The Exumas are an archipelago of three hundred and sixty five islands and cays.  It is a popular cruising ground because of its famous, many hued, turquoise waters, a humongous land and sea park packed with marine life, anchorages to get lost from civilization on and several islands on which to fuel and provision that are packed with fellow cruisers whooping it up.  Reaching and exploring the Exumas is cashing in our golden ticket.  We crossed the Exuma Sound on a calm and bright day with the seas a color of a mermaid’s tail.

Our friends from Joy suggested we wait out the weather in Norman Cay as it has protection from many angles and the winds were changing and changing again.  They said the anchorage could hold probably seven boats, maybe more.  We were the eighth to show up.   Captain Eyeballsfallingout almost crashed into a boat as he first went past someone undeniably feminine who must have put her bikini in the hot water cycle and then on the next boat, his dream come true, a golden goddess from his boyhood fantasies laying on her foredeck in nothing at all.  It was a slowww trip to find our spot.  We set B.P. and settled in between the two.  I think I’m going to like the Exumas, said Captain Wherearethebinoculars.

The currents had a strong and forceful personality, but the winds were still tame and the weather warm.  We waited on Echoes to see how she sat and until the ladies went below deck and then we went gunkholing to see the beautiful waters and beaches.

There was a plane wreck visible in the shallows.  Apparently enterprising individuals purposefully crashed a plane filled with drugs into the shallows.  Waiting boats quickly came in to unload the drugs and rescue the pilot who parachuted into a large pile of money.

The moonrise that evening far out did the sunset.  It was a marvelous night for a moondance.

During the night the winds began to howl and the waves began rocking.  Echoes swung in patterns I had yet to experience.  The next morning we were awakened by a, Hello?  We had one hundred feet of anchor chain out and when we went to bed we were facing the opposite direction almost two hundred feet away.  We had spun very close to shrunken bikini boat and, for reasons due to a schizophrenic current and angry wind, we hadn’t spun in the same way.  I love the politeness of what bikini’s man said to Captain AndIhaven’tevenhadmycoffeeyet, Are you comfortable with how close we are?  If he only knew.  The boats shortly found a similar drag angle but we re anchored in a location where we had plenty of swing room but not quite the view.  There we bounced for three days listening to the cold north wind blow and feeling the boat swing with the current and rock in the white caps.

We got off the Echoes one time in three days when we bucked our sloppy, wet way in Tip Sea to shore where McDuff’s came and picked us up in a Jeep and brought us to their restaurant.  It took mere minutes before the bartender started referring to me as Your Highness because I felt like the princess I am with a chilled Sauvignon Blanc and cloth napkins sitting on a stable chair.  Lunch was superb.  They closed for a break before the dinner set otherwise I would have never left.

Back at the boat we rocked and swung some more.  I must compliment the lovely B.P. for holding on as well as she did.  The last night I counted seventeen boats packed in the anchorage to tuck in and away from the crashing seas.  Very few sailors ventured off their boats into the white caps with their dinghies during these cold, unsettled days.  There were no naked beauties on fore decks.  We read, napped, fixed things and caught up on blogs.

Captain Allergictosilence cannot be quiet for more than five minutes at a time.  Perhaps there was brain damage from an accident he had as a child after a bad bike landing while playing Evel Knievel.  I’m writing now, I announce.  But he cannot, even if his life depended on it, keep his thoughts to himself.  He is not looking for comment or conversation as 97% of the time I completely ignore him.  I may on occasion look up with a complete neutral expression and then look back down to what I am doing.  For instance, …I did some calculations and a new jib sheet will be a thirtieth fractional quotient of our retirement savings so if I project my numbers on today’s donut market average and multiply it by the planet Pluto which actually is not a planet we can make up for the purchase in two and eight sixths of a year with interest.  I make brief eye contact and go back to writing.  Sometimes I play a game just so I don’t burst out in foul language at the constant interruption.  The game is, how long until the next random comment?  Two minutes later …The pork we had last night was a little disappointing.  I think I over grilled it.  I do not even look in his direction at this.   Four minutes, oooh, a new record for the day…I am going to fix the broken strap on my fin with a homemade bungee cord.  Excellent, I think.  That will probably gain me five minutes of silence.  …Man, I’ve got to pee.  Nope, I was wrong.  Two minutes later….Ah, much better!  I now know why novelists go to out of the way and deserted locations all alone to write.