Greetings from The Bahamas

(The Web Lackey is posting the following message on behalf of Loy & Linda)

Thank you for congratulatory e-mails on the successful crossing. We are thrilled to have made it this time! With no light pollution the sky is filled with stars and bands of light that make up the Milky Way. The stars in the night sky are more abundant than we have ever seen. The blue and clarity of the water is akin to the water of the Virgin Islands. This has been a week of clear, cool nights that are great for sleeping.

We spent an extra day at Allans Pensacola Cay. We dinghied over to a bay and hiked out to the Atlantic side. We visited the signing trees where cruisers leave signs and mementoes of their stay. We found conch and other shells and enjoyed the warm surf from the beach inside the reef. Susan even found a beach bean! Sandpiper trivia: What is a beach bean? Where do they come from?

In the anchorage Linda spotted a shark (we don't know what kind) and a Portuguese Man O War. These are very beautiful floating blue creatures with a sail like crest made of a colony of organisms specialized to fulfill different functions, e.g. one group create the sailing float, another group the poison tentacles and another group digest the fish they catch. They also have a powerful poison that causes painful stings or death for people. They have no locomotion other than their float which is also a sail being blown by the wind. They can extend their tentacles for fishing or withdraw them. Amazing creatures.

We visited Spanish Cay Marina where we checked in with customs and immigration and had a wonderful lunch of conch fritters, conch chowder and grouper sandwiches. The cook was responsive to our enthusiasm for her wares and gave us some frozen conch chowder to take with us. We bought some of her homemade bread to have on the boat. There are only seven homes on this island with a private airplane and sport fishing boat for each home. We look forward to returning to this beautiful and friendly place in paradise.

Tonight we arrived at Manjack Cay anchorage just as the sun was setting. We could smell wood smoke from a cooking fire somewhere on the island. Tomorrow we will sail toward Green Turtle Cay.

Because this is a sailing trip we have breakdowns and repairs to make. In the past week since arriving we have had a throttle cable break. We traveled today with Susan adjusting the throttle in the engine room from which we removed the doors to facilitate communication with the cockpit. We also discovered that the boat yard that repaired our mainsail furling forgot to put the cotter pin back in the linking pin that joins the boom to the mast. We caught it just before they separated. Yesterday the outboard engine overheated. Today we also adjusted the tension of the backstay. It's part of the deal when you live on a boat far from the big city.

Have you seen the satellite maps of our trip that Jim Newman has put on the website? They are amazing. (Note: the maps can be accessed by clicking the link under Loy & Linda's picture.)