april 25-27

April 25, 2015

Yesterday was very interesting! We went to town in the morning to…no idea!

But in the afternoon we went back to the Regatta and had ribs and rice and peas and corn for dinner. It was a huge meal for $12.00 and we split it. We wanted to see Rashad perform and when I started to ask about where it was to be, people kept sending us to the wrong place.  Finally we ran into him and he told where it would be. They seriously need someone to organize this event better…but not me! 

The music is horribly loud played through mega banks of speakers. Anyone with a pace maker would be in serious jeopardy standing in front of them. I like the music when it is original but some of it they simply change the beat…seriously ..Stars on 45! And it is strange that the original music is based in gospel but they pick the worst hip-hop and rap with the worst language to convert to their own beat. It’s like listening to people speaking English as a second language not knowing the translation  of the swear words.

We watched the beginning of the Youth talent  Expo…dancing. Young kids from the public school and three young women…older than teenagers but not much…who apparently were the dance teachers. They were great ! What I wouldn’t give to be 20 years younger…ok maybe 40 or 50! Maybe if I got the outfit…

So we waited and waited and walked down to the stage where the rest of the talent show was to be held…nothing…more live bands who did a couple of numbers each then ½ hour of huge DJ noise again during the bands change up. Rashad neer did get a chance to perform. We left at 11:30 and I know he didn’t because we could hear the music more clearly on the boat, and one singer was a woman Natasha (something) a Tina Turner re-incarnate…she was great!  The other was an Irish Bahamian!  His name was Colin McDonald or something like that but he definitely had and Irish accent under the Bahamian one!

Kim, the HBG lady [moving to Canada to go to School] was there with her kids waiting for the Junkanoo to start, but costumes were not forthcoming…rumor has it there some political bickering between island groups so no-one brought out their costumes.  What a disappointment. Well, I assume that there were no costumes…could have happened after midnight because they partied on until 4 am!!!

Bouncy castles for kids at regatta

Final Race

Not the best way to pay a bass drum; these kids ranged from 12 to adult

Grand Bahamas Police Band: like a College band and could they dance!!

April 26

Today we are going to listen to the Exuma Police Youth Band and the Grand Bahamas Police Marching Band.  I am going to check out the  public/high school art displays and hopefully talk to a teacher.

The absolute best part of yesterday, wandering amongst all these people is what I observed:  the women are beautiful. They dress with confidence, flair, and respect. It doesn’t matter what size they are, they know how to use BLING with taste! The only slutty ones I saw were the tourists who showed up in their bikinis.

So, report on the race later…or the party side of it anyway, 

All the kid uniforms are made here on the island. red band is GeorgeTown Police cadet band (yeah, some are a little young to be cadets!) White Band is Grand Bahamas Police Force Band.

April 24 Happy Birthday Ben & Alex

April 24, 2015 [the real one] HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX & BEN

See, completely lost track of days.

You would think I would know that yesterday was the 23^rd because today is the 24^th, Ben and Alex’s birthday [s?]. Besides, if I look at the toolbar, it tells me as well.

Today it has rained all day. That’s good because this island was VERY dry. And the rain is warm and the air is warm and there is no mud! All the island is sand so there is no muck to get picked up on your shoes and tracked in. When it does stop periodically the sun comes out and it is so hot you dry up instantly!

The bad thing is: when it does stop periodically, the sun comes out and it is so hot you dry up instantly!

This morning we went to the meat market in the back of a pickup truck…haven’t done that since I was on the farm and it was an odd feeling to be going that fast!! Maybe 30mph? There were about 8 of us. I wore my OtherGoose shirt so everyone knew who were we… “the pretty yellow catamaran”.  One guy, a very impatient New Zealander,  with his son, used to own a Prout. And was telling us about it. Interesting guy but quite rude with the driver of the meat truck. He was about a half hour late picking us up, [which he does as a service so we don’t have to pay for a cab to get to his store!] I got the feeling the NZ’er doesn’t like indigenous peoples…had a bad experience with Maoris?

The rain has put a damper on the races because when it rains there is no wind, and the sails get wet and heavy. So they will postpone until the rain stops. So everyone can party until then. Rick sat out in the dinghy with the Go-Pro [in the rain]flming what he could of the races.

Tonight is Junkanoo Costume night. All the costumes are made from cardboard and decorated. I hope it stops raining by tonight! Last night the music was almost unbearable. It was loud… “Stars on 45”.  I could recognize songs that had been re-done to the Caribbean beat, and there weren’t any breaks in it, [DJ] until the live bands started at 10 but we were home by then. They actually sounded great out on the boat about a ¼ mile way.

