Rat Cay

8 Feb 2006
N 23 degrees 43.66 minutes
W 076 degrees 02.35 minutes

My man Mr. Burd is in the house!

We stayed anchored near George Town for a few days so he could get the flavor of this place, where most cruisers to the Bahamas spend their winters (though we moved to Red Shanks for two days to wait out a front), had burgers at the unfortunately-named Chat 'N' Chill beach shack, had Conch Salad made by a local guy at his stand on Volleyball Beach (where, yes, they play volleyball every day, among other activities organized by cruisers), and woke up every morning to listen to weather on the ham radio at 6:30 AM and the George Town cruisers' net on the VHF radio at 8:00 AM. We had a fascinating night on board George and Nancy's boat Trumpeter (we met G and N in Miami and then saw them again in Rock Sound) with s/v Kittiwake (parents of our friend Susan, who lives aboard in Boston) and Meander, a boat that rarely uses its motor, including in tight spots and while entering and leaving its anchorage.

George and Nancy have made this trip many times, and have also gone as far as Puerto Rico, so when we mentioned that we needed to buy some charts, George pulled out a sheaf of them, everything we need to get us through the Virgin Islands. Charts cost a lot of money, but George didn't want to sellthem; he just asked that we return these when we are done with them. That sounds good to me: postage will be a fraction of what we would have spent! Now we just have to keep them dry for the next few months.

Dean bought a bag of books for $1 at the library (including Interview with a Vampire, All the Pretty Horses, and a Michael Crichton novel). This made him very happy.

The night before we left George Town, Kim and David on s/v Amanzi dropped anchor next to us. We had met them a few weeks before up at Hawksbill Cay. They came over for drinks, and we have tentative plans to meet up with them in late February to make the trip to the Caribbean together. Kim is a teacher, and she and David have put together a really interesting Web Site for students back in Canada: www.floatingclassroom.com.

Rat Cay is cool; we are the only boat here. There is a blow hole nearby, above which you can stand and have water spray 10 feet over your head. A huge barracuda patrols near our boat. At night, the moon casts shadows which you can see on the sandy ocean bottom, 14 feet down.

------------------------------
Sent via PocketMail
Email Anywhere
www.pocketmail.com