Happy New Year's from the Bahamas!  We started New Year's eve with a walk up to BooBoo Hill and the beaches with friends Kris and Ron.  The familiar mangrove path was a little more awash than we've seen it before.

The top of BooBoo Hill is littered with boat names on driftwood or old boards, sort of a request to the spirits there to guard our boats. We saw one very familiar name, Wings of Angells. They are friends from Savannah that we hope to meet up with later this trip.

We HAD to leave Latitudes name there!

Back over the top of the hill to the beach on the Exuma Sound side. Beautiful, of course!

Found a very small piece of Bristle Brush algae.

On the way back, we crossed a bridge that was over a very shallow area of water, left shallow by the low tide. Waiting –probably not too patiently – was a Yellow Stingray.

After our hot walk, we all decided that it was time to snorkel in the more-cool-than-we-like water, but it was still great. Here’s our tribute to New Year’s Eve, 2009!

The park graciously hosted a cookout for all of the boats, about 8 of them. They provided the burgers and hot dogs, fixings, and ice. The cruisers provided side dishes and drinks. It was lots of fun and made New Year’s special.  At midnight we woke up, went to sit in the cockpit, with a full moon directly overhead, illuminating the still, tropical wonderland around us.   We reminisced about 2009, what a great year it was, and were thankful for all our wonderful experiences, our friends, new and old (well, at least middle-aged), and adventures during that year.

As a special treat, here in the middle of nowhere,  at midnight, we saw fireworks on the northern horizon. We think the fireworks came from Highborne Cay, from the marina where we stopped for diesel ($4.27/gal), water ($0.50/gal), and trash disposal ($5.00/bag) after we left Allen Cay.  Oh, and 4 apples @$2.40 each, 4 bananas for $4, and a loaf of bread for $7.  We left the dozen eggs for $8 there.  No wonder they could afford the fireworks.... This is exactly why we stocked up on all nonperishables before we left the States!

Early Jan 1, we took the dinghy out to a more remote beach, just to have a look. We both enjoyed it.

We will probably leave Warderwick Wells on Sunday and sail the whopping 11 miles to another mooring area in the same national park, Cambridge Cay. Last year it was too windy to really do anything there, so we’re hoping to take advantage of a few nice days there to explore before we head further south.