Wednesday, February 27, 2013

BEACHES, BURRS AND BEANS!!!!

Well, its seems like a long time since I have been back here to update the blog! Stacy left, then Dan and Judy left with their company and the three of us were all alone.  We spent the first week touring around in the dingy. We went over to Lee Stocking Island just about every day. We did not do much, but we did walk over to the ocean side to search the beach for treasures. One day Garth found SEVEN hamburger beans!! That is amazing! We listened in on the planning meeting for the regatta and almost volunteered for the scavenger hunt but then thought better of having an agenda or having a commitment. Last week the winds picked up which meant that if we had to go anywhere in the dingy we would have gotten soaked and it would not have been a pleasant ride, so we rented a car. We went to a different part of the island, a different beach and a different restaurant every day.  Garth found seventeen - yes, 17 beans in one day!!! We had a very pleasant time and shared the last few days with Roger and Anna aboard Free & Br Easy!

The boys relaxing on the beach!

So many beaches, so little time!

View from the Exuma Yacht Club bar.

Sunrise ..yes do see it occasionally.

Thanks to Garth our bean collection is growing 
The beaches here are amazing and empty. I do not think we saw another person the whole week.

However, walking the beaches does have its drawbacks, both Garth and Zeke got sticky burrs stuck in their paws....soles!  Both had to soak in epsom salts and both were attended to by Nurse Crachit, I mean Florence Nightingale.

Zeke's now wearing socks to keep the medicine on. Garth is doing well at keeping his bandages on!
We had thought we would leave here this Saturday and take our time getting back to Florida. However, the marina is out of diesel for starters and the wind is supposed to really pick up Saturday night into Monday! So, we may still be a fixture at the dock come Saturday morning.

Garth and Dan went out fishing this morning and we are waiting to see what they haul back in!! Will definitely take some pics if they catch anything!

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

A few more pictures from the past week.



Green Flash night at Farmers

Yep, he went in for the BBQ part first thing in the morning!



Santanas Grill, best lobster in Exuma

Zeke, Stacy and a local at Santanas beach



How do you walk in these things?


Zeke and Stacy snorkeling!




Catch a Fire Grill for sunset.



1967 totally restored Riva - a real beauty!



Can you see the bird on the flower!

WOW - a full rainbow!

Only three boats sank this time at the Five F Festival!

We had a really nice day at Compass Cay walking the beach. We introduced Stacy to trashing - walking the wrack line and looking for trash and sea beans. It is amazing what falls off peoples boats! We departed Compass and two hours later were tied up to the dock at Staniel Cay Yacht Club. Stacy, Judy and I went for a walk and managed to scoop the last two loaves of bread on the island.  We had dinner at the bar and all left happy campers. We decided to spend another night there before heading down to the festival. Zeke's paw is better but still not one hundred per cent so we wanted to keep him out of the salt water.
We arrived at Little Farmers Yacht Club just after two pm. We heard people on the radio asking about OUR slips and we quickly radioed Rosie to tell him we were on our way and do not give away our spots! There are only two slips here and we reserved them a few weeks back.

Let the party begin!
The Five F Festival  (FIRST FRIDAY IN FEBRUARY FARMERS FESTIVAL) started twenty four years ago and the Regatta started fifteen years ago. It is a huge deal here and every year they rent the mail boat to bring people from Nassau. We heard the boat coming long before we saw it. The population of the island quadrupled and it took over three hours to unload all the supplies. Several Regatta boats also came on the barge.

Big news in Nassau & Adien doing the race planning!

Didn't see them come in on the mail boat?

On Friday the 11 o'clock race got underway about 1:30. Even the announcer was asking that someone let him know what is going on. The music was blaring, people were milling about eating and drinking. There was supposed to be events going on downtown but because of the delay they just cancelled them. The day before we had gone for a walk and walked into the Ocean Club, they thought we were there to help organize the events. So, the day before they still hadn't figured it out. I guess with enough rum they hoped people would not notice the disorganization!
We saw two boats sink during the races - the water is shallow and the crew can literally stand in the boat. They have to dive down and take out lead, then the boat floats back to the surface. The third boat had a faulty pump and got towed into the harbour. It was gone the next day. It's always something on a boat


First they pull in the anchor 
Then they put up the sail and the race in on!
A little dangerous??
Whitty K and Thunderbird - neck and neck!
Rounding the first buoy.


Whitty K took home the hardware!

Golden Girl, the second boat to sink - note the dog coming to the rescue!


Third boat of the weekend!!


They loaded up the empties and quietly departed - the party is over for another year.
We stayed at Farmers until Monday as the wind really picked up. We thought of leaving on Sunday and going to Musha (David Cooperfields Island) but Garth read on the internet that he has unfriendly dogs loose on the island, On Monday the three of us walked across the runway and sat in our coral pit to watch the sunset. We saw a green flash at sunset - cool!

Tuesday we left early but not before Garth jumped in the water and retrieved the BBQ part that feel in last night. We went out  Farmers Cut all the way to George Town. Zeke had a gravol and Stacy spent time on the floor, in the chair staring at the horizon or on the deck catching the breeze.


Garth trying to get the part without having to get in - the current was really moving!
We rented a car for Wednesday and drove from one end of the island to the other. We stopped in Baraterre, the place that Dan picked Stacy and Steven up from. We had lunch at Santanas Bar and Grill, this was the first time Zeke had been back in the water for almost ten days - he was sooo happy. We had lightly battered lobster - yummy. We drove through Sandals and another resort Grand Isles and then drove around Emerald Bay Marina. It is very nice but it is literally in the middle of nowhere and there is nothing to do or see up there. At least here we can see people all day, go shopping, eat out and walk around.  We stopped at  the sandals beach, Garth and Stacy did a little bit of snorkeling  We all had a swim and I found a beautiful cowrie shell on the beach. It is still sitting on the dock waiting for the conch to evacuate.  Our last stop was Catch a Fire Bar and Grill, it is the best place to see the sunset and it was a great ending to our day.
Garth and I drove Stacy and Steven to the airport early Thursday. We were a little concerned about them getting out of Miami. Steven was heading to Boston and Stacy Toronto - the snow was due to start and they both needed to get home. Thankfully they both made it home safe and sound.
Garth and I have been taking in the local activities of chatn'chillin. We took the dingy over to Sandollar Beach, walked over to the ocean side and went for a walk. We have been over to the ocean side form another area - there is a beautiful three mile long beach. Garth found six hamburger seabeans and two heart seabeans - a good beaner!!  We plan on spending the next few weeks here taking in the scenery and relaxing.

Zeke is doing well, he is once again going to the beach and running through the waves like a puppy!

I have been trying to upload pictures for days with no luck, the internet connection is terrible.  I will post this now and try to upload some more  pictures later.