Day 28: Monday, March 23, 2015
It was a rough night. The wind moved from the southwest to the west
and continued to build throughout the night.
The boat rocked and bucked making sleep quite difficult. This location
is not known for its good holding ground so I was up a number of times to make
sure that we had not moved. We leave the
chartplotter on so that the “Anchor Drag Alarm” will alert us in case we move
out of a preselected area. It also marks
a track so you can see where it has been.
It does use battery but on nights like last night you need it.
We fixed sausage gravy and served over
flatbread. Amazingly, the flatbread,
like the tortillas, have not molded in the month that the have had them.
We basically sat most of the day. We both read novels and did little else. The wind finally began to back off at around
2:30 or so and at around 3:30, I mounted the motor onto the dinghy, loaded 5
little bags of trash and we headed over to Little Abaco Island and the little
town of Foxtown. The water was still
rough but the little inflatable dinghy bobbed along with trouble. We got splashed by big waves several times but
the ¾ mile trip was uneventful. We would
have not been comfortable doing it in ole Damn Dink.
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| Rout into Foxtown and the Foxtown Dock |
The route into the dock was relatively shallow and
dotted with rock outcroppings. The
charts advise only the boats with the shallowest of draft attempt to make it,
Of course, the dinghy had no trouble.
The dock was high and with the wind blowing, making the landing a bit
tricky. We got off of the boat, set out
our little trash bags and were preparing to head to shore when a little very
dark chunky Bahamian girl game to greet us. Zianne was a talkative little 2nd grader who
served as
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| Janine and our new friend, Zianna |
the welcoming ambassador for the poor village of Foxtown. We asked where we could drop our trash and in
her out island dialect told us but we couldn’t understand. At the end of the
dock we asked a young man the same question and he pointed to some large tubs
nearby. Little Zianna indignantly told
me “I already told you that!”
We also asked about groceries and they pointed to a
little building across the street with no sign.
Went in and asked the rotund lady behind the counter if she had bread to
which she replied “no” so I asked about eggs and she said, “In da cooler.” There were very few food items on the shelves
but what we did find was Betty Crocker Carrot Cake Mix. We went back and paid the $7.50 for the two
items and then headed across the street to the Da Valley Restaurant and
Bar. We walked in past a pool table and
asked one of the 3 men standing around about dining and he pointed toward a
room at the other side of the building.
We made our way into the main dining room where we were met by the
owner, cook and waitress. In very few
words, she offered that we could sit outside on the deck that overlooks the
water. On our way out, Zianne, who had
been shadowing our every move and talking incessantly, said that she would get
the menus. Out on the porch, she dropped
the stack of one page menus which proceeded to blow down across the floor. The owner, who was also quite heavy, came and
took our
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| Foxtown Grocery |
order for two COLD Kaliks.
The menu included various kinds of seafood and
chicken dishes all of which were quite reasonably priced. I orders cracked lobster which came with
fries and coleslaw and Janine had blackened grouper. Both meals were outstanding
Although the outside was well painted in pastel
colors, the inside had plywood walls on which folks had signed and commented
using markers. Sitting at the bar were
three very round ladies who were carrying on a very loud, animated discussion
in a dialect that we couldn’t understand.
 |
| Da Valley Restaurant and Bar |
Zianne had, on her verbal tour of the village, told
us that the building next door was a fish building so I asked the restaurant owner
about it and she said that her husband owned it and yes they had seafood for
sale. After the meal, I went inside to
pay my bill and inquired of a man who was sitting, leaning up against the wall,
if the fish house was his. He confirmed
it and said that he had various fish, lobsters, and stone crabs for sale. We bought three large spiny lobster tails and
a huge block of ice. Janine was going to
get cold beer tomorrow along with an onboard
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| Dining on the deck of Da Village Restaurant with a COLD beer. |
|
|
lobster dinner.
The trip back to Second
Wind was uneventful. The winds and
chop continued to diminish so the boat became less animated. Not long after our return, we both noticed
that the wind was again beginning to howl and the seas began to build again as
the wind started clocking around to the north.
A fast moving squall will little rain passed through causing the boat to
buck and rock again. Luckily, the rough weather lasted only a short while
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| Inside of Da Village Restaurant |
and
by the time we decided to go to bed, the winds had made it to the north and the
water became calm. It should be a much
needed peaceful night.
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| Zianna working over a coconut. She got it open and ate it all |
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