Those crazy Germans of ours
Our dear friends, Ina and Stephan Pfuhler, arrived last Thursday and stayed for a long weekend. Great fun to get to share our new life with them. It doesn’t take long to get a little jaded; now we got to see the Bahamas again with fresh eyes; the sunsets, the incredible water, the velvety air, etc.
And time to lose the fear of swimming in shark waters. Those crazy Germans of ours hopped right in, be it mid-day or at shark-o-thirty, and swam near and far from the boat. Howling 20 kt winds and strong currents were also no match, just an opportunity for an exercise swim to shore for laps along the beach. It was a good level-set for the shark-traumatized permanent crew of Halley.
High winds kept us in the George Town bay area for the weekend, but we had one good day of sailing on the ocean side of the Exumas. We got the screecher, the light wind sail, out for the first time and had a great run with it in sunny, beautiful conditions.
Then of course all good things must come to an end; the wind picked up and as we tried to furl the sail away, the furling mechanism of the screecher got all twisted up. In the wise words of the late Kjell (my father): “If something can go wrong, it will go wrong”. The sail had to come all the way down and be packed away. Still worth the trouble, it was a great sail out on the deep blue.
Our friends left earlier this week and with the weekend upon us, we are now planning the next adventure. The wind is settling down into a steady, moderate easterly and we are considering moving south to the Ragged Islands, the southernmost area of the Bahamas, a mere 60 nm from Cuba at its closest point. The cruisers’ guide book describes this area as “a notch on the bow for extreme sailing adventures and a dream destination”.
Fingers crossed that the oil filters that Chris ordered (to replace others that never showed up in Brunswick) arrive with the next George Town cargo boat shipment tomorrow. We need the filters changed, then we are good to go. The George Town area has been a wonderful base for the past month and a half, but now it’s time to move on.
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