Update and Family Island Regatta

All our friends had come to George Town to attend the Family Island Regatta. It is a real week long party with Bahamian racing boats and racers coming from all the inhabited islands. Unfortunately, our friends on Independence and My Sharona left the day the races started on their trip back north. I got this photo of Independence leaving the harbor. Paul and Susan, and Wayne and Sharon, see you next year. Mattina left the next day.


Independence leaving the harbor.

The boats for the regatta come from many of the islands in the Bahamas. Some are towed to George Town, and the rest come by mail boat, the local supply ship for the islands. This photo is of one of the boats being unloaded from a mail boat.


Boat being unloaded.


A class from the local school came to watch one of the races in the grandstand.

We watched most of the regatta either from our dinghy by one of the marks in the race, from the grandstands in George Town, or from the top of our boat. Our friend Buzzy Rolle who is Captain of "Bul Reg," a C Class boat, and "Lady Sonia," a B Class boat, had his boats in the water and ready to go.

There are three races for each class. Bul Reg (this is Buzzy's father's name) won the first and third race in the C Class, but had a collision in the second race which cost him some points and he came in eighth overall. Here is Bul Reg at the start of the first race.


Bul Reg and other boats lining up for the start of the Class C race the first day.


Bul Reg after rounding the mark.


A smiling Buzzy after taking first place in the first C Class race


This is a new boat this year from Long Island called "It in't right" that came in 2nd overall. Another Long Island boat called "Beerly Legal" came in first overall for Class C boats.


This is a good photo showing the use of "prys" that the racers sit on to help balance the oversize sail.


Lady Sonia moving into position for the start of a B Class race. Lady Sonia came in 4th for the B Class

Staniel Cay had two Class A boats in the race this year. They are "Tida Wave" and "Lady Muriel." Both were anchored near us. The class A boats have about 14 people on board. This boat is 28 feet in length with a huge main sail.


This is Tida Wave heading over for the start of a Class A race.

Unfortunately, the two boats from Staniel Cay tangled with a third boat at one of the marks. It cost them some points in that race. We were in our dinghy with a front row seat for that tangle. Despite the tangle, Tida Wave came in 2nd overall in the Class A races.


A three boat tangle.



We met Rita-Kay and Clay for lunch at the Peace and Plenty Resort to watch one of the races in Elizabeth Harbor. It was a lovely day to do that.


Race as seen from Peace and Plenty

 

Rita-Kay and Clay at lunch at the Peace and Plenty

The race draws people from all over, including many larger mega-yachts that come from Nassau and Florida. Here is a sampling of some of the mega-yachts.


A rather sinister-looking silver-grey painted boat.


"Slumber Venture" is a slightly smaller version of "Hayfu" that we had seen and been given a tour of in George Town earlier in the season. These are large catamarans.


This is a Bahamian-owned mega-yacht owned by an owner of "Kalik" brand Bahamian Beer.

This photo is of Volleyball Beach on Stocking Island across Elizabeth Harbor from George Town. The bar is the famous "Chat n' Chill."



Alas, the Family Island Regatta is the “turn around” point for many of the cruisers traveling the Bahamas in the winter. This year we went farther south to Long Island and to some of the islands in the Jumentos (the Jumentos were new stops for us this year).

We had expected to travel back north with some of our friends and realized that we had to say goodbye to all at once in order to return back to the states quickly due to severe back pain I was experiencing. So we said our sad goodbyes for the year to all our friends in George Town – Carleigh, Cat’s Paw, Pirate, Oconee, Son of a Sailor, Side-by-Side, Liberty, Fur Elise, Cat Lady, Tonga Time, Different Drummer, and so many, many others. It is so hard to say goodbye at the end of the season and we did it a month earlier than we had planned. It was Sunday, the day after the end of the Family Island Regatta, and luckily a pretty nice day to cruise.

