Georgetown – 9 miles in dinghy, walked 1 kilometer
With a heavy windstorm expected to land later today we took the opportunity to do boat chores. I first double checked the anchor, noting the beauty of anchor management in Bahamas where you can even see the starfish nuzzling against your anchor chain fifteen feet down. I then transferred the reserve diesel and water we had into the tanks, emptying all the portable jugs, then loaded them up into the dinghy. Around 9:30 we stuffed ourselves in there too, along with the laundry and Anna’s bags as she would have a taxi waiting for her at noon to take her to the airport for her flight home.
I dropped off the girls, purchased gas and diesel from the Shell station, filled up the water jugs as the free RO (reverse osmosis) water tap at the dinghy dock, which is an incredible service the local Exuma Markets grocery store provides to cruisers, then zipped back to SeaLight and emptied them all into the tanks. But she was hungry for more, so I returned to town, bought more gas, filled the water jugs, and repeated the process, continuing my strenuous core workout in the process. While getting gas and chatting with the Shell attendant, a domestic maelstrom broke out beneath the tree in the park. A skinny Bahamian dude with gold teeth and half-full bottle of Kalik in his right hand and his girlfriend with fancy hair but a shabby pale green shirt, and who outweighed him by at least a hundred pounds, were screaming at each other. The subject of the dispute was something about money owed, skanky bitch, lazy drunken bum, and a bunch of other indecipherable Bahamian patois that I didn’t understand but sounded suitably cruel for the situation. At once the girl shot up and gave him a mighty push, sending him stumbling, spilling his beer all over himself and the ground. He staggered back and slapped her in the face. She tried to push him again, but tripped, and he grabbed her shirt and dragged her around in the sandy grass for a while. The Shell man hurried over and broke up the fight, sending the man away, but then the girl got into it with him and they started shouting back and forth. I couldn’t understand a word, but he did mention to me after it was all over that it’s not good for the tourist trade when these local love quarrels break out, so he does his best to keep the peace.
While all that was happening, the ladies were taking care of the laundry, stopped for coffee, and Anna picked up some snacks for the airplane. I was back at the dinghy dock by noon to get a final load of water and to say goodbye to Anna. I gave her a big hug, told her it was a pleasure having her on board and that she did a great job as crew and…we were going to miss her. She thanked me profusely then minutes later was in a taxi and whisked away to the airport. Ana had found a recommended taxi driver from one of the online cruisers forums and he was fantastic – showed up right on time and even waited to ensure Anna got checked in okay. He even sent us a photo of her waiting in line at the airport!
The remaining three SeaLight crew returned to the boat, did a big cleaning, remade the beds, added another bead of caulking to the floor seam (Stella learned how to use a caulking gun) then sat down and mapped out the next couple weeks of the passage, which would include a few days in Long Island then a return trip back up the Exuma chain, visiting some of the places we missed along the way, eventually returning to Nassau for Stella to return home…and to pick up our next visitors.
We finished the day with a cockpit sundowner to rapidly strengthening wind then an incredible meal of spinach and apple salad, fresh Bahamian buns, and paella enhanced with fresh Bahamian lobster and Queen conch.
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