It was Fat Tuesday’s big day. We started in the morning with a trip to George Town. David rowed over as it was down wind and we then motored through the narrow bridge into the harbor. We did water, trash and cash. We visited the bread stand and bought some small baked goods, banana bread and bread pudding. A man sells small bags of peanuts for $2 and we munched on those. We noted the laundromat for future endeavors.
The Top to Bottom hardware store was dark but David pulled on the new door and it opened. They were not officially open but the manager invited us in. The place has everything. Some of the items are still on the floor in boxes and bins. David bought some fishing lures and I bought some kitchen scoops. We visited Minn’s water sports and looked into rentals: motor boat, snorkel gear. They provided us with several interesting maps and lists of people renting in the area. There were many places we would still like to go in George Town but we wanted to do the grocery and get back to the boat. We did pass the primary school and the library. We will be back. We bought some fruit at Exuma Market and headed back.
After lunch, the plan was to sail Fat Tuesday. The winds had picked up a bit but we took all the sail and rigging to the beach and rigged her up. David took her for a shakedown cruise around the harbor. Later, both of us sailed her back to the boat. She performed well, I can’t wait to sail her around again in maybe some lighter winds.
We had heard that there was a Rake and Scrape band in the George Town Fish Fry area at 7pm and we were eager to hear a band. We had had a good solar day and our motor was charged and ready. Somehow, we were also charged and ready. We made the crossing at sunset after putting some identification lights on our boat.
Fat Tuesday and our motor did well. We did not totally know where we were going but knew the place was in the Fish Fry area which we had heard was in a cove below the hospital that we could see. It was a little darker than we would have liked when we arrived but we made our way past some derelict boats in the entrance. I was sort of glad that I could not see them well. We found other dinghy’s on the beach and a beachside bar and restaurant that appeared to be active. There was an outdoor space where people were cooking and the bar was inside.
We saw some friends from dance class, Suzanne and Fred, and we all went into the bar where there were some other cruisers we recognized. Suzanne and Fred have an Island Packet sailboat. He hired a consultant to help him with the lithium battery change over but did the work himself.
We were hungry but the food was not yet ready as the band started up. There were two drummers. One of the drums was a snare, the other a home made drum made from an old barrel with a drum skin on top. It was painted white with yellow and green and had some shells on it. Another man was playing a handsaw and they had a an acoustic guitarist. The singer was amazing and would just go from one song to another. He had a great voice and was passionate. At one point, I swear I heard a rendition of “where have all the flowers gone.” There were no words to that one so I could not tell for sure. There were a few other tunes we recognized. We practiced our dancing.
The food was ready about 7:45 and they had rib plate and chicken plate. For the vegetarian crowd there was Mac and cheese, the really good baked kind, rice and peas, locally spiced, and corn on the cob. These sides also came with the meat plates, all of them. The food was worth waiting for. That particular bar was called Porgy’s. No website.
Around 815, we prepared for the crossing. We were missing one of our running lights but had the port red. We had John’s great flashlights. We headed across to Stocking Island. Fish were jumping in the light everywhere. We were mostly upwind and there were some waves but Fat Tuesday is a great little dinghy. We did not get wet and made our way slowly across. We found our boat a little more easily with the lights and hopefully did not disturb too many people with our flashlight. Our motor battery was at 30% upon our return. No worries.
We proudly secured Fat Tuesday behind the boat. She did well today.