Mar 1
Today I played taxi driver. As I mentioned the other day, Clyde from Gypsy has been dealing with a rental dinghy with a soft floor while his is being repaired. Today, one of his guests is leaving. Instead of Clyde taking him across the bay to Georgetown and having him end up soaking wet, I offered to take him across. I have to go anyway to get more water and publish the website. So, about 11:00 I ran over to Gypsy and picked up Jeff. We zipped across the bay in five minutes instead of thirty, and Jeff was dry when we arrived.
Jeff insisted on a reward, so we went to the liquor store across the street from Exuma Market, where he bought a bottle of rum for me and two to return to Gypsy. (He had to buy three bottles to be over $25 so he could use a credit card.) We stowed the rum back in the dinghy, and then Jeff went to catch a cab at the market while I headed down the street to upload the website. I went back to J&K Enterprises, the little grocery shack/wireless Internet place, and uploaded in about fifteen minutes. My connection and a cold drink cost $2.60. Can't beat that.
I headed back to the dinghy dock and called Barb on the radio to see if she needed anything from the store before I headed back. She didn't, but Clyde caught me on the radio and asked me to bring a six-pack of Pepsi and a bag of ice. I got them and filled my water jugs and headed back across the bay. I dropped the ice, soda, and rum at Gypsy and went back to MoonSail.
Later in the evening was the first AA meeting since we have been here. AA meetings here are a little different than elsewhere. AA stands for Alcohol Appreciation and the meetings are an excuse to get together on the beach with drinks and appetizers. Barb whipped up a dip and crackers, and we headed to Monument Beach. We met several folks we knew, and several new ones. We exchanged a few boat cards and consumed too many rum drinks. When we left, we left with Clyde and Brian and followed them back to Gypsy for a quick pit-stop. Gypsy was anchored not far off Monument Beach, while we are southeast past Volleyball Beach. Once the pit-stop was complete we headed back to MoonSail. We had done everything right - we had turned on the anchor light on MoonSail before leaving, we had a light on the dinghy so nobody would run us over, and we had a bright flashlight to see where we were going. Even with all this, finding your boat in an anchorage with 400+ boats in it can be a light challenge. And there was that rum... But, we were successful without incident.
GPS N 23-30.914 W 75-45.232 Miles made good this leg 0. Total miles covered 3971.
Mar 2
Today is the big day to register for the various events that make up Regatta Week. Registration is from 12:00 to 14:00. We went ashore a little after noon, and looked around. We got to vote for next year's t-shirt design, and they had numerous door prize drawings, although we didn't win any. We did sign up for one event. The Coconut Harvest is an event where they dump hundreds of coconuts in the water in the very protected bay behind Chat N Chill, and you have to pick them up in your dinghy. The challenge is that there will be four people in the dinghy, with no motor or oars. You propel yourselves by having one dive fin per person on your hand. You can have a bucket for bailing, or for trying to swamp another dinghy. Sounds like fun. We signed up to do it with Clyde and his wife, but then learned she won't be back from the States in time, so we will have to find a fourth crew member.
While on the beach for registration, we partook of Pedro's conch shack. Pedro makes fresh conch salad and conch fritters. We got an order of fritters and a bowl of salad. He makes both while you wait and watch. The conch you are eating was alive about ten minutes before you eat it. Both the fritters and the salad were very good. We then made it an early evening back to the boat.
GPS N 23-30.914 W 75-45.232 Miles made good this leg 0. Total miles covered 3971.
Mar 3
Today is opening night of Regatta Week. There has been a big build-up to this all week. We spent the morning on the boat, not doing much except I filled our water jugs again. Instead of going all the way across the bay this time though, I went to Gypsy. Clyde has a water maker that can make a hundred gallons a day which is much more than they use. He has a fresh water hose on the back of the boat, so he offered to let me fill our jugs there instead of making the big trip. I took him up of this offer since it's much shorter.
Opening night starts at 16:00, so we went over about 14:00 with our folding chairs and got a good place to sit. The theme for opening night is Buffett Regatta, so they have built and decorated a stage in Margaritaville fashion, and they are having a decorated hat contest, a decorated flip-flop contest, and a Jimmy Buffett look-alike (or act-alike) contest. Although we are confirmed Parrotheads, we did not enter these. We had a few beers at Chat N Chill while waiting for the big event to start.
