Still Tanning My Toes in the Abacos

Hi All…Ben here still tanning my toes in the Abacos.

It’s been an action-packed couple of weeks since Wendy and Sandy left us.  On our way back into Marsh Harbor from dropping Wendy and Sandy at Treasure Cay, we caught a small fishing boat that was anchored in the harbor.  Apparently the Bahamian fishing license has some added benefits.  We haven’t had any luck with our  poles, and there’s no fish to be found in the stores, so I guess Jeff just decided to hook the fisherman’s boat and see what we could get there.   The guy on the boat wasn’t too happy, and I guess there weren’t any fish in there either, because I saw  Izzy throw it back. 

 

Our friend Randy Whaley from “Prime Time V” met us at the dock in his dinghy. We haven’t seen him since Charlevoix, Michigan.  Prime Time is anchored out in the harbor and he saw us coming in. Hope he didn’t see the hooking of the fishing boat thing.

For a couple of days we had my new Rasta  friends, Gladstone and Andrew, washing and waxing the outside of the boat.

 

Gladstone even helped Jeff fix my yard. I liked listening to them sing along with the Reggae music that Jeff turned on for them,   and wondering what the heck is under their hats.

One day we took all our dock friends from Mangoes Marina  over to Great Guana Cay on the “Izzy R” to go to the famous Sunday afternoon Pig Roast at Nippers. Here are some of the folks having a good time on the way over.

 

Here we all are at Nippers up on the top deck

 

I got hand outs from everyone.

I think this is the “Tomato ting”

 

Mac and cheese, roasted wild boar, and  BEANS – watch out!

There was lots of dancing.  

I had a great spot for viewing right at the top of the upper patio steps.  The waitress liked me and gave me some extra treats.

 

I noticed a  cute little blonde across the dance floor, but she left before I could ask her to dance with me.

Instead I found this dance partner.  At least she’s closer to my own age.

 

Maybe I’ll take her home to Jeff.

 

and I’ll just have another beer with Randy.

 

Another day we made quite an entrance at a place called Little Harbor.  We knew it was going to be shallow at the entrance, so Jeff planned to arrive there at high tide.  Timing to get in wasn’t perfect, but Hank went first to see how deep the water was - showed 6 feet of water all the way. He anchored just fine. 

But we ran into a shallow spot and couldn’t get off into the deeper water.  Unfortunately the tide started to go down, and when it goes down here, it does it pretty fast.

Jeff decided to get in the water to check out the problem.  He got the new scuba gear all ready, put on his fins, snorkel and mask.

He felt pretty silly when he plunged in to the 3 foot deep water!

Probably don’t need all the equipment, Jeff.

As the tide lowered even more, we tipped sideways. Before long we were sitting right there in the middle of the channel like this. 

 

Should be called “Shallow” Harbor

Uh-oh…Low tide isn’t until 1:58 pm – it’s now only 10:30 am!  It'll get lower before it gets high again.  Guess we just have to wait.

So, for a few hours they had a new channel marker for Little harbor until the tide came back up.

They could use another one anyway!

I think Jeff decided we’d look less silly if he got in and cleaned the bottom of the boat…as if this was a planned activity!

Izzy and I hung on to the boat rails, while Jeff got in and cleaned the right side of the bottom of the boat that was conveniently out of the water. 

It was like being the subject of a freak show…tour boats slowed down and the people took pictures of us as if we were part of a zoo attraction or something. Izzy and I tried to look nonchalant…reading our books, sitting in the sun strapped to the life rails, smiling and waving at the passing tour boats.

Meanwhile Hank and Ann were enjoying a cheeseburger and a beer at Pete’s Pub. I was just trying not to roll off the side of the boat, and  Izzy made me wear that geeky yellow life vest that makes me look fat. This was embarrassing.
Traveling with these two is not easy.

 

I probably won’t “get lucky” on shore here tonight.

I heard Jeff say, “There’ll be some drinkin’ tonight!”
 … he probably won’t get lucky either.

 

At 2:30 the water was high enough for Hank and Ann to help us swing off the grass and back into the channel with their dinghy.

We quickly went the rest of the way into the harbor, picked up a mooring ball and settled in to try to become inconspicuous for a while.  Pete’s Pub was just a short dinghy ride away, so Jeff and Izzy relaxed with a couple rum drinks with Hank and Ann.

 

They did a lot of laughing at Jeff’s expense. Of course he kept insisting that I was driving.
I think Hank and Ann have figured him out, because they just winked at me and gave me a lot of petting and dog bones.

At least I got a day at the pool after that when we arrived back in West End.   We’ll be heading back to the US tomorrow, so I’m going to soak up the sun and relax for the afternoon here with a  rum drink.

I’ll write again soon.

Love,

Ben