Ah....the fronts have either stalled out or quit all together, giving us a reprieve from the dock at The Marina at Emerald Bay, now don't get us wrong...we love it there, but we came to the Bahamas to cruise, discover, and have adventures in the beautiful waters! Veda L is pictured here anchored at The Bight, off Freetown, Cat Island. Shallow waters to anchor in, and the crescent beach giving us a beautiful view of the island. Not only did we take the hike 206' up Mt Alvernia to visit The Hermitage which is a replica of a monestary built by Father Jerome, (Google history of Cat Island) but we also discovered The Catholic Church nearby that was also designed by him, anyone going to The Bight must walk the short distance to see it's Spanish architecture which is not common on the islands, step inside, it's open.
This is Lula's Place, in New Bight, Cat Island, one of many little "shacks" that line the beach, which we lovingly referred to as "the strip mall" Lula specializes in coconut treats, pies, cakes and homemade bread. She picks the coconuts and shreds them, I asked her how many she shreds a day and she said "oh about 7 or 8" She MUST have a cuisinart! We had a wonderful time here, she gave me a Kalik as change for my purchases, and her friend Pompei told us very interesting stories about the island's history, showing us where the first Dr, photographer and teacher lived in the settlement.
We left The Bight after two days and went around the island to Hawksnest Marina, the entrance shown above, where we found "courtesy bikes" to ride over to the restaurant for dinner, and internet service by the pool. We strolled the beach and found hammocks between palm trees that if we had gotten there earlier would have been a treat to hang out in with a good book by the sea. After our dinner we kept having near collisions while biking "home" as it was pitch dark out on this clear, moonless night and the stars above were putting on a fabulous show that we kept having to look at!
After Rum Cay we finally made it to Conception! This is surely my favorite spot in the Bahamas as it is totally uninhabited, has many coral reefs to dive on, a creek that you can dingy up (we took our canoe in) to see turtles basking in the clear warm shallows. We saw more juvenile Lemon Sharks than turtles however, which gave us the inkling that we would probably see the Mama and Papa sharks while diving the reefs....we did. A 6' Lemon Shark decided to pay us a visit while snorkeling/spearfishing a reef not far offshore. Richard, my friend and co-worker, who was cruising with us and I had a race to the boat to see who could propell themself into it first....so much for teamwork! Every man for himself. I don't mind them at a distance, you can see when a shark is showing signs of agressive behavior by arching it's back, lowering pectoral fins, etc., and this guy was just there for a cruise through the "supermarket" to see what we were shopping for. But,as we approached our tender, and we saw him on the other side of our tender while we were about 15' from it, and he made a U-Turn...that's when we made like rockets and launched! Yes, the Dr. says we should always get our heart rates up at least once a day!
Ah....the fronts have either stalled out or quit all together, giving us a reprieve from the dock at The Marina at Emerald Bay, now don't get us wrong...we love it there, but we came to the Bahamas to cruise, discover, and have adventures in the beautiful waters! Veda L is pictured here anchored at The Bight, off Freetown, Cat Island. Shallow waters to anchor in, and the crescent beach giving us a beautiful view of the island. Not only did we take the hike 206' up Mt Alvernia to visit The Hermitage which is a replica of a monestary built by Father Jerome, (Google history of Cat Island) but we also discovered The Catholic Church nearby that was also designed by him, anyone going to The Bight must walk the short distance to see it's Spanish architecture which is not common on the islands, step inside, it's open. 
This is Lula's Place, in New Bight, Cat Island, one of many little "shacks" that line the beach, which we lovingly referred to as "the strip mall" Lula specializes in coconut treats, pies, cakes and homemade bread. She picks the coconuts and shreds them, I asked her how many she shreds a day and she said "oh about 7 or 8" She MUST have a cuisinart! We had a wonderful time here, she gave me a Kalik as change for my purchases, and her friend Pompei told us very interesting stories about the island's history, showing us where the first Dr, photographer and teacher lived in the settlement. 
We left The Bight after two days and went around the island to Hawksnest Marina, the entrance shown above, where we found "courtesy bikes" to ride over to the restaurant for dinner, and internet service by the pool. We strolled the beach and found hammocks between palm trees that if we had gotten there earlier would have been a treat to hang out in with a good book by the sea. After our dinner we kept having near collisions while biking "home" as it was pitch dark out on this clear, moonless night and the stars above were putting on a fabulous show that we kept having to look at! 
After Rum Cay we finally made it to Conception! This is surely my favorite spot in the Bahamas as it is totally uninhabited, has many coral reefs to dive on, a creek that you can dingy up (we took our canoe in) to see turtles basking in the clear warm shallows. We saw more juvenile Lemon Sharks than turtles however, which gave us the inkling that we would probably see the Mama and Papa sharks while diving the reefs....we did. A 6' Lemon Shark decided to pay us a visit while snorkeling/spearfishing a reef not far offshore. Richard, my friend and co-worker, who was cruising with us and I had a race to the boat to see who could propell themself into it first....so much for teamwork! Every man for himself. I don't mind them at a distance, you can see when a shark is showing signs of agressive behavior by arching it's back, lowering pectoral fins, etc., and this guy was just there for a cruise through the "supermarket" to see what we were shopping for. But,as we approached our tender, and we saw him on the other side of our tender while we were about 15' from it, and he made a U-Turn...that's when we made like rockets and launched! Yes, the Dr. says we should always get our heart rates up at least once a day!
