A Tale of Two Birthdays or Why Did We Go to Georgetown

...... playing catch up with the blog.....

Georgetown: A Tale of Two Birthdays – January 16 to 25, 2011

We had already made a commitment to spend some time at Compass Cay when we made SSB contact with Texas Two Step, another cruising catamaran that we had enjoyed spending time with last winter. They were at Long Island but would be headed for Georgetown in a few days in a few days to celebrate Michelle’s 17^th birthday. “OK” said Tom. “We’ll be there.”

After another good fish feast, we said goodbye to Ajaya and Mutual Fun and the guys at the park and headed south.  With the wind from the northeast between 15 and 20 knots we had a great day of sailing down the Exuma Bank, past Little Farmers’ Cay to Rudder Cay where we spent the night next to one of the caves. Heading out Rudder Cay Cut early the next morning on an outgoing 2 knot tide with incoming wind at 10 to 15 knots we had 3 to 6 foot waves. It was a bit lumpy but not as rough as we had expected. 

When we arrived in Georgetown it was apparent that we had sprung a leak somewhere. There was salt water on the floor in front of the refrigeration unit. The hard part was figuring out where it came from. We finally determined that it was coming from the “sealed” flotation compartment at the very back of the starboard hull. From there it was seeping into the empty space behind the freezer, under the refrigeration unit and out to the floor in front of it. It took several days and some borrowed red food coloring to determine that it had come IN through a small hoe near the rudder that was meant to drain water OUT. The hole is now filled with silicone and a little fiberglass repair has been added to this summer’s job list. 

A cold front passing through Georgetown. For a quiet night’s sleep find a place to tuck in out of the wind and waves.

Alvin’s Sand Bar on Hamburger Beach was the venue for Michelle’s pot luck birthday party. Great food and interesting music were provided by the cruiser musicians who gathered for the event. Alvin provided free shots, your choice of poison, to the first 50 ladies. 

Happy 17^th, Michelle!

As we were about to head back to Compass Cay to fulfill our previously arranged commitment we found out that another of our friends was going to be celebrating a birthday. We delayed our departure in order to attend. Bill and his boat Rondo, with a combined age of 110 years (you don’t really need to know the split) had a pot luck and bonfire party at the other end of Hamburger Beach.

Tom and the Rondo crew at the Monument

About a year ago in Marsh Harbour we met a photographer from the US who needed someone to take his Pacific Seacraft, Worthless Wench, out so he could take some pictures for the manufacturer.  While in Georgetown, I met a lady in the laundromat who was wearing Worthless Wench regalia. She knows Bill and told me about the magazine articles he had published in Blue Water Sailing on Hopetown and Marsh Harbour as sailing destinations. I found a copy of the article on the web and sure enough, there we are.Here is the link to the article: www.pacificseacraft.com/images/sightings/articles/PacificSeacraft40_BWSNov10.pdf

The Georgetown scene had a much different flavor than when we were there last April. There were about 200 boats in the harbour when we arrived and more  were arriving every day in preparation for the three week Cruiser’s Regatta in March. The Variety Show Committee, the Volleyball Tournament Committee and the T-Shirt Committee were all in full swing. Oh yes, there is also a Race Committee for the three or four race events that will take place. The 8 AM Cruisers Radio Net was busy with daily updates. Way different from the Family Islands Regatta….

The Bahamian sloop Miss Ellen just hangin’ out until regatta time.

Each year the Bahamian department of Tourism holds visitor receptions in the more populated locations to welcome the cruisers and second homers (non Bahamians who own homes on the islands). We attended the event this year in Georgetown along with a large contingent of other boaters. In addition to a few “short” speeches from various officials, a fashion show   we were treated to a wonderful spread of Bahamian foods and one of my favorite cocktails, sky juice, a mixture of gin, coconut water and evaporated milk. 

The welcome party was hosted at the Peace and Plenty Resort. Can you find Tom in the crowd?

I was the lucky recipient of one of the door prizes – a $20 gift certificate from one of the grocery stores. 

How many loaves of bread do you think this bought?

For those of us who did not attend New Year’s Junkanoo  a mini performance was presented for our entertainment.

Junkanoo Sample

Junkanoo Drummers

A family of dolphins are frequent visitors to Kidd’s Cove. As we were about to relocate one morning they came back to give us a private show. The baby was especially entertaining.

Baby Dolphin Show

The proximity of the Bahamas to Haiti makes the islands an attractive destination for refugees hoping for a chance at a better life. We have heard numerous reportings of landings in different locations.

This 30 foot precarious vessel arrived in Georgetown one evening. It sank at the dock shortly after arrival. It was reported to have somewhere between 50 and 60 desperate souls, including children, on board. Some did not survive the trip. Anyone who has contributed to the Children of Hope charity can be assured that their donations are going to a worthy cause.

Relevant Reading: An Embarrassment of Mangoes by Ann Vanderhoof

I first read this book well before truly becoming committed to full time cruising as a lifestyle. Now that we have been at it for eighteen months I decided to re-read it and make a comparison to our experiences so far.

Pre-departure preparations were similarly stressful although we were at a stage in our lives where we were able to put careers behind us rather than putting them on hold. De-cluttering ourselves of many possessions was liberating once we got started. In the end it is mostly only “stuff”.  The paths traveled between Toronto and the Bahamas have been loosely paralleled. There are only so many possible variations on that part of the route south.

