It was Valentine’s karaoke, windy nights, cave hiking, turtle finding, replenishing water tank, exploring the little village, lobsta dinner kind of stop!
It was a quick cruise from Black Point to Little Farmers Cay. We decided to take a dock since the waters are very shallow and high winds were expected. Docking on the inside of the dock against the current and with a strong wind was quite interesting. Although Three Sons did get a scratch on the teak, we made it in thanks to Captain Bob! Farmers Cay Yacht Club is only a small dock, that only fits 4 boats, since MV Pamet was already there, Into the Mystic took one for the team and grabbed a ball and a free rum punch!
Farmers Cay is a tiny island, about 68 acres and less than two miles in length, with a population of about 60 folks. The funniest part is they have an airstrip that runs from one shore to the other. No airport or building to guide the planes, just a strip of crumbling pavement, but we did see a plane land and take off. The island might have been small but the community was rich and folks were some of the nicest we have met. We spent three nights here waiting out wind to make a run to Georgetown. This stop will be remembered for a long time!
School on Farmers Cay! After talking to a local, we learned 10 kids attend this school, all ages. They have a teacher that keeps them ‘on task’ but they actually attend virtual school. The students sit at cubical desks with a computer and headphones and their teacher is in Nassau
It was definitely a team effort to beat the winds. Sweet Equity and Ship Faced were on the outside of the dock and high winds and strong current was keeping them pinned against the dock and being wacked around. With the help of Julian we made some fender boards to help everyone get a good night sleep and protect the boats. Three Sons was on the inside of the dock and we had a better time with the winds and currents but the tidal swing dropped us 4 feet and getting on and off the boat was an Olympic event.
Valentine’s Day was one for the books! We preordered our dinner at the marina we were staying at. We were the only peeps in the place and Julian and his wife Darryl certainly took care of us. The restaurant was all decked out with hearts and love! We had preordered our choices for dinner and were quickly served a delicious steak and fish dinners with baked potatoes, lobster stuffing and cabbage. The mail boat brought ‘not the best alcohol’ according to Julian so, we brought our own wine and when we ran out, jaunted over to the boat for another bottle.
The evening just got better when Karaoke was started and each husband picked a song to serenade their lovely bride. What a hoot! After the mushy stuff, lots of rounds of singing and dancing took place!
The next day, we walked over to the settlement to explore. Turtle was extracting conch from the shell and explained the process to us. Removing the conch from the beautiful shell involved way more steps that we could not have imagined. The guys took it a step further and stuck around while he made fresh conch salad. It was a 45 minute chopping event of fresh produce. It was reported that the end result was delicious!
Meanwhile the ladies went to do some shopping on the small, tiny two shelf super market. Tracy picked up an apple, green pepper, grits (in a baggie) and canned sweet milk. The total for the 4 items was $12.00. After doing our chore, we needed some libations so headed to Ocean Cabin for a beer. We were not able to get food there because the cook was ‘at the mail boat.’
This basically sums up business in the bahamas!
Still needing lunch, we tried the other restaurant on the island and sent a message to the cook at Ty’s Sunset Grill. Luckily, Shelly responded back she had food and was at the Tiki Hut! We placed our order for ‘snacks’ (aka burgers and grouper sandwiches) and walked across the air strip! Julian saw us (we were not hard to miss since we were the only folks there) and sent over a round of rum punches to compliment our sandwiches.
When the guys meet us at Ty’s, Ty treated the guys to rum shot after learning that it was our second visit!
The mailboat pulling into the settlement.
The night ended with some docktails and watching the sunset!
Our final day, was just an A plus day! The day started relaxing then chores of laundry, filling water tanks and giving Three Sons a light wash trying to get some of the salt off. Our adventure of the day was dinghying over to Oven Rock and hiking over to and into a cool cave. Bob swam, Tracy waded and kept an eye out on the bats. Next we took a dinghy ride over to the settlement to find and watch the turtles. Steven had contacted Jeffry, a local fisherman we met yesterday, about purchasing some lobster tails. We meet Jeffry outside his house and grabbed 10 tails. We arranged a pot luck dinner with Julian and his wife. Steven prepared the tails on Ship Faced then cooked them using the Yacht club’s grill. We were all in amazement when the lobster was server, they were huge and delicious! The other 5 boats supplied side dishes and appetizers. After dinner Julian shared some history of the island and his family. It was a day to remember!