Hi All...Ben here getting a ride in the dinghy at Tahiti Beach,
Well, the one day delay soon turned into a two day delay as we discovered that to get to Marsh Harbor, we needed to take our boat through the unpredictable Whale Cay passage which can get pretty knarly with the wrong combination of winds and tides. When the sea gets wild like that, they call it the “Rage”, and our planned travel day had just that dreaded combination.
While we waited in Green Turtle Cay for the Rage to improve, we were without any cell phone service, and spotty internet service for communication with Matt and Aaron. Enter stage right, tornadoes in both Miami and the Abacos, closing down the airports, and keeping the "Izzy R" in Green Turtle Cay another day. More delays getting the guys to the "Izzy R". Spring Break was slowly slipping away. Luckily Pineapples Restaurant was right up the hilll and had good rum drinks for Jeff and Izzy and me!
The bartender, Yvonne, is real nice and had a fnacy hairdo for Easter.
Izzy gave me some of her cracked conch, and Jeff gave me some of his sweet potatoe fries...yummmmm. Better than Purina. A guy could get used to this people food.
Jeff worked madly to get in touch with Aaron and Matt to figure out alternative transportation to meet us in Green Turtle Cay instead. Here he is in the borrowed golf cart he took to “the phone” in the little village of New Plymouth. Looks like the trunk is well “Kalik-quipped” if he gets thirsty after he finishes that rum drink on the bumper.
What? NO PETS ALLOWED ???
Apparently they don't realize that I write the blog.
We got to see a little of the town of New Plymouth during those trips to the phone, with it's tiny streets only wide enough for a golf cart. A place with golf carts, but no golf course. Strange. Must be island -style, eh Mon? ( that's Bahamian talk)
We passed the local cemetary - I think there were only 5 different last names in there. Hmmmm....
There were some local dogs without collars or tags that seemed to think they owned the place. I wanted to make friends, but they weren't goin' for it. I was glad I was in the golf cart that day. Maybe they were jelaous.
Here I am at the museum in New Plymouth on Green Turtle Bay, biding my time listening to the history of the Abacos settlement while the weather improves and we wait for Aaron and Matt to find us.
We spent our time exploring the town, eating the good Bahamian food, and drinking the local rum drinks.
Here's Jeff at the popular "Sundowners" restaurant and bar. It gets real crowded here about 6 o'clock each evening. There's a convenient pole there on the dance floor, but Izzy wouldn't let me pee on it.
Hank and Ann from "Queen Ann's Revenge" joined us in exploring the island. Here's Hank scaring Ann and getting her all wet in the rough sea while they ride in their dinghy up to White Sound for lunch. I know how she feels, cause Jeff's done that to me before too.
Finally, Matt and Aaron got a ride with the fish delivery lady from the Marsh Harbor airport to Treasure Cay, and then hopped a Ferry to Green Turtle Cay. They got dropped off right at our boat and were definitely ready to get into “island time” with us.
Matt was the first one out of the ferry
while he left his big brother, Aaron, to pay the fare.
We were all happy that they had finally arrived, and we made a bee-line to Pineapples Beachside Bar for many rum drinks and Cheeseburgers in Paradise. The fun had begun at last.
On our way to Marsh Harbor the next day we tried our hands at fishing again – no bites, as usual. Thought maybe the boys would bring us better luck, but I guess their technique isn’t any better than ours. We need Dimitry or Steven back on board if we want to catch any fish for dinner.
We stopped at the famous "Nippers" on Great Guana Cay for lunch. We had to walk through the little town and follow the signs up a path to the top of a hill overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Hank and Ann came with us, too.
There we found the funky restaurant and bar with pastel umbrellas and tables, perched on a hill with a beautiful view of the sandy beach and multicolored ocean and the inviting waves rolling up on the shore. Looked like a picture out of a magazine.
Aaron and Matt headed right down to the water for exploring,
and so did we. Here are Hank and Ann heading down to the soft, soft sandy beach.
This is how Nippers looks from the beach.
I took this picture of the boys with Jeff and Izzy on Nippers beach before lunch.
Aaron couldn’t resist the invitation of the waves for a little body surfing.
The water was real clear and warm
I was a little leery of the wave action, so I only got my legs wet, like Izzy and Jeff.
