Newest Addition To Out-Island Explorers

 We have been anxiously awaiting our chance to replace the Mako, Nine Lives, we use as our support boat. The opportunity came along for us to purchase this boat at a really great price, so we've been waiting since then to get engines put on her (and a new paint job underneath)....the time has come :)  

Aren't they PRETTY :)

The boys love all the cozy seating they have now!

Can you tell how happy this 'Captain' is?

 Her new name will be "OVERDRAFT" once we get the logo and sticker made up!

 We are very excited to be able to offer comfortable transport for our guests and their gear for those wishing to start and/or end trips further up in the cays near Staniel Cay. We are also very excited to have this new support boat for our guided trips that use one...will make the run up to Compass Cay to swim with the sharks a lot easier! Can't wait to take you for a spin in our "neck of the waters!"

Getting ready to gear up...

October has been busy with prep work for the season to get rolling again. We have our first guided trip next month, as I mentioned in a previous post. We had our first official rental of the season this month. Some of our guests, William & Susie, were celebrating their 25th Anniversary with a Sea Pearl rental! Congrats you guys!! They actually stayed at Palm Bay Beach Resort and took the boat out in the harbor during the days.

 I felt pretty bad when we delivered them their boat. We didn't realize that when they were flying in it was a holiday weekend. So the food stores and everything was pretty much shut down for the first couple days they were here. And to top that off, the restaurant on site at their hotel was being renovated...so they were kind of in a tight spot since they were hoping to stock their room with groceries. We did a quick run to Smitty's (one of our local food stores) to help them stock up on some goodies before we headed out.

They managed to reel in a couple barracuda while trolling in the Sea Pearl and cooked it up while they were here. Sounds like they had a pretty good time, and sounds like we're off to a good start so far. Hope we can keep it up :)

 

Just down a little road from our house is a beautiful bay called Hooper's Bay. Green Turtles are an everyday sighting down there. Our neighbors were down there swimming the other evening and had a pack of dolphins come and swim with them--practically begging to be touched they said. We haven't had the pleasure of that just yet, but I'll be keeping my eyes out for them for sure :) We were feeding the turtles the other day and trying to get nice and close and then Emit decided to throw his juice in. I guess that's the bait we needed, because they were all coming to check it out.

 

 Dallas and our friend from Boston, John, went out spearing a lot over the weekend. They pulled up a couple of really pretty conch too. I love how Emit is just dieing to touch it here in this picture :) 

 

 In the picture above you'll see the slings we use when we are spearing fish. Our guided trips will offer you the chance to learn how to spear fish (if you would like) or you can watch as Dallas spears fish for dinner for you.

 On a very exciting note, our Mako has sold!!!! The new owner, Cedric (pictured below), took her for a test drive yesterday. Before they were back to the dock Dallas had the cash in his pocket and Cedric was already telling Dallas all his plans for the boat! Can't you see how excited they both are below? We're planning to meet him at Chat-n-Chill on Sunday in our 'new' boat :) Good day all around!!

 

Stay tuned for new pictures of the World Cat--- she should be ready to take out for a test drive tomorrow with her pretty new engines :) 

Classic Kayak-NEXT MONTH

 Our first guided trip of the season is officially booked (unless one pops up between now and then anyway)! We just booked a Classic Kayak for November 13th-17th. I thought it might be fun to give you an idea of how our trips run. This would be a sample itinerary for our Classic Kayak:

Kayakers usually fly in the first date of the trip because that night will be spent at a local resort or hotel. We will meet you for dinner (we pick up this tab) for a meet and greet with the entire group and guides. We will also issue your dry bags at this time so that you can work on getting your personal items packed in them that evening.

Day 1: We will pick you up at your hotel first thing in the morning and take you to your kayak and gear. You pick out your boat; we issue remaining gear, then load up and head to the launch site at the Northern tip of Great Exuma. Once we get on the water, we will paddle for about an hour over to Boysie Cay, a beautiful low lying cay with a big soft white beach which is visible for miles.
We will make camp here the first night. Afternoon activities here will most likely include setting up camp, snorkeling on the ocean side and exploring a nearby blow hole before you enjoy a nice home cooked meal with a breath-taking sunset.

Day 2: After breakfast we begin packing up camp and head about six miles northwest to Norman’s Pond Cay. We will stop for lunch along the way at Windsock Cay which is a beautiful little cay surrounded by shallow sandy water frequented by large sting rays.

Norman’s Pond offers a variety of activities and could be a lay-over (2 nights) stop. The cays near Norman’s Pond Cay host endangered Rock Iguanas, top-notch snorkeling, a cave inland that you can snorkel in and a large pond accessible at high tide. We will go for a swim off-shore to dive up fresh conch in the shallow water to use to prepare fresh conch salad!

Day 3: From Norman’s Pond Cay we will cross over to a secluded and kayak-only accessible stretch of cays known as the Brigantines. Because the water around the Brigantines is extremely shallow, regular boats can’t access these exotic cays. Mangroves run all along these beautiful cays and provide a safe haven and nursery for baby fish of all kinds, baby sharks, sting rays, turtles and much more. These cays also have a few deep channels and shallow rocks that are great for snorkeling.

Day 4: From the Brigantines we are only a short paddle back to the mainland. After a final breakfast we will pack up camp one last time and start our journey home. Once back on the mainland, we will unpack our kayaks and get ready to haul everything back to town. Once we are back with the gear in George Town we will unpack and sort out everyone’s gear and luggage. After everything is sorted out, you will be taken to your hotel where a nice hot shower and air conditioning await you!

Sound like something you want to get in on?? Just Contact Us to get the ball rolling and you could join us on this trip to kick off our new and promising season!

New Logos

As our Sea Pearls are getting their new makeovers... we are also going to be giving them their new logos and names. Some of them are the original names, but we've changed a couple. The background color for each one will be the boat color :) I'm excited about this if you can't tell. These boats are so great, but at first site they can look a bit scrappy. Hopefully these new paint jobs will give a good first impression.

Thanks goes out to my new bro-in-law for help in brainstorming the logos. He designed the cool dolphin one for "Lucayan". Thanks, Kevin! The one for Carib (with the hand prints) is just to give you an idea. We are going to let Joss & Emit help us decorate that one with the paint from the other boats with our handprints :) I'm probably the most excited about that one! Anyway-- just wanted to share the new designs with you guys! Hope you like them, and hope to see you soon.

Exciting News for O.I.E!

 Dallas has started the Sea Pearl Makeovers! Hopefully we'll have some great pictures to show you of the final result. We've been wanting to do this since we came down, but there's always $omething $topping u$ (get the picture) :) We've got some pretty cool plans (at least we think they are) for them. Fresh paint/stain, new logos, patchwork, as much touch up work as we can do on them before this season kicks off into full swing. 

We're taking them out and checking for all the little leaks and issues to add to the "to-do" list. Joss is enjoying  "say-wing" (sailing) with Daddy. The BIG and EXCITING news for us here at Out-Island Explorers is that our new engines for our next boat have officially been ordered.

Nine Lives (pictured below) has been a trusty old support boat. We are very excited to be upgrading our support boat. I'll post pics of the new one once she's cleaned up and has her pretty new engines on her.  

 Stay Tuned!!