What a week.... (This is part one of two blogs I'll post on the activities of this week)

This week has been a whirlwind so far.  I'm not quite sure where to start so I'll start by saying we changed all of the fuel filters in our boat again and cleaned everything thoroughly and then bled the system to get air out of the fuel lines and all seems to be well as far as the motors go.     We took the boat out and it ran as expected and got good speed without issue.   I still have a bilge to clean (soap, scrub, rinse, dry) but that can happen anytime in the next couple of weeks.  

It looks like we have junk in one of our four fuel tanks and when we get in really rough seas it shakes up the junk and it ends up catching in the filters and plugging them up..  That is what the filters are supposed to do.. but that is anything but convenient. .

As many know we had intentions of crossing from Florida to the Bahamas during this trip with our boat but the fuel issues, insurance cost, and especially the bad weather have prevented us from doing so.  We've reached a point that crossing over would mean crossing back over only a few days later so the plans to take our boat to Bahamas had to be canceled.  

We published that news in one of our previous blogs and some friends of ours who were intending to meet us in the Bahamas offered to fly us to the Bahamas in their plane since they were going anyway.  

This was very generous of them and gave us a chance to spend a few days in the place that we so wanted to get to without the insane cost of fuel, navigation of very shallow waters, and tolerance of insane waves because of the wind...    As I often say, it did not suck. 

We had some wind but the protected side of the islands were beautiful.   

The rental cars, however, are not.  Great Exuma is a place of contrasts.  Our rental car had four 'custom' rims.  Each of them unique.  

The way we got to and from the rental car, however, had matching rims...

Sometimes our life is tough.   This wasn't one of those times.... 

We had intended to stay at this marina on Great Exuma which is owned by Sandals resorts.    It looks like the last hurricane might have left it suffering.  Rusty, torn roofs and docks but still beautiful water.   The lots on the marina no longer have houses so... I'm guessing what happened to them.  Some of the amazing houses on the golf course on the point also look like someone just walked away and left theme to deteriorate.  It's quite sad to see beat up houses on a beautiful golf course basically abandoned.  

The golf course, however, is manicured meticulously.  

Our first day we flew over from Marathon, cleared customs, bought some snacks and checked into our condo and took a quick spin over to dinner at a boutique hotel restaurant about a mile away. 

The food was amazing....

And the pets on the walls of the restaurant entertaining.  

We are in the Bahamas after all.   The Exumas have the most beautiful water in the world.   

Our condo was on the point seen here next to Emerald bay.   Amazing. 

The following day we hopped (via plane) about 30 minutes north (and 100 miles or so) to Staniel key.   This area is very special with many natural attractions.  

We rented a 22ft center console with a captain and went exploring.   First we came to the Thunderball Grotto.   This is the cave from the James Bond movie Thunderball (but it was used in more than one James Bond movie).  

i didn't bring my camera in (one must be in the Ocean to get there).   So I stole a couple of online pictures of the spot to show you what it looks like.  

The water is emerald, the fish under the surface are like an aquarium.   It's fairly magical.   

To get out of the cave I chose to swim (snorkel and flipper equipped) the 25 or so feet through an underwater tunnel out of the cave.    I miscalculated the buoyancy of my beautiful carcass when equipped with goggles full of air and floating in salt water.    I came up and bumped shoulder and both thighs on the coral.   

One would think age old coral under water that has formed rock would be worn smooth.  Not so much.   

I bled like a stuck pig ...   It felt worse than it looked and it looked pretty bad with blood running down the legs.   I sacrificed a pair of socks to act as rag and bandage.   

Next we made a run 20 or so minutes down to a private island that has sharks you can feed and pet.   They, apparently, are very used to people.  

Katie doesn't like beasts swimming around her and rubbing up against her.  On our honeymoon she basically climbed on my back to get away from the stingrays in the Cayman Islands.   

So she was pretty brave when she did THIS - Click Here

After some intimate up close contact with sharks we cruised on for about 30 minutes to feed the swimming pigs.  

Click HERE to see more.   Seeing the pigs come running into the ocean to eat bread etc thrown to them is interesting.  These pigs are owned by locals that grow them and then slaughter them for food when grown but some just stay and eat.  Those that get aggressive become bacon....

After the pigs we visited Iguana Island (with, you guessed it, lots of Iguanas).  These we don't feed.  They just forage for food and lay around in the sun while making lizard stink.  

They aren't at all shy around people.  

The place they live is nothing short of stunning....

Such a life for a lizard....

After the lizards we went for a snorkel on the wrecked plane of Pablo Escobar.   They were flying drugs in and received word that the officials were waiting for them at the runway so they ditched the plane in shallow water nearby, unloaded the drugs and escaped before the authorities knew what had been done...

The sea is unforgiving and has corroded away much of the plane but it's still obvious what it was...

Then it was time to return to Staniel key for some lunch at the Yacht club.  Yacht clubs look a little different here.... but they are full of Caribbean fun!  And food.   

After lunch it was time to head back to the airplane and fly back to Great Exuma.  

Leaving the yacht club I took a snapshot of the dinghy dock.   Dinghy docks in this area are awesome and allow boaters anchored out to get ashore for supplies necessities and fun.  

There are a TON of boats anchored offshore in this area....  Someday I hope to anchor one of my boats here.... But not this year ..  

We returned at the end of the day Tuesday to our condo and sat at the beach enjoying some sunset while a gentle (but brisk) breeze kept us cool.   What a beautiful place to spend a few days.  

More on the next blog about Wednesday and Thursday.  

For now just know that Monday and Tuesday were spectacular and that we are back in Florida doing well.  Legs are fine for me and healing but Katie (who says she is sweeter than the rest of us) is suffering from lots and lots of bug bites.   

I told her that she needed to live like me...  A nice regular coat of diesel and sweat works wonders as bug (and apparently wife) repellant....  More to come (likely tomorrow)