Super Bowl Sunday at Black Point

We attended Gethsemane Baptist Church Sunday morning. We were truly blessed. The entire service was ALIVE. These people truly know how to worship. They also know their scripture. They sing scripture, shout scripture and preach scripture.  The church was small and simple buy US standards with open windows and doors but full of joy. These people were glad to be in the house of the Lord and welcomed all who came that morning. We were truly touched.

We went back to the boat and had a light lunch and just relaxed until time to head back to Lorraine’s  for the Super Bowl party.  I must say that TV has been rare for us this winter so even I was interested in watching. Lorraine sings in the choir at church and had to leave after the song service to go to work cooking for the lunch crowd and cook up the mega feast for the SB Party. She made sure to come by and welcome us to church on her way out that morning.  She had to have gotten up before sunrise to start her day and serve two meals to hungry cruisers and locals. Super Bowl is a BIG deal here. Of course it is a major source of income for the community that hosts such a huge influx of cruisers during the winter. There were 3 restaurants hosting happy hours and dinner specials. Lorraine’s small establishment had 2 flat screen TV’s set up inside and one outside for the overflow tables . It was too bad that the game was such a blow out since many cruisers went back to their boats at half time. Freddie and I headed back to Stray Cat sometime in the 3^rd quarter. The majority of the people at Loraine’s seemed to be Seattle fans so it was a pretty happy group.

We went in to do laundry in Rockside Laundry Monday morning. $14 to wash and dry 2 loads. This is the first time I have done laundry in a machine this year. Most of the time I do it by hand on the boat. The laundry was packed.  It took from 10 am until 1 pm to get it done. There was a line for both the washers and dryers. Later in the day we walked to the beach to see the Exuma Sound side of the island. We will come in and update everything on the internet Tuesday morning then probably head a little North. If you ever come this way Loraine’s has the best internet in town. You can sit outside and get a good signal and reasonable speeds. For a small donation you can plug in to the electric also. We have taken advantage of the free internet there each day . We are still trying to decide our route for the passage North. The weather is foretasted to hold this week and a cold front  to come down around the 10^th. We are really looking at where we need to be to weather the front. Yep it’s not just old people that talk about the weather. It is a major topic in Cruiser circles.

Love their Motto!

Super Bowl Party waiting for the game to start.

No I'm not dancing on the bar, just hanging a banner.

Our waiter for the night.

Most people are now buried in Nassau. But we found this small
Cemetery on one of our walks.

The beach on the Exmua Sound side of Black Point.

February 1st in Black Point

We had a wonderful start to February. I know that most of our friends and family were cold but the weather here was glorious. We had a slow lazy start to the day since we had decided to stay here through the Superbowl party Sunday night. We took off in the dingy around the corner to Bitter Guana Cay to see the iguanas that are the main inhabitants on the Cay. I know that there are some other wildlife that inhabit the Cay but the iguanas are the main attraction. Taking the dingy also afforded us a close up inspection of Dothan Cut, the cut that we had tried to make but couldn't a couple of times. We had a great time swimming and walking the beach and checking out the iguanas until lunch time.

We have been looking for Lobster during our entire trip and have yet to come across one in the wild. When they came over the radio and said that a local had fresh caught lobster at the dingy dock in front of us yesterday we just had to get one. After our excursion to see the iguanas, we came back and dined on grilled lobster. Yum Yum.  Then we just laid around on the boat and read and relaxed. Now this is what I hoped cruising would be like.  The anchorage is really busy with people coming and going, many headed south to Georgetown. We continue to meet new and interesting people and run into other people we had met earlier along our journey. 

Ok so we cheated. This one's for you Grannie T.

On my way to check out the iguanas!

Freddie and friend having a conversation.

The original swimming with stingrays!

