We made it! Our southernmost destination – Georgetown and Stocking Island – where at least 200 boaters are anchored out enjoying the warm sun and cool breeze.

Just another day in Paradise.

But it didn’t start out that way. Of course, if you’ve followed our travels you know that for us there might be the inevitable bump or two in the road.

We came down from Emerald Bay Marina on some fairly rough seas and entered the cut toward Stocking Island.

We pulled into an area near a beach that looked fairly protected with space for us. There were several other boats nearby and they were all watching us come in. Ed went up front to get the anchor ready while I slowly steered forward.

As he dropped the anchor the guy on the Scottish boat beside us starts yelling and waving his arms. We couldn’t hear what he was saying because of the wind.

“You’re too close, you got the whole Bahamas to anchor and you get beside me! I don’t want to look in your cockpit and I don’t want you looking in mine!” He yelled a few other unintelligible and probably unrepeatable Scottish words our way.

Ed and I looked at each other and around the neighborhood of boats. We weren’t any closer to this raving lunatic than anyone else was to other boats. So we stayed put.

Surly Scot pulled up his anchor and moved out. Good riddance we thought. He yelled at us again as he was leaving and Ed replied.

“We heard you, thank you sir, have a great day.” Nice touch.

And those are Ed’s people, those Scots, I reminded him.

As it turned out we moved our boat down closer to Chat ‘n Chill so our dinghy ride there is 3 minutes away. More on that to come.

Anyways we found a great little private beach and protected cove in 5 feet of water. But we sweated low tide yesterday when it got down to under 4 feet. Ed went down several times to check whether we were bumping. He even started pushing sand around with his feet to level it out. What a guy!

Probably thanks to Ed’s toe-dredging efforts, she stayed afloat! Within inches.

We made the trip to Georgetown, a 10 minute dinghy ride, to get groceries and get me to the clinic. I’ve been living with an ear infection for 2 weeks. I went to the clinic and $40 later got a prescription for drugs, one of which the pharmacy didn’t have.

They told me to go to Smittys up the road for the pills I needed. Ed found me a ride with a couple of local people at our lunch place. We had to wait for them to finish eating. I climbed into their truck which had a huge pile of assorted trash and junk in the front floorboard. The lady driver said we’re a waste truck.

Duh I thought, that’s quite obvious.

We had a nice chat and she let me off at Smitty’s. Unfortunately she was going on so I was left to find a ride for the 5 miles back.

As I shut the truck door I saw it was a waste management truck. Oh now I get it.

And Smitty’s was not just a pharmacy, they had hardware, groceries and nail polish I needed to hide my terrible toes (my kingdom for a pedicure at Groove Jet Salon).

As the American pharmacist filled my prescription, he let me know it would cost $60. I told him that was fine, I had just done a doctor visit and another drug for just $40, which back home would have been $150.

He agreed and said these $60 pills in the States might be $300.

Hmmm, their healthcare here must be considered a right for everyone, not just for those who can afford it?

What a concept!

I’m writing on this blog without my mom knowing, hoping someone will see this and help me.

She calls me her “little rescue dog ” when people ask what I am. Don’t they know I’m a dog? Then they ask what happened to my eye, am I blind. She just laughs and says no I can see, it’s just a blue eye. Not sure how she knows I can see out of it, I guess it’s cause I don’t bump into things.

Anyways if I’m a “rescue,” does that mean I can be rescued again? I didn’t sign up for this. Riding for hours on a boat, once all night long (boy was that creepy), waiting for hours to do my business on some god forsaken island with weird smells and people who talk funny at me.

It’s not all bad I guess. The dogs I’ve met look at me on a leash and express their sympathy. One gave me his number and asked me to give him a buzz if I ever get freed up.

I’ve learned to ride in that little dinghy boat though my feet slide a bit. I figure it’s my only chance to get to land so now I jump on it gladly when they put it in the water. Plus I like the way it makes my ears fly up when we’re going fast (Ed likes to do that).

And truth be told, we have hung out at some cool places where I got to nibble on my mom’s sneaking me some of that cracked conch I’ve taken a liking for. I saw what it looks like alive, yuk, no wonder it hides in that big shell. Ugly sucker, but tasty when they do whatever to make it cracked.

And because my mom likes to walk we’ve made a bunch of miles wandering around in places I sometimes like. If they have grass without sand spurs. There I can get my daily back rubs rolling in the grass and chewing on my leash for fun.

She and Ed don’t like that. I’ve chewed through a couple of leashes. Ed thought he had me tied at the dock here with a bow knot. I figured that out pretty quick, untied it and ran up to greet them before they could leave me. I was so happy to be with them! They just scowled at me for a minute and then my mom had to hug me anyway.

She’s like that, a real softie for me. She lets me collect my chew-nuts around here and keep them at the dock. She tries to take me everywhere she can.

