George Town - Part 2

Ok, so where was I??  Oh yes, the dinghy engine.  Since leaving Titusville, the dinghy motor hadn't been running well at all.  If you remember from a previous post, Steve was working on this issue in Miami.  Without a dinghy, you're pretty much dead in the water - unless you want to travel around in a big sailboat everywhere and then swim to shore.  Without a dinghy in George Town is most difficult.  There are several anchorages throughout Elizabeth Harbor and different activities happen at different places.  For instance, on Christmas Day, there was a big cruiser's dinner at Volleyball Beach.  We're anchored at Monument.  The dinner consisted of 11 different tables and each table had at least 10 people.  A table captain coordinated the dinner at their table.  Jerry and Barbara, from Kumbaya, were our captains.  They bought and cooked a turkey, Steve and I brought string beans and a pumpkin bread.   Other people brought mashed potatoes, stuffing and cranberry sauce.  We also had chocolate cake and pumpkin pie for dessert.  After dinner, everyone mingled, and we got to sample left over food from other tables.  It was a lot of fun.  Anyway, back to the dinghy engine problem.  The engine worked; however, it kept bucking and stalling.  It didn't always want to start back up either.  Finally, Steve went ashore and John (Sam the Skull) followed him and they took the engine apart.  They cleaned out the carburetor and voile', it works great now.  One less stressor.

Since Christmas, we've just been hanging out and exploring the area.  We usually go for a dinghy ride and find a beach to hang around for a while.  While at the beach, we find a trail that leads to the ocean side of the island and watch the crazy surf beating against the amazing rock formations.  Many times, we have the beach to ourselves.  We'd like to go snorkeling or diving, but my ear is still not better.  So I just swim with a float and keep my head above water.

On Saturday night, we went over the the main island for George Town's big Junkanoo Parade.

Def. from Wikapedia - Junkanoo is a street parade with music which occurs in many towns across The Bahamas every Boxing Day (December 26), New Year's Day and, more recently, in the summer on the island of Grand Bahama. The largest Junkanoo parade happens in Nassau, the capital. 

The whole island attends this big event.  Although Wikapedia states that the event is usually on Dec. 26th, it was actually on the 28th.  We took the dinghy over to Volleyball beach while it was still light out, and took the water taxi over to GT.  It was our first time being out at night!  So exciting.  We're usually in bed by 8:00 (well Steve is anyway).  Pictures and a video can be seen at:

http://www1.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=5908493012/a=102133856_102133856/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/


Today, Monday, the 30th, we took John Ray over to Kidd Cove - the anchorage right outside of downtown George Town.  I had to go to the clinic again, since my antibiotics are gone and my ear is still infected.  Until the ear is cleared up, we are reluctant to go anywhere else where there may or may not be medical facilities.  Steve topped off the diesel and we restocked some groceries.  Armed with a new antibiotic, I'm hoping my ear will be good by the end of the week so we can go exploring further south.  We're looking to head either to Long Island or the Jumento's Cays - or both!