January 17-21, 2001
Location:
Georgetown, Exuma
Odometer:
2286 miles
We spent time provisioning and preparing for a visit from our friends Bob
and Janice Milstead who live in Reston Virginia. They arrived on
January 19th and stayed onboard with us for 10 days. We were having
a bit of a water crisis since Georgetown has no business that would
provide drinkable water directly into the boat tanks. We could have
bought jugs and carried water back from town to the boat but with 250
gallons required that would have been quite an ordeal! Bob and
Janice, being experienced sailors, did not seem to mind the water
rationing (thank goodness!). Two cold fronts came through during
their visit so the temperature was a cool 70 degrees and the winds were
blustery. We did a bit of beach combing, hiking through ruins, and
snorkeling while in Georgetown. We spent many an evening playing
games and enjoying a few frozen tropical drinks.
January 22, 2001
Location:
Barretarre, Exuma
Barretarre is a small island, about 1 3/4
miles long, lying just off the northwestern tip of Great Exuma and
connected by two bridges to the mainland. The settlement is very small,
with a grocery store, church and the Fisherman's Inn restaurant.
There were a few other small establishments which seemed to be closed
while we were there. The weather was rainy and the cruise from
Georgetown to Barretarre was choppy. We enjoyed a tasty
dinner at the Fisherman's Inn that evening and went to bed early.
January 23-25, 2001
Location:
Little Farmers Cay, Exuma
It is said that there are 365 cays in the Exuma's and the residents of
Little Farmers Cay say "of those 365, pick one." I would
find it terribly difficult not to pick Little Farmers - the area is
gorgeous, the settlement small and clean and the people are wonderfully
kind and generous. We have immensely enjoyed our visit here!
We were fortunate to become acquainted with Roosevelt Nixon, the owner of
Farmers Cay Yacht Club. We were also happy to find out that the club
had drinkable water to fill our tanks!! We spent every evening
talking with Roosevelt, playing pool, and enjoying the Yacht Club's fine
fare. Bob and Janice treated us to a delicious dinner at the club
(wonderful cracked conch and grouper). We met Roosevelt's son,
Julian, who is in the process of building a home (as is Roosevelt) and he
asked if we would take digital photos of his "work in
process." One of Roosevelt's daughters lives in Gaithersburg,
MD and they wanted to e-mail photos to her. Roosevelt drove us to
the home that he is building and to Julian's which is next door. We
took some photos and enjoyed a wonderful impromptu sightseeing tour.
Roosevelt told us the history of the island, identified flora and fauna
and even taught us how to cut and eat a green coconut. We had a
wonderful day with Roosevelt.
January 26, 2001
Location:
Black Point, Exuma
The town of Black Point is the largest in the northern and central Exuma's.
We anchored on the opposite shore of the town due to wind conditions so
did not visit the town. The beaches on both shores of Black Point
are beautiful with wide sandy beach and huge limestone rock
formations. We found an amazing brain coral on the beach to add to
our shell collection.
January 27, 2001
Location:
Prime Cay, Exuma
Beautiful and unspoiled Prime Cay was the site of our next anchorage. This was Island Bob's favorite
spot of our travels and a gorgeous area. We snorkeled around three
rocks and saw beautiful fish and, of course, big barracuda. Chris
attempted to spear several grouper but had no success (he would later
become quite the spear fisherman!). We would love to spend a week in
this anchorage!
January 28, 2001
Location:
Barretarre, Exuma
We were delighted to find out that Janice
and Bob could get a taxi from Barretarre to the airport! This
enabled us to remain in the protected bank and avoid the rough ocean trip
back to Georgetown. We walked around the small settlement and went
to RayAnn's Variety Store. We met the most wonderful local man
who gave us a tour of his vegetable garden and fruit trees. They
farm by digging holes in the rocky soil and planting in these holes.
This is known as "pothole farming" and the mountains of
extracted rocks are piled near the garden. He was very proud of his
grapefruit trees and for good reason. The grapefruit are huge and
sweet, the best we had ever tasted. We purchased several grapefruit,
a cabbage and onions, all of which we picked fresh. Today also is
Superbowl Sunday and all Direct TV has been scrambled on the
island. You can just imagine how Chris reacted to this situation
- not a pretty sight! We walked to every establishment in
search of a working TV - no luck. GO RAVENS!!
January 29, 2001
Location:
Lee Stocking Island, Exuma
Bob and Janice leave for home today and we
are sad to see them go! Thanks again Bob and Janice for the boat supplies,
dinners out and t-shirts!! That morning we returned to the
grapefruit tree and picked 9 more! We plan to give Roosevelt and his
wife some fruit for being so hospitable. We set off for Lee Stocking
Island, the site of the Caribbean Marine Research Center. We
anchored and took a brief tour of the Center. The Center is active
during the summer months so there is little research conducted
during the winter. They study, in the hopes of preserving, coral
reefs, grouper, spiny lobster and Queen Conch, just to name a few.
January 30 - February 5, 2001
Location:
Little Farmer's Cay, Exuma
Odometer:
2002 miles
We returned to Farmers for the annual 5F
(Farmer's Cay First Friday in February Festival). First begun in
1986, the festival has gained quite a reputation for the "place to
be" in February. The festival features sailboat races, raffles,
local food and drink, hermit crab races, best buns and legs contests, and
of course the infamous wet t-shirt contest! We arrived here early
and are thankful due to the number of cruising boats already here.
We were so happy to meet up with Dan and Sara Werra on Los Escapados,
Joyce and Jim on Flying Fortress and Louis and Linda on Articus. We
met many new people at the festival and had a wonderful time. Now we
are looking for a few days of rest. The festival runs from Friday
through Sunday and the idea is to party the entire weekend. The
cruisers could not begin to compete with the Bahamians but we had a great
time trying! Chris caught several fish spear fishing and Flying
Fortress gave us some mahi-mahi steaks so we have fresh meat in the
freezer. We are spending the day cleaning up the boat and preparing
for our trip north. We can't believe our sabbatical is coming to an
end.....
