March 31, 2004
Georgetown

We've reached Georgetown at last, on Grand Bahama Island (still in the Exumas) and really it's the biggest and last major stop before the REAL isolated islands begin! Got in around 4 p.m., anchored across the bay from the town and immediately got the Lil' Blue ready for sailing. Went about 6 anchorages up, and miraculously found the Amber Isle! Valt and Sandra had us up for drinks and told us their sad story of how they lost their pole with a huge fish on the way over. The bonus for us is they gave us some fish for dinner, never turn down fresh fish.... We made plans for Wendsday to hang out and eat dinner together, then they gave us a huge steak of MahiMahi and we set back to our boat after dark. Crescent moon, and singing Bohemian Rhapsody all the way. Fish Coconut Crepes for dinner, and then we conked out because we're too tired for anything else...

There's one major market here, where you can buy everything from semi-ripe produce from Florida to Island Coconut cookies to Danish sausage. The prices are exorbitant since they have no competitors and the duty and taxes are high. The strange thing is they sell Commonwealth products really cheaply: Irish unsalted butter goes for a mere 77 cents half pound. The town seems to exist for the cruisers, there's no local products or agriculture, in fact everywhere we've gone on the Islands we find almost nothing grown locally but coconuts and scrub brush. It's more desert-like, not at all like the tropics yet, no fresh fruit or anything. But we might be getting to that soon after a recent encounter with a couple who have lived on a particular island further to the South... more on that later.

And, miracle, we are still getting along. Maciek and I are just two very easygoing, grateful, appreciative people (so we're constantly telling each other how wonderful the other is) and we are very complementary in our strengths and weaknesses. I am learning more by the day about sailing and navigation, so I'm becoming even more useful, if that were possible, and though the kitchen's been almost my exclusive domain for the past few weeks, he's an excellent dishwasher and even has a few recipes to contribute of his own. One of my latest new taste sensations was Cold Corned Beef with Raw Onion and Salt. He tells me it's very popular among single-handers (cruisers going it alone in sailor speak). I told him it was why they are still single.

Georgetown has few positive aspects to recommend it to us, since we're more into the fishing and exploring you can only do when there's less cruisers around. What has kept us here for over a week was some unusual weather for this time of year, with cold front after cold front coming in from the North, and high winds that make sailing uncomfortable for the majority of vessels. We just hunkered down in our anchorage with good friend Chris next to us, and whiled the days away in small projects, cooking experiments and vicious card games. As it turns out, Maciek is quite the card shark and neither Chris nor I can best him very often in Hearts or Rummy. I found myself on the floor of our cabin, almost crying with frustration one night after he and Chris won hand after hand from me and left me eating dust. Sorry Grandma, guess I didn't learn too much from our card games together after all..

We do plan on leaving sometime soon for the Jumentos and Ragged Islands, a small chain to the southwest where the conch abounds and the reefs are plentiful. We're provisioning as best as we can, but the latest battle is getting more propane since having a cook on board is placing unforeseen demands on our dwindling supply. Fresh panbread, curry and rice, chili and beans are all very welcome by the Skip (who just pretty much gives me free rein in there) but they all take some time to cook and it's clear we need reinforcements. Especially as we're headed to Cuba.....

(T)