Returning Through The Exumas

The past week has been punctuated by the sweetness of revisiting some of our favorite Bahamian islands and the inevitable departure of good friends.

Over the past week, we’ve:

• Sailed with “SYL” up to Little Farmers Cay and met back up with “Morning Glory.” We hiked across the island to walk along the Atlantic beaches, went to boat church and explored Oven Rock Cave.
• Set the hook at Castle Beach near Black Point, where we first met “Morning Glory” a few months ago. Ranking as one of our top anchorages on the trip, we swam off the back of “SYL”, snorkeled and spearfished the nearby rock walls and conversed well into the night over highlights of the trip so far.
• Docked for the day at Regatta Point in Black Point to do laundry and visit Lorraine’s cafe for Internet, home-baked bread and above all, her famous cracked conch.
• Glided up to Staniel Cay on Thursday for groceries and more snorkeling in Thunderball Grotto. It was just as spectacular as before but this time the water was much warmer. In the afternoon we moved the big boats over to pig beach at Big Majors Cay to anchor for the night and see our grunting swimming friends one more time.

• Hugged goodbyes with “Morning Glory” as Friday made their departure for Florida.
• Sailed with “SYL” up to Hawksbill Cay as Rusty radioed sail trim tips over to Matt. He was ecstatic at having Kaleo sailing so sweetly and grateful for Rusty’s advice.
• Marveled at the most magnificent oceanside beach we’ve seen yet. A long hot hike over Hawksbill led us to a vista overlooking electrifying turquoise water with a powdery white sand beach that can not be done justice through pictures or words. Rusty even found a message in a bottle from a 5-year-old Bahamian boy named Truman. That’s two message in a bottles found on this trip so far!

• Reminisced with “SYL” about first meeting them one cold November day back in Kemah. Over dinner and Mexican Train we laughed at all the trials “SYL” encouraged us through as we made our way down the Gulf Coast, Bahamas bound.
• Motored away from “SYL” on Saturday morning as we made our way north for Spanish Wells, Eluthera and The Abacos.

Overall, it was an enjoyable way to wrap up our time cruising throughout the Exumas. And while we will dearly miss “SYL” and “MG”, plans to meet back up while cruising the east coast have already been discussed.