Shark Week: Just One Day

So, we thought that it would be a good idea to swim with sharks.

Woah, woah, don't freak out. They weren't those really big sharks. With like, 6 inch teeth. And cold dead eyes that look down into the depths of your soul and bleed malevolence into the core of your being.

No, these were those really cute sharks that would only be able to, like, disarm you (in the literal sense of the word. Or maybe disleg you. Is that a word?). Either way, they weren't really big.

 So, we went on a shark dive. On a shark dive, you get your scuba gear on, and then go to the bottom, hold on to a little rock, and then don't move a muscle as if your life depended on it, because it probably does.

No one has ever died on one of these shark dives, but there's a first time for everything. I'd also like to point out that the three guides are all in chain-mail shark protective suit things, while we were all in squishy wetsuits.

Here's a video of a part of it…..The shark only hit the camera once in this clip….




It was AWESOME!

Corey, Aaron, Katie & Kim

Heading towards Home ;( / :)

We're almost home, happy for some, (Corey getting to see Julio again) and sad for others (Kimmy doesn't get to lay on the beach anymore). For those of you not on a boat in the Bahamas, to cross from Florida to the Bahamas, you go from somewhere in Florida to Bimini to Chub Cay to Nassau and then wherever after that. So we are in Nassau, waiting for the 50 mph winds to leave so that we can get to Chub in one day then Bimini (and waiting there for a weather window) then to Florida. 

During the last week of bad weather we have been hiding out in Palm Cay, and exploring Nassau, with our awesome friends on "Stephanie M". We have rented a car and visited many places in town and out of town.

Such as........

-  The boys went boat shopping (mom was happy that they didn't buy anything)

Dad bought strange small brown paper bags off a sketchy venter beside the road,(they were filled with peanuts just for clarification)  

Went to an awesome restaurant, where Stephanie(from Stephanie M.) played a very intense game of checkers

One night we saw the sunset at a national park

 And many more adventures

The marina we have been hiding out at has totally changed attitudes, making for a different experience, yet all in all it's been an awesome time in Nassau.   

Exumas Land & Sea Park: We Ate Fish

As our journey north had commenced, we planned on visiting new places and doing new things we missed on the way south. This includes stopping at Wardrick Wells, the headquarters of the Exuma Land & Sea Park. From Cambridge Cay we used our "Canadian Politeness" over the radio and were able to reserve the last available mooring ball for the night in the north mooring field (the place everyone wants to be). We entered the marked channel and passed all the sailboats on the outer mooring balls until we reached #22 at the very end of the row. With an incoming tide, we had an unimpeded view of the cut and untouched islands for miles ahead. On an outgoing tide, we simply turned our chairs around. It's not always bad to be last.

The main reason for visiting Wardrick Wells was to follow the age old tradition of climbing BooBoo Hill and leaving a piece of driftwood with your boats name inscribed on it. We constructed a sign out of seashells and driftwood we collected long ago and set off up the hill. In our usual fashion, we didn't take the tourist beaten usual route and opted (through someone's map reading abilities…) to take the path less traveled. Long walk short, we saw the whole island and mastered the art of balancing on uneven rock and rickety old bridges and made it to the summit. By "summit" I mean a relatively gigantic mountain that allows you to see miles in every direction, even over the masts of all the sailboats, on one of the highest points in the whole entire Exumas… (for those of you that haven't been, you'll be impressed. For those of you who have, just play along with it). We left our sign as a memory of our last day in the Exumas and headed back to SeaMorr sitting peacefully in the still clear waters of the mooring field.

NOTE: the Exumas Land & Sea Park is a no-take zone. Removing any organic or inorganic material is strictly prohibited and severe penalties are enforced. There are 4 Royal Bahamian Military members stationed on Wardrick Wells, all of whom carry very big intimidating weapons… so that fish we ate was "dolphin safe tuna" we bought in a grocery store way back in Fort Lauderdale. We didn't break any rules or regulations while inside the Land & Sea Park and to those of you at the park who we gave our blog address too, I hope you have a very pleasant day:)

I made a conch horn.

