More of the Bahamas

A great evening with some younger cruisers.

The windward side of Great Exuma.

Daryl and I continue to cruise the Bahamas now Lisa has gone and look forward to picking Jay up in Georgetown.

We were anchored off Little Halls Pond Cay that is owned by Johnny Depp, there was a lot of activity there, preparing for his beach wedding at the weekend we were there.  The tents on the beach were presumably for the guest accommodation.  We were requested to move out of the bay and not allowed to return till after the festivities were over.  The photos on the web look great though!

There are some spectacular sunsets here in the islands.  I don't know about the old saying "Red sky at night, shepherd's delight', but this sky got us a little worried.  We had torrential rain through the night after this sunset.

The prevailing with in the islands in from the East and so the better anchorages tend to be on the west side.  We decided to take a walk across to the east side.  There are some wonderful tracks that go through the bush.

Enjoying meeting up with friends on the beach at Lee Stocking island.  Wine and toasted marshmallows!           

Celebrating my birthday on board, lots of wine and lots of laughter too.                                                              

OMG, I can't believe I'm 60! Friends from 'Our Rose', a kiwi boat made me a carrot cake and decorated it with yellow cherries and candles to match the boat.  Not only did it look good, it tasted delicious too.                             

Down to Georgetown.

After a few days in Hopetown, we decided to head south and show Lisa some of the other islands here.  Decided to head to Little Harbour for New Year's Eve, hoping there would be some entertainment going on there.

Celebrating the last day of the year at the Rock House.  Later there were some fireworks too that one of the mega yachts arranged.

Sometimes navigating through the reefs here can be tricky, so here is Lisa checking Daryl's track with the iPad.

'No Rehearsal' in Warderick Wells, our favourite anchorage in the Exumas.   It is a land and sea park, the water is so clear and there is plenty to see underwater because no hunting is allowed and the sealife is abundant.

On the bank in Warderick Wells again, such clear water.                                                                                                

Daryl, my hunter/gatherer coming back with a rather large crayfish for dinner, yummy!                                                

Throw it back Lisa, it's another barracuda.  They feed on the coral and it's easy to get food poisoning from eating them.

Lisa and I enjoying our most favourite thing, a coffee ashore in Georgetown at the Driftwood cafe.                           

Sad to see Lisa leave, but she looks a lot healthier than when she arrived.  We have had a wonderful month with her and I think she really enjoyed cruising the Bahamas again.

Lisa arrives for Christmas

The best present I could get, Lisa arriving at Fort Lauderdale airport to spend Christmas with us.  What a treat to have her on board for a month.

We took Lisa to do a little retail therapy at one of the outlet malls near Orlando.  There is some excellent deals to be had and the girls even found a Starbucks!

Lisa was very good at enlisting some the young crew from nearby super yachts to help us with the lifting!

In West Palm Beach we got some help to carry the dagger boards down the quay and back on to the boat.  They are about 15foot long and are very heavy indeed.

Checking into the Bahamas was a pleasure for once.  This young officer helped us through all the paperwork with a smile and a joke.

Lorraine and Bob on 'Scaramouche' in Hopetown entertained us for Christmas, what a wonderful spread she put on.  She has just published a cookbook and so it was a great place to go for tasty food with good friends!

Bob and Daryl catching up on all the news over a beer or two.                                                                                      

Christmas Day and Lisa is enjoying opening her  presents!