Southern Eleuthera

We are back! Last year we got stuck on the boat in northern Eleuthera due to COVID so we are giving it another go this year. After a rolly night at Little San Salvador Island (Half Moon Bay to the cruise ships) we had a spectacular sail to Rock Sound. We only spent a few nights here, but got a good haul of groceries and revisited Cathedral Cave, a favorite spot from last year. 

Sailing siblings

Cathedral Cave...lots of bats!

From there we had another great day of sailing up to South Palmetto Point. This was again a peaceful stop with good holding...we ended up being all alone there. While we were determined to have pizza at Mate & Jenny's again, this year we really wanted to check out Eleuthera Island Farm. We accessed shore via an abandoned marina and walked to the farm where we got a fantastic haul of veggies, fresh bread, and kimchi! We also had a rain shower move through that was substantial enough to allow me to scrub the deck really quickly...aaaahhhhh! 

South Palmetto Point

With winds shifting to more southerly we moved back south a few miles to Ten Bay for tonight. Once we edged in close to the beach we found good sand and are sharing the anchorage with two other boats. I did get a little jelly sting while I was cleaning the waterline, but a stunning sunset and sundowners have made it all better! G'night, sailors!

Spring Break—our boatschool reality

This is what homeschooling parents who are behind on grading look like. 

Our “school” has been on spring break for the past week. Why? The teachers were behind and we were about to visit an island we had never been to! And we had boat projects piling up. After spending a few weeks in the company of great boat friends and lots of socializing, we were just behind. FOMO exists even in paradise and the days can get crammed between navigation, general upkeep, and fun. Math grading has stayed on track and we are engaged routinely throughout the school day, but actual grading in most subjects was lagging. We decided to take a week to catch up, tend to the boat, and just enjoy the islands! Katreina was allowed to continue with geometry (her book will go to another cruiser when we next see them) and French, and Trent had to keep up on reading, but that was it.

We are fortunate. Our students are actually fairly self-motivated and thorough in their work. And since we aren’t stuck commuting for hours these days we have plenty of time to do continuous learning around our table or as we explore. But the reality is that schooling takes time and effort, and just like in normal schools, homeschoolers need a break every now and then!

Experiencing the Bight

With our repairs wrapped up we decided it was time to finally check out the settlement of New Bight on Cat Island. My favorite aspects of travel are culture through food, history, and natural beauty--New Bight hits them all.

Getting ashore is easy as there is plenty of sandy beachfront to tie up to. Trash is also very easy as there are bins just across the street from the government office and dock. Within a few minutes walk we were at Olive's Bakery and it smelled AMAZING! Olive loaded us up with coconut bread, pineapple and coconut tarts, and some Cat Island flour cake, these cute round breads that are loaded with nutmeg...she recommended we try the with coffee or tea and we did! So good that we went back for more the next day to load the freezer! Walking along the main road we passed the service station (fuel and propane available) and the last Catholic church built by Father Jerome (more about him later) before turning to head toward the Cultural Village (a.k.a. Fish Fry). 

The bright buildings lining the seaside street tell of more vibrant days before a global pandemic when music would flow well past sunset and the local regatta season was in swing. Still, a few businesses were open and we were getting hungry! We hit up Duke's Conch Stand for a pre-dinner appetizer and immediately put Duke on our "Best Conch Salads in the Bahamas" list. As usual, it's as much about the freshness of the conch and veggies as it is about the chef preparing it. We talked about fishing, with Duke giving us an appropriate ribbing for not catching a mahi on our way to Cat Island..."man, everyone is catching them now!" After visiting with Duke we joined the kids (they don't do conch salad) at Hidden Treasures, a seaside eatery with seriously good food and sweet ladies making you feel right at home. 

The eats! For a small settlement, New Bight has some big flavor.

The next day we were ready to hit up some history! New Bight is home of the "Hermitage," a small medieval monastery that was built by Monsignor John Hawes, a Roman Catholic priest known locally as Father Jerome, so he could get away from the world. He built his Hermitage atop the highest point in the Bahamas, Mount Alvernia (also Como Hill) at 206 feet above sea level. From this point, we could see out across the Atlantic Ocean and across Exuma Sound--it was stunning! Father Jerome's commitment to his faith was clear in the careful construction of the monastery and the hand-carved stations of the cross that guide you up the steep hill to the structure. We have seen a few of the churches that he built throughout the Bahamas and they all show his love of medieval architecture and beautiful form. 

