Early the next morning we motored over to the dinghy dock and spent a few hours exploring the village. There were a handful of small businesses scattered along the shore-side road with a supermarket and hardware store only a short walk away. At Dingle’s Garage Chris, the proprietor, made a phone call to “Rosie” who promised to pick us up there later in the day to take us out for dinner at the small restaurant she runs out of her home. Then it was off for a hike across the island to the Atlantic side for several hours of beachcombing before returning to the boat for lunch. We spent the first part of the afternoon with “Alesto” and “Suncast,” both of whom dinghied over for a visit aboard Fortnight. Then it was off once again, this time for dinner at Rosies ,which was absolutely delicious. We enjoyed the best chops, macaroni & cheese, peas & rice, fried plantain, and cole slaw that we have ever tasted anywhere. That woman can really cook! She was also an avid shell collector. And her home was filled with baskets of brightly coloured shells and crafts in progress. When she learned that I too shared her passion, she invited me to accompany her and her friend to a secluded beach outside of Tarpum Bay which she said was littered with shells.
The next day was overcast, windy and threatening rain. Vince elected to stay aboard in case of squalls, but I headed off with Rosie and Viola to the special shell beach--about 20 minutes away by car. We had a great morning together and I was grateful to have been befriended by a local. Vince picked me up at the dock later, just as it was beginning to rain. But we managed to get back to the boat before it really came down. It felt wonderful to shed our damp clothes, prepare a hot drink and “cocoon” in our cozy cabin while lightning and thunder rumbled outside.
We left the boat bright and early the next morning, heading off with Lee and Shari from “Alesto” back to Dingles where we had arranged to hire a car for the day. Our first stop was at the “Island School,” about half and hour south of Rock Sound, where our friends, Bob and Birgit Bateman had written that their son Christopher and his wife were teaching. When we got there however, we found that they had moved on back to Canada but we were offered a guided tour of the facility. What an absolutely incredible place this is!! The entire complex is “off-grid”. Hundreds of solar panels and a large wind generator provide the electricity needed for lights and hot water. Vegetable Oil is brought in from the cruise ships and island restaurants where it is converted into biodiesel on site. This powers all of the schools cars and some of their boats. There are composting bins and organic vegetable gardens. Pigs, ducks and goats provide meat eggs and milk. Trees are harvested, planed and simple furniture made for the student dorms and dining room. All of the buildings have been designed with roofs that are either curved to collect rainwater which is stored in cisterns, or flat and covered with gardens. The buildings are constructed with indigenous materials. We saw one that was made of bottles and cylinders of scrap wood “cemented together” with a stucco-like material made by grinding up conch shells! The most amazing facility here however was a huge Aquaponic system consisting of dozens of gigantic vats of both salt water and fresh water fish. The water from these vats was continually recycling through a large hydroponic “garden” growing thousands of vegetables.
Students here come from all parts of North America and placement is highly competitive. They stay for a semester and study marine biology, scuba, water sports, celestial navigation, solar/wind power systems, hydroponics, etc. and hopefully return home with a new way of looking a the world and their place in it.
We spent an entire morning at the Island School and then continued south to the Eleuthera marina for lunch. On our way back to Rock Sound we stopped to watch a woman making stewed tomatoes over an open fire. When we asked if we could buy a few from her, she refused to take our money and insisted on giving them to us for free! We continued on, visiting a gated golf-resort community and then stopping at the Tarpum Bay shelling beach for an hour of beach combing. By 5:00 we had had enough activity for the day and returned to our boats for a light dinner and early evening.
Alesto called us at 8:00 the next morning inviting us over for breakfast and to say goodbye. They were heading off to Governor’s Harbour and we promised to keep in touch and look out for each other later in the week. Sherri made the most wonderful bread for our breakfast from sour dough starter which she keeps on the boat. She has given me a cupful and when I finish up my current loaf, I’ll try making it too. After Alesto left, we took down our Genoa, which is in need of repair and carted it off to the local upholstery shop which also mends sails. On the trip over to Eleuthera, I noticed that the stitching had come out in several places and, had we not been able to get this repaired, we could’ve found ourselves in serious trouble with a ripped sail during the next crossing. While we waited for the repairs to be made we dinghied off for lunch at a beautiful seaside restaurant, returned to the boat to sort shells, read, write a blog and visit with friends from yet another boat--Pat and Tutti from “Celtic Cat” (Nova Scotia) who we met here on our last trip two years ago. The wind dropped just before dusk and we were able to bend on the repaired Genoa before turning in for the the evening. It felt really good to know that we were keeping on top of things and that the boat was sea-worthy once again.
We had hoped to head north the next morning but unsettled weather moved in and we decided to stay on here until the easterlies returned. Over the next few days more old friends from the Exumas arrived including “Discovery,” “Sunspot Baby,” and “Early Out,” with the harbour beginning to look and feel more like Georgetown every day as we dinghied back and forth for social visits, luncheons out and special dinners ashore. As I write this blog, yet even more boats are coming into the harbour to wait out the next blow. But as soon as we can, we’ll pull up the anchor and head north once again.
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