More Fun then departure for our MN summer.....

Underwater beauty feather duster worms on tube sponge...just outside the marina at Davis Harbour

Showing how "crafty" I can be, I sewed this tablecloth for our aft deck dining...note ties on the corners to keep it from blowing away!

Snappers!  A local fisherman offered to take Bob out in his boat.... didn't look TOO seaworthy however...

Governors Harbor at twilight

Fish Fry at Govenors Harbor, food not so good, drinks a bit too good, the drive home...not good at all!

This shows a cut in the road through rock, similar to the spot where our rental car died on the way home in the pitch darkness...  had to shut off all lights, AC, etc. in order to start it again and just prayed nothing was coming up the hill the other way....as no shoulder

Historic Haynes Library in Governors Harbor

Two beautiful school girls studying in the library after school

Whilesnorkeling I looked up and saw this water spout....think we should leave Bob?  Naw...no worries.To the right is the sandbar which is really fun to dive, lots of  sea eggs and sand dollars collect on top.

Showing the drop off from the top of the sandbar - about 15', bery pretty sand formations.

Time to head back to the marina as I looked over my shoulder as we enter the marina entrance

Our Davis Harbour Family - surrounding GlenRoy with love and affection for their Director of Operations!

Not only did we get a serenade from our Harbormaster "J Sweets" but the crying towels were brought out as we pulled off the dock to leave for the summer...

Vacation in MN away from my Vacation in Eleuthera!

I took a vacation from my vacation and spent two weeks in MN in April to do Amelia's 4th Birthday party, she requested a Super Hero/Princess cake, so..... TA DA!  Grammy figured it out, Super Heroes on one side, the Princesses on the other, we had Superman carrying Jasmine and a few other oddities, Spiderman dangling from the chandelier with a princess in his arms.

Just off the plane returning to Eluethrs and Bob stops at LaFleurs vegetable market, I had fresh coconut milk, some mini bananas and met some new friends!

A fresh pineapple ready to pick...and we did!  The Eleuthra pineapples are SO SWEET and they have a serrated leaf, and even better...don't cut the core out...it is entirely edible, sweet and soft enough to enjoy!  We fry pineapple lightly to serve with fish.

Once back on Veda L Buddy immediately sat on my suitcase and gave me a "don't you dare leave me again" look

I had been admiring this mans vegetable garden along the sea, so finally stopped to chat, he has a house across the way but e prefers living in his little "house" along the water, he was repairing lobster pots.

He was very sweet and let me take many photos around his property, I promised him that I would bring him copies of the photos that I had taken....and I did!  He particularly loved the photo below of his cat, which I told him I named Half & Half.

Easy to see why this kitty was named Half & Half by me... plus we had a cat that was very similar to this one when we lived on the farm as children...  the cats name.... Half & Half of course!

Here is the vegetable garden by the sea that made me stop to visit.... What a life to live just being happy with what he has.  An outlook to be envied by most of us.

My Mother's Day Miracle....  I was walking along a stone wall bordering a cemetery;  a car stopped and asked me if I was there to look for somebodies grave, "No, I am just here taking some photos of this ancient burial ground" The cemetery was from the 1600's  to present.   They asked me something else and I said "wait till traffic clears and I will come over"  so I walked across the road and noticed that they were holding instruments, the passenger a guitar, the driver a harmonica; of course I had to ask "who ARE you guys with musical instrument, driving around?"  They said that they had just come back from a rehearsal and could they play me a song.  Come on.... do I really get this lucky to be walking along a cemetery wall and then have two Bahamian guys stop to serenade me?    OF COURSE I DO!   What made this really special is that this was the day before Mother's Day, of course my Mom was on my mind even though she has been gone for over  3 years.  

We are going to play a song that we love... "It's a beautiful World"  so,  they get out of the car, and start playing along the sea wall....the song that was played at my Mother's funeral "It's a beautiful world"  A song she related to as it spoke of nature, children and of all the beauty of the world.  My Mother never had much, but she was so much richer than so many as she had the riches of the world and love from all that knew her.

We were behind this truck...keeping our distance, we watched them as they backed into a yard, slowly, then hit the brakes hard to slide all the lumber off the truck.  Ingenious ... maybe a little dangerous... but ingenious!

This was my welcome back to Eleuthera dive...conch, lobster, beautiful underwater seascapes...really happy!

my seaside serenades.... I invited them to visit us at the Marina; so Bob got out his banjo and though the music was not top notch, it was full f  feeling and new friendship!  The tall guy is a high school  music teacher.

This is Xanthia, Glen's Daughter, who we have nicknamed "Baby Girl"  She is adorable and surely has fun visiting Papa Glen!  We were having a turtle hunt that day...not to catch, except on film.  Not too successful but fun!

