Freediving Competition at Dean's Blue Hole

For the last couple of days we have shared a rental van with 3 other couples (Rene and Stacy, Terri and Ken, Stacy's parents, and L.A. and Susan) and we were able to watch the free diving competition today at Dean's Blue Hole.  As I mentioned the other day, Dean's Blue Hole is the deepest blue hole in the world.  It is 202 meters or 663 feet deep.  We watched Natalia Molchanova of Russia set a world record with a free dive to 100 meters (over 300 feet).  We could only see her descend to about 40 meters before she dropped out of site.  Her dive took 3:42 minutes.  It was incredible to be able to witness a world record.  We also watched while William Trubridge attempted to break a men's record for New Zealand.  He did not break the record today but he broke a world record last week by free diving unassisted (without the assistance of fins, using only breaststroke to descend) to 121 meters in 4:12 minutes, absolutely incredible!  I was so inspired that I am considering attempting to break my personal best which is approximately 4 meters at 20 seconds!

For more information on this crazy sport check out Vertical Blue's web site:  Vertical Blue



Dean's Blue Hole - Beautiful



Natalia with the judge showing a white card signaling a successful dive (WORLD RECORD!)



Natalia and William - both world record holders

Competition Site

I found a merman!  Check out the fins on that one!

 

Divers making preparations



Plantains are Yummy

 I love fried plantains.  Troy doesn't like them so much, but that just leaves more for me!  They are great when you fry them with a little olive oil.  They can be topped off with sea salt, nutmeg, powdered sugar. 

Green, almost ready, need to cook now

Yummy

Long Island Road Trip

We decided to share a car rental with Rene and Stacy and explore Long Island. The island is 80 miles long and about 4 miles wide at the widest point. I guess that’s why it’s called Long Island. We spent most of the day being chauffeured by Rene along most of the 80 miles. We all voted Rene as the driver because he was the only one that had experience driving on the left side of the road. It’s a little disconcerting to see cars coming at you on the wrong side of the road! (Especially when the fastest you’ve gone in the last three months is 5 or 6 knots, if you don’t count the dinghy rides)

Our first stop was at St. Mary’s Church. It is actually the ruins of a church thought to have been built by the Spanish in the 17th century. It is the oldest church on the island. We enjoyed exploring the tiny church and, although we weren’t there at the best time of day for photography, it was a really cool place to get some great shots.

Next we made our way to St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church. St Peter’s is a beautiful church with twin towers. Rene, Stacy and myself braved the narrow and rickety ladder to climb to the top. We were rewarded with a view that made the claustrophobic climb worthwhile.

Divers practicing



Dean's Blue Hole



Our next stop was Dean’s Blue Hole. At 663 feet, Dean’s is the deepest known sinkhole in the world with an entrance below sea level. We happened to arrive days before a free dive competition and there were several divers there practicing. At this site, in April 2010, William Trubridge dove 302 feet (92 meters) into the hole without fins, breaking a free diving world record. The divers that we saw were using fins so I can’t imagine what depths there were diving too. Seems just a crazy as mountain climbing to me!



Ruins of Dunmore Plantation



We tried to find the ruins of Dunmore Plantation. According to a local woman who pointed them out to us, we found them and they are now being used as a carport without a roof, and a goat playground! There are several plantation ruins on Long Island, but we didn’t manage to see any other than this one.

We made our way to the north end of the island and decided that we wanted to see the monument to Christopher Columbus. Little did we know that we would need to take our little rented Cavalier off roading for about 3 miles to get to the monument. Oh well, not a problem with Rene at the wheel. Rene is an excellent driver!

We had a great day exploring the island.



Road to the monument





George Town - Velcro Harbor

We've spent much more time than we anticipated in George Town.  I can see why it's called velcro harbor by cruisers.  After spending so much time in the Exumas where there are few grocery stores (and the ones you can find have less than the local convenience store, with similar pricing) and no way to dispose of garbage.  Some places will let you throw your garbage away at $5.00 per bag.  Don't get me wrong, we loved the Exumas, it was beyond beautiful and the people were always welcoming and friendly.  So far, it was cruising like we dreamed that it would be.  Then we made it to George Town.......

At times there were over 300 boats in the harbor between Great Exuma (where the town of George Town is) and Stocking Island (where the cruisers party begins and never ends).  We made it to George Town in time for the cruiser's regatta.  This is an absolutely amazing annual event for the cruisers.  Some boats have been coming to George Town for over 30 years to participate in the regatta.  Most of them come here for the regatta and return to the U.S. or Canada for the summer months.  For almost two weeks there are events going on every day.  Sailboat races, dinghy parades, volleyball, poker, infosessions covering everything from photography to cooking on a boat.  It's crazy, I tell ya!

We enjoyed most of the regatta and when we couldn't take another minute of planned activities we moved across the harbor to the quiet and sheltered Red Shanks anchorage.  Still close the the town, where we could dispose of the garbage, get internet and shop at a real live grocery store, but farther away from all the constant radio chatter and daily activities.

