Nick's Place

A few photos of Nick's place. One of his Macaw's, a guest who never left and his dock. Somewhere in that mess is a pole (for dancing), a stairway to nowhere, a glass floor for fish watching, a hammock with gargantuan holes (wants to get a few more years out of it), various old ship paraphernalia and the cannon that shoots tennis balls. On the far left is the boat he's working on.

Shark magnet

Another picture perfect day in paradise. Since it was my last day here Gerry and Richard (ponytail Richard who is pretty nice for an old curmudgeon) took me snorkeling. So once again we were bouncing over the waves but the small amount of thumping across the waves was worth it. We stopped for a bit near Barbary Beach to soak up some sun and then visited a place I'm not at liberty to disclose (it's Gerry's secret place) where the snorkeling was excellent. It was fantastic - the most fan coral I've ever seen. Lots of fish too. A large school appeared and unfortunately they were being followed by a shark. You know how some men are chick magnets? Well Richard appears to be a shark magnet. Have snorkeled with him twice and twice a shark showed up. This one was about 6 feet long so I decided getting eaten by a shark on my last day of vacation was not a good idea and got out of the water. Gerry (always the smartass) said it would be better than getting eaten on my first day. He didn't see the shark, he chose to stay in the boat rather than get wet. Richard braved the water with me, wearing a wet suit of course. We moved over to Peterson Cay and snorkeled right around it so I'm now totally exhausted. Would have been more fun if I didn't feel the need to keep looking over my shoulder for sharks. Lots of fan coral, brain coral, etc. and a lot of parrot fish were hanging out there.I finally saw a conch in it's natural habitat. The cay is part of the park system so is a protected area. Tomorrow I fly home. Sally, Chad and baby Abby are in Ontario waiting for my return so leaving isn't as sad as it could be. I've had a great time, lots of fun and laughter and I'd like to thank all the people who made my vacation so much fun. So, thanks and hugs all around!!!!!

Photo courtesy of Betty who thought I really looked my best after an afternoon out on the water.

Sunday

Today was overcast and rainy to start but then the sun came out. I was allowed to invade the "coffee club" once again - Sundays they get donuts and fruit and the president (Old Tony) allowed me to attend their high level meeting once again. Another Tony has arrived so now there's an Old Tony and a New Tony (another Brit I believe). There were a few new (to me) faces - Dog Trainer Bill for one. Trains animals for TV, movies, rich people. I'm puzzled as to why these men don't seem inclined to use last names. I guess it's too much of a strain on the brain LOL. I haven't heard of any nicknames for the women - but maybe I'm not meant to know. I can imagine what some of them might be and I think it's best kept secret.

Took a canal tour in the dinghy this afternoon. There are lots of canals but they're not all joined so you have to go out into the ocean to get to another system. Dropped in on Nick, hopefully will have a photo or 2 to put up later. I believe they now have over 40 dogs since the mothers gave birth this week. One would think this would involve kennels but no, they're all over the house.

Betty and Brent served up a delicious meal of lobster and fish last night - thanks again. This is a photo of one of the victims (supplied by Betty). Well, not one we ate but a dear relative.

Birthday Party

Last night we celebrated Jennifer and Leo's birthdays at a bar on the beach. Another perfect night in paradise. Jennifer is originally from the States and rumour has it that she came here when her husband died. He was an actor (on Broadway), originally from the Bahamas. When he died they had a big to-do here, she attended and never left. Leo is from France, married a Bahamian and has the best riding stable on the island - she takes the riders and horses not only on the beach but right into the water. Unfortunately I don't have a decent photo of them so I was forced to use this one of Nick (the Englishman with the strange house) and I dancing. I am totally sober, he is not. I've given up trying to build up a tolerance to alcohol - I can be crazy enough without it. Only 2 more days in paradise.

Adventures: culinary

Last night some of us decided to dine out and went to "The Med" a mediterranean restaurant in Port Lucaya. A perfect night for dining outside. I ordered the seafood medley with pasta. Now I knew it wouldn't be the same as in Ontario but was still a bit surprised at what appeared on my plate. It was sort of like Survivor or Fear Factor. Oysters on the half shell, tolerable but I didn't like them. Lobster (with some of the tail bone still attached), easily dealt with and tasty. Shrimp - no problem. Calamari (fancy name for squid but they can't fool me) - really ugly looking huge white chunks, unmistakably tentacle material - way too chewy, way too big. But the worst was tiny baby squids, could count the legs. Didn't taste bad but the legs tickled my tongue and I could only eat one. Totally grossed me out.

