Many photos from the Exumas

So here is a set of collages showing some of the places we've been over the past few weeks. As usual, click the picture for a bigger image.

First, Hawksbill Cay in the National Park. As well as the usual amazing water colours and clarity, there were ruins to explore, a plantation from the times of the American Revolution, when loyalists left the American mainland to try their luck in the Bahamas. It must have been a tough life.

These pictures are from a few miles further north, on Shroud Cay where we explored the mangrove creeks and drew water from the well. The motor boat in the picture is one that was anchored there for a few days and we got to know the owner and his kids, they invited us for a lovely evening aboard where the kids watched satellite TV, we enjoyed some very nice conversation and wine, and everyone was treated to Haagen Daas and fresh blueberries. Back in Cambridge, a couple of years ago, that would have been a fairly normal nice evening out, now such treats are exceptional and exceptionally good!

Another few miles north, and out of the National Park, Norman's Cay still bears the decaying marks of its recent life of crime. The villas and buildings connected to the days of drug baron Carlos Lehder are quietly falling down and only a small resort and bar (MacDuffs) now keep an occasional plane dropping into the small airstrip with a slightly more legal cargo of curious tourists. The carcass of a drug running plane lies in the shallow water where it missed the runway one night.