Holding Pattern

  For the most part, our week has been rather uneventful. After the Junkanoo last Saturday night, the winds clocked back around to come from the ESE, making us exposed to wind and waves blowing right up the length of Elizabeth Harbour, so we moved the boat back over to our original spot just off of Stocking Island. After spending another night bouncing around due to the more southerly, rather than easterly direction of the waves, we decided on Monday morning to make another move.
  Crab Cay Marina is a marina project that was begun in 2006. A beautiful stone bridge was built to allow traffic to go from Georgetown to Crab Cay, some roads were graded, and piles of construction materials were placed all around the natural harbor which was also dredged to a nice depth for a marina, but then everything stopped in 2009 before any docks were put in, leaving a nice protected harbor, albeit with not much in the way of scenery along the shoreline. We moved over there to ride out what was predicted to be a windy week.
  Trips in the dinghy from our anchorage off of Stocking Island were wet ones, even though we did our best to run "with the wind and waves", and one trip in the dinghy from our harbor in Crab Cay was not different. Our one trip into town last Monday evening to get some water and dump our trash left us all soaked. After tiring of the less than picturesque view we had, by Tuesday afternoon, we were ready to move back to our spot off of Stocking Island. That's what we like best about our home. If we don't like something about the surroundings, we can just move.
  Winds moved around more from the east as the week went by, so our move was a good one. About eight other boats in the area joined us, all with the same thing in mind. Everyone has been staying put until the current wind conditions calm down some.
  We made a couple more trips into town, one of them was to the local library. The small wooden building is now being staffed by volunteers from the cruising community here. We took three books in and were able to swap them for three others from their huge trading selection that is comprised from duplicates from the main section. We were also able to buy some books for only a dollar, which we can then use for trade fodder on subsequent visits. The best thing was that we bought a library card for three dollars, which is really just the recording of our boat name and our names on a list. Whenever we visit to borrow any books, we just give them our name. Our names will stay on the list until the library burns down, and there is no limit to how long you can keep the books out. The key here is trust.
  When we returned to the dinghy after our library and grocery store visit to Exuma Markets, we were hailed from a boat in Lake Victoria by a familiar sounding captain. It was Linda from the M/V Mercy Me, who we had met when we were in Big Pine. We talked for a while and caught up on some cruising info, but then we said our goodbyes because we had cold stuff we wanted to get back to the boat.
  The Fourth of July was a non-issue for us. We planned an outing over to Chat 'n' Chill, but the rain fixed that. Once we decided to stay in and have dinner on the boat, we had no desire to venture back out for the evening. We saw a few fireworks off in the distance at the Four Seasons Resort. I could have joined in with a few shotgun blasts, but I declared all our ammunition at Customs, not having squirreled any away any for robbers (I'll have some 'splainin' to do), or reverie.
  Our days have been spent mainly reading our books, but we did take a couple of long beach walks along the white sand beaches of Stocking Island. Everyday there has been the threat of rain, and we had some spectacular lightening shows on a couple of the nights.
  We did make it over to Chat 'n' Chill yesterday. There are huge rays over there that swim along the beach. You can reach down and pet them if you wish. A dolphin swam up to a big group of folks and entertained them, swimming just a couple of feet away, until some teenage boys got aggressive and ran it off. We're glad we never owned any teenage boys.
  We still are having issues with our Internet, thus this short blog with no pictures. I'll make up for it next time. Maybe.