We had a few weeks in Georgetown before our next guests arrived. It is more developed than when we were last here – in 2007 at the end of our circumnavigation, but it still has the same beautiful beaches and vibrant cruising community. This cruising community is a community in every sense of the word. They have their own Facebook page, regular announcements every morning at 8:00 am, beach volleyball every day, water aerobics twice a week, kids’ activities, beach church at 9:30 on Sundays, and plenty of socializing. One of my favorite social events is the ARG, which stands for Alcohol Research Group – where you bring you own experimental materials to every meeting to further science! 😉
While we waited for our next guests, we attended several ARG meetings and a rooftop concert. There are a number of musicians here and they joined together on top of one of the houseboats and gave a great Sunday afternoon concert. We didn’t have our cameras with us, but Chris from S/V Marly created a 7 minute summary video
Chat-n-Chill is the central hub for all things social – including daily Volleyball at 2:00 pm. As you would expect, the beer is cold, and sailors love to chat! We were here one afternoon and just happened to strike up a conversation with a couple named Rick and Robyn aboard Endangered Species. This pic shows Anthony talking to Rick.
We learned they circumnavigated, so we said, “We circumnavigated too”. Then they asked what type of boat we circumnavigated in, we said “a Sundeer 60”, they said, “Oh, we’ve sailed on a Sundeer. Do you know John Thorpe?” We were both a bit speechless for a second and then Anthony said, “Well yes, that’s my Dad.”
OMG – Small world story for the ages – turns out they sailed with John on Seafever in 2000 from the Azores to Portugal as crew!! Of all the people we could have started a conversation with … what are the odds!
Every Sunday the Chat ‘n chill has a pig roast that attracts both cruisers and hotel guests. We took our 2nd set of guests, Dan and Ellen Adams with us to try it out! No they did not drink all of that beer!
We had a couple of days of great sailing over the Long Island and then on to Cat Island where we hiked to the highest point in the Bahamas, 206ft (Whew!)– to visit an old monastery.
We had a hilarious conversation with a couple of local fishermen who gave us a demo of how conch is retrieved from inside the shell.
Our next guests, my god daughter Helen Slaughter, and her daughter Adelaide (4 ½ years old), came a week later.Helen visited us in St. Lucia in 2007 at the end of our circumnavigation on SeaFever and now she and her daughter were with us on Moxie. Unfortunately, we had strong winds during their short stay, so we didn’t get to sail anywhere.
But we made up for it by climbing trees, playing on the beach, jumping on the trampoline, and attending a birthday party.
Here we are at Sarah’s 5th birthday party (from S/V Sheliak) on the beach. Adelaide was a little shy at first, but within minutes, she was running around chasing other kids and having a blast. Boat kids are naturally extroverted… if they weren’t they’d never have anyone to play with!
It likely comes from the ceremonial Hawaiian tradition known as “Blowing the Pu”. It’s not easy either… listen to how long she blows this…
All too soon, Helen and Adelaide had to leave. It was great to have a kid on board because “kids are magnets for other kids” so we met a whole different group of people than when it’s just us.
While we waited for our next guests, we had another great “concert”, this time from “Sailing Piano”. He used to play as the entertainment on cruise ships and entertains sailors! This video shows all the dinghies anchored just behind his boat.
Our next guests come in a few weeks, so we’ll pass the time working, cleaning the boat, and taking hikes around the island… Until next time.
