing and snorkeling trips, a Sound side beach that goes on for miles, rental golf carts and the famous Thuderball Cave - where the Bond movie gets it's name and was partially filmed. We stopped here to arrange my father's visit with the SCYC. Yes, my 86 year-old father wanted to come visit! We got his cottage rented and his airplane tickets booked, bought 6 conch, cleaned!, thank goodness and spent one night anchored off Big Major Spot - a safe and beloved anchorage for all cruisers. It's where the swimming pigs are! We spend a week here when Daddy visits so will tell you more about Staniel then. Meanwhile, before we head South again want to mention Dakota's new friend, Diesel, a beautiful Australian Shepherd off the M/V Ty-Kuhn. They had such a good time playing together on the beach. Having a dog, especially a puppy, is certainly a challenge on a boat but they sure open up doors for new friendships!

With the exception of Great Exuma, Great Guana Cay is the longest cay in the Exuma chain. It is 12 miles long and the only settlement is picturesque Black Point. It is also the largest settlement in the central Exumas, with over 200 people. The residents rely on fishing and plaiting for their living. Each settlement has their own little school, some with only 5-7 students. The school on Black Point has well over 30 students and they are colorfully dressed in their yellow shirts and green pants or skirts. They are friendly children often stopping to visit with us on their walk home for lunch. Also, each settlement has their own medical clinic - the one here staffed by a nurse! Black Point also has a great laundry facility - much needed and appreciated now after 3 weeks on the boat. It's also home to Lorraine's Cafe - a favorite hangout for crusiers - with free internet, -thank you Lorraine!, great burgers, fish and conch and cold Kaliks! The Kaliks are on the honor system if Lorraine isn't there- take one out of the cooler, mark it down and pay for it when you leave! Lorraine's Momma also bakes the best coconut bread in all of the Bahamas! The men on Black Point are famous for their sailing skills and always have one of their boats in the annual Family Day Regatta in Georgetown in April - a gay, week-long celebration with great sailboat races and much fun on the beaches. It is a must-attend event for the islanders and cruisers. You will see a picture of one of the boats under construction. We also were able to fill the larder with fresh fruits and vegetables at Adderly's market as the mail-boat arrived while we were there. Black Point offers cruisers FREE r/o water - and FREE trash disposal! There is a place to leave a donation if you wish and when we do then we look back and watch as the children take it for ice cream!! 2 of the pictures show how clear and calm the water was on the day we sailed to Black Point - you can see the shadow of the dinghy and the mast on the bottom. And then there are sunsets, and dogs and Jack.........

After 3 days at Norman's we headed to the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park (from here on called ECLSP!). The park is a designated replenishment area for all of the Bahamas, a no-take zone! What a concept! It encompasses 176 square miles and averages 8 miles wide - 4 miles out on the Sound side and 4 miles out on the Banks side. There are 15 major Cays in the park and the only inhabited islands are privately owned. The park headquarters is located on Warderick Wells with 22 moorings (thank goodness, as the current RACES through there - as it does everywhere in the Exumas), a park office and numerous hiking trails. We enjoyed hiking the trails last year but weren't allowed this year - Dakota Kate is allowed on the beaches but not on the trails - for a variety of reasons but the most important being the tropic birds are nesting there this time of year. You will see pictures of tropic birds later. There are also moorings throughout ECLSP plus uncountable beautiful beaches, caves to explore, reefs to dive on........Our first stop in the Park was Shroud Cay. It is actually a group of cays with a long mangrove-lined salina passing through to the Sound side. You know Jack and I have travelled the world and the Sound-side beach on Shroud is the 2nd most beautiful beach we have ever seen! (The first is in Saipan). You will see pictures of the dinghy ride through the salina and then the beach - look for the tropic birds in the one picture. Just lucky I caught them in flight! Often we are the only boat in the anchorages. Here we were joined by Aspen Alternative, a huge mega-yacht chartered out of Ft. Lauderdale. They had an Italian family on board. A seaplane, C6-WET from Nassau, landed and plucked them up to take them back to Nassau! Quite fun to watch him land next to us and drop his anchor! Who knew you dropped and anchor off a plane? Later in the trip we also saw him land in the Park. Great little business! I like the idea alot! Next year I want somebody else to do the crossing (Jack?) and I will let C6-WET drop me off on Freyja at the first nice beach Jack anchors at!!! From here we continued South and anchored off Hawksbill, baked bread, walked the beaches, read.....then to Warderick Wells and the park headquarters and a mooring for a few days. We reconnected with old friends there - we got to know the people who work there (some volunteer full-time) when we volunteered last year. We helped put out moorings, cleaned beaches, bush-whacked trails and pulled weeds! It is always good to give back. The diving here is spectacular. There is that clear water again.....but here - the fish and lobster are HUGE! Protected, you know! There is always a Saturday night cocktail party on the beach sponsored by the Park. This year we lucked into a barbecue sponsored by the Park to celebrate their 50th anniversary. Burgers and beer! They introduced us to the newest Bahama beer, Sands. Delish! Most of you probably know Kalik - try a Sands if you see it! We decided from here to skip the rest of the Park and hit it on the way back. Now we are off to Great Guana Cay and the settlement of Black Point - our favorite settlement in all of the Exumas!

