YACHT "WANDERING STAR": Shades Of Blue And Green

Amazing views from the cliffs at Williams Cay out across Exuma Sound

Sometimes having spent 11 years living on the sea, Sim and I yearn for a life on Terra firma. These ideas come in various forms, most recently either by buying a camper van in the United States or with a little tea shop or B & B in the UK. We dream about how we can make it possible and fantasize about what our new life will be like away from the watery world that we live in now.

Taking it all in at the top of the cliff

And then we have days so special we wonder what were we thinking. A few days ago Sim and I left the hordes and crowds of Georgetown and Stocking Island behind and sailed northwards to our next stop further up the Exumas chain for a few days on our own. These are our first steps over the next couple of months towards our journey back to the USA for hurricane season (that's the plan of the moment anyway). We had a fantastic sail, speeding along at over 7kts most of the way, hard on the wind. We pulled in through a gap in the islands at Rat Cay, and continued on in the protected side of the islands until we found a spot we liked to stop for a couple of days between Williams Cay and Lee Stocking Island - though, strangely they are just one island. We had seen many tourist boats stop at this spot and even a group of kayakers with tents stay the night, so we were keen to see what the appeal was. Waiting until the following morning when we had the place to ourselves we kayaked over and climbed up the short shrubby hill with stumpy palm trees and many succulents. At the top of the cliffs the views out to the sound side where just stunning. My first love of the sea came from standing high up on the masts of the tallships setting and stowing sails on the royals and t'gallants with the un-ending view of the sea before me. There is something very moving about that lofty view....like you are finally getting the bigger picture. Something that sadly gets lost on a small sail boat. Standing at the top of that hill with those fabulous shades of blue and green stretching out before us Sim and I both wondered how we could ever give this up?

Stunning colours in the shallow waters

The next day we moved up to the northern end of Lee Stocking Island to another favourite spot at the abandoned marine research centre where our friends had arrived en-mas the previous day. We spent more days exploring the desolate place with them, beach combing, collecting coconut water from the abundant trees and enjoying sun downers on deserted beaches.

Wandering Star is anchored just around the corner to the right in slightly

(all of 3 meters) deeper water.

It's Easter weekend, we have moved on again with another sail on the sound side and back in through a cut at Cay Cave. We blissfully sailed a few hours on the protected inside in the smooth flat seas before dropping anchor for the day at another stunning spot on Great Guana Cay.

Wandering Star at Lee Stocking Island

For now our whimsical dreams of life as landlubbers have been pushed to the backs of our minds as we enjoy the best of what living on the sea has to offer.....