Mom comes to visit!

Well, our week with my Mom & Jack has come to a close. We had a wonderful time with them both. And I’m pretty sure they had a good time also. The winds kept us from being able to leave Treasure Cay (where they flew into) for a couple of days after they arrived. So we walked the gorgeous beach and enjoyed the resort area. What’s wrong with that?? They even found a purse bean on the beach! We were able to take them to Guana Cay, and a very rolly ride it was getting there. We participated in the pot luck dinner on Wednesday evening. I think they really enjoyed meeting some of the other cruisers and hearing their stories. They also got to see the famous Nipper’s and walk on another beautiful beach.

Next we took them to Tahiti Beach where we scoured for shells and a few pieces of sea glass, then on to Hopetown. We walked the town, visited the Wyannie Malone Museum, which gives you insight into Hopetown history. We lunched at a place where we could look out on the Atlantic Ocean and all it’s splendor. And then of course, we walked on the beach. By the way, Nannie (my Mother) learned to love Rum while she was here! After that we visited the Elbow Reef Lighthouse and climbed to the top to look out. Supposedly you can see for 17 miles from the top of the lighthouse. In any case it was quite a sight. The picture to the right is of Salty Dog anchored just off the lighthouse. This lighthouse is still hand cranked every 1 1/2 hours and runs on kerosene. That means the lighthouse keeper has to climb the stairs every 1 1/2 hours all night long and the kerosene is also carried up in five gallons jerry jugs. I had enough trouble just getting myself up the ladder once!

And then it was time to start heading back towards Treasure Cay.

There was a lot of oohing and ahhing all week long. They agreed with us that you just can’t describe how beautiful it is here and how clear the water is, along with the gorgeous turquoise color. I think they will come back for another visit another year. They told us while they were here that they are getting married May 31. We couldn’t be happier for them.

What's A Rage??!!

What’s a Rage? We have heard this term since being in the Bahamas, but didn’t fully understand it till yesterday. We haven’t had rage conditions since we’ve been here, at least that is till yesterday! A Rage is when wind strength and direction make inlets to the ocean impassible and very dangerous primarily, in addition to making the Sea of Abaco pretty nasty. You really don't want to be out in these conditions.

We left Lynyard Cay to head back towards Treasure Cay and the wind was really blowing, about 25 knots and out of the NE with the forecast of it getting worse, which it did. (The wind piped up to 30 knots with gusts exceeding 40knots) This had been going on for two days. Where we were anchored at Lynyard Cay was between two inlets from the ocean. We could see the inlet on the south end at Little Harbour and WOW was it nasty – waves breaking all the way across. But we were looking through the binoculars and couldn’t get the full effect of it, although it was impressive. We had to pass by North Bar Inlet on our way north, and we got up close and personal with the turmoil that the winds were causing! I couldn’t get below to get the camera till after we were past the worst of it, but I’m hoping you can click on the pictures and blow them up to see what I’m talking about. We were awestruck.

Little Harbour

We are currently in Little Harbour – a small harbor with most boats on a mooring ball. The only thing here is Pete’s Pub and Gallery. The gallery makes bronze sculptures that are beautiful but not affordable for us. I would love to have a small memento from this place, but it is going to have to be in the form of a picture. Today a large group of boats (all charter) from the American Yacht Club out of NY invaded the harbor. There are boats on top of boats. It is always a lot of entertainment to watch the charter boats try to anchor or pick up a mooring. One boat was particularly entertaining as they decided they did not need to come into the harbor via the clearly marked channel. It was only a matter of time before they ran hard aground. Luckily the tide came in and they floated off.

Yesterday we went out to Bookies Beach with Mike & Harriet (Dual Dreams) and waded in the surf picking up sea glass. We had a blast and got lots of glass! Harriet and I ended up with bathing suits full of sand after getting rolled in the water by the undertow a couple of times. This was one of the better sea glass days we’ve had. We will be back out there again today at low tide to have another go at it.

Before we came to Little Harbour we were anchored in Buckaroon Bay for several days. We were the only boat there. The water was crystal clear and there were lots of sea stars around our boat. We spent many hours walking the beaches and scavenging through the ‘stuff’ that had washed up from past storms, as well as snorkeling on the reef. Jeff found a message in a bottle (on the beach). It was dated 12/17/05 in the mid-Atlantic, aboard the QE2.

We are starting to see alot of boats that are heading back up from the Exumas (the southern Bahamas). It is sad to think that this is coming to an end, but it certainly will be before we are ready for it to. We know of many boats that have already had to head back to the states in the last couple of weeks. Many people have been able to take short leaves from work to take a 4 - 6 month trip. What's wrong with that?? Then back to work til next years trip. We have hated to see some of our new friends leave, but we look forward to meeting up with them next year.

Barefoot Man Concert

Last Saturday was the Barefoot Man concert on Guana Cay. Barefoot Man is a Jimmy Buffet type, with similar music. This is a much looked forward to event for the island of Guana. They were expecting 2500 people. I have no idea how many were there, but it was a lot!!! There were over 60 boats in the main anchorage off of Fishers Bay with us, and the harbour was full, as well as the marina. We had a great time! There were beads to be had by the women (just like at Mardi Gras) and you get them the same way - you guess how. I have three sets of beads!

Mindy & Carl's Visit

Next – Mindy & Carl (Jeff’s brother who is married to my sister) came to visit for a week. We had a very good time with them. But then we always enjoy being around them – maybe beause we are doubly related – who knows.

Carl came with high hopes of catching lots of fish. That did not happen, we are sorry to say. Partly because of the weather, but mostly because we don’t know where the fish are and thirdly because we didn’t have the best weather while they were here. We had a couple of really rocky nights, strong winds and rain. But they are somewhat used to the motion of the boat and they were ok with it. But when the weather was good, it was good, just a little cool. At least we had enough sunshine for Mindy to get sunburned. We won’t tell you what parts got sunburned though!

We took them to Snappas for Thursday Night 'Rake & Scrape'. I believe they liked that! Bahamian music with a twist as well as limbo. Mindy thinks she would like to have a Rake & Scrape band at home.

We were able to take them down to Lynyard Cay for a day – we would have liked several days there, but the winds were from the wrong direction to do that. Mindy became a sea glass fanatic. I think she took home 20 lbs of sea glass, if she took home a pound!!!

We slid into the anchorage outside of Boat Harbour in time for them to catch their plane home, with little time to spare!

Let's Catch Up!

I know, I know - we are sooo far behind posting!! We've been busy enjoying company. Steve & Terri (from Chattanooga) came to visit for a few days, after going to the Miami Boat Show. Wow - did they bring us some information and literature to pour over (about solar panels, wind generators, etc.). We really appreciated it. We had a great time with them and I think they enjoyed meeting other cruisers and being a part of the cruising community for a few days.

Shelby & Savannah really enjoyed having them here - they showed up with a large bag of homeade treats from the 'Bone Appetit Bakery' in Chattanooga. Steve & Terri are planning on being down here in a couple of years with us. We hated to see them go, but they had to go back to work.

Unfortunately, while they were here our

generator went kaput. Steve & Jeff worked on it from 9:30pm to 2:30am one night to come to the conclusion that the high pressure injector pump had gone out. We had to order a Honda generator from the states to get us through the rest of the trip, and Jeff will will fix the ‘big’ generator and redo the fuel system at that time.