Wonderful Waters!

We had a great motor down from Highbourne Cay to Norman Cay. Water was so still you could see down 20 feet. Norman Cay is well known for it's history as a former drug center run by a Columbian called Leder. they were closed down by US and Bahamian drug officials. The buildings are now falling down, but there is a great dock on the southeast end of the island. There is also a good paved landing strip and planes bring in guests for the small resort on Norman and for the larger resort on Wax Cay just to the south east. Guests are taken by boat to the Wax Cay from Norman. A Bahamian Defense Force boat was at the dock and the men were cleaning a bucketful of red snapper. guess they are running a line when they are on patrol!

The movie Blow with Johnny Depp is about Norman Cay. Bruce said it was good. We walked to the south end of the island to the dock and the beach. (forgot the camera) The view was wonderful but windier than where we were anchored on the west side. McDuffs is the well known Beach Bar with supposedly great burgers but was closed on Monday and too windy for the dinghy on Sunday so we missed that one. Met some folks when we were walking and they came over for sundowners on the boat. We saw the green flash!!!
Loves his Kindle!

We left Norman Cay on Tuesday coming south to the Exuma Land and Sea Park at Wardrick Wells. We had great east winds so were on a broad reach most of the way down to the park and made good time. We were able to have the watermaker on and made 6 gallons an hour. We took a mooring at Emerald Rock and went in the register in the morning. Picked up internet, but it is very limited here. Was not able to post the blog so it has grown over the week.



The colors of the water here are so amazing. Every color of blue and turquoise imaginable are all around us. The islands in the Bahamas are actually very arid and palm trees only grow where they have been planted but there are lots of palmettos low growing trees and Australian pines which were introduced, and they wish were not! The waters in the Bahamas have been over fished so the park is part of an attempt to to re-populate. More parks are in the development phase as this one has been so successful. One is near Georgetown.


We see very few birds or fish as we sail along. Last year in April in the park we saw white tropic birds who come here to breed. They arrive on the 1st of March and this year came on Feb. 29th as they don't know about leap year! We saw one flying on the 2nd in the morning... only the second sighting this year!
Bill, some work some play!

Right after we tied onto the mooring at the park we were visited by a small shark. The folks at the next boat were swimming off their boat later. They are braver than I am!We often see sharks and rays at marinas here where they hang around the fish cleaning dock for hand outs!

Well favorite weatherman Chris Parker has just finished his report so need to make breakfast and head to register. We just had a radio visit with Roy and Mary on Gideon after the weather. They are from our marina in Port Royal and are in Eluthera heading north to the Abacos. The Bahamas are made up of lots of groups of islands and is 700 miles long!

All is well on Wind Spirit as we head south with no specific schedule. We are generally headed to Georgetown on Great Exuma island and then on to Long Island to meet Bill's siblings, spouses and Mother for a week at Stella Maris.

Finally some pictures!