The first contest was a pet parade. There were about twenty entries, and all but three were dogs as you might expect. The dogs and owners were in various degrees of costume. The three non-canine entries, were a colony of six hermit crabs, a red parrot, and a very pissed off cat. We did not even consider entering Bimmy in this competition since dragging him through the sand on a leash would not have shown off his better qualities. Although it might have been fun.
The pet parade was followed by the Buffett act-alike contest, which was won by an old guy who was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and acting like he was Jimmy in his eighties, still on the road pushing a book which had a doctored cover to read "A Pirate Looks At Eighty". There were several other very cute entries including a woman who was a Parrothead in the most literal sense - she had a gray parrot riding on her hat, and it was real.
After the Buffett competition, it was just about sunset. Blowing a conch horn at sunset is a very big deal here in the islands, so they had a gathering of about thirty conch blowers to serenade the sunset. They claimed to be playing Vivaldi's Ode To A Sunset, but they basically just blew while their leader pretended to conduct them. The crazy hat contest came next , followed by announcing the winners of the flip-flop contest which was voted on by each boat. Our friend Donna from Cariba won the flip-flop contest, while a girl we have recently met, Robin from Robin-Lee, won the hat contest. Wow, we are in the company of celebrities.
After the contests, the party carried on until 21:00 with music and dancing in the sand. We head back to the boat about 20:00 and listened from there.
GPS N 23-30.914 W 75-45.232 Miles made good this leg 0. Total miles covered 3971.
Mar 4
Today is the first of two boat races that make up the Regatta. Today's is the Around The Island race. The other will be Monday in the harbor. The race starts at 10:00, so a little after 09:00 we headed down to Monument Beach. The starting line is between Monument and Volleyball beaches, but we are going to climb to the monument to watch. We had intended to climb up to the monument anyway, so this will accomplish two goals at once.
We tied the dinghy to the dock on Monument Beach and started hiking with another couple. We learned later that we took a much longer and harder trail up than we needed to. But we reached the top of the monument and had a great view of the start of the race. There are thirty-four boats in the race, divided into four classes which will start with five minute intervals between each class. From the monument, we can see the whole course. We also can hear the race commentary from the committee boat and several spotters on the VHF. The conditions today are pretty light. The wind is blowing less than ten knots from the north, which means the racers will have a downwind run as they go out the southern entrance to Elizabeth Harbor. They will turn northeast once outside that cut and run parallel to the coat of Stocking Island to the Conch Cay Cut, where we entered Elizabeth Harbor a little over a week ago. They will then be downwind again to the finish line. The monument is in the northern half of Stocking Island, so by the time the lead boats had passed us on their northbound run, we had been up at the monument for two and a half hours, and were getting hungry and thirsty. There were four boats contending for the lead, who had separated themselves from everybody else. Our old friend Toby from Cariba is crewing on the lead boat.
Once the leaders were past us northbound, we headed back down the hill to the Peace & Plenty Beach Club. We have not been here before, although we have heard that Dora cooks up some good burgers. This is a branch of the Peace & Plenty Hotel in town, and they shuttle guests over to enjoy the beach here. Dora runs the place by herself, so you give her your food order, then help yourself to beer or soda from the cooler and just tell her what you got. We had several beers and good cheeseburgers. This place is a little further from us than Chat N Chill, but infinitely better.
While we were sitting at one of the picnic tables eating, we met the old golden Lab that belonged to the people next to us. She was sitting calmly until she noticed a hermit crab making it's way through the sand about ten feet in front of her. I got a picture of her focused on this little thing she didn't recognize crawling along. Eventually, she couldn't stand it anymore and got up to sniff at it, but let it go on it's way.
On our way back to MoonSail after eating, we went by Gypsy, but they were apparently gone to town. Clyde has been promised his dinghy will be repaired today, so that is probably where they are. We went back to MoonSail and continued to listen to the race commentary on the VHF. As the race was winding down, I hailed Gypsy on the radio and learned that indeed they were in town in the hopes of reclaiming the dinghy. Clyde said he was not bringing the crap rental dinghy back across the bay regardless. I told him to call me if he needed a ride. Sure enough an hour or so later, Clyde hailed me in need of a ride. I zipped across the bay and picked them and a bag of ice up. I delivered them back to Gypsy and went back to MoonSail for a quiet evening and dinner aboard.
