Bellatrix: March 2015

29 March 2015

Georgetown, Exumas

We are still here. Bathing suits, French Press, came in. We had Nancy and John ship them to an air freight company in Fort Lauderdale then they were shipped to “Doe Boi’s”, a broker in Georgetown. The cost of all items was $200, $140 to the broker for duty, processing fee, and brokers fee. Total $400. You need to bring everything you need. Duty is also paid on the item, US taxes, and all shipping costs.

We went sailing a few days ago out in the ocean. It was a beautiful day with light winds. As usual we were dragging our cedar plug on the clothesline. We hooked and landed a Dolphin (Mahi Mahi). We have lost a few fish trying to get them in the boat so I climbed into the dinghy we were towing and brought the fish into it. It was 44” long and very pretty. I cleaned it in the dink and brought the chucks aboard to fillet out and put on ice right away, best Mahi ever. We still have some in the freezer.

Cold front came through last night, it’s cooler today and cloudy for the moment, 75 degrees. It’s been 80 during the day and 75 at night. We are waiting for the weather to pass to take a trip to some of the other out islands. Maybe Cat Cay, San Salvador, Conception, or the Jumentos. We will return to Georgetown for the “Family Regatta”. The Bahamians have a series of races of the boats shown in the last post. The boats are similar to the “Log Canoes” sailed in the Chesapeake. They have shallow keels, ballast is from loading rocks in the bottom, very large sails, and hiking boards that the men climb out on to counter act the force of wind in the sails. It is also a large party for the week they are racing.

For the time being we are passing the time. Robin goes to water aerobics in the morning, then we go to the Chat & Chill beach, met new people or go to the ocean side beach for walks

and time by ourselves. There are always new people on the beach with stories of places they’ve been, helpful hints and lies. It’s all fun. We cleaned the bottom of the boat the other day, it’s surprising how little growth accumulates down here. Of course we move the boat a lot also.

After the regatta we may start making our way back to Baltimore. There are some things I’d like to change or add to the boat. We are considering spending the summer in Baltimore and then start back down in September.

Thanks to all who are following our blog and a special thanks to Bill for his encouragement.

They really "light up" when first caught

Dinner tonight

Brandon, marine biologist, living on a boat in the Bahamas, an interesting guy

"Chat & Chill" Burgers, chicken, conch burgers, ribs, beer and rum

Note "Baltimore Hon"

Kids having fun

Georgetown version of the baths

Robin having fun

Our favorite beach

Water Aerobics

Bella enjoys water aerobics

17 March 2015

Georgetown, Exumas

Sorry I have not posted recently, we are having too much fun…

Robin’s Mom came a few weeks ago and landed in Staniel Cay. We snorkeled in “Thunderball Grotto” site of some of the scenes in the Bond movie “Thunderball. We saw the swimming pigs, wild pigs that will swim out to your dinghy for food. We sailed to Little Farmers with Robin’s Mom then down to Lee Stocking Island where “Mighty Huntress Robin” speared her first lobster. We cruised to Georgetown during the Cruisers Regatta week. 350 cruisers boat in the harbor, a good grocery, fuel, free water and fun. There are many anchorages, Sand Dollar Beach, Monument Beach, Volleyball Beach and Kidd's Cove. Most are on Stocking Island. On Volleyball beach is “Chat & Chill” bar, food, Conch salad, music and fun. It is known as “Daycare for Adults”. There are get togethers, volleyball, yoga, dominoes, talks by cruisers on electrical systems, sails, traveling north, traveling south, Cuba, the Western Caribbean, etc. There are activities for children, build a sailboat to race from junk on the beach, tug-o-war, face painting, balloons etc. There are stingrays to feed conch scraps at the conch salad stand. Beautiful beaches on both the harbor and ocean side of Stocking Island. Robin’s Mom left after 10 days, we really hope she had a great time.

After the Cruisers Regatta there was a regatta to Long Island Cay, about 35 miles south of Georgetown. Nancy and John Platts flew in and we joined about 40 other boats and went to Thompson Bay in the middle of Long Island Cay. We had a race in the harbor, we sailed well and took First Place in our division. We went to a cave restaurant for dinner, a real cave, lit with Kalik beer bottles with a wick and kerosene, bats (yes bats), open fires, and island music. We took bus tours of the island (in an old school bus) and visited old churches, salt ponds, Cape Santa Maria, Columbus monument, Clarencetown, and Dean’s Blue Hole, the world’s deepest blue hole, 668 feet deep, home of the AIDA Freediving World Championships. While we were there, the world champion was performing training dives, and Robin performed cliff jumps of 40 feet.

After a week we brought John and Nancy back to Georgetown for a sad departure. On a positive, I wont have to listen to Robin and Nancy sing ”It’s pirate Friday” arrrrrrr. They composed numerous verses of “Its Pirate Friday aboard the Bellatrix”.

We will hang in Georgetown or an island close by, for about another week, we’re waiting for mail,new bathing suits for Robin and a stainless French Press (unbreakable), then off to our next exploration.

BTW "Winning Drive" owned by Steve Biscotti was in the harbor last night, we met his wife Renee dancing at Chat & Chill, she was here with girlfriends from school.