So I end up waiting outside doors a lot. Doors to bathrooms, laundry rooms, bars, restaurants, straw markets, liquor stores, marina offices, you name it.

She quit tying me at each place because she knows I’ll wait for her there.

Unless a duck, chicken or something else interesting comes by.

Like those pigs on that island. Now that was weird. I saw pigs in Columbus County but they were penned in and dirty looking. These guys get to swim in water you can see through. They’re ugly too but they still get fed by people on boats. I don’t understand it, what do they see in them?

Thinking back to my life before, I was walking every day and spending hours in that store with my mom. Again, waiting for the next thing.

And there were weird smells there too and people who talked funny at me, always asking about my eye.

I guess this is not much different. At least it’s warm here. And new surprises every day. And Ed and my mom are my family.

So I guess I’ll hang in with them.

On the other hand, that mega yacht over there looks kinda comfy. Those girls have petted me so maybe they would like a boat dog? I bet their scraps might be worth considering … No more eggs on paper plates, but perhaps goose pate??

Ed has enjoyed the lounge here at the marina, big screen TV, a computer and wifi access.

Until yesterday. That’s when the TV went on the blink.

Oh no! How would we watch the Panthers game and the evening UNC basketball game?

After realizing we couldn’t buy a Sandals pass still due to “high occupancy” we asked about other places nearby with a TV.

It was Big D’s Conch Spot – our only option. So we got a cab ride over there, about 3-4 miles up Queens Highway. Ziggy and I had walked that way in the morning, got about 2 miles and found a little b&b owned by a young guy from Paris named Angelo. His resort was full of French tourists. He gave me free grapefruit juice and a roll.

So that afternoon we made it to Big D’s, which I had assumed was a big guy, but in reality it was a medium sized woman named Diane.

We ordered drinks, cracked conch and burger and grouper fingers. Conch was the best.

We were the only customers, as they are under construction but we managed to find the ball game and watch most of it.

We got back to the marina and paid the exorbitant $24 cab fare, hoping to find the TV fixed.

But alas, no TV for us! I couldn’t even stream ESPN on my computer, it’s not allowed outside the US.

Ed has adapted pretty well despite lack of sports the last couple of days. His tremors have slowed down and that tic is getting better.

He’s still betting some and doing well, he just doesn’t know how they actually won or lost since he can’t watch the game.

Hmmmm … I see a possible trip over to the pub at Sandals in our future today.

Most people say that when they just landed some cash. Or jumped in a tinted body of water on Saint Pattys Day.

Not us.

This is our cheery morning greeting when our batteries have held their charge all night and the dial on the panel points into the green zone.

Mind you, the lower green is not so good, that’s just 25-50% charged.

The upper green is another story — 75-100% charged.

And the next zone, the white area, is super-charged. Now that’s when we celebrate and do our happy dance!

Yesterday we installed the Breeze Bandit, a wind scoop that catches the wind from any direction and dumps it into the boat. It was awesome last night, constant breezy sleeping weather.

When you’re living off the grid, as we have for the last two weeks, you conserve your power and hope for sunny days and windy nights. So far so good. When the solar panels can’t help us, Wendy the wind generator kicks in.

She’s probably our teachers pet because she does her thing, stops herself if we don’t need her effort, and proudly reports the amps she’s producing continuously and every 24 hours.

Not that we keep up with Miss Efficiency’s data dump. The four solar panels report nothing except a blinking light, which we think is a good thing. Or is it supposed to be solid?

We don’t think their regulator is accurate because either way it looks, we are in the green.

Today it’s blowing 15-20 knots. Go Wendy go, go! We want the white zone!

Well we made it to the Marina at Emerald Bay here in Georgetown. It’s cheap! $1 per foot, 3 night minimum, 40 ft minimum, free showers, laundry. And access to the nearby Sandals and Grand Isles resorts.

For $40 per night. Are u kidding me?

But due to “high occupancy” at the local resorts we couldn’t go over there New Years Eve or the next day.

Bummer!! After a challenging 8 hour trip to get here we were disappointed.

Good news was they offered a free golf cart ride to the liquor store (which down here sells beer and wine too), which we took advantage of shortly after docking because we were slam out of everything and you can’t do New Years Eve dry can you?

There were 4 or 5 locals inside drinking at the store when we got there, greeting us with happy new year toasts and asking about Ziggy’s weird blue eye. I get that a lot, but Ed’s usual response – “she paid a lot for that” – I didn’t try. She was born with it, I said, they looked skeptical.

After a chicken barbecue on the boat we were tired and went to bed early. Ziggy joined us when the fireworks started.

Today we talked to Mario, the captan of a charter yacht we have run into a couple other times. Nice guy. We compared notes on how little fuel we use compared to him. We burn less than 1 gallon an hour, he burns 90. He says his yacht is nicer than his condo back home, I said our sailboat is nicer than camping with a tent.

Mario said we could just walk down the beach to Sandals, tip the bartender and enjoy. So we decided to give it a go.

