A Ferret in the Rain or A Furry Brillo Pad

February 10, 2005

Friday, February 04, 2005 - Big Harbour, Little Farmers Cay, Exumas
By Kris

Festival day!!! Apparently there is weather coming in today, which we hope will not interfere with the legs competition.

We fried plantains for breakfast -- Amy was quite excited by the idea of putting cinnamon and sugar on them as a breakfast food. They were awesome. Then Amy and I went over to the beach with the idea of watching the C-Class races. There were no races, but we did find the airport and the volleyball. It wasn't as organized as Volleyball beach, but it was fun nonetheless.

After the volleyball, we had a little bit of time to get some beer in us (and an orange, snagged from the pass-the-orange competition that Amy and I participated in and lost horribly) before the hot legs competition. As one expects in such competitions, the man with the most attitude won.

We got back to the mother ship before the weather, where Tom made pork chops and then beat me at Scrabble. We watched South Park, the Movie, then went to bed, only to be kept up by the pounding of disco music and the rocking of the boat. So it was actually a late night, but not on purpose.

Saturday, February 05, 2005 - Berre Terre, Great Exuma, Exumas
By Tom

Today is Kris's birthday. She too has now turned 30 in the Bahamas.

I roused the troops early this morning so that we could get under way and still make our destination before night fall. The crew was dressed, fed and ready by 9:30 and by 10, we were sailing south under head sail alone making 6 - 7 knots.

We stayed on the inside of the sound and used our shoal draft to our advantage. The course was not as straight as it would have been outside, but the seas were flat calm as opposed to the 6 - 10 footers they were getting outside.

We had a few intermittent showers, but other than that it was a rather boring trip down. We arrived off Berre Terre about 3:30 pm, but the main anchorage was un-tenable, so we moved around to hide in the lee of Little Hog Cay, just south of town.

Unfortunately, our distance from the town dock and the wave action in the made harbour made it impossible to get in to town, so we settled for dinner on the big boat. After popular vote (this is a democratic boat) I made steak fajitas and rice for dinner.

I offered to set the ferret on fire so that Kris could have something to blow out (like candles), but she voted against the Flaming Ferret. A busy day tomorrow, so it was early to bed

Sunday, February 06, 2005 - Children's Bay, Children's Bay Cay, Exumas
By Kris

We packed up Kris's things this morning and moved the boat over to the town side of the harbour. Her flight was for 5 pm local time, but we had yet to arrange a taxi for her, so she and Amy went into town to inquire about arrangements.

They returned to the boat shortly and we made two trips in the dinghy to get her and her stuff safely ashore. We had some time to kill before her taxi driver was out of church, so we went to the Seafood Inn and had an early lunch of Grouper fingers and beers.

Norman Lloyd is the owner operator of the Seafood Inn and he was just returning from the Farmers Festival as we walked up to his establishment. Hung over and bleary-eyed, he gladly opened up for us and then he sat down and had a few drinks with us.

He was extremely funny and I highly recommend visiting his establishment. He tried to convince Kris to leave New York and come to the islands to be his personal lawyer. I'm not sure Kris was interested, but I get the sense his wife was definitely not.

Kris's taxi showed up just after 1pm. There were hugs all around and you didn't hear it from me, but she and Amy cried. The ferret and I resisted.

With Kris gone, Amy and I finished our drinks and went back to the boat. We upped anchor with the tide and slid over the shallow sand bar that separates Berre Terre from the rest of the world.

We motor sailed 2 miles north back up to Children's Bay where we dropped the hook in 6 feet of water over a sandy bottom right behind another PDQ 36 named Duet. Maybe we can meet them tomorrow.

The super bowl was on tonight and we listened to the first half, but neither of us was interested, so we went to bed and read books. We are now waiting for weather to get back to Georgetown. It sounds like it will be a few days.

Bye Kris - we both miss you

Monday, February 07, 2005 - Volley Ball Beach, George Town, Exumas
By Tom

The weather is still howling, so we are stayed put today. We did odd chores in the morning and then went hunting in the afternoon.

I snagged four keepers in about 1 1/2 hours. Fish will be on the menu tonight, but before dinner we had the folks from Duet over for happy hour. They were nice, but I forget their names.

Tomorrow's forecast looks pretty good, so we are probably going outside to George Town

Tuesday, February 08, 2005 - Volley Ball Beach, George Town, Exumas
By Tom

We left out of Children's Bay Cay this morning under mostly cloudy skies and with 10 - 15 out of the east. The other PDQ left about an hour before us and our goal for the day was to run her down.

