Family Island Regatta

Every year in April, traditional Bahamain sloops from all the island groups in the Bahamas compete for three days of racing, drinking and dancing in Georgetown Bahamas for the National Family Island Regatta. The sloops are unique as the ballast comes from 5 or so guys "hikin" out on a board on the windward side. On a tack, everyone has to duck and get the board out on the other side. Race conditions were intense all week, with 20-30 knot winds. The Johnson's wore bathing suits for the rough ride across the bay and back to watch the start of the races. Breaking races would drench the dingy and all of us. As one of the few to brave these conditions, we got to see the anchored start and two major crashes. The Cat Island boat was rear ended, sending sailors into the water, breaking the boom and ending their race week. Our friend, Mike, co-owner of Long Island Breeze, has a broken thumb after being cleared off of the board by the boom in a crash at a buoy. Crewing on a race boat looked more dangerous by the hour. Had we arrived one day earlier, the kids could have sailed in the Junior group. After seeing all of the crashes, I was glad we missed it.

On Saturday, two bands performed for the delight of the crowd. The first group were elementary to high school age kids. Unlike our marching bands, the Bahamains do little marching and lots of dancing, gyrating and booty shaking. My favorite quotes included a Bahamain guy behind me to his woman, "now I see what I be missin". Marc stated the PTA would be in an uproar over these moves. The main event was the Royal Bahamas Police Marching Band. Traditional marching band style started their show. However, the drum major had moves I have never seen before, even embarrassing the local woman he pulled out of the crowd. I believe I heard her say, "don't go there!" Another local said to me, "If they could investigate as well as they played, there would be no crime in the Bahamas!" The drum corp precision while tossing their drum sticks and drums was incredible. Who needs cable!

From Georgetown, we motored to the north end of Long Island, Bahamas. Long sandy beaches, salt pond islets and tall white cliffs grace the end of Long Island. Our afternoon dingy adventure included a climb to the Columbus Monument where he ran aground in 1492. The monument was unique in that it said, "to the peaceful, friendly, loving, Lucaya Indians of the Bahamas (many spaces) and to Christopher Columbus." The message was subtle but effective. From there we tried to navigate a shallow inland pond and collect sand dollars and shells. After pulling the dingy through the mangroves, we decided to turn back. On the north end of the the island, the waves have created dingy in caves with natural skylights at the top. Hunger called us back to the boats, but we loved our time on Long Island.

Currently, we are in Conception Island and leaving for Cat Island today. With our fellow kid boats, Miakoda and Taua, we have enjoyed mahi from our fishing successes. The kids (and moms) have been wake boarding and water skiing, beach combing, snorkeling and turtle watching on Conception Island, a land and sea park. Our position is posted on the link in our blog.

Prior to Little San Salvador, we were in Fernandez Bay, Cat Island. Cat Island is a very friendly island known for its traditional African religious practices, including abandoning houses once the grandparents
die to allow the spirits to live in peace. Cat Island is also known as the home of Rake and Scrape music, Bahamain music using a heated goat skin drum, saws with a screw driver and an accordion.

At the local Rake and Scrape, we met a pilot from Crystal Lake (like Scott and Kendall)
who offered a tour of the corporate jet to the kids. We also met Evan, the manager of the Fernandez Bay resort who was from Michigan. All 5 kid boats descended on the resort and enjoyed a tour of a 25 million corporate jet. The pilot, Alain and the co-pilot, JT, got tours of our much less expensive boats and happy hour in the evening. Alain then piled all of us into a rent a truck for a visit to the famous Hermitage,
a sanctuary built by a retired priest at the highest point in the Bahamas, modeled after an Italian shrine. To top it off, Alain buzzed the anchorage in the jet on the way home. The site of a jet going 450
knots directly over head will not be forgotten soon.

