January 18.Where's Quentin???

January 17  Sunday

I forgot to tell you...yesterday someone came by with a little wooden dinghy and asked if we knew anyone who wanted it. We took it because...we can get a small mast for it and we already have a small sail so Quentin will have a dinghy sailboat while he's here.

Yesterday when we got back from the beach there was a boat that pulled in beside us. I was not happy about how close he was but the guys said he was ok. This morning at 4:30 I woke up when the wind started again and looked out th window. He was VERY close to us so I woke Rick up and he went up front to look.  He said the only problem would be that his dinghy would snag our chain and make us drag a bit. I think that's a big problem but....

At 5 am the guy was up and turning on his engine to move because he was even closer! The winds keep clocking and swinging us around, so it was nerve-racking.

Turns out the boat, Easy Goin' , is from Winnipeg . Wolfe came by this morning to get some wire to fix his running lights and he is a sailing instructor. He teaches at Gimli Yacht Club all summer and sails all winter. He was in Fort Pierce and left when we did and was in Staniel Cay at Christmas too when we were there.  I still think he was still too close!!

He came by to get some wire for repairing his running light. It seems the water taxi was fixing something on his boat and didn't realize he was still moving. He hit Easy Goin' and ripped off the running light.

We sold our drag behind generator that we bought from a boat last year...we realized after we bought it that we don't do long enough crossings to make it useful. It needs deep water and we don't travel in deep water except across the Gulf Stream.  And there's another 100 lbs off the boat!!!!

We listened to Cordell's talk yesterday about the hurricane and the aftermath. When Quentin gets here we are going out to help pot the 1000 breadfruit trees that he has ready to be sent to the islands. We talked about composting too and the owner of Chat n' Chill says he will put up a composting bin for the boaters to deposit vegetable matter in...moving right along!!!

We came back to the boat and moved to town side in anticipation of me going to school in the morning and Rick going to do the grocery run. It's a lot calmer over here too right now.

I finally figured out how to use my voice activated software that comes in the computer. It works well but no-one wants to listen to me talking to myself. Now if they could invent one that reads minds !!!

Later ...

Jan 16

Jan 16 Saturday

This morning Stephane came over for coffee . After he left we got Q's room aired out and his clean clothes put away.

I went through all of my boxes and found that I had 5 containers of pens and pencils, markers and hi-lighters. I am now down to 1.5 boxes. I guess I have to admit I have [had] a thing for office supplies. I may try another re-sort before Monday to get down to one box. It is all going over to the school.

I also sorted out my watercolours, and quite a few tubes are going to the art room as well. Along with a few brushes. And I guess I better get my act together and get a lesson plan done because I only have one day left.

So that took most of the day. Rick pulled a drain in the cockpit which was supposed to go through the back transom to keep the seat dry but ended up somehow in Q's bed, so now it isn't there.  He also fixed the deck shower...Yay!!!

Tomorrow we need to re-arrange some of the wiring to get the batteries working better.

Or we could go snorkelling at the blue hole!

Stephane came and picked us up in his dinghy and we went to the outer shore again and walked the length of the beach as far as we could go. That's a good hike when you are walking in soft sand and talking. My body feels it!!  He came over for supper and I think we decided that we will cross the Atlantic with him in the next five years... not sure how that happened but, yeah, I think we can do that!

Tomorrow we will meet up with Cordell and give him all the extra things we don't need on the boat to the Red Cross.

Quentin will be back on Tuesday, hopefully!   ttyl

Jan 15 Friday

Jan 15 Friday,

Last night was windy, rough and rainy for most of the afternoon an d evening but overnight the sky cleared and this morning it was a great sunrise...oh, wait, I'm not supposed to say that...

Sue, it was dreary and cold, and you wouldn't have liked it.

It was a little disappointing to look over at Regatta Point and not see them sitting there watching the water and us. Next year...

