Hello Everyone. I have had lots of fun in the past several days. We (Mike, Mary, the kids and I) left Georgetown on the 16th (last Sunday) and arrived under full sail in Calabash Bay on Long Island mid-afternoon. Had a swim, ate supper, etc.
Monday was spent hitching rides all over the north end of the island to gete supplies. I got in touch with Nancy and she sent Heldi to get me (a 2 hour drive north from Clarencetown) the next day.
I have been staying with Heldi and she has been showing me every square inch of the island. Tomorrow I leave on a catamaran, the "Quo Vadis", for a straight through Run to Mayaguana, depending on the weather. Hopefully I'll meet up with Mike & Mary in either Mayaguana or Turks & Caicos so that I can go with them to the Dominican Republic.
I am making this short because I'm using Nancy's computer and internet connection so do not want to use too much time. I still have to check email... for the first time since Feb. 12.
Long Island is gorgeous. The water is so crystal clear that you can see details on the bottom in 25 feet of water. With snorkel gear you can see clearly for about 100 feet or more.
It's been tough here: being driven all over by Heldi to shop, lie on the beach, visit several of her friends, visit other Canadians living out the winter in this paradise called the Bahamas; sleeping in; eating great food; drinking Kalik beer and Bahama Mama cocktails (mostly booze); napping on the beach or on a shady porch. HEY! Life is rough here too... steamy hot days, bright sunshine, no rain for weeks, getting sand in the pockets of my shorts (from napping on the beach), getting sand in my hair, shoes and places I can't mention here, no change huts on the deserted beaches so we have to change right there on the beach in the open, having to put on sunscreen each morning before going out. Is there anyone out there who has sympathy for my pain?? Hmph. Didn't think so.
Must get going. Don't know when I'll next find a free or cheap computer but as soon as I do I'll do another update.
Love you all. Wish you were here to share this.
Hello everybody. It's been a long time since I last wrote in the blog, not since the night before leaving Warderick Wells. So you will be needing a catch up.
I am pre-writing this in the comfortable environment of the Muirgheal, Mike and Mary's boat. It is also the cheapest way to do e-mail messages. The only internet "cafe" around is in the Two Turtles hotel lobby where they charge US$0.50/minute for internet access and computer use. So I just taught Mary and Mike a new trick. Compose the messages on the laptop on the boat. Then take the files on disk (no laptop ports at the TT) to the internet cafe and paste the text into the messenger/email utility. So, mto save time and, therefore, money, I'm doing the same... preparing text now to plug into the blog tomorrow when Mary and
I go into town.
So now, I pick up from Warderick Wells morning of departure.
I got onto Stewart and Marilyn's boat "Union Jack" (a 33 ft NautiCat trawler) at 9:15am as planned. I took 3 cinnamon rolls with me to buy my way on to the boat. Yeah, they thought that was funny since they were glad to have me on board. We had a quiet, uneventful, pleasant trip to Staniel Cay arriving at 1:30. I got a room at Happy People Marina for $80/night and got settled in before we all went shopping at the Isles General Store, owned and operated by Miss Vivian. While there, Rosemary, Eric and Burgess arrived on a trip down from their camp sight on Compass Cay. We visited for awhile then I left to go to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club (SCYC) for a bight to eat.
Next day I went to the Isles General Store to meet up with them again. While sitting with them there (they were busy disassembling the kayaks and packing their stuff) Stewart and Marilyn arrived. I left with them for an hour to go to the Pink Store and the Blue store for groceries, etc. Then I returned to wait with them for the 1:00 pm plane to Nassau which did not show until 4:00pm. Meantime, a Flamingo Airways flight came in from Nassau at 3:00 and R,E & B bought tickets for that plane to take them to Nassau.
Had loads of adventures and fun in Staniel Cay. Here's a quick list: became known by everyone in town and anchored out or docked there; Walked up to Club Thuinderball which no one in their right mind would attempt; had supper on a 75ft luxury motor cruiser (yacht) TooKeen; met the famous Marylou, nurse at the St. Luke's Clinic; met the school teacher, Donna; met the infamous Wade Nixon knower of all in the exumas; bumpede into Stewart and Marilyn with dog Charlotte all over town; met captain Dave of Komedy III and MC for the 'wet T-shirt contest at the Farmer's Cay Family Festival; Met Tamara whose birthday is the same as mine (Feb 12), ultra website developer and contestant at the Farmer's Cay Family Festival; got a ride to Georgetown on the Jubilee II with John and Sandy.
