Finally, all of our Bahamas cruising friends whom we met in our first sailing season have arrived in the Ragged Islands. Magic pulled up next to us just in time for the big party.
The Duncantown residents (pop. ~ 50) host a party each year for the cruisers and over 20 boats showed up for the occasion ~ a relative crowd in these parts. Maxine, who runs the local grocery store, provides a feast with the help of some friends, financially supported by the government for tourism! Everyone enjoys the day, even the local Defense Force crews.
In turn, the cruisers donate a personal fund to Maxine to thank her for her support of us all season. Out of goodwill, she supplies us with groceries from Nassau when we run out of food staples here on the edge of nowhere. In recent years the cruisers have also hosted an auction of a table-full of items to raise money for the Duncantown school which hosts less than 10 students. It is both a chance to get something off of your boat… and to buy something you may or may not need at an inflated price… for the kids. This year, an impressive $1750 was raised.
It was a fun day sharing it with all of our friends. Seeing Karin and Rita together again made me flashback to my naivety of many years ago.
They were my role models then and still are now, showing by example how one can thrive in life on a boat in style and grace. It’s so nice to share stories, interests and food with them again.
It’s hard not to reflect on how I’ve evolved since then. I do recall that after the first year of cruising when the wow factor ebbs, there was a necessary transition of identity (making year #2 kind of tough). What do you become when you cease to identify yourself by your house/car/career/family or what have you?? This is a classic dilemma out here that can be hard for some to shake. We see it often, e.g. when cruisers envision themselves CEO of the anchorage/radio or someone next to you struggles to be present with minds fixed on loved ones far away.
After almost 8 years floating around, I haven’t really sought to describe my evolved identity (or similarly, our shared identity as Reach), but at least now I recognize that it exists (think yoga, nature photography). As in life you accumulate an extended network of friends and experiences that shape you. This lifestyle is rich in the number of people you meet and places you can travel. You leave a little bit of you with them and they leave a piece of themselves with you. There is always something to learn in life. We even met a few new cruisers in the past few weeks that were in their first year, even first months, out sailing! Their confidence and excitement were a thrill to see. After the party, boaters dispersed again in different directions.
Rita and I took to the water again and it turned out to be my last dive with my underwater camera.
The buttons stopped working and may be able to be repaired with a new circuit board, but not out here. She is still a fierce spearfisher.
Soooo, I had to adapt.
After spotting lobsters that Mark wasn’t close enough to get, I had to go grab a pole spear and get them myself (mine is the small one!).
Before my camera died, at least I saw a few new (to me) critters on my last few dives that I was SO excited to discover, plus a pristine elkhorn coral reef that went on and on.
This banded jawfish (originally thought to be a dusky jawfish) was very shy when I saw his head sticking out of his burrow. He promptly dove down. I was able to make a few slow circles to wait for him to pop back up. My reef fish ID book says this fish is uncommon in the Bahamas meaning that sightings are unusual.
I also saw black and white small extrusions that I didn’t recognize ~ thought they might have been some type of barnacle ~ and they turned out to be geometric encrusting tunicates. I’m always amazed at the variety of size, color and shape of tunicates. Very cool.
