Beach Church Today

 Hi everyone!

Those who know me will be surprised to hear I just left Sunday church service! My first time in attendance here at the non denominational service held under the casuarina trees on the beach. It is Christian based and has been going on for years in the Georgetown cruising community. Very nice and uplifting. There must have been 60 or ,70 people in attendance. My friend Jacob from the boat Ruby was playing the guitar.

I am on my own again, having said goodbye to my lovely wife a couple of days ago. A long list of boat projects awaits. The day Meg left I used my boat to tow a disabled Brazilian boat to the Marina several miles away. The towing went well but the Marina was scary. Boats propped up by stacks of cinder blocks and pieces of scrap lumber. Lots of wrecked boats that appear to have come to grief on coral reefs. Equipment dripping with rust and so on. A far cry from Point Bay Marina back home. I hope my new Brazilian friends stay is brief!

All the best, Charlie

Georgetown!

 Hi folks!

Lots to report! Storm finally ended, Mary had a birthday, and we are in Georgetown. 

Nice birthday party aboard Bigger Fish, a Hylas 46 with the delightful Hugo and Mimi! We were joined by other friends Jim, Stefan, and Marie. A wonderful ntime was had by all. The wind died down overnight and on the morning of the 16 the we headed out the cut with no problems on the ocean. We ended up motorsailing the entire 40 plus miles to Georgetown due to relatively light winds astern. We could have sailed but would have had to spend the night on the ocean. I won't make that entrance in the dark. Plus, we were picking up Meg on the 17th. Yes, Meg is now aboard! We are anchored off the Chat and Chill bar on Stocking Island at the moment. Had a lovely walk on the ocean beach earlier. Everyone taking a siesta at the moment. Snorkeling.yesterday. Mary and Malachi have met some younger folks. Great times here!

Best, Charlie

Norther

 Hi everyone!

We are in a doozy of a norther at the moment. The initial line squall hit us yesterday morning with winds of probably 40 mph. Accompanied by a deluge of rain and a drop in temperature. Today the wind is a solid 30 and thankfully we are in the lee of the island. We did make it ashore last evening and had a great dinner at the Ocean Cabin, served up by Terry and Ernestine Bain. The wind should die down some overnight. We are invited for drinks at 4 by some of our Canadian friends. Will be a short but brutal row to get there. I did manage to row into town earlier but that was by myself and still really challenging. 

Best, Charlie

Little Farmer's Cay

 Hi folks!

We have come in here to potentially ride out an approaching cold front. It's supposed to come thru early Saturday morning.

We had several lovely days at Black Point, a lovely little town. Laundry was a project we tackled, a project made easier due to Ida Patton's fabulous laundromat, which boasts the best view of any laundromat I have ever been in. And Ida herself is a delight. We also purchased some groceries and topped up our water. We were sorry to leave but the anchorage is wide open to the west and becomes untenable with a frontal passage. So we sailed out the anchor and sailed down to Oven Rock near Little Farmer's. Spent the afternoon spelunking, beachcombing, and weaving palm fronds. Both Mary and Malachi have become extremely proficient at that craft.

So, we are tucked in at the southeast corner of the Cay where we should have reasonable protection from weather although there is a good bit of surge from the inlet. So there is a considerable amount of roll, which doesn't bother me, 

Staniel Cay

 Hi all!

We were incommunicado for a few days with no signal. Had a lovely time but the crew was lamenting the lack of fresh food so we came down here today and partook of burgers and salad at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club.

There has been some really good sailing and snorkeling along the way and Mary has suggested we go back north to sample some more of the park.

We did have a bit of an adventure on Warderick Wells yesterday. After taking a park mooring at Emerald Rocks we wanted to go to park headquarters where we knew we might be able to score a cold drink. It was probably a half mile away by dinghy but I suggested we walk, remembering the scenic trails from previous years. This hike, a result of my bad choice, involved a good hour and a half of slogging through jagged rocks, poison wood, thick underbrush, leering hutias ( an endemic small mammal) , and a case of heatstroke for Mary, who essentially collapsed at one point. Cryptic signage led us over to the other side of the island where we fortunately ran into a couple of Quebecois friends. They helped us back in the right direction and gave Malachi a ride back to our dinghy, which he then rowed to the park office. Rowing back to White Seal was a cinch, maybe 15 minutes.

Another fantastic rowing adventure took.place at Shroud Cay. We managed to get the big boat very close to the entrance of Sanctuary Creek Creek and anchored for the night. In the morning we rowed through the mangrove lined creek to the ocean outlet. It's a stunning place. We shared it with a megayachts family whose hired crew had set up cabanas and were blasting music and serving drinks. Not to us! The megayachts owner was impressed with our little dinghy and my guess is that he may have never seen one in use.

Speaking of the megayachts crowd, Mary had met a captain of one in the bar at Highborne Cay and she peppered him with questions. It turned out he had just finished a stint of 3 weeks with the owner aboard. On one day it developed that a member of the owners family had a need for some Mint Oreo cookies. Regular Oreos were aboard, but would not suffice. So the captain fired up the dinghy and went from Highborne into Nassau, a round trip of 70 miles, to acquire some Mint Oreos. With a thousand horsepower at his disposal he was back in a bit over two hours. We can't do that with our dinghy!

Cheers, Charlie

Highborne

 Hi fellow sailors,

We anchored just outside the Marina at Highborne Cay. It is a bit intimidating, given the staggering concentration of wealth at this spot. Mary is rowing our dinghy in on a reconnaissance.mission, with the ultimate aim of scoring a cold Snickers bar. Supposedly, you can land a dinghy here for a fee. It was decided to send the cutest crew member in to establish initial contact. Bear in mind that Mary is rowing a dinghy with an approximate value, on a good day, of maybe 500 bucks. We were just passed by a dinghy from a megayachts worth at least a million. It's a good 50' in length, carries 4 outboards with 1600 horsepower total, and like our little cockleshell is used to carry people and goods back and forth. These things are all over the place down here. When Meg and I were here 32 years ago this place was decidedly more rustic. But, like the rest of the Exumas, it has been discovered. Still pretty nice though!

We enjoyed a nice fire on the beach with a bunch of new Quebecois friends and rang in the New Year. Very nice! Then snorkeling in a lovely garden of sea fans and coral.

Best to all, Charlie