Back in Georgetown

Between Batelco and T-mobile they managed to blind me and mute me. I will not go into the gory details but a new sim card later, my blackberry will not be recognized by the Batelco towers so I am incommunicado. I have been going to town to try and resolve the issue but I will have to wait for the new sim card Joanna will bring today.
In spite of the lack of communications we have had a busy week. Tom and Bobbi were waiting for us on our boat when we arrived on Sunday afternoon, and Idette's sister, Val and her husband were already settled in their hotel in town.
Georgetown provided us with a rare gift, a windless day on Monday which allowed us to go snorkeling and it was a treat. The Spooner sisters performed on Monday night. Bobbi brought us costumes especially designed in Atlanta and Val was our special guest. The party went on until almost midnight so the next morning very early we left the anchorage so we would not get the evil eye from our neighbors.
On Wednesday, while the men went fishing in Zingaro in the Exuma, we went to the spa in Emerald Bay, at the Four Seasons there and had a great time. We all arrived just in time to prepare for a storm that had all the cruisers nervous, the net was abuzz with rumors that the wind would gust to 50mph. The storm did not get too close, there was a lot of lightning and thunder but not over where we were and we got very little rain. The wind picked up but never much over 20, but nobody slept too well.
Yesterday we reanchored again because I managed to convince Juan to bring me to Gaviota Bay anchorage where the hotel provides pay per use wifi. Going to town wiht the dinghy in high winds is a very, very wet exercise so the only option to have some connection is this. He obliged and made me happy.
The week went by very quickly and we are getting ready to say goodbye to our guests and receive Joanna who arrives tomorrow!

More here and there

The ice storm they predicted did not happen, another forecasting error for which we are happy, so we were able to pick up our passports yesterday.

We met with the Sexy Sailors (those who are here) at Miguel and Carmen´s and had a lovely time. It was great that they allowed us to party at their home. We making plans for a flotilla in the near future. Bahamas beware!

Now we are getting ready to join Sweet Tides. Apparently Sweet Tides wanted to grab the headlines in our absence. They had a couple of wonderful days in Lee Stocking Island but on the third day the wind picked up and their trip back to Georgetown was no picnic with strong head winds and 8ft waves. They made it but yesterday when they were coming into the anchorage in front of the marina, two boats were blocking the channel they went around and went aground. All efforts to get them out were in vain, so they had to wait a couple of hours for the tide, while looking at the rocks in front of them and hoping not to be thrown against them. But all ended well. However the Georgetown Net the following morning recorded the incident and efforts are being made to mark the channel and prevent people from anchoring there. Sweet Tides wanted the limelight and got it. Big time!

Zingaro and Sweet Tides are now reunited in the marina so hopefully they will behave until we make it there tomorrow. The next few weeks will be very active, we have Tom and Bobbie who must be on the boat already and Idette's sister and her husband, then Joanna and my friends Ana and Armando all the way from Brazil!

PS: I have just discovered that if you click on the question mark at the beginning of the post you get to see the pictures from last night!

Here and there

So Sweet Tides is alone on a deserted island, with pink sands, turquoise waters, and tomorrow they are going snorkeling  to try and catch lobster. Zingaro is neatly tied in Georgetown. Spartina who had met Sweet Tides in Lee Stocking island, left to run errand in Georgetown. They checked on Zingaro and said the lines were fine but it looked lonely. 

Meanwhile, we are here in DC. The weather is really bad but we went to Baltimore for our interviews and tests and are now US citizens. Tomorrow morning we are going to the passport office to see if we can get our passports to be able to go back and rejoin Zingaro and Sweet Tides this weekend!

But cold or no cold, snow or no snow it was good to come home and see our daughters and hopefully see some of our friends. The house feels enormous after three months on a boat and very, very comfortable!! 

Sweet Tides´s photograph was taken with her blackberry, it was the only way we could get it to the blog, and it does not do justice to the beauty of the place, but shows well next to the bleak picture taken from our car on the way back from Baltimore!

