More from the Bahamas

Hello everyone,

The Bahamas have continued to amaze us as we spent the past days working out way up the Exuma island chain, with stops in Staniel Cay, Fowl Cay, Wardrick Wells, Hawksbill, Shroud, Highbourne, Allen, and Ships Channel cays. We are now in the Abacos and hoping to get a weather window later next week to make the run to the Chesapeake. Leaving the clear blue waters and relaxing undeveloped corners of the Bahamas will be hard, but we are also looking forward to being in the states and checking out the southern parts of the Chesapeake.

Below are more pieces the kids have put together. Enjoy.
--Peter

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Swinging from the Halyard

“One , Two, Three, Let Go!” I cried, and Josie released her hands and pushed off with her feet as I cranked the winch and slowly made final adjustments to her height. We were finally bringing a dream to reality. Way back in Long Island Sound we had observed a boat completing an interesting stunt, which we were now copying. In a harness clipped to a halyard we climbed to the outside of the lifelines and pushed off. This all took place on the leeward side of the boat while we were on a beam reach and nicely heeled over. We swung out over the water and soared through the air, or if Dad rounded up quickly and the boat heeled way over we got bounced along the water.

Josie, Jeremiah, Mom and I all took turns swinging off the boat. Flying over the water was tons of fun, like … well not really like anything else we’ve done. We flew through the air with sometimes only our feet hitting the water and other times being soaked quite thoroughly. The bow waves would come up and spray us. The feeling was amazing, the water, the wind, the adrenaline rush. Boat swinging is something I want to to again.

-- Catherine

Glossary of terms for landlubbers:

beam reach – when the wind is blowing across the boat, the boat is sailing across the wind, a beam reach is the fastest point of sail also it gives the most heel
bow – the front of the vessel
halyard - a line running down from the top of the mast, usually used to hoist a sail.
heeled – when the boat tips over because of the wind catching the sail.
landlubber – a non sailor who resides on land, sailors are superior to landlubbers
leeward – the low side of the boat when the boat is heeled over, the side with the sail(s)
lifelines – the lines sometimes netted that are arranged to keep passengers from falling over board
to round up – to come closer to the wind
winch – a round almost bobbin like appliance used to crank in sheets and haylards

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Thunderball Grotto and Jumping from the Spreaders

On the afternoon of Friday the 30th of April, we arrived at a Big Majors Spot, a little island near Stainel Cay. Once we set the anchor, the five of us (Mom stayed back) jumped into Keiki and (with Jeremiah driving) zoomed over to Thunderball Grotto.

When we arrived at the dinghy mooring, we quickly put on our snorkel gear and jumped in. The second I got into the water, I was surrounded by little Sargent Majors. These 4 inch long fish usually have yellow and black stripes, but some times they have blue and black instead. Around the grotto these fish came right up to my mask, hoping for food, but even though I did not have any they swam around me anyway. Under the cloud of Sargent Majors were a few very colorful Angelfish and some beautiful coral. After all our snorkeling experiences this year, we had never seen so many fish which were unafraid of humans.

The unique behavior of the fish was but one of the special features of Thunderball Grotto. From the dinghy mooring we were able to swim through a tunnel into a sunlit cave. The cave itself was about 100 feet long with a widest part of about 25 feet. The height of the cave in the middle was about 30 feet, but at the two entrances it was only about 3 feet from the water (at low tide). In the ceiling there were two large holes. (These were conveniently located over the deepest part of cave.) Shafts of sunlight flooded down through the holes lighting the cave and the water. To be snorkeling in a cave without the need for flashlights impressed all of us.

I had heard that people jump from through the holes and they were only a little higher than the other cliffs I had jumped from so a bunch of us decided to check it out. I did not jumped that day because it looked a little too scary. I knew, however, that I had to come back the next day and make myself jump.

