02/11 s/v Trouble Update: I made it to George Town, Great Exuma Island. I’m actually across from it on Stocking Island as the wind is ESE today. I left Staniel Cay and went to Black Point Settlement, Exumas. Nice anchorage, with a little town. It’s known for its Laundromat. Of course, it was a Sunday and closed. While I was ashore I went over to a restaurant and had some conch bites and a beer. I tipped well as it seemed slow. I then found “Grandma” that made fresh Coconut Bread. I bought it and will make French toast with it later. It was Super Bowl Sunday but I just stayed in the boat and did laundry. The next morning on my way out the cut I was hailed by another boat leaving at the same time. We chatted on the radio about our destinations which were different. On the way to my planned stoped I looked up their destination for the day. It looked interesting, so I changed plans and followed them. It was a great day of sailing and very few waves. I actually passed them so I let them pick their anchor spot first. There were already 5 boats there.
I ended up going over to their boat for happy hour and a few rounds of Dominos which I have never played before. I hung out with them the next day also as we wanted to dive on the Mermaid Playing the Piano underwater spot. Kinda cool. Sorry, no underwater camera. We then went to see if we could spear any fish. We didn’t see anything big enough. We ended up on a huge sand bar in front of David Copperfield’s Island (Musha Cay) and found some Conch. We ended up at my boat for happy hour and tried to open the conch but it was harder than the videos we watched. I used what conch we got out to make conch sushi. It was about a 6 out of 10. It was fun, everyone leaves before 8 which is cruisers midnight. We parted ways the next day and I did a short run to my original destination.
It was an abandoned research center, but I elected to anchor a little further down as it looked perfect for the wind. Four other boats were there. They swung by and said happy hour on the beach at 5. So my social life was on overdrive. Nice group of people. We talked about what was broken on each of our boats. The next day I headed to George Town. Very brisk wind on the nose, made for a bumpy day of sailing. It was about a 24nm trip. I was able to snag a spot at the anchorage I wanted to go to. It was already crowded by my standards. There are lots of boats here in the George Town area. I made a late lunch and took a nap.
I got hailed at about 3 and am invited to another happy hour on someone’s boat at 5. I’m not sure I can take all this socializing. At least we know everyone had a negative test recently. Kurt comes in on March 1st. I have few things to get done around here till then.