Green Turtle Cay Heritage Festival

5.7.11

We arrived at Green Turtle Cay on Friday afternoon, after a great morning sail. It was a short trip and we were able to sail the whole way. We had heard there was a Heritage Festival going on this weekend and were not to be disappointed. We could hear the music long before we pulled into the anchorage. And when we came around the corner into the harbour, we were among 30 other boats. We picked our anchor spot and headed in for the festivities. Unfortunately, at the time of our arrival there wasn't much going on. We ran into some friends and talked with them for awhile before meandering around the fairgrounds.
There was some beautiful straw work and purses and totes made from Androsia cloth (a thick, durable Bahamian cloth made only on the island of Andros). However, in keeping with the tradition of the Abacos, these items were very pricey and too much for our small cruising budget. There was also a tent with the history of Junkanoo and some costumes that had been worn at this year's celebration. Junkanoo occurs on Boxing Day and is a celebration of life. Started by the slaves, it occurs right after Christmas because they were all alloted three days off for the holidays.
There was delicious smelling food everywhere and we decided to skip lunch on Saturday so that we could indulge in some of the local cuisine. After walking the length of the area, we decided to head back to the boat and come back in for the evening's festivities. Well, you know how that goes. Once we got back on the boat, cooked dinner and settled outside to watch the sunset, we were exhausted. Since we could hear the music clearly on our boat, we settled down with a glass of wine and enjoyed the lights and music from the comfort of home.
Saturday we awoke to calm winds and clear water. But by midday, we could see ominous clouds in the distance and feel the wind start to pick up. Brad dove on our anchor, to make sure it was in; it was only hanging on by one fluke. So, he dislodged it and righted it in the sand. We got back on the boat and backed down on the anchor to hopefully dig the anchor deep into the sand and hold us in place for the approaching blow. We settled down to have a small lunch and wait for the rain to pass.
The front came through with a vengeance, throwing heavy rain and 30knot winds our way. We had just taken the first bites of our sandwich when our drag anchor alarm went off and, simultaneously, we heard an air horn blast from our neighbor – the signal that someone is dragging anchor. We have heard the horn tons of times in various anchorages, as it is common for boats anchors to dislodge when a sudden blow occurs. But this was the first time that it was for us! We were quickly heading straight for the boat beside us. I grabbed the key and flew up the stairs, turned the engine over and raced up the RPMs, trying to keep us in one place. Brad scrambled to the bow and pulled in the anchor. We debated keeping the motor running until the blow passed and then resetting the anchor, but decided to head a bit outside of the anchorage and re-drop so that if drug again, we wouldn't be near any other boats. So, with sheets of rain pouring into the cockpit on us, I tried to steer the boat clear of the anchorage and out past all the other boats. It rained heavily for 30minutes and then petered out to a sprinkle. Brad went back to bow and we tried dropping the anchor again. Finally, after 4 tries we found a sandy spot and managed to get a good bite. Of course, by this point, the wind had completely died down and the forecast said we weren't expected to get anything over 10knots for the next 5 days. So, all of this had been an exercise in futility.
But, we had finally found our Achilles heel – we cannot anchor in grass. Our anchor is a bit undersized for our size boat (something we didn't know before we came down here) and it is the wrong anchor for anchoring in grass. Luckily, up until the Abacos, we had been anchoring in sand, so we hadn't encountered this problem. Unluckily, all of the Abacos are grass – so we get to look forward to anchor issues for the remainder of our trip. Swell....
With the anchor finally set and the wind down to a slight breeze, we took the dog and headed for the festivities. We dined on delicious conch salad and watched a rousing tournament of Slam Dominos (as is implied by the name, for some unknown reason, all players must SLAM each Domino tile down). We were treated to a demonstration of the maypole by a young group of girls. And also caught a Junkanoo parade where they played goat skin drums and danced around the area in the Junkanoo costumes.
We took Koa back to the boat and had dinner while the sun set. We opted to actually head back in for the evening music fest tonight. We stopped by a friend's boat on the way and stumbled on a sundowner in progress, which we were quickly invited aboard for. Some of our friends from Georgetown had gathered for the evening and we sat and spoke with them for a long while. Lucky for us, they were eager to help us solve some of the electrical and mechanical problems that we were having. They had excellent advice and we soaked it up like sponges. After absorbing all the information we could from them, we headed in for the music.
We had a blast! We danced with all the locals to the amazing music of the Rake and Scrape band. We were there for hours and had the best time! We left when our feet were covered in sand and I was too tired to dance another minute. We ran into some people at the dinghy dock who couldn't get their outboard started, so, generous folks that we are, we offered to give them a tow home. We found out they were from Baltimore and we had a great chat en route. Halfway home, they got their motor started and so we parted company. We fell into bed, too exhausted to move.