Last I posted, we were in George Town and what a wonderful place that is. We celebrated with the Bahamians their 35th Independence Day. They really put on the celebration!!! In Rolletown, they had several Regattas going on. A Regatta is when sail boats go out and race different courses to show how well they can maneuver. They are made up of age groups and boat size. Their sails are very pretty and colorful. Sorry, I don't have any pictures to show. We met a very nice lady named Margaret in town and caught up with her at the celebration. She is suppose to email some of her picts but I haven't received them as of yet. Margaret became Clay's new Bahamian girlfriend and they danced the night away! Several vendors were out with their specialty dishes, conch salad, lobster salad, crab and rice, macaroni and cheese, all fresh and the list goes on. They had a wild fireworks show, bands playing and a Junkanoo parade. The Junkanoo parade is the ultimate Bahamian event to see. They dress up in bright, shiny costumes and dance to their funky music playing all kinds of homemade instruments. Very colorful, loud and FUN!!!
From George Town we cruised on down to Long Island. Docked at the Marina called Stella Maris. On the cruise down, we went through the same waters as Christopher Columbus did in 1492. Pretty cool when you think about it. How we are able to use all the boats instruments today as compared to them using nothing. There is a nice monument up on a rock upon entering where he first reached land at the North end of Long Island. Long Island is 80 miles in lenght and 4 miles in width. Clay and I rented a car and drove to the South end, where we stopped for some lunch at Parrots of the Caribbean. (A take off name to the movie Pirates of the Caribbean), since it was filmed in Salt Pond which is 3/4 of the way down Long Island. After spending a much relaxed time in the Marina, when headed on down the Island in the boat to see it by water, anchoring out along the way. There we discovered a very nice anchorage in Salt Pond where we stayed for several days and on Aug. 1, (the day lobster season begins for the fishermen) we witnessed all the boats taking off. It was like watching the beginning of the Indy 500!! After seeing and shopping all we could we headed out for new waters. We cruised in the same waters where Pirates was filmed, but didn't see any Pirates, anchored out in Conception, a well known area for great snorkeling and diving. Clay and I saw our first shark, not the harmless nurse sharks we swam with, and then came nose to nose and side by side with 2 barracudas! I couldn't get in the dinghy fast enough. At least I didn't drop the camera and took a few pictures. On a more pleasant dive, we saw a peaceful, beautiful turtle with blue markings rested on the bottom of the waters. We stayed real still just admiring it and just as soon as we started to swim off he quickly took off in another direction. They can sense when they think they are being hunted. Turtle soup and other turtle organs are a delicacy over here. (YUCK!) We moved on over to Santa Maria anchorage, named for Columbus and checked out their little paradise Island. The beaches are beautiful and because the island is so small, very quiet. This part of the cruise has all been new waters for us and it is so exciting cruising them and learning the history. From here we headed on back to Nassau. Football season is about to begin and we need to get our boat up to snuff so we can either watch or listen to the Cowboys and hopefully BOTH!!!! Nassau is just a good location to get all kinds of provisions, mail out stuff, receive our mail, etc. So we are here for a couple of weeks to catch the Cowboy games, watch the Olympics and then we are both ready to get out in the open waters and cruise. I did get a new camera, so I'll be back to posting more picts. I have a few, but they aren't the greatest that I'll try to post. Hope all is well with whoever enjoys reading our blog and stay turned for more exploring from Carleigh.
As always, we are the
HAPPY Crusiers!!
