Adventures of the "Q": Settled into the Exumas

The improvement in the weather has helped us to settle into the rhythm of cruising life. The trade winds have set in so we have consistent 15 – 20 knot east winds and a steady 75F for temperature each day. It definitely feels like Bahamas winter! Corinne was our next visitor to take shelter from the Toronto weather. The local airline that flies into Staniel Cay is Flamingo Air. Their stretch plane has 12 seats and the regular one has eight seats. The fleet of three planes appear to have the tail of each plane hand painted with a flamingo and of course we walk out to greet the plane.

Calvin and Megan left on the stretch plane. Check out their hot-weather clothes.

Corinne arrives on the eight seater

Grocery shopping is always a surprise. We wonder if the ‘store’ owners know what is coming until it appears on the mail boat. The boat arrives once a week unless it goes aground (which it did last winter) or it is the week that the boat doesn’t come … then you need to dip into your canned foods collection. We see a big change this year – both the Pink and Blue stores (for those of you who are familiar) now have Signs! Apparently it was a good summer so there must be a little money leftover.

Roosters are a regular sightings on walks through the settlements

Now that the weather has improved we spend part of every day in the water. Our underwater photos are improving as is Kim’s spear fishing. Corinne tried her hand at shooting the Hawaiian Sling and terrorized numerous rocks in the process. (but she looks really good doing it)

We are very happy to be able to show you some of what we see under the water. Our fish friends like to hang out about 10 – 15 feet down, so the challenge is still descending and staying down at their level until someone swims by. Scuba gear would be the answer for sure. We aren’t always sure of the names of the fish and coral we see but have done our best to label them.

The violet ‘sea fan’ and branch like ‘sea whips’ are forms of soft coral and are anchored onto hard corals.

We think these are sea sponges with a juvenile Angelfish hiding behind.

Corinne found this beautiful ‘eye’ that opens and closes if you get close. We think it may be a Colonial Feather Duster Worm. The white and violet tubes are gills.

Colonial Feather Duster Worm

More soft coral and a Queen Parrotfish.

Cathy tries not to scare the Sergeant Majors.

Corinne and Kim came across two sting rays while snorkelling at Big Major Cay (of swimming pig fame) and were amazed at their size. The spotted ray had a 5 foot wingspan and a 10 foot tail. It was burying it’s nose in the sand to try and dislodge some dinner. We often see rays when fishermen are cleaning their catch.

This Southern Ray was just a little bit smaller than the Spotted Ray above.

The great fisherman practices his aim… and sometimes brings home dinner!

The Exumas has endless beauty above the water as well as sea life. The cays of the Bahamas are Limestone that was laid down between one to two million years ago along with more recent coral that formed during the glacial periods. Of course new coral is constantly growing today. The limestone erodes with the sea and rain water to create blow holes and numerous caves. We decided to hike to one of these caves with Corinne and our friends Sheryl, Kevin and their rock climbing dog Champ.