April 20 - Happy Birthday to me! After topping off the water tanks we left Chub at 0730 with 6 packages of fresh dolphin in the frig - thank you to the M/V Mi-C-Shell - and motor sailed to our anchorage off Nassau, Rose Island. We went to a marina in Nassau last year but we didn't need supplies and we don't really like Nassau (noisy, dirty, lots of crime) - so chose to anchor out. There was large trimaran from our home town, Islamorada, in the anchorage with us - S/V Southern Cross! It was a motor sail day - took 8 hours. Dakota did NOT get seasick - hooray - I think she got her sea legs and I kept her distracted most of the day with new bones and toys. We were up and out of Rose Island by 0830 (after a beautiful evening, dolphin for dinner and a full moon! ). That was the optimum time to leave to put us on on the "dangerous Yellow Bank" for the best viewing of numerous coral heads! It took us about an hour to cross over the bank. The heads appear as dark black splotches in the crystal clear waters (the rumor has it the water is 30% clearer than your bath water!) so I stand on the bow and call directions for Jack at the helm. The first time you do it it is a little scary. Now that we are old hands at it - not so bad! Sunset on the beach at Highborne Cay, our first stop in the Exumas. Still eating dolphin......Highborne is a beautiful island with a marina and store and one cottage for rent. You can also get fuel and water and drop off trash - at $5 a bag! The various stores throughout the islands are serviced once a week by "the mail boat", a freighter that comes from Nassau with mail and supplies! Precious fruits and vegetables! We picked up some romaine for $7!! Time to start growing sprouts! We stopped into the marina to call home and report in that we were safely in the Exumas. Our cell phones don't work there so use a Batelco card (Bahamas Telephone Company). There are Batelco towers on some islands, but not all. Internet service is available at Highborne but only if you are in the marina. Winds were projected to be WNW the next day and we were anchored on the West side of Highborne so needed to move on and find protection. This chain of islands is located on the Bahama Banks on the West side and Exuma Sound (the Atlantic)on the East side. We have discovered that while cruising here the weather is EVERYTHING! We monitor various VHF channels for weather reports and listen to Chris Parker and his Caribbean Weather Service on SSB. You must often move from the West side to the East side and then back to the West side as the fronts clock around. Fortunately, we didn't have too much of that this year - because we left later, April vs. February. Last year we had 5 weeks of 25 knots or greater! We had only a little rain this year and mostly ESE winds 12-15 knots, perfect! But, since this little front was coming we headed to Norman's Cay and the inside anchorage there. Norman's Cay is the former home of Carlos Lederer and his cocaine cowboys! His airstrip is still used by the dozen or so families that have private homes there and it also services the one little bar/restaurant, The Norman's Beach Club formerly McDuff's. We made reservations for dinner - they welcome dogs! Hooray! And headed for the beach. Lovely dinner and Dakota made friends with the owner's dogs, Pepper, a chihuahua and Salt, a yellow Lab! And - we enjoyed getting our email on the free WiFi they provide to cruisers! Isn't that a nice touch?! That full moon continued to rise all orange and pink and gorgeous. Lots of new friends here, great hiking and shelling, clear, clear water - so easy to see those 6 foot black sharks!!! Will post some pictures now of these areas. One may need some explanation - it's our "upside down dog" asleep under the salon table after a long day on the beach! Also, please note the 2 rays swimming in the water on another picture!