They were playing Reggae music on the deck of the restaurant, and people were starting to dance and sing.
That night Jeff and the boys headed to Curly Tails for fun and music in Marsh Harbor. Since it was kind of quiet there, they tried to get the bartender to give them a ride to the local sports bar. When she refused that opportunity, they tried to borrow her car. Those rum drinks go down easy, eh?
We still had to pack a lot into the few days we had left with Aaron and Matt.
Our first stop the next day was for snorkeling at Sandy Cay Reef where we anchored our boat in the sand right near the edge of a big underwater reef full of fish of all sizes.
Our first stop the next day was for snorkeling at Sandy Cay Reef where we anchored our boat in the sand right near the edge of a big underwater reef full of fish of all sizes.
Everyone put on those big rubber feet and funny goggles with the tube sticking up. By the time they got all dressed up I couldn’t tell who was who.
I decided to stay on the boat to protect the sandwiches.
They came back with lots of fish stories…big ones, small ones, amd multicolored ones. With all that talk, I’m not sure why they can’t catch one on a fishing pole.
Before we pulled up the anchor, Matt and Aaron practiced their high diving techniques off the top of the fly bridge into the clear water.
Our next stop was Tahiti Beach. It didn’t look like much at high tide when we passed it earlier that day, but at low tide that afternoon, there was a long, white, sandy beach there.
We got the dinghy down and took it to the shore. I got to go too, since the sandwiches were gone, and my job was done.
Matt and Aaron dragged the dingy onto the beach in the shallow water while I was trying to quickly put on my life vest. I wasn’t quite sure how deep it was, and I’ve had a few bad experiences jumping into water over my head, you know. Izzy gave me a big push in the rear and plopped me into the water.
I'm so confused...most of the time she tells me I can't jump out of the dinghy, and now she's throwing me out! Anyway, I found to my surprise that the water was nice and warm, and it only came up to my knees. It was GREAT! I LOVED IT!I Jeff took off my leash and that doofy yellow life vest that makes me look fat, and I romped and played like I was a puppy again.
The sand was real soft, and I found some seaweed that smelled like fish and made me want to pee...so when no one was looking, I did.
A nice man on vacation who missed his dog took a picture of all of us there. I'm gonna put it over my bed. I love this beach!
After romping in the shallow water and chasing the little schools of shiney white fish for a while, Jeff and Izzy and I got back on the "Izzy R" and headed up the coast to Hopetown. Matt and Aaron took the dinghy and cruised around making big waves and exploring the coastline.
Jeff gave them the usual dinghy instructions:
1. This is a balloon...don't pop it.
2. Keep the people in the boat.
3. Keep the water out of the boat
4. Keep the boat in the water.
By the time they came back, they were both wet and laughing. I think they only abused Rule # 3 above, as far as I could tell.
That night we hooked onto a mooring ball at HopeTown and dinghied to shore to the Harbor's Edge Restaurant to have drinks and listen to the music that was filling the harbor. It was Spring Break for lots of famlies, so the place was packed. To Aaron and Matt's chagrin, the only "hot chicks" were either too old, too young or on the barbecue menu.. I heard Matt tell Aaron that if they were only 16 again, they'd be in heaven. Sorry guys.
The next morning we headed back to Mangoes Marina in Marsh Harbor.
I stayed back and ...um...cleaned up the boat while Izzy and Jeff took the boys to Curly Tails for late breakfast. Their waitress was the same girl whose car they tried to borrow a few nights before, so she remembered them. They came back complaining about the $10 burrito, and the fact that she still wouldn't give them a ride to the sports bar.
That night we watched another beautiful Bahamian sunset,
while Hank performed his nightly ritual of blowing the sun down with his conch shell.
Most guys just play one long single note, but Hank plays the "Flight of the Bumblebee". Ann wants him to learn "Yellow Bird". I'd like him to play "Who Let the Dogs Out."
Matt and Aaron had to catch their flight back to reality, and get back to school in CA, so we called the same fish lady to take them to the airport. We had a lot of fun with them, so I hope they'll come back again soon.
Check back with me in a few days, cause I have a lot of catching up to do on this blog. Wendy and Sandy's visit is next.
Love,
Ben
No comments:
Post a Comment