So sorry that it has been so long without an update. It seems like when we have internet we are too busy to post and when we are out in the sticks and have time, we have no internet. Tonight we are anchored at Farmers Cay, again without internet, but I’m hoping to find a connection in the Settlement tomorrow to get this update posted.
After Brian and Katie left we hung around Georgetown for a few days.
We met two couples from Detroit area, Don and Linda (from Awe Spray) who we spent lots of time with and Joyce and Bruce on Mandalay. Don and Linda spend their winters in the Bahamas and summers in The North Channel where they have a camp (cottage). We had lots of laughs while visiting each other’s boats and one great dinner at St. Francis Marina on Stocking Island. Bruce (from Mandalay) went to Cook Elementary in Detroit where Jeff went and graduated from Redford High School a few years before we did. It’s a small world.
Next on the schedule was the arrival of Sarah and Kristi. The girls flew into Georgetown and caught a cab from the airport to town. All went well and we met them at the dinghy dock and headed out to Echo.
Although the weather wasn’t the greatest, we had a great week with them. The morning they arrived the wind was calm for the first time since we arrived in the Bahamas, very still and very hot.
Weather down here takes a while to get to understand. The normal winter weather is a brisk trade winds out of the east that blow day and night. As long as the trades keep blowing, you can be sure that there is not any different weather in the near future. When the trades are disturbed and things become calm and beautiful, you can be sure that there is some weather system pushing back the trade winds and changing weather is sure to follow.
We had just enough time that day to head over to Stocking Island for a few beers at Big D’s before the clouds, winds and rain moved in. We spent the evening on board then moved down to Volley Ball beach in the morning so we were closer to all the social activities for the day. We spent some time at Chat and Chill, one of the beach bars, walked along the beach on the Atlantic side, visited with other cruisers and had dinner.
Stocking Island is hard to describe. When we were there with Sarah and Kristi there were over 200 boats. By the end of February there can be up to 500. Although there are some boats passing through, the majority of boats come down, drop the anchor, and stay for months. The activities are endless: volleyball, amateur radio classes, yoga on the beach every morning, non denominational Christian beach church (something not quite kosher there), basket weaving, poker, trivial pursuit, softball, spiritual healing….. You get the idea. It is something between a cruise ship and a senior’s active living home. Although it is fun in small doses, we like to get away too.
Sunday turned out to be a great day for a sail over to Long Island, it was a beam reach with fairly calm seas. Sarah and Kristi did well and were treated with a quick view of dolphins swimming near by. We also flew past, “La Toison D’Or” (translation – Golden Fleece) the sailboat featured in the Bahamian Super Bowl commercial.
We dropped anchor in Thompson Bay about 3:00 and quickly learned of the Super Bowl party that evening at Long Island Breeze Club just nearby. The girls threw together a great dinner of curry chicken and then we went ashore to catch a shuttle that had been organized to get all of us cruisers over to the club. It was a fun and interesting evening and kind of cool to see the Bahamian Tourist Board Commercial with the owners of the boat in the commercial. It would have been even cooler if Echo had been the boat…
We rented a car Monday to do a bit of exploring. First stop was lunch at Seaside Village at Jerry Wells where Kenneth Cartwright made Conch Salad for us. It was quite an experience for Sarah and Kristi to see the conch removed from the shell and the process of preparing the salad at Kenneth’s beautiful waterside spot.
Kenneth was an interesting man with a pet Osprey who sat atop a pole near by. Kenneth, along with 2 other local men kept us entertained during lunch which was delicious. From there we headed Dean’s Blue Hole (.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean’s_Blue_Hole) We all snorkeled for a bit although didn’t actually go down into the 663 feet deep hole, very pretty place.