The Hermitage on Mount Alvernia

After our morning walk we visited Olive for more bread and some homemade hot sauce, Hidden Treasures for lunch and conversation with fellow cruisers, and Duke for one more conch salad for the road! This time he told us more about the Cat Island flour cake and showed us the chitons and periwinkles that locals like in a salad (I'm trying it next time!).

We had wondered and Duke confirmed—you CAN eat chitons and periwinkles!

Having stayed long enough to know we would enjoy returning in the future, we headed a few miles north to Fernandez Bay for a lazy night and some snorkeling. We have decided to keep making our way up Cat Island to allow more options for the end of our cruising time...will we make it to the Abacos this year??? 

Great sailing up Cat Island!

Source for more info about the Hermitage--https://bahamasgeotourism.com/entries/the-hermitage-on-mt-alvernia/751b6ee7-a764-40bb-8e9b-5d7de8bfc5a0

Brief stop for repairs!

We’ve been deferring a few repairs on the boat, but as we sailed to Cat Island we discovered one that just can’t wait—the shackle at the mainsail tack had started to loosen itself! We safely anchored and made a few decisions:

1. We are on Spring Break. We are so behind on grading from hanging out with friends, transiting, and just exploring that we need to catch up. And we are at a “new” island! Katreina can do French and Geometry (her book is headed to another cruiser as soon as she’s done) and Trent has to read, but that’s it!

2. We need a down day or two. Or maybe just I do (introvert). 

3. We need to fix the mainsail, the macerator, the fridge latch, and the small leak in the dinghy, and we need to make water and do laundry!

We anchored away from other boats in the Bight at the southern end of Cat Island and got to work. Water making started (Trent is about to fully take that job over!), I did laundry, and Frank tackled the crappy job of fixing the macerator pump. We have a brand new spare pump, but the discharge fitting was broken off so he basically used parts from both pumps to create the new one! A clogged blade and broken impeller were the problems, and he gloved up and got it fixed! 

A 💩 job

We spent the afternoon relaxing, playing games, and skinny dipping (adults only!)! It was so nice to have some complete chill time. We ate a simple dinner, watched the sun set together, and watched a movie...it was awesome. 

This morning winds were super light so we tackled fixing the main sail. We had to release the main halyard to free up the shackle, but dang the sail was stuck! We finally worked it free, reattached the shackle, and furled and unfurled it a few times for good measure. 

The issue (left) and all fixed (right)

Next up...a trip up the mast to inspect the rigging and to re-run a spare halyard that we noticed was rubbing on the genoa halyard. Fun fact—we don’t have electric winches onboard, so the wench is hand-winched up the mast by the Skipper! We checked the navigation lights, looked for any broken strands in the standing rigging, ensured all cotter pins were in place, checked chafe points, looked for signs of anything more than surface rust, and just generally looked for anything sketchy! Once we re-ran the spare halyard everything checked out and I took a ton of pics for the boss man to review. And the view from the top of the mast is always great!

Always fun going aloft!

We got underway by sailing off the anchor and are moving north a bit to go do some sightseeing and get some provisions. We are finally ready to enjoy Cat Island!

Conception Island National Park

So we scrapped our plan to go to San Salvador. As we did a final check of the weather before losing cell phone coverage, we decided that the northerly swells that were forecast to arrive Sunday were no joke and would affect both San Salvador and Conception. And with our cruising season winding down and good friends heading to Conception, we altered course to join them! We now hold the record for the shortest goodbye...less than 6 hours until we saw them all again! 

A beautiful sail east!

We arrived around noon and quickly realized that while this island is sort of out of the way, it’s definitely popular! By nightfall there were 15 boats anchored here. But it is just stunning! The island has not had inhabitants in over 100 years and it’s believed that has contributed to its pristine nature. Sandy beaches, sandstone cliffs, mangroves, corals, birds...it’s all spectacular! Some corals are suffering from bleaching and algae growth, but much of what we saw was quite healthy. 

Our first excursion was to the mangrove creek. Only really accessible near high tide, our arrival was timed perfectly! On the ride there, long tail tropic birds circled overhead—they are so beautiful! Once we navigated the rough creek entrance (the swell was running right into it), we were treated to crystal clear, aquamarine waters and tons of turtles. It reminded us of the creek on Shroud Cay, but much shallower. 

A tropic bird—love the long tail!

The crystal clear mangrove creek.

