Bison...Here? Orchid Bay Marina, Great Guana Cay, Bahamas

We had a beautiful Day in Great Guana Cay. The morning started off with Waffle breakfast in the Gazebo with several other boaters. Our host for the occasion was Diane from Boatel 1. 

Diane and Ted live in Toronto on their boat. In the winter time when the B&B is closed they head off to Bahamas for a few months. Not a bad way to live! Diane made all the waffles and we all brought toppings. 

Vince, pictured here is a teacher from Halifax. He was voted most appetizing waffle with black berries, bananas, pineapple and  whipped cream with a little Caramel sprinkles to top it off.  

After our breakfast we retreated to the boat for some more basket weaving, transferring and cleaning fuel for our next leg of the trip etc.. 

Later in the afternoon we went for a walk to the beach. We ended up in a bar named Nippers to catch a view of the ocean side of this island. The Atlantic was still angry, although less so than yesterday. Hopefully tomorrow bodes well for us. We'd like to see 5 feet or less for wave if possible. Please! 

We ended our evening with a Bison dinner on 'Esprit'. Kelly and Melissa are a young couple from Alaska. They invited us over for dinner with their 3 daughters. 

What a treat it was. The Bison we had was shot by Kelly and part of their provisions when they came on this one year adventure. They took a year off and are home schooling the girls during this time. The girls have prepared their own fish bowl and caught all of the critters in it. 3 hermit crabs, 1 little fish (which they hope to grow to eating size) 1 small crab and a snail. They feed the critters bits of fish and weeds. All of the fishbowl coral and plants were gathered from the Ocean here. Really cool project.  

We had a lovely evening with are three blond hosts. Olivia, Tate and Vivian. We wish them well on the rest of their voyage. Good night all

Wind, wind and more wind 26◦39'.830N 77◦06'.647W

We took off from Treasure Cay around noon. We had been waiting for mid, rising tide to leave. Turtle cay is only a couple of hours away and we were in no rush to cross 'the whale.' The forecast called for 8-10 mph winds and 1-3 foot waves. When we got out into the sea of Abaco we had 5-6 foot rollers and 1-3 foot chop on top of them. We lost a glass juice jug and one scratch to the floor. Not too bad for such a rough ride! So we decided to just cross the bay and get to Great Guana cay. We chose a spot to anchor and dropped the hook. About 5 min later we saw a boat coming through the 'whale passage' and asked them how it was. "It's choppy" he said "but not the worst I've been in." Armed with this new knowledge we weighted the anchor and set off to go. This of course, is when the wind picked up a bit more and by the time we got to the passage there were 10 foot waves on the ocean side and at least 6 footers on the Sea of Abaco. Once again the weather conspiring to blow not only the winds but our budget! We turned around of course and sought a port of refuge. There were no anchorages that provided protection from the west winds we were experiencing. Orchid Bay marina was the closet port and so off we went. We will now be here for the next 2 days as the winds for Sunday are predicted to be worse than today. It's not so bad though, the marina is really cute and the folks here are quite friendly.

Marina office 

 In fact we have an invitation for a waffle breakfast tomorrow am. All we have to do is bring some toppings.  Hopefully there is some whipped cream left! Happy Valentines day and good night all. 

 This is the pathway to the grocery store. Certainly not Hamilton streets.

Friday the 13th Treasure cay exploration

We had a wonderful day today, bright sunshine and two guides to show us around the island.

Michel and Carole came to get us around 9am and took us on a tour of the areas less traveled. 

We went into a little river and saw hundreds of turtles swimming around. We next went into an area where lobsters and sting rays are usually found. We did not find any of those but we did get to see more turtles and some starfish 

Along the way, I dropped my camera into the river which resulted in an impromptu swim to retrieve it. The water was nice but getting back in the dinghy was a bit of a challenge.After changing into dry cloths we went out to the twin sisters islands to check out the coral reef and all the beautiful fish. 

 

We ended our day with docktails on the top deck with our guides and a new acquaintance named Jacques.  

Tomorrow we will head to Green Turtle Cay as we slowly make our way to Freeport to meet our son and daughter-in-law on the 24th. Good night all. 

Happy Birthday Mom-Still in Treasure Cay

Another windy day in treasure cay yesterday, but we still got to walk the beach a little. Although we needed jackets on to do so. Around 10am yesterday we got a knock on the boat and an invitation to lunch at CoCo beach restaurant with two other couples. It was impossible to sit outside; as the winds were very high yet again. During lunch Michel told us he has been coming to Bahamas for the last 6 years and in that time, he has never seen so many cold fronts and cool temperatures lasting for so long. It is rather unfortunate as I had dreams of swimming and snorklling every day. Even my thick Canadian blood cannot handle 70◦F water for very long. It's still beautiful out here so I guess we'll have to take the good with the bad. Anyway as the heading says it is my mom's birthday today and we are so far away. Sorry we can't be with you mom but I hope you enjoy your day with the rest of the family. As for us, it is currently 8:01am and the sun is shining, the wind's speed at 3mph and the temperature is currently 64◦F and rising. Maybe today is the day we get to swim or

I get to try out this really cool paddle bike. Have a great day everyone.

Another windy day 26◦40'.270N 77◦16'.864W

We are still at Treasure Cay but it has been yet another windy day. Last night we were asked or told to move our boat to a different location because a large ship needed the area we were in to turn his ship. We complied of course, however we ended up in a rather tight area with very high winds. Needless to say we did not sleep all that well and we did so in shifts in order to keep watch on the boat/anchor, in case we dragged. As a consequence we were both rather sluggish today. We did go into town to the Royal Bank of Canada and for a short walk. The pool was rather inviting, but with the winds so high it was a tad on the cold side. We are hoping for a nice day tomorrow so we can go check out the beach a bit better and maybe even go for a swim.

Good night all

Time to say goodbye 26◦40'.196N 77◦17'.083W

We had to say goodbye to Liane and Bob today. It's too bad time flies by so quickly. It seems like they just arrived and now they are already gone.

After they left we did our chores and filled the water tanks and went back to the grocery store for a few more fresh produce items before we left for Treasure cay. We had planned on taking Liane and Bob here but the weather did not co-operate. Today was just magnificent....of course! We left the Marina around noon and made our way here to anchor in the harbor. They are calling for another cold front to pass through tomorrow and this place had 360◦ protection so it's a nice place to wait out the next big blow. We are a little tight in here though so we set our anchor drag alarm to ensure if we do start to drag we know about it right away.

Tomorrow we will go explore the island's beaches and resort amenities like the pool and the resort beach. Carole and Michel have offered to show us a few of their favorite snorkelling spots too, so hopefully the weather co-operates for that! Good night all. 

Back to Marsh Harbor for our last night! 26◦32'.799N 77◦03'.148W

It's Our last night with Liane and Bob. It has been a wonderful week and we have enjoyed every minute with them. It's too bad it has to end. We left Man-O-War this morning and made our way back to the harbor. Liane and I then went for a bike ride to check out the town and provision a bit. 

 Fortunately this was a stunning day with loads of sunshine and heat. This aloud us to do some snorkelling....finally!

 Liane and I got to see many fish and one star fish on Mermaid reef. It was an awesome afternoon. 

                                   

We returned to the boat for a final meal on the top deck and now we will return to a euchre game. I must say I do not like playing with Bob particularly cause he always wins! Well maybe we let him win cause he's a guest. Yes that will be my story from now on!

Anyway it's time to get the card game started so I will leave you all. Good night.