I fueled up the boat, got groceries, did laundry and finally; early in the afternoon, took off for Farmers Cay.  This was a week and a half before the 5F festival.  I left so early because I had a guest coming into Staniel Cay the week before the festival, and I wanted to take advantage of the calm weather.  On the way up the Exumas, I put out a fishing line on the off hand chance that I might catch something.  The fishing this year has not been good at all; but, hey, I'm moving through the water so I might as well drag a line.  About 8 miles South of Farmers, the line went tight and took a little bit more off of the reel.  I thought, "a small fish, probably a barracuda."  I slowed down the boat and reeled in the fish; and,  to my surprise, I had hooked a small dolphin (Mahi).  I quickly cleaned him and tossed him into the fridge.  Yumm... dinner looks to be good tonight!

After I anchored at Farmers, I dinghied in to see what Allie was up too and get some of his wife's great conch fritters.  While there, he asked if I'd give him a break behind the bar and tend it for a while.  I had so much fun with the locals that night tending bar that I didn't get back to the boat till after the bar closed so, of course, I missed my fresh Dolphin dinner.  Oh well, there's always breakfast in the morning. Dolphin with coffee, eggs and grits.  I think that'll work.

I spent the next few days diving around the outside of the Cays.  I stopped in Black Point to see friends and eat at Lorraine's then I  stopped at Staniel and met up with former cruising friends that were coming down a bit late this year. (I supplied the lobster and they supplied the Black Angus beef for dinner one night. Sounds fair to me!).

My guest arrived Thurs. afternoon on the Flamingo Air flight from Nassau.  We spent the next week cruising around the Cays, dividing our time between diving and seeing sites.  The most memorable dive that we had during this time was off of some rocks North of Lee Stocking Island.  We had finished doing our underwater photography and touch-tank diving at the research reefs used by the research facility on Lee Stocking and went up North to some rocks. These rocks were far enough away not to affect the research. I wanted to do some spear fishing.  When we got into the water, we swam around looking under ledges for lobster and then spotted a nice big grouper.  I swam towards the Grouper and was so focused on him that I didn't hear my guest calling over to me to tell me that there was a shark between us and the dinghy.  I shot the Grouper and the spear glanced off of its head.  The second shot missed completely!  I was obviously too excited about getting a big fish like this, and it was throwing my aim off.  The 3rd shot was a head shot, but the Grouper had enough life left in him to swim with the spear bending from the friction of the water 30 or so feet to a small cave.  I caught my breath and pulled him from the cave and came to the surface to hear my guest yell "shaaaaarrk!"  I got the fish out of the water, above my head (tough to do with a big one like this), looked around to see if I could find the shark and headed off for the dinghy.  At no time did I here the "Duh duh, duh duh" music from the movie Jaws so I wasn't overly concerned...  We finally got to the dinghy and got in just as a small 5' Tiger Shark passed nearby.  I hadn't been sure about how my guest would react when faced with her first shark encounter, but she did good.  We had discussed what to do in the event of a shark encounter prior to this dive, and she had done all of the prudent things and had not panicked and done a "walking on water" imitation that I've seen so many others do.  Very good!  We cleaned the grouper on the beach, took some pictures and then headed back to the boat to grill some of it up for lunch.  It just doesn't get any fresher than that.

The weather was mostly settled that week except on the day that we cruised down to Coco Plum's, a restaurant on the beach, for lunch.  We even went to George Town for a day to enjoy some of KB's ribs at Chat & Chill's and an evening at the ARG! (Alcohol Research Group) meeting, on the beach, by the Queen's dock.

We arrived back at Farmers the day before the festival, and Allie put me back to work behind the bar. (A note for the Bahamian authorities here - I was not working for money or ANYTHING. I was merely helping out a friend for a few hours so that he could take a break and relax).  He also smoosed my guest into getting behind the bar to stock the beer and wipe down the counters.  Once again we had a lot of fun that night with the locals.  The next day I was awakened to the sound of Bahamian music blasting away at full volume aboard the mail boat, the Captain C, as it entered the harbor and docked at the Yacht Club.  The party had begun!  After coffee ("cowboy coffee" cause my French press broke) and breakfast, we went out into the sound for an uneventful morning dive.  When we came back, the Bahamian C-class racing was preparing to start so we dinghied out to the race course to watch the race and take some pictures.  Very fun!  These are traditional wood boats that use rocks and humans for ballasts so that the wind doesn't flip them when it pushes against there very large sails.  It can be very exciting in strong winds. Unfortunately on this day, the winds were light.  After the races we headed back into  town to partake of the festivities, food and fun.  The first person we saw after tying off the dinghy was my friend Nicki, who was making conch salad down at the dock.  Of course we had him make us a couple of spicy conch salads while I went up to Allie's to get him a beer.  The day was spent eating, drinking and socializing with Bahamians and cruisers alike.  There were Hermit Crab races, wet T shirt contests and best "buns" contests.  Of course the Bahamian music was playing all day.  We finally called it a day and went back to the boat.  Sitting in the cockpit looking up, the sky was clear and filled with stars. The moon was full, and the music from the island was drifting across the water.  Enough to put a smile on your face, huh?  It did ours.

Sunday night we went to Staniel Cay Yacht Club for a buffet dinner and Super Bowl Party.  There were over a hundred cruisers, locals and guests enjoying the game and especially the commercials.  We sat with some other cruisers and enjoyed ourselves.  Another fun night with new friends,  you gotta love it!

My guest flew out the following day, and I turned around and headed back to George Town renewed and excited to be going back.  The weather has become much calmer than it was Nov.until mid Jan.;  and, in fact, it looks like we have a few days of nice weather coming up.  It looks like I'll have to head out and explore some other islands and reefs, but first I have to take care of some maintenance. My life's  not all fun and games you know.  I'll probably have to put in about 4 or 5 hours of serious work, not  to mention the hours put in on this web page.  Man, I'm getting tired just thinking of it...  Hope you are all having a great start to the new year.  Enjoy!

The next posting will be around 03/06/07