Georgetown, Exumas, Bahamas

 Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!!

Our Christmas selfie:

 

We were invited to Meshugga for a Christmas afternoon.   The only thing they would let us bring was a green-bean casserole.  They (being South African) had never heard of the American holiday staple.

Around noon, off to Meshugga - easy to spot the big boat!

 

Duane and Nickolas solving the world's problems.

 

Dee looking chipper in her amazing galley.

 

Jenny enjoying the day.

 

They put out quite the spread - turkey AND ham and all the fixin's.

 

And after a few hours and extremely full bellies, we had a little treat - we joined in a circle with arms crossed pulling on the ends of these little presents.  With a loud "pop" a small little gift item and a "wise saying or riddle" fell free.  And a Christmas crown for each of us.  Good fun!

 

 

A wave goodbye after a truly wonderful day.  (Note the hardtop that they constructed in the Ragged Islands during the summer - fabulous workmanship).

 

Georgetown, Exumas, Bahamas

 I wanted to have our friends from Meshugga over for sundowners to celebrate their arrival.  We last saw them April of last year in the Ragged Islands.  

I know they enjoy sushi, so I set out to have a fun snack for them. 

The usual routine.

 

I made half with tuna and half just veggies.

 

Getting close to sundown, it was actually a little stormy and no real sunset view.

We had a grand time reuniting with Nickolas and Dee, meeting Nickolas's sister Jenny and generally catching up on our summers.  Forgot to snap a photo!  We'll try to do that on Meshugga when we gather for a Christmas dinner.  Fun to have them back.

Georgetown, Exumas, Bahamas

 We did some laundry, got several more jugs of free water in the morning.  Then we took a little walk-about around the pond in Georgetown.  This is the view of the dinghy dock from across the pond.

 

Up and over the hill.

 

Pretty view from  the top of the hill.

 

A warm, sunny day.  Had to stop for a refreshment along the way.

 

Bought a couple of eggplants from a fellow on the side of the road.  $1 each!  I'm going to try and make some baba ganoush.

 

Back to Sojourn.

Late in the afternoon, we pulled the anchor and headed across to the Sand Dollar anchorage since the winds had shifted slightly.  Not terribly crowded.  We passed this beautiful huge monohull - named Marge on the way into the anchorage.

We'll wait here, hoping to see our friends on Meshugga soon.

Georgetown, Exumas, Bahamas

 The day started off nice enough.  A colorful mailboatcoming in  the channel.

 

Then mid-morning a small front passed us by, changing the wind direction to make the anchorage a little uncomfortable exposed to the north.  (Note the rainbow at the horizon!)  We were prepared for a rainstorm that we could see on radar, but it never got to us. 

 

Once the storm had passed us  we motored over a few miles to the fuel dock.  We hadn't gotten fuel since Nov 25th in Bimini so we were at about 1/2 tank.  Glad to see the fuel dock open again - it has been closed for the past several years due to hurricane damage.  Sojourn tucked in tight between two other boats.

 

They wouldn't let us stay long at the fuel dock, so we came back out a few hundred feet and anchored next to Two of a Kind - Bob and Diane who we had met last year in the Raggeds.  Small world down here!

 

 Off to the dinghy dock, then the grocery store to pick up a few last minute items since they'll be closing for Christmas.  For some reason I always enjoy immensely going thru this little tunnel/passageway under the bridge.

 

 

 

 Also a few trips to fill up jugs with free water.

Since our next destination is likely the Ragged Islands (where there is no fuel), we got out the empty gasoline jugs for filling.  Unfortunately, the only fuel sold at the dock is diesel.  So we had to tote  the jugs to the gas station.  Since we only use gasoline for the dinghy, these 4 jugs should last us the entire season.

 Back to the boat - Royce from Cerca Trova stopped by on a dinghy run and we made plans for sundowners later.

 

Had a fun visit with Jennifer and Royce although it was overcast - no sunset visible.  Back to the boat for another early evening.   No dinner since we'd had too many snacks on Cerca Trova!

Georgetown, Exumas, Bahamas

 Sortof an ordinary day in a pretty place.

Started the day with banana AND blueberry pancakes.  Yum!

 

We went ashore for a bit of a walk-about.  (Note Sojourn is a white speck in the background).  Walked about a mile to a hardware store and picked up some acetone (we thought we had some on board but didn't.  Every once in a while you need some!) 

 

 

On the walk back on busy Queen's Highway, two different nice Bahamian ladies stopped to ask us if we needed a lift!  At that point, we actually were pretty close to our path back to the dinghy so we declined and wished them both Merry Christmas).  

 

Back to the boat - if you look closely you'll see she's all decked out with colorful laundry!

 

And a pretty sunset over the same view as the first photo of the morning.

Georgetown, Exumas, Bahamas

We were up at first light and away from Cat Island. 

 We put the fishing poles out right away when we got in deep water.  This is normally great fishing grounds, but it is a little too early in the season from what I understand.

We made a course for a anomaly in the ocean - literally a "submerged mountain" rising from 3000 ft depths to 40'.  Often we see the sport fishing boats circling this area so we made the hour detour to swing by.

 

 

 

But unfortunately, not even a single bite....I guess the old adage applies "they call it fishing, not catching".....

Long day with light winds.  Almost 10 hours to Georgetown with one motor on low RPM and the mainsail up.  Calm at the inlet to Elizabeth Harbour.  Quiet evening.

 

 

Hawk's Nest, Cat Island, Bahamas

 We had a very nice sail about 10 miles over to the very tip of Cat Island to Hawk's Nest.  

 

Just lovely here - only protected from south winds - perfect because the winds are from the south!

We took the dinghy ashore to walk around - we've flown in to Hawk's Nest airport several times - but it's been about 5 years.

 

Nothing has changed much physically since we've been here.

 

We've had many pleasant meals here poolside.  But there was no one around today.

 

And no planes parked either.

 

We walked about 1/2 mile across the runway to the marina.  It's usually full of sport fisher boats.  I think it's just a little early for that season.

 

Nice fuel dock -- if you're interested diesel was $6.30 per gallon.

 

Walking back enjoying the frangipani along the roadway.

 

And back to the boat - Sojourn framed by the coconut trees.