s/v Nine of Cups Cruising the Bahamas Winter 2002

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We left Charleston, SC (at last!) on 17 January, 2002  and headed to West Palm Beach, FL on the "outside" via a short anchorage in St. Augustine. The passages were calm and cold, however each degree south brought warmer breezes and dreams of shorts, t-shirts and barefeet.

Nassau Harbour is large and beautiful.  We anchored just off Club Med across from Prince George Wharf.  The photo above, taken from atop the Water Tower, shows the beauty of the harbour with the Atlantis theme hotel in the background.

Our perception of the Bahamas prior to cruising was limited to Freeport and Nassau.  Actually there are over 700 islands covering 100,000 square miles with a total population of 305,000. We visited a large number of them but still only a small portion of all the islands as we travelled south.

The Exumas Land and Sea Park is part of the Bahamas National Trust which works to protect natural and historical resources in the Bahamas.  No fishing, shelling or conching is allowed. This is a view from the headquarters.

Both of us enjoyed seeing the iguanas in Allan's Cay, Exumas.  Though we were a bit timid at first, we found them curious, but not very aggressive.  Any sudden move or loud noise on our part sent them scurrying.  They are an endangered species and only live on islands not inhabited by other animals.  These are about the size of Jelly.

We visited several cays on our trek south through the Exumas.  Each island seemed to have its own charm, especially Staniel Cay pictured above.  This picturesque cay was the location for many of the scenes in the movies Splash and Thunderball.

In return for volunteer work within the park, we were allowed to anchor for free.  After providing resumes of our engineering, marketing and management backgrounds, they found tasks for which we were qualified - David on the rock pile and Marcie babysitting.

We left the Bahamas and headed for the Turks and Caicos Islands. Our favorite stop here was Grand Turk Island.  Pictured left is the Grand Turk Lighthouse, which was cast in iron in England and transported and reassembled in 1852 overlooking Northeast Reef. The Bermudian Saltrakers were the first to commercially produce salt in the Turks and Caicos by evaporating sea water in a series of salinas or salt ponds.  Since then, salt played an important part of the economy until the 1960's.  The salinas still occupy a huge area in Grand Turk and Salt Cay, and are reminders of this history.  Pictured right are the remains of a windmill used to pump water between salinas.

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Every island has its own unique species of lizards or anoles.  The two males pictured here are indigenous to Grand Turk and are fighting over territory.  They extend the area beneath the mouth, called dewlaps, to appear bigger amd more ferocious.