San Salvador – by Marike – The Van Zyl Family

It wasn’t easy to get to the Bahamas. There was a strong wind and only afterwards did we find out the rough journey had cost us our windvane-rudder and wind-generator. -_-

That wasn’t so great, but not a shattering loss either. Our poor wind-generator wasn’t the best out there and we haven’t used our windvane since the trip from St. Helena. (That’s a loooooong time ago.)

How to describe the Bahamas?

The islands are not much to look at. We’ve visited many islands now that look like tropical havens, especially those in the Caribbean. In the Caribbean the islands are all volcanic mountain peaks, their tips sticking out of the ocean and draped in green.

The Bahamas seem to be barren wasteland in comparison. The greens and browns are all faded, as if they’ve spent too much time in the sun. Standing on the boat looking toward land, it’s rather dull. The best view is when you’re standing on the beach, looking out to sea . . . WOW!

Karin Jr. as the model. 😉

The thing I love the most about living on the boat, is that you’re supplied with unlimited, unimpeded view of the sky. You get the same effect on a hill or mountain, or when you’re standing next to the sea. When the air is sharp and clear – and the sky filled with clouds.

Sophia always comes up with the perfect pose

Standing on the beach in the Bahamas was awesome. I’ve heard it said that we as humans were made to stand in awe. We love the feeling of looking at something amazing, awe-inspiring. To gaze into the beauty of the picture and feel small.

It is wonderful to have so many chances to stand in awe of our Creator. Even though I know this world is broken, it is still so beautiful and I can clearly see His sovereignty. There are no ‘accidents’ – there is design.

In San Salvador we weren’t anchored too far off the beach. It was really easy to snorkel to the beach, walk around on it for a while collecting shells, then snorkel back to Shang Du. The shallow white sandy bottom coupled with the crystal clear water reflects the sky’s blue colour. This is the totally idyllic water you always see on travel brochures. 😉 On my way to and from the beach I dive down every so often to pick up another sand-dollar. There were many many many of them lying around, since nobody ever comes there. During our stay at San Salvador, we were the only yacht to anchor there.

The shell Franci found while snorkelling! (I saw like 3 or 4 of those same shells, but all the ones I found still had snails in them. XD )

We might have been the only yacht anchored at the island, but we were not the only ones to enjoy the diving. On San Salvador, (the place where Cristopher Columbus first set foot in the ‘new world’, by the way), there is a little corner for French tourists. A complete and secluded holiday resort that has a little runway all its own! Every week an airplane flies in from France. It drops off a bunch of people ready for a holiday and takes the previous lot back home.

(That is an extremely summed up version of what actually happens).

These people have also stationed buoys for themselves at dive-spots. It was very convenient to just dingy out with all our gear and tie up to a buoy.

You can’t actually see the buoy here, but this is the four of us girls just come up from a dive. (From left to right: Karin Jr.; Franci; Marike and Sophia)

The drop-off dives we did in San Salvador were amazing!

The drop-off.

San Salvador is not on the list of islands people would normally visit on a trip to the Bahamas, (talking of cruisers specifically), but it really should be! Apparently you don’t get such good drop-off dives anywhere else except for the great barrier reef in Australia.

The photos all look blue, but while you’re under the water your brain interprets what you see differently or something, because it doesn’t feel blue. 😉

I get to dive with our little dive buoy – we call it “Subby”, since it has the word “SUB” printed on it’s side.

The marine life was really interesting. (Mom with a feeding turtle. It’s eating the sponge.)

This grouper would follow us around on our dives! (Dad doing the interaction.)

San Salvador was by far my favourite Bahamian island! We enjoyed the diving so much, we decided not to continue on to another island until after Franci’s birthday and Christmas. =)

Our very last peppermint-crisp chocolate (treasured since Grandma visited us in Trinidad) was used to make Franci’s peppermint-crisp tart. 17 candles!