Great Sale Cay, Little Bahama Banks

Well, here it is -- our last full day in the Bahamas. We motorsailed the 35 miles to Great Sale Cay. While we were underway, Kevin caught a small fish (a 14-inch Painted Mackerel) and cut it up to use as bait tomorrow (we are optimists and can already taste the delicious mahi-mahi steaks we are going to catch out in the Gulf Stream). We dropped anchor around 2:30 in the afternoon and are now preparing for our first overnight sail on our own. (We did quite a bit of night sailing last May but we had our delivery captain, Ed, aboard. This time it is just the two of us.) Kevin is changing the oil in our engines, and topped off the fuel tanks from our jerrycans (we will carry 15 extra gallons of diesel with us just in case). He rigged jacklines for safety (jacklines are strong lines that are secured to the boat, then if you need to leave the cockpit to adjust a sail or something, you clip your safety harness to the jackline which will prevent you from going overboard). Yesterday he scrubbed the hulls to remove growth (just to get that extra .025 knot of speed, wouldn't want a barnacle slowing us down!) Lest you think that I have been reclining with a book and eating bon-bons while Kevin does all the work, let me tell you that I have been busy too. I don't like to use the stovetop when we're underway, so today I am cooking two extra dinners that can be popped into the oven (chicken parmesan and baked ziti) without any hassle. I also helped rig jacklines and secured all the flotsam and jetsam in the dinghy. And cleaned the bathrooms and stowed everything where it belongs so we can find it in a hurry if we need to. So I'm sure when 8 o'clock rolls around we'll both be exhausted.

Forecast for tomorrow and Tuesday is still looking good. We have enjoyed the beauty of these islands and the friendly spirit of the people here. It's not an easy place to leave, but we are ready to go back to the US. We sure are looking forward to charging up our cell phone and being able to call our family and friends whenever the whim strikes (and to receive calls. Hint, hint!). We also can't wait to be back in the land of plenty where you can buy whatever you want, whenever you want it. I now understand why when people come to the US from other countries they get so excited about shopping. We've been almost everywhere in this country and supermarkets are few and far between, let alone a convenience store on every corner. The larger settlements have decent hardware and clothing stores, but they are nowhere near the size and selection you would find at a Home Depot, Best Buy, or Wal-Mart back in the States. When we were in Hope Town I picked up a local paper ("The Abaconian") and read an article about the local schoolkids' first trip ever to the US. Each kid wrote a paragraph or two about the highlights of their trip. The main reason for the trip was to see the King Tut exhibit at one of the museums and a lot of kids wrote about that, but one kid wrote about how great it was that they got to go shopping and she was amazed by her first trip ever to a shopping mall. She couldn't believe the number and variety of stores in one place. Can you imagine? Something that every American teenage kid with mall hair takes for granted. The Bahamas may be paradise but we Americans live in true luxury. Believe it.

Where we are:
Lat: N 27 00.707'
Long: W 78 12.198'