Tuesday morning we pulled up anchor and moved north to Cape Santa Maria (http://www.myoutislands.com/bahamas-resorts/long-island-map.cfm), another beautiful sail. Apparently Cape Santa Maria beach is often included as one of the top 10 beaches in the world and we certainly enjoyed being there. We were told that many cruisers “swallow their anchor” there and buy property giving up the cruising life, not hard to understand wanting to stay there. The harbor there is known for it’s rolley nature and we experienced it our first night there, with some attention to anchors, Jeff made significant improvement for the next day and night. We spent Wednesday morning exploring in the dinghy and at one point had a dolphin playing just ahead o the dinghy, it was magical. We tried to get to the Columbus memorial — but the roll was too great to get there in the dinghy that morning but we did explore a mangrove rimed bay.
Although we have had trolling line out while sailing we’ve had little luck, we did grill the grouper we had purchased at the hair dresser in Georgetown and it was very good. We also had a great dinner the second night at Cape Santa Maria Beach Club. One of these days we are going to try to spear lobster, we are building up our courage and asking everyone we talk to for pointers.
Our recent luck with sailing opportunities continued and our sail back to Georgetown on Thursday was great. We anchored right near Georgetown so we can take Sarah and Kristi to town in the morning to head to the airport, they also wanted to a bit of shopping before heading home. Luckily there is a “Rake and Scrape” at Peace and Plenty Hotel on Thursday evening which we attended. Lots of good music and good fun.
The next morning we said goodbye to Sarah and Kristi in Georgetown as they head back to Bellingham after a week on Echo. Goodbyes are hard but we know we will see them along with Brian and Katie in just over a month when we head for the states to raft the Grand Canyon. It makes it easier.
In preparation for our next social experience we headed north out of Georgetown to the Marina at Emerald Bay. This marina is owned by Sandals Resorts and is adjacent to the Exuma Sandals. Our old and dear friends Joe and Cheryl Keefe had booked a vacation at the resort and this was an excellent spot for us to hook up. As a double bonus, our new and dear friends David and Mary Utley sailed into the marina on Morningstar right after us. A great surprise.
The day before Joe and Cheryl arrived we hung around with David and Mary exploring the grounds, drinking some rum, and hanging out in the pool like we owned the place.
Our time at the marina included an evening on the dock with several interesting people. Robin and Corbet from Cookie Monster had caught several fish on their way in and prepared tuna sushi and Mahi Mahi and shared with all. We visited with a couple from Montreal traveling the Bahamas on their 28′ foot boat then heading home in time for delivery of their baby, due April 21st. There was also a family with 12 and 14 year old kids from Canada and a few other boats from the states.
The next day Joe and Cheryl arrived and we spent some time on Echo catching up. Although we had really not made any plans, Joe had gone for his morning jog, spied some sailboat masts over the hill, and was surprised to see Echo right in front. It was a great surprise to see him on the dock. We made plans to meet them on the beach the next day too.
Since Sandals is an all inclusive resort, they don’t exactly invite non paying guests in through the front door. In the Bahamas, all beaches are public so were able to get away with walking in from the back and hanging out on the beach chairs anyway. Cheryl snuck out beer, rum and coke, and pina coladas in her beach bag and we had a very pleasant afternoon.
We had learned the Sandals did sell day passes for marina guests so we decided we would buy passes for the evening and meet the Keefes for drinks and dinner that night. What a difference it made to be legal. Sandals sent a car to the marina to pick us up and we walked right in the front door!
At an all inclusive resort you pay a daily rate and then all food and drink is included. We bought a 6pm to 2am pass and worked very hard to get our $ to drink ratio to an acceptable level. We started in the hot tub with drinks. Then we went to Joe and Cheryl’s room to dress for dinner and had drinks, then we went to one of the restaurants for dinner and drinks, then we finished the night off at the pub with drinks. Just like always, we talked and laughed and had to be thrown out of the pub at 2am at closing time. Some things never change! Although I was a little under the weather the next day, I did feel that we received excellent value at Sandals. Again, goodbyes are hard, but we sure were grateful for the time and good cheer.
One thing this cruising itinerant life has taught us is that our life is full of painful goodbyes. The flip side of that coin is that we cherish each hello, each new friend and old, each loved one, more than we ever had in our shore life. It is a fair trade off.