Arrived in Georgetown about 5:30. Found Muirgheal, visited the Exuma Markets, went to the Two Turtles to wait for Mike to pick me up. Had supper on the boat, sat up 'til midnight with Mary. Made pancakes for breakfast this morning. We all went to town to get supplies, do laundry, eat, visit the Immigration office, bank, shop, etc. After that we all returned to the boat, got ready for and went to Volleyball Beach for the rest of the afternoon. I made a Thai curry stir fry for supper, M&M opened a bottle of Merlot and we ate a fabulous supper. Afterward I gave lessons to M&M in computer stuff... they are total novices. We were/are all exhausted and I will be last to bed tonight.
We hope to leave here on Saturday or Sunday to head for Long Island just 40 miles ESE of where we are now. Don't know when I'll be able to write again. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes... they were more appreciated than usual because there was no one to celebrate my birthday with. I told M&M too late (well after supper) for a celebration. I'm now off to bed.
Next day:
OK all is well today. Mary and I are on our own today... we may go looking for Bahamian boys ;-) NOT!
Leaving Staniel Cay tomorrow morning and heading to Georgetown to meet Mary and Mike on Muirgheal. Then off to Long Island just east of Georgetown.
Gotta go... this is costing US$0.50/minute in the bar at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. More later.
OKAY!! This is it. Tomorrow morning I am leaving Warderick Wells. Today I took am afternoon hike down to the south anchorage. When I arrived on the beach there, no boats were in. Just as I started walking up the beach looking for a good swimming spot a boat entered flying a huge Canadian flag. They anchored right where I was planning to swim. So I started chatting with them... they were only about 25-30 feet off the beach. After discovering that they are from Ottawa and that they are really nice folks, they offered to take me to Staniel Cay in the morning. So this is it. I'm off in the morning.
Tom or Larry will drop me off at thier boat in the morning. It's a NautiCat 33 footer and quite a beauty. We'll be heading out between 9:30 and 10:00 am to get to Staniel for late lunch. What happens from there I don't know. I want to spend a couple of days in Staniel Cay, and so do they, before moving on.
Anyway this means that my access to computers will be severely limited from now on. I don't even know what level of technology they have on board or if I'll be with them for more than a day. So, if you don't hear from me for awhile don't worry. As soon as I am able to get to an internet connection of any sort I will be in touch again.
This also means that there probably won't be any new photos for awhile either. But do write to me so that when I do find that elusive internet connection I will have some messages to read.
Next planned stop... Staniel Cay. After that the next planned stop is Georgetown on or before 27 February. Wonder where I'll be for my birthday on 12 February.
OKAY! A new group of pictures have just been posted that will require some explanation. So here we go...
Blow Holes:
These are just what they sound like. They are holes in the stone that have been created by many years of pounding surf carving into the "soft" limestone that forms most of the island. The crashing waves on the Exuma Sound side (east) undercut the rocky shore creating "roofs" and caverns. The pressure of the surf pounding up under the limestone cuts up into the rock eventually breaking through to the surface. The "blow" part is caused when the force of the surf forces air out the holes to the surface at high velocity. When you stand over the little holes the concentrated air being forced out is so strong that you can get knocked over if caught off guard.
The first 5 photos show very large holes of about 4-6 feet across with me sitting down inside one to give a sense of scale. The next 3 pics are of Fran and I being air blasted by a couple of small holes of 8-10 inches across.
