Chapter 7
Oborea in the Land of Sunshine
Feb to April 1992
The Bahamas pace is seeping into all of us down here and even my typing fingers, so this is going to be a short one.
It is sunny and warm and we are anchored in Kidd Cove
(named for the notorious Captain Kidd) just off the sleepy
little settlement of George Town, Exumas. We are a couple
of miles north of the tropic of cancer, and, yes, the weather
has been a lot better than in the Abacos.
We never did cross paths with Ru again. We got a lot of
reports from people who saw them though, and apparently
they sailed from Freeport to Nassau and down the Exumas
to George Town, but they were gone by the time we arrived
as Karen has a job to go to in Ft Lauderdale. Perhaps their
experiences will also appear in this newsletter.
Before we left the Abacos though a Great Event occurred,
Oborea acquired REFRIGERATION. (yes, we are getting
soft in our old age, but it is nice to have cold beer and ice
cubes for the rum!) It is a second hand propane powered RV
fridge, and when we get back to Florida I will be adding
considerably more insulation and a top-opening door to increase its efficiency.
Our friend Diane joined us at the end of February in Marsh
Harbour and we sailed down here together; glorious weather
the whole way and we caught fish every day (which is
unusual for us). The sixty mile offshore passage from Abaco
to Eleuthera took just under eight hours, and from there on
we followed the shallow inshore passages through the islands
all the way to George Town. Most of these close in passages
carry no more than 3 feet at low water so it is ideal multihull
country. We dived in the spectacular Thunderball Cave at
Staniel Cay, but missed the 5Fs (Farmers First Friday in
February Festival) at Little Farmers Cay by a month. We
passed Hans and Lou VanRijn bringing their trimaran
Albatross north from Puerto Rico, and in George Town we
met all kinds of multihulls; things are changing. Among
those that readers might be familiar with are former TMCC
members Jens Pasarow with his trimaran Sand Key and
Rudi in his PDQ Venus. The Crowther tri Blue Heron of Kingston is also here, and another Slater cat from Quebec, Vis a
Vis. There are also a Wharram Tangaroa from Denmark that I last met in the Grenadines on Oborea's last voyage, a
Malcom Tennant tri, three 12M Catalacs, three Gemini and two Prout Snow
Geese. (Notice how cats outnumber tris!). In the Cruising Regatta there was a
multihull class and there was even a pot luck dinner at Stocking Island for
"multihullers and those that wish they were''. Lets see a contingent from the
TMCC next year.
Toward the end
of March Joy
and Howard
Garrie joined
us for ten days,
but you will
have to get
them to write
about their
experiences.
We will be
around here
until the end of
April as we are
expecting other
visitors from
Canada, and we
want to see the
Family Islands
Regatta where
the vastly over-
canvassed Bahamian sloops compete for cash prizes. It should be a lot of fun.
After that we will slowly wend our way back to the States via the Abacos to re-
stock the boat and do a few small construction projects. We'll let you know how
it all works out.
George Town Anchorage
Hawksbill Cay
Captain Moxie’s house, Little Farmers Cay