Trip today: 12 miles in 2.5 hours

Getting a mooring ball in Hope Town harbour can be a very frustrating experience, especially with cruisers calling ahead to reserve a buoy...some reserve a month or even the entire winter season! Sometimes the folks who have long term rentals take their boats out of the harbour for a few days, and the moorings sit empty with a reserved marker tied to them. On this morning's 'Cruiser's Net' we heard s/v Patty Jean asking if anyone on a long term mooring ball was going to the Barefoot Man concert and would like to sublet their mooring buoy for the night. I radioed him to say we were leaving and suggested he contact Alley-Oop to reserve a mooring. This worked out for Jim & his buddy boat, and they dinghied by to catch up on news & thank us...nice!

At 9:45 we said goodbye to Hope Town and had a chilly trip north to great Guana Cay. We first checked out Settlement Harbour, but with all mooring balls taken and several boats anchored, there wasn't enough room for us. We moved one bay north and found lots of boats anchored in Fishers Bay, and secured a good spot near Delia Cay.

After a quick lunch, we dinghied ashore to the beach at 'Grabbers Resort', walked through the settlement and across the island to 'Nippers Beach Bar' which was the venue for the annual 'Barefoot Man' Spring concert. Despite the cool & windy weather, there was a large and lively contingent of 'Barefoot' fans fully involved in the concert and celebrating St Patrick's Day! The crew of s/v Resolve (Catalina 42) arrived early this morning to secure a large table between the bar & the band, ready for the enthusiastic group of cruisers from Resolve, Mar-a-Lago, Echo Beach, Navicula, Sounds Great & Cruisin'. During the afternoon, we chatted with several folks we've met over our past 3 trips to the Bahamas...it's a small world! Although very chilly, we had a fun afternoon with the crowd dancing and singing along with Barefoot, especially his infamous song about 'Alice'...a good time was had by all!

We ended our day with a brisk walk around the settlement to Orchid Bay Marina, then back to Grabbers where they were setting up for their jazz evening. We found our dinghy high and dry at low tide, and dragged it back into the water for the trip back to Mar-a-Lago. While dining aboard we could hear the jazz music coming from the beach bar...it was a lovely evening!