Sunday, May 31, 2009

Having a wonderful time at Pipe Cay (5/25-5/28 Monday - Thursday)

We anchored out for 3 nights with Pazzia between Pipe Cay and Little Pipe Cay. It was absolutely beautiful and one of the most fun times we've had so far! The weather finally cooperated. At times the water was so calm, no wind, no rolling but a slight breeze... Every now and again a big thunder/lightening storm would blow through but they were always quick. We loved anchoring with CJ & Margie, they are so much fun and so full of life! We packed so much into a few days and we have tons of pictures. CJ & Margie shared photos with us so I've updated the "pic of the day" back to 5-17-09. Putting them into Picassa made me smile, I think you can see in the photos just how much we've enjoyed the past week with our new friends.

Let's see, what we've been up too... We explored Pipe Creek on the dinghy/jet ski. (Pipe Creek is the area amongst a stretch of islands between Compass Cay and Sampson Cay. there are several cays here.) We did a lot of snorkeling and did a "drift snorkel" for the first time hanging onto the jet ski as we passed by the reef. We saw 2 porcupine fish - my favorite with those big eyes. We found a shallow sand bar filled with sand dollars and sea shells. I never realized how fragile the sand dollars are, I hope at least a few of them make it home with us. We shared dinners and cocktails with CJ & Maggie and enjoyed the company of Chorizo and Saucisse. Margie and I got stranded - beaching the jet ski on a sand bar in low tide. We saw 2 baby black tip reef sharks in 6 inch water while waiting for rescue. The Sampson Cay store gets it's provisions on Wednesdays so we went in to stock up on produce. I know, I know, I said we wouldn't be back. But after my temper calmed as we discussed it...and the fact that there aren't many options when your transportation is a dinghy... ;) That morning we woke up to a mean thunder and lightening storm and to find that the winds and currents had conspired to somehow bring Lucky & Pazzia very close. It was an exciting morning! It's all in the pics...

Martin and I have discovered how useful a jet ski is to go off exploring and snorkeling. They are fast, go into incredibly shallow water, you can drift dive and they handle rough seas better and faster than a dinghy. We're left thinking that a jet ski is far more practical than a dinghy as long as you have waterproof clothing. We figure you can bungie a large dry bag to back (like a motorcycle) so they can be just as useful for provisioning... Hm, food for thought :)

Our next stop is the mooring field at Cambridge Cay. CJ & Margie are going to anchor at Big Majors (the cay with the pigs). We'll both be heading north to be in Nassau around mid-June so we may meet up again at anchor - I really hope so! We'll definitely be visiting them in Florida this summer!

Posters Note:  Steph's having "Blogger issues", so I've posted this on her behalf.

3 comments:

Louise said...

I'm jealous that you are meeting such fun people! Sounds like cruisers are closer to our "types" than RVers. That makes me look forward to our boating days even more.

To be fair, when we do run into RVers that are closer to our age, we often have a blast. We spend this weekend with such a crew and I'm a bit hungover this morning...

Steph said...

You guys are going to love cruising Louise! I can so see you on your trawler, the kitties, the fist - having a blast :)

Steph said...

Oops - make that "...the kitties, the FISH..."