To Staniel

Emerald Bay to Staniel Cay

We spent two days in Emerald Bay, got caught up on laundry and rented a car to drive past the Tropic of Cancer.  The girls were very nervous about dad driving a car with the steering wheel on the wrong side, but got pretty excited when they called shotgun, and were able to sit in the drivers seat. 

We saw the former production facilities of Morton Salt and went to a pub where Curt Russell, Goldie Hawn, Orlando Bloom and Jonnie Depp hang out.  Curt and Goldie’s house is pretty nice.  Michelle did not take a picture because she wasn’t certain that it wasn’t a resort. 

We went to Tropic of Cancer beach and danced on the line.  Really beautiful. 

The Furthest South we are going(Craig went Further South)

We left Emerald Bay for the sail to Little Farmers and we had a turn in luck.  We put up the cruising spinnaker and wrapped it around the forstay once, twice, and three times.  I spent about 45 minutes to the point of exhaustion working to get it down.  By the time I did this I was feeling faint and dehydrated with a torn spinnaker and jib (yes the tangled mess cut the jib badly).  We picked up a mooring ball in little farmers and relaxed. I went to bed early. 

Little Farmers was a totally different place than when the festival was occurring.  There were five boats, instead of the 117 when we were there.  I can understand now how overwhelming the festival must be from the local viewpoint.  The population of Bahamians I would guess quadruples the normal population, and cruisers double or triple that number.   We went lobstering again, and again no lobster.

We went to Black Point next, which we had skipped on the way down.  It is a nice little settlement which boasts what I believe is the nicest laundry mat in the world (yes, that matters a lot to us). 

The girls went to Black Point school, and tutored children there.  This is their story:

Hannah

Black Point School

            The other day we were in Black Point and they needed some help around the school. Myself, Emily, Mrs. Tellup, Christine and Erin volunteered. When we arrived at the school the teacher, Ms. McKenzie, grabbed five of the students and sent us into an empty classroom. We all chose a child to work with. I chose a little boy named Brian and we got right to work. First we did reading. I had him read a book so I could get an idea of what level he was at. Brian was in first grade yet he could barely read. He struggled with the th sound and got his d’s and b’s confused. I taught him that the little case d was good because he faced the upper case D and that the little case b was bad because he didn’t face the upper case B. He didn’t struggle so much after that. Then we did math. I had him do addition and subtraction using little blocks and building and tearing down towers. And then at the end I read him the story of Jack and the Bean Stock because he did so good. I had a lot of fun and it was a great experience.

Emily

Tutoring Children At Black Point

            We heard from some other cruisers that Black Point school takes volunteers. In Georgetown we made books for the little kids. That was when we got the idea that we wanted to help out. When we got to Black Point we talked to the lady in charge of the book making and asked here if we could help out in the school. She was thrilled that she had some volunteers for the school. She said to be at the school at nine to help. Erin, Christine (Sheet Music), Hannah and I all went to help. Michael wasn’t to thrilled with the idea so he stayed behind. When we arrived at the school the teacher basically handed over the little ones that needed help with reading and math. We didn’t mind to much. We decided to do it individually with each of us with a little kid. I sat down with a second grade boy named Ashton. He was really sweet and he liked math way more than reading. The teacher gave us blocks to help them with count in math. Ashton kept wanting to build towers with them. I tried to teach him easy ways to do math in his head and he got it pretty fast. When we would read little books he had a lot of trouble with the TH the CH and the SH. I Had to read the really simple books with him. I think he was ADHD because kept tapping his fingers on the table and wondering off if he was an ant or something. He was a sweet kid and his little island accent was adorable. Toward the end I gave him math problems like 6+2 and he would work them out with his wooden Christmas colored blocks. When it was time for them to go back to class he gave he a small hug and walked back to his classroom. When we left the school Erin, Christine, Hannah an I all went to buy a bag of skittles to reward ourselves.

More Trouble

We then realized that the generator had gone out.  I was very proud of myself when I read the wiring diagram, diagnosed the problem and installed one bypass wire passed a bad connection.  We started it up and viola, power, and a whole bunch of water, salt water. The wet exhaust elbow had failed, and caused the electrical problem.  We order the part out of Miami, and had it delivered to Staniel Cay, our next stop, and the only place other than Georgetown you can get a part like this. 

Unfortunately I did not being a 10mm stubby open end wrench with, which would be necessary to complete the job.  I had been talking with Jubilee, a boat cruising in the area who’s owners are friends with my parents.  Their friends, on Greenstone, were anchored two boats away from us and he had the exact tool I needed.  Amazing.  With the correct tool, not adjustable pliers, the part came off with ease.  It is difficult to live with a family of 4 on the same amount of electricity that your car generates in a 3 hour trip but we managed. 

The big front is came through with winds in the 25-30 knot range, and we were held up for several days.  We took a trip to an island with a sand bore on it, they are just beautiful.

I also found a pesky water leak at the very back of the boat, so we have a dry bilge as of this writing.

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