TRACKING BACK TO MOMENTS

And then there is this (and you really need to double-click on these pics). What do you get when you cross a German U-boat with a wheel-less campervan......... Well you get this double story sleep-over. It has a back porch with screens (a real Florida room), a dinghy hoist, downstairs bedroom and kitchen, a loft apartment with TV receiver dome and WIFI and a 360 degree steering position. Radar, at least three GPS units, a computer console bigger than most and a boat name "JUMBO". It was shipped to the US from Germany and the adventurous couple then motored it across the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas...... "Wunderbach".....and so as not to make it look like a lost suitcase, it is painted in two-tone colours.........including the cool-box on the swim platform..................up periscope..........................................



Despite the fact that conch shells are everywhere and conch meat is used in conch salad, conch fritters, in conch chowder, in conch parmesan and in cracked conch, it is still hard to see under water in amongst the sea grass and the sand.



Now the Hermit crab despite his size, is a tycoon in Real Estate. As he grows he puts up a fight with another crab who occupies a bigger shell, and after a "hostile take-over" the capital asset value of his real estate portfolio has significantly increased.................. The three young Bahamian ladies on the right on the other hand, pride themselves on hairstyles that are far from average............ Everywhere there are flowers and colour more beautiful than the last lot...... these ones are two-tone red and purple...... something like a miniature fuschia.



On a beach, washed up with the rest of the ocean debris, were these five construction hats. No sign of the occupants....... so here's the mystery... did the wind blow their hats off while on board a ship, or on an oil platform somewhere,... did the guys all fall overboard and only their hats floated ashore.........did five construction workers go for a swim and leave their hats on the beach................. or did the five of them demolish the plastic container found strewn nearby and perish..................................... Cement residue attached to the blue hat would indicate the latter. Some more of that wonderful "JUNKANOO" dancing...................

OTHER END OF THE ABACOS

One of the great gifts of "CRUISING" is that you get to meet new and interesting people at every new anchorage. You may not ever see them again.................... but then that's 'cruising', and great preparation for " the other..............zeimer". Take the other day as a classic example. We met a great bunch of people on "GIGI's ISLAND", that's the name of their yacht (not a piece of terra-firma), an immaculate Caliber 40 (that's a brand of very expensive 'tupperware'). We dealt with life tragedies, the great potential and finer points of "geezer-assist", took a quick video trip through Brazil and the Caribbean and saw the brilliance of Robin Williams, all in just under three hours. The Queen had taken great photos of their beautiful yacht under sail, the morning before, and they in turn took great photos of the Queen, whose short sarong was under sail.(You need to double-click on this one to see real brilliance in long-distance photography). The pics were instantly delivered by dinghy on a 'flash-drive'. A 'Rummy thing' and red wine were also exchanged. Don't you just love cruising..........

We anchored behind Lynyard Cay, a section of hard rock high enough to keep the atlantic rollers out and bare enough to not allow a thing to grow. In no time at all a fat juicy 4 foot 'Barracuda' had taken up residence beneath the hull. They don't necessarilly eat you, they just like to grab your shiny wedding ring off your finger. They have this in-built 'bling-bling' thing. You cannot eat them because they have residual toxic mercury build-up from eating certain reef fish. More on that later when we catch one by default. Swimming over the side is therefore out, but we did visit some incredible coral growths, only to discover that our underwater 'waterproof' camera was not so waterproof after all. They were great photos too.



Interesting thing about mangroves is their propensity for survival amidst very hardy conditions. They attach themselves to the bottom with incredibly strong roots that penetrate the murky bottoms through the salt water and then by osmosis extract fresh-water. They do have flowers, which in turn form seeds and before the seed even drops, the roots are shooting ready to hit the water or land. These baby mangroves come out of the womb running, not 'crawling and bawling'.

By dinghy and our trusty 15HP Johnston outboard we raced across a couple of miles of incoming ocean waves to get to 'LITTLE HARBOUR'. (It is way too rolly to leave ARITA anchored there) Flying off the top of waves and trying to keep the Queen in the dinghy is an art. Trying to keep our sense of humour, while your stomach passes your ears with every leap, is another. Once inside Little Harbour there is calm. There is also this huge limestone bat-cave. This was the original loungeroom/bedroom of the JOHNSTON family (no relation to the outboard), who early in the 50's (that's 1950, not 1850) settled here to 'get away from it all'. Old man Johnston was an artist. He worked in sculptured bronze and brass to create such magnificent pieces in his foundary that they are now exhibited in places like the New York Museum of Fine Art and the Vatican. The bat-cave and the surroundings are not exactly endowed with raw material like charcoal and bronze and since it takes an arm and a leg to get even the basics like milk and sugar imported into the Islands, it is all the more amazing that he was so successful. The Queen sits lovingly alongside one of his bronze "Hammerhead shark" sculptured castings, while waiting for the Museum to open. The sign says 11.00am to 4.00 pm every day. We found however, and confirmed by others, that this applies only to non-visitor days. We gave up waiting after about an hour. One of the sons now continues to run the foundry while the other runs "Pete's Pub". Both now live in real houses. The house to the right is the old lighthouse on the point, replaced with a steel structure and a small solar panel, both of which will need replacing after the next serious storm. The support wires for the tower are totally corroded.

