family-to-familyproject.org

Number 8

11 January - 18 January 2004

Dear Friends and Supporters,

KIP:

We are headed for Georgetown on Great Exuma Island. We sailed from Staniel (or Stanard, they can't make up their minds) Cay (remember, pronounced "key" in the Bahamas).

We have come quite a ways from Nassau.

Our first stop was Allen Cays. This is a small group of islands separated by a small harbour. These islands are famous for their native population of endangered iguanas, Cyclura cychlura inornata (and, yes, that is the correct spelling, even the seeming extra "h" in cychlura). They are found only in seven small populations on isolated islands in the Bahamas.

These iguanas are fairly large, topping out at about 3 foot, including the tail. They are NOT the almost cute green iguanas of the pet trade, but more like little dinosaurs, dark skinned, spiney backs, big mouths with big teeth. Never fear, they are mostly vegetarians, though, according to research done by scientists and students from Earlham College, of Richmond, Indiana (go figure, huh? Indiana?), they do occasionally eat nestling birds and insects. The lizards were quite friendly....they flocked to the shore, a few dozen at a time, hoping for handouts from the yachters who come ashore. They get them too! We watched a group from one boat give the little critters a whole big ziplock bag of lettuce (which we would have happily used for salad, lettuce is rarely available out here, and very expensive when it is). For more information about these interesting creatures, see http://www.earlham.edu/~johni or contact Dr.John Iverson at johni@earlham.edu.

We suffered a major setback there at Allen Cays. On Sunday morning, between midnight and 0300 hrs, with winds 30 knots and above, our inflatable dinghy broke loose, unbeknownst to us, and disappeared, apparently forever. We staged a search at 0300 hours when Jonathan, up on anchor check, discovered the loss. Quickly launching the 1/4 finished sailing dinghy with its little 3.3 hp engine, Jonathan and I motored off into the pitch black night on rough rough seas checking the local shores and beaches, but the dinghy had been blown and carried on the tide out of the harbour and onto the Exuma Banks (the shallow seas west of the Exuma Island chain). This is a major loss -- we will not be able to afford to replace the inflatable and its engine. Two other boats within radio range (25 miles) also lost dinghies the same night, none have been recovered. The Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Associatiuon (BASRA) and the Bahamian Defence Force (they have a one-branch armed forces), as well as all the marinas south along the Exumas, have been informed and will be on the lookout, but so far, six days later, no luck.

As we have experienced in the past, we are impressed by the blessing of seeming foresight. Jonathan insisted back in Florida on having his own dinghy and a spare engine, so we are still able to continue on our way and still have means of getting ashore. The other cruisers were not so fortunate, and are hard pressed to enjoy their time in the Bahamas until they find replacement dinghies. Some may have to return to Nassau and pay inflated prices to replace them. The little sailing dinghy is not as stable and fast as the inflatable, but at least we are still "mobile" off the big boat.

In searching for poor lost "Scout" (the name of our lost dinghy), we saw sea eagle nests, occupied by pairs of sea eagles.

Oh, speaking of dinosaurs, we also saw (and walked) on "stromatolites". We found out afterwards that walking on them is a "no-no" but we didn't know (or even know what we were walking on). The stromatolites were at Highborne Cay. Stromatolites are an unusual and special type of reef. Unlike most present-day reefs, which are composed of coral, stromatolites are formed by tiny, mircospocic organisms which trap and bind sand grains together and/or precipitate calcium carbonate to form layered deposits of limestone. Stromatolites are living examples of earth's earliest reefs. Scientists claim to have found fossil stromatolites 3.5 billion years old. In fact, stromatolites were, until the 1960's considered only as fossils, miilions and billions of years old, until living stromatolites were discovered in Australia, and later in the Bahamas. Website: http://mgg.rsmas.miami.edu/groups/geomic/stromatolite

Arden has news about our encounter with the 1960's....and James Bond!

As it is, we are off to go overnight to Gergetown, Grand Exuma.

PS: We have made it to Georgetown safe and sound. Arden took the early morning watch and brought us into the harbour in the dark dawn all on her lonesome. Getting to be quite the sailor, she is. Gutsy too!