A Week of Losses

Look at the determination on his face!

Mahi Mahi that was lost.

On Monday, March 14^th we finally departed George Town to head back.  We wanted to go to Cat Island but the wind did not co-operate so we and several other boats decided to go up the Exuma chain to Black Point and then cross over to Eleuthera from there.  Al threw out his fishing lure and had a nibble but it got away rather quickly.  A while later, we heard the whiz of the reel and he had on a nice mahi mahi.   While I tried to slow the boat down by heading into the wind, Al struggled to reel it in.  I grabbed my camera to take some shots.  Good thing I did because as soon as it was to the back of the boat and Al was ready to gaff it, the hook broke away from the lure and bye-bye fish.  Oh well, at least he finally had a hit!  And I was so looking forward to fish for dinner!   

Anchorage at Black Point

Once in at the anchorage we had dinner on Discovery with Carl and Marilyn and Sondra and Chuck on Eliora whom we met on Christmas day at the restaurant and again in George Town and whom we are traveling with for a while.

We stayed put another day in Black Point and discovered that Bill and Marge Goettle, long time sailing association friends, were in the harbor.  We did some hiking and enjoyed dinner on Blue Heaven with them.  We had fun catching up on what each had been doing during the winter.

The next day we left to go out Dotham Cut to cross over to the island of Eleuthera.  Unfortunately it was not slack tide so we ended up going through what they call a rage.  We had all ports and hatches closed but somehow missed our favorite Teva sandals (that are perfect for walking beaches) wedged onto the deck next to the cockpit.  We hit a wave that flowed over the bow giving us green water over the deck and our shoes must have flowed right out the back with it.  We are thankful we did not see them go over, because your first inclination would be to try and save them, and there was no way we could have safely done that with rocks on both sides of the cut.  The green water also found its way into our forward head.  We are not sure if it came down our dorade vent or our ventilation fan.  We also had the seat knocked out of the dinghy which was tied on deck on the bow, but luckily got caught on the furling line and so we were able to save it.  The plastic cover on the port bow light was also knocked off and lost.  We will definitely go through cuts a bit differently in the future.  Live and learn!

We anchored in Rock Sound and just chilled once we got in.  The next day we walked to an interesting cave and blue hole.  Unfortunately, there are no pictures because I took my camera but had no memory card in it because I downloaded pictures that morning and left it in the computer.  Live and learn again!  Later that day everyone in our group went in for Happy Hour at a nice place called Four Points.

Chris from Tilt, Sondra from Eliora and Marilyn from Discovery

The guys enjoying Happy Hour

So we lost various things all week, but nothing compares to the loss that we got word about by email that night.  Al’s father died unexpectedly from a brain bleed.  It’s so difficult being so far away.  Al’s mother planned for him to be cremated and have the service when we get home.  We are comforted by the fact that it happened so quickly that he never suffered.  We will miss him dearly.

We hope next week is a better week.

Regatta Continues

Model made with styrofoam hull.

Busy, busy with little time to rest!  What a great second week of Regatta.  Monday was the small boat races.  They had small model boat races mostly made by kids. 

Sailing Inflatables

  Then there were sailing inflatables which could have used whatever they wanted for wind power.  Some used kites (which did not work), bed sheets, tarps, and umbrellas.  It was great fun to watch. 

Next were small sailboat races.  My favorite was the Sunfish with the sailing dog.  They also had kayak races which I would have liked to enter but our friend Don on Jubilee was giving an infosession on photography which I wanted to attend.  Not enough hours in the day to do everything!

 

I once again tried Bocci in the tournament.  It was my partner’s second time playing also.  We should have got a prize for the fastest team to be eliminated.  Boom, bang, it was a shut out at 13 – 0!  I think I need to practice more.  Later that day we were a team with the Mershons for Trivial Pursuit.  The only thing we walked away with was a memory of the beautiful radiant sunset and how some people dressed for the “Pure Gold” theme.

 

Wednesday was the Around Stocking Island race so Al and Dave sailed on Jubilee with Don and Sue and Doug from Bad Boy.  Toni and I decided to take advantage of the day away from the guys to hit the stores and have lunch at the Peace n’ Plenty, a nice restaurant and hotel in town.  It was so nice not to eat hamburger or ribs, the mainstay of the restaurants in the Bahamas!  After the guys returned we went to St. Francis Resort for a post race party where I was one of the judges for the baked goods made on the boats that raced that day.  It was a snap judging seven entries, much different than judging 30-80 or more items at many of the local fairs that I judge back home.  

