As all of
you know, nothing is better than celebrating the Christmas season with family,
so we were thrilled that James wanted to visit us in the Bahamas. Planning the trip with him over the summer
was the easy part … the hard part was dealing with the 8 times we had to change
his itinerary because we couldn’t get to the places we thought we’d get to in
time (yes, count 'em ... 8 changes before he stepped off the plane back in MN! Being a guest on our boat in the Bahamas is not as easy as you'd think!). Knowing full well that “cruising
plans are etched in jello”, we’ve since learned that our visitors should book a
flight into Nassau and then wait until a week before their US departure to see
where we actually are going to be! For example: We had hoped to meet James in Georgetown (Southern Exumas), but after sitting in south FL for 3 weeks waiting for a weather window to cross, we had him change his arrival to Rock Sound in Eleuthera, with the intention of sailing from Eleuthera to Georgetown where he was to depart on Jan 5th. Our first engine problem presented itself 4 days before his arrival as we started the crossing from the Abacos to Eleuthera. With alarms sounding that the engine was dramatically overheating, we were forced to return to the Abacos to figure things out. This repair required ordering a new water pump to be sent overnight air to James’ home and bought down in his back pack. It also required a new plane ticket into Marsh Harbor (not an easy thing to find the weekend before Christmas!). And since the engine was running too rough to chance a passage into Marsh Harbor, we made it to the closest marina that had ferry service. In the end, James caught the last flight out of Nassau to Marsh Harbor and the last ferry out to Marsh Harbor to Hopetown marina before everything in the Bahamas shut down for Christmas (and Boxing Day on the 26th). And this was just the fun of getting here!
James did arrive as
scheduled on Christmas Eve … 3 planes, two taxis, one ferry ride, and 13 hours
is all it took! But we were besides
ourselves with joy to have him here. Rum drinks all around!
We can
easily recount his stay with us by the number of engine repairs we had to
make at various anchorages in the Abacos! We spent Christmas at Hopetown Marina and changed the fresh water pump.
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| Christmas Day atop the Hopetown Lighthouse. One of 3 in the world still powered by kerosene. |
At Great Guana Cay, the outboard on the dinghy started spitting out gas which meant we rowed into shore and then Dan replaced the fuel lines, clamps and connectors. At least that didn’t stop us from visiting all the tiki bars on the island to sample their rum drinks and conch fritters!
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| Lighted golf cart parade! |
Inbetween repairs, we did go sailing!
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| Celebrated NYE at Treasure Cay. Watched fireworks from the boat. |
At Lynyard Cay, the outboard quit working altogether but not before we had
a night out at Tilloo Cay with the best smoked fish appetizer ever along with a
Wahoo fish dinner.
Yes,
cruising is all about the islands you visit and the rum drinks and fish
appetizers that you sample! Of course,
there was snorkeling and swimming mixed in, especially b/c James was always
ready to dive on our anchor (to check that it was secure), as well as
demonstrate that you can get back on the boat w/o using the swim ladder (I
should preface that with the right pronoun … HE could get back on the boat w/o
the ladder b/c he’s some sort of strong monkey who scaled the anchor chain,
pulled himself up on the bow sprit and climbed onboard!).
Diving to check the anchor
who needs s swim ladder?
James got to visit 6 anchorages, affirming
our motto that each place you visit is another beautiful beach in paradise.
His return flight on the 5th was as messed up as his arrival on the 24th! It seems like the Abacos was packed full of tourists who were traveling back on the same Saturday as him, so we had to buy another ticket on another airline in order to get a flight out of Marsh Harbor (instead of Georgetown where we were supposed to be by the 5th) .... only to find on the night before he was to leave that the reservation had been cancelled. As a result, we got to keep him with us for two more day since no other flights were available until Monday, Jan 7th. This was definitely a trip you wouldn't want to wish on anyone but family ... and only family who are as easy going and non-complaining as James.
Last day .... refreshments after snorkeling at Mermaid Reef, Marsh Harbor.
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| Come back soon! We miss you! |
1 comment:
Great retell, now i can remember all the names of the places we went
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