Stillllll in West End....

We're stillllll here.... Maybe tomorrow we can get to Port Lucaya. It's looking good for a morning sail at the moment.

Since we couldn't go on Wednesday, we took the bus to the Lucaya National Trust Park. Now, taking the bus is not trivial. First, it has to arrive at the marina. A few days ago, we gave up when it was 2 hours late. He was relatively on time today, picking up all 10 passengers to add to his existing 4 for the aging 12 passenger Toyota Mini-Van bus, with flickering inside dome light. We were cozy. Dropped off most of them in Port Lucaya for a day of shopping and then the remaining 4 of us left for the Lucaya National Trust Park. We were all starved and were afraid there might not be a restaurant at the park, so the driver took us to McDonalds en route. Good thing .... it was a half hour ride and the park buildings consisted of this park office.

The park itself is divided into 2 walks, one of which leads to several small cave entrances. Here are Luke & I standing inside of one of them. The top water is fresh but the bottom water is salt. Bats use the cave ceiling in the spring and summer as a nursery for their young. Good thing it's winter....

We saw a bird that was new to us, a Red Legged Thrush. I wonder how he got his name---- Looks rather demonic, doesn't he?

Between the two walks, we stopped at the toilet. It's totally self-contained composting toilet. After use, you just put a scoop of wood shavings in the toilet and close the lid. I felt like a hamster, but I've gotta say, there is absolutely no smell and the toilet was very clean. We could learn from this!

The second walk, across the road, lead through a beautiful red mangrove forest.

The only creature we saw here was a tiny lizard, blending in perfectly with the brown twigs and grasses. Look carefully --

Our reward for this easy 10 minute walk was "the most beautiful beach on Grand Bahamas Island". I think they are right.

The water was warm (well, warmer than the air --- see that darn jacket!!). We waded out 20 yards onto several little sand bars. Lots of starfish, ones with 5 and ones with 6 arms (mutants?), were slowly creeping along the shallow water, leaving little trails. Lots of tiny fish, plus nice shells and some washed up black fan coral and purple fan coral. We had a great walk along the beach with our friends from Canada, Deb and Lawrence. They are also waiting for the winds to change so they can go to Port Lucaya too. By the way, the majority of cruisers we've met here are Canadian -- you can tell by the uplilting "eh?" and by their wearing shorts when it's in the 60s and windy.

The usual plovers were working the beach. These little guys weren't afraid of anything. I suspect they've been fed a few times by tourists.

Anyway, the visit was nice, although we ultimately spent 4 hours on the bus back & forth. The driver did stop to pick up other marina mates at the grocery store, so we took advantage of it and picked up a few items. This was a Winn-Dixie, and prices are pretty much similar to those at home. I think that will change as we get further away from mainstream Bahamas and the island closest to Florida.