Sweet Tides soloes

The wind has died down and all weather forecasts say this will be a perfect week, so Sweet Tides is getting ready to sail into the Exuma Sound and visit Lee Stocking Island which is about 18 miles to the North. Spartina is sailing South from Staniel to meet them there and Gordon and Deborah are also going.
In the meantime we brought Zingaro to the Exuma Docking in Georgetown, even more derelict than before, although they say they are "renovating". We tied it as safely as possible and got it ready for Tom and Bobbie who will arrive before we do. Sweet Tides will come into the marina on Friday night.
While he prepares the boat, Juan tries to learn the words of the pledge of allegiance and the Star Spangled Banner for tomorrow.

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Georgetown

Hundreds and hundreds of boats in Elizabeth Harbor! We arrived on Valentine's day and after we anchored, and napped, we got our dinghies down and went to Volley Ball beach - we anchored nearby - and walked into the Chat'n Chill. I have to preface this story by saying that the first time we came to the Bahamas, six years ago, when we sailed into Allan Cay the boat that was anchored right in front of us was our neighbor of several years in Herrington Harbor, Gordon. We had never talked about coming to the Bahamas so seeing them was a complete surprise. After that we cruised together most of the time. They moved out of Herrington Harbor to Galesville and we have not kept in contact. Well, the first people we see as we walk into the bar are Gordon and Debbie!!

They have been coming every year so we are going to pick their brains tonight about traveling to the Jumentos Cays.

Since it was Valentine's day there was a DJ and all the cruisers were there shaking and bumping. Mike said it looked a lot like parties in assisted living! Not quite true, there were three or four under forty!

Yesterday we went around Georgetown, got a new battery, bought lures - we are hopeful now - visited the Exuma Market but did not go the Batelco!

Today we are going to move further South to the Sand Dollar anchorage to see if it's less rolly. 

For some obscure reason we have found this wonderful connection and will spend the morning hooked to it!!

Fish, fish, fish

Well only one really, but Mike finally caught a fish. A two foot barracuda that Idette hopefully photographed! It went back in the sea because you don't really eat barracuda. We are on our way to Georgetown through the Exuma sound. The best ocean passage so far.
The shocking news was that our conference in Santo Domingo got cancelled last night so we are having to review our plans. Once we get to Georgetown we will see. I might go back home with Juan to give him my moral support as he becomes American.
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On the move again

So the storm blew over and we spent it comfortably at Sampson Cay Marina. We didn't do much these last two days but rest is also good. Yesterday was Idette's birthday so Juan and I went over with our guitar to serenade her early in the morning. Not too early though, she was already having breakfast. At night Mike invited us, the Phungs and Spartina to dinner at the club's restaurant and it was really nice. We sang happy birthday at least ten times! I made her a special wet suit as a present but I don't think I will be able to get a picture of her in it for the blog!
The most frustrating thing about the marina was the internet. It was more off than on most of the time.
Today by midday we let go of the lines, said goodbye to Spartina who is staying on at Staniel and started our next leg to Georgetown. We will probably sleep in Little farmer's Cay tonight and tomorrow morning tiptoe into the ocean to make the passage. The weather forecast says there is a window tomorrow morning but we'll see.
Right now it's rough on the banks, wind on our nose and rolly.
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Swimming with sharks or fishing for credit cards

We have had great snorkeling these last few days, in Cambridge Cay, in Thunderball Cave, and we have seen a great many sharks, nurse sharks mostly but also a few reef sharks. 

We arrived yesterday in Sampson Cay to hide from the windstorm. The anchorage in front of the marina is small so Sweet Tides went into the marina while we anchored outside. 

When we went into the marina to visit Sweet Tides and make reservations for today, some fisherman were cleaning their fish at the dock and throwing the pieces to the sharks and rays that had collected below. There were easily 15 sharks and 5 or 6 rays. Once they had eaten their full they just slept under the docks or went over to visit the boats. 

