Coronavirus, Seahorses and Spring Break in Ft. Lauderdale

Our last Bahamian cocktail hour on the bow of our boat.

Being mostly off the grid for a month isolated us from much of the media attention on COVID-19, but we did get headlines, snippets and developed an understanding of “flattening the curve.”  You most likely already know that this refers to trying to spread out the timeframe in which people will get infected by reducing social gatherings, meetings, large events and travel.  These moves should slow the contagion down to help our medical facilities and personnel not be so overwhelmed and buy more time for a vaccine to be developed.


The large cruise ships at the Nassau pier
along with a "small" 200 foot ship.

We have also received advice from friends and family back in the States.  Some suggested that we should stay in the Bahamas as it is likely a better location to engage in social isolation and enjoy the outdoors.  On the other hand, the island country has until now been visited regularly by numerous cruise ships and may be less able to cope with an expected outbreak.   If either of us did have a medical issue, it would likely be better addressed in the States.


After seeing our first Eleuthera sunset,
we gathered every night on aptly named
 Sunset Beach to celebrate and observe
the beautiful ending of the day.

Vindaloo and Salty Paws together
at the Cape Eleuthera Marina.
 

While we were contemplating all of this, the strong winds kept us in a nice marina in southern Eleuthera, one of the outer islands, for six days.  We used the time to rent a car with Grant and Wendy on Vindaloo, explore much of the island, go snorkeling for seahorses, blow our conch horn at sunset and visit the international Island School. 

We got pretty good blowing on the conch shells, and Grant participated even without a shell.  The shells are exceptionally hard, and it took Bill a couple of hours to drill and get our hole at the end of the shell large enough to get a sound.

Here is a 6-inch seahorse in its natural setting.
Unlike in the New England Aquarium, we
didn't seethem swimming along.  Instead, they
had attached themselves to bottom plants.

We had hoped to make it to the Abacos, a cruising paradise but still recovering from Dorian.  The winds and waves in that direction just didn’t cooperate.  Finally, beginning Wednesday, March 11^th, the winds and waves died down just enough so Salty Paws could begin the largely open water trek back to the States.  We covered over 300 miles in three days, including 163 miles on the last day.  Whew! 

 

 

We didn't see any scenes like this when we
were in college!

 

 

Now we are in Fort Lauderdale, FL, and vegging out a bit.  We’re 50 years late, but we finally made it to Spring Break in Fort Lauderdale! News of COVID-19 and the request for social distancing has apparently not made it to this year’s group.

 

Las Olas Beach in Fort Lauderdale.  The cruise ship in the background just left the harbor, and the next morning we noticed
that it was anchored right out front, no doubt waiting to see if there will be a cruise next month.

Soon we will start the likely slow trek back up north over the next 2 ½ months.  Then again, one suggestion we received was to leave the boat in a marina somewhere and hightail it back to Maine, where our home in a sparsely populated Maine coastal community is the perfect place to practice social distancing.  If anything, the times are fluid. 

 

Below are more pictures of our fun time in Eleuthera.

The glass window is the narrow divide that cuts Eleuthera in two.  The water to the east (on the left) is the deep blue Atlantic while the much lighter water to the west is the Bight of Eleuthera.

Molly at the Glass Window.

Looking out to the Atlantic from the naval base
abandoned after WW II.  The area has just been
bought by the English-based company Philautia
and is slated for development.  However, we did
see many failed developments throughout the
Bahamas, often ended after being uprooted by
a hurricane.

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting ready to look for seahorses.

 

 

 

 

Sweetings is a salt water pond and a perfect
area for seahorses, octopus and other sea life.
The location is not publicized, and we only
learned about it from another cruiser.  There
 is hope to make it a national park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That blog in the middle is a 2-foot octopus!

 

 



 



Grant found a brittle star.

We enjoyed the popular Friday fish fry on Governor's Harbor
although we all opted for the bbq'd chicken and Bahamian
Mac and Cheese.



The Island School attracts researchers
and high school students from all over
the world.  Here Molly and Wendy are
talking with the scuba instructor.

The Island School raises its own vegetables, fruit and tilapia (fish).



We were given a tour of the School and grounds
by Cove, a 9-year old whose parents teach at the
school.  He was adept at climbing the trees
barefoot to give us fruit samples.



Cove is demonstrating how to eat
a sapodilla, one of many fruits we had
never seen or tasted before.