Lee Stocking Island

We left George Town, Great Exuma, and headed towards Lee Stocking Island. We were all sad, because George Town is the farthest south that we would ever go in the Bahamas, But now, we're headed home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited!

When we got to Lee Stocking, it was only midday, so we got out our snorkeling gear and headed out. The first thing we saw was a big Nurse Shark that was lazily swimming along the ocean floor. He didn't bother us, so my dad got out the sling and spear. By the end of the day, my dad had gotten us a meal of three flounder, a strawberry grouper and a large queen triggerfish. They were all really tasty. My mom made a fish chowder out of the grouper remains ( guts not included! ). Yum!

Yup, strawberry grouper

queen trigger fish

Tasty meal!

The next day, we decided to move the boat closer to the dinghy dock and then go for a hike. We packed up some water and headed out. The town was old biological research station that was abandoned and run-down. No one was home. A big biology lab lay on our left, and an airplane hangar, complete with a broken-up airstrip, to our right. 

Biology lab

Old fish pens

Abandoned hangar

nuts n' bolts

Airstrip

Pretty flowers

We walked along the airstrip until we came to a  path. It was really cool.The path turned and twisted until we ended up on Coconut Beach. There were a few other boaters there. 

Spider mover extraordinaire!

Armed with only a palmetto frond....

Wack!

Coconut beach

There was another steep, rocky path that led to a breath-taking overlook. There was a sign that read: Perry's Peak, highest point in the Exumas, 123 feet. It was a long way up! 

Hurry up and take the picture so we can have some water.

Ocean side view

Wren and I ran all the way down to Coconut Beach. We couldn't stop ourselves! We headed back to the dinghy with plans to go snorkeling again. Everyone was looking forward to it! It was really hot!

That night, we had grunts, peas and rice, and grouper! yummy!

Hope all is merry,

Ri to the Ley

The Levy Preserve

It was a beautiful Friday morning when we left Kiawah for the Levy Preserve in Governor's Harbour, on Eleuthera Island. We landed the dinghy and then followed the signs that led to the beautiful native plant preserve that was two miles away.  We planned to hitch-hike because a four mile round trip hike was a lot.  A nice Bahamian man picked us up and dropped us right at the Levy Preserve.

  

One major point of the Levy Preserve is to teach people about the native plants in the Bahamas, and to show them how the non-native (invasive) species are taking over.  The Casaurina pine and the Lionfish are just two examples of invasive species in the Bahamas.  The Casuarina pine drops needles that create a sort of blanket that suffocates the native plants.  They also add acid to the soil making it hard for other plants to grow.  The lion fish was brought here from South America in the ballast water of ships, and also as a  pretty aquarium fish. They are now eating all the native fish that are important to the  Bahama's coral reefs and underwater ecosystems.  Fishemen are encouraged to kill lion fish when they get the chance.  Most people are scared off by the venom in their fins, but they are actually very good eating if you clip off the fins with scissors.  We ate three of them and they were delicious.  There are many more invasive species that are affecting the Bahama's wildlife.

Another big point of the Levy Preserve in to educate people about the Bahama's bush medicine.  Many of the Bahamian islands do not have access to a doctor so they use plants for medicine. Most Bahamians rely on bush medicine.  Not only does it work, but it is also a big part fo Bahamian culture.

We walked into the main office of the Levy Preserve and it was lovely!  There was a big file cabinet filled with insect collections.  There were spiders too.  The lady told us about the insects as we looked.  

We thanked her and headed off to the wild trails.  We walked past a stinky mangrove swamp, poison wood trees, and papaya plants.  It was really cool.  

Blood-red water from the tannic acid in the mangrove roots 

We also saw blue tailed skinks  and curly tailed lizards and a big emu looking bird.  There were lots of plaques that told you not to touch some of the  plants because they were poisionous.  We took a trail up to a big tower and we could see forever in that thing!  There were lots of trails with different themes.  One was the orchid trail.

Mmmmmm..........

One of my favorite trails was the one that led you by a big swamp that had stepping stones so you could get closer to the turtles that lived in the swamp.  It was really cool.  The turtles would poke up their heads and look at you from the murkey water, thinking you had food.  The turtles have a really cool history in the Bahamas. They are special fresh water turtles and are very rare because people killed them for their priceless shells and tender meat.  They need blue holes to survive.  There is a special layer on the top of a blue hole called a lense.  Lenses are fresh water on top of salt water becasue the salt is more dense than the fresh.  The turtles live in these lenses.  The lenses are being mixed because of human activity and high winds making it harder for these turtles to survive.

There was a Lucayan Indian hut there too that was made out of sticks and palm fronds.  When Christopher Columbus came here he found people.  These native people were the Lucayan Indians.  Columbus enslaved and killed many of the Lucayans off, until there were only a few people left.  It is a sad story.  Most Bahamians today are descendants of African slaves, and not Lucayan Indians.

Lucayan indian hut

The nursery where they grow some of the plants

Gag me with a bromeliad

"I wonder if I can eat these..."

