Clarence Town, Bahamas and beyond.

February 2, 2015

Jim and Sue picked us up and we dinghied into town with them, arriving at 1000. We rented a car and "did the island". It was really a business day. We visited an autobody shop as Jim needed something for a boat job, then it was off to a liquor store before visiting the airport where Jorge and I tried to clear in. The marina informed us that we needed to clear in at the airport, a 1-1/2 hour trip up the island. Upon arriving at the airport, the authorities informed us that the marina should have called them and requested an official visit us at the anchorage and clear us in! What a fiasco, I'm sure the marina has cleared in a gazillion boats in the past. What was up? Anyhow, we had to meet the official back at the government dock at 1700 as he was clearing in a cargo ship and would clear us in at the same time. We had an extremely late lunch but one of the best burgers we have tasted in a long time.

We met the government official as scheduled at 1700, paid our $300.00 and were cleared into the Bahamas.

February 3, 2015

As we still had the car until noon today, Jim and Sue again picked us up in their dinghy, at 0800 this time. This was a tourist day. We visited Dean's Blue Hole, a momument to Christopher Columbus, and toured around Clarence Town, visiting first the Anglican Church and then the Roman Catholic Church where were had an interesting conversation with the priest.

Jim and Sue visited with us on CS'ta Time for happy hour (and it really lasted only an hour this time) as we were getting ready to leave Clarence Town the next morning. We said our good-byes as they were planning on leaving for TCI in a couple of days.

February 4, 2015

We were up and out of the anchorage by 0640. We had an awesome sail up the east side of Long Island, around Cape Santa Maria and anchored for the night in Calabash Bay. We sailed the entire way, right into the anchorage. Winds were 13 - 16 kts and seas 3' - 4'. Skies were sunny and temp was warm. We set anchor at 1500.

February 5, 2015

We were up at 0600 and left Calabash Bay at 0625. We had good winds from a good directionw and we sailed to North Channel Rocks at the south end of Elizabeth Harbour using the genoa only. As the going got tricky through here, we brought the sail in and motored to George Town and anchored in Kidd's Cove, setting anchor at 1130. It was good to be back in George Town!

We stayed in Kidd's Cove for a couple of days before moving to the anchorage in front of Chat and Chill, necessary because of a change in direction of the wind. We stayed there a couple of days before moving to Goat's Cay againn because of a change in direction of the wind. We have been in Goat's Cay since but will be moving tomorrow because . . . a change in the direction of the wind again! We are still getting used to the winds clocking with the fronts moving in, lol. As Jorrge put it, we are always hiding behind rocks.

We reconnected with some friends we met and travelled with last year, namely Dave and Rose on Cloud 9, Annie and Tom on Makani Olu, Anne on Crazy Lady and Bill on Providence to name a few.

We have also been doing some major spring cleaning over the past few days, long overdue.

The George Town 2015 sailing regatta starts this weekend and promises to be a good time. Our good friends, Bill and Lynn from Parry Sound, are arriving on Thursday so they will catch the opening of regatta. Unfortunately one of the races has already been canceled due to high winds (25 to 30+ kts) forecast for this weekend!

Grrrrrr . . . I need a 10 year old to help me with my problems uploading pictures! Until then, my blog will remain picture-less.