Time for another giveaway from your friends here at Out-Island Explorers! We are offering the winner a 2012 Customized Calendar with photos from our trips, beautiful islands, turquoise waters and so much more. The deadline is Jan 22. In order to enter the contest, you need to follow this link to our Facebook page with this photo (above) and contest info: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Out-Island-Explorers/117966012383
All you have to do is share the photo on your facebook page. The person who has the most 'likes' and 'comments' on their shared link wins the contest and calendar.
It is so much fun to meet people in the line of work we do. Andy, pictured above, joined us on our ASA Sailing Expedition early last year. Andy caught the 'Bahamas Bug' last year and wanted to get more fishing time in down here. He brought his buddy, David, with him this time around for an all out fishing trip.
Plans were to head over to Conception Island and fish along the way, but the weather factored in and kept them over in the Exuma Cays. Not that we have anything against our beautiful cays, and it obviously didn't hinder their fishing...21 fish in 2 days...not a bad haul!
David Tebowing with a Mahi Mahi above!
The guys headed up in the area near Big Farmers Cay to camp for a night and fish, fish, fish. The folks at Little Farmers Cay were very pleased to take all the Barracuda the guys reeled in off their hands.
The last big catch of the trip was this very nice Wahoo.
Way to go Neville :) That was a lot of work to get this guy on the boat.
They were dodging the rain clouds most of the way home, and got caught in a few, but I don't think that interfered with their fishing...do you??
Today the winds picked up drastically which is why they came in off the water when they did instead of camping an additional night. Our temps outside tonight are around 64 degrees F, which in the words of our 4 year old, Joss, is 'makin me chiver' (making me shiver)! COLD for us on the island. It sounds like it is calming down a bit outside, so hopefully we can get these guys out to do a little spearing in the morning before they have to catch their flights' home in the afternoon.
The weather here on the island today was a wonderful 79 degrees (F). For us this is nice 'fall' weather :) We have our windows open and are thoroughly enjoying the cooler temps. But it also means that the seasons are changing and we are no longer in the desperately quiet months of summer on the island. Tourists are slowly starting to trickle back in and our inbox has a nice flow of new inquiries and communications each day.
We were in Nassau (the capital city of the Bahamas on New Providence) a couple weeks ago visiting and working with Dallas' family. We took the boys to the zoo as a treat. We had fun doing something a little different. We don't have a 'zoo' on our island. We have wild critters and our very own 'aquarium' to play in though.
I was loving these orchids all over the place. The picture doesn't do them justice, they were beautiful! We have seen a few out in the bush here around Exuma, but they weren't this much in bloom. But.. anyway :)
The zoo is a fun little outing if you have a few hours in Nassau and would rather not barter at the Straw Market or fight the crowds downtown. The boys loved it because they had a lot of birds, and right now they are crazy about the movie Rio.
The flamingo lawn was really cool. There were probably 30 or more flamingos roaming in this lawn area that you have free range in.
This age is so fun... everything becomes a playground :)
Just for fun... HAPPY HALLOWEEN from the littlest Out-Island Explorers (aka- Percy & Thomas the Trains).
I apologize for the blog being left alone for most of the summer. I had plans to do a series, which I still plan to do, but the summer got carried in other directions. This last year, I (Tamara) have taken up a new hobby...building my own furniture! I was introduced to Ana-White.com this time last year, and the fun really began. I think living on an island where I can't just run to the store and pick up some furniture has really brought this passion to light. I do have a few projects that I tried to build many years ago, so I know the desire was there all along I just needed an extra little shove and some easy DIY directions!
The last couple weeks I have been advertising custom-made furniture and have actually taken a few orders. I just finished a couple pieces today, but this one below was my first official customer piece :)
So I guess in addition to kayaking, sailing, fishing, boating and camping, Out-Island Explorers can now offer custom furniture :) Far from perfect, but made to please (hopefully)! We have guests coming back soon and will be posting more frequently. Again, sorry for the lull in posts.... I will be back soon :)
Many of you know that we were off the island most of the month of August. We are finally starting to get caught up on things on this end (mostly blogs and computer work, because kayaking and sailing is always slow in the summer).
