Tag Archives: Bahamas

Last of the Bahamas

May 10, 2014TourismAbacos, Bahamas, Bluff House Marina, Green Turtle CayDiana

We’ve already been back in the US for awhile now, but had such a blast in the Bahamas and with Dwane and Beverly when they visited that I wanted to do one last Bahamas post. We spent our last few days in the Bahamas on Green Turtle Cay, first in Black Sound and then in White Sound. Our sail through “The Whale” was quite uneventful though we’d heard it can be treacherous with big seas. Beverly loved the seat up on the bow and stayed there enjoying the view every time we sailed!

The town of New Plymouth was quite cute and we had a nice walk around and lunch there. They have a statue garden which I found slightly creepy but the history is really interesting!

We had a nice dinner on the boat in Black Sound with Ryan (unintentionally) cooking some flame broiled steaks and Dwane trying (unsuccessfully) to catch a fish!

Over in White Sound we walked around the island and enjoyed the beaches as well as the marina facilities at Bluff House Marina. The dock hand here, Andrew, was one of the friendliest guys we met and very helpful! The beaches here were (as usual) gorgeous. Dwane was such a fish and took every opportunity to get in the water and swim. Beverly, while being a little more hesitant was usually game to get in too. Ryan and I watched from the shore and enjoyed the view.

All too soon it was time to say goodbye to Dwane and Beverly. We had a blast during their visit and hope they did too!

Nippers and Grabbers

May 8, 2014TourismAbacos, Bahamas, Grabbers, Great Guana Cay, NippersDiana

Moving on from Hope Town we headed to Great Guana Cay where the famous beach bar Nippers is located. Our friends also recommended another beach bar called Grabbers. So, since we were headed there anyway we went to check them out. Now, having been in the Caribbean and Bahamas for almost 6 months, we had seen our share of famous beach bars. As far as we can tell what makes a great beach bar is an awesome view, availability of beer and a fun crowd. Both bars had the first two and while there wasn’t many people at either we brought our own fun crowd since Dwane and Beverly were still with us. So while I might not rank either in the great category we still had a fun time. And when we got back to the boat we had a great time swimming around too!

Nippers:

Follow the pirate!

Very colorful!

The amazing view

Enjoying a cold one

Grabbers:

Fun on the swing!

Weeeeee

Sitting back relaxing

Grabbers view

Hope Town + Dwane & Beverly!

May 6, 2014TourismAbacos, Bahamas, Hope TownDiana

While in Hope Town we got some new guests to the boat….Dwane and Beverly! They came bearing the good news that they had recently got engaged! Congratulations Dwane and Beverly!!! 🙂

Dwane & Beverly. This is so cute it could be an engagement photo!!

We set out to show them the sites of Hope Town that we had been enjoying and share this super cool place with them. First up was the beach. We took a long walk down the beach, did some swimming and pumped up the paddle board and used it for some surfing!

Beverly watching Dwane paddle.

Ryan on a stroll.

Relaxing after swimming / snorkeling.

More beautiful water.

Ryan’s turn.

Dwane on the paddleboard.

Stanley taking in the view.

The view at the beach.

We had Stanley along on our beach outing and the poor little guy got hot. It’s thirsty work running around the beach! Luckily for Stanley Ryan used his ingenuity and crafted him a doggy shelter out of some sticks on the beach and the bag for the paddleboard. Stanley then dug himself out a cool spot in the shade and happily hung out there for the rest of the afternoon!

The next day we rented bikes and took a bike ride of the island. We saw some of the other beaches, had a great lunch and got a little exercise in!

Arrival in Hope Town Abacos

May 2, 2014TourismAbacos, Bahamas, Hope TownDiana

In our opinion Hope Town was the cutest place we visited in all of the Bahamas. It’s got colorful houses and a cool lighthouse and gorgeous beaches. What more could you ask for? Here are some of the sights around Hope Town.

Oh and here is the local delivery truck!

