CURRENT LOCATION: Anchored near Moss Cays, about midway between George Town on Great Exuma Island and Stocking Island, Exumas, Bahamas
23 30.546' N, 075 45.529' W (CLICK HERE for Google Maps)

Please take a moment to study the picture above. Notice the sunrise over the horizon and the dew collected upon the dodger. See the comfy cockpit cushion and the warm cup of coffee on the coaming. Now imagine yourself sitting there, breathing in the salty air of the early morning, and taking it all in. That is exactly how I spent this first morning of the new year.

We spent the remainder of the day getting settled into our new environment here in George Town. We rode Patience to town on the mainland in the late morning hours (one direction), then dinghied over to Volleyball Beach on Stocking Island in the afternoon (the other direction). We ran across Bob, from First Look, whom we had met in Oriental last spring. He and his wife Vicky departed North Carolina several weeks after us and made it to George Town just before Christmas.

We also caught up with Tom & Amy, from Dream Catcher. Long time readers will recall that their website was a motivator for us in the early phases of our transition from normal lives to the cruising lifestyle. They have been coming to George Town for the last five years and actually stayed here last summer (rather than returning to North Carolina).

We met many new people, and saw a few familiar faces we had met along the way. Sheryl even got her first lesson in weaving palm fronds (another activity to supplement her knot tying, book reading, and photo sorting which occupy the bulk of her leisure time).

Despite all of the socialization, we managed to get on the sand to play one game of volleyball. Both Sheryl and I are rusty (having not played for better than two years), but it felt good to experience that familiar combination of sweat and sand.

The most interesting thing to note was that although the town businesses were closed for the Holiday, most of the cruisers took no special note of the day. There were relatively few, "Happy New Years" offered and their daily activities went on pretty much as they would on any other day. I suppose when every day is a holiday and being happy is just a foregone conclusion, observing a special calendar date serves slightly less purpose...it's just another day in paradise.