Friday Jan 9 we left Black Point and went on to Little Farmers Cay.  I always have difficulty leaving Black Point.  I really like Black Point.  Little Farmers consists of a liquor store as big as most walk-in closets, a grocery store as big as most living rooms, a Yacht Club and Ocean Cabin Restaurant.   The smaller the area, often times the nicer the people.  We were greeted with open arms by the people we met.  We ended up going to Ocean Cabin for a beverage and were told quite quickly we needed to move our boats as we (Night Hawk, Sapphire and Fine Lion) were anchored right at the end of the runway for the air strip.   The airplanes come right off of the air strip over the water.  We naturally moved our boats, and of course never saw one plane come in or out.   No Problem Mon.

Had a good dinner at Ocean’s Cabin that evening and decided we had done all there was to do in Little Farmer’s.

Saturday Jan 10 we headed for Little Farmers Cut, according to three boats and their different ways to get weather we all were under the impression that it would be a fine day to go through the cut out to the sound and head for Rat Cay.  Once we got to the cut it all became a different story, the cut was very rough.  One minute we were looking at the sky and the next minute we were looking at the next wave that was about to hit the boat.  It caused a little anxiety but the boats can handle way more than you think they can.   Once we had made the entrance to the cut there was no turning back and given the choice to turn back or not, I doubt that either one of us would have wanted to do that.  We were in the cut and we were safe; it was uncomfortable for 10-15 minutes.   All three boats managed to get through safely.  The weather on the outside was lumpy.  We were unable to sail, so we fished.  Steve caught a 27 inch Mahi Mahi.  It seems it’s always better to catch fish in the Bahamas in bad lumpy weather.  I guess it’s because the lure bounces on the top of the water more and those fish just can not resist the temptation.

At Rat Cay, the men did some hunting (lobster and fish).  Steve caught a lobster and a Trigger Fish.  Barracuda do not like lobster so much but they do like a fish that has just been shot.  It is normal to be in the water snorkeling and have at least one barracuda hanging out with you.  But when you shoot a fish, and it is on the end of your spear you must try to keep the fish out of the water or the barracuda may decide it should be his.  Naturally if he decided it was his, you would gladly give it to him.

We took a dingy ride over to Barraterre to the vegetable garden on the island.  Wow, what a shock to see a vegetable garden in this area.  The soil here is just not conducive to growing vegetables, but this family obviously had been working for many years to bring in soil.  There were cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage, bell peppers, bananas, papayas and pumpkins.  It was amazing.  The gentleman that rang (if you could call it that) up our bill was 91 years old.  He would put the items we purchased on the scale and never look at the scale just write down an amount on the pad.  All three boats (Night Hawk, Sapphire and Fine Lion) purchased different items and we all paid ten dollars…. 

One evening at Rat Cay we had a Pot Luck on the beach.  The Pot Luck consisted of Mahi Fingers, Margate Fingers, Trigger Fish Fingers, Cracked Lobster, coleslaw and a lettuce Salad.  Perseverance 2 (Tom and Kathy) joined us on the beach for this great Pot Luck dinner.

We are now in Georgetown.  If you recall from last year GT (Georgetown) is a very popular place for cruisers.  Adult Day Camp..   Plus Conch Salad Stand.  I managed to get two Conch Salads in one day.  Yum!

The weather has not been so good for the last few days so we have been boat bound.  Last night I made Enchilada’s and because Steve found a radio station that was playing a few Mexican songs he declared it Mexican Night.  This enticed him to get his straw hat on, start trying to talk in Spanglish, and start Salsa Dancing to the Mexican music.  When you have to stay on the boat too many days in a row this is called cabin fever.  I declared after the second Salsa Dance he had cabin fever. 

We intent to stay in GT at least until Wednesday Jan 21, that is when we can get our propane canister refilled.  We have two propane tanks but always like to have the spare full.  Once a week on Wednesdays the propane truck rolls into GT and all the cruisers stand in line and wait to get propane and hope they do not run out.

Once we leave GT we will be going to Long Island and then on to the Jumentos.  We plan to stay in the Jumentos for a week or two.  There are no services in the Jumentos so will not be able to stay too long.  If we can sail over and save fuel, we can stay longer as we do not have to worry about getting water.  The water maker has been awesome.

Captain’s note:

It has always been said that cruising is working on your boat in exotic locations.  Well, this morning found the captain trying to repair a leaking head.  After replacing all moving parts and re-assembling the head, it still leaked.  Upon closer examination, it was found to be cracked in the pump wall.  Well, a cracked head is serious business.   The good news is that we have a spare.  Thank god!  We are now back in the business of total head usage.  Fine Lion actually has two heads, but as they say two heads are better than one.  The Admiral is happy…that’s very important.

Then the pull rope on the generator broke.  Would you believe that the entire generator is built around the coil that holds the starter rope?  The entire generator had to be taken apart to re-load the rope starter into the coil.  That was a two hour project.  We ended up a little late for happy hour on the beach at the Chat ‘N Chill.  We did a good job of making up lost time, however.

More later…

Kim and Steve