Yesterday around 5:30 we arrived at Long Island and reunited with Taua. We also found Liberty and Side by Side, although nearly as soon as our anchor was down Side by Side’s was up and they were off to a dinner reservation a couple of towns over. Liberty apparently has plans to leave today. It was nice though yesterday to get to meet Liberty and their two boys Chris and Jason. Nice, smart, well- behaved kids, like most boat kids we’ve met. It was nice also to talk to their parents Dave and Nancy; I hope that we run into them again up the coast somewhere. They may be headed north about the same time we are or maybe just a week later.

It was also nice to reunite with Taua. Nicole had made a pin for Claudia that said “my best friend” and before we left Georgetown we found it on the beach, apparently it had fallen off one night while we were having a barbecue. Claudia was so relieved to get it back, and of course Nicole was happy to give it to her again. We ended up having dinner on Taua with the Liberty crew as well. It was a record-breaking event with 12 (5 under the age of 18) people on their 44 ft boat. What a nice time, mmm and Spetzle again!

Today we plan to check out one of the many blue holes here on Long Island. It turns out that there is one just across the island from where we are now that we may be able to get to without renting a car. It sounds worth looking into. I also have to figure out how much it will be to rent a car and where we can do it. On the islands everything is so much more expensive that I have to wonder what car rentals cost.

I expect we’ll just end up exploring today and then going to the big blue hole tomorrow. The weather for next week by Tuesday or Wednesday looks like it’s going to turn ugly so we’ll have to leave for Georgetown a little early if that turns out to be accurate. Our guest leaves early Wednesday morning and he can’t miss that flight.

We have been in Georgetown now for at least a week. I have to confess that time passes here easily and sometimes I have to check the laptop to see what day it is so it’s entirely possible that we’ve been here more than a week. We have picked up guests at the airport and now we have dropped of the first guest for their return to “civilization” and we are on to our second guest.

We’ll be taking him for a ride to Long Island and all I can do is hope that the trip goes well. He’s definitely the type that gets seasick, I’m not throwing stones I have gotten seasick a fair number of times too but he basically gets seasick looking at the water so this might not be the easiest trip for him. Why do we go then? Well once we get to Long Island we can rent a car and do a day trip to the blue hole and that would be more land based than going anything we could do in Georgetown.

 
Diving in the blue hole should be an amazing experience as it is the largest documented blue hole in the world. It is also the 6th largest cave in the world and 660 ft deep. Even though it is open to the Atlantic Ocean I’m told that it is incredibly calm and an amazing experience. I’m looking forward to it. Okay I’m looking forward to it with some trepidation. Seems like I have some nervousness over things that I haven’t done before nowadays, I can’t remember if that’s something I’ve always felt or if it’s new.

Well I guess perhaps it’s conditional and depends on what the new thing is. Back in Maine, on dry land it’s not so much like this. Here things like anchoring always in new spots that are untested in winds that are close to 30 knots, with tons of boats around makes me nervous. Go figure. I think I’ve gotten better about some of it but there’s still some residual anxiousness when we go someplace new.

I told Boyd just yesterday, “You like the going somewhere, and I like the being somewhere” so at least one of us is always happy. I’ve finally realized that there isn’t much he likes better than going someplace especially someplace new. For me I’m not really happy until I’ve settled in to the some place, then I’m fine.

Today the worst thing imaginable happened. Taua left again. It was inevitable. We still wish it weren’t. Taua has to continue their travels south. They are now on their way to Long Island and then The Turks and Caicos to put up their boat for the season. Likewise we will soon be turning towards home to exit this area and the “hurricane zone”.

We may try to jump over to Long Island next week if all goes well. Peter and Monica plan to spend at least a week at Long Island and once we have sent off our current guest and received our next guest on Monday we may try to jump over and rent a car on Long Island to go to the blue hole on the Atlantic side of the island.

I have read that it is one of the biggest blue holes in the world. It is the deepest and 6th largest cave in the world. Sounds pretty amazing. It might be a good idea since our next guest gets seasick, therefore land excursions makes sense. Besides I’m not just sure how to cook for just 4 people anymore.

Whether we see Taua, Monica, Peter and Claudia any more this trip or not we certainly have enjoyed their company for the last month. The two boats were nearly always together and the girls were together as much as possible even sleeping over and swapping boats for transits when they could.

If we don’t see them again this trip we will all be very sad, we do plan to keep in touch and perhaps the girls can get together again another time and place. We have invited Claudia to come to Maine for the summer and Taua has invited our family to come to France for a visit.

I’d love to think we could make at least one of these opportunities work. Until then, goodbye Taua, safe sailing.