Feb 12-13: Waiting for Son # 2

    Friday we moved from Sand Dollar Beach across and back to one of our favorite spots in the Red Shank/Crab Cay area of George Town harbor.  Another vessel - Lazy Pirate - was hauling out at a small boatyard and Dan wanted to check it out as well as lend them a special tool.  We had time on our hands and spent a lazy day preparing for son # 2 Will (although we call him Billy) to join us.  On a thirty foot boat this is something to consider, especially when the fourth person is the tallest of all of us.  We divided up bedding and made a list for grocery shopping on Saturday and otherwise had a quiet day.  

     Saturday it was hot but breezy.  The weather here has alternated between windy and very windy with a few breaks of calm, hot and muggy days before the wind picks up again.  Cruisers with a lot of Bahamian experience have told us they haven’t seen a winter like this in ten years, some of them even have resorted to wearing sweaters!!  We’re not complaining - it’s still warm and sunny, even when it’s blowing thirty knots - but the strong winds and accompanying sea do limit the areas we can go.  We’ll take hot but breezy.  We gathered up the laundry and our shopping list and moved the Willie around to Kidd’s Cove in front of George Town, and dinghied in to do our errands and to wait for Billy’s plane.  He arrived around five that afternoon, excited and eager for his cruising adventure, fully clad in jeans, heavy shoes, and long sleeved shirt.  He claimed not be warm, but he made the rest of us feel even hotter.  

     We had hoped to cross over to Long Island and discussed briefly whether or not to try for it, despite the building seas in the Sound and the strong winds.  The consensus was to go for it, and we set out.  In about an hour’s time we decided we were crazy and turned around to head back for the sheltered water of Red Shanks.  It was enough that we were together, and we would work out the trip across the Sound at another time.

Trying for the crossing.