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January 28^th, 2008  Sorry for the late update.  Our provider put us on a new platform and of course it has taken weeks to get things working again.  We still cannot send email via the internet but we can receive email.  They are working on the problem.

January 18^th, 2008  We are moored off Little Farmers Cay.  What a delightful little Island.  It was purchased from the English Crown by a freed slave who moved here with her two sons and one daughter.  She willed the island to her descendents as generation property.  The island has about 75 family members living on it now - with a marina, Post Office, two restaurants, a couple of little grocery stores, church and a wonderful wood carver that sells his works all over the islands.  They also have their own Flag. If you fly the Little Farmer's Flag, you become an honorary Farmerscayan and  are encouraged to help anyone in distress on the seas. From what we have seen, Terry Bain is the main island promoter.  Terry, his wife Ernestine and their 10 year old daughter own and operate Ocean Cabin, a  restaurant/bar that overlooks Little Harbor.  We had the best lobster dinner that we have ever had there (sorry Maine).  They were the biggest and fattest lobsters we every tried to eat.  I could hardly finish.  Ernestine broiled the lobster with a special butter sauce spread over them.  It was wonderful.  Terry is also the RATS (Rescue And Towing Service) volunteer organization founder who says that they will go out in weather that no one else will go out in to help a boater in trouble.  They are proud of what they do.  Its the help of these local groups that supplements BASRA (Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association) of which we are members.  BASRA is strictly member supported and have only 2 boats in Nassau.  A little far to be of much help in these outer Islands.  The Bahamas Defense Force (which probably comes closest to our Coast Guard but with very limited resources) also aids boaters and has a unarmed patrol boat that I have seen going up and down the Exumas (P 42 not PT-109).  We have also seen our U.S. Coast Guard fly in and help in an emergency medical case aboard a cruise ship.  Anyway, back to Little Farmers Cay and Terry Bain.  Terry also has mooring balls that he rents for $10.00/day.  So we are on one.    Terry also formed and organizes the 5 F Party.  What is 5 F you ask???  Its stands for Farmers First Friday in February Festival.  Because of it, we have decided to stay here and help Terry with the shindig (which will be held on Friday February 1 and Saturday February 2 this year).  We have a volunteer meeting on Tuesday and get assigned jobs to do.  I have already asked to operate the Wet T Shirt contest.  Nancy is going to ask to help the cooks in order to learn more about the local food.  Cruisers and Islanders from as far away from Nassau come for the celebration.  A special Mail  Boat trip  is scheduled to depart Nassau with passengers, mail and cargo at 10 p.m. Thursday for a all night trip to this little Island.  Other Islanders come by their own boats.  This will be fun. Come join us here if you are in the area.

Before we left Staniel Cay, we went to Thunderball Cave, where the 007 movie was filmed along with the movie Splash plus one more I never did find out about.    The entrance is under the low rocks on the right side of the picture.  It is a must do for anyone in the area.  We got to the Island where the cave is a little early and had to wait for the strong current to settle down.    By the time the current had gone down, we where joined by 3 more dinghies.  Into the small entrance we went.    Once inside, the cave opened up to be a huge cavern.    The cave was filled with fish, so many it would be impossible to even count them.    Another great time.      Now we (along with James Bond) have been in the cave. 

The next stop was at Black Point.  It is said to have the best laundry in the area so a lot of boaters come here just for that.  It has no marinas or resorts.  We walked the streets,    visited a rock and driftwood garden and ate at the world famous Lorraine's Cafe.  Lorraine is the chief cook and bottle washer and because of that the bar is self serve.  We filled our wine glasses all the way to the top.  This settlement is probably the closest to being the salt of the earth Bahamian village.  Wonderful, friendly people.

So it goes.

January 10^th, 2008   We have moved on from the Exuma Land and Sea Park.  We did volunteer work there for about 3 weeks minus a couple of days that we took off to play.  What a great experience it is to get to know a place, meet other volunteers and park employees, and help them keep the park as best as they can.  We did work on outboard motors, sorted screws, picked up beaches, filled scuba tanks, installed a water heater, installed boat instruments, burned trash, scrubbed mooring balls and a few other things.  I think we will be going back to help them again someday.

Before we left, we climbed back up Boo Boo Hill and placed our sign on the top pointing to Yukon, Oklahoma (1270 nautical miles away.)    I forgot to mention about the Bananaquits, little birds that love sugar.   In the morning they would fly up to us and sit on our computers, heads, whatever, telling us that they needed to get fed. We'd sprinkle a little sugar in the palm of our hand and they would perch on our hands and eat their fill. 

Each evening at sunset, you hear the sound of conch shells being played from the boats at anchor. Nancy has been working on her conch shell blowing skills.  To watch a video of her blowing a conch shell, click here.  The file size is for broadband so if you are on a dial up connection it might not work just right.

We are now at Staniel Cay continuing to slowly work our way south.  The seas were a little rougher than we'd planned on our way down here (isn't that always the way?) Nancy had just bottled 8 liters of beer she'd brewed and with all the sloshing back and forth, one of the bottles exploded.

We are anchored at Big Majors Spot where the pigs will swim out to the boats and beg for food.   

We went into the settlement on Staniel Cay today and loved the little place.  One small marina and 3 little grocery stores.  The stores are actually part of someone's home and occupy a small room or an out building to the home.  There are mostly canned goods, a few paper products, and some fresh tomatoes, bananas, oranges, etc. but nothing green.  Nancy got some flour, eggs, bread and rum today.  Tomorrow we will go in and buy some more things and tour the little town. 

We had lunch at the Marina (Staniel Cay Yacht Club which is one of just two places on the Island to eat) and it was wonderful.  Nancy had a conch burger and I had a club sandwich.  We didn't think we could finish all that was served.  I did, Nancy didn't, but came close.  I needed to buy some gas for the dinghy and we'd used the dregs of the tank to go in to shore.  It's about a 2 mile ride to the Marina.  We went very slow trying to make it to the dock before running out of gas.  We made it, only to be told that they were out of gas.  After lunch and shopping, we got in the dinghy and started a very slow ride back to the boat (maximum range power setting).  As we progressed along I would mention to Nancy that every yard the engine kept working the less she would have to row.  Well, we made it back to the boat and I filled up the dinghy gas can from a 5 gallon supply that we have on board.  Hated to tap into it, but we should have enough until we get to Georgetown.

Another picture of Solitaire anchored in the middle of nowhere.