The next day was slow with Al wanting to attend the infosession on fishing.  I hope he learned something for the trip back seeing he hasn’t caught anything with that new fishing rod he got for Christmas.  The morning was spent getting the extension of 90 more days to be able to stay in the Bahamas.  Why they just don’t give you the 180 days at the beginning is beyond me.

I am explaining about rug hooking.

Hooked Rug Display

Friday was the Arts and Crafts fair at Volleyball Beach.  I displayed my hooked rugs and had fun educating people on the process and getting some people interested in the hobby.  I had found one other fellow rug hooker on a boat who displayed her things next to me.

In the afternoon I went to the “ Eating Well on a Boat”  infosession.  She demonstrated making bread, English muffins, an apple pie, and pizza on the beach.  Since I do food demonstrations, I know how much work it is to put together a demo, but to bring everything from a boat in a dinghy had to be a lot of work!   We got to sample her Lobster Dip and Banana Muffins. Yum!  

2nd Place Winner, Al, Dave, Don, Sue and D

 Awards night had our guys take second place in the Class A boats for the Around the Island race and afterwards another romp roaring dance at the Chat ‘n Chill.

Rope Dancer

Kids Junkanoo band with a little adult help.

The last day of Regatta was Saturday and it ended with the Talent Show chair by our friend and fellow sailing club member Sue Engler on Jubilee.  It was a lot of fun with great acts including singers, a Bahamian modern dance group, a child’s Junkanoo band, the high school band, a rope dancer (the guys really liked her!), a skit that had a sax player and an opera singer included and others.  It was a great way to end the two weeks over in Regatta Park in George Town even though it was a brisk windy night.

We plan to leave to start heading back in the next day or two.  We have to wait and see which direction the wind blows to determine where we will go.  We would like to go to Cat Island but the wind often does not co-operate.  Dave and Toni have guest coming next week so they will be staying as well as Jubilee will be staying for the rally to Long Island.  So we will be parting ways  for awhile but might catch each other later in the waterway or the Chesapeake.

Romp Rolling Regatta

Sign-ups for Cruisers  Regatta

Ladies in our Regatta tee shirts

Tee-shirt design entries

What a busy week and we still have one more to go!  It started with registration on Volleyball Beach on Monday where you signed up for what activities you wanted to participate in.  Al and Dave found two more guys to be a team for the Coconut Challenge, Mershons and us will be a team for Ultimate Trivial Pursuit and I signed up for  the Bocci Tournament and to display my rugs for the Arts and Craft Fair.  They had people vote for their favorite tee-shirt design which will be next year’s tee shirt design.  Giveaways and music were all part of the scene.

One of the dinghy in parade.

Tuesday’s activities included a dinghy parade which went all over Elizabeth Harbor.  Afterward we, Mershons and Sherry on Bad Boy were a station over in Georgetown for the Dinghy Poker Run.  We handed out the one card for our station encouraging people to enjoy the drink special, buy two get one free at the restaurant we were located.  People had to have gone to five places to pick up a card and take them back to Volleyball beach to hand them in to see who had the best poker hand.  Then we dashed over to the beach with a dessert which I had made that morning for a Meet and Greet with prizes for the Poker Run participants and a wonderful pick up band that played the night away.  Wow, what a busy day!

Sue decked out for Pet Parade

Wednesday was dead calm, so we zoomed over to town to get water, food, fuel and internet like the majority of cruisers.  After lunch the rain came which was nice for cleaning off the boat.   

The Pet Parade and big Opening Night Free Dinner sponsored by Indiantown Marina were on the schedule for the day.  It cleared so we headed over to Volleyball Beach for the activities.  They only got about four dogs shown and it started to rain and it rained for the next two hours, something that doesn’t happen in Georgetown too often.  People scattered back to their boats if they were close, but the rest of us tried to get into Chat n’ Chill which was a near impossibility, it isn’t that big.  

 However, we held firm and at five o’clock the free drink started and people started coming in wearing their rain gear to get their free meal.  Luckily, the rain finally let up to let us enjoy our barbecue and dancing on the deck with another pick-up band.  This will be an opening night that won’t be forgotten!

