Still Down and out in George Town

The crazed, blistering pace of the Cruising Regatta has completely disappeared, along with most of the boats. Warm, indolent breezes have replaced the unusually brisk and cold winds that plagued this year’s “season”. Even so, boats are streaming out of the harbor each morning, announcing their farewells on VHF for the remaining pilgrims to mourn over. The few that are left behind mostly cherish this quiet time, and the opportunity to practice listlessly relaxing activities such as hanging out and walking on the beach.

With the change in weather, the oceanside beach has become calm, allowing the seashells to repopulate strategic coves and crannies. I say strategic, as Wayne and I are working every morning now at collecting a maximum amount of shells before any other lame-o cruisers get to it. Perhaps you think that shell gathering is easy work? Although rewarding to be sure, it is back-breaking, sweat-producing and damp. Today we brought two large bottles of water along, and drained them easily before half time. Sometimes, if suddenly changing from stooped and squinting to erect and squinting, your head spins and you feel like you may pass out. Some people call this positional low blood pressure or a vasovagal response. I call it dehydration, mixed with late-night bonfires and hot, hot sun. Wayne did remark we are getting pretty brown. Occupational hazard.

These last couple of weeks, we’ve been hanging out with a bunch of musician types. We first saw Chad and LeAnne from Cambration in Black Point. At that time I noticed that they were painfully young and thin. My maternal instincts reared up, and I insisted to Wayne that we would have to have them to the boat for dinner sometime to fatten them up. In the meantime, they managed to get married – first the “religious” ceremony in Staniel and then the “official” ceremony here in George Town. We had dinner with them and our new friend Lee from Krasna the other night aboard Lee’s boat. It was charming getting to know them, and hear their story of young romance. What was shocking, however was to learn that Chad had written a computer program which allows you to catalogue your boat lockers by content and location. He says he had to do this because they have $2500 worth of canned goods stored in various locations all around their boat. Sheesh, those kids have more food that we do!

So, Chad’s a great guitar player and singer, and Lee is also very fun. Lee has a more off-beat guitar playing style and a great baritone voice for which he stands out at sing-alongs. Lee is also remarkable for his great, piercing blue eyes, thick tangle of grey ponytail stuffed under a do-rag, and colorful past. The guy has been in jail any number of times, escaped three times under his own power and was unleashed by the US Embassy on various other occasions. Lee is a photo journalist who specializes in covering war zones. He can’t really recall all the countries (and jails) he’s been in but they include places like Colombia, Venezuela, Bosnia, Croatia, Afghanistan, etc. He spent the last 15 years living in the Czech Republic with his wife (a professional musician) and child but is now single-handing his 42-foot ketch as his wife decided their gig was up. He is a wonderful guy who has forgotten more great stories about his life than he can remember. We can only hope he’ll write a book someday.

The other musicians we’ve been hanging out with are Chris and Sarah from Moonraker and Gary and Celeste from Sol Surfin’. Chris and Sarah are small, dark, and delicately-boned. They live in the Chesapeake, not far from our intended new home of Chestertown, Maryland. Gary and Celeste are from California. To those of us from the UP, that’s about as exotic as being from the Bahamas so I’m tempted to leave it at that; but I really can’t. Gary looks too young to have such a fab boat – a large and gorgeous catamaran – and plays a mean guitar with a penchant for acoustic Led Zep. Celeste has long brown hair, lovely soulful brown eyes, and looks like a fertility goddess. She is totally adorable and a wild-ass party girl. Oh, to be young again. Last night the aforementioned usual suspects assembled at Sand Dollar Beach – about a 2-mile dinghy ride for us – for a bonfire and musical jam session. We were joined by a smattering of others and had a rip-roaring good time. Wayne and I were lucky to be back aboard Cassiopeia by midnight: last time we spent a musical evening aboard Sol Surfin’ we didn’t get back till two in the morning. We’re just too old for that anymore. (Sad but true.)