I returned the next day, and did jump, but not after after thinking way too much about it. I had jumped off two cliffs before and this was only a little higher, but I had never before jumped through a hole. I was scared that I was going to hit the other side of the hole. I was still worried even after I had seen Peter from Stolen Hour and Sandy from Pilgrim jump without getting even close to the other side of the hole. The only reason I was able to make myself go was after seeing Evan, who went right before me, literally step off the edge. After I jumped Hayden leaped and nearly landed on my head, Hannah followed Hayden and Catherine jumped after Hannah. Dad jumped next and Peter from Stolen Hour jumped again. Later Hannah from Pilgrim and her mom Polly jumped. Everyone found it scary but certainly enjoyed the thrill.

Outside the grotto from the dinghy mooring.

(People on top are near the roof holes)

Near the hole you need to drop through.

Inside the grotto

My jumping adventures continued three days later while on a mooring at the south anchorage on Wardrick Wells. I invited the kids from the other boats, Stolen Hour and Pilgrim, to come over and jump off our boom. We jumped for a while, but quickly got bored of having to crawl all the way out to the end just for one quick jump. I decided that it would be a good time to call Peter from Stolen Hour to see if he wanted to jump off the spreaders with me. He said yes and came over in his dinghy. Peter free climbed up the mast and sat on the spreaders. I did not think that I had enough upper body strength to free climb, and I also was very scared of falling back down to the deck. Instead I was hauled up in Dad’s climbing harness. After slipping out of the harness, I stood at the end of the spreaders for a while just to be sure there were no sharks around and because ... as always ... I was a little scared. I jumped eventually and it was a very long fall. Even though this was my fourth jump from this height, it was a challenge because I had to push off while balancing on a thin piece of metal. In the coming months I will be keeping my eyes peeled for more jumping adventures.

-- Josie

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Lizards on a Leash

To make a lasso to catch lizard you need a piece of grass. Then you tie a slip not at the end of it. Then you find a lizard and very quietly sneak up behind it and up the lasso around its head and pull! Hayden, Hans, and Jeremiah each lassoed lizards. To free the lizards you would either cut the lasso or the lizard would break free itself. Sandy, the dad on Pilgrim, taught us all how to do this. It is something I want to do again.

-- Xavier

Lionfish

When I went snorkeling I saw a lionfish. It was a foot long. It was extremely beautiful. It had wavy stripes of orange and brown on its whole body. On its side it had feather like fins each one made up of many oval shaped smaller fins. Its spines are so poisonous that one spine can make you very very sick if it pierces your skin. Its spines are 4 or 5 inches long It was exciting to see the lionfish because there are not easy to see.

-- Xavier

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Spearfishing

There are other ways of fishing than a casting rod or a trolling rod ... spearfishing is one of them. I learned how to spearfish from a great birthday present that my mom and dad set up.

Unlike fishing with a rod, with all the line and lures and stuff, you just need one piece of equipment for spearfishing. The spear I used had a 4-5 foot long and ½ inch diameter fiberglass pole. At the end of the pole there were three 6 inch prongs. At the other end there was a ¼ inch thick rubber band that is attached to the pole by a tightly rapped rope. With this in hand you can jump in the water and you are ready to go.

To shoot a fish you have to hold the spear correctly. First you hold the rubber band between your thumb and pointer finger. Then you pull the band up the rod and hold on with the hand that has the rubber band in it. Then when you see the fish you want to spear, you dive down and let go of the rod. You need to hold on to the rubber band or else it goes shooting down to the bottom. The spear will cut through the water and hopefully hit your target.

The first fish I speared was a small mouthed grunt. They grow 6-10inches long and live in schools. This makes it easier because if your spear misses the fish you were aiming at you still have the chance of hitting another one. Another fish you can spear is snapper. They grow in a range of 1-3 feet. Snapper are harder to catch because they live alone and are usually on the move. I almost speared one, but I was not fast enough. It darted away. The more experience you get, the more kinds of fish you can go after.

This is probably one of the best birthday present ever, because I will always remember how excited I was when the spear went right through the grunt's head. (Matthew, this was almost as fun as blowing something up.)

On the hunt.

Going after a school of grunts.