This is what it looks like:

Anyways, before I can tell you about the hours of labour I spent shaping and perfecting this beautiful instrument, I have to tell you two stories. Well, the first one isn't really a story, it's more a single sentence describing a repeating event that I wanted to take part in. And since it's only one sentence long, it shouldn't take you too long to read. So don't get mad at me for wasting your precious time by writing way too much. So. Right. Here's one story and one single sentence describing a repeating event that I wanted to take part in. Except in the other order. So it's really more like one single sentence describing a repeating event that I wanted to take part in, and one story.

The single sentence describing a repeating event that I wanted to take part in: Every sunset, people (mainly sailboaters) blow conch horns to tell blind people that the sun is setting.

The story (which is going to be slightly longer than the last thing, because that was one sentence, and this is a whole story. Not a particularly long story, but a story all the same): for Christmas (2012, while we were still planing this trip), my grandparents (hi Grandma and Grandpa, I know you're reading this) gave me a harmonica. I'm pretty sure that it was all an elaborate plot to have my family kill me in my sleep because I would be playing a harmonica way too loud in a 150 square foot boat and they decide to murder me to get some sleep. Luckily, I am still (at exactly 8:12 on March 23rd, 2014) alive, so that has yet to happen.

So, because I wanted to be like those sailboaters and because my family hasn't killed me for playing an annoying instrument really loudly, I decided to construct a conch horn. One of the loudest, most obnoxious, most annoying instrument ever invented (I don't think things through very often).

For everyone who wants to know how one makes a conch horn (and I know that at least half of you do) I will tell you. First, find a conch shell, which really isn't that difficult.

there's one of these on, like, EVERY island

Then, you make sure that no one is still living in said conch shell. We have made that mistake. Twice. After insuring you are in possession of an abandoned conch shell, you clean the shell until it is really nice looking.

Looking good

Then, you saw the end of it off. The pointy end. This makes a mouthpiece which you then blow into, which makes a really loud noise. Do this outside. I have made that mistake. More than twice.

And then you have a conch horn.

Sorry for the repetition. We only have the one photo

-Aaron

We found another photo - mere moments
before being mauled to death by his family

Rachel's Bubbles….

So, if you are in the Exuma's, you have to check out Rachel's Bubbles.
It looks innocent enough…...

Blue ocean meets short rocky ledge to
over flow in shallow pond behind

Waves roll over the ledge creating a bubble bath of foam

Some waves may be bigger than others

And some may be monsters!

It is an awesome ride…..

Anticipation….

Going under…..

Best Bubble Bath ever!!

All foam on the surface - tickles your nose!

This is the live action shot…..

The Really Creepy Cave

"Hey guys come over here, these little shrimp thingies are eating my feet, come here, try it, it hurts bad, it's ticklish".  Ya I'm not even making this up, Dad actually said this while we were visiting this really creepy and awesome cave on Great Guana Cay.  So a little bit about this cave, its really creepy, I mean really creepy. Like this cave looks like a mouth, a really big mouth. Anyway, we decided to swim in this cave and dad was too scared to swim so he just stood in the water and gat eaten by little shrimpy things. It was creepy! The cave, believe it or not is 500 feet long and goes 70 feet down. It also has fresh water dripping from the ceiling.

The red things are the shrimps

Brave Cave Swimmers

Any ways, it was CREEEPY!

Heading North…..oh my!

Well, weather permitting,  it is time to head towards home.  We spent the day lounging in the sunshine and tomorrow we will turn Seamorr north.  Back up the beautiful Exumas and cross the Bahama Bank and Gulf Stream to somewhere in Florida.  Hopefully the snow and ice have melted before we reach Napanee, although we are hoping that perhaps by some miracle Maple Syrup season might just hold off until May.  Great Exuma has been an amazing place in so many ways we might just be able to find our way back here!

