French Wells, Crooked Island, Bahamas

Today was mostly a sailing day. We sailed about 20 miles around to French Wells on Crooked Island.

Had a great sail - mostly 8-9 knots with a steady 20-25 knot breeze. 

Now & Zen in front of us.

We had a bit of a current helping us - and occasionally saw 10 knots which is kinda cool.

Approaching French Wells anchorage.

On "the flats" area near shore there were several bone-fishermen.  Here you see the setup - a Bahamian guide is on a perch with a long pole.  They are in just inches of water, sculling along - the guide is powering the boat with the pole and spotting the almost transparent bone fish for the fly-fisherman to cast to.  Not my idea of a fun time but many folks go to a lot of trouble to come to this remote area to do this!

And treated to another pretty sunset - watched "Princess Bride" with Ralph and Leslie.

Fish Cay, Crooked and Acklins Islands, Bahamas

Today we snorkeled, fixed the dinghy motor (again) and had a nice bonfire on the beach.

Always a relaxing way to end the day.  And we saw a green flash at sunset!

Fish Cay, Crooked & Acklin Islands, Bahamas

Really enjoying the solitude at Fish Cay!

Duane spent several hours this morning fixing one of the heads.  Always something fun to fix in exotic places, so they say.



If you're wondering what it's like when we're out snorkeling, this gives a good idea.  Duane and Ralph are in the water here over a small coral head.  Leslie and I are in the dinghies but have been in the water earlier.

Lovely small coral heads.

And caught a lobster walking across the sea floor from one coral head to another! First time I'd seen that!

And here is a short video with a small white ray swimming - pretty cool!

Fish Cay, Acklins & Crooked Islands, Bahamas

We had about 20 miles to travel today, and we could do it in the magic deep water that hosts good-eating fish!

Me struggling to reel in a fish.

 The prize today - a nice skipjack tuna.

Caught another - a horse-eyed jack.  We read that they often harbor the virus Ciguetera so decided to send him back to the sea.  (Same reason we don't eat large barracuda.) 

Anchored near Fish Cay - beautiful and not another boat in miles (other than Now & Zen, that is).

View from the boat.

We took a walk ashore - where several iguanas came to greet us.  They just seemed curious, not like some iguanas on populated islands where they're used to being feed.

Back at the boat, the messy job of cleaning the tuna.

All the prep work for sushi!

Dinner!!  (I also grilled some of the fillets since Duane is not a big sushi fan.)  The rest of us made quick work of it!

And another pretty sunset.

Salina Point, Acklins Island, Bahamas

Today we took a 5 mile dinghy trip across some rough water to see the abandoned lighthouse.

We had to walk up the sandy banks thru thick sea-grapes and other vegetation.

The lighthouse had been closed up, but the door was broken - so of course I peeked inside.

The bottom rungs of the stairs had been removed so I was not tempted to climb to the top.

This is looking up.

 There were two buildings that must have been the keeper's houses.

Near the house was what appears to be the kitchen.

I believe to the left is an oven.

The surge was so bad that we had to anchor the dinghies off the beach.  That mean Duane and Ralph had to drop the ladies on shore and then they had to swim in the surf!

Beautiful beach!  That's it for today, just a very bumpy 5 miles back to the big boats!

Salina Point, Acklins Island, Bahamas

We moved about 20 miles today down to the southwestern tip of Acklins Island.

Before we got underway, it was time for some more bread. (Still no bread available in any store).

Dough rising.  It's so easy now that I have the great Persephone recipe!!! 

A quick bake and we're all set for another week.  I use broiler pans as cooling racks (because I forgot to bring my cookie cooling racks!)

We got underway at about 10 am for the 20 miles south.  Great winds, engines off.

Caught 2 big barracuda on the way when we were in about 200 feet of water....was hoping for Mahi....so these went back into the ocean.

Beautiful water!

Anchored at the end of Acklins Island....dinner tonight is some spider crab that we bought frozen from the fishing boat in Lisbon Creek, Andros.  I'm making a pasta to share with Ralph & Leslie.  Duane will get chicken topping on his, of course.

Delectable Bay, Acklin Island, Bahamas

Today was another rental car exploring day.  Driving along the road, we spotted this hand-water pump.  Just out in the middle of nowhere. 

We had read in the cruising guide that there was a old church ruin near Pompey Bay.  So we turned down the sand track.

But it quickly became a weedy track!   Our little rental car did well though.  We did walk the last little bit.

 Found the ruins of an old dock.  And eventually sighted the church far off up the beach.

It is a lovely church but obviously has seen it's share of time/weather.

I love the old shutters.  There is a brass plaque in the church honoring a woman who died in 1925 for her contributions to build the church.

On to the southern end of the island.

We went all the way south to the Salilna Point settlement.  It is the largest settlement on the island, but is very remote from most of the services on the island such as the mailboat.  Most of the residents work 30 miles north near Spring Point.

Stopped at Mo's market.  Enjoyed a visit with the shopkeeper while we got a few potatoes and a head of cabbage.

Off the paved road to another beach. (We took random side roads just to see what was at the end!)  Most of these beached have a fish cleaning station and appear to be used primarily by fisherman, not tourists.

Stopped the car from a "overlook hill" to see the ocean side.

Happened to notice this sign on the side of the road.

After a short walk, we were treated to a nice cave!!

This one was fairly dry and large.

We walked to one of the other entrances.

And soon we'd had enough of the mosquitos!

Back to the boats - pretty sunset - then popcorn and movie night.  Watched Master and Commander.