A dream is real while it lasts.  Can we say more of life?  -Havelock Ellis

May 6, Georgetown, Bahamas

On May 6^th, we woke up in Georgetown to a typical routine.  The kids did their schoolwork, I helped them and did our morning clean up, and Chris changed the oil in the generator.  At 1030, Chris and Reese dinghied to town to buy Porter’s birthday present.  We were going to be on tiny islands for the next few weeks, so when we found a chandlery that sold fishing rods, we knew it was a perfect opportunity to get Porter’s gift.  We just had to figure out how to buy it, get it back to the boat, and hide it on our 47’ boat without him seeing it!  Chris and Reese also picked up the laundry and made yet another trip to the supermarket.  We were so nervous that this would be the last decent place to get food for a while, so we stocked up.

By 1215, we were entering our final preparations for departure.  It was hot out.  We secured anything down below that might fly off the shelves once we started heeling.  We took the outboard engine off the dinghy and raised it up so we could hang it on the aft railing.  We attached the special painter to the dinghy that allows us to tow it safely behind us.  I took all the towels and bathing suits off the railings and stowed them down below.  The kids put away all their schoolwork, made their beds, and put on their life jackets.  We had this little routine down to a science, as did Anything Goes.

By 1300, both boats were ready to depart, so we raised our anchors and headed for Rat Cay.  Like so many times before, I thought about how different our year-long experience would have been had we not decided to “Buddy Boat” with Anything Goes.  At this point, they feel like a part of our family.  Kids and adults move from one boat to the other without pretense or formality.  Our sailing experience this year was now defined by our relationship with these five people.  I believe that things happen for a reason.  Each of our families assumed we would be sailing alone.  But our expectations changed as our hearts opened to each other and as we discovered how deeply we could experience each moment when given the chance to share it with amazing people.  We set off to see new places and meet new people.  We were given an unexpected gift and I was so grateful.

Our two boats moved slowly through the cut and I felt excited about exploring the long line of islands that lay before us.  The Exumas.  It feels exotic just to say it.  We were headed towards the places that are “too hard to get to” for tourists traveling by plane.  Most islands didn’t have cars, much less an airport.  Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.  This is my kind of solitude!

1600, Rat Cay

We motored for three hours to get to Rat Cay and anchored on the west side of this small island.  There were two cute beaches with rugged, short brush beyond the sand.  I jumped in the water to check that the anchor was secure.  The water was so beautiful and it was such a hot day that I swam to the beach to check it out.  When I swam back, I hung out in the water and scrubbed some of the growth off of the bottom of the dinghy.  (Note that the 9 other people I was with did not remind me that it was after 1500 hours, which is when the sharks start to feed.)  Luckily, I made it out alive, but I freaked out when I remembered the time!

Chris, Bryson, and Reese went out exploring in the dinghy with some of Anything Goes.  They did some fishing but came out empty-handed.  Leftovers it is!  We had an early night so that we could leave first thing in the morning.

May 7, Lee Stocking Island

The next morning, we motored 50 minutes to Lee Stocking Island in order to check out the Marine Institute.  Rule followers that we are, we radioed the Institute for permission to tie up to their moorings, but got no answer.  We tied up temporarily and Wendy and I dinghied in to check out the scene before we loaded everyone onto land.  We tied up, walked up the dock, and didn’t see anyone.  It was only 0910, so maybe they weren’t open yet.  We walked around the small outpost of five buildings.  We got the feeling that the place had been open and then everyone left all at once in the middle of the day at some point.  Log books were filled out, doors were left open, white boards were full of To Do lists and scheduling charts, coffee cups sat on desks, and a towel hung on a railing.  And yet, it was clear that the place had been abandoned for some time.  We played CSI Bahamas for a while, poking around and putting the clues together.  We decided that someone got a call from the mainland headquarters one day, telling them that their funding had been cut, so they all just dropped everything and went off to drink.

We had heard great things about the Institute and we had planned on a full day of learning about the environmental projects they were spearheading in the area.  We knew the kids would be excited about it and the educational bent gave us an excuse to skip science that day! But as Wendy and I realized that the Universe had put the kibosh on our plan, I noticed that I wasn’t really that disappointed… “That’s weird,” I thought.  ‘Cause I used to be pretty tightly committed to plans.  Perhaps this whole sailing thing was having some fun little side effects.

After all, Wendy and I were having fun wandering about and playing Nancy Drew.  I knew that the kids would have plenty of additional opportunities to learn about ocean environmentalism.  And I trusted that this little change in plan would result in an equally lovely day, doing something wonderful with nine other amazing people.

So off we went, zipping back to the boats, raising the anchors, and departing by 1000 for Black Rock Settlement on Great Guana Island.  In 29.6 miles, we caught a blackfin tuna and two mahi mahi!  (Thanks, Universe!)

 

By 1430, we were anchored in a beautiful snug harbor.  A little town sat to one side.  We even had Internet access!  And lo!  There is s/v Rachael! (Here’s where we see who has been following along way too closely.)  Mark and Julie on s/v Rachael are friends we met in Somes Harbor on Mt. Desert Island in Maine.  We met up with them again in Annapolis, Maryland.  And here they were again, right in front of us!  It was a lovely reunion and we made plans to meet up again further along the Exumas.

