Cruise #3 South Bound Photos

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North Carolina

 Friends/Neighbors Hickmans and Trubianos came to the dock for coffee and goodies before helping us cast off.
Departing Northwest Creek Marina 12/16/05. Photo by Don Hickman

Lynn & Toby on our first afternoon stopped at Oriental Town Dock.

Sunspot Baby rests easily at Oriental Town Dock.

South Carolina

Christmas morning on the boat. The Christmas tree is a gift from the Darrahs (Daughter Becky & Family). We haven't pulled all the presents out. They wouldn't have all fit in the photo.
Bob, Don, and Mike joined us to transit from Isle of Palms to Charleston Harbor.
Lynn took this three pane panorama at Steamboat Creek, one of our favorite anchorages.

Edisto in our wake

Georgia

 Sunset on the Wahoo River

Florida

 There are lots of birds along the ICW. Lynn focused on a few between Vero Beach and Stuart. Heron along the bank.

Pelicans on bridge fender.

Can you find the iguana in the tree? No Name Harbor

Miami skyline from near Key Biscayne

Nassau

 George dropping the "Q" flag in Nassau. This is the first time we have checked in where immigration and customs came to us. In some ways it was less hassle but in others, we had less control of  the process.

The Nassau Straw Market is "the" place to buy souvenirs, T shirts, etc. Lynn always makes a new friend or two along the way.

Shroud Cay

 Shroud Cay was a new stop for us this year and we skipped a couple of old favorites to make this on the first day headed south from Nassau. Here the dinghy is anchored in the creek below the old well that furnished water to sailors for so long.

Lynn beside the well.

A mangrove lined creek runs through the island. Accessible only at or near high tide it gives an eerie sense of being remote.
Even near high tide, we often had to paddle or pull the dinghy while wading. Here George uses and oar to paddle/pole us along.

An egret allows us to get close, becomes uncomfortable, and takes off.

Toby usually had a private beach for his exercise.

Warderick Wells

 Don Pyke painted a great sign for us to place on Boo Boo Hill last year. (Photos available on the Cruise # 2 report). We found the acrylics didn't age as well as expected and this year the board was virtually bare. George used a Sharpie to update it. Here is the less artistic latest revision.

Lynn at Boo Boo Beach

The view of Exuma Sound from Boo Boo Hill is always inspiring. While it is hard to improve on previous photos, we continue to try.

Staniel Cay

 We should have used the video to capture the dynamic situation we were in. This still poorly portrays the heavy weather.

This photo captured the manometer reading of 30 knots but we saw much higher winds.

Eventually the wind let up and the sun came out, as it always does.

Black Point

 We are always impressed with the children of the Bahamas. Bright, well mannered, and seemingly happy. These Black Point school boys struck a pose for us.

The arrival of the mail boat is always an event. Mail, fresh veggies, and supplies all come on the mail boat. Here it moves through the anchorage on the way to the town dock.

Black Point sunset.

Great Exuma

 Underway to George Town

Morning twilight in Elizabeth Harbor. Anchor lights and Venus above.

Hundreds of boats gather in George Town for the annual "Cruisers' Regatta". The center of shore activities is Volley Ball Beach on Stocking Island.

 

Self explanatory

 

Eileen Quinn writes and sings songs for the nautically afflicted. Here we attend one of her free beach concerts.

 

Some days there is just no wind. We fished off Stocking Island and the weather was beautiful. Unfortunately, no fish. I guess that's why they call it fishing and not catching.

Company's Comin'
While we were centered out of George Town, Don and Pam Pyke visited. Near the end of their visit, my hard drive crashed and we lost all our pictures of them. I have taken the liberty of using their photos here. All photos in this section are from the Pyke's camera.

 Guests often bring parts and supplies to cruisers when they visit. Don not only carried 3 new lights to us, he installed them.

Don and Pam are much better shore explorers than we are. On every island they take off on long hikes. Here we can see them on the trail.

Of course, they are not all work and no play. Don found a nice hammock.

They brought me a Captains hat as a birthday present. Everyone tried it on and we decided Pam looked the best in it.

At day's end, contentedly kicking back is the thing to do.

Are they looking for the direction home so they can get away from the tiny boat?

A nice dinner ashore. Good food, good company.

The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is having great friends share our cruising experience. This photo was at Red Shanks and unfortunately, the camera just couldn't capture how close we were to the end. The island obscures it a bit.

Conception

 Anchored at Conception Island

We are thankful for our large "life guard" hats for the shade they offer. However, when going fast in the dinghy, we are thankful for the chin string to keep them from blowing away.

Somewhat similar to Shroud Cay, Conception's interior is a mangrove swamp accessible up the creek at high tide. This creek is larger and has a large population of young sea turtles.

Yes, Lynn does occasionally drive the dinghy. This is in the mangrove creek while we were turtle watching.

Conception sunset. A wonderful part of cruising is making each day's sunset a special event and cause for celebration.

Long Island

 Our furthest south stop was Clarence Town on Long Island. We stopped here for fuel and one night on the way to Aklin and Crooked Islands. The wind picked up and became unfavorable so it turned into several days, by then there wasn't sufficient time to make the run further south. We turned for home.

Two beautiful churches in Clarence town built by Father Jerome how built other churches in the Bahamas as well as the Hermitage on Cat Island.

Episcopal church (Father Jerome)

Another view of the Catholic church

 At the northern end of Long Island is Cape Santa Maria, named for one of Columbus' ships which sailed by here on his first voyage. This monument is erected to him.

A small inlet at the north end. Some small local boats come through here at high tide. Not an inlet I want to run in Sunspot Baby