The busy days pass by here in Georgetown in a blur. Everything is gearing up for Rally Week. The town is sprouting all kinds of stalls and it seems that every Bahamian who can sell something is showing up here for the coming week. A couple of days ago we tried and failed to get a local part for the generator, so one was ordered from Ft. Lauderdale and will be flown to us. Even a minute’s work in the engine room and you were drenched with sweat, and we worked all day. The people who run Kidd Cove Marina and Bahamas Houseboats were wonderful and really helped us arrange the part and the air shipping.

Yesterday we did school (10 to noon) and had lunch and went to the beach. It was flat calm, very hot and sunny. Wind less than 5 knots. We visited Simon Says, and explored Volleyball Beach. This is the place where you need a fast dinghy. Ours will plane with Karen and one kid aboard, but with all 4 of us we plow along at 6 knots. It takes 20 minutes to cross the harbor to the beaches. Karen and I explored the path to the Exuma Sound beaches and found a beautiful beach with a wrecked sailboat, kids trying to surf a reef break, calm seas and beautiful skies. I think that this is what we came here looking for! That night we cooked the picnic ham we brought from Nassau, and went to the Two Turtles bar to hear their live band and watch the people dance. It is an interesting mix of yachties and Bahamians on the floor dancing barefoot.

Today the wind is up and it is cool and comfortable here at the shore (still hot inland). Exuma Markets announced a beef sale so we were there early and waited in line with a bunch of yachties for hamburger, roast, and steak at bargain basement prices. The people with the beef were doing a barbecue out front and handing out free samples and this is really excellent meat (Black Angus beef from Ohio). One thing you learn here is that milk does not come from the grocery store and that we Americans take so much for granted. Can you imagine reading a sign that the store was going to have beef on Saturday starting at 10 AM and getting there at 9:45 to make sure that you would get some?

The forecasters among the fleet are calling for a front to pass Monday afternoon through Tuesday morning with winds up to 30 knots. We have stronger south winds today and they will be clocking around to northeast with the passage of the front. Then it will proabably blow like stink from the east for several days. After our last experience with winds like that while at anchor, I am glad that we are tied up here in the marina waiting for a part. Simon Says is busy looking for a storm anchorage.

Today is laundry day. We packed up 5 loads and headed to town in the dinghy. Arriving at the dock, we heard that the big laundry was out of water today. The little one was quite crowded and we had to wait for a long time to get a machine. Then we tried to get some quarters only to learn that they were out of them and we should come back later! A friendly neighborhood yachtie sold us a $10 roll. You can’t take anything for granted here, and you can’t stress over things like a laundry out of water and no quarters!

Yesterday morning we woke up to absolute calm. By about 11 AM we were having a rainstorm. Finally enough rain to actually wash off the boat! I put the cockpit canvas down and we got ready for some real winds. The winds quickly picked up to 25 knots and over from the northeast. The harbor turned to a sea of white, with large waves, whitecaps and rolling and pitching boats everywhere. The storm had been very well predicted by the local cruiser’s net. I still can’t figure why the boats anchored off our marina - totally exposed to the northeast – did not move. The winds blew all afternoon and the radio was non-stop full of voices calling out about boats dragging anchor, boats on the beach, boats on the rocks, and so on. As far as I could tell, all the cruisers with powerful dinghy’s went and pulled the only boat in real danger farther out and they re-anchored.

We are sitting in the best place in town, the Kidd Cove Marina is totally protected from the north through south. Our day was a day of school, followed by a walk through what seemed to be a ghost town – no cruisers dared leave their boats to come into town. The boats anchored downwind from Kidd Cove seemed to have a much smoother ride compared to those out in the main harbor.

Another couple of days pass. We spend these days at the marina, doing school, going into town, and taking the dinghy across the harbor to go to the beach. Our part arrives and we install it one morning. There is some talk of a front so we dally a day or two more before leaving. Finally we depart for the anchorage.

Our friends Randy and Billie on Simon Says are "Georgetowned out" and are leaving. High Cotton is already history. Saying goodbye to cruising friends is hard and none of us want to part. But Georgetown is really just starting for us as we are now in the anchorage and Rally Week is just starting. We took Simon Says’ nice spot off Sandollar Beach. This spot is deep and fairly well sheltered from all directions but the west. We are close to the beach and a short ride to Volleyball Beach.

