OtherGoose: THe weekend Fri-Sat-Sun March 27-28-9

March 27 cont’d

I picked up the laundry from the service. For $1.50 /lb someone else did it: it’s clean and fresh and I didn’t have to waste time fighting for a machine and waiting for them to be done. I went into a Laundromat initially to check it out. All the machines were full and one woman boater was in there trying to make her machine work and snarling at the locals. A repairman was working on one of the dryers or which there were only 5. I would have spent that much on the machines without a guarantee that they would be dry enough. Apparently the dryer was $8.00!!!

This way someone else did it and they get paid for it. The big thing was the sheets and towels. I can do the small stuff by hand to stay on top of it. Beside we wear the same things every day so there really isn’t much. You probably didn’t need to know that. I meant bathing suits when we sail....or something similar. lol

Wow! Last night was quite the thunderstorm! It started at about 4 am. Major lightening and no sound!!! Howling winds and we swung 180 degrees on the anchor. Yesterday afternoon when we came back to the boat we swam for awhile and scrubbed the boat bottom but it was too rough to finish so we checked the anchor and it was buried in the sand. We couldn’t see it at all. Good thing!!! After the storm we still hadn’t moved. There are supposed to be higher winds for a couple of day but we are ready to go, so we will position ourselves over to the harbour exit and leave early in the morning depending on the weather report tonight!

March 28 Saturday

This morning we left for town to pick up the propane tank and o the way we passed a cat called Amazing Grace. They were the ones leaving Bimini as we entered, so many years ago... [Just kidding but time seems to be another dimension down here!]. Anyway we stopped to see them and we ended up taking some of their kids and grandkids into the harbour. They had 10 people on board and it would have taken 3 dinghy trips, so we took the baby, his mom and his sister.

We picked up the propane tank then scouted around to find stamps and a place to deposit the p/c’s for the kids. Then we went back to the boat and moved over to Volleyball beach. 10 years ago this was a small bar/ restaurant and some picnic tables on the beach. It’s still the same. Somewhere in the ceiling is out Thunder Bay yacht club burgee. We had a drink while we were over there. I had a banana rum “milkshake” [bailey’s banana rum and coconut rum and a banana blended with lots of ice] and Rick had a Pina Colada. I would have thought that it would have been stronger but it was fine. We met Akula again. They are from Toronto with a 10 year old boy and another boat with three boys from northern USA. There are LOTS of kids here! SO many people doing this. Yesterday we met “Selkie” and Irish family over here. They crossed the Atlantic three years ago with three kids who are now just 10, 8, and 5. In fact, the boy Keighan, helped at the school on Friday, reading with another boy! They are going home this summer.

We also met another couple who flew in to stay in the hotel. They own a family hardwood manufacturing business and he talked with us about escaping! We were all standing on the edge of the water petting the sea rays! They come to the beach to be fed and stroked...like dump bears!!

It was another cloudy rainy day. So we came back to the oat for dinner and an early night.

Sunday March 29.

Every morning at 8:00 everyone tunes their radios to Channel 72 and we listen to the Cruisers’ Net. It’s all about weather; who needs help; who wants information about various things like church services, groceries laundry etc. Boats coming, in boats leaving. And we managed to sell the water heater on it!

So today we are going to hear another talk at the beach at 1:00 pm about the history of the island and then attend a pig roast. We will get to talk to more boaters and see who’s been down there recently and what they have to say about the trip down to the southern islands. It’s a very different perspective going south with foreknowledge than it was for us coming north 10 years ago. We were “virgins” and didn’t know any better. We just ploughed on and made it with no problems.

We are not sure when we will likely head out. It depends on the weather predictions. The cruiser’s net gets weather from Chris Parker, the equivalent of “Southbound Herb”. [Herb Helgenberg was a weatherman living in Toronto who would give cruiser’s updated weather for the places they were heading. you could subscribe to his service and get his forecast. He retired but Chris Parker lives in the Caribbean and he does the same thing for the whole area. We are going to subscribe to his service when we get out radio SSB running.

Volleyball Ball beach is called that because there is a big sand volleyball court and lots of tables where people can at, play cards, or dominoes here,. Unfortunately it means that everyone is here at all times: kids teenagers and college age kids who are all drinking. The adults seem to have taken a break from parenting so it is very disorganized chaos and noise, and I don’t do well with that. There is also a lot of cigarette smoke which doesn’t help.

SO we found sort of good internet and I am able to post pictures again, but I only have 80 minutes. We are at the bar in St. Francis Marina. We went to the lecture by Colin Thompson and by the time he was done they an out of pig, so I have to cook dinner ...Rats! Oh well. The lecture was worth it.

tty asa I can get back to internet. The weather here is not very good this week...cloudy and cold... sorry, I mean less hot! :)