Georgetown & Long Island

           Georgetown has been a lot of fun, but like all things- the excitement wears off. It was wonderful to meet so many people and once again have a social calendar jam-packed with bonfires and girl’s nights. After almost two weeks however, the crew of White Seal got itchy feet and decided that a little solitude was in order. The destination was Long Island; a long island (go figure) located about thirty miles from Georgetown.

            Long Island was wonderful. We spent our first night anchored up at the north end in a large bay called Calabash Bay. The entrance was littered with coral heads, which was cause for some confusion and anxiety, but we made it in with no problems. We jumped in the water immediately after anchoring and snorkeled around the boat for a while. There wasn’t any coral or anything to look at, but the phenomenal clarity of the water and the graceful ripples of the sand across the bottom made the masks and snorkels worth it. My mom even got out the underwater camera and she and I had an underwater photo-shoot.

            The next day we sailed down the island and anchored by the town of Simms for a few hours. My dad and I went ashore and walked around the charming collection of churches and houses that make up the village. To say that this town is quaint would be an understatement. Simms represents a small sliver of humanity that hasn’t been tainted by the hectic, uptight attitudes that plague most populations. I got the sense that things in Simms hadn’t changed in the past half-century, from school children outside playing some sort of ball game to the badly peeling paint on the church. I felt as though my presence was somehow contaminating their peaceful, undisturbed island existence- although everyone was very friendly and accepting of visitors.

            That evening we had an extremely pleasant sail down to Thompson Bay and Salt Pond. There were a few dozen boats there and the next morning we even discovered that they have a cruiser’s net on the radio, much like Georgetown. We spent two days walking around Salt Pond. The grocery stores there were remarkably well stocked for such a small community and we did a bit of provisioning there. I was also able to obtain an ice cream sandwich, which was quite possibly the single most delicious snack I have ever consumed. We also walked over to the ocean beach, which was quite beautiful if you overlooked the thousands of trash items that were strewn about high tide line.

Also, while we were there I had the most magnificent experience. It was an answer to my prayers and altogether everything that I had been wishing for. It was cleansing, purifying, and utterly enlightening. What, you ask? A shower! Oh yes, it’s true. After a whopping 53 days without a real shower, I actually shed genuine tears of joy while shampooing. It cost five dollars at a small resort, and though my dad was rather squeamish about coughing up that much, I’m sure he was glad since it put an end to my “you’re-a-neglectful-father-for-not-letting-me-shower” speeches. 

We returned to Georgetown on the 26^th and dove right back into social swirl. I’ve been on my toes trying to attend as many fun events as possible; from beach walks with Rachel to surprise parties to dinghy poker runs. The Annual Cruising Regatta is starting today, so the already bustling schedule is about the increase in intensity even more.

Boaters here organize a very wide array of events for regatta, ranging from things such as dinghy races to bocce tournaments, seminars on weather to disco dinghy dances. One event that sounds particularly absurd and intriguing is the Coconut Challenge, a contest where people attempt to harvest the 900 coconuts floating in a small lagoon into their dinghies with flippers on their hands- and all without the aid of an outboard motor. I will be participating in this event on a team called the Coconut Bikinis. Yup, that should give you some good insight into the culture here.

I’m having a really good time and I’m looking forward to Regatta. It’s pretty much a nonstop, two week long party. I’m not sure that we’ll stay for the whole thing, but I will certainly try my hardest to post some pictures of the Regatta shenanigans. I hope that all of you readers are doing well, and my apologies once again for not posting as often as I used to.

Despite my best efforts, it looks like only two photos will upload. Ugh... such slow Internet...

I went on a trip to a farm in Georgetown, we all had to pile into the back of a pick-up truck to get there.
It was a ton of fun and we got some great veggies out of it!

Bahamian sail boats racing when we were at Little Farmers Cay.