Quote of the week:
I told O the other day that I was so looking forward to the mangoes in the DR because they are by far my favorite fruit. He looked at me and said 'Is that because you don't consider Pringles a fruit??' I swear it made me laugh out loud.

We left Georgetown last Wednesday for Long Island, which was a three hour run. However, once we got out there the wind and seas were much more favorable than forecasted so we decided to do the seven hour run to to Rum Cay and again the weather held, with the prediction that it would become even even milder, so, we decided to skip Rum and do the nineteen hour trip to Mayaguana which is an island on the south eastern tip of the Bahamas. Well, after we passed Rum Cay the weather, instead of dying down like it was predicted, picked up. So we were facing twenty three knots and eight/ten foot swells on the nose. We had about twenty four good hours of this and given the direction of the seas and the wind, plus the fact that it was night we had nowhere to pull in so we slogged on. Again, the kids and I were horizontal and sick the entire time. We pulled into Mayaguana at two o clock the next day, salty, tired, battered and bruised. I have to admit I was starting to get a litle gunshy.
Upon arrival in Mayaguana I went up on the bow to spot the coral heads while O navavigated us around them. We weaved our way to the head of the five mile long bay with no problem, dropped anchor, took a deep breath and marveled. We could see hundreds of sand dollars and seabiscuits just looking over the side of the boat by what seemed like the hundreds. The water was the clearest I have seen yet, it honestly took our breath away. This is the place people dream of.
Mayaguana has been our favorite place thus far. It is a twenty six by six mile long island with about three hundred inhabitants. The town, if you could call it that, consists of Reggie's house and a Batelco building. Reggie is kind of the jack of all trades he has a restaurant in his house and a slittle room/house beside the house that is the local grocery store(I use that word losely). He was such a lovely man, very happy and eager to accomodate. He arranged for someone to do our laundry as there was only one washing machine on this side of the island and it was offered to us, but we felt it would be rude to take it up with ALL of our laundry we had a lot because eth ekdis had been sick on the way down. Reggie was more than happy to arrange for someone to do our laundry, he hinted(kind of) that e that any money we spent on the island would be greatly appreciated and we were MORE than happy to accomodate. All of the local people we met were helpful, happy and nice.
The harbor is surrounded by reef so there was wonderful snorkeling. We snorkeled almost everyday and saw a lazy sea turtle taking a nooner nap hunkered down on the reef, a HUGE skate with black oval eyes, resting on the bottom of the ocean looking at me, scarring me half to death. Along with all the other usual reef fish.
The holding there was great and it boasts one of the best shell beaches in the world. I was not able to visit THE beach, however, i did go to another one which whas the best I have seen. Actaully, I have seen beaches with more shells just not the showstoppers that were found here. All is all it was pure heaven.
We were totally disconnected from the outside world in a cocoon of sun, swimming, fishing and family. It was great.
A few other little tidbits:
After arriving in Mayaguana, Glen on Hearts Desire, called and needed help, his dinghy line got sucked into his engine prop. So we stopped at his boat on our way to the reef, O got in with mask and snorkel and on his first try pulled the line out he had to put his foot on the engine propeller and when he got it out his leg kicked back(from pulling so hard underwater) and he cut himself on the propeller blade. When he came up I could see O's shin bone(literally, I kid you not, i almost puked) the cut was sooooo deep it nicked O's bone. He needs stitches, probably five or six but O dealt with it like a trooper. Barely even mentioned it. I almost passed out when I saw it. We then had to go back to the boat where he put butterfly bandages and duct tape over it. He then hoped back in the dinghy like nothing happened and snorkeled..although he was bleeding pretty badly so he stayed in the dinghy with Sam so Ben and I could snorkel without shark fear. Afterwards O had us take him toone of the many reefs where he went in and spearfished solo while we waited in the dingy! i realize it is obvious but he is a braver person than myself.
Yesterday a weather window presented itself which would only last a few days. If we didn't take it we would have been there for another nine days. We didn't really want to be holed up in the Turks and Caicos but as I have been saying this next trip is really tricky so if a mild weather window opens we need to be there to grab it and stage ourselves slowly if need be. Plus, the kids and I were becoming a little gun shy about traveling so we needed something to renew our faith. It was with a VERY heavy heart that we left Mayaguana after six days and made the trip to the Turks and Caicos. We left at midnight for the nine hour trip and all went very well. The seas were calm, the wind perfect, nobody was sick and we all arrived in great spirits, although sad to have left Mayaguana. So here we sit in Sopadilla Bay wishing so much that we were back in Mayaguana.
Provo, which is the big town here is gross. Remember, this is coming from someone who liked Nassau!
The streets are dirty, there is lots of traffic, it's expensive and overbuilt. YUK!!! We should have stayed in MAYAGUANA!!
On another note, I am so happy to be out of Georgetown, which I really did dislike. I didn't think the beach was very nice and it was way too crowded! Don't get me wrong, I enjoy meeting other cruisers just not all in one place, the same place they will sit all season, where it becomes a neighborhood with the rituals, routines and people, isn't that the reason we all left?? I guess I just don't understand the appeal. Why not go someplace unique and hole up there with friends?? Someone called O a 'Georgetown Newbie'. No darlin, we don't even want that title.
I forgot to report that while we were in Georgetown, the wind picked up big time for two days. The first night of the blow the guys anchor behind us snapped, thankfully he was not in front of us! Anyway, once it blew through O(and some other guys) went to help him find it. Meanwhile the guy whose anchor was snapped NEVER even got in the water to look for it. Instead he just drove around in his dinghy looking like a tool,(kind of a ' I've got a lot of money' Republican type). The others all looked from the surface but O went down and was actually deep diving feeling the bottom(as sand was covering it) and found it!!! So this guy delivered a case of Kalix Gold Bottles to our boat as a thank you. Very nice, we were happy to take his offering, I hope it cost him alot.
We are waiting now for the window to cross the TC banks. We will need winds less than 15 so it's not a short choppy slog and so we can spot the many unchartered coral heads. I am anxious to get to Luperon and see the lush countryside and spanish culture, besides our friends on Someday Came are there and we miss them too.