Liza Constable

Trip was wonderful. My feet are brown. The Exumas. To get there we had to cross the Yellow Banks, a beautiful and treacherous stretch of water between Nassau and this long chain of islands. The sea was blue and green, the bottom clear in 12 to 20 feet. The coral heads are black shadows. This cannot be attempted at night, or without a lookout. You can’t rely on the chart. At midday it was exhilarating. So unlike sailing in Maine, Puget Sound, even the Cape.

The islands and waters of the Bahamas are lovely. Inland, poor and depressing. Nassau especially so. I’ve heard that many celebrities live there. They definitely live nowhere near the places where the marinas are cheap (we were at the Nassau Harbor Club. A run down pink hotel with funky showers for the boaters). I saw garbage, broken glass in so many corners, deteriorating houses of cinder block on narrow streets with broken down cars. But I heard a lot of laughter, saw the bright colors of the buildings. The Caribbean is the antithesis of New Hampshire. We were the minority. I wish, for the girls sake, that they could have more time outside of an anglo dominated culture.

Living on the boat, where we have to think about electricity (solar panels), and whether or not we have any fresh vegetables left, things become basic. Wind and tide, food and lights. Keeping the salt water off clothes and towels. After two weeks, it was really exciting to make it to Staniel Cay, where there was fresh bread, tomatoes, kiwis, chocolate, internet hookup at Staniel Cay Yacht Club, and Kalik beer. I ate a conch sandwich. Actually I ate one each day. My digestion was upset for days. Not used to so much fat! We’ve been not-so-strict vegans for 2 years now. Next time we bring more soy milk. I hate that vanilla stuff. And eat only one conch burger. It wasn’t that good.

The kids learned how to snorkel. Zoe is scared of brain coral, but not of multicolored striped fishes. Piper learned how to dive underwater to get a better look at things. “That is so amazing!” she exclaimed when we came up, “how do you stay down for so long?” she wanted to know. “Practice,” I said. We barely touched anenomes and watched them disappear. We saw parrotfish nibbling. And a fish we called a leopard fish until I identified it in a book, a wildly painted cowfish.

So much to learn. They had their homework to do. Nat taught some trigonometry in the form of navigation. And instead of studying Jupiter (with no resources), I decided the place to start was being able to find the North Star. The Big Dipper was standing on it’s handle. And Cassiopea was a sidways M or W. Both of which point to the north star. We found natural sponges on a beach in Norman’s Cay, they had no idea that’s how our kitchen sponge was invented.

We found a huge starfish at least 14″ across. Zoe watched and then helped with cleaning and rebuilding the winch. Of course there was the inevitable squabbling. And problems with privacy. We decided to make signs that would say “do not disturb” and hang them on our bunks when we wanted to be left alone.

We return later this spring to bring the boat back to Maine. Then I get to see the Gulf Stream.