I'll be honest, a lot of people may not understand this journal and thats okay. It is really for our Bahamas Crew buddies, some of which requested I record on tnttravels our happenings and parties leading up to our Bahamas '08 vacation.
When viewing photos you can click what photos go with what jounal or you will see all of them. Enjoy!
This will be a two week trip for most of us and one week for others but we all plan to have a blast! To let you know a little about whats going on we are currently in the process of holding Bahamas "Out Island" Crew parties on a regular basis. This does two things...keeps up the island spirit and also gives us a great excuse to party!
We started out at Larry and Sue's house in February with some drinks and dinner and began recruitment for a few couples to go with us on this trip. Dick & Nancy signed on for two weeks and Bill & Ellen for one week. It wasn't long before George & Cindy came on for a week as well. Then we went from there, the first crew party was a lot of fun and we got to know everyone a little better. We had some island themed food, drinks and decorations and tons of talk about who will do what on the boat and the itinerary and what not. There are 10 of us going so everyone will help out in one way or the other. I mean someone has to keep the rum pouring! That is the most important job, everything else takes a close second. We have a really great crew going. Larry & Sue, Dick & Nancy, George & Cindy, Bill & Ellen, Me & Troy. This summer we have chartered a nice catamaran to start our adventure. We will hit Bimini, Chub Cay and then head around to the islands of the Abacos.
We met at TGI Fridays in March to have dinner then invade the mall to look for shirts to have our crew logo embroidered on. The guys went their way and the girls theirs. Of course it doesn't take men long to find what they want so they went to Red Robin for a drink and to talk about the trip details. The women took longer and scouted out just about every store before deciding on something but hey...we look great.
Its April now and we just had another fun crew gathering that Larry and Sue put on. Everyone is still has the spirit and is pumped about going. We did more chatting and partying than talk logistics but that will all come at the final wrap up party in June at Dick and Nancy's house. We had some great food and plenty of rum and cokes! I'M READY TO GO!
Ah May is here! While we are not having a party in May we still gathered most everyone at Larry's birthday party and the talk was hot about the trip. We got our shirts back with the logos and they look great! I've attached a pic of them. These are really cool keepsakes for trips like these and will always remind us of our good times. Our next and last crew party before we leave will be at Dick & Nancy's house in mid June. Time is cruising by so we will be cruisin' to the Bahamas before we know it!
Hello June! It is SO hard to believe....we just had our final Bahamas crew party before the trip. Dick and Nancy hosted a great party at their house last night. Larry, Bill and Troy headed up the navigating info to everyone and Sue and Dick took care of making sure all expenses were taken care of with some great spreadsheets and lists to get this trip headed in the right direction.
Outside of that I think this gang is ready to have a BLAST! Dick and Nancy's favorite (and only haha) son in law grilled up some tasty pork tenderloin and we all stuffed ourselves and had a few drinks and made the most of the evening. LIFE IS GOOD!
Well everyone...as usual I have attached photos so take a peak! The next ones I post will be after we return from our trip. We have all worked on this vacation since late January and now its almost time to blast off!
WE'RE BACK! Put on your reading glasses this was a long vacation! What a trip! Our sailing itinerary changed and we wound up taking a different route around the Bahamas. We started in Ft. Lauderdale on July 4th. After packing the boat to the bursting point with provisions we headed out to anchor off the beach to watch fireworks. It was raining lightly but that did not take away from our fun. After the fireworks we headed out to sea for a long nights trek to the Grand Bahamas. We made West End by morning and took a slip at the Old Bahama Bay Resort and Marina. It is a beautiful place and we enjoyed our ovenight stay. For anyone interested they do offer showers and laundry facilities as well as a couple of restaurants and a nice gift shop. Bill and Ellen made a wonderful steak dinner for everyone and then off and on we enjoyed walking the beach. There was a gorgeous rainbow during the sunset that night as well as some folks setting off some great fireworks on the beach.
We sailed out of the marina the following morning and headed for Sale Cay. As far as I know the island has no inhabitants. We jumped ship the next morning and snorkled over to the island to do some exploring. The coolest thing was finding spiny lobster. They were HUGE and our mouths watered at how great they would taste. Troy and Larry made several attempts to catch one but they are strong and fast so we missed out but it was a lot of fun trying.
