travel – Page 54

Georgetown, Exumas

February 8, 2013 | Leave a Comment

We are anchored near the town of Georgetown, awaiting the arrival of Rob, Chris and Kandice sometime tomorrow evening. Meanwhile, the northeast is getting one of the biggest snowstorms on record, so who knows if the kids’ flight will actually leave, or if Chris’ bus to Baltimore will arrive before the flight. Our little town in Connecticut is expected to get between 16″- 20″. Whoa!

Arriving in Georgetown feels more like reaching a goal than crossing over from Florida to Nassau did. I can’t explain why… crossing the Gulf Stream was certainly the bigger challenge, so I don’t know why I feel this way. Arriving here , I feel that we have attained such a big goal. The rest of our trip, which is still another 3 months of sailing, will all be ‘frosting on the cake’ now that we’ve come this far!

Remember these? Naturally, it is out of service….but what a hoot to see a phone booth on a sandy beach with palm trees!

Bob is reeling in a mahi mahi on our run from Lee Stocking to Georgetown! It took him about 20 minutes of struggle with this feisty fish, and wouldn’t you know just as Bob was about to gaff him, the fish jumped right off the line!

A walk along the ocean side beach at Lee Stocking, with a picnic lunch.

I am on the final stretch of a simple ‘shadow knit’ sweater that I designed myself. Although it’s quite simple, I think I will write it up as a free download on Ravelry, as a little thank you for all the great resources I’ve benefitted from on that site! I’m on the sleeves and holding my breath that there is enough yarn! If not, it will be a vest….

Pandora at anchor off the dock at Little Farmer’s Cay.

The Day After

February 3, 2013 | 1 Comment

Life has slowed down considerably today, now that the 5Fs festival is finished. You’d never even know how much hubbub was here the last two days. Bob and I went ashore for a walk around the island today, and all has gone back to the slow, sleepy pace of a small settlement on a remote cay.

One of the things I expected during our travels was access to local tropical fruits. I expected to be eating mangoes and avocados everyday, as I had read about in the book An Embarrassment of Mangoes (which is about the Caribbean, not the Bahamas). It turns out that the Bahamas chain is rather desert-like and there is no organized agriculture. We have seen a few small gardens around people’s houses, but it is a hard existence for food crops. We’ve seen a lone corn plant growing out of a crack in the limestone rock back at Black Point.

Here on Farmer’s Cay we have seen the first actual lawns around people’s houses, and small ornamental gardens that look well tended. We have not seen any vegetable plots. At all the island markets we’ve seen vegetables and fruit that have had a long journey to their destination and are much the worse for wear… badly bruised fruits, tomatoes that look like they will never turn red, and most things looking rather dehydrated from travel. The crates have stamps with US locations on them. So I have not yet even had a mango or an avocado…

We have also seen quite a bit of cotton plants on this island, which is maybe the origin of its name Farmer’s Cay. Maybe this is on of those locations where colonists tried to start cotton farming. I was tempted to take a few bolls, but I restrained myself. I’ve already got some lovely cotton, already handpainted, that I can spin…

We saw a bit of song bird life today….the same little yellow breasted bird we saw in Warderick Wells, that we now know is called a ‘yellow quit.’ And we saw a humming bird! Imagine that!

Off the rocky shore near the center of town we watched a man removing conchs from their shells and then skinning them on a rock. He had his sharpening stone with him on the rock and continually sharpened his knife in order to continue cleaning the conchs, which involves cutting off the thick skin and removing the claw. He worked quickly, like a pro, which undoubtedly he is.

Just a bit further out in this same small harbor we saw three sea turtles surfacing repeatedly, and a giant ray. Such common sights for the folks who live here, and such an exotic treat for Bob and me!

We saw the little island school at the highest point on the island. It is a ‘school for all ages.’ I like that!

So far we have only seen Baptist churches on these islands, and I wonder if we will ever see any other denominations. People here take Sunday very seriously, and all businesses (except restaurants) are closed. Therefore I did not get to meet the owner of Brenda’s Kitchen.

This evening is the Super Bowl back home, and here in the Bahamas they know about it! The yacht club where we are moored is hoping to lure all the visiting Americans ashore for happy hour starting at 4pm and dinner during the game. I only saw a small old fashioned tv (meaning not flat screen) that looked about 10″ square in the billiards room off the bar. Surely, they don’t plan to use that??

