Thursday, March 19, 2015

Barefootman, GTC, Manjack, Treasure

WOW The incessant easterly trade winds have subsided and we are making tracks finally.

We made it to the Barefoot man Concert on Guana Cay Saturday for the cover evening show. It was not free but definitely a great concert and a lot of fun. The crowd was not overflowing but plenty of hooping and hollering. The buffet dinner was Prime Rib and very good with a Key Lime desert. I had a couple of Nippers -- their signature frozen rum drink and really enjoyed the show.

We took a mooring in the harbour. Skat and Bubbles were already there and they reserved one of the balls for us. It was tough to pickup with 20 knots of wind and a short painter. We missed twice and then Craig came over in his dink and assisted us. Thank You Craig. Buck and Vickie on Victoria Gaye came in and stoped at the MArina. They went to the concert with us but Skat and Bubbles sat this show out -- they went to the free Friday show.

Even though on a ball the harbour was not comfortable. There is a surge that bounces the boat up and down. Not bad but annoying.

Skat and Bubbles decided to leave Sunday for Green Turtle Cay (GTC) to await a weather window to return to the US. We are not going back yet but we missed GTC and went with them to enjoy GTC for a few days. The trip around the Whale Cay was uneventful but a bit rolly. We hit the entry to White Sound which is narrow and shallow near low tide. We headed in YEP here comes another sailboat out and we have to pass in the narrow channel. Then I look and there are three more coming. Now they could have waited but no they just had to come through now and wouldn't you know -- they would not yield the center of the channel and we had to hug the red -- what BOZOS! We stopped at the Green Turtle Club marina to fill up on water and diesel -- I was down to 25 gallons of water. We took on 40 gallons of diesel and 160 gallons of water. We are good for awhile.

Went swimming in the ocean the first day and it was nice. The water has warmed nicely. We played Farkle that night with Skat and Bubbles and had a great time. I only won one of the 4 games though.

The next day we went swimming in the sea of Abaco -- Bluff House side. That night we went to dinner at the Green Turtle Club and had a great dinner. Karen had her favorite coconut ice cream dessert. I had Grouper but no dessert.

The next day we all left for Manjack CAy. It was beautiful as usual but the wind direction was adverse and not as forecast. It was light so not bad but "what else is wrong with the forecast?". Karen and I took the dinghy to the ocean beach and she had a great day glass hunting. Two baggies full!.

The night was okay but bouncy because of the wind direction -- not as forecast!

The next day I Scuba dove on the boat bottom and it was still a mess. I cleaned for an hour and it was better but not great. My 3 season bottom paint was a MISTAKE -- I should have painted the bottom before this cruise!! Me BAD.

There are storms up north that are driving a large swell towards us. Today the Whale Cay passage was mild but tomorrow they expected 7 foot waves and it would be bad through Sunday. We left and got back across the Whale Cay to Treasure Cay. It was smooth as a baby butt. HArd to believe it was going to be rough the next day.

Treasure Cay was nice with just a moderate number of boats on anchor and mooring. We anchored smoothly.

We thought about leaving today but I wanted to do a little grocery shopping -- Karen wanted to hit the gift shop, and I wanted to swim on this most beautiful beach here. We did it all today and this afternoon the harbour has filled with boats. Should be big goings on tonight.

Tomorrow we might leave and head further south. Weather should be good till Sunday when we need more protection.

Tonight there is a pizza party at the MArina Tipsy seagull bar so we might hit that.