This is the "public" beach near Davis Harbour where we snorkeled to find turtles, not too many of "the public" have discovered it .... fortunately for us...unfortunately for them!

Really? Really? Bob caught TWO MAHI MAHI????

 On the way to Compass Cay from Eleuthera today Bob says "Think I'll air out  my fishin gear for awhile; and gets set up. Bob then asked me what I would do if he fell overboard while landing a fish; we went through the drill and other than me telling him that I would throw everything off the boat that would float into the water, I passed the exam.
 About an hour out of Eleuthera the reel spins and I do what I was taught to do,  take the navigational off, steer into the waves, lower the rpms and set auto pilot.  The stabilizers don't work well at low rpms, so now we are in for some rockin and rollin while trying to land a fish without a gaff, and well...not much else other than ingenuity.  This bad bull dolphin measured 42" long, our "fish scale" to weigh him was in my suitcase under our bed (also known as luggage scale), but he was big, and ended up in our freezer and also will be in our frying pan tonight!  Yay Bob...Go Capt!   

 Not only did we get the first big Mahi Mahi shown above, but just when I was starting to feel less nauseous after the rocking that went with the landing of this big guy, his reel started spinning again and I am thinking "Oh damn"  So back in action we went, this time Bob actually landed him from the side of the boat while I held the rod tight outside the pilot house.  He measured 45" and will be great to share with Richard and Mimi when they arrive!  Our "tackle box" includes my sewing tape measure, a bottle of vodka, a pole spear (no gaff...), a hammer, a luggage scale and an old sheet to cover the deck.

 #2 Mahi Mahi refused to die; so Bob says get the hammer...I said "how about the Vodka?"  He forgot that Sister Janet left a bottle of Absolute on the boat from her trip with us a couple of years ago (can't believe I didn't drink it!} but a few shots into the gills and our big boy turned calm and Bob could filet it out.  Postscript:  

 The picture above of Vodka & Me (thanks Janet!) was taken once we arrived at Compass Cay, I was happy to see the boat Freedom tied to the dock across from us.  In my opinion this is the most beautiful boat in the Bahamas (and it's a charter boat). This is a Trumpy, a Trumpy used to be a Presidential Yacht which lasted into Kennedy's administration.  Bob and his friend Dan Himes did a delivery of a Trumpy across the Gulf of Mexico from New Orleans to Tampa, no electronics, cable steering and a lot of fun...well let's say it was an interesting trip!

Who said Uncle Bob can't catch fish???

 Who said that Bob doesn't catch fish?  One of the lucky "winners of the day" tossed Bob part of his catch.   There is a fishing tournament going on which adds to the fun of being at Davis Harbour Marina on Eleuthera, the competitors are in it for fun,and actually I would rather come in 2nd place as the First Place Winner provides the dinner for the group in the upcoming years tournament.  It was fun watching Glenroy get the marina in order for the surge of boaters coming in; we kidded him that the paint wouldn't be dry on the deck prior the Opening party. Davis Harbour was a little "rough around the edges" we first came over two weeks ago, now it is a spit & polished marina that the boaters came into for their tournament, complete with rooftop deck/bar and a lounge with big screen TV   The competent staff here always have a smile and make you feel very much at home.

 It's been great getting to know the local fishermen and the "Big Boys" on their sportsfish boats, a good group, showing us a whole different life in boating.  We are just leaving Davis Harbour as I type this, on our way to Compass Cay to get settled in, clean the guest stateroom (moving Buddy out of HIS room so Richard and Mimi can make themselves at home there.  It is a little bumpy out here; but we are battened down so there is not a rattle on the boat while underway.   The slightest little roll, bang or tick can drive me crazy, so all of my toss pillows are stuffed into any cupboard that has a possibility of a "clink"  The  3' waves are coming at our port bow so we are having a little bit bit of a Hula Dance!  I took my 1/2 of Dramamine, drank my Ginger Beer (NA) for breakfast and should be good to go!  The Ginger probably helps me more than the Dramamine, but I am afraid to give it up.  I just felt what I call "a good one" so I am updgrading those waves to 4' to an occasional 5' now.  Yee Ha.  We have an ocean going vessel so it is nice to get it in some ocean conditions once in awhile.     

 Speaking of ocean going vessels.....The English Capt of this sailing raft AnTiki   was 86 years old as he sailed it from the Canary Islands to St. Maarten, the reason was to travel to the same destination (Eleuthera) as the lifeboat in the book "Jolly Boat" that he had read as a child.  The lifeboat was launched from the British Merchant ship after it's sinking by a German Vessel, 7 men were onboard at the start of the 70 day drift, only two remained when they beached on Eleuthera.. The boat is anchored at Rock Sound at Cupid's Cay harbor. 

