[Hilde’s log]
Just back from doing our radioactive laundry at the marina laundry facility. $16 for three washers and one dryer. Needless to say, I’ll be drying most of our things on the lifelines today. We’ve been in Marsh Harbour for two days now, waiting for high winds that have not yet materialized. It’s supposed to blow 30 knots, but we haven’t seen anything over 23 so far. The water in the harbor is a bit choppy, but we made it to the laundry without getting sloshed. It was a bit of a challenge when we arrived, as I had to climb up a five foot wooden ladder to reach the dock. Heights (even five feet) give me the willies, but I made it up and down. Everest is next!
While I did the clothes, David got out his sewing machine and restitched the mainsail cover. Now he’s digging around in the port lazarette, working on an adjustment to the rudder post stuffing box. I’m about to continue with hanging out the clothes and making bread.
Not much to report, except a marvelous trip from Fisher’s Bay at Great Guana Cay to Marsh Harbour through perfectly clear water. We took turns sitting at the bow, watching the sandy bottom roll by. We saw one fish, probably 20 star fish (with short, stubby little arms), and a number of sea slugs (some of them are bright red!). Once at anchor here in the harbor we saw several sea turtles, which was a big thrill for me, fan of turtles that I am. The harbor water is cloudy so we can’t see the bottom (probably just as well), but the turtles floated to the top and looked around at everyone before diving again. They were probably 18” to 2 feet across, with big yellow heads. I finally saw what I think are tropic birds at Great Guana Cay. They look a bit like sea gulls, having large, white bodies, but their tails are like scissortails back home and they don’t scream like gulls do, but rather call with more of a chirp. Four of them played above us in the breeze as we lay at anchor, chasing each other in dips and glides, obviously with romance on their minds. It is spring, after all.
We met up with Viking Rose here in the harbor, and heard from Gerda and Jack on Sadie A on the VHF. They are snorkeling at Great Guana this week. Richard, Penny, David, and I all walked up to Marshall’s grocery and were delighted to find that this local grocery is loaded with food – even produce. We plan to go back to Great Guana later in the week and take a mooring ball in order to leave the boat without worrying about dragging, so we can roam that island, enjoy the beach, and do some snorkeling. Then we’ll turn around and come back here on our way south.
We met Tony and Kris from Ticketoo, who are returning to the States after three years in the Caribbean. They came aboard and visited with us last night, and had lots to tell of ports we hope to visit, especially lots of information about Luperon in the Dominican Republic, which is our goal for June. They have wonderful photos on their website at www.spaces.msn.com/members/ticketoo. We met them because they came up to the boat in their dinghy and announced they were the cake fairies. Company they had expected were forced to cancel their trip, so Tony and Kris were handing out slices of the chocolate cherry cake they’d made for the company to their neighbors (it was just wonderful). If that wasn’t enough, Barbara and Larry on Laura Mae, our neighbors to port, sent over some fresh coconut bread. After so many years in cities, where neighbors have uniformly ignored us (and, to be fair, we pretty much ignored them), the friendliness of people on the water just astonishes and delights me.
As we were barreling along yesterday in the dinghy, exploring the harbor for dinghy docks and boats we’d met before, we saw Ru’ah, a boat that routinely checks in on the cruisers’ net. When we approached to make introductions, we were warmly greeted by Helen, a lovely English lady who spends her time travelling the world crewing on other people’s boats. She had the widest, happiest smile, told us of some of her more memorable moments travelling, and simply insisted we go to the South Pacific. Helen has been travelling for over 20 years and has friends everywhere. We've finally learned that to meet people while cruising, you have to go up and say "Hi." Everyone we've ever introduced ourselves to has been happy we did and many of them have become friends. We just got an email from the nicest fellow we meet in Green Turtle Cay, GW on Serenity, who had dinner with us and more new friends, Ken and Maria, from Duet. The dinner was an imprompu affair over pasta and brownies, was the highlight of our stay at Green Turtle, and came about because we dinghied over to Duet one morning and said Hi. Amazing!!
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