Easter Sunday at Norman's Cay

Easter Sunday 4/8/12

I did not get to attend Easter Sunday church services, which I think is a first for me in my entire life.  We were at Norman’s Cay, and outside of a little ‘resort’ with four villas and a restaurant, there’s nothing else there. 

There are the remains of Carlos Leder's drug running
days from Columbia.  We walked through what was
once his home.  Donnie wrote our names on the wall studs.

You could see bullet holes in the walls from where the feds finally captured
him and his 'army' of followers.  It was a 1970's relic- pretty cool actually,
the metallic wallpaper, mirrored tiles in the bathroom, and the olive green
and harvest gold tiles in what was once the kitchen.

After we explored the house, we found MacDuff's, the only restaurant
on the island.  We met up with Matt and Karie on the beach, and made plans
to return to MacDuff's for a late lunch.

After that, we dinked back to our boat to grab the snorkel gear.  There was a
DC9 that was ditched in the bay where we were anchored.

Speaking of, I forgot to mention it was another rather sleepless night.  We stayed up til midnite for the tidal change, and sure enough, we swung 180 degrees on the anchor.  The second anchor that Donnie drove out in the dink earlier, the Danforth, caught and set in the tidal change, but we did slip a little, it seemed.  The Mexicans (drug lords, says Donnie) were up partying in their boats until about 4am, and then they pulled anchor for parts unknown.  Two guys appeared along the road to Mac Duff’s, and they had just walked their buddy to the airstrip to return to Nassau, then Miami.

At the airstrip was an old Cessna Skyhawk, it was striped the same as Harlan’s.  Ironically, in my dozing slumber the night before while were worried about the current, tide changes, and anchors holding, I had a vivid dream about Harlan’s plane- and then I saw it the next day- weird!

The snorkel on the plane was pretty cool.  Ellen would have loved it.  Near the cockpit was a HUGE puffer fish- he was at least two feet long, and was as big around.  His bright green coloring was just like Ellen’s puffer fish named Tyson.  I wish I had a pic of him.  I need a new underwater camera.  Anyhow, I was standing on the wing of the plane, and little did I know there was a nurse shark underneath J  It’s okay, I’m not scared of nurse sharks. 

We did a little dinghy exploration after the dive, and I picked up a conch
shell on a deserted beach.  I wanted to make a new Survivor clip, but I
couldn't figure out how to work my new camera- boo.

We went back to the boat, and took a quick cockpit shower and headed to MacDuff’s for lunch.  It was a very cool place, and Stephen, the owner was most gracious.  The food was delicious, and the Exumha Mama rum punch was koolaid for adults!  I had a chicken ceaser wrap with fries- which was excellent.  Donnie had his cheeseburger in paradise.  After we finished lunch, I pulled out Easter chocolates for everyone that I had hidden in our freezer.  They were surprised, and everybody loved them.  We shared some with a couple who was at the next table .  He delivers supplies on his boat to MacDuff’s from Nassau. 

He delivered a piano, too, for guests to play out on the
patio.  He treated us to a few tunes, which was also very
cool.  It reminded Donnie and I of the time we had the
 kids camping in Nova Scotia, and we listened to Harry
 Chapin's brother playing the piano.

We also met a young couple, Dave and Jenny, form Vancouver, who just bought a sailboat in Jacksonville, FL, a month ago.  They have their dog with them on the boat, and are making their way down through the Bahamas, over to Cuba, then further southwest through Central America, the Panama Canal, and eventually they plan to end up in New Zealand.  Pretty adventuresome kids! 

Never had Easter Egg jello shots before, lol!

After lunch, it was agreed that we all wanted and needed a good night’s sleep, so rather than staying in the tidal current at Norman’s Cay, we weighed anchor and sailed the six miles to Shroud Cay. 

We picked up two of the last three mooring balls, and I'm sure we'll all
sleep like the dead.  No dragging anchor!  No running aground!
No swinging 180 in a crazy current!  YAY!!!!

Shroud Cay marks the beginning of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park.

After we got on the ball, we jumped in the dink to go explore.

We had fun hiking a trail to a well, and we met an interesting man from
the Czech Republic on a 47' Benneteau sailing with his parents.

We gunkholed around in the dink some more, then returned to the boat
in time for dinner and to watch the sunset.  There's at least 20 boats in the
anchorage here...lots of people are out doing this cruising thing, that's for sure.

Gorgeous sunset, nice neighbors to the north. We saw Tranquility
several times in the islands.  We lookes like peewee's next to them.

I stitched together a broken zipper on the bimini, and Donnie repaired the plug on the auto pilot.  He’ll have to reinstall it tomorrow.  They say cruising is working on your boat in exotic locations- how true!  We’re ready to pitch the damn roller furling in the ocean- it is a tempermental you know what, that does not take kindly to rolling.  A new roller furling and a new jib are definitely on the list of major purchases for next year.  Time to scour through the photos, and call it a night.  Don’t know  yet what tomorrow will bring.  Think I’ll go do a little stargazing- the stars look HUGE out there! G’nite y’all.