My, how time has flown! We've had two weeks of intense relaxation, while many friends and family were impacted by a huge winter storm. Sorry! We did see some pictures of the storm, and we heard about school and dinner cancellations. I'm happy to be where I am!

We finally left Warderick Wells after 5 days there. We waited out a front there, and although it was still quite breezy, we felt it was time to get out of Dodge! We headed off to Sampson Cay, and thought we might be able to watch the Superbowl there in the restaurant/bar listed in our guidebook. When we arrived and asked about the facilities, we were told that everything was closed. So much for the Superbowl. It wasn't so much for the Superbowl itself that we were interested, but just to be able to get off the boat and meet with different people after so many days on our own.

From Sampson, we had a terrific two day visit at Staniel Cay. We ate several lunches at the very vibrant yacht club and did some snorkelling in the cave that was used in the original 'Thunderball'. There was such a variety and so many fish that I felt like I was swimming in an aquarium! The stores here really don't look like stores. We were told to go to the "Yellow Bakery" for our bread, and the "Blue Store" for groceries, named very simply by the colour of the walls.

We then spent a day at each of Black Point on Great Guana Cay, Little Farmer's Cay and Emerald Bay Marina, all very different places. Black Point's highlight feature was a laundromat with free wi-fi that looked great. I didn't need to do laundry just then, but I've put this in my memory for future reference. At Little Farmer's, we stayed on a mooring ball at the Farmer's Cay Yacht Club. I'm not sure just what the term "yacht club" here means, as there were no docks, no boats, really just a restaurant with one guest room off to one side, in addition to the three mooring balls they maintain. We walked the "town" and stopped in at Ocean Cabin, a restaurant run by Terry Bain. We met another cruising couple, and the five of us had a rousing political discussion of world politics! John and I then stopped in at JR's where John bought a trumpet shell. We finished our visit to Little Farmer's by buying some fresh caught snapper at the town dock for our dinner. On our way from Farmer's to Emerald Bay, John caught his first Mahi Mahi! What a tasty dinner we had! Emerald Bay is a marina affiliated with the Sandals resort. Accordingly, everything was almost sumptuous, so different than regular Bahamian life.

Finally, last Saturday, we pulled into Georgetown, the cruising Mecca for cruisers in The Bahamas, and stayed for four days. Each morning, we would listen to the "Cruisers' Net" on VHF 72 and hear what was going on each day. From yoga to basket making to volleyball to lectures to beach hiking, Georgetown has it all! very Sunday, there is a pig roast at a restaurant called Chat'n'Chill, which also seems to serve as a community centre of sorts for cruisers. One day they announced that someone had counted the boats; there were 283 boats in the harbour! There is a tradition of conch shell horn blowing at sunset that John has gotten into. We evaluate each of the three blows he does each night. He is steadily improving, and it truly sounds more and more like a trumpet each day! We will definitely return to Georgetown for more fun.

Right now, my brother and his wife are visiting with us. We've headed north to Lee Stocking Island for some sailing, fishing, hiking, snorkelling, and chilling. We're doing a pretty good job of it, too! Our fishing wasn't that successful, but we'll have another chance tomorrow. Unfortunately, we lost a lure the other day that is really supposed to bring the Mahi in.Yesterday we did a three hour hike on the island, very welcome after the forced relaxation of being on board. Today we moved to another anchorage off Rat Cay where some good snorkelling was found.

Tomorrow we plan to move back to Georgetown before some big north winds are expected to hit. Plus, we need to get there in time to take our guests to the pig roast! A good time is being had by all!