More Fun at the George Town Cruising Regatta

Some of the amusing events of the George Town Cruising Regatta took place over the last couple days. The small boat races was on Friday, March 3, the Coconut Challenge was held on Saturday morning, and the model boat racing and Bahamian vs Boatmen softball game were the entertainment today.

The small boat races take place in the channel to the holes just north of Chat 'n' Chill beach. I am a volunteer for these races. For men, women and children there are kayak and paddleboard races first. Peter competed in the kayak race, coming in fourth place. He would have won or placed had he been in a faster craft than our plastic orange two-person kayak. The winners had better racing kayaks. 

Peter in third place coming around the third mark

Peter about to be passed very close to the finish

After those races, three boats competed in the sailing dinghy race. A husband and wife were in two different boats. Everyone was cheering for the wife, who held the lead until her rudder got stuck in the sand on the approach to the finish line. Her husband and friend edged ahead, but, unfortunately for them, they did not have the crowd support and were pushed off the beach, giving her the well-deserved win.

Spectators cheering for the participants in the small sail boat race

Women rule!

Next was the inflatable dinghy sailing race, in which the participants had to use their own engineered and created means of sail propulsion. The winners had used metal tubes and a square sheet of cloth for their rigging and sail. Cleverly, they thought to stand up and hold the whole thing aloft as high as they could to catch the wind, which was very light since the races were in the lee of Stocking Island. 

A single modified square rig

The other three competitors

The winning strategy

The final and funniest event was the blind dinghy race, in which the man, blindfolded, was in the center with the oars and the wife/partner was in front or behind him shouting out directions to and from the mark. There were a couple dozen boats, and the start was chaos as they all ran into each other. It was hilarious to see the boats veer off in various directions as instructions were misunderstood. Free marital counseling was available after the event.

The start

Navigators behind and in front of their oarsmen

Mayhem at the mark

The winners

The small boat races drew a large crowd of well-entertained spectators. Awards were announced for first, second and third place in each category. One of my tasks was to had out the bottles of wine for second place and the bottles of rum for first. Third place received a can of beer. 

After the excitement, Peter and I chatted and chilled at the picnic tables. After watching two young French Canadian girls walk the tight rope, Peter had to try it. It is not as easy as some of the kids who hang out in Elizabeth Harbour make it look. 

Peter on the tight rope

Peter on a swing

At 4:00, we went to town to attend the party hosted by the Exuma branch of the Bahamian Ministry of Tourism at the Peace and Plenty in George Town. Everyone was expecting rum punch, some small snacks and music, but the local office of tourism amazed the more than 200 cruisers who attended with great entertainment, raffle prizes, a fashion show, a Bahamian band, and a performance by about a dozen men in costume who represented a local junkanoo group that consists of a couple hundred people in addition to a full buffet meal of delicious local food, including traditional desserts and punches.

Bahamian band

Fashion show

Costume detail of junkanoo player

Junkanoo shoe

Junkanoo band

Junkanoo costumes

Junkanoo is an island tradition. Groups and communities meet throughout the year to practice their performances and make their costumes. The festival originated a few centuries ago, when enslaved people on plantations in the Bahamas celebrated days off work granted to them by their owners, on Boxing Day and New Year's Day, with African-influenced dance, music and costumres.After emancipation the tradition continued and junkanoo evolved from simple, local celebrations to formal, organized parades with elaborate costumes, themed music which is very rhythmic and orchestrated but sounds at times disphonic, and much sought-after official prizes in various categories.

Peter had stopped at the Top to Bottom shop to look for oar lock pins for our dinghy and had thoughtfully asked if they knew where Diet Coke could be purchased on the island. (Beth Ann and I had already tried the grocery, three liquor stores and the gas station.) He was directed to the 242 Prime Spirits store. After the party, he went to the gas station to fill a can with gas for the dinghy and I stopped in the Exuma Market  for mushrooms (no luck) and then walked past the Island Boy Cafe to 242 and purchased a case of 24 cans.

