Thursday, March 9, 2006 Little Farmer's Cay

We arrived in Little Farmers about 1:30pm  The entrance to the harbor off of the Banks was tricky.  Shallow water and coral heads everywhere along with a very strong current and opposing wind.  We curved around the harbor avoiding the rocks and picked up a mooring ball from a local business called Ocean Cabin.  We had some lunch and Mike went for a dip.  Kate grabbed her snorkel gear and headed out to the cockpit only to find Mike in the dinghy with his snorkel on, peering down into the water.  Mike said to look down into the water to find out why he was now in the dink.  He had jumped in to dive on the mooring to make sure it was secure, swam around a bit looking for conch,  found a cool little yellow starfish and decided to swim to the boat to show it to Kate.  As he swam up to the swim platform he noticed a fish swimming under it, a BIG fish.  He was face to face with a barracuda - it wasn't just swimming by, it was sitting right under the swim platform and staring him down.  He said that was the fastest he had ever gotten into the dinghy.  "Barry" as we call him, loves it under our boat and it seems he hangs out there quite a bit.  Every time we go out and kick the water or throw a dock line in to make a splash, Barry isn't far behind, and just sits there looking at us.  Mike got some good underwater shots of him, at the risk of losing a hand.  Kate is really bummed out because there was a great sand bar to do some shelling right next to the boat, and now there is no way she's going swimming with Barry hanging around.  Soon after, we went into town and visited Ocean Cabin to pay our mooring fees and have a Kalik.  We met some really nice cruisers from Boston, who had just spent 5 weeks in Georgetown.  We got some more great tips about the area where we're heading, and are thinking of heading to Georgetown tomorrow.  We did hear that the water is not clear in Georgetown, due to the silty bottom and boat traffic - kind of a bummer, but we have to go there sometime.  We will be staying there for a while, it is the biggest cruisers destination around and the biggest town with anything you could need.  The smaller towns we have been in have a convenience store usually with no lights or air conditioning, and a limited supply of goods, sometimes well past the expiration date because of the lack of turnover.  The people in the small towns are as nice as they can be, and the beaches and anchorages are a lot more remote.  We enjoy the small towns, but it will be great to get to a big one for a little while too.  

Sunset at Little Farmers Cay

Little Farmers

Mike's buddy, "Barry" 

Barry has rather large teeth and lots of 'em with huge dark eyes like a shark

He was 3.5 to 4 ft long

He came to investigate a vienna sausage we threw in the water, but did not eat it or the bread crumbs we threw in earlier.  He must prefer human flesh!

The shadow that wouldn't go away... Barry

Late night at Little Farmers after finally catching up on all of the journaling, Good Night!

The dinghy dock at Little Farmers

Kate as we headed up to Ocean Cabin for lunch

This is the main area of the town. Population 55

Ocean Cabin is a well known restaurant that caters to the cruisers. It is very clean and well kept.

The view from Ocean Cabin is fantastic, Tomorrow is at anchor straight back in the middle of the picture.

Exploring around Little Farmer's Cay

A private house at Big Farmers, looked like it was still under construction.  This would cost a fortune!

Looks like a casualty of a hurricane or big storm.  We are not certain, but people may have been living on it.

We were looking for places to swim at Little Farmers, without Barry!

Sunset at Little Farmer's Cay