We left Little Farmers Cay shortly before 8:30 in the morning and made it to the Galloit cut shortly before 10:30AM (Out going tide). There was a line of boats behind me including Fracas and a few boats waiting to come in through the cut. While passing through the cut the waves built and we had mostly long swells with a few choppy areas that slowed Mango to a crawl and of course the wind was right on the nose. We knew these conditions would most likely exist but we wanted to make it to see Hannah today rather than tomorrow. The weather showed the winds would change and waves should start to settle. As time progressed the waves did settle and the winds did shift to a more easterly direction and we were able to make 6 plus knots motor sailing. We decided to cut the trip about 7 miles short and stay at the Sandal’s Emerald Bay resort since we knew we would be there with plenty of time before dark and could take a slip for a night or two. One of the nice things about staying at Emerald Bay is free laundry services. Yes, free and the slip fee is only $20 a night with no services.
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| Even Fracas rocked and rolled through the cut. |
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| Beautiful Fracas against the rock island |
We arrived at Sandal’s, Karen quickly made an internet connection, sent Hannah a message to take a taxi to the resort. A 15 minute taxi ride later Hannah joined us for a gorgeous evening of drinks, stars and much conversation. Hannah told us about her flight from Miami to Georgetown on a little plane, the cab ride to the hotel and her night spent in Georgetown during the Heritage Festival which according to Hannah didn’t quiet down until after 2 AM.
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| Iowa Hawkeye Colors flying for Hannah and Iowa Basketball. |
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| Some of the many fish we were feeding. |
We attempted to procure day passes to use all of the Sandal’s facilities but apparently there we none available. That saved $480 dollars which we could certainly spend somewhere else. The Sandal’s resort really looked nice as we walked through it to visit. All the food, drink, water sports and spa services you can take for a day. It’s probably better they had no room for us. We did spend our dollars at Grand Isle Resort who makes great rum punch and rum runners. As the rum flowed so did the conversation, louder with each drink consumed. The snorkeling here is interesting as there is much more diverse coral but not as many fish as Little Farmers Cay.
3-18 We ended up staying 3 days here and it’s a very nice facility but remote. It takes a $50 cab ride to get into Georgetown but if you just want to relax at the resort it’s great. We did miss Fracas and her crew but we should catch up with them today. Greg sent us a message on FB telling us to go to Sand Dollar Bay as apparently the swell is less. We feel bad about not being able to spend St. Patrick’s Day with them as we know Greg is Irish and will break out his “Tickle Trunk” of props and gags.
We arrived at Sand Dollar Bay early afternoon and had a Gombay Smash and prepped Last Mango for several days at anchor. Afterwards we all hopped in the dinghy and rowed over to re-unite with Fracas and have a beer. It was great to see them again and exchange news and introduce Hannah. Mary Lynn didn’t cook anything but Karen was feeling the pressure so we returned to Mango after a short visit and Karen made a great dinner of burgers, corn and potatoes. On top of this she made a chocolate cake earlier in the day. I was feeling like a king with all the food and drink. We all took naps and woke up in time to blow the conch for sundown as Hannah and I played cards in the cockpit. As the evening darkness set in we lit the Chinese lantern that Grant and Cindy gave us late last year. We watched it climb out of site against the many stars in the sky and made our wishes. We ended the evening by watching a couple episodes of Big Bang Theory and off to bed for a great nights sleep.
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| Our new boat neighbor. |
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| Ray at the beach that wants to be fed |
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I can still remember the day when she would asked to be
pushed when swinging. |
3-19 Today I woke up to the start of the Georgetown cruisers net and we introduced ourselves via the net to the boating community. Greg stopped by afterwards with his jet powered dinghy and whizzed me off to the far flung regions of the harbor for the dime tour. We finished the tour with a pickup of 20 gallons of free water from the communal spigot. The tour consisted of a visit to Fracas summer home which is hurricane hole #3 here in Georgetown. We then visited a hole that passes from 3 miles in the ocean to the inner portion of the island. This hole is a fish haven and apparently the fish love frozen peas. Hannah and I will check this rumor out tomorrow with some peas from the freezer. Georgetown is much larger than any town we’ve been in since Marathon. It does have everything that a boater could need at a much higher price than the states. The one item they don’t seem to have is a 1 inch zinc for my prop shaft, I hope to find one via the cruisers net tomorrow morning. Greg zoomed us back to the boats and shortly thereafter all of us went into town to buy groceries and have lunch.
I’ve seen several of the locals drinking a product called “Vita Malt” and I took the opportunity of being thirsty to try one. I’m not a fan, it’s not as terrible like Karen and Hannah said it was but it’s bad enough that I did’t finish it and I poured it out in the garbage. We hopped in the dinghy and slowly headed back to Mango as the 2.3 HP Honda did all it could to move us against the wind and waves. The crew of Fracas zoomed past us making me feel slightly inadequate about my dinghy. Since Mobile Alabama I’ve had several people ask me about my dinghy and everyone seems to like it and wish they had one like mine. We’ve only seen two other Chameleon's. Here in Georgetown however Greg's rigid inflatable with its 15HP Yamaha leaves me longing for more speed and power. So far Karen only complains when she gets splashed by the larger waves.
3-22 It’s hard to believe that our week with Hannah has already passed by. I’ll post a video and pictures later. We had a great time with her and only thing that could’ve made it better is if Sam was here also enjoying the time with us. Hannah’s plane takes off at 4:30 and she’s currently swimming around Mango looking for her sea turtle friend. It was a bit of an adventure getting here to be with her and now hopefully we can take our time getting back to the states. I need to fill up with diesel before we leave and found out earlier in the week that the local Shell station filled their diesel tank with gasoline by accident. Kinda hard to believe that something like that can happen but it did, not sure if they have it clean yet we’ll see later today.
3-23 Today was our last day with Fracas and Crew so we went out for dinner with them to a local hangout of a true Bahamian "Rake and Scape". From what we're told it's traditional Bahamian music and a good time. We went and enjoyed our time and the music was good considering it came from a guitar, carpenter's saw, barrel with a large string on it and a couple of barrels that were used as drums. We watched and locals as well as cruisers danced to the beat of the music. After a while we met a cruiser we hadn't seen since Bimini and he was getting real chummy with Karen. This made Karen uncomfortable so we left after prying his arms from around her.
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| Fracas and Mango crew at the Rake and Scrape |
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| The Rake and Scape band |
3-24 We got up early this morning to listen to Chris Parker weather on the SSB and said goodbye to Fracas and crew as they went to the Jumentos for a few days. It's sad to say goodbye to Greg and Mary Lynn as we consider them like family. I'll now have to go back to my all liquid diet since Mary Lynn's not here to cook for me anymore. Hopefully Karen's learned a few tricks from Mary Lynn's cooking (Just Joking).
We had an enjoyable somewhat slow sail from Georgetown to Bay Rush Bay but the autopilot had a issue that didn't get corrected until this morning, not sure what happened but it's working now.
3-25 We left the bay this morning and used the Spinnaker to sail to Blackpoint Settlement and had to wait for the power to come back on to the island to use the internet to post this. It's good to be here, the people seem lovely, both the natives and the cruisers. Karen has finally gotten her loaf of Bahamian Coconut Bread, just out of the oven, she's in heaven now.
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