The "Geezers" Team for Coconut Challenge

The next day was the big Coconut Challenge.  Our men’s team, “The Geezers,” was ready for the challenge.  The first activity is where almost a thousand coconuts are dumped in the small harbor in back of Volleyball Beach.  The teams and their dinghies are lined up.  The members must be wearing a life jacket, somewhere on their body, and only one leg and one arm are permitted in the water for each participant.  The horn is blown and everyone paddles to try to get the most coconuts.  There were five gold coconuts which were worth more points.  One bucket is allowed so of course splashing others occurs.  Our guys did quite well with 57 coconuts and one gold but not as well as the two half as young couples who had twice as many and four gold coconuts!  There was also a toss the coconut threw a ring, rolling a coconut to knock down a bottle and tossing a coconut over the volleyball net into certain point rings.  It was a great time and a tiring morning!  An afternoon nap was a must have!  

Heeled quite a bit in the race.

Then Saturday was to be the around Stocking Island Race but due to strong winds they decided to do the more protected in Elizabeth Harbor Race.  Mershons, Maugers and Englers were all on Engler’s boat, Jubilee. We were neck and neck with one other boat for most of the race but unfortunately the other boat, Voyager, pulled ahead near the end.  We won’t know the results until Award Night next week.  Since there are ratings for different boats it is hard to tell who won, but it doesn’t matter because we had fun and that is the name of the game!   I think Al just might find some muscles he did not know he had after the Coconut Challenge yesterday and grinding those winches today.

Jubilee neck in neck with Voyager in the In Harbor Race

The Lull Before the Storm

This week was like the lull before the storm.  We did not have a lot of planned activities and next week the regatta starts so there will be loads of things going on.   

We did some hiking with Dave and Toni and I walked the beach one day when it was extremely calm and low tide.

I actually got some pictures of coral with my camera from above the water.  The water is so clear it is so amazing to see the coral reefs near the beach so clearly.  The tide was so low that there were many sand bars and loads of live sand dollars, thus the reason for calling the beach, Sand Dollar Beach.   

Lounging on Volleyball Beach

Toni gets her haircut.

One day I lounged on Volleyball Beach watching all the activities going on; bocci ball, haircuts, basketry, reading and of course volleyball.  It was nice to have a slower week.   

Potluck dinner on Sand Dollar Beach

We did end the week Friday night with a Potluck dinner on the beach.  We continue to meet new people and enjoy their company. 

Al chatting with fellow cruiser.

The community around here is totally amazing.  We have the radio net everyday with information about the various activities going on, but the amazing section is people can come on and ask for help with any type of problem they have and people will call them back after the net and offer whatever help they can give.  One boat was having refrigeration problems and needed some sort of putty for use underwater.  Al had some and so called and offered it to him.  People need help finding a lost dinghy or need help with installing a WIFI extender or someone needs some water jugs or use of a spare motor.  It is an amazing community because people respond to almost everything.  If only we could have such community helps in the states!  This is one more reason why I love it here. The sunsets are another. 

A Very Educational Week

This week was somewhat educational in more ways than one.  Al attended several seminars this week.  One was on using the Kindle for email.  We don’t have one at this time but have given thought to getting one and he wanted to learn what it can do other than for reading books.  He also attended a seminar on using the single side band radio for email again for a future possibility. 

Shaving Al's head

 I became a barber for an afternoon shaving Al’s head once again.  I could not believe he let me do it the first time.  I cut those thick gray curls right off to ½ inch all around.  He liked it so much the last time that he wanted me to do again.

Unfortunately we became educated on using the doctor in Georgetown.  Somehow I got a staph infection.  It looked like a bite at first.  I started to worry about it on the previous Friday.  Unfortunately, the doctor is only in on Thursdays.  He flies in from Nassau.   I waited all week to see him.  We took our dinghy to get to the office.  It was quite rough and as we were landing the dinghy on the beach it turned sideways and caught a wave which soaked me from the thighs down.  That is the first time I ever entered a doctor’s office soaking wet!  As in the states, after two hours I saw the doctor.  He was very good and told me I needed to come back the next day for his assistant to work on it.  When I said how rough it was getting there, he offered for his assistant to come pick us up in town to bring us to the clinic and return us to town.  Now that is a service you don’t get too often in the states!  I am happy to say I am on the mend.

Al and I each learned how to play bocci ball this week as well.  They had a tournament on Volleyball Beach.  They drew names for partners.  Al and I and our partners lost in the first round, but we walked away with a bottle of wine from the door prizes they had.  It is nice that you don’t have to be good to win a prize!

The next day we went to the Exuma Garden Club Horticultural Fair.  They had about four small school bus loads go.  Compared to Lancaster County Farm shows this was a mini farm show, however, it was what I expected since they cannot grow much here.  They had vegetables, baked goods, plants, a few animals and plant displays. This little Bahamian girl was so proud of her vegetable floral design that I just had to get her picture. We had an interesting nature walk with a guide who was originally from Scotland.    

