Apr 01
The day started as usual with me getting up to listen to Chris Parker on the SSB at 06:30 giving the weather for the day. He always starts his broadcast with a shout for emergency or priority traffic from any vessels. A voice came back and said he had a priority announcement for the Georgetown area. He said a herd of nine white whales had been spotted in Elizabeth Harbor, and all children, dogs, and old people should be kept aboard, and all dinghy traffic should be halted for the day. Chris Parker did not copy the details, and asked him to repeat the announcement, which he did. Then an annoyed female voice asked the speaker to identify himself. At this point, several other listeners chimed in that it was April Fool’s day. Chris got a good laugh out of it as he, along with many of us, had not gotten it right away.
We plan to leave today and head back to Georgetown. A little after 08:00, I went to the office to check out. As I came around the corner, I saw that the long awaited fuel tanker was anchored just offshore. It is too deep to actually get into the marina, so it anchors offshore and they float the three-inch hose in to the marina. Randy, the captain of Coyaba took their small fishing boat out to pull the hose in along with two guys from the tanker.
I went ahead and went in the office to check out. Bobby’s wife was on the phone with him (he has been in the States this week). I heard her mention that the fuel boat was here, and that Lady Emerald was fifteen minutes out. When she got off the phone I asked if Lady Emerald was the weekly mailboat. She said no, it was an island freighter that would actually come through the marina and back in the basin past there to unload building materials for the several house being built back there. But, she didn’t know if Lady Emerald could get in with the fuel hose in the water. I thought maybe we’d be staying awhile.
Back outside, Randy was just finally getting the 500 feet of hose to the connection on the dock. The hose was across the entrance to the marina channel, but the tanker guys said I could slowly push it aside and get out. They were more worried about what Lady Emerald was going to do. They thought she was going to anchor and wait, but she was obviously coming. Randy quickly took the little boat out, tied it to the floating hose and pulled it aside so Lady Emerald could get past it. It was quite a sight watching this large ship come in the marina, just feet from the bows of the parked sport fish boats, then turn the ninety degree corner and go past MoonSail. Once past the marina, they pivoted around in their length and backed up to the shore where they lowered the large ramp on the stern to unload.
With the excitement over, we departed. I had thought it might be a challenge to get off the dock, since the wind was holding us against it, but I just gave a good shove to manually push us off as far as I could, then backed up. The floating fuel hose had stayed way over where Randy had pulled it, so getting out of the marina was no problem.
Today we are headed back to Calabash Bay on the northwestern corner of Long Island. We spent a night here on our way over. The trip was about thirty-eight miles, pretty much in a straight line except coming around the northern tip of Long Island. The wind was aft of the beam on the starboard side, blowing about twelve to fifteen knots, and the seas were a five-foot swell from the same direction. It would have been a great sail, except my batteries are not holding enough voltage to run all the instruments and autopilot without the motor running. So, we motorsailed, and made great time. We made 7.5 to 8.2 knots most of the way. That’s about as fast as this boat can go.
We dropped the hook in Calabash Bay at 13:30. We have explored here before, so we didn’t even lower the dinghy. We just read, had dinner, and went to bed a little after 20:00. Tonight we loose an hour to daylight savings time, so we might as well go to bed early.
GPS N 23-39.4003 W 75-20.350 Miles made good this leg 38. Total miles covered 4100.
Apr 2
There is no weather net on Sunday, but I had agreed to talk to Clyde on the SSB again at 07:00. I was awake by then anyway, and tuned in. At 07:00 I hailed him but got no response. It occurred to me that perhaps he forgot about the time change, so I left the radio on the frequency we had agreed on. I went about preparing to leave, Barb got up and made coffee, and sure enough, right at 08:00, Clyde hailed me on the radio. We got a good laugh about his mistake. They have rented a land place there while Gypsy is on the hard, so we won’t talk to them on the radio again.
The wind GRIB file that I get in a daily e-mail at 07:15 also did not come. Sure enough, at 08:15 there it was. That’s an automated computer thing, but I guess the computer that sends it had not been reset.
We got underway by 08:35 for the trip to Georgetown. There had been several other boats anchored around us, and all but one of them are headed the way we just came. I heard them talking to one another, and they mentioned several more boats were leaving Georgetown today headed for Conception Island. These boats are all going south to the Caribbean.
We motorsailed again today, in slightly lighter conditions than yesterday. The trip is about thirty miles in a straight line, almost due west. About an hour out, we saw a couple boats coming from Georgetown. We heard one of them hail Nereia on the radio. We did not hear a response from Nereia. We hailed the calling boat and asked if Nereia was part of the group heading out today. They confirmed that they were. Dan & Jaime on Nereia are our old dock neighbors from Texas whom we last saw up the Exuma Land & Sea Park. They got to Georgetown the day we left for Long Island almost three weeks ago, and now they are leaving the day we returned. A little later we did make radio contact with them and said our goodbyes. They plan to go all the way to Venezuela before hurricane season. Maybe we’ll catch up with them next year.
