Thursday, March 3, 2016

February 20, 2016 Hopetown Songwriter's Festival

We had a relaxing morning in Marsh Harbor.  Then our friends, Gary and Niamh, anchored near us.  We only visited shortly and said our good-byes.  They were here to provision.  Then they were heading to Lynyard Cay tonight to meet up with a couple other boats that were heading south in the morning. 

We wanted to go to Lubbers Quarter this afternoon for the Songwriters festival.  There was an “unplugged” session this afternoon at Lubbers Landing, a bar and restaurant.  That was from 1-4:00 and would take us a couple hours to get there.  So we gave up on the idea of going to the Annual Flea Market on Man of War Cay.  It was north and Lubbers Quarter was south.  We decided to take the cruiser’s laid back route and not try to fit too many things into one day. 

We sailed to Lubbers Quarter and thought we could anchor on the east side of the island.  We quickly found out that it was too shallow.  We hit sand and came to a stop.  We were able to wiggle our keel though some of the sand bar and get turned back out away from the island.  We put out our jenny sail and that healed us enough to get us off of the sand bar.  We then headed across the channel to the west side of Elbow Cay and anchored there.  As we were heading into the wind to anchor, a Canadian power boat came at us from our port side.  We thought he would veer away since we had the right of way and were obviously trying to anchor.  But just as he was off of our port side, 90 degrees to the wind, he dropped his anchor.   Dave said in a loud voice “Mary, I guess we’ll have to circle around to another spot since this boat just took our anchorage.”  As we were circling around the boats, they ended up moving to a different spot in between us and another boat.  So we left that area and moved further away from them. 

After we anchored, Dave took me and Dean over to Lubbers Quarter by dinghy.  He made sure to stop at that boat and thank them for taking our anchorage and making us move.  He came back with “I was anchoring, too, and was there at the same time.”  Dave reminded him that we had the right away (on their starboard side) and were pointed into the wind to anchor (which is the correct position).  Then Dave said “you should read that book.” 

With a combination of boating gyrations that we went through today, Dave didn’t feel like going to shore with us.  So he dropped me and Dean off at Lubber’s Landing, and we would just call him to pick us up later this afternoon.  By now it was 2:00.  They were only offering one meal choice for $20.  That included a sandwich (tuna, conch or hamburger), Brunswick Stew and coleslaw.  But you could do a wrist band for $65 for the lunch and all you can drink.  Beers are usually $6, so I didn’t think I would drink $45 worth of beer this afternoon and opted for the lunch and pay per beer.  Dean likes to try the different rum punches, which usually run close to $10.  So he went for the full package. 
great outdoors venue
the view towards Elbow Cay
Dean heading to the drink tent

The meal was OK, for mass production.  We found out later, the owners were from Georgia and the wife made the Brunswick Stew.  Of course we spent the summer in Brunswick, GA, so that was a cool connection. 

The music was very good.  About 6 different musicians took turns performing.  And some played along with the others.  One musician kept referring to Django.  I knew Jerry Jeff Walker had a son that is a performer named Django.  So I hooked into their wifi and googled him.  It said he was performing at the Songwriter’s festival in Hopetown in the Bahamas.  I checked out his picture and figured out which one was him.  We have been fans of Jerry Jeff Walker for many years, especially back in the 70’s.  Jimmy Buffett had one of Django’s songs on his last CD, Something ‘bout a Boat.  So we thought it was pretty cool to see him and hear him sing. 
Django Walker in the middle

The music was scheduled for 1-4:00 but it stopped a little after 3:00.  That was only about an hour into Dean’s all you can drink for $45.  So we hung out a while longer and talked to some locals.  I also used their wifi for awhile.  They had a nice area inside with couches where I made myself at home. 

Dean mixing with the locals

Shortly after we arrived, Dean and I were looking over the place.  There was a line for the bathroom where I recognized John from the sailboat Joho from the Netherlands.  We met them last week in Marsh Harbor.  As we were visiting, the guy next to him said “are you the Dave and Mary from Luck of a Fool?”.  It was Peter from the boat Empty Pockets that gave us some advice for our run a way diesel engine last year in June.  It was great to see him again.  We actually ended up sitting by him and his wife, Linda, while we ate and listened to music.  While we were eating, they sang “You can’t always get what you want.  But you just might find, you get what you need.”  Linda said that should be the National Anthem of the Bahamas. 

Dave came to pick us up around 5:00 and we headed back to the boat.  The songwriter’s festival was continuing tonight at the Firefly resort just a couple miles north of where we were anchored.  So we moved the boat and anchored just off their dock.   Dave took me and Dean to shore again to continue the party.  Oh, I mean to be able to hear more music.   We stopped at Joho on our way in and said hello to John and Yolanda and planned to meet them at the resort.  Which we did.  We hung out with them all night.  Our dinghy chauffeur picked us up before we turned into pumpkins.  The band was actually pretty loud back at the boat with no sign of slowing down.  So we pulled up the anchor and moved the boat again a few miles north of there.  It was much more peaceful and we all hit the beds about 1:30 am.  It is actually unusual for us to be up that late.  And unusual to move the boat in the dark. 

Dean, Mary, Yolanda and John
full moon, wish I had a better camera for night photos

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