We cruised through Elizabeth Harbor to the North end, then followed along Great Exuma Island on the Bahama Sound side of the island until we got to Cave Cay Cut around noon and transferred through to the shallower Banks side of the Exuma chain of islands.

Our normal cruising speed is 7 knots, but the Captain sped up to 9 knots to get as far north as possible our first day. What would normally take us 5 days (at least) to cruise, the Captain was hoping to make in 3 to 4 days. Our goal the first night was to make Shroud, or Norman Cays, anchor just off the Northwest Channel the second night, and weather permitting, make it to West Palm Beach on Tuesday. So instead of taking time to say our goodbyes to each of the islands as we normally do, we instead ripped by them without stopping.

Crossing from Shroud Cay over to Nassau, we encountered a storm with 45 knot winds and driving rain. I was flat on my back in the Stateroom, while Bob had to stand at the controls for 4 hours. It was I think the roughest passing we have made. I know Bob would not have taken the chance if I had not been in such bad shape by that time that he needed to move us north as quickly as possible. When we arrived in Nassau, he pre-set the lines and hung them over the rails so the dock hands could just reach for them as he would be on top the boat and was unable to do any line-handling. We ended up in the ER in Nassau that night and the next night trying to get me stable enough to move and to wait for a good weather window to make the crossing over to the states.


View of the approaching storm from the pilot house

We made it safely back to the states and left the boat in Palm Coast, then rented a car and drove home in one day.


Sorry this was the only photo I took of one of the many beautiful homes along the ICW in Florida.

Bob hopes to go back to Florida and bring the boat the rest of the way back home in June.

I am happy to report that my back continues to improve, although slowly, each day. We are both looking forward to making this trip again next year and continuing to branch out to islands we have not yet visited in the Bahamas, re-uniting with old friends, and making new ones. Have a great summer y'all!

Quick Update

Well all good things come to an end, ours just ended sooner than we had planned this year. Before I could get to the George Town Regatta post, my back went out. We did a fast trip up to Nassau, one day of which was almost as bad as "The Perfect Storm" and continued on to the states. We were there two nights, during which I had two trips to the emergency room there for pain meds. Luckily, we had a good weather window for crossing, so we took it and landed in Lake Worth, FL.

We are now just shy of Palm Coast where we have arranged to leave the boat while we drive the rest of the way back by car. Bob rented a full size car, so I can lay down in the back seat for the trip home.

We have now found out that he can single-hand the boat, although it is difficult. I expect to have a round or two of tests done to determine if my Scoliosis has gotten worse, and if it finally needs to be "stabilized." This was the recommendation of the last physician I had seen in Nassau Hospital ER.

As a result, other than the photos taken at the regatta, I have not been up to taking any. I will do a post of those when I get back and are in shape to sit up and do a post.

So sorry that I had to end this year so abruptly, but you can watch for one more update coming hopefully in the next week.

Long Island back to George Town

After a couple of weeks in Long Island, it was time to move north to George Town. I had planned to paint the names on three of the Bahamian sloops owned and raced by Buzzie Rolle. He is one of the few master boat builders of Bahamian sloops that are raced at islands all around the islands. The Family Island Regatta in George Town is April 20-24. We attended this for the first time last year and found it to be a boatload of fun, thus a “not to miss” this year in our travels.

 

This is a decorative canoe in front of the Long Island Breeze where boaters leave items with their boat names on them.

 

Here is the sign I made and left for the "Pretty Penny"

 

Our last sunset in Long Island for the year

There was a great day to cross to George Town on Friday, so we loaded the dinghy onto the boat and pulled up anchor. Two other boats, Cat’s Paw and Son of a Sailor, crossed with us. As it turned out, several of our boating friends that were north of George Town, decided to travel south to attend the regatta also. Those boats included Pirate, Oconee, and Carleigh.

