The Happenings of Blue Heaven

We finally did leave George Town for a few days but not until we went to the local Catholic Church picnic fundraiser and the next day we went to beach church on Volleyball beach.

Ladies at the picnic serving the Bahamian food.

Beautiful Volleyball Beach where Beach Church is held.

Social hour after church.

The service is all done by volunteers leading the nondenominational Christian worship in song and prayer. Afterward there is a social hour with goodies also brought by those attending. It is such a beautiful spot to hold church. This year on one of the branches of the casaurina tree there is a hummingbird nest and you can often see the hummingbird sitting on her nest. Unfortunately, it is just a little too high for me to get a picture.

Animated speaker of the culture.

After lunch on the same beach, we had a local Bahamian speak on Bahamian culture which was quite interesting and helps you to understand the local people better.

Watching the Super Bowl commercials.

In the evening we were invited to a boat called Sloop John Dee for a Superbowl party. Could not have had it much better. John and Denise have a bigger TV on their boat than we have at home. It was a disappointing game but we had all the usual fixings for the party, pizza, hot wings, taco layered dip and much more, which made it a fun time.

The next day we finally left to meet up with Dave and Toni on Sequence up at Twin Beaches, one of my favorite spots. During our time here, we hiked to the beach where at low tide we found some sea glass and a small helmet shell. I also am showing you some creatures that are very typical on our beach rounds. 

A neat view through the rock.  How did that hole get there?

National shell of the Bahamas.

This is a chilton which suck fast to the rocks.  The underside of the segmented shell is a pretty turquoise.

We hiked several trails on Lee Stocking, the Loyalist Trail took us across the  defunct airstrip to another beach.                              

Someone built a huge cairn here!

Planes used to land here.

 We did not have much luck on the beach but coming back we found a lot of vines that have Bay beans which people use for making jewelery or put on baskets. 

The Bay Bean Pod.

What the beans look like out of the pod.

 I have been looking for them since our first trip, so it was a real find for me. Now, all I have to do is use them! We once again got some beautiful views at Perry's Peak one of the highest spots in the Exumas.         

Just another magnificent view!

 

Al the zinc changer.

The water was so crystal clear here that Al decided to change the zincs on the propeller shaft. He was very successful without dropping anything and said it was good he did it, because they were quite worn down.

 After a few days we returned to George Town. We had a rather vigorous sail in the beginning so I stayed in the cockpit the entire trip until we reached the entrance to Elizabeth Harbor. I went into the head (bathroom) and noticed liquid soap all over the counter top. It did not leak out of the liquid hand soap container next to the sink, so I opened the closet in back of the sink and discovered the problem. A brand new bottle of Oil of Olay shower wash fell over when we were tilting so much and it fell in such a way that just knocked the flip top lid open so that it not only leaked over the entire sink top but onto the shelves in the closet too. What a job cleaning that mess but our head never smelled so good!

Once back in George Town we got into the usual routine. Yoga, hikes on the trails and beaches, happy hours at various boats and sometimes on the beach too.

I found 11 sand dollars walking Sand Dollar beach at low tide one day.

Once in a while you find a small starfish.

The interesting stromatolites.

Previously I had a picture in one of my earlier blogs of the edge of the beach on the sound side and I said I forgot what the structures were called. I found out these are called stromatolites which according to Wikipedia are “layered structures formed in shallow water by the trapping, binding and cementation of sedimentary grains by bio films (microbial mats) of microorganisms, especially cyanobacteria. Stromatolites provide the most ancient records of life on earth by fossil remains which date from more than 3.5 billion years ago.”

The Rake and Scrape Band

We also got to a place called Eddies Edgewaters to hear “Rake and Scrape.” It was more a modern version because there were electric guitars, but the usual upside down wash tub with a string, a guy playing the saw with a screwdriver and some hand drums were included. There was a great jam session of cruisers on the deck of a local resort that we enjoyed another evening.

The cruiser jam session.

My new rug project is coming along so I thought I would show a picture of it for all my “hooking” friends. She will definitely be a wall hanging due to using various hooking materials such as glittered ribbon, silk and tulle. She has been fun to hook with all the bright colors.

Lastly I finally decided although my ear still isn't quite right, I used my special ear plugs and we finally got in the water and did some snorkeling. I stayed at the surface and did not dive down to see anything closer. However, the one reef near our anchorage is so close to the surface that I got some nice shots of things close up. Enjoy the pictures, maybe it will warm you up a little for those in the north dealing with all the snow and ice.

This one was really neat seeing the fans swaying in the current.

The gold is some elk horn coral.

Aren't they all a sight to see!