The nice thing about this sailing trip is that after a few hours of sailing (in this case 26 hours) you are suddenly in a completely different world. We left Cuba behind and let the Bahamas surprise us. What a beautiful sailing area this is. Many beautiful islands, partly uninhabited, unspoiled nature, white sandy beaches, clear blue / green water, beautiful underwater world ... what more could you want? It's incomprehensible that not more 'leavers' include this as a destination in their Atlantic itinerary.

The journey there is very smooth. There was little wind, so we only had to motor, but it could be worse, because normally this would have been a stretch of high ground or right up against the wind, which can blow quite hard here. We sail together with the Virage, a Canadian boat with Francois, Julie-Anne, Annabelle (9 years old) and Bastien (5 years old) on board. They know the Bahamas very well and can tell us a lot about it. The first bay we enter is Clarence Town on Long Island. We anchor just before an uninhabited island and can see the anchor at a depth of 5 meters. Toine and Francois go ashore together to clear the boat, in Fancois' dinghy, because that has 15 hp and goes a lot faster than ours (with a 4 hp engine). Here in the Bahamas you don't really compete with a 4 hp engine, as we find out later. You can use it very well here because the distances we can cover by dinghy are quite long. Oh well, we have only been in the Bahamas for a short time and are still very 'attached' to our trusty little engine. Besides, this is a nice hp height so the girls can also sail it alone without danger.

I go to the beach with Julie-Anne and the children to find some wood for the campfire that evening. The Virage has caught a beautiful Spanish mackerel and we are going to eat it together. In aluminum foil on our Cobb, delicious soft white meat, really to savor. Finished with a nice appetizer ... 'spider plantain'; a real Bahamian recipe ... a mixture of grated plantain with coconut, ginger and garlic, fried in oil ... delicious! Also our last leftover tuna in soy marinade roasted over the campfire tastes delicious. The only disadvantage of eating on the beach is all the mosquitoes and no-see-ums (very small creatures that sting and that you can hardly see) that are there for half an hour around sunset. Toine does have more than a hundred little bumps on his legs from this ... also from Cuba or only from Clarence Town? We do not know. Only after 3 days the itching subsides and things return to normal. Something that is special here is that we have no GSM connection because KPN apparently has no contract with the Bahamas. So for the next 2.5 weeks not only no internet on the blackberry, but also no texting and no phone. That takes some getting used to. Even in The Gambia we had cell phone coverage.

The next day we take it easy and in the afternoon we go snorkeling and Toine for the first time 'spear fishing' with Francois. You swim around with a spear, you dive into the depth every now and then to find fish or lobsters and 'spear' them. This is what fishing is all about .... a real sport! Lazily throwing out a line behind the boat is nothing compared to that. However, no results yet.

The following day, we set off with the Virage just after sunrise (7:00 a.m.) for a delightful 45-mile sail with a little nod to Conception Island. What a beautiful island that is! Completely uninhabited, with unspoiled nature, plenty of reefs for snorkeling and fishing and nice clear water for swimming. There are a few sharks swimming around, we notice that in the afternoon during snorkeling ... brrrr, so no more snorkeling. We think this is the most beautiful spot so far! There is another Canadian boat with children (the Merci) and the three men agree to go 'hunting' for a lobster with their spear the next morning (Sunday morning). Toine stares his eyes out ... what a top-class sport this is. You get very tired of continuously diving 6 meters deep (only with snorkel) to chase and spear fish and lobsters. They succeed ... and they come back with a huge 'Grouper' which we eat that evening with the three families. Meanwhile, I make a cake which we eat for dessert that evening.

While cleaning the fish (throwing the waste into the water), three sharks swim around the Merci. We make beautiful pictures of them, very impressive those beasts! In the afternoon we all take a nice walk on part of the island and in the evening the whole group joins us on the boat for dinner. We have the largest boat (those two Canadian boats are 'only' 29 feet) and so we can give something back, because the Grouper for the main course comes mainly from the Merci and the Virage makes a delicious conch salad (from shells you can find at the bottom of the sea here). Very cozy and very good food! In that respect, Canadians are like the French!

