I think I’ll start the next few blogs with some of my favorite sailboat names that we’ve seen while here. First is “Latitudes”… we hope she’ll take us over many of them! We haven’t seen any other Latitudes. We have seen L’Attitudes and Hot Latte-tudes.
We left Staniel Cay Monday morning, deciding to forgo the diesel (only needed 5 gallons) and water (only 50 gallons) until we arrived in Georgetown in a few days. Georgetown has everything, including free water….
It was a short run to Black Point, only 10-ish miles. We sailed the first half, slammed into waves the second half. Smoke is becoming quite the sailor cat. She just sighs, runs into the cockpit to be with us, and lays as flat as possible closest to her favorite human-du-moment. And waits until it’s all over so she can wander to the bow of Latitudes and help me lower and set the anchor. Then it’s “tummy rub” time.
We got to Black Point, gathered laundry, and set off for the “American style” laundrymat. Only $22 for three loads, plus $10 for Luke’s haircut from the laundrymat lady. Ahhhh…clean clothes! Unfortunately, I also managed to wash one of Smokey’s catnip mousies. Let me tell you, there is no joy in a Tide mousie. That one has gone to mousie heaven.
While there, we ran into fellow boaters from the yard at Deltaville. Remember last spring, while we were on the hard, we met with fellow boaters and watched “Alice in Wonderland” on the large computer of a friend? Well, that’s who we met up with while doing laundry! They are Canadian and headed for Cuba. We'll see them again in Georgetown.
THEY told us that the diesel supplier in Georgetown is out of business and there is no diesel to be gotten there. Sigh. Best laid plans… We’ll find another place, but we sure aren’t happy. I’m sure there are a lot of cruisers that aren’t happy…
After laundry, we tried the grocery store. Can you imagine what mayo that was outdated in 2007 looks like? Don’t try…(greenish)…we left. They didn’t even have onions.
Apparently we are anchored in the taxi zone. First, between laundry and the grocery non-event, we noticed a police boat zipping past with 6 officers aboard. Ten minutes later we hear a “hello???”. Oh, drat… but the nice officer just wanted to know if we could give him a dinghy ride from one of the multiple little moorings off of the government dock to the dock. Sure! We were going in anyway, and who’s to tell a Bahamian police officer “no”?
Ok, now it’s dusk, and we’re outside for sundowners. Zip, up comes a local fishing boat with a friendly, nice guy. A little small talk, and could we give him a dinghy ride from one of the multiple little moorings off of the government dock to the dock? Sure, again. This time he turned out to be a local fishing guide, probably working at one of the few large resorts nearby. We really didn’t mind – we are being allowed so share the beautiful world that these folks call home.
On Tuesday, Feb. 8, we again went outside in the sound for a 15 mile run to Rudder Cay. Rudder Cay is a private island with lots of no trespassing signs around it, and dogs running on the beaaches. But a beautiful place to sit and be in paradise. Smokey likes to sit on the edge of the boat while we’re anchored and contemplate the moving water. I think she has yet to quite figure it out.
We did finally catch a fish, a nasty barracuda. We took the hook out (with looooong plyers) and tossed him back. But Smoke was caught between her curiosity and fear as she crept onto the back deck, tails all a-fluff. This was the first fish for her.
While we were fishing, we realized that the water was so clear and calm that we could see the bottom almost 50 feet down! This doesn’t do it justice, but you’re looking at it! That dark stuff is rocks on the bottom, 50 ft below!
There are 2 caves on Rudder Cay, each about 30 ft wide, 10 feet deep.
I think this is neat….the deeper water is blue, right? Water near the shore is clear, right? Nope, it’s blue, too. Look at this shot in the cave. You see clear water, but when Luke puts the white oar in the shallow 1 ft of water, you can see the true blue color of the water against the oar. Cool, huh!
We had a rolly5 hour sail to Georgetown today. It was close hauled into 12-15 knots from the NE most of the way, exciting, but not as blissful as say, a beam reach. We are here now, anchored comfortable between the boats of 2 friends. More about Georgetown tomorrow!
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