ÿþ<!-- saved from url=(0054)file://E:\SplitWebsite\ladyoflorien.me.uk\page109.html --> <!-- Generated by Developer Tools. This might not be an accurate representation of the original source file --> <HTML><HEAD><TITLE>March 2009</TITLE><!--Serif WebPlus 8.0 HTML Export--><!--Supports HTML 4.0--> <META content=text/html http-equiv=Content-Type> <META name=Generator content="Serif WebPlus 8.0"> <STYLE type=text/css>#Footer-P { TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0pt } #Normal-P { TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0pt } #PPStyle5-P { TEXT-ALIGN: justify; MARGIN: 0pt } #PPStyle7-P { TEXT-ALIGN: right; MARGIN: 0pt } #PPStyle3-C { FONT-FAMILY: Arial, sans-serif; COLOR: #0000bf; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-WEIGHT: 700 } #PPStyle4-C { FONT-FAMILY: Arial, sans-serif; COLOR: #0000bf; FONT-SIZE: 12pt } #PPStyle6-C { FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman, serif; COLOR: #0000bf; FONT-SIZE: 12pt } </STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY leftMargin=0 link=#0000ff topMargin=0 bgColor=#ffffff text=#000000 vLink=#800080> <DIV style="POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 505px; HEIGHT: 262px; TOP: 10px; LEFT: 203px"> <TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=505> <TBODY> <TR> <TD vAlign=top align=left> <P id=Normal-P><SPAN id=PPStyle3-C>March 2009</SPAN><SPAN id=PPStyle4-C><BR></SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> <TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=505> <TBODY> <TR> <TD vAlign=top align=left> <P id=PPStyle5-P><SPAN id=PPStyle4-C>House Bay was a great anchorage and we inevitably lingered here. The beach offered ample prospects for bathing, especially round a shallow area of sand between the main island and a tiny offshore island. It was a temptation for many visitors to collect shells here but most of them were inhabited and needed to be returned to their habitat. <BR>The house which gave the name to the bay was on the hillside facing the bay but only ruins remain and they were all but impossible to reach through the dense vegetation. The salt pond behind the beach had a small dwelling at the southern end of the bay where the remains of a sluice channel and the place for a wooden gate could be seen. The small building was made from limestone and conch shells with palm tree trunks in the corners as framework. The centres had rotted but the bark remained. Cement and rendering completed the walls.<BR></SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV> <DIV style="POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 184px; HEIGHT: 123px; TOP: 13px; LEFT: 13px"><MAP name=map508><AREA <a href="Page109/InHouseBay.jpg" target="new" alt="Lady of Lorien anchored by the sandbar in House Bay" shape=poly coords="183,0 0,0 0,122 183,122 183,0"></MAP><IMG border=0 src="Page109/inhousebaysm.jpg" width=184 height=123 useMap=#map508></DIV> <DIV style="POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 184px; HEIGHT: 123px; TOP: 140px; LEFT: 13px"><MAP name=map509><AREA <a href="Page109/SluiceChannel.jpg" target="new" alt="Part of the old sluice channel for the salt pond with a cut out for a sluice board" shape=poly coords="183,0 0,0 0,122 183,122 183,0"></MAP><IMG border=0 src="Page109/sluicechannelsm.jpg" width=184 height=123 useMap=#map509></DIV> <DIV style="POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 184px; HEIGHT: 123px; TOP: 267px; LEFT: 525px"><MAP name=map510><AREA <a href="Page109/DwellingWall.jpg" target="new" alt="The dwelling by the sluice was made with limestone and conch shells in the walls" shape=poly coords="183,0 0,0 0,122 183,122 183,0"></MAP><IMG border=0 src="Page109/dwellingwallsm.jpg" width=184 height=123 useMap=#map510></DIV> <DIV style="POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 508px; HEIGHT: 259px; TOP: 265px; LEFT: 13px"> <TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=508> <TBODY> <TR> <TD vAlign=top align=left> <P id=PPStyle5-P><SPAN id=PPStyle4-C>We moved on to Hog Cay where a group of constant visitors collects over the season. They find shelter from the fronts as necessary and go by dinghy to Duncan Town on Ragged Island. We also undertook this wild wet ride across the trade winds and ocean current which drives through the cut between Hog Cay and Ragged Island. We chose to accept a lift in a larger dinghy with a big outboard for the four mile each way journey as we would have taken a long time in our Tinker.<BR>Duncan Town has little to offer but their is a grocery store who order in supplies from Nassau on special request as well as selling staples to locals and cruisers. We arranged a basic lunch at a local restaurant which only traded by prior arrangement and wandered around the very run down community. Alcohol and marijuana were much evident but there was one modern fishing lodge which had only just opened. How that will fare in a recession we could not guess.