Hello all, we woke up to a beautiful big blue sky this morning! I love it when the weather man is wrong, they were forecasting a cloudy day but I'll take this. I'm going to do an early morning workout on the boat then walk the Island. We have a few items to buy, a Bohemian (not the rhapsody...oops Bahamian) phone and a few things from the local hardware store. One of the things that broke in our travels yesterday was a pin from the dingy which latches it down so hoping to find a work around for that today, the shops are not really full so it will be interesting to see what we see.

This afternoon we are taking El Nido out for a short cruise to a snorkeling spot near by we will anchor there and swim in this gorgeous blue / green water ....ahhh. We may toss in our fishing rod too, apparently Bimini is one of the best fishing spots there are many fishing boats in this marina and dive boats so that is a good sign. I'm looking forward to diving again but we may wait for Craig and Marg to arrive for that.

I haven't talked about the winds yet, they blowing straight from the North today so a complete change from yesterdays SE winds. I figure by the time the end of March rolls around I'll be a meteorologist. I'm learning so much about the winds, currents and waves. Who knew there was so much to know about a wave, I watched them for 11 hours yesterday and there is a real pattern to how they break and roll. I imagine surfers do the same to time rides. Tomorrow we will be heading to Chub Cay along the Great Bahama Bank. Here is some interesting information on that:
 
The Great Bahama Bank is a wide shallow body of water that lies generally between the westernmost islands of the Bahamas—the Biminis, Cat Cays, Gun Cay, etc .—and Andros, the largest island of the Bahamas. The sea here is less than twenty feet deep in places and coral heads are scattered throughout. In such a wide expanse of shallow water, a sailor must be conscious of wind, which can create substantial chop, and of the current, which flows in a northeast/southwest direction.The Great Bahama Bank is made of limestone deposits and, scientists believe, was exposed to the air during the last ice age when the sea level was substantially lower. The Florida peninsula is a similar deposit that is not submerged by the sea.
 
The day was filled with so many new things that I've never seen before it was perfect! I started with a workout on board of course You Tube is very helpful for that. We then embarked on a walk of the Island looking for a phone and hardware store. There are few roads on this Island we took the main road heading North I just love the little shops they have here. One thing to note this is a very depressed area I feel very bad for them it is obvious that the economy has really suffered lots of closed restaurants and shops . Another note they don't understand that garbage belongs in the cans we were very surprised to see a lot of garbage along the sides of the roads there were also lots of garbage cans so not sure why they don't use them. Our first stop was the phone store we purchased a bohemian phone and data plan so we can call and use data when needed. Our next stop was the hardware store looking for some new bolts to secure the dingy, Bryan just loves these types of stores. I wandered around the area and noticed there were piles upon piles of Conch shells everywhere along the water this is definitely the local delicacy. On our way back from our walk I stopped and chatted to a couple of local men who had just brought in their conch for the day, they explained how easy it is to get them and most are eaten raw in a salad but you can fry them or put them in a chowder. I just loved getting the local knowledge.  

So more on the walk we decided to continue to the end where there is a casino a long walk but great to see the local sights . We saw several stray dogs and I was wondering about other animals that might be on the island and just then we saw mountain goats right there on the main streets it was very odd but cool, lots of roosters and chickens too. I think they likely use them for food, milk, cheese etc.  

The main road was repaved this year it was very narrow road which they did not widen. They drive on the left side of the road and the main form of transportation is golf club cars they are everywhere. You see a few normal cars and SUV's but very few. At the end of the main road they are building a huge Hilton resort http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/bahamas/hilton-at-resorts-world-bimini-BIMBRHH/index.html The main hotel is still under construction with expected completion sometime in August or September the construction foreman was very vague...I guess this project is on Bahamian time :-) There were many bungalows that were built all ready and the main shopping area, also the infinity pool and pool bar and grill is complete the pool was stunning you couldn't tell where the pool ended and the gorgeous ocean begins (see picture) So in time this resort will be very nice .

The round trip walk took 2 1/2 hours ish a good start to the day. We had lunch on the boat and did a few chores then decided to make our way out for a snorkel adventure to the Sapona Wreck apparently a good snorkeling and dive site. The Sapona was a rum-runner working between the Bahamas and Florida during prohibition build in 1904, it ran aground during the 1926 hurricane. Over half the ship is visible above water, you can swim through some of the wreck. The trip out to the ship was good sunny and warm then the clouds decided to roll in and waves geesh, wave are our story right. We tried to anchor a few times but the winds just blew us off so we decided to make our way back, we managed to get a few good photo's from the boat. When we got back to the marina we noticed a large number of people around one of the fishing boats so I went on over to see what the fuss was about and there they were Bull Sharks lots of them feeding on the fisherman's scraps. Omg it was something I've never seen before, huge sharks all fighting for the scraps. One of the fisherman tied some of the scraps to a rope and dangled it for the sharks it was a real show!!! I tried to upload a video but no go perhaps another day...sorry about that.

We ate at the local pub tonight it was pretty good but their attention to detail is lacking but you just don't care down here it is so laid back...example Bryan's Conch Fritters a no show my dinner was rice and black beans and blackened fish but was supposed to be grilled fish, veggies and rice and peas...too funny.  

We are up early tomorrow and hope to be on route at 6:30 for Chub Cay.

What a great day!

PS
The Feb. Leo full moon did not disappoint it was stunning!