Big Sky Montana Meets the Exuma Cays!

 This post is brought to you by some new friends of ours from Big Sky, Montana. Trust me, Whitney...I'm trying to figure out a way we can come and see your neck of the woods :) Whitney and Will were some folks that I sent out while Dallas was out on one of his trips, and I actually brought them back in while he was out on the next trip (the ASA ones). Very rare that folks visit us and never meet Dallas, usually its the other way around. They were so great! Joss & Emit really enjoyed getting to meet them too. They were great entertainers for the boys on the drives there and back, thanks guys. Whitney wrote: 

 My husband and I visited Exuma in April and rented a tandem kayak and miscellaneous camping gear from Out Island Explorers. We live in Big Sky, Montana and after a snowy winter, we were ready for the beach. One day we were dreaming of the perfect vacation. We decided it would be "camping and kayaking between deserted islands".

 Since we did not know where to begin to look for this type of adventure, we simply typed the phrase into Google. Destinations in Figi, Indonesia and then...Out-Island Explorers in the Bahamas appeared.

 We assumed the adventure would be out of reach financially, but we were pleasantly surprised that Tamara and Dallas made the experience possible by renting items individually plus camping on the islands is free! When planning, we did not know what to expect and Tamara was a great resource. She was so patient and informative.

 By the time we landed on Exuma, we were confident and ready for the adventure. If you have not visited the Exuma island chain, nothing can prepare you for the pristine, breathtaking beauty. The trip was better than we could have ever expected. We kayaked between islands, camped and explored.

 When Tamara picked us up we were full of stories and laughed when we realized we had not seen another

person for six days (the length of our trip). It was a stress-free, once-in-a-lifetime, fantastic experience. We're already making plans to return someday with family and friends.

 Thank you the Out-Islands team. You're running a professional, reliable business in a place where

everyone else is on perma-island time :)

 We look forward to showing you around Montana when the boys are ready to ski on snow! All the best!

-The Brunners

Thanks Brunners! It was a pleasure meeting you both, we look forward to seeing you again, here or there :) 

ASA Flotilla #2

Apologies for taking so long to get this trip covered. Our first ASA flotilla ended the day the Family Island Regatta began. Some of the guests stayed around for a bit of the action and others headed home. Some of the folks on the second flotilla came in early for the races. We schedule these particular trips around this big sailing event so that our sailing enthusiasts can enjoy the fun. Our ASA Rep on this trip, Dave, actually got to race one day on one of the boats out there. The boat was one of many that day that capsized and most of his belongings were left on the bottom of the harbor for a couple days (and a diver finally brought them up). 

And we're off again! This trip had a few firsts for our little company. It was the largest trip we've run with 17 people and all 5 sailboats out on the water. Probably won't do that many people at once again though. Dallas had a hard time trying to interact with everyone and make sure folks were having a good time and taken care of. That's a lot of kitchen work on the guides too: 3 meals a day with 17 hungry bellies to fill! 

We also had our oldest explorer on this trip. Ms. Mary, 80 years old, joined us with her daughter and she impressed the heck out of me. It's tough to be out there in the sun and sand all week, and I was told she was quite the trooper!

The deep sea fishing was a success on this trip also! They pulled in 5 Mahi Mahi this week. Andy (far left below) was trolling from the sailboat all week with the fishing gear he brought down. Unfortunately he didn't have much luck fishing like that, maybe if you guys had been sailing on the ocean side Andy, but he sure had luck out on the powerboat. He pulled in 2 of the 5 fish. I've heard it's quite the rush...I'm patiently waiting my turn to take a stab at it. I'm usually behind the wheel of the boat, making sure my little dudes don't go for an unexpected swim in the chaos, or taking action shots with the camera. 

 More fun was had with these crazy swimming pigs!

What is camping without a nice campfire?

The whole group...

This week provided us with some beautiful sailing weather once again. 

Julie, Charles & Carole

 Terry, Jillian & Jason

David, Andy & Kevin

Martin, Jason & Terry

Jane, Mary & Dave

Lynn, Rick & Jillian (a little bit of her anyway) :) 

David (above) gets our Honorary Employee Award for this trip :) He was one of our return guests, we had a couple on this trip from last year, and he was such a huge help to Dallas & Ryan. Loading and unloading the powerboat at each camp is a grueling task, the extra hands helping make a huge difference. Thanks DAVID :) 

Overall, another great week sailing in the Exuma Cays with our friends at ASA! We are thankful for all the participants and hope to see some of you down here again. Thanks for sailing with Out-Island Explorers!

If any of you are interested in following Ryan's bike ride across the USA (Ryan was the second guide on this trip) the link to his blog is: http://ryanandcoco.com/ Check it out...he's having quite the adventure so far!