PIGS CAN'T FLY..................RIGHT..............

Probably not, but they sure can swim............Have you ever seen such blue-blue water with juicy porkers swimming in it...................... Well, now you have........ What a sight. Call it " SALTY BACON ", or perhaps " PORK-IN-BRINE " or even " FLOATING HAM ". ......We first spotted these wild (questionable?) pigs sleeping in the sand on a beach, but as soon as they heard the outboard motor, they were up,.... and off.... into the water and on the way out to us, looking for food. They tried to climb right into our dinghy, and when that didn't work, the four of them began pushing us around with their snouts. Fifteen horse-power versus four-pig power. Now if you still have a straight face after seeing these photos, then you really need to go and see someone.......... In the end we got away, and they swam back to the beach. Never a dull moment on this cruise............... The location was at 'Big Major' Cay, in the Exumas.............The pigs certainly looked well fed and happy, and definitely the cleanest pigs I've ever seen, but when Laurie cooked this beautiful Sunday morning breakfast, we both looked at the bacon in an entirely new light........(Feel free to double-clik on any of the photos to enlarge them).



Just before all this 'pigging out' though, we had anchored off "Rudder Cut" Cay for the night, and in the morning took the dinghy into what appeared to be a cave. There were holes in the ceiling through which rain has slowly eroded the limestone to create this stalagmitic formation. The sea-ward half of the original cave has obviously collapsed and has disappeared, but the back half shown in the photo above was awesome. Everywhere you look you will see how the wave action has undercut the rock formations giving the 'mushroom' effect to the shoreline. We even found this 'yoga' rock, superbly balanced, in sync and in harmony............... There are some more screensavers in there............somewhere.............



And even before that, we had invited other cruisers from the catamaran "Nauticat" on board ARITA for drinks and dominoes. This is a national sport in the Bahamas (both, in fact) and is played with gusto, each piece being slammed down and 'driven' into the table. We played with much more finesse, and we certainly need the practice, for this game is to be played in Hopetown at Anne and Tony's wedding, and we had better know what we are doing by then...............



And even before that, we were part of the 'parking lot' outside of Stocking Island near Georgetown, the southern end of the Exumas..................... And even before that still, the "Queen of Florida and the Bahamas" had been collecting shells and making 'ice' in our baby fridge............ and I mean real ICE. ......the chunky kind you can put in a drink............. Miracles will never cease.........................



Still no real news from Glenn and Spense other than they are getting the medical runaround..... Keeping fingers crossed that this week they will find a doctor who will get things done....

BACK TO GEORGETOWN.................................

It really was difficult to leave such a beautiful and pristine island as "Conception", but there was another cold front on the way with winds in excess of 35 knots expected. A real good time to go................ hence back to Georgetown with STOCKING Island to offer some protection. Prior to leaving, we had dolphins playing around the dinghy, pretty much oblivious to us, and before we left we were still able to get some great walks in on the windy side of the island, as in the beach in the photo below (right).............. An awesome place with incredible coral outcrops in fairly shallow water, whose elkhorn tentacles would reach out in fan-like shelves of 15-20 feet away from the base. The strong currents and heavy swell (and the cold water) prevented us from doing anything more than cruising around them in the dinghy. Spectacular, if the water was still............Disastrous if you get caught on them and deadly if you get wrecked on this shore during a sizeable storm.............and here it doesn't take much for the weather to change........




Now that we are back anchored close to "volleyball beach and the 'chat & chill' bar" near Georgetown we are surrounded by some 150 other yachts, all different and all chatting away on the VHF radion channel 68. A real circus...........a very well organised chaos......... we escape it whenever the wind lets up by finding new beaches and follwing trails on Stocking Island as in the photo above with the 'Queen' sliding down the sand dunes........... And for a sand-slider she comes up looking pretty good, don't you think............... now the tree in the photo alongside the "jungle Queen" is 'gumbo-limbo' tree. This tree when you touch it give you an itch and a rash. The perfect tree to give to someone with a truly negative disposition, for then when they plant it, they finally have something to really gripe about.................



And being part of a yachting community requires other rituals as well, such as no speeding in "Lake Victoria". This is where all the dinghies are tied up to a floating dock, while everybody does their shopping. .........



And then there is,...... "fixing the gas line"on Wednesdays at 1100 hours, when we all line up to fill our propane gas bottles from a truck...... what a scream that is........ and speaking of screaming, this is the inter-island high speed ferry that travels back and forth to Nassau at scream-speed.



