03/30/2007, Great Guana Cay, Exumas
Ever since Bimini, we'd been hearing from fellow cruisers about the cordial, friendly people of Black Point on Great Guana Cay, Exumas, where residents still rely on farming, fishing and plaiting for their living. And Lorene's Café is there.
Saturday after anchoring, we dinghied over to the laudromat with our piles of laundry. While waiting for the dryer, we strolled around the small town. We happened upon Lorene's and found out that she was preparing a Bahamian buffet for dinner that night - conch fritters, barbequed chicken, bbq spareribs, cracked conch, fried grouper, peas and rice, mac and cheese, and coleslaw. Lorene directed me out back to her mom's home for bread. There her mom was just finishing up a batch of her coconut bread, spreading a layer of fresh grated coconut and sugars and spices across the dough and then spiral wrapping it into loaves. Yum
Jeff and Leksi were across the street talking to Van, who was working on one of his Bahamian sloops in preparation for the annual Regatta of these gorgeous, traditional working boats. Kevin - Black Point's only policeman and the pastor at the other church in town - pulled up in his car to say that his boys wanted our dog! And could we come by sometime to show Leksi off to his kids.... I'm describing all this to give some idea of the openness and warmth of the residents of this great little town. Oh, and I can't forget Willie Rolle and his Garden of Eden...
Well, we went to Lorene's for dinner and sat family-style with cruisers from Second Wind and Blue Pelican. It was one of those extraordinary nights when everyone just had an awesome fun time. In fact, Bill and Laura invited all of us back the following night on their ketch for a sunset winetasting where friends from Mandate and Manana joined us for two amazing parties in a row.
Sunday, we took up Van and Lorene's Mom on their invitation to come to church. What a joyous, thrilling, uplifting time!! Tambourines, drums, guitar and all these strong, full voices singing and dancing and praising God! An unforgettable weekend....we feel so blessed to be here.
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03/28/2007, Staniel Cay, Exumas
We were supposed to get underway for Black Point and then onto Georgetown, which will be our southernmost point for the trip. Jeff had noticed that the anchor light had been getting steadily dimmer and finally went out last night. He checked all the connections down low - but that would have been too easy.
Because our mast and boom are set up for lifting only - not for hoisting a sail - we have no halyard. Jeff located an extension ladder from the owner of the general store on Staniel Cay and drove the dinghy over to the store to transport the ladder back to the boat. That looked pretty funny, but seeing Jeff atop the ladder all extended up to the anchor light was quite unsettling - at least for me down below. All set now though....
Also, the mailboat arrives at Staniel Cay late on Wednesday bringing the weekly load of fresh vegetables, meats, perishables, hardware, etc to the island. So time to replenish what we can after two and a half weeks with Ben on board.
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03/27/2007, Staniel Cay, Exumas
Ben returned to New York today. We dinghied in from our anchorage just off the Staniel Cay Yacht Club (check out their website; I heard it has cool music and shots of the surrounding waters. Frank, a solo sailor we met, said he would watch it daily last winter in Toronto, as he was preparing his Warm Rain for the big trip) so Ben and I could take a golf cart to the airport. Jeff and Leksi walked. Here's a shot of Ben and I at the airport right before Ben boarded his plane. He flew out on a 4 seater on Flamingo Airlines from Staniel Cay to Nassau where he took Jet Blue to Laguardia. He said it was such a great flight and so much fun to see the islands we had cruised from the air. Highly recommended!! Now it's just the three of us again - onto Black Point tomorrow.
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