GEORGE TOWN

Carl’s real good friend Dick from high school is coming to join us for a couple of weeks. He can fly into Nassau and get a small shuttle to George Town. So we had to get to George Town before the 18th of February. All the cruiser friends we were with wanted to explore all the little islands in between, some won’t even go that far south because they had to be heading back home soon. We said our good buys to our new friends and headed toward George Town.

Next stop Staniel Cay: We were there over Valentines day. Carl took me out for steak & lobster dinner. We sat with a couple, he was a pilot that owned a vacation home there. Real nice people. The next day we went to Thunderball Cave. It’s a famous underwater cave where shafts of sunlight illuminate the fish inside. The James Bond movie Thunderball was filmed inside this cave. We met up with two guys Michiel & Robert from Holland a boat anchored next to us called the Pas De Deux, they came with us. It was the coolest snorkeling I’ve ever did. We brought some old bread to feed the fish, they came up to us and ate out of our hands. The cave was awesome. Next we went to Big Majors Cay and saw the swimming pigs. We also fed them they rum off the island and swim to your dinghy to eat. Weird but different. We also met a couple that were vacationing on the Island. Tim & Debbie. We invited them over to our boat for Happy hour. Carl picked them up in our dinghy and brought them to our boat anchored in the anchorage. It was their 1st time on a sail boat. They had a great time. The next day Tim made me a CD of Jimmy Buffett, (Also a parrot head.) We said good bye exchanged numbers so we could keep in touch. Mike & Robert were also heading to George Town we would look them up there.

GEORGE TOWN:

Next stop George Town: We arrived the day before Dick’s plane came in. In George Town sail boaters come from all over to sail in the Regattas. 250 boats are anchored in the anchorages throughout town. They have volleyball, softball, basket weaving, card playing activities scheduled for everyday. A cruiser net is on the VHF every morning @ 8:00am to tell the cruisers what’s up for that day. It’s wild. We paid for a slip at the only marina in town. It would be so much easier for Dick to find us there. As Carl was walking Tara by the marina office, Dick’s Taxi pulled up, we couldn’t have planed it better if we knew the exact time he would be arriving. We are glad that he is here safe and sound! It really was a good thing that Carl found him so quickly, because Carl gave Dick a long list of things he needed for the boat. Carrying his bags with that stuff inside would be a chore for one person. Dick is our 1st guest aboard. It’s great to have him here!
For those of you that don’t know, Dick and his wife Terry joined us in Florida to take sailing classes with us. “Great people.” We will put Dick to work sailing as far as we can go in two weeks. Lets see what he remembers!
Having Dick aboard is purely a pleasure. He has been out sailing with other friends a number of times. He is a natural, just a few lessons on navigation he will be ready to rent the catamaran that he has his eye on and sail it with no problem. We found Michiel & Robert from the Pas De Deux sailboat. We have become great friends. Carl, Robert and I are trying to fish. We all caught one about 4” long. We just through them back. We are learning. George Town is fun but there are to many boaters. They are continently on the VHF radio calling someone, it drives me nuts!
As soon as weather permits we will be heading out to Long Island. We will follow Pas De Deux for a while south. They have been sailing for many years and are so helpful with anything on the boat. I just feed them and supply the beer or Rum. They are happy to help out with anything! Long Island then to Conception Islands: just two small anchorages to drop anchor spend the night and leave early in the morning. In Long Island, our windless motor broke down. This is a automatic motor that lets your chain down and pulls up. Without it you need a lot of mussels to pull it up by hand. Carl & Dick took turns I drove the boat toward the anchor. More snorkeling, Carl is practicing spear-fishing. He speared a Parrot fish big enough to eat. Robert & Carl tried to cut it up but had some problems. I ended up boiling it and feeding it to sailor. Robert is a great chef he makes us dinner quite often, he cooks I do dishes. He knows his way around my