Nassau to Staniel Cay and our thoughts on the differences between monohull and catamarans.

We left Nassau the day after Cannons birthday and headed South to Allen Cay.  Fitting, right?  We rolled around in the Anchorage there but had time to enjoy a delicious dinner before which Rourke and I saw a huge lemon shark.  Well, we think it was a lemon shark as it was huge and brown and wasn't a nurse shark!  I immediately took Rourke's hand and turned around...if I can't see it, it can't see me ....right?  Eek!!

From there we made our way to Norman Cay.  It has changed alot since we were there 13 years ago.  They tore a hole in the island to build a large marina.  We used to anchor in front of an old estate that used to house a drug lord. We would take water from the cistern there.  The house is no longer there but a plane they used to run drugs that  had crashed into the water is still there and several tourists/ boats daily will confirm that as well.  The weather got nasty, windy, cold and rough. We got to see a waterspout!  We were stuck there for a few days but we made the most of it by floating with the tide, like jellyfish, and dinghying around to find our own private beach where we had a little picnic.
We met new friends who had a nice tall boat.  The kids loved it!!  This boat was full of toys including those boots that you attach to a jet ski and shoot up into the air.  It was so fun to watch and maybe if I'm lucky, I might get a chance to try. They lost their (very very nice) dinghy at Norman's. They got the Coast Guard equivalent, BASRA, involved and just today their dinghy was found and returned.  We have yet to hear the details.

From Norman's we went to Wardrick Wells which is a Bahamian land and sea park.  We hiked awesome trails and saw the skeleton of a whale.  Very cool. Best thing though was that I got to touch a nurse shark that came up behind our boat.  It was awesome!  He or she was looking  for food and I tossed a piece of sausage to it.  After that it hung around the stern of out boat begging me to reach in and give him a rub...so I did!!  I touched a shark and I liked it!  Kudos to you if you sang that to the Katy Perry tune.  We moved south through the park to an Anchorage near Sandy Cay. It was nice to have a beach to ourselves and the rolling wasn't so bad once we used our mad skills to turn the boat into the surge.  Don and I are very happy that we are getting to learn and practice our seamanship.  Having a captain's license doesn't mean much unless you have the practice and I felt rusty at the beginning of this trip especially with a catamaran.  We have noticed some big differences between a monohull  and a cat.  The obvious is the cat has more room.  The monohull sails to wind better and more often.  The cat is rolly and loud compared to our Columbia but with our family the space wins overall.  The shallow draft has brought us to new places  we couldn't go in our monohull including were we are now. We have settled very nicely in Pipe Creek.  Pip has said it's really called "Piper Creek". Its gorgeous here. The shallows are amazing.  I have never been somewhere where I can go from 25 feet  of depth and large coral heads to sea grass and shallow mangroves to rocky shoreline in a matter of 100 feet. GLORIOUS!!  Did I mention it is calm and silent here as it's well protected  on all sides and the wind has died down a bit? A blessing after several days of rolling windy Anchorages!!  Tomorrow or Tuesday, Staniel Cay which is where I might have a chance to publish this post and put up a few pics.  The service I have isn't strong enough to do much online but that is often a blessing too.