Say Cheese

Farewell Georgetown

We pulled out of Georgetown at 7am on January 29^th 2014.Riding out we said a fond farewell to a much more crowed anchorage than when we arrived in November. We also passed more ships coming down on our way up to the Little Farmers cut. We had hoped to go up ten miles north to the Dotham cut but the winds were very light and we really wanted to do more sailing than motoring. We sailed wing on wing (for you none sailors, that is one sail on each side of the boat) until the wind dropped below 4 knots and then started the starboard engine to help us make the cut before high tide and sunset.

After going through the cut we turned north and started looking for a place to anchor. The water depth north out of Little Farmers is very shallow except in the channel. We had to watch carefully as we made our way. We were confident that we would not run aground since we had had the same issue watching our depth when we came through this way with Tripp and Dana in December and that was just after Low tide. The banks are calmer than the Sound but the wind was swinging more from the south and we were having difficulty finding a place to anchor that would not be uncomfortable. We anchored at Jacks Bay on Great Guana Cay at 24.02.20 N and 76.22.620 W. We were greeted by two dolphins as we pulled up, set the anchor and ate chili before bed.

A more crowded anchorage in Georgetown than when we arrived.

Sail Repair at sea. Just out of the Georgetown cut, I'm fixing some sail tape that I had put on
the main sail before we left home.

Wing on wing heading north in the Exuma Sound

Freddie diving the anchor that night in clear water.

The dark spot is Freddie still following the 60 feet of anchor chain.

Last day in Georgetown

Well this is it. We have refueled Stray Cat, pulled up the dingy and secured the dingy motor and have everything ready to release the mooring and head out in the morning. We motored over to the marina and had to hold off for around half an hour waiting to pull up to the fuel dock. There was also another boat waiting in line after us. Just as we were turning in the port engine goes out. This baby does not steer so good with only one engine when going real slow. There is not enough water going over the rudders to make them effective. With both engines Freddie can maneuver this baby into the tiniest space but that is difficult with only one. Super Fred still got us close enough to the dock for me to toss the deck hand a line to help pull us in without even coming close to the two cats that were tied up on the dock next door. We have had issues with getting air in the fuel line when the port engine just idles for very long. We haven't been able to find exactly where the leak is but we bleed the line and it will start back up. Freddie had it up and running before I got back from paying for the fuel. You rock Captain Fred ( OK enough, his head will swell and won't fit through the cabin door). After we fuel up we pull out and anchor near by to take the dingy in and buy groceries. We look and see another Wildcat has dropped anchor right beside us. This is the first time we have seen another boat like ours during our cruise. We enjoyed meeting the family on Anticipation and hope they continue to enjoy their cruise. After putting away all the groceries we head back across the  bay to pick back up our mooring and our last day of Dominoes and bridge on Volley Ball beach. We have met so many wonderful people and have had such a great time that it is sad to leave. We are excited though to be on the move during warm wonderful weather window. They are forecasting snow for St. Marys tomorrow! What is up with that. It last snowed in the early 1980's. Schools closing and everything. Here I am sweating at 27 degrees Celsius.

The fuel dock is between the big motor yacht and the blue bimini
on top of the smaller motor cat. just a little snug.

Some of the hard working staff at Chat & Chill and Volleyball beach.

This guy is from Haiti. He is a believer that wore the hat Freddie gave
him every day. He only speaks French but was a joy to see each day.
We gave him several hats to share with fellow Haitians in Georgetown. 

Anticipation. We actually tried to look at this boat when we were shopping
but could never get an appointment with the broker. The owners now
are from New Jersey . They bought her in Florida and have been cruising
for two seasons.

Goodbye Georgetown. We hope to see you again next year!

 

Our time here is growing short.

We will begin our trip back some time this week. We have had an amazing adventure so far and have grown to love Georgetown. I thought I would answer some of the questions that I have been asked in this post.
What happens if you get hurt or sick?
There are clinics at most places we have been. There have even been Veterinarians at several of the larger islands. We visited our Dr. before we left and made sure to have enough of our prescriptions available for our time away. We got a prescription for antibiotics , just in case and we also purchased Dan Divers insurance that would cover transport to the nearest medical facility in case of a major medical event. I broke a tooth  and  had it addressed when we went home for Christmas. If it had been hurting I could have had it taken care of in Georgetown. I also banged up my shin pretty good but took care of it out of our first aid supplies.

