Rum Cay, Bahamas

 We’re at Rum Cay now, following a couple of beautiful daysails from George Town to Calabash Bay, Long Island, then from Calabash Bay to Rum.  Chris caught a mahi en route to Rum, which made him very happy.  We snorkeled on a bunch of the reefs that dit-dotted the southern bay; the coral was a bit worn in areas, but the fish were great, and we saw our first reef shark of the season.  I must say, I was quite proud that it didn’t make us immediately jump out of the water at first sight; instead, we just kept an eye out and continued snorkeling.  Chris caught a couple of lionfish, which he cooked up for a happy hour with other cruisers; it was a hit.  We went into the marina one night to get out of a blow.  There’s great artwork on the beach there, courtesy of Bobby, who owns the marina.  From the marina we kayaked through a canal, under a couple of little bridges (we had to lay flat to get under them and hope there were no spider webs to run into), and through some narrow mangrove-lined channels to an interior pond surrounded by mangroves large and small.  There were all kinds of little fish, a juvenile barracuda, and lots and lots of upside-down jellyfish.  It was very neat.  On a walk, we saw quite a few kingfishers and kestrels, as well as a bunch of friendly goats.  We also kayaked and picked our way through the rocks around to one of the outside beaches to see the surf, which surprisingly wasn’t very high, considering the winds.  Finally, we had some fun get-togethers with other cruisers: happy hour (okay, it was five hours) on Cookie Monster, dinner on Mr Mac, and a pot luck at the marina.  We didn’t visit Rum Cay last year, but we’re glad we got here this year.