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Jill
made brunch of cornbread pancakes and fried potatoes which we ate in the
cockpit. After a short nap we rowed to shore and walked around. There is a new
cook shack next to the bar that serves hamburgers. The road to North Beach has a
private sign on it and there are a few houses at the end of it but not right on
the beach. We walked up the path to the lighthouse and it seems no worse for
wear. There were many Century plants in bloom or just past bloom on the path. On
the way back we found a side path to North Beach. We walked out the road to
Marsh Harbor and looked at all the houses. We walked about a mile down the road
and it was quite hot so we drank the soft drinks we brought and walked back. We
stopped at a sink hole beside the road. Back at Little Harbor we stopped at the
pub for a few drinks and then paddled back to the boat. We went swimming and
used the sun shower and then relaxed for a while. We had an early dinner and
then rowed in to the pub to check out the Friday night get together, all the
locals show up on that night. We had a few Little Harbor Blasters and watched
some people who had a few too many. We made it safely back to the boat for a
good nights sleep.
We swam and sun showered. "Richard" the French guy came by and collected for 2 days yesterday ($10 a day). Rich (my) says that the winds will continue strong for a few more days. Richard and I dingied to shore and explored the old light house. We went to the Johnston's studio and gallery. We took a couple of pictures (at the Lighthouse and Sea Grapes and Foundry). The road to the lighthouse is wider and by-passes the beach. We walked to the beach on a coral path. The Frenchman told us there is a party in the eve at "Pete's Place". We were surprised at all the people - one lady had too much 'enjoyment' and fell in the sand. It must have been that Little Harbor Blaster! What a drink. Rich and I each had one. He rowed us to shore and I rowed us back :). Actually the wind pushed us back ha! There are rentals here now. Rich picked up an ad.
Yesterday morning I saw a beautiful sea turtle. 40' from the boat. I ran for the camera and saw him again at the front of the boat but he was so close and I was so surprised that I missed the picture! damn. We slept well - read ourselves to sleep.
The
wind is still strong from the E but it is comfortable in the harbor. Several
boats left, one got stuck in the channel but managed to get thru by raising his
jib. Several more boats came in and it is still crowded. Around noon we put the
motor on the dingy and started for the cave. After going just a few feet the
motor stopped and would not start. We rowed back to the boat and got out a few
tools. After fooling around with it for a while it started, probably just a
little water in the gas. We visited the caves and took pictures and then motored
over to the pub for hamburgers which were very good. They were served with beans
and rice and potato salad. Later we walked over to the ocean side and beach
combed for a while. Back a the boat we were informed by the person who collects
for the mooring that on Sunday they have a pig roast at the pub and people come
from as far away as Marsh Harbor for the event. We are looking foreword to the
event. Jill won 2 out of 3 games of RummyCub and then we split a pair of games
of Yacht. The wind is still strong from the E and while sluing around on the
mooring, the line hits the anchor so I removed the anchor and we should have a
quiet night even if the wind is howling.
We explored the caves and took pictures. They were dry. A few have marked the walls. Rich is letting me run the dingy engine. He had to work on it a while because it failed to start. I believe he changed the spark plug. Frenchman told us that there is a pig roast at the Pete's Pub tomorrow. We had a "hamburger in paradise. :)
We
got up late and listened to the weather report at noon, The next front will not
arrive until Tuesday or Wednesday but we are happy and secure here. We saw the
turtle close to the boat but he dove before we could get a picture. We could see
smoke rising from the big grill at the pub and lots of cars and people were
gathering there so we packed a bag and dingied over. The place was quite crowded
with people eating and drinking. The food was laid out on tables next to the
grill and was all you could eat for $20. A band was playing in the band stand
behind the pub, a guitar, a drum and a guy playing the saw or sometimes a
washboard. They played island music and popular tunes all to an island beat.