Next we walked along the beach by our anchorage and found a trail across the island to another bay! We continued down the trail to a climbing rope that helped us get up a sandstone cliff for some more amazing views! 

Powdery sand, brilliant blues, and stunning views!

The day ended with sundowners on the beach with our friends and a movie night on S/V Kolohe for the group of six kids. Oh, and we discovered that if you raise the WiFi router up the mast in a dry bag, not only can you pull down an updated weather forecast, you can get dang good internet! So much for being disconnected for a few days! 

Watching the sun go down with our friends.

I started our second day in the park with a nice SUP paddle along the shore, scoping out trails and a shallow shipwreck. One kiddo was dealing with a stuffy nose so the rest of us went snorkeling and found some great shallow reefs south of the anchorage. The other kiddo got tired so Frank and I continued on to the north end of the island for some more underwater fun. The coral formations were huge, 15-20’ tall, and the animal life has definitely never been hunted—they all would come out to say hi! We saw large grouper and snapper, a massive conch, and a big lobster was just strutting across the sand without a care in the world! And Frank had two little fish swimming along with him for a solid 20 minutes—it was cute! When we returned to the boat we got a visit from “Mr. Lemon,” the resident lemon shark!

Awesome snorkeling!

It was one of our friend’s birthdays so while his family had sunset cake and cocktails on the beach, I stayed back to start dinner for the teens! The three teen boats decided to let all the kids hang out on our boat for dinner and Xbox while the adults gathered for dinner on another boat. I watch the sunset and made a ton of cheesy, unhealthy Mexican food—quesadillas and chips & queso—before heading to the adult party. We shared our remaining tuna with our friends and the sides came together for a perfect, Asian-inspired feast! We ate, drank, laughed, learned more about each other, and shared in the spirit of adventure that you find out here. It was such a great evening! 

A peaceful sunset before the party started.

And I’m so glad we all got together last night as at about 3am the northerly swell came into the anchorage. Waves started breaking on shore and between the swell coming in on our stern and the reflected waves coming back at us from shore, it was really getting uncomfortable. Boats started leaving at sun up and we decided to leave as well. It’s tough to leave such a beautiful place, especially after such a good time with friends, but I’m happy for the time we had and can’t wait to do it all again. 

Watching for coral heads as we get underway and watching our friends on Pleiades and Happy Together sail away.

We are headed for Cat Island...a new island for us! So far the sailing is great (broad reach, making 7 knots SOG) and while the swell is 6-10’ (higher when combined with wind waves), its long period makes it very bearable. If only all ocean passages could be this great!

Calabash Bay, Long Island

Our first visit to Calabash Bay wasn’t all about spear fishing! While that was a highlight, we also enjoyed sunset gatherings on the beach with our fellow cruisers and a taste of resort life. Cape Santa Maria Resort welcomes cruisers to their bar/restaurant with a nice happy hour. Free conch fritters, drink specials, and yummy pizza kept our crew coming back, and the company was awesome!

Fun with friends and amazing sunsets!

We also took a ride up the nearby creek to explore caves and mangroves, and to navigate a crazy tiny bridge overpass. The caves were a neat surprise and there were tons of bats!

Field trip!

Tonight we discussed plans with our friends—looks like we will try for San Salvador in the morning while a few head to Conception Island. We will adjust once we get underway if we need to. We also got to help our friends fix their dinghy motor as we had spare parts that should work for them. The nice snacks and German beer we got in exchange were very much appreciated! We would definitely revisit here, but ready to move on after four days.

A romantic sunset tow. 

S/V Lehe Paine at sunset (📸 by S/V Kolohe)

Good hunting!

We slipped out of Elizabeth Harbour Monday morning, left the bounds of Moriah Cay National Park, and dropped the hook in such a strange place that one of our friends called on the radio to see if we were in trouble. 😁 It was all part of the plan and the plan paid off with three good-sized lobsters. 

One was a full-on team effort—I had to call Frank over as there was a barracuda making moves on me, then he speared the lobster, I got it out of the hole, it freed itself of the spear, I grabbed it by its antenna, and passed it off to Frank for the return to the dink! Oh, and then one of the buggers pulled the drain plug on the dink in an effort to sink their captors! Good times! 

A great start to the day!

We continued on to Calabash Bay at the north tip of Long Island with hooks in the water. We didn’t bring in any fish, but we did loose a good hook to something! We anchored away from the crowd in the southern part of Calabash Bay—a friend had told us of some good lobstering nearby. The water here is beautiful and the sunsets spectacular, though the swell can make the bay a bit rolly. 

