Pittstown Point, Bahamas

0 nm
Wind: E 15-20 knots, building to 25 in the afternoon

In the afternoon today, I rowed the dinghy back to the boat by myself. It may not seem like much, but dinghy rowing is one of those activities that I’ve basically surrendered to Karl, and it really does inhibit my independence a lot more than I realized. He was working away, and I decided that we really needed to get an accurate weather forecast to find out what this crazy hurricane is doing. I always have the most luck with the 11:30 forecast, so I rowed back, even though there’s strong currents and the trades were blowing rather fiercely.

I love rowing, especially by myself. I don’t know why I don’t do it more often. Those muscles, my back and abdomen and shoulders, are ones I use so little and I’ve never really developed, so to feel them all working in coordination, moving the boat with such speed over the water, is a great feeling. It’s hard to be motivated to do it with Karl in the dinghy because it’s a lot harder with two people in the boat and because he does it so much better than I do. Still, if I can get into the habit of rowing back, then I can maybe spend some more time on the boat, get some things clean, and work a little more on my writing. It’s still very hot and rolly out here, but as long as I know I can row back to land at any time, it won’t be as bad.

The news about the hurricane isn’t so good, though. The winds are a sustained 140 knots, with gusts of 170 and seas of 60 feet. Craziness. I’m just glad it’s steering far away from us, though Nappy’s wife is Jamaican and Nappy’s worried about her family getting blasted and the Jamaican elections coming up. I feel for anyone having to deal with a Category Five hurricane.

The fun part of the day was going out with Nappy again, as part of the Bahamian Friday night dinner tradition, for steaks at Barbara and Don’s. We’re beginning to belong around here, showing up with Nappy and Gary as Don barbecued chicken and steaks off the back porch of their little restaurant. We met Teresa, Barbara and Don’s daughter, and ate delicious, juicy steaks with pigeon peas and rice. It was fantastic. Just when I feel like I need a big slab of red meat, one comes right along. I’m trying to convince Barbara to teach me how to make Bahamian bread one of these days, but she and Don are heading for the Florida in the next couple of weeks, so I don’t know if she’ll have time.