The lead up to Christmas was filled with glorious sunny days surrounded by turquoise water. Now that the gang had all arrived in Staniel Cay, the days included paddle boarding, swimming, catching up with friends and preparing for the Christmas feast.

Christmas Eve was hosted by Lesley and Derek on Ocean Blue. Spirits were high as we all enjoyed some tradition Christmas fare such as roasted chestnuts, mince pies and egg nog. We headed home at a reasonable hour so that we could be fresh and rested for the main event…Christmas Day.

Christmas Day was perfection, lots of blue sky and not a breath of wind. Ann, Derek and I decided to get an early start and paddle board over to the pigs on the beach to give them some water. They get plenty to eat from visiting boats but no one seems to provide them with any water. They were very excited about the water with the piglets jumping into the water trough. Ann bought along the not so perfect chestnuts from the night before. They were in piggy heaven; they even tried to take the bag that Ann was carrying. It was fortunate that Derek was on hand to take the bag from a rather concerned Ann.

Christmas Day

I paddled back to Aura for a quick shower and to change into my new Christmas dress, courtesy of Mum and Dad Forth. Ian and Ann popped over shortly after to exchange gifts and to enjoy a bottle of Verve champagne. Simon and I opened the remainder of our presents…I got very spoilt as Si had done a bit of shopping whilst he was in Australia. It wasn’t long before we departed for our first stop of our Christmas Day feast. Each course was to be hosted by a different boat with starters being held on Takamoana (Gary and Louise). The starters menu included gravlax, chicken pate and conch salad…all washed down with more bubbles.

The next course was held on Juffa (Caroline and Bill). As four of the six boats were English, we decided on a traditional Christmas feast; turkey, pork with crackling, chicken, stuffing, red cabbage, bread sauce (something new to me) and all variety of roasted vegetables and gravy. It was awesome as everyone contributed something to the meal.

The final and possibly the most important course; dessert, was held on Aura. I managed to make the perfect pavlova! This was no mean feat considering I am at the mercy of my boat oven that can be rather temperamental. We also had a stollen, mince pies and a Christmas cake. Ports and various liquors were brought out to finish what had been a great day. As the evening progressed, I played DJ and got everyone up and dancing. Si gave us a demonstration of his torch dancing accompanied by ABBA’s Dancing Queen.

Christmas Lunch

As it was Bill’s 60th birthday the day after Boxing Day, we decided that we needed a change of scenery and headed to Rudder Cay so we could be there for Bill’s big day. The sail down was hard going as we might have had a few too many the night before…but it was Christmas. Unfortunately our time sailing in the Exuma Bank had come to an end and we had to venture off shore via Galliot Cut then back in at Rudder Cut the Atlantic Ocean. Our keel means that we are too deep to continue taking the inshore route. Rudder Cay was one of our favourite spots with a cave next to the beach and some great snorkelling spots. Bill’s birthday was an Indian theme so we celebrated his birthday on Juffa with curry in hand. It was another great night of food and fun company.

The plan was to be in George Town for New Year. After Rudder Cay we stopped at another one of our favourite spots; Lee Stocking Island. It has a gorgeous beach and an abandoned research centre that feels like a ghost town as everything was left behind. We walked over to the Atlantic side and along the beach. We found a lot of rubbish had been was ashore. It was most like due to the hurricanes they had experienced earlier in the year.

So to break up the sail to George Town we decided on one last stop…a small anchorage behind Boise Island. It is known for its blow holes and surge. We had a great sundowner of the beach where we were joined by the local hermit crabs and a very friendly curly tail lizard. The hermit crabs were hilarious, trying to steal food and wrestling over a peanut. Unfortunately the wind picked up overnight and so did the swell, so we rocked and rolled all night. First light we picked up the anchor and headed to George Town.

Sundowners

We arrived in Georgetown to another glorious day. We had expected Georgetown to be heaving with yachts but to our surprise, there was plenty of space. We found a lovely anchorage at Monument Beach, right next to our other Aussie friends Vicki and Steve on La Peal Noire. Once we had the anchor down we went to shore to do some provisioning. There was not a lot available but enough to get by for the next few days. We even shouted ourselves a meal onshore, a real treat since the last meal out was three weeks prior. The burgers where good and the beer was cold and the view was incredible…I never get sick of looking at the water.

The weather remained perfect and we enjoyed water aerobics, paddle boarding and sundowners on the beach. New Year’s Eve was spent on Takamoana where we shared a meal and a few drinks with all seven boats. By about 11am we were all starting to fade. Fortunately Ann suggested charades to keep us up until the New Year…fortunately the strategy worked and we all enjoyed watching the fireworks on the deck and a bit of revelry before heading to bed. Another year gone…where has the time gone?

NYE

All good things must come to an end and so too has our perfect run of weather. We had to move to an anchorage that offered us some protection from the south west to the north west. It was the tail of the weather that had caused more snow storms on the east coast so something not to be ignored. We went to an anchorage behind Crab Cay. A day earlier than we need to because of our depth, we have very few options and we wanted to ensure we had sufficient swing space. We found a nice spot and made sure we were dug in tight. Fortunately the expected squalls didn’t eventuate and the wind was not too severe.

Big Moon @ Dawn

Morning @ Crab Cay – the calm before the storm

Another front was on its way, this time from the north east so we decided to head back to Monument Beach. We had used two of our three gas bottles so we had to get those refilled. All that done, we settled in and waited for the weather to hit. Must say this one did not disappoint with plenty of wind and rain. I was up most of the night watching a few of the smaller boats drag…not much fun when you have to re-anchor in strong winds in the middle of the night. The weather is to continue for the next couple of days and then fingers crossed, we can continue of journey south.

Next stop, Long Island.