We all went snorkeling this morning and after about 15 minutes started having some luck with spearing lobster. Both Frank and I tangled with one in a ledge, with Frank finally landing it. We came across a few pretty, promising coral heads and Frank and Katreina left to move the dinghy closer. I dove down thinking one head looked like a great spot for a spider crab to hang out and stumbled upon the biggest lobster I’ve gotten yet! It was in 15-20’ of water (I really need a depth gauge), but the real challenge was holding it above the water while waiting for the dink to arrive. 😂

We moved along to some other coral heads and tried to nab grouper that were at least 20’ down. While taking a shot at a grouper I saw another big lobster. Frank, Trent, and I all took shots at it, but I ended up landing it. It was a tough swim back to the surface with that big guy! We were starting to tire and abandoned the grouper. On the way back to the dinghy Frank spotted two lobsters and got one. With four lobsters on deck and a tired team, we called it a day. 

His & Hers

How do we enjoy these lovelies? Grilled, steamed, as lobster rolls, butter poached...all yummy! We find them to be less sweet than Maine lobsters, but they are still really good. We may hunt a few more times here...the season ends at the end of the month and we are hopefully headed to a no-take national park after this. 🦞 

Cleaning and prepared lobster

We ended the day with a great view of the sunset from the beach with our fellow cruisers. These have been some great days! 

~Jo, 1st Mate

George Town—a birthday, a blow, and a blast!

We kicked off our time in George Town with a 15th birthday celebration for our 2nd Mate! Breakfast at the Driftwood Cafe, shopping for a new swimsuit at the Sandpiper Boutique, fun at Chat-n-Chill (including getting serenaded with “Happy Birthday” by dozens of cruisers!), and a chocolate cake made for a fantastic celebration!

Happy #15!

A large chunk of our week-plus stay was spent weathering a 5-day long, 20-30kt blow. We tucked in off of Monument Beach for what we thought would be days of school, projects, some hiking on Stocking Island, and baking. The reality? It was just as busy and social as ever in GT! Hearty souls attended water aerobics, a book exchange, teen meet-ups, and beach parties. As expected, I was exhausted at the one-week point (introvert...love the social stuff but in small bites!). 

So much wind...so much FUN!

The wind abated, we topped up on provisions (the kids even made a solo grocery run!), and had a great bonfire on the beach with friends. 

Cruising=work+fun

We shifted south to Sand Dollar Beach for a night, basking in the “country”’feel after a week at Monument and joining friends for our first visit to the Peace & Plenty Beach Resort. Loved the powdery sand, food, and vibe there! We had one last trip to Chat-n-Chill for the kids to say bye to their friends as we’ve decided to move on in the morning. 

Such a great way to end our visit!

This trip to George Town was really awesome. We were able to reconnect with folks we met down here last winter and with crews we met in New England over the summer, as well as spend more time with boats we’ve met this year. We also met boats that we had only seen on AIS up and down the east coast! And the best part? Our kids met tons of great boat teens! We really look forward to continuing to meet up with these guys as our journey continues.

#boatfriendsarethebestfriends

~Jo, 1st Mate

Want to join our crew?

In our first year and half of full-time cruising we haven't had any overnight visitors, but that could be changing soon!

When we lived in marinas we had a few friends that would spend a night here and there, grandma joined us for a few days underway on the Chesapeake Bay (she's adventurous!), and there was that one time where my sisters and families joined us for a 10-person overnight trip to Poulsbo, WA, but since 2019 it's just been the four of us. Why? Well, four people and all their belongings and food takes up a lot of space and a lot of boat resources (water, power, waste, etc.) on a 39' boat, and probably the biggest reason--LOGISTICS. But as our 2nd Mate prepares to leave us to study abroad for almost a year, leaving a whole cabin empty, the remainder of the crew has discussed sharing this life with some of our friends and family, whether solo or as a couple. 

The crew, August 2021-June 2022

What attributes would our ideal guest(s) have?

1. Be available. If there is a specific place (say, Acadia National Park, NYC, St. Augustine, the Berry Islands, the Exumas, etc.) you want to experience as a guest cruiser, you need to be able to travel there in the season we will be there. Retired, a digital nomad, or unemployed? Great! Only have a week of vacation and willing to join us wherever we are? Great! Only have one week of vacation and want to visit Bahamas in the summer? Not-so great. 

