Bahamas Day 726 through BD730 – (Wednesday, January 1, 2014 – Sunday, January 5, 2014) – I watched the Rose parade on TV and Rick cleaned the bottom of the dinghy. He had put it up on land when we went to the States, so he wanted to give it a good cleaning before returning it to the water. We had a traditional southern New Year’s Day dinner insuring health, wealth and happiness. It included ham, Hoppin’ John (black-eyed peas and rice), greens and corn bread. Black eyed peas are supposed to bring you luck if you eat them on New Year’s Day. The meal traditionally has collard greens for wealth but we substitute spinach.
We talked with JP via SKYPE Thursday morning. Rick helped Loan with boats coming and going while I started to get together the information we will need for taxes regarding our medical expenses for 2013. Our friend, Janine, the chef on Sea Clef, brought over some crab cakes and coconut Panna Cotta (Italian custard) which we ate for lunch. Thank you, Janine, they were delicious! We ate left overs for supper while watching Oklahoma beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.
Friday, January 3, is my niece Shay’s birthday. Today she was in third place in our family group playing ESPN’s College Bowl Mania. I love the name she picked “Your Worst Knight Mare”. She graduated last year from the University of Central Florida. They are the Knights and they just won the Fiesta Bowl – Congrats! Today, Rick was the shuttle driver for the marina. First, he went to pick up a fellow to work on the Compass Cay water maker. Then he took guests to the airport that had been staying in two of the villas. Around 1:00 I went along with him to take Tokkie’s family to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club to have lunch and await their 3:30 Watermakers Air flight. A number of boats have left the marina – there were seven (7) here when I looked out of the pilot house this morning. The tide was so high this morning that we had to get off of the boat from the swim platform.
On Saturday (BD729), we watched a little football and had left-over gumbo for supper. Things finally came together for us to be able to take a walk around the island which we thoroughly enjoyed. We received e-mails from Joy and Steve telling us about their New Year’s celebration and letting us know that they are on track to leave next week to go back to their boat which is in Trinidad. We’ll keep up with them over the next six months via e-mail and updates to our websites.
BD730 – Sunday was the last day of our second year of the boat being in the Bahamas. Upon arrival, visiting boaters must clear Customs and Immigration at the nearest designated Port of Entry in the Bahamas. Only the captain is permitted to leave the boat until your vessel has been cleared. We checked in at the customs office in Bimini in January, 2012. The Bimini Sands Marina has a satellite office, but it was not manned at this time of year. So, Rick took a cab from the marina to the airport with all of our documentation while I stayed aboard. We have since had our cruising permit extended twice, which is the maximum number of extensions allowed. We ended the day sitting out on the dock with a number of the friends that we have made here. Tokkie, Gail and Brittany, Barry and Janine, Loan, Tucker and Preston all shared the sunset with us. It had been blowing all day and overcast, but we got a little bit of pink at the end of the day.
BD731 – Monday, January 6, 2014 through Saturday, January 11, 2014 – On Monday, we had a group dinner on the docks. Janine fixed food for her and Barry (Sea Clef’s owners, Ed and Karen, left the Cay yesterday) as well as Tucker, Preston and Loan Rolle and their hired man, Mano, while Rick grilled steaks for the two of us and Gail made fish tacos for herself and her daughter Brittany and Gail’s boat owner, Tokkie. After dinner, we settled in to watch the BCS National Championship game in the Rose Bowl where #1 Florida State University beat #2 Auburn in a very exciting game that ended around midnight with FSU scoring the winning touchdown in the last few seconds.
BD732 – Tuesday morning found me checking the rankings of our family’s group in the ESPN Bowl Mania game. Congratulations to Mary and her brother, Lee, for tying in first place. One point behind them, was our son, JP, and one point behind him was me! It was amazingly close, when you consider that we had to choose the winners of 35 bowl games and place confidence points on each game from 1 to 35. I ordered some victory wear from the Garnet and Gold store in Tallahassee. This is the third national championship for FSU in the “BCS Era”. I couldn’t let this last one go by without getting something to remember it by.
Above picture courtesy of www.garnetandgold.com
In the afternoon, Barry, Janine, Tokkie, Brittany, Rick and I loaded up in the Sea Clef tender and made our way down to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club for lunch and to await the afternoon Watermaker Air flight. Barry, Brittany and Tucker all took the flight to Ft. Lauderdale. We picked up a few groceries and then returned back to Compass Cay. I made two pots of bean soup for supper along with some yellow rice. Janine provided some Bahamian coconut bread and vanilla ice cream. The weather was blustery, so the choice of food was just right.
