Cruising via sailboat is an unparalleled adventure. The wind and the waves create enough excitement to last a lifetime. But the true magic of cruising is meeting the people. It is ashame that many cruisers travel to foreign lands and spend most of their time with other crusiers, people very much like themselves. Jill and I try to meet the people who live in the areas that we visit. This is our second time visiting the Exuma chain of islands. We made several friends when we were here before. On this trip they were excited to share what had changed in their lives since we were last here.

	Teddy, on Sampson Cay, and his wife had a daughter 2 months after we left in 2005.
Lorraine, who owns Lorraine's Cafe, daugther is now in school in Nassau.
Kevin (below), who is the Pastor of a local church in community of Blackpoint and the constable for several of the cays in the middle Exumas, runs an after-school program for the children on the island. We gave him the books that our neighbors Cliff and Cheryl donated for us to bring to the Bahamas. Kevin was very happy. Jill and I received a radio call from Sharon who is a teacher in the after-school program. Sharon was very appeciative of the books and told us in detail how they would be put to use. That really made us feel good.	Van who is also know as Smashie, is a terrific boat builder from Blackpoint. Smashie is well known throughout the Bahamas for his skills in sailboat racing. We got to know him and his family when we were here in two years ago. He is now building a boat for his son-in-law.
Another well-known sailboat racer is Magic (seated on the right). Magic offered me a crew position aboard his new sailboat "More Fire" during the famous Family Island Regatta in April. I respectfully declined. This way he will not find-out that I am no where near as good a sailor as he thinks I am.