it's been fun

Sea of Abaco
26 35.74 N 077 05.71 W

Well, I just put Nancy on the plane to take her back to Boston. It has been great fun having her here. Libby and I love having company on the boat; especially family. (Hint Hint Hint) It entertains them, it entertains us, and it provides proof to the external world that we are not just making up all this stuff on the blog about having continuous fun.

Yesterday, Nancy and Libby rode the ferry to Hopetown to have a ladies day out. According to the reports I got back, they had a great time. The ferry ride was nice. They got invited into people's houses for tours. They got free rides around on golf carts as nice people stopped to offer them rides. They toured all the nice parts of Hopetown, but not the lighthouse. They had a fantastic lunch at a restaurant overlooking the sea.

After lunch, Nancy put on her swim suit, snorkel and mask, and went swimming. The beach at Hopetown is not only beautiful, but there are reefs just a few yards away from shore that can be excellent for snorkeling. That was good for Nan because snorkeling was one activity that we didn't have a chance to do earlier in this week. Nancy was duly impressed by the clean clear water and the multi colored fish and coral all around her. She said it was like swimming in an aquarium. Forgotten however was the underwater camera and food to feed the fish. The fish around here are so tame that if a tourist starts feeding them, they come out from all their holes and swarm around the feeder.

They visited the gift shops, and then found a coffee house where they relaxed until the ferry took them back.

Me? In the meantime, I was doing engine maintenance most of the day. Oil changes, alternator belt, clean up the engine compartment and the bilge, and prepare Tarwathie for an offshore passage. When the ladies returned I tried to play the poor boy having to do dirty, hot, sweaty, labor all day while they luxuriated elsewhere. I didn't fool them a bit and I got no sympathy.

Now, I'm at the airport and Jim R's plane isn't due for another 6 hours. What shall I do? Why I'm gathering materials for more pine needle baskets. Now it is Libby and me and Nancy all making baskets in parallel. It's a great pastime. I also hope to snag a WIFI connection to post this blog but so far it isn't working. No all that is a smoke screen. My real mission this morning is to stay off the boat and out of Libby's way as she prepares for another guest.

UPDATE: Now it is 6 hours later. The WIFI at the airport never did work.

Jim arrived fine, about 10 minutes ahead of schedule. He said that he never had tighter connections than today, but he made the flights. We rode a taxi to the dock, rode the dinghy to Tarwathie, weighed anchor, stopped for fuel and water. Now we're under full sail, doing 5-6 knots, and everything is beautiful. We'll anchor tonight at Baker's Bay. Tomorrow morning we'll cross The Whale and head for Green Turtle Cay. The festival activities start at noon tomorrow on Green Turtle and it should be great fun.