After we had looked at every plant and hiked every trail we caught a ride home to Kiawah with a woman who owned the local grocery store.  What a wonderful day!

Love to all,
Riley

Junkanoo

The music pounded in my ears as I experienced my first Junkanoo in Governor's Harbour, Eleuthera, Bahamas.

Junkanoo is a beautiful festival that happens yearly.  The meaning is in the name, junk anew.  People put junk to use to make pretty and colorful costumes, then they make a lot of music for the dancers.  It really is a wonderful sight!

Typical Junkanoo attire

My first taste of Junkanoo was while my family and I were at a fish fry.  We heard about it from the locals, who are the most friendly people I've ever met in foreign places (and I'm sure anywhere else I might go)!  So, that night we motored to the little beach in front of the tiki bar where the fish fry was.  There were lots of locals there, kids and adults, but mostly it was tourists and "boat people", as my dad calls them.  They are people from the boats anchored in the harbor.  There was a family whom we had met a couple of days ago there and many more "boat people".  Wren and I played tag with two local boys and some other young kids from one of the boats.  It was fun!  Except the DJ was terrible and had the music up WAY too loud.  It was hard to think.  There was food and drinks there; chicken, steak, fish and conch.  I had the chicken.  It was good!  After dinner, the Junkanoo started.  Turns out there was another Junkanoo the following night with just kids and this evening's event was the adults showing the kids all the tricks.

 The next night we went to the Jr, Junkanoo.  That was really fun!!  All of the schools in the area competed with each other.  Each school picked a theme and made intricate costumes that they paraded down the street in.  The drummers and musicians came last, setting the beat for the dancers.  It was really cool.  Some of the themes were:  Jungle Adventure, Disney World, and Our Culture.  Traditionally Junkanoo happens on Boxing Day, but some towns scatter it out in smaller events near Boxing Day so every one can enjoy the other island's Junkanoo celebrations.

Warming the drum skins by the fire to improve the sound

 

I'm loving the Bahamas so far, 

Riley-kins

My First Coral Reef Adventure

I had one of the best days of my life yesterday. We snorkeled on a coral reef and saw all kinds of pretty fish! I'll start from the beginning.

When I got up that morning my mom and dad suggested that we go to a beach. Of course we said yes! So we packed our things in the dinghy and motored, what seemed like forever, to the beach. The beach was pretty but really small. I couldn't sit down on it without having my toes in the water! Dad decided that before we went to the beach we would try to find some coral reefs so he could fish. After many attempts we headed back to shore. I looked for pretty shells while Wren and dad gorged on cheese and crackers. Mom was off looking for coconuts in the woods somewhere, and when she came out, she took us on the paddle boards, looking for Queen Conch. We found a bunch of empty shells but what we did find was a lot better than conch! We stumbled across a shallow coral reef with clown fish, sea fans, and beautiful butterfly fish. The fish were all sorts of colors. I could hardly believe my eyes it was so beautiful. I also picked up a few shells with the lobster snare. When my dad said it was time to head back to Kiawah and he dingheyed back to shore to get our stuff which we left on the beach. Mom paddled Wren and I around shore which was sharp limestone where we saw some bigger fish. When dad caught up with us we told him about seeing bigger fish and then he got out the hawaiian sling, which is a sling shot with a spear. He wanted to get some fish for dinner. There were all kinds of fish to spear but he preferred the blue striped grunts and also the schoolmaster snapper. He shot about thirty times and only four of those shots were fish, just to give you an idea how hard it is. That night for dinner we had three grunts and one Schoolmaster. They were delicious!

The unknown plant...

Hello my freezing friends!  I need some help identifying and learning to care for a certain plant.  Kiawah doesn't really have the power to charge the power-hungry lap top to look at plants on the internet right now, so could you please help me?

The Unknown Plant

Here is some info about The Unknown Plant (insert dramatic music here ...Dun, dun, dun...)

-I found it at Cracker Boy Boat Works in Ft. Pierce Florida (near the ocean).

-The flowers look orchid-ish

-The top looks like asparagus

-I found the bulb without any growth on it (no roots or greenery) except for the brown leaves at the top of the bulb

-It wasn't under a tree

-It was in a sandy, rocky environment when I found it

-It grew a foot in a month!

-Most of the time it grew in the shade

-It has been in a cup (the bulb hasn't been getting much sunlight) with a damp bottom

dead leaves near top of bulb

tiny pink flowers

Hopefully this is enough info to help me identify this plant!  

Dun, dun, dun....

Thank you,

Riley poo

Finally in the Bahamas!!!

When we woke up at Great Sail Cay, all of the other boats around us were leaving, so we figured that it would be smart to leave too. We pulled up the anchor and headed to Hawksbill Cay. By the time we got to Hawksbill Cay, it was dark.