What a beautiful sight

During the small boat races, I had recruited a young couple, Clint and Christy from S/V Zoe, to participate with us in the coconut challenge on Sunday morning. The race involves teams of four people in inflatable dinghies with engines and oars removed. Our entry into the race gave Peter a good excuse to pull out and repair the small Tohatsu 3.5 horsepower, 2-stroke engine (which has been an on-going project with intermittant success since we purchased Mantra five years ago) since it would be easier to remove at the beach than the much larger and heavier Yamaha. He worked on the engine before and after dinner and tested it successfully. 

The next morning, we met Clint and Christy on the beach at the Fruitbowl behind Chat 'n' Chill, prepared our dinghy, and figured out our strategy. About three dozen dinghies were participating in the two-part event. The first challenge was to launch the dinghies from the starting line on the beach and paddle around, using snorkeling or dive fins for propulsion, to collect as many of the hundreds of floating coconuts that had been dumped in the bay as we could. It was great fun and hard work. We got a slow start pushing off from the beach because we got too deep before I, being shorter than everyone else, could jump in and we had to back up so that I could board. Christy and I were in the bow paddling with the smaller fins and collecting the booty while Clint and Peter used the heavier, bigger fins astern of us. We were a well-coordinated team and managed to collect 110 coconuts and ward off an attempted theft of our coconuts by a marauding dinghy. 

Team Mantra: Christy, Sherri, Peter and Clint

After all the coconuts were counted and piled on the beach, the second challenge took place at one of the sand volleyball courts, where the members of the teams each had two coconuts to toss over the net, trying to land in the dart-board shaped target circles outlined with white rope on the other side. We only scored 16 points there. Fourth place was not announced, but we are pretty sure we took that position.

We spent the rest of Saturday on Mantra. After lunch and a nap, I spent most of the afternoon and evening posting on this blog while Peter got involved with the electrical system and tracing the ends of cables and wires from the electrical panel at the nav station. 

Behind the electrical panel

Today, we did some work on the boat before going ashore to see the model boat races. Kids from various boats had invented and created a great variety of craft, including monohulls, catamarans and trimarans. There was judging in various categories, including most ecological design before the races began. Despite light wind, most of the boats sailed from start to finish without issues, although some veered off course and got stuck on rocks. The kids as well as the adults had lots of fun at this event.

Girls with their boats on shore for the judging

Kids being amazingly patient as the judges decide

Boy with his square rigged craft

Monohulls at the start

The leading boats

The winning catamaran

Trimaran races

The speedy first place trimaran using materials found on the beach

When we returned to Mantra, we chose to pull up anchor and head into Exuma Sound and deep water to empty our holding tank. One of the valves in the toilet has ceased to seal properly, so, after flushing, sea water comes into the bowl until it is at the level of the water outside the boat. We wanted to flush out the pipes before Peter pulls out the spare and installs it. At the big boat races near the beginning of the regatta, the commentator mentioned several "sponsors" of the race, including Jabsco toilets, whose motto is, "If you don't like our products, we don't give a crap." 

We returned around 3:30, later than expected, and the softball game between the boaters and the Bahamians had already started. We arrived at the top of the fifth ending. The cruisers had not yet scored. As the game progressed, the Bahamians displayed their batting proficiency and the cruisers did their best to field the balls and get them out at the bases. We finally scored in the seventh or eighth inning, but by the time the game ended, the final score was 17-3. It should be mentioned that there was probably about a 40 year difference in the average age of the players for the individual teams. Ian was the announcer, the umpire and the between inning entertainment, providing a light-hearted touch to the event.

It's a hit for the cruisers

The Bahamians make a hit

Ian, beer in hand, leading the crowd in the wave

Ian in the seventh inning stretch

Ian the umpire behind the catcher

Ian surprising us with excellent playing on a plastic trumpet

The Bahamians were selling food and drinks, and Peter feasted on a fat hamburger with all the toppings while I enjoyed the Bahamian staple for Sunday meals and special occasions, macaroni and cheese, which is always creamy with a crisp crust and just a touch of spiciness. 