Now as to the engine; we have good news and bad. Wayne managed to hook up a 12-volt freshwater pump which bypasses the usual system and therefore we can run the motor with a careful eye on the temperature gauge and the RPMs. We hope to only have to run it for entering and exiting harbors and going back through the cut at Cave or Galliot Cay. Bottom line is that it works. We managed to obtain a spare pump as well from another friend. We are pretty sure we can make it back to the states with not too much problem. The other good news is that Universal/Westerbeke is willing to send the parts needed to repair the cam shaft to a marina in Lake Worth (Palm Beach area). The bad news is that we’ll have to buy a new water pump and pay for all the labor to effectuate this repair. The guy helping Wayne here in George Town is another cruiser named Roger Wrona aboard a big trawler named Rollsdoc. Roger is a Yooper! So’s his wife! His family comes from Bruce Crossing and she comes from Watersmeet. Small world. Roger already gave us a lot of help, and is willing and able to do the job for us if and when we get to Stuart, Florida. He’ll be on a mooring ball there and in fact it could all work out OK. At any rate, it has to work out OK one way or another, but it’s just funny how Yoopers pop up at the strangest and best time some times.

So that’s it for now. We expect to be leaving George Town in a week or two and hop slowly up the Exumas. Since we intend to sail primarily, these will be short hops. But that should offer us the opportunity to do some fine snorkeling and watching for the green flash. Hey, life could be worse. We could be in Fargo with imminent flooding at the same time as looming blizzards. Damn, now that’s some bad weather.

After the Regatta - Relaxation!

What a time it was, attempting to get everything done in George Town! This year Wayne was the "Regulation Volleyball" Chairman - meaning he had to organize and participate in the volleyball tournament for the "real" or "good" players. He had five teams entered, and it went generally well. They played from around 9:30 am to 1:30 pm, and were hot, sandy and tired. The final round was very exciting with the two undefeated teams meeting and playing very agressively despite their fatigue. In the end, youth won out. All had a great time. Previous to the tournament, Wayne and I had participated in the "Coconut Challenge" again, and had been practicing for our world debut at the Bahamian Music Festival at Regatta Park, George Town. Regrettably, our world debut with "Folks on Boats" was slightly marred by an overwhelming sound system, lack of sound check, and a broken guitar string which made everything sound totally different. Even so, we didn't get booed of the stage therefore considered the experience a marginal success. After that, Wayne played in the tennis tournament and myself in duplicate bridge. Wayne's team came in third in tennis, and my partner and I came in second place in bridge. This was to the amazement of many of the other players, mais c'est comme ca les copins...My partner is the delightful Dave from High Noon, the same Santa Claus/Teddy Bear who saved us in Nassau from having to attempt to row to the gas station. (In a soft-bottom 12-foot dinghy this is no mean feat...) Dave is a bridge whiz, and my skill set is minimal but creative. Dave calls my playing "Star Wars" bridge because he says I play as if I figure that, "the force is with me..." Yup, that's about right. At any rate, it works in duplicate situations but confuses the heck out of a lot of people.

Regatta week finished up with a "Variety Show" at which the Folks on Boats played again. This time, the kind sound team spent two hours on our sound check and we sounded fantastic! My children will never believe that I got to be the lead singer and front the band. It was a ton of fun, but we were absolutely exhausted by this year's activities.

Now the weather is warmer but we are soon to endure another Norther and have tucked in deeply to a protected anchorage. Boat life is fun, but the aspect of camping is now wearing a bit. No running water, no real bathroom facilities and an endless series of chores related to the acquisition of water, food, etc. can be daunting. No matter, as the photo shows, it is beautiful beyond words here when the weather is nice and judging from the reports from home we are lucky as heck to be here.

Hard at Work in Gtown

The pace has picked up as the Cruising Regatta looms large in the Elizabeth Harbor anchorage. Wayne is totally hooked on his Total Immersion swimming program, and is practicing in the 74-degree water now as I sit at J&K on the internet again. He is the busy one this year, with daily volleyball practice and competition, as well as meetings of the various activity chairmen and putting together a band. He has taken it upon himself to put together this year's version of "White Folks on Boats". The cruisers were requested to do so and to participate in the Bahamian Music Festival to be held in late March. This is a tradition that has gone on for quite some time and it would be a shame not to participate. So, we are going to perform his new original "Georgetown Funk" as well as a few other songs, accompanied by a couple of other cruisers on guitars. Wayne will sing a couple of songs, our friend Doug will sing a couple, and I am mortified by the idea that they want me to sing a couple of songs as well. I probably will not load that performance up to UTube as my singing has never been of the appropriate calibre. Be that as it may, what happens in Georgetown, stays in Georgetown. There is ridiculously little other news to report except that our friend Mary will be arriving soon with her sister. We look forward to hanging out with them at the Peace and Plenty pool and perhaps even taking a real shower.

