Winds of 25 plus! Crazy moments with party-people all 25 and under! Eddie the nipping Nippers cat. Bucketlusters, kite-surfers, Vladimir Platypus (my winter, wet-suit alter-kite ego) and “Bahamas Boys” looking for some cheebah? Or bitcoin crypto … I believe they’re the same. If anyone knows what those are, feel free to chime in below. We’ve got it all for you guys in this very fun video from the stunning island of Great Guana Cay, along with my favorite photos below. It was so hard to choose any, though, they were all so beautiful. Guana Cay offered us great kiting on the Atlantic shore, never-ending entertainment at Nippers, a chance to star-gaze at the many stars who allegedly own houses on Baker’s Bay (think Cher, Beyonce, Sting, etc.), a beautiful sunset anchorage, and fantastic fine-dining dinners at Sunsetters at Orchid Bay Marina. We loved it! Hope you all enjoy the video!
Photos from our sail through Whale Cay passage. It was, according to one of the fellow captains we talked to who did it that day as well, “not peachy, but passable.” It was a bit lumpy out there (4-6 rollers) but with winds of only 10-12 out of the NW. Doable, not daunting, and, to be honest, a very fun day sailing on the Atlantic! That is the furthest east Plaintiff’s Rest has ever been! It was a big day for her, and she nailed it!
Making our way toward the cut. We followed very strictly along the lat-and-lon points in the Explorer Charts. Boy, are those things life-savers.
Ironically, the cRaZy Bucketlusters who bombarded us at Green Turtle Cay decided to make the Whale Cay passage that day as well (after they terrorized the piggies at No Name Cay, that is). We could see all of the catamarans anchored at No Name at the same time and I can only imagine what the Bucketlusters were doing to those pigs … riding them, spanking them, trying to kiss them. Who knows. Poor pigs! But it was awesome for us to be able to make the passage surrounded by thirty catamarans. It’s like we had our own rather-large tenders out carrying us through. I just stayed in the middle of them, on course, hoping if anyone hit the reefs, it would be the party-people on the outside – ha! And boy did they party through the entire passage. Up on the decks dancing, singing, drinking. Those guys are non-stop.
I was really excited about Guana Cay. Clearly …
I will say, whoever does the marketing for Nippers is genius. There was a sign about every five feet telling you how to get to Nippers, guys running around in golf carts all over the island willing to take you, at any time, to Nippers, and most of the people that live and work on the island are wearing shirts just about every day that say … Nippers. And boy was it a fun beach bar place. Great food. Fantastic setting overlooking the Atlantic with a staircase straight down to the beach and great goombay smashes. Yes, please!
The view from our cockpit. It was a beautiful anchorage.
This was wild. So, Phillip and I were getting into the dinghy with all of our kite gear about to head to shore to make the trek over to kite behind Nippers on morning, and Phillip saw something just randomly floating by in the water. He cocked his head to the side and eyed it suspiciously, then found out it was the black “anchor gate” that goes on our Mantus. (Mantus came out with this supplemental gate that snaps over the chain to make sure, even with Mantus’ pretty savvy chain-lock system, the chain does not come out of the hook.) And here ours was, just floating by in the water at the VERY time we were getting into the dinghy. Phillip went down to check the Mantus and found, sure enough, it had somehow wiggled and vibrated enough (it was very windy those days we spent at Guana Cay) to loosen the pin in the shackle that holds the Mantus hook onto the snubber. Thankfully the water was so clear, Phillip could literally see from the top our Mantus hook sitting on the bottom. And, when he dove down he was also able to find our pin and shackle. Whew! And, all because of timing when the gate was floating by. Our boat always tries her best to let us know something is wrong at the exact right time where we can fix it. Way to go boat. A note to fellow Mantus-users, we decided to throw a zip-tie (seizing wire would also work) in the shackle pin to prevent this from happening again. All lessons are free today!
Anchor fixed. Disaster averted. Time to get back on the kiting!
That Eddie. The “wild” cat that lives at Nippers. Careful not to pet or pick him up. He’ll nip ya!
ROWR!
This is the view at Sunsetters on the other side at Orchid Bay Marina. Just stunning!
Kite hair! Don’t care!
Bombarded again by the Bucketlusters!
