Happy Thursday May 19, 2011

Hello everyone!
We left Green Turtle Cay and had an amazing trip through Whale Cay Cut on Sunday May 15th.  We arrived safely and happily on Great Guana Cay in time for the best body surfing we have had in a long time!  The water was sparkling green and clear as can be.  The kids did not want to leave and we stayed well beyond dinner but it didn't matter!  We were able to see Nipper's - a place that our friends the Koeppes just love and we left while the scene was still PG!  Very fun restaurant and beach hangout!

We celebrated Jay's birthday on Monday and played his favorite game - wiffle ball on the beach after our morning of school work.  The kids are doing so well with their home-school assignments.  We think they want to finish everything we brought for them as fast as they can so they won't have to worry about it anymore!  Jay and I are really impressed with how serious they take their school work and how they are all helping each other with their different assignments.   Back to wiffle ball on the beach....

The water seems almost see through!  I took so many pictures of everyone in the waves - it was amazing.  We had the beach to ourselves which was hard to believe as well.  The swimming was wonderful but the snorkeling was just okay.  We have found that when the beach is sandy and crystal clear, you don't get the best of snorkeling.

On Tuesday, we left Great Guana Cay and Orchid Bay Marina.  The water was like a pond.  Calm and clear.  We were able to see straight down to the bottom even when we were underway.  The boating was so amazing that we went past Marsh Harbor - our destination and visited another cay called Man-O-War  Cay.  We came into Marsh Harbor where we have been for three nights.  This is the busiest part of the Abacos and we have been able to go to the grocery store and replenish some of our supplies.  We also snorkeled in one of the best reefs so far on the trip.  It's called Mermaid Reef and the fish and brain coral they live around were stunning!  We saw a large ray and a small baby ray during the snorkel too but we did not have our camera with us so no pictures of that right now.  Sorry!  We met another family cruising from Florida and we were able to spend some time with another family who has been home schooling and cruising.  They had great advice for other places to go and reefs to visit.  They also taught us that fish love canned corn and peas and they were feeding the fish while we snorkeled!  It was amazing.  

This morning we met a family from British Columbia who have been cruising on their catamaran for almost a year!  They generate their own power using both solar panels and a small windmill on the boat. They can make their own water and are extremely self sufficient.  They don't like to be in a marina but they needed to do laundry and go to the store so we were lucky to spend some time with them.  They are in Hopetown now which is where we are headed tomorrow so we look forward to meeting up with them again.

Hope everyone is well.  Thanks for reading and posting comments.  We look forward to hearing from everyone!  

Much Love,

The Welsh Family