We have been docked at Emerald Bay, north of Georgetown, Exuma for over 3 weeks - a relatively long winter marina stay.
One of factors in the length of our stay here was that I needed to fly to Miami, to get an exam on what turned out to be a minor eye problem. So we took a relatively early weather window from Eleuthera to make sure we could make our airline reservation. The problem had the potential to be serious, but all is well.
We took the opportunity to have a 5-day 'vacation' in the States. We had some great food, with a visit to Visa-O1 in Miami Beach for pizza and the Versailles Restaurant on Cali Ocho for roast pork, along with visits to the nearby Pollo Tropical.
But it was not all food! We had the opportunity to see the University of Miami Women's Basketball team take on 7th-ranked North Carolina. It was a great game that went down to the final seconds, but unfortunately Miami could not quite pull off the upset. We also spent time at the Barnacle, a great little State Park embedded in Coconut Grove.
We have had a good time on Exuma, but little new to report.
We traveled 4 times (yes 4!) to Santana's Grill Pitt on Little Exuma. Run by the wonderful Dee Rolle, it arguable has the best fish dishes in the Bahamas. It is interesting to see how the chatter in groups just stops, when the food arrives. Everyone is so intent on eating!
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| Dee and Tanya |
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| View from Santana's Grill Pitt |
On one visit we got to see Safari, Dee's 5-year-old granddaughter and 3-year-old Shaddy, son of Tanya who helps Dee cook We had met both of them last year. Shaddy, who was rather quiet last year, was much more talkative this year. He and Safari wanted to go swimming, but Dee would not let them because it was too rough. Shaddy, however, was determined to get down to what we call, the Bahamian little kid bathing suit - you may know it as underwear. He had taken the belt off his loosely fitting shorts and was struggling to keep them up. Joyce tried to help him put his belt back on, but that was NOT the direction he wanted to go (his mother later gave him no choice in the matter). Santana's had decorated for a wedding later that day, and Shaddy gave me a flower that had fallen off. When I went to hand it to Joyce, he said "You can't give it to her!" We think that he was still 'holding a grudge' about the belt assistance.
Safari is showing that she will be a 'strong' Bahamian woman. We had brought both of the children small gifts. Safari had been at a church group for the day and was not there when we arrived and Shaddy opened his gift. It was very busy that day and no one had been able to give Safari her gift which was behind the counter. Shaddy repeatedly told Safari "You have a present", to which she repeatedly FIRMLY responded "I already opened my present!". We never figured out what 'present' she had already opened, but probably it was something she got at church. Well she finally found the present - her favorite part was the costume jewelry that Joyce threw in at the last minute, after I had spent a long time picking out a cute top and sundress.
We have gone to church several times at Mt Sinai Union Baptist Church in Stuart Manor. And last night we went to a night of the 'Crusade' being held at the nearby Ebeneezer Union Baptist Church in Farmer's Hill. It was a great night of praise and worship. Two members of the marina staff, who attend a a church in nearby Rolleville, were part of the special music for the night. Although we plan an early morning departure tomorrow, we hope to attend the final night of the Crusade tonight.
We had hoped to travel east to some of the outlying islands next, but the E-SE trades have built in with a vengeance, so our next leg will feature a trip north to the Exuma Cays for a few weeks.
Tom
Docked Emerald Bay Marina
Great Exuma
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