View of Monument anchorage from the top of Monument hill. Ortolan is the only cat in the photo
After returning from Long Island Jan 6 we moved around to a few harbor anchorages, finally landing a great spot off the shore in the Monument Beach section. On the 10th, our son would fly out on the same flight that Cathy, our next guest, would fly in on. We’d hoped to hook up with our favorite island homeowner, Cort, (Carolyn, his other half isn’t being ignored, but she’s home in WA) before he flew home for a few weeks on Sat but site work for the camp house suddenly was in full swing that week. However, Friday the 10th was a new Bahamian holiday, Majority Rule Day and most businesses would close and that included the contractor and his workers. Cort offered his time, boat (which I have dubbed Island Runner), car and rental house and ferried us in, then taxied us to the airport, the market, back to the airport to pick up Cathy and back to the house for lunch and my secret laundry facility.
Customs and Immigration at George Town Airport
George Town International Airport is small and friendly; more substantial than Black Point yet not as large as Nassau. As we walk up to the door into the terminal, a woman stands holding the door open. “Benjamin Rackliffe?” she queries. If I’d thought faster I could have taken credit for arranging his own personal airline host, because after the flying down ordeal, didn’t he deserve it? Instead the truth was that he was one of two parties who had not checked in online (hey we tried) ahead and since the other one was a party of two, the person walking up had to be Benj. We hung around for a bit as parents are prone to do, then did a publicly acceptable farewell routine (the real mushy one we did earlier on board) before heading off.
One service that cruiser guests provide when they fly home is to take stamped mail and mail it when they get to a U.S., Canadian or where ever home is, mail box. Benj had a package to mail for us (a very special one) along with mail from two other cruisers. It’s an easy and convenient way to get mail out of the Bahamas because if you mail anything from here- kiss it good-bye for two months!
Cathy waits for us at Kermit’s Lounge across from the terminal
Luncheon feast at Cort’s Burger Villa
When a guest visits, you wish for the best weather possible and by some miracle Cathy’s 4 ½ days were some of the best so far. She got off to a busy start; we didn’t even let her get settled before our lunch date and tour of Cort’s property. In true resort fashion though we provided accommodations, equipment, ideas, food, water, sunscreen and let her set the pace and activities. Not sure it’s any surprise that someone still working full-time and in need of relaxing down-time would choose anything but R&R activities- especially those that required slathering on sunscreen.
Cathy views the building site for the camp house
Getting up at oh dark thirty to fly then getting dragged around, requires a snooze before dinner
A beautiful day for a multi-island kayak cruise
We tested our skills and our memories in playing this game. The margaritas were helpful too
As the saying goes, be sure to leave with sand in your shoes. Hang on to that tan- I say!
Cruising along the East Coast and Bahamas 