Happy New Years 2013

Party at Bluff House

Bluff House in Green Turtle Cay was having a New Years Bash and we attended with a bunch of other cruisers.  Bluff House gave free dockage for any boat that went to the party. Who are we to throw away free dockage, even if the dinner was outrageous.

 

Party on.

Table for a bunch of crazies.

Chris was in a party mood

Everyone was taking pictures of everyone else.  Who knows what stories were told.

Joan, Are you happy?

Find someone to pay the bill....

Still in Green Turtle Cay

Beaches are very sad.....

On the back side of Green Turtle Cay, Black Sound is a wonderful beach.

 

Chis and Dave from SV Felix the Cat

 Clear beautiful water and great for finding shells.

You can almost walk out to that little island about a quarter mile

Shoes? Who needs them?

Hey Joan, where you going?

Clear water.

Cruiser's Pot Luck Party

Cruiser's Party on Christmas Day

On Christmas Day, in  Green Turtle Cay, behind Brendal's Dive Shop, Brendal hosts a gathering of any all cruisers in the area for a LARGE pot luck. Everyone brings a favorite dish and then the pigs hit the tables to devour. Most of the time the dishes don't need to be washed since everyone scrapes the bottoms clean. To top things off, Brendal makes some killer rum punch that after about three of the them you can't feel your legs. REALLY GOOD STUFF.

 

People standing around for the bell to start eating.

 After that who can move...

Well, Well I Found George(aka ThatBoatGuy) in line feeding his face. George helped bring a catamaran over from the states and we were not sure if he would make to the trough in time.

It was a hard time finding our dingy to go back to the boat after all this....

Merry Christmas

Just in case we don't have internet for the next few days,  moving the boat today to a new area.

Merry Christmas 

&

Happy New Year

to all our family and friends..

Joan & Jim

Mr & Mrs Santa Claus Visit Us.

Wow would you look at that! Jim gets a kiss from Santa. I must have been a very good boy.

Sun down

Conch Contest

What do boaters do when they are bored? They dream up something to keep their minds active.

 

 What do you say we all get our conch out and see who can blow the longest and loudest to annoy anyone within earshot.....
So Annie, Ken and I hit the dock with Joan doing the count down for the setting of the Sun.

Not Yet the Sun is still up there....

GO!

Needless to say, bet you can't guess who won?  Me being the biggest blow hard and loudest...

Mangoes Marina

Mangoes Marina

Marsh Harbor, Bahamas

Last entry had us going into Mangoes Marina. It is a small marina tucked in between to larger marinas but it has big heart and wonderful staff.  This has to be one of our more favorite marinas we visit. They bend over backwards to help and provide great service.

Side note another boater next to us was going home for Christmas and lent us their folding bikes to use while they were gone.  Ride ON....

Rainbow off the back of the boat

 Being in the tropics you can count on a rain shower sometime during the day.

Marsh Harbor airport old terminal

New terminal

 Interesting story about the terminal and control tower at the airport. Seems they spent about twenty million putting in this terminal and is about a year behind schedule.  Then they discovered the new control tower has no power.  Guess they were planning to use flags to control the planes.

 Crazy things happen when you least expect it.

Joan and I were over on Pegasus with Nancy and Dean, late Sunday around 5p.  When down the dock come Pete, the bar tender at Mangoes. We find out his wife is part of the team putting on the Miss Abaco pageant and in need of some judges.  Two judges missed their flight out of Nassau. So we being the wonderful people we are, threw Nancy under the bus and volunteered her for the position.  Which entitled the rest of us to attend a black tie event for free, while others had to pay.  We had to be over there by 6:45 with a start time of 7:30. Of course, they didn't get things started until almost 9 and didn't finish until around 11.  We were also invited to the after show party for VIP's at Mangoes.  This was WAY pass my bedtime, spent a few minutes there then crashed in the bed around 12:30...

Joan and Jim clean up real nice. Black Tie? I don't own a tie

Nancy at the judges table.

The Winner

We put up our Christmas lights on the boat and finally got a picture.

