Exuma Cays, Bahamas
Trip Start
Feb 24, 2010
1
21
26
Trip End
Aug 16, 2010
Georgetown, Exuma, Bahamas
Friday, April 1, 2011
We travelled down the Exuma Cays. A 90 mile long series of around 360 small island cays with white sand secluded beaches and rocks undercut by the water and tide and yes, more crystal clear water .. everywhere ! Sounds romantic but it's all fast paced go on this boat.
Caught, cooked and eaten a few lobster, conch (kind of a big snail in a huge shell), some fresh fish (not enough). Caught a few barracuda, but they went straight back.
Found a few nice snorkelling spots with beautiful purple fan coral and lots of fish. Swam with some friendly stingrays off the beach, they like to be patted .. wierd feeling.
Have seen some good fun bands and the Bahamians are very friendly. The local live music is called a 'rake and scrape' band. They play drums, saws and whatever other items they can find. They are lots of fun and good for dancing to, and the Bahamians won't hesitate to get you on the dance floor.
In Georgetown (on the Tropic of Cancer), saw the 'Family Island Regatta' which is a lot of traditional Bahamian built sailing boats racing over a few days. It's a great tradition and draws crowds from all over the Bahamas and beyond. The boats are wooden and the sails are huge.
Headed north again back through Exuma Cays, then up to Eleuthra - a very long thin unusual shaped island. It's over 100 miles long and only 1 mile wide in places. Spanish Wells is an interesting village on a small island, settled in late 1600's by white people from Bermuda and America (British loyalists). These families have been here for long time. Very religious, dry island (no alcohol sold here), pastel coloured wooden houses with picket fences. Lobster fishing.
Then up to Abacos, a large island and series of small cays close by. Beautiful area. Hopetown is a lovely village on a small island with narrow roads and more pastel coloured houses with shutters. A candy striped lighthouse built in 1863, still using old style kerosene lamp. Weighted timing mechanism has to be wound up by hand every 2 hours by the keeper. Watching it rotate and shoot out beams of light up to 20km is mesmerising.
Thats four months in the beautiful Bahamas ...
