Today was another busy day in Rum Cay. After our regular start to the day at 6:30 am for weather, we had breakfast and planned the day. A few boat chores (cleaning out the freezer and its drains, checking oil levels in everything, etc), I finished reading my current book, Moon Shot, a chronicle of the US space program from the original Mercury program to the Apollo program that landed a number of missions on the moon (remember those names???). In the shifting and rising winds, we decided to re-anchor closer to shore, so we raised the anchor, and I stood on the bow directing Jeannie in between the coral heads until we were nicely tucked in under the lee of the shore. Then, after such an exhausting day, we had a well deserved lunch of tossed salad and sliced turkey. Then ashore for some exploring. We dug the bikes out of the garage (as I refer to the aft cabin where we store everything not often used) and headed ashore. After beaching the dinghy with the bikes, we set off to bike across the island, a distance of about 6 miles. We stopped a local woman (with what I call a "traditional figure") and asked directions, to which she replied "Oh my, it is much to far for you to go!" But she assured us we were on the right road, so we carried on. The only road across the island leads past the airport. And passing it, we were surprised to see a fence, not considering security a big risk in Rum Cay. Later we learned that the risk is from wild cattle that may stray on to the runway. And they can be a threat to bicyclers, too with some very aggressive bulls. We saw some traces (you know what I mean!) of them, but were able to reach the north side unscathed. On the chart, the area is identified as Port Boyd, but all we found was a nice beach and a few tumbled down walls of old homes. At one time Rum Cay had a number of communities and a population in excess of one thousand. Today, all that is left is the community of Port Nelson, where we are anchored, wit about 60 permanent residents. So we walked the beach at Port Boyd, and had it's three mile expanse to ourselves. But we had guests coming over for drinks at 5 pm, so it was time to head back. Back at Port Nelson, the reggae music was still blaring, but the people were decidedly quieter after last night. We stopped and had a drink of orange juice at a bar, then headed back to the boat. We left the bikes on the beach for the night, as we plan to explore the other road tomorrow. Back at the boat we had Belinda, Hillary (daughter) and Chris Gervais from Vancouver over for drinks. We had a great time gabbing about sailing and life in Canada. They had spent a few years in the Yukon, and we found we had some acquaintances in common. So it was fun. Tomorrow we will complete our explorations for Rum Cay, then off somewhere else on Monday... where we go will be dependent on the wind. Tonight the music ashore is sounding like the party is fading, with a lone guitar that for the last hour seems to be stuck on the same three chords.