Several people from the audience helped by beating on a bread pan, tambourine or
cow bells. Several little kids beat on spare drums the band had. Everybody had a
good time. After stuffing ourselves we walked to the top of the ridge to watch 2
surfers in the high surf on the ocean side. We sat at the small hut on top of
the ridge and played Quarto and RummyCub. Afterwards we went back down and
listened to the band until it packed up at 5. We returned to the boat and
relaxed until bed time. The ducks came around and we threw them some potato chip
pieces but they ignored them. When they came by later Jill gave them tortilla
pieces which they seemed to like. The wind decreased during the afternoon and by
evening it was down to about 5 Kt, as low as it has been for many weeks.
We went to the pig roast - It started about noon. Pete Johnston was there - I went to take a picture of him doing the limbo and caught him falling! FLASH PIC!! The menu was Bahamian
 | Peas and rice |
| Baked beans |
| Corn pudding |
| Potato salad |
| Roast pig and chicken |
We took Quarto and RummyCub and watched 2 guys surfing! Dangerous over there - rocks. There was a fun Bahamian band - Rake and Scrape. They are here Sunday, Hope Town Monday, Guana Cay Saturday - Dreadlocks, etc.
A little girl - dark long curly hair, about 8, gave me a glass of coconut juice and a coconut. There were probably 70 people - counting children at the party.
The 2 ducks came collecting bread :). A small turtle excited me to try to take a picture again... no luck! Frenchman passed by and collected anchorage $10. The swells are up but the winds are a bit less. I'm about to sort out books for trade.
The wind turned to the S today and started blowing harder. We spent the day reading and playing games and watching for the turtle. Jill finally got a picture of it but it seemed almost to read our minds and would dive immediately if we had a camera but would stay on the surface for 15 seconds at a time when no camera was within reach.
Ha! I got a turtle picture. Distant but maybe with enlargement! Oatmeal for breakfast. Vienna sausage sandwiches for lunch. Potato soup for supper with chez bread. Most days this is how we eat. Sometimes only tea and chocolate milk for breakfast. We have no ice now. Ducks come for bread today. They go from boat to boat - begging. I wrote to Liz and Rusty tonight. This eve I'm writing to the parents. We have rested and read. Waiting for a front. A few clouds, 80°+.
After breakfast we decided to swim over to the beach which is just N of the cave. We broke out the water noodles and started swimming. It was not really far. We ran into a shallow spot with weeds and a buoy and fish trap just in front of the beach. After going over this 1’ deep spot the water went back to 4’. Just S of the beach was the remains of a burned out power boat. The transom and 2 engines was the only recognizable parts. Behind the beach was a trail up into the rocks that lead to a hole thru a ridge of rocks. Back at the beach we walked around the shallow water at the base of the rocks for a while and found a large starfish. We swam back to the boat and used Prell and the sun shower. After this exercise we were hungry so we packed a bag with RummyCub and the books and magazines we had read and headed for the pub. While we had hamburgers one of the patrons broke out a guitar and started singing another patron with a harmonica joined him. Pete was there also. He sang better than the band on Sunday but was not nearly as loud. We played around with several puzzles at the bar, the interlocking iron parts where you try to remove one part from the rest. After several drinks we knocked over the bag and spilled the RummyCub pieces all over the sand. Hope we found all of them. Later we walked to the local lending library which is a bookshelf with sliding glass doors on the side of a utility shed. We exchanged our books and magazines and in the process spilled the RummyCub pieces again. Back a the boat we carefully counted the pieces and after counting a few times finally came up with the correct count. We played a few games just to be sure.
We took the dingy after a "noodle swim" to explore another cave. On the sandy beach in shallow water was a dark red 12 - 14" star fish. Beautiful! We climbed high into a cave above the harbor, after swimming over. It had a tunnel that seemed to go to the top but it gave me claustrophobia just to look in it ! :)
We had lunch - burger in paradise - at Pete's Pub and visited with other boaters. Some ancient mariners were there - one with tales of Boar's War with Tutsis!! One very dark tanned, thin motor yachter with pure white hair and beard and sea blue eyes was surely in his element! We met a fellow named "Larry" who lives here on a green boat at the dock. His wife works in Marsh Harbor. He says Marsh Harbor has no hospital but 3 doctors' offices. He said phone service is coming here by next year. Also we heard someone say that is costs $500 a year to leave your boat anchored here.
