Another day of gin clear blue water & then back to traffic....Mansions & Nassau!

If ya gotta leave...this is the way to end our winter in the Bahamas, the most beautiful weather imaginable... then entering the Nassau harbor you pass a few of the above mansions, then find our slip at Nassau Harbor Club where we will wait for Dan Himes to join us on Memorial Day, then we head off to explore the Berry Islands.  Dan was our delivery capt when we bought Veda L in 1999, now I call him Bob's playmate as they both love the boating, diving, lobstering life, his playdate will last a week until we go back to Coconut Grove where he lives.  The lower left photo shows small patch reefs and soft coral in about 15' of water as we leave Rock Sound a couple days ago. The aqua blue water was our approach to Nassau yesterday.

Veda L...You are not in Eleuthera anymore! Click our sandals together and take us home!

Buddy at 19 is such a trooper!  He very politely requests his bounce or bounces every morning with a gentle tap on my leg while he looks up at me with a soft mew....  He is saying "Excuse me Ma'm but could I have just a few moments of your time for a lovely little bounce?  He has to be over my left shoulder and I have to pat his bottom softly and whisper sweet nothings in his furry little ears....  Just saw that the oldest cat alive according to Guinness is only 25 years old.  Buddy can surpass that as we know that purring is like yoga....his secret to longevity!  Note his puddy paws...6 toes that would make the Hemingway cats in Key West hide their pathetic little paws in shame!

No, Bob did not pick up someone else's catch when their head was turned; he caught every one of these 13 Mahi Mahi and 4 Tuna with his own fishing gear on Veda L!  We firmly believed that fish purposely veered off their course not to go near us, the only fish we felt were caught by us were very old or demented fish who probably wanted to end their lives.

This is Bob with Lyndon on the left (duh..really?) who is our friend, boat detailer and fish finder!  We met Lyndon last year  as he cleaned our boat on a weekly basis, then would ask us if we wanted to go fishing with him, who needed a guide right??   We have a boat, there is the sea...here is our bait....then the fish will come....WRONG.  This year we gave Lyndon a chance at fishing and the photos above were the end result.  We have never come back empty handed with him. but this was the ultimate!  We were just laughing each time he would yell FISH ON!  FISH ON!   FISH ON! as sometimes we had a fish on all three lines.  I lost one large bull Mahi that I was reeling in, and was secretly happy as it looked like his mate was swimming with him, of course Lyndon said "then we catch her too, then they be together!"  Bob and I decided that he has the eyes equivalent of an eagle as he would see frigate birds that we couldn't find with our binoculars.   

Just one of the interesting sights we see while taking our early morning walk...a circular pile of soldier crabs probably about a foot wide, upon close inspection (and with my macro lens) you can see the beautiful shells that they have chosen as their home, and according to Wikipedia.....this is their reproduction method.  Sex orgy...very indiscriminate.

Veda L was very happy to call this slip at Davis Harbour her home sweet slip since last November, we did leave on occasion, to go home for Christmas and to travel to Aruba, but mostly we stayed at Davis Harbour...and why not?  Great windsurfing...(See Bob Fly!) I clocked him at 25mph!  Fishing is great between "home" and Little San Salvadore , an hour and a half cruise, a lovely creek is great for my SUP, and the staff are beyond friendly, they are truly our family.
 

No photo shop needed....but I did SCREAM when I looked out the window after dinner and saw this!  It was so beautiful and intense that it was almost scary.  I took this from atop Veda L's fly bridge for the birds eye view.

The most fun ever...giving our Grandgirls their fist Bahama experience!  Rachael (top left with the seaweed "do") just emailed me and said that little Evie (3yrs) below on top left, is always talking about the Ah-hamas and tells stories of her trip,which is what this trip was all about...building confidence in new experiences.  The last night on the boat we watched the sun drop into the sea and Evie said "there goes my sun!"  Ms.Amelia took to being surfer girl on my SUP while at Exuma Land and Sea Park and took turns on it with Mom Rachael.  That is Amelia (bottom right) who came walking down the beach proclaiming that she had mermaid hair...she turned 5 while with us and we had a wonderful party at Compass Cay with marina owner Tucker Rolle and his Brother Preston as her special invited guests.  She said "I want some friends to come!"  So they did!  The kids rented a home on Compass Cay called Mango House, the girls would walk down to the boat to see us, but would call first on the hand held radio to let us know to meet them at "the picnic table" Lots of new things...no cell phones...hand held radio communications!

The girls were told to keep an eye out for orange spots in the water to see if they could find starfish, they found two HUGE star cushions,  Grandpa dove in to bring them up to pose for photos, and let the girls examine them, then Amelia said "it is alive, so we have to put it back now"  a good study she is!  Of course we had to go to Big Major's near Staniel Cay to feed the swimming pigs, and of course they tried to get in the tender...which made it fun!  Down Piggy!!   The girls have been in swimming lessons, but only used swim goggles.  We had kid sized mask/snorkel/fin sets for them and were more than surprised when Amelia was actually diving down under the water to count the nurse sharks that hang out at Compass Cay under the dock.  Amelia also went into the silver palm jungle growth to pick up this very large hermit crab, which did end up giving her a nip...and she gave it a flying lesson.......