I also heard Lorraine all the way from Black Point on the VHF this morning announcing her Super Bowl party with non stop happy hour throughout the game and a pig roast buffet. Now that’s one sharp business woman! I know our friends on Sea Schell and Kalunamoo will all be attending!

Island Life.2

February 3, 2013 | Leave a Comment

Now Bob and I have moved on to Little Farmer’s Cay where the big festival and regatta have taken place over the last two days. This is another side of island culture! Bahamians from all over have arrived to participate in this festival, and they’ve all come by boat! Even various government officials have come to this festival (probably by that little prop plane that I keep seeing), and it’s remarkable to see what pride they all take in their country and their culture. I am in awe! The mail boat arrived with four (not three!) Class C Bahamian sloops on board and many crates of food and drink for the festival, and lots of people. I learned that it left Wednesday night around 10pm, from Nassau, in order to arrive on Little Farmer’s Cay at 8am on Friday morning. Since there are no sleeping accommodations on the mail boat everyone just stayed up and partied all night. That’s why we saw passengers drinking beer on arrival first thing in the morning… they had not stopped all night! And now I understand the blaring island music as well!

Others arrived by smaller powerboats. I don’t know how other sloops arrived to make a total of nine boats to race in the 2-day regatta. There were also souvenirs for sale, brought in by boat as well.

There was much pomp and circumstance, that somehow blended seamlessly with the most casual sense of getting anything done…. it’s hard to describe, but easy to enjoy! No one seemed particularly hurried or stressed in getting everything off the mail boat and down the road (which involved walking and driving on the runway for the little airstrip), but somehow everything was set up and ready to go by the time that first race of the regatta took place around noon.

This man is some sort of minister for the government. I wish I’d paid more attention!

And the sailing regatta! On the second day I had the camera, and I was so enthralled in the event that I took just under 400 photos! There was only one race the first day because the winds got too fierce for even these hardened sailors to handle. But Saturday there were three races, and Bob participated in all of them, on the sloop Thunderbird. They did not end up winning a trophy, but it was obvious that every boat had moments of brilliant strategy and feats of daring!

This is one crazy sport! The boats have only one huge sail, and to balance that canvas (and it literally is cotton canvas in an age when all other boats have moved on to Dacron or even more high tech synthetic materials)… as said, to balance all that canvas there are removable planks that slide under the gunwale to extend well out over the water on the windward side of the boat (that is the opposite side to the sail). The crew scramble out onto these planks, called ‘prides,’ in order to balance the weight of the boom and sail on the other side, which would capsize the boat if not for the crew hiking out on the prides. When these boats come about on a different tack, which means bringing the boom and sail to other side of the boat, the crew scrambles down the pride back into the cockpit, yanks out the pride and shoves it into the gunwale on the other side. Then they all scramble out onto it again. There is plenty of risk of injury. Just moving the pride from one side to the other offers lots of chance for getting hit by this big plank of oak, or getting fingers broken when maneuvering it. The men all end up with lots of bruises from scrambling out on these things, and they call their injuries ‘boat bites.’

During these races there are plenty of mishaps. While you are out on the pride you hold on by locking your legs under the pride, but there is very little to hold on to with your hands. The guy farthest out has no handhold and must rely on his locked legs to keep him from falling in the water. During the first race Bob was the farthest man out on the plank when the captain realized that Bob just didn’t weigh enough to be out there. He told him to switch places, but no one was to move off the plank, so Bob had to climb over the other guys while under sail and hiked up high off the water. I don’t know how he did it. There were plenty of times on all the boats when someone almost fell off the pride into the water, but it didn’t happen.

Can you see Bob? He’s third from the end in this photo.

There were lots of boat casualties, and I understand it’s quite common for at least one boat to sink in every race. At this regatta two boats sank, one during the first race and one during the second. After that, while there were plenty of boat mishaps, none of them sank again. During that second race Thunderbird’s boom raked across the boom of Golden Girl and then caught Golden Girl’s forestay, which dragged it over far enough that Golden Girl went down and sank. Someone on a powerboat nearby was enraged by this event and began ramming into Thunderbird. Several times this powerboat actually rode up onto the deck of Thunderbird. Bob said at one point he had to duck as the powerboat drove right up onto the deck of Thunderbird, with Bob crouching right below it in the cockpit. There was no penalty for any of this… after a few minutes the guy in the powerboat took off and wasn’t seen again.

