We're still at Bluewater Marina. Had a great and very busy day yesterday.
First, 3 dinghy's from the marina went on a little "river" excursion. Ralph lead the way to a mangrove path a few miles from the marina. A new boat, Believe, joined us. (Chris and Debbie)
Beautiful clear water.
And strangely, they have a statue of Martin Luther King, Jr near a small platform mid-way down the waterway. Even though he was not their fellow citizen, the Bahamians admire him and his life work.
We took a short break at the platform.
Ralph told a joke.....he has a new audience. You remember those 17 jokes, right?
View from the platform of the mangroves.
New friends Chris and Debbie from Believe.
Jeff and Jeenna from Meriwether.
Getting back in the dinghy's to continue the journey.
Snorkeling to see if anyone could spot a conch....no luck.
And then Ralph led us to "the Healing Hole". Wow, it was a crazy walk in a mangrove channel - that was a weird sort of 2' wide cutout in the sandy earth - so you were walking in a "ditch".
Once it was over our heads, Ralph announced that we were at the Healing Hole....and we all asked the spirits to heal us of all our woes.... And then we reversed course back to open water.
Back in the dinghy's to head back towards the marina.
Across the flats - we needed to get over them before the tide falls much more - it's only a foot or so deep at this point.
Stopped back by Stuart's Conch Shack for drinks.
Off on the rickety dock.
Just relaxed and chatted.
And then it was time to go make Thanksgiving dishes! We had started in the morning, going to the different boats in the marina telling them that we'd love for everyone to gather at around 4 pm for a potluck Thanksgiving meal.
It turned out fabulous!!
My plate. Absolutely wonderful assortment. I took green bean casserole and mashed potatoes.
Even a few of the local fellows we'd met on the dock joined us.
And to end the day, one of the cruisers has a steel drum!!! We all joined in. Good fun and a wonderful day.
Hope you have a happy Thanksgiving day. We'll have a potluck with some other sailors here at the marina later today.
We had a great day yesterday - we took the dinghy's out about 5 miles to a WWI wreck the SS Sapona. Jeff & Jeana from Meriwether joined us with Now & Zen.
The boat was commissioned for WWI but was not completed until the war was over. It was sold and used as a variety of things including a Casino and oil storage in the late 1920's. It ran aground during a hurricane and afterward was used as a bombing target for the US fighter planes in WWII.
We swam inside the ship as well.
Interesting machinery.
On the way back we stopped by a few little outlying islands to search for coral to snorkel. Didn't really find any but spotted this huge bird on the shoreline. He is probably 4' tall. Huge wingspan as he flew away but I didn't snap a photo in time.
And on our way back to the boats, Ralph waved at us - "HELP". He had run out of fuel in his dinghy!!! He'll never live that one down! So for about 3 miles, we towed them. Lucky we were together - that would have been a long way to row a dinghy!! Fun day.
The girls from four boats - Meriweather, Chara, Now & Zen and Sojourn - took bikes to Charlies Bakery first thing in the morning. (He apparently closes when he sells all the bread). The bread is very good - soft and slightly sweet.
Back to the boat - had a slice of warm fresh bread!
Got all our gear out for the first snorkel trip. Ralph knew a place nearby- not a big reef, but quite nice.
Saw lots of fish.
And got to swim along with this lovely ray!
Duane caught me the first lobster of the season! It made a yummy salad to share at the evening pot-luck with the same 4 boats attending.
We've been eating well lately!!! Quite the variety - eggplant, grilled squash, couscous, and some of the fresh bread of course. In for an early night as usual.
We unloaded the bikes and took a nice long tour around the island. Beautiful rocky coastline.
Oops, I guess the day didn't turn out too well for this boat long ago!
We biked up to the end of the island - there is a fancy Hilton property.
They have a beautiful, empty marina. We went into the office and inquired about the rate to stay - it would be over $125 for us to stay there each night. Pretty crazy! And it's empty. Strange business policy, you'd think they'd lower their price and fill it up!
A little fancier than we're used to in the Bahamas, for sure! Seems like a lot of guests arrive via floatplane. We saw 4 land in just an hour or so.
Cessna Caravans. Neat to watch.
It was about 4 or 5 miles biking....and we were a little warm on the way back to the boat. Stopped off at Stuart's Conch Shack for our first ice cold Bahamian beer!
Pretty sunrise this morning, should be another wonderful day.
Let's see - I'm supposed to describe myself....married for WOW 42 years!, mom of two boys (now men), pilot, sailor (in training), happy (most of the time), traveler (when I can!), always have a book on the nitestand, always planning the next adventure (big and small!)
