Relaxing in George Town

as usual, see more photos on our Flickr site by clicking link to left

SYNOPSIS

MYSTIQUE continues north in tandem with ROLESTRA back to the Park, then we leave ROLESTRA and sail back to George Town (GT). We re-provision, fix a mechanical

problem and several electricals and welcome crew aboard for a week of fun in the sun around GT and Stocking Is. Weather continues to be perfect with winds easterly 10-12kn and temps between 75 – 85F.

Tuesday, April 28

We left Lee Stocking and had a beautiful and comfortable sail out in the deep water of the Sound north 14 mi to the banks and then 20 more miles sailing on the “inside” of the banks, out of the big waves. Not at all as rough as Sunday had been. We met up with Bob and Warren in Sampson Cay, where we’ve been many times before. After going ashore to get internet, we decided to

take Warren up on his kind offer to buy us dinner in celebration of his birthday and our cruise together. What a treat! They really do a nice job at Sampson Cay. It’s owned by the guy who owns the Discovery Channel and others, and it’s certainly a step up from most facilities in the

Bahamas.

Wednesday, April 29

The next day we sailed to the Exuma Land and Sea Park – took a mooring ball in front of the pretty administration building. It’s a narrow deep blue channel with about 20 mooring balls that arcs around light colored tidal flats – we will need to get pics from Bob and Hal as we forgot our camera when we went hiking to BooBoo Hill. This is the place where cruisers can leave mementoes of their boat – as long as it’s natural. No plastic or anything else that won’t naturally decay. When we were there last fall with Megan and Jeremy, our memento was to write “Mystique” in the sand. It had naturally ‘decayed’. The round trip hike of the island brought us back to the ranger’s

headquarters. After a quick lunch we went snorkeling on the reef – because it is a park, all the fish and reef and coral are protected. So the fish aren’t afraid - sort of like Rocky Mountain Park. There were the usual hundreds of Sergeant Major striped fish, and when we saw a HUGE spotted “crawfish” claw-less lobster it didn’t scurry away – allowing

us to really watch it closely. Then we say a large sea turtle and wow, can those things swim fast! 2 giant spotted rays came up almost begging us to swim with them!! It was a rare and wonderful experience snorkeling.

Thursday, April 30

After dropping the mooring we headed back to Sampson Cay for a comfortable night at anchor and final dinner aboard Bob’s “ROLESTRA”. Warren was to fly out of Staniel Cay (5 mi. away) and Bob’s new crew to arrive the next morning for his trip back to Florida. After sailing with, or in tandem with Bob for 5 weeks, it was good-bye.

Friday & Saturday, May 1 & 2

Jan and I headed back the 55 miles to George Town via a night anchorage at Cave Cay (again), taking advantage of a good weather window with 10-15kn winds from the east. This allowed us to sail or motor-sail the two days SE in great conditions and arrive in our by now familiar neighborhood of Elizabeth Harbor between GT and Stocking Island’s Chat ‘n Chill beach bar by 3:00. We stopped by the marina to top up with fuel and water and wash down the boat, then anchored just off GT so we could easily dinghy in the 300 yards to town for grocery shopping,

church on Sunday and the arrival of new crew Monday.

Sunday, May 3

Boy, do those Anglicans/Episcopalians know how to throw a worship service here in George Town!!! We attended the big church up on the hill at 11:00. The beautiful church, dating back to 1802, was about half full. It was like a high service with processional, incense wafting, full robes and vestments and the congregation, mostly native Bahamians, dressed in their Sunday best. The church has a sound system because we saw the microphones and speakers, but boy when the choir started singing or the preacher started preaching, no sound amplification was needed, believe me. When the choir processed next to us we were blown away by the enthusiasm, power and beauty of each voice singing at full throttle. It took my breath away and brought tears to my eyes!

After a full TWO HOURS of this enthusiasm we were inspired! (and a little ready to get out into the fresh Bahamian air..although the church is air conditioned.) It felt great to get back to church after 6 weeks away from home. We met a gentleman, David, who gives the weather each morning on the cruiser’s net. We asked for advice on a local diesel mechanic who could help us with a persistent problem of engine fresh water antifreeze coolant growing in volume and overflowing the reserve tank. More on this later.

