Who likes to party? S/V Tideye, that’s who….AND those salty dawgs. Right before we upped the anchor in Georgetown, we crossed paths with our friends from Charleston on S/V Island Time. They let it slip that there was an Exuma Rendezvous the next week exactly where we were planning to be – how do we sign up!?! Also, what does a rendezvous involve? What followed was a full week of island hopping, beach parties and a little bit of rum.

Logan and I joined the Salty Dawg Sailing Association back in 2013 when we made the ocean passage from Virginia to the BVIs – our passaged ended up including a two month lay over in Bermuda. (See Screw it. Let’s go to Bermuda.) The experience was…a lot. But something we did sail away with was an incredible community of sailors that are as supportive as they are fun. So when an itinerary to cruise the Exumas with several fellow Dawgs presented itself, we hopped on board (bah-hah).

Moving to a new anchorage everyday isn’t something that we are used to this cruising season, but we kept up!

Every day we would wake up, plot the route to the next anchorage, sail or motor for a few miles, drop the hook, experience the island’s natural attraction (pigs, bubble bath, disappearing islands), then meet up at the beach at 5pm for happy hour and a silly game with a prize. Sleep, repeat. With five people in our crew, you would think we could have won at least one game… Every night the kids showed up with their eyes on the prize, but we suffered some crushing defeats. (Tucker did take third place in musical beach towels!) Too much fun. Maybe not too much, but a whole hell of a lot.

Logan had fun with the drone.

This morning we are anchored in another nostalgic spot for us. Southwest Allen’s Cay has just enough room for one boat.

Watching the sun come up off our bow makes it feel like we are the only people in the whole wide world. One family, floating here in the ocean, playing with iguanas on the beach. We could spend a very long time here, but our calendar pushes us onward. Tomorrow we will up anchor for Paradise Island to meet up with some seriously wonderful friends and grab crew for our crossing back to Fort Lauderdale. Looks like the weather is going to cooperate for a passage on the exact day we want to cross – when does that EVER happen?! Peace out Exuma.