It's mostly sunny - water 75° ish. A guitar player sang Hank Sr. songs. It was a great impromptu party. Pete Johnston was there with his Mr. T gold necklaces and cowboy hat.
We got a bunch of Atlantic Monthly's from the book exchange. Played "pick up RummyCub pieces from the sand" after having a few drinks! :)
Another lazy day in paradise. The wind was very strong and blustery today, starting S and ending W and dropping to 5 Kt by dusk. We had a lovely quiet day reading our new magazines and watching several boats leave and several more arrive. One catamaran took a mooring, then changed to another, then another and finally came back to the second mooring. We don’t know what caused this strange behavior. We had dinner in the cockpit as the sun set.
Cloudy, windy, hot sun. Lovely day to wait for the weather to change :). I'm writing letters and reading. Watching children play on the cave side beach.
The
wind was quiet all night except for one period when it blew strong for a half
hour. It got quite cold during the night and I closed the hatch over the bed. In
the morning we had hot oatmeal. Richard, the local artist and mooring fee
collector told us that the cave the Johnsons lived in was not the large cave we
could see but another one S of it. We got into the dingy and started looking for
it. It was covered with vegetation from the water but we found a path up to it
and it was quite spectacular although not quite as big and high as the other
one. It went back just as far and in the back was a pocket with bats which were
somewhat disturbed by our presence. We could see a few flying about. We took a
few pictures and tried to stay away from the bats. We returned to the boat and
got our walking shoes and went back to shore. I wanted to try walking on the
path that lead S from the top of the hill we had climbed a few days ago. I
thought it might lead to the community of Cherokee. The road lead off the main
road over a ridge past a house and down the other side. It seemed to be new and
well traveled but once we descended the ridge it turned out to be just a series
of roads cut in the jungle to prepare home sights. We walked down some and came
to an older dirt road which went S at the top of the ridge overlooking the
ocean. We followed it for a while and watched the waves roll in to the beach
about 50’ below us. Several fishing boats were just offshore. We came to posts
with a private sign and a house set back from the beach. The path seemed to
continue S and the house appeared to be unoccupied so we continued down the path
which ended about half a mile later at a path down to the beach. As we walked
down the path to the W was a small valley and then another ridge. Everything was
covered with scrub growth. To the W we could hear motors like large trucks and
supposed the main road was in that direction. We went down and continued walking
S on the sandy beach. A small hut of drift wood had been built at one point on
the beach. After another half mile the sand gave way to coral rock and we
climbed over this sometimes treacherous surface for a while and passed another
nice looking house set back from the beach. It was octagonal in shape and well
kept up. Further down the beach it turned to sand again and then just before it
turned back to rock again we saw a Tiki hut behind the beach and decided to go
that way to find the road. The hut was still under construction with a square
floor about 60’ on a side and a tarpaper roof. Lumber and scraps lay around and
everything still smelled new. We found a path behind the hut and followed it. It
turned into a new road recently cut thru the jungle and we followed it for quite
a while, about half a mile before coming to the main road which was beautifully
paved and quite new. At the intersection there was a dead palm in a rock planter
and a large area graded over and planted with new palm trees. Somebody put a lot
of work into this development and we walked over to the sign to see what it was
going to be but the sign just said ‘Cherokee 3 miles’. We still had a long way
to go but at least the road was nice. The wind was blowing from the W and fairly
cool except when the wind died and then the sun beat down on us and we knew it
was summer. We walked about a mile and a half without seeing a single vehicle.
We could see a tower in the distance and thought we were getting close. We
passed a small house and thought we were getting close to the outskirts of town.