Pizza Party on the Beach

Afterwards, Toni and Dave, Sue and Don and Al and I had lunch at a local eatery. Then there was a pizza party on Sand Dollar beach to end the busy day.  There must have been thirty different types of pizzas which is my kind of meal!

We took Blue Heaven across the harbor to Kidd Cove near Georgetown the next day so I could go to church and Al could haul water to the boat.  Afterward we decided to anchor at Hamburger Beach for the first time, so that later we could attend the function on the beach.  We hiked to the ocean side for a walk on the beach in the afternoon.  Later we attended the pot luck and jam session at the Sand Bar.  It was a lot of fun.  The cruisers and towns people who come with their instruments and their voices were great.  There were two darling dancers, all of 14 and 18 months old, enjoying the music.  Also, there was a young boy who enjoyed playing a small hand drum with the rest of the adults.  It is so much fun seeing all ages enjoying themselves. 

Our Go Go Dancers

Uke Player

Young performers having fun.

Georgetown Happenings

Al and I decided to sail back to Georgetown on Tuesday and Dave and Toni stayed another day off of Rutter Cut Cay.  We had a motor sail because the waters were quite flat which gave me a lot of time to do some chores like vacuum and defrost the freezer. 

How about this internet cafe outside of the market!

We arrived in Elizabeth Harbor and headed straight to Kidd Cove to anchor so we could go to town for fresh food and internet.  We have discovered that Exuma Markets (the prominent grocery) has free internet so a lot of people sit around the building using it.  The internet in the harbor that you can get is still very “iffy” to work.  Too many people using too much band width for the area I guess. 

The next day Al made three trips to get the free water to fill the tanks after being away almost a week and then headed back to Sand Dollar Beach where we have stayed in the past.  There are definitely many more boats in the harbor now.  I think the last count was 260 boats.  So it is harder to get close to shore for anchoring. 

We headed into Volleyball Beach in the afternoon and I saw Phyllis from Aquiligia who did the car trip on Long Island with us.  She was working on an oval basket which is what I wanted to try next.  She invited us over to her boat later where I was instructed on how to get started and she gave me a few tools that help with the basket weaving process. 

The next day we headed back into town to do laundry and found that Toni and Dave returned and were leaving the Laundromat  when we got there. We heard about their waves breaking over the bow sail coming back the day before.  (I am glad we made it back in the calm!)

 Friday we did our volunteer duty for the Regatta by selling tee shirts in town from 9am to noon.  I had baked some goodies as an incentive, one going to each sale and we sold quite a few.  Second best day of sales that they had!  We did a beach walk with the Mershons in the afternoon and later returned to the beach for a bonfire celebration of a young couple that got marred that day who were anchored where we were.  Several people brought instruments so they had a jam session.  The sax player was terrific along with the guitarist and bongo player. 

Since this was going to be the last calm day for awhile, we decided to take the “looky bucket” (a bucket with clear plexiglass bottom) and view some reefs.  (It is the lazy man’s way of snorkeling!)  Then we headed in to town for some internet and phone use and lunch at the local park where the youth were having a barbecue fundraiser.  When we got back to the boat Toni was there with her dinghy.  She had been trying to reach us because while defrosting their freezer it sprung a Freon leak and she needed space for her frozen food.  I told her to bring it over and we will see what we can do.  We took out our ice cube tray and were able to get all of her things in.  Now Dave has his work cut out to try and fix the leak.  By sunset the wind kicked up and was blowing 20 knots so the front came through bringing cooler temps.  The wind is supposed to stay 15 to 20 knots all week.  We had some boats dragging with the stronger winds but things finally settled down. 

Rug near completion.

I did not make it across the harbor to get to the Catholic Church due to the strong winds, but Al and I went to “Beach Church” on Volleyball Beach where there is a non-denominational service prepared by the cruisers with a choir and all.  It is very good and has a nice social hour afterward. We stayed on the boat due to the strong winds so  I finished my basket and worked on my new oval one as well as hooked on my rug.  I am getting close to finishing the design and will have only the border to do on the rug and then I can pull out a new design. 

