Ruth-xmas in the Exumas

We are staying on this island that is the center of the Exuma National
Sea Park. It is a large area of land and water where it is against the
law to fish or take anything from the land...thus the sea, coral, and
plant life are PHENOM!!!! The other day I went out for a run on their
trails...and I quickly found out these trails are TRAILS. Like,
hardcore steep coral rock, swamp areas, way overgrown paths, beaches,
ruins from 1780, and routes under dark shady palms! I ended up
hiking/jogging (I could barely jog because the trails were so intense) and
I was out there by myself for over 3 hours! Oh my god, it was the
fucking BEST! I totally got lost in it. I'm taking Jack out there
again for Christmas and I am SO bringing the camera. On the hike I saw
numerous native birds, a fucking crazy amount of lizards and iguanas
(like over a hundred literally, darting constantly out of my path), a
snake, and a couple times I spotted
the only mammal native to the Bahamas, whose home is on this island.
It's called a Hutia. It sort of looks like an overgrown
hamster/rat. But still, cool. OH, and I also saw four stingrays when I
was walking over this small "bridge." I watched them swim around and
bury themselves in the sand. It was so sweet! So beautiful, and so relaxing.

Yesterday, while Jack napped, I went snorkeling with two other couples.
They picked me up on their dingy and we sped across the sound into
certain cuts that have a lot of coral heads (and thus a lot of marine
life). I saw the most GORGEOUS coral and the most BEAUTIFUL fish. Some
highlights: I saw a big nassau grouper, a huge redtail snapper, and a
big BARACUDA --those are scary, very very curious fish that give you a
steady creepy stare and follow you around. They have jagged, sharp
teeth...look up some pics of these fish and you can see what I saw!

Every mooring on this anchorage will be taken by the time christmas
arrives. It is filling up fast, and everyone here is wonderful!
Everyone is so laid back and so nice, with great sense of humors and a
great sense of giving and sharing. On Christmas, at around 2 o'clock,
everyone will have a potluck on the beach. Although I will miss my
family and friends greatly, it will still be a joyous time. In a sense
we will still be having a white christmas --the sand here is pure
white!

Before arriving in the Exuma sea park, we spent some time in Allen,
Highborne, and Norman Cays anchored out. Some highlights:
At Allen we saw prehistoric iguanas on one of the islands. They are
very large (few feet in length) and not at all shy...super fast and
they will charge at you! It was sweet. We also enjoyed "sundowners"
(basically cocktails and snacks) with four other couples on one of
their boats.

At Highborne we anchored out of a cold front and fueled up. The next
day we motored down to Norman's Pond - an area I wanted to see because
it had caves in the rocky coral walls. We cut through to the east side
of the islands and endured an INTENSE east wind that had churned up
the waves hardcore. Most of them were literally ten feet, yet they
were still manageable (at least Jack was able to manage them..)
because although steep, they were rolling and far enough apart that we
could ride them. It was like being on a mini rollarcoaster for four
miles!

At Norman's Cay we tucked into a shallow area called Norman's Pond,
which was extremely beautiful. As Jack said, it looked like Gilligan's
Island. The day after arriving, we snorkeled the caves and I walked
inside one. It would take hours to describe how beautiful it was. The
reflection of the sun on the glistening water flickered along the cave
walls like a softly glowing candle. The shapes, textures, colors,
light and shadows were among the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen. I
didn't have a camera -- not that I think a camera would catch what I
was seeing-- but I will never ever forget the picture I have in my
mind of those moments. I spent about 15 minutes in one little area
just taking it all in.

The following day, we tucked into a small anchorage at the south of
Norman's cay, where we planned on snorkeling a plane wreck. This one
was just as awesome, if not better, than the first. The plane was
almost entirely intact. The body was partially sticking out of the
water, but the ceiling of the body had eroded so that you could
snorkel THROUGH the body of the plane. That was an amazing experience.
It brought me so close to the fish inside. They were swimming all
around me and some of them even began nibbling on my fingers (I was
wearing diving gloves). The two engine propellars were also intact.
The marine life was extraordinary! The fish were not shy at all. At
one point I had --no question --at LEAST thirty fish swirling all
around me...below me and to all sides of me!
Underneath one of the wings of the wreck, we spotted a couple
groupers and Jack saw a snapper too. So he went back to the boat and
busted out the new Hawiian sling we just bought in Nasseau, hooked it
up, and swam back out to spear some fish! Mmmm dinner! But get this:
first of all, the current was getting stronger by the minute, so he
was having a hard time staying still in the water and getting the
sling to shoot where he was aiming. So in order to improve his balance
he leaned down toward something that looked like a long rod of
steal...part of the wreckage. But as his eyes followed the "rod," he
noticed a certain pattern in the sand and realized it was an eagle
ray! Like, a HUGE eagle ray!!! This thing was at about four feet
across...it could have totally wrapped its "wings" around my body in a
big eagle ray hug. It was just huge. And Jack was THAT close to
grabbing its tail! ( P.S. The tail of the stingray is its "weapon" to
ward off predators or stun prey). Yeah.
That's not all though- Jack eventually finds some stability by
grabbing onto the wing of the plane and aims the sling, pulls back and
BAM! No, POOF! A big, -- i mean BIG --BLOWFISH puffs itself up. It
starts wriggling around with the spear still stuck in it. big and
spikey, churning up sand, and the large eagle ray gets up too ...it
was one of those "GO! GO! GO!" situations where we swam fast as hell
to get out of there! But at the same time, I was sooo fascinated by
the sight, I couldn't bring myself to swim my fastest. Although, trust
me, I swam away fast. Obviously, Jack didn't mean to hit a
BLOWFISH...so we figured it was a bust and went back to the boat.
Fucking inSANE though!!! :) :) :) :)

Poor Blowey :( :( :( :(

The next day we sailed about 15 miles south. We started the motor so
that we could plow through the bigger seas on the east side of the
islands so that we could check out a wreck. During this procedure, we
almost became a wreck ourselves! Bascially, the wreck we saw had
crashed right upon these hard reefs and on our way over there we had
to maneuver around the rocks ourselves, mostly by bottom reading.
There was one point where we had just taken down the sail and as I
hopped back into the cockpit from the bow, I looked out in front of us
and noticed a thick and sharp rock head sticking out of the water
RIGHT IN FRONT OF US. I just started screaming over the sound of the
wind and the water "GO STARBOARD! GO STARBOARD! GO PORT! GO
ANYWHERE!!" I just wanted to holler. Jack was quick in his movements
and he immediately slowed the motor and turned to starboard just in
time to miss it. Wow, that was a close one!

We anchored outside the harbor that night, but on our way in we saw
our first shark! (Discounting the 10 or so Nurse Sharks, which are
harmful bottom feeding sharks, that we saw in Great Harbor). With this
shark, I spotted his fin sticking out of the water, maybe 100 feet
from the boat. It looked TOTAL Jaws-like. The fin submerged and then
appeared again. It was a dark blue, gleaming, very sharp,
threatening-looking fin! It was so cool!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!