March 18 - 21

It has been windy this week and even though it has calmed the last two days there are still good sized swells in the sound. There has also been some question about the weather this coming weekend so we have remained here in George Town for a few more days. The weather problem (was a low pressure system going to form over our heads or not) has resolved itself so we will be off tomorrow at about daylight.

There were some huge waves on the oceans side ... but try as we may, it is impossible to capture their magnitude on film.

Our days have been spent reading during the morning and sitting on the beach in the shade during the afternoons. I play Bridge from one to about four every day.

I did make a very wet trip to town on Wednesday to have our empty propane tank filled. The truck comes to an empty parking lot on Wednesdays and Saturday's at 11am. However, here in the islands that sometimes means 3pm or not at all. I also picked up some water, diesel, and a few groceries before heading back.

We spoke to "Madcap" last night and again this morning after the weather. They are heading for Long Island today and will probably be a couple of days behind us as we will be in Cat Island tomorrow, which is the next island to the north.

The Bahamians in general are a very religious people and everything here is closed from Friday to Monday for Easter. There is a sunrise service on the ocean that would be neat...(Sunrises are very cool here) but we'll be gone. Our goal on Sunday is the hike to the Hermitage which we'll explain with some photos later.

We'll have more to write about next week...

Bye for now
Msteere

Sam... you will be saddened to hear that Johnny, the conch salad boy, was deported back to Hati this week. It seems that he dumped has girlfriend for another and the jilted one reported him to the authorities.
There is a new guy in the shack, but it's not the same.

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March 17...

A front came through this morning and the wind picked up to about 15 knots. It increased all day and will continue until late Wednesday. I really isn't a huge problem except that we have to be prepared to get wet every time we go ashore.

We hoisted our Irish Flag in honor of St. Patricks Day and made a great breakfast of hash browns and eggs.

Before we left Michigan, Dan gave us a large Dansforth anchor which I had never used until today. We had our normal 45 Delta set on 120 feet of 3/8s chain. Because we were going ashore to check our the sand sclupter competition, I took Dan's anchor out in the dinghy about 10 yards further that the Delta and gently laid in on the bottom to serve as a safety.

We went into volleyball beach around noon and after checking things out I brought Kathy back to the boat to do some work while I returned for a bridge game.

We I got back later in the afternoon I made an ice run to St Francis and then we went over to visit Steve and Carol for awhile before dinner.

During the evening we watched a movie and listened to the wind blow at 25 to 30.


March 16th

Dear Sam and Erin...

Today we killed time until about 1pm and then went to shore at the Chat and Chill for the Golf and Bridge tourney awards. We sat around for a while under the trees and then I was asked to play bridge while your mother sat in the shade with Night Hawk, Restless and Star Shadow;.

After a while we went to St. Francis for a beer and ice and then to Kris and Craig's for snacks and drinks. We came home just after sunset in calm winds. It is going to blow about 20 knots for the next three days from the north so we may be stuck here... reading again.

It was 90 most of the time and is still 82 at 9pm...

We miss you guys.

Mom and Dad


March 15th

My main goal for the day was to fill our empty propane tank and to fill two gerry cans of fuel. The propane truck comes to a spot across the street from Eddie's Edgewater at 11 am on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Unfortunately, as I was loading up the dinghy for the trip, Eddie's called to say that the truck wasn't coming today. I still made the trip picking up some fuel and taking a garbage bag to the dumpster.

The rest of the day was non-eventful. I worked at clearing the decks and tying down all the gerry cans. We read books and later grilled some burgers for supper .

It sounds like the Sugarbush is in full swing at home. It is the only activity that I've missed so far on this trip.

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March 14...

