FEBRUARY 27 - MARCH 15 SMALL CRAFT WARNINGS

Heidi and friends on tournament volleyball team



Ken and crab found on beach in George Town



School Kids in George Town (more pictures next chance I get)

Feb 27 Everyday there is too much wind! It’s sunny and there is lots to do in this area but the wind rules all! It’s somewhat better if we go into the beach on Stocking Island because that is out of the wind somewhat. We have changed our anchoring location twice because of the wind and at one anchorage we were bouncing off the bottom for an hour-and-a-half as the waves caused by the wind rocked us up and down.

Our final anchorage (so far) is quite a way from town, and we need to go to town quite often for supplies and entertainment. The dinghy ride is wet and rough, again due to the wind. But George Town has a fairly large grocery and a few vendors in the park with garden vegetables. We can get phone cards there to use in the payphones to call our parents and kids. There is a straw market where local ladies weave baskets and handbags and they also sell souvenirs there. We also went to George Town recently to watch the George Town softball team play a team of US and Canadian boaters. Lets just say that the locals are VERY good!!

Our timing has brought us to George Town right at the start of the Cruisers Regatta, run by the visiting boaters. This lasts for 10 days and includes a parade of boats past the town and local dignitaries, a children’s day that gets the local school children (3rd & 4th grades) together with the boater children for games, a volleyball tournament, a sand sculpture contest, a big “Ultimate” trivia contest, a sailing race, and MANY more activities. Our favorite so far was the No-Talent Show followed by a dance party on the sand.

We connected up with some friends from the past, Susan and Tom Maddigan from the Catboat Association (the 1970s and early 1980s). They are from Wood’s Hole, and we are finding many other Massachusetts boats here.

March 9 The wind has died down significantly. We are feeling freed up to go snorkeling, beachcombing, and maybe taking a side trip to some of the other small islands near the south of Great Exuma. However, first we need to straighten out a problem with the engine. It doesn’t start sometimes and Ken has narrowed it down to the solonoid (got a new one but still having problems) or the starter (this is a bigger problem as we can’t get a new one here).

March 13 We are very lucky in that the small town here has a BIG Auto Parts Store north of town and they have a mechanic that was able to look at our starter (Ken dismantled it and brought it in -- by dinghy to a beach near the store) and he fixed it the next day. It is back in place and starting our engine perfectly!

March 14 The grand finale to being in George Town was the final night of the Bahamian Music & Heritage Festival. We attended with Tom & Susan from Brilliant and their guests. And about 500 others! It is an outdoor evening music program (with daytime storytelling, straw work, and local crafts) that was 3 days and nights. The final night had some great Exuma performers and some bigger names flown in from Nassau. A Junkanoo group made an appearance (awesome!). What a night -- ending at 2 am with fireworks and another junkanoo group. Unforgettable!!

Thus ends two weeks of sports and partying with the other cruisers, shelling, snorkeling, meeting Bahamians and dancing with them, and fighting the overactive wind! We plan on leaving tomorrow and heading back up the island chain in the Exumas, and then visiting the Abacos in the northern Bahamas.