Yacht Ariel
Henry Adams
Mon 12 May 2008 01:20
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BRILLIANT! Everything. Well, almost
everything.
Weather: absolutely baking - too hot
actually. Photo shows the skip cooling off. But the menopausal crew
is used to the sweats .... Had to motor yesterday but some pleasant
sailing today and a couple of days ago out in the sound where there's a little
more wind.
People: friendly and chatty everywhere.
I'm sure I'm greeting yachtie folks I've already met as though they're new faces
in new places - they all look exactly the same (skip included except that he's
about 40 years younger than the rest of them) - a sort of homogenous aquatic
Bill Oddie. Conversations can be a little tricky as the skip mumbles and
the Bill Oddies's are a bit hard of hearing.
Food: um, basic on Ariel, but the skip's very
proud of it, and I must say it's surprising what we've managed to rustle up with
no equipment to speak of. Ashore we keep missing opening hours of
long-anticipated gourmet meals and have managed cracked conch and grouper finger
fingers everywhere so far (which are basically pretty much the same - fish in
batter) until this evening where we find ourselves in a little patch of paradise
at a beach bar where we've eaten what they call dolphin (it's not Flipper, fear
not) and steak and it was heaven. We've got up as far as Norman's Cay,
which will mean b all to anyone. The Exuma Cays are a string of islands
and rocks, most completely deserted, some with some tiny pockets of habitation,
some, like here, with just this bar beside the beach and a couple of
cottages to rent. We're making the most of this evening's feast
before days of pasta 'n sauces on the crossing to
Bermuda.
Highlights: creatures: stopping at a
deserted cay and swimming ashore to spot iguana and finding one immediately who
rushed towards us - quite intimidating and I stayed well clear and allowed the
skip to make its acquaintance. Missed the feral pigs on another cay -
think they were snoozing in the
undergrowth. Swimming among thousands of little fish in the Thunderball
grotto (photo attached). After stories of having lto dive down 10 ft to
get in to the underwater cave, and having never even got my face into the water
with a snorkel mask on without panicking, I was in a funk by the time we'd swum
to the cave. Eureka, I can now snorkel, and we didn't have to dive down to
get in. The residents' brief brush with stardom - they forget they were
only extras - has made them uppity and a sergeant major bit the skip on the
back. Then today we found an even more magical spot someone told us about
- an area by a coral outcrop just teeming with beautiful fish - we snorkeled
there for ages - just like being in a wildlife film. Saw a large ray under
the boat yesterday, and large fat red starfish all over the place and then
a nurse shark cruising around under us where we were anchored last night.
It was like being anchored in a swimming pool - so clear and shallow and
brilliant turquoize - but somehow we didn't feel liike taking a dip, even though
nurse sharks are supposed to be harmless. And today out in the sound we
saw something we think was a sailfish - about 9ft long- leaping out of the water
chasing a 2ft long silver fish - watched it for a minute or more. So
exciting.
Time to head back in our little rubber duck to our
floating home.
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