After Debbie and Ruben left, Kim and I went down to Lynyard Cay.  It has become our favorite anchorage in the Abacos.  It is virtually deserted with nice beaches a great water for snorkeling.  While there, we saw numerous ells, turtles, fish, lobster, and even a large Octopus on the little reef just a few yards from Fine Lion.  We beach combed for shells and sea glass.  Mainly, we just hung out…for a WEEK!  It was great.  The weather was fantastic…85 during the day, sunny, and 72 at night with millions of stars.  The wind was 15 out of the SE day and night…perfect.

I suspect we decided for a relaxing week in preparation for returning to the US.  We know that we’ll be getting back to a more hectic pace even in Oriental, NC.

We’ve enjoyed the Abacos and will be seeing the more northern Cays on our way back, but probably won’t have internet until back in the US.  We will be looking for a window the first week of June to start back.

The Abacos have treated us well.  There are lots of services, restaurants, stores, etc.  They’re a bit of a money sponge, however.  It’s also the time of year that the “crowd” changes from the longer term cruisers (like us) to the “summer” crowd.  They’re called “summer” because “some are people, and some aren’t”.  They are mostly from Florida and come over for a week or two. The power boats come over for long weekends as we are only 120 miles or so from Florida.  They make that trip this time of year as the weather is calmer.  In the winter, they could get stuck over here waiting for a window to get back to Florida.  It’s interesting talking and hearing them on the radio.  They don’t seem to be as “prepared” as the winter crowd.  They don’t seem to have invested in cruising guides, charts, etc.  They are always on the radio asking simple questions that are outlined in detail in all the guides.  We prefer to be around the winter cruisers more.  This crowd is full of itself…cigar smoking guys, and dolled up women.  Oh well, we can tell we’re close to the US.

We stopped in Baker’s Bay for some snorkeling on the reef.  It was great.  Be sure to check out the underwater pictures in that area of the web site.  A Nurse Shark surprised Kim as she turned around, but he wasn’t a problem…just cool to watch.

We also stopped at Green Turtle Cay and did a little shopping and had a nice Bahamian dinner.  It will probably be our last as we should be taking off within a couple of days now.  Right now, we are planning on a stop at Spanish Cay (we’re at Manjack Cay right now…great internet provided by a guy that lives on the island at no cost).  After Spanish, we will take off and see how far we get before we need to refuel.  If we can mostly sail, we’ll get further.  Our desire would be to go straight to Charleston, SC.  It’s about 330 miles and will take us 48 – 58 hours.  If we have to motor, we’ll probably end up in Florida somewhere.  We’ll update the site when we get…someplace.

Until then…

Steve and Kim