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We have been anchoring at Staniel Keys, a small settlement, for almost a week. As all anchorages are here in the Exumas, this one is also extremely lovely with water colours of the bluest green, slivers of white beaches and limestone rocks. There is a very exclusive resort nearby, called Fowles resort where you can rent a three bedroom house for a week for $19,500!! We planned to stay a day or so then move on, but two cold fronts, with strong winds have us and forty other boats hunkered down for about seven days. Another cold front will arrive in four days, so we will be here until it has passed. In the winter cold fronts occurring frequently, every third day or so, so one travels only after they have passed. Travel is dictated by the weather, paticuarly wind strength and direction. Finding a place to anchor so you can sleep, at least, for part of the night, consumes our attention since these fronts bring strong winds from all directions. Instead of listening to the CBC morning news with Andy Barrrie, we listen to Chris Parker – the weather guru and we hear him at 6.30 am on our single sideband radio. We cannot receive any stations on the regular radio, so we have become extremely oblivious about what is happening in the rest of the world. This is indeed a rather strange feeling. The cruising lifelstyle has many lessons and it takes a while to “graduate” to the cruising mindset. Weather, boat repair, water, and food are so much on our mind as compared to living on land. Food stores are far apart and few. We live on what we have stored on the boat for weeks and that means we eat canned fish, meat and canned vegetables, canned fruit, beans and rice, and rice and beans. This is probably very similar to what the Bahamian menu. In the small settlements there are food stores, which consist of one or two small rooms by someone’s house. There are a few shelves with canned and dry goods, a small home freezer with frozen meat and fresh fruit and vegetables once a week – when it arrives with the mail boat. Everything is double to four times as expensive as at home.We went to the Pink store and the Blue store, the local food stores here and bought some oranges and other fresh produce. As we have not tasted oranges for a while, we could not stop saying ahh and ohh, as the taste was so exquisite!!There is something to be said for being without stuff for a while. When it is there, one appreciates it ten times more! Someone told us cruising is about fixing your boat in beautiful anchorages. Boy, have we felt that being the case for the last three days, mainly Don, who is the resident mechanic! Our fridge has refused to cooperate with us so Don has been arranging his limbs in twisted positions, to get access to the fridge components and figure out what the problem is. He is still at it, while the sun above is shining so bright and the wind is so brisk and the scenery just about heavenly. He is a little frustrated, but out of nowhere we met Frank and Lisa McGee from the Mimico YC. Frank has been coaching Don on the mysteries of refridgeration and had tools and material to help. Eventually it will be resolved. With Captain Don on the helm, everything seems to get resolved and I am slowly learning not to stress out so much. Not so easy though, as I like every day to be sweet and mellow, as the scenery seduces one. The folks that we meet along the way are all terrific people. We have now been with Briarpatch since we arrived in Bahamas. So much to learn, we discover so many things, that were not part of our life in the wintry north.. We are hoping for several days of settled weather by the end of next week so we can attend the annual “First Friday in February Farmers Key Festival” – known as the five Fs party. This festival features legged races, sail boat races, raffles, food, a chicken run, donkey dancing, men and women’s best leg contest – nothing serious of course but I have noticed Don is wondering if leg wax would help. Apparently it is something one should not miss. After this we will move on to Georgetown when the weather allows. We are curious about what that will be like. For some it is the"Mecca"and they stay there for months It is a bit of a "playground"with lots of daily organized activities for all the boaters, lots of socializing etc. We have to check it out of course. The Thunderball Grotto is located here in Staniel Cay. You may remember it from the James Bond movie Thunderball. It was neat to snorkel amongst a cloud of brightly coloured fish. The grotto was a room in a rock island with an opening in the top. It was much smaller than the image in the movie. Very, very soon, our grand-daughter, Jasmine, will be born. It can happen any time and we are anxiously waiting. What a sweet delight it is, to think about this little person, who will be part of our family and who we all will adore.