12/27 we arrived mid day and anchored right by the Thunderball cave. Apparently is was used for that James Bond movie. We first went to go check out the cave and it was very cool to snorkel into and had lots of pretty fish and coral. After checking that out, we dinghied over to Big Major's Spot -another island right next to us where the wild pigs swim out to you from the beach. We were surprised at how BIG the pigs were, the pictures we had seen must have been taken a long time ago. They were funny though and made funny sounds. I think they wanted us to feed them. Next, we found a quiet beach to play and hunt for starfish and sand dollars and such. It was a great day!
12/28 Another super nice day. After school stuff, we dinghied to the Black Point Settlement on Great Guana Cay and walked around and explored a little while we did our laundry there. Then we stopped at a little cay called Bitter Guana Cay on the way back that had really pretty while coral walls and a cool iguana we visited. Later we did some awesome snorkeling around Staniel. We found a fun current that was like floating down a river and we all had a ball. We also took the kids to a spot we found with lots of rays and nurse sharks so they snorkeled with the sharks. They loved that. It was a fun day with beautiful weather.
12/29-12/30 We stayed here a little longer and did more snorkeling and found some beautiful beaches and sand bars to play at. We love how we can just dinghy wherever and find remote beaches all to ourselves. The kids love just playing around and finding cool creatures to study. We had thought about moving on Sunday, but there was a cold front with strong winds and our anchorage here at Staniel was so great and protected that we waited it out here. We are learning that finding good anchorages make all the difference. We have a really good anchor, but sometimes we have gotten in spots with a lot of sea surge or currents and with the wind too, it can make for really rolly times and sleepless nights as we worry if the anchor is holding.
12/31 Glad we stayed because it has felt calm despite some strong winds and because there is lots going on here. Staniel does a big sailing regatta (race) every year at this time, se we got to get in on some of the festivities. They had a big party last evening with free food (yummy lobster salad, fried fish, etc) and it was fun to see all the people getting ready for the big race. One of the other really cool things was that Emily found a super cool small octopus right by where we had the dinghy tied up for the party. One of our favorite creatures yet. That and the tiny hermit crabs the kids love. They have even tried to bring them back to the boat as stow-aways. :) Anyway, on New Year's eve morning was the regatta. The boats competing were the Lady Muriel and Tida Wave. We got to watch them go all around the harbor as they warmed up. Then, we were watching the race and about half way through it, the Lady Muriel tipped over when it was making a tight turn. It was very crazy. Everyone was ok -as far as we could find out. It made for quite an eventful race!
After the race, we decided to go ahead and move on to a new place so we sailed down to Little Farmer's Cay.
It was nice but not one of our favorites. We walked around the town a bit but it was a ghost town- they said everyone goes to Nassau for the holidays. That evening we had our own big family new year's eve party- complete with party lights, music, movie (thankful the generator is working) homemade choc.chip cookies, and lots of games. Some of our favorites are UNO, Mastermind (thanks to the Martins for introducing it to us) Blackjack, Clue, Blink, and Bananagrams. I even did some dancing to entertain my children. Yes, I've got the moves. Since it gets dark here by 6 pm and we are stuck on the boat after dark, it kind of felt like it would take forever for midnight to arrive -6 hours can feel like a long time. But it was a really fun night.
random picture of everyday life; you have to learn to do things differently when you live on a boat... like shaving for instance
In the morning we moved on. Next stop: Lee Stocking Island and Norman's Pond Cay.
I told you I would be terrible at keeping in touch over the internet! i want you to know that we are thinking about you and miss you all and are glad you are having so much fun! I will try to e-mail this week sometime or do my blog! Love you guys!! Wendy
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