We enjoyed the company of  most of the Texas Navy in Red Shanks and spent our days swimming, working on the boat and playing Mexican Train with the Texas Navy.  Boats in the navy are:

s/v Sea Yawl Later - Rusty and Linda Sitton from Beaumont, Texas (founding members)

s/v Anchor Management - Steve Schlosser from Kemah, Texas

s/v Storyville - Troy and Deana Jones, Kemah, Texas

s/v Kaleo - Matt and Christie Butcher from Dallas, Texas

s/v Pipe muh Bligh - Rene and Stacy Foree from Kemah, Texas

s/v Guiding Light - Shane McClellan from Golden, Colorado 

s/v Morning Glory - Ted and Milie Cook, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Storyville at anchor in Red Shanks

We shared so many memorable days together, playing Mexican Train, helping each other with boat projects, attending church services and happy hours and just getting to know each other.  It's been really difficult to say goodbye as we start to head out in different directions. 

It was especially hard to say goodbye to Steve since we have been constant companions and boat buddies for at least the last year and a half, if not more.  We are planning to remain buddy boats with Pipe muh Bligh and we will all catch up with Steve when we make to to the Virgin Islands for New Years.

I am amazed that we have made so many wonderful friends that we will never forget.  It sure makes it hard to say goodbye.  We are planning for a mini reunion of the Texas Navy in George Town for the Family Island Regatta in late April.  After that, with the exception of Pipe muh Bligh, everyone will scatter to the four winds and that will be a sad day indeed.

Papaya growing in George Town

Yes, we are now members!

Birthday in Paradise

Birthday celebration on Pipe Muh Bligh

Yesterday was my birthday and I had a wonderful day.  We started the morning off with a trip into town with Steve and Rene and Stacy (s/v Pipe muh Bligh).  Stacy and Rene made it to George Town yesterday and Rene's birthday was on the 10th so we had a little celebrating to do.  After the trip to town I went to we spent part of the afternoon on Pipe muh Bligh (we: Me, Troy, Rene, Stacy, Steve, Shane and Michael).  Steve made a rum cake for Rene and I and Stacy made us some guacamole and, of course we decided that we needed to have a little taste of Zaya to celebrate the occasion.  Yummy, yummy afternoon snacks!  I got some really great and thoughtful gifts and a great card from my cruising friends on Morning Glory, Kaleo and Sea Yawl Later.  I was thinking that the day couldn't get much better, and then........

The late afternoon was spent at the Regatta Awards Ceremony.  We were anxious to hear the results of the races and other events.  Sea Yawl Later won first place and Guiding Light was second in the "In the Harbour Race" and Sea Yawl Later was second and Guiding Light was third in the "Around the Island Race".  We raced with Shane on Guiding Light in the "Around the Island Race" so we were excited about our third place.  That was also the race with the photography, fishing and cooking contests.  We didn't place in the photography event (still keeping the N.N.G.P. credentials), but we won the fishing event, in fact we were the only boat to catch a fish!  We caught a really beautiful mahi-mahi.  The most exciting event for me was winning the "baking under way" event.  I was told that every one of the judges voted my dessert 1st place!  What a great way to cap the birthday celebrations.

We ended the evening with a round of celebratory drinks on Guiding Light with Shane, Michael, Steve, Rene and Stacy.  What a wonderful birthday in paradise!

I have had many requests for my cheesecake recipe.  It has now won two different cooking contests. It's called Sopapilla Cheesecake, but we took the liberty of renaming it for the last event.  This years George Town Cruising Regatta theme as Gold, so we decided on Golden Creme Brulee Cheesecake. It is really very simple to make:

3 (8 ounce) packages of cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 (8 ounce) cans of crescent rolls

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 cup sliced almonds

*Preheat oven to 350 deg.

*Beat cream cheese with 1 1/2 cups sugar and the vanilla extract until smooth

*Unroll crescent dough and press 1 can into the bottom of a 9 X 13 inch baking dish

*Spread cream cheese mixture over crescent rolls

*Cover with remaining can of crescent rolls

*Drizzle melted butter over the top

*Stir 1/2 cup sugar with cinnamon in a small bowl

*Sprinkle over cheesecake and top with almonds

*Bake in preheated oven until crescent dough had puffed and turned golden brown, about 45 minutes

*Cool completely in the pan before cutting

George Town, Bahamas

We've been anchored in George Town for almost two weeks now and I can't believe that I haven't updated the blog in all this time.  My first and foremost excuse - lack of internet access.  It's not as easy as I thought it would be to surf the WWW.  Second excuse - we are just having too much fun to worry about it.  Every day seems to bring a new adventure.  We are here during the 31st Annual George Town Cruisers Regatta.  There are activities every day, lots of activities.  I'm exhausted just thinking about it.


