Kelly's Visit to the Exumas

The boat was cleaned top to bottom, with as much fresh water as we could dinghy to the boat.  We cleared out of our back cabin and put out the new sheets and towels.  

They kids were counting the days, hours, then minutes until Kelly’s arrival.  

Yea!!!  She made it!

Kelly is my good friend from Colorado that I have known since before I married Paul.  

No big surprise after we shopped at the market the taxi driver yelled “goodbye my wife!” and Kelly yelled back “goodbye my husband!”  Kelly had already found a husband and had decided to move to the Bahamas.  Problem being she doesn’t know how to cook fish.  

Enjoying herself on Shambala

We did so much in the 10 days she was with us, I can hardly remember it all but here goes.

We stayed in George Town for the first two days and enjoyed yoga each morning,  Volleyball Beach with the Chat ’N’ Chill and sting rays, we went to the sound side beach, body surfed the waves, and snorkeled the reef near town.

Then we had a slightly rough sail up the coast to Rudder Cut where we anchored near Musha Cay.  We now know to never let our guest go down below, even for a little bit during a passage.  Bad choice.

We took the evening off alcohol and just fed Kelly crackers.  

Full recovery the next day.  We pulled Kelly around behind the dinghy to look at the coral reefs near David Copperfield’s Island and snorkeled around the very cool statue of the piano.  Next we snorkeled around a sunken plane but the water was rough so it was a brief look.  We were then invited over to a boat drink party aboard S/V Planet Waves (who we met in Marathon) with S/V Blue Highway.  We had such a good time it turned into dinner and we stayed until the kids couldn’t stay awake. 

From there we moved a few miles north and stayed two nights near Big Farmer’s Cay.  We named the place Sting Ray Beach because there was a cool salt water pond that had an outflow to the bay with small sting rays in it.  One night we had a bon fire on the beach and enjoyed making s’mores.  

Kelly brought us the game of Clue so we spent some down time on the boat to play “who dun it.”  The game has changed some since I was a kid.  I guess they are trying to make it more contemporary or modern.  I personally liked it the way it was so Kelly and I tried our best to describe what the older version was like. 

Oven Rock on Little Farmers was next where we hiked into a cave.  We made it a school day talking about stalagmites and stalactites and the differences.  There was water at the bottom the cave that is said to go more than 100 feet down.  It was cooler in the cave without the sun but very humid so we were all sweating.  I expected it to be full of mosquitos considering the stagnate water but then remembered the cave is also full of bats.  Good eating for those guys I bet. 

The search for conch brought us to Norman’s Pond Cay, south of Farmer’s Cay.  Kelly and I both were pulled by the dinghy for about 1/2 a mile with no luck.  We went through the entire pond and pulled Paul around with no luck.  The on our way out Kelly noticed a beautiful conch on the side.  She saved the day!  We put it in the refrigerator overnight and pulled it out the next day.  This time not all of the animal came out of the shell.  Pee-ooo!  It was stinky.  

Paul cut off the end of the shell in hopes to get the rest of the animal out and to make it into a conch horn for Kelly.  Still no luck.  We vacuum sealed it and sent it home with Kelly anyway where she is going to find some kind insects to get in there and help her out.  Then she will blow her conch horn every night at sunset.  Won’t that be pleasant for all of her neighbors?  She can drink her special Goombay Smash drinks (we gave her the secret Chat ’N Chill recipe).

We came back to George Town for Kelly’s flight out.  We shopped for souvenirs at the Straw Market and found a lot of beautiful hand-made items.  That night a terrible fire occurred and burned the entire place down.  We were all shocked to see the destruction.  It burned everything except the metal chairs the ladies sat on to weave.  It was a tragedy for the community.  They have already started fund raising to rebuild it.  We were their last customers the night before.   

Kelly left the next day and we were all sad to see her go.  She headed to back to snow in Colorado. 

Now for us, it is on to the Caribbean.  The wind is changing and we are thinking of leaving very soon.