BD733 – It rained off and on Wednesday morning. The sun came out in the afternoon, although the winds kept blowing over 15 mph. We ate comfort food (tomato soup for lunch and a mac and cheese casserole for supper) and planned a trip to Rachel’s Bubble Bath tomorrow.
BD734 – It rained a little bit on Thursday morning, but after we checked in with JP, we were in the dinghy and headed to Rachel’s Bubble Bath at noon. As we were going around the west side of the island, we notice the engine was making a clacking noise and by the time we got to baby conch bay, it was obvious that something was wrong. We talked about beaching it and walking over the jungle trail to return to the marina, but Rick thought it would be OK if we just idled back. So back we started. When we got to Janet’s beach, we went in so Rick could take a look at the lower unit. He thought that we either spun the hub on the engine or we had a problem in the lower unit. We haven’t used the engine since early December. I had made sandwiches, so we sat in the pavilion on the beach and ate and then we went swimming for a short while. When our glasses were empty, we decided it was time to return to the marina. One the way back, we passed Tokkie, Gail, and Janine headed out to Rachel’s. So, when we got back to the marina, we beached the dinghy and got in one of the marina boats and headed back to Rachel’s. The Bubble Bath was about as rough as we’ve ever seen it. The water was cool, but not uncomfortably cold. We had not been there five minutes when a wave caught Rick by surprise (from behind) and washed over his head taking his hat and sun glasses with it. It recovered the hat, but his prescription sun glasses were somewhere on the bottom. On a normal day, there would be enough time between waves for the water to clear and we would have found them, but today was rougher than normal and there was pretty much constant bubbles. So, Rick walked back to the boat and got his mask. While he was gone, Gail, Janine and I all looked for the glasses but had no luck. He returned with the mask and found the glasses in about one minute! So, all is well in the world again. We had a wonderful afternoon. Those of you who have been keeping up with our blog known that JP and Kellie had a baby on August 31st. Emma Grace was born 7 weeks before her due date and weighed just 3 pounds. Kellie especially liked one of the premi outfits that they got for her, so she bought the same outfit in her current size (she is 4 months old and weighs 11 pounds now.) You may be amazed at the difference shown below.
BD734 – On Friday morning, Janine, Tokkie, Rick and I set off for Staniel Cay to pick up some provisions that Janine’s husband, Barry, was sending over via Watermakers Air. We decided that we would also have breakfast at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club while we were there. Unfortunately, there had been a mix-up in Ft. Lauderdale. The Watermaker people thought the provisions were for Tucker, who is also in Florida right now, so they put them in the cooler instead of on the plane. So, they are now scheduled to come in on tomorrow afternoon’s plane.
BD 735 – Saturday afternoon found us headed back to Staniel Cay Yacht Club. This time we were going for lunch and we had a couple more people joining us. We had a nice lunch, several drinks, a walk up to the blue store (because you can’t pass up a chance to buy something you need or want). The picture below shows all six of us at the luncheon table. Captain Andrew of the 4-C’s tours company had brought in a group from George Town for lunch, so he joined us in this picture. From left to right: Rebecca, mate on Serque’ , Janine, chef on Sea Clef, Tokkie, owner of ATA Marie, Captain Andrew, Rick and Charlene, owners of On the Hook, and Gail, mate on ATA Marie. Thanks to our waitress, Vanessa, for taking the picture.
BD737 – Sunday was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, it was 77 degrees, and there was very little wind. Rick was finally able to take the dinghy’s engine apart and determine what the problem is. Mid-afternoon, we walked over the crest of the island to the crescent beach. With the good comes the bad – little wind means lots of bugs! While Rick was walking the beach, I was sitting in the pavilion fighting off the “no-see-ums”, so we headed back to the boat after a rather short stay. We enjoyed the quiet day.
BD738 – Monday morning found Rick waiting out a quick rain shower before going to Staniel Cay to pick Tucker up at the airport. There was no rain the rest of the day and we stayed busy with miscellaneous chores on the boat. Late in the afternoon, Loan, Preston and Mano went out fishing.
BD739 – It was decided that we should cook the fish that the guys caught yesterday as part of a pot luck supper on Tuesday. Although it was predicted to rain most of the afternoon, we didn’t see a drop. There was a beautiful full moon hanging over our dinner table.
About 16 of us participated in the supper. We had loads of great food and a very nice visit.
BD740 – Captain Barry of Sea Clef returned on Wednesday. Rick and Janine went down to Staniel to pick him up. About 5:00, Barry loaded up a group on the Sea Clef tender and we took Loan to Blackpoint to prepare to fly to Nassau in the morning. Then we went to the Staniel Cay Yacht Club for supper. A new couple came along with us, Chris and Mary. They said they had such a good time at the pot luck supper the night before that they felt like they should follow our lead and join us for this supper. Along with them were Barry and Janine, me and Rick, Tokkie, Rebecca and Gail. We all enjoyed a great dinner at SCYC and a much nicer ride back to Compass Cay than the bouncy trip down to Black Point and back to Staniel from there.