Since banks are closed on Saturday and we are just about out of cash , our goal for the day was to find some money. We also took our water containers to fill while in town. The harbor was calm again so it was one of our few dry rides over to the other side. Our first stop was the home of the Harbour Wi-Fi guy. Which was a walk of about 4 blocks. Then it was back to the Exuma Market for a few groceries. Finally we went to the bank and waited in line for about 20 minutes to only to find that my debit card was declined. We had no choice to but go back to the boat and get Kathy's card. After the trip back to the boat and another 40 minutes in line, Kathy's card was denied as well. We could get a cash advance on a credit card but there is a $60 charge.

Anyway, we decided to hike to the other end of town to the only other bank. There was a atm in the entryway and we both withdrew some cash without a problem with the same cards that were denied down the street.

We filled up with water and crossed the harbor for the fourth time of the morning.

After lunch we listened to the Spartans win a rare road game.

We spent quite a bit of time during the afternoon working on the computer and reading before heading out to the concert. There is a band called "White Folks on Boats" that were giving a concert on a Catamaran very close to where we are anchored so we took the dinghy over at 5 and rafted up with about 100 other dinghies for the show. We were shocked... it was a great concert.

Afterwards everyone went to shore on Hamburger beach for snacks and a bonfire. We met some folks from Ann Arbor who now live in North Carolina.

Back on the boat we watched another of Abby's hand me down movies ...


March 13.

Happy Birthday Davey!

This morning the Harbor was calm for the first time so after coffee, I worked on the blue stripe on our topsides and sanding teak. I finished after lunch and was off to a dinghy repair seminar held on a beach to the north. Since dinghy repair is a vocation that I have considerable experience in, I decided to find out exactly what I have done wrong. As it turns out most of my repairs were acceptable. I did learn quite a bit about what to look for when purchasing a dinghy as well as what types of glues should be used.

Our evening entertainment included attending the Racing Awards Program at 6 and directly after, a dance on the Chat and Chill deck with Rockin- Ron. Most of our friends had the same plans so we invited, "Restless", "Viking Rose", and "Tilt" for snacks before we set out for shore.

The dance was a fun but the deck proved again to be too small for the crowd.


March 12..

We woke to about 12 knots of wind which was perfect for the "In harbor" sailboat races that were scheduled for today. Most of the morning was spent on the foredeck watching the race with the glasses. There was also a play by play broadcast on the VHF radio which was interesting.

After the race and a little lunch I went to shore for a bridge game which lasted most of the afternoon.

I returned to find that Kathy had two invitations for the evening. We ended up going to "Viking Rose" for a dinner of grilled Mahi-Mahi which was perfect.

......I should mention that this is regatta week. The highlight of which are the two races: the Around Stocking Island Race and the In Harbor race. The In harbor race is a normal three-mark race while the Around Stocking Island race gives points for fish caught during the race and some other things.

There are also tons of other activities during this two week period. There are Volleyball, Softball, bocce, and bridge tournaments. There is an opening night gathering, a pet parade, kids day, a variety show, a dance, .... most of the time we watch. I am going to assist with the bridge tournament on Saturday. I would have played, but during the sign-up period we were on Long Island. There is also a Bahamian music festival next weekend that many of the cruisers attend.

Mar. 11 Emerald Bay to Georgetown

We left Emerald Bay at about 9am and fished our way south for the 8 miles to Elizabeth Harbor. We passed "Restless" at Hamburger Beach and continued to the area off Volleyball Beach where we were anchored the last week. There was quite a bit of room so Steve and Carol brought "Restless" down and anchored nearby.

At two we all went to shore to see what was happening but there really wasn't much going on...there was a Bocce tournament on the beach and I watched some friends play a few hands of bridge. After a while we took Steve and Carol over to St. Francis Resort for a rum punch. ( they have only been here a couple of days and haven't been to the hot-spots yet).

Back at the boat we put together some snacks and returned to "Restless" to watch the sun set. Richard and Penny from "Viking Rose" arrived here today and stopped by for a visit as well. On their way down to Georgetown today they caught a 40 pound mahi mahi and invited us to fish dinner tomorrow .

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