Linda with Brenda and her painting.

                                  A day at the races at Abaco Beach Resort.

JANUARY 2013 - week 4

This was another busy week of fun-filled activities starting off with a delicious steak dinner at the “Jib Room” with 119 RMHYC members in attendance!!  Wanting to be assured of comfortable seating INSIDE--it can get cool and breezy in the evenings--I came up with a scheme to guarantee that we’d get the best tables in the house.  This involved heading off extra early with 3 friends and a Mahjongg game which we then set up at a centrally located inside table for 8.  After ordering drinks, the 4 of us then played Mahjongg for a few hours until our husbands, along with everyone else began arriving.  We had wonderful seats, a pleasant afternoon of Mahjongg, and lots to drink followed by  great dinner and the comraderie of all of our friends well into the evening hours.  

The next day it was back to the watercolour classes and breakfast out at the Abaco Beach Resort with Margaret and Ben from Diva--their treat.  Over the weekend we were invited to a wonderful brunch aboard “Magnum Opus” with Rita, Bob, and John and Diane from “Duetto”. Then it was off to a “Day at the Races!”--another club event where we all dress up in fancy hats--like the English at “Ascot”--and bet on toy horses which compete with each other after a roll of the dice.  This sounds really silly but it’s actually a lot of fun--especially after a few drinks.  (You have to BE there to appreciate this).

The week ended on a very satisfying note with 5 more painters completing and matting their water colours.  Now virtually everyone has finished their pictures and they ALL turned out beautifully.  It was a real “slog” this month but I actually loved every minute of it. Now it’s over--been there, done that!  And the club produced 18 lovely paintings and I have ended up with several more bottles of wine that were given to me by grateful artists.  So we all win!

On our last night of the week--tomorrow we leave for the Turks & Caicos--”Diva” invited us over to their boat for dinner.  Since we have to unplug our refrigeration system while we’re gone, we’d been eating all the “odds & ends” (aka more fish!!) during the past week and the cupboard was literally bare.  So we were very thankful for their thoughtfulness.  Needless to say, we enjoyed yet another wonderful evening of pampering with this great couple which was then topped off with the happy anticipation that always comes the night before we leave on another adventure.  And tomorrow, bright and early, we look forward to flying off to the luxurious “Beaches Resort” where we’ll meet with Julie, Dan and the grandchildren for even more fun.

January 2013 - WEEK 3

                              RMHYC chefs getting ready for SOUPER BOWL

This week was all about Water Colour Lessons, Bocci Ball, Mahjongg and good times with RMHYC friends.  And by the end of the week 8 painters had completed and matted their pieces with several artists beginning a second painting.  I have been working with everyone each morning from 8-12 Monday to Friday and on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and it has really paid off.  Every painting completed to date is wonderful and each artist happy, and proud and what they have produced. So it’s all good.  Even Vince has joined the classes this year.  And he too is almost finished his first water colour.  Most afternoons and on weekends, we just kick back and enjoy our “games” with friends.

The absolute highlight of this week had to be the “Souper Bowl” Tuesday Jan.15th.  This was SO much fun!  Earlier in the year the men were challenged to a competition involving their prowess as chefs.  Everyone was invited to prepare their very best soups to share with the club at a special “gala” event.  Sixteen of our members rose to the challenge cooking up a storm all afternoon and really “wowed” us with the results that evening.  When we entered the party tent, the first thing we saw was a long table at one end behind which was a line of 16 proud chefs all wearing tall white “bakers” hats with ladles in hand and standing in front of 16 large steaming crocks of amazing soups!  Additional tables at either end held bowls of salads and an assortment of specialty breads.  For dessert there were “tastings” of cheesecake, brownies and bread pudding--with 3 samples of each in small dessert plates.  Strands of sparkling “icicles lights festooned the walls and each dining table was draped with a colourful tableclo and seashore themed centre piece.  Beautiful!  After drinks at the bar, we were all invited to sample as many soups as we could handle with each chef ladling his specialty into small sampling cups which we then collected and took back to our tables.  My favourites were the fish chowders--incredible!  Afterwards there were awards given to the winners in each soup category, and then coffee and lots of music and dancing.  And we all went home thoroughly stuffed with too much to eat and some of us “pickled” with too much to drink.  This was the first year the club tried this type of event, and unexpectedly, it was so much fun that I’m sure we’ll be doing it again in future years.

