Notes prior to anchoring in Georgetown

There are heroes in the seaweed,
There are children in the morning,
They are leaning out for love,
They will lean that way forever.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Hello from Patience off the shore of Cave Cay, on the Great Bahama Banks.

OK, we’ve come from Tampa Bay to Longboat Key, Venice, ICW/Charlotte Harbor, Naples/Wiggins Pass, Boot Key/Marathon, Channel Five, Gun Cay (pronounced “key”)/Cat Cay/Bahamas, Morgan’s Bluff, West Bay/New Providence, Nassau, Allen’s Cay, Bahama Banks, Exuma Sound, Warderwick Wells/South Mooring/North Mooring, Cambridge Cay, Staniel Cay, White Point and Cave Cay. The sun is going down again in a most beautiful fashion. Since my laptops have weak batteries, they won’t run strictly on 12V, so I’m running my Honda generator. It’s warm and the fumes are something else. BUT I’m able to type on the laptop without a major stoppage.

We’ve met many people from different countries as well as the USA. We seem to be running into more Canadians than say the French or Argentineans. Nevertheless, English is the basic language around here. I’ve made the acquaintance of some young Bahamian women and men. They’re very delightful and after you get used to their way of speaking, it’s kinda fun communication. There’s various levels of sailors out here. I’m one of the relatively inexperienced ones and I can spot my peers. There’s others that you can tell right away, that they’ve been around, especially from the stories they tell or certain insights on techniques. I’m taking it all in and making mental notes for ongoing and future circumstances. This has been a great learning experience. Not only in sailing but in the operation and maintenance of Patience. From the log of the first owner, it shows that she’s been down here two times before. With such a shallow draft, we’re able to go where most other boats don’t dare. Timing the tides helps too. With my XM Weather subscription, I’m able to get the forecast for the next several days for this area, which is a great way to plan whether you can sail in a certain direction if at all. For instance, on Wednesday the winds are suppose to shift to the South. They’ll be coming right at us if we were heading South, which is not a comfortable and could even be an impossible direction to sail. So we’re getting up early tomorrow morning to make a passage on the Exuma Sound – where there’s deep water and big waves – down to Conch Cut and The Great Exuma Cay where the city of Georgetown awaits the two Arkansans. We’ve already got the main sail double reefed so we won’t be tipped so far over by the 15-20 knot winds from the east. It’s always exciting out there and especially when you come into a “cut” where the channel is usually narrow and the waves and current are against you. You’d have to be here to experience that!

I’m going to close this note and say HELLO! to you all. Until next time, stay tuned. I’ll be getting some more photos together for upload to the website as well.

Love,

M & J



PS: We were sailing on the Exuma Sound the other day and really enjoyed the Inauguration Ceremony. Everyone we’ve met has expressed joy and hope for the future. That includes us. A new beginning!