Amelia says "my favorite color is sea foam blue"  and most often she was surrounded by it! We took a night off from Mango House and all spent the night on Veda L at the Exuma Land & Sea Park.  Headquarters shown on top.  The reconstructed bones of a whale show us what happens when plastic is ingested, as they have a bag of plastic items that was found in the whales stomach as it washed ashore.  Little Evie Rose is showing off the shell necklace that Grammy and her made while at the Sea Park.

Leaving Davis Harbour we spent the night anchored off Rock Sound after exploring Schooner Cays, the next day we enjoyed calm, gin clear water almost all the way to Shroud Cay where we picked up a mooring ball and spent the night.  We took a ride in the tender up the creek , through the middle of the Cay to the Sound,  as we went around the bend what should I see but a flippin' cairn.  I get cairns.  Being a hiker I was accustomed to seeing them along trails showing you the way, however.....  People building these piles of rocks just to show that they were there before you is to me a type of graffiti... I am a fan of leaving things as you find them in nature.  So, I did my thing and took it apart...there, fixed the view!  Thank you Bob for dropping me off on shore to do my thing!

Aruba!  We spent a month there during Carnaval so that I can once again "jump" in four of the parades, two of them being lighting parades and the others daytime events.  I think my feet are still tingling from all the dancing!  Strinda (who has been my very good friend since 1989) chooses the group with the best music and the sexiest costumes, a real good reason for me to keep working out for sure.  We had pleated wings that were lit for night time,  words cannot describe the feeling of the music, the beauty and the DANCING!  Even though we are in pain and tired, we don't want it to end. (there is not a shoe that feels good on your feet after dancing 6 hours)

Deep Creek Middle School is a very environmentally conscious school where the children design their own projects,such as recycling programs, reef protection ideas, conch & fishing sustainability,etc.   The main school building is shown upper left, below we have the recycling system shown to us by our student guides.  The next step these kids can take is to be involved in The Island School where they do hydro-planting, live in all solar powered dorms, and do research on eliminating lion fish from the reefs-which has been a huge cause of mine since they invaded the waters. At "graduation" they either swim 4 miles in the ocean or run a 10K....your choice!  Our guide at Island School was Luke who free dives 80' and is a student at MSU, down here doing research.  

Slipper Lobster brought up with just a glove for a photo op...pretty ugly, and very rare so we would never consider taking it.  The Lionfish on Bob's spear is our favorite way to serve them....fish kabob!  These little monsters can suck a reef dry of juveniles within a week, and you can see the damage they are doing with fewer fish on the reefs.  the boat load of Bahamians with not much freeboard were giving us "mercy conch" as we were not doing so well...and they were.  The other two photos were taken at "the bar" which is a shallow dive that I love, a sandbar that goes about 1/4 mile off shore and has depths of 2-15' is just a beautiful spot to find shells, sand dollars and such.  Bob follows me in the tender and collects the gems that I bring up.  One of my finds was a tulip shell that day.

Buddy....the Bahama Boating Cat turns 19!

We were fortunate enough to adopt Buddy 16 years ago, although diabetic he seems to be doing well due to our constant glucose checks and insulin adjustments.  We expect him to have many more Bahama cruises in his lifetime.  Ms Amelia loves Buddy so much, he has been the constant pet in her life, and he allows her to love the stuffin's out of him...sometimes she almost grits her teeth when she says "I love you so much Buddy"  Ted says that she is asking when Buddy is coming home..it will be the end of this month!  We leave Bahamas Jan. 27 to spend a couple weeks in MN before flying to Aruba for windsurfing and Carnival!   Ted and Rachael have a Vail ski trip planned, so the girls will be with Grammy, Grandpa AND Buddy for a few days. 

When Amelia had her tonsils out and spent some time recuperating at Grammy's last year, Buddy slept by her side as her loving companion!  Repaying the constant love she gives him.

Another Day....Another Lobster!

Each morning we start our day by walking down a sand road about 3/4 mi which ends at what I call Baby Beach, as it is a shallow cove perfect for small children to swim in, Deep Creek flows into the sea here, and if you are snorkeling you will enjoy the current taking you down the creek at a pretty good speed on an outgoing tide, plus the water is a warm 85+ degrees.  Once the current takes you to the sea, you feel as if you are in a whirlpool as the incoming waves come one way while the current takes you in another direction; a great discovery!  

Granted, we are not blessed with a sky like this EVERY night, but once in awhile you see the color coming over the treetops and you make a run for the beach before the sunset fades.  Mother Nature puts on a pretty spectacular show!

Dinner!  We are adding a rib eye with Bahamian Jerk seasoning and having surf and turf tonight!
Bob was relentless yesterday...just more reef...ok just one more reef.  I called him a reef-a-holic as it was like a drunk saying "just one more bar and then we will go home"

Love Eleuthera! Let me count the ways!

Bahamian ingenuity!  Flat tire and no jack?  Hey...I got a fork lift!