In the morning, we went to some of the small islands near shore that were surrounded by 2 feet of water and waded around until we stumbled across a sand beach that we spent almost the rest of the day on, but dad told us that we should start moving to some other places to get farther south so that we could see more places (that was a really long sentence). So, around noon, we pulled the anchor and headed to Powell Cay. On the way there, I took a nap, and woke up just in time to see mom put down the anchor for the 3rd time. Apparently, all of the sandy spots, places we needed to anchor, had been taken by other boats, and that left us with two options. We could either set up a Bahamian anchor and hope for the best, or we could go back to  Hawksbill Cay. With much reluctance (because there was the most beautiful sand beaches and great snorkeling), we headed back for Hawksbill Cay, and planned that in the morning,we would get up early (by that I mean 10:00) and go to Spanish Cay where my dad would clear customs ( at that point, we had still not cleared customs to become official "visitors" of the Bahamas). Anyways, when we got there,my dad got off the boat to clear customs, and since the captain is the only one who can leave the boat while clearing customs, Wren, mom and I fed the fish that were hiding under our boat. As soon as dad came back (Wren and I were pretty anxious by then to go and run around), we got off the boat and and discovered a pool, hot tub, showers and a long sand beach to run on with lots of crabs to catch ( although we never actually caught one). We went to the beach first, then the pool ( with occasional hot tub breaks!) and last, but not least, the showers. When we got back to the boat, we met a family that had two kids of almost the same age! Imogen, who is 5, and Franklin, who is 12. They have a sailboat and were docked right next to us, so in the morning, we had company in the pool! After lunch, we were going to another anchorage. I was sad to leave my new friends, but in the Bahamas, you are bound to see your old friends again, so we weren't too sad. We headed to a new anchorage in Powell Cay. This cool island had a long sand beach and a short hiking trail to the top of a rocky cliff. We saw a Bahamian humming bird collecting nectar from the lots of morning glories that grew freely all over the islands. That was fun. The next morning, we pulled anchor to go to Green Turtle Cay, but as we got to Green Turtle, a call on the radio from Funny Things made us continue on to the Whales. The Whales is an island that you have to go out into the ocean to get around, and the weather had to be just right, in which it was, or else you get 10 foot waves coming up over your bow. It turned out that the weather was perfect, and there wouldn't be another chance to get through until next week. Plus, there were three other boats that were going today, so we jumped on the opportunity, and skipped Green Turtle Cay altogether. The Whales was shorter than I expected. It was only an hour, and we were right next to land. We followed the other boats into Marsh Harbour. It is a little town with internet, and there are a lot of other boats here. Including Funny Things! 

Life is good right about now...

Miss you all!!!

Riley  

The Gulf Stream

I woke up to the sound of Kiawah's engine and water rushing past her bow. Yesterday's plans flooded back to me as I got up and moved through the darkness and into the cockpit. "Morning early bird" my mom said. "Morning" I answered back. It was very dark outside,still, and I could see the little lights back on land. It looked a ways back. "How far away from land are we?" I asked my dad groggily. "About three miles" he said. Inside, I jumped up and down for joy, because I was going to the Bahamas...

Bahama bound...

after this nap.

Just like that, I was in the Gulf Stream, on my way to the Bahamas; It was 2:00am when my mom and dad pulled up the anchor from Peanut Island's sandy bottom; 2:30 when my mom and dad motored out of the gap between Peanut Island and the mainland, Florida; 3:00 when my mom and dad passed the buoy that marked the edge of the Gulf Stream; and it was 4:00 when I got up.

Soon after, my sister got up. I was still tired, so I went back to sleep and didn't get up until 7:30. I sleep a lot. Anyways, Wren and I got hungry, so mom made us some oatmeal.

I could tell that my sister was nervous to cross,but I was really excited, but who wouldn't, WE WERE GOING TO THE BAHAMAS!

Somewhere during the day, my dad put out the fishing lures. About halfway through he crossing, the line pulled tight, and the rod bent. Dad rushed to the line and fiddled with it. The fish at the other end thrashed around in the water, making loud splashing sounds. At first, my dad thought it was a Tuna, but as he struggled to reel it in, he shouted, "It's a Dolphin"! (not to be confused with the mammal kind of Dolphin...) We all gasped. We had caught a Mahi Mahi! There are pictures below.

Ready with the gaff

Mahi-Mahi!

 Dolphins are pretty fish with bright colors, and they are prized for their delicious meat. Dad landed the big fish with the gaff. A gaff is a really sharp hook used for catching big fish. Anyways, my dad was psyched. He cut it up into thick steaks, which we later had for dinner.

                
Later in the day, Wren spotted the mammal kind of Dolphin. The dolphin swam right up to our bow, playing with our boat for a few minutes before diving back under the clear, green waves. 

Bottle nose!

After that, Kiawah didn't have much excitement except for a few flying fish that leapt out of the water. They were pretty cool too.

Passing the time

When we got to the anchorage, I had made a 24 foot rope ladder, with the help of a knot tying book I got for Christmas. I can't wait to climb a palm tree!

Anyway, we anchored off a Bahamian island called Great Sail Cay.

So! I am in the Bahamas!!! Cheers!!

Riley