It’s Friday and we are back anchored near town in George Town. Rob and Kandice are shopping while Brenda and Chris are aboard Pandora cleaning some shells that the kids plan on taking home with them. The last week has been a blur of fun and I have to say that keeping up with this group of 20 somethings has been a lot of fun but a bit much even for someone with high energy like Moi. After a lifetime of decaf coffee, I have had to resort to a bit of high test to even come close to keeping up.
Snorkeling, beach combing and evenings of rum and wine have left me feeling a bit worn but just so happy to have been able to spend time with them. The views of the ocean are just spectacular. Lots of limestone outcroppings to explore.
Pandora looks like she belongs in this lovely blue water? Hard to believe that it’s really this blue. 
The colors in every direction are just amazing. 
For the last few days we anchored in a lovely secluded harbor nearby but a bit off the beaten path, Red Shank. After several days immersed in the hubbub of Hamburger Beach and Volley Ball beaches, we decided that we needed a break from all the boats, there are something like 250+ in the harbor. Yes, the harbor is big but that’s still a lot of boats no matter how y0u count em. Some drop the hook and stay put for the entire winter. There is a very involved social scene there complete with morning announcements on the radio that sometimes take nearly an hour to go through.
Red Shank was such fun that we decided to say there for a few days. Nearby there was some great snorkeling complete with lots of fish, sea turtles and even a few rays.
Brenda and I have really enjoyed being here with the kids and are certainly a bit sad now that they are heading out and we plan to veg out for a few days while we recover for a few days to recover from trying to keep up with this herd that have kept us on our feet since their arrival on Saturday.
Red Shank is one of the nicest that Brenda and I have been in so far and yet it is only a short distance off of the beaten path. In spite of this it still feels like it’s somewhat remote compared with the more popular local anchorages.
Yesterday, when a small pod of dolphins arrived to check us out, Christopher dove in to swim with them. 
While they didn’t pay much attention to him, he was able to get quite close and one swam right under him. How exciting it was.
The other evening we were invited over to a large trawler powerboat that was from Louisiana by a very nice guy who was traveling with his two young children, a boy and girl seven and nine. We really enjoyed being shown his boat including the engine room, which had more space than the entire living space aboard Pandora. I wish that I had brought my camera along so you could see how nice the engine room was.
Having the kids aboard has been so much fun and one thing that has made the visit even more enjoyable is my watermaker. I installed the unit last winter and boy and I glad that I did. Having five aboard and in and out of the water all day long combined with elaborate meals each night with tons of cleanup has dramatically increased our water consumption. While I am not sure what our consumption has been, it’s probably about three to four times as high as normal. While Brenda and I are not that stingy with our water use, we still don’t use much more than 10-15 gallons on a “good” day with moderate use. However, with the gang here, I expect that our consumption is more like 40-50. That’s hard to imagine and wipes through most of our water in three days or so.
So, how much do I like the watermaker? About 40 gallons per day of like. While I ran the unit off of the generator for a few hours in the morning today, I continued to run it off of solar for several hours too. Happily, we have been able to keep things all topped up each day and ready for massive showering. I am so happy not to be the resident “water Nazi” aboard Pandora. It surely makes for more comfort and less concern about use makes for a happier life for all concerned.
With bandwidth so limited on our Batelco data plan, about 1/3 of what we really need to keep up with e-mail and blog posts, I will have to keep my photos to a minimum.
As soon as Christopher is back in the US, I’ll be able to resume sending posts to him via Sailmail and will be able to stretch my data allotment.
It’s hard to believe that our visit with the kids, if 26 and 28 are kids, is about over. It’s been just so much fun.
We didn’t have any luck catching lobster but did have some success spearing a few lion fish and cooked them up for dinner last night. More on that with some pix soon.
Oh, BTW, the 15hp engine is just so great.
This photo of Rob and Kandice say it all. What fun we have had!!!
Too much of a hurry to be sure that this is edited, even a little bit. Forgive the sloppiness. Got to try to keep up with the 20 something set. Whew!!!