The sun is setting and issuing out from boats all around is the prolonged, low sound of conch horns being blown. Tomorrow, at the regatta closing ceremonies, there will be a conch horn blowing contest to see who can sustain the note the longest.

Further adventures in Elizabeth Harbour

The two week George Town Cruising Regatta has continued to offer fun activities on and off the water. Regatta events and adventures with my sister Beth Ann and her husband Rich have kept us very busy this last week.

Last Sunday morning (February 26), we went to shore for the beach church service and then stayed to socialize, refresh our skills in knot tying and have lunch at the pig roast at the Chat 'n' Chill. Then we went to the shallow water by the conch shack to pet the southern stingrays. Some have velvety dorsal skin while others have a nubby feel. Their ventral sides are very soft. They swam over our feet and each other and around our legs. 

Peter and Rich went back to Mantra to get our snorkeling gear, and then we dinghied to the cut between the the southern end of Stocking Island and the north end of Elizabeth Island, hoping to find good snorkeling. There was a lot of grass but no coral except where the little waves were breaking at the edge of Exuma Sound. (I had not looked carefully enough at the chart.) However, it was pleasant to walk along the beach and climb up a rocky limestone path to the top of the point of the southern end of Stocking Island for the amazing views. Beth Ann collected shells along the shoreline, including sunrise tellin, apple murex, slipper shells and nutmegs. 

Exuma Sound on the left and the protected water of Elizabeth Harbour on the right

Exuma Sound

Cove between Sand Dollar Beach on Stocking Island and Elizabeth Island

We went back to the Chat 'n' Chill for drinks and then returned to the mother ship for showers, dinner and the nightly game of pinochle before early bedtime. 

Just another lovely sunset

After listening to the net at 8 am, as usual, on Monday (Feb. 27) morning, we pulled up anchor and set off (I would like to say set sail, but, alas, the winds have not been strong or favorable enough for that) for the northern end of Great Exuma Island. After a couple of hours of boring motoring, we navigated through Glass Cay Cut and anchored near White Bay Cay. 

One of the tourist attractions of the Exuma Islands is swimming pigs. We first saw them in 2006 on Big Majors Spot cay when we were sailing on our first boat, S/V Epicurus, with the kids. At the time, this was the only little island with feral pigs. It is believed that their ancestors were either left there by sailors planning to return for them or were marooned there after a shipwreck. Nearly two decades ago, when we visited the cay, the only people there to see the pigs were others who had dinghied in from their boats, fewer than a dozen people. Since then, fast speed boats from Nassau or George Town take land-based tourists there (for a sizeable some of money), and it is can be quite crowded. Some Bahamians, noticing that pigs are profitable, have placed porcine populations on other cays throughout the Exumas and offer to ferry people to pigs. The pigs on Big Majors Spot have survived for generations without human support, but some of the newly placed populations are brought fresh water and food since their new homes cannot sustain them. 

The first curious pig

Rich getting ready to retreat to the other side of the dinghy

Pigs diverted by food

Beth Ann happy to have seen the pigs and left them behind

Peter piloting our escape

Beth Ann, Rich and Peter after the great pig adventure

We dinghied over to White Bay Cay to the east of Rolleville on the north end of Great Exuma Island; Beth Ann was looking forward to the experience of swimming with the pigs. One large black and white one was on the shoreline and began to swim to us as we approached. Others soon appeared out of the scrubby vegetation on land, wading in and then swimming toward us. We had brought a piece of bread and a carrot to entice them, but that was totally unnecessary. It was immediately obvious that they recognized dinghies as food delivery vehicles. We were surrounded and we had to push away one that tried to board, with two fore hoofs on the top of the tube. Then we noticed poop floating in the water, and all thoughts of mingling with swine in the water were discarded. Taking our pig food from the dry bag, Rich, Beth Ann and I began to break it into small pieces and throw it as far away from us as possible to divert their attention as Peter pushed off the shallow sand by the shore and started the engine so that we could make our escape from the attempted hostile porcine takeover of our craft. 

