Rum Cay

We left our anchorage by Rum Cay at 1am to sail to a new beautiful place. A beautiful place like Rum Cay. Over the 4 days visit, we got to know and met almost all the population of the island. The population has decreased over the last few years from around 100 to about 60. The first day, we met the most important person on the island to us, Deloris. She runs Kaye's Bar & Restaurant, she is 79 yrs old, born on the Island and has been running the bar since Kaye was born 50 yrs ago. But most of all, Deloris is the happiest, loving, and welcoming soul you could ever meet. On the first day she served up some complimentary conch fritters with our ice cold beers. We established such a close relationship to Deloris, that into the second day I found myself behind the bar serving customers and washing dishes (our own dishes).
Later that night we joined in on a tradition Bahamian Rake-and-Scrape where the energy and sounds produced just resonate through your body. Everyone had instruments, which included everything from a big bass drum made from a garbage bin to a saw played with a butter knife, to cowbells. The locals were very eager for everyone to participate so when one of them put the bass drum around my neck I started to beat on it. While the music continued I could feel the endorphins being released in my body.
Before the night ended we were invited to their church, St. John's Baptist of Rum Cay. Deloris & her daughter Kaye picked us up the next morning at 10:45 by the Gov't Dock. Where we had to finish get dressed on the beach because we didn't want to get the church clothes wet on the dingy ride in. We hopped in the back of the pickup, our feet hanging off the back and went to church for the first time in a really long time. At the church we met the rest of the population we hadn't already met at the bar, including all the children. Afterwards they took us to a luncheon with tons of Bahamian food.
Rum Cay was our home for the time we were there, it will always hold a special place in out heart. And this is the beauty of life, to love and give to eachother unconditionally.
Let's look forward to the day where we all have this kind of life on every inch of our planet.
Love from Rum Cay

Conception Island

Paradise within paradise is what conception is described as in different sources. Our experience is the same. This island has a unique energy and I felt it since we got here. The sea life is just spectacular. Different kind of sharks are swimming around the boat here and there. Conception is uninhabited, there are no houses or stores or anything manmade. But there are lots of wildlife. We saw the biggest turtle ever, and he jumped out of water and danced for us.
Within our 40hrs visit at conception Island, we also met 2 Swedish cruisers. "Unicorn" and "Snowbird" anchored just next to us. I heard them speaking Swedish on the radio and I was so excited. Anyway, last night, Anna Karin & Håkan from Unicorn and Johanna & Martin from Snowbird and our cruising friends on "Rasmus" joined us on Earthling for sunset drinks and a bowl of special Earthling soup.

Long Island

Every island is different and unique in its own way. The nature is different, the culture of people, the beaches, and so forth. One thing that you recognize as soon as you step your foot on Long Island is the hospitality of the natives. There are so friendly and helpful. The other day we were walking down the road to nowhere and this pickup truck stopped and offered the four of us ride on the flat bed. On the back of his truck, Daniel drove us to Max's conch bar, dropped us off and picked us up again after an hour and gave us ride back to our dinghies. Daniel is one of the bright natives, bright Bahamian as they call the white people. On Long Island everybody greets you as you have an eye contact with them. And I think that's the way it should be everywhere in this world, it's nice to acknowledge the existence of another human being in your surrounding with love.

Conch world

There are so many ways to make conch. We have conch salad, cracked conch, fried conch, conch frittered, conch popcorn, sautéed conch, you mention it we have it.

Love from conch world

George Town

We made it to my town, George Town in the great Exuma island in the Bahamas. George town is one of the best stops for cruisers. We entered G. Town at night and the anchorage field with all the anchor lights looked amazing. All cruisers get together here. There are so many activities to participate in. Channel 68 is for cruisers and everything is announced in the mornings from business deals to Dog Prades. Some cruisers come by here and never leave.

We have met a lot of people here. Kelly's uncle and his wife, Jim & Sharon are here from Florida. We are anchored right next to them and visit them everyday on their Catamaran, "Insatiable". We also got in touch with Scott & Brittany on Rasmus (windtraveler.Blogspot.com). They are from Chicago also and they left Chicago on their boat at the same time as Earthling. We are so happy to meet other cruisers in our age group. We met 4 other boats with young couples sailing.


Kelly was supposed to fly out from George town few days ago. She was sad she had to go back to regular cold land life. But she made a huge decision to continue the adventure on Earthling. She simply put her job on hold in Chicago and stayed aboard. I'm glad I have a first mate for now and don't have to do this single handed.
Kelly & I decided to go with our middle names from now on. I'm Captain Reza sailing with first mate Bailey. Love from Earthling

Small world

It's blowing 20-25 m/h and gusting up to 35. We decided to make a 25 mile passage from Sampson Cay to Cave Cay. The main sail is reefed and little jib rolled out. We are going as fast as 7 to 7.5 knots and Kelly is doing a great job behind helm.

The sounds of the wind and water is scary when you are getting ready for the passage but once you are out under sail you find the harmony and adapt to the circumstances. She is heeling on starboard and when the gust comes through the sails, she wants to go into the wind. I tell Kelly, "You have to hold the wheel firmly and if the gust is too strong, just fall off the wind."
For the first time after 9 days we took a hot shower which we hadn't even planned on having. Fortunately we discovered this beautiful safe haven harbor protected 360 degrees called Cave Cay. The charts said it was closed so we thought why not anchor in the bay. This place had a strange and magical feeling. Why are we the only boat here? Then we got a call on channel 16. A man with a Southern Texas-like accent informed us that there is no anchoring in the harbor, but they were open for business. So with the budget in mind we hadn't planned on paying for a night in the marina. But hey, you gotta go with the flow. We were already here. Steve greeted us at the dock. He looked serious but loving. A hard-working man in his 60's who had 3 very happy German Shepards by his side. We learned he has owned Cave Cay for nearly 16 years.


Making a paradise by word of mouth not your typical commercialized marina. He mentioned only 5 people (the ones workin for him) live on this island. We met 3. One being Hal a Swedish speaking Native American who approached us excitedly on his golf cart after we explored the island and it's views. Turns out he recognized the Swedish flag on Earthling. We chatted for a good amount of time in Swedish and got to know eachother a little bit. Later on that night he stopped by the boat with some Kalles Caviar which i have been craving for a long time. For those of you who don't
know what that is it's a caviar in a tube that is a very popular food in Sweden. What a small world.

Exumas

In this part of the world, it really feels like being in paradise. You can see the shadow of Earthling in the bottom of the ocean floor. It has been sunny and warm everyday and slightly cooler at nights. Kelly and I have anchored off Robert's Cay the first night and Norman's Cay the second & third night. Each approach to this untouched paradise has been more beautiful than the next.
The morning showers on a sailboat without fresh unlimited running water are a little different. You wash in the ocean then rinse with the freshwater solar shower every other day. The natural showers on the boat don't compare to your regular warm shower at home.

I enjoy to share this sailing experience with my friends. And everytime my friends and loved ones depart, it's very emotional. Ali & Sondra Golzad and Navid flew back to their land homes couple days ago. When you spend a longer period of time with people in a limited space, you get attached to them and your minds become very close to eachother. I am happy that Kelly is here and will be first mate for the time she stays.



When sailing, its fun to troll off the stern of the boat. Yesterday we caught another big fish (Red Grouper, I think). Now we have Mahi Mahi and Red Grouper fillets in the freezer. We have to finish eating some of that before I keep another fish.
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