Salt Pond January 2017

So we finally made it to Salt Pond/Thompson Bay Long Island on January 5th.  We had a grand time.
One of our last days before we left Eleuthera,  we rented a car with our friends Phil & Irene from S/V Plan B.  We had a great driving up to the Glass Window.  We stopped at a great little place, The Deck,  for lunch too.

 

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One of the cool things about the Bahamas is the flora & fauna.  There are these huge moths, called Money Bats that I've never seen anywhere else.  One decided to pay us a visit one night after diner.....

We once again rented a car,  but now in Long Island, with Brad & Jeannie from S/V What Next and Phil & Niki from S/V AJAYA (Always Just A Year Away) and off we went to the Columbus Monument and a fantastic dinner at Chez Pierre.

Doesn't that salad look great?  Chez Pierre is well known on Long Island and serves not only fantastic pizza, but some of the finest veal dishes I've ever had!

This has been a really bad winter as far as the cold fronts making their way this far south.  At One point we left Thompson Bay for The Lower Channel Cays to avoid the westerly winds.  We had a grand time there but mis-timed our return to Thompson Bay by several hours.  This is what S/V What Next looked like when we got the hook down.












 Because of all of these fronts and such as well as the timing of the tides we were unable to unload any of the school supplies for weeks on end! 
Please do not get the wrong idea, there were some days that were spectacular!

Well, that is about it for January.  That's what I get for waiting so long to write!  I need to review the pictures to remember all we did!

November 2016-January 2017

After Cumberland Island we had a great visit with a lot of folks.  First there was Rob in Jacksonville where we were not only able to do a great provisioning including wine & propane but we had our fill of oysters and my Rob fixed a wonderful prime rib dinner for us at Rob Balls' house.  Then it was on to St. Augustine where we saw our old friends Paul & Dawn as well as Gary & Roxanne who moved from VA to FL on their schooner but we met new friends on S/V Empty Pockets too.  We stopped to see Pete & Jane in Ft. Pierce and Stew & Diana in Stuart along with Larry & Annette who we picked up culinary donations from for Long Island but there were very short visits as I had picked up the creepy crud.  We also were able to see Gary in Cocoa before his surgery and have a nice dinner with our friend Roland as well.

Shots from the Fort George on the Fort George River:

 

 

 

 

Another year has gone and as usual, we are enjoying ourselves.  We had a wonderful crossing from Lake Worth to Green Turtle (after the fantastic Farmers Market in West Palm Beach!) and sped through the Abacos as it was cold.  After a quick stop in Royal Island it was down to Governors Harbour.  Now we had seen a Nassau Royale Decanter on sale at Bristol Liquors while in Marsh Harbour.  They did not have one there but we knew there was a Bristol in Governors.  Unfortunately, we could not get the anchor to set.  Also unfortunately, Rob had now come down with my creepy crud, so while he stayed on the boat with aches and anchor watch, I took the dink to shore and got the decanter as well as needed groceries. After that was done off we went to Rock Sound.  We were delighted to catch up with old friends from Plan B, AJAYA, What Next and make new friends on Sea Hawk, Schooner Sarah G and others too!

Sammy's Place Restaurant and Comfort Suites (yes they have rooms too) in Rock Sound is a tradition to say the least.  Sammy is now 82 years old and his daughter pretty much runs the place with Sammy there to supervise.  Some of the cruisers spoke with her about a Christmas Dinner for the cruisers and boy oh boy, did they come through!  On Christmas Eve in the afternoon they served a dinner of turkey, stuffing, cranberry, ham, sweet potato, greens, coleslaw and fruitcake for dessert!  It was delicious!

 

On Christmas Day, Wild Orchids (formerly Four Points) was closed but they said it was ok for us to use their deck for a cruisers potluck as long as we cleaned up when finished.  Here is the result!  Love the t-shirt!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Everyone had a wonderful time..... Grace was said, Christmas carols were playing and we all ate too much.  There were even delicacies for the vegetarians, gluten intolerant and those with nut allergies too! 

When we decided to leave for Cat Island on January 3rd we thought we would probably stop for the night in Littler San Salvador, also known as Half Moon Cay, a cruise ship island.  It seems the wind gods were not smiling on us that day so instead of Cat, we did an overnight to Long Islands' northern end, Calabash Bay.  No Calabash Bay is rolly on a good day so we found ourselves underway to our favorite place, Salt Pond/Thompson Bay, Long Island. 

More later.