<BR></SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV> <DIV style="POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 184px; HEIGHT: 123px; TOP: 393px; LEFT: 525px"><MAP name=map511><AREA <a href="Page109/LittleHouse.jpg" target="new" alt="Grooves in the walls mark the position of palm trunks which have rotted away except for the bark" shape=poly coords="183,0 0,0 0,122 183,122 183,0"></MAP><IMG border=0 src="Page109/littlehousesm.jpg" width=184 height=123 useMap=#map511></DIV> <DIV style="POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 507px; HEIGHT: 259px; TOP: 521px; LEFT: 202px"> <TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=507> <TBODY> <TR> <TD vAlign=top align=left> <P id=PPStyle5-P><SPAN id=PPStyle4-C>Returning to Long Island we used the west side of the Jumentos and anchored at Spanish Well Bay on Racoon Cay, Two Palms Beach on Flamingo Cay and the fishing boat anchorage on Water Cay. Spanish Well Bay allowed us very close to the beach and out of the swell curling in from the south. <BR>We explored Flamingo Cay and climbed up to the light tower. The views from the tower itself were great and the island boasted lots of cacti. We all took our dinghies down the island to the south where the seas were breaking over the reef beyond the southern tip of the island. There were limestone sculptures and on one of them a large osprey nest.<BR>The anchorage at Water Cay is shared with fisherman from all over the Bahamas who spend extended visits to the  fishing grounds and settle here to clean their catch. As a result many sharks and barracudas visit as well and can be seen around the anchored yachts.<BR></SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV> <DIV style="POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 184px; HEIGHT: 123px; TOP: 522px; LEFT: 13px"><MAP name=map512><AREA <a href="Page109/TwoPalmsBay.jpg" target="new" alt="Lady of Lorien anchored in Two Palms Bay at Flamingo Cay" shape=poly coords="183,0 0,0 0,122 183,122 183,0"></MAP><IMG border=0 src="Page109/twopalmsbaysm.jpg" width=184 height=123 useMap=#map512></DIV> <DIV style="POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 184px; HEIGHT: 123px; TOP: 773px; LEFT: 13px"><MAP name=map513><AREA <a href="Page109/DinghyExploration.jpg" target="new" alt="Skip and Harriet and Ed, Tina and Jo explore Flamingo Cay" shape=poly coords="183,0 0,0 0,122 183,122 183,0"></MAP><IMG border=0 src="Page109/dinghyexplorationsm.jpg" width=184 height=123 useMap=#map513></DIV> <DIV style="POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 184px; HEIGHT: 123px; TOP: 773px; LEFT: 525px"><MAP name=map514><AREA <a href="Page109/Cactus.jpg" target="new" alt="One of the many cacti coming into flowere" shape=poly coords="183,0 0,0 0,122 183,122 183,0"></MAP><IMG border=0 src="Page109/cactussm.jpg" width=184 height=123 useMap=#map514></DIV> <DIV style="POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 184px; HEIGHT: 123px; TOP: 648px; LEFT: 13px"><MAP name=map515><AREA <a href="Page109/FlamingoSouth.jpg" target="new" alt="A view from the light tower towards the south of Flamingo Cay" shape=poly coords="183,0 0,0 0,122 183,122 183,0"></MAP><IMG border=0 src="Page109/flamingosouthsm.jpg" width=184 height=123 useMap=#map515></DIV> <DIV style="POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 321px; HEIGHT: 132px; TOP: 772px; LEFT: 201px"> <TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=321> <TBODY> <TR> <TD vAlign=top align=left> <P id=PPStyle5-P><SPAN id=PPStyle4-C>We motored back to Long Island and suffered a major scare with our main engine. The oil pressure dropped very low and we discovered all the oil in the engine bilge. The cause was the dipstick not being pushed fully home after an oil check. Sails up, we replaced the oil and pumped the bilge oil into a container. Phew!! <BR></SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV> <DIV style="POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 149px; HEIGHT: 30px; TOP: 912px; LEFT: 13px"> <TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=149> <TBODY> <TR> <TD vAlign=top align=left> <P id=Normal-P><SPAN id=PPStyle6-C><A href="page108.html">Previous Page<BR></A></SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV> <DIV style="POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 150px; HEIGHT: 32px; TOP: 912px; LEFT: 285px"> <TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=150> <TBODY> <TR> <TD vAlign=top align=left> <P id=Footer-P><SPAN id=PPStyle6-C><A href="page110.html">Next Page<BR></A></SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV> <DIV style="POSITION: absolute; WIDTH: 167px; HEIGHT: 29px; TOP: 912px; LEFT: 542px"> <TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=167> <TBODY> <TR> <TD vAlign=top align=left> <P id=PPStyle7-P><SPAN id=PPStyle6-C><A href="index.html">Return to Index<BR></A></SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV></BODY></HTML>