Our next sail landed us at Powell's Cay. This is another un-inhabited island. Troy and I snorkled over to the island. It took a while from where we anchored but it was really cool seeing all the starfish along the way. There is a path on this island that leads to the other side but we didn't go over. We did enjoy seeing lots of cool colorful fish and snorkled for a long time. Everyone else dingied over and joined us. Once done we decided to shove off and putt over to Coopers Town but when we pulled up anchor we hit the first snag of technical difficulty in our trip. We had lost our forward gear on the starboard engine. We needed fuel and to find out what to do next so we limped on the port engine across the way to Coopers Town, fueled and made some calls. We found out we needed to head to Green Turtle Cay and talk to a man named Barefoot George about repairs. Folks this would be some trial over the next 4 days.
We got to Green Turtle Cay and fortunatly we got a slip big enough for our boat at the Bluff House Marina. This is a very nice place with very accomodating people. There is a cool restaurant there called the Jolly Roger Bar & Bistro along with a lovely clubhouse on the hill and great beach to snorkle at. We didn't know what was going to happen but we heard every end of the scale on how to get our problem fixed. In the mean time we settled in and enjoyed the island. I won't go on and on about the trials of boat repair in the islands...it wouldn't be of interest to most of you and if it ever happens to you then there is no avoiding whatever will happen. Just take it in stride and good luck to you.
On our first night we had dinner at the Jolly Roger and were introduced to the islands famous Goombay Smash drink. Little did I know it would become my new best friend in a glass for the remainder of our trip. The next day we decided it would be great to rent a couple of golf carts. These things are MUST if you want to get around on this island and are really cool and jacked up. I don't care what book tells you that it only takes you 15 minutes to walk to town THATS A LIE for tourist so they don't get discouraged I guess. It takes almost 25 to 30 minutes by golf cart to get to town! Once you get there it is pretty neat and the people are very friendly. The shops have some nice things and the food...well that can't be beat! I strongly recommend Ms. Emily's Blue Bee Restaurant!!! We all gathered there for lunch and had the BEST time ever! I got completely hooked on Ms. Violets Goombay Smash! Ms. Emily was Ms. Violets mother but she has passed away. However the Blue Bee Restaurant is my all time favorite for this trip. Her conch fritters are wonderful! The front of the restaurant is filled with all kinds of memories left by patrons over the years. Once we finished eating the gang headed over to the local liquor store to stock up on some unique rums etc... Troy got all the fixings for the Goombay Smash too. Coconut rum, white rum, pineapple juice and orange juice. Mix this combo right and you have a very "sneak up and bite you" tropical drink and Troy found the combo!
New Plymouth was having its Independence Day celebration so we decided to head over and hear the Gully Roosters then make our way in the dark to town to dance to the drums with the locals at midnight. The Gully Roosters are GREAT by the way. If you ever get the chance to hear them then don't miss it. At about 11:30 we all decided it was time to leave and go to town. One hitch though...we got lost on our golf carts trying to find town. Take one wrong road and you are heading to some crazy places! We had a ball and laughed so much at ourselves! The roads are rough to begin with but MAN these roads would bounce your teeth out! There was nothing we could do but turn around and laugh all the way back! We finally found town just in time for the celebration to begin. Some of the locals put on drums of various sizes and beat out the most energetic music accompanied by cow bells. Everyone danced behind them as we traveled a full hour around town until we got back to where we started. At 1 a.m. we were all pretty tired and headed back to the boat. It was a lot of fun!
The next day we decided to look for a place to snorkle while waiting to get our boat fixed. We found a great place off of the Bluff House Club beach. It is only open to Club and Marina guests which was perfect. We were about the only folks there most of the time. The snorkling was wonderful and we saw some unique fish in all sizes, including some rather large barracuda but they didn't bother anyone. Later we brought some cheese, crackers and drinks down and had a nice little beach party going with some music too.
After such a great snorkling find the next day we decided to return but some of us went into town on several occassions to shop or do whatever. Later that day we decided to go back to town and eat at Laura's Kitchen but they were about to close so we headed for Ms. Emily's. Again we had a lot of fun and really enjoyed dinner. The next day Bill and Ellen had to leave and go to Hope Town to catch a taxi into Marsh Harbor to fly home as the boat was not yet repaired and some new arraingments had to be made. We knew George and Cindy, who were waiting for us in Marsh Harbor to show up the Friday evening, would be looking for us but we had no way to tell them we wouldn't be there. We hoped they would just enjoy themselves until word could get to them. That evening since we were still in Green Turtle we decided to fix dinner and take it to the beach. Larry and Sue cooked a delicious pork tenderloin with mashed potatoes. We loaded it all up and headed for the sand. After stuffing ourselves we snorkled and enjoyed the evening. After dark Larry and Dick set off some fireworks then we loaded up the golf carts and headed back to the boat to escape the mosquitos that found the cool evening a great time to snack on us.