Tonight Betty fed us a scrumptious sweet and sour chicken and stir fry. Enjoyed it much more than the fancy restaurant food. Thanks Betty.

Adventures: watery

Yesterday was picture perfect so 3 of us set out to launch the newly repaired dinghy (13' motorboat). They call any little boat that belongs with a bigger boat a dinghy, no matter what the size of the dinghy. So off we go in the jeep (which needed a boost to start). After about a 10 minute drive we arrive in the middle of nowhere and back the trailer into the water. The outboard motor which had just been repaired (they don't like to be submerged in salt water apparently)started up with a little help from the portable booster cables. So now there is the dilemma - who gets the booster cables? Ponytail Richard in the jeep or Gerry in the boat? Gerry called it so the cables stayed with the boat. Richard waves goodbye, says good luck, I'll be home in 10 minutes when you call for help. So off we go through the canals out into the ocean. I had a psychic moment and thought that maybe we should make sure Richard gets away but I didn't say anything. We thump our way across the waves and I remember why I don't like motorboats - the thumping was giving me a headache. We finally get to the next canal system and things smooth out and the ride becomes comfortable, briefly. Unfortunately at one point we had to slow down to minimize our wake and of course the motor dies. Boosting does no good but we are prepared with a cell phone. We call Richard, no answer (he didn't have his phone with him as we thought), we call Betty, also no answer. We figure Richard will notice our absence after a while and come fetch us in his dinghy. We wait and wait, playing 20 Questions (I won). After about 45 minutes we hear a motor - it's Richard in his dinghy and the first thing he says is "I was waiting at the launch ramp for you to rescue me!" His emergency brake handle broke off, and while he was trying to fix that the engine started overheating so he shut it off. He finally got the brake unstuck, but didn't have it in gear and it rolled backward and he almost lost the trailer and jeep in the canal. We had the booster cables which did us no good so he couldn't start the jeep. So there we all are, waiting for the other for rescue. Fortunately someone came along to launch their boat and gave him a boost so he could rescue us. The photo is Richard in his dinghy pulling the other one.

Snorkeling with Sharks (OK, only 1 shark)

The weather is once again as it should be in paradise so we went snorkeling, taking the dinghy out to the reef. So there we are, swimming around looking at all the pretty fish and coral when I thought I saw a rather large fish swim by but didn't think anything about it because it wasn't really close and my mask was slightly fogged. A few minutes later much to my shock Richard (Ponytail Richard) points down and immediately below us is a shark! Not a large shark but a shark none the less - a black tipped shark which aren't the friendliest. Fortunately he took no notice of us and just kept going. Not only did we not get out of the water, we tried following it, hmmm not too bright are we? That's the first time I've seen a shark in its natural habitat, was very exciting, scary too. I didn't take this photo but that is exactly how it looked. You'll have to use your imagination and put in the coral and fish.

On the way back we stopped at a restaurant/bar (called the Sand Bar) on the beach for fish and chips and beer. Twice this place has been filled up with sand from storms so they finally gave up shoveling it all out and have left the floor covered with it. Kind of neat.

Tonight is fish fry night and the weather is perfect. The locals have numerous places all down one road that set up on Wednesday nights and you guessed it - fry fish. Not just fish but conch fritters, lobster. It's reef fish, served with head and fins intact. This is served up with rice, potato bread, macaroni and cole slaw. The evening usually ends at a bar on the beach called Tony Macaroni's with music and dancing. One of the drinks there is called Gully Wash - the only thing I know for sure is that it has coconut in it.

Sailors and curmudgeons

This is some of the motley group of sailors who meet every single day, rain or shine, to solve all the world's problems. Good to know we're in such good hands.

No women allowed (especially wives) but I was granted a special audience with them. I guess none of them have outstanding warrants so they let me take this picture.

