We’re here in Little Farmers Cay for the Five F’s Festival. It’s something like First Friday in February Little Farmers Cay Festival. But first let’s recount getting here.
We upped anchor in Black Point saying good bye to free Wifi, great pizza and the cleanest laundromat we’ve ever seen, anywhere. We were up and underway by 0930 for a seven mile day to a spot called Hetty’s Land. Hetty’s Land is just a small cove cut into the west side of Great Guana Cay. There are several similar spots along this shore; it’s just that this one holds the promise of abundant coral heads and good snorkeling.
We were in the company of 4 other boats as we head south. We all dropped the hook in the secluded cove and after some lunch we were off to go snorkeling. The “abundance” of coral heads was a little disappointing but when we did find some, the sea creatures were beautiful to see.
We ended the day by having a great happy hour on the beach with the crews of all 5 boats present.
The next morning we were on our way for the 6 mile trip down to Little Farmers Cay. There are spots to anchor all around the cay. We chose the western side of the island as the winds are forecast to be from the east for the duration of our stay. This means we will have to land our dinghies on the west side and walk across the island to the “Festival”. Its okay though, as the island is only a quarter of a mile wide and a pleasant walk.
There is however a slight complication. There’s an airstrip that runs across the island. The charts denote an area where it would be prudent not to drop the hook. We’re safely anchored outside the approach but several boats have filled in behind us and are being used as a slalom course by the incoming planes.
I couldn’t believe the number of boats that were content to sit in the flight path of 20 or so small planes a day. The planes came screaming in below mast height and the cruisers just sat and watched. A couple of the planes took off, and circled back to buzz the boats in an effort to intimidate them. Finally on Saturday, BASRA, the Bahamanian Air Sea Rescue Association sent out a boat to shoo boats out of harms way.
We’re in a safe spot so it’s off to the “Festival” for us. Evidently festival means different things in different places. “Getting ready” or “being prepared” are not things that strike anyone here as being important. There was last minute construction every where, food shacks being built, jury rigged electric being run, it was bizarre. This was hours into the “festival”. We watched as a guy set up a table to demonstrate how to clean conch and make conch salad. Thirty people gathered around to watch as he laid out conch, peppers, onions, limes, his knife and a hammer and all of a sudden he left! He walked down the beach, hopped in his skiff and blasted out of sight. WTF? He must have forgotten something, I dunno, like us, everyone pretty much left.
The overall theme seemed to be “Give me 3 dollars, I’ll give you a beer and play music so loud it will make your individual cells hurt.” There’s only about a dozen cars on the cay, these people have so little and live so simply, yet we heard a least 6 sound systems that would make Pink Floyd jealous. Hell, the sound even drowned out the planes.
We walked about and decided where and what to eat and did a little “window(less) shopping”. The “stores” here are one room of someone’s house set up as a “store”. All you need are some shelves and a cash register and you have a store. Open a door and you are in their bedroom.
When we made our way back to our chosen eatery we stepped up to the door, gave our order and waited…..and waited. There were a dozen people milling about all waiting for food for the better part of an hour. Ok let me explain food here in the Bahamas, you get chicken, ribs (but nobody really knows from what animal) mutton, fish or conch, with rice & peas and a side, could be cole slaw, french fries, or mac & cheese. The mac & cheese is to die for……so we highly recommend it! It’s kinda like pasta that’s baked after it became Mac & Cheese.
While we were standing there it got dark, so we stood some more, then the power to the community went out and it really became dark. You see “dark” like “festival” was another one of those words we really didn’t understand before we got here. It was so dark it was like being in a cave inside a closet. We finally got our food which we ate under the glow of a flashlight, Thank God because the red snapper we ordered was literally a whole fish (head to tail) battered and fried. We think they cleaned the guts out. The food was good but the portion was tiny, which has not been our experience so far here in the islands. Then again we were starving after having waited for a piece of fried fish for over an hour.
After that it was a very dark walk back to the boat. Everyone carried a flashlight so it went well, but it was good to be home.
The festival was a big dud for me but we’ll see how the second day goes.
Yeah, pretty much the same. Christy and I walked across to the northeast corner to the Farmers Cay Yacht Club for lunch. With lunch you get free internet access. Lunch was great and timely too ($39.10 for 2 lunches and one drink each) but as soon as we were done the power went out again, so no internet. F#*k me.
We then walked back to town to see the entertainment lined up for the day. There was to be a Men’s Best Legs contest along with a Men’s Best Butt contest. Then there was supposed to be a wet t-shirt contest for the ladies. We got there just as the Legs portion of the entertainment was wrapping up.
It was just about then that it all started to piss me off. I was just standing back watching, when it struck me how lopsided this whole “festival” was. The cruisers come here, and some volunteer to organize the events. There was a scavenger hunt, children’s treasure hunt, men’s legs contest, men’s butts and then the ladies wet t-shirt. There was even a flea market for cruisers to sell the extra crap from their boat. The catch was that the seller got to keep 80 percent of the profit as the “house” generously skimmed 20 percent. All of it organized and run by the cruisers. All the participants are cruisers. Talk about suckers, the locals are all on the periphery making money here and there selling beers, rum drinks and conch fritters. It seemed that most of the locals were content to sit on the sidelines and collect what they could without doing any of the real work. While I’m sure some do work hard, it’s no wonder most have very little.
Then we found a listing of other popular events here at Little Farmers Cay. It seems that there’s a “festival” here about once a month. There was the Beer Festival and the ever popular Camouflage Festival. Are they kidding, the Camo Festival? I’m thinking they need a “Get up off your ass and work hard festival”.
On the bright side, everyone we’ve met here was very friendly. So as far as that goes, the Bahamas have been consistent, the people are awesome. But of all the cays we’ve visited so far this is the first one we really haven’t enjoyed except of course, the racing.
No comments:
Post a Comment