Straight from the horse's mouth!

 Not that I'm calling Irmi & Barry 'horses' by any means :) 

We have had the hardest time getting listed on Trip Advisor. If anyone is looking for us you'll notice we still aren't on there. There are all kinds of rules for who can and can't be listed on there. Apparently since we run overnight trips and don't have specific times listed on our website for trip departures, and a few other things like that we don't meet the requirements. I've emailed, called and tried time and time again to get on there... so if anyone knows the secret loop hole... please, I'm all ears!

 All that being said, we're trying to get our guest's experiences available to folks that are considering doing our trips in the future, so I asked Irmi & Barry (our guests on the most recent guided trip, Best of Both Worlds) to do a GUEST FEATURE here on the blog and write a little something about their time with us. In the future I'll just title it, "Guest Feature: insert name here" so you don't have to hear all that again :) The photos provided on this post were from Irmi & Barry, and this is what they had to say:

When we first started planning our trip we always had an adventure trip in mind and this is what led us to the Exumas and to Out-Island Explorers. We originally planned a kayaking trip, but once we got in touch with Dallas & Tamara they indicated that the Best of Both worlds trip would be an excellent choice for us. We were a little reluctant as we had never sailed before. Once we got to Georgetown, Exuma (a couple of days before our trip with O.I.E. started) Dallas, Tamara and the boys welcomed us and took us to Stocking Island.  Dallas gave us some sailing lessons in Elizabeth Harbour on the Arawak, a 21’ Sea Pearl sailboat.

 

Our actual adventure trip started at the docks in Georgetown as we were packing up our gear onto the support boat “Overdraft” and towing the sailboat to Boysie Cay, where the boat was rigged and we started our sailing trip. The weather was excellent, the wind just enough to get the boat going good, but not too fierce that we would run into too much trouble. We made good time on our first day to Lignumvitae Cay where we set up camp. Our next couple of days were filled with camp life and a whole bunch of outings. We broke camp three times and camped on different cays for 2 nights each. Our days were filled with outings in kayaks, deep sea fishing, snorkeling the reefs (unfortunately we didn’t have an underwater camera with us) and we explored the surroundings with the support boat. 

At some point the “boys” all went fishing and I decided to stay behind, I had the whole island to myself! Queen for a day on my own island! We went to visit caves, Iguanas, a remote local settlement and a sandbank. Dallas had a menu planned for the whole week and when fish was on the menu he and Tanai ( yeah, Tanai finally got the big one) always delivered. We were amazed how deep they dove as they spear fished, coming back with grouper, jackfish or lobster. We also had a shark visit us at the side of the boat.  Nothing could be better than sitting around the open fire after an amazing day in the cays, watching the fresh fish and lobster cook, with the sunset in the background. Truly “mudda-sick” as the Bahamian would say, or totally awesome! (Barry’s take on things)

Thanks so much for a truly amazing time I would highly recommend this type of trip to anyone, who loves the great outdoors, camping, fishing and enjoying nature “untouched”.

Barry & Irmi Critcher, Northern BC, Canada  

 

Barry & Irmi-- thank you for sharing this with us, and thank you for choosing us and our little island for your adventure! It was an honor to meet you guys. I'm already thinking of the trips we'll take when it is 'our turn to really travel' :)

Best of Both Worlds and More!

In case you missed the announcement on our Facebook page this is the newly improved ARAWAK Sea Pearl. David G., if you're reading... this was your boat on last year's ASA trip :) No more holes!!!

To start this trip, we headed out for a day in Elizabeth Harbour to do sailing lessons with our Best of Both Worlds guests, Barry & Irmi. They were beginner sailors, and really took to it very quickly! I really, truly, honestly, LOVE our work!! We get to meet some of the sweetest and coolest people from all over the world. Barry and Irmi are grain farmers from a small town way up in Canada, and we have very much enjoyed getting to know them.

The weather was great for them the beginning of the week, so the trip actually launched from some docks in GeorgeTown. Dallas, Tanai (second guide), Barry & Irmi loaded up in Overdraft and towed the Sea Pearl behind them about 22 miles along the eastern side of the mainland around to Boysie Cay. Once they got to Boysie they rigged the Sea Pearl, and Barry & Irmi began their sailing journey.

Dallas was very impressed with how well they caught on to the sailing and navigating. He was trying hard to keep up with him that first day. He was pretty excited about how fast Arawak was coasting through the water too :)

I believe we owe a nice THANK YOU to Barry for saving the paint job on this boat on one instance. The wind and the cut and everything just kind of got crazy at one point and he jumped overboard to keep her from smashing into some rocks. May have even busted up a few ribs in the process...that's a true Captain for ya :)

The Best of Both Worlds trip is our combo trip that offers sailing and kayaking. Usually you sail in the morning and paddle in the afternoon from your next camp. Unfortunately, these are all the photos I have from their trip right now.. our camera's battery died way too soon so I'll post more when I get my hands on some from Irmi :)

Just because the trip was officially over on Saturday didn't mean the fun had to stop! This is when staying a few extra days will pay off! Yesterday, we had some GORGEOUS weather, after a really windy front moved through, that made for a perfect Deep Sea fishing afternoon with the whole crew (even the boys and I got to tag along) as well as some friends that were meeting Irmi & Barry down here for some fun in the sun!

Remember how I said earlier that the weather started off really great...well, it was blowing quite a bit (around 25 mph) by the end of the trip which meant that they didn't get a chance to do much deep sea fishing while they were out there. Dallas still managed to spear some fresh fish for dinner (that-a-baby!!), but he really wanted to get them out for some trolling action.

We went out on the other side of Stocking Island and fish were jumping everywhere you looked. It was pretty exciting! By time they got the lines set and we were in line with the fish, we were reeling some in. I was so excited and trying to snap pictures of everyone that I about fell in a time or two :) The ladies were very sweet to take care of the boys during this crazy time.

Tanai finally caught the biggest fish!! It's about time, I think, after all the talk everyone had heard :) Way to go Tanai, I know you were working hard for that fish.

Here comes the first one...Beautiful and Delicious, Mahi Mahi!!

LOL, this photo above about got me knocked out when Dallas "jooked" (Bahamian word for stab or stick) the fish and pulled it in the boat.

Joss was mighty proud of his Daddy! And Emit kept asking where the "Pish" was after we put them in the well.

GOTCHA!!!!

Moments after Dallas and Tanai reeled their fish in, Barry was up and working hard! It was moving so fast on the boat I didn't even have time to get a good angle out there.

Not too shabby for about an hour of water time! Of course we had the group up for dinner to grill their catch, and with Dallas' famous marinade it was an evening to remember!

Joss couldn't get over all the people that came over just to play trains with him :)

PS-- Barry, Irmi....you guys haven't even left Exuma yet and we're already missing you! Thanks for a great trip and new friendship!!