My
trip to Colorado was great. I went for a surprise 80th Birthday party for my wonderful mother.
Mom was very surprised to see my sister Kristy (she lives in Houston, TX) and me at her party.
I got back to Georgetown on March 12 without
my bag. Most likely because my original flight was canceled. I was fairly certain my
bag would not make it on the flight when the flight attendants were asking for nine people to give up their seats because
there was too much weight with the bags and the number of passengers on the plane. Not one person gave
up there seat so then they just take off bags so the plane can fly. The bag did arrive the next day…on
Bahamas time. I am certain the answer to all questions that have to do with time is “ten minutes”
which translates into anywhere from 1-4 hours.
One
should always expect to wait in the Bahamas. Typically this is not a problem except on this day I was waiting
for my bag. The weather was not too good; we were expecting squalls and high winds (as per normal this
season). We called the airlines and they told us the bag would arrive at the market within a half
hour. That was at around 9:00, we could not leave the boat at that time because of the weather.
We finally got into town around 11:30, no bag at the market… We called the taxi driver that
was supposed to be bringing the bag from the airport to the market. He was on his way “Taxi 8”
is in route, so we wait on the benches in front of the market. We are very glad the bag is on the way because
the sky is getting black and a squall is on the way. Steve and I are trying not to get antsy knowing
we need to get back to the boat. Not because the boat can not take a squall more because if our anchor
should give way or if any boats around us that has its anchor break loose and drag. So, as we wait
impatiently (Steve and I are both so patient, NOT) Taxi 8 passes right by the market. You guessed it, I
was on the VHF radio hailing Taxi 8. The taxi driver decided to pass us by and go drop off the passengers
he also had in his taxi rather then take 2 minutes to drop off my bag. Oh yeah, not a happy Kim.
Of course the sky is just getting blacker and blacker so Steve had to go back to the boat, which is not a problem of
course unless our anchor lets go as he would be single handing.
I run into the market as the skies just let loose and it poured and blew. I was in the market
listening to the cruisers saying on the radio that they just saw 42 knots of wind. So of course I am just
steaming because my bag is still sitting in Taxi 8 making the rounds somewhere in Georgetown. Finally,
the rain stopped and my bag made it to the market, so bag in hand I’m now waiting for Steve to come back to get me,
I am on my way down to the dingy dock pulling my bag through the mud to get to the dock and low and behold the skies cut loose
once again so I am dragging my bag back up these stairs to take cover. Ahhhh air travel is so fun
these days.
For those of you that ask the question “What do you do all
day long?” Some days it takes the entire day to get one bag that is within reaching distance but
you just can not quite reach it. But, hey I got my bag, with my bra zipped in the zipper so who knows what
was going on with my bag. Nothing was missing, it was likely checked by security and they just stuffed
my bra in and zipped it right into the zipper.
Steve and I left Georgetown
on Sunday and went to Long Island. We really like Thompson Bay, Long Island and we were both ready to leave
GT. Tuesday we went into Long Island Breeze did e-mail, had lunch, and visited with 20 plus other cruisers
and had a great time. Steve called for a beach party that evening, we had a bon fire and visited with some
great people. It is getting to that time of the season that it is time to say goodbye to these people that
you have been seeing off and on for the last 4-5 months until next year. Always a very tough time.
We have made such great friends being lucky enough to do what we do.
We
went back to GT on Wednesday and provisioned and cleaned the boat for Scott and Amy to arrive on Thursday. Wednesday
night Steve and I went to Peace and Plenty for dinner, we had a great dinner and Steve had two glasses of wine (Pino Grigio).
Once we got the bill I am pretty sure we could have bought at least four bottles of wine for the cost of the two glasses
he had. The wine was eleven dollars a glass. Good grief, who knew? Yikes!
No more of that, we have never been the type of people to ask how much a glass of wine is before we order it but we
may have to change our ways. We did stay at Peace and Plenty for while after dinner and listened to a band.
It was fun.
Thursday (March 18) Scott and Amy arrived
on time with bags in hand. Always a plus. We took them to Chat ‘N Chill.
That is the bar over on the Island where Adult Day camp takes place.
