03/06/2010, Georgetown, Great Exuma
Cathy and Bruce Goforth have gone forth. Actually they have gone back to the Far Bahamas and then will be going on to Turks and Caicos and Puerto Rico. We met them at Great Inagua when they let us tie up to their boat Serenade in the very surgey boat basin, where space was very tight. Since then we have travelled together and enjoyed their company over many shared dinners, drink sessions, dinghy rides and hikes across various remote islands. They are actually the most travelled people we have ever known as they were teachers all their lives in multitudes of foreign American schools, their daughters grew up in places like Yemen, Pakistan, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Jamaica. It is sad to say goodbye when the time comes, but we hope that as with our lovely friends on Sidewinder, we will meet up again some time in the future.
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03/03/2010, Georgetown, Great Exuma
Whilst sheltering up from a brisk frontal passage in the well protected Redshanks we anchored right across from fellow BCC "Calypso" with Jeremy, Nica and their two children Maddie and Julian. They are headed south to the Dominican Republic so time was brief but we spent a couple of good evenings with them and look forward to meeting up again when they return to the U.S. later in the year. That's just the second BCC we have seen since we left San Diego.
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After some months of lonesome anchorages Georgetown comes as a bit of culture shock. Relatively easily accessible from the U.S. East coast this large, beautiful area has become a terminus, winter hangout and aged baby boomer cruiser holiday camp. There are as many reasons to cruise as there are cruisers and many here do it for the camaraderie and community. Discovering the unknown is not part of the formulae. We have visited a few of these cruiser metropolises: Cartagena, Barra de Navidad and La Cruz and they each offer plenty, but at a price. The radio traffic becomes claustrophobic and despite all resistance, herd mentality creeps in and creates considerable inertia. You need a lot of horsepower to escape the vortex. As a dog's needs are all contained in "Fire, bed and bone," a cruiser's are in anchorage, supplies, water, laundry and e-mail access. Having spent considerable effort to put to sea and escape, as soon as we return to land we go to great length to log on and get connected.
In the less travelled places the cruiser demographic has some variety, at least of age and country of origin. Here we are homogenous: mostly American, fifty-ish, couples, dressed the same in raggedy old tee shirts and silly hats. In the line to refill propane tanks, inexplicably an all male job, Virginia got so confused by the sameness that she feared she might return with the wrong husband, not new but gently soiled!
When it comes to regulation volley ball tournaments, trivial pursuit with ninety players and tree decorating for grandparents day it is time to have cool ale at the Chat and Chill Bar and Grill and plot a course to somewhere way out there.
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03/01/2010, Georgetown, Great Exuma
At first glance this video clip might look like some cruiser's regatta underway in choppy seas whipped up by high winds, but look closer... all the boats are swinging on their anchors in Elizabeth harbor in Georgetown, Great Exuma. There were upwards of 250 boats gathered for the famous Georgetown regatta week. The highest wind speed clocked that day, as we were subjected to another norther passing through, was 50 knots. Amazingly, or perhaps because the holding is good, no boat dragged on its anchor and only one dinghy escaped, to be recaptured by an intrepid young sailor who charged off after it like a rodeo cowboy, returning it to its fretful owners within minutes.
It is easy to just anchor where the crowd is gathered and assume that it will be a reasonable anchorage in a blow. We had done exactly that and although we did not drag, the wind and waves were so high that MANDY pitched repeatedly onto the bottom at low tide. We also sustained some major chafe; ΒΌ inch groves in our Samson posts worn by the snubber line, which the next day had to be cut off with a knife; it had bourn so much stress. Needless to say, before the next blow we found ourselves a deeper, more protected, less crowded hidey hole.
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02/24/2010, Long Island
The Bahamas are comprised mainly of limestone and are therefore riddled with caves and caverns. When the ocean invades one of these underground caverns through a collapse in the sea-bed a blue hole is formed. There are many of these here, some extremely deep, and we were lucky to visit Dean's Blue Hole, the deepest at 660 feet. Here they hold Free Diving competitions in which divers descend without oxygen or fins to unbelievable depths. One might ask "Why?" but watch this video and see that, as often when one sees someone do anything as well as it can be done, it is entrancing and quite beautiful.
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02/19/2010, Long Island, Bahamas
By now you may have seen the U-Tube video of our fabulous afternoon taking in the joys of Long Island's Inaugural Annual Mutton Fest; a three day extravaganza of Long Island produce and crafts, cooking competitions, sea food preparation, livestock judging and Rake N' Scrape music.
Our week on Long Island was a huge treat because our great new "buddy boat" friends Bruce and Cathy on Serenade introduced us to their long time friend from teaching days; John Cotton who retired to Dead Man's Cay on Long Island with his Jamaican born wife Doreth. Before we could blink, John and Doreth had opened their home up to us as well. They let us have hot showers, internet, the use of their laundry machines, a truck to drive all over the island, produce from their garden, water for our tanks, beer like it was water and several amazing home cooked meals. John drove us to explore Chimney Rock and Dean's Blue Hole (see next entry) and personally guided us down his secret path to a beautiful, hidden cove. Their unbridled hospitality and friendship will make our stay on Long Island one we will remember forever. One day, when we settle down we hope to return their kindness to us.
It is easy to be depressed over world events and politics, but if we have learned anything from our travels over this year and a quarter, it is that most ordinary people are good and want to share their pride of home, and country. They work hard to feed and house their families and are unflinchingly generous with what they have to strangers like us who are just passing through. It is inspiring and humbling and makes the experience of travel rich with unforgettable memories.
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