Little Farmers Cay

3-10  This morning Karen and I took a long wet dinghy ride to the yacht club to grab internet and try to make arrangements to get Hannah to us from Georgetown. After making some contacts and having tentative plans made we took a walk into the town. Town is a loose term for the area. It’s more a collection of small buildings that people live in and sell subsistence items. We tried to open the screen door to the grocery store and it seemed stuck. We peeked around the side and found Tasha the store owner playing dominos with her brother. We introduced ourselves and Karen explained our issues trying to get Hannah to us. Tasha grabbed my hand, closed her eyes and blessed us through prayer. She explained that everything would be fine and work out to gods plan. I’m not a religious guy but her words made sense to me and made me feel more at ease. The same feeling must have been felt by Karen and she wiped the tears from her eyes and got a smile to her face. Tasha’s basic premise was that we will see Hannah but it may be a day or two later, “Just know that she’s alive and well and will soon be with you here on blessed Farmers Cay”. She gave examples of the horrors occurring in the world today and told us our worries were not warranted. She offered to have Hannah stay with a sister on the North end of the island until the boat can bring her here to us on Farmers Cay. We were going to buy some items in her store but she informed us that she only had some green bananas and canned goods at this time. We told her we’d return another day to see her and hopefully bring Hannah also.

Last Mango anchored off Oven Rock

Karen and Tasha

Town Directory

Waves roll in from the never ending East winds.

We walked around a little more and then started back to the boat. We were greeted by a man working in a yard digging weeds or something like that. We noticed him as we first walked into town but he was sweaty and busy and we did not wish to bother him. He had a big smile even with his several missing teeth. He announced his name was Denzel and he was a farmer and craftsman. I thought to myself that being a farmer on this island of rock is near impossible and was curious when he offered to show me his home and crop. Farmer is a strong word for his crop as I quickly learned but I was impressed with what he did have. He’s growing tomatoes, Jalapenos, peas, peanuts (of some type) and a few other items I can’t pronounce or I didn’t fully understand what he was saying. After spending the last month or so in the Bahamas anytime I see someone working I always take time to chat if they seem interested. Denzel loved to talk and was trying to feed us all kinds of things. In the end we purchased 2 Conch shells from him with the ends cut off for sunset horn blowing.

Greg over a barrel

Being a tourist I automatically think that everyone who’s nice is trying to sell me something, however on these more remote islands I think people are just happy to speak with someone other than the 48 other people on the island. Karen and I often feel obligated to buy something even though it’s not being pushed upon us.

This evening we decided to have dinner with Greg and Mary Lynn at the yacht club and made reservations at 2:30 to eat by 5. The dinner was OK but it was very nice to get off the boat and for Karen and Mary Lynn not to have to cook or wash dishes. After dinner the owner of the club (Roosevelt Nixon) sat down with us and discussed the history of the island and the club. He and his family have traveled quit a bit in the states and actually drove cross country by car. He was recently on the upper east coast to see his daughter. As he tells it his great, great grand parents bought the island for 30 pounds and farmed it. They tried growing cotton and sounds like the crop that worked was sisal. Walking around the area you will see cotton growing wild here and there. Roosevelt showed us pictures of his descendants and the island long ago. When asked about hurricanes he stated they have never left the island because of weather and have sheltered several sailors from hurricanes over the years in the club. From listening to him speak he looks forward to passing the club on and retiring. I think he and his wife deserve it.

Yacht Club Bar

Roosevelt Nixon telling his family history

Dinner area of the Club

Little Farmers Cay founding family

3-11  Today is another day of waiting out weather or more accurately wind. We watch as the wind continues to blow from the ESE and with gusts into the 20s, too much wind to attempt the cut and then have to bash into the seas down to Georgetown. I have to admit that it’s getting a bit old waiting here at anchor for winds to change. I’m thinking that if we didn’t have to be in Georgetown I would have turned around and rode the winds back north and see rest of the islands north of us.

We did perform some boat chores today and then in the afternoon we went for a hike to the cave. Locals call it the “Dripping Cave” because of ceiling dripping water. The lower portion of the cave is filled with fresh water that we hear can be up to 500 feet deep for experienced tank divers. We only got in to where the water starts. Karen elected to stay slightly inside the cave due to her fear of bats. We didn’t see any bats but that didn’t make her feel any better the issue. While hiking up to the cave the first thing you notice is the heat once the wind is blocked by the trees and bushes. The past several days it has been in the mid 80s, perfect for swimming or doing anything in the water.

Interior of the cave

Looking out of the cave at Karen and Greg

More of the cave interior.

3-12 Weather checkin at 6:30 AM and Chris Parker states the weather will change Sunday to Monday but between now and then the winds will increase to the mid 20s with gusts to 30. He also stated that it’s been a month with these strong winds out of the ESE, a whole month. Don’t mind waiting out weather but that’s a long waiting for a change in winds.

Today I stepped out by myself and left Karen at the boat by herself, I’m sure she loved me being gone. I went for a walk on the island to see what I can and to go snorkeling near shore. While walking through the brush and trees the wind all but dies, the most notable thing is the absence of sound. The only thing I could hear was an occasional rush of wind through the pines, otherwise silence. Being on a boat there is constant movement which translates into constant sounds of one sort or another. The snorkeling was interesting also, each weeded area is like it’s own ecosystem with different types of coral and fish. It does appear to me that the coral is starting to become brighter, I’m not sure if it’s because spring season has started here.

This evening crew of Fracas and Mango decided to goto Ty’s for dinner and fun. Ty’s was recommended by the locals as having better food than the yacht club and they were correct. Down here you need to put in your food orders at least 2 hours before you eat. Not exactly sure why but it’s not an issue because we’re in no hurry. Grouper and plantains were not available so the two crews ate BBQ ribs and chicken which was fantastic. Maybe it seemed like is was better than Mary Lynn’s cooking because they kept us waiting so long with the smell of the ribs wafting into the hut. Coach the bartender is the grill man who cooked the ribs and chicken while other bar patrons waited for him to come back to fulfill their drink orders. Felt kinda bad at first but we were hungry. We played a bit of volleyball (using the Pink volleyball that Hannah left behind) before hand and Karen made me vow that nobody gets hurt. Maybe it was a few drinks that caused our lack of enthusiasm, or just island life setting in but no injuries were sustained. While eating we let a couple other boaters use the ball and while exiting after dinner we saw and husband and wife casualty. The wife apparently was going down to help the husband who twisted his ankle in the sand and took the ball in the nose. Upon our leaving they were applying ice to her face while elevating his leg. About an hour after our return to the boat we saw them dinghy by so things couldn’t have been too bad.

Greg grabbing internet access

View of Last Mango from Ty's

New Neighbors are here

View from from inside Ty's

It was a bumpy night sleeping aboard Last Mango. The winds were consistently in the 20 with gusts to 30. Last Mango would occasionally buck and roll depending on the wind and tide direction. The Mantus anchor held without fail and we woke up for the weather broadcast and shortly afterwards we must have had internet for we got a tweet from Hannah that she was at O’hare heading down to visit.