There were other wild moments during the races. The start involves all the boats anchoring right along the starting line. When the gun goes off they all pull up anchor while also raising sail. The motion of pulling up the anchor gives a bit of a jump start to the sail filling with wind and the race is off and running. At the first race on Friday, Thunderbird’s captain chose the spot right next to the starting buoy to anchor as a prime place for the starboard tack beginning leg. Two other boats liked that idea and moved the buoy in order to anchor in this prime position. There was no penalty for this! Then a bit later, one of the boats went around the wrong side of one of the marks, and this too was not contested. Rules seem a bit casual here, and it doesn’t seem to bother anyone.

The starting line… Thunderbird is at the far left.

Thunderbird (on right) crossing paths with Lady Eunice. Bob is exchanging places on the pride with some of the other crew.

So, I’ll try to pick a few of the 400 photos. While the boats were too far away on their course I got some shots of the locals. Beautiful people!

We were thrilled to find that “Tall Boy” came all the way from Potter’s Cay in Nassau to make his famous conch salads at the festival! This time I made sure to have one!

And this pretty much sums up how both Bob and I feel these days:

Island Life

February 3, 2013 | 1 Comment

What I’ve most looked forward in taking this trip is getting to know island culture, Bahamian life. All the way down the coast of the US and now along the islands in the Exumas we have befriended many other cruisers. The seasoned sailors have generously taken us under their wings with expert advice and generous camaraderie in every little port. Without it this would be a very different sort of trip.

Still, what I’ve looked forward to knowing is Bahamian culture, and I’ve gotten a good glimpse of it now at both Black Point settlement and at Little Farmer’s Cay during their 5Fs (Farmer’s First Friday in February Festival), which includes a sailing regatta of Class C Bahamas Sloops.

Black Point settlement is an island community of working class families. If you are ashore early enough you see the school children starting their day in their crisp dark green uniforms with pale yellow shirts. Both boys and girls wear ties to complete their outfits. Women work at various entrepreneurial businesses. Lorraine’s Internet Café is the most popular eatery on the island. Lorraine asks for reservations a day or so ahead of time so she can be sure to have the food on hand (this is very typical in the Bahamas where food has to be brought in by boat). Lorraine will advertise a particular night’s dinner buffet on the main VHF radio channel which all cruisers listen to, and they’ll either stop ashore to make their reservation or call her on the same radio channel. We went to a Wednesday evening buffet that included jerk chicken, ribs, sliced grilled steak, Bahamas macaroni and cheese, cole slaw, peas and rice, fried fish, and probably a few more things I’ve now forgotten. About 50 people came to this dinner, so she had her hands full cooking for all of us.

At the far left of this photo you can see the addition which Lorraine added which is computer room. There is a counter at desk height that runs around the perimeter of this room with outlets every few feet above the counter. This is a hot spot every day for visiting cruisers who want to check the internet. She offers this for free with the suggestion of a donation. You can also have lunch or a snack there while surfing the net. I spent about 4 hours there one day!

I learned that whoever hears that you are going to Black Point will ask if you to get them a loaf a bread from Corene. Her cinnamon bread and coconut bread are famous among sailors! Without realizing it, I met her as we were returning from our big dinner at Lorraine’s. We were walking back to our dinghy about 8pm when we saw a group of women sitting on the porch of a house plaiting palm fronds into long woven strips. At this time of night in January, it is completely dark, and the women were working by the lights on the porch, sitting in lawn chairs, chatting. It looked like something they did together on a regular basis.

When I came to get my bread the next morning, I realized that the bakery house was also the house with the front porch where the women were making baskets. I asked Corene where I could buy her baskets that I’d heard were for sale somewhere. She took me to the cute cottage next door, a smaller version of her house, where the one main room was filled with the baskets of all the women who sit and weave with her in the evenings. I chose a large market basket that she had made by hand-sewing the long strips of plaited palm fronds together to form a tote bag. Then she invited me into her kitchen to get the two loaves of coconut bread, one for us and one for friends who couldn’t make it to Black Point. I can’t promise that bread will still be around by the time we see our friends on Camelot. It would be such a shame for it to go stale! I highly recommend coconut bread, which I believe is a typical sweet, white bread dough that is rolled out and spread with mixture of butter, sweetened coconut, sugar and cinnamon, then rolled up and put into a standard loaf pan to rise and bake. Delicious!

