We’ve been in George Town now, for a week and a half now - so let me catch up. As planned, we left Great Guana, our
anchorage south of White Point on Wednesday, December 18th. We had a great sail all day, until late
afternoon when a squall moved in on us.
We heeled over pretty quickly with a 30-knot gust, so we reefed the
headsail. However, in the process,
the sacrificial sunbrella fabric on the outside/edge of the sail got
ripped. So, while it looks a
little ghetto, at least the headsail is still in tact. It’s on our agenda to sew, but we
haven’t had a really calm day to take
the sail down. The wind sure likes
to blow around here! I’m not
complaining though – our wind generator keeps the batteries charged, and it
doesn’t get too hot or buggy!
After the squall hit, we didn’t have much further to get
into Elizabeth Harbor where we would anchor for the night. There were more squalls threatening the
rest of the way in though. “Sam the Skull” and “Pura Vita,” the two catamarans
we were travelling with, were well ahead of us, and already checking into
customs. Although we were also required
to check-into the country, we weren’t sure of the harbor, there were many
shallow spots, it was getting close to dark, and more squalls were threatening. We stopped at the first anchorage we
came to at monument beach. We
figured we would check in first thing in the morning since it was a long day,
and we were a little frazzled.
That night, the sky opened up and torrential downpours and crazy winds
hit. The next day, the rain
stopped, but the winds continued to blow 20-25 knots and gusts to 30 all
day. Needless, to say, we stayed
put. We didn’t realize there was a water taxi which couldn’ve picked us up –
we’re newbies to George Town. On
Thursday afternoon, John (Sam the Skull) came over in his dinghy to check on
us, since he hadn’t heard anything from us. (They had also anchored at the monument - way ahead of us though.
Apparently we were out in the wilderness). We told John we were keeping a low
profile since we didn’t check into the country yet. On Friday, we called Elvis’ Taxi, and went into town to
officially check into the Bahamas.
We walked around town for a while, since we hadn’t been off the boat in
almost a week since leaving Miami.
We also enjoyed a nice meal of conch fritters and a huge burger at
Eddie’s Edgewater.
The wind continued to blow pretty good for the next few
days. We started to relax and get
the lay of the land. We listened
to the morning “net” on the radio and found out about some activities for
Christmas. John also told us about
a bon fire and “pot luck” on monument beach for Friday night. We went to that shindig, had some good
food and drink, met some new people and enjoyed some good music and
singing. Gradually, we started to
like GT.
On Sunday morning, the day of the ladies’ Christmas luncheon
and Yankee Swap, I awoke with a swollen, painful ear infection. I took a Motrin, and went to the
luncheon. By the end of the Yankee
swap I was in excruciating pain.
On a positive note though, I drew #1 for the Yankee Swap, so I got to
pick the first and the last gift. The
gift that I picked first, ended up being the gift that I chose last (it did get
stolen from me during the swap).
It was 2 insulated carrying pouches – great for bringing dishes to
potlucks.
On Monday, my ear was pretty bad. We had found out about a clinic in town on the main island. Since it was a long dinghy ride, we decided to take the sailboat. We also had errands to run - groceries and laundry. The clinic was very efficient. We were in and out of there in about an hour. With 3 medications plus the visit, it was just $100. The laundry proved to be a lot more tedious. It was very busy and the lady running the place was bossing us around on which driers to use or not use. Yes, I did have a mini meltdown. In my defense, I was in a lot of pain and we hadn't eaten yet! With the clinic, groceries and laundry, it was a very long day. Steve was also having his own issues trying to figure out why the dinghy engine kept dying on us - and always at the most inopportune times!
To be continued . . .
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