We arrived back in Georgetown to find it crowded with cruisers getting ready for the annual Georgetown Cruisers Regatta. All kinds of meetings and arrangements going on. The morning cruisers net was full of instructions and reminders and so on. Way too busy for us! We made contact with Susan and Barry from Nighthawk which was great and managed to have supper together a couple of times – I got another recipe from Susan which I couldn’t wait to try out on Kirsty and Shawn! One morning on the net, Bruce advertised our old inflatable bottom dinghy. Straight away two people called who were interested in it. He was successful in selling it to one of the men who also wanted our dinghy engine, so we sold that too! The man who bought the dinghy and engine was willing to wait until Bruce’s dream engine – a 2 stroke 15hp Yamaha – could be delivered to us in Georgetown, which was only a couple of days. Great!!
Finally Kirsty and Shawn arrived safe and sound on Feb. 21st. We had arranged for a taxi to pick them up at the airport and deliver them to the dinghy dock behind the foodstore where Bruce met them with the dinghy. We were soooo happy to see them! They were travel weary but happy and very hungry! Cracked conch and all the trimmings for supper - I know Kirsty had been looking forward to it! Luckily Shawn enjoyed it too!
We stayed in Georgetown for a couple of days. We were waiting for the dinghy engine to arrive. Also the kids wanted to go to the ‘Chat and Chill’, have a swim and a walk on the beach. We also went to a lovely gift store in Georgetown where we got Kirsty a part of her birthday present and she got me one at the straw market – a much needed sleeveless T-shirt. We also met up with Susan and Barry at the beach as they wanted the chance to see Kirsty again and also to meet Shawn. Once all these things had been accomplished we set off for Lee Stocking Island and our favourite little anchorage – ‘Ray Bay’. So good to have Kirsty and Shawn with us. Shawn kept saying he thought he’d wake up from a nap and find he was back in Nova Scotia – he felt he had to be dreaming to be on holiday in the Bahamas!
We all went snorkeling at Ray Bay and then Bruce had the kids practice shooting spears at cans under water to get them ready to go spearfishing with him. We moved on the next day to a place more suitable for spearfishing. While we were out in the dinghy on our way to some coral heads, a French couple came over to us and asked if we had seen a mermaid playing the piano! Of course we thought he was joking with us! So, they took us over to a little cove and pointed under the water and there was………..a mermaid sitting next to a piano!! We decided to stop on our way back from fishing to have a look at it properly – we didn’t want to keep the crawfish waiting! We arrived at the coral heads and Bruce, Shawn and Kirsty got all geared up to jump in with their spears. The 2 men went in first to check things out and were no sooner in the water and swimming when Bruce says “Shawn get out now.” They had seen a big Bull shark swimming around! Of course Shawn didn’t get out quick enough for Kirsty and when Bruce didn’t get out at all she was ready to kill!! Once the shark was gone for sure Shawn got back in and the 2 of them continued fishing. Kirsty and I decided it would be better if she waited for a better spot!! After a while we moved on and the 3 of them went snorkeling/fishing on some heads closer to the shore. All in all it wasn’t a very successful fishing day – Bruce had gone fishing there earlier in the season and had great luck at that time. We did stop on the way back to the boat and we all went in to see the mermaid playing the piano and took pics of it – really neat!! I wonder who put it there? It was right next to the island owned by Tim Mcgraw and Faith Hill so maybe they did it on a whim. Or maybe it was put in as a tourist attraction. Who knows…..It’s a mystery!!
We gradually sailed our way north with Kirsty and Shawn swimming and fishing and walking on the beaches. Kirsty could usually be found at any time of day laying on the trampoline sunbathing and making sure she didn’t get any tan lines!! We ate really well! Mahi Mahi, crawfish,conch (of which Bruce made sure we a had a really good supply ready for when the kids arrived – the freezer was packed!!) We had restocked with various kinds of rum in Georgetown and also a case of beer! Shawn was really helpful with the troublesome port side engine – he and Bruce spent a lot of time on it in Georgetown – so it was decided a case of beer was definitely called for!