We stopped on the way back to the dinghy and offered to take a picture of a couple in the park. Turns out they were Paul and Susan Roberts (“JOLI SPOT”) from Boulder and Frisco, CO!!!

Small world. We agreed to meet later in the afternoon for dinner at Chat ‘n Chill after drinks and oover doovers aboard their 36’ catamaran sailboat. Great time. Jan and I dinghied home across Elizabeth harbor (almost a mile) while there was still a little light to see.

Monday, May 4

This is the arrival day for my 1^st cousin Robinanne Holzworth and her husband Alan Wale from N. Ft. Myers. But first, there was this ‘mechanical opportunity’ of the engine coolant to look after. After the 8:00 am cruisers’ net on VHF Ch72 we heard from Kelly Wilson “PENNY PINCHER”, a local marina owner and boat mechanic who had been asked to call us by David from church. Turns out his boat was anchored right behind ours, and he came over to take a look at our engine coolant issue. He brought his SCUBA tank and we connected it up to the suspect heat exchanger to run a pressure test. The theory, later proved to be correct, was that the only way for the antifreeze coolant reservoir to overflow consistently was by being polluted with sea water through a leak in the heat exchanger, which acts like the radiator on your car.

Although we could not detect a pressure leak, we called Westerbeke (engine manufacturer) and confirmed the heat exchanger was the only possible cause of the trouble. We ordered a new one from Seattle Monday afternoon. It was shipped overnight to Ft. Lauderdale and made it aboard a local flight Tuesday afternoon. After paying 40% Bahamian duty at the airport (in cash, only) we had the new part aboard by 5pm.

Monday – Sunday May 4 - 10

Robinanne and Alan arrived around dinner time Monday and we loaded all four of us and their luggage into the dinghy for a splashy ride through the waves back to the boat. It was their first time cruising aboard a small boat, although they had sailed with friends. They turned out to be great enthusiastic crew and good company and we enjoyed a wonderful week together. Alan is a master at mechanicals and fixing stuff and set out right away Tuesday helping me install and test the new heat exchanger. It fixed our problem, as predicted! But that took up most of Tuesday so we couldn’t set out for far shores.

The rest of the week we spent exploring Stocking Island and Elizabeth Harbor by sailboat or dinghy. One day the winds were perfect and we circumnavigated Stocking Is. (about 25 miles). Another day we motored south a bit to try some snorkeling and explore some potential wedding beaches for Andy and Jessica (for their wedding here June 11 with just parents & siblings). After we returned to anchor we learned there had been a bull shark attack about ½ mile from where we were snorkeling!!!!!! This was a very unusual circumstance, and it later turned out to be a Venezuelan tourist who was spear fishing (illegally) and was carrying his catch on a string from his body. He had a mangled hand. HELLO????? What was he thinking? So note to future crew – the snorkeling and swimming is safe here if you’re not carrying a string of bloody fish with you.

Most evenings we got into very lively and competitive games of Grama’s Rules cards or Rummikub. Great fun. And we celebrated Jan’s XXth birthday on the 7^th (and Andy’s as well), with a fine dinner ashore at Peace and Plenty. Then we celebrated Robinanne’s impending 65^th birthday and raise with another fine dinner ashore at St. Francis Resort next to Chat ‘n Chill. Wonderful times and great memories!

R & A went to church with us Sunday morning before leaving GT for their flight home. Alan was raised a Brit and confirmed that this Anglican service was the real deal! We were sorry to see them go. We were able to sneak in a few Skype sessions later in the day to exchange Mother’s Day wishes with Andy and Megan and my Mom who’s back in Traverse City for the summer. We also talked with our next incoming crew, Jan’s 1^st cousin Susan Hargleroad and her husband John Earl from Ft. Townsend, WA. They fly in next Wednesday, the 20^th, for a week of fun in paradise.

Monday, May 1

Jan and I are back to our normal quiet cruising mode. This morning we were planning on going to the Laundromat to do Monday wash and the marina to fill the water tanks and wash down the boat – especially the toe rails which need more coats of varnish. But we heard on the morning cruisers’ net that GT is without water pressure today. Thus a little quiet time to catch up on the much neglected blog. I type an original draft using Word so we don’t have to be connected to the Internet, then copy and paste into blogspot when we can also download some pics, which we’ll do via a land connection when we go ashore today.