Well....here we are in beautiful Georgetown, Exumas and it's taken this long to gain access to internet such that we can update our blog. Sorry for the delay but that's how it is here in Paradise :)
Scott and I watched the Superbowl in Black Point settlement, along with about 48 other cruisers from all over. We all packed into Lorraine's cafe (see pix) and had a sample of her wonderful Bahamian cooking and music provided by a local guitarist and 2 lovely singers. Lorraine served us ribs, chicken, potato salad, peas and rice (a Bahamian staple), macaroni and cheese (another staple of their diet) and then yummy cheesecake for dessert. Believe it or not, our weather that evening was HOT....I couldn't even stand to put on my Steelers jersey because it was way too warm.....imagine that! So, even though the Steelers didn't win the game, we had a wonderful evening with friendly cruisers and Lorraine's wonderful hospitality.
The Thursday before Superbowl, we'd sailed down from Black Point to Farmer's Cay for their 5F's festival....First Friday in February Festival at Farmer's Cay. Basically, there's local food and Class C races with the Bahamian sloops competing. These are medium-sized racing sloops with HUGE mainsails and long boards called "pries" which allow crewmembers to crawl out on the boards and act as ballast. The pix here are of one of the sloops being loaded back onto the mailboat at the end of the first day. We sailed back up to Black Point after the festival on Friday, since we had the reservations at Lorraine's for her Superbowl party.
After we left Black Point yet again on the 8th, we motored down to a remote anchorage where I was dying for a swim in the wonderful blue waters. But, alas, a very large barracuda decided to take up residence under our boat and our dinghy, back and forth, all the live long day. No swimming for me! On the 9th, we slogged through a rolly sea down to Emerald Bay, near Georgetown. It was one of the rougher days we've had and we were both glad to get to the marina at Emerald Bay and tie up in a slip next to Georgia E, our friends from Canada. Emerald Bay is a wonderful, modern resort now owned by Sandals and we thoroughly enjoyed their *free* showers, *free* laundry facilities and wonderful clubhouse. This was the first time since being in the Bahamas that we've felt we were in a resort-type location. Pure Heaven!!
Friday morning, we'd finished doing our laundry and were ready to head on down to Georgetown so we motored down behind our friends, Steve and June on Windrose. They'd been having engine problems so they were happy to have a buddy boat along. It was such a gorgeous, calm day that I was able to sit up on the bow of the boat for much of the trip and even saw a WHALE not far away from us! It was coming up and broaching repeatedly. We moved a distance away from it in case it was telling us we were too close.....what a thrill to finally see a whale!
About 1:30, we reached Georgetown after an uneventful trip and we anchored near our friends, Tony and Tess on Endurance. The anchorage here is HUGE, wide and gorgeous blue. There are over 200 boats already here all along Stocking Island and we're told there will be lots more before the regatta in a month. We have been to town a couple of times to explore, reprovision somewhat and get our propane tank filled. Yesterday, we took a bridge lesson on the beach from Stuart on Union Jack. He's a very pleasant, patient Englishman and we enjoyed learning the basics on bidding, etc. for the game. Our friends Ken and Sara from Skedaddle were our partners and it was a great afternoon.
All in all, we're enjoying the anchorage here and all the activities offered on the beach near the Chat n Chill bar/restaurant and at St. Francis resort. We'll be here at least until late February since we have to go back to Customs and get our last 3 months' permission for cruising. Until that time, we'll keep meeting nice cruisers here and enjoy limin' on the beach.
Take good care, stay warm and we'll update this with even more pix when we can.
Until then.....cheerio!~
Here is another view of the anchorage from atop the hill. There are hundreds of other boats further up the coast from here.
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