From left to right:
TB- Romanian, married, retired, has a condo here
Baltimore Bill- American, single, retired
Gerry- Canadian, single (claims to have hot girlfriend), semi retired
Roller Blade Richard - American, married, semi retired, granite business
Ken- Canadian, married, semi retired, solar heating business
Wayne- British, married, builds houses, has a work permit so he lives here
Lawrence- Canadian, married, retired
Tony- American, married, lives here has furniture business
Ponytail Richard- American, single, curmudgeon (therefore no girlfriend), semi retired

Chilly and cloudy

It's Monday morning and it appears the weather is not going to cooperate. Just like yesterday chilly, rainy and windy, but I will not complain it's better than Ontario. Spent yesterday at Susan's condo (on the beach) - football party. There was one person missing from the festivities - Susan's boyfriend's 21 year old son. He arrived last Monday and managed to get busted for buying pot on Tuesday (undercover cop). They threw him in jail, was in court Thursday morning, fined $800 and deported that afternoon. Apparently a Bahamian jail is not a good place to be. The only good news is that they don't keep track of this so he can come back into the country again. Anyway, the food was good and after a while I stopped annoying the guys with my stupid questions. A mansion sits next door to the condo building, vacant now because the owner has died. Only in the Bahamas can you be declared dead by suicide with bullet holes in your back. He was running numbers, so had a lot of enemies.

It's Saturday night

Saturday night is party night so they tell me. Personally I think any night around here is party night. Despite spending most of the day at the beach and vacant movie lots I managed to find the energy to do a little partying. This particular party was held at Nick and Jackie's house. A very interesting English couple. They have built a monstrous house and filled it full of curiosities, much like the Adam's Family. The picture is of their outdoor rec room (pool table scrounged from the dump and we've discovered it's strong enough to hold at least 7 dancing people). They have 22 chihuahuas, 3 of them pregnant. Nick has been a set builder for various movies and is always building something. He has a square rigger sailboat that he's restoring but since moving it into position he has enlarged his dock so once the boat is completed he'll have to remove at least one piling to get it out of there. He salvaged a cannon from the Pirate movie and refitted it to shoot tennis balls at passing boats. (Photo: Gilly, Susan, me, Jennifer; Gilly's grandson Daniel far left)

Pirates

Pirates of the Caribbean II and III were filmed here and we trespassed onto the lot to get some photos of what was left behind. Gerry and Lawrence were extras, poorly paid but apparently lots of fun and plenty to eat. The 2nd photo is of the "deep tank" where they could sink the ship and then pull it back up again.

road to nowhere

It's Saturday, and another beautiful day in paradise. Cold front is threatening so we decided to go to the beach again. This particular beach is only accessible by boat, motorcycle or jeep, unless you don't care about your car. A rough trail maybe 6 miles long runs right along side the beach. This tiny hermit crab entertained me for a while - I'm easily amused. The other photo was taken in the swamp near the beach and this particular road goes nowhere except into the swamp. As is the case many times here someone has a good idea, starts the project and then never finishes. There are many subdivisions laid out,they've even paved the roads or dug the canals but there are no houses and probably won't be in the near future. There are miles and miles of deserted beaches and no hotels - truly paradise.

Life's a beach (sorry)

Found time in my busy schedule to go to the beach. It was really really windy and this beach is off the beaten path so it was pretty much deserted. Found this little guy, or I should say what he left behind. It was easy getting his picture but not his cousin's who kept running in and out of the water. I've had one motorcycle driving lesson - glad no one was watching. I went soooo slowly that I had to keep my feet on the ground for balance. We passed on the weekly fish fry because all the places that have it are on the beach and we didn't want sand in our fish (still windy). I ended up cooking (fish) - horrors. It was edible at least. I don't understand why the smoke detector goes off every time I cook. Must be faulty.
Today promises to be very hot, with little wind.

