Staying still against my will. Sort of…

It’s Saturday morning and today marks the one week point since I arrived here from Ft Lauderdale.  I am making special note of this milestone as it’s hard for me to sit still for very long and I have been here for a while now and there is no end insight.  It’s not like me to stay put as I have a reputation of NEVER SITTING STILL, FOR EVEN A MINUTE!   There you are. I HAD to say it.  “Bob, no need to say it, we already knew! Relax. Down boy, down boy!”

Poor Brenda wakes up each morning to an onslaught from me that has much in common with Tigger from Winnie the Poo.  And that’s before she has had a cup of coffee.

Me?  I like to get up and go.  And, that’s why I am struggling to stay put after a whole week.  And, that’s on top of being in Ft Lauderdale for two weeks before crossing over to the Bahamas.  TWO WEEKS in one place.

Now that we are here all I can think of is where are we going to go next and what are we going to do while we are here.  “Brenda, want to go for a walk?  How about a trip to the grocery?  Want to go to the beach?  Let’s walk down the dock?  What?  You want to enjoy your coffee first?  Oh yeah, you just got up.  Ok, we’ll wait a while.  WHEN do you want to go for a walk?  TODAY?”   Besides, I have already had coffee…two cups.   “Want to go for a walk?”

Brenda is very supportive of my blog and I sometimes find myself wondering if it’s because it takes me quite a while to write post and that gives her some peace for a little while at least.  “Bob, it’s been a few days since you have written in your blog.”  Hmm…

“Brenda, want to go for a walk?”

As I said, I have been here for a week and the weather has been just about everything we could imagine during that time, short of a hurricane.  It’s been fabulously sunny, torrential rain, overcast, dead calm and windy.  Yesterday Brenda and I headed out to empty the holding tanks (you don’t poop in your nest).  We left the harbor and headed over the banks for a few miles.  Along the way, a pod of dolphins visited.  It was just great.  They cavorted on our bow pressure wave for a bit and then disappeared as quickly as they came.  I find them endlessly entertaining.  As quickly as they arrived, they were gone. The harbor where we are staying is very protected, which is good as most anchorages in the Bahamas are open to the west which means that you have to move and find shelter when a front comes through with it’s clocking winds.   A particularly strong front is coming our way and will bring several days of west wind.  That’s not common as most fronts only bring west winds for a short time and this one will last several days.  It’s good to be here with 360 protection.

The only entrance to this harbor was carved out of the limestone. It’s very narrow and about 15′ deep.  It’s pretty daunting to approach it as it is so tight.  If it weren’t for the waypoint to steer for on the Explorer Charts and the welcome sign at the entrance, you’d never find your way in.  Yes, there’s a marker but it’s tough to see unless you are quite close to the cut.   A couple from another boat in the marina were surveying the cut when we arrived.  “Smile for the camera.”  Not hard to do at Great Harbor Cay, that’s for sure. There are plenty of activities here and on Monday nights the folks in the marina have a “drink and drift” where everyone ties their dinks together out in the harbor and float around.  More than a dozen participated with us.  It’s a nice way to get to know the folks on other boats.

They also organize outings and there was a tour through the mangroves and a run down to the other end of the island, about 2 miles away.   Quite a few boats participated.
We wound our way through impossibly narrow passages in the mangroves that led to a beautiful section of shallows on the other side of the island. Everyone stopped for some beach time.  There were a lot of dogs in attendance and they seemed to love their time in the water together.   Dogs are very popular with cruisers but most/all of the canines aboard are of the “mighty dog” sort.  Large of bark but small of stature.   However, from my perspective, small or large they track plenty of sand aboard. Yuck.  When a front comes through, along with nasty winds, they usually bring amazing sunrises.  You know, the whole “red sky in morning, sailor take warning” thing.  And this, front inspired, sunrise that arrived in Ft Lauderdale just before Bill and I crossed was quite a sight.   .
And, speaking of Ft Lauderdale, some of the boats that we saw there were pretty impressive.  Remember the pilot boat that stopped to compliment me on Pandora in Ft Lauderdale harbor?  He passed us again as we were making our way out of the inlet to cross.  I like the lines on these “all weather” boats. Very solid. I also saw a boat that Brenda and I had raced against in the Newport Bucket Regatta a while back aboard the megayacht Marie. P2 is a remarkable yacht.  She handily won the three day series.    She was built of carbon fiber in Italy in 2008 and was recently for sale.  The asking price?  A tad under $10,000,000. Too late, she was sold in early 2016.  However, you can probably still charter her with 9 of your closest friends.  All boats in Ft Lauderdale aren’t HUGE.  This lovely cruiser turned my head.  Although not quite quickly enough to get a close up shot of her.  I love the raised bow. Well, the day isn’t getting any younger and I had better get going.   Besides, I really hate sitting around.

“Brenda…  Want to go for a walk?”  Wait, she’s still in her jammies.  “Can I help you pick out something to wear?  I want to go for a walk.”  I won’t repeat her reply.

Oh well, perhaps we can go for a walk later.    I guess sometimes I have to resign myself to sitting for a while longer.   (look of sad resignation comes over his face).  Perhaps that will convince Brenda to “get the lead out”.   No so far…

It’s not that bad.  We are in the Bahamas.  No snow here.