Our hand from the Dinghy Poker Run 


We entered our dinghy in the dinghy parade and poker run.  We participated in the Coconut Roundup with our friends Ted and Millie from s/v Morning Glory.  Our team name was Glory Story.  We have hiked and swam and attended info sessions and yoga sessions and beach church.  We see loggerhead turtles swimming around our boat every day.  We see dolphins and lots of really big star fish.We've spent lots of time with our cruising friends and we wake up each morning and pinch ourselves to make sure this is for real. 

Yesterday we sailed in a race around Stocking Island.  We were on our friend Shane's Lagoon 41 Catamaran (s/v Guiding Light).  Part of the race includes a contest for the best dish baked underway (I made my famous award winning Sopapilla Cheesecake), the best photograph taken while underway (I broke out my camera and will try to improve on my N.N.G.P. status - Non National Geographic Photographer) and a contest for the longest fish caught while underway.  All while trying to win the race, of course.  We won't get results until tomorrow night at the awards ceremony, so wish us luck.  Word has it that we were the only boat to catch a fish, so it sounds like we will win that one at least!  It was a rush to reel in a mahi mahi.  I sure do look forward to catching more just like that one. 



The winning fish!



We are planning to stay here for another week and then move on.  We have loved the Exumas so much and the water is finally getting warm enough to enjoy.  I am looking forward to doing more spear fishing and fishing in the next few weeks. 

Click on the links to see photos:

Blackpoint, Exumas

Little Farmers Cay, Exumas

George Town, Exumas

Don't forget that you can leave comments on the blog posts, the photo albums, or even on each individual photo.  I love getting comments - as long as they are nice ;)

Little Farmers Cay

We spent several days at Black Point Settlement. We loved the friendly, small town feel. Everyone there was so nice and very welcoming to the cruisers visiting on boats. Lorraine’s was a great place to meet with other cruisers, get some internet and, of course some wonderful cracked conch. One day Troy and I, Shane, Steve, Rene and Stacy decided to see if we could spear enough lobster for dinner. We loaded our dinghies with spears and snorkel equipment and headed out. After finding a likely spot, we took to the water. We were a little disappointed that we didn’t see many fish, and only a few lobsters. Steve, Shane, Rene and myself did manage to get one lobster each but Steve’s lobster was a gigantic one! Stacy cooked the lobster for us for dinner that night and we were all very pleased with ourselves for capturing a delicious dinner.


One day I paddled my kayak up to a pristine beach. The water was crystal clear and the sand was beautiful and white. The wind rippled the water with the same pattern as the sand below the shallow waves. My footprints were the only ones on the beach. What a wonderful time for relaxing and reflecting. I wandered along picking up a few sand dollars and other shells and thanking God for the opportunity for Troy and I to be able to share this adventure together.

We finally decided that it was time to move on so we weighed anchor and headed south to Little Farmers Cay. There is a very small community here and everyone who lives here (about 60 people) is related to each other. All descended from one woman, Chrisanna, a freed slaved who brought her two sons and one daughter here and settled the island. Everyone is very friendly and I even got a hand written recipe for Bahamian Peas n Rice from Tasha, the owner of the small store. She even gave me a papaya from the tree in her back yard, some bacon to flavor my rice and a couple of goat peppers (same as habanero peppers).



Inside the Oven Rock Cave



We had heard about a cave at Oven Rock, about a mile from where we were anchored. We met a couple, Jim and Nancy on s/v Solitaire who spend every winter here in the Exumas and a lot of time on Little Farmers Cay. They knew the location of the cave and offered to act as our tour guides. We had six dinghies flying over the waves and ready to explore. It was about a 10 minute hike up to the cave and we weren’t sure exactly what to expect. We were in for quite a surprise. We descended into the cave and found cool, clear water. The cave was full of stalactites and stalagmites and we had a great time swimming in the chilly water. It was a really neat experience and I don’t have the words to adequately describe the feeling of swimming in that cold, clear, underground cave. What an adventure!

It was great to swim in the cave



We are still having the time of our lives and loving every new adventure. We have been baking a lot of our own bread, something I never did at home, but we are having fun trying our different ingredients. We made cinnamon, raisin bread, jalapeno cheese bread and white bread. I am cooking a lot as there are not many other options, but I can honestly say that I am even enjoying that. It’s fun to cook when you have time and the stress level is non-existent.





We will need to make some decisions in the next couple of days. Mainly, North or South? Which way next? The next destination to the south is George Town, which is a major cruising destination where we will probably stay for a couple of weeks. We are not in any hurry to get there though and Rene and Stacy (s/v Pipe muh Bligh) and Steve (s/v Anchor Management) are planning on heading back North to Staniel Cay for a week or so. Decisions, decisions. Watch the SPOT to see where we go next!





Some kind of sea cucumber





Hiking to the Cave



Cleaning Conch



Papaya Tree behind Tasha's Store