Friday
we left Georgetown and headed over to Conception. We fished for six hours and did not catch a thing.
Bummer. Scott was able to get a picture of the boat Aqua Doll, 68 foot motor yacht that went on
the reef in Conception. Very sad. Unsure what the story is about how it went on the
reef. I will let you know once I get the scoop.
We
anchored on Friday at the southeast end of Conception, we walked the beach and of course had a great Lobster Alfredo for dinner.
On Saturday we weighed anchor and moved over to the northwest side of the Island and did some snorkeling.
That evening we had Lobster “pedestrian style” as Steve and Amy called it (lobster dipped in butter).
Sunday we weighed anchor and Scott put out all the fishing lines but…. No luck again. Though
we did have Lobster Salad for lunch. We ended up anchoring at Calabash Bay off of Long Island.
We did some snorkeling that afternoon and Scott speared a couple of snapper. Right after a great
dinner of (no not lobster) Spaghetti and Meatballs, we hear on the VHF Radio a man calling Stella Maris Marina (a marina not
real close to where we were but the closest marina in the area) in a somewhat desperate voice. He was needing
someone to pick up his guests off the shore near where we were anchored because their tender had engine problems.
Steve got on the radio with the captain of “Summer Love” and told the captain he would be happy to go get
his seven guests off shore and take them to there Yacht. Steve did explain to the captain that he would
not be able to take them all in one trip and that he could not take the boat up on shore the guests would have to get in the
water and then get in the dingy. The captain and the guests were just so delighted to know they would be
getting a ride back to there boat they did not care. By the way Stella Maris never responded back to the
captain so it was good that we followed the call on the radio or who knows what would have happened to these people.
Summer Love did have another tender but the bridle to lift
the boat was on the broken down tender about a mile away. Steve got the guests back to the boat and went
to the broken down boat got the bridle and took it back to the Yacht. With the bridle the crew on Summer
Love was able to get the other tender in the water and tow the other tender back to the big boat (120 feet).
Steve got back to the boat with in an hour with a nice bottle of champagne and a breakfast invitation for all of us
for the next morning.
Monday morning Steve, Amy, Scott and I
loaded in the dingy and went to Summer Love for a great breakfast and met some incredibly nice people. All
the people on Summer Love are from Maryland (Oxford, St. Michaels, Y-River and the DC area) so we all had a lot to talk about.
Once again we meet such great people cruising.
We left Calabash
Bay late Monday morning and fished back to Georgetown, no fish again. Fine Lion must be jinxed.
Not for lack of trying that is for sure.
Monday evening after dinner
(Cracked Conch) we all loaded in the dinghy to go to Eddy’s EdgwaterRake-n-Scrape. It was a very
fun evening, I was the dancing queen and Amy was live entertainment. Unsure what the boys did but I know
Amy and I had a very good time. I am certain the next time Scott and Amy come to visit us in the
Bahamas it will be required we go to another Rake-n-Scrape.
Tuesday morning
Mike and Kathy on Sapphire came over for breakfast, we had a great breakfast and nice bottle of champagne to toast to good
friends and great times. Scott and Amy were on the 3:00 p.m. flight. The
3:00 p.m. flight that left at 5:00 p.m. They missed their connecting flight out of Miami but were
able to get on another flight which got them in at 1:30 a.m. Oh, the joys of air travel.
We are now in the Black Point – Staniel Cay area. When
we left Georgetown we stopped at Galliot cut, Oven Rock and White point. We met up with Let and Roland
(on Kokomo) at White point. Steve and I went to their boat on Sunday evening and played Dominos.
What great people, again we meet the neatest people cruising. We are currently anchored at Big Majors
(Pig Beach) waiting for a front to pass. Go figure another front. Humm.
We will have west winds this evening. When the wind comes out of the west there is really no where
to go for protection unless you want to be anchored in a small area with 10-15 boats real close. No thanks…not
for us, we will just weather the storm in the open and listen (on VHF radio) to those people that decided to go to the anchorage
with the 10-15 people real close to them in a panic because one of their anchors has let loose and one boat is about to run
into another boat. More power to them.
Soon we will start heading north…very sad! So until next update…
Kim and Steve
