hi all --

am in the exumas with hannah (my niece) as first mate.
learning to sail my boat, dodge coral heads, read the
depth of water by its color, doubt the accuracy of
charts and guide books, watch every amp-hour of power
used and every drop of water wasted, and dream of
ice cream, clean hair and a long shower.

we came from ft. lauderdale to the berry islands and then
nassau with 2 other experienced sailors (andy and chad), but
have been on our own for the last 10 days.  caught two fish
on the way over, a bonita and a jack.  yummy sushi and grilled
fish.

our fridge that is usually nice and efficient became
power hungry in the tropical temperatures here and we
switched to ice in nassau and ran out last nite, so
are fridgeless, cold beer-less, etc.

the crossing from nassau to the exumas involves a section called
the yellow banks of lots of coral heads sticking up toward the
surface from the bahama banks that are sandy and 10-20 ft deep.
we have been anchoring and exploring different islands
along the exuma chain -- ship channel cay, allens cay,
normans cay, shroud cay, and now are in warderick wells
the center of the exuma national park and preserve.

we snorkeled at ship channel cay, it was very pretty but
with a serious current.  drifted with the dingy, no need
to swim, we were already going too fast.  had to scramble
into the dinghy and start the engine and drive back up
current before we piled up on the rocks.  our second drift
dive was less exciting (thankfully) and we found conch for
conch salad for lunch.

allens cay had an interior anchorage that we went into,
anchored where our chart book said was good holding and
then got told off by a british guy with 150 ft of line
out on 2 anchors that we were too close to him.  the water
depth was 9 feet so the usual 7:1 rule would have said
that 65 ft was enough, with 150 ft out he took up all
the room and was rude about it too.

normans cay has a wonderful restaurant on it called
macduffs.  we went for happy hour hoping to eat out
and found that they only do dinner with advance reservations.
so we ordered a pitcher of fancy strawberry daqueris (hannahs
favorite since they had no pina coladas) and sat playing
backgammon and shut-the-box, a local dice game and watching
for a green flash at sunset.  saw one.  about half way
thru our pitcher they started apologizing for their rule
about reservations and a bit later decided we could have
something from their small lunch menu if we wanted.  we
had a fish sandwich that was dolphin (mahi mahi), fresh,
and wonderful.  we pigged out and made reservations for
dinner the next nite when we had a full dinner with wine
and sunset again. no green flash though.

shroud cay has a fresh water well where we did luxurious
baths and washed all our clothes. it also has an interior
that is all mangrove swamp and a nursery of sorts for lots
of local fish and shell fish life.  we explored it with the
dinghy and ended up on the eastern side of the island with
a beautiful beach and about 8 nude teenage boys on a spring
break trip.  they were typical teenage -- afraid and embarrased
when we parked the dinghy right by them, bolder when we ignored
them as they started as a group streaking out of the water and
back into it again.  we thought about hiding a few of the
random swim trunks on the beach but didnt.

met a swedish couple there sailing with 2 kids (4 and 1 yr old)
on a fancy experimental boat designed by the guys father. it
had been dismasted in the mona passage.  had 2 equal height
masts, unstayed with only running back stays holding them up,
made of carbon fiber.  apparently the father was holding the
running backstay when it broke and the front mast came down.
they were sailing with jib only in 35 knots of wind.  rigged
a staysail on the stump of a front mast and were doing fine
as long as they didnt have to sail close to the wind.

warderick wells, the exuma park headquarters, has a very
protected anchorage with mooring balls.  unfortunately we
are still on the waiting list for a mooring and we anchored
too far from shore (i am chicken when it gets shallow and didnt
follow the other boats lead) so we are 1/4-1/2 mile out instead
of a few hundred feet.  they had a pot luck happy hour last nite
and we went, someone from juneau alaska brought smoked salmon
and it was wonderful, enough yummies to call it dinner. 
met lots of boaters including one girl of about 10 who asked
if we were swimming without clothes in allens cay.  surprised 
us a bit, but was true. the wind is blowing 25+ knots and intends to
continue for the next 3-4 days.  our dinghy has oars and a
2 hp motor so we arent likely to get ashore to explore unless it
calms down a bit.

hannah got invited to dinner by one of the parks local rangers
and had to call them and tell them that our dingy was not up to
the chore of going ashore and that they would have to pick her up.

i just got a chance to crew for someone going from florida to
bermuda to the azores to portugal to the med, on a moody 42.
should give me good offshore experience. am definitely feeling
inexperienced as we dodge coral heads, deal with charts whose
gps waypoints put our boat on land instead of in the sea, and
try to pick safe anchorages in 25k breezes, so this should make
me a better, safer sailor. leaving in early may, so hannah and i
are taking the boat back to florida at the end of april.  then
i go on my crossing the atlantic adventure and she goes into the
peace corps in guatemala.

i wont have hannah for crew next fall when i want to do the
caribbean, so anyone wanting to sail for a week or a month or more
in the fall let me know.  it doesnt work to say i want to sail from
xxx to yyy on exactly november 20-25, so you need to be a bit flexible
with either dates or places. wont go till fall because i need to stay
in florida or somewhere that my insurance likes for hurricane season.

-evi
nordic 40 wonderland (sloop/cutter)
720-635-4844 (cell, but doesn't work in the bahamas)