February 28, 2012

Our last blog discussed Adult Day Care. This one is the sequel: Adult Evening Care. This week is the 32d Annual George Town Cruisers’ Regatta. Last year, we sort of watched from afar; this year, we decided to participate more and we are glad we did. The opening night last evening was a great party. As the local representative of the Ministry of Immigration put it, “a good party is a reason to party, party, party!”

The theme this year is Cowboy Hats and Bathing Suits. We have no idea how the committee comes up with the themes, nor were there many bathing suits in evidence last evening, but as you can see, there were a fair many cowboy hats, including one worn by yours truly. (The Straw Market in town is a fun place to shop for straw goods, shell creations – or beautiful, large shells – the ubiquitous T-shirts, baskets, and the like. The vendors are sweet little old Bahamian women who weave the local palm fronds and jump at the chance to sell their wares. A favorite is named Arizona from whom we have bought a number of “tings”, including a sun bonnet for Lauren and a cowboy hat for Van.) The opening night was replete with skits, food, dancing, and a grand time. Despite the windy conditions off-shore, we were comfortable on Volley Ball Beach under the trees. A stage was set up along-side Chat ‘N Chill restaurant and the attendance must have numbered several hundred folks. Our favorite skit was a display of “Synchronized Swimming” by 6 old guys. This was performed behind a blue tarp that was raised or lowered to represent the water level. We have not laughed so hard in a long time – and it helped to have grown up with such Olympic events on TV.

After the skits and dinner (hamburgers, hot dogs, beans, and the Bahamian staple Peas ‘n Rice), Rockin’ Ron, from Sea Dancer (who has an incredible selection of CDs with which to regale the Cruisers’ Net with music in the morning), was the MC and DJ and played a lot of old favorites (read 50s, 60s, and 70s music) to which the crowd got up and danced on the beach. Several of us agreed that, if this is what a retirement community is like, we would sign up.

As noted above, officials from Immigration were in attendance to assure the assembled boaters that we are appreciated and welcome, and that the officials would do “every-ting to eliminate the hitches and glitches” of gaining entry to the Bahamas. So, while we went to town today to do laundry and reprovision, Van went to Immigration to get our visas extended. (When we cleared in at Nassau, we received a 1 year cruising permit, a 90 day fishing license, and a 60 day visa. We asked the young woman for 90 days, but she insisted she could do no more than 60 days.) Today, Van mistakenly asked to extend our cruising permit, and was instructed to go to Customs at the other end of town for that purpose. At Customs, he was told the cruising permit was fine, we just need to extend our visas and that is done at Immigration. So, a walk back to Immigration produced the information that the person who can extend the visas was out – turns out, he was on Stocking Island meeting with the Regatta Chairs for the purpose of nailing down what he said last night. (While at Immigration, Van asked about the different durations of permit, license, and visa – because others got longer visas in Nassau as we did last year when clearing in at Bimini – and he was told that, in Nassau, a Customs officer does the Immigration duties and lower ranked officials cannot give longer duration visas. While it does not make a lot of sense in the larger scheme, at least it was a logical explanation, and a reason not to enter through Nassau in the future.) End result: tired feet, no extended visa. Early this afternoon, we spoke with the Regatta Chair woman and she said that the Immigration officials were most polite and assuring that they would take up the issue of visa duration with higher authorities. One specific request was that boaters should be allowed to renew their visas 2 weeks before expiration – in contrast to the current 2 day limit – because often we are sailing or stuck by bad weather in a location with no Immigration office at which to present ourselves. That seemed to strike a responsive chord. We shall see how that works in practice, as we have 2 weeks to go before ours expires.

Later this afternoon, we went for a walk on a southern beach. Because one of Van’s feet is sore, he stayed on the shore while Lauren followed a path through the underbrush. The hiking paths are wonderful to explore as they take one across the interior of the islands to the ocean side where the beaches and large waves are majestic in these strong winds. Along the way, one gets to see the native curly tail and other varieties of lizards, view the vegetation, and occasionally – like today – hear the birds singing in the trees and brush.

Tomorrow, friends Christy and Hoyt will join us for a week. We are hoping the weather will cooperate for a few days sail to Conception Island and back. If so, we will drop a line or two overboard and see if we can catch some more fish.