The biggest similarity in our experiences is the recognition that complete strangers come to play a huge role in our everyday lives, taking the place of far away family and friends, always there to join in a celebration or provide technical expertise or moral support when you need it most. There are very few people that you cannot build a relationship with regardless of their background. Well, maybe except for the cruisers in a quiet bay who urged us to re-anchor so they could go skinny dipping. Yes, they were serious about it. No, we did not move.

Skinny Dip Cave.

Like Ann, I enjoy cooking and experimenting with local products and recipes. I have successfully used her very galley friendly recipes for Dingis’s Curried Lobster and Steve’s Favorite Plantains. Thanks to Ajaya for the vote of approval on my lobster.

Also, like Ann, I have become more comfortable with offshore and overnight passages to the point where I actually look forward to them instead of dreading them. We have Cuba in our sights this year. Hopefully Polar Pacer will be able to escape Chicken Harbour (Georgetown) as Receta did several years ago. And now I need to read her sequel – The Spice Necklace. Maybe we will even be inspired to extend our future cruising grounds to include the Caribbean.

A Sail in the Park

A Sail Thru the Park – January 6 to 15, 2011

We had used a relay on the VHF (another boat) to put us on the waiting list for a mooring ball as we approached Norman’s Cay and were still out of radio range with the Exuma Park office. As members of the Bahamas National Trust, the organization that administers the park system, we would be given some priority on the wait list but knew from the radio transmissions that many boats were headed for the park and we expected to have to wait at Norman’s for a few days until space became available.

At 9 AM we listened for Darcy (we were now within radio range) and were pleased to be assigned one of the six spots in the south mooring field, our preferred location to sit out the western blow that was in the forecast. The park rangers stopped by on their morning patrol to let Tom know that his job list was waiting. 

 

Just bring me a good book and one of those umbrella drinks.

 We landed the dinghy at Boo Boo Beach and took the trail across the island to the office. Once the weather improved we would put our name back on the list to move to the north mooring field which is a much shorter commute for those doing volunteer work, especially when the Boo Boo Hill Trail is under water at high tide.

Tom and Randy gave one of the patrol boats a new paint job.

Warderick Wells Island is one of the locations where the hutia, the only mammal native to the Bahamas, has been reintroduced. Their presence in the park has sparked a controversy between scientists. In the desire to bring back a species that has no natural predators in the area, the vegetarian hutia population is now in the process of denuding the island of vegetation which consequently increases erosion. In time all that will be left is the poisonwood which they do not eat. 

The hutia have stripped the bark from this branch.

They are fond of the thatch palms and are good tree climbers.

 Hutia Highway. One of the more rugged walking trails.

On the other hand, banana quits are not threatening the environment, 

… nor are the hermit crabs.

The main event while we were at the park was Tom’s exciting fishing trip, but I will let him tell that story....

Tom’s Fish Tale

Hi there, Tom here.

Well you haven’t heard from me on the blog before because I haven’t had much to say. Yeah, I can hear you guys in the background saying “What!!”  Well it’s true, because Chris has been doing such a great job and also because she wouldn’t let me. Anyway, she has decided that I should write my own story of the Great Eleuthera Fishing Trip.

Here it is, we were standing around drinking rum and other drinks one Saturday evening with the other cruisers and the rangers at Warderick Wells when Chris and Henry (the rangers in question) asked me if I wanted to go fishing on Sunday. O f course I replied that I would love to as I hoped to learn something from them because I suck as a fisherman. I then asked them innocently “where are we going?” to which they replied “Eleuthera”. “Holy ****” said I. “Eleuthera”, I said again like some brain damaged cruiser. “Yes “, they said. “OK” I said. (This is starting to turn into an episode of 24.)

Now you have to understand that Eleuthera is about 35 Nautical miles from the park across the sound. It takes about 7 to 8 hours under good conditions for us to sail there. Fortunately they don’t sail, they have a 25 foot boat with two 150 horse engines on it. The boat belongs to Chris and can go at a very comfortable 35 plus knots, ergo 55 minutes to Eleuthera. Now comfort is a relative thing, on the way there we spent a significant amount of time semi-airborne.  Did I mention what we had been dong the evening before? Anyway we got to Eleuthera and started to fish, where upon I discovered that they use the same hooks and rig that I use, they just use it a LOT faster. We got our first hit in about 15 minutes. It was a mahi mahi. Then in quick sequence we caught a wahoo, a barracuda, a king mackerel and 2 yellow fin tunas.  This took us about 75 minutes. The interesting thing is that I was the one steering when all the fish were hooked, so now they call me Fish Killer.

At this point we decided that we had contributed to the decline of the fish stocks enough and headed to Compass Cay Marina. On the way there we saw a pod of Pilot whales and 2 schools of tuna. The seas had settled down so it was like glass.

Compass Cay is just south of the park and is an unbelievable place. We cleaned the fish here and fed the sharks with the scraps. There are about 8 resident nurse sharks that you can swim with and the sure gather when the fish are being cleaned.

 Fish cleaning station at Compass Cay

It took all three of us to hold the wahoo up.

Tuna sushi for dinner tonight!

 I also found out part of why they invited me, it was so I would fall in love with the place and volunteer  here, which I did and where we are right now as I type this up. It is quite unique in the islands and having a boat here is like tying up in an aquarium, there are fish everywhere. Unfortunately we have to leave in 2 days, but that’s another story. Now if they will just give me back my keys to the boat!

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At the end of it all we were invited to share a fish feast at the rangers’ residence with all the typical Bahamian side dishes, peas ‘n rice, mac ‘n cheese, Cuban rum and Bahamian beer.  The fresh tuna sushi was amazing and everything was absolutely delicious. 

Sunrise over the park office.