We had planned to receive one more guest in Georgetown so when we left our 2nd guest off on the 14th we were prepared to have one more arrive on the 19th. The idea had been to stay that week for the annual Georgetown Regatta (#52) to be exact. When we found that our last guest of the trip wouldn’t be able to join us as expected we were a bit unsure what we should do.
Should we take advantage of the extra week and leave early to the Abacos and spend the time there? Would we be better served to begin our transit to the US early and use the extra time as a buffer or bad weather contingency for our return trip to Maine? Would we regret not staying and watching the regatta?
As the anchorage began to fill with new boats and the airwaves in the morning began to become even more heavily trafficked we did what any good cruiser would have done, nothing. We thought about moving north but without any significant wind advantage it seemed less appealing than staying. The kids found new friends and old ones that were coming in daily on the incoming boats and each morning the social calendar filled with birthday parties and baby showers, dinners with friends, and trips to town.
We provisioned and filled the water tanks, took “last” strolls on the beaches, collected “last” seashells (I mean it not one more will fit on the boat, except I’m the one with the problem, I can’t leave them alone). It was all very relaxed and yet seemed a swirl of constant activity.
In addition to the 75-100 boats that are here to participate in the races there are now between 300-400 cruisers in all manner of sail and powerboats here to watch the races. Some of the cruisers even participate in the races if the local boats need more crew. ??There have been 3 races per day for the last few days. There are arts and crafts booths, “fair” food Bahamian style, the local band has played music in the street. The straw market which is usually a relaxed laid back place has been brimming with activity.
Nicole finally learned to plait, which is what they call weaving palm fronds to make the famous local straw handbags. It’s been really fun and Nicole caught on quite quickly.??We finally got it together enough to pick a day to leave, the last Friday prior to the big Saturday final races was it. We were planning to leave first thing in the morning Saturday but right away when we turned on the radio in the morning there was a call on the VHF radio appealing to the cruisers for some more kids.
On Saturday they have a kids race and apparently the racer have to have to have a minimum of 2 kids per boat to participate. The racers prefer kids that are 14 to 16 but have few locals to choose from as most of the local don’t sail and surprisingly many don’t swim. So come Saturday morning at 8 am they were still short a fair number of kids so Nicole was asked if she’d like to try racing Bahamian sailboats and she said sure so off we rushed without breakfast.
We loaded her onto a boat and then proceeded in following the race around the harbor as the boats beat upwind, rounded the marks and then finally screamed toward the finish line. There were three races and Nicole’s boat never came in even in the first three but she had a fabulous time! ??Then, Paul, who didn’t qualify as a kid because he is 18 (knife through the heart there) got asked to race in the 1pm adults race so as soon as we got Nicole off her boat we ran her and Paul in to town to eat some lunch and then took Paul out to his assigned boat.
His boat didn’t win either but he also had the most wonderful time and couldn’t stop talking about it when he finally got done with the race. By the time Paul raced the wind had picked up and accordingly so had the waves, these boats, a bigger variety of the ones that Nicole was on heel over with just a bit of wind and they all have long boards called pikes that the crew all hike out on to keep the boat balanced. In addition to the increased wind and wave action the course was more challenging and Paul was completely soaked (and beaming) when he got through.
So as you can see we have been indefinitely delayed in Georgetown. Tell me, if you will, how you could possibly say no to birthday parties, Bahamian “fair” food, dinner with friends and still more shells. We for one couldn’t seem to. Hopefully the future will be less interesting, or we may never leave.