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.

Robin's Mom arrives in Staniel Cay Winter coat in bag

1600's church built by the Spaniards

Swimming pigs

Blue Hole Long Island Cay 

Free Dive World record holder 

Local non-champion cliff jumper Robin

The day Robin's Mom left we all were sad to see her go

A Catholic Church in Clarence Town Long Island Cay

Clarence Town

Boats like this are raced by locals, they have hiking boards similar to our log canoes

A plaque dedicated to the indians found on this island and totally exterminated by the Spaniards

These photos are out of order. Here we were enjoying a pizza at Blackpoint

A pretty place

Another pretty place

Robin puts meat on the table, our first caught lobster

Brandon and Marsha feeding rays

Another handsome couple enjoying the Bahamas

Chat & Chill Stocking Island, Georgetown, daycare for adults

Our great friends John and Nancy enjoying the Bahamas

Another beautiful beach

One of six anchorages in Georgetown harbor

Dinner in a cave complete with bats

Dinner music by a Bahamian band, what they lack in talent they make up for with volume

Robin and Marsha
(iphone photos)

15 February 2015

Little Farmer’s Cay, Exumas

Happy belated Valentine’s Day to everyone.

We spent two more days in Staniel Cay after moving the boat between the Major’s cays waiting for a front to pass. Thursday we decided to move south. We watched the cut to the ocean side and noticed large breaking waves. We watched a catamaran go out that rocked and rolled a lot so we waited for the tide to slacken before venturing out ourselves. The breaking waves seemed to be coming in sets of three. So we timed it just right and after three came through we committed… well there were three more right behind (kind of like a sneeze). These waves were huge and as we motored out they came crashing over the boat, not just over the bow but over the boat. The boat literally speared through the waves and the waves crashed over the boat. Once outside the cut the ocean had large gentle swells and we sailed to Blackpoint Sound. 

After anchoring we explored islands to the north. Gaulin Cay South is a protected island with many, many iguanas who were very curious but kept their distance. We walked around the island to a huge limestone white rock and small inlet from the ocean with emerald green water and white surf breaking on the rocks, one of the most beautiful sights we’ve seen (sorry no pictures now, but we will return). We were invited to “Sundowners” on Greg and Paula’s boat “Kanga”. They are from Havre de Grace and keep their boat in Middle River.

Two days in Blackpoint Sound then we sailed south to Little Farmer’s Cay. A perfect sailing day on the banks with a 15 knot breeze on our starboard quarter. This cay is 1 1/4 miles long and 7/8’s mile wide. It has a small airstrip and has about 80 residents.

We went to a Valentines Day dinner last night with about twenty - twenty five other cruisers and about 10 or 15 locals at Ocean Cabin’s Restaurant. Dinner was Conch Chowder spiced with Old Bay, Grilled Lobster, Fried grouper, veggies and baked potato followed by Guava Duff for dessert. The proprietor’s were were a gracious couple and very entertaining, the husband was hilarious and acted as MC. After dinner everyone sang the local anthem and the husbands were required to answer questions about their wives on paper. The papers were collected and scored to determine accuracy with the wives. Then each husband was asked to come up to the microphone to express Valentine’s wishes to their wives. The husband with the most correct answers was rewarded with a small stuffed bear, Bella thinks it should be hers. 

We may have painted a wrong picture of the out islands of the Bahamas. There are large cities, Nassau and Freeport but we love the out islands, the real Bahamas. The beaches, waters, and sights are as described, beautiful and breathtaking. The cruisers scene is a lot of fun, we meet new people every stop. The Bahamian people are pleasant and have a desire to be helpful in any way they can. They do realize the importance of cruisers and tourists. There is a degree of poverty here. The people don’t lack for food and the necessities. They in general are not ambitious. There are usually a few men standing around drinking and shooting the breeze. Many places the litter is terrible, but other than burning there isn’t anyplace for it. They throw trash anywhere. The housing is the barest necessary to keep the rain out. There are many abandoned houses, many partially built. Some of the houses partially built are waiting for money to continue or shipments of materials. Some settlements have paved roads, some don’t. Some are brightly painted and very clean others are not. We have not felt unsafe anywhere we’ve been, any theft by a local would bring the wrath of the town. Until recently there was no tax on the citizens making less than $100,000 per year. The government income was mostly from tourism and duties. Anything brought into the country was once subject to a 80% duty, recently reduced to 45%. If they bought a $10,000 used car from the states it cost them over $20000 or more because the duty is also applied to the shipping. They instituted a VAT (value added tax) on January 1st of 7.5%, the Bahamian merchants hate it. Each level of sales from wholesale to retail is taxed then there are rebates in a complex manner. Groceries are not as hard to find as we were told. Many of the islands have a “mailboat” or supply boat that comes in once a week. If you find out what day that is you can get fresh vegetables, eggs and milk. It’s hard to find “conveniences”, boat parts, jewelry, cameras, flashlights etc. Toilet paper and potato chips are very expensive. Bring what you need or pay heavy shipping and duties. Rum is cheap, local beer is about $40 per case, sometimes you can find our vodka and liquor fairly cheap and sometimes very expensive. I’ll share some of the history of the islands another time. All that aside we are loving it. Temps currently 75 during the day, 68 at night.