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.