Doing things Differently

     We were hoping to be departing the marina before 9 this morning, but the marina was at capacity so one of the marina skiffs was tied behind us on the dock. Since we were in the shallowest part of the marina, we could not depart at low tide without its removal.

     We will be traveling with Andiamo up to the Emerald Rock anchorage to meet up with Brunelle and her guests who are visiting from Chile.  We needed to check in during the 9 AM Roll Call from the Park. However, just before 9 all the boats on docks A and B began blowing their horns.  They are the larger boats with large air horns.  We, over on D dock, could not figure out just what all the noise was about.  It turns out a lot of people enjoyed the music up at the bar last night.  When it closed around 11 PM, they moved aboard Sound Wave and jacked up the music.  After numerous requests by fellow dock mates, they continued to crank up the music.  Around 3:30 AM, the boat directly behind them blew its horn and the music finally quieted.  Apparently, this morning, all the boats that only had a few hours sleep, informed the marina management they would awaken Sound Wave, if there was no movement by 9 . . . and that they did.  A short while later, her mistress came storming into the marina office demanding someone needed to deal with this.  The manager calmly stated, “I believe the message has already been delivered.” 

    We really enjoyed our time at Sampson Marina, especially the company of Tommy and Kay.  They will continue their explorations of the Exumas a little longer.  We have invited them to join us on the Chesapeake for a CCYC raft, as they already know a number of us. 

Pete discussing todays options with
the cruise "dictator."

    We stopped for fuel and to settle the bill. We were surprised to find that the water for our entire stay was free.  The wind presented a challenge as we pulled away from the dock. It wanted to push us back to the dock, but Pete was able to do a hard back down procedure, which thankfully, just cleared us from the dock. This is definitely a place I would recommend to all; the staff, the restaurant, the protected marina, the facilities, the store, the island for scenery, and patience for the intermittent internet.

     We wished we had the hardware for the jib.  We would have had a wonderful sail up to Emerald Rock, but we motor-sailed with the main instead.  As we passed the cut by Cambridge Cay, we could feel the ocean swells that came through the cut.

     We were able to pick up the mooring ball by around 12:30.  Once we were signed in and lunch eaten, we had an afternoon of reading and relaxing. 

The traditional heralding of sunset.

    At 5, we prepared for the onshore cruisers gathering, sponsored by the park.  They supply the ice and we supply the food. At 5:30 the dinghies started to arrive along with the food . . . and they just kept coming. At last count I had close to 20 dinghies.  I had put Pete in charge of the boat cards.  He forgot to hand them out.  At the end of the evening, I scurried about trying to swap as many as I could.  We talked to a lot of cruisers from Canada, who have done the trip many times. Some have opted to keep the boat in the Carolinas or Florida to make the trip more enjoyable and doable. The biggest surprise of the evening was how many first time cruisers there were; many who had sold the house and were live-aboard, heading to Granada.

Plenty more dinghies were added after this shot was taken.

    We headed back to the boats around 6:30, in the dark.  The heavens were magnificent, but without ambient light, navigation on the water is dubious in unfamiliar waters. We made it back safe and sound, but I had to prepare something more to eat. We were too busy talking and didn’t eat enough to last until morning.

~  ~ (\_~ ~ ~     Kathy and Pete