 Do Ya think they sell Kalik there?  This is my favorite beer of the Bahamas, well, it's the Bahamian Ting as the ad says!  The label on the bottle shows the cowbells  in hands and the sound the cowbells make when they are shaken are "Ka-Lik....Ka-Lik" well, you have never heard Ka-lik Ka-lik until you have driven 25 miles of bad road with a case of Kalik in the back where the liquor store salesperson removed the dividers between the bottles.  Jeeeeeeeez.  

 Buddy is a real spectacle in the marina, I have people ask me "do you have a baby on board; as I see you walking in the morning holding something?"  No Baby, just Buddy!  The other night a Capt on a fishing boat came over and asked if he could take a picture of our cat, sure...why?  Well, it seems like the bench full of fishing dudes over on the far dock are taking bets whether or not we have a cat or a dog as they were watching me walk him around the aft deck, what was funny is that I said "Let me take a photo with your phone of you holding him"  He backs away....... The photo is of Buddy getting my attention for another afternoon bounce when I was gone shopping for a couple of hours.  "Excuse me Ma'am...could I have a few moments of your time?"

Eleuthera to Compass/Staniel Cay...now back to Eleuthera!

 Today it was blowing out, but Bob wanted to check out some reefs that we were told about, also an area to find conch.  I can only say that there would have been a line a half mile long if they had that ride at Disney World;  a wild ride for sure, but Bob loves to bounce, bob and weave his way through surf, white caps, etc.  Me?  Well, I have all the faith in my Capt!  I would have taken a photo of the 3' waves with the tops blowing off as we went over them, but I wouldn't let go of the boat :)
Love ya Honey Bob!  He finally said "this is getting a little rough, maybe we should go in.."do ya think?"
Yesterday we found this rather deep reef a ways out, Bob saw a 3' Nassau Grouper that he pictured on his dinner plate.  He was using his Hawaiian sling spear, as he shot Mr. Grouper either the fish turned or Bob moved as the spear bounced off the Groupers head!  Bob said "I gave him a headache, now we will have to come back another day to relieve him of it"  Yummmm   I hope he is territorial...as we know where he lives!  I was diving down to see what Bob was after, when I saw him start for the surface and snapped this photo, one of my favorites so far this year!

 These are the quaint seaside villa's at Staniel Cay, the Watermaker Airline comes in here so we call this our "airport run" they have two grocery stores there, The Blue Grocery and The Pink Grocery; they are owned by Brothers and their families. 

 In the harbor where we tie up our tender in front of Staniel Yacht Club they always have sharks and sting rays swimming by, this shark who (thought he was perhaps a dog?) was rolling on his back to scratch his back.  I saw him do it twice,  aaaaah...that feels good!

 On the way back to Compass Cay you must always stop at Big Majors Cay where the locals keep pigs, due to the cruisers that came into this very safe cove, and fed the pigs their leftovers, they started swimming out to the boats for "vittles"  One tried to climb into our boat last year and Bob gave it a great B_ _ _h slap across it's snout.  We still laugh about it.  The locals have a pig roast once a year and say "thanks cruisers for fattening up our little piggies!"

 On the way back to Tuckers Compass Cay I saw a large orange spot on the sea floor and said "turn around Bob; I think I just saw a giant starfish!"  I did, I dove for it, and we took photographs then put it back in it's home at the bottom of the sea.  This is a large Cushion Starfish being held by Daughter Dylan.

 Rachels Bubble bath, one of the most picturesque places on earth I am sure, you find urchins, sea eggs, juvenile fish and lots of bubbles here!  Located on the north end of Compass Cay.

 Forget about Red Right Return for awhile.... just stay Left!  We called this sign "Driving for Dummies" but we didn't argue.  Driving on the left wasn't as hard to get used to as the steering wheel on the right side of the car.  I sat in "passenger seat" on left when Bob took his turn at the wheel, and whenever we would stop to at our destination I would put the car in park for him.  He grimaced a lot :) Even called me a control freak.  The first half hour was like being in church...
a lot of "O God & Jesus!" comments going on.

 Out cruising the coast for reefs I shot this exposed sandbar offshore with the storm cloud hovering overhead, love the contrasts!  There are so many places that are shallow, secluded spots that would be wonderful to teach those Grandkids how to swim/snorkel, next year I hope to have a herd of them here!

 Tarpum Bay Church by the Sea, how beautiful is this?  

 Bob and I talk to everyone; and while conversing with this gentleman (Oswald Ingraham) we found that he was speaker for Parliament for 11years, owns the hardware store where we bought Dominoes as that seems to be the game of choice here and we want to learn it; Bob is way ahead of me by the way..... (I know you all find that hard to believe).  On the way to the car we bought some fresh veggies from a vendor and ended up getting an incredible steamed fish recipe from him.  Bob made it and we bought thought it was every bit as good as any we have enjoyed at Bahamian restaurants.