There is lots to do in George Town or you can choose to do nothing. Alot of the cruisers meet at Volleyball beach at 14:30 every after for social time. This includes daily activities including but not limited to: basket weaving, fun and regulation beach volleyball, dominos, bridge ect. We like to call this adult day camp! We rarely go to volleyball beach in the afternoons because their simply isn’t time to get everything done. We try to include exercise and water based activities into our daily schedule. Whenever possible we will kayak to where we need to get to rather than taking our dinghy.
Here is our schedule this week;
Sunday - We kayak over to volleyball beach in our bathing suits and quickly pull on a dress and shorts and we are ready for beach church in the morning. Beach church is a non-denominational Christian worship service where people come in shorts and bare feet. Dogs are always welcome and kids are encouraged to climb the cassarina trees to watch from above, we call them our tree angels. Many of the songs and sermons are geared towards our cruising philosophy. People volunteer to give sermons, sing in the choir or read a pray. At the beginning new people stand up and introduce themselves. Unlike traditional churches, it is a custom to introduce yourself to everyone sitting around you if you don’t know them already. Only first name and boat names, seems like no one has a last name here. Ofcourse you extend a welcoming hand to those that are new to welcome them. Everyone plays a part in the welcome wagon. The coffee social lasts for longer than the actual church service with everyone lingering around enjoying homemade baked goods! On the morning net people often stop to recognize others who has given a helping hand either in something as simple as lending a helping hand fixing a boat part or rescuing a floating dinghy or more importantly a medical emergency. The community spirit truly is infectious. A good day is when you have caught a lobster, nothing on the boat has broken and you have gotten an opportunity to help someone. It sometimes feels like another world.
In the afternoon we were swimming with the dolphins and also snorkelled the nearby reef. We took underwater pictures of the reef fish, a stingray and ofcourse our dolphins! The swim with the dolphins was indeed a special event for us. In speaking to others cruisers we realized that we are among the few that have had the opportunity to swim with these dolphins.
Monday –Ted & I are taking the Total Immersion swimming class on Honeymoon Beach being offered by Bob & Gail on sailing vessel Star this week. They refer to it as “swimming with the Stars”! This is a four day course which is usually about $2000 but it being done by Bob & Gail for free here in the islands. This program teaches you step by step a how to swim 2 miles and not get tired. This takes time and practise to learn the technique but I have set a goal to swim the 1 mile across the harbour by the end of the season. Ted picked up the technique right away but I have lots of work to do. We have about 20 people in our class and are fortunate to have 7 coaches and 1 instructor working with us. We return to the boat for lunch and to run the generator to charge our batteries. After lunch we go into town to drop off our garbage, pick up groceries, get fuel for the dinghy and get on the internet. I dropped off some more school supplies and crafts to the local school here in George Town. I discuss recycling with the principal and find out that there is a recycling program here on the island for glass and plastics although it is not evident. I decided to take this on as a project to get a recycling program working here for the cruisers. I just hate putting plastic and bottles in to the garbage bins.
Tuesday – Second day of Total Immersion swimming from 10:00 till noon then back to the boat for lunch and some maintenance work in the afternoon. Marge and Ed aboard the Margaret Lee drop by for a visit and to see our dolphin pictures.
Wednesday – Total Immersion in the morning and lunch at St. Francis Resort on the patio. They provide internet access and a fantastic view of the harbour. After lunch we kayak to Sand Dollar Beach with our snorkel equipment. We hike through the trails and up to the beach on the ocean side. With a bit of difficulty and alot of laughing we manage don our fins, masks and snorkel s and enter the water. As we sit on the beach trying to put everything on we get bowled over by the incoming surf from the Sound. We grab our spears and manage to swim out about 250 feet to where the shallow coral ledges are. The swim is difficult but once you get the timing on the incoming surf it becomes easier. Once we get to coral ledge I look down and spot a lobster with his antennas hanging out. This is unusual because usually they are hiding further in the holes at this time of day. I prepare myself, take a deep breath and go down about 20 feet and spear the lobster. I start to pull him up to the surface but he struggles at the end of my spear, falls off and drops into the sand. I swim up for a gasp of air and go back down to grab him with my gloved hand but I do not quite reach the bottom and need to go back up for air. I realize I should be wearing an extra 3 pounds of weights to help me get down to the bottom quicker. I watch the lobster start to crawl backwards as I try to relax my breathing and prepare to go down again. There is really no where for him to go and injured he can’t move quickly. He watches me and I watch him. I signal to Ted for help and he comes to the rescue. Ted goes down and spears the lobster again and finally brings him up to the surface. There is a dinghy near us with people spearing fish in the same area. They all cheer as we bring the lobster up out of the water. We now have to swim back to shore through the surf with the lobster up over our heads out of the water. It’s a long swim back through the 4 foot waves. We finned for 15 seconds and do not move but then the flow pushes us forward. If we do not fin then we go backwards and make no progress. The final surge of the surf deposits us onto the beach as we hold on not to get swept backwards. Full of sand we exit the water, tired but happy with my first lobster catch. We hike back to the kayak on the other side of the cliff and paddle back to the boat. Usually Ted is the one that spots the lobster so I am very pleased with myself, I have earned by stripes as great hunter. Back to the boat the lobster weighs in at 4 ½ pounds. The body is large so the tail is put in the fridge and we boil the body to extract the meat for dips and soups. Dinner and a movie on board. We sleep well after and active day until the front comes through overnight.