The lack-lustre plant in the photo above, grows all over the dunes on the windward side and probably gets its moisture from the salt spray. Despite its blandness it is in flower (you have to look closely or double-click). The sisal plants to the right are remnants of a once-thriving industry on the islands to produce the sisal hemp for manufacturing ropes. The leaves were cut and dried and the fibres plaited to make hemp rope, nowadays replaced with synthetics like Terylene, Polypopylene and Nylon. By the way, "Nylon" conducts electricity. Do not hold a nylon line attached to your boat when lightning strikes, because the nylon will conduct the elctricity right through you. This important 'fact' was learned from the scolars on "GIGI's ISLAND", assuming that the lightning itself doesn't kill you, of course..................................
This monster piece of rusted steel, probably the remnant of some sad ship's engine that came to grief on the rocks, was found high up on the dune. The water-bottle shows its size by comparison. The bottle content is very warm 'iced-tea', in case you thought it was drinking water, or a rust stain.

SWIMMING IN THE SHALLOWS

After all the dancing and the prancing in the streets we moved to the next island of "Manjack", some 3 miles to the north, for some much needed rest. (It's Monday I think, or maybe it's Tuesday.....) We collected Corina and Joel from "SVEA", whose outboard is still under repair, and in our dinghy we explored both ends of the island. In the shallows at the northern end we found several stingrays that would swim right up to our feet. We also saw about a dozen small sand sharks in the water. For the first time we used our little under-water camera and you will probably see a lot of sand in these pictures. This is because one is apt to keep your eye on the sharks and not on the camera ....................We need to change that. The largest shark was about 5 feet long (1.5m) and had several ramora (sucker) fish attached to him for a general cleanup. The largest of the rays was about 3 feet across. Double-click on the photos to enlarge the sand.



The photo of the irridescent seaweed does not do it justice. Both in and out of the water, the colors were amazing. Somewhere between pearls, opals and rainbows. Double click on the photo and you'll get some idea. Next time we'll do it better......

DANCING IN THE STREET

DAY 2 of the festival and there is more eating and more dancing including the "Maypole". Fun to watch as they get it right, and then the big "JUNKANOO" parade. Dancers, young and old dressed up in costumes or playing some instrument or banging on a drum as though life depended on it. Powerful, hypnotic stuff. Check out the videos.



And whoever said that "the 'Queen of Florida and the Bahamas' doesn't light up the World", well, they obviously got it wrong.

ISLAND ROOTS HERITAGE FESTIVAL

ISLAND HERITAGE FESTIVAL is celebrated every year on GREEN TURTLE CAY with noise, costumes, music and dance, and like every good event, there are the stalls with an abundance of items, many locally made and very unique, and of course tons of Bahamian food. We had motored out of MARSH HARBOUR to GT over blue-green waters, never more than 12 feet (3m.) deep, here and there dotted with islands. The Festival celebrates the cultural heritage of all the islanders, the religious escapees from Bermuda, the English loyalists, the slaves, the wreckers, the pirates and the modern day settlers. There is a beautiful blend of all shapes and colours living in absolute harmony with one another, as the historical photos on the display-boards showed.



Climb the mast and look around and you see GREEN as far as the eye can see. Here and there is an island barely 20 feet above the water, and upon arrival, in Green Turtle Cay, the "Queen", with an eye for culinary delights talks to Patrick about the finer art of 'conch' preparation.



Mr. Richard "Blue" Jones, gave us wonderful talk on Bahamian bush medicine that goes back to the days of slavery. He now grows various medicinal plants for everyday use.
FEVER GRASS for diarrhea, flatulence and stomach ache, GUM ELEMI used for a poultice and the leaves are used for an aphrodisiac tea called " 21 gun salute on Cat" and LIGNUM VITEA, also called ironwood, the wood is so dense it doesn't float. In 1700 it was considered the "Penicillin" of the time with bark used as a cathartic, fruit as a vegetable to rid the body of pains and the flower as a laxative. There were many others if you double-click on the photos. Call us if you need help with any ailments. "Blue" said there was no bush that helps with an IRS anxiety syndrome.

As usual, everybody arrived either by dinghy or golfcart, but none were as hip as this one, fully fitted out with fancy wheels and a boom-boom-box. Pimp Daddy's truck. A tailgater's dream in paradise.



Day 2 of the Festival is the dancing and the "junkanoo" costumes. This dates back to the African slavery days, when only three days of holidays per year were allowed, The 25th & 26th of December and the 1st of January. A certain "John Canoe" led a small uprising demanding that on the first of the year the slaves be allowed to dress up in their tribal regalia and dance their ancestral dances. Today the tradition is still celebrated as " JUNKANOO". A festival of costumes and dance (more like trance than dance). Here the Queen is given a glimpse of tomorrow's feathers and finery. Saw a man and his stall with nothing but Conch shell ornaments. Laddles, bowls, necklaces, picture frames, trinkets and baubles. If it could be made in tupperware he could make it out of conch shell. Conch is big, super big in the islands. There was even a conch cracking competition, here showing a couple of white folks having a go........... and the black Bahamians giving commentary and taking pictures. Now that's a historical turnaround.

THE FOOD FIGHT

Now nobody is throwing any food here......... other than someone who threw a piece of conch meat in the water. In no time at all a turtle comes out of the murky depths and grabs it with his powerful jaws.(I use the word "His" loosely here, it could have been a "she", it's hard to tell) Turtles are not renowned for their fast speed and moray eels are not renowned for leaving their hidey-holes, but look what happens when there is food around........................


"Let me sneak up from behind,...... that always works best".
(Double-click on the pics, if you want a ring-side seat)



"Mr Turtle" wins, except for the bits sticking out of his mouth.