BD741 – On Thursday I started inventorying all of the food that we have on board. We expect to leave here to start our trip back to Florida within the next two to three weeks. I want to use up as much of our food as possible before we get back to Florida and take the boat out of the water for inspection, maintenance and repairs. The weather has turned cool.
BD742 – On Friday, I completed the inventory of food and entered everything into the computer so that I can plan our meals for the next two to three months using what we have on hand. It was overcast and cool all day long. The predicted high was 71 degrees and we didn’t see the sun all day. Rick is actually wearing jeans and a sweater – of course he is still bare foot! A number of us sat out on the dock at the end of the day enjoying a social hour, but even with the cool weather, the bugs came out and we went in. One of the boats that has been in the marina for a few weeks is the 135 foot long Serque’. This boat was here last October and I posted a picture of it then on the website. It didn’t stay too long last year because they were having engine trouble and had to return to the States to get it repaired. The boat is owned by a company that also owns Talon Airlines. When someone comes or goes from the boat, or they need supplies, a small float plane lands very near to the entrance of the marina. They were here today.
BD743 – On Saturday, the chef from Sea Clef, Janine, was scheduled to fly to Ft. Lauderdale on the afternoon Watermakers Air Flight. So we joined her and her husband, Barry, the captain of Sea Clef, along with Tokkie and Gail, from ATA Marie, and went to lunch at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club before she took off. Janine is returning to Ft. Lauderdale for about ten days because the person who watches the two dogs that they left there has to leave town for a short time. So, Janine left one of her potcake dogs here, Tilloo, to return to another potcake dog, Morgan (who has three legs) and their golden retriever, Buddy.
Wikipedia says, “The potcake dog is a mixed-breed dog type from the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Bahamas. Its name comes from the congealed rice and pea mixture that local residents traditionally fed dogs.” Barry and Janine got “Tilloo” from the northern Bahamas on an island southeast of Great Abaco’s Marsh Harbor named Tilloo Cay. Morgan came from Great Exuma near Barratarre which we visited last summer.
Sunday BD744 through BD750, Saturday, January 25, 2014 –
Last week, Dave, on the M/V Living Large, returned home to Compass Cay and with him returned Dave’s Sunday waffles. Everyone at the marina is welcome to join him. Today, he had not only his waffle maker, but a second one loaned by Gail. The waffles and warm maple syrup were once again delicious. He brings a pitcher of waffle batter and starts cooking at the marina office on the picnic table at 10:00 and returns to his boat, with the empty pitcher, around 11:00. Dave has his own recipe for the waffle mix which he says includes lots of butter and sour cream. Also, he brings 12 quarts of maple syrup with him – he says one bottle for every Sunday that he plans to be here. Just one waffle each fills both Rick and me up and takes the place of lunch as well. Welcome home, Dave! The ten-day weather forecast says that today’s high will be 70 degrees and the low will be 69. The temperature is not expected to exceed 75 for the next 10 days and the wind will be over 10 mph each day. This is about as cold as it’s going to get so we are definitely still in paradise. After breakfast, Barry cleaned out the refrigerator on Sea Clef of the fresh and healthy foods that he will not eat when Janine is not here. I took most of a head of cabbage and some fresh strawberries. You can see that I put the strawberries to good use in the picture below.
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BD745 – Monday morning the sun was shining brightly, but it was still cool. Rick did some volunteer work in the boaters’ grille, putting up some lights that just came in while I started our supper in the crock pot. Signs are a bit of a big deal here. Tucker encourages people to find drift wood, or use anything they want, and paint a sign to remember them by. Our sign has been up on the marina wall since 2012. I updated it in 2013 and it was time again to update it to include 2014. Rick took the sign off of the wall, as he has decided it should be relocated in the boaters’ grille, since that has been one of his pet projects ever since we arrived here.
BD746 – I got up earlier than usual on Tuesday and after completing my morning routine, I went up to the boaters’ grille to see what project Rick had found to keep him busy. He had put our updated sign up inside the grille. I think that is quite appropriate since he’s put so much else into it. He was measuring to see where three ceiling fan/lights would fit best. Pretty soon thereafter, people started coming in on small boats with more calling in on the radio saying they were coming in and needed a slip. Tucker and Rick spent the next few hours tying up boats. Later in the afternoon, Tucker’s grandson, Trevon, returned. He had been visiting his mother in the Abacos, but has returned to Compass Cay to help out at the marina and in the store for the next several months. We were very glad to welcome him back.
