After another fun week at Warderick Wells, we headed north again, this time to a new island for us: Norman’s Cay, where Carlos Lehder had his infamous drug-running operation. Michael had just finished a book about the whole thing, and wanted to see the ruins of the opulent houses, yacht club, airstrip, etc. We anchored off the west side, had a very bouncy night, and dinghied over to the endless, gorgeous beach to begin a long, hot walk on land - down the airstrip and little-used roads to see falling down structures with vegetation growing through them and former gardens with pretty plantings and rock walls. It was quite extensive. And it was also sad to see that all that junk had been left. No one continued any of the hotel, restaurant, or marina operations, and this end of a pretty island begins to look like a city dump.

Next day, we had had it with a jerky, rolling swell, and another storm was due to approach. Rather than head back to hide in Exuma Park again, we crossed Exuma Sound to deal with clocking winds by anchoring first on one side of Rock Sound Bay and then the other and back again (zigzag). And so the Captain could fish, which he did, and got skunked…

At Rock Sound, we found Wonderland in the anchorage (we had met them in Warderick), and wandering through town we met other cruisers Pete and Diane on Pearl, who have been coming to Rock Sound for years, and know a lot about the place and the locals. Pete knew of a place to get a haircut, and Michael had his curly locks shorn in his second buzz-cut (first was in Halifax). We spent one sundown hour on Wonderland and then had Pearl and Wonderland over to Celilo. (Cruisers tend to be known by their boat names).

While we were there, we managed to process the paperwork to complete the sale of our slip on the Magothy River. We are no longer owners of a hole in the water in Maryland! It was quite complicated, us being out of country, and we needed to get papers signed and notarized… WHERE would we do that in the Bahamas??? We put word out over the net asking about notaries and a cruiser told us about their experience in George Town – apparently the US will accept a Bahamian notary. Here they are called Justices of the Peace, and often town Administrators are JP’s. So we walked to the Rock Sound Administrator’s office to have this official notarize our papers. But he had not “reached.” (This is a particularly endearing – to us any way - Bahamian term. If someone has not arrived, they have not “reached”. If they are expected, they “will reach.”) One of the secretaries knew another JP, Mr. Ingraham, at the Hardware Store and called to find that he would reach at 1pm, so we showed up there at the appointed time. He reached at 2:30… but the wait was worth it!

Mr. Ingraham owns the large hardware store, which is a total trip to cruise through – you’ll find stuff you haven’t seen since the 50’s! For the last many years his son has operated the store and Mr. Ingraham shows up a few days a week to help out. He is a retired Parliamentarian and was Speaker of Parliament for the last 5 of his 10 years there. Now, how many of you have had your real estate deals notarized by a Speaker of Parliament???!!! After all the official business was transacted, we had a delightful visit with this very gracious man. He owns a fishing boat, is quite a fisherman, and also owns a small hotel in Tarpum Bay. We hope to see him again one day.

Michael and I had talked about wanting to visit Cat Island and perhaps Conception, and it turned out that was Pearl’s plan too - so after the storm passed, we started out in the wee dark hours of morning to head around Eleuthera to sail the 76 miles to Cat Island. Unfortunately, we passed retired Forest Service friends on Magpie going the opposite direction! At New Bight Harbor at Cat Island we joined up with Mon Amie, and finally met Mary (she had been in the States when Dave graciously threaded our mooring line in Hatchet Bay). Mary is the Thursday voice of Cruiseheimers – one of the nets we enjoy.

One of the fun things to do at Cat is to climb the hill up to The Hermitage, a retirement home for Father Jerome, an architect priest. The stone Hermitage is a miniature replica of a European Franciscan Monastery and was built by hand by Father Jerome, who designed and built St Paul’s and St. Peter’s churches in Clarence Town on Long Island, and St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church on Cat. From our anchorage, the Hermitage on top of the hill looks large – like a castle in Europe. But when you get up close it is sized like a child’s garden dollhouse. Father Jerome lived in it for 16 years before his death at age 80.

After our visit to the Hermitage, we had a fun day walking though town, touring the church, eating at a local kiosk, and buying fresh-baked bread and buns at Olive’s. Then, we all had happy hour on Mon Amie.

The next day, we all decided to head back to George Town for the start of the Cruiser’s Regatta, and a couple of weeks of very silly fun. So once again, we crossed Exuma Sound (zigzag). And Michael caught a 20-pound mahi!!!

Landed in George Town at “Hamburger Beach” – so called because of the local hamburger stand there – and hooked up with friends on Rachel, Kismet, Blew Moon, Coyote, Cookie Monster, and Banyan to share cocktails at sunset, beach and dune hikes, bocce ball on the sand, and the traditional cold one at the “Chat ‘n Chill” (beach bar hangout).

The Cruiser’s Regatta begins with what is billed as a “No-Talent Talent Show,” but we found a lot of talent there! Musicians singing funny songs, a granddaughter doing a great performance with slapping hands, cups and a very pretty voice, silly and creative skits, and the funniest thing we have seen in a long time – a bunch of 60+yr old men doing a synchronized swimming skit – on land. Afterwards, a cruiser called “Rockin’ Ron” DJ’d a dance on the beach. Other fun: a bocce ball tournament (YAY COOKIE MONSTER!!! They won!), a “Coconut Round-up”, Dinghy Poker Race…

With a cold front threatening – again! – a bunch of us headed down-bay to Red Shanks in a very protected spot, hid there for a week, went for 5-mile walks on that part of the island, and swam in a blue hole. Good friends Roger and Jane from Campbell River, BC on Sereno 55 had just crossed from Florida and joined us there, delivering things we had all requested from the States. It was really great to see them again, and since they had spent a year in the Carib, we had a very informative couple of hours over charts.

And then… came an unusual period of three cold fronts rolling in one after the other, suppressing the predominant trade winds (easterlies) that blow through the Caribbean – an outstanding opportunity - without bashing and crashing into the wind against us - to head SE to Puerto Rico. So we did.