Overcoming Fear at the Blue Hole

 

On Easter Tuesday, we decided to rent a van with our friends on Miakoda to tour Long Island, Bahamas. Finding a car was the first challenge. Jennie would speak to someone who said, yes we have a car only to find out that the car had been already rented to other crusing friends. Finally, we arranged a van and a pick up. The friendly Bahamaian who met us at the dock drove us to his house and gave us the van with no paperwork to complete. Can you imagine getting a rental car in the states without any paperwork! Long Islanders are famous for their hospitality and this was just one example. So off we go with 4 chiefs, 4 kids and Brian assuming the driving responsibilities. Brian and I are more alike in touring style, see everything and move on. Jennie and Marc linger, take pictures, talk to everyone.
The highlite was Dean's Blue Hole pictured above. Dean's Blue Hole is the world's deepest blue hole (underwater sinkhole), which plunges 202 metres (663 ft) to the ocean floor, in a bay west of Clarence Town on Long Island. Over previous weekend, they held the world championship free diving competetion here. During the event, Australian Walter Steyn achieved a new Australian free-diving record of 100 metres (330 ft) at Dean's Blue Hole. Free diving.. no tanks, no air, just a big breath. Marc, Brian and Parker enjoyed cliff jumping into the deep dark hole. As I have aged, I have developed a fear of jumping off of high places. After devoloping an increasing frustrated audience at the blue hole, I finally jumped. Every time I went to go, my legs would freeze. The brain knows this is a bad idea so you really have to overcome your instinits to throw yourself off of a cliff into the great abyss. Even Marc hestitated at the very top. Parker will jump no problem, but he doesn't like to swim where he can't see the bottom. Fears are complex, and I was happy to have conquered mine for the day.

Treasures Found

All of us wanted to return to Johnson Cay, a small inland with a perfect beach facing north and an anchorage only for two boats. Two years ago, we had a magical experience with our friends on Dream Catcher. So this time, we were there by ourselves with perfect weather, clear skies and gorgeous water. With the artistic Daniels family on Dream Catcher, we painted a sign that said, "Welcome to Johnson Cay. Here is the picture as it looked two years ago:
 

"
Friends had said, "No did not see the sign". So we thought it was gone after two years of wind, sea and weather. While I was snorkeling, Parker started yelling from shore. He had found the sign, somewhat overgrown but still there. I looked around and found the board painted by the Daniels family and all of the kids& painted conch shells, still there. Here is the sign after two years of abuse by mother nature:

 

 

A project presented itself, the sign called to be repainted. Unfortunately, we did not have a full paint set on board. Green and white were the only choices. Parker also scored a kite-board.not Marc's but one just the same. Johnson Cay never fails to amaze and enchanted us. With a perfect name, it is our favorite secluded island and probably always will be.

Scavenging and Seclusion

Why go you ask, of course, for the scavenging, hunting and seclusion. All of us were excited to find lobster, whose season ended in 10 days. In Sabrina;A Child's History of the World", she learned about the life of the Stone Age people. "These early people must have spent most of their time hunting for food or trying to get away from animals hunting them for food". That was us, the scavengers of the Jumentos. Parker likes to scavenge the ocean beaches for fishing buoys and sticks to make spears and forts. Sabrina was determined to find sea beans and to make a necklace out of. After finding tons of sea hearts, only a rare hamburger bean would appease her. Another favorite for kids was to pile up found shoes for a "Payless shoe store" on the beach. She also was interested in spearing fish and lobster. Marc wanted to get up on the kite board and was excited for high winds. This year we have lost so many things. Just days before, Marc's kite-board had disappeared overnight. It had been used once and all were upset by it.
Marc is a superb hunting, able to lie on the deep bottom and spear well hidden lobster under rocks. On average, he was bringing home 3 large lobsters a day. The cave man genes have pushed their way to the surface. My big score was a boat fender and hat from washed up on the beach. That is what we have become, glorified dumpster divers on the beaches of the Bahamas, and loving it. It seems that other type A cruisers have similar ideas. Gathering spots are strewn with "art" displays of beach treasures and functional pieces like wheel barrows, tables and altars, all made of recycled materials. More disturbing were all of the plastic washed up and the beaches. What, as self proclaimed environmentalists should we do or not do with it? In the U.S., beach clean up days are organized and trash bagged and recycled or land filled. In the Bahamas, our choice is to leave it or burn it, releasing its lovely components into the air. Let us know which the better choice is.