One our way back to Mantra, we stopped to greet the people on the catamaran Moxie. They had recognized our boat as a Sundeer, they told us, because they had previously owned and circumnavigated one named Sea Fever. They didn't know what had happened to her, but Peter realized that their Sundeer was now renamed Juno and was owned by our friends Mic and Christine from Virginia, who purchased her when she was nearly derelict and have been fixing her up in Deltaville for the last couple years. 

The four of us then beached the dinghy by the town of Rolleville and went in search of lunch. We had telephoned one restaurant that had been recommended, but it was closed on this Monday. Two young men walking along the road told us that the Shoreline Beach Resort was not far away to the south, so we headed that direction. We found it, but it was also closed. We decided to walk back to the dinghy along on the beach. On the way, we found a restaurant, the Bay Inn, that was opened, and we stopped for a late lunch. Peter and Beth Ann both ordered the fish, which was cooked and served whole, complete with head and tail. It wasn't visually appealing, particularly to a vegetarian, but Beth Ann said it was some of the best fish she had ever eaten.

Shoreline by the restaurant

Sherri, Peter, Rich and Beth Ann waiting for lunch

Beth  Ann's snapper

Man cleaning conch at the restaurant

Historical note: The town of Rolleville on the northern end of Great Exuma (not to be confused with Rolle Town near the southern end) is named for the extensive family of Rolles, descendants of slaves who make up about half of the population of Great Exuma. British baron John Rolle, who never visited the Bahamas, had inherited the plantation from his colonialist father, who was a Loyalist who left the United States after it gained independence from England. Upon John Rolle's death, his extensive estate lands were granted to the emancipated slaves in perpetuity. 

When we returned to Mantra, we considered re-anchoring because the boat was rolling in the surge coming through the numerous cuts, but we dithered until dark, when it was too late to move. Peter and I have been anchored in conditions where the boat rocked even more; nevertheless, it was not the best (and I was slightly grumpy). After dinner and pinochle, we all went to bed. At least the rocking put us to sleep right away.

The next morning (Tuesday, Feb. 28), we took a long dinghy ride south to Ann's Creek, where, turning in at the mouth where a few commercial boats, some relatively new and one rusting away, were tied up, we entered a wide stream surrounded by mangroves. We had gone there because at the restaurant the previous day we had overheard two kayakers talking about turtles swimming in the water. They were easy to see but difficult to photograph as they swam underwater, darting in various directions beneath wavelets refracting the sunlight in mosaic patterns. On the way back to Mantra, we spotted something large swimming slowly in shallow water, but we never made a precise identification, although I suspect it was a ray.

Commercial boats in Ann's Creek

Green turtle 

Ann's Creek

Then we pulled up anchor and motored (unfortunately) for four hours to Elizabeth Harbour, anchoring west of Elizabeth Island, just south of Stocking Island. (I had more diligently read the charts and more accurately pinpointed various shallow coral reefs there.) As soon as the anchor was set, Beth Ann and I put on our snorkeling gear and swam the very short distance to the first of several healthy coral patches teeming with fish. Peter chose to have a cup of tea before he joined us, and Rich, who had decided not to shave on vacation, could not get a good seal on his mask and stayed on board. The fish included queen triggerfish, queen angelfish (both adults and juveniles, which have different coloration), French angelfish (also adult and juvenile), gray angelfish, rock beauties, four-eyed butterflyfish, blue tang (adult and juvenile), a porcupine fish hiding under a ledge, small schools of bar jacks and yellow jacks and black jacks (adults and juveniles), plumas, French and Caesar and bluestriped grunts in aggregations, cotton wicks, white margates, yellowtail snappers, lane snappers, cocoa and threespot damselfish, sergeant majors including a flue male probably guarding eggs, Nassau grouper, grasby, stoplight parrotfish (initial and terminal phases as well as juveniles), yellowhead and bluehead wrasse, squirrelfish, and intermediate hogfish with their three long yellow spines at the front of theri dorsal fin. (Now I have to expand my identification efforts to coral. The reefs off Elizabeth Island include examples from the broad categories of fire, lace, soft, pillar, brain and cup corals as well as gorgonians.)

