Yesterday we awoke to a welcome sight, rain clouds in the distance! After
bashing our way into the wind and waves from Mangrove Cay to Great Sale Cay,
the boat was covered in salt. I had rinsed it off with salt water the night
before and that morning the rain washed away the rest. (It sounds strange to
rinse salt off with salt water, but removing multiple layers of salt and
replacing it with one layer seems to work.)
After the rain passed we headed off to Green Turtle Cay. We had a nice sail
in the morning, but around noon the wind died just as it had on Sunday. We
motored the rest of the way into Green Turtle and dinghied into Customs at
about 1:30. Checking into the country was easy and after we finished up the
paperwork we had a chance to walk around the settlement of New Plymouth.
New Plymouth was the first Bahamian town we visited last year, and we really
enjoyed it. As we walked along the narrow concrete streets, past brightly
colored houses and flowers in full bloom we started to forget about the last
two weeks spent in the cold on our way south. I told Sabrina that I was
worried that we wouldn’t like New Plymouth as much the second time, because
everything wasn’t new and different anymore. But we still enjoyed the
friendly shop owners, the quiet town, and the beautiful surroundings.
We received a special surprise last night, our friends Jay and Tanya on Minx
sailed up from the Sea of Abaco to meet us at Manjack Cay. And they even
brought a delicious mutton snapper for dinner! As Jay pointed out, this was
the culmination of years of dreaming and planning, that all started with a
few “Pusser’s Painkillers” at the boat show in Annapolis five years ago!
Today we start our “Joint ad-Ventures” with Minx and we will probably cross
paths off and on with them throughout our time in the Bahamas. I can’t
hyperlink through email, but you can also stay tuned to Tanya’s blog at
www.castingaway.wordpress.com to see what they’re up to. Also, don’t worry,
I’ve been taking plenty of pictures to post when we get to wifi.
Today it’s 79, clear and sunny, and we’re now legally allowed to explore the
islands. I guess I should stop writing and get into the sunshine, as the
tourism board says, “It’s Better in the Bahamas!”