Freyja gets a new transmission! Using Skype (how glad were we we had Skype in our computer!) Jack called a company in Ft. Lauderdale that he had done business with previously and the tech there helped him troubleshoot and it was determined we needed a new transmission. Word spread quickly around the docks and everyone offered to help in any way they could. One owner of a mega-yacht (M/Y Entrepreneur - see her on http://www.yachtspotter.com/) came over and told Jack he had every tool known to man on board and we were welcome to any of them! After exchanging credit card information and faxing a copy of our cruising permit (to avoid expensive duty) the tech took the package (on his lunch hour, by the way) to the Chub Cay office in Ft. Lauderdale and the owner of Chub Cay brought it over on his airplane 2 days later. Best of all, the mechanic on retainer for Freyja was able to take the old one out - easily - install the new one - also easily - and he worked for dinner and a beer (or 2)! (See picture) It was like we were charmed. Everything came together so easily. We were in Chub 6 days enjoying the beaches and the pool and fresh fish every night from one or another sport fisher! Dakota was glad to leave and go sailing for a day so she could rest! Next stop, Nassau!

After a short sleep we left Cat Cay at 0130 to begin crossing the Great Bahama Banks. It is 72 miles across the Banks and in the past we have anchored on the Banks (average depth 12 feet) for the night and continued the next day. It is always an uncomfortable night of rocking and rolling so we decided not to do that this year. Sailing in the dark again......once again it was a beautiful sail on a beam reach in 15 knots of wind. 14 miles before you reach the first island you enter into the Tongue of the Ocean where the water depth goes from 12 feet to thousands of feet deep in seconds! Quite a change in the color of the water, too, from aqua/turquoise to deep, deep blue. At 1600 as we approached the channel into Chub Cay, I went down below to call them on the VHF and the engine room smelled very hot. We limped into the dock and discovered that the transmission was fiery hot! More on that later........We are fortunate to have a neighbor who with his partner owns a dock (a million dollar dock!) at the Chub Cay Club and we had permission to stay on their dock. Chub Cay has a beautiful new marina with gorgeous floating docks, a new infinity pool, a soon-to-be-finished clubhouse and some beautiful new homes - for sale or rent. It is a private club, members only and way beyond our means but the staff is always gracious to us (we stayed there last year, too) and when word spread around the dock about our transmission the boating community came together to help us. I will post some pictures now of this beautiful island and then tell the story of Freyja's new tranny!

Here's Dakota Kate! She is 9 months old in this picture! She is in for a big surprise as are we! After a peaceful night we are up and off the anchor at 0430. We don't like to sail at night (especially when we are sailing over the only living reef in North America!) but we knew we had a long day ahead of us and wanted to be across the Gulf Stream and nestled into our first stop in the Bahamas by dark. We kept a close watch for freighters until sunrise as we were in the shipping lanes.

It never occurred to us that Dakota would get sea sick but sick she got! She was so violently ill we almost turned back but then I discovered if I held her in my lap and steadied her, especially her head, she was better. (Her surprise!) She did eventually get her sea legs and was never sick again.

We had trained her to go potty on the boat so I took her for her first walk around the gunnel and when she felt the boat pitching and rolling she refused to continue and she never went on the boat again! (Silly us - we trained her sailing the calm waters of Florida Bay!). It made for a couple of long days for her both going and coming but in between she had us trained well. Up each morning at 0600 for a dinghy ride into shore! (Our surprise!)

13 hours later after a beautiful beam reach in 15 knots of wind we anchored off Cat Cay (by the way cay is pronounced key in the Bahamas).