BooBoo Hill:
This is a long story but I'll try to make it short. Many years ago a ship full of missionaries sunk in the rocky waters north of Exuma Sound. All aboard perished but no bodies were ever found and so none were buried. A monument was erected on BooBoo Hill in memory of the lost souls. Legend has it that at night you can hear the sound of the drowned missionaries singing hymns. So, to protect themselves from the Exuma Sound's treacherous waters and the ghosts of Warderick Wells, boaters make the trek up to BooBoo Hill with momentos to leave as offerings to the lost souls. BooBoo Hill has suffered through 2 major hurricanes in recent years, Michelle (2201) and Floyd (1999), which pretty much stripped it clean of all it's offerings. So Blew (resident of Warderick Wells for past 3 years) built a wooden machine gun replica to protect the hill and scare off pirates.
Noah is one of Mary & Mike's 2 kids (the other is Lidia) and he wanted his picture taken with the machine gun. The bullets actually come out of the leather ordnance magazine.
Cutlass Point is the furthest northern point of Warderick Wells.
Painting: these are pictures taken during the painting on the inside of the new generator shed/building. What you can't get from a photo is the noise we were all subjected to. The generator roaring and rumbling in a plywood "box" just outside the door, numerous power tools used in the construction of the workshop in the generator building, the pounding of hammers, the constant yelling of everyone trying to be heard over the din. So Rosemary needed ear protection (also sanity protection) and tore some bits of rag to stuff in her ears. The next day she brought us both swimmers ear plugs. Ahhh, much better.
Rosemary: as in Rosemary and Richard off "Gratitude", their sailboat. Fabulously nice couple. I would have loved to go off sailing with them. Rosemary is such a sweet, kind woman and Richard, though I did not get to spend as much time with him, seems equally sweet.
Party: one of the three last week up at the warden's house.
Eric & Rosemary (Rosie) leaving: a still photo taken about an hour before the actual departure of the 3 kayakers from Canmore (yes, the same Canmore as in "Mike from Canmore") near Banff. The actual departure was filmed as an MPEG movie which I will be sending to them via email.
Termite nest: these mounds are huge and everywhere. Termites are to the bahamas as ants are to a Canadian picnic. This one was actually pretty average at 18-24 inches. It is attached to the roots of a mangrove tree.
As per usual... if there is a picture that you want, please feel free to download it for yourself. They are in JPEG format.
Now an update...
Yesterday morning while painting in the generator shed I realized that my laryngitis seems almost gone every morning but after an hour in that building my throat starts closing and tightening. So after about an hour or so, I quit and asked for a different job for awhile. I'm not certain if it was the paint fumes (doubtful) or the diesel fumes (most likely) or the combination but about an hour after I left, the laryngitis got better.
So, as of yesterday late morning I've been working on painting the sides of the patrol boat with "PARK WARDEN" in big black letters using a pounce pattern as a guide. I got the starboard done yesterday and the port done today. I think there is another boat requiring the same treatment. Photos of this to come later.
The laryngitis is definitely getting much better and the cold is all but gone.
I have received some inquiries to explain a couple of the pictures. So here is a quick run through.
Dec31_Jan9: These were all taken while I was on New Providence Island at the Orange Hill Beach Inn.
Compass Point is a resort just west along the road from Orange Hill. It takes about 20-30 minutes to walk there from O.H. Having driven by several times admiring the colourful array of buildings I had decided to go back to take pictures. The wall is their security/privacy wall and the roof peaks are the rooms and cottages. It is a very expensive place to stay at US$300-$1000 per night.
The aerial shots were all taken during the flight from Nassau to Staniel Cay. Lake Kilarney is on New Providence, near the airport, about 30 minutes from downtown Nassau.
Love Beach is an expensive neighbourhood just west of Compass Point.
If you zoom in on the sign over the front door of the Orange Hill Inn's main building you will see why I felt so at home here. This sign was made for the owners as a gift from one of their many repeat visitors. They display it proudly.
Warderick Wells: this is where I am now, as you all well know.
Most of the titles are self explanatory so this will be brief.
ECLPS - Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park
HQ - Headquarters building, office, volunteer and RBDF (Royal Bahamian Defence Force) residence, storage, etc.
Warden's house - home of the park Warden (Ray Darville), his family and , currently, his assistants Tom and Judy (also volunteers)
Hawkesbill Cay - beach cleaning day for 3 volunteers and one RBDF guy
Seaquarium - a beautiful little reef that is naturally maintained and protected by its location.