Photo by Nicole Parotti
Hurricane Irene gave our little island quite the scare. It probably made us more nervous due to the fact that we were away and having to get our friends to help us get all our kitties and gear ready for the storm and we just couldn't really tell what was going on. I'll probably have more sympathy now for my family in the event another storm comes through and we are on the island and not with them.
Photo by Nicole Parotti
This photo above of the boat tipping makes me so thankful. Our boat was out of the water and just to the left of the edge of this photo (on the other side of the bulldozer). I'm telling you folks... prayer works. Had that boat gone all the way over.... Thank you Lord!
Photo by Nicole Parotti
This is some roof damage on the stage in Regatta Park in town.
Photo by Nicole Parotti
The photo above was taken on the beach we walk to from our house, Hoopers Bay.
We arrived back home about a week after the storm passed, and luckily our island fared pretty well...considering. We were very lucky to have mainly debris damage as you can see above (after it has been placed in neat piles anyway). Our biggest expense with the storm was taking our boat out of the water. We don't have a trailer for it right now so we had to take it out by the lift and store it at the marina $$$ :(
Our biggest loss from the storm had to be our fridge and freezerS full of food. We had eaten most of the stuff in our fridge before our trip since we were heading out for a few weeks, but our deep freezer was FULL of fish and crawfish and meat that my family always brings down from the states when they come--you see Dallas above pouring the remains to the turtles and fish. VERY depressing throwing out all that food. The power was out for about 4-5 days though, and it was just too risky to keep any of it.
These final two shots of images from our beach, Hooper's Bay. You can see how the tide line has been pushed back a few feet. The dock below doesn't reach the sand anymore. There is still a lot of branches and debris in the water at the beach and in the harbor. Hopefully by time everyone is coming back down here for the season they will be more back to normal.
A friend asked us the other day how all the reefs and cays weathered the storm, and I'm anxious to find out for myself. We haven't had the chance to go explore up in the cays yet and see how things are looking. Overall, I'd say we all got really lucky. Some of the other islands in the Bahamas did not come out of the storm as well. Please pray for those islands and if you feel led to assist in the recovery, I'm sure it would be appreciated.
Thanks for your loyalty to our little company and blog... I promise to get back in the swing of things soon. I have a new series that I plan on starting on here! God Bless :)
Summer is here and in full swing! For us, this is the time of year where we LIVE in the water (out on the boat, at the beach, exploring the reefs, spearfishing, etc). It is when we have the spare time to do all these fun activities, but it is also when the water is the warmest, the sun in the hottest, and you don't want to be anywhere but in the water :)
These turtles live right off the beach that we walk to from our house. They are wild, but very friendly and LOVE some squid!
We have had some family and friends visiting on and off the last couple weeks. Most of these photos and videos are from a two week trip with Dallas' brother and some friends of theirs that are Spearfishing Enthusiasts!
Below is the Queen Trigger fish. I've mentioned before, these are the best fish to learn how to spearfish with. They turn to look at you and give you a full target to hit. This is one of the few fish that I, myself, have speared . Back in the days when I was trying to impress my 'boyfriend from the Bahamas' and show him that I could hang with him being an 'army brat from the States!'
I will NEVER get tired of exploring the world below the surface. There is always something to look at and discover.
When spearing you have to go and look up under the ledges to find the nice, big, fish--most of the time. This ledge had a little surprise for us under it :)
I knew the shark (nurse shark) was down there and intentionally swam through to video him sleeping, but I got a little freaked when he twitched toward me :) as you can clearly see in the video. I do gain my composure again as I'm drifting to the top! LOL
Dallas & his brother, Jeremy. These guys are very happy together + in the water + spearing!!
From left to right: Andrew, Jeremy, Dallas, John & Shawn. Two Olympic swimmers in here (Jeremy for the Bahamas and Shawn for the USA). FUN STUFF!!
Jeremy's wife, Heather and son, Mason (far left below) came down for some fun in the sun too! Some of these photos on here are Heather's. She's a photographer in Birmingham, AL for Sprouts... she does really great work if you need nice, modern photos of you and your family.
