OH NO! Look who has shown up??!!

After Rum Cay we had to go back to Georgetown to pick up some pirates.  Yes, Jim and Jo pulled in for a few days of sailing, swimming and a couple of rums.  Then, oh no........Flight Plan comes around the corner and guess who is on her.  Vinnie & Rakel!  Now we have the potential for trouble!

Keeping "abreast" of the situation

Dinner is being served

V & R just finished off a "real" sail of their own.  Around the 1st of March they departed Puerto Rico and did 500+ miles of blue water sailing.  It sounds like all went well except the winds were contrary to the expected but still.......they are here and we will have some fun!

Don't we know this women??!

Only we could go to Cheaters when they aren't open!

Of course the northerlies came in again so we sat in Red Shanks for a couple of days and then we moved over to Big D's to make the exit faster.  Rakel was flying out of GGT but they wanted to sail with us so we decided to make a far run up the Exumas in an attempt to make it to Eleuthra Island since Jim and Jo had to fly out of there on Tuesday.

Flight Plan on the move

Out at the crack of dawn and up the coast.  Fishing was on every ones mind since we had the Perk (aka Gadabout Oneida Lake Perk) on board.  The fishing gods didn't let us down this time!  Ah.......guess what we are having for dinner??!!

30+ inches of good food!

A little rum all around!

Preparations for the frying pan

Flight Plan caught a mahi also so we had food to spare.  Jo cooked up a "Herb" recipe and we had slaw with yellow rice.  It was a fabulous dinner after a 65 mile sail to Big Major Spot.  Everyone got to see the swimming pigs and then it was time to hit the sack since tomorrow would be another long sail.

Up at 0700 and we were on the way by 0830.  We  had 55 miles to go to make the south end of Eleuthra and Flight Plan had to make it back to GGT.  The winds were good and Perk was at the helm as we flew out of Big Rock Cut and headed NE.  No fish this day but we did see 9.6kts of the knot meter and we made it to Rock Sound by 4pm.  The next day we picked up a rental car from Dingle's and headed north via auto to make it to North Eleuthra airport before noon.  It was 111 km and took a couple of hours.

9+ knots!

A view from Pascals Restaurant

After getting the anchor down we decided to check out the restaurant right beside us for some good Bahamian cooking.  The tapas dinner was great and we even got a glimpse of some very pretty little girls in their Junkaroo outfits!

On the way back from the airport we decided to take a detour top Whale Point to see if we could find property that friends have purchased recently.  Very pretty and pretty remote!

Driving just about the whole length of Eleuthra gave us a good opportunity to see another side of the islands.  It is different from the southern island but nice.  A lot more people, cars and noise for sure.  We have to come back to this island and stay longer next time.

Quadramaran??

Old homes

and churches

Now we have to make plans to make a run up to the Abacos.  The "T" & family are coming in soon and we have to have a window to make the run up to Little Harbor.  With luck we will be doing that over the next couple of days

Sorry for the delay

It has been....

Lousy Internet service

Jim and Jo pulled into town

Windy!

Will try to do an update soon......

Rum Cay!

I know this Cay is not the center of the universe but perhaps it should be.  Why not?  There is an airstrip, two general stores, one bar, a church and two restaurants.  You do have to call ahead to order dinner.  It is made up for you only by request.  But what is the hurry?  Tomorrow is coming whether you wait for it relaxed or all tensed up.  We like the relaxed model....

The marina office

The road to town

The outside wall dock

After Conception Island we decided we would be able to hide from the next frontal system sweeping in over the weekend at the small marina on Rum Cay.  Sumner Point Marina is different:

1.  Docking is free.
2.  There are no services such as cable, TV, power and showers.
3.  Water is brought to the marina by a large container on a flatbed truck and it's 30 cents per gallon.
4.  The restaurant used to be open but now cruisers can hang out and use the kitchen.
5.  Forget getting to the docks if you have a deep draft and it's low tide.  The bar across the entrance will stop you and you'll sit until the tide comes up.

So, although the marina is technically closed, it's still open and it is really out there!

Rum Cay's hurricane shelter in progress

Looking east from the marina

Bobby's sculpture

We thought we were going to be here for Rum Cay Day but somebody decided to change it to the last Friday of February and not the last day in February.  Nobody bothered to call us regarding that change so we'll have to show up next year on time.  There are only 80 people living here but they are so friendly and we have had a great time so far.

Last night was a marina Pot-luck.  Actually it was like a marina & friends pot-luck as a number of the locals came by also.  Most of the time we aren't really into the "pot-unlucks" that occur in some locations because of the dullness of the affair.  NOT here!

The menu was:

• BBQ ribs smoked on the "new style" smoker
• Grilled lobster caught fresh a couple of hours earlier
• Grouper balls made fresh from a nice big 3 foot grouper speared hours earlier
• Squid marinated in a cerviche sauce and then grilled to perfection
• Lamb sliders
• Mac and potato salads
• Fresh baked breads 
• Mac & cheese
• Freshly prepared key lime pie
• And finally a birthday cake made for Bobby, the marina manager.

Firewood delivery by Gwen

Bobby the birthday boy!

The entrees early on....

Fisherman, Catcherman and Chef Tyler still in his wetsuit

Of course the drink for the night was named after the Cay...........yep, RUM.

A little more of the beauty of Conception Island

We have just pulled into Rum Cay but before we talk about this island we want to show a few more pictures of one of the nicest places we have ever been.....