On Monday, Mar 22, we say goodbye to each other again. We are going on to the Exumas and they are going in a different direction. After a nice sailing trip (unfortunately with no fish caught) of 45 miles, we arrive in the early afternoon at Emerald Bay Marina, a very luxurious marina north of George Town. They have free washing machines and a supermarket there, which is the reason we go here. Before the end of the day I have done five loads of washing and drying and everything is freshly folded in the boat! The expected cold front passes over; then the wind turns clockwise in 12 hours from east to south, west, north and back to east again usually accompanied by rain and stronger winds. This happens quite regularly, so it is important to keep a close eye on the weather forecasts, especially if you are anchored at anchorages that are only protected by east or west winds. The temperature here is already a bit cooler than in the Caribbean. The fans are no longer necessary and we are lying under a sheet again (and even one night under the comforter). The temperature of the water is also cooler (23 degrees here compared to 29 degrees in the Caribbean). Snorkeling without a wetsuit is therefore not easy. Fortunately we already bought one for the girls and Toine in the Netherlands and for me we will buy one the next day in George Town. We then go to school first and think we can take a cab up and down to George Town (the 'main city'). It turns out that going back and forth by cab is just as expensive as renting a car ... so we rent a car. The town isn't much, fortunately we can find a good sea chart of the Exumas because we didn't have one and our electronic system, the navionics, doesn't have the entire Bahamas in sufficient detail. We buy the wetsuit for me in a diving store and a visit there also makes us decide to go diving with the three of us one more time and it turns out we can do so the next morning. Good, because then we still have the car. At night, on the advice of an American sailor from our harbour, we go to Febuary Point, a resort with a nice little bistro where they have 'Taco Tuesday'; eat as many tacos as you like on Tuesdays, with great live music. We eat well there and have a lot of fun.

The diving the next day is wonderful! Not very deep, but lots of beautiful fish and coral. We also see a beautiful lionfish, a large sea crab and a large lobster. The 2nd dive Eline goes back earlier with the divemaster because she is very cold and Toine and I can swim together along a coral wall. Very nice! After the dive we do some shopping, then quickly to the harbor.etal, drop off the car and a short sail to the next good anchorage in the Exumas ... Rat Cay. A beautiful spot in shallow water behind an uninhabited island. We enjoy the drinks with homemade spider plantain (for the recipe, check out my sister's fantastic website ... Family Kitchen there will be the recipe next week) and dinner with homemade fries and a big piece of tender meat from the Cobb. Setting sun with it and almost alone in the bay (except for one boat) completes the summit feeling.

From Rat Cay we sailed on (yesterday) to Black Point. First a piece on the east side of the Exumas through the kilometers deep Exuma Sound. Then through Cave Cut at Cave Cay to the east side of the Exumas over the Exuma Bank which is very shallow. Sometimes only just 2.0 meters and that is exactly what we need! We are happy with the map because we could not have done this with the Navionics map alone. It is a beautiful trip on green / blue clear water where you can see the bottom. Black Point is another beautiful anchor bay, this time with a few more boats. In the evening we have a delicious dinner on the boat again.

And today we sailed from Black Point to Staniel Cay. Only a short distance, but over very shallow water and that was quite exciting. We just made it with a piece of 2.0 meters deep for the entrance of Staniel Cay. This is another particularly beautiful spot. Many small islands and reefs around us and few other boats. Here is also the famous 'Thunderball Cave'; an underwater cave where you can snorkel and see beautiful fish. James Bond movie 'Thunderball' (from 1966) was shot in this cave. We will check it out tomorrow.

Now we are happy to have internet again. That was a while ago. So we can update the site, send emails and read the blogs of our fellow travelers again. And so another week has passed. Some statistics: we have sailed 8,230 miles and expect to tick away another 5,500. We are 8 months into our trip and still have 5 months to go, so that's a good match with the distance we still have to sail. We will spend the next week in the Bahamas doing small bits of sailing. After that, Florida with a visit to the amusement parks awaits us. Life is good !!!!!!