Not Pretty. It stung but no real damage.

First Aid: salt water wash, Fresh water rinse, triple antibiotic
ointment, large band aid to keep out sand. Repeat every
couple of days until healed.

Do you feel safe?   Yes we do. Cruisers look out for each other and the Bahamians are genuinely honest loving people.

Aren't you scared?  At times (those of you that read some of my earlier posts will verify) I have been terrified. You do learn to trust your boat over time. I have also found out from people that have been doing this and have sailed for years that everyone goes through that. That made me feel much better since I really felt that I was such a sissy.I also know that the good and amazing times far out weigh the times of sheer terror. I plan to have none of those on our trip north!

Seriously I would never have met so many amazing people and seen the things I have seen on this trip if I had not taken a deep breath and cut the dock lines.  

Lovely  German family that live aboard their Catamaran.

Steve and Karen got here a little over a week ago.

One of our French Canadian neighbors kit surfing on the
beach side of the island.

Some of Bahamian friends at the Chat & Chill beach

You have a couple that have traveled all over, a former IT(computer guru)
that build his own boat.and a guy that was actually born here all at one table
 getting ready for a  game of Mexican Train Dominoes.

I am really going to miss Georgetown and the people we have met here.

 

Nasty weather but Wonderful People from all over

It’s pretty cold down here. I know that to those of you that have had to endure the arctic blast of winter in the States, temperatures in the low 70’s are warm but for this area it is COLD! I haven’t been swimming in 3 days! Everyone says that is very unusual for it to stay this cool. It’s ok though I have gotten some serious reading and Domino time and I have always slept better under a blanket. Freddie is curled up under a blanket on the couch right now.  We had a women’s luncheon on Thursday and I met over 25 ladies from all over. The lady that sat to my right had just flown in from Australia and another is an aide worker in Mongolia. We had a family from Italy at the table beside us at lunch today after Church. They are spending their vacation here and will be flying out tomorrow. They have been using zero Italian but were able to still communicate. The dad is a fireman and an Ambulance driver in Italy and they have a beautiful 3 year old son named Antonio.  Later after lunch we ran into someone from Carroll County Georgia that is here on vacation. This just blows my mind that one little place can have so-many different people.  Since it was starting to drizzle and cold and windy we left the beach early to head back to the boat. Launching the dingy I promptly fell into the water in my long pants and jacket. Nope , no pictures of that, Ha Ha. But it was a funny site. Thank goodness it was a short, if not wet ride back to the boat. No harm done although I do have some extra laundry to do tomorrow.

Checking out a replica of a local hut in Regatta Park in Georgetown

More local history at the Park

The Rain-The Rain!

Freddie in town exploring

We have settled into a routine

Feeling very much at home here. Went over to our new friends on SV (sailing vessel) WaterWitch this morning and Mike and Dee gave us instruction in using our SSB for email and weather files. People have made us feel so welcomed and accepted we are just loving it here. Cruisers are a very eclectic mix. Most have had highly successful careers in their land life. They are very intelligent and fascinating to converse with. We get up and have breakfast and do boat chores or go exploring, swimming or whatever strikes our fancy. 2 pm the volley ball and dominoes get started on the beach. We enjoy socializing and games with everyone until just before sundown then head back to the boat. This feels like vacation finally. I have read several books, enjoy a Tuesday morning ladies bible study, soak up lots of vitamin D  and have been stress free. The beauty of this place and the wonderful people, both cruisers and locals, are why so many cruisers come here and never leave. There are only a couple of minor things to finish up before Stray Cat will be ready to start home. Until then I plan to enjoy my time here to the fullest.

Going to have to clean off the growth on the bottom
before we leave. At least I can see what I am doing in
the water down here. This is from sitting here in one spot since December 9th.

Some of our Mexican Train Dominoes Regulars

Freddie releasing the parking brake for the family car. Ha Ha