Catching up with old friends!

Well.....here it is the last day of February and I've not kept you in the know!! Shame, shame on me!!

We've just been enjoying the sunshine and warmth, as well as catching up with friends we haven't seen since last year. We spent 10 days being lazy in Treasure Cay and never picked our anchor up - just enjoyed the sea turtles and dolphins swimming around the boat, as well as walking the gorgeous beach.

 Actually, a couple of nights before we left there was a dolphin that came in and 'played' with a fish. He could have caught it so easily, but just chased it around the boat in front of us for the longest time - over, under, around, and on and on and on! We don't know if he ever decided on that one for dinner or just moved on, but he did entertain us for quite awhile. We did finally decide it was time to move on and leave Treasure Cay, but only because someone came in and anchored on top of us. They just didn't get it!! One of us was gonna have to move and it was pretty obvious they felt they were in the right, although for the life of me I didn't understand that.

So..... we moved on to Guana Cay, which is not too far - approximately 9 miles - but, it was blowing 23 - 29 mph, and right on the nose!! We just bashed through and arrived with a very salt crusted boat - yuk! Had a couple of very enjoyable days there, as well as two evenings with Jerry from 'Free Spirit', Bill from 'Skylark', and Gayle & John from 'Siren's Call'. What a crazy group!!! And what a lot of good food we seemed to be able to put together for the evening. When we visit Guana Cay we anchor in Fisher's Bay and it is a long dinghy ride to the beach to 'Grabber's', where we must stop to quench our thirst before setting off on the trek to 'Nipper's'.

 On the walk we have to pass the Guana Cay Cemetery, where the people that don't make it to Nipper's are buried. After that we must crawl up the hill and on the way try to stay clear of the 'Poisionwood Trees' on the way, as they are way worse than poision ivy (so we've been told).

But......it's so worth it to make the trek! Whata place!! And whata view!!!
What a crowd Nipper's draws! AND the music is great as well! It was Sunday when we finally got there and Sunday is the Pig Roast!! I know --- you're thinking pig in the ground, apple in the pig's mouth, the whole thing - not happening! That's what we thought the first time we ever went too. It's just pork pig BBQ in a pan, with & without the sauce, along with all kinds of fixin's - Bahamian mac & cheese, coleslaw that is a cross with chow-chow, potato salad, corn, peas 'n rice, fruit & cake. But it was good! But it ought to be for $20/person! Plus $30 for drinks!! Paradise ain't cheap! After several hours at Nipper's and being fully fed & hydrated, we decided we needed to make our way back in the direction of the anchorage ..........

so we roll down the hill, being ever so careful to again stay clear of the poisionwood and continue on til we get sidetracked at 'Milo's Produce & Shell Jewelry stand, where we purchase 3 tomatoes for $4.

We eventually make it to Grabber's, where we need more hydration before we can make it to the beach and the dinghy and then onto the boat, where we rested for a while before getting back together with Jerry, Bill, Gayle & John, for more sustenance and nourishment, as well as more laughs! Back to 'Salty Dog' for a well deserved night of sleep! The dog's were absolutely worn out!!! Now you know what our days consist of. This is a hard life that we are living here - don't ever question that! It's ok though - we think we can make it a few more months. I guess it depends on how many more 'treks' we have to make to Nipper's. 

We had a restful day today and sailed down to 'Tahiti Beach'. Don't you love the name? We are the only boat here. There are several other sailboats within site, but nobody else right here. Tahiti Beach is really only attractive at low tide - otherwise it's just a little piece of land sticking out in the water, but at low tide there is all kinds of sand and 'island' to roam - kinda like Dissappearing Island in NSB. The pups had a wonderful time running all over the place. We'll probably stay here for a couple of days or until the wind shifts again and makes it uncomfortable to be here. I guess we'll have to make another decision about where to go then. All these decisions ......

Salty Dog's Dogs are Surely Salty!!

The long wait is over!!!  We've finally crossed over 'to the other side'!  We had a crappy crossing, as usual, but we're no worse for the wear.  We left Government Cut in Miami @ 5am and got anchored at Great Sale Cay @ midnight thirty - long day!!  Then on to Manjack Cay the following day when our engine turned over 5000 hours (we both knocked on wood that the 32 year old Perkins will keep on keepin' on - stills runs great). Finally into Black Sound at Green Turtle Cay on Friday morning, which is where we will sit until Tuesday when the wind slacks off and goes to a more favorable direction, at which time we'll move back to Manjack Cay.  When we went ashore to pay for our mooring ball (@Donnie's Boat Rentals), Donnie asked if we wanted our tomatoes now or later.  What?!  Didn't know we got tomatoes with that!!  He went up to the house and picked them and brought them back down to us - wow, what a treat!

We took the pups on a beach walk yesterday afternoon and I believe I heard both of them say, at least once, that it was worth 2 days of rough riding to get on the beach.  Man-O-Man did they get sandy and salty!!  They're deck dogs now! Bad news for them - today is not a beach day - the wind is blowing 22knots (25+ mph) and chilly.  And it's going to feel like winter here for the next couple days - only 64* for a high.  Salty Dog is sailing all over the harbour with these winds, but so are all the other boats, and as long as we all swing together we'll be fine.

We're looking forward to meeting up some of our cruising friends from years past and have already run into several.  They are our family down here and we are theirs - a nice feeling. But not for a week or two since we are staying North of the Whale to take in Manjack.

We will endeavor to meet expectations on the blogging front, but don't keep your hopes up too high - you know from last year that we are 'slackers'.