Landrail Point, Crooked Island, Bahamas

Nothing much happening - we did a load of laundry, made some water.  Didn't bother getting off the boat - the winds were a bit to strong for fun snorkeling and the little grocery store was closed for their sabbath. 

Dinner was on Sojourn - our last with the 3 Mantateers intact for a little while.  Now & Zen is sailing to Clarence Town on Long Island to get to a doctor for a problem with Ralph's ear.

Pretty sunset.

And just at dawn this morning, Now & Zen sailed north.

And a pretty sunrise!  Hope to get off the boat today.  Winds will abate thru the week so we should be able to do some exploring.

Landrail Point, Crooked Island, Bahamas

We went ashore in the afternoon after the mailboat had delivered supplies to the small store.  There is a nice protected "boat basin" for the small boats that has been quarried out of the limestone.

The road walking to town.  (And I use "town" loosely..it's really just a couple of houses, one restaurant and the store).

And the cutest, smallest library I've seen!  (Not open due to the corona virus).

OK, so fresh supplies brought out all the cruisers....I don't think we kept the requried 3-6 foot distance from each other!  There was a rush because it was Friday late afternoon.  The locals are mostly of the Seventh Day Adventist faith and the store has to close at sundown according to their beliefs. 

Back to the boats - several more boats in the anchorage to wait out the east winds and the corona virus.

We were parched when we got back to the boat - I pulled out the fixin's for "Sprite".  I "fizzed" a bottle of cold water.  Then it's simply putting a cupful of the sugary syrup in the bottle and shaking it.  I wanted to show you my method for making ice cubes.  I don't have a huge amount of room in my freezer - too much fish and lobster in there!!!  So regular ice cube trays are problematic and take up too much space.  So, I've got these small Rubbermaid containers - I just fill them 3/4 full of water and toss them around in spaces in the freezer.  And they make a big ice cube that seems to last a long time and makes the drink so much better than without.....small pleasures, people!!!

And I wanted to show you a new item that Leslie pointed out at the store.  She'd gotten them and I wanted some!  They're cherry tomatoes and they're so fresh and good tasting you can use them on a salad!!  I'll show you when I use them.

That's about it for the day.....we had a yummy curry on Now & Zen.  View back to the anchorage during dinner -  notice that it's 3 Mantas.....Two  Loons, What If and Sojourn.

Landrail Point, Crooked Island, Bahamas

Some of you may have already seen this photo that I put up on Facebook - this morning there was a surreal sight from the back of the boat when a shower passed by.  I didn't retouch it - I just pointed the camera and clicked.  It stayed beautiful for about 2 minutes.

And late in the day, What If and Now & Zen.

Dinner was a great soup on What If -  Now & Zen brought some fabulous lobster bites for appetizer.
Looks like we'll be sticking around here for the next 10 days - the Bahamas Ministry has banned travel so we'll honor that ban.  Not too shabby to have to stay here!

Landrail Point, Crooked Island, Bahamas

Enjoyed a pretty sunset on Now & Zen at Fish Cay.

Relaxing before dinner.

View of the flats behind the boat at Fish Cay. 

But our stay at Fish Cay was cut a bit short - we all were awakened during the night with tide/current/wind issues.  The boats were "dancing" in the narrow channel and were a bit too close to each other.   Now & Zen  and Sojourn actually bumped together at about 5AM - they pulled their anchor and moved further away in the pitch blackness.  No fun.  No damage to the boats though.

So, we decided to retrace our sail and head back north to Landrail Point - and anchor in the wide open harbour.  We'll be here for a few days while some more east winds blow.

We did find another Manta in the anchorage!!!  It's Two Loons, a Canadian couple on a Manta 44 powercat.  We will stop by tomorrow to say hello.

The view from the boat now.   Lovely!

Fish Cay, Acklins, Bahamas

We settled up with Chris for our dockage and dinner tabs this morning at Crooked Island Lodge and Marina. 

Filled up our water tanks with their pure RO water and got ready to get underway.  A great "splurge" to be in a marina for a day and we wish them much success with the large venture.

View from our slip in the marina of Bird Rock lighthouse.

Getting ready to get back underway.

Waved goodbye to the Captain of the Sundeer 88 Ruwani.

The resort as we passed out the channel.

While waiting for Now & Zen to get underway, we sailed back towards Bird Rock lighthouse just to meander and fish in the deep water.

Had the most lovely sail down 28 miles to Fish Cay, Acklins.  Approaching from the deep water - you can see the bright blue gradient in the water as we approach the shallow shoreline.

Anchored just to the east of Fish Cay in a narrow channel.

Dinner was a wonderful lobster fettuccine on Now & Zen.  Beautiful remote anchorage, we're the only boats for miles and miles.

Pittstown Point, Crooked Island, Bahamas

We left Atwood Harbour with a nice east breeze and had a terrific sail 32 miles to the tip of Crooked Island. 

 Now & Zen sailing past Bird Rock lighthouse.

Chris, the manager of the marina came and helped us tie up.  We were the only 3 boats in the huge marina.

We had visited the under-construction marina last year -nice to see that it's almost complete.  They are not "completely open" yet - no power or water at the docks, but they're getting close. 

We got a ride to the nicely stocked grocery store about 3 miles away - when we returned there was a huge catamaran - 88 foot long and 115 foot mast.  (You can get an idea of scale when you see that there are 2 crewmen standing on top of the bimini working at the boom and they look like tiny little specks).

A view of the nice airstrip adjacent to the marina.

We made arrangements for dinner at the clubhouse.  First drinks and appetizers at the bar.  The best conch fritters I believe we've ever had.

And over to the restaurant for a lovely dinner.  Hope this place does well in the future!

Atwood Harbour, Acklins, Bahamas

Thought I'd share some food shots to show you what I've been doing with some of nature's bounty.

A lobster Duane speared this afternoon.

Put in boiling water for just a few minutes to make it easy to get out of the shell.

Then chopped up into bite size pieces.  I put it in a vodka sauce with cheese tortellini - it was quite good and something different.

And the main dish was wahoo....just salt/pepper and sauteed for a few minutes per side.

Into a baking dish, smothered in a ginger sauce.  Into the oven at 300 to hold until dinner time.

Was quite yummy!

And my haul of lovely shells!

Atwood Harbour, Acklins, Bahamas

Went out for a bit of dinghy exploration on the "flats" just off the anchorage.

Was a bit windy so there was a light chop.

What If navigating the shallow water.

Was just beautiful.  We saw many rays and small turtles.    A few baby sharks. 

Stopped for a little walkabout.

Pretty pile of conch shells.

And beautiful beach.

Went for a snorkel around the lovely reef - got this big lobster!

Before long, it was sunset.....

After dinner we went ashore for a relaxing bonfire.  (They had all gathered firewood while I got dinner ready on Sojourn).

Ralph getting the fire going.

And Ed, the pyromaniac, keeping it blazing.

Just another relaxing evening!