STUCK ON THE TROPIC OF CANCER

There is a tremendous amount of 'blue' in these photos. No apologies for that. If you are one of those people who are feeling "BLUE" as a result of weather that may not be perfect,.............. well then these double-clickable photos are for you. Now PARADISE may be perfect but the inexplicable still happens. Captain Global Glenn on "TREEHOUSE" flew out yesterday back to New York to take his son Spencer for an emergency operation. Spencer has several fibrous tumors on his body, two of which are pressing on the auditory nerves within the brain and while chemo and radiation were options, the decision to immediately operate had to be made. We sit with baited breath awaiting the outcome of some very critical surgery. Then again, this part of the EXUMA chain is not exactly a bad place " to do som waitin' We will do some cruising to outer islands and even go back to the Abacos where Lauren Anne (the Queen's daughter) and Tony, the handsome new husband-to-be will get married in March.............Now as for the photo alongside ,...... well that's the 'QUEEN's interpretation of the 'Faith Hill' look............and if that's 'COUNTRY' well bring on country hit-song.............. We sailed past an island that has just been bought by the duo of F.Hill and T. McGraw as their hideaway from the country music razzmatazz, so we can't tell you all where it is, but it does have blue water just like that below...........all around it....























Had to get in a 'CORINA' shot, the one she taught us by using long arms, smiling and trying to get the horizon level. We have modified our dinghy, our BMW, by adding a new fin to the lower part of the outboard leg..................... a great success. Now the beemer flies level and bounces way less. The bouncy beemer is no more.............We are riding flat in a 'SUPER-BEEMER..........now......FINGERS CROSSED FOR SPENCER............

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS CENTRE............

Laid back and just beautiful........... The real paradise. With its brilliant sunshine, even in mid-January, the coldest part of the year, and its golden beaches and tropical trees. This truly is a magnificent place to put the anchor down. Till now, we have tried to stay connected on internet and that has required us to visit the "INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS CENTER" in downtown GEORGETOWN, Exumas,(Pictures below) for our 15c/minute phone calls, internet and Skype. We sit in a row of serious faces across from a bright green wall, hunched over key-boards and we do our thing................The Stocking Island anchorage at last count had some 200 yachts floating in clear liquid. Daily they come and daily some go............AWESOME.



















We rented some scooters to go see the main EXUMA island on a day when there was to be a cultural festival at the far end. Cruising of a different kind.......... We first drove to the airport to collect a parcel with autopilot parts and then to BARRATERRE to taste great food, listen to great local music which caused the "QUEEN" to break into song and dance and finally witness the Bahamian sloops racing for bragging rights............ On the way back, Global Glenn of the yacht "TREEHOUSE" was able to do his personal best of 48 m.p.h. by putting his head down below his knees.......................on a downhill slope.








The "DANCING QUEEN" with her eyes on the conch fritters frying in oil. A delicacy only available in the Bahamas. Below is a lady feeding the conch off-cuts to a cruising manta ray. Count your fingers after that exercise........ speaking of exercise, see Global Glenn do the 'big save' in a Volleyball game........







We are leaving our mark at Stocking Island in the Exumas. Check out the photo of "QUEEN" Laurie and the directional totem pole.(Double-click on the photo below) Way down below you will see our contribution.......... Now is that not the nicest pareo (sarong/lap lap) you ever saw on a QUEEN................

AND THIS IS FOR NONI.................

Now for all of you who have driven behind some vehicle and seen that sticker that says "DRINK NONI JUICE" and then wondered what the heck is "NONI JUICE", well here is a clue............................. This is the Noni fruit. But the juice does not come from the fruit it seems. The people tell us that the leaves are boiled to extract the juice for its medicinal qualities.......... So now you can give up on the mixture of humming-bird eyelash and shavings of rhino horn and instead find some tree that looks like this and then live to be at least a hundred. Something to really look forward to.............. although be warned, that the last ten years in a nursing home at more than $5000/month may not be offset by a generous helping of the NONI JUICE.
By the way................ NONI is our dearest sister-in-law, so this is for you.

THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE AREN'T THINGS........

SO TRUE, SO VERY TRUE..................... THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE AREN'T THINGS....... They are the relationships with family and friends, the emotions, the visions, the inspirations and all the other non-tangibles of which we are certainly experiencing an abundance in these beautiful tropical waters of the EXUMA CAYS ..........The "Queen of Florida and the Bahamas" wearing a different kind of Royal Crown............ We went for a dive in an underwater cave in STANIAL CAY which was made famous in the James Bond film "THUNDERBALL". We fed the fish underwater with bits of bread and felt them biting our fingertips............. which in itself was surprising for the water was so cold, we should have lost all feeling......

