LIB stripped and prepared for Irma. (SUP was inside while away.)
Well, we are finally back on our boat in Puerto Rico and we are SO fortunate that we suffered NO damage from Hurricane Irma. At the very last minute, this horrific storm decided to go just a bit north and the island of Puerto Rico avoided a direct hit.
In the face of this near miss, the folks here on PR have stepped up and contributed to the efforts to help neighboring islands which have been decimated. There are people taking tangible supplies to PR, others have picked up people stranded on the island and brought them to PR and still others have taken friends or strangers into their boats and homes here in Puerto Rico.
On LIB, we have not contributed physically to the efforts, but we have tried to offer emotional and some financial support. Our intention is to give trained personnel time to reinstate order, then actually go and help rebuild. Admittedly Frank is much better with tools than I, but I have learned a lot since moving onto LIB and I am sure will be able to help in some way.
In the mean time, on our flight back to Puerto Rico, we saw from the air some of the islands we played on while cruising the Bahamas this year. I have not always been a student of geography, but living on a boat has taught me a lot and it was fun to recognize the islands we had visited from an arial perspective.
We spent several days anchored off Normans Cay.
Enjoying the shallows while paddling to “The Pond” on Normans
We stopped on Normans twice this season; once alone and once with some of our Sail to the Sun Rally friends on board LIB with us.
Captain found the soft, deserted beaches perfect for playing chase!
The second great picture from the plane was of Cambridge and Compass Cays. The cut between them is where we met up with s/v Radiance in an amazing feat of timing. We had texted with Radiance crew, Susan and Kevin, who were heading toward the Exumas from Florida while we were returning to the Exumas from Eluethera. Our plan was to anchor near Compass Cay and contact each other upon arrival, but just as we were getting close to the cut and were dousing our spinnaker, we spotted Radiance also approaching the cut! LIB fell into line right behind Radiance and we followed them into the anchorage!
Susan demos the arduous skill of floating about on Compass Cay!
Cambridge Cay is where we first met Kristen and James of s/v Tatiana and Laurie and Chris of s/v Temerity. This area is also the location of another Sail to the Sun meeting where about 10 of us did a float snorkel near the Rocky Dundas in water so clear that Tom and Louise on s/v Blue Lady appeared to be suspended in air in the picture below.
Blue Lady lifts anchor near Cambridge Cay.
Traveling in a plane nearly 100 times faster than LIB sails, we quickly covered the area we sailed this season. But it was fun to look out the window and recall the islands we visited and see again the amazing blues unique to the Bahamas.
For now, we are keeping an eye on the weather here in Puerto Rico and hoping this nasty 2017 hurricane season ends without any more storms anywhere! We look forward to putting LIB back into working shape and once again exploring the Caribbean.
As always, thank you for stopping by our blog. We would love to hear from you. If you want to see what we are up to more often, please see our FB page: Let It Be, Helia 44.
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