|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We got the boat ready and pulled up the anchors at 11. It was high tide and
we did not have any problems with the few shallow spots on the route to Little
Farmers Cay. We did not see another boat for the entire passage. We anchored at
noon and had lunch. A 40’ trawler came S and went out the cut to the sound. At
1:30 we got in the dingy and went to town. As we were climbing the ladder at the
dock we saw another sailboat come in the cut and anchor at Big Farmers Cay. The
post office is a small shack next to the dock and it was padlocked. We walked to
the small grocery store and bought a cold drink and a couple of onions. The lady
at the grocery store said the person in charge of the post office lives in the
house next to it so we knocked on her door and left our postcards there. We
walked around the island and saw many old houses with roofs falling in and also
new modern houses being built and a very large church and adjoining buildings
which has been under construction for many years.
We found the Batelco office
and as we had heard earlier on the VHF they were out of phone cards but I made a
collect call home. The office was air conditioned and we wanted to stay there
longer but they did not serve beer. We completed our tour of the island at the
Ocean Cabin restaurant and bar which is a very nicely put building with a small
bar and a dining room with picnic benches. We meet 3 guys there who were former
sailors and now fly in to enjoy a vacation on the Cay. We returned to the boat
and had happy hour and a little later a small sailboat came in and anchored at
the Guana Cay anchorage across from us. Several local fishing boats zoomed by.
At dusk a swarm of a dozen butterflies fluttered by the boat.
I read until 1 AM. Quite a few boats went by in the dark. After breakfast we were off to Farmer's Cay. I do not know how my Captain navigated between and around and back and forth to get safely here! The currents are strong. The cays are close to each other. The sand bars are coming from both sides! We are anchored right outside of Farmer's Cay. The current is several knots in and out! We dingied into Farmer's Cay. The post office, which is a turquoise building had a padlock on the door. We went to the "Super Marker". A tiny store with shutters for windows. The old lady in there was bare-foot. She was wearing a bandana on the back of her hair and made change according to what she had available! :) Rich gave her $20 for onions $1.50, Soda $1.25 = $3.75. I pointed out to here it should be $2.75 but she insisted in the way that she counted the change. :) We did not argue. She was a sweet lady otherwise. :) We walked toward Batelco up a very rocky road. No pavement had ever been on those rocks. We came to a totem and took a picture. That was "the carvers" lace. He had a little wooden coral with 2 small billy goats in it. Two dogs ran out to us - but no carver so we went back down the rocky path and proceeded to the Batelco. The lady inside was Nancy. (It said so on her straw purse). They had no phone cards. "Maybe next month". We had a nice a/c visit. There was a baby and Nancy's daughter there too. Farmer's Cay has their own flag and 2 celebrations a year - in February they have a big crab race and even charter boat participants here. Some literature Rich picked u makes the place sound like its own socialist republic. 53 residents live on Farmer's cay!