Bahamanian Bohemians

I'm still in the Bahama's, Morgan's Bluff to be exact. There could be worse places to be stuck, the wind is not co-operating, I am ready to be underway. The krew I've been traveling with has headed to Nassau, it's been wonderful traveling with them, the Capitan cooked so well, and they always scored lots of fish. I still can't catch anything, even with my spear I'm a lousy shot, although on another cruisers boat with his rig and tackle I caught a 3 foot barracuda, I traded it for a nice BBQ chicken dinner, barracuda can be poisonous. The locals all trade fish for goods, I am amazed at the lack of shame they have in begging, the kids will walk up and demand that you buy them a soda, then demand a dollar, then start asking you for sunglasses. I taught a couple of the kids to make the things they need rather than rely on the US dollar to get anything, I did give those kids some fish hooks and line. I do understand that they think white skin means walking ATM but they have it wrong with me, I have already proved to several that I have less than them. Despite not having dollars I am good with my tools and there are fishermen around, fishermen always need things fixed and always have fish, which explains why I am craving beef, the other night I dreamed of eating steak.

The cruisers here are wonderful people, very friendly and kind, very bohemian too. I met a great couple from St Petersburg on a 27' catamaran, he is a retired theater teacher, she an actor. I went to dinner on their boat and when it was discovered that we were all theater geeks we began to tell jokes that can only be appreciated back stage. A few nights later we were all on a 47' power catamaran for a dinner party, using the fore deck as a stage and the ship's searchlight for illumination we were treated to a one act play. I've been missing theater and it was great fun to sit on the louvers over the cabin windows and watch a show. It makes me think back to the days before canned entertainment, I feel we have lost a great deal by industrializing our entertainment and not being able to make our own.

I scored winches for Waltzing Matilda! A cruiser and I went to a wrecked sailboat that I spotted and found that the winches hadn't been stripped off, everything else but the mast was stripped. I haven't sailed her with winches but it will make it much easier for me to trim my head sail now. According to the locals this sailboat showed up on the bank about a year ago with sails up and no one on board, there was blood on the deck and no sign of the skipper. I don't know if that is true, the locals are all fishermen, and fishermen don't have a reputation for honesty. Another interesting find was on a coral head near where several of us were spear fishing. I was getting tired and spotted what looked like a suitcase on the beach. I swam over and on a deserted island found a very rotted suitcase packed with rusted cans of corned beef, rusted away Vienna sausages, soggy ramen noodles, packs of new under shirts and shorts, and a Haitian passport. The passport was stamped for entry in Nassau in December 2004 with a mariners visa, the visa has been expired for 5 years, the passport expired in 2009. As much as I love a mystery I decided it was best not to poke my head into this business. I know that a mail ship went down a few months ago and the locals all went fishing for luggage, I also know that some Haitians were involved in some dirty business related to a stolen boat loaded with stolen drugs. Rumor has it there are more Haitians in the tongue of the ocean than in Haiti.

Mattie is quite popular with some of the locals, whenever we walk into Willy's Water Bar she gets greeted and given a bone to chew, I have to pay for beer and don't get such a boisterous greeting. Willy's wont take fish as payment.