Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Back to the Abacos

We left Staniel Cay last Friday with our good friends Tony and Tess on Endurance to make an attempt to visit Rocky Dundas and the othergreat spots at the southern end of the Exuma Land and Sea Park.

Rocky Dundas is an underwater cave that divers can enter at low tide when the entrance is exposed.

We had a terrific sail the few miles up the Exuma Banks and dropped our anchors about a mile and a half away near Bell Island. We divided up kids between the two dinghies and we started across the open waters to the caves.Wow,what a crazy ride. It was very choppy but with extremely shallow reefs and sandbars and then we had to take some swells from the cut to the Sound (the ocean), only to get to Rocky Dundas and realize it was way too rough to enter. We bobbed about and decided to go to 'Rachel's Bubblebath' - a lovely little inland tidal pool where waves from the ocean crash over coral breakers and then slip into the pool as bubbles.

It was delightful. We snorkeled around a coral ledge in about three feet of water where we saw a variety of fish, all tiny, a kind of nursery for the big reefs.

We took the long way back, shared a cocktail with Tony and Tess and then they went back south to pick up a friend and we headed north to Warderick Wells, where we had stopped before but without Reg.

The winds started to pick up and Sunday and Monday it blew very hard - topping 30 knots at times.We were snug on our mooring ball. We celebrated Elizabeth's 12th birthday on Monday (and alsosent birthday wishes to Uncle Chris and Cousin Stella by email) with a hike, snorkeling and a big super sweet chocolate cake, barbecue steak, fettucine alfredo, mashed potatoes and peas. It was delicicous. A number of our cruiser friends sent messages and little gifts to Elizabeth and she ended up having a very special day.

Reggie is hard at work at school and is still homesick but is loving the snorkeling here -it is spectacular.

Aidan is plugging away at school as well and is looking forward to our return to the Abacos,which he loved.

We're happy to be turning our faces home but sad to know we'll never have a trip like this again. We left our boat name on a piece of driftwood on top of Boo Boo Hill here in the park as so many others have done. Funny to think it will likely still be there next year when we are still shovelling snow and back to our lives at home.

We leave today for HIghbourne Cay (30 or so miles,a fivehour trip) then we go to Royal Island the next day,we hope (about 60miles)then the next day across the ocean gap to the Abacos (about 60 miles)-aseriesof 3 long day trips. And so the long travelling days return.

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