2023-04-08 Happy Easter. West Bay snorkeling and Andros Island

Our friends Monica and Jason on Breathe - a Manta 40 joined us in West Bay.  We went for a nice walk,  to the staircase, which is just some steep stairs cut through rock leading to a rocky shore.  We also snorkeled the statue Ocean Atlas, a underwater sculpture by Jason deCaires Taylor.  He has done several underwater sculptures.     The water was a bit murky, and filled with small jellyfish.  Some thumb sized, some half dollar sized, and a few large ones.   You could not avoid them, there were so many, but we avoided the larger ones.

Dean and Jason at bottom of stairs

Ocean Atlas statue

Big Jelly.  You can see the smaller dots, those are all jellys as well

We also went a dinghy tour at the NW corner of the West Bay anchorage to see the ruins of Peter Nygards estate - now owned by the Bahamian government.  Quite the structures, and money spent - now in ruins.

SE side of abandoned estate

Two of these lion adorned planters are on the north side

SW area of the estate - quite the buildings

We got together on their boat for happy hour along with Keith and Debbie off Blew Bayou, and Bob and Michelle on Our Time - both Manta owners.  Had a good time, but forgot the camera.

Next day we had a slow but nice sail over to Andros Island to the north end called Morgan's Bluff, after Sir Henry Morgan the pirate buried his treasure on the island.  We did not find treasure - dang.   

We rented a car, and had a nice day exploring the island.  We went to the Androsia Batik works factory, where they make custom dyed fabrics, they then sew into many things.   We all took a tour, and Monica and Kris were able to make a shirt as well.   Our shirts still need to be dyed, so they will be shipped to us later.  They have many stamps - all hand carved.  The stamps are placed in a bowl of hot wax, and then the fabric is stamped, leaving behind a wax coating on the material.  They then dye the fabric, and where the wax was the dye does not penetrate.

Sewing room on the tour

Bathtubs are used for vats to dye the fabric

Stamping the shirts was harder than it looked - quite the skill to apply just the right pressure for a clean stamp.

Our shirts - with the wax impressions.   The wall behind us has some of the many stamps

Gift shop shows the colors and variety of fabrics.

We also went out for a nice lunch, and saw one of the many blue holes on the island.

Our pink rental car

Great view from the restaurant we ate at.

We drove and walked a bit through the Land Crab preserve, but since they are nocturnal, did not see any, but did find a skeleton, which gives you the idea of the size of them.

Land crab skeleton

Had a good day travelling around, seeing the small towns on the island.   

Next day it was time to explore Morgan's Bluff cave and area around the anchorage.   We walked to the bluff, and went in the cave - not a very exciting cave.   Lots of sunken ships along the harbor.  We asked a local, and they were not hurricane destroyed.  Just old boats that got parked, and slowly sank.  Morgan's Bluff seemed  busy with ships going in and out.  

Turtle coming up for air in, about 10 feet from our boat

Playing around in the cave

One of the few places where concrete blocks have been used to prevent erosion

Rusty old equipment sitting around

One of the sunken boats

Another boat

This tug was run aground during a hurricane.  They have not been able to drag it off.

We went snorkeling, although the water was a bit murky.   Jason took some great photos of the sunken boats.

Jason took photo of Dean snorkeling over sunken boats

Nice starfish

With a change in wind coming, we decided to head north, and had a nice sail up to Bond Cay in the Berry Island chain.   Had to tack about 8 times, but managed to sail the entire way.

We are still with Breathe, and will do some more exploring while we can, as some strong NE winds with rain are forecast for the next few days.