Feb 14 - 19:  Family Time

     It’s a tight fit with all four of us on this boat, but didn’t we have a great week!  Joe slept on the bench in the salon, and Billy claimed he was very comfortable in his cushioned sleeping bag on the sole between the table and the galley.  We soon fell into a daily routine - everyone sleeping in, the boys pitching in with the boring chores like dishes and the physical chores like raising anchor (I have been spoiled this whole week!) - and every night we sat around the galley table and played games, swapped stories and did a lot of laughing.  It’s been a long time since the four of us spent so much time together.

     Sunday we all went snorkeling at the reef just off Crab Cay in Red Shanks.  This may have been the best reef we’ve found yet, and it was a great introduction to snorkeling for Billy.  We saw several different kinds of fish and many kinds of coral as well as a small forest of plants and sponges.  It was a bit rough from the strong NE wind, but we managed almost an hour of goggling at the wildlife.  

     Monday we moved over to Sand Dollar Beach on Stocking Island (there are several beaches with descriptive names like Monument, Flip-Flop, and Volleyball) and dinghied ashore to walk the beach on the Sound side and hike to the top where the stone monument overlooks George Town harbor.  The NE wind was blowing a steady twenty-five knots and the six-ten foot waves were crashing with fierce determination on the Sound side of the island.  We took a picnic lunch and set off about eleven in the morning for the quick hike across the island and then two miles down the beach.  It was a good day to do this, we crossed paths with several other cruisers out for some exercise.  Hiking with the wind sort of at our backs was easy.  The way back to Sand Dollar Beach was another story.  The constant spray of the waves crashing soon misted our glasses with a salty fog and our clothes were all slightly damp by the time we made it back to the boat.  We weighed anchor and moved over to the more protected Honeymoon Beach, a nice shallow cove custom made for the Willie Dawes.  The wind was supposed to die down in the morning and we were going to head over to Long Island.

     Tuesday we weighed anchor early and made a run into George Town as we’d discovered our cell phone data had run out and the only way to get more was to stand in line at the Batelco office to get more data.  (You can “Top Up” at many of the local stores, but it’s far cheaper to go directly to the telephone company and do it there.)  I need to be online periodically to check my email and do some occasional work, and Joe wanted to keep tabs on his email while Billy needed to check in with school to retrieve assignments.  That errand finished, we set off across the Sound for the five-plus hour cruise to Long Island.  The rough 6-8 foot seas of yesterday were all but gone as if we had dreamed them.  The guys broke out all the fishing rods and set out lines but once again the fish eluded us.  We arrived in Calabash Bay on Long Island around three and quickly broke out the snorkeling gear to check out one of the nearby reefs.  There was a gentle swell running and the sand was pretty stirred up and covered everything, making the coral all look fairly bland.  There wasn’t much to see, but we stuck with it for about an hour and then gave up.  Dan thought the swell would be enough to bother us if we stayed the night there, so we weighed anchor and moved on down the coast to Alligator Bay by the town of Simms.  The sea were both flat calm, save a long slow swell, and the air was heavy with humidity.  We had learned by now that this weather would mean a return of wind, and sure enough, the forecast predicted very strong winds building up Wednesday night into Thursday, blowing 20-30 knots right through Sunday, so we knew our time on Long Island would be short.  We spent the night in Alligator Bay and weighed anchor at first light to move down to Thompson Bay/Salt Pond for one last good snorkel before we returned to the George Town area.  Billy was only with us for a week: he needed to catch a flight back to Maine on Friday.

     Indian Point off Thompson Bay was where we had found all the lobster.  This time we had to look quite hard to find any but we did harvest enough for a meal, along with an Atlantic spade fish.  Our fish book declared this fish “highly edible” and we were very excited to get one with our Hawaiian sling.  There were two of those fish, and Joe tried for the second one, but two large barracudas showed up, and Joe decided to leave it for them.  It was around noon then, and we had that five-plus hour cruise back to George Town ahead of us, so we raised the anchor and set off and decided to have lunch on the way.

Atlantic spade fish have black stripes on white/silver, as opposed to angel fish which are white stripes on black.

Lobster feast.

Fish and fries.

     Dan cleaned and fileted the spade fish, Joe peeled potatoes for french fries, and Billy took the helm while I prepared for the meal.  When the lobsters were cooked, I took the helm and they started in on the crustaceans while Dan tended the french fries and baking fish.  We enjoyed a large meal as the winds started picking up and the seas started to build.  Dan, bless ‘im, stayed below and cleaned up the galley afterward as we bounced along, while the boys laid down to sleep off the seafood.  We got back into protected waters close to sunset, and came into Honeymoon Beach to drop the hook in ‘our’ spot for the night. 

     Thursday we discovered our friends Jo and Bruce on Solana were anchored nearby when we heard them on the morning net making a plea for help with setting up their phone as a hotspot.  Well, with two young men thoroughly literate in all things computer-related aboard, we promptly volunteered their help and all of us went aboard Solana after breakfast.  Joe and Bill solved their problem in no time while the rest of us caught up on our various adventures since we’d spent those six days with the Hog Cay Yacht Club, and they invited us back that evening for supper.  

      We spent the day hiking back up to the Monument to retrieve a lost water bottle (no luck, someone else must have retrieved it for us) and snorkeling one last time together off Elizabeth Island in Elizabeth Harbor.  There were several reefs with lots of fish and lots of coral along the shore; it seemed everyone discovered something to show everyone else.   We spent almost two hours in the water, probably our longest time in the water.  We took turns showering with the sun shower and returned to Honeymoon Beach in time for our dinner aboard Solana.

     Bruce and Jo hail from Ontario and put on a great spread of grilled chicken and pork with tzatziki and a bean salad.  The hit of the evening was her wonderful brownies, studded with pecans.   The wind howled outside but we were snug and comfortable sitting around their table.  We couldn’t think of a better way to end the day.

     The winds stayed strong and gusty all night and the day promised the same.  Today was Billy’s last day with us, and Joe would leave tomorrow.  The boys and I played one last game of Scrabble while Dan went to visit a couple on a nearby boat who have offered to watch Tommie for us so we can make a trip back to Maine in March, and then we moved the Willie back over to Kidd’s Cove and went to town for lunch and to wait for Billy’s taxi later in the afternoon.

     As we waited outside Redboone Bar and Grill we played a few rounds of checkers on a large table set up just for that purpose, drawing the attention of a few locals.  One of them just shook his head at our lack of strategy and another came over to start coaching.  “Billy!  Why you doing that, mon?  You do this!  You going to lose, mon.”  He showed us all some new ‘power’ moves apparently allowed in this game in the Bahamas and when that game was over, planted himself on one end of the board and directed Joe to play against him.  He was not above inventing new rules as the game progressed, clearly favoring himself, and we attracted a few onlookers who stood grinning - cruises and locals alike enjoying our being had.  The entire time the man played checkers he kept offering to Dan - sotto voce - something from the selection of product that was undoubtedly his main line of business.  (Dan kept declining.)  Local color.  

Dan plays Billy, and below our local friend instructs Joe on the new rules.

     Billy climbed into his taxi close to three pm and the three of us returned to the Willie and back over to Honeymoon Beach. Tomorrow we’ll say goodbye to Joe.  It’s been so wonderful having the boys with us, so sad to see them go.