On Sunday Jan 20th, Judy and Bob invited 44 of us to join them aboard their luxurious yacht “Shade Mor” for a day trip to Guana Cay.  They couldn’t have chosen a more beautiful day!  The sun was shining, a soft breeze blowing and the temperature a warm 78 degrees.  Everyone brought drinks and either an hors d’oeuvre or dessert to share with the group.  And the trip with absolutely delightful!  It took just under an hour to travel over to Guana and back with several hours ashore to explore the island and arrange for lunch.  We went over to “Grabbers” to dine with Magnum Opus, Brenda J and a couple who have a villa on Great Abaco and then I left the group to go shelling off by myself while Vince soaked up the sun and scenery in an armchair at “Pirates Cove.”  We arrived back at Boat Harbour just after 5:00 and although cocktail hour was scheduled for 5:30 we were all too satiated and tired to bother--preferring instead to simply relax on our own boats after a day of intense but gratifying socializing with friends.

Later in the week conditions calmed right down and a couple of boats ventured out into the Atlantic to fish.  They returned with a huge catch and we were offered a share of the bounty.  Jack on “Sea Food Searcher” brought us some Grouper fillets and the next day Jim from “Fennders” came with Wahoo.  Then there was even MORE from Jack--this time thick Mahi Mahi steaks which “Pizzazz” offered to freeze for us.  It’s been fish, fish, fish! for dinner all week except for last night when the club gathered once again--this time for steak at the Jib Room.  How different this all is from what we’d be doing back in Canada at this time of year.  We are really blessed!

January 2013 WEEK 2

This week started off with disturbing news.  A young couple registered as guests here at the Abaco Beach Resort--of which Boat Harbour is a part--had simply vanished without a trace!  They had arrived, rented a 26’ “Wave Runner’’ shortly after settling in, and had not been heard from since.  All of their belongings were still in their room--but they never returned and were presumed lost at sea.  The coast guard was called in to help in the search and everyone in the Abacos was told to keep a sharp lookout for their boat.  After 4 days, there was still nothing.  But I--ever the skeptic--was not completely convinced.  And although everyone else was feeling sympathy and sorrow, I voiced the possibility that it “could” be a scam.  Maybe they had simply stollen the boat and motored away happily into the sunset.  I was soundly chastised by Vince for thinking so pessimistically, but we’ll see.

This was also the week that I began “water colour” lessons to any members of the RMHYC interested in learned how to paint.  We had a great turn-out with 12 new “students” and a handful of “old” ones that I worked with last year.  I scheduled  three formal lessons involving 1.drawing, 2. mixing colours, and 3.painting techniques and by the end of the week everyone was ready to start their individual pieces.  I’ll be working one-on-one for the next 2 weeks and hopefully we’ll be ready for a “show by the end of the month.

On Wednesday Vince and I walked over to the “Jib Room” where we met Muffin and Will from Antares for drinks and a Rib dinner.  We had a really wonderful evening with those two old friends with way too much to drink--lots of fun!  And then, at the end of the week we cast off our lines and set sail for 3 days “out and about.”  We anchored just off Man O’ War Cay the first day and, after dinghying in to the marina, explored the island and poked around our favourite haunts.  We bought a lovely handmade toiletry bag at the Sail Shop, had lunch at “Dock & Dine” and then dropped in at a cottage on Dickie’s Cay to pay a visit with Marsha and Barry on “Troubador” who had just arrived from their home in Annapolis.  We knew that these two leased a cottage here for the winter season each year, but we hadn’t seen them since Nov. 2007 and it was great to make contact once again.  They gave us several “leads” on properties that might be available to rent for guests visiting from Canada and we look forward to both following up on these and making arrangements to get together with them again sometime over the next few months.

The next day it was off to Hopetown.  We got a very early start--leaving at the crack of dawn in order to make the “skinny passage” over to an anchorage just off “Fire Fly” and in time to enjoy breakfast at “Sea Spray”--one of our favourite restaurants. We then dinghied into Hopetown Harbour and spent the rest of the morning poking about the town and investigating potential rental properties.  It was a very long day and by early afternoon we were completely zonked, choosing to have a nap onboard--rocked to sleep by gentle waves and a soft breeze.  Utter bliss!  On Sunday--our last day away--we were once again forced to hoist our anchor early in order to sail out on a rising tide.  Had we chosen to stay later than our 8:00am departure we would’ve found ourselves trapped in shallow water for the next 24 hours, and unable to return to Boat Harbour until Monday morning.  This time we chose to spend the day just north of Tilloo Cay.  This really is our very favourite anchoring spot.  The scenery is spectacular with islands completely surrounding the boat and the water is a gorgeous shade of turquoise.  This anchorage is protected from every direction (except west) and is an easy dinghy ride to 3 restaurant/resorts, good shelling areas and Tahiti Beach--easily the prettiest spot in the Abacos.  After a very good lunch at the Abaco Inn--which is now under new management and decidedly more “upscale” than before--I left Vince in a comfortable arm chair with a good book “The Outliers”, while I scoured the beach for shells.  Then it was a fast dinghy ride back to the boat and a frantic sail out of the anchorage on a falling tide with only 6” under the keel!

