BOAT HARBOUR - week 1

One of the first things we did after tying up at our slip and registering in at the office, was to check our e-mail.  We had been out of Wi-Fi range for some time and had over 35 unread messages waiting for us--the first of which was confirmation of space “on the hard” at Abaco Yacht Services for this year!  yea!!  We will now be able to leave our boat in the Bahamas every summer and simply fly in for the winter.  No more long drives to Florida, slogging through the ICW, waiting for weeks on end for a “weather window”, dodging thunderstorms and hurricanes, or making the long stressful trip across the gulf stream.  Been there, done that!  And the icing on the cake is the fact that it’s going to cost us half the price that we were paying at our marina in Florida. How good is that?!

Over the next few days, more boats began trickling into Boat Harbour.  The benign weather that we had waited for to cross the Whale had also allowed the many boats trapped in Florida to scoot across to the Islands in relative comfort and at last count there were about 24 RMHYC vessels tied up in their slips--less than half the membership.  But this is normal, as many Bahamian cruisers choose to spend Christmas and New Years back home and cross over in January.  After meeting and greeting with friends we hadn’t seen for over 6 months, we caught up on news and began once again settling into life at Boat Harbour.  We contacted “Clement”--a legitimate refrigeration specialist who spent several days working on our boat problem.  And while Fortnight was “torn to pieces”--cluttered up with tools, tanks of freon, and soldering torches with Vince and Clement toiling over the fridge, I joined the ladies in pool aerobics, walking, rummicube and mahjongg.  We both spent a morning at the Jib Room visiting Muffin and Will on Antares, and later that evening met up with a big group of club members at Mangoes for half price drinks and dinner. 

The next day I joined the girls from Dock 7 at the clubhouse to see what, if any  damage the Hurricane had done to the clubs “Regalia” items.  When we unlocked the storeroom door, we were greeted with a distinctly musty smell and were almost afraid to open the many boxes that held our club T-shirts, jackets, cookbooks, totes, hats etc.  It took us most of the day to drag out all of the boxes of inventory, hang everything up to “air out” in the sunshine and breeze, check for damage, and then put it all away again!  Amazingly everything was in really good shape and plans are now underway for a Christmas sale next weekend to sell off as many of these items as possible to re-stock the clubs “treasury.” Plans are also in the works for our annual “Christmas Gala” with menu details being finalized and party favours created. (And I get to wear a gorgeous new outfit I bought in Florida as a reward for having lost over 50lbs this summer!)

 The sun is shining once again, breezes are dying down and with the weather warming up, life here is almost back to normal.  We’ve really only “just arrived.”  And it’s hard to believe that a week from now we’ll be heading back home to celebrate Christmas with our friends and family.  We are so lucky.  Life is good!