 

While Chris, Reese, and Kate cleaned Patronus’ bottom, I made Bahamian cole slaw from scratch for the first time.  Bryson and Porter kayaked to the beach with Olivia.  I heard Reese yelling so I came up top to see what was going on.  She said she saw a shark, so she and Kate came out of the water.  I scanned the crystal clear water and sure enough, I saw something large swimming between Patronus and Anything Goes.  I scanned the harbor to find Bryson, Porter, and Olivia.  Oh no.  They were far away and the shark was headed toward them.  Olivia was swimming in the water next to the kayak.  I jumped in the dinghy and zoomed off towards them, waving my arms and shouting to the kids.  They finally saw me and I screamed, “GET OLIVIA BACK IN THE KAYAK!”  Have you ever noticed that if you scream at the top of your lungs to close the door, kids won’t hear you, but if you whisper that you have a piece of gum, they come running from three rooms away?  It was like that.  They stared at me like I was crazy and kept playing.  Did I mention that the kayak is inflatable?  They finally realized that I usually don’t drive the dinghy while standing up and jumping around with my arms flying about and got Olivia safely back in the kayak.  The kids paddled back to the boats next to me while I scanned the harbor.  The shark had disappeared, but we noticed that this was a pretty popular spot for some big sharks!

That night, we enjoyed fresh mahi mahi with rice in a lemon butter sauce and my Bahamian cole slaw.  Everyone went over to AG for the evening, but I ended up going to bed early with a headache.

The next morning, the kids did their schoolwork and we enjoyed Wendy’s homemade focaccia bread for breakfast (you never did send me that recipe, Wendy:).  Mark and Julie swung by to say goodbye before heading north.  We got our acts together so we could head to town and see what Blackrock Settlement is all about.

So Blackrock Settlement is a really, really small town, but you are going to think we spent a long weekend in New York City when you hear about how much we did there in three hours.  We:

• Went to the post office
• Visited the school and donated school supplies
• Visited the Garden of Eden, a collection of driftwood sculptures
• Did laundry
• Shopped for food
• Got Bryson and Porter’s hair cut
  

  Porter is NOT happy. He wanted a buzz cut.

  

  We find an almond tree on the way back and discover first hand why almonds are so expensive!

  

  After minutes of smashing it with a rock, Bryson finally gets one nut out of the shell.

   

   

 

 

 

 

 

(the last three things were done in the same “laundromat/bakery/grocery/salon/tackle shop”, which was run by a very enterprising young woman who has her finger on the pulse of the needs of the modern cruiser.  We were seriously impressed by her and hope she continues to do well.)

 

 

The kids were starting to hit the wall, but on the way back to the dinghies, we saw a woman plaiting straw under a tree in her front yard.  The scene was just too romantic and ripe with opportunity to pass by.  I wanted so badly to get to know her, hear her story, crawl into her life for a few minutes.  Kate and Reese started talking to her about making baskets, so she sat them down and let them give it a try.  Her name is Alma and she was fascinating.  She invited us into her home.  I can’t remember why.  I think Wendy asked her a question about making rice and beans, but the next thing we knew, we were in her immaculate kitchen, listening to her tell us all about browning spice.

We noticed that her living room was full of sailing trophies.  Like, big ones.  A lot of them.  Some were three feet tall.  Alma told us all about her husband, who loves to sail and has participated in races all over the Bahamas for years.  We could have stayed there with her all day.  She was so nice.  She seemed so content and at peace with her life.  I wish you could all meet her.  I wish everyone could do their work while sitting in the shade of a giant tree in their front yard, saying hello to all the people who walk by.

Having sucked the marrow out of Blackrock Settlement, we returned to the boats and went swimming.  We had tuna tacos for dinner and I tried making cassava casserole.  It  was pretty bad, which was annoying, because it was really time-intensive.  I think one of the kids liked it.  I think it was Kate.  I love Kate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For fun, we programmed AG’s MMSI number into the DSL on our VHF.  Bonus points if you have any clue what I just said.

After that, we played cards, but the night ended early when Bryson and Porter got grumpy over some spilled water.  If you have kids, you know the kind of night we were having.  It happens…

The next morning, we made banana pancakes, while listening to Banana Pancakes (by Jack Johnson).  I literally could not have been more pleased with life.  It reminded me of the time I read Treasure Island, on Treasure Island (Norman Island, BVI).

Bryson had a chance to exercise his independence and I was so excited for him.  He had proved many times over that he was an excellent dinghy driver.  He also enjoyed running errands for the family.  Se we let him take the dinghy into town by himself and pick up the cinnamon bread that we ordered the day before.  He brought it back successfully before a squall blew through.  I was so proud of him and he was all smiles the rest of the day.

It was time to leave Blackrock Settlement, and I was filled with gratitude for this small, lovely place in the Exumas.  It ended up on my list of places I would really love to go back to someday.  Next up, we explore the site of James Bond’s fourth mission….