Georgetown, week One

We’re closing in on the end of a week in Georgetown. Although the activities, places, and faces are largely the same, it doesn’t “feel” quite the same. The economic disaster wrought upon the world by G.W. Bush and his cronies has stretched its long tentacles into the cruiser community. Some of last year’s longtime cruisers were forced to sell their boats and get jobs. Others simply stayed home. The clan of adventuresome young Canadians who came down either in pairs or with young children has vanished. The die-hards remain – those who sold their homes long ago for big, comfy boats and the Georgetown lifestyle. Folks whose wealth was so massive and secure that they have withstood the shitstorm are also here. That leaves a few of us ragged cruisers in little boats who were really pretty marginal to begin with and have remained so. The anchorage has a bit more of a right-wing feel to it. This is nicely counterbalanced, however, by the continued presence of the older French Canadians en masse. They were adventuresome youngsters themselves once, and remain buoyant and raucous. (Read: they are still liberal party animals.)

Wayne is the Chairman of this year’s Regulation Volleyball Tournament for the upcoming Cruising Regatta. He has been playing every afternoon at the four-on-four, bump, set, spike courts where the level of competition is high. I’ve been inserting myself into more and more of the “fun” volleyball games where any idiot can walk on the court and make a fool out of her/himself. Well, I guess I’m getting slightly better at it, but it’s still just a diversion and nothing I can claim I can really do.

Beach Bridge is still fun when I can put a game together. My partner from last year has already left for further south and I haven’t put together a solid partnership with anyone else yet. No matter, pickup games are almost always possible. My pilates classes are picking up in terms of attendance, and people never cease to ask me to become involved in various skits and activities during Regatta week. You have to be a good sport about this kind of thing, it really is fun if you just relax and get involved.

Wayne has been taking a class in a swimming technique called “Total Immersion”. He has been coming home significantly water-logged and has had dripping sinuses ever since, but has stuck with it. It’s a technique designed for long-distance swimmers and triathletes in which the glide phase of the crawl stroke is elongated and exaggerated and the body literally corkscrews through the water. Today is the last class, so I’m interested to join them and see if Ican’t learn a thing or two as well. After that; practice, practice, practice. According to the instructor it takes 5000 strokes to really get the technique. The class is held in a lovely mini-bay with a mini-beach where the water is less choppy and there is no dinghy traffic. To be sure, it’s a gorgeous setting and the weather has been superb. There are worse places to go and get your work done.

Georgetown, at last...

We picked an excellent two-day window to get to Georgetown, and arrived yesterday afternoon around 4pm. There was very little wind on Thursday, but we got a little bit of "mo" out of it on a close-hauled reach and arrived at Cave Cay mid-afternoon no problem. There were quite a few boats already anchored there, and another selection anchored outside the Galloit cut. We chose the Cave Cay cut for three reasons: 1. it is straightforward and short. 2. it is deep. 3 we have been in and out of it before. Yes, it's narrow but we only have a nine foot beam. We met a very charming couple aboard Sweetwater, Hattie and Ludo, who were anchored just in front of us. We jumped in the beautiful, clear, turquoise water for a swim at just about the same moment they did, which prompted a floating conversation. They were also headed to Georgetown on Friday, and had spent the previous week in Black Point. That evening we enjoyed an outstanding sunset, which had all the potential for the green flash. As the huge, orange-yellow orb slipped out of sight, I turned to Wayne to remark upon the missing flash. Just at that same moment, the whole anchorage erupted in screams of delight - the flash was small, but there! Wayne saw it, I missed it. Can only hope to see it again another time.

The next day we made slow headway through the cut due to lingering current (two and a half to three knots) but we were steady and made it out fine. The wind again gave us just the slightest angle, but the sound was smooth and it was a relatively uneventful day. Entering Georgetown (Elizabeth) harbor is a four or five-step maneouver, which we had programmed into the GPS as well as consulting the sailing guide for visual clues. We navigated the entrance successfully and came to rest at anchor right in front of the Monument, as before. After a celebratory boat beer, we pumped up the dinghy and took a walk on the beautiful ocean beach, which has re-established itself after last year's devastating storm. As we were returning to grab a burger at the Chat-n-Chill, we found our friends Pam and Oliver out relaxing in their cockpit. They invited us for a quick drink, then off to a burger and fries. It's heavenly to be back!