GPS N 23-30.914 W 75-45.232 Miles made good this leg 0. Total miles covered 3971.
Mar 5
Today's Regatta event is the small boat races. They are being held at Monument Beach, near where Gypsy is anchored. Since Gypsy is dinghyless, we went over a little before noon, picked them up and took them to the beach where the small boat events were just getting underway. We watched as they had men's rowing, women's rowing, kid's rowing, and then blindfold rowing, where the rower is blindfolded and takes direction from a passenger. There were men's, women's, kids, and two-person kayak races. And then there were the sailing dinghy races. They all were a lot of fun to watch. I thought an event should be added that used regular motor powered inflatable dinghies, and incorporated all the best features of bumper cars, figure-eight racing, and demolition derby. Of course beer would have to be involved. That one wasn't on the agenda.
We went over to the Peach & Plenty Beach Club to have lunch. Barb & I ordered a cheeseburger and a hot dog, and took our beers outside to a nice shady picnic table to wait. Dora told us it would be at least fifteen minutes. After half an hour or more, we had not been called, and we could see the cook sitting down inside as if all the orders were out. Barb went inside to inquire and they said they called us and somebody claimed the order. Barb explained that we never heard the call, and never got the food. They quickly re-did our order and apologized. We didn't really care. We just had to have more beer. After eating, we went back to Gypsy and had a couple more drinks with Clyde and Brian. Then back to the boat for leftovers for dinner.
GPS N 23-30.914 W 75-45.232 Miles made good this leg 0. Total miles covered 3971.
Mar 6
We have decided to move the boat to the marina for a few days. Even with running the motor a few hours each day, we are never getting a good full charge on the batteries. We have been away from a dock for sixteen days now, so it's time for a good charge. We hailed the marina and asked if there was a slip available. They said there was, so we weighed anchor and motored across the bay to the fuel dock. We got tied up and after waiting a half hour of so, the dockmaster showed up and turned the pump on. I pumped thirty gallons of diesel and returned the nozzle to the pump. I then had to hunt down the dockmaster again to see where he wanted us to dock. He showed me the slip to come to. I went back, untied, and we moved to the slip. The dockmaster was there at the slip to take our lines, but in general, he is pretty worthless. The whole place is very loosely run, and the dock conditions are pretty crummy. But the electricity works at my slip (some don't) so that's all we need.
Clyde brought Gypsy over shortly after we got settled, and we helped him dock, since the dockmaster was again nowhere to be seen. A little later, we helped Clyde go up his mast to check out a fitting that he thought might be wearing prematurely. Since he has an electric winch, hoisting up was no big deal. We need to go up the mast too, to replace a bulb (I hope) in the anchor light, which gave up a couple weeks ago. We'll wait a day or two to do that.
In the afternoon, Barb did our laundry while I arranged for a good Internet connection. There is a guy living in a shack just down from the marina, who provides wireless access to the marina for $5/day. After waiting a couple hours, he got me hooked up. Hopefully publishing will work good from here.
Later in the evening after dinner, Clyde and Brian stopped by so Brian could say goodbye. He is headed back to NYC early in the morning.
GPS N 23-30.914 W 75-45.232 Miles made good this leg 0. Total miles covered 3971.
Mar 7
Our friends Bill & Victoria on the trawler Interlude came into the marina yesterday too, but they were stuck on the outside face dock because no slips were available. Our next door neighbors left today, so Interlude moved into that slip. After helping him get his lines secure, we started sorting out power. The box closest to him is where I was plugged in, so it is full. Another boat to the other side of me has left, so I moved my cord to that box, but the 50amp plug didn't work. I really only need a 30amp circuit, so I undid my adapter and plugged in the 30amp plug. If I wiggled the plug just right, we had power. So, I had to tie the plug to the box to keep it in tightly enough to make a connection. Every power box has two 30amp plugs and two 50amp plugs, but many don't work, so it's a constant juggling act as boats come and go. Another example of how poorly run and maintained this marina is.
