We Can Stay

1/16 – Today we made the short dinghy trip to Volleyball Beach. This seems to be the unofficial gathering place for the cruisers anchored in the harbor. It’s also home to the very lively Chat ‘n Chill Beach Club. On Sundays they have a pig roast, so decided to give that a try for lunch. We sat at the picnic tables on the beach enjoying the food and the scenery. After watching a few volleyball games and taking a walk in the cove, we headed to Sand Dollar Beach. We took one of the paths that led to the other side of Stocking Island where we watched the ocean waves as they broke against the reefs. Although the wind had died somewhat, the waves in the ocean were still 6+ feet. It will take a couple of days for them to subside. At sunset we returned to the boat where Linda got out her trusty pressure cooker (first time in quite awhile) and made sweet and sour pineapple chicken – yummy - Gerry gave it 2 thumbs up.

1/17 – The first order of business today was a trip across the harbor to George Town to get our immigration stay extended. We really didn’t expect any difficulty, but the first thing the Immigration Officer said to us was that we were a day late. Oops! We entered the Bahamas in Bimini on December 17 and were permitted a stay of 30 days – we translated that to mean until January 17. However, because December has 31 days, it actually meant our permitted stay was up on January 16. Fortunately, after filling out the necessary paperwork we were granted an extension of 120 days – so we can stay !! We had a quick lunch at Denny’s, the new place in town. Great burgers, wraps, wings, etc for good prices. We did some shopping and then finished our successful trip to town by getting haircuts at quite the unique place. When we were in Staniel Cay we looked for a beauty/barber shop, but couldn’t find one. One of the staff at the marina told us about a place in George Town where you could get your hair cut and also buy lobster – so we looked for such a place and found it. Seems as though the husband of the lady that runs the shop is a fisherman and she brings some of his catch to the shop in a big cooler and sells them – so we got two hair cuts and a package of grouper.

Later in the evening we joined Michael and Jana on Boatel I owned by Ted and Diane Greene from Toronto. It is a huge custom built boat and they run it as a B&B in Toronto. See http://www.boatel.ca/ for more info). After a quick tour of the boat and drinks on the back deck we all headed for Volleyball Beach and the Rockin’ Ron Dance Party at Chat ‘n Chill. We met many cruisers, danced to the oldies and had far too much to drink. We stayed until the end and then dinghied back to the boat.

1/18 – Today we rested – why?? – see paragraph above.