We visited the lighthouse too and walked up the 101 steps to the top. We had a nice view of the harbor and the surrounding islands. It was neat actually seeing the Fresnel lenses in operation and not just in the visitor center. It is one of the last manual lighthouses in the world.

And we could see Ryana!

We also had a couple of fun nights out with Ainulindale and their guests Stacey and Jorge. Here’s Donna telling Jorge whats up and then making nice for the camera! 🙂

The Birthday Mahi Mahi

May 1, 2014OffshoreBahamasDiana

For Ryan’s birthday this year he got an awesome unexpected present! We were on the way from Eleuthera to the Abacos enjoying a nice day, not much wind but pleasant weather, when suddenly the fishing line starting going. Ryan jumped up and went to work.

As he got it close we caught sight of the fish. It looked to be a big one so Ryan was determined to get it in.

Just when success seemed certain the fish started going crazy and Ryan noticed that a shark had come up. He wanted our fish! Ryan was not about to let that happen!

Another 10 minutes and the fish was on deck! Ryan feeling tired but triumphant shows off his catch.

We ate part of it that night for his birthday dinner and it was delicious!!

Exuma Land and Sea Park

April 25, 2014TourismBahamas, exuma, exuma land and sea park, warderick wellsDiana

We spent 2 days at the Land & Sea Park at Warderick Wells. It’s gorgeous there and they like to say that outside of boats and their ranger station you can go up the hill and see only nature. We had heard good things about it from our friends Kirk and Donna on Ainulindale so we were excited to check it out.

Our first afternoon we walked around the island checking out the sites. We saw lots of pretty views of the water and a lot of curly tailed lizards. There is also a walk where you go past some old abandoned stone houses which are cool. Everywhere you go you are walking on rocks and often times there are big holes in them! We had to constantly be alert.

There were also cool sand bars that we explored. I think that what Stanley might miss the most when we go back to the US are these sand bars! Or maybe I’ll just miss watching how cute he is running and splashing around.

And here are some awesome pictures of our view.

More fun in Staniel Cay

April 23, 2014TourismBahamas, Exumas, Staniel CayDiana

After all the fun we’d been having in Staniel Cay what else could there be? Turns out there are SHARKS!! Well, just nurse sharks but they were fun to watch. Patrick, Greg and Kara pet, fed and even swam with the sharks!

We also had a nice dinner out at the Staniel Cay yacht club. We enjoyed the calm evening and the good company.

Finally though it was time for them to leave. Bye guys….we had a blast!!

Let’s go hiking

April 21, 2014TourismBahamas, Exumas, Staniel CayDiana

On a very hot day we decided to go hike around Staniel Cay. I love these islands where you can hike around pretty much the whole thing in a few hours. The views of the water were stunning as usual. The only thing about going on a really hot day was that with no shade Stanley quickly got overheated. Poor doggie. Good thing he found a rock to dig under to make his own little shady spot!

Snorkeling Fun

April 20, 2014TourismBahamas, Exumas, Staniel CayDiana

We heard there was a sunken plane off of Staniel Cay that you could go and snorkel. So we all hopped in the dinghy and headed over to check it out. It got shallow in spots so Greg helped out by checking the depth.

We had a nice dinghy ride checking out the other side of the island.

Finally we found it. It was just a small island commuter plane but pretty cool.

Then an epidemic of underwater selfies occurred. 🙂

Did you say swimming pigs?

April 19, 2014TourismBahamas, Big Major Spot, Exumas, Staniel Cay, Swimming PigsDiana

One of the other attractions near Staniel Cay is the swimming pigs at Big Major Spot. They swim out to your boat looking for food and then retreat back to land when they’ve eaten all your food. Of course we had to go see them! They look so adorable in the water as they are coming out to greet you, but when you get to land you realize how big they are! We brought a bunch of scraps to feed them plus a few extra treats. Patrick saved a piece of his bacon from breakfast to feed them and Ryan brought a beer. HAHA. They definitely enjoyed both! And when we ran out of food they tried to nibble on Patrick’s leg!

Swimming pigs = cute