Brian & Mel's Visit was toooooo short!!!

The week came and went so fast!!!  Brian & Melanie left us this morning - we hated to see it end - we had such a good time - even if we did have a little nasty weather in the middle!  We didn't get to take them everywhere we wanted to but they got a pretty good feel for the area and the hard life we are enduring. 

We were able to go to Guana Cay for a day and believe it or not they both (as well as us) got nipped (at Nipper's) and grabbed (at Grabber's).  We dinghied over to Shell Island so Brian and Jeff could snorkle and Melanie & I could look for shells.  Lots of shells to be had and Brian found numerous conchs, although we didn't keep any of them.  He found two Helmet Conchs that were not smelling very good but sure are beautiful!  We are dragging them behind the boat in a net bag to see if the small fish will eat the remains out of them so we can take them home.  Man O man do they smell bad!!!! 

Off to Hopetown, which they really liked.  They found sea glass on the beach along with numerous sea beans; climbed to the top of the lighthouse; got to see Rake & Scrape while we were there, although it was a mid-day show and very sedate, quite unlike the night time Rake & Scrape, which can get pretty wild and rowdy - but we had a good time anyway.  Went on down to Tahiti Beach for more snorkeling and sandbar walking, along with cleaning a coconut that was oh so good.  It is beautiful there, hence the name!

On to Man O War where the anchorage looks over a little piece of land that is nothing more than a golf cart path on top of the rocks, and then on the other side is the Atlantic Ocean.  Absolutely gorgeous to watch the waves crash in and over the rocks.

Over to Mermaid Reef yesterday morning for more snorkeling.  This is a small reef/coral area outside of Marsh Harbour and you wouldn't expect to really see anything there if you looked at the surroundings, but it is a very nice place to snorkel.  We saw lots and lots of different kinds of fish and some that we had not seen on the ocean side reefs, but we didn't have the barracudas to deal with. 

Back to Treasure Cay yesterday late afternoon, just in time to watch the parade of sport fishing boats coming in from the first day of the billfish tournament.  We'll post more on that after the tournament is over.
 
AND...............somewhere along the way Brian managed to catch a couple of fish, one was a BAF which we couldn't get up to the boat and the other wasn't near as big and we released it.

Lastly - Melanie tried to get off the boat this morning with Chloe in her backpack but got caught!!!!  We struggled but got her back ................ it was close!!

That about sums up our week!!  Any questions??

Dogs mostly............

Just a few pictures of the silly dogs and some of the things they do.

And last but not least ......

Here is last night's sunset - right before the rising full moon

The rising full moon last night

One more last random item...

Our air plants seem to be happy on the boat, just like everything else, and are blooming for the first time, or at least a couple of them are.  We're pretty excited about that!  You'll have to click on the pictures so you can see the blooms.

Mom & Jack's Visit



Gerri & Alan s/v 'Civil Twilight'



Wellllllllll.......... Mom & Jack have come and gone already.  They were here for a week.  We had a great visit even if the weather wasn't the best.  Actually if you went on temperatures and sunshine it was beautiful, but the winds were very strong and always out of the South and Southwest, which makes it very difficult to get to the places you want to go.  They are troopers and had a good time just the same.  We started them off at the Coco Beach Bar as soon as they arrived - we needed to get their livers tuned up immediately although I think they had been working on that before they got here!!  We spent several days in Hopetown which they really liked the last time they were here.  We walked a beach somewhere every day for at least a couple of hours - not many treasures to be found no matter where we walked though.

We had planned on going to the Barefoot Man concert (at Nipper's on Guana Cay) on Friday but it was not to be.  The wind was blowing out of the West and Southwest between 25 and 30 knots.  You can't anchor at Guana in winds like that and the fast boat we had reserved from a local rental company wouldn't let their boats out of the harbor, sooooooooooo we were stuck again and in Treasure Cay, but we couldn't have been stuck in a more beautiful place.  The beach there is one of the ten most beautiful beaches in the world (according to National Geographic).  We were so glad that Mom & Jack had been here before and were able to see a number of the islands and spots that we like to show off since we didn't get to do what 'Sojourner' calls the 'Abaco Shuffle'. 

It is the time of the season that many of the winter cruisers are heading back home and this year is no exception.  Some days it's like a mass exodus.  The anchorage may have 30 or more boats and by morning there may only be 10 left, then another 10 or more move in to stage for leaving and you start all over again. 

We've had to say goodbye to a several of our friends already - Charlie & Chris on 'Wingspread' , Rick & Linda on 'Sojourner' and Gerri & Alan on 'Civil Twilight'.  Others will be following shortly, sadly to say.  But it is interesting to meet people that are just now arriving in the Abacos from Florida.  Everyone is on a different schedule of when they arrive and depart.

I guess you're up to date for the time being.  We are looking forward to Brian and Melanie's visit in a couple of weeks and hope the weather will be in our favor for that week.