It’s been a while since I put pen to paper, but much has happened in the Bahamas since our last update. We’re now in Norman’s Cay in the Exumas, having transited from Nassau to Allan’s Cay on Tuesday, and then spent three sleepless nights at Allan’s Cay with howling winds and a crowded anchorage causing some anchor anxiety.

In a bid to get ahead of myself, or at least up to speed the most important photo is of Kel and I outside the cricket club in Nassau, where we watched Ireland defeat the English, the win being more important than the scoreline!

Snorkeling has become an important part of our daily routine on the boat, and today at Norman’s Cay was no exception. We motored for 20 minutes from our anchorage on the east side of the island round the southern tip and on towards the open ocean. The dinghy was laden with our snorkels and fins, fishing box and spears, towels, water, our portable VHF radio and a squirt bottle of whiskey to kill any fish we successfully brought to the surface.

First stop was the crashed plane awash on a sand bank. Norman’s Cay was previously controlled by drug lord Carlos Lehder and the plane had been ferrying drugs at the time of the accident. After stopping for a couple of photos we beached the dinghy at Wax Cay to investigate snorkeling options on the ocean side. In the end we decided the seas were too rough on the outside, and moved across to another smaller cay to explore the marine life and look for some lunch.

In Allan’s Cay, our last anchorage, I made my first successful fishing trip with our pole spear, bringing home a Parrot fish for dinner after at least 20 failed attempts – its pretty tricky I quickly discovered. Kel and I got in the water at the lee end of the island and started to swim into the current towards the ocean.

I’m hopeless at getting in and out of the water in fins without decimating the coral beneath my feet, and so in a cloud of sponge, coral and sand we floated off towards the point. It’s amazing how an empty sea from above the surface is actually a David Attenborough fantasyland below. Kel is predictably anal about cataloging our sightings, and is delighted to report that in the last couple of days we’ve seen: yellow margin triggerfish, longspine squirril fish, trumpet fish, fairy basslet, diadem dottyback, blue chromis, lemon damsil, rock beauty, urchins, cornet fish, conch, sponge, brain coral, elk coral. Kel stipulates that these are her attempts to categorise and cannot be considered authoritative.

Working our way into deeper water we stumbled upon one of two sea creatures that scared the crap out of me – a southern stingray. We were fighting to stay stationary in the current and probably making sufficient noise to attract attention when we both noticed the ray floating across the ocean floor towards us and keeping one very large eye on us at all times. I got the camera out – always thinking about my future media career of course – snapped a photo and was just about to film a when we realised the ray was actually swimming towards us at quite a rate.

Conscious of the late great Steve Irwin, a more accomplished marine explorer than I, we started backing up. As you can see from our movie we did this calmly and in a manner designed not to raise suspicion, but as we moved backward the ray kept moving towards us. We swam to the beach and watched from the shallows as the ray swam by and lay on the seabed again staring with one large eye. Spooky.

During this little panic another spectator arrived on the scene to survey these strange visitors to their aquatic neighbourhood, a Great Barracuda. Barracuda can grow up to 2 meters and smaller ones are apparently really tasty. We watched him watch us curiously for a couple of minutes and then Kel suggested we get our spear out and try to bring him home. I went back to the boat and Kel kept an eye on him.

I got back in the water and after a few minutes he came back for another look. It’s difficult to get much velocity with the pole spear and my one shot missed him by a mile and he swam off into the deep. We swam back and forward along the shoreline with our eyes peeled for him, or any other lunch sized fish, but after 10 minutes were ready to call it a day. As we arrived at the beach I took one hopeful last look out into deeper water when I saw what I think was a grey reef shark swimming towards us. I approached this unexpected arrival with the same calm brave assurance as the southern stingray – vacating my bowels before vacating the scene. Infact I swam to shore with such conviction that I accidentally forgot to bring Kel with me and left her to greet the shark. Kel had the wit to realise that I was fleeing from something and followed me to the beach.

Spooked (me, not Keli) we got out of the water and decided to head home for lunch. I’ll catch a Barracuda another day.

Allan’s Cay, our last stop, is also home to some really exciting land animals – iguanas. Now a protected species, the iguanas are free to roam the island without fear of predators and walk down the beach to greet the arrival of tourists like us with brazen confidence, expecting a feast. They didn’t get a feast from us exactly, but they did get a few tit bits, one of which Kel fed by hand – check this out.

The plan at the minute is to leave Norman’s Cay tomorrow to head to the Exuma Land and Sea Park and Shroud Cay where we’ll pick up a mooring ball for a night or two as anchoring is prohibited to protect the seabed.

Oh, I did also manage the long anticipated naked fire dancing at Allan’s Cay – as you may imagine it was phenomenal.

Our list of questions included:

• Should we buy collapsable or rigid bottomed dinghy?
• What weapons did you carry for personal protection?
• Is SSB radio better than satelite phones?
• Should we become members of a yacht club?
• Did  you use 100% cotton bedding?
• What did you carry in your first aid kit?
• How did you prepare for having guests aboard?

Today we made our final decision of which yacht broker to use to help us buy the boat, and are delighted to have settled on Ian Fraser from Fraser Yacht Sales. Ian came highly recommended from friends of Dennis and Pat, and have met with him in his office last week both Keli and I feel confident that he can help us find a boat that meets our needs. We’ll keep you posted on developments there…

It was great to get out on the water with Dennis and Pat at the weekend on Tanatuls, their Express 37 sailboat. We sailed across from West Vancouver Yacht Club to Gibson’s on the Sunshine Coast on Friday evening to have dinner with Kel’s Granny Louise and Auntie Aileen and Lynn. On Saturday we sailed across to an inlet called Long Bay to practice anchoring and settle in for the night. A successful weekend and I think Dennis and Pat felt a little more confident that the training had paid off and Keli and I had half a clue what we were getting ourselves into!

On Saturday we head to the Bowron Lakes, a provincial park in British Columbia, for a week long canoeing and camping trip on the lakes. Ten of us will spend 7 to 9 days completing a circuit of 116km on the lakes, camping in designated camp grounds each night. It’s likely to be the most extreme wilderness I’ve ever seen, so it’s really exciting to be getting it in before we head off to warmer climes.