Licking Glass or the Circus Comes to Town

February 2 - February 9, 2007

Friday, February 09, 2007 - Kids Cove, George Town, Exumas
By Tom

The Superbowl finally came and went. We went over to the Big 12 Sports Bar at the fish shacks to watch with some locals we know. About 250 Bahamians and maybe 20 cruisers showed up. We choose Bar 12 because the owner, Les, is also our taxi cab driver when we need to go to the airport. It didn't hurt they he promised free food and half price drinks either.

I think the Bahamians have the right attitude in how they watch the big game. They have the game on tv with the volume muted while their music blares in the background and everyone dances. Then, when the commercials come on, they quickly mute the music and un mute the tv commercials and it gets really quiet so everyone can hear what is said. After the commercials go off, everyone laughs and we go back to the music. It really is a pretty funny way to watch.

Unfortunately, the downside to watching the game this way is that I have no idea who won, lost, or played well. Sorry, Sports Illustrated we are not.

Anyhow, the regatta is almost upon us and a huge number of boats have entered the harbour here in Georgetown. The count on the net yesterday morning was 285 boats, which is a lot, but still well down from last year. I'm not sure what has kept so many boats away this year.

Speaking of regatta, I think we should rename ours to the Georgetown Cruising Circus instead of the Georgetown Cruising Regatta. This isn't really a regatta down here. Every other regatta I've been to involves lots of sailing. Here there is no sailing, but there is the coconut harvest, the sand sculpture contest, the 9 hole beach golf tournament and the always dangerous 9 on 9, no rules, unlimited hits on each side, nobody move and nobody get hurt, beach volleyball game.

And besides, the way things are run by the so called "regatta" committee pretty well resembles a circus just for the sheer number of clowns involved. It definitely sucks to be them.

To Carl on Ishmael, I didn't name names, but I suspect you know of whom we speak. Oh well, just my two cents worth.

This past Sunday Amy and I joined up with Brian (Tonga Time) and his twin brother Bruce (Different Drummer) and Bruce's wife Debbie to go trolling for fish on Brian's 47 foot catamaran. I said I would bring some beer to share, but I waited until the night before to go to town and get it and I ended up having to plead, offer to bribe and then lick the door window of the liquor store in order to get the operator to open back up for me as I managed to arrive 5 minutes after closing.

For the record, I find that acting like a retard and smashing your face up against the locked door while screaming "Steve's Mom! Steve's Mom!" over and over again works well if you ever find yourself in a similar situation.

No offense to any retards that might be reading this. Or people who rode the short bus for that matter as I tend to make fun of them too.

Anyway, back to the trolling. We ran 4 rods for almost 7 hours with an ever changing array of lures, but only managed to catch an 8 pound Wahoo. Oh well, at least we didn't go home empty handed. One of the twins is pictured side right with said wahoo. Which twin is pictured is not important, hence the word twin.

Later that night we got green lighted by Eric and Susan from Elysia. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but green lighting someone is when you just show up unannounced at your friends boat and demand adult beverages. It sounds worse than it is and it's always fun to have Eric and Susan stop by. We ended up eating munch-ables and drinking rum drinks for several hours. After they left, I let Milo out to pick up the food debris left behind by Susan on the cockpit floor.

In other news, the beach tribute to say bye to Neville Williams, who drowned over the summer in a white water river accident, is scheduled for this up coming weekend.

Not to make light of Neville's death, but man, a 67 year old grandfather in a class 5 rapid that is above flood stage sounds like a recipe for disaster. I wonder if his passing qualifies as "Death by Misadventure"?

Anyhow, Neville was a good friend and his wife Sally is flying down to be here, so we will most likely attend the gathering, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the Christian Beach Church Nazi's (CBCN's) here will use this another excuse to try and preach to me. They should realize that I'm down with the Force and we Jedi have no need for the trappings of their false idol.

Ok, so Amy and the weasels are all good and they say hello. The boat is holding together well although we need to scrub the bottom before we take off from here. More to follow, stay tuned....