 

Son of a Sailor crossing with us (Dennis is at the helm)

 

Cat's Paw underway


We chose a protected anchorage called Red Shanks that is a short dinghy ride in mostly protected waters into George Town as we had heard winds were coming. After we settled in to our calm anchorage, we cleaned up and headed in to George Town to meet up with all our friends at the Peace and Plenty Restaurant and Poolside Bar for Happy Hour and a barbecue by the pool. It was so great to catch up with Oconee and Carleigh that had stayed north for the last couple of months while we were farther south.

 

Our reunion and get-together at the Peace and Plenty Restaurant

 

Sunset over Victoria Lake and the dinghy dock in George Town from the bridge over the entrance to the lake

Carleigh decided to move into Red Shanks with us for three days and we enjoyed their company, as well as the Mike and Jan on Cat Lady, (a couple that hail from the Northern Neck of Virginia near us back home). Rita-Kay and I spent a couple of afternoons lying on our floats tied to the boat while watching out for porpoises, nurse sharks, and rays.

We finally ventured out to Kidd Cove where we were closer to George Town and did laundry, got my haircut, and did some grocery shopping. We actually moved a day too soon and found that this anchorage was still rolling quite a bit.
We also met up with Kevin and Elise on Fur Elise, a couple that we had met in Elizabeth City and had dinner with in Beaufort, NC on our trip south on the ICW. They had not crossed over till January and then had also spent time in the northern Bahamas islands before moving south.

 

Rita-Kay and I floating behind the boat enjoying the afternoon

Bob went to check on the status of Buzzie’s boats on Thursday and found that he had found a Bahamian to do the painting. He was afraid that we would not be able to make it in due to the high winds to do the painting. I took the news with mixed emotions as I enjoyed doing the painting last year, but my back has been bothering me and it would have been a strain to do the work.

 

Carleigh preparing to leave Red Shanks anchorage (notice how calm it was there, even with winds of 20 knots

We moved on Friday into Kidd Cove and went in to George Town to do laundry, buy groceries, have lunch at Peace and Plenty with Clay and Rita-Kay, and for me to get a haircut. Things are really starting to jump in town in preparation for the regatta. Some of the racing boats have started to arrive from other islands, the food shacks are starting to go up, and women are getting hair extensions at the beauty shop and getting their nails done for the big party next Saturday night.

 

"Sweet Island Gal" that has arrived from Long Island for the regatta along with two other boats from Andros

 

Thunderbird was from Andros -both of these boats had very colorful paint jobs

Long Island Continued

We have been enjoying Long Island since we returned from the Jumentos. We helped to organize an Easter Sunday Pot Luck on the beach. The folks on Side-by-Side organize an egg dying event on the beach for all the "cruising kids." I also helped to hide eggs along the "Easter Bunny Trail" (a trail that leads from the beach to the road past an old well).

 

All the kids dying their eggs for Easter

 

Sabrina off Side-by-Side dying her eggs

 

Pat off Scalliwag, Me, Shirley off Cat's Paw, and Betty off Son of a Sailor at the pot luck

One evening a group of some 35+ cruisers went to Club Thompson Bay for one of Tryphena's great dinners. She puts on quite a spread of Bahamian dishes, always with a hug!

 

That's me in front of the Club Thompson Bay mural

 

Cruisers gathering for dinner at Club Thompson Bay

 

Photo of a catamaran (Kao Kai) anchored near us at sunset

One day we took the boat up to a bay off of Chez Pierre, a little resort on Long Island so we could make water on the boat. While we were there, a couple had a kayak on shore that got away from them and by the time they saw it, it had gone way off shore. The only thing they had to go get it with were two single person kayaks, so they started paddling themselves out to it. One stopped by our boat and asked if we could keep an eye on them. We saw they finally caught the kayak, but by then, they were way out in the cruising lane. So we put the dinghy down and went after them. They were very thankful we came out to get them as they were really tired. All the while, their wives were worried sick about them on shore.

 

Our "Rescue at Sea"

 

One of the cottages at Chez Pierre

 

Pretty Penny off Chez Pierre

 

Running Tide anchored in Thompson Bay ready to be towed over to George Town for the Family Island Regatta. Running Tide is an A Class boat which is the largest class.