From STANIAL CAY we sailed further south to BLACK POINT SETTLEMENT, an assortment of houses and shops on a rocky headland for a couple of day's shelter from strong prevailing winds. Time to go ashore and meet the people, who are entrepreneurs in fishing, weaving, boatbuilding and lead colourful lives.


















Came upon this local Bahamian boat under construction. Much of the framing is being hand-cut from locally grown timber, albeit the extension cord indicates that the adze has been replaced with a circular power saw. It is, nevertheless a work of art in its skeletal stage. A finished one is further below.



















"THUNDERBALL GROTTO" at STANIAL CAY, below. These Bahamian sloops race annually in fierce competitions for Island honours and the races are fascinating to watch with their often near-capsising antics, in order to win races.........





















Island living, despite the beauty, is still a tough call. Take a look at this patch of corn being grown in someone's garden (Double-click on it and see if you'd call it a garden?) and weaving palm leaves all day to make these four inch ribbons that are then stitched together to make baskets, purses, hats, arm-bands and "straw-market" merchandise. What else can you do in "Paradise"......................... Well here is 'Global Glenn of the Yacht "TREEHOUSE", now known locally as "Conchy Joe" trying to teach this young Bahamian the finer art of basketball.................. He might have to wait a while as the kid's fingers have trouble holding an ice-cream.........




















From STANIAL CAY we sailed further south to DARBY CAY and the adventures of "THE GREAT WHITE COCONUT HUNTERS" Beautiful blue water, incredible white beaches and nuts everywhere. My traditional methods of using a sharp stick fell apart for there were no sharp sticks to be had, but Mike showed us the modern method of crushing the nut with a large rock. This is known as the "Between a rock and a hard place" method. It works very well if you retain all your limbs, toes and fingers, and there is no blood showing anywhere ............... thanks Mike & Anne, on the Yacht "BEANS" who presented the 'Queen' with a lovely 'wild bean' necklace, one of nature's gifts of the islands.











And 'gifts' in this place come a-plenty. At the end of the day we feasted on coconut and lobster tail to enjoy yet another beautiful sunset in "PARADISE" on the back porch of "ARITA". All this before making our way to STOCKING ISLAND and GEORGETOWN at the end of the EXUMA chain, for our final stocking-up of provisions, fuel and internet. (Is this why they call it 'STOCKING ISLAND'?)

Love our water-maker. This unit is better than sliced cheese.....For the first time ever, on our last 35 mile windless motor/sail passage, we had the tap overflowing in the sink, and all tanks full with sweet tasting reverse-osmosis water. Home-made water from the sea. It doesn't get any better than that...............There is more to come from this great anchorage where yachts congregate before heading off to all parts of the world, and if you don't have an accurate compass, well then, there's this marker on the beach.................... to at least give you a head start.

PARADISE FOUND & BRIEFLY LOST.........

This is the PARADISE we have been looking for. This is even more beautiful than you can imagine, even if you double-click on it and we send it to you for a 'screensaver'. (email us) This is way more beautiful than that. This is all before the cold front hit us. This is when we went ashore to explore the island.







These cays are low sedimentary beds of calciferous limestone mixed with shell and sand, but razor sharp away from the beaches. Vegetation is sparse but hardy, and seems to survive only where it can get a foot-hold in a crevice. We spotted birds and some kind of furry animal in the bushes. We brought shoes but Captain Global Glenn Miller did not. Improvisation is the key to island survival, hence Glenn's "seaweed sandals"....................














As we crossed the island barely six feet above sea-level we found a multitude of sink holes within the limestone and all with standing water in them. No way you can walk across this stuff without shoes. Surface pockets must retain enough rainfall to allow the palmetto palms and bushes to survive, for there is no soil to speak of.....
Many piece of the limestone had exfoliated and walking on these flat slivers gave a metallic resonance, such is their hardness............... Different size, a different sound. A bit like walking to a tune, for if you took a step back the same sound would repeat itself. A limestone xylophone........... on a grand scale, and the whole island to ourselves. We could play the music as loud as we wanted................. and in doing so we discovered the original "rock" band. How about that...... A rock band played with seaweed sandals...... in 'D' minor.



