We had tried to leave ziggy at the boat but she got out of Eds bow knot so we talked the marina staff into watching her for a little cash in return.

We made our way to Sandals past the golf course with conch shells for tee off spots via the beach. Ed played some pool and we got a couple of Bahama Mamas. When I heard it was free I felt guilty. Tipped the bartender.

But we came back, terrible cheap sailors that we are, and had another drink, the Goombay Smash. I tried to tip the bartender again and this girl refused.

Now Ed is Presbyterian and I was raised Baptist but our guilt factor was approaching Catholicism. We looked at each other and said this is wrong.

So we sang a duet with the entertainer Crash, I’m sure much to the chagrin of other vacationers.

And vowed to come back tomorrow as paying guests…maybe?

Well of course he does with me:).

And he’s made many cuts over the years with all his sports and coaching endeavors.

But today he made the cut through Farmers Cay, from the Bahamas Banks to the Exuma Sound side.

But it was a little dicey for sure. We left Black Point around 8 am and headed toward Farmers Cay, not knowing if we would stay there tonight or keep going. The winds were moderate and favorable today to sail some, and by Saturday they were supposed to get pretty strong.

So we knew wherever we got over the next couple of days we might have to stay there for a week and wait out the winds.

So after a good sail in the morning we decided to keep on trucking out toward the Sound.

Approaching Farmers Cay Cut we knew it was slack tide but the cuts can be treacherous with competing wind and currents.

Ed managed the approach past the White House on Dubba Hill (that was our 90 degree landmark according to the book).

The water looked shallow and our depth alarm confirmed that when it started going off at 5 feet, steadily down to 3.8 feet over a period of a scary five minutes.

We have a shallow draft boat, and we still had a five inch clearance at that point. But Yikes. They say everyone runs aground at some point here but we weren’t anxious to be in that statistic today.

Then the waters going into the cut got deeper and swirled around us. After about 10 minutes we made it out into deeper waters of the sound, rocking and rolling but deep.

We were going to anchor out but decided to continue to a Georgetown marina – Emerald Bay -for New Years.

It will be a long 8 hour day.

But they’ll have champagne there won’t they?

Happy New Year!

As small Bahamian villages go, this one is working hard for cruiser visits. They have by far the cleanest laundromat we’ve seen yet, free water, food stores and three little restaurants beckoning for your business.

Yachts don’t come here, just sailboat and trawler cruisers like us. As a result everything is cheaper!

We dinghied over, rowing since it was close to our anchorage. Ed claims my rowing skills need work, but hey I got us there, I did my part. We got the laundry done and had awesome homemade pizza for lunch.

Ed went back on the dinghy to fill up our extra water cans. We will go back for happy hour at Scorpios, who broadcasts their specials on the boaters open channel VHF 16.

Conch fritters free during happy hour! Wine for $2 a glass!

Are you kidding me? I might not make it back on the dinghy after getting too happy.

We would like to stay but weather/winds are looking like we need to move tomorrow.

And a little rain shower is here, first we’ve seen since arriving in the islands.

And Party like a Pirate!

That’s the slogan for tonight’s Staniel Cay Yacht Club party. It’s the first of 3 nights of reverie for the New Year.

We may not make it though. We will join the other boaters at the little beach nearby where only cruisers hang out.

It’s outfitted with chairs, a grill and campfire spot, lovingly supplied over the years by boaters before us.

It will be a fun evening before we crash at boaters midnight (dark).

We saw pigs, goats and chickens on the pig island this morning. Ziggy was on the bow watching their every move.

I visited the Clinic and got ear medicine. Ed snorkeled on Thunderball Grotto where they made the Bond movie.

He met a barracuda in the cave but he didn’t bite… Just hovered and glared at the intruder in his space.

Oh and we found out the 285 foot mega yacht we passed anchored outside on the Banks here is owned by Steven Spielburg. $200 million boat called the Seven Seas.

I bet he’s never had battery, water pump or toilet issues. Or if he did the 26-man crew probably never told him.

Moving on to Black Point tomorrow early! Aaaaargh.

They’re not really cute little piggies, they’re big ol mama sows. And they can swim since they have that piggy fat.

So if you go anywhere close to their island they will swim out to your dinghy and try to climb aboard.

Unless you throw food to them first. Which I did. I don’t want to be capsized with a swimming sow and excited dog in the vicinity.

We are taking it easy today, visiting the village here at Staniel Cay.

Oh and betting on some sweet NFL games. TVs in the bar!

They’re not really cute little piggies, they’re big ol mama sows. And they can swim since they have that piggy fat.

So if you go anywhere close to their island they will swim out to your dinghy and try to climb aboard.

Unless you throw food to them first. Which I did. I don’t want to be capsized with a swimming sow and excited dog in the vicinity.

We are taking it easy today, visiting the village here at Staniel Cay.

Oh and betting on some sweet NFL games. TVs in the bar!