Today marked another first in cruising outside the US. Going to the doctor. I have had a nagging dry cough for about seven weeks now. When we were in New Orleans, I got a cold, and the sinus drainage and resulting cough have held on ever since. I finally decided that since we are in a good sized town, I might as well find the doctor and see if I need antibiotics or something. I learned from the cruiser's net on the radio that the choices are the Government Clinic, which has nurses and a doctor 9 to 5 weekdays, or the "private" doctor who is here on Thursday only. So, I walked to the Government Clinic, just about a quarter mile from the marina.
I was expecting to find a crowded place, but it wasn't too bad. There were quite a few people there, all with kids. I think the kids were the patients. I filled out one short - yes just one short - form and had a seat. A few minutes later, I was told to go outside and to the last door on the right to get weighed. A lady met me there and weighed me. This was good news. I had not been on a scale since leaving NY in September, and I have lost about twenty-five pounds. I was 227 with clothes. She jotted this on a slip of paper which she gave to me and told me to go back to the waiting room.
The waiting room was a trip in itself. It was small with about ten chairs crowded together. In the back window was a loud window air conditioner. In the front was a loud TV with a religious network playing. It was American stuff, like Kenneth Copeland, and others, all telling you why you should send them your money. Then there were the mothers of the children. The kids themselves were all well behaved and pretty quiet, even though they were the sick ones. But the mothers were all loud and yelling to one another, as the Bahamians seem to do. It's hard to know sometimes if they are yelling in anger, or just yelling because that's what they do.
In the back corner of the waiting room, was a bathroom. One of the ladies who worked there came through the waiting room, opened the bathroom door and then motioned and said something to me. All I heard was the word "pass", and I thought she wanted my passport since I wasn't a resident. Then it became obvious that she wanted me to "pass" into the cup she was holding. I got it before I embarrassed myself by telling her I didn't have my passport with me. I went in the bathroom and was just able to produce enough for her to do whatever test she was going to do. I guess this is just routine, since I never had to give a urine sample for a cough before.
About thirty minutes after arriving, I was called into the next room. Here, a different lady took my pulse, temperature, and blood pressure. She profusely apologized for how long things were taking, explaining that they were short handed today. I smiled and told her I was in no hurry. She directed me back to the waiting room. Everybody else seemed to go through this same shuffle, and end up back in the waiting room too. Within another twenty minutes, another lady came out into the waiting room with everybody's charts in her hands, closed the door behind her, and stood waiting for some kind of signal. I'm not sure what the signal was, but she opened the door and told me to come on in. I felt guilty since I'm pretty sure I was the last one there, but maybe the prioritized based on the fact that I should be a simple in and out. I went to another inner room where another woman was behind a desk in the examining room. I'm not sure if she was a doctor or a PA, or a nurse, but she was someone who could write a prescription here. I sat in the chair by her desk, and she asked me what my problems was. I explained the never-ending cough and morning congestion. She asked what I had tried and I told her over-the-counter cold and allergy remedies did nothing. She gave me a prescription for Allegra and apologized that they didn't have any so I would have to go to the retail pharmacy a couple miles away. She gave me directions and the script.
I took my script back to the front desk to pay. The original girl with the short form, took the script and went in back. She came back and looked something up on a list and then told me it would be $37. She then said to go outside and down to the door on the left to get the medicine. I told her the doc had said they didn't have any. Well, her trip to the back was to check that and she said they did. So we went around to the pharmacy door and got a weeks worth of pills. The $37 was the office visit and medicine total. Now why can't it work that way in the States?
We are supposed to do another Radio Margaritaville interview this afternoon, but by 15:30 Carson had not called, and I had to go to the Post Office. So, I left, went to the post office, stopped to get beer on the way back, and stopped along the docks to char with Clyde for a few minutes. While I was gone, Carson called, so Barb got to do the interview this week.
We were going to go to the awards ceremony for the regatta races this evening, but the wind is blowing pretty good, and now that we are in the marina on the town side, it would be a wet dinghy ride across the bay to Volleyball Beach, so we just stayed in and had dinner aboard.
GPS N 23-30.914 W 75-45.232 Miles made good this leg 0. Total miles covered 3971.