Get to the Point, Stick to the Point

The wind has not ceased to blow 15 to 25 knots for about a week now. It has been east to northeast the entire time. Since our trusty Tohatsu did not like the bashing into the waves on the dinghy ride from Big Majors Spot to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club, we decided we needed to make a move. We had planned a lovely breakfast at the Club and then attending church services on Staniel. Fearing dinghy motor failure, we elected to move to Black Point instead, where the dinghy ride to the town dock is much shorter. What a great decision this proved to be. After exiting the Big Majors anchorage and rounding Sandy Cay, we were able to turn the motor off and sail a mere 6 nautical miles to Black Point close-hauled. The Black Point anchorage is large and fine, easily entered from the south by running parallel to the coast. Supposedly we should be protected from the ENE wind, but it seems to sweep up over the island cliffs and down into the anchorage. Being that there is no current to worry about, it’s still a comfortable, if windy, place to swing.

Black Point is the governmental headquarters for the northern Exumas, from Highborne Cay to Big Farmers. It is a nice little out-island town with colorful little houses and friendly people. The town is very cruiser-friendly on a nice safe bay for anchoring with free garbage service and community water. The water tastes weird, but it is safe to drink so who cares? It’s free! Cruiser central seems to be Lorraine’s Café, where you can get lunch or dinner, self-service beers and sodas in the large refrigerator, trade in your books, and access wifi and three or four of her PC towers in the “internet lounge”. Internet access is available for a donation of your choosing. It’s slow, but it’s always slow down here. It’s lovely, quaint, clean, and fun to meet up with other cruisers and discuss adventures. Lorraine’s mom offers home-baked bread on a daily basis, and will take in your washing. Her grandma gets in the act with pastries and sweet rolls. Like almost everyone else on the island, Lorraine’s last name is Rolle. (There is Rolletown on Great Exuma, and Rolles populate a significant part of this chain of islands.) There is also DeShamon’s restaurant and rooms, and the Scorpio Bar. It always pays to be careful around Scorpios, so we have not yet sampled their offerings. They do have incredibly reasonable prices on sandwiches, so we may have to be brave and just plunk ourselves down in there one time.

The anchorage faces a horseshoe beach which dries very far out at low tide. This morning we took a great run which lead us to the northern edge of the anchorage the rocky, coral spine of the island (Great Guana). The sun is shining brilliantly again, and the combination of fresh ocean breeze and bright sunshine was invigorating. The moon is full presently, which sets up a lovely view around 6pm at which time the fiery orange ball of the sun plunges quickly into the west while the moon reigns in her silver splendor high in the eastern sky. We had hoped to catch a green flash again, but no luck last night. It was so lovely, and we are so close to Georgetown, that I asked Wayne to pull out the conch horn and give ‘er a blow. To our delight, the call of Wayne’s horn was answered by a number of other boats at anchor with their own conch creations. We are really not far now, only 50 or so miles from Georgetown. The sunset conch concert really brought home or proximity to our destination and the idea that we are going to get there.

The wind should die down on Wednesday, so our current plan is to sail to Cave Cay on Thursday. We’ll anchor there for the night in preparation for going out the Cave Cay cut and into the sound on Friday for the last 30 miles of our trip. The wind is predicted to be very light and dead on east, so we should be able to get some kind of reach going. The “sound” is hardly a sound like you might see on the ICW, it’s a BIG piece of ocean that happens to have islands on either side. It is to be respected and feared. Knowing that, we are looking at Friday as our best opportunity because it should be very calm. Still, sailing is full of surprises. We’ll just have to see what it’s like when we get out there.

Oh, and as for the title of this post – this is what is painted on the seawall at Black Point. It’s the first thing you see when you arrive at the dinghy dock. Good advice.

On to Black Point

We had a great following wind across the Yellow Banks, preceded by an interesting time getting out of the TPA Marina. The manager was not anxious for us to leave at low tide, so we waited until 10am at which point it took three guys to handle our lines as we had to back straight out, then make a 90 degree turn to port, then zoom past the big power boats before the wind and currents could catch us. Our sailor friends understand how interesting this can be. We were successful and had a long day to Norman's Cay. The anchorage was over-crowded as it is small and arranged in a narrow curving arc of deeper water with coral and sand on the other sides. We touched once, but managed to get a decent spot upon the third try. Bumpy night, then on to Staniel. Great, huge anchorage at Big Majors Spot, no problem getting a great space but now both our dinghy motors are not working well so we'll have to move on tomorrow to Black Point where the dinghy ride to town is about one tenth of what it is here. It's ok - we've never seen Black Point before and it is the second largest settlement in Exumas (only Georgetown is larger). The fun never ends.