We are enjoying our time here. Internet is not as readily available as we’d like. We are a long ways from town, and that makes it more difficult to access at the boat, even with our great new signal booster. Oh, well.
It turned out that two of our plastic enclosure pieces were in need of serious stitching. As it turned out, our friends that we met in Deltaville last summer happen to be anchored “next door” and she has a heavy duty sewing machine, made for repairing sails and such. So, we took off the plastic pieces, took them over in the dinghy, and Chris repaired them for us. Great!
Basket weaving using the fronds from the local palm trees is big here. The natives make the baskets and sell them to the tourists. The cruisers love to make them. There are big groups of females of all ages (men, too, actually) that gather on the beach daily and make these cute baskets. Our friend Phyllis knows how to make them, so she took 3 of us on her boat to teach us! It’s fun and relatively easy – but not easy to make them look as good as the natives can!
After my initial lesson, I came back to Latitudes and began to prepare my fronds. You have to strip them into thin strips to “sew” with. Smoke went crazy – little wispy stringy things in the cockpit. This is a funny picture – that blur on the floor is Smokey, wildly killing a couple of frond strands that she’s been able to snatch from my new stash.
and what a helper she is….I may have to close her up somewhere when I try to weave…
Here is Luke standing in front of the local “straw market”. About a dozen women have small stalls inside and sell everything from home made baskets to junk jewelry to the never-ending tee shirts.
Today we met at the beach with 3 other couples and played dominos. It’s very popular among the cruisers and there are always games going on. We actually bought a set this past summer so we’d have them on board. It’s a fun game, easy to play.
Here’s a different view of the dock in Georgetown, where the water hose is located. This is from the water side – makes you realize just how many dinghies there are around!
On Friday we went, along with about 60 other cruisers, to the local high school. It was a charity event – a school bus picked us up and took us for a 30 minute ride to the only high school on the Great Exuma Island.
Once there, we were given a tour of the school. Today was “casual day”. Generally the students have to wear uniforms. This is grades 7-12. Students with a 2.5 grade average can get a scholarship for free admission to the university in Nassau, but have to pay for room, board, etc. Most have relatives that they can live with. Students who major in math and plan to teach, AND have a 3.0 average get a scholarship for free admission plus a little each month for expenses. Those who don’t quality pay about $500 for room/board for 4 months plus $100 for each course they take.
One of the cruisers brought his guitar and, to the delight of the boys, played a few tunes for them.
Before we left for our return trip, WE were treated to a little music by the high school band (gotta have one for that football team!). They were actually very good!
The weather looks good for leaving Georgetown on Tuesday, 2/22, for a run to Conception Island and a few other more southern islands. Internet in a few more days!
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