We arrived back with lots of time to relax before dinner and enjoy end of day drinks with RMHYC friends at the end of dock 5. Apparently there was lots of excitement here while we were gone lolly-gagging around the islands.  The “Wave Runner” that had gone missing earlier in the week had at last been found--abandoned--in West Palm Beach!!  But there was still no sign of the young couple who had taken it out.  Did they in fact meet up with “foul play” or was my skepticism justified after all?  Perhaps we’ll never know.  And that was not all that happened while we were way.  A Haitian boat with 80 immigrants on board was shipwrecked just off Little Harbour, a few miles away--there were 59 survivors--the rest drowned at sea.  And our friends from Boat Harbour--Sherri and Frank on “Lucky Star” lost their boat off Whale Cay!  But I’ll save THAT story for the next blog.  Stay posted!

SHIPWRECKED !!!

Last week at Boat Harbour, we set off in our dinghys with 3 other couples--"Oasis," "Indemnity," and "Lucky Star."  After a delightful lunch at the new marina in Hopetown (and perhaps a little too much to drink!) we lashed our tiny vessels together and enjoyed a memorable "dinghy drift" back to our "mother ships" securely tied up in their slips at ABR.  Sherri and Frank aboard "Lucky Star" had guests the next day.  As a special Christmas present, Frank had invited his son to bring his girlfriend along for a week of boating adventures in the Bahamas. But last Friday, after a successful day of fishing out in the Atlantic aboard "Lucky Star," tragedy struck. About 4 o'clock, as the little group was returning home and approaching the south Whale Passage, the prop of their boat became hopelessly entangled in the hauser of an humongous 1,000lb plus derelict anchor--just waiting to ensnare unsuspecting boats--off the coast of Whale Cay.  There is a beached freighter not far away, just off Baker's Bay.  And it is believed that this anchor was originally part of that wreckage.

"Lucky Star" had been travelling at 25knots along the recommended route when this "entanglement" caused her to stop dead in her tracks knocking everyone aboard off their feet.  Thankfully no one was hurt, including Frank's son who had been riding 30' up on the fishing perch.  How easily he could've been thrown out and into the waves!  And it was a miracle that he was not.  Frank's mind went completely blank. All he could think of over and over again was "What Happened?!  I was ON the route, there are NO reefs, what happened!!"  But Sherri knew instinctively what had happened.  The gut-wrenching sound of their prop and struts being torn out of their boat was like nothing she had ever heard aboard this vessel before--she knew they were sinking!  And when the floorboards were hastily lifted out and water was seen gushing into the bilge, their worst fears were confirmed.

Frank is a very careful man. Before they had set out that morning he had gone over emergency procedures with his "crew" and given everyone a role to play should their lives ever be in peril.  And thank god for that!  At this point about 20 seconds had passed and now their careful preparations kicked into gear.  Frank's son ran up on deck as he had been instructed to do, and deployed the life raft making sure it was securely tied to the boat so it wouldn't float away.  He then rushed back downstairs, grabbed his (and the girlfriends) bags with passports and other essentials, tossed them into the life raft which he then untied and held onto for dear life while everyone else got their acts together.  His girlfriend grabbed the epirb and, unable to think for herself, stood numbly by waiting for someone to tell her what to do and where to go.  Sherri grabbed the lifejackets putting hers on first and then making sure that Oliver the dog was safely secured into his before distributing the others to the crew all the while hysterical shouting "Where's the ditch bag!  where's the ditch bag!"  not realizing that it was hooked onto her arm.  Meanwhile Frank was still in a state of shock--his mind blank of everything except "What happened?"  Sherri, hysterical, shouts for him to call for help.  This brings him back to reality and he sends out a frantic "Mayday! Mayday!" on channel 16 which is picked up by Dive Guana and another boater just off Bakers Bay. But he is still so numb with disbelief that he is unable to speak or think.  And when asked where he is, can't readily reply.  In his confusion he chokes out something about Whale Cay and Green  Turtle--which is all wrong.  Hysterical Sherri then grabs the mike while Frank rushes up on deck to check on Frank and the life raft. 