Snorkel tour

Gerry's friend owns a snorkel tour boat. A very large 2 deck boat with a small climbing wall and a slide. There's a reef just outside Port Lucaya that still has live coral despite the fact that it's popular. Tons of colourful fish, some in schools, some loners. Saw a lobster in its natural habitat. The photo is one of myself and some friends that invited themselves for lunch. You can get bags of "fish food" which is actually dog food. The fish come by the hundreds. The one good thing about being a "northerner" is we can stand cold water and go snorkeling throughout the year. Wasn't really cold, I managed to stay in for an hour. Had to get out to have enough time to try the water slide. Discovered water is actually very hard when you land on it from a great height (thought the end of the slide was closer to the water). Didn't have time for the climbing wall, maybe next time.

junkanoo photos

some photos are blurry but thought you could get an idea of how much work went into this parade

Finally got here

I have learned to not fly through Newark, things often go wrong. In a nutshell I didn't get here on Friday because I couldn't make my connection in Fort Lauderdale and ended up in West Palm Beach where Jean and Richard graciously put me up for the night (thank you!!).

The Bahamas are experiencing unusually warm temperatures for this time of year but I'll try to tolerate it. On Saturday there was a Junior Junkanoo parade in downtown Freeport. Different schools were competing - don't know what if any prizes were given out. The little ones from the primary schools were very very cute and the ones from the high schools went all out. Great costumes, a lot with big feathery headdresses. Some had brass bands, some just the traditional drums, cowbells, whistles, all had dancers - was quite impressive.

Sunday nights there's always entertainment on the beach - a place called Tony Macaroni's - last night there was a jazz band and then a steel drum band - much preferred the latter.

I managed to get to the beach but haven't gone snorkeling yet. The locals tell me the water is too cold :)

Have to go the sunshine is calling me.

Update October-November 2007

I'm off tomorrow for the Bahamas.

There's been a lot of travel in my life these days. Went to Key West for Fantasy Fest last October. You can do a search for Fantasy Fest in Key West so I don't need to explain it but it's much like Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It was interesting to say the least. I was a pirate the first night, belly dancer the 2nd. Did get a bit of snorkeling and lobster hunting as well. I didn't catch the lobsters, Ginny did that (expertly), but I helped eat them.

  Went sailing in the Bahamas in November, for 10 days, 7 of which didn't see much of civilization - was awesome. Anchored in the lee of uninhabited cays with amazingly clear turquoise and often shallow water. One night the tide went out and we were too close to shore so we settled on the bottom. Spent the night keeled over - was pretty funny. Stopped in Fox Town on my birthday for breakfast. I ordered a typical Bahamian breakfast: boiled fish, and grits, with papaya on the side. Wasn't as bad as it sounds. In fact before flying home I had tuna and grits for breakfast. Only had one bad day of sailing when the waves and the wind were so high I actually got nervous. Was a little scary getting continuously doused with cold water and being heeled way way over. As you can see I survived.

Ramblynn's interior

Ramblynn at the dock

Ramblynn from shore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got to steer!

Beautiful sunsets.

Flying back from Marsh Harbour, back to work, no time to sail back. He'll have to get his other girlfriend to do that.

So here I am

What would we do without modern technology? I have more than one email account, I'm on Facebook (thanks to daughter Sally) and now I'm on here (thanks to Rob). I'm going to use this medium instead of sending numerous emails to people. If you're interested you can look here, if you're not that's OK. This will keep your mailbox free of useless and maybe boring emails from me. Feel free to make comments, I'll enjoy reading them.

I should have started writing in 2007 - now that was a year! I ended a 28 year relationship and struck out on my own. I tried to quit my job but John refused to take my resignation saying I could work online. He probably thought I would soon come to my senses and return - he was right. After spending a month in Cudworth SK (population 500) with my Sally I realized Saskatchewan and I aren't a good fit, I missed Ontario (and would you believe my job?) so I bid a regretful farewell and returned "home" to Ontario.

A friend suggested signing up on an online dating site - even though she refused to. There sure are a lot of single men out there - so many men, so little time! After meeting one particular guy who took me sailing I realized that I wanted to learn how to sail and went in search of someone to teach me. I found a guy, dressed like the Quaker Oats man (he wan an extra in one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies) who said he could try. We exchanged a few messages but he was going to the Bahamas so our meeting was delayed. I almost canceled while he was gone, who want's to date a Quaker Oats man? I showed his picture to friends Ellen and Rudy and they recognized him as a member of their sailing club! They swore he was a good guy so when he returned I had my first sailing lesson.

 Sailing happily the rest of the season and then he was gone, back to the Bahamas for the winter.