We arrived in Big Majors Spot on Tuesday, with Maggie healing a broken little toe from a fall down the companionway. We put down the anchor in a great place for a NE blow. It turned out we were right next to Kaos, who had left us in Hawksbill. After ensuring the anchor was set, we dropped the dinghy and went about a mile to Staniel Cay Yacht Club to upload the website and complete other tasks online. We shared a table at lunch with Smiles and Kaos, each glued to our computers. Later in the afternoon, Betsy led us in water aerobics at this quiet beach; it felt good to exercise. Look at the water's various colors of blue.
Wednesday, the wind came. Maggie was happy to see the winds blow away the noseeums inside SeaTryst (we picked them up at Pipe Cay on a windless day) that have been plaguing here legs; we counted about 200 welts on her legs from bites. We were happy to see Al and Jennifer on Tanden in the anchorage. Sandi and Mike, our friends from Lake Worth, flew into Staniel to be with Mark on StrayCat (check out his website at sailstraycat.com). Mark has been chartering solo for 16 years in any kind of weather. We enjoyed a lasagna dinner on their boat along with Al and Jennifer. Sandi did the cooking, and Mike did the dishes (he definitely has a future in dish washing and does it with great humor).
It was a quiet few days as we stayed on the boat most of the time due to the winds; we were safely tucked close to shore behind the big hill on the island. Boats reported seeing 42 kt over night, so many of us weren't sleeping well. Bob was engrossed in a book during most of these days, and Rosie took advantage of his warm body.
We took few minutes on Thursday to visit with Sandi and Mike on Pig Beach, our only time off the boat all day. This year we counted six pigs, a few came to visit with Sandi (who was supposed to ride one).
On Friday, we went to the exquisite resort at Fowl Cay for dinner - $75pp includes open bar, salad, homemade bread, steak, lobster and all the accompaniments, strawberry sorbet with warm brownie, and after-dinner drinks. It was fun to hook up with Smiles, Barefootin, Eldridge C, and Kaos, plus meet a few other boaters in the anchorage. And what a great way for Susann on Kaos to spend her birthday. At the end of the evening, Maggie had the chance to share a Grand Mariner, in spirit, with Lorenzo and John.
Betsy got us out there for more water aerobics early Saturday morning to burn off those extra calories.
BIG NEWS!! Maggie finally braved running the dinghy on her own, laughing all the way. She went from boat to boat and picked up 4 courageous and supportive women to go to exercise. She has newfound freedom! She spent most of the day tooling around showing off her motorboat skills. Bob was on the sat phone the whole time trying to increase his boat insurance policy.
Wilma on GeWill organized a pig roast for Saturday night - we were all anxious to get off the boats to do something. There were over 70 people, and each one asked her for assurance that none of the pigs were from Pig Beach. Bob is sure he's counting only four now. It was a great party, with good food and friends.
Smokey the Bear joined Luther as he tried to stop the desecration of his island by fire from the boaters.
While rinsing off dinner plates after our meal, Maggie spotted a starfish among all the dinghies at the beach. What a great shot, taken through the water at about 6:30pm before the rain came and sending us back to the boat.
On Sunday, we tooled around to Sampson Cay, a resort and marina about 2 miles south. It was low tide so we had to maneuver around the sand bars. Sampson Cay is lovely and a great place to duck in bad weather. Al on Tanden had told us about a secluded beach with a blue hole (deep spot) in front. Bob took advantage (thinking it would be warm, but it wasn't) and went for a swim. The water temp is 72 degrees a little cool for this time of year. We watched a seaplane take off, and had Luther pose with the four monkeys who were trying to make some kind statement.
We said farewell to Barefootin', Eldridge C and Smiles , who are going north to Cambridge Cay for a few days; we'll be without water aerobics until we connect again, which might be GeorgeTown.
Jennifer fixed a fabulous spaghetti dinner onboard Tanden, and we forced Al, Jennifer and Henry to pose for a shot.
We'll be off soon to head south, to Black Point to do laundry and get Lorraine's coconut bread. We hear two more fronts are coming, so we'll be tucking into a safe harbor to ride out the winds.