Nassau

Who knows how long it will be before we can post anything again, as we are just about to leave Nassau for the Exumas, a group of islands about 40 miles southeast of here without a lot of connections in the way of email.

We've had some spectacular weather since we first crossed to Bimini, pretty much flat calm all the way across the 5 to 15' deep Bahama Banks where it looks like you're driving across the top of a 2' deep aquarium and the 9980' deep Atlantic to Nassau, where we sit now at Starbucks. Above is Sally sitting out on deck mastering the SSB radio, for the all-important Chris Parker weather forecast. We were out on an anchorage right between these two big bodies of water, but there was nothing in sight but water and very calm seas. We skinny-dipped and watched the sum go down and up, the only boat for miles. Waaay cool.

We had been waiting there for our friends Dennis and Mary catch us in "Tortola," but they had engine issues on the crossing day and are going to be held up by weather in Florida until the weekend. We're pulling out and waiting for them. We'll connect soon, we hope. It's amazing how so many plans can be derailed by a simple engine part.

Nassau is too fast for me; I'm looking forward to the calmer islands. 

Ever wondered what the real "Fountain of Youth" looks like? Well, this is it, the place where Ponce de Leon went so far so bathe. Well, we didn't bathe in it because we couldn't fit down the hole, even though I've lost 21 pounds on this trip. Now we've seen it, definitely a once in a lifetime experience, that's for sure.   Capt. Jeff