Wow this life is great!  We are going to be grandparents in the fall !!!  We are so excited and happy for Jessica and Craig. 

Well, we stayed in the George Town area a lot longer than we had planned - for those of you on Facebook, you already knew that. We took HAM radio licensing exams so we stayed there to take the tests on the 24th of Feb (weather also kept us there too).  We have 2 new technician class operators and one general class. The tests are very difficult with lots of electrical theory, etc. Anyway, I passed the general on the second attempt but Darrell didn't want any more punishment. These licenses give us another communication tool - with a special modem we can get e-mail and weather information via SSB. 

George Town is on the largest island of the Exuma chain. And it is the largest settlement for quite a distance. It is a very popular winter cruising destination and can have hundreds of boats in the harbor at any given time. It boasts an extensive "cruisers net" and I would compare the social activities there to a cruise ship. With all the boats comes a LOT of boat "chatter" over the VHF marine radio. We had to get away from that. 

So we stocked up last week on supplies and departed GT. Nice place to get supplies AND water is free there.  We crossed to Long Island and anchored in Joe Sound to weather out the next frontal passage. Monday (March 6) we sailed south for Thompson Bay/Salt Pond. 

There is a place here that caters to cruisers called Long Island Breeze so I showered, we did laundry, had a great cracked conch lunch, AND I was able to get an Internet " fix"!  I feel like I am a technical "geek" with my need for communication. I will add that we call family every several days to check in but at the international rates, the conversations are brief. 

We are preparing to head back to George Town because we have a guest coming. Captain Jim Fagan is coming to spend his spring break with us. He teaches school and works for a water towing service in the winters and works at Captain Slate's Atlantis Dive Shop in the summers (also worked for us too). We are excited about having company. 

We have been meeting other cruisers too. They hail from all over and many only cruise in the winter months. We exchange boat cards (business cards with contact information) and have quite a collection. One lady puts smiley faces on them if she likes you (her code is a frown if she doesn't).  We hadn't given them one yet so we plastered a big, red smiley face on ours - LOL!!  Then gave it to her. 

In the early part of our trip, I was beginning to wonder if cruising and/or "unemployment " was going to suit us as we seemed to be crossways a lot. Well, it wasn't anything other than the fact that Darrell was trying to quit smoking. Yes folks, he left Key Largo with one - yes, one cigarette!!  Am I crazy for starting this adventure like that or what!?!?!  Anyway we learned that he can smoke the brands they have here instead of the US brand of cigarettes for less than he would buy them for in the states. They just aren't available everywhere. Since I didn't kill him in the first few days of the trip, I think I'll keep him. Yes, we almost turned this boat around and came home!!  So glad we didn't!

I'm sure there will be many tales to write of after Fagan has been here so stay tuned. OR plan a visit yourself and you could have stories about you on the Internet -- LOL. Cheers!
Mellie, our current location is:
N 23 22.2'
W 075 7.58'