Hi Guys,
I'll cop to the smile thing. Three years doing PR in the late 80's appears to have ruined me.
As to additional pictures, I'm not sure what you would like to see. I'll toss out a few that deal with interesting ( to me ) aspects of cruising the Bahamas at the bottom of this post. Let me know if you have any requests though.
A few things that surprised me about the trip first...
1. Shell and Texaco appear to have taken over the Bahamas. There are new stations everywhere. Beautiful places with four stage fuel filtration systems. Fuel quality in the places we cruised was better than in the United States. Never saw a drop of water in my Baja filter and stopped using it altogether after a few weeks.
2. Reverse Osmosis water has changed cruising the Bahamas. There is water everywhere and it is cheap -- either free, or $.15 to $.40 per gallon depending where you are. Everyone seems to use the commercial DOW Chemical RO membranes -- mineral salts are usually right around 380 ppm wherever you go.
3. The above two are probably the result of this one -- There are fishing tournaments everywhere! Dozens of teams ( 5 to 8 guys ) cruising 55 and 70 foot tuna boats are at every major harbor. They don't anchor out, but they are all over the marinas.
Speaking of tuna. Tuna is tasty. Tuna is my favorite. If we were near someplace with a cut leading to the open ocean I would catch a few 6-10 inch long snapper, put them into a bucket, wait til a couple hours after sunset ( after the baracuda have gone to bed ), hook the snapper through the back or the mouth, and then put it over the side with a couple oz. weight. School size tuna ( 15 - 35 lbs ) will enter one ocean cut, feed in the shallows, and then leave via another cut. About 3pm the sound of line tearing off the reel will wake you up, it takes about 20 minutes to land a 22 lb tuna ( the one pictured ). I hang them from the boom to clean them. A 22 lb fish will feed two people for a couple of days.
There are some parks in the islands. They usually have mooring balls and are great places to meet people.
The sea of Abaco is nice because it is so protected. In this picture the seas on the open ocean are running 16 to 24 feet. This causes a "Rage Sea" ( unbroken line of breakers ) across some of the cuts but there is no more than a slight chop within the sea of Abaco itself ( in most areas )
One of the famous "Curly Tail" lizards of the Bahamas.
Keep some cash with you. Banking is dicy.
I grew to really love fresh baked bread and wine in the afternoon.
Treasure Cay is a beautiful beach resort on Abaco. Cruisers get a mooring ball and full resort access for $10 a day
Atlantis is a great place to stop and have some fun -- the best Casino in the islands, the best restaurants, the best spa. Very nice! Cruisers get full access to the resort -- dockage is $4.00 per foot to $7.50 a foot
I love Charleston, SC! We cleared customs back into the US here. Also spent a week at a B&B. Great city! This is the view as you sail up the harbor.
We did take a few days to cruise the ICW north of Charleston. Beautiful area -- green, quiet, old Cyprus trees. Very nice
There's lots and lots more -- I haven't even showed any of my underwater dive photos. Feel free to ask if you have any questions about the ICW or the Bahamas.
George Jones
C&C 40 "Delphinus"
Williamsburg, VA