Bahamas Sailing - the Exumas - Stocking Island to Little Farmer's Cay

The boat is wonderful - huge cockpit area.

Lots of room for us all to be comfortable.

And a beautiful day for sailing!  The wind was the perfect speed (between 10 and 15 knots) for the day.

We navigated easily from the anchorage out into the Exuma Sound (with the help of the onboard chartplotter and Reid's Navionics program on his Ipad, of course!)


Reid and Duane navigating....

Immediately, the crew raised all the  sail and we were humming along at 8-9 knots!

Pulling out the foresail....

Ahhh, everything's great!

Beautiful sail!!

Karen and Sharon relaxing!!!  Kindles   Beer   Sunscreen

Laurie relaxing during the sail.

We had gotten some plantains at the grocery store.  I always love them when they're given to us as a side-dish at a Bahamian restaurant.  But, I'd never cooked them myself before.  We purchased some that were "black" already, knowing that they needed to ripen in order to be sweet.  So, while we were underway, I got busy experimenting.

Some butter in the fry-pan....

Peel, cut up, fry until golden.

A little salt sprinkled on.....these were gone in moments.  Wonderfully sweet/starchy, just like the restaurant variety!

Girls getting ready for lunch while underway.

Our original, loose plan was to sail to Rudder Cut Cay and anchor.  But the winds were from the west, meaning that the anchorage there might be uncomfortable because it's not protected from the west.  So, we decided to sail on north to Little Farmer's Cay.

Great decision - anchored in about 8 feet of water between Little Farmer's Cay and Great Guana Cay.


Laurie jumped in for a quick snorkel - look at that beautiful water!

Relaxing a bit....

We took the dinghy around to the other side of the small island to a beach bar we had read about - Ty's Sunset bar.  

Unfortunately, there was a sign on the door - they were closed!  They were down at Georgetown for the regatta!

We wandered around - Buddy found a refreshing beach shower....

And the ultimate fly-in restaurant.  There is a short runway behind the bar.....

Thwarted in our search for libations on shore, we went back around the tip of the island into the public dock area.

Up the hill, we found Ocean Cabin.  Terry (the proprietor) served us his special drinks....

Terry - he looks ill here, but he's actually quite a cheerful guy!

Ernestine, Terry's wife, said that she "wasn't cooking" today....so we were on our own for dinner tonight.

On the way to Ocean Cabin we had seen Ayden, AKA The Conch Man......at the public dock.  He makes a raw conch salad right there at the dock.  So, we ordered a couple of bowls and he volunteered to bring us some fresh-caught snapper. 

By the time we walked back from Ocean Cabin - Ayden was busy making our salad.

Fresh veggies and some "Bird Peppers"....these were hot little suckers!

Beware!

Cutting up the raw fresh conch.

Just scroll thru these photos -

He squeezed a "bitter orange" over the salad....

All done!

And he brought the snapper too.  We're all ready for dinner tonight now!

Back to the boat, with the help of a local fellow.  He introduced himself as Dick.....we told him that we also had a fellow named Dick back on the boat.  So we called him Dick #1....as we saw him several times.  He was very helpful.

Back to the boat in the anchorage.

Getting ready for dinner - fish sprinkled with Old Bay seasoning.....wrapped in foil and put on the grill!

Buddy making sure nothing burned!

Dinner's on!

Sharon made a yummy vinaigrette salad dressing - paired with saffron rice and we had a fabulous meal!

Yes, it was that good!!

Beautiful Sunset!

Good nite!!

Bahamas Flying and Sailing trip - the Exumas

Forgot this from yesterday's post - Messy view of our room at Tranquility on the Bay - huge room!  Very comfy!

Tranquility on the Bay from the air.  The "round" building was the bar/restaurant.

Colonel Hill Airport -  Crooked Island Bahamas from the air.

Approaching Georgetown Exuma

Landing at Exuma International Airport

The FBO, Odyssey Aviation was very helpful!

After a short taxi ride, we were at the Exuma Yacht Club -  meet the "other" Island Girl!  A 46' Leopard Catamaran.

The other couples arrived at intervals -  getting settled in.

This weekend was the Island Family Regatta - a local celebration of sailing using specifically design sailing sloops - no engines allowed and all crew must be from the Islands!  It's a big deal down here - mostly for bragging rights.

Island Girl at the dock.

The boys - working for once.....cleaning the deck before departure.

Reid being silly - I don't know if he's sleeping or hugging the beer.  (Lots of beer!)

More of the competition boats.

After fueling up and topping off the water tanks - we were away from the dock for the short trip across to Stocking Island.

The Regatta was under way.

Forgot to mention that the boats not only have no motors - but the sails are all cotton.

Anchored near the "Chat n Chill" beach bar.  Dinghy-ing in for our first bit of island libations.

Chat n Chill in the distance.

A Cessna 182 on floats tied up to the beach.

Our transport for the next 10 days!

Rays  inhabit the shore - looking for handouts from the bar....

Closer view of the Cessna

I was already feeling like I was getting too much sun....covered up to make sure of no sunburns!

At Chat n Chill

Silly Reid again....

More regatta traffic - we were anchored very near the course.

Some of the crew creep out on the board pictured here to help offset the sail on the other side of the boat.  Exciting!

Reid had brought a LED light that goes in the water to attract fish at night.....it was cool looking but we never saw it attract much more than some smaller fish.  Weird, because we've seen similar lights at docks and there were always lots of huge tarpon or sharks attracted.

And the day was done - pretty sunset!

Bahamas Flying and Sailing Trip - Tranquility on the Bay Resort, Crooked Island, Bahamas

We spent the day doing exactly nothing!  Just reading and relaxing.  Not a soul in sight.

Later in the morning, I met a very friendly local man named LeRoy.  He snorkels out in the bay most every day to pick up conch and spear an occasional fish. 

Here is LeRoy's "boat" - it's just an old plastic drum that he has carved out to fit his needs.  He has a rope tied to it which he trails behind him as he's snorkeling.  I watched him out in the bay for over an hour!

Then he comes back to the cleaning station and cleans his catch to be used in the restaurant (and I'm assuming at home too!)  Here he is displaying a nicely cleaned conch.  Note the golden bottle of rum on the table....that was with him out in the bay too!  He was a happy man, livin' off the land/sea!

This shows the entire lodging area - just 5 rooms.....so no crowds!

Truly Tranquility on the Bay!

And tonight the fabulous meal was fresh grouper, "peas and grits" and a lovely coleslaw.  Washed down with a cold Kalik beer, of course!