One of our favorite stops going to and from the airport; LaFleurs  veggie market, always a bounty to behold, and he will chop the top off a coconut to give you a refreshing coconut milk drink. He said he is angry with Martha Stewart as when she was visiting the island, she stopped by his stand, she published a picture of him taken in the rain which was not too becoming to him.

T.J.'s...the happening place in Green Castle, whether you are stopping by for a Kalik, a rum or a game of dominoes in the back room, you will be greeted as if you are an old friend.

How did we choose Eleuthera?  We have this man to thank!  Glen Roy Smith, Chief of Operations at Davis Harbour Marina.  He became our friend when he was Harbormaster at Emerald Bay on Exuma, and we missed him so decided to come see him last year to see what his new gig was all about.  When we entered the marina we felt like we were in old Bahamas, but yet had all the amenities we could wish for in a marina.  I had a wish.....I wanted to take some cargo net home to MN for installation on Buckhorn Beach, our summer St Croix River hangout.  Glen Roy is somewhat like Santa Claus, he makes wishes come true.  He & Bob cut, pulled and dragged a huge piece off a nearby beach, we rinsed it, packed it in a box and shipped it home when we got to Florida.... end result; happy GrandGirls and friends as they "hung out" in the cargo net! 

November 2013 was a happy homecoming for us as we once again returned to Davis Harbour on South Eleuthera.  I hate to tell people how wonderful it is as I would like to just keep it for ourselves, but since our friend Glen Smith took over as Director of Operations, this should become the idyllic destination for cruisers/sailors who are looking  for the real Bahamian experience in boating! 

Our happy staff!  We can not call them staff however... they are our family, (except for the two who I will leave unnamed who scared the B-Jeezus out of me today with a big ol snake-dead but still a snake....  First one I have seen thank God. 

Bob's sail hut; we found out last year that the sea in front of the marina is also a perfect windsurf area, Bob has miles beautiful clear and mostly shallow waters to himself!

Here he comes in for a jibe!

Just one of the several lobster that did not  move fast enough  to avoid his spear!

Another bounty from the sea....conch!  Yummy, but only Bob can do the cleaning, too icky for me, but I sure do like to eat them once they are caught, cleaned, tenderized and cooked by the Capt!

We took our friend   Daryl (divemaster) with us on a fishing trip on Veda L, these Mahi Mahi both hit a line at the same time, so it was pretty fun bringing in two at the same time.

 OK....I didn't land it; but I drove the boat while Bob landed it!

My stand up paddle board, also known as an SUP, I watched a large eagle ray glide beneath my board that day, yes, that is really the color of the water...swimming pool blue!

July 8-9th  was a busy weekend with over 800 visitors to our garden, Teary O'hara and I (he is our self pro-claimed garden fairy) and I worked for weeks to prepare for the two day event; the tour bus pulling up to our driveway did surprise us a little!  Visitors said that our garden was one of their favorites as it was full of whimsy and surprises, Amelia and Evie Rose show off one of the water features, that is Teary with his little Miata loaded with posies!  Teary even brought in a banana plant as a focal point, I added a sign that said "I don't remember planting this!"

June 25 is a special day as Evie Rose and I share a  birthday on that date!  This year she was into horses and wanted a "My Little Pony" cake, of course we took it a step further and had the miniature horse foundation bring 3 little horses to our yard for the kids to groom and ride, the horses provide a great service for elderly and disabled children, but for a sizeable donation they will bring the horses to private functions.

Some mid-summer shots of our Amelia clowning around and just posing her cute self!  Yes, we keep her in chains on the beach, or in a cargo net, she gets a little wild and needs to be controlled!  She loves her Buddy the cat for sure!

July was a time to celebrate family time with our beautiful Grandchildren in Peru, Santi 4 and Miranda 3, after spending a couple of days at their new home in Lima, we traveled to Punta Sal, a lovely resort that we enjoyed for a week of fun, getting reacquainted with the kids took about 2 minutes...   Sand, surf, lots of good food, the best part was spending quality time with those kids!

Evie Rose, age 3 doing her hat modeling routine on the Buckhorn Beach on the St Croix River, MN

On our naturalist tour on Andros we were shown all the different plants used in bush tea....

Bob was given lessons on how to catch crabs using first his feet and then being quick with his fingers!

Pictures of a blue hole on Andros with a diving platform (or jumping platform in my case) with treads to give you a running start.  

No trip to Fish Creek on Andros is complete without a visit to Androsia fabric factory, I bought dresses for the girls, very beautiful photo op's with the fabrics blowing in the breeze!

These photos say "what a difference an hour makes!"  from glassy calm to turbulence and rain on our approach to Fish Creek Andros

We loved the sign "do not enter...Very Bad Dogs...the name of the stoneware shop is Pina Colada on Eleuthera, pretty colorful but guess we will not get out o the car.....

The night was dark, the car died continuously if we had the wipers and/or AC on to keep windshield clear, the drivers (Bob & I) were not that accustomed to driving on the left side, and only about 1/2 of the oncoming cars dimmed their lights.  Our dream machine died going up a cut like this one on a pitch dark night.  We had to push it over the top so we would not get hit by oncoming traffic,  we kisses Davis Harbour ground as we got back to the boat.