BD747 – Wednesday was windy, around 20 mph most of the day, but sunny. The marina is nearly full (because of the wind.) Around noon, it was suggested that we have a pot luck supper tonight, so I started baking cupcakes. Preston cut up some conch in the afternoon, so Rick made up his conch fritter batter and started frying them early, so that the fryer could be used for fish, closer to supper time. We decided to have the pot luck supper in the Boaters’ Grille. More than 25 people participated and we even had some entertainment. As always, the food was great.
BD748 – Thursday was a pretty day. It seems, although we are in the middle of winter, things are growing all around us. The number of occupants in the marina grew when Captain Barry’s friend brought in the 95 foot motor vessel called Far Horizons. Gail has planted a garden up by the wash house.
We have a new tomato growing on the boat.
And, Tucker’s goat herd has grown in size with three new goats being delivered to the island today. I have a picture of two of them below.
BD749 – Friday’s predicted high temperature was 71 degrees and the wind blew out of the northeast around 20 mph all day. Around noon, Barry was taking a crew member from Serque’ to the airport on Staniel, so we joined them for lunch at the Yacht Club, then walked to the Blue Store and the Pink Store before returning to the yacht club to await the call for her flight. The wind had picked up by the time we returned to Compass Cay, so we had a bit of a wild ride back.
BD750 – Saturday. Today is our nephew Mat’s 40th birthday. We wish him the best. We spent a very nice afternoon on a secluded beach on the west side of Pipe Cay. As we left the marina, we saw all three of the new goats up on “goat hill”. That is encouraging.
BD751 – Sunday, January 26, 2014 through Friday, January 31 (BD756). We are thinking of our son, JP, as he runs his first full marathon today in Celebration, Florida. Although the day was overcast and threatening rain, Rick and I walked to a part of the island where they have been making some improvements. I posted a picture of the proposed bridge across to the Jungle Trail last year. Now, they are improving the road to get to the bridge and creating a boat ramp near it.
BD752 – Monday – We received an e-mail from JP telling us about the marathon that he ran yesterday. He said, “Saturday evening Vanessa and I ate with the rest of the group (27 people in total) at Carabas – runners need to eat a lot of carbs before a race. We brought food back to Kellie, who stayed in the condo with the baby. Sunday morning Coach came to pick me up for the Town of Celebration’s First Annual Marathon and Half Marathon. Eight people in our running group participated, with the other two men running the half marathon. The course was nice, marked well, the volunteers were good, and the water/bathroom stops were never more than 3 miles apart, which is very nice. Katie and I ran together the whole time, as planned, and finished in 4 hours and 15 minutes (which was 15 minutes faster than we expected). We definitely could have done it faster, but that wasn’t really our goal; we talked the whole time and just enjoyed it. Coach won the Masters division, Meagan won the women’s 20-24 age group. Laura was 3rd in the women’s 40-44 group. Her time was 3:36, which qualified her for the 2015 Boston Marathon. It doesn’t guarantee that she’ll get in, there is a cap, so if 9,000 women qualify they would then go by time. Her time is very good though, she should still be in if it goes to time.”
JP has already signed up to participate in half-marathons in the Tampa Bay area in February and March. Congratulations – well done, Son. – Back in the Bahamas, Rick scrubbed the top of the boat today.
BD753 – Tuesday – Rick put new waterproofing on the top canvass today.
BD754 – Wednesday – Rick went with Loan to Staniel to discuss some work with “Bush Man” and they ate lunch at Big Dog’s. This is the first time Rick had eaten there and he said that he had some very good mutton fish and very spicy peas and rice.
BD755 – On Thursday, I printed flyers to announce a Super Bowl Watching Party this coming Sunday night. I also printed a grid that we could use to try our luck at choosing the lucky numbers of the scores at the end of each quarter. In the afternoon, Rick went with Loan, Barry and Tokkie diving. They came back with about a dozen lobsters. While they were out, Rich and Karen returned to Compass Cay on their boat the M/V New Horizon. When they were here last year, Rich lost his wallet while riding in his dinghy to Staniel Cay. He retraced his route but wasn’t able to find anything. A month or two after they left, the wallet was found and returned to him with all the money and credit cards still in it!
BD756 – Friday morning Rick took Preston to the Staniel Cay Airport along with Barry and Janine and their new stewardess, Natalie. Mano went along as well to pick up some things that were coming in on the freight boat. They saw Preston off, bought some groceries (you don’t pass up a chance to buy something when you’re on the island) and had a nice breakfast at the yacht club while Mano was getting the things for Compass from the freight boat.
