Fortunately shark attacks are rare, and using common sense, most can be avoided. Tom and I were excited to be headed to Tahiti Beach, which is an incredibly beautiful clear water, shallow area with beautiful white sand and palm lined beach located just off  Elbow Cay. We were shocked to hear of a tragic occurrence that had happened just a few days before.  There had been 4 or 5 boats anchored up just off the bank, and many people had enjoyed the day, snorkeling and swimming, Some were fishing and, it has been reported, some were also cleaning fish in the area. It is well known that it is safest not to be in the water where there is chumming of any kind, especially late in the afternoon.

That afternoon around 4:30, a 34 year old woman and her husband, who were here on vacation from Texas, decided to jump back into the water.  The husband reported that his wife, who was in the water on the opposite side of the boat, surfaced and calmly said, ” A shark bit me.” Her husband thought she was joking because she showed no emotion. The woman then climbed up the swim ladder under her own power. Her husband was horrified to see that half of her back was missing, and she was bleeding profusely. It was their good fortune that a doctor and nurse were on a boat near by. The victim was wrapped in a towel creating a tourniquet. The boat sped towards Marsh Harbour and radioed the authorities. BASRA (Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association) responded immediately. The Marsh Harbor docks were cleared, emergency heath care workers met the boat and the patient was transported to the airport, where she was air lifted to a Miami hospital. We were relieved to hear she is out of ICU, but has had multiple surgeries, and will have to have many more over a long period of recovery. During her second operation, the surgeon removed what they believe to be a large Bull shark’s tooth from her wound. The patient says she plans too make a necklace out of it! Needless to say, you can’t live your life in fear, but we have made it a practice to only snorkel and swim in clear calm conditions in the middle of the day, not early in the morning or late in the afternoon.

Sandy Cay is a Marine Sanctuary located a few miles south of Hope Town. We enjoyed seeing rays, large barracuda, turtles, and numerous other beautiful colorful fish. We also spotted a couple of Lion Fish , which are incredibly beautiful with their spotted flowing fins, but they are an invasive species and have a powerful venomous sting if you get too close to their barbs. The Bahamian authorities ask that they be killed on site. We did not kill the ones we saw because we didn’t know how we would be able to get them off of our spear without getting stuck.

We had stopped at Hope Town for a couple of days on our way down to Sandy Cay. Hope Town is a very charming, quaint, colorful, bougainvillea filled town with pastel colored cottages. It is home to the red and white candy striped light house that is featured in many advertisements for the Bahamas and especially the Abacos. It is also home to Vernon’s grocery store. Vernon, who is a direct descendant of the founder of Hope Town, Minister of the local Methodist Church, and chief baker of the fabulous fresh breads and Best Key Lime Pie we have ever tasted, never disappoints! The following pictures show just a few of the sweet streetscapes that we enjoyed as we strolled through town.

Here’s a peek of Vernon at work in his grocery store, and a few of his wise sayings and good advice that you find posted through out his store.

Today we are tucked in snug and safe at the Marsh Harbour Marina, also referred to as “The Jib Room” which is the popular restaurant and bar. Tonight is steak, music and dancing night. I’m planning to back slide on my vegetarian commitments for the evening.

Tom checks the weather daily and compares several different web sites to make sure we stay safe and comfortable. He has also explained how important it is to rely on your own anchoring abilities, or get onto the leeward side of an island if there is a chance of rising winds, or to just pull into a marina if those options don’t exist.  He has always said it is unwise to pick up any random mooring, if you don’t know the condition of that mooring. Obviously it’s holding ability is only as strong as its weakest link. We decided to move our boat over here yesterday, as the forecast had called for 20-30 mph winds. It is a good thing we did, as the winds have been gusting 30+ knots all afternoon, and boats have been slipping on their anchor all around.

A monohull sailboat tried to come into the marina with gusts pushing it much faster than was manageable. The captain was at the helm and the mate was in their dinghy, trying to act as a bow thruster to assist the boat into its slip. The dinghy got wedged in between the boat and a piling and narrowly missed getting smooshed.

As we sat in the reatuarant overlooking the harbor, Tom noticed a huge catamaran sliding towards the marina. The captains of that boat were not on board. The boat was tied up to a mooring in the harbor which broke loose and the catamaran crashed into the side of a beautiful new Nordhaven.

After our too exciting day, I have decided that Tom will no longer be allowed to help with the laundry after happy hour !

I’ll leave you with a bit of sound and a visual of what 30 knot winds feel like. Jim Cantore, top this!