The rest of the trip was uneventful. It got a little rolly when we turned into the northern end of Elizabeth harbor, where the swell hit us on the bean until we got inside the island a little. There are less than half as many boats here now as when we left three weeks ago, so there is more room to anchor. We anchored near the monument this time, an area that was very full before. We are right near several boats we know, that made the trip over to Long Island with us but came back here from there without the hops to Conception and Rum that we did.
We spent the afternoon relaxing and reading, and turned in early.
GPS N 23-31.6.90 W 75-46.107 Miles made good this leg 30. Total miles covered 4130.
Apr 3
I awoke at dawn the is morning, listened to the weather on the SSB, and then went back to bed for another hour. Back up at 08:30, I checked in with the Cruisehiemers Net, since we have moved, and Barb made us a real breakfast of scrambled eggs with tomato and green peppers, and sausage patties. After breakfast we grabbed our water jugs and headed to town in the dinghy. We are anchored off Monument Beach now, instead of Volleyball Beach where we were a few weeks ago. The trip is about the same length to Georgetown proper. It is blowing about fifteen knots from the east this morning, so once we were away from the protection of Stocking Island, the harbor was a bit choppy. We were able to keep the dinghy up on a plane though, so we didn't get too wet. One of the reasons we had to return to Georgetown was for cash. The other was for Rum and water. Despite it's name, Rum Cay did not have any bargains on rum, and we are out! And, the water costs $.50/gal, so we only filled one of our tanks which will last us about five days.
As soon as we got inside Lake Victoria, where the dinghy dock is, it was apparent that many boats have left. Last month, on Monday morning, the dinghy dock would be full to capacity and dinghies would be double parked. Today, at 09:30, the dock isn't half full. We also noticed a new small dinghy dock to the right as you enter Lake Victoria, behind the Shell station. This will make it easier to fill gas and diesel jugs, and it's much closer to the liquor store.
Our first chore today is to hit the Internet place so we can publish the website through March. We walked the block or so to J&K Enterprises, where we set the laptop up on the grocery store counter and connected to Julie's DSL connection. In about twenty minutes we had published, sent our big e-mail, and caught up on news and our financial status.
Then it was off to the ATM for more cash. The ATM was being refilled when I got there, so we went to the grocery store. We picked up what we needed at the grocery, and decided that with the groceries, and water jugs, there wasn't room for booze. So, we went back to the dinghy dock, refilled the water jugs from the FREE water hose, and headed back to the boat with what we had. The ride back was fairly wet, since we couldn't get up on a plane with the weight of the water. We unloaded the goods at the boat, and then I went back to town for the booze. This time I docked at the new dinghy dock, right behind the liquor store. I hit the ATM, which was now operational, then the liquor store for a case of rum and a case of beer. Yes, a CASE of rum. At $6.00 a bottle, I have to stock up.
A little after 13:00, we had noticed our friends Pat & Dori from Sol y Mar, go to shore near the Peace & Plenty Beach Bar. We weren't hungry, but the beer I just bought isn't cold yet, so we headed over there to meet them. We caught up on what we have missed since we left them in Thompson Bay Long Island a couple weeks ago, and found out we missed a whopping party here Saturday night. Terrie & Miguel from Bodett, who did the karaoke parties in Thompson Bay, did another one at Peace & Plenty's Beach. Somebody's birthday was the original excuse for a party, but it turned into quite the event apparently, which explains why everybody was so quiet yesterday when we got here. They were still recovering.
We hiked from Peace & Plenty, along their nature trail and over to the beach on the ocean side of Stocking Island. There we walked the beach a little with Pat & Dori, and Robbie from Moonshadow, who we just met today. In the evening, we went to the new St. Francis marina, in the hurricane hole behind Chat n Chill. St. Francis is not much of a marina - it has one dock which is occupied on one side by their huge catamaran, and the other side is available for dinghies. What the St. Francis does have is a restaurant/bar, laundry facility, and free wireless Internet. This was only the second night they have been open, so the food service was still going through some growing pains, but the beer was cold, and we met some other cruisers. One couple, Dave & Sandy from Alexis, used to be dock neighbors of our friends Wayne & Nancy on Dances With Dragons. They had not heard from Wayne & Nancy lately, and I filled them in on the fact that they had just finally left Florida bound for Trinidad. We also met John & Kathy from Miss Alice. They just got to Georgetown a few days ago. They are friends of several of the other boats we have met this year, and it was nice to add them to our long list of wonderful people we have met.