The pirate flag has been flying again on Mantra

Sunset from Elizabeth Island anchorage

On Wednesday, March 1, after Beth Ann and I snorkled some more. After lunch, we spent half an hour moving from Elizabeth Island to the middle of Stocking Island, anchoring just south of Volleyball Beach and the Chat 'n' Chill. On the net that morning, we announced our return to the harbor and were heard by our friends Mic and Christine, who were using a friend's boat for two weeks in the Exumas. It's a small world; only two days before we had encountered the previous owners of their boat, who were now also anchored in sight of both of our boats in Ellizabeth Harbour! We cruised by them on Knot For Sale on the way to drop anchor.

Beth Ann and Sherri off the stern of Mantra

Sherri and Beth Ann swimming to the reefs

Beth Ann at the helm

We took naps before going to the beach for the regatta's costume contest, conch races and rum punch party. We found Mic and Christine there, who had arranged to visit Moxie at 5:30. Peter and Mic talk endlessly about Sundeers specifically and boats in general, so I was forced to physically come between them at nearly 5:30 so that Mic and Christine could get to Moxie. We bought drinks at the Chat 'n' Chill and walked along the beach as the sunset. Rich and I joined in dancing to DJ music (provided by a boater) near the picnic tables while Beth Ann and Peter had a long chat sitting by the water's edge.

Octopus dog at the costume contest

Ethan from Kumbaya identifying as a mermaid

The crew from Grand Time portraying their boat

A finely dressed pirate

Conchs at the starting line

Conchs approaching the finish

The next day was the last of Beth Ann and Rich's short visit. After breakfast and listening to the net, Beth Ann and I went in search of snorkeling spots, finding some just south of the Peace and Plenty beach on Stocking Island. We saw the usual suspects, and Beth Ann was passed by a turtle which I did not see. 

We swam back to Mantra, showered and dressed before the four of us dinghied over to the Peace and Plenty resort for lunch. 

Peter, Rich, Beth Ann and Sherri at the Peace and Plenty Beach Resort

Beth Ann and Sherri at the Peace and Plenty Beach Resort

After lunch, we planned to pull up anchor to go to the dock at the Exuma Yacht Club in George Town to take on diesel and reverse osmosis water and walk past a couple buildings in town to the Exuma Market, where a taxi would be waiting for airport transportation. Peter had arranged by phone to come in to the dock, but as we approached, we could not raise anyone on the VHF radio, so we dropped anchor off the docks and dinghied in. 

After Beth Ann and Rich had departed, Peter and I walked to the docks and found the dockmaster working on a building construction project (apparently without his radio handy). With him, we walked to the end of the pier and assessed how to come in. We then quickly dinghied to our boat, switched all our lines and fenders to the other side (having changed our mind after seeing the dock and the other boats we had to maneuver around) and went in. Although the dockmaster had said there would be someone on the dock to catch our lines, there was not. Luckily, our shout out to men working on boats on the docks brought assistance, and it went smootly. The 80 gallons of fuel we needed to fill the tanks pumped quickly, but the water had less pressure and a more narrow diameter hose, so that took nearly an hour. 

Anchored again in about the same place, I did some cleaning and made dinner while Peter began to work on his task list for boat and systems repairs and improvements. 

I am not caught up, but I cannot write any more today, so a post about Friday and Saturday and the regatta events we participated in will appear tomorrow.