Little Farmer's Caye

Little Farmer's has been fun. We volunteered for the festival events. The wet tee shirt contest did not draw a single woman, but the legs and buns contest got about 20 men. John did not take part although I thought he could have won. The prize was a bottle of rum. There were also crab races which folks bet on. I would say there are probably 50 boats here for the festivities. There were class c sailboat races yesterday. The 17 ft. boats are towed in and the bahamians race. The boats are like the log boats in the Chesapeake with side boards that the crew sit out on to balance the oversized sail.

We are anchored south of the airport runway but off to the side of the flight path. Yesterday morning a plane took off over some of the boats anchored in the flight path and it was pretty dicey. He did not pull up and came very close to some masts.

Moose goes into the beach with us and has met some other dogs. The main restaurant and meeting place in town-Ocean Cabin-has an outdoor patio so Moose can sit with us for company and internet. He has made a lot of friends both human and canine. He is happy when we are anchored in one place for a while. It is upsetting to him when we travel.

So far our antenna has not caught any wifi on the boat. We have had to go in to shore and pay for service when we can find it.

We listened to weather this morning and it looks like we will leave tomorrow and make a 2-3 day trip down to Georgetown depending on our weather window. One has to time going through the cuts between the shallower banks of the Bahama Banks and the Exuma Sound as it can get very rough and the current can push you into the reefs if you try to go through at the wrong time. We have to go out into the sound in another 8 miles or so as it gets too shallow on the banks for Spunky.

These islands are so pretty and the people so nice and helpful. The colors of the water are spectacular and one must learn to "read" the water to tell when a coral head, rocky reef or shallow area is ahead. Most of the food served at the restaurants is fried fish or chicken and mac and cheese is the big side dish. This afternoon we watched the boat races off the airport beach where the crowd of locals and cruisers gathered. The Exuma Youth Band came to the island to march and play for the festival. It was great to watch them. It has been a wonderful experience so far and we are looking forward to the coming weeks.