Julia's Blog Post (actually written by her this time)

Let's start from the beginning. As mentioned before in some previous blogpost, jonathin, or johnathan or Jonathan (English is not my first language so this is stressful...) and I paid a visit to Seamorr on mid February and made our way home on the 22nd while the lovely crew continued going south. But little did Corey (or my amazing boyfriend as he likes to call himself) know that Kim had a surprise planned for his birthday.

As expected, Bruce and Donna arrived to Georgetown on the 13th and (laughs and daiquiris happened I'm assuming). But after a few flights and connecting layovers I finally made it to the beautiful Emerald Bay Marina on Great Exuma. I was met at the airport by a very shocked Corey who had absolutely no idea Kim had planned a (late) birthday surprise. Highlights of my visit include:
- The Four C's adventure tour of the Exumas (a.k.a all the cool stuff the Morrison's saw in a month condensed into six hours)
- Hanging out at the pool in Grand Isle
- Sand Dollars hunting at Coco-Plum beach
- Awesome dinner at Sandals
- Beach volleyball &  lunch at Chat'n'Chill
- And hanging out with Corey :)

Your feet will get wet getting out of the taxi

Rum apparently isn't optional for anyone….. 

I'd like to thank the Morrisons for having me (this time and the other ones). Despite the fact that every time I come meet them somewhere south I seem to come down with some malign airborne disease (some just call it a cold), I have no doubt that being at Seamorr is definitely the most fun I've had this year. I am most certainly very grateful for everything they've done for me and I cannot think of a way to thank them enough. I hope they have a very fun, safe, and somewhat not stressful trip back to Canada.

- Julia

Greetings from Napanee

Our stay with the Morrison's started on Thursday March 13th.  We arrived on what turns out to be one of the 5 windiest days they have experienced so far during their adventures.  Corey, Aaron and Katie had "happy hour" all ready to go when we arrived back to Seamorr at the Emerald Bay Marina.  We were so thrilled to see them and be in the Caribbean that the 30 kn winds didn't really impact us until night fall.  We managed to have an amazing evening with lots to catch up on over dinner and many drinks!  Our perfect lounge for happy hour doubled as our bed under the stars.   With the help of motion sickness medication and sea bands firmly in place we weathered night one on Seamorr very successfully. Kenn realized the next morning that mixing his types of  drinks and then being "shaken not stirred all night" by the rough seas was a recipe for sore head the morning after.

Day 2 started early for Kim and the kids with them finishing their scuba rescue certification while the rest of us had a more sluggish and leisurely start with coffee on shore where we got our equilibrium back in check.    We headed to the Tropic of Cancer beach in the afternoon and experienced some local food at the nearby roadside diner.  The big event of the day was a surprise arrival of Julia for Cory's 19th birthday.  For our 2nd night we moved into the nearby resort for a "test drive" of their facilities which were excellent. 

                                   

                                   


Day 3 took us out for a full day of touring the Exuma Cays with highlights including holding a live star fish that Katie dove for, swimming with tame Nurse Sharks, feeding swimming pigs on a beach (Kenn is known locally as the "pig whisperer"), visiting the grotto they shot a scene from 007 Thunderball, landing on Nicholas Cage's island to take pics of iguanas, and picking up fresh lobster at Farmers Cay. 

                                                

                                   

                                                

Our final day after chilling at the pool we packed up.  Aaron showed off his cautious golf cart chauffeur skills and also his rally driving "drifting" in the Club Car. Kenn and Kim took us back to the airport in the rented first generation Honda Odyssey with right hand drive and Japanese GPS which had all it's wheel nuts unlike their previous rental.

We had a great time in an amazing place and were so happy to connect in Emerald Bay rather than the sap house on Tany Byrn. 

They still have over 50 days of travels left so we will stay tuned for many more stories from the captain and crew of Seamorr!

Donna and Bruce