Sprawl and Socialization

Only in the Bahamas can you go from the polar opposite cruising experiences in a day's sail. At one end of the cruising spectrum is Georgetown, Bahamas during Cruising Week. At the other end are the remote and desolate Ragged Islands/Juementos, Bahamas.
In Georgetown (G/T), we listened to the VHF net, wrote down the daily and weekly activities and had to use (gasp) a calendar with time commitments to organize our lives. The cruising lifestyle in Georgetown is organized, punctual, with a set hierarchy of leaders. Volleyball daily at 2:00 p.m., Beach Church on Sunday's at 9:30 a.m. and ARG (Alcohol Research Group) meetings at 5:00 p.m. Arriving at 5:10 p.m., we found a full beach and many appetizers already gone. If anything, our "just in time"
arrival policy has gotten worse.. after all we are on a boat. However, retired cruisers are frustratingly early to events. With 300 plus boats in the area, privacy is non existent with new friends popping by the boat daily. The anchorage was a wave of color with boats flying every flag on their boat. The kids were excited to display the G/T flags won 2 years ago and add the new ones from this year.
Nothing like Georgetown exists in our experience around the Caribbean. Bed times, who needs them especially with cruisers' parties only lasting until 10:00 p.m. However, at the end of week 2, we are tired, and ready for the solitude of the Juementos.
At the last campfire of our time there, we tried to convince the other friend and family boats, Los Gatos, Miakoda and Cambraytion to join us in the Juementos. As described in our chart books, "they are unpopulated wilderness with only one tiny settlement, closer to Cuba than Georgetown". Our information purports to be prepared for no all around anchorages, limited protection from fronts and swelly, rolly anchorages. Food is limited and water and fuel are non existent. Oh, and than there
are the sharks who come in the shallows to breed in the spring and become aggressive. Of course, all of the ladies have read and reread this information, making the area seem more and more dangerous after each reading. At top of that, the weather god, Chris Parker, said that the wind was going to be blowing hard out of the N-NE for 5 days straight, making the anchorages even more rolly and snorkeling challenging. Needless so say, no-one left with us. Most boats leave in the morning and announce
their departure to a chorus of "goodbyes" on the radio from fellow cruisers. We left late afternoon, so we could use our raffle-won day on the water in a high speed power boat, sneaking out during the afternoon activities. Cruisers never say good-bye, just see you later. We left not knowing when and if we would be seeing our friends again, but happy to be finally sailing.

Back to Georgetown

After a crazy and fun two weeks in Georgetown, Bahamas during regatta week, we are peacefully anchored in Nurse Cay, Jumentos. Our position is posted on the ship trak link on our blog. The Jumentos, which means donkey in Spanish, is a string of virtually uninhabited islands closer to Cuba than the US. Prior to G/T, we were blessed by our dear friends, Chris and Kelly, Jack and Katie Case of Saratoga Springs, The weather cooperated and we enjoyed a few long sails interspersed with snorkeling, hunting, beach combing and great company. Their trip ended with two great days at Atlantis, a super-resort on Paradise Island. Las Vegas has nothing on this place, add to that the largest man-made marine habitat in the world along with literally miles of water park activities and you begin to understand what this Atlantis is like. Surrounded by mega and new giga (bigger yet) yachts whose expenses at Atlantis exceeded our yearly cruising budget, we hung our wet laundry out with pride. I tried to weasel my way onto Pegasus, a 200+ foot yacht that blocked our view, to no avail.