GPS N 23-31.6.90 W 75-46.107 Miles made good this leg 0. Total miles covered 4130.
Apr 4
We need to go to town again today to receive a large e-mail. It is too big to get over the sat phone, and I need to get it and reply to it today. Sol y Mar had loaded up Robbie from Moonshadow and John & Kathy from Miss Alice, along with all their laundry, and gone to the town side in the big boat. They were going to do the laundry, then meet for lunch. We told them we would dinghy over later.
Once in town, we went to the Internet place, got our mail and replied to it, then went to the laundromat to find the rest of the gang. They were still there, so we waited with them and them went to Frieda's for lunch. Frieda's is a little house where Miss Frieda cooks. Miss Frieda is in her 80's and is a one-woman show. Outside, there is a covered area with a couple of tables where she brings your orders. Since we arrived for lunch after 13:00, we had to check and see what she had left. She had one fried grouper, one order of fried chicken, some baked chicken, and several orders of pork chops. We placed our orders and went across the street to the liquor store to buy beer. The food came and was excellent. I had the fish, and Barb had chicken. It was another great local experience.
Back on the boat, we spent the rest of the afternoon reading. We heard an announcement on the VHF that there was going to be a gathering on the beach near us this evening. We went ashore about 18:00. Although the harbor now has only about 100 boats, there were at least forty or fifty people at the gathering. A bonfire was built and some folks cooked hot dogs on sticks, while some others played guitars and sang. We didn't stay too late, and once back on the boat, I grilled a couple steaks for dinner.
GPS N 23-31.6.90 W 75-46.107 Miles made good this leg 0. Total miles covered 4130.
Apr 5
While we were laying around reading this morning, Pat from Sol y Mar called to invite us to join them and several others for lunch over at the fish shacks. The fish shacks are a group of small restaurants across the harbor by the old Navy seaplane base. About noon, we dinghied across and joined Pat & Dori, Terrie & Miguel and there guest Scott, and Robbie. Only a few of the places were open, but after checking the options at a couple, we selected one and ordered. Barb and I both had the fried snapper, along with rice & beans, potato salad and slaw. After we ate, we all sat around on the patio and visited for a while. It was after 14:00 when we went back to the boat and spent the rest of the afternoon reading.
GPS N 23-31.6.90 W 75-46.107 Miles made good this leg 0. Total miles covered 4130.
Apr 6
Today we are leaving Georgetown. Well, sort of. I've been keeping a secret for the past couple months. We are flying out of Georgetown Sunday to my niece's wedding in St. Maarten. However, her parents (my brother and sister-in-law) don't know we are coming. So, there has been no mention of the trip here in the logs. This trip has been the reason we have stayed around Georgetown so long, since we made the flight plans from here. We can talk about it now, because by the time I publish this, my brother will already be in St. Maarten, with no Internet access.
To be away from the boat for a week, we need to be in a marina so we can be plugged in. We had planned to go to the marina in Georgetown where we spent a week last month. However, a few days ago we became aware of a better option. The Georgetown marina, officially known as Exuma Docking Services, just sucks. We had been warned about that before we ever got down here, and it is true. The docks are old and uneven, and in some places coming apart. The water there is normally very rough, because there is no breakwater or jetty to stop the waves, which in the prevailing east winds, come all the way across the harbor. So, you have to be very careful how you tie the boat so it doesn't bang the docks. The marina has no services to offer. Their bathrooms and showers are so bad that even I wouldn't use them. The laundry facility is grubby and half the machines don't work. The other half are monopolized by local women who take in laundry as a business. The dockmaster and the office girl have personalities of rocks. If they speak at all to you, it is the bare minimum required. When you hail the marina on the radio, you may have to call ten times to get an answer at all. And then they just say to come on in and somebody will be there to get your lines. Well, he never is. You better be prepared to dock yourself.
Anyway, a couple days ago, we were made aware of a new marina about ten miles north of Georgetown, called The Marina at Emerald Bay. Emerald Bay is a large resort development that includes a Four Seasons resort, another resort, a shopping center, a residential area and the marina. The airport is midway between Emerald Bay and Georgetown, so that's not an issue, and we will be going north once we get back anyway, so Emerald Bay is a ten mile head start. We called them and got the details. The per foot price is higher than Georgetown, but they meter electricity instead of charging an outrageous daily flat rate, and they have complimentary cable TV, wireless Internet, ice, laundry, free DVD library and continental breakfast. They also have real dockhands, are extremely friendly, and treat you like a valued customer. The brand new floating docks are nice too. I haven't had the convenience of floating docks since we left the States. They are catering to the mega-yacht crowd, but we can act rich for a few days.