2. Be flexible (travel). There's a saying among cruisers, "You can pick a time or you can pick a place, but not both." Whether we are traveling in the U.S. or especially when we are in another country, our guests MUST be flexible. Once we plan to meet up with someone we will do our best to get the boat to the agreed meet-up, but weather and mechanical issues happen. If you can't go with the flow or spring for an unexpected night in a hotel, this is probably not for you. 

3. Pack small. Suitcases have no business on a boat! Whatever bag you bring will likely "live" in your bed with you, so small and flexible is best. If you're the master of traveling with only a backpack or carry-on, you'll do great on a sailboat! We also do laundry by hand, so bringing a wardrobe of swimwear, merino wool, capilene, bamboo, and quick-dry items will make the resident laundress happy.

4. Be flexible (activities) and adventurous. We are an active crew. We can have a rough plan of what we will do while you are on board, but weather drives EVERYTHING out here. Or maybe once you're here, you'll change your mind about what you want to do! We don't offer a glossy pamphlet of promised experiences. We are currently sitting in George Town, Exuma in the Bahamas in the middle of a 5-day blow. We know some boats that had guests join them right at the beginning of this. THAT is experiencing true cruising life for sure! Ideal crew aren't looking for lounge chairs and rum drinks, but rather hiking, snorkeling, fishing, and cultural immersion (and THEN rum drinks/beers), and they aren't afraid of getting dirty or salty.

5. Use a marine head. Ah, this one may be the deal-breaker for many...it was for one of my daughter's friends! The "guest" head on Lehe Paine is a manual, hand-pumped toilet that feeds to a blackwater tank. While gents are welcome to use the urinal on the leeward rail, there won't be trips ashore just so you can use a "real" toilet or dig a #2 hole on an island when nature calls. Nope. Not happening. If the manual head really freaks you out, you can opt for the composting toilet in the forward head, but I suspect that may be even less cool for some folks. 

6. Conserve water. Depending on where we are, this isn't a huge deal (we pretty easily make water in the Bahamas), but this is not the land of Hollywood showers. In fact, if you've served on a DDG or FFG in the Navy or are a current boater or RV’er, you've pretty much passed this wicket! We do cook, take showers, and do laundry on board so it's not like you'll be totally roughing it, but this is the time to bring out your super eco-friendly side.

7. Eat my cooking (and hopefully enjoy it!). Our menu spans American, Italian, Asian, Mexican, Mediterranean, and Indian cuisines, and I like to hit them all to keep it interesting. Some days are a simple grilled meat with rice and veggies, others are homemade hummus and veggies served with fresh naan. I can work with vegetarians (we are a 50-50 veg-meat crew at present), but rice, pasta, and bread are definitely part of the menu, especially when our fresh produce is running low (sorry, Keto folks!). I'm not the best cook, but I try. Breakfast is just coffee, maybe some eggs or oatmeal, and lunch is usually pretty simple, too. But sunset cocktails and a nice dinner usually round out the day. Oh, and you must like garlic! I was challenged while staying with my friend to not use onions in my cooking as she didn't like them--that was hard! Trent would mutiny if I didn't use garlic and he uses plenty when he cooks, so...

8. Don't smoke. That's a deal-breaker on our end. Certainly not on the boat, but also not ashore unless it's on your way to the airport to fly home. Can't deal with the stench! 

9. Be willing to help out. Whether it's taking a turn at the helm, carrying groceries, showing up with a part we need, holding that obscure boat part at an uncomfortable angle while we fix something, chopping veg with me before dinner, or letting Trent beat the crap out of you on some game on the Xbox, your help will be much appreciated!

10. Be fun and easy-going! Anyone that stays with us will be slammed right into our family life. It's close living--we will share routines, jokes, frustrations, potty humor--but surprisingly we all are able to have our own space. Be willing to share the blissful, sunny days along with the dreary, rainy days and you will fit right in with our crew. 

So what do you say friends and family? Do you have what it takes to join our crew?

Want to join us?

Some galley magic (I try!)

The fun

~ Jo, 1st Mate (with significant input from Frank & Trent)

(the other) Leaf Cay

Knowing that a big group of boats was at Rudder Cut Cay, we passed by (even though we love it!) and headed for Leaf Cay. This is the “other” Leaf Cay—there is one in the northern Exumas that is famous for its iguanas, whereas this one is more to the south (and also has iguanas!). Winds were forecast to have a westerly component the next day so Leaf Cay would actually provide some protection. It would also put us near where we nabbed a few conch last year! Holding wasn’t amazing, but we got a decent set about an hour before sunset and enjoyed the view. 