We went over to the market to wait for the meat truck but he showed up in a jeep so not all of us could go. We decided to wait until Monday and we stood talking with another couple when Cordell arrived. We talked for a bit and then I delivered some stuff to the Port Authority office for him to Ms. Cooper. She has someone in |Nassau who wants to start a cadet corps.  So...anybody in Canada want to be a sister corps to one in the Bahamas??? They will only need caps and square rigs: it's too hot for dark shirts and long pants

We met Beguiler and went over to see them after we got back to the boat.  Brenda or Rob needs to fix one of their zippers so I took the sewing machine over...another 50 lbs off the boat!!! Rob has an issue with his windlass mount, so Rick will get hold of Jeff Krampien while he's here !!

Stephane invited us to go to Jasmine City for dinner, so Rick made brownies and I'm taking beer!!  Chocolate - beer - and Stephane's cooking ...can't beat that!

The 3 of us went over to the ocean for a walk and met some other boaters over there. As we walked and talked the black clouds came over and we all realized we had left our hatches open but we made it back and it didn't rain anyway.

So off for dinner...ttyl

Awww, they're gone Jan 14

January 14,

This morning we went over early and helped Sue and Les pack up the apartment then we went for breakfast to Peace and Plenty. It was hard to talk casually knowing they were leaving. It was great week and we had a good time. I hope they hadas much fun as we did.  They are probably sleeping in the Toronto airport right now waiting for their Thunder Bay flight.

When we came out the storm was ramping up and there were enormous black clouds over the whole northern sky and bearing down on us.

Nancy, the owner of Regatta Point came over to bring me a book I had asked to borrow. The room Sue and Les had has a bookshelf filled with old novels by great authors!

After they left we went back to the boat to run the motor some so we could charge the batteries. Rick was hoping to get bananas today so we stayed over in Kid Bay until 3 pm I wanted to go to talk to the principal at the school about the art classes and he wanted jam, bread and bananas.

I start Monday and am doing the whole school, one class at a time.  So now I have to do some lesson planning for ages 5 and up... my own fault for not keeping my mouth shut...

It going to be stormy here for  a few days, so Quentin should have an exciting flight in...nothing that will cancel flights, though.

Storm was looking a lot worse

Dark sky and cold winds

Thoguht this was a banana spider but Nancy says he's harmless. She :
"cultivates"  them

The Regatta Point fisherman

Their last full day Jan 13

Tuesday Jan 12

Today we went over to Regatta Point and Sue decided this was going to be a Shopping Day.  Rick and Les went off to look for a car rental place. We started at the Regatta T-Shirt sales booth then went to all 4 of the little shops and the Straw Market and back to Cleo's Tropical Accents and Gifts.

This was a special day for me! Not only is Cleo's shop "art overload", she makes spectacular jewellery, but I met Cordell's cousin Jeannette, who is an interior designer and cookbook author! She also was in 4 of the Bond movies!!!  She's also interested in coming to school to the art classes.

On our way back "downtown" we went to Peace and Plenty to check out the menu, and then we went to "Two Turtles" We decided that it was a good choice for dinner.

After we left Cleo's, we met up with Rick and Les who were sitting with Cordell and Kaybee at Driftwood. We talked about moving trees and supplies and art classes. Cordell also wants to come to the class....are they all under the mistaken impression that I am a famous artist????  Geez, no pressure!!!

Sue and I went to Red Boone to eat because she wanted another wrap. While we were there we met Escape Velocity and a few others, Julie from Boomdiada came by and Stephane sat with us. 

We had a very slow walkabout afternoon and then we went back to their room to wait for dinner time. We were going to play dominoes but we ended up just talking.

We went over to the Turtles at 5:30 and Stephane met us there. Once the music got jacked up too loud and we couldn't hear, we all left. Then, as we got back to the boat, around 9 pm VERY BAD karaoke started. Luckily the mikes were not as loud as the music machine so when the wind blew, it took away the sound...felt bad for the turtles and fish! Poor Sue and Les couldn't even sit on their balcony and enjoy the night air! If we had known it was going to be karaoke, we would have stayed and improved the quality somewhat!

Jan 13.

Today is a very grey, rainy day...we'll have to find something to do on their last full day here that will be memorable.

So we took our coffee over to Regatta point. We invited Stephane for coffee but he must have had a better offer somewhere.