In Georgetown, we had to say goodbye to Mima who we had been cruising with for a year and a half. It was an emotional time but we know our paths will cross again. We enjoyed campfires, dinners, the coconut challenge, kids days and did a Tim Conway Dorf-on-Golf like skit with them. For those of you too young to remember, someone is behind you under a shirt with their arms as your arms and your arms are your legs. It is fun, physical comedy or it can bomb. Marc, Brad and kids have been doing a Johnny camper version at YMCA camp the last few years, so it gave us the idea. We performed "Stan and Lena come to Georgetown". Mark on Mima and I were a dysfunctional cruising couple from Minnesota with Marc and Susan as the arms. The kids passed up props like a mini mast and sail, fishing pole, radio, lipstick, shaving cream and razor, etc. The crowd loved it as we poked fun at the typical situations in the cruising community. Mima, being relative newbees to the Bahamas had to trust that the jokes were funny. When we get internet, we will post the video on the blog. In the end, we won 3rd place out of 15 groups. One couple stopped us and asked where we were from in Minnesota! First place was garnered by the French Canadians doing a Can Can for which that had transported complete costumes for 15 people. 2nd place were our friends, the family on Los Gatos. They did a Youtube inspired "Evolution of Dance" skit with their two daughters and mom and dad. Angie's Mom came for 10 of the days and was a fantastic boat guest.

Marc raced on Phoenix, an Ocean Cat 49 twice. The boat was owned by the Henry who built the only 10 Ocean Cats in existence. Marc calls it a Manta on steroids. After starting last and catching up to all the other boats, Marc decided to tack to get out in the ocean more, while all the other boats headed to shore. Unfortunately, the wind died and they were becalmed for 45 minutes while the others still had the wind. They were going so slow they could see lobsters in the water. So, they finished 5th out of 10 boats. Saturday we all raced around the harbor and finished 2nd in the Ocean Cat. The harbor race was crazy, with boats having to dodge anchored boats and lots of up wind sailing.. not good for a cat. We actually caught and dragged two marks that we had to round. So we got a bottle of rum for 2nd. Parker was the official door prize drawer for the race. He pulled out "Phoneix" and won the captain a beautiful watch. The next day, the captain gave it to Parker.. he has not taken it off.

The kids did well in the competition category in Georgetown. They got 1st in the coconut harvest, having to round up coconuts from a dingy with only used fins to propel the dingy. Parker came up with a sea monster idea for sand sculpture and won first with Sabrina, Kristen and Annie from Bird on a Wire, Geneva on GottaLife and Lee Ann, the only adult in the group. The judges were moved by the only true kid group vs. an adult group with kids thrown in as labor. The adults got second in the sand sculpture with a "Red Hot Knight", a knight with brandishing a sword with bulging muscles everywhere. The theme of the event was Red Hot Nights so we were trying to gain points. In the end we lost to Dog Beach. I think the fake dog poop made of sand and sea beans but them over the top. Alvina/Mom helped tremendously and got a 2nd place flag to take home. We did an encore presentation of Stan and Lena at the closing night ceremony with Chad and Lee Ann, a newlywed couple from Muskegon Michigan.

Our first day there, we won a snorkeling trip with 4 other couples on a high speed power boat. We stayed an extra day to take the trip..value $100 a piece. After waiting an acceptable amount of time to factor in "Mon, this is the Bahamas, mon", we called. The day was spent trying to track them down. As it was the first calm day in a while, they decided to make money vs. take a donated trip. So, Marc went snorkeling and got two huge lobsters and gave one to Mike on Los Gatos who went with him. With 300 boats in G/T, it was amazing there were any lobsters left. That night we did a huge group bonfire on the beach and had grilled lobster and veggies. Three guitars kept us all singing late into the night. It reminded us of the reasons we are out here, clean air, warm ocean breezes, new friends, and perfect smores, even with sticky marshmallows and stale cookies.

The next day, the Exuma tour people showed up early! The just in time Johnsons almost missed the boat as we were saying goodbye to friends. The trip was amazing, exploring all the local knowledge places near G/T that most of the 300+ boats and cruisers never see. I found and Marc shot another huge lobster!! After the trip we motored out of G/T, another emotional time for the kids. This is their favorite place on the planet.

Yesterday was the best day of fishing and hunting ever. Each kid shot a monster lobster with guidance from Dad. Marc found 3 more huge lobsters, a field of conch and we caught 4 fish on the way south without really trying. With the freezer over flowing, we continue to head south before lobster season closes in 7 days.