Hello From Paris,  Sep.21, 2012

We have been here 2 days and now today we are headed out to the SW part of
France to hire a barge for a week.  Paris has been amazing AGAIN.  WE walked to Notre Dame Church yesterday.  Always amazing to see.  There were
thousands of people there.  No kidding.  Make that thousands plus 2.  Will try
to attatch a couple pictures here.  We ate ice cream at a well known and sought out shop called Berthillions.  Fantastic!   I snapped some pics of the shops fronts.    Everywhere you look there are colors, and sights here.  We walked over a bridge  locally known as the bridge of locks.  The story goes... lovers lock a pad lock onto the bridge to show their never ending love and they both keep a key.  If they ever breatk up one of them is to return and remove the lock.  the funny thing is, no one takes them off.  This bridge railing is COVERED with locks.  The kids here said they had to remove them not too
long ago because the weight it added to the bridge.  Well it may be time to
remove them all again.  There were thousands of locks.  And in the background
of that picture you can see the river Seine, right  along side Notre Dame.
Walked across the street to a bakery and got chocolate croissants for breakfast.
they are still warm!  OMG  These little jewels make the 9 hour plane ride worth it just for THEM.    I will try to keep up with this update as much as  possible.  The weather is so great here.  mid 60's at night mid 70's daytime.
Wish you could all be here with us.  Love to all.  More later.  Kay

S. Channel to Sampson Cay Heading to Pipe Cays

                                                       

                                                     - Looking Out Towards the Ocean -

                                                     -  A Private Residence on Pipe Cay -

Sampson Cay Marina   Restaurant   Resort

Heading for Sampson Cay

 We left Pig Beach (Officially called Big Majors on the charts) and went north.  We went through "a cut" at Fowl Cay (that little tiny opening to the right of the house).  It was so narrow I did not think we could possibly make it through on a 44' boat.  But it "IS" the suggested channel???  On the charts it says things like "Do Not Attempt This Approach Without Local Knowledge, Clear Calm Conditions, And Very Large Cojones".  Ok OK the cojones part I made up, but you really need them in some of the places. :)

Uuuhh Captain...watch out for the right side boss... its a little skinny.

"Things Are Starting To Get A Little Pretty"

Some more underwater pictures

In the cave at Staniel...

Backtracking For Just a Moment

Honestly, the snorkeling was so great when we were in and around the Thunderball Cave I wanted to post some more pics of it here.  It was SOOO clear.  The pictures do not do it justice. You loose all the bright reds yellows and oranges of the corals if you do not have a flash camera.  Sorry kids, this was a plastic throw away camera but at least you get some idea.  It was really great.

Next Stop... Pig Beach

Pig Beach???  "What's that?" I said. 

It was the next anchorage and beach just north of Staniel.  Appearantly cruisers have been going up to this beach for a very long time, in their dingy's and feeding feral pigs.  I think they are looked after by some locals. They were very healthy and VERY large!  A couple of these sows were 300lbs.     We brought veggies that were starting to go bad and tossed them to these guys.  They swam right up to the boat with mouths OPEN WIDE looking for lunch.  They really liked the strawberries. 

They did not look like they have missed a meal in a long long time.  There were about 10 little piggies up on the beach eating something somone had put down for them.  They did not come out to the boats.

Bahamas - Exumas - May 2011

Hi There.  We just got back from a 2 week trip to the Exumas, Bahamas.  Without a doubt, one of the

most breathtaking areas I have ever been lucky enough to visit.  Always one of my favorites. I have not

been there for years.  It was prettier than I remembered.  We left from Nassau and went about 35 miles
SE to Norman's Key for the first night.  Dropped the hook where we would be staying for the night and
went for a swim.  Then... who knew... it was time for happy hour.  :)   Yippee!!!  And dinner of course.

Jessica  and I slept out on the deck cushions at night.  We'd roll over, reposition pillow, get lost into a million stars, and fall back to sleep smiling.   One night I saw 4 shooting stars in about 10 minutes.  It was great. 

The next morning we left Norman's and went South to Staniel Key.  It took about 4 1/2 hours.  We could not sail that day because we were headed right into the wind all the way  (that's why they call it a sailboat right?).  It was a bit bumpy but the boat handled it well.   We trolled all the way down there.  Had our best lures out.  Didn't catch anything, but we later heard NO ONE caught anything out there that day.
Oh well, what can you do?   Some days they just don't bite. 

As we got closer to Staniel the wind laid down.  Thank You!  And the color of the water had become mesmerizing.  The colors changed from that deepest blue almost purple of the gulf stream, to lighter blues which fade into several shades of aquamarines and then the sand bars jump out at you BRIGHT WHITE
and they are surrounded by crystal clear water and... There just aren't enough words to describe the way the waters of the Bahamas look when you come from the ocean side through the cuts into protected waters on the back side.

Its only day two... and we are already getting too much sun. 

We dropped the hook on a huge sand bar right across from Staniel Cay Yacht Club.  There were so many giant yachts at the marina you could not even see the dock area.  But couldn't miss it either.  We noticed right away there was almost no current at all.  That was perfect timing.  The strong current does not stop for long over there so we quick grabbed the pool toys, let out a line with a big float at the end to hold onto, and jumped right in.  It was warm, calm and crystal clear water.  A large nurse shark came by to take a look and then swam off as casually as she showed up. 

After we were cooled off, we got out  and had a "group meeting" on the back deck.  Order of discussion... What do you guys want for dinner?   Well what do you mean?  (we were going to eat at the Yacht Club that night)  "Well"  the captain explained..."you have to call ahead on the radio to the marina office and put in your order from the menu with about 5 options to choose from."  That was funny we thought.  Mark called up, the nice lady on the radio gave us our options, and we ordered 3 hours before we would be seated.

  Once I heard the words Cracked  Conch with peas and rice  I heard nothing else.  Several of us ordered that.  When delivered, my order of conch was as big as my head.  I was a happy girl.  And as for the "peas and rice"  it means rice and beans in Bahamian Lingo.  Why they call it that?   I don't know.  You'll  have to ask a Bahamian.  All I know is the conch we had that night was fantastic. 

So now that dinner was ordered and we still had plenty of daylight left, we decided to go for a snorkel into

Thunderball Cave which was  a stones throw away from the boat.  It is a protected area covered with corals

reds, yellows, oranges, blues, greens, every color in the spectrum and fish fish fish.  Lots of tropicals.  It was gorgeous.  They call it a grotto.  Its a high cave with a hole in the center which sunlight shines into from above and the water blows through there at incredible speed.  Snorkeling at slack tide is necessary.