Anchorage - northern anchorage is a mooring field with 21 mooring balls and no anchoring
Bella (rottwieller/great dane mix) and Lucky (Bahamian potcake a.k.a. mutt) are our dogs. Both are the most spoiled dogs on the planet.
Narrow Water Cay - across the anchorage from the HQ building.
Murphy's Hideaway is a natural cistern.
The night heron is a Yellow Crested Night Heron that quite nicely posed for me. The animals here are very tame because they have never been harmed by people and seem to know they are protected here.
The Davis Plantation ruins on Warderick Wells date back to the 1780s.
The South anchorage is, as you may have guessed, at the south end of Warderick Wells and has 4 mooring balls and room for 3 or 4 to be anchored out.
The "Work Beach" is where we do work on boats, motors and other stuff requiring the space and handy access to the tool and work sheds which is the large building on the beach.
The other birds were all photoed on the deck of the HQ building. The Bananaquits are everywhere and often come into the building where they are immediately shooed out. The will eat out of your hand happily. They're sugar hounds. The warblers: we've identified 5 different kinds. The Clapper Rail is a loner who has taken up residence under the washrooms.
Hopefully I've covered all the questions but if I missed anything, please write and let me know. I'm always glad to hear from people and happy to explain what is in my pics.
In case you're not sure, the email address is gailene@gailene.com
This past week has been fairly uneventful except for a few notable changes.
For the past 4 days I've been painting in the generator building. I'm putting two coats of white semi-gloss on the interior cinder block walls. I've had a couple of volunteers from boats in the mooring field here to help me, Rosemary (not the one whose been living here) and Debbie. We started second coat yesterday and it is starting to look quite nice.
I woke up with a cold about 4 days ago and on day two I had laryngitis. I still have the laryngitis and congestion. This virus seems to have arrived with one of the multitude of RBDF guys who waited out a wind storm here early in the week. Since then there have been several people getting sick. Fran had it a couple days before me, Tom started his a day or so later than me and a few others have been sick too. So I'll wait it out a couple more days. I've been taking echinacea with goldenseal, decongestants, antihistamines (for the Latex paint fumes) and extra vitamins for strength.
There have been 3 dinner parties up at the Warden's (Ranger Ray's) house this past week. Two for the Nekton crew from the Cachelot. One for them and the second because they had a bunch of thawed steaks that had to be barbecued (they called it charred flesh). Them Rosie, Eric and Burgess hosted one for their last supper here. They made lots of excellent Indian food including my personal favourite Peanut Sate sauce. All in all I've eaten well this week.
The Nekton guys brought our supply shipment with them so we have ton-a-food again. It was getting to be slim pickin's especially for a person with a limited diet. Last night after Happy Hour I made cookies and raisin bread. The cookie recipe is from the Bahama Mama's Cooking book (which I will likely buy before leaving). The cookies are great and the raisin bread made good toast this morning.
The family of three that has been here for nearly three weeks left yesterday to start the kayak trip they came here to do. They had hoped to leave 3 or 4 days ago but had not completed the work they came to do for the park. I did a short mpeg of their departure and will email it to them sometime over the next few days.
I have decided to leave here at the end of this week. I have had a couple of tempting offers from some very nice folks in the mooring field to leave with them on a heading to Georgetown. Unfortunately, thought, the first offer was to leave 4 days ago and the second is to leave today or tomorrow. I feel it is necessary to complete my committment to volunteer at the park for the full month. So, hopefully, there will be more oppotunities to hitch a lift to Georgetown later this week. Everyone I've met is so nice it really gives one renewed faith in the human condition.
Today is a short day. That means that on Sundays we usually work until 1:00 then take the rest of the day off. I want to hike down to the south anchorage this afternoon. It should take about 1 3/4 hours each way. I may put my snorkel gear over my shoulder and try to get in the water to see the stamadolites that are there. The stramadolites are what Rosie (Rosemary) and Eric were here to study. They said the best time to see them is at slack tide because of the current in the south anchorage. It is very strong through there and that makes it hard swimming and could get dangerous in the wrong weather conditions.
Well I'm off to start work early so that I can quit early.