We walked all the way around Lake Victoria today...about 1.5 miles.  It didn't rain at all on us but it will tonight and tomorrow. Sue and I went in to see Cleo again.  Rick and Les wandered through the tourism office.  We stopped at all the places they had been and took photos in case they missed a place.

The batteries are really low right now so we are sitting at anchor running the motor for an hour to get them up a bit.

Tonight we will have dinner at their house and play dominoes if we can stay awake! Tomorrow they have to leave L.

Add caption

Sue and Cleo in her amazing shop

Peace and Plenty bar and pool

Jan 10-11

January 10-11, Sunday Monday

OK, so we are having way too much fun to waste time blogging, but here goes:

Yesterday we walked to town thinking that we could get some groceries but we didn't get there fast enough so we went back to the boat and had some lunch, then we went over to Chat 'nChill and listened to Cordell Thompson.

We met Beguiler and sat for awhile after Cordell finished his talk: I had a talk with him and Sue McDonald, the net controller about the problems that Joaquin left.

I tried paying volleyball for a bit but left it to the guys after awhile. Les had left his hat on Stephane's boat so we went over to see him and get it.

We came back to the boat and picked up the stuff for spaghetti and salad and came back to Sue and Les' house. We played Mexican Train Dominoes until 10pm and then went home to bed.

Today we went over to the Rite Way grocery store and got some more cereal for Rick and stuff. We stopped at the Red Boone Cafe for some launch and met the people from Mama Duck...Catherine and Harry. We sat for about an hour and talked, and then we went back to the boat and went snorkelling again.  Tonight we are having dinner at their house again. And we will be playing dominoes again tonight!

So pics from today and yesterday...ttyl

Jan 7-9 So much fun, so little time!

Jan 7 Thursday

We went to the Driftwood for lunch and then the Rake 'n Scrape for supper.  The BBQ was awesome, but we didn't stay long. Rashad was there [remember the kid from last spring that danced up a storm?] We talked but I wasn't in the mood to dance.

Sue and Les were pretty tired: they had been up since 5 am so we took them back to their "room" [what an amazing suite!!] and went back to the boat. [Late. After boater's midnight [9:00 p.m.]

Jan 8 Friday

In the morning Sue and I took the truck to Prime Island Meats and Rick and Les went to the boat to do some 'stuff'.   Sue got shotgun on the way out but we had to sit in the back for the return trip. When we walked in the door, Jeff Krampien was standing at the till. He is staying at Hooper's Bay. We can take the big boat up there to see him next week.

We went to a little out-of-the-way place in the back of a Beauty Shop for lunch and had great burgers and fries.

 In the afternoon we went down to Sand Dollar and she learned to snorkel!!! She's a natural. We came back to the boat and had chicken and salad for supper, before they went 'home'

Jan 9 Saturday

This morning Stephane stopped for coffee and invited us all to his boat for supper.  

Beguiler is here! We will get together in a couple of days after they get organized. Rob said they had a long trip!

We took the big boat over to Chat 'n Chill and hiked over to the ocean side to see the rollers. The surf was so wild that we couldn't swim. I tried and was rolled up the beach and scooped a bucket of sand into my bathing suit.  We went back to Chat 'chill and introduced Sue & Les to the rays feeding at the conch salad hut, then we watched Stephane play volley ball. I didn't try today.... maybe tomorrow.

Stephane suggested we take the big boats back to Kidd Bay so we could relax and not worry about moving around after dark. He pushed a couple of buttons and was well on his way before we got the anchor up.

Sue and Les are hooked! A 45-foot Lagoon!  He cooked Thai curried chicken, rice and baby potatoes and we brought salad, and cheese and crackers. He is a great cook!  It was fantastic. He is so knowledgeable and fun to talk to and we had a great evening.

Tomorrow we will go over to the beach to hear Cordell's talk, and then play it by ear. Someone found the motor that Jasmine City lost so we might try to help get it out of the harbour. We also might go catch those lion fish. We'll have to figure out how to cook them.  ttyl

Watching the rays

Dinner with Stephane