While the kids did school I mended a glove and we snorkeled! We swam with a huge ray, found a stromatolite, and found a nice conch. While we were out a few other boats came in and definitely struggled to set the hook. That’s what we learned about Leaf Cay—some westerly protection, but strong current and a semi-hard bottom can make setting the hook a challenge. Oh, and we returned to find our kids in full-on dress-up mode!

After school the whole family went to Leaf Cay. Amazingly no tour boats visited the entire time we were there. We got chased around by the iguanas, explored the tide pools, and eventually went to the east side of the cay where we were treated to a pristine, empty beach with powdery sand. We had planned to explore other cays, but instead just stayed on this beach for the afternoon. Loved it!

Our friends on Kohole joined the anchorage, too! The next morning, they had a little anchor tangle that we helped them out with, but then Katreina and I ran to Lee Stocking Island to check out the building I lived in a long, long time ago when I was there for a class. It was more boarded-up this year, but it still stirred up some great memories.

Tropical Marine Science, ‘97-‘98

After one last snorkel around the cove (and a spider crab on my spear!), we left to head to George Town. There is a big blow coming in a few days and we have a birthday to celebrate tomorrow—the birthday girl requested George Town so that’s where we will go. We have friends already down there so it will be nice to see them, too. And we managed to hook up on a tuna on the transit so it seems like this was a good decision!

Visiting my old “dorm”; helping Kolohe with their anchor; more crab; a nice tuna.

New (?) Great Guana stops--White Point and Oven Rock

We did one last load of laundry and grabbed a few more loaves of bread from Lorraine's mom before a great upwind sail south to White Point. 

Close-hauled!

A lot of our friends were heading to Oven Rock, but we wanted to check out a few coral heads at the point. Holding wasn't fabulous and we ended up with some waves wrapping around the point and rocking us, but we stuck with it. At first we didn't see much, but ended up on a nice coral head and decided to hunt some snapper (scored!) and got the real surprise of the day, a big spider crab! The kids gave up on us and headed back to the boat, but we hit another head and I'm so glad we did--there was a pair of spotted moray eels there and they were NOT shy! I've seen green morays before, but never a spotted one so that was pretty cool. Our friends anchored nearby on S/V Bella Vita found two really nice conch, too! When Frank took a book over to help with the cleaning process, he came back with one of the conch. Andrey and Natalia had fish and conch and shared their bounty with us! So we decided to have "Bella Vita conch salad" and pan fried snapper for dinner, and cooked and cleaned the crab for the next day. 

The bounty of the sea!

🐟A note on hunting/fishing--we do it for sustenance, not just for fun. We like to supplement our provisions with fresh fish, conch, and lobster when we can. We don't often hunt reef fish due to risk of ciguatera poisoning, but sometimes we do if the locals are. If we get a big fish, we will freeze some of it or gift it to friends. The closest we come to "sport" is shooting lion fish as they are an invasive species. While you can eat them, we aren't quite ready to handle the poisonous spines and most that we hit are so small that it's a lot of risk for a little meat. When we get them we will either put them in the dink and run them somewhere away from anchored boats or swim them away from the reef and let them out in the current, figuring sharks will enjoy the meal.🐟

Ok, so more fun! The next day we ran a few miles south to Oven Rock. It looks like an oven! The draw there is a trail to a cave and as we didn't visit last year, this was new to us. Or was it? As we descended into the cave I instantly felt like I had been there before. But how? That feeling intensified as we got further into the cave, saw the bats, and started swimming in the water. This is a seriously cool cave, with cool, clear water, stalactites, stalagmites, bats, and fun rocks to climb over. So glad we came. And thanks to the power of the internet and my old college buddies on Facebook, we confirmed that I HAVE been in this cave before! We snorkeled it during my Tropical Marine Science class in the late '90's and one of my classmates had a photo that confirmed we were in the same cave. So it wasn't an entirely new experience for at least one member of the crew! 

The cave at Oven Rock

With daylight to burn and smooth seas, we continued south, out of Galliot Cut, and are headed for Leaf Cay/Lee Stocking Island for the next few days. 

~Jo, 1st Mate