Plants fighting for survival in a sandpit on a salt-laden shore.










AND IT WAS SHORTLY AFTER THIS THAT THE THREE-DAY COLD-FRONT CAME THROUGH.

NO WIFI IN PARADISE.............................

After four days of incredibly strong winds in Nassau harbour we finally got away, but not before a night of wild anxiety as a Belgian yacht with two anchors out, dragged down on us. All the horn blowing and lights flashing failed to wake them up and when they finally did, they discovered that one of their anchor lines was wrapped around their propellor. This is truly "every sailor's nightmare". It all ended well with the guy in his PJs diving underneath his yacht to cut the line off. Now if that doesn't wake you up nothing will............. By morning we were off to the Exumas, a beautiful chain of islands south of Nassau, but not before getting that load of washing done in town. Washing clothes takes on a whole new meaning when you walk into a laundromat and no matter where you stand the photo won't get all the machines in. This was the mother of all laundromats. Ball-park figure 200 washer driers. The first of the islands was "ALLEN'S CAY", 35 miles from Nassau with a population of iguanas the size of miniature dogs and just as inquisitive.

















Supposedly native to the island, these herbivorous iguanas are not found anywhere else in the Bahamas except neighbouring islands, and we cant't help but feel that perhaps some vessel carrying specimens from Galapagos ran aground somewhere in the long distant past. Who knows............... We all conjectured the origin of the species as the sun set over "ALLEN'S CAY" and what a sunset.............





















The weather report brings news of another vicious front coming through with expected winds of 35 knots. Then again, this is winter and to the north of us all 'hell' has broken loose without the furnace. We move to find a better anchorage at "WARDERICK WELLS CAY" even though motoring down there is on a perfect day of glass, smooth enough to allow the "Queen of Florida and the Bahamas" to prepare a magnificent mango-enriched salad for lunch, while underway. Glenn on "TREEHOUSE" follows us down to anchor in a near perfect lagoon.









Within 18 hours this idyllic piece of paradise is transformed into a raging whirlpool as the winds usher in from the Artic north. The afternoon saw us walking the beaches exploring the limestone sinkholes, the sperm whale skeleton erected on the beach, this former longboat (or shortboat) that needs its caulking cotton replaced, and then by nightfall, we were hunkered down waiting to see how the wind would blow and shift. It stayed at over twenty knots for three days solid, but we are in PARADISE as Laurie will tell you, the moment she surfaces from under the blanket in the cockpit..................... Yes, we are in PARADISE. Paradise found and abruptly lost...................

OLD YEAR'S NIGHT AND 2010................

The big event to celebrate the new Year was the "JUNKANOO PARADE" in down-town NASSAU, due to start at midnight after the harbour fireworks. Fireworks, like all fireworks were spectacular. Then into the dinghies and into town where the streets were lined with thousands of Bahamian faces. We had expected the event to start near to midnight, but by 2am things were barely moving. We finally headed for the dinghies at 4am, but by 11am the drums were still beating in town. The costumes, or those that we did see, were spectacular and had taken months to prepare. See for yourselves by double-clicking on some of the photos taken in the dark, blurry though they are. The videos we took were much better.






















The first day of the new year and we are the "envy of the anchorage". Mostly because we didn't drink too much and could rise-and-shine during the day to enjoy the little bit of sunshine. We know that these photos are an insult to those scraping their windscreens free of snow and ice and we trust that you don't break too many credit cards doing so........................ ENJOY








Glenn's daughter and friends are due to fly back to Rochester, N.Y. to at least 7 ft. of snow, so their soaking up the sun is critical...............




















The sad-and-sorry-saga of the TREEHOUSE dinghy is a tale of woe. The floor came out to leave this wonderful glass-bottomed boat without the glass. The four of them used it for a while, until the floor could be masterfully re-invented. Now the trampoline dinghy is functional at least, until it too will be re-invented ................... For one person this works fine. For four people with groceries.................... not so much...... Then again, if you have escaped the snow and ice for a week everything is an adventure including getting your butt wet........ Here the girls were doing a huge load of laundry in a bucket in the cockpit on TREEHOUSE and doing it with a smile.....................




















And when the JUNKANOO finally ended at mid-day and the weary dancers and drummers 'called it a day' and a new year, the costumes were abandoned in an alley. This is a new year filled with anticipation and hope. We will shortly sail through the EXUMA island chain on our way south to the Caribbean...........