I have to say I was always fond of “Bling”, but I am sick of sparkling all the time now…the persistent salt sparkle is annoying and sticky!  Will let you know how tonight shapes up. ttyl

April 23

April 24, 2015

This morning started off as usual with listening to the Net. We lent out oil pump to a new boat that had come in and needed to change his engine oil. As he was leaving the boat [he was only couple of boats away] another dinghy came u

Just heavy rain

Just heavy rain

 Doug Ryan

Sitting on the anchor

p. It was Doug Ryan! They had just dropped anchor near the boat with the huge Canadian Naval ensign who happened to be a friend of the owner of Furling Around!

They visited with us for about half an hour and then had to g. They were having trouble with their holding tanks and had to get pumped out. Unfortunately the Exuma Yacht club here has no pump out service and the pump out boat has been broken for about two weeks so they had to backtrack 12 miles to the other marina here.  They left from there and are well on their way south to the Turks and Caicos then further south. Fair winds, Furling Around.

We didn’t get to town in time to get to the historical tour, but on the way over we got soaking wet. It appears that we have entered into the rain season. The last two days have been cloudy and humid, wit thunderhead building up, and moving away.

Today someone came over Channel 68 to say that there was a waterspout out at North Cut. Of course, by the time anyone figured out which direction North Cut would be, or did they mean North Rock at the South Cut, no-one saw it.

We moved the boat over to the harbour this afternoon. The water over here is so clear and calm today that we can see the anchor and we are sitting on top of it. We went to town tonight to watch the festivities. The Junkanoo dance was at 10 pm but we didn’t stay. Tomorrow is the costume dance and we will go to that.  

April 21-22 getting ready for Regatta

April 21 -22

I’m losing track of days again. I think today is Tuesday. Today we went to town because I had to meet with the school principal.  This school is not the high school, it’s a parochial school where people pay to send their kids [private school] So it turns out that I am to be the art teacher on a volunteer basis next year. There is one other small issue: this school is a part of the Anglican church. The principal is also the Minister of the Church and wanted to know if I would be coming to service once in a while, after she asked what my denomination was.  I guess I should learn to run the dinghy again. I don’t know if Rick will come with me!

We spent the morning talking about projects the kids could work on. She asked me what I do with my time on the boat, and then we got into so many other topics I can’t even remember them all…I think I’m in trouble here !

We wandered around town and met all kinds of people; Steve and Gloria [the summer marina managers from Lady’s Island  on Living Well] and ran into all the people from the taxi ride to the “Rake and Scrape” the night before. It was a good dance although I didn’t do much. It was too hot and my little friend was busy with younger faster feet! And we sat mostly with people we hadn’t met before and got to know other boaters.

It’s getting to the point where we actually only get one thing done a day! But I did finish my TCI revisions and sent them in.   So on to the next project… finish the one-year plan for the YMCA.

April 22,

This morning is the start of the Regatta; small dinghies first and later today the big boats. Today is cloudy and windy although the news says there is no wind. Hah! I checked the instruments and we have 11 knots right now and the little boats are flying around the course.

Today is going to be run-the-engine day because there is no sun to pump up the solar panels, and Ross lent his generator to Nautiwings who just bought the derelict boat in the harbour for $1.00!!!!

Tomorrow we are going to go on an historical tour of the whole island. This afternoon we will be going to take the truck up to the meat market. Prime Island Meat comes to the center with a pick-up and takes customers to their store to buy meats and cheese!  It’s about 4 miles from the centre of town. 

SO, gotta do some work now. Here are some pics.

Some of the Class A racers - big sails!!!

Now that's a flag!

April 20

April 20

 I sometimes have slight panic attacks that our ‘vacation’ will soon be over and we’ll have to head back.  I don’t know why. Maybe because I’ve gotten more involved than I should have?

Yesterday Rick finished installing the solar panels around 5:30. We only had a couple of hours of daylight so we don’t know how well they will top us up, but if they kept the two fridges and the freezer and all the lights and water-maker operating on Jasmine City,  I think we should be fine! We still can run the motor.

I went over to the beach to listen to Cordell give a talk again about the history of the area. His cousin, Bob sat down beside me and we started talking about stuff. He’s interested in windmills and we talked about all kinds of things, mostly how to get younger people involved in the community.

Tonight is the “Rake and Scrape” It refers to the playing of music on a saw blade. You either rake a metal stick over the teeth or scrape it down the flat side of the blade and depending on how you bend the saw, it makes different musical sounds.  So they called for a volunteer this morning to organize the water-taxi, and I waited to see if anyone else would, but no-one did, so I volunteered again. It’s not rocket science but…

Ross wanted us to go fishing with him today but I need to stay by the radio and then go to town because I said I would take some more stuff to the Straw Ladies.

This morning before the ‘Net, as I was sitting on the front deck waiting for my coffee, something spit at me. When I turned around there was a dolphin swimming at the front of the boat, looking at me with one eye. When I spoke it flipped and turned away. So cool! And no camera at hand!

The solar panels are working !!!

We haven’t taken more pics in a while, so we will try to take some today. Ttyl.  Is it anyone’s birthday today? If so, Happy Birthday!