Last night was the opening night at Volleyball Beach, with contests and the Lip Sync show. It was really funny and good entertainment. I think the two cruisers doing the Hamster Dance was the funniest thing I have seen in quite a while! There was a big bonfire and all the kids were there. Today are the kids events and everyone is looking forward to them. We took a group photo and also a Calvert School photo. There were 56 kids total and about 15 Calvert students. I told them "This is your school photo this year and look at yourselves – everyone is in a bathing suit!".

Karen and the kids went back for afternoon events and I stayed to clean the boat, relax, and have a little time to myself.

Yesterday the wind came up and our Sand Dollar Beach anchorage became a little jumpy and bumpy. Not bad enough to make us move. It’s a southeast wind blowing all the way across Elizabeth Harbor and delivering a wind chop that is, at times, up to 2 feet. We were planning on leaving today. There is a Small Craft Caution with winds forecast 15 to 20 and seas 4 to 6. I am sure that we would not see anything like that on the Exuma Sound, but it is a reason to stay.

Another reason occurred last night just as Karen and I were returning from a big dinghy shopping trip to town, we were hailed by Shengaan. Thank Goodness they finally arrived! The kids are so happy. We helped direct them to an anchorage by town and I am sure that they are busy with shopping and laundry and so on. I hope that we see them soon.

We shopped in Georgetown for provisions for the next 2 weeks to a month. By shopping at both stores I was able get almost everything on my shopping list. The selection of meats was very poor, but I was able to get a good deal on pork chops, hot dogs, and sausage at Exuma Markets and on hamburger at the Bahamian market. We spent about $150 on the meat, lots of fruit, cookies and treats, flour, fresh vegtables, some flavored rice dishes and so on. Our supply of canned food on board is still holding out, and we have enough water, soda, and beer to last for a while. Shopping is an experience because they don’t have everything you want every day, for example yogurt. Then one day you will go in and the shelves will be filled with it. Beef is available but very expensive – upwards of $10 per pound. There are lots of unusual items like pigs feet, salt pork, sliced turkey legs. Chicken is hard to come by and what they have doesn’t look very good.

A big wind had been blowing from the south east since yesterday and our Sandollar Beach anchorage was getting rough, with waves and whitecaps blowing across Elizabeth Harbor. So we pulled both anchors up and headed across to get fuel and decide what to do. I called the fuel dock on the radio and asked if we could come in. They answered yes. When we got there the dock was full with a couple of catamarans and a big fishing boat, so we docked to the end face pier. There was little sign of the fishing boat leaving after several hours so we booked the slip for the night.

The wind blew us onto the dock al day and night at over 20 knots. It was a god decision not to leave that day. Instead, we took the opportunity to shop and do an even better job of filling our refrigerators.

The next day we got up early and listened to the weather. The forecasts were not matching what we were seeing. However, a spot at the fuel dock eventually opened up and we maneuvered into a difficult spot down wind of a catamaran and upwind of a small outboard center console taking on gas and water. It was a tight cross to downwind docking but we got in fine. After taking on 120 gallons at $2.26/gallon (cash price, credit was $0.11 more) we got out of there and began cruising down the harbor to the Conch Cay Cut, to see how conditions were and to decide if we were going.

The harbor was blowing about 12 knots but it was all astern. The Exuma Sound was not looking too bad so we cruised out the cut and turned north. We were headed home! Karen had put the lines in and within 2 minutes we had a BIG fish on, again biting the rapalla and good luck he was on the heavy rod with the 40 lb line. Karen landed the fish with some help from me, he was making blistering runs and I backed down the big boat to help her recover some line. Eventually he was at the stern for the 3^rd time and tired and I tried to net him. That was not going to happen, he was way to big for the net. So I opened the transom door and grabbed the leader and pulled him in. After some wild studying of the various fish books we identified him as a King Mackeral. Later, we weighed him at 24 pounds. What a fighter!

Before we left, I was so nervous and worried. Everything on the boat was fixed but we had a long passage through the Sound and the short-wave radio was full of talk about a front on Saturday to Sunday and another on Monday – Tuesday. Both fronts well north of us but we all remembered Norman’s all too well and no one wants to spend another couple of days like that! All day long steering through the sizable following seas I continued to be nervous. We were alone, our buddy boats were long gone, I expected the anchorages north to be empty because everyone was in Georgetown. My level of anxiety was quite high.