Two minutes have now passed and Sherri is shocked to realize she's ankle deep in water.  When asked for her co-ordinates she realizes that it's too late to give them!  The screen is blank and the electronics are out!  She is frantic!  "Help us!!  We're sinking!! she shrieks into the mike.  "We're off Whale Cay and Guana!!"  Again wrong.  She finally garbles something about the big wreck.  "I can see the big wreck off Whale Cay!" And then the would-be rescuers finally know where they are. The boat is now sinking fast. They have a hand held radio, epirb, satellite phone, ditchbag and the dog in the life raft.  And everyone but Frank climbs in.  At the last minute he realizes he has nothing of value and decides to go back for his wallet and cash.  When he finally leaves "Lucky Star" which is now listing horribly, he is waist deep in water, in danger of getting tangled up in rigging and forced to swim out to the life raft.  Sherri is still hysterically screaming for help--this time from the hand-held aboard the life raft.  Dive Guana assures her they can be there in 10 minutes.  But when the boater at Baker's Bay replies back with "I see you!  I see you!" relief is immediate.  Those words Sherri says, were the sweetest she had ever heard!  Instantly everything changes.  They watched their boat sink from the relative safety of their life raft all the while taking pictures of the event on their cell phone.  Less than 5 minutes had elapsed from beginning to end. Five minutes!!  And then the boater from Bakers Bay is bumping up against the life raft and everyone is exquisitely happy.  "Lucky Star" is gone--unlucky today.  But before vanishing completely, perhaps its "Luck" was transferred to it's crew, who were very lucky indeed to have survived unharmed, safe, and able to tell their tale of harrowing adventure and brush with death.

BOAT HARBOUR ABACOS JANUARY 2013

The trip back to the Bahamas from Canada was uneventful but too long!  We were up at 4:30am, departed from Toronto on Air Canada shortly after 8:00am and arrived in Nassau at 11:00.  But after that we had a long 6 hour wait in the dingy airport--the “new” facility STILL under construction--until boarding the half hour Bahamas Air flight out to Marsh Harbour at 5:00.  There must be a better way to get here!  We hate leaving in the dark and arriving in the dark  when it’s really such a short hop from here to Toronto.  In April, we’ll check out flights flying directly from Marsh Harbour to North America cutting out Nassau directly.  Hopefully eventually something better will turn up.  But until then--it’s whatever it takes.

Our first week back was phenomenal, weather-wise.  Sunny and warm--77 degrees--every day, winds virtually non-existent and water smooth as glass.  After spending a day provisioning and settling in, we met with Jeff and Sandy on “Oasis” to organize a dinghy convoy over to Hopetown for lunch. What a hoot!  Seven boats made it over in the record time of 15 minutes skimming across the glassy surface at full speed.  But after a great lunch and more than a few drinks later, 8 of us decided to take the “slow boat” home, lashing 4 dinghys together and doing a “slow drift” across the Sea of Abaco to our slips on the other side.  This took considerably longer--almost 2 hours.  But it was two hours of laughter, conversation, and  gorgeous views--we could see the entire sea floor through the still, turquoise water all the way back!  It was virtually snorkelling without the snorkels.

The new marina complex at Hopetown was unbelievable.  When we were last here it was all rubble, concrete and sand.  But what a transformation!  A great little outdoor restaurant forms the centrepiece of the facility and is flanked by a small but exquisitely designed pool (two of them actually, linked with a little waterfall) on one side, and state of the art marina facilities on the other.  There is a range of accommodations for guests as well.  These include rooms with 2 double or 1 kingsize bed plus inroom refrigerator to  spacious 1 & 2 bedroomed apartments with beautiful furnishings, and an expansive upper level deck overlooking the harbour and village. Landscaping and outdoor lounging areas are superb.  We were given a “tour” of the entire facilities and will certainly return-- hopefully with friends and relatives from Canada--at some point in the future. 

We had such a fun time on our day-trip over to Hopetown, that we decided to do it all again the next day to Man ‘O War.  But we awoke to worsening symtoms of a “flu” that we had picked up when home, and had to give it a pass and choose rest & relaxation for the day instead.  Bummer!!  There was even a bigger convoy to Man ‘O War and, once again, a good time was had by all.  We thought that our sore throats and coughs were a result of the drastic temperature change and drop in humidity we experienced back in Canada.  Not!  This same thing happened to us last year too--but it was almost a full week of quarantine then.  It wasn’t so bad this year--only 3 days.  But they were 3 glorious days here--no wind and waves--so rare!  And it was so maddening not to be able to take advantage of them all.  But we DID have Hopetown. (And we are SO spoiled here!)

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!