Thursday –After the net we have breakfast, run the generator and head to our TI swimming class early. The class is optional today because of the winds associated with the front that came through early in the morning. Like many others in our class we battle the waves in the harbour and go to class. We leave class early and head back to the boat to get ready for the ladies luncheon at St. Francis Resort. The luncheon is attending by 45 women of various ages hailing from ports throughout the US and Canada with 2 women from the UK. A count revels that about ½ are from Canada with the largest contingent of Canadians being from Quebec. We have assigned seating so as we introduce ourselves the noise level in the small room becomes a dull roar. My fresh tuna wrap is delicious and the company is wonderful. Back to the boat for dinner.
Friday – We don our rain gear and head across the harbour to town for internet, fuel, and groceries. NE winds make it a wet return ride back to the boat with 3 foot waves in the harbour. At 16:30 we head to Sand Dollar beach for appetizers with about 40 other cruisers. We meet people visiting from the UK, cruising from New Brunswick and sailors from cities in the Cheaspeake that we visited. New friends are made and promised of dinners are extended.
Saturday - We go to the beach for AquaFitness but get a poor turnout on this last day of windy weather. We return to Sand Dollar beach to pick up something we forgot on the beach last night. Before we return to the boat, we hike up the hill to get a breathtaking view of the waves and surf on the cliff top. Back to the boat for an afternoon of maintenance and cleaning. We have a great lobster dinner and watch a movie before an early bedtime.
January 16th - So ends our busy week afloat in George Town. Today the winds clock around to give settled weather for the next 7 to 10 days. After having been at anchor in the same spot since December 16th it is time to lift anchor and go for a cruise. Our plans are to leave to harbour to cruise to Long and Conception Islands this week. Guaranteed there will be new adventures awaiting us.
Today we stopped at a boat named Second Star. We hadn’t met them but we were curious about their type of trawler. We introduce ourselves and within minutes we are invited in for a visit and like old friends we share ideas and plans. What a wonderful world we live in that is so welcoming and accepting.
We get back to the boat and immediately spot the dolphins beside the boat again. A quick change from church wear to swimming gear and I am back in the water. Ted spots the dolphins near our neighbour High Steeper , so off I go to join them in the water. Once again I am bestowed the grand honour of swimming with Nicky and her baby. I was told that the baby had not been yet named and that since I swam with her that I could name her but that the name had to been with an N. Nicky’s other babies were Nova and Noodle and this I am pleased to announce is Neva (meaning snow in Spanish). Neva takes and burrows her snout in the sand and pushes it around like she is making a snowball and by the time she is done it looks like a snow storm down on the ocean floor. Also our dog friend Neva in Canada would be pleased that I have named a dolphin after her. The people on High Stepper and on sailing vessel Mystic watched us swimming and cheered us on. The baby seemed to want me to dive down with her and when I did rolled around for me and smiled at me. When I swam back to the boat once again they followed me. Simply amazing. High Stepper came over to our boat with pictures.
Tonight we head to hamburger beach for a beach party at the Sand Bar. Those that have instruments will bring them and provide the entertainment. It’s a cash bar but you bring your own appetizers. You also bring along your boat cards (like a business card) where ever you go because this is the only way you can remember people’s names and boat name. Back to the boat I have found it helpful to make notes behind the card for future reference.
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