Photo courtesy of Heather K.
Above is the three cousins! Mason, on the left, and our two, Joss & Emit! First time these guys have spent more than a couple hours with each other. Joss and Emit definitely had fun showing their little cousin around the island. And we had fun taking advantage of our talented sister-in-law for a little family photo shoot :)
Photo courtesy of Heather K.
We've broken out the skis and inter-tube a lot recently for some boating fun. Joss did this with Dallas for the first time the other day!
Photo courtesy of Heather K.
He's 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry for my noisy narration... I was excited!
Lots of time spent snorkeling some of the pretty reefs...these are right inside Elizabeth Harbor (the harbor between Stocking Island and Great Exuma (where Georgetown is).
Turtle grass that makes you wonder, "what is out there looking at me?"
This will show you how the 'Knowles Boys' get down under the water! Dallas has a couple spearing buddies that live here on the island, but his brother is definitely his favorite partner in situations like this. They did this little tag-team thing a few times.
Needless to say, they had a good time :)
Playing with a conch (below) under water... you can see his eyes checking me out! No worries Mr. Conch... you are safe and sound inside the harbor :)
We also had a visit from Dallas' parents this last weekend and took them out for a spin in the Sea Pearls and boat too.
Emit helping Daddy sail!
Below left to right: Joss in corner with the cool shades on, Andy (Dallas' dad), Nancy (Dallas' mom), and Lyall (Pastor & friend).
This is how momma rides in the sailboat :)
And finally... my summer challenge to myself is to learn to slalom ski (for longer than a split second). Immediately following this shot I had a nice little wipe-out :)
Stay tuned for a new little blog feature that we'll be starting soon. Hopefully you'll enjoy Exploring Exuma as much as we will!! :)
Last month we had the pleasure of running our first American Canoe Association (ACA) Kayak Adventure. We also had our first ever intern with Out-Island Explorers, Michael (below). The trip had a great mix of folks. We had guests from New Jersey, Oklahoma, Ohio/Israel, Virginia and Hawaii.
They had perfectly calm water the week of their trip. However, they also had some scorching summer heat too.
Travis, below, was our ACA Rep for this trip. What a great guy to have out there on the water!
Each time we have a guided trip we try to spear or reel in fresh fish for dinner at least one night on the water. After you catch the fish... you must clean the fish. This usually is a sight you'll see after cleaning a couple fish off the beach...
A pretty decent size Lemon Shark. He apparently wasn't too intimidated by Dallas and the group as they stuck their heads in the water to see him through their masks because he came right up toward them. When my feet are safely planted are dry land I can enjoy these kind of moments, personally. When you're out in the water (usually after spearing for a bit at the same spot) and see one of these in the water with you... it is easy to feel a bit panicked. They are amazing creatures for sure!
This group enjoyed a moonlight paddle (which was also a first for our guided trips). Partly to escape the swarm of mosquitoes that tried to eat everyone at sunset, but also because of the beautifully full moon and clear sky.
This particular night made me a bit jealous that I wasn't out there on the water enjoying the paddle with them.
The group from left to right: Travis, Donna, Carla, Corey, Ed, Michael & Dafna!
The summer months in the Bahamas typically brings more afternoon showers and thunderstorms than the rest of the year. You can see a water spout in the shot below from one of the storms.
My little guys (Joss & Emit) and I drove the powerboat out to the group (about a 50 minute drive one way) to take them some cold drinks and give them a break from paddling to hit up a couple snorkel spots on their last full day out on the water. Everyone seemed pretty exhausted when we got there, but hopefully they were still having a good time.
The final morning of the trip they were somewhat stranded in the middle of a thunder and lightning storm that surrounded them. They found a slight gap in the storm and managed to paddle the final mile and a half back to their mainland. It was an adventure to say the least, and everyone made it back safely. As with most of our trips and groups that head out, they were all very excited to have a fresh water shower, air conditioning and a soft bed to sleep in that final night at the local hotel.
Hope you guys enjoyed your Out-Island adventure with us!
