A visit with friends and the Bahamas from afar

We are really happy to catch up with Dee and Dave, plus brother and sister-in-law Rick and Jan.  We traveled with Dee and Dave our first year of cruising and have kept up ever since.  They have quit sailing but vacation with Rick and Jan, via their airplane.  The boys went for a little joy ride earlier today (well, actually they were supposedly testing the pitot tube).

Luke got some great shots of the watery world we cruise in from above.

The tangle of coral and shoals around Big Majors (left - where we spent 10 days waiting for a our starter) and Fowl Cay, few sailboats in the middle.

Staniel Cay - that's us,  the only sailboat in front of the left end of the leftmost of three small islands (3 sailboats behind it - look carefully!).  The water color shows the green shallows on the banks, about 7 feet deep, and the deep blue of the ocean, suddenly 3000 feet deep just off shore.  That is where we shall leave into tomorrow, hoping to catch some fish along the way.  The blue line through the picture shows the deeper channel past Staniel, with the opening to the sea (Exuma Sound) about 1/3 of the way from the left.

This shows a typical "rage", something to be avoided.  The current is going in one direction into the channel, a strong wind is going in the other direction.  This causes an uproar in the waves, making high, choppy waves and a difficult ride (at best).  These waves are about 3 feet high.

After the flight, most of us joined in a golf cart exploration of the rocky, hilly island.

I spent a lot of the afternoon at the pool with "the girls" while Luke snorkeled in Thunderball Grotto with "the boys".  Back to Latitudes to prepare her for our departure tomorrow to Eluthera. Just before sunset, we were hailed from a dinghy containing snorkelers returning from Thunderball Grotto. They were neighbors from our marina in Jekyll Island Georgia, who recognized our boat. We were  mutually and pleasantly surprised to find each other at the same time and place in the Bahamas.