On the Monday after Easter, Long Island had a little mini-regatta of four C Class boats. It seemed like the whole island showed up for the event. All the cruisers came in to enjoy the food, music, and to watch the races.

 

Photo of all the four boats nearing the mark near us - It in't right, Sacrifice, Beerly Legal, and Surprise

 

Beerly Legal

 

Not sure which boat this one was

 

Sacrifice broke a boom in the last race and had to be towed back by their support boat

 

One of the boats in the race

 

They were selling Conch Salad at the regatta site during the race and this truckload of conch was used to make it.

We rented a car for two days with Cat's Paw. We went south the first day and then north the second day. These are photos taken from our road trip.

 

This is supposedly the ruins of the oldest Anglican Church on the island.

 

The alter inside the church

We stopped for lunch at Max's Conch Bar where we watch Max make our conch salad.

 

Mac and Shirley off Cat's Paw at Max's Conch Bar

We stopped at the yard where they work on the various racing boats. This photo is of a B Class boat called "Pinta" that they claim will be ready to go in time for the Family Island Regatta in less than two weeks! We will be very surprised to see this one make it.

 

Pinta under construction

We stopped at the Blue Hole hoping to catch some of the divers practicing. They plan to have a World Championship competition in a week here.

 

Blue Hole

We stopped to look at the newest A Class boat being built on Long Island to be named "Rough Justice." They are still working on the mast for this new boat.

 

Rough Justice

 

Mast under construction

We didn't stop to see the Catholic Church in Clarence Town as we've been there recently, but I took this photo of the church from the town.

 

In Dunmore, there are some caves to explore, but you need to crawl in and we had no lights with us, so we forgo going in to check them out.

 

 

Entrance is in the lower right of the photo

The second day we went north on the island and explored the ruins of the Adderly Plantation founded by a loyalist. This photo is off the old Cook House.

 

Cook House

 

Plantation House

 

This appeared to have been a store house as it had a divided basement.

 

Bob and I and Mac and Shirley by this giant cactus we found on the path to the ruins

We stopped for a great lunch at the Cape Santa Maria Resort. This resort sits on Calabash Bay where we have anchored a couple of times. It makes for a great anchorage, except when the winds are from the West.

 

Cape Santa Maria Beachfront and Condo Units

 

One of the double cottages at Cape Santa Maria

We stopped at a beach on the far north end of the island that last year was just completely loaded with plastic flotsam. Two weeks ago the local school children all turned out for a beach clean-up day and were joined by some of the cruising families as well to clean up this beach and we hardly recognized it as the same beach. A very impressive clean up was done here.

 

North end beach

We then went to the Stella Maris Resort Beach to enjoy the sun and view (as well as a Kalik or two).

 

Stella Maris Beach as viewed from Moonshine, their beach bar and deck

 

Bob enjoying the view and a Kalik

 

Bob cooling off in the Tidal Pool

 

Moonshine Bar as seen from the beach

We stopped for dinner at the Blue Chip Restaurant where Mario, the owner outs on a great spread of Bahamian food. Outside the restaurant he has goats, sheep, and chickens.

 

Mario's Sheep

 

This guy would have attacked us if he could have gotten off the rope

Some other photos around the island

 

Mike and Jackie (partners that run the Long Island Breeze) put in a terrific new dinghy dock this past year. All the cruisers love the new dock

 

Wreck of an old mail boat

 

Osprey nest on top of the crane of the mailboat wreck

 

Local produce being sold at a little farmers market. (Long Island is one of the few islands where any produce of any kind is grown on this very rocky land)

 

This "musical" contraption was built of beach junk and left by its builder on the beach.

 

Herd of goats being raised by a local farmer

We have thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Long Island again this year. We will be heading back to George Town tomorrow and will stay there through the Family Island Regatta, then, weather permitting, we will cruise to Cat Island and Eleuthera, both islands we have not visited before.