George Town, Exumas with Mike and Debbie

Hi All…Ben here checking out the fish over the side of the dinghy here in the Bahamas.

You might notice my new haircut that Debbie and Izzy gave me this morning.   I like it -  I’m feeling much cooler, but don’t tell them I said that. 

Yep, Mike and Debbie arrived from Irvine to have a week long vacation with us here in George Town, Exumas, Bahamas.  They had a long flight, complete with delays at the airports, arrival here after dark, a cab driver who dropped them off with confusing directions leading them away from the marina,  and  no happy hour!  Needless to say, they were glad to finally find us and sit down for a rum drink. 

Here they are the next morning after a restful sleep on the “Izzy R.” 

We walked around George Town to show them the sights and get the circulation back in their little feet after the long plane ride. 

We stopped at the corner where Momma's Bread truck usually parks under the tree.  

They were looking for some fresh coconut bread or cinnamon raisin, along with a big hug from Mamma.  She always gives you when you buy a loaf.

 

But she wasn’t there, and Debbie and Izzy were so disappointed.  Another lady selling fruit heard their distress and felt sorry for them, so she gave them each a hug instead.  Nice people here.

We took a dinghy ride into the little Lake Victoria, through the small inlet with the fast running current.

Sometimes you have to wait for another boat to come out, because there isn’t room for two in the channel.

This is the dinghy dock early in the morning before the crowd arrives and fills it up.

We spent the next few days across the harbor at Stocking Island where most of the cruisers boats are anchored or moored, and where most of their activities take place.

This is Volleyball Beach . 

I like to think of it as "Conch Salad Beach"  because I get to have some conch salad, burgers and a beer here with Jeff every now and then while he plays volleyball with the other cruisers.

this sign tell how far it is to different places.  I couldn't fine Irvine on it, but I think we are a long way from there.

Just so you know, this place serves a lot of beer- in case you can't tell from the Kalik barge.

We met a new friend from Germany named Tom, and his girlfriend, Barbel, while we were in The Land and Sea Park, and he is here in George Town too.  This is his boat.  He invited Jeff and Izzy over for dinner one night, and they came back laughing and smelling like wine.  They forgot to eat the ice cream that Izzy and Jeff took, and Tom doesn't have a freezer on his boat,  so he drank it for breakfast the next morning. 

Tom's boat is named "Hoppetossa" - named after Pippy Longstocking's father's boat.

This is the popular Conch Salad hut on Volleyball Beach where we took Mike and Debbie the next day.

This is Johnny making our order.

The Chat 'N' Chill is on that beach too.  Do you see that little sign stuck over the door?

It was from the "3-Thirty-3"  restaurant in Newport Beach, CA.  Just when I thought I was far away from all the familiar places 

Mike and Debbie started off at Chat 'N' Chill slow with a couple Kaliks and a game of Dominoes -made challenging by the less than complete sets.   Is that two double sixes I see there??

Add to that, their lack of knowing the real rules.  I think Izzy just made them up and spouted them off with enough confidence that everyone believed her.  You know how she does that.  Anyway, no one seemed to mind – or know any better.  The Kaliks probably helped.

Everything happens on Volleyball Beach...even church!

When they had their fill of dominoes, Debbie and Mike read a while and soaked up some sun.

But pretty soon Debbie and Jeff decided to show off their California beach volleyball skills on the court with the rest of the cruisers.

Jeff said they spanked the other team.  I was watching the game, but I didn’t see any spanking going on, or even a rolled up newspaper.

Then it was rest time again, before the barbecued ribs, peas and rice and cabbage slaw.  Debbie got herself a Chat ‘n’ Chill t-shirt and relaxed.

Jeff got busy ordering ribs

and we chowed on those ribs along with other Bahamian foods like peas and rice, Mac and Cheese, cabbage slaw, and of course, Rum Blasters and Kalik! 

As the sun went down over the anchorage with our row of beached dinghies awaiting our return trip home, we saw Mike and Debbie relax into the island life. 

The next day we went to Hamburger Beach, just up from Volleyball Beach in Elizabeth Harbor where there was another beach bar (what a surprise, eh?), serving …hamburgers, of course. 
So we stopped in  for lunch.  Now, I consider myself an expert on the quality of hamburgers, having started out with MacDonalds while traveling across the US in a car several times with Jeff and Izzy, and moving up to Burger King, Carl’s Jr, Wendy’s, Five Guys, and In-and- Out by the time we got to California.    I can tell you this place had good hamburgers.  But it won’t beat the fat, juicy gourmet ones from Koopers in Baltimore, or the GastroPub in Fort Lauderdale.

Here’s Debbie bringing down a beer for me.

And Jeff and Mike are right behind with theirs.

We picked out a picnic table under the palapa by the water for our lunch.  Yumm!  I hope Chat ’N’ Chill will take some lessons from Hamburger Beach on how to make a fat juicy burger that isn’t over cooked

Debbie and Mike liked it here and found a lot for sale.

Maybe we’ll be visiting THEM next year! Debbie would have to add a salad bar to the menu at the restaurant, and Mike would need a Starbucks machine. I hope they’ll have a Bark Park.

One day they left me on the boat to be the OWD (Official Watch Dog) while they went to some fancy pants place called February Point for Tea.  They had a lot of different Bahamian foods, Lemongrass tea, and rum punch. 

After a few of those rum punches, they all danced to some Reggae music before coming back home to play more dominoes.

Wash all that down with a little water and they're ready to start partying again.

Just up the coast from George Town is a place called the Emerald Bay Club, which is a new harbor next to the Sandals Resort.   We dinghied around in the deep channels that have been cut for future condos, and then got a ride in a golf cart to the poolside bar at Sandals for…. what else …  a rum punch!

There’s a good snorkeling spot right outside the harbor there where Mike and Debbie and Jeff and Izzy went for a swim.

They saw a school of pretty little white fish around the reef, and a big Barracuda right in the middle of them, following them around and looking for lunch - if you know what I mean. They didn’t want to be on the menu or appear to be poaching on his school of unknowing little fishies, so they swam in another direction.

Jeff picked up a big conch shell on the bottom that didn’t have a conch in it anymore.  It was in perfect condition, so he gave it to Debbie for a souvenir.  Maybe she’ll learn to blow down the sun like Hank does for me, playing “Who Let The Dogs Out.”  I’ll see if Izzy can get her the sheet music. 

There’s a big sandy beach on the other side of Stocking Island that we walked to one afternoon so we could go snorkeling.  I’m not very good at snorkeling…can’t get my mask to stay clear, and it’s hard to keep the snorkel in my mouth…lips just aren’t the right shape.  And the FINS…..that’s another story!  So I just go for the lunch part.

Anyway, I guess they saw a bunch of coral there and a lot of fish.  They came back yakking about things like rock fish, parrot fish and grouper.   They didn’t bring any back with them, so I guess it’s Purina for dinner again tonight.

 

We said good bye to Mike and Debbie and sent them back to Irvine.  I hope we’ll see them on the boat  again.  They like the “Izzy R” and besides - they know how to do boat chores by now.

Now it's a week before Sandy and Dimitry arrive in Staniel Cay.  I hope we go back to the swimming pigs with them!

Till next time...

Love,

Ben