Black Point is well known for having the best laundromat in all of the Bahamas. Can you imagine having that kind of fame? Well, now I’ve seen it, and it is well deserved! This is also a converted house. The downstairs has one large room with windows that overlook a limestone ledge with views of Grand Bahamas Bank, with its blue waters that shade from aquamarine and emerald in the shallower spots to cobalt blue in the deeper areas. Water and sky in amazing shades of blue as far as you can see. No one ever had a better view while doing such a mundane chore. The laundry room is bright white and pristine, with twelve washing machines and twelve dryers. It’s just hard to turn your back on the view in order to fold clothes on the folding tables! There is a small side room in the laundromat that offers a few basic provisions for sale, and the owner herself also gives haircuts while your laundry is going. Her clients sit in a plastic lawn chair on the limestone ledge while she cuts their hair. No need for clean up as the hair trimmings blow right out to sea! Now she wins my vote as the most entrepreneurial woman ever! Oh, and did I mention that laundry is only $3.50 a load? ….in such a remote place she could charge 5 times that much and we’d all be thankful to pay it!

There are various other small businesses on the island, run mostly by women and a few men. When Corene happened to tell us that she was born and raised on Black Point and that she and her husband had lived in their lovely white stucco house with bright green trim for many years now, Bob asked her what her husband does on the island. We’d seen a few groups of men just hanging around together outside during the days while we visited the island. Corene said her husband was currently out of work, along with some other men. They had all worked as fishermen for a man who owned a big boat. The owner had taken sick a few months ago and quickly died. The fishermen do not have the resources to fish for themselves or to buy a boat to share. I was moved by Corene’s acceptance of this hardship and her confidence that she could provide what they needed.

Breezing Up!

February 2, 2013 | Leave a Comment

Last night was the very first calm winds since arriving in the Bahamas two weeks ago. It almost felt like a protected harbor in New England, rather than a bit of water between two cays, which it really was….

We are in Little Farmer’s Cay for the “Farmer’s First Friday in February Festival, ” or 5Fs, as it is known. Part of this festival is a sailing race of Bahamian sloops. There are a few of these boats on the island, and on the morning of the festival the large mail boat brings in a few more with crew. This morning around 8am, we did see the mail boat “My Captain” arrive with three Bahamian sloops on the foredeck and a crowd of passengers milling on deck listening to blaring island music. The little cay of Farmer’s is now pulsing with excitement!

And the wind is picking up as predicted. The race should be quite adventurous, with East winds kicking up to over 20 mph and gusting to near 30. Bob went ashore earlier to volunteer for a crew position on one of the sloops. He came back to tell me that he is being considered for a spot on “Thunderbird.” He’s got the camera so I cannot document what I’m watching right now through binoculars. I don’t know if he has been accepted, but the captain of “Thunderbird” seems to be putting Bob through some paces: making him do quite a bit of the hard work rigging this sloop which is bouncing dramatically at the dock of Little Farmer’s Cay Yacht Club. It looks like most of the Bahamians are relaxing on the dock chatting together while Bob works solo to hank on the main sail. I’m wondering if they are waiting to see if Bob will get seasick. I think they’ll wait a long time for that, so I’m betting Bob will be accepted to crew for the race.

And I’m not sure what I think of that. He took his inflatable life jacket with him, but I have to wonder what the procedure is if someone goes overboard. From what I barely understand about Bahamian sloops, the biggest asset of having crew is ballast. The crew are expected to shift sides on every tack and to hike out as far as possible to balance the huge sail. Will they stop to pick up a crewman gone overboard? Will there be a chase boat for this eventuality?

Right now I’m watching a golf cart motor out onto the dock to pick up other supplies that the mail boat brought for this festival: crates food and drink. I was on that dock last evening, so I know it doesn’t seem sturdy enough for a golf cart full of supplies. Hmmm… this is not giving me confidence about the safety of things around here. Wish I could manage some photos of Bob, but he’s got the camera!

Now Bob is back on the dock, and the captain is on board looking at the sail, probably checking Bob’s handiwork. I also know that Bob is at least as agile as any of the Bahamian men, so I think it’s time to start worrying about his safety during this race.

Some of the boats are sailing around the harbor now, but I can no longer see “Thunderbird.” There are only two or three men on each boat, so I’m rather surprised that any of them would need volunteer crew members. The booms on these boats extend well beyond the stern, at least half again as long as their length on deck, and the mast is quite far forward on the deck. The sails are huge. I can’t tell if the sails can be reefed down in the kind of wind we have today. Should be interesting!