We set sail right off the anchor and tried to overcome the hour handicap to the people on Duet. When we got through the cut into the open ocean, we were at least four miles behind. We were flying full sails and over the course of two and a half hours we reeled them in to within striking distance.

Then the seagull struck. Thats right, Seagull.

What a dumb fu*$#$%ing bird! We were dragging our standard two deep lines plus the in close cedar plug and out of no where this near sighted seagull bit my lure. The dumb bastard managed to take a treble hook trough his bill and I had to wind his ass in hand over hand to free him.

He's lucky, if it were up to me, we would have had grilled seagull for lunch, but Amy objected and I had to release him to the wild. Later, we caught another 4 foot Barracuda, but he too was returned to the deep blue and we strolled into George Town with no fish other than the victims from yesterdays slaughter.

The trip down was mega-cool today, because we sailed the entire way. Coming into the harbour was also mega cool, because lots of boats that we met the first time down here greeted us like we were long lost relatives. At least 8 different boats welcomed us home and it made us feel loved. We are way more popular here than we ever were at home.

After dropping the hook in our reserved space, we went in to volley ball only to be rained on. What's up with this rain thing? Doesn't it realize we are in the Caribbean? The rain cleared and we resumed out ritualistic practice of bashing volleyballs on Volleyball Beach.

Something strange has happened since we were last here. All of the french toads, I mean people, have disappeared. Maybe their is a war on that we haven't heard about and the French have already surrendered?

Back on the boat, I used a later rain event as an excuse to take Maggie outside and rub her vigorously across the deck in an attempt to replicate brillo pad functionality, but she was not impressed.

We'll probably settle in down here for a week or so and then start working our way slowly north. Tomorrow we will probably go into town and get more water as well as utilize some internet access, which hopefully will result, in you dear reader, being able to see our logs

Wednesday, February 09, 2005 - Volley Ball Beach, George Town, Exumas
By Tom

Topping todays boat chore list was the replacement of port side engine prop. For the last three days or so, the prop has been slipping under anything over half throttle. I am hopeful that the problem is just the prop and not in the transmission.

I donned my wet suit bozo action figure outfit, grabbed some wrenches and over I went. I have removed the props before, so I knew what to expect. Sure enough, the vulcanized piece inside the prop shaft was busted. I have been carrying a spare for the last year, so the replacement was zero problem. This has to fix it, because I do not have a spare transmission.

In sports news, it was a busy day on the professional volley ball court. Most of the professionals didn't show up, so we had a greatly reduced quality of play, but it was fun non the less.

After volleyball, we retreated back to the mother ship for hamburgers on the grill. The Exumas Market actually had fresh ground beef today! This is the first fresh lactating mammal product we have had in over 6 months. I had to beat an old Bahamian lady with my back pack to secure the last package of beef. It was not pretty and I am not proud.

With dinner complete, we rushed into town for our softball teams first game of the year. We started out playing the U.S. Army guys stationed here who do drug interdiction. That game was pretty even, mostly because we split up the Army guys with our guys.

The Bahamian Customs team showed up for our second game and the story was a little different. Apparently, they take their softball pretty seriously down here. Two of there players were even on the Bahamian National team. We got beat pretty soundly.

In the end I think the score was like 22 - 12 or something, but I lost count. I'm pretty sure only two or three of us on the cruisers team ever got on base. At it's worst, I hit a line drive to the fence and then lapped one of my own players on the base path. He was on second when I hit it and I caught him at third. Keep in mind dear reader, that I have all of the foot speed of a large chia pet and my father once compared my running skills to a crab.

I am not speedy.

Thursday, February 10, 2005 - Volley Ball Beach, George Town, Exumas
By Tom

It was a late night for us after our night time softball game against customs. We lost pretty badly, but it was still fun. I don't think we will be giving them a run for their money until we replace some of their players with Foldger's crystals.

We didn't get home until after 11 pm and I had to be up for practice at 9. Practice was pretty lame as most people were suffering from soreness related injuries and so only 9 people showed up.

After practice I went back to the mother ship and made bread. While the bread was rising I went spear fishing for dinner. I was kind of wiped and didn't stay out long. The pictures at right show some of the fish recently shot. You'll notice my aim is improving. For those interested, an ideal kill shot is one right into the gill plate.

In the early afternoon, we headed in to volley ball and afterwards an obligatory beer at the Chat and Chill. I found out that their motto is "The chat is free, but you pay for the chill".

Dinner was fresh chicken quesadillas. To bed by 8 pm.