Due to weather we plan on staying in the marina until Dec 23.  Weather is a big thing down here, everything you do is planned around it.  A big nasty cold front is due to hit here Friday into Saturday with winds up to 35kts.  Rather be tied to the dock than swinging on the anchor...

Besides we have bikes to venture around..

Tresure Cay

 Treasure Cay is about 12 mils from Marsh Harbour to the west. So after all that rain it was decided that we should sail over an enjoy a few things.

 

 Coco Beach Bar is one of them. Coco Beach has been voted one of the top ten beaches and we concur. That's Bahama Mama making drinks....

 She makes a killer Pina Colata

I don't have to go back for another

One of the better views

Stress Management Class

When we pulled into the Treasure Cay anchorage first afternoon there were about 4 other boats. We grilled out and went to bed.  Next morning everyone but us pulled up anchor and left. Guess they didn't like what we were cooking...

We spent the day over at the beach and around 3pm, boats started pouring in.  4 boats came in and we knew everyone of them.  Party TIME...

Sunset at Treasure

Next morning we upped anchor and headed back over to Marsh Harbour. We were going to anchor until Saturday but when we got there and talked to Nancy and Dean on Pegasus, we found out Nancy had hurt her back and they would need help getting into the marina. So we anchored and I dinged over to their boat and Joan went to the marina.  I helped with the lines getting them tied up..  We then realize that weather was coming faster than expect so we upped anchor and moved in Mangoes Marina also. We plan to be her until Nov 20th then we are going back to Manjack to meet up with friends.

What Day is IT?

Getting Harder and Harder

to remember what day it is.

 We were anchored down in Marsh Harbour, when the rain started about 9 in the morning. It just keep raining all day. All Day it rained, get the idea

Around 2pm I decided to try setting up our rain water collection tarp that I had. When we move further south water starts becoming a problem. You just can't pull in somewhere and say fill me up.  In some places water cost $.20 to $.50 a gallon.  So you better be prepared to capture any rain water that comes your way.  Well I spent about an hour out in the rain trying to figure out the best way to do this and getting a bath at the same time.  This tarp has a hose connection in the middle and is made for ceiling leaks in an office. You've seen them.  As long as there is not a lot of wind it works great.  In the 2-3 hrs I had it up we captured about 25 gallons of water. Our water tank wholes 75 gal.  So this is a plus.

Btw, the rain finally stopped around 7pm.

 Soon after Joan organized a pot luck dinner on shore at Mangoes Marina, who let us use their gazebo to have fun in.

Becky and Pat, from SV Rosebud provide the music

Food and Drink and Drink and Food

Becky getting the girls singing

Becky getting the boys singing.

Last Ten Days

Last Ten Days

 Been a bit slow updating the blog lately, so sue me. I've been very busy doing nothing.

 To get from Green Turtle Cay to Marsh Harbor, you have to cross over the Whale.  The Whale is an interesting island that seems to terrorize some boaters.  You have to proceed from the protected water out into the Atlantic Ocean and then back in on the other side.  Depending on what storm, that could be out there somewhere the waves can get very large.  Some boaters will wait and wait days before attempting to cross over. Good grief it's only swells and wind and waves.  How the hell did you get over here from the US???? Kidding side it can be very dangerous at times, boats and lives have been lost in cuts like this all around the Abacos.

Once on the other side it's a nice sail on to Marsh Harbor. Once there the anchor goes down next to friends, Pegasus, Nancy and Dean. and the Party Starts.  We got in here on Dec 6th Thrusday, Joan had learned that Mangoes Marina and Bar was having half price pizza during Happy Hour and nothing - nothing was going to stop her from that, of course is was a half step behind her.  There was guy singing during Happy Hour and at 7 a DJ starting playing his tunes. Throw out a back or what....

Party table before the pizza arrived

Nancy and Joan

Oh Hell

Saturday night the fun really started.  A local DJ named 'Brown Tip'  was going to be over at Boat Harbor and a bunch(16) of us decided it would be a great place to party.

Brown Tip and the some of the group

Nancy and Brown Tip

Nancy, Brown Tip and Joan

You really REALLY don't want to know.

The girls in action.

Watch that hip Dean!

 

 

Nancy getting up, close and personal

One hell of a great night......