Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Say Goodnight Georgetown

Our visits to Georgetown have provided us with fond memories of boater camaraderie, easy provisioning, fun surf play, long beach walks, good eats and breathtaking views. Our most recent addition to our treasured memories is the visit by Paul, Shari and their precious stuffy ‘Bearett.’ Someday I will explain the ‘stuffy connection.’ Paul and Shari flew in to Georgetown shortly after we returned here to renew our visas. We had our concerns that the weather would be untenable. Certainly March came in like a lion and the strong winds often had us confined to the boat in a safe anchorage. Indeed their first 36 hours was just that. It included a wet ride back to Hold Fast from town. Shari was wise enough to put their soft luggage in garbage bags so it was a simple matter of changing into dry clothes once on the big boat. After that first 36 hours, the weather turned spectacular. March went out like a lamb. We were able to experience ‘Shari sailing’ (winds under 15 knots and flat seas). We set out to sail coupled with fishing. Our auto pilot was still not functioning (the new pump does not work – extremely frustrating) so Paul stayed on the helm for hours at a time. Our new nick-name on the boat was ‘Auto Paul!’
Here is video of 'Shari Sailing:'

The plan was to fish and sail for a few hours but we busted on the fishing and before we knew it we were at Long Island and anchored at Hog Cay. It was a calm stay and a nice diversion. Our three hour tour turned into an overnighter. Auto Paul sailed us back, sometimes with the motor to allow us sufficient speed to fish. Fish we did for two days, but no catching of our target species.
This is a sailfish we caught on another trip:
From Blogger Pictures
After we returned to Sand Dollar Beach off of Georgetown we experienced a new phenomenon we have now dubbed ‘Shari beaching.’ We have never seen this ocean that calm – there was no body surfing to be had but hey, Shari went for a dip!
From Blogger Pictures
I only planned out our dinners for their stay and figured we would just wing the other meals. I have to plan in order to properly provision. Nothing special, our normal eats, we just needed to double it – however Paul and Shari considered it a ‘culinary cruise!’ I think a good time was had by all. Both Myron and I moped around after they departed. Lord willing, we will see them again in Jacksonville. Today we spent time re-provisioning and re-organizing Hold Fast. Hopefully tomorrow we will be on our way to explore other sites. We expect our general direction will be north and we are hoping to meet up with Kenny somewhere before Jacksonville. He is in Puerto Rico with his sights set on to Jacksonville. It will seem like old times back at OYCM.
Love to all,
Dena

1 comment:

toni carpenter said...

Sounds as though you are having a grand time. Truly enjoying reading your posts. Transports me back to our journey. What a treat!