Valentine's Day Dance

Valentines Day we went to Hamburger Beach and had a great hamburger and Bahama Mama (an unbelievable drink!) at the Beach Bar sitting looking out at the gorgeous waters and sailboats anchored there.  Later another dance was held at the Chat ‘n Chill so we danced away all those calories we ate!  It is just amazing to see all these “elders” acting like college kids again.  I swear the couple next to us was in their mid seventies and doing moves that were unbelievable.  At one point she was dancing on top of a stool!  Needless to say we had a great time!

Sea Treasures Abound

We came back to Georgetown from Long Island for groceries, laundry and another great oldies dance on the decks of Chat’n Chill.  I also had two women come over to learn more about rug hooking.  They are both from the Crisfield, MD area and said when they get home they will check in to getting supplies because they thought they would like doing it.  Mary Lou’s father actually did rug hooking so she was somewhat familiar with it.

View of Twin Beaches Anchorage

The next day we sailed north with the Mershons to visit Rat Cay.  We walked some beautiful beaches and hiked to the top of Boysie Cay for a great view.  Afterwards we motored to Williams Cay to an anchorage called Twin Beaches.  It was gorgeous.  It should be called Triplet Beaches because we could see three wonderful white beaches from Blue Heaven.

Mangroves into Salt Pond

Exploring was on the agenda for the following day.  Al and I took the dinghy to Norman Pond’s Cay looking for sea treasures.  We found the entrance to the salt pond and so Al rowed us in.  I felt like Katherine Hepburn in the African Queen with mangroves on either side of us.   Once inside we found some conch shells that Al could use to make his horn to blow at sunset which is tradition around here.. 

After lunch we went ashore at Twin Beaches to walk the beaches on the sound side.  We struck pay dirt with sea glass.  Toni and I were like kids in a candy shop picking up piece after piece in the surf at the waters edge.  I found about thirty pieces and Toni about twenty!

Dave, Al and I toured the Perry Institute for Marine Science not far from Twin Beaches on Lee Stocking Cay.  They are barely operating because they ran out of money about two years ago from the endowment.  They have only two paid employees and several volunteers.  Colleges from around the country still use them in the spring and summer but it is their slow time now so only one research experiment was going on with coral.  The most interesting thing seen was their decompression chamber which I had only ever seen in pictures.  They have it but do not have two trained people available that are needed to run it, so people have to get flown to Nassau when necessary.

After the tour we were given permission to hike the Coconut Trail on the island.  Once again it gave us some gorgeous views of the sound and more beautiful beaches.  You would think we would be tired of hikes and beaches but we are not.  The turquoise waters and white beaches are superb! 

When we got back to the boat, Toni told us to come for lunch for which I was thankful because I was tired.  We pulled up to their boat and the best smell was coming out of Toni’s pizzeria.  She stayed back to bake and one of the things she made was homemade pizza which was delicious.  After a short rest we went back to “sea glass” beach and found some more.  We had not wiped it out completely the day before!

We had a gentle sail to Leaf Cay to go snorkeling and to find lobsters.  We did snorkeling but Al and Dave had no luck finding lobsters.  Al said between not having a prescription face mask and his asthma he does not think spearing lobster is his “bag.”  We saw another small elk horn reef with a variety of fish and a beautiful purple fan nearby.  Later we went ashore to walk the beach and ran into another dinghy of people who were anchored behind us.  They had caught a King Mackerel that morning and asked if we wanted any.  We said “Sure!” since Al hasn’t caught any fish yet either.  They gave us a huge piece and then our other boat neighbor who is a single hander came by about half hour later to give us one large and one small lobster. 

We hit pay dirt!  Al said now the pressure is off for getting lobster.  I said, “I don’t think so!”  This was the week for all sorts of sea treasures; ones we got and ones given to us.

We decided to sail to Rutter Cut Cay upon Dave and Toni’s suggestion.  The wind had been predicted to be rather light out of the south, southeast but it blew 17 knots and was rather roly-poly out there.  I was glad it was only eight miles because it wasn’t the most comfortable sail.  We anchored off this beautiful beach and a cave.  Unfortunately, the island is private so exploring that beach was out of the question.  We took the dinghies south to Darby Island and walked the beach and saw some interesting starfish.

We also saw Faith Hill and Tim McGraw’s Paradise Island that they built and still in the progress of building.  They had a beautiful modern main house and at least three guest houses.  The pier was being built presently.  After “oohing” and  “aahing”  we motored up to Musha Cay to walk the waters at low tide for sand dollars, sea biscuits and helmet conch.   We found the first two but not much luck with the helmet conch.  Dave found one but it was not a very attractive one so we put it back.  The one he found here another year was just gorgeous.