So about 11:00, we weighed anchor and left Georgetown proper. The wind and seas are calm today, so we motored the ten miles to Emerald Bay. We hailed them and asked if we could come to the fuel dock first. There was a young man there to take our lines, get the fuel hose for us and provide us with a spill pad to catch any dribbles. We filled the tank and jerry cans, and got our slip assignment from the dockhand. We moved around to the slip and docked. There was no dockhand there to help us, but there is no wind or current, so it was no big deal to do ourselves. We had the boat secure as a dockhand came hustling down the dock carrying something. He apologized for not being there to help us. He said the fuel dock guy didn't tell him we had left the fuel dock already. What he was carrying was a four-foot by six-foot welcome mat that he placed on the finger pier by our boarding gate. Never had that done before. He took our information, had me sign the check-in form, explained all the amenities to us, and welcomed us to Emerald Bay. Wow.
We got plugged in and turned the a/c on. It'll be nice to be cool and dry for a few days. We hooked up the cable TV and started catching up on world news. I also got the wireless connection working with no trouble at all. I don't even have to put the antenna outside like I have had to do at other places. About 18:00, we went to the marina restaurant for dinner. It was pricey, but a nice treat. And, the food was excellent. Today is my brother's 60th birthday, so we had a celebration dinner for him.
We ran into Rick & Katherine, the crew from Serenity whom we had met up in Little Farmer's Cay back in February. We had also seen them down in Georgetown a few weeks ago. Serenity is a medium sized motor yacht based here.
Back at the boat, we stayed up until 23:00, watching TV and surfing the net. It's funny how our schedules are dictated by the availability of TV or electricity. When we are at anchor, we tend to go to bed shortly after dark, since we have no TV and don't want to use much electricity. As soon as that's not an issue, we go right back to "normal people's" schedule.
GPS N 23-37.809 W 75-55.033 Miles made good this leg 10. Total miles covered 4140.
Apr 7
This morning, after coffee, we went and took real showers. You non-boaters may not understand the significance of this, but we haven't had real, hot, free, unlimited length showers since mid January when we left Marsh Harbor. The only place we had showers off the boat was at the marina at Highborne Cay, but those cost $4 each and only allowed four minutes of water. Other than that we have been showering on the boat where you have to use a bare minimum of water. So we enjoyed just standing under the unlimited hot water. They also have soap, shampoo and conditioner in the showers, as well as shaving cream, lotion, and mouthwash at the sinks. And blow-dryers on the wall. I could get used to this place.
Barb spent the rest of the morning doing four loads of FREE laundry. There is only one washer and one dryer, so you can't overlap the work like in a laundromat, but the price is right.
After a light lunch onboard, we went for a walk. The marina has a shuttle to take you to the stores or the Four Seasons resort, but I told the driver we needed some exercise. The walk was a little further than we realized, but we finally came to the stores. There is a brand new grocery store, liquor store, and bank in a small strip center. The grocery store was well stocked and clean and bright. After browsing around at what they had, we each picked up an ice cream bar. From here we walked a little further down the road to the entrance to the Four Seasons. We walked up the driveway to the entrance, and walked in like we were guests. Through the main lobby, we went out the back doors towards one of the pools. We strolled around the grounds checking out the pools, the golf course, the beach, and one of the restaurants. On the way back we stopped and sat in some nice chairs in the lobby to enjoy the air conditioning and rest a bit before heading back to the marina. For the walk back, we walked along the golf cart path instead of the street.
There are a couple of new mega-yachts in the marina today. Also, a ninety-six foot sailboat came in. I looked it up on the Internet and found that it only sleeps six. I suppose that is in addition to the crew.
We stopped at the office on our way back and picked up two DVD's to watch tonight. That's another amenity - free DVD borrowing. Barb made us a nice dinner. For the second night in a row, we had lobster. Can you get tired of lobster? We stayed up until midnight and watched March of The Penguins and Million Dollar Baby.
GPS N 23-37.809 W 75-55.033 Miles made good this leg 0. Total miles covered 4140.
Apr 8
We are docked next to a boat named Antares, which has a hailing port of Houston. We met the couple this morning, and they are indeed from League City, near where we lived. He is a dentist, and she is a travel agent, and they commute back and forth to the boat every weekend for three days. I don't know if they have their own plane or fly commercially, but I would think that would get old.
We just hung out today. I finished the book I was reading, and we started getting ready for our trip tomorrow. We leave at 06:30 for the airport. The trip will take us from here to Miami and then to St. Maarten. We won't be back to the boat until the 15th, so there won't be any update until then.
GPS N 23-37.809 W 75-55.033 Miles made good this leg 0. Total miles covered 4140.