A sad goodbye and Bon Voyage
16 February 2017
23 30.92 'N:75 45.37'W
Feb 12 was a work day on 2 Outrageous! Paul installed an electric fuel pump. I did some general cleaning and of course was on hand to assist the mechanic with any fetching of tools he needed.
Ti Amo departed the anchorage to begin working their way north to Eluthera but not before stopping by to drop off some oatmeal raisin cookies! I'm sure we will catch up to Ti Amo again later this season in the Abacos.
We had a great chicken dinner that night at Club Washington with the crews from Night Hawk, Migration and Helios. Ray and Jenna from Night Hawk organized the excursion. Club Washington is not always open and rarely open on a Sunday but Ray and Jenna have known the owners for years so managed to pull a few strings for us. The meal was great and there was so much food I think each plate would have easily fed two people.
The next morning we delivered some salsa and bread to Migration and Helios then bid them Bon Voyage as they would be departing for the Dominican Republic as soon as Helios received some refrigeration parts he was waiting for. We were very sad to say goodbye to our cruising buddies. We've been together since December 7/16, covering a lot of miles and many adventures.
We hauled anchor around 09:00 and headed to the northern end of Long Island then out into the sound to pick up some deep water for fishing. We didn't have the lines in the water for very long before we could see several nice Mahi Mahi coming full speed towards our lures. We did hook a nice one but were surprised we only got one. They seem to really like Paul's homemade white lure and will choose it over the store bought ones every time. We arrived in Georgetown feeling a bit lost without our travelling companions but we found Gerry and Donna from Blue Jacket anchored in front of chat n chill beach with tons of space around them so we dropped the hook. We were surprised to get this primo spot since the boat numbers had increased substantially since our last visit to Georgetown. The night sky is something to behold with all the anchor lights in every direction you look.
The Blue Jacket crew joined us for a sundowner and were anxious to hear about our trip to the Jumentos and Ragged islands.
Feb 14 was a day with absolutely no wind. This is a very rare occurrence in the Bahamas and it was hot, hot, hot without that breeze! Paul made a couple of smooth dinghy trips across Elizabeth Harbour for fuel and water. Smooth dinghy trips across Elizabeth Harbour are also rare occurrences. We usually opt for taking the big boat across and anchoring in front of town.
Feb 15 the wind had piped up to over 20 knots from the south west by early afternoon and after a short anchor dragging episode we said enough of this and moved across the harbour to Goat Cay. By evening the wind had dropped to a much more comfortable 10 knots but we were still happy we moved because by the next morning it was blowing at 20 to 25 knots again.
The run from Goat Cay to Kidd Cove is about a 15 minute dinghy ride but you can run close to shore and find protection from the wind and waves. We set out for some more water and a visit to the grocery store for some fresh produce. Sheherazade and Grace V had arrived in the harbour the night before. Ron and Deb were bringing us some spare parts for our generator so we located them and had a quick visit. While visiting with Sheherazade we could hear Oopsea hailing us on the radio! They said they had just dropped anchor right behind our boat at Goat Cay. We said great, get ready we should head back down to the Jumentos tomorrow. True to form, Tom and Cindy who are always up for an adventure, said let's go! They charged around that afternoon getting groceries, fuel and water. The whole gang, Oopsea, Sheherazade, Grace V, Bluejacket and 2 Outrageous went to the rake n scape at the Peace n Plenty that evening to enjoy some Bahamian music, dancing and a couple of cold Kaliks.