We anchored one afternoon close to Johnny Depp’s island – Little Halls Pond Cay. We saw that they were having a birthday party for someone – as we didn’t have a present ready we decided we’d better not go! We did sail right past his boat though – a lovely boat named after himself,his wife and his two children. Vanessa, Johnny, Lily-Rose and Jack – VaJoLiRoJa. Va Jolly Roger!? Of all the richpeoples boats we have seen theirs was the nicest – very tasteful and not ostentatious at all. Anyway, after passing their ‘place’ we anchored a little further down in a lovely spot . The water was shallow, clear and beautiful – just the right place for Kirsty and I to float around on our floaty noodles with a tasty beverage in hand. As we were about to drop the anchor Bruce called out “look at the dolphin”! Only it wasn’t!! In that nice shallow water was a huge hammerhead shark turning itself inside out hunting fish!! It was at least 12-14 feet long!! Needless to say, none of us went into the water – we went beach walking instead.
We had a lovely supper at Ocean Cabin on Little Farmers Cay – Kirsty and Shawns treat to us. After supper the owners (Terry and Ernestine Bain) had us singing the LittleFarmers Cay song which one of the foreign residents had written for them. We did have fun.
Shroud Cay was interesting. We explored the channel through the mangroves – next time we will take our snorkeling gear with us and leave some time to do some swimming. We saw a cheeky little turtle swimming along – it seemed like it was trying to play with us! Bruce and the kids also went snorkeling on some coral heads – no spearfishing allowed though as they were in the Exuma Land and Sea Park.
At the north end of Highborne Cay in what used to be (many years ago)one of our most frequent anchorages Kirsty and I finally got to float around in the water with our floaty noodles and our tasty beverage(s) in hand while the boys went off for one more fishing expedition! Shawn almost came back with a nice grouper, but it got off the spear, so he brought us a big conch instead. Bruce caught a couple of good sized crawfish and a grouper. That night Kirsty and I made so many conch fritters with Shawns conch that we didn’t need anything else for supper! Early the following morning we headed out for West Bottom Harbour, Rose Island just outside of Nassau, New Providence trying not to think abut Kirsty and Shawn’s visit coming to an end. We arrived in good time and Kirsty had one last swim for this holiday. We ate the crawfish and grouper for supper along with peas ‘n rice made by Kirsty Marshall – delicious! The port engine had started to act up again a few days before, so Bruce and Shawn spent some more time on it but were unable to fix it. The winds changed direction and gained strength that night, so we left West Bottom fairly early, calling in to the Nassau Yacht Haven marina to see if we could come in a day early as a strong front was coming through. Luckily they had room for us so in we went, starboard engine only. Everything went very ,very well much to our relief – no trauma at all!! A lot of boats came in that day and the storm hit in the early evening just as Bruce and Shawn went out to get pizza for supper. That was Sunday, and the winds howled all through Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday as well! On Monday night we met up with our friends John and Doreen Peters at the Double Dragon Chinese restaurant for a lovely meal, then they returned to the boat with us for a glass of wine/Drambuie and a cup of tea before they went home. Unfortunately Jenny couldn’t make it to supper that evening, but we did see her briefly the next day at the food store. It was great to hear that Rachael and her husband were doing well in Trinidad and that Doreen, John and Jenny were going to visit them at Eastertime.
Kirsty and Shawn left on Tuesday – we were very sad to see them go. We had rented a car and taken them around Nassau on Monday, so we had the car to take them to the airport and see them through to security. If they had to leave, it was at the right time as the weather had turned rainy, windy and quite cool. We had a fantastic time with them here and they seemed to have a lovely holiday. Well, Bruce just arrived back at the boat and tells me the dockmaster is hoping we leave tomorrow as they need our space. I guess we’ve worn out our welcome – time to move on……