The next morning us gals decided to take a golf cart into town to do some shopping and have lunch. McIntosh Restaurant and Bakery had some good food and delicious looking desserts. I recommend the key lime brownie. We spoke to the guys by way of a walkie-talkie and they told us the boat was repaired and to get back so we could shove off! We loved our stay in Green Turtle Cay but were ready to get to Marsh Harbor, pick up Cindy and George and head back out on our next adventure.
Marsh Harbor! What a beautiful place. We saw George and Cindy on the dock waiting for us. By that time they had found out what had happened to us. We all had a drink and chatted for a while then headed to Mangos for dinner. The plan was to head out early the next morning.
Welcome to Great Guana Cay! We anchored in the harbor at G. Guana Cay just as a storm caught up to us. What do you do? Why make a drink, sing a few choruses of La Bamaba and wait for it to pass! We got to visit Nippers and some folks snorkled. Another storm cut our day short but we still had fun. That night we rocked and rolled to mother nature. The next morning since it was too late to head out anywhere else we went back to Marsh Harbor. Some folks did provision shopping and then we made plans to head out very early the next morning for a long all day sail to Hoffman's Cay and the Blue Hole.
We arrived at Hoffman's Cay right at dusk and made anchor. The next morning after breakfast we made a couple of dingy trips to get everyone over to a beach to snorkle and go up a path to the Blue Hole. There are some large hermet crabs on this island as well as some very large sand crabs but we didn't get to see any of the huge sand crabs. They were hiding I guess. We got to the Blue Hole and man what a neat place! The water must be fed by underground hot springs because every so often you'd hit a cold spot then a HOT spot in the water. It was VERY salty too, deep and dark. We didn't think anything could live in it but we saw a very tiny jellyfish and a snapper swimming around. After enjoying that for a while we went to the beach to snorkle and everyone saw the most beautiful coral, stingrays, etc. Later on that day we headed out again for Chub Cay but alas...there is always a hitch in the get-a-long.
In route we discovered we badly needed fuel. Chub Cay come to find out did not have any diesel fuel so we were going to have to travel further to Andros Island. We limped by cutting one engine and made it just fine. You better have some bug spray if you want to dock here! It is a shipping port too so there are huge cargo ships there. We anchored out for the night and then went in for fuel and ice. After getting what we needed we headed back out for another all day sail to Bimini. During our longer sails we fished and caught Spanish Mackerel, Barracuda and some other fish called a Grunt, ugly but from what I heard, tasty.
Bimini or Bust! We made it to Bimini that night and had no problem finding a place to dock. It was a beautiful night but all of a sudden a BIG squall blew up and it sounded like a hurricane! The next morning we got up and everyone was anxious to get to town. Some went to the beach to snorkle and others shopped but everyone got to do what they wanted to. The town is small and friendly. On the way out of Bimini we anchored near the wreck of the Sapona where the best snorkling of all took place! I was scared but finally got the nerve to get out there. The fish were varied and gorgeous! I can't describe what an experience it turned out to be! It was wonderful! Once we finished and got back we had a nice dinner, and toasted to Dick and Nancy's wedding anniversary. About 9 p.m. we got underway to head back to Ft. Laurderdale. We arrived about 6 a.m. the next morning then headed back towards the charter boat company.
Everyone who needed to catch a flight got there stuff together, we all went through customs real quick then said our goodbyes. It was a great trip over that two weeks. We had some boat troubles but it didn't stop anyone from enjoying every moment they could. It was a great group of folks to go with. I have posted photos so check them out and if you ever find yourself in the Abaco's take in as much as you can, it's a really wonderful place!
PS - My apologies to the crew for the abbreviated story of our trip. We did a lot more than I told but I didn't want to turn it into a novel, it was long enough already. You are a fantastic bunch of people and we had fun sailing with you!
Enjoy and feel free to sign in our guestbook just to say hi.
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