And if your shopping includes items not available in Georgetown itself,..... well then, the custom is to hitch a ride. Interestingly, almost every vehicle will stop for you, and since most are pickup trucks (utes,) we pretty much scream as we fly along, The "Queen of Florida" included, with hair flying, and bouncing amongst the tools,tiles and tyres in the back (now that's a first for Laurie)...................island style....................



Now to update the blog, we have to go back to the "International Communications Centre" of J&K in Georgetown, and grab a seat inside. Domestic communication is through the window...............it works........ And,.....Oh, let me tell you about the near disastrous "International Incident" that occurred on "ARITA" when Laurie was baking some of her delicious bread......... She thought she saw a cockroach on the fridge top alongside the stove, and instantly wacked it with a woooden spoon. Turned out that the 'mystical' cockroach was a small colour picture of the Bahamian Prime Minister in the newspaper. We are not sure whether to send His Excellency a belated apology or simply some aspirin.................. He's got to have a massive headache, because she really wacked him one...................... Oh, the joys of cruising................

WINDWARD SIDE OF " CONCEPTION "...................................

Despite the spectacular beauty of this uninhabited island, the windward side is the catchment of everything that can float ashore, and 90% of that is plastic. What used to be 'driftwood' is now 'driftplastic'. Everything from plastic chairs to plastic fenceposts, to buckets, trays, barrels, helmets, you name it. If it is made of plastic, chances are you'll find it somewhere on the beaches. Still, amongst the trash there is beauty (and you thought I was going to say 'treasure') The master photographer has taken some wonderful pictures, including those of wild "passion flowers" and a kind of succulent that seems to grow on the edges overhanging the chalky white limestone cliffs.................................. O.K. I've opened this coconut, does anyone want some..................



You should double click on the "TRASH" photo below, to get a real idea of the discarded stuff. One of the objects we found buried in the sand was this huge and heavy slab of whitish yellow flexible "......whatever .....". For awhile we thought we might have been in the money.............., but then I remembered I had seen this stuff before, and realised it was a slab of cured latex rubber, the basic material used in the vulcanising process before it finally becomes the tyres (tires) on your vehicle............. back to combing the beaches for more treasure............ Oh, and we found "WILSON"............. he was washed up on "Conception" island, a little more bleached and he has obviously gained some weight, but otherwise O.K....... Please let Tom Hanks know......



With each succesive storm more of this plastic gets buried in the sand, and one day someone will come here to discover this giant natural landfill............ In the photo below is the wreck of a fishing trawler, but you have to double click on it to see the stern and the bow sections.............Ten years ago I took a picture of the same wreck when everything was still above water......... and look at the wreck now.......And on the left is the photo of John Bruton, sailer, mechanic, adventurer, diver, tug-boat operator and lover of life..... He sailed alone in on his 30ft catamaran, towing this baby sailboat, in order to explore the nooks and crannies of this beautiful "Conception" island. He made a run for Cat Cay when the weather turned ugly............. a champion sailor and a true "salty" from the outer banks of North Carolina.



Check this out............



This photo on the right was taken in 2000 from the dinghy..............And it just goes to show the destructive power of the windward side and the corrosiveness of that magnificent blue water. We too, had a rough night of it, trying to ride out the 25-30 knot winds by anchoring around one corner of the island and moving each time the wind changed direction as the "cold front" came through........ the photo above was taken from the cliff looking back towards the stern of the trawler.

And by the way ......" THE PURPOSE OF LIFE IS NOT TO ARRIVE AT THE GRAVE WITH A PERFECT BODY, BUT TO SKID IN SIDEWAYS WITH A SHOUT OF " WHAT A RIDE"...."

TAKE YOUR PICK..............................

None of these need an explanation........ right?.............. All they need is a location............. Well we took a quick trip to the uninhabited island of "CONCEPTION", a day's sail from Georgetown in the Exumas, the lower part of the Bahama Islands. It is hard to find a more beautiful tranquil spot on Earth. All the more so, when we were the only yacht there till another catamaran arrived one late afternoon.......... Now all of these are surely screensavers, so feel free to grab one or all, and if that won't work for you, then use them as snow and ice 'melters'. Just print them and wave them outside your door...... and if that also fails to do the trick, then pin them above your bed " TO GIVE YOU HOPE ".