We are up to a sunny day; it is good to be back to the sun
in the morning as it has been overcast for the past couple of days. We are heading south today so we up anchor at
8 and start on the 10 mile trip south.
The wind is out of the North East making for a beautiful beam
reach (wind 90 degrees to the sails).
Jazzebelle glides nicely along at 5 knots. There are a number of other boats on the move,
the majority under sail, but there are 2 boats ahead of us, on the same course
under bare poles. We just cannot
understand this, you could not asked for a better sailing day and here are two
boats choosing to motor – go figure we can’t.
By 10 a.m. we are down at Farmer Cay. and drop the hook on
the south east side of the island. We
are anchored just to the north of some mooring.
We have decided to anchor as we have been warned not to trust the
mooring here. We have lunch and then
dinghy in to take a look at Little Farmers Cay.
We had been told by a couple people that Little Farmers is worth a stop
and on the sail down a boat came on VHF thanking all in Little Farmers for the
wonderful time they have had so we have high expectations.
There is not really much to the island but the people are
very friendly, within 5 mins of landing we have already been welcomed to the
island by 3 different people. One of the
first things we see is the body of a lion fish left at the fish cleaning station. Lion fish are an invasive to the Bahamas and
are killed on site by the local fishermen.
If you know how to clean them they are considered good eating. But you have to know what you are doing as
their spines are venomous. First stop is the local grocery store at the
docks, not much here but tell the clerk will we be back if needed. We start our circumnavigation of the Cay and
within 20 paces we have one of the locals calling us over to view his shell
craft work. After viewing the work and
explaining that we are not interested he gives us some grass and leaves to make
a tea with. With our new tea fixings in
our pack we continue the circumnavigation.
The Cay is small being only about 2 miles long by ½ mile
wide so it won’t be too long of a hike.
Our second stop is Farmers Cay Yacht Club where we meet Roosevelt the
owner. He is a friendly fellow and is
getting ready for the 4 F festival which is coming up. Roosevelt along with his cousin Terry (owner
of the Ocean Cabins and restaurant) invented the festival in the late 80’s as a
way of bringing people to the island.
The 4 F are First Friday in February Festival, which features a sailing
regatta of local boats. We will see if
we come back for the event.
Leaving the Yacht Club we head west across the tip of the
Cay and arrive at the Runway which forms part of the road. We head along the runway until we pick up the
actual road again. From here we are back
in the “community” again, we meet up with some other boaters from Paris Ontario
and head over to Ocean Cabins for a well deserved beer and use of the
internet. We pick up our emails and post
some blogs and then head back to the boat for the evening. A very simple life we lead.
Back on the boat Dawson dives the anchor to make sure it is
well set. We do some reading until it is dinner time. Cup of coffee after dinner, this time
accompanied by a delicious slice of raisin bread a game of King Cribbage, and
Dominos and we are off to bead.
A word on the terrain here in the Bahamas: As lovely as the cays are for us visiting
boats they are not the most hospitable for living on. They are really no more than solidified sand
dunes with very thin soil in a very dry climate. Most of the vegetation is short shrubs with
some cactus and palms thrown in. There
is very little farming that we have seen.
Cheers
Dawson and Julie
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