Then a van passed us and a few minutes another van passed us and stopped. We
accepted a lift from the man who lived in Cherokee and were grateful we had
because it was still quite a hike to town. The road zigged and zagged around
shallow points and hills. The man left us off at the parking area outside of
town, the roads in town are very narrow and there is very little room for
parking in town. The town is typical of Bahamian villages with 10’ wide concrete
roads and nicely kept homes painted in bright colors with contrasting trim
colors. We walked E to the ocean side of town and then S to the Batelco building
beside the tower. It was now obvious why we thought we were close to town but
actually miles away. The tower was enormous, not your average radio tower. We
used the phone to reassure our folks that we were still alive and then walked W
along the waterfront. There were a bunch of small outboard boats of the local
fishermen here and store selling fuel, hardware and fishing gear. The first van
that passed us was there and it was driven by several people from Little Harbor
getting supplies. We walked a little further and then decided to go back and bum
a ride from them. We saw them coming down the road with ice cream bars from a
small grocery store that we did not get to. They had to leave quickly as they
had loaded 30 bags of ice so we got aboard and were glad to be riding instead of
walking. After driving past the road we took to the main highway we passed a
driveway with a sign for the Bennett house which must have been the octagonal
house we saw from the beach. Shortly after that we turned off the nice paved
road onto the bumpy rock road to Little Harbor. The road bumped over and around
and down for about a mile before we came to Little Harbor. We passed a large
road grader which was trying to smooth out the road. The driver says there are
plans to pave this road eventually. Back at Pete’s Pub we helped them transfer
the ice to a deep freeze and then went to the pub for hamburgers and drinks.
Even though we got lifts for part of the way we were quite tired. By the time we
returned to the dingy the tide had come in and it was afloat although we had
carried it quite a ways up the beach. We had put out the anchor so it would not
drift away. Back at the boat we swam and took sun showers and read in the
cockpit until it got too cold. We opened the bottle of Champaign from Jim and
Susan Miles to celebrate our adventure and also our anniversary.
ANNIVERSARY #4 We just finished a swim and cool sun shower. The breeze is strong - wind still cool - changing to Northerly. What a day we have had! This morning we got up late - read a while.
Then we went to shore and exploring the real Johnston Cave. It goes way back in the coral hill and has lots of bats! Dark down there. We took quite a few pictures.
Then we started walking to Cherokee Sound... We went along a beach road, high above the shore - beautiful. There are coral heads sticking up 100 yards out. The road eventually gave out and we walked along the sand and coral rock at the seaside - rough walk! Like walking on nails part of the way. Eventually we saw a newly framed house and hoped for a road. Sure enough it was a great road and took us about 1/2 a mile to a paved road. We took it left - We walked a mile, a van passed us and then an old buy in another van stopped and gave us a ride. It was a good 2-3 miles further into town. We were pretty tired. Rich called his mom from the local phone company. There were phones outside and inside. There was a monument across from the phone company with the names of sailors who had died on boats fishing and in storms. it was in honor of the towns :fishing smack" building days. The 3d and final side was several lists of names of the boats build in Cherokee. (from A's to W's). We saw the guys and girl who worked at Pete's Place - after we had walked throughout the town. It was those 1 lane cement Bahamian type roads. All of the houses were newly painted, tropical colors. Quite a little town. We asked the Pete's crown for a ride home to Little Harbor - It seemed like a long road back. The girl pointed out a cave to us, only about 1/2 a mile from Little Harbor.
Now we are relaxing with a bottle of Champagne (from Jim and Susan Miles).
We had a few drinks at the bar before we helped unload 20 bags of ice from the van. We also had another "hamburger in paradise". :)
When Richard the toll guy came to collect the $10 we ask him about the burned boat hull. He says its a houseboat that burned last year, right after the guy "Blake" of "Red Rooster" put $40k into it. "His folks own the Boat Harbor Marina south of Marks Harbor." No insurance. :)
We spent today recovering from our long trek yesterday. I slept till 11 and then had a nap from 3 PM till 6. After lunch we played spite and malice and then dingied in to buy a few cards and a T-shirt at the shop and have a last Little Harbor Blaster. We walked down to the ocean side and sat on a rock watching the swells roll in and splash on the rocks. The wind was 10-15 Kt from the W and the ocean was flat except for the swell which was 3-4’ near shore. A number of fishing boats were offshore and about a dozen people were hanging around the pub. We rested up and planned to head to Marsh Harbor tomorrow if the weather is cooperative. A few boats left today and about 6 arrived, probably for the weekend festivities.
Rested. Bought a Little Harbor T-shirt and some note cards with great pictures. Read, napped. I'm reading Papillion. Will be up early to go to Marsh Harbor. We enjoyed a last L. H. Blaster! :)
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