The fishermen also brought lobster and Chung not only negotiated a good price for three big lobsters, but also grilled them for us. We have been talking about eating the lobster we were going to catch since we left last November. We have not caught any, yet, but yesterday we had wonderful grilled lobster. Thank you Dominique and Chung!!

This morning we moved into the marina. As I was getting off the boat to go register at the office, I passed the credit cards to Juan but with such bad luck that they all fell in the shark infested water! I do not need to say how happy Juan was to have to dive for them. And dive he did since we had no option, quickly so that the sharks had no time to realize what was going on. Of course I have been hearing about this all day.

Spartina also moved into the marina and we all went to the beach and then went snorkeling in Thunderball Cave where we had a great time. It has already started to blow so tomorrow we will do laundry, and clean the boat, and maybe go hiking somewhere.

Cambridge Cay

The best snorkelling! We went to the southernmost end to a place aptly called Seaquarium. Hundreds of fish and wonderful coral. Then we had lunch on the beach and dinghhied to the northernmost end, to two rocks called Rocky Dundas that had beautiful grottoes, open at the top. Differently from Thunderball the fish and coral are not inside but out. Again beautiful coral, tall elkhorn coral and we saw an enormous, really enourmous and graceful sea ray swimming by us.
Today we are moving to Samson Cay because there is another storm brewing. The best thing about Samson is that it has Internet, so pictures will follow!
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Bye bye Vicente, hello Dominique and Chung

Punctually at three Flamingo Air landed in Staniel with Dominique and Chung aboard. Sweet Tides with me aboard sailed into the marina, to the fuel dock, to pick them up. Howard (Spartina) borrowed a golf cart and took Idette to the airport. Meanwhile I and fifteen other boaters huddled in the yatch club bar trying to connect to the Internet. Impossible for most of us. Idette managed to connect and do what she had to do. We all came back to the boat and had another wonderful evening.

This morning at seven thirty Zingaro went to the fuel dock, with Mike on board to take Vicente who flew off this morning.

I tried the internet again and managed after almost two hours to get connected. Just as I had managed to connect the messenger and talk to my mother and Sophia, we had to leave because somebody else was coming to the fuel dock (the nerve!). Anyway I cut my lifeline and came back. Now we are getting ready to weigh anchors and go to Cambridge Cay where for a couple of days not even my blackberry will work. I hope to survive!!

(We snorkeled in Thunderball cave yesterday, outstanding, I had forgotten how beautiful it was, hundreds and hundreds of fish and incredible coral)

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On to Staniel

We raced back from Nassau, but raced is a deceiving word in this case because the wind, as always was not quite according to forecast, weaker and on our nose, so we had to deviate quite a bit from the rhumb line to be able to continue sailing. By 3pm, seven hours into the "race" Sweet Tides conceded and we turned on the motors and headed for Norman.
We had a wonderful day, managed to go out into the Exuma Sound and in again into the nothernmost pond. It's the second time I leave Norman thinking I could have stayed longer.
We crossed over to Shroud in the afternoon and had a rolly, rolly night. We are going out on a quick dinghy ride and then at midday it's off to Staniel.
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Repair, reprovision, recharge, reconnect in Nassau

I was most careful in my description of Idette's allergy yesterday because I know her children read the blog and did not want to worry them. But what started as a rash on her forehead slowly transformed her into a monster - well not quite. But her face was swollen, the forehead looked like she was about to become a unicorn, and the third day she could hardly open her eyes and her cheeks were swollen. So we did race to Nassau. 

The doctor gave her a series of antihistaminics and said it had been caused by the straw hat she had bought here and  had been wearing everyday. Of course they threw it away. She already looks much, much better. The rash is still there but the swelling has subsided. 

So now that we are all better, we have to invite them to dinner since they won the race.

In the meantime we are cleaning and washing (some are) while others are hooked to the Internet. We need intra venous wi fi.