Fours Company
By, Cindy Sundborg
We started our trip in Nassau. Best decision #1: Choosing to
stay at a quaint beach get-away called Coral Harbour Villa.
Best Decision #2 Rent a car for our 3-day stay in Nassau.
It is beautiful here – we can hardly believe the color and
clarity of the water. We have our own personal chef at the small restaurant
there, and we nearly eat the entire menu during our stay – conch salsa, putine,
chicken wings, conch fritters and fish tacos. Oh, and of course our favorite
local beer – Sands or Kalik (FYI – Conch is pronounced like ‘honk’, but with
‘c’
J).
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Blue waters at Crooked Island |
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Pitts Town on Crooked Island |
Our stay in Nassau was an adventure in and of itself. Over 3
days we pretty much drove around the entire island (multiple times), tried to
knock down coconuts (unsuccessfully!), survived a tornado (no joke, one
actually hit land while we stayed there), explored Paradise Island, drank pina
coladas & daiquiris on the whitest, white sand made in real coconuts and
swam in the most brilliant blue-ish shades of water.
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Mike & Matt pulling Tonic onto the beach |
After getting our fill of the capital, we hop on a plane and
head southeast to our first “out island,” Acklins (via Crooked Island). Hook up a ride from Napi and meet up with two
beach bums on the east end of the island – Mike and Sara!! They look great – bleach blonde hair and sun
bronzed bodies. We jump into our new
friend, Tonic (the dingy) and head out to our home for the next 12 days –
Tanqueray!
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Cindy & Matt on Tonic at Atwood Harbor, Acklins Island |
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Sushi dinner |
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Lighthouse at Landrail Point, Crooked Island |
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Matt & Mike with tuna |
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Narrow entrance into Rum Cay marina |
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Sara & Cindy snorkeling |
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Matt underwater |
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Spearfishing adventure with the locals at Landrail Point |
And in no time, we’re sailing. Sailing!!
What a way to travel. Cutting
across the water powered only by the wind – no engine, no mechanized noise to
yell over, hardly a wake, just us, Mike, Sara, and the indomitable Nelly. And what better place to travel than in The
Bahamas?? We see more shades of natural
blue than I’ve ever seen. You lose words
to describe the hues – royal, aqua, teal, navy; we flash through each of them
with every new anchorage and crossing.
And they never lose their luster.
How many times can you say wow in a trip? Ahh, this is vacation.
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First Tuna catch |
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Cindy & Sara with good size yellowfin tuna |
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Matt & Mike with the mahi mahi |
But back to the fishing – We turn out to be
expert trollers. Or at least very
lucky. Black fin tuna, mahi mahi, yellow
fin tuna, and a couple that just got away – but they were big! Not many places you can travel where you get
the bulk of your food from the environment.
The fish are brilliant, too. As
mahi glide through the water it’s gold, and blue, and silver, and green, and a
whole rainbow of other colors – until you kill it. Then the colors drain out of it like water
til all that’s left is a drab grey.
Almost creepy.
Besides our trolling booty, we “catch” conch, lobster,
grouper, and pick up some hogfish from our adventure with our local Crooked
Island friends.
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Seared tuna dinner |
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Tanqueray docked at Rum Cay |
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Beach at Rum Cay |
We can both say that this trip was one of the most
unexpected experiences. Before we left Portland, I remember asking eachother,
“What do you think Sara and Mike do all day?” We decided to pack 3 books, of
which neither of us finished one! We sailed to 5 islands, caught a variety of
fish, lobster, conch, we spear-fished, explored the white sand beaches, rode
not always the most reliable dingy (“tonic”), met some of the most friendly and
welcoming natives and fellow travelers, and we even went on a scavenger hunt –
finding a pirates booty!
We mastered (well almost!) the art of crossing a large
channel in the middle of the night, saw the moon set and the sun rise over the
brilliant blue waters, saw more sharks than we ever dreamed of seeing,
snorkeled amongst a variety of fish and coral, and we experience what it’s like
to prepare food (or even stand) in a boat that’s heeled at a 45 degree angle!
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Dominos |
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Portlander's For Life - Go BLAZERS! |
Now that we’re here back in Portland, we want to say “THANK
YOU” to the most incredible, adventurist hosts – Thank you Sara and Mike! We
LOOOOVED the trip we were able to experience together. Can’t wait until the
next one! ;)
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The Gang at Landrail Point, Crooked Island |
Such a great entry! Love the idea of all of you getting along so well in such a tiny environment. Now you can do ANYTHING! Sky is the limit.
ReplyDeleteCindy, That was a great log entry. You told the story with such flair that I was transported back to my own adventure with the adventurers. It doesn't get any better than cruising with those two + Nelly. They know how to show you a good time.
ReplyDeleteWow! Looks like fun time with Sara and Mike :)
ReplyDeleteThis was an amazign trip! thanks for posting sara/mike - WE MISS YOU!!! --cindy
ReplyDeleteWow, you guys sure know how to make us working folk wish were were there again!! Keep it up. Cheers!
ReplyDelete