GEORGETOWN EXODUS
Paul ended his Bahamas trip with a short sail from Red Shanks Anchorage to Georgetown. We all were up early, had a quick breakfast and hoisted anchor by 8:00 as planned. It was a relief to awake to calmer winds. We made the short 1 hour sail back to Kidd Cove and actually raised the Jib. I haven’t seen my sails in the 3 weeks we’ve been in the Georgetown area. It has been too windy most days to plan a trip. We dinghied the guys into shore about 10:30 and were able to grab a cab driver and arrange an 11:00 am cab ride to the airport. This is where we parted ways. Patrick back to California for a visit with his parents and Paul to Chicago where Anne will retrieve him from the airport. I’ll miss Paul but hope to see him this summer before he heads out to sea again.
Jack and I and Charlie and Phyllis had a quiet lunch at the Georgetown Yacht Club BLU restaurant. BLU stands for basking, lounging, and unwinding. I plan to do all of that. It will seem very quiet on the boat this afternoon. We stopped to pick up our outboard parts at Forbes Company, which is a combination dry cleaner and custom clearance service. In between 3 trips to shore for 25 gallons of water each trip, we checked to see if they were open. No luck with that. These Island businesses run on their own schedule. The guy at Forbes had even asked Charlie this morning where “John” was. He is waiting for us to pick up our parts and pay the customs handling fees, but neglects to be in his store when we stopped in which we did several times between 11:00 and 2:00 pm. Seems like a reasonable time to show up when your sign says hours 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. We’ll try again tomorrow. Charlie also has ordered repair parts for his steering system which he needs to pick up at Forbes.
When these repairs are complete on both boats we will begin our journey back to the states. The harbor at Georgetown is getting pretty roomy. Several boats a day leave to return northward to US and Canada for the summer months or take advantage of favorable winds and continue southward to the Caribbean and ports beyond.
For now, we I will relax and unwind and restore the boat from working dive boat to its former status as luxury yacht. Just kidding. The dive equipment and tanks, which are all currently